THE INDIAN CABINET.HOUSE OF
LEGISLATURE.SENATE.LADIES.SENATORS.PRESIDENT.
The principal lions of Washington,
after the legislative chambers, are the Navy-yard,
the President’s mansion, the National Exhibition,
connected with the patent-office, containing specimens
of mechanical inventions either original or considered
such by their industrious projectors, and lastly the
offices for the department of State.
In the latter was a chamber which
to me offered more attractions than all the other
objects put together: it contained a collection
of original portraits of the most distinguished amongst
the aborigines, allied with or opposed to the States.
This is an object well worthy the
care of government, and, it is to be hoped, one that
will be persevered in, for yet but a few years, and
here will be the only memento left of the Red-man
within the land. Something is due to the memory
of these savage warriors and legislators; this tribute
serves to render them a sort of poetical justice, and
wins a sympathy for their fate, through their portraits,
which might have been withheld from themselves,at
least, judging of those I have seen, drunken, dirty,
and debased.
Here, indeed, they show gallantly
out, the untameable children of the forest, the lords
of the lake and of the river, some of them absolutely
handsome, their costume being in the highest degree
chivalric; many, unluckily, are clad in a mixed fashion,
half Indian, half American,grotesque,
but unbecoming when compared with the gaudily turbaned
and kilted Creek, or the plumed and painted Winnebago,
who, leaning on his rifle beneath a forest tree, and
listening with a keen, unwearying aspect for the coming
tread of his foe or his prey, looks like a being never
born to wear harness or own a master.
A few of the chiefs are painted in
the full-dress uniform of the American army, but are
not for an instant to be mistaken; although Red Jacket,
the great orator and warrior, and one or two others
have features exceedingly resembling some of the Provencal
noblesse of France: the common expression
is, however, almost uniformly characteristic of their
nature, cold, crafty, and cruel; I hardly found one
face in which I could have looked for either mercy
or compunctionalways excepting the women,
of whom here are a few specimens. It would be
but gallant to add to the number, if there are many
such amongst the tribes; for the features of these
are pretty, their expression truly feminine and gentle,
with the most dove-like, loveable eyes in nature.
I, some time after this, found a very
fine work in course of publication at Philadelphia,
containing coloured prints, large folio size, made
from these and other original sources; with accurate
biographical notices of the most important amongst
the chiefs, and a detailed account of their history
and habits. The author is Colonel M’Kenny,
for many years resident Indian agent, living amongst
and with the people he describes; and combining with
these opportunities education, intelligence, and much
enthusiasm on the subject. In this work will be
given correct translations of their highly expressive
but unpronounceable appellations; and as much
justice done to their characters, as, I can answer
for it, has been already rendered to their outward
form and features.
The courtesy which distinguishes officials
of every rank in this country makes a visit to this,
or any public place, not only a matter of pleasure
but of profit to the stranger; since one rarely returns
without some anecdote or information connected with
the object visited, given in an off-hand agreeable
manner, which is in itself a gratification. I
have never been a sight-hunter in Europe, and this
not from indolence or lack of laudable curiosity,
I believe; but simply through considering the forms
and difficulties that hedge in most places and persons
worthy observance, more than equivalent to the gratification
to be won from a sight of them. The case is different
here: there is no unnecessary fuss or form; the
highest public servants are left to protect themselves
from impertinent intrusion; and to the stranger, all
places that may be considered public property are
perfectly accessible, without any tax being levied
on his pride, his patience, or his purse,matters
which might be amended in England, greatly to the
advancement of our national character, and in these
reforming days not unworthy consideration.
I was a good deal amused looking over
the various costly gifts which have been, from time
to time, presented by foreign potentates to the distinguished
public servants of America, all of which are here
collected; the law not permitting those on whom they
were bestowed to retain them, although yielding to
the custom which has rendered such marks of courtly
approbation customary amongst the great ones of Europe.
I could not help smiling as I fancied
the disgorgement of all the cadeaux exchanged
between ministers and generals, and treaty-makers
and breakers, since 1812, an epoch fruitful of such
courtesies. Why, it would pay off the national
debt of the general government of this country, and
leave a surplus for watering the streets of the capital,
if the legislature did not find fault with the appropriation,
and continue to prefer being blinded, as they are
at present, rather than purchase a few water-carts
for the corporation, which it seems is too impoverished
to afford any outlay on its own account.
There was nothing that puzzled me
more, on a first view of the matter, than the utter
indifference with which the Americans look upon the
exceedingly unworthy condition of their capital, when
considered in relation with the magnitude, the greatness,
and prosperous condition of their common country.
During months of every session, the roads leading
through the district of Columbia are all but impassable:
independent of the discomfort and delay consequent
upon their condition, hardly a season passes without
some member or other being injured more or less by
overturns, which are things of common occurrence; yet,
only let government insert one extra item in the budget
to be applied to the service of this their common
property, and all parties from all quarters of the
Union unite to reject the supply.
I heard of a curious instance of this
jealousy of poor Columbia whilst on my last visit
here. The great avenue, or principal street, leading
from the President’s house to the Capitol, had
recently been redeemed from mud according to the plans
of M’Adam; but the exposure of the situation,
and the nature of the material employed, rendered the
improvement rather questionable: every breeze
that now blew filled the atmosphere with thick clouds
of dust charged with particles of mica, which really
made it a hazardous matter to venture forth on a gusty
day, unless in a closed carriage, when tired of sitting
at home, suffocated with heat, or smothered with dust
by the wind, which ought to have borne health and
comfort on its wings instead of this eighth plague.
Every one complained, all suffered;
members, senators, the President, and the cabinet,
all were having dust flung in their eyes, at a period
when the commonwealth required that they should all
be most especially keen and clearsighted. The
Potomac, meantime, swept by them, clear and cool,
and the classic Tiber could with difficulty be kept
out of their houses. The Romans would have made
their Tiber useful on such an occasion, and the ready
remedy at length suggested itself to the half-smothered
senators. The sum of a few hundred dollars was
promptly voted to abate the evil, in conjunction with
the Tiber, whose contribution was here on demand.
The bill was, however, rejected on its farther course:
the dust continued to rise, the people saved their
dollars, their representatives continued blind, and
the banks of the Tiber remained undrawn on.
If you venture an observation upon
this obvious absence of all decent pride in their
capital, as being somewhat singular in a people who
seem wrapt in their country, and solicitous that it
should show worthily in the world’s eyes, the
case is admitted, and accounted for readily enough,
but by no means creditably, in my mind.
The members from Louisiana or Maine
will tell you that they cannot satisfactorily account
to their constituents for voting sums of money to
adorn or render convenient a city these may never see,
and for whose very existence they have no care.
The man from the great western valley
will shrug up his shoulders at your observation, admit
its truth, but add, that the idea of the continuance
of Washington, as the metropolis of the Union, and
seat of the general government, is a ridicule, since
this ought clearly to wait upon the tide of population,
and be situated west of the Alleghanies.
Neither of these answers are worthy
the country or the American people: the citizen
voters of these distant states should be reminded that
the district of Columbia is their common property,
and Washington the capital of their great Union, representing
them in the eyes of strangers, and from whose present
condition the least prejudiced European will find
it difficult to avoid drawing injurious conclusions.
Without internal resources, and entirely
dependent upon the government, it would be worthy
their national grandeur to make this district a type
of that grandeur; and its city, as far as all public
buildings and general conveniences might be concerned,
second to none in the world.
Presuming even its occupation to be
temporary, and that, at no distant period, it will
be deserted, left again to the dominion of nature,
to be once more incorporated with the forest,why,
a Russian boyard has raised as fine a city, to lodge
his royal mistress in for one night, and set it on
fire to light her home on the next after!
Were it of a certainty to be deserted
in ten years, I would, were I a representative about
to be sent to it, say to my clients: “As
for Washington, let us build, beautify, and render
it habitable and convenient, so that, when hereafter
the European traveller seeks its ruins in the forest,
he shall never doubt but that he looks upon the site
once honoured as the capital of the American people.”
I have, when in conversation with
intelligent friends here, delivered similar sentiments,
and they have smiled at them without admitting their
justice or applicability: I now set them down
for their further amusement, not because I imagine
they will be a tittle the more regarded, but simply
because such were my “Impressions” of Washington.
I went several times to the senate-chamber
and the hall of the representatives; but was not fortunate
enough to hear a debate in the latter, or find any
very important topic under discussion. Speeches
I never found much attraction in anywhere, unless
deeply interested in the subject of them; and those
of the American assembly are rather made to be read
than to be listened to. The arguments, thus delivered
in Washington, are in fact directed to, and intended
for, the constituents of the party, to whom they are
directly forwarded in the shape of most formidable-looking
pamphlets, no matter to what distance, post-free,
serving as an exposition of the author’s sentiments,
and an evidence of his industry.
In the senate I had the happiness
to hear a slight matter debated, in which Messrs.
Clay and Forsyth took part; and I was struck with the
force and fluency of the one, and the gentlemanlike
tone and quiet self-possession of the other.
Mr. Henry Clay reminded me strongly of Brougham, when
the latter happens to be in one of his mildest moods;the
same facility of words and happy adaptation of them;
the same bold, confident air, as though assured of
his auditory and of himself; and withal, a touch of
sly caustic humour, conveyed in look and in manner,
that an adversary might well feel heedful of awakening.
Mr. Webster, another of the thunderers
of the senate, was in his place on the occasion I
allude to, but did not rise, which I was exceedingly
anxious he should do, for I had already heard him speak
at Boston, and never remember to have been more impressed.
The cast, and setting on, of his head is grand, quite
antique, his features massive and regular, yet in
their expression, and in the calm repose of his deep-set
black eyes, there is a strong resemblance to the native
Indian, with whose blood, I believe, the great orator
claims close affinity.
Mr. Van Buren’s manner I thought
highly characteristic of his political character,cool,
courteous; with a tone quiet but persuasive, a voice
low-pitched, but singularly effective from the clearness
of his enunciation and well-chosen emphasis.
He bestows an undivided attention to the matter before
the house becoming his situation.
As vice-president, this gentleman
is chairman of the senate; a situation at this time
of peculiar delicacy, considering his position as the
proclaimed director of the measures of General Jackson’s
cabinet, and heir to his party and his power.
His filling this chair with so little reproach under
assaults and provocations which it required the greatest
good temper and good sense to encounter or turn aside,
I consider no slight evidence of that wisdom and political
sagacity for which his party give him credit, and
which have acquired for him amongst his admirers the
familiar cognomen of the Little Magician.
The ladies, however, formed the chief
attraction of the senate-chamber. Occupying a
sort of passage or gallery on a level with and circling
round two-thirds of the floor, here they sit, listening
to their favourite speaker wherever he may be engaged,
either before the President’s chair boldly advancing
the common interest, or behind some fair politician’s,
timidly seeking to advance his own, and hence, deal
forth their award in well-pleased smiles, in due proportion
to the eloquence of the speaker, public or private.
This is a custom the advantages of
which I am sorry to find are about to be tested in
England. Shame that a man should ever have to
express regret that one other muster-place had been
invented for a reunion of pretty faces!
But such is my honest impression, and with me honesty
is paramount;a quality which must serve
to balance my discourteous opinion, and restore me
to the sex’s favour. Then again, I am not
of the Commons’ House, or likely to be; and
do not choose, perhaps, that the members should divide
with me that part of my audience I value most, and
would desire if possible to monopolize.
Why then, it may be asked, are these
your only reasons? In reply permit me to say,
I have a reserve of minor importance, but which may
be added as a make-weight to my graver argument,I
do not think the place will become them, or that the
habit of hearing debates will improve them. I
had as soon see a woman a dragoon as a politician:
not a Hussar; for I have seen a lady of our land make
a very dashing hussar, without forfeiting one charm
as a woman. No: I mean a “Heavy,”
with jackboots and cuirass, helmet and horse-hair;
and to this condition will the novelty of the thing,
if it becomes a fashion, possibly degrade our gentle,
retiring, womanly women.
Let me here, however, declare, that
it does not appear to have had this fatal effect upon
the American ladies, since I never found one amongst
them who thought about talking politics, unless it
was with some snob who was too stupid to talk any
nonsense less dull. But then they are born to
the manner, and very few of them resident in the capital.
It is only a novelty, therefore, enjoyed once or twice;
then yawned over, voted tiresome, and forgotten.
On the other hand, our ladies, who
would be most likely to monopolize the house, are
in town for the whole session, eager for new excitement,
and prepared to die martyrs to anything that may become
the rage: then again, although I will answer
for their capability of remaining silent during a
debate, unless they are differently constituted from
their fair kinswomen, t’other side the Atlantic,
yet is there a coming and going, a rustling of silk
and pulling off of gloves, a glancing of sparkling
rings and yet more sparkling eyes, anything but promoters
of attention or order in the house; besides the danger
of a faint or two during a crush or a row amongst
the members,the latter, if one may rely
upon the journals, a thing of nightly recurrence now.
I have many other good reasons to
advance, but as they chiefly apply to the younger
members, I think it useless to add them; indeed, my
object in saying so much is rather to justify my expressed
opinion, than from either the desire or hope of seeing
an order so likely to prove agreeable to the Commons’
House rescinded.
Politics have rarely run higher, or
assumed an aspect more startling to a European, than
during my residence in the States; and though it is
not my intention to deal largely with a subject which
every brother scribbler, who spends his six months
here, arranges to his great ease and perfect satisfaction,
yet, whenever I think my object of making the people
known may be advanced by giving a smack of their politics,
I shall do so with perfect freedom, considering this
as ground on which the best friends may differ without
any impeachment of good feeling or sound judgment.
The assumption of a new power by the
President in the removal of the national fund, upon
his own responsibility, from the United States Bank,
and in violation of the terms of their unexpired charter,
deranged for a time the credit of the community, and
convulsed the land from one extremity to the other.
During this panic, remonstrances and prayers for redress
poured in from one party; whilst addresses, laudatory
and congratulatory, were duly gotten up by the other.
The sea-board cities, together with
every trading community, crowded the capital with
deputations, praying the President to restore the monies
and heal the national credit, until their importunities
became so frequent, so personal, and led to such undignified
altercations between these delegates and the chief
of the government, that the gates of the palace were
fairly closed against them; and, as the Whig journals
expressed it, “for the first time, the Republic
beheld the doors of the chief magistrate barred upon
delegates charged to pour out the sufferings of the
people, to remonstrate against their causes, and to
awaken their author to a sense of his tyranny and injustice.”
In senate and congress the tone assumed
by this party against government, and the violence
of the language used, become really startling to the
ears of the subject of a monarchy: for instance,
Mr. Webster, in a recent speech, drew a parallel between
Sylla and the President, or Dictator, as he
styled him, of the States, by no means disadvantageous
to the Roman; showing how the tyrant of old first
excited the populace, by the basest flattery, to overturn
the restrictive power of the senate; which done, and
his lawless will being left without a check, he turned
upon his restless, ignorant allies, and slaughtering
them by thousands, succeeded in prostrating their liberties
and the freedom of his country: the speaker adding,
“I fear the worst fate of Rome
is hanging over us; whether that of Sylla be in store
for our despot, I know not. Should he, however,
abdicate at the end of three years (Sylla’s
term), he will be hunted by the cries of a guilty
conscience and by the curses of an outraged people,
more intolerable than the pangs which tortured in
his last moment the Roman tyrant!”
In anticipation of another speaker’s
assault, a journalist says,
“We may, when he delivers his
sentiments,which will be indeed the reflex
of public opinion,look to behold the fur
fly off the back of the treacherous old usurper, our
implacable tyrant,” &c. &c.
On the other hand, the adulation of
the administration exhausts panegyric in the President’s
praise: his qualities are proclaimed to be superhuman,
his intuitive wisdom and farsightedness approaching
to omniscience; by this party he, indeed, is all but
deified. The vice-president proclaims that he
shall consider it honour enough to have it known that
he held a place in his counsels. Members of the
legislature, of sound age and high character, dispute
in their places within the house their seniority of
standing as “true soldiers of the General’s
administration;” an odd title, by the way, independent
of the strangeness of the avowal, for a representative
of the people.
The assumption of the act of responsibility,
and its exercise, it is argued by this party, have
been decisive as to the conservation of the morale
of the country, without which their liberties were
held by a tenure liable to be quickly subverted, and
the blood, and toil, and treasure of their predecessors
spent in vain; that the integrity of their institutions
was by this act assured, and the continuance of the
people’s happiness and prosperity based upon
marble, unimpeachable and to endure for ever!
In every society, in all places, and
at all times, this subject is all-absorbent amongst
the men. Observing with pity a very intelligent
friend arrested in the lobby of a drawing-room which
was occupied by a whole bevy of beauty, and there
undergo a buttoning of half an hour before he could
shake off his worrier, I inquired with a compassionate
air, just as he made his escape, “whether he
would not be glad when the present ferment was over,
and this eternal spectre laid in the sea of oblivion?”
“No, indeed,” replied
my friend coolly; “since it would only vanish
to be succeeded by some other, in reality not quite
so important perhaps, but which, for lack of a better,
would be made to the full as absorbing of one’s
time and patience.”
And this is strictly true: whatever
subject may turn up is laid hold on, tooth and nail,
by the Ins and Outs of the day, who,
dividing upon it, lift banners, and under the chosen
war-cry, be it “Masonry,” “Indian
treaties,” or “Bank charter,” fairly
fight it out; a condition of turmoil, which, viewed
on the surface, may appear anything but desirable
to a man who loves his ease and quiet, and troubles
himself with nothing less than with affairs of state,
but which constitutes one of the personal taxes men
must pay who look to govern themselves, or who desire
to fancy that they do so.
It is a matter of great regret to
me that there occurred no levee whilst I was in Washington;
because, had one taken place, I should have enjoyed
the honour of a closer view of the venerable chief
of the States than I could snatch from seeing him
pass two or three times on the avenue. Not but
that there are facilities enough afforded for a presentation
to one who is never denied when disengaged from his
public duties; facilities which it may be very right
and proper for the American citizen to avail himself
of, but which good taste might suggest to the stranger,
especially the Englishman, it would be more becoming
in him to forego: as it is, I have frequently,
in travelling, heard Europeans talking with the most
offensive familiarity of having called upon the President,
who at home would have stood hat-in-hand in their
county magistrate’s office, waiting for an interview
with the great man.
As viewed on horseback, the General
is a fine soldierly, well-preserved old gentleman,
with a pale wrinkled countenance, and a keen clear
eye, restless and searching. His seat is an uncommonly
good one, his hand apparently light, and his carriage
easy and horseman-like; circumstances, though trifling
in themselves, not so general here as to escape observation.
His personal friends, of whom I know
many most intimately, speak of him with great regard,
and describe him politically as one whose singleness
of purpose and integrity of mind, in all that relates
to his country, can never be fairly impeached upon
any tenable ground. With these friends, without
regard to rank or station, he lives at all times on
the most familiar terms. When in his neighbourhood,
they visit him as they have ever done, without finding
the slightest increase of form; and, over his cigar,
the President canvasses the events and receives the
opinions of the day with all the frankness of an indifferent
party, neither affecting nor enforcing mystery or
restraint.
His address is described as being
naturally fluent, pleasing, and gentlemanlike:
this I have from a source on which I can confidently
rely; for both the wife and sister of an English officer
of high rank, themselves women of remarkable refinement
of mind and manners, observed to me, in speaking of
the President, that they had seldom met a person possessed
of more native courtesy or a more dignified deportment.
To another of the great ones of the
land I had an introduction, which, as it is characteristic
of the man, I will here relate. One afternoon,
about dusk, being on my way to a family party at the
house occupied by the late Secretary of the Navy,
Mr. Southard, I thought I had run down my distance,
and began an inspection of the outward appearance of
the houses, all puzzlingly alike, when a couple of
men, lounging round a corner, single file, smoking
their cigars, chanced to cross my track. Addressing
the rearmost, I inquired, “Pray, sir, do you
chance to know which of the houses opposite is Mr.
Southard’s, the senator from New Jersey?”
“I do know where Mr. Southard’s
house is,” replied the stranger, eyeing me as
I fancied somewhat curiously; “though it is not
exactly opposite. But surely you and I have met
before now,more than once too, or I am
greatly mistaken?”
“That is more than probable,
sir,” replied I, “if you are fond of a
play. My name is Power, Mr. Power of the theatre.”
“I thought so,” cried
the stranger, holding out his hand; adding cordially,
“My name, sir, is Clay, Henry Clay, of the senate;
and I am glad, Mr. Power, that we are now personally
acquainted.”
I need hardly say, I joined in expressing
the pleasure I derived from any chance which had procured
me this honour, begging that I might not detain him
longer.
“But stop, Mr. Power,”
said the orator;“touching Mr. Southard’s;you
observe yonder long-sided fellow propping up the post-office
down below; only that he is waiting for me, I’d
accompany you to the house; which, however, you can’t
miss if you’ll observe that it’s the very
last of the next square but one.”
With many thanks for his politeness,
I here parted from Mr. Clay, to pursue my way according
to his instructions, whilst he passed forward to join
the tall gentleman, who waited for him at some distance
near the public building which he had humorously described
him as propping.
An accidental interview of this kind,
however brief, will do more to prejudice the judgment
for or against a man, than a much longer and more
ceremonious intercourse. I confess my impressions
on this occasion were all in Mr. Clay’s favour;
they were confirmatory of the bonhommie and
playful humour ascribed to him by his friends and admirers,
who are to be found throughout every part of the country.
The very day following this little
incident I bade adieu to Washington, after a second
prolonged visit. I had here encountered and mixed
with persons from every State of the Union, and became
thus in possession of the means of making comparisons,
and drawing conclusions, such as no other single city,
or perhaps any period less generally exciting, could
have supplied.
I quitted it gratefully impressed
in favour both of its private society and of the kind
and hospitable character of its citizens generally.
I had, whilst here, without delivering a letter, received
unlooked-for attentions and kindnesses from persons
the most distinguished for character and talent:
attentions which I am as hopeless of ever being able
to return, as I am incapable of ever being desirous
to forget.