Pago Personal altercation between Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Clay.......... 366 Inquiry on the employment of bloodhounds against the Florida A Message from the President, on the North-eastern boundary. 370 Correspondence between Mr. Fox and Mr. Forsyth............................................... 371 Resolutions of the Legislature of New Jersey sent to the Speaker State sovereignty .............. Counter-report of the minority of the Committee.................... 378 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. CHAPTER XXVI. JACKSON'S ADMINISTRATION. FIRST TERM. 1829-1831. THE next Administration was about to exhibit a striking contrast to that of Mr. Adams. While the Executive power had been so feebly wielded by the latter that its efficiency was scarcely adequate to its prescribed duties, that of General Jackson, aided as it was by his unequalled popularity, had a strength which seemed to indicate a different government: and the fears of this branch of Federal power, which had hitherto been confined to Democratic jealousy, was now seriously felt by the conservative portion of the community. This wide difference is attributable, in the main, to the different degrees of popular favor which those high functionaries severally possessed. Mr. Adams was, indeed, very generally esteemed as a man of great acquirements, of business habits, and of strict probity. The diligence and ability which he had shown as a diplomatist, when yet a young man, had obtained the approbaVOL. IV.-2 (17) tion and confidence of General Washington. He was the pride and admiration of the second President, his father; and his timely and important disclosures of a dangerous faction at once won the confidence and esteem both of Jefferson and Madison: yet he had done nothing to make him a favorite with the people. He had gained no victory, like General Jackson, against the best troops of Europe. He had not, like Mr. Jefferson, in all contests between the many and the few, been the advocate and supporter of the popular side: he had not, like Hamilton and Madison, formed a government of order and security out of a chaos of jarring elements, which bettered every man's condition: nor had he those frank, engaging manners of Mr. Clay, which won all hearts, except those of rivals, and softened even some of theirs. But besides these points of difference, he had been the instrument and as the suspicious, and uncharitable thought, the corrupt instrument—of defeating the will of the people in the elevation of their greatest favorite. Here, then, was the clue to the very different reception which the administrations of these two Chief Magistrates met with from the American people; and there never was a stronger illustration of the truth of a homely proverb, which indicates the impunity of one man for a great offence, while another is severely punished for a small one. On the fourth of March, General Jackson, in the presence of the members of both Houses of Congress, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the members of the foreign diplomatic corps, and a large body of his fellow-citizens attracted to Washington on the occasion, delivered his inaugural address, which had the merit of being short, and, though drawn by a friend, was in strict keeping with his character. |