peace, engaged in a lawful voyage, is, by the law of nations, under the exclusive jurisdiction of the State to which her flag belongs, as much so as if it constituted a part of its domain. That the brig Enterprise, which was forced, by stress of weather, into Bermuda, while on a voyage from one part of the Union to the other, was within the principle of the preceding resolution: and that the seizure and detention of the negroes on board, by the local authorities of the island, was an act violating the law of nations, and unjust to our own citizens, to whom they belong. Mr. Calhoun said that the case mentioned in the resolutions was one of those which had been long a subject of negotiation between the two Governments; the other two were the cases of the Comet and the Encomium, which he stated, both of which were also stranded vessels on the Bahamas. He then examined the ground taken by the British Minister in discussing these cases, and insisted that it was altogether untenable by the law of nations. The resolutions were referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. It appeared, by a message received from the President on the twenty-seventh of June, that the British Government had consented to the last proposition made by the United States for the settlement of the north-eastern boundary. He also suggests that the ex parte report of the British Commissioners, which expresses the opinion that the true line of the treaty of 1783 is different from that so long contended for by Great Britain, will probably be used hereafter by that Government in the discussion of the question of boundary. As this line differs greatly from the line claimed by the United States, he asks that, if Congress concurs with him, a provision should be made by law to enable the Executive to carry it into effect. The correspondence between Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Fox show the previous points of difficulty in agreeing on the mode of adjustment. The sub-treasury law, after three years' discussion, was finally enacted. It passed the House of Representatives, on the first of July, by one hundred and twentyfour votes to one hundred and seven. According to this law, the places of deposit for the public money were the mint and branch mints of New Orleans; the custom-houses in New York and Boston; and offices in Charleston, South Carolina, and St. Louis, Missouri; and four receivers-general at New York, Boston, Charleston, and St. Louis, who, with the Treasurer, and the treasurer of the mint, were to keep the money of the United States. They shall make transfers, and accept drafts; and their accounts are subject to the inspection and examination of agents appointed by the Government. Various guards are provided as checks on these officers. In Mr. Webster's speech at Saratoga, in August, we have an account of General Jackson's first opposition to the Bank, which had never been heard of during Mr. Adams's administration, or in his own inaugural address.' The report of the British Commissioners concerning the north-eastern boundary, showing that the true boundary line, under the treaty of 1783, had been misunderstood, and denying that there was any ridge or highlands, as the United States agents had assumed, was very fully scrutinized and answered in the New York Courier and Enquirer of the fourth of September, 1840, which insisted on the existence of the highlands or ridge, Niles's Register, Vol. LIX., page 10. and attributes the contrary assertion to G. W. Featherstonhaugh, who had left the employment of the United States to enter that of Great Britain, and who had diverted inquiry from the real question, "which is purely the true direction of the highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the St. Lawrence from those that fall into the Atlantic Ocean."1 According to the report of the majority of the Committee of Elections on the contested election of New Jersey, made to the House on the sixteenth of July, 1840, the five Administration candidates, who were not returned, were entitled to their seats; but, according to the report of the minority,' three of the returned members were duly elected, and two of the Administration members, viz.: Peter D. Vroom and William R. Cooper. The interest which this election had excited throughout the Union induced the public every where to look with great anxiety at the approaching elections in that State; and the Whigs were highly gratified to find that the popular vote in the State had vindicated their course, and rebuked that of their opponents. In the Legislature, the Whig majority on joint ballot had been increased from sixteen to thirty-seven; and, in the election of members of Congress, the five returned members whom Congress had ousted of their seats, were all elected by a majority each of more than two thousand votes over their opponents. The result of this assertion of her rights as a sovereign State was the theme of emphatic congratulation in the opening message of Governor Pennington to the Legislature. From the time that Congress adjourned in July, and, indeed, for some time before, a most active canvass for Niles's Register, Vol. LIX., page 25. 2 Ibid., page 60. votes in the Presidential election was carried on. The Whigs, who had been excluded from power in the Federal Government for twelve years, and were in the minority both in the National Legislature and in the nation for some years while they held the power, were ardent and untiring in their efforts to regain the ascendancy. With thousands and tens of thousands of intelligent and independent citizens of both parties it was not, however, a struggle for power and office, but they conscientiously believed that the political principles of their opponents were dangerous to the true and lasting interests of the Republic. The Whigs believed that it was the purpose of the Administration party to continue in power by fostering the vulgar prejudices of the poor against the rich, and, under the cry of bank influence, to excite ill feeling against all people of property, by flattering the pas sions and antipathies of the multitude, however wild or unjust, so that they could thereby secure for themselves the confidence of the people, and consequently their votes that, under the show of being the friend of the people, General Jackson had attained that point of influence, that his will was resistless-no one of his own party daring to oppose it, for fear of being denounced and ejected from the party; and any opposition by a Whig being sure to be outvoted by their adversaries. The country, then, with the forms of a Democracy, was, in fact, subjected to the will of one man. The Democratic party, on the other hand, believed that the power of the moneyed interest, when concentrated and embodied in such an institution as the United States Bank, was dangerous to the power of the States, and might be used to introduce, by degrees, a form of government favorable to a privileged class, and subversive of the fundamental principles of equality and of free government. All that had ever been regarded as dangerous in the principles of Alexander Hamilton, and the old Federalists, they considered to be naturally allied to the principles of the modern Whigs, whom, indeed, they regarded as Federalists, under the cunning disguise of a new name, and whom they were now called upon to combat and put down, as had been done by the Republicans under the elder Adams. The pecuniary difficulties of the country, attributed, as usual, by the people to the errors of the Administration, and in part clearly traceable to their course, came to the aid of the Whigs, and secured to them a complete triumph. The Administration party did not, however, yield without a struggle. They had able men in their ranks, who exerted themselves to enlighten the public mind, especially on the subject of the currency, and to show that the policy which they advocated, of separating the Government from such miserable institutions as the banks had proved to be, was not merely safe, but was necessary. A Democratic portion of the New York Legislature put forth a long and able manifesto in defence of Mr. Van Buren's policy; and his friend, Mr. Silas Wright, whose talents were of a very high order, and whose private character was particularly estimable, by several public addresses, was a most efficient vindicator. The Whigs also called their ablest men into the field; and Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, and others, made powerful appeals to the reason and understanding of the American people. Nor was this all. The Whigs enlisted a new agent in this service. Knowing how much they had suffered from popular delusion, they also addressed themselves to the mere feelings of the people by immense public meetings, where songs and music, made to kindle |