of internal improvement. Upon a more recent occasion, in the winter of 1848, he advocated and voted for a grant to the State of Illinois of the right of way and a donation of public lands for making a railroad, connecting the upper and lower Mississippi with the lakes at Chicago.

Probably much of the misrepresentation of the General's views on this question should be attributed to a studied purpose, on the part of his political opponents. Perhaps there are persons so inimical to any measure which receives the sanction of the Democratic party, that, at times, they oppose what their judgment convinces them is right. However this may be, in the summer of 1847, an attempt was made to commit the people of the west, who were personally interested in river and harbor improvements, to a disavowal of the doctrines of the Democratic party in this par ticular; and, with this view, a convention was called and held at the city of Chicago in July of that year. The delegates to this convention were self-appointed, and it was numerously attended. The ultimate object of it was to procure action condemnatory of the policy of the Democratic party, as was thought in many quarters; and if persons, known to be members of that party, were in attendance, such a vote would have the appearance, at least, of being sustained by a portion of the Democratic party. The distinguished men of all parties were invited to be present by a committee of arrangements. To these invitations answers in writing were returned. Some of the more prominent men of the Whig school of politics discussed the question at length in their replies,— and very properly, if such was their inclination. Among other distinguished men of the Democratic party, General Cass was very politely invited to be present. He had prior engagements on his hands to fulfill, and he declined accepting the invitation, in the following neat and concise note in reply, nearly two months in advance of the assembling of the convention:

"DETROIT, May 17th.

"DEAR SIR-I am much obliged to you for your kind attention in transmitting me an invitation to attend the Convention on Internal Improvements, which will meet in Chicago in July. Circumstances, however, will put it out of my power to be present at that time. "I am, dear sir, "Respectfully yours,

"W. L. WHITING, ESQ., Chicago, Ill."

"LEWIS CASS.

There was no occasion for an expression of his opinions or views upon the subject matter of the invitation, or what the action of the convention to which it alluded should be. The records of Congressional legislation contained them in abundance, and all who had taken the trouble to inform themselves of the current history of their country, could not be otherwise than fully informed. Perhaps a man less scrupulous about obtruding his personal sentiments upon the public than General Cass, might have seized upon the opportunity to avow, unasked, his private views; but such an answer to a simple invitation to attend a public meeting, all will readily admit would have been in bad taste, especially when it is understood (for such was the fact,) that the General was not aware that Mr. Whiting was a member of any committee, but, on the contrary, regarded his note as a private communication from one gentleman to another.

This brief and very intelligible letter, however, in a subsequent year, formed the text for much political badinage; and we do not now remember that ever six lines were written which have been the subject of so much perversion. It has been cited, frequently, as evidence of the General's hostility to harbor and river improvements, when it does not contain one word on the subject, or intimation, even, from which such an unfounded and unwarranted inference could be drawn.

As there has been so much anxiety manifested to know why the General did not attend the convention, it is but just to say, that, in addition to prior engagements that put it entirely out of his power to be present, without much inconvenience personally, he did not deem it absolutely necessary for himself to attend, because it was his opinion that the object of the convention was political, entirely incompatible with his views and practice; and, above all, that its labors would not effect any particular benefit. He, in short, was unable to perceive how any useful plan of action could be devised or adopted by a large assemblage, among whom differences of opinion existed, in a time of great political excitement, gathered from many sections of the country, without limitation as to numbers, and possessing no degree of responsibility for the wisdom or felicity of the measures it might happen to propose; and the result proved he was right, for no good resulted from its labors.

On his route homeward from Washington, immediately after

his acceptance of the Presidential nomination in 1848, General Cass was welcomed at Cleveland by a large concourse of his fellow-citizens. Judge Wood, of that place an old acquaintance and political friend of the General-at their request, formally addressed him. To this, General Cass made a suitable reply, acknowledging the respect paid him, that his voice was weak, his health feeble, and his strength prostrated with the fatigue of several days' travel, and suggested that he was doubtful whether, amidst the noise and confusion that prevailed, he could be distinctly heard by all present. After making a few further observations appropriate to the occasion, he concluded his reply, and received the personal congratulations of such as saw fit to approach him.

It has since been alledged, that the General sheltered himself behind the noise and confusion, to avoid an expression of his views on the subject of harbor and river improvements. As if his views on that topic were not fully before the people, the allegation has often been reiterated, until the words italicised in the preceding paragraph, have become classical in our political nomenclature. The allegation is untrue, and was regarded as too silly to be noticed by the General's political friends, until January, 1850, when, having been revived by the Washington Repub lic, Messrs J. W. Gray, the editor of the Cleveland Plaindealer, and H. V. Willson, a respectable citizen and lawyer of Ohio, addressed Judge Wood-then Governor of Ohio-and received from him the following explicit statement of what transpired on the occasion alluded to:

"EXECUTIVE OFFICE, Columbus, January 21st, 1851. "GENTLEMEN :-Your favor of the 28th instant came duly to hand last evening, on the subject of that stale slander, the speech of General Cass at Cleveland in 1848, as reported in the Herald, and requesting my recollection of it, and the order in which it occurred.

"In justice to myself, I must say, at the time of the reception of General Cass at Cleveland, I had not read his letter accepting the nomination for President, or no opportunity would have been given for the perverse and silly version of his speech, which was published in the Herald on that occasion.

"The speech attributed to the General, that there was 'so much noise and confusion' that he could not be heard in answer to the

particular subjects of river and harbor improvements, and the extension of slavery into the free territories of the United States, to which his attention had been especially invited, was not made by him in that connection at all.

"IIis remarks were very able, eloquent, and appropriate, for an effort of the kind. He commenced by saying he was fatigued with several days' travel; that his health was feeble, his voice but weak, and he was doubtful whether, amidst the noise and confusion that prevailed, he could be distinctly heard by all in that vast assembly.

"General Cass then gave a brief history of his emigration to Ohio when a youth; his residence in the State of his adoption. He spoke of the condition of Ohio when he first settled at Zanesville; of her rapid advance in intelligence, population, and wealth, and of the interest he had always felt in her institutions and prosperity, &c., &c.

"General Cass then, in order, alluded to the recent events in Europe, and drew a comparison between the governments of England, France, and Germany, and the American Republic, &c., &c., which occupied him fifteen or twenty minutes; and then, turning from the assembly directly to me, he observed that the particular subjects to which I had called his attention were those upon which he had hoped his sentiments were well known and understood. For a knowledge of his opinions on those subjects, he could only refer to his votes and action in the Senate of the United States for several years-to his letter to Mr. Nicholson, in which he had expressed himself without reserve; and he thought they would afford more satisfactory evidence of his sentiments than any assurances he could then give, under the circumstances by which he was surrounded. 'Besides,' (said he) 'in my letter accepting the nomination for President, I have stated that it must close my professions of political faith, and to this declaration I think I ought to adhere.' "This was the substance of the speech, according to my recollection of it, and the order in which it was delivered. The report of it in the Cleveland Herald, and which was put into my hands but a short time after General Cass left the stand, was doubtless an artful and designed misrepresentation of the whole affair. "I am, gentlemen, very respectfully,

"R. WOOD. "MESSRS. GRAY and WILLSON, Esqs., Cleveland, &c., &c."

In order that there may be no misconception of his views on this interesting topic, we make a few extracts from a speech of his, delivered in the Senate at the close of the session of Congress in March, 1851, on the river and harbor bill.

"Now, sir, the honorable senator from South Carolina [Mr. Butler] has referred, rather triumphantly, I thought, to the resolutions of the Baltimore Convention, and seems to suppose that their faithful observance would prevent those of us who acknowl edge their obligations from voting for any river or harbor bill. Mr. President, for one, I see neither difficulty in the case, nor inconsistency in the course. This resolution, disavowing the right to establish a general system of internal improvements for that is the doctrine reproved -was first presented to the Democratic party by that able and incorruptible statesman, Silas Wright, whose memory is embalmed in the heart of every true Democrat. Well, sir, he, its acknowledged father, held at the time he urged it, and continued to hold till his lamented death, the same opinions upon this subject which are now sanctioned by the Democratic party, and which authorize these appropriations for certain national objects. Can a doubt rest upon the mind of any man, fairly disposed, respecting the construction he put upon his own declaration? What he meant, and what the Democratic party mean to repudiate, is the power to spread a great system of public works through the whole country, embracing roads, canals, rivers and harbors, and ponds, too, for aught I know-a system by which the Union was to be covered with roads and canals, as by a network, and whose consequences, as well financially in the enor mous expenditure it would entail, as morally and politically by the corruptions it would lead to, no man can seriously contemplate without alarm. Why, sir, a fact which has just been stated by an honorable member, [Mr. Downs,] that at the time of the Maysville veto there were propositions before committees of Congress for lines of roads to the amount of $106,000,000, as I understood him, for I have not time to refer to the documents, places in a striking light the dangers we were exposed to, and from which we escaped by the firmness and wisdom of Andrew Jackson; and, by the adherence of the Democratic party to the principles of this great act we are yet safe from this peril. They have taken roads and canals from the grasp of the general government, and all the rivers, except a few, which can be considered national in their