States. The theory of our political institutions is familiar to us all. The governments of the confederated States have their respective rights and duties clearly defined, and each within its proper sphere is independent of the others: each raises and expends its revenue, and performs all the functions of a sovereign State. What right has one to interfere with another, unless in cases marked out by the Constitution itself? If the general government can provide a revenue for the respective States, and does provide one, it is clear that one great distinctive feature of our political system will disappear, and that the relations between the confederation as such, and the individual States composing it, will be wholly changed. Human sagacity can not foretell what would be the entire result of this state of things, but it is easy to predict that this new application of the money power would give to the government of the United States a strength never contemplated by the American people, and irreconcilable with our constitutional organization, and that it would lead to a habit of dependence on the part of the States, by which their efficiency to resist any encroachments of the general government would be paralized. Without pushing these considerations further, I conclude this branch of the subject by repeating that, in my opinion, no distribution of the proceeds of the public lands should be made.

"The subject of the protective tariff has been so long and ably discussed, that it would be useless for me to do more than to give you the result of my views. I think, then, that the revenue of the government ought to be brought down to the lowest point compatible with the performance of its constitutional functions; and that in the imposition of duties necessary, with the proceeds of the public lands, to provide this revenue, incidental protection should be afforded to such branches of American industry as may require it. This appears to me not only constitutional, but called for by the great interests of the country; and if a protective tariff upon this principle were wisely and moderately established, and then left to its own operation, so that the community could calculate upon its reasonable duration, and thus avoid ruinous fluctuations, we might look for as general an acquiescence in the arrangement as we can ever expect in questions of this complicated kind, when local feelings have been enlisted, which a prudent legislature must consult more or less, and endeavor to reconcile.

"A proposition to amend the Constitution of the United States, is one which I should always receive with great caution. There is already in our country too great a disposition to seek, in changes of the laws and Constitution, remedies for evils to which all societies are more or less liable, instead of leaving them to find their own cure in the operation of the ordinary causes which act upon communities. It is often better to suffer a partial inconvenience, than rashly to alter the fundamental principles of a political system. Stability is better than change, when change is not decidedly called for. I am not aware that the exercise of the veto power has, for many years, produced any injury to the public service. On the contrary, I think in those cases where it has been recently interposed, it has been properly applied, and that its action has been approved by a great majority of the people. I see, therefore, no practical evil which demands, in this respect, a change in the Constitution of the United States. Should cases of that nature occur, it will then be time to seek the proper remedy. "With great respect, gentlemen, I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

"LEWIS CASS.

"To ETHAN A. BROWN, JOHN LAW, NATHANIEL WEST, JOHN "PETTIT, JESSE D. BRIGHT, and A. C. PEPPER, Esquires."

In the spring of this year, a large political meeting was held in Cincinnati, at which an address and resolutions were adopted, expressing great partiality for General Cass for the Presidency. Mr. Van Buren, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Buchanan, Colonel Benton, and Colonel Richard M. Johnson, were named for the same position. All of them were fully qualified to administer the government, and members of the same party. The meeting alluded to, in canvassing their respective qualifications, acknowledged their fitness for the position, but expressed the conviction that there was a sectionality attached to each of them, with the exception of the first named, which would not fail to have its influence when they came before the whole people at the polls. As to Mr. Van Buren, he had once held the post, with high credit to himself and country, it was true, but he had, as his term approached its close, again been presented to the suffrages of his fellow-citizens, and they, by a paramount majority, had declined to vote for his

continuance. This fact, it was thought, would weaken him if once more brought out, and the Presidential canvass again terminate in his defeat. To the permanent success of the Democratic party, this meeting proclaimed that it was necessary to nominate the man who "could go before the American people, commanding the most heartfelt enthusiasm, and combining the most elements of success; and such a man is Lewis Cass-a man who exemplifies in his own person and history one of the best traits of our institutions."

Meetings of a similar character, and expressive of the same sentiments, were held in other parts of the Union. Indeed, in a few months they became general and enthusiastic. In the meantime, the object of all these attentions was quietly attending to his own private affairs at his home in Detroit. He had not seen General Jackson since his return from France, and thought of visiting his venerable friend at the Hermitage in Tennessee, when he received the following letter, full of approval of his course at the Court of St. Cloud.

"HERMITAGE, July, 1843.

"MY DEAR SIR:-I have the pleasure to acknowledge your friendly letter of the 25th of May last. It reached me in due course of mail, but such were my debility and afflictions, that I have been prevented from replying to it until now; and even now it is with difficulty that I write. In return for your expressions with regard to myself, I have to remark that I shall ever recollect, my dear General, with great satisfaction, the relations, both private and official, which subsisted between us during the greater part of my administration. Having full confidence in your abilities and republican principles, I invited you to my cabinet, and I never can forget with what discretion and talents you met those great and delicate questions which were brought before you whilst you presided over the Department of War, which entitled you to my thanks, and will be ever recollected with the most lively feeling of friendship by me.

"But what has endeared you to every true American, was the noble stand which you took, as our minister at Paris, against the quintuple treaty, and which, by your talents, energy, and fearless responsibility, defeated its ratification by France-a treaty intended by Great Britain to change our international, laws, make her mistress of the seas, and destroy the national independence,

not only of our own country, but of all Europe, and enable her to become the tyrant on every ocean. Had Great Britain obtained the sanction to this treaty, (with the late disgraceful treaty of Washington -so disreputable to our national character, and injurious to our national safety,) then, indeed, we might have hung up our harps upon the willow, and resigned our national independence to Great Britain. But, I repeat, to your talents, energy, and fearless responsibility, we are indebted for the shield thrown over us from the impending danger which the ratification of the quintuple treaty by France would have brought upon us. For this act, the thanks of every true American, and the applause of every true republican, are yours; and for this noble act I tender you my thanks.

"Receive assurance of my friendship and esteem.

"ANDREW JACKSON."

It would be difficult for one to write a letter expressing sincerer or warmer friendship and respect. And it was the more gratifying to General Cass' feelings, because it so effectually annihilated the impudent rumor set afloat by impudent persons, that he stood at a low mark with General Jackson, and that the latter had posted him to France to get rid of him. The truth is - and so it was known to be by General Jackson's intimate friends in Tennessee -that General Cass was the adviser, on extraordinary occasions, all the while he was Secretary of War. But what gave greater value to this letter, in the estimation of General Cass, at this particular time, was the unqualified approval it contained of his course towards Britain's claim to the right of search, and of its unqualified disapproval of the disgraceful treaty of Washington. It was on this subject that General Cass felt the greatest interest then, and in relation to which he had the greatest desire to hear from valued friends. General Jackson, in the quiet groves of the Hermitage, had watched the progress of British diplomacy, and duly estimated the herculean difficulties with which our minister had been environed. And as a friend both to him and his country, the venerable patriot felt that, if his government would not stand by him, the people would do so, and for one, he did, with all his heart.

CHAPTER XXXI.

General Cass delivers an Oration at Fort Wayne-The Celebration-Preparations for the Presidential Election-The Candidates-The Texas Question-General Cass' views-The National Democratic Convention of 1844-Letter of General Cass to the Delegates from Michigan-The Whig Convention -The Democratic Ticket-Support of General Cass-The Result.

On the fourth of July, 1843, General Cass delivered an oration at Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the occasion of the celebration of the completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal-the union of the lakes and of the Mississippi. Thousands of his fellow-citizens, far and near, came out to see and hear him. It was a proud day for the States of Ohio and Indiana-the two sister and contiguous States that projected and completed the great communication — and it was a proud day for him. Onward, he told them, was the mighty word of our age and country. He entertained his vast audience. with sublime thoughts and words of eloquence. He told them what the country they inhabited was, forty years before, and "today," said he, "a new work is born; a work of peace and not of war. We are celebrating the triumph of art, and not of arms. Centuries hence, we may hope that the river you have made will still flow both east and west, bearing upon its bosom the riches of a prosperous people, and that our descendants will come to keep the day which we have come to mark. Associations are powerful in the older regions of the Eastern continent. They, however, belong to the past. Here they are fresh and vigorous, and belong to the future. There, hope is extinct, and history has closed its record. Here we have no past. All has been done within the memory of man. Our province of action is the present, of contemplation, the future. No man can stand upon the scene of one of those occurrences which has produced a decisive effect upon the fate of nations, and which history has rendered familiar to us from youth, without being withdrawn from the influence of the present, and carried back to the period of conflict, of doubt, and of success, which attended some mighty struggle. All this is the triumph of mind, the exertion of intellect, which