that it ought to have been known that the government had expressly repudiated the employment of bloodhounds in the war. Mr. Lumpkin, of Georgia, thought their use by the people of Florida was justified by the frequent murders and the destruction of property committed by the Indians. Contradictory accounts were for a time given respecting the efficiency of these hounds. After repeated trials, their use was abandoned.

On the 10th of May, 1842, the senate received a communication from the president, (Mr. Tyler,) proposing a different course of measures in relation to the Indians in Florida. Their number had been reduced by surrender and capture to a few hundred ; less than one hundred of whom were warriors, or males capable of bearing arms. The president thought the farther pursuit of these miserable beings by a large military as injudicious as unavailing. Their mode of warfare, their dispersed condition, and the smallness of their numbers, which increased the diffculty of finding them in their almost inaccessible hiding places, rendered any farther attempt to subdue them by force impracticable, except by the employment of the most expensive means. And coinciding with the views of the commanding officer there, the governor of the territory, and other persons, he had determined to resort to peaceable means, with the view of inducing them to a voluntary surrender, and removal to the west. He thought it desirable that settlements should be made similar to those contemplated by the bill of Mr. Benton, in 1840, providing for the occupation of the soil of the frontiers of the territory. An act for this purpose was accordingly passed at this session. It offered to any head of a family or any single man over eighteen years of age, able to bear arms, and making an actual settlement, one quarter section of land, on certain conditions, one of which was that he should resia ? on the same for four years, erect a house fit for habitation, and clear, inclose, and cultivate at least five acres of land.

The war may be considered as having been terminated by this cessation of hostilities on the part of the United States. Only a few acts of violence were afterwards committed; and by occasional surrenders and removal, the territory was left in the peaceable possession of its white inhabitants. Settlements under the act of congress before mentioned, were made, in the meantime, with great rapidity. The act was to continue in force but one year, during which time the 200,000 acres granted by the government were all, or nearly all, taken up.

The expense of this war, considering the very small number of the Indians, was enormous, amounting to about twenty millions of dollars.

CHAPTER LX.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1840. —CLAIMS ON MEXICO. —CLOSE OF MR.

VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION.

The whig national nominating convention met at Harrisburg on the 4th of December, 1839. James Barbour, of Virginia, presided. On the third day, the 6th of December, the nominations were made. Of the 254 votes, William Henry Harrison received 148; Henry Clay, 90; and Winfield Scott, 16. Mr. Clay was preferred by a plurality of the delegates; but many of his friends, considering him less available as a candidate than Gen. Harrison, consented to the adoption of the latter. John Tyler received as a candidate for vice-president, 231 votes, being all that were cast. The delegates from Virginia, of whom Mr. Tyler was one, at his request, did not ballot for vice-president. The delegations from the several states balloted separately. All the states were represented except South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The convention adjourned on the 4th day of its session.

The democratic convention was held at Baltimore, the 5th of May, 1840, being represented by twenty-one states. Mr. Van Buren, as was expected, was unanimously nominated for president. No nomination for vice-president was made; each state being left to make a nomination for itself.

The abolitionists, who had hitherto voted according to their former party attachments, now brought into the field candidates of their own, A meeting of the Western New York anti-slavery society was held at Warsaw in November, 1839, at which was discussed the propriety of making nominations; and, although this was not among the objects for which the convention had been called, the proposition was adopted. James G. Birney, of New York, formerly of Alabama, was nominated for president, and Francis J. Lemoyne, of Pennsylvania, for vice-president.

The presidential canvass of 1840 was unusually spirited. There had been during a great part of Mr. Van Buren's administration, a pressure in the money market; and a general depression in business affairs. This state of things was ascribed to the interference of the government with the currency. The bank of the United States had been destroyed; and notwithstanding its capital continued to be employed, under a charter from the state of Pennsylvania, state bank capital had been enormously increased; having been tripled or quadrupled. Much of the paper issued by these banks had greatly depreciated, and that of many of them

had become worthless. In Mississippi, where, in 1830, there was, besides the branch of the United States bank, but one chartered bank, with a capital of less than one million of dollars, in 1838, the chartered bank capital of that state had reached upward of sixty millions. The excessive issue of bank paper had been followed by its natural result, the suspension of specie payments, which was at this time still continued in some states, especially in the western and south-western states. And where suspension had ceased, it was necessary for the banks greatly to restrict their issues.

But the whigs found other causes than "experiments " upon the currency, to which to attribute the public distress. The lowest rates of duties contemplated by the compromise tariff of 1833, had nearly been reached; and for the want of adequate protection, domestic manufactures had been to a great extent superseded by importations, which were draining the country of its specie; the consequences of which were the inability of the banks to supply the business wants of the community, and at the same time to diminish the demand for labor.

This depressed condition of the country contributed essentially to the success of the whig party. Many who had approved the policy of the administration, began to doubt the wisdom of its measures. A still greater number, unable to either trace existing evils to their true source, or to judge intelligently in relation to any proposed remedy, were disposed to try a change of policy, under the persuasion that it could not well be for the worse. True, the measures of the administration were but a continuation of the policy of that which preceded it; but, although the principles of the two administrations were the same, Gen. Jackson and Mr. Van Buren were different persons. Although the latter was pledged to tread in " the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor," he found it impossible to carry with him his popularity. Gen. Jackson was the • hero of two wars ;" Mr. Van Buren had never in this way “exposed himself to the enemy." No measure of statesmanship could afford him half the advantage which his predecessor derived from the single victory of New Orleans. Here, his competitor had a vast advantage. He, like Gen. Jackson, had a military fame. He, too, had fought the Indians. The battle of Tippecanoe, however inferior, as a military achievement to the battle of New Orleans, furnished the whigs with an amount of political capital scarcely less than their opponents had found in the crowning act of the military career of their former candidate. Log cabins were doing for the whig cause what had been done by hickory poles in other contests for “ the democracy”-controlling the votes of thousands who want the disposition or the capacity for intelligent investigation.

new

Not the least of the advantages of the whigs in this campaign was, that their candidate had been taunted with having dwelt in a “log cabin," and used " hard cider" as a beverage. At least they charged upon their opponents the attempt thus to disparage him. Hence, the term "log cabin” was seized upon, and became the great talismanic word of the party, the effect of which all the arts of the “little magician ” were insufficient to counteract. Miniature log cabins were a part of the paraphernalia got up to give effect to the mass meetings, which were not unfrequently measured by acres. These rude structures, decorated with 'coon skins, were also erected of sufficient dimensions for the accommodation of the local assemblages. There was scarcely a city or village which was not adorned with an edifice of this description. And the number was “ legion" of those who traced their conversion to the “ light" emitted from these political forums.

It is, however, believed to be due to the American people to say, that thousands who participated in these fantastic exhibitions, would regret their recurrence. The idea of having recourse to such measures to promote an election, presupposes the lack of that popular intelligence which is the boast of our nation, and is made the subject of panegyric by every public orator. It is seriously doubted whether any immediate benefit secured by such means compensates for their debasing effect upon the public mind, or their reflection upon the national dignity. In the present instance, although the majorities were thus doubtless increased, the same general result would have been attained without a resort to the ex. traordinary measures which appear to be liable to the objections above mentioned.

Mr. Tyler, at an early period of this administration, as will be seen, disappointed the expectations, and lost the confidence of the party that elected him. He was charged with a gross and wanton violation of his pledges to the party, and of the principles upon which he had been elected. Of the grounds of this charge, his former political course may help us to judge. He had been identified with the Virginia school of politicians. In 1824, in common with his fellow citizens of that state, he supported Mr. Crawford for president. Preferring, however, Mr. Adams to Gen. Jackson, he wrote a letter to Mr. Clay, approving his vote in the house of representatives in favor of Mr. Adams. Soon after the election of Mr. Adams, he went over with the friends of Mr. Crawford to the support of Gen. Jackson. He was in favor of a strict construction of the constitution, and was therefore opposed to a tariff for protection, and to internal improvements by the general government, approving Gen. Jackson's vetoes of the Maysville road bill and other similar bills. He opposed, when in the senate, the renewal of the charter of the bank of the United States. He favored the doctrine of the South Carolina nullifiers in relation to state rights; and turned against Gen. Jackson for putting down nullification in that state. He opposed the force bill, both by a vehement speech and by his vote. He became attached to the Calhoun party in the senate, who united with the whigs in opposing the course of the president in assuming the power of controlling the deposit of the public moneys, although he was opposed to the bank on the ground of its unconstitutionality. He voted for Mr. Clay's resolutions charging Gen. Jackson with usurpation of power in directing the removal of the deposits. Thus far, therefore, Mr. Tyler is found to have adhered to the distinctive views of the party opposed to the whigs, having separated from his former friends only on the subtreasury and other financial questions.

He was appointed a delegate to the whig national convention held in De cember, 1839, and expressed, as is said, his preference for Mr. Clay. This fact, in connection with subsequent professions or declarations, were regarded as at least an implied pledge of support to the whig party. The selection of a candidate for vice-president from the state rights branch of the whig party, was a matter of policy; and as that officer is not intrusted with administrative power, entire conformity of his principles with those of the whigs was regarded as comparatively unimportant. Their indifference on this point, however, they soon had occasion to regret.

Of the electoral votes at the ensuing election, the whig candidates received each 234. Mr. Van Buren received 60; R. M. Johnson, for vice-president, 48; L. W. Tazewell, of Virginia, 11; and James K. Polk, 1.

The claims of the United States upon Mexico for injuries to the persons and property of our citizens, remained unadjusted. A convention was made between the two governments in September, 1838, by which it was agreed to refer these claims to a board of commissioners, of whom two were to be appointed by each party; and in case of a difference of opinion, the question was to be submitted for decision to the king of Prussia, or an arbiter to be appointed by him; the ratifications to be exchanged on or before the 10th of February, 1839. This day passed without the performance of this part of the obligation on the part of Mexico. Reasons were assigned which were unsatisfactory to the committee on foreign relations, to whom this subject had been referred, and who reported resolutions to the house, declaring these reasons insufficient; expressing the hope that, in view of the unreasonable procrastination on the part of Mexico hitherto, the minister who was about to be sent to that country, would press for a speedy settlement of the demands so repeatedly but ineffectually made; and declaring the impatient expec