from cold or fatigue, have borne testimony to their utter inefficacy. Our eminent countryman, Dr. Rush, coincides in this opinion, and asserts that a small quantity of food restores the system to its usual vigor, far better than these destructive stimulants, after it has been debilitated by exertion or suffering. And in some of the most terrible shipwrecks recorded in naval annals, it has been found that the persons who refrained from the use of spirits, were better enabled to resist the calamities impending over them than those who sought strength and consolation in this indulgence. Experience is as decisive on this subject as it is satisfactory. And in the disastrous retreat from Moscow, which broke the scepter of Napoleon, and wrested the nations of Europe from his iron grasp, it is recorded by the historians of the expedition, that the soldiers who were perfectly temperate resisted the elemental war around them when the general pulse of life stood still,' and when a scene was presented which, in terrible sublimity, surpasses all that the wildest imagination has ever shadowed forth, when the spirit of the storm was abroad, and the chivalry of Europe fled or fell before the northern blast.

"Too long have those who are yielding to this propensity deluded themselves and others with this pretense of the necessary use of ardent spirits. It is time the foundations were broken up and the superstructure demolished. What was the state of the ancient world where the process of distillation was unknown? The Arabian chemists were the first to introduce it, and not all the drugs of Arabia have been able to counteract its pernicious influence. There is nothing which leads to the belief that men were less able to endure fatigue, or that the average duration of human life was shorter. On the contrary, some of the most stupendous monuments of human power were erected in the carly age of the world, and have come down to us unimpaired, surviving the memory of their founders and the objects of their construction. Extreme longevity was one of the characteristics of that period, and many of our most fatal disorders were unknown. A Roman soldier carried a weight of sixty pounds, besides his arms, and usually marched twenty miles a day. Every night he labored to enclose his encampment with a parapet and ditch. No fatigue nor exposure exempted an army from this duty, enjoined by the fundamental principles of their military service. Could an American soldier, with his daily allowance of spirits, or I may

rather say, his daily temptation to drink, do more than this? Carry eighty pounds upon his back, march twenty miles a day, and then fortify his encampment! To the Roman soldier ardent spirits were unknown. To the American they have been the bane of his life, and their destructive effects may be traced in every platoon of our army. Away, then, with this idle pretense of necessity. The necessity exists nowhere but in the apologetic answers of those who, determined not to relinquish this darling habit, are yet desirous of presenting some excuse to themselves and others for its indulgence. But there is, fortunately, one safe and plain method, by which all danger may be avoided, and that is by ENTIRE INTERDICTION. Abstinence, and abstinence alone, from ardent spirits, will shield us from their injurious consequences. And this, in fact, is the only effectual safeguard within our power."

Thus boldly did General Cass speak, over twenty years ago, on the evils of intemperance. ENTIRE INTERDICTION was what he recommended to others, and adopted for himself. The regulations which he made, in this particular, for the observance of the army, introduced a new era into our military history.

On the fourth of March, 1833, General Jackson was inaugurated President of the United States, for his second term. After one of the most malignant political contests in the history of our country, he was triumphantly sustained by a large majority of the people, and their approving voice given to his important measures. This incorruptible verdict re-invigorated him, and his hosts of resolute and unflinching friends, and paralyzed in astonishment his tireless foes. On the day after, General Cass remarked to the President that the Secretaryship of War was in his hands. "No," said the old hero, "it is not. I can not do without you." And that department of the government moved on as usual.

In a few months a question similar in character to that of South Carolina, arose within the State of Alabama, which again brought the federal and State authorities to the very point of collision. It was in consequence of trespasses by emigrants on the lands of the United States, acquired from the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Muscogee or Creek Indians. The United States was under obligations, by treaty, to prevent intrusion upon lands that had belonged to these Indians within the State of Alabama, until they

could be removed to their new homes on the other side of the Mississippi. Emigrants, nevertheless, intruded upon their grounds. It was the duty of the federal government to drive them off, and proceeded to do so. Alabama demurred, and called upon her judiciary to protect the settlers. The peaceful relations of that State with the United States were thus menaced. But the energy and prudence of the Secretary of War, throughout the whole exigency, happily averted all collision. His regard for law and a scrupulous observance of the rights of the judiciary, in the prosecution of this matter, is manifested in the following letters writ ten by him, and addressed, the first to Colonel McIntosh, then a major in the army of the United States, and the latter to F. B. Key, Esq.

"DEPARTMENT OF WAR, October 29th, 1833. "SIR-Your letter of the 21st instant, to General Macomb, has been laid before me, and, in answer, I have to inform you that you will interpose no obstacle to the service of legal process upon any officer or soldier under your command, whether issuing from the courts of the State of Alabama or of the United States. On the contrary, you will give all necessary facilities to the execution of such process.

"It is not the intention of the President that any part of the military force of the United States should be brought into collision with the civil authority. In all questions of jurisdiction it is the duty of the former to submit to the latter, and no considerations must interfere with that duty. If, therefore, an officer of the State, or of the United States, come with legal process against yourself, or any officer or soldier of your garrison, you will freely admit him within your post, and allow him to execute his writ undisturbed. (Signed,) "LEWIS CASS."

[Extract of a Letter to F. B. Key, Esq.]

"DEPARTMENT OF WAR, October 31st, 1833.

"Let all legal process, whether from the courts of the United States or from those of the State of Alabama, be submitted to without resistance and without hesitation. The supremacy of the civil over the military authority is one of the great features of our institutions, and one of the bulwarks of the Constitution.

CHAPTER XIX.

Removal of the Deposits-Popularity of the Administration-Mr. Clay's Resolutions-Their Effect on General Jackson's Mind-The American Historical Society-General Cass delivers an OrationExtracts-The Auditory-Their Feelings on the Occasion.

The re-election of General Jackson decided the fate of the United States Bank. It was the paramount issue involved, and the chief staple of acrimony at all the polls. Canvassers and orators spoke to that question on the hustings and in the committee rooms. The decisive fiat of the unshackled freemen of America had gone forth. -the institution must die-and the herculean monster was now writhing under this annihilating sentence of a court from which there could be no appeal. It had been for years the custodian of the people's money, and yet had it in its coffers. The bank must now give up the money, and the President ordered his financial officer to make the demand. Mr. Duane, at the head of the Treasury Department, declined to do so, and Mr. Taney was substituted in his place. The deposits were removed, and the government, for the first time, became its own banker.

The people pointed with pride to the administration of their affairs, under General Jackson and his constitutional advisers. Long pending negotiations with England were being brought to a successful termination; the indemnities of the French government obtained; claims, hoary with age, against Denmark, Sweden, and Naples, were adjusted, and commercial treaties, opening new and advantageous sources of trade, were made with many foreign countries. The sails of our commercial marine whitened almost every sea, and went on their way unmolested. In every foreign court, in all countries, and upon every ocean, our flag was respected, and the administration steadily and successfully directed its efforts to the promotion of public interests and the maintenance of the national faith and honor. In the eye of the civilized world the government of the United States stood upon the highest pinnacle of fame.

In all these measures, and in all the councils of the cabinet,

General Cass was, in fact, what the word signifies, the adviser of the President. He never missed his attendance at consultation. Of long experience, and thoroughly conversant with the rights and duties of nations, and, above all, devoted in his attachment to the President, his views were always listened to with attention. Respected, in all his personal relations, as a man of stern integrity, the President never failed to give him his ear in all matters of public concern. On many an occasion, during the sessions of Congress, when turbulence was at a furious hight, and grave senators even seemed to be willing to tear in pieces the Constitution, and invade, with pistol and bowie knife, the domicil of their chief magistrate, did General Cass repair to the executive chamber, at the urgent summons of its occupant, and, on more occasions than one, at the dead hour of midnight, and there talk and counsel for hours what course to pursue and what measures to bring forward to preserve inviolate the sacred ark of the covenant, and keep the ship of state proudly on her course.

The President, in the course of an eventful life, had passed through many a trying scene, and had often been assailed with pen and tongue, but the action of the Senate, in placing upon its immortal records the famous resolutions of Mr. Clay, in December, 1833, was a fearful shock to his strong nervous system. It produced more than anger. This word faintly conveys the idea. The universally acknowledged patriot felt that his sacred love of country, and in which was concentrated all his pride, had been vitally attacked; and for months this rough treatment was his first thought in the morning and his last at night. With this in remembrance, the reader can better appreciate with what unalloyed satisfaction, years afterwards, he greeted the intelligence that the same august body, in its calmer moments, had endeavored to repair the outrage, and blot the sacriligious chronicle from the memory of mankind.

General Cass, as has already been perceived, was a man of letters, of varied information, and an elegant writer; and fre quently was he called upon to gratify his admirers. It is remarkable that he could find time to do so, amid the cares of office, and, especially, during the stirring times he resided in Washington. It must be attributed to his unwearied industry, regularity of life, and, as a quaint scholar says, "his concoction of reading into judg ment." Honored, time and again, with notices in this way from