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gone to live under a government similar to that which they had left behind. The government had been changed, and attempts had been made to reduce the people to unconditional submission. The revolt was just in its origin; it had illustrated the Anglo-Saxon character, and given it new titles to the respect and admiration of the world.

The resolution reported by the committee was adopted unanimously; yeas, 39. A similar resolution was reported in the house by the committee on foreign relations and adopted : yeas, 113; nays, 22. The nays were all or nearly all given by the opponents of the administration. All but one-Mr. Milligan, of Delaware—were from free states. It has been stated as remarkable, that Mr. Adams, who, when a member of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, was against the relinquishment of Texas to Spain in the treaty of 1819, by which Florida was acquired, was, in 1836 and 1844, against its recovery; and that Mr. Calhoun, a member of the same cabinet, was in favor of its alienation, and subsequently in favor of its recovery. Their opposite positions in relation to its acquisition, were attributable to their different opinions as to the policy of annexing slave territory to the union.

At the next session of congress, (December 21, 1836,) president Jackson, in a special message, advised congress not to recognize the independence of Texas, until her ability to protect herself should be established, and there should be no longer any danger of her being again subjected, as had been our policy in the cases of Mexico and the South American states. Since the capture of Santa Anna, the Mexican republic, under another executive, was rallying its forces under a new leader, and menacing a fresh invasion to recover its lost dominion. Several circumstances, he said, required us to act with unwonted caution. Many of our citizens would be anxious for a reünion of that territory to this country. Most of its inhabitants were bound to our citizens by the ties of friendship and kindred blood. They had instituted a government similar to our own. They had, moreover, resolved, on the recognition by us of their independence, to seek for admission into the union. They would also ask us to acknowledge their title to the territory, with the avowed design to treat of its transfer to the United States. A too early movement might subject us to the imputation of seeking to establish the claims of our neighbors to a territory with a view to its subsequent acquisition by ourselves.

Notwithstanding this caution of the president against a premature acknowledgment of the independence of Texas, the senate, on the 1st of March, adopted a resolution declaring the acknowledgment expedient and proper, 23 to 19. In the house a similar resolution was laid on the table, 98 to 86. Subsequently, however, the bill making appropriations

for civil and diplomatic expenses, was so amended as to provide a "salary and outfit of a diplomatic agent to be sent to the government of Texas, whenever the president should receive satisfactory evidence that Texas was an independent power, and that it was expedient to appoint such a minister.” Yeas, 171; nays, 76.

Apprehensions were about this time entertained of an interruption of the amicable relations between the United States and Mexico. A treaty of amity, commerce and navigation had been concluded between the two republics, the 5th of April, 1831. Since that time numerous injuries had been committed upon the persons and property of our citizens, and insults had been offered to our flag; and our demands for satisfaction and redress had proved unavailing. One of the causes of the delay, it was presumed, was the distracted condition of the internal affairs of that country. To this cause had recently been added the aid afforded by citizens of the United States to the revolution in Texas, with the supposed connivance or encouragement of the government.

On the 7th of February, 1837, the president called the attention of congress to the subject, by a special message, in which he stated, that the numerous injuries above mentioned, “independent of recent insults to this government and people by the late extraordinary Mexican minister," (who had suddenly taken his departure,) "would justify, in the eyes of all nations, immediate war.” He said, however, “considering the present embarrassed condition of that country, we should act with both wisdom and moderation, by giving to Mexico one more opportunity to atone for the past, before we take redress into our own hands.” And he recommended an act authorizing reprisals and the use of the naval force by the executive against Mexico, if she should refuse to come to an amicable adjustment of the matters in controversy upon another demand made from on board one of our vessels of war on the coast of Mexico.

The message was referred in both houses to the committees on foreign relations. Neither committee reported in favor of the act asked for by the president, but both reported resolutions in favor of another demand for a redress of grievances before coercive measures were adopted. The senate committee considered it contrary to a provision of the treaty with Mexico, that "neither of the contracting parties will order or authorize any acts of reprisal, nor declare war against the other, on complaint of injuries or damages, until the party considering itself offended shall first have presented to the other a statement of such injuries or damages, verified by competent proofs, and demanded justice and satisfaction, and the same shall have been either refused or unreasonably delayed.” The presidential term of Gen. Jackson closing with the expiration of this session, the prosecution of our claims against Mexico devolved upon Mr. Van Buren.

CHAPTER LIV.

SPECIE CIRCULAR - MEETING OF CONGRESS.-RESOLUTION TO RESCIND

THE CIRCULAR. —VETO.—BENTON'S EXPUNGING RESOLUTION.PRESI

DENTIAL ELECTION.

SEVERAL orders were this year (1836) issued from the treasury department to the receivers and disbursers of the public moneys and to the deposit banks, in relation to the receipt and payment of specie. The first of these orders, dated 220 February, 1836, was intended to diminish the circulation of small bank notes, and to substitute specie, especially gold, for such notes. The receipt of bank notes of a denomination less than five dollars had been prohibited after the 30th of September, 1835; and the present order prohibited their payment to any public officer or creditor. And unless otherwise prescribed by law, no such notes of a less denomination than ten dollars were to be received or paid after the 4th of July next. And the deposit banks were required, in the payment of all demands not exceeding five hundred dollars, to pay one-fifth in gold coin, if it should be preferred by the creditor. And they were requested not to issne, after the 4th of July, notes less than five dollars, nor after the 3rd of March, 1837, any less than ten dollars. The alleged object of this regulation was, "to render the currency of the country more safe, sound and uniform.”

This order was followed, on the 11th of July, 1836, by another, the famed “specie circular," which produced a more intense sensation, probably, than any other political event since the removal of the deposits. In anticipation of the winding up of the business of the bank of the United States, and notwithstanding the efforts of the administration to discourage the issue and circulation of paper money, an unprecedented increase of the number of state banks took place. For the 35 millions of bank capital withdrawn from use by the expiration of the national bank, state bank capital was created to several times that amount. The facility of obtaining bank accommodations encouraged speculations of all kinds to an extent never before known, especially in landed property. The annual receipts from sales of the public lands, had risen within a few years from less than four millions to three and four times that amount ! These lands were paid for with this paper money, issued mostly by banks in distant states, and therefore not likely soon to return for redemption.

To prevent the monopoly of the public lands by speculators, and to

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check this rapid accumulation in the treasury of paper money, much of which, it was apprehended, would prove inconvertible, this order was issued. In cases of sales, except to actual settlers, or residents of the state, and in quantities not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres, payment for lands sold after the 15th of August, was to be made in specie; and after the 15th of December, in gold and silver, without exception. This order was issued under an existing law, by which the secretary of the treasury was authorized to receive or to reject bank paper, at his discretion. Whether ultimately detrimental to the prosperity of the country or not, its immediate effect was a serious revulsion.

At the preceding session of congress, Mr. Benton had submitted a resolution proposing the exclusion of all paper money in payment for public lands; but his proposition met with little favor. His opinion of the effects of the measure was thus expressed: “Upon the federal government, its effect would be to check the unnatural sale of the public lands to speculators for paper; it would limit the sales to settlers and cultivators; stop the swelling increases of paper surpluses in the treasury; put an end to all projects for disposing of surpluses ; and relieve all anxiety for the fate of the public moneys in the deposit banks. Upon the new states, where the public lands are situated, its effects would be most auspicious. It would stop the flood of paper with which they are inundated, and bring in a steady stream of gold and silver in its place.” The settlers, too, he said, would be relieved from the competition of speculators who came “with bales of bank notes borrowed upon condition of carrying them far away, and turning them loose where many would be lost, and never get back to the bank that issued them."

The circular was issued only one week after the adjournment of congress; having been purposely withheld, as Mr. Benton says, to avoid any interference of congress, a majority of both houses being known to be opposed to the measure. A majority of the cabinet also were opposed to it.

The 2d session of the 24th congress commenced on the 5th day of December, 1836. Being a short session, and the last under the administration of Gen. Jackson, few acts of importance were passed.

The president, in his message, expressed his disapprobation of the deposit act of the last session, which had “received a reluctant approval.” He spoke at length against the distribution principle, and the act in particular. A prominent objection to it was the rule of apportionment which it had adopted, which was unequal and unjust. Instead of a distribution in proportion to the population of each state, the rule prescribed by the constitution for the apportionment of representatives and direct taxes, the money was to be divided among the states according to their federal representation, both senators and representatives. Delaware, for example, was entitled to but one representative for her population; but her two senators being included in the basis for distribution, gave her more than double the amount she would receive had the apportionment been made according to population. mended the adoption of some measure to prevent the accumulation of a surplus making a division necessary. He acknowledged a partial change in his views, and gave reasons for his having recommended distribution in 1829 and 1830. He discussed the currency questionfavored a specie circulation, and discouraged the use of bank paper. He defended the “specie circular” and the destruction of the bank, as salutary measures, and pronounced the state banks fully equal to the former in transferring the public moneys.

He also called attention to the bank of the United States, which had, before the expiration of the charter, obtained an act of incorporation from the legislature, and was now a state bank. Instead of proceeding to wind up its affairs, and paying over to the government the amount of the stock held by it, the president and directors of the old bank had transferred the books, papers and effects to the new corporation, which had entered upon business as a continuation of the old concern.

A few days after the commencement of the session, Mr. Ewing, of Ohio, introduced into the senate a joint resolution “to rescind the treasury order of July 11, 1836, and to prohibit the secretary of the treasury from directing what funds should be receivable in payment for public lands, and from making any discrimination in the funds so receivable, between different individuals, or between different branches of the public service; ” thus requiring the same kind of money in payment for customs as for lands.

Mr. Ewing, in explaining his reasons for offering the resolution, said he thought other objects than those which had been avowed, were contemplated by the issuing of the circular. It had been foreseen before congress met, that some measure would be attempted to check the accumulation of public money in the hands of the executive. When the distribution was brought forward, it was positively asserted, that there would be no surplus revenue; but when these statements were contradicted by the rapid influx of public money, it was declared that the whole surplus would be required for the necessities of the country. And the secretary of the treasury had, in his report of December, under-estimated the probable amount in the treasury the 1st of January thereafter, by many millions—an error so gross as scarcely to be attributable to inadvertence. When other expedients had failed, only seven days after the adjournment of congress, the order was issued, thus chang.