and which were so kindly manifested to my son, and, in the next place, my dear General, because my own experience has taught me that America and England are good schools, and that much may be learnt in that intercourse which could not be acquired elsewhere.

"Believe me, sir, very sincerely,

"Your affectionate

"LOUIS PHILLIPPE.

"GENERAL CASS, &c., &c., &c."

CHAPTER XXX.

Private Affairs-General Cass' Pecuniary Troubles-His Wish-Named for the Presidency-Letter to the Indiana Committee-The Cincinnati Meeting-General Jackson's Letter.

After an absence of twelve years, seven of which were spent in foreign lands, General Cass again found himself at his home in Detroit. During this time great changes had occurred. Many of his old cherished neighbors and personal friends had gone the way of all flesh; some had removed further west. The city limits were enlarged, new streets opened, and buildings erected. The young men of the schools had grown to manhood, and now were the business men of the town. New faces met him upon every hand. Still the old landmarks remained, and the same wide river flowed along the quays. It was Detroit, and he was glad once more to be at home. Nearly forty years had elapsed since his public career began, and now, for the first time during all that eventful period, he was divested of official care and responsibility. He was a private citizen. He could now devote some attention to his private affairs; and, unfortunately, it was needed.

The five hundred acres of land, known as the Cass farm, purchased in 1816 for twelve thousand dollars, had, to a great extent, been subdivided into city squares, streets, and lots, and sold to divers purchasers upon credit. The pecuniary embarrassments that convulsed the business relations of the country, had overtaken them; and, in most instances, the land reverted to General Cass, encumbered with taxes and municipal assessments. He had been under the necessity, while a resident in France, to resort to his private resources to meet the expenditures. The salary was insuf ficient. He came home, therefore, in straightened circumstances, pecuniarily. He had hoped to find his debtors prosperous, and able to hold the lots of land sold to them. It was otherwise. add to his perplexities, thirty-two thousand dollars—a part of it his paternal inheritance-deposited in the Bank of Michigan when he was about to depart for Europe, were irrevocably lost, by the

To

failure and utter bankruptcy of that institution. To avail himself of the use of his landed estate, it was necessary to discharge the liens of the State and city, and make improvements. He had not the money at his command to do this, and it was necessary to resort to a loan. He applied to his friend Ward, a banker in Wall street, for the limited sum of three thousand dollars. The application was flatly denied. This was the more inexplicable to the General, for the security was abundant; he had, in other days, rendered Mr. Ward some kind offices, and the banker, he thought, had the money. A kind friend, however, voluntarily came forward, upon whom General Cass had not the slightest claims, and furnished the desired accommodation. With this he stemmed the tide of adversity.

It required effort, however, to do so. He was sixty years of age, with a family of children, for whom he would be glad to leave an inheritance that should shield them from want. At any rate, he would wish to feel, when he left them, that his son and three daughters, two of whom were married, were not entirely thrown upon the charities of the people. To the attainment of this, he proposed to devote the residue of his life. Pecuniary misfortune, for the first time, had crossed his path. And when, seven years before, he bade his native land adieu for a season, he had consoled himself with the reflection, that, let what would happen, he had placed the proceeds of his father's estate upon the banks of the Muskingum, where they would be kept safe for his own descendants. Alas! the uncertainty of all human expectation.

But, although out of office, he soon found that it was quite difficult to withdraw his mind from public concerns. The people appeared to be indisposed to allow him to remain in retirement; and constantly he was in the receipt of letters asking for his views upon political topics. Circumstances beyond his own control made his name prominent among the number of eminent statesmen from whom the selection of the next chief magistrate would be made. His own wish was to be let alone. If he ever, in the course of events, was to occupy the Presidential chair, he would prefer to postpone the time. He desired official repose, and an opportunity to pay some little attention to his own private affairs. But the more he protested the greater was the ardency of his friends. He vacillated, and finally concluded to let events take their own course.

As he reached Columbus, Ohio, on his way homeward, he was met with a letter from the Democratic State Convention of the State of Indiana. This letter requested his views upon four points, namely the propriety of a national bank, the distribution of the public lands among the States, the subject of a protective tariff, and constitutional amendments. He did not object to giving his views specifically and fully, but he was aware that their publicity would create the impression that he was not indifferent in his aspiration to the Presidency. Still, he was told that his sentiments would do good in shaping public opinion upon these subjectsespecially in Indiana, where he was so well and so favorably known, and therefore it was his duty to give them, without stopping to calculate their effect upon the Presidency, so far as he was personally concerned. The Democratic party in Indiana were in a minority in that State; it was situated in the heart of the west, and the ascendancy of correct political principles, in all that region, was desirable. The source from whence the request came entitled it to his respect, and he gave the following reply.

"COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 8th, 1843.

"GENTLEMEN :-Your letter, enclosing the resolutions of the Democratic Convention of the State of Indiana, was addressed to me at Washington, but did not reach that city till after I had left there. It was then forwarded to me at this place, and in consequence of having stopped on the route, considerable delay has occurred in its receipt. I make this explanation to account for that delay.

"I shall now proceed to answer the questions proposed by the convention, briefly, but frankly, satisfied it will be more agreeable to yourselves, and your colleagues of the convention, that I should be explicit, than that I should be led into tedious dissertations.

"With respect to a national bank, I have to remark that I have always entertained doubts of the power of Congress to charter such an institution. The indirect process by which this power is deduced from a very general provision of that instrument, has never been satisfactory to me. But there is the less necessity for entering more in detail into the constitutional question, as it seems to me the public voice has pronounced itself, and justly, against

the incorporation of any national bank by Congress. No such institution should, in my opinion, be established.

"In answer to the second question, which relates to the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands among the several States, I reply, that I think no such distribution should be made. I will state, in a few words, the grounds of this opinion. The necessary revenue for the support of the government of the United States, must come from the people, and it must be supplied by direct or indirect taxation, or by the sale of public property. The general sentiment is opposed to direct taxation by the general government in time of peace; and of course there are left but the other two sources of supply to meet its expenses. Their proceeds must constitute the revenue of the country; and if one of them is abstracted or diminished, an additional burthen is thrown upon the other. Whatever sum the necessary expenses of the government may require, if the proceeds of the public lands make no part of it, the whole must be raised by taxation. If they make part of it, then the amount of taxation is diminished by the sum supplied by these proceeds. It follows that any proposition to divert the proceeds of these lands from the support of government, is, in fact, but a proposition to lay taxes on the people. If a permanent annual revenue of eighteen millions of dollars is necessary for an economical administration of the government, and if two millions. of these are produced by the sale of public lands, let the source of this supply be diverted to some other object, and these two millions must be provided by the imposition of taxes. All this is too clear to need further illustration. A proposition then to distribute the proceeds of the public lands among the several States, is, in effect, but a proposition to increase the taxation of the people of the United States through the medium of the general government, in order that the amount thus increased may be paid into the treasuries of the respective States. To me it appears perfectly clear, that whatever may be the annual sum produced by the sale of lands, that sum is a part of the revenue of the country, and that it is just as competent for Congress to take any other two millions, supposing that to be the amount, from the public treasury, and divide them among the States, as to select for that purpose the dollars actually produced by the land sales. It seems to me that such a course of action would be injurious in practice, dangerous in principle, and without warrant in the Constitution of the United