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and, to free it from constitutional objections, it was to be incorported in the District of Columbia, with power to establish branches only with the consent of the States.

A Select Committee, of which Mr. Clay was chairman, reported to the Senate a bill for a fiscal agent based on the report of Mr. Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury. This bill differed in some respects from the acts incorporating the former banks. It was more effectually surrounded by safeguards and restrictions.

The bill, with some amendments, passed the Senate on the 6th of August, by a vote of 26 to 23.

In the House it passed, 128 to 97. It was transmitted to the President, and the result awaited with great solicitude. The bill was finally returned, accompanied with a veto message. The Whigs in and out of Congress were astounded. Immediate steps were taken to prevent the disastrous consequences which it was foreseen this veto would bring upon the Whig party.

In his veto message, the President intimated the nature of a fiscal agent which would receive his approval. Senator Berrien, and Mr. Sargeant, of the House, were deputed to ascertain from the President what kind of a bill he would feel himself authorized to approve. During the interview they learned from the President that he favored a fiscal agent divested of discounting power, and limited to dealing in bills of exchange, other than those drawn by a citizen of one State upon another citizen of the same State. A bill was drawn in conformity with these ideas, and submitted to Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, and by him to the President. It was understood that the President assented to this bill. It was introduced into the House on the day following-August 20, as an amendment to the one then pending before the Committee of the Whole.

The bill was taken out of the Committee of the Whole, August 23d, and passed without the alteration of a word from the original report, ayes 125, nays 94. On the 3d of September it passed the Senate without amendment, 27 to 22. The bill was negatived by the Executive. Having been framed with special reference to his wishes, after due consultation with him, the second veto was inexplicable.

RUPTURE BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND THE WHIGS.

On the second day after the reception of the veto message by the House, all the cabinet officers, except Mr. Webster, resigned. Touching the propriety of this step, contrariety of opinions have prevailed. As a matter of policy it could not be regarded a wise measure. sults upon the Whig party could be foreseen in its final prostration and overthrow.

Its re

Mr. Tyler was charged with wanton and gross violation of his pledges to the party, and a violation of the principles on which he was elected to office. It is not impossible that more was expected of him than his former course would warrant. The following historical sketch will aid in the formation of an opinion:

"Mr. Tyler had been identified with the Virginia school of politicians. In 1824, in common with his fellow-citizens of that State, he supported Mr. Crawford for President. Preferring, however, Mr. Adams to Gen. Jackson, he wrote a letter to Mr. Clay, approving his vote in the House of Representatives in favor of Mr. Adams. Soon after the election of Mr. Adams, he went over with the friends of Mr. Crawford, to the support of Gen. Jackson. He was in favor of a strict construction of the Constitution, and was therefore opposed to a tariff

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for protection, and to internal improvements by the General Government. He approved Gen. Jackson's vetoes of the Maysville road bill, and other similar bills. He opposed, when in the Senate, the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States. He favored the doctrine of the South Carolina nullifiers in relation to State rights, and turned against Gen. Jackson for putting down nullification in that State. He opposed the force bill, both by a vehement speech and by his vote. He became attached to the Calhoun party in the Senate, who united with the Whigs in opposing the course of the President in assuming the power of controlling the deposits of the public moneys, although he was opposed to the bank on the ground of its unconstitutionality. He voted for Mr. Clay's resolution, charging Gen. Jackson with usurpation of power in directing the removal of the deposits. Thus far, therefore, Mr. Tyler is found to have adhered to the distinctive views of the party opposed to the Whigs, having separated from his former friends only on the subtreasury and other financial questions."

At the National Convention, in 1839, Mr. Tyler was a delegate and expressed himself in favor of the nomination of Mr. Clay for the Presidency. On the selection of Gen. Harrison for that position, policy required the choice of a person for the Vice-Presidency, from that branch of the Whig party formerly known as "Conservatives." Considering the duties devolving upon that officer, the "Whigs thought this could be done without hazarding the principles of the party. Mr. Tyler was put in nomination.

Subsequently to the nomination, and prior to the election, Mr. Tyler avowed himself a firm and decided Whig; approving Mr. Clay's compromise tariff-which he regarded as protective—and in the distribution of the proceeds

of the public lands among the States: and in a letter dated October, 1840, says, "My opinion of the power of Congress to charter a Bank of the United States, remains unchanged. There is not, in the Constitution, any express grant of a power for such a purpose, and it never could be constitutional to exercise that power, save in the event that the powers granted to Congress could not be carried out without resorting to such an institution." In another letter about the same date, he refers to his past history as an evidence of his views relative to internal improvements by the General Government.

Various conjectures were assigned for the second veto of the President. His retiring Secretaries gave to the country their reasons for leaving the Cabinet. They exposed the course which had been pursued, and intimated some of the reasons which had operated on the mind of the President. Among them may be noticed a letter, written by Hon. John M. Botts, representative from Virginia. It was sent by him to Richmond, whence it found its way into public print.

The vacancies created by the resignation of the Cabinet officers, were filled by the appointment of Walter Forward, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury; John McLean, of Ohio, Secretary of War; Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy; C. A. Wickliffe, Postmaster-General; and Hugh S. Legare, Attorney-General. John McLean not accepting, John C. Spencer was appointed Secretary of War.

The alienation of feeling between the President and the Whigs in Congress became complete. The Whig party almost unanimously disapproved the course pursued by Mr. Tyler. A meeting of the Whigs in Congress was held at Washington, on the 11th of September, at which a committee was raised, consisting of Senators

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Berrien, of Ga., Tallmadge, of N. Y., and Smith, of Ind.; Representatives, Messrs. Everett, of Vt., Mason, of Ohio, Kennedy, of Md., J. C. Clark, of N. Y., and Raynor, of N. C.

At a subsequent meeting, Mr. Kennedy reported an address, which was unanimously adopted, and 20,000 copies of the same ordered to be printed. The address adverted to the distinctive principles of the Whigs, and the reforms which they had proposed to effect; the manner in which the government had been conducted, and the work yet to be accomplished. In order to effect the desired objects, to establish the true principles of government, and promote the best interest of the common country, it was enjoined upon the party to choose no members of Congress who would not aid in their accomplishment, and to inscribe upon their flag, "The will of the nation uncontrolled by the will of ONE MAN; one presidential term, a frugal government, and no sub-treasury, open or covert, in substance, or fact; no governmental bank, but an institution capable of guarding the people's treasure, and administering to the people's wants."

At the close of the session, a manifesto was signed by sixty or seventy Whig members, declaring that, "from that day forth, all political connection between them and John Tyler was at an end; and from that day those who brought the President into power, could no longer, in any manner or degree, be justly held responsible or blamed for the administration of the executive branch of the Government."

While the course of Mr. Tyler was deprecated, the open rupture that ensued was, to many, a source of great regret. They believed that forbearance towards the President, even under abuse, the better course. By the exercise of a conciliatory spirit, they thought his co-op