it formed a striking contrast, served as a powerful check to the violent proceedings of their neighbors.

Grounds taken to sustain the excitement. For the purpose of keeping up and increasing this excitement, propositions of the most untenable and deceptive character were industriously circulated among the people. Some of which were the following:

1. Upon the export of every hundred bales of cotton, and the importation of its avails in dutiable articles, the producer, that is, the southern planter, pays sixty of them into the treasury in the shape of impost, that being the average of duties. That this never can be collected of the consumer, because there being a constant supply in market, neither the demand nor the price can be increased. One obvious result of this position demonstrating its fallacy is, that three or four small states, producing cotton, pay nearly as much into the treasury as the whole amount of its receipts. It had, however, its designed effect.

2. That the south, in the character of consumers, are the greatest, and almost the only sufferers by the tariff. This, on examination, is found to be equally fallacious. The principal and most objectionable article in the act of 1828, is woolens. The climate of the north requires the consumption of double the amount of this article by any given number of inhabitants. At least three fourths of the people of the north are no otherwise interested in the success of woolen establishments, than as they participate in the general prosperity of the country. Admitting, therefore, that the consumer pays the duty, a position never controverted, except for the purposes of this excitement, and too obvious to require illustration, the population of the north, not interested in woolen manufactures, pay a heavier duty on that article than the south.

3. That the tariff will prevent the exportation of the southern staple to Great Britain, as she will not receive it, except in exchange for her manufactures. This position is bottomed upon the subversion of a principle as old and as demonstrable as any in mathematics, to wit, that the manufacturer will purchase the raw material where he can obtain it upon the best terms. As long as the British cotton merchant and manufacturer have in view the profits of their business, the planter may rest assured that his staple will find purchasers whenever it can be brought to market upon better terms, than the same article from other places.

4. That the protecting system has been adopted by an unrelenting and overbearing majority, and is not to be mitigated, however oppressive it may prove. Fears excited on this head are equally groundless, should a supply of any article fail of being produced at home on as good terms as from abroad, after a fair experiment, the south may rest assured it will be taken out of the tariff; and they need not rely on the charity or sympathies of their cold and heartless brethren of the north for this effect. In relation to any article of manufacture that can be named, nine tenths of the people of both sections are interested as consumers, and not as producers; it is impossible, therefore, that it should retain its place in the tariff, after a fair experiment which has proved unsuccessful. That there is a determination to make a thorough trial of the protecting system, which has been adopted and is now in operation in all other nations, and which has conducted them to wealth and greatness, cannot be doubted. The excitement bottomed upon these fallacious positions is beginning to subside by the effect of a more enlightened and correct course of reasoning. Colonel Drayton, a distinguished member of congress from the city of Charleston, in a decided manner has recently reprobated all disorderly and unconstitutional proceedings; and in a late contested election for municipal officers in that city, the question being between the advocates and opposers of the seditious and nullifying doctrines, the latter prevailed.

In this conflict of opinion, the views of Mr. Madison were anxiously sought. With the frankness and perspicuity characteristic of this venerable statesman, and in answer to the inquiries of a friend, he maintained in a conclusive course of reasoning, the power of congress to regulate trade and lay duties for the purpose of protecting domestic produc

tions.

British views of the tariff. In the British parliament, Mr. Huskisson, on the 18th of July, moved for the produc tion of copies of the American tariffs of 1824 and 1828. The professed objects of this motion were countervailing or retaliatory acts. Neither her statesmen there, nor her friends here, can with propriety complain of the adoption of a system which she had for a century adhered to, to the very letter, and which had contributed more than any thing else to her greatness. The debates in parliament on Mr. Huskisson's motion, exhibit the views of the ministry upon this subject. They affect to consider the tariff as an elec tioneering project, brought forward every four years to have

its influence in the choice of a president. They complain, that while they were adopting the liberal principles of free trade, America was entering upon the restrictive_system. This boasted liberality, on examination, was found to consist only in abolishing prohibitions and prohibitory duties, when they were no longer necessary. It did not admit an article of American produce for consumption, but such only as her manufactures required, and such as were before admissible. They treat the measure as one of designed hostility, denominate it a weak and absurd policy, and threaten retaliation. They advise their merchants, that their goods may yet find their way to the American market through the Canadas, without the payment of any duties.* Advantage was taken of the period between the passing of the law, and its going into operation, to introduce an immense quantity of British goods, to the injury of the American manufacturer.

Fortification of the Canadas. A debate in the British parliament, on the subject of fortifying the Canadas, became of interest to this country, as it brought into view the policy of that nation regarding her possessions on the North American continent, and her apprehensions in relation to the United States. In the year 1824, the duke of Wellington sent a commission of engineers to examine and report on the means of defense necessary for his majesty's North American colonies. They reported a system of fortifications, and canals for the transportation of the materiel of war, embracing an expenditure to the amount of ten millions of dollars. The object of first importance was the Rideau canal, along the northern bank of the St. Lawrence, from Kingston to Montreal. The rapids between those places render the ascending navigation hazardous, and of little value for heavy transportation, the channel in some places passing near the southern shore, the navigation is at all times subject to the control of the United States. These circumstances rendered the canal a work of immediate and essential importance to the defense of the upper country, as well as for commercial purposes. Grants to the crown, or, in the language of American legislation, appropriations, were made for its commencement. This, with the Welland canal, connecting the navigation of lakes Erie and Ontario,

*Parliamentary debates, July, 1828.

affords the provinces an inland sloop navigation from the ocean to lake Superior, a distance of nearly two thousand iniles.

On the 7th of July, Sir H. Harding moved in the house of commons a grant to the amount of $130,000, for erecting fortifications at Halifax and Kingston, as the commencement of a system embracing the views of Lord Wellington's commission of engineers. The opposition objected to this appropriation as a useless expenditure. They considered the British title to the Canadas, as little better than a tenancy, at the will of the United States; that they would soon become a component part of that power, or an indẹpendent sovereignty. In either case, the expenditure would be lost to them, and accrue to the benefit of their rival. The controversies between the governors and the provincial assemblies, chargeable, in a great measure, to the follies and imprudencies of the former, indicated such an event; to which, also, it might be added, the policy of restricting the navigation of the St. Lawrence, so beneficial to the inhabitants, both on its upper and lower banks, would very much contribute. The intercourse, connections, and mutual interests of the states and provinces, all lead to a speedy dissolution of the connection between the parent country and the colonies. By the time the contemplated works of defense were completed, which would probably occupy eight or ten years, Canada would be in a better situation to obtain her independence, than the United States were in 1775. She might always rely on a powerful co-operation from the states. Indeed, a more improvident and useless expenditure, could hardly be devised.

The replies of the ministry admitted that there were some grounds for the forebodings of the opposition, which the remarks themselves tended very much to bring about. They considered, that the interest and honor of the nation required, that the loss of their North American colonies should be guarded against with the utmost vigilance, and put off to the remotest period. Their speeches, as well as the large amount required for the object, indicated great sensibility, and an extreme jealousy towards the United States, in relation to the Canadas. The appropriation bill passed the house of commons: ayes, 126-noes, 51.

Presidential election of 1829-The candidates-Preparatory measures-N mination of General Jackson, by the legislature of Tennessee His ad dress and pledge-Charges against the administration-Result of the vote in the electoral colleges-Mr. Adams' last message to congress-Report the secretaries of the treasury and war-Nomination of a judge of the su preme court postponed-Propositions to alter the judiciary law, and amend the constitution-Brevet rank-General Scott suspended-Revie of Mr. Adams' administration-Prosperous condition of the country-F reign relations-Collection and disbursement of the revenue-Appoin inents to office-Support of the principles of internal improvements, an of the protecting system-Effects of a contest for the presidency.

Presidential election of 1829. The approaching pres dential election was the all engrossing topic of political dis cussion for 1828. Jackson and Adams being of the sam political party, or rather, party having become extinct, ex cept from causes of a personal, sectional, and temporar character, the public had but little interest in the question which of the two candidates should administer the govern ment for the coming four years. The general course o American policy is so well settled, that no president, it wa thought, would attempt to disturb it. The national progres to wealth and power is so steadily onwards, that even weak or corrupt administration can do but little to imped it. The contest for the presidency of 1829, at its com mencement, was chiefly of a personal nature, beginning firs with the candidates and their particular friends, next ex tending to all whose expectations of office or emolumen depended upon the success of either, and lastly to thei friends, and all over whom they had any influence: appende to these, was a large class of minor politicians, whose ob ject was to elevate themselves to notice by entering the lists

Their course of reasoning was, "I am nothing now, I can not be less, I may be more." This mass, combined and se in motion, was sufficiently powerful to agitate the whol community.

Disappointed in the result of the election of 1825 in th house of representatives, the friends of General Jackson determined to take the earliest and most effectual measure to secure the next. His banner was unfurled in the legisla