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CHAPTER V
Political Activities during Polk's Administration — A Winter in Washington
The history of English's political life during the l840's would not be sufficiently comprehensive without some further account of his important service to James K; Polk in the.1844 campaign and of his activities throughout the first two years of Polk's Administration. It has already been pointed out that when President Tyler withdrew in favor of Polk from the field of Presidential candidates English threw himself wholeheartedly into the struggle to elect the regular Democratic nominees. Not only did he fight vigorously for Polk in the editorial columns of the Aurora, but he was actively engaged, under the leadership of Cornelius Van Ness, in the effort to secure for Polk the potentially large block of votes which the patronage of the custom houses and post offices of the State of New York enabled the Administration to control.(1)
But there was one particular service rendered by English for which Polk seems to have been especially grateful and which may explain in part why English escaped [page 229:] the axe of proscription that was soon to fall upon the vast majority of those who had loyally supported President Tyler to the end. Like so many candidates for the Presidency both before and after his day, Polk had to endure a considerable amount of unwarranted personal slander. A particularly outrageous instance of this kind of slander was the spreading of a rumor that Polk's grandfather, Colonel Ezekiel Polk, had been a Tory during the Revolutionary War.(2) The rumor was doubly reprehensible. It was propagated not only for the purpose of bringing unmerited disgrace upon Polk by making him responsible for the behavior of an ancestor, but with a reckless disregard for the reputation of a Revolutionary patriot who, together with his more noted brother, Thomas, had participated in the proceedings that led to the famous Mecklenburg Resolves drawn up at Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 31, 1775.(3) Apparently, the sole basis of the calumny [page 230:] was that, subsequent to his activities in behalf of the Revolutionary cause, Ezekiel Polk had been forced to accept “protection” from the British in order to make his family and property secure against the ravages of war. It was charged also that he failed to bear arms again after receiving protection — an accusation later proved to be false. In the editorial columns of the Aurora English vigorously castigated those responsible for the circulation of these rumors and thereby apparently gained, as will develop shortly the esteem of Polk who subscribed regularly to English's journal.(4)
Not long after the successful termination of the campaign of 1844 the President elect received a letter from English on behalf of the White Eagle Club of New York inviting him to be present at a supper to be given at the Mercer House on January 8, 1845, in celebration of the great Democratic triumph. The letter, which was signed by eight other members of the Club appointed along with English to extend the invitation, contained the following congratulatory remarks:
In tending to you this invitation, the committee cannot lose the opportunity of congratulating you on the happy result of the late election. Their congratulations arise, not because [page 231:] of your own advancement to the chair of state — although the unanimous testimony of those who knew you best, in favor of your virtue and high intellect, have [sic] won for you their strong personal regard — but, since those principles, hallowed by time and truth, which guide the policy of the great Democratic party, have again become triumphant over combined wealth and fraud. They congratulate you more especially, because a decisive majority of the popular and electoral vote, has decided in favor of those measures to which your administration is voluntarily pledged: — the early occupation of the Oregon, the immediate annexation of Texas and the retention of the veto in the Constitution, together with an inflexible opposition to a tariff solely for protection, the creation of a National Bank, and the distribution of the land-fund among the States. These questions were canvassed before the people, and have been settled by an emphatic affirmative decision. They look to see them sustained by your administration; and place the helm of state in your hands confident that it will be guided according to the chart of the national charter.(5)
Apparently, Polk was unable to accept this invitation, for there is no evidence of his having gone to New York for the occasion.
When Polk was inaugurated, however, representatives of the White Eagle Club, who had already participated in the farewell celebrations in honor of John Tyler occupied a prominent place in the procession.(6) It was English's presence in Washington at this time — presumably as head of a deputation representing the White Eagle Club — that seems to have led to his sole personal interview with Polk. From English's amusing account of this interview [page 232:] one can easily understand why Polk failed to impress the young editor and politician “with any appreciable amount of reverence.”(7) The story as English has recorded it merits being reproduced here at some length not only because it furnishes interesting side light on the personality and habits of a former President of the United States, but because the manner in which it is told reveals much about English's own nature:
In March, 1844 [sic]. I think it was the day after the inauguration, I was in Washington, and received a message stating that the President would like to see me. I made my way to the White House at once, and found the antechamber crowded with Judges of the Supreme Court, and others, waiting for a formal interview. I handed a written card to the usher, whom [sic] I think was a mulatto body-servant of the President. He told me that it would be impossible to see Mr. Polk that day, as those in waiting were there by special appointment, and would occupy the whole time.
“No matter,” I said, “I have no special wish to see the President now, but I am here at his request, and you will give him my card, to let him know that I am here.”
He took the card in, and returning in a moment, said: “The President's compliments, sir, and he would be glad if you could make it convenient, to see you this evening at eight o’clock.”
“Very good,” I answered; and rather enjoying the evident surprise of those who overheard the colloquy, I turned away. The bystanders supposed I was a member elect of the Kitchen Cabinet, at least, which as I neither sought nor expected office, was great fun for me. I had several profound bows from perfect strangers, at various times after; and I fancy the homage was due entirely to an exaggerated report of the occurrence I have narrated, and an unfounded belief that in the distribution of the spoils I had a voice, “potential as the Duke's.” [page 233:]
That night I went, according to appointment, to the Executive Mansion, and was met by the mulatto usher, who showed me to a reception room, and requested me to wait a few minutes, as the Secretary of State was with the President, but their business would soon be through. I sat down for a while. Everything was still; no one moving on that side of the house, and the time seemed to grow very long. I rose at length, and faced about, and finally went out into the hall. The same servant came down the steps which led to the upper hall, and said:
“Pray, don’t go, sir. The President hopes you will wait, as he is very anxious to see you.”
I went back to the room, wondering what it all meant. I was no applicant for office, and no high personage; I had never corresponded with Mr. Polk, and had never met him before. The thing rather puzzled me.
After waiting for what seemed an hour, at least, though it must have been a short time, I heard the heavy, lumbering tread of Mr. Buchanan, and, leaving the room, was met by Mr. Polk, who took my hand in his, as though I had been an old acquaintance, and without relinquishing his grasp, led me into his private office. To the left of the door was a fireplace, on which was a smouldering wood fire, and in front of it an old fashioned brass-mounted fender. To the left of that was a long, ordinary table, clustered [sic] with books and papers, and on top of these was a huge plug of chewing tobacco and a jackknife.
The President handed me a chair, seated himself after I did, and with great deliberation and dignity, propounded the hospitable query —
“Do you chew?”
I responded in the affirmative, whereupon he handed me the tobacco and the knife. I cut a liberal allowance of the pressed weed, and inserted it in my mouth. He did likewise. He placed his feet on the top of the fender. With proper gravity and due decorum I followed the Presidential example. He spat in the fire with the dexterity of a hackney coachman. I tried to copy this, but I failed miserably. The President ejected his saliva with the precision of a rifle. I could only scatter mine after the fashion of a blunderbuss.
And then our conversation began — first, on the weather, that easy introduction to American dialogue; secondly, on general politics. Then it veered to personal matters. I soon discovered that Mr. Polk would not under any circumstances be a candidate for reelection; and that he had picked [page 234:] up a good many pleasant stories of Tennessee life, while riding circuit as a lawyer; but what did he want with me?
“Ah!” said he, suddenly, “I wanted to thank you for the manner in which you defended the memory of my grandfather in your paper, and when I heard you were in the city, I sent for you to show you something. You remember they said grandfather never received a second commission, and never served in the cause after he had received protection. Well, my uncle, the bishop, found that very commission, and sent it to me. I wish you particularly to see it.”
He went to a cabinet on the opposite side of the room, and brought out the old document, yellow with age, and, curiously enough, we examined it together. After I had congratulated him on the discovery, and we had some more conversation, I rose to go and he said:
“Can you dine with me during the week?”
I excused myself, on the ground that I had delayed a necessary departure several times, remaining in town solely because of his message.
“Well, it will do when you are here again. Come to see me when you are in Washington. I have some other curious papers, which I would like to show you, when I have settled down a little.”
But my visits to Washington were only flying ones, until 1846, and then, though I passed the winter there, two years had elapsed, and the President having sent me no formal invitation, either because he considered the former still in force, or probably because he had forgotten all about me, I never called on him a second time, and never even saw him again, except one night at a levee, where I went to present a couple of European friends, and where the customary platitudes were exchanged.(8)
Aside from his appreciation of the support which English had given him in the Aurora, Polk had reason for feeling kindly disposed toward the young editor at the time of their meeting. Shortly before the interview, Lane and Company of New York published the March number of English's long-promised magazine, The Aristidean.(9) [page 235:] Since Polk had subscribed to the Aurora under English's editorship, it is most likely that he received the first number of the newly established magazine and that he was well pleased with English's unequivocal endorsement of the incoming administration.
This new editorial venture was slow in getting under way. As early as November 23, 1844, the New York Evening Mirror had announced that English was shortly to establish a magazine to be entitled The Aristidean, and commented favorably on the project.(10) “Mr. English,” said the Mirror, “is a fine writer on most subjects, but perhaps the most adroit and judicious tomahawk critic in the country. His magazine will be highly anatomical and spicy.” The New York Morning News of January 6, 1845, referred briefly to the forthcoming periodical as “a monthly magazine of literature, criticism, and politics” and stated also that English's prospectus had “been for some time before the public.”(11) The delay in publication was probably due chiefly to the fact that English's duties as editor of the Aurora consumed most of his time until he discontinued the newspaper in January of 1845.
On the whole, English's project evoked more ridicule than enthusiasm. When it became evident that The Aristidean was at last about to appear, the news was hilariously [page 236:] announced by The Town, a humorous magazine just established in New York and edited by a secret “Council of Ten.” Although The Town categorically denied Intent to give offense in any of its articles and insisted that it would “dissect its literary victims with a gentle smile,” always in the spirit of fun,(12) its sarcastic announcement of the new magazine evinces strong prejudice against English — primarily, it appears, because of his local connection with the unpopular outgoing administration and because of his friendly relations with Robert Tyler. The announcement, which contemptuously refers to The Aristidean as The Oyster Shell, follows:
There is a good deal of talk up and down the streets, every day and all day long about American Literature. A stranger visiting our land would think that this same American Literature, was some fat pussy old gentleman, who was always getting into scrapes with his’ neighbors and treading on people's corns at a most unusual rate. American Literature is the Cheshire cheese of all our hackney editors. Where everything else fails, they take to hauling American Literature over the coals, and do their utmost to do the creature brown — quite brown. The severest stabs that this cozy old gentleman receives are from his pretended friends. These friends are various in character — some abuse the pussy old fellow, some advise him to reform from his evil ways, and others quite infatuated with the strange hallucination that they are men of genius, take to getting up magazines which are to regenerate American literature all to pieces. One of these unfortunate young men, from a neighboring state, has long been threatening to publish a Magazine, called by some name, which it would take two drunken men to pronounce. The persuasions of his friends are without avail; he will do it, and nobody can help it; he will publish his magazine and astonish the world. The real name of the Magazine is too [page 237:] long for our columns, but as it has something to do with old Aristides and his oyster shell, we will simply call it by the latter name, for the sake of a quiet life. The OYSTER SHELL, a new American universal refreshing and refrigerating Magazine will appear next week, under the editorial conduct of a fervent young man, named English — THOMAS DUNN ENGLISH, Esquire, Doctor of Medicine, Student of Divinity, Orator in common for all Tyler meetings, and especial friend of Bob Tyler. These are all Mr. English's titles, that are known to the Council of Ten; but as we are pressed for room, we will simply cram them all into one, and call the Doctor, the Esquire, the Student, the Orator and the Friend by his philosophical cognomen, Doctor Thomas Done Brown.
Well, Done Brown has threatened the publication of this Magazine for some time. He swears by the longest hair in Bob Tyler's head, the OYSTER SHELL shall appear, so therefore, all ye, who wish to encourage American literature, step forward and pay your subscription and help Thomas to do American literature brown — quite brown.
For a month or two past Thomas has been handing his hat around for contributions, and now the collection having been taken up, he will open his basket of cold victuals for the gratification of the public in general and his own pocket in particular.
He has secured quite a lot of valuable papers from various sources. JAMES GORDON BENNETT will furnish a paper on “Black Mail — its uses and abuses.” N. P. WILLIS contributes an essay on “Curls and Curling Tongs.” M. Y. BEACH favors the public with a production on “the Art and Science of Gouging.” BOOBY BROOKS of the Express, writes on the interesting subject of Papspoons, and HORACE GREELEY on cabbages and other vegetable matter. Altogether this is a most interesting magazine. The Done Brown himself furnishes an essay on mouse traps, a branch of science in which he is calculated to excell, from the fact that he was a ratcatcher for years, by profession, before he studied law, medicine, divinity, oratory or Bob Tylerism!(13)
Needless to say, this facetious account gives no inkling of the content of any number of English's magazine! [page 238:]
A less jeering, if no less condescending, notice came from the pen of Horace Greeley just after the first number of The Aristidean appeared. Greeley and English had clashed over politics when English edited the Aurora. It is not surprising, therefore, that Greeley should have been unfavorably disposed toward a new periodical which advocated political policies identical with those of the defunct newspaper. Certainly English exposed himself to attack by contributing to the first number of his magazine an intemperate article entitled “The Texas Question” in which he displayed a tactless as well as belligerent disregard for the territorial rights of nations in North America excepting the United States. Greeley seized upon this contribution, as well as another political article by English entitled “The Coming Administration,” to bear the brunt of his unfavorable remarks:
“The Aristidean: A Magazine of Reviews, Politics, and Light Literature, No. 1, edited by Thomas Dunn English,” has appeared. It is Locofoco in politics, and avows itself a champion of “Progress,” which, according to its notions, consists in taking all the land that joins ours — not “the March of Mind” but the Rogues’ March. Let us quote a paragraph from the leader on the Texas question:
“The star of empire which, according to Bishop Berkeley, had taken up its line of March, westward, bag and baggage, has changed its course, and gone southward to a warmer climate. Mexico has a most inviting appearance. We have lopped off Texas, and our people intend to add the severed limb to the twenty-six legs of our multipedal nation. When that has grown on, by an operation similar to the rhinoplastic, we shall put the knife and saw in operation again, and take off California, to be grown to another leg in process of time, in fact, we believe that the work of severation and junction will go on, until we reach the isthmus, [page 239:] when we will have to turn round, and try what is to be done in the cold North. John Bull will wake up, some fine morning, and find a ‘lone star,’ sparkling and twinkling, and shooting blood-rays in the neighborhood of Quebec.
Here is displayed the spirit which is at the bottom of the Texas movement. Can we wonder that the world looks with anxiety and disfavor on the movement when such gigantic schemes of rapacity are openly avowed by its advocates?
“Travels in Texas” is the text of the most exciting paper in the number — a wild, incredible romance. “Arrow-Tip,” a story, fills twenty-eight pages. There are several slashing reviews, of Mr. George Jones's Ancient America, the Onderdonk Case, &c. The verse is of the sort charitably designated as middling, including a sarcasm on Hanging entitled “The Rope Maker.” “The Coming Administration” is lauded most edifyingly, even to the uttering of such assertions as these:
“On all questions of public policy, the demeanor of Col. Polk has been free and open. He has made no secret of his opinions. His answers to inquiries addressed to him, during the pendency of the contest, left nothing to be explained,” &c.
How can mortal man talk like this in the face of the Kane letter to Pennsylvania and Polk's stubborn refusal to answer respectful and sincere inquiries from Otsego County, in this State and other points in relation to his opinions on the Tariff and Texas?
We think “The Aristidean” will hardly live.(14)
Perhaps because Greeley had published this unfavorable notice, but more probably because the two editors had become habituated to deriding each other with respect to politics, the April number of The Aristidean contained the following amusing characterization of Greeley which English had written as one of a series of humorous sketches entitled “Notes about Men of Note”: [page 240:]
He might stand for a painter, who desired to represent sin. He is as ugly as sin, that is, as sin is, not as she appears — as untiring as sin — and as energetic as sin; but rather more honest. He always means to be right; always conceives he is in the right; but, by some means, in nine cases out of ten, is in the wrong. He walks the street with huge strides — feeling like GULLIVER, among the people of LILLIPUT. He cares for nobody, though a good many care for him; and would be very apt, if he were introduced to the Emperor of RUSSIA, to ask the Autocrat for a chew of tobacco — did he chew; but he does not, so that falls to the ground. He loves progress; and therefore, he grows. Some say he is a great fungus on society; or rather a great pimple on the nose of the body-politic, and is of much use as a conduit pipe for the discharge of all foul matters. That may be; but he deserves credit for perseverance, industry and energy. If he should go to the naughty place when he dies, we caution our old friend, the DEVIL, to beware of him. He will organize a party there and endeavor to elect a new President of the Brimstone republic. He will strive to supplant the spiritual, with the earthly Old HARRY.(15)
English's gibe that Greeley would “endeavor to elect a new President of the Brimstone republic” in the event that “he should go to the naughty place” did not fail to draw a retort from the editor of the Tribune. “Mr. Dunn English is mistaken,” said Greeley. “After seeing how steadily, instinctively, the Five Points, Corlaer's Hook and every other sink of vice and villainy in this City voted Loco-Foco these twelve years, we are thoroughly satisfied that our sort of politics won’t take with that sort of People, especially when we stand opposed to such a measure as Annexation. We shouldn’t begin.”(16) [page 241:]
But in spite of ridicule from magazines and newspapers of a different persuasion, The Aristidean continued until its demise in December, 1845, to give ardent support to the national administration and its policies. The April number contained two noteworthy articles by English: “Hon. George Mifflin Dallas” and “The Present Administration.”(17) The first of these is a tribute of evident sincerity to a man whom English had known prior to the campaign of 1844 as a fellow member of the Philadelphia bar and whose prematurely “white, flowing hair” and “dignity of demeanor” while still in his early thirties had made a lasting impression on English during the latter's young boyhood.(18) “We remember,” writes English, “that, when he was a prosecuting attorney in the courts, convictions after which he never unduly sought, followed his efforts; and the guilty, against whom he preferred charges never escaped. The goodness and candour which beamed from his features, impressed the jury favourably when he rose; and the impression was maintained in its full force until the close of its [sic] case. The pure principles of law, acquired by patient study, and well digested in the crucible of his clear intellect, which he applies to the case; the close analysis of the testimony; the choice, pure and unaffected language; the distinct, clear and audible enunciation; and the grace [page 242:] and simple dignity of his gestures, gain him a credence and respect no where [sic] surpassed. As a speaker, he is effective — as a lawyer, profound.”(19) The second article attempts to allay the fears of various factions of the Democratic Party that President Polk might identify himself with one particular clique and remove from office those not so identified. English assured his readers that no man would be proscribed merely because he had accepted office under ex-President Tyler and that the Administration knew full well that Tyler's friends “did their duty to the Democratic party during the late canvass, and mainly contributed to the glorious result.”(20) English particularly stressed that the President would not link himself with the disgruntled Van Burenites, or “Old Hunkers,” who allegedly had schemed to defeat the Presidential nominee while sustaining the rest of the ticket. In a final summary urging harmony English further assured his readers that the President would carry on his administration “with independence and justice” and “call around him the wise and good of all portions of the Democratic Party.”(21)
The publication of the November number of The Aristidean was purposely delayed to enable English to comment at some length on Polk's first message to Congress. English praised the message as having exceeded his highest [page 243:] expectations and as having expressed sentiments completely in accord with his own. He especially commended the President's handling of the Mexican and Oregon affairs, and predicted that the popularity of the message would make for an harmonious Young Democracy. “By the phrase — Young Democracy — we do not mean,” said English, “any clique; but the young, fresh-hearted workers in the cause — men not grown old in antiquated doctrines, though some may be old in years — men who have not fattened for long years off the public spoils — men who prefer a sound policy in the administration of the government to their own aggrandizement, and the honor and glory of their country over everything else. These must prosper. They are a part of the nation's growing greatness they form the prominent element in her progress — their doctrines are just — favoring neither demagogues, on the one hand, nor usurpers, on the other. They find in JAMES K. POLK a worthy leader — one, sincere, honest and firm — open to honorable counsel, but deaf to fraudulent suggestion — prone to embrace the right, but inflexibly opposed to the wrong. Whatever errors he may have committed in the selection of office-holders and we presume he has committed some, as no man's judgement is infallible — are as nothing to them. His policy is right — he is true to his honor and his country — and in supporting him, they support a course of governmental action, most consonant with our institutions and best calculated to promote the [page 244:] welfare of the entire people.”(22)
Several other articles appearing in various numbers of The Aristidean may be briefly mentioned because of the light they throw on the political policies of the periodical. In an unsigned article in the April number Robert Tyler ably defended his father against a vicious attack by J. L. O'Sullivan, editor of the New York Morning News and The United States Magazine, and Democratic Review.(23) The attack appeared in the latter publication under the caption of “The Late Acting President.”(24) In publishing Robert Tyler's reply, English dealt caustically with the author of the offending article and with the publications which he edited. “The sole difference between the Review and the News,” said English, “seems to be, that the former, besides being as profligate and mendacious as the latter, possesses a double amount of dullness. Either or both are as contemptible as they affect to be contemptuous.”(25) The [page 245:] anti-British policy of The Aristidean can be clearly seen in articles by English entitled “England and Texas” and “Repeal in America,” appearing respectively in the October and December numbers,(26) and also in an article written jointly by English and William A. Stokes, entitled “Why the British Claim Oregon,” which appeared in the December number.(27) The tone of the latter article is especially wild, the coauthors holding that war with England was both inevitable and desirable, and that the United States would invade Canada and strip England of all her possessions on the North American continent.
If editorial service to Polk and his Administration saved English from political proscription most of Tyler's former supporters were not so fortunate.(28) Among the more important appointees of the ex-President whom Polk saw fit to remove from office was Cornelius Van Ness. Actually, Van Ness seems to have made an excellent Collector of Customs for the port of New York, but to anyone even moderately [page 246:] well versed in the history of these times it must be clear that no appointee, however able, to whom Tyler might have given the Collectorship would have been likely to survive the anti-Tyler feeling that reached its peak in the city of New York during the campaign of 1844. Especially was it necessary, if harmony were to be restored, that the disgruntled Van Burenites be appeased, and Van Ness, as leader of the hated “Custom House clique,” was early marked for sacrifice. As soon as Polk was elected, Van Ness began to worry about his own insecurity. Near the end of November, 1844, Alexander Gardiner informed President Tyler that, with the approach of the next session of Congress, Van Ness seemed “to grow more nervous as to his confirmation,”(29) and not long after Polk succeeded to the Presidency Van Ness wrote him a series of letters which reveal the Collector's ever-increasing concern for his political future.(30)
The anti-Van Ness feeling came to a head when the Collector firmly opposed the political aspirations of a member of his department — one Henry E. Riell — who insisted upon becoming a candidate for Assistant Alderman in the Sixth Ward of the city of New York while still retaining his appointive office of Measurer in the Custom House. Van Ness, who considered it unethical for a member of his [page 247:] department to run for elective office without first resigning his appointive position, tried to persuade Riell to abandon the plan. Unsuccessful in this attempt, the Collector wrote his subordinate a letter dated April 3, 1845, informing him that his services as Measurer of Customs would no longer be required. Van Ness's action immediately became the subject of a heated discussion, pro and con, by the press. The Collector ably defended himself in a letter published as a card in both the Herald and the Plebian in which he traced the whole course of his difficulties with Riell(31). In order to emphasize that his dismissal of Riell was actuated not in the least by any personal ill feeling or interest in some other candidate, but only by a sense of public duty, the Collector brought Thomas Dunn English's name into the controversy. “It may be proper to add,” wrote Van Ness, “that having also heard that another officer of this department, Mr. English, had received, or was about to receive, a nomination for Aiderman in the Third Ward, I sent for him at the same time of sending for Mr. Riell, and on expressing to him the same views as in the other case, he informed me that he had already declined the nomination.”
Riell's reply was prompt.(32) Not only did he denounce [page 248:] Van Ness's course as dictatorial, but he accused the Collector of having done his best to disrupt the Democratic Party in the State of New York. He also expressed a lack of faith in the Collector's fidelity to the Party because of his Inauspicious association with those appointees of John Tyler who had “kept up a separate organization distinct from the Democratic party, long after the nomination of Mr. Polk, and published at their own expense a paper called the Aurora in this city.” Riell further made the utterly unjustifiable statement that probably this entire group “refused to vote for Mr. Polk at the late Presidential election.”
Although James Gordon Bennett staunchly defended Van Ness in the Herald, a substantial portion of the New York press was adamantine in its opposition. It is clear that President Polk, although he genuinely respected Van Ness, was political realist enough to conclude that the Collector had aroused an opposition too violent to be overcome and that he must be removed if party harmony were in some measure to be restored.
On July 1, 1845, Cornelius W. Lawrence replaced Van Ness as Collector for the port of New York, but not until after Van Ness had written a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury nominating English for the office of Weigher of Customs. The nomination was made on June 14th(33) [page 249:] and approved by the Secretary five days later.(34) After Lawrence assumed his duties, a good deal of amused speculation arose concerning his attitude toward Van Ness's appointees. The New York Herald observed that certain cliques were considerably agitated over Lawrence's intentions and that the affair was “generating much amusement in certain parts of the democracy.”(35) The same paper also specifically mentioned English as one of those about whom “speculation, in the way of removal” had arisen.(36) But such speculation insofar as it concerned English seems to have been idle indeed, for although an attempt was made to replace him it was completely unsuccessful. English later described this abortive effort with a great deal of relish:
Lawrence was an agreeable gentleman, according to my recollection; but he was much bothered by the politicians, and it annoyed him extremely. He loved to baffle them in a quiet way. I remember his telling me of one instance in which I was concerned. I was passing through the rotunda one day, just as he was about entering his private office, when he saw and beckoned me with his finger. I crossed over and entered the office with him.
“I wish you had been here yesterday,” he said, in some place where you could have got a good look at them Coddington's face. Three of came in, with Coddington at the head, and me to appoint —— —— as weigher.”
“ ‘—— —— is a very good man,’ I said, ‘I dare say.’ ” [page 250:]
They urged his claims strongly; but I told them there was no vacancy. [sic] “ ‘Can’t you make one?’ said Coddington. “ ‘Why,’ said I, ‘there is no one in, at present, who is not strongly backed.’
“Then Coddington mentioned your name, and said that you were one of Van Ness's appointments and might be removed.”
“The deuce he did,” I replied.
“Yes. I told him that I would be very happy to turn you out and put in; but there were three gentlemen who insisted on your being retained, and it was very hard to disoblige them. In fact, it would be very unpleasant to do it.
“ ‘Who are they?’ said Coddington, rather abruptly.
“ ‘One of them, Mr. Coddington, is Mr. Walker, the Secretary of the Treasury; another is Mr.
Dallas, the Vice-President; the third is Mr. Polk, the President. They all made such a point of it, that I’m afraid I can’t oblige you in that instance. Couldn’t you think of some one else?’
“They changed the subject,” continued Lawrence, chuckling; “they changed the subject.”(37)
It is probable that English found his duties as Weigher of Customs too exacting, at first, to allow him to publish his magazine regularly. At any rate, no numbers of The Aristidean appeared from May to August inclusive. Thereafter, English managed to assemble sufficient copy to permit regular publication until the magazine died with the December issue. In his valedictory English announced that he intended to devote his time to a projected “History of Party Politics in the United States” on which he had long been working.(38) He expressed appreciation for the support which newspapers throughout the country had given him, and he stated his intention of publishing the [page 251:] magazine again at some future date. But despite English's plans for the future, The Aristidean was never revived, and the book on “Party Politics” was never written.
In the spring of 1846 English gave up his position as Weigher of Customs, The reason for this move is not clear, although there is no indication that English's resignation was other than entirely voluntary. At any rate, Cornelius Lawrence nominated for the vacated position one Robert Gourlay — the very man whose removal Secretary Walker had formerly approved in order to make room for English. The Secretary approved the reappointment in a letter to Lawrence dated May 11, 1846.(39)
Near the end of 1846 English removed to Washington, where he remained until the spring of 1847 Although Edgar Allan Poe charged that English hurriedly changed his place of residence in order to avoid being criminally prosecuted for libel the accuracy of the charge is questionable.(40) Arthur H. Noll, relying on information furnished by English himself in his personal memoirs, asserted that English went to Washington as “the correspondent of several papers during the session of the Twenty-ninth Congress.”(41) Evidently it was English's business to report [page 252:] on the political activities of both Houses, and this fact probably accounts in part for the interesting personal contacts which he made during his sojourn in the national capital. Hardly credible, however, are the statements contained in a certain biographical sketch that “he was a ‘power behind the throne’ in Washington” and that he “wielded much influence with the administration.”(42) True, English had served the Democratic Party well, and he was apparently held in high esteem by both President Polk and Vice-President Dallas, but it is not at all likely that his sojourn in Washington was a matter of as much political significance as the foregoing statements would indicate.
Whatever reason English had for going to Washington, the period of his residence there was a stirring one and has furnished the material of some of his most entertaining reminiscences. Although English's sketch of Dallas in The Aristidean has already been quoted in part, his recollections of the man as Vice-President and later as elder statesman will add much to the portrait previously drawn:
When he was Vice-President, I was a good deal in Washington and saw a deal of him — frequently spending hours with him. He had a very graceful and charming way of doing even the most ordinary things, and his conversation, without being brilliant, was always charming. He showed to great advantage as presiding officer of the Senate, and his appearance in the chair struck strangers with great admiration. I remember once at a levee, when a foreigner of note, traveling incog., was presented by me to the President, my friend bowed to Mr. Dallas, who was standing beside Mr. Polk, mistaking him for the President. I nudged the [page 253:] gentleman, and he repeated his bow In the right direction.
On Mr. Dallas’ return from the Court of St. James, I called on him and was struck with the change in his appearance. Age had told on him all his elegance and stateliness was [sic] gone, and though he was cordial in his manner, he was a withered, worn out and rather querulous old man. I happened to inveigh against the administration, and among other things said that it acted as though it did not wish to bring back the South, but accepted as inevitable the division of the country into two confederacies.
“Did it ever strike you,” said he, “that that is the deliberate design of the men in power, and that they are only forced to keep the Union together by an overwhelming Northern sentiment, which goes beyond the designs of politician?”
Mr. Dallas was much accused of having, in voting for the tariff of 1846, deceived his own State. But the charge had no basis. He had written a letter in 1844, clearly defining his position as opposed to protection as a principle, and in favor of a revenue tariff. He never wavered from this, and though the pressure on him was strong, never hesitated about his casting vote. I was in the room when delegation after delegation called on him. The spokesman of one of these told him that he was “cutting his throat politically.” Mr. Dallas answered, “Probably; but a consideration like that can have no influence over an honest man; and it is not complimentary on your part, when you have known me so long, to urge it as a ground for my action. I am not sensible that any act of mine ever gave you any cause for the insult.”(43)
Certainly, the man of most color with whom English came in contact during his sojourn in Washington was Sam Houston, who in 1846 began a career of more than thirteen years as United States Senator from the new State of Texas. Much older than English, the former soldier and onetime President of the Republic of Texas must have been a fascinating figure to the young editor who had so vigorously [page 254:] fought for the cause of annexation, first in the columns of the Aurora and later in those of The Aristidean. English vividly recalled Houston's “eccentricities of dress,” although he thought them “not amiss in a man of six feet and upwards, finely proportioned, and with the port and dignity of the mythical Indian chief of romance and the drama.”(44) He remembered the Mexican serape which Houston sometimes wore to the Senate, and also the famous skin waistcoat that “divided the attention of the town with the gorgeous waistcoat of Felix Grundy M’Connell, which last bit of apparel was moulded after the pattern of Joseph's gift coat.”(45) But it was perhaps Houston's magnetic personality which left the most lasting impression of the Texas hero on English's mind as the following recollections suggest:
The “Hero of San Jacinto,” as his friends used to call him, was capital company. He was exceedingly full of anecdote, and his reminiscences of the Nashville bar, in his younger days, when General Jackson, Tom Benton, Felix Grundy, and others equally famous, rode circuit there, were very entertaining. He was courtier-like enough when he chose to be, but in his ordinary intercourse with people, he had very much the free and easy manner of the backwoodsman. It sat well on him, however, and carried with it a deal of that magnetism so difficult to describe, with which the popular men of the southwest used to draw all sorts of people to their support. Occasionally Sam would get in bad odor with the Texans — his enemies would make the people there clamor against him; but he had only to take the stump to recover his [page 255:] fading popularity. He must have been a winning, offhand speaker. An old fellow once said to me about him — ”He's a pow’ful man, sir — pow’ful as he's great. Jes let you and some other high larn’t chap git a disco'sin’ on somethin’ Gin’rl Sam don’t know nothin’ about — ‘Gyptian heerygleyephics. f’rinst’ns. He’ll listen an’ won’t say nary the word ontwill yer pooty nigh worn out. Then he’ll open, and he’ll satisfy yeh dreckly of two things — fust, that both of yeh onderstand yerselves cl’arly; seckunt, that neither of yeh don’t know the fust word yer talkin’ about; an’ las’ly, that he knows mo’ about the subjeck than both Of yeh together. Oh, I tell you, Gin’rl Sam's pow’ful he is. He kin wind ‘em — he kin.”
I remember a curious instance of Houston's fascinating power. In the winter of 1846, Hugh Hastings, then of the Albany Knickerbocker, came to Washington. He was not king of the lobby then — was a little unsophisticated, and not as familiar with notabilities as now. He was anxious to see the lions, and among the rest Sam Houston. I took him first to General Rusk's sleeping-room, where we staid [sic] but ten or twelve minutes, and from thence to that of Houston, who was on the same floor with myself. I tapped at the door, and we walked in at the General's loudly given invitation. Houston was lying on the carpet with his feet to the fire, and using his wrists and hands for a pillow — a camp-trick of comfort. “Get up, General. I have a friend here” — and I presented Hastings in due form.
Sam raised himself up — shook hands with Hastings, and said: “I’m glad to see any friend of yours, Doctor; but as he's your friend, I’ll take the same liberty as I would with you, and ask him to excuse me from rising. I’m taking it camp-fashion, for I’m tired; and if you don’t like to follow my example, there are chairs’ — and there's the bed. Make yourselves comfortable. Do you stay long in Washington, Mr. Hastings?”
And then he began. For two hours he poured out a stream of anecdote, some of it entirely new to me, who had heard him in that way a hundred times, and all of it new to my companion. Story after story followed each other, until at length I had to tear Hastings away. When we left the room, the latter turned to me, and with a long-drawn breath, said, “what [sic] a wonderful man that is!” And while he was in town he would recur to it often, saying: “I wouldn’t have missed seeing him for anything.” I question whether Hugh would admire [page 256:] any notable man now — much. “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Hastings has had ample chance since to see how really small the “great men” of the public are. Then it was all new and lovely.(46)
But even though few of English's associates during the winter of 1846-47 could rival Sam Houston in color, Washington was full of distinguished men whose presence must have made it an exciting place for a young newspaper correspondent to live in at that time. The winter was an eventful one, and English afterwards recalled how lively the city was. “Beau Hickman,” he wrote, “was at his zenith; Burton's Theatre was burned down at this time; Cave Johnson was diligently engaged in saving candle-ends in the Post Office Department; Clay was laying pipe for the Presidency, to be laid out in the end by his own friends; Wilmot was planning his ‘proviso’; the Mexican war was in full blast, and the town full of all kinds of inventors, adventurers, schemers, and parlor colonels; the Senate still boasted such men as Calhoun, Webster, Clay, Cass, Benton, King, Buchanan, Mangum, Hunter, Colquitt and Badger; and Dixon H. Lewis was the terror of hackmen, and the wonder of several visitors.”(47)
With Dixon Hall Lewis English had at least a slight [page 257:] personal acquaintance. As a youthful leader of the States Rights faction of the Democratic Party, Lewis had served brilliantly in the legislature of his native Alabama. In 1829, when only twenty-seven years old, he was elected to the national House of Representatives, where he vigorously opposed the United States Bank and the high tariff. He was appointed to the United States Senate in 1844, just four years before his early death at the age of forty-six. Lewis was troubled with extreme obesity throughout his life, and during the latter part of it weighed as much as 450 pounds. Consequently, ordinary seating arrangements, either in the Senate chamber or in public horse-drawn vehicles of transportation, were inadequate for his needs.(48) Although there is no indication that English had more than a passing acquaintance with Lewis, the following recollection of the Alabama Senator is both vivid and amusing:
To most people the Alabama Senator was a mere Lambert. He certainly was the fattest man I ever saw. I remember one time calling at the room of Cottrell, a member from Alabama, and finding Judge Dargan there. The latter proposed, as Lewis had been unwell, but was now getting better, we should go to his apartments, and amuse him by a game of whist. So we did. Lewis was in his dressing-gown, and for some reason we were scant of chairs, and he sat on the bed, with table before him. I was on his left, and unexpectedly trumped his strongest suit. He threw back his arm with a gesture of impatience — his dressing-gown flew open, and — as he had not even put on his drawers, having risen from bed when we came in, I caught a momentary glimpse of his extremities in the costume of Father Adam. I [page 258:] think, without the slightest exaggeration, that his thigh was thicker than my body. On one occasion, his weight caused him to break through the bottom of a hackney coach, and he was severely injured in his endeavor to keep time with the horses, before his jehu was able to comprehend the situation and stop the coach. After that, the coachmen could not understand his signals when he hailed them, and if he endeavored to secure a coach at a stand, always found it had been previously engaged by some mythical personage who was just around the corner.
Lewis was good-natured, but naturally enough objected to a very prolonged gaze. On one occasion he was seated on a settee in the Capitol grounds when a rustic passed. The latter eyed him curiously, returned and lingered around. The Senator felt he was the object of impertinent scrutiny, and chafed at it. The countryman looked a little longer, and plucking up courage, said;
“Excuse me, sir, but how much mought you weigh?”
“A ton, d—n you!” cried Lewis, in a voice loud enough to awaken the Seven Sleepers. His questioner staid [sic] not on the order of his going, but went at once.
But Lewis was no mere Lambert. He was a man of undoubted capacity, and a man of weight in both senses of the term. He was listened to with respect and attention, and his opinions had full force with his colleagues. He always held, and deservedly, the confidence of his State.(49)
With the close of the last session of the Twenty ninth Congress, the story of English's political activities during the decade of the l840's comes to an end. Although he continued to be interested in politics, a combination of circumstances determined that for the next few years his energies would be directed toward other pursuits. But before we follow the events of these [page 259:] years, let us return roughly to the beginning of the stirring decade which we have just viewed from a political angle and trace in considerable detail the no less interesting story of English's ill-fated association with Edgar Allan Poe and of his varied literary career during the period of this association.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 228:]
1. Besides being editor of the Aurora, English was probably one of the secret inspectors of customs referred to by Alexander Gardiner in a letter to John Tyler (Library of Congress, John Tyler Papers, II, October 31, 1844, A. L. S.). That English was an officer in the New York Custom House prior to his appointment as Weigher in June, 1845, is established by a letter from Cornelius Van Ness to the editor of the New York Herald dated April 3, 1845 (New York Herald, April 4, 1845, p. 2, col. 3).
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 229:]
2. For an account of the origin of this rumor and a categorical denial of it, see a pamphlet prepared and published by order of the Tennessee State Central Committee of the Democratic Party entitled Vindication of the Revolutionary Character and Services of the Late Col. Ezekiel Polk of Mecklenburg, N. C. (Nashville, Tennessee, 1844). Although this is a campaign document and is not altogether accurate historically, it contains ample evidence to vindicate its subject of Toryism.
3. Wilmot Polk Rogers points out that although Ezekiel Polk unquestionably played an active and influential part in these proceedings, he was then “a resident of South Carolina and could not have been an official delegate.” See “Ezekiel Polk and his Descendants” (typescript copy in the Library of Congress of an unpublished study, San Francisco, 1939), p. 3 The distinction of having been an official leader of the proceedings must go to Thomas Polk, who was not only a [page 230:] resident of Mecklenburg County, but Colonel of the County militia. It is important not to confuse the Mecklenburg Resolves with the unauthenticated Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of May 20, 1775, which most historians regard as spurious. For brief treatments of each of these subjects, see articles by Hugh T. Lefler in the Dictionary of American History, III, 368.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 230:]
4. English, “Down Among the Dead Men,” The Old Guard, VII (November, 1869), 827-829.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 231:]
5. Thomas Dunn English to James K. Polk, December 18, 1844, Original Autograph MS., Polk Papers, First Series LXIX Library of Congress.
6. New York Journal of Commerce, March 7, 1845, p. 2, col. 2.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 232:]
7. English, “Down Among the Dead Men,” The Old Guard, VII (November, 1869), 827.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 234:]
8. Ibid., pp. 827-829.
9. The initial appearance of the magazine was noticed briefly by the Philadelphia Public Ledger, February 13, 1845, p. 2, col. 3.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 235:]
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 236:]
12. “The Town!” The Town, I (February 15, 1845), 1.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 237:]
13. “The Oyster Shell,” Ibid., p. 5.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 239:]
14. New York Daily Tribune, February 13, 1845, p. 1, cols. 2-3.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 240:]
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 241:]
17 Pp. 143-145; 156-159.
18. English, “Down Among the Dead Men,” The Old Guard, VII (November, 1869), 832.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 242:]
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 244:]
22. “Mr. Polk's Message,” pp. 394-397, esp. 397.
23. “The Democratic Review, and the Late Acting President,” pp. 115-126. The bound volume of The Aristidean lists Robert Tyler as the author of the article.
24. XVI (March, 1845), 211-214.
25. The Aristidean, I (April, 1845), 115. Thus it would seem that English's enthusiastic support of Polk did not weaken his sense of loyalty to ex-President Tyler, even though Tyler's regard for Polk undoubtedly cooled when he early began to feel that far too many of his political appointees had been removed by his successor. That John Tyler subscribed to English's magazine is indicated by the following comment on the article in question to Alexander Gardiner: “The article in the Aristidean before I knew the author, had attracted my attention — It is a deserved castigation, but altogether a mild: one, of Mr O'Sullivan for his infamous article in the Democratic Review” (Letter dated May 6, 1845, Original Autograph MS., John Tyler Papers, III, Library of Congress).
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 244:]
26. Pp. 245-253 and 405-408.
27. Pp. 437-439.
28. John Tyler's early dissatisfaction with his successor's treatment of his appointees may be clearly seen in the following comment: “Mr. Polk seems to be resolvd [sic] upon an unrelenting war against the few civilian friends I left in office — Reed of Missouri — Hope of Illinois and Andrews of Ohio are most recently decapitated — The blood of the martyrs is said to be the seed of the church — Nous verrons, — I watch in silence the course of events — “ (Letter from John Tyler to Alexander Gardiner, May 21, 1845, Original Autograph MS., John Tyler Papers, III, Library of Congress.)
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 246:]
29. Letter dated November 25, 1844, Original Autograph MS., John Tyler Papers, II, Library of Congress, 1845.
[The following footnotes appear at the bottom of page 247:]
31. New York Herald, April 4, 1845, p. 2, col. 3.
32. New York Morning News, April 5, 1845, p. 2, cols. 1-2.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 248:]
33. Letter from Cornelius P. Van Ness to Robert J. Walker, June 14, 1845, Original Signed MS., Custom House Nominations, New York, Record Group 56, Records of the Department of the Treasury, National Archives Building, Washington.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 249:]
34. Copy of a letter from Robert J. Walker to Cornelius P. Van Ness, June 19, 1845, Collectors Small Ports, No. 9, Set G, Record Group 56, Records of the Department of the Treasury, National Archives Building, Washington.
35. July 2, 1845, p. 2, col. 1.
36. Ibid.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 250:]
37. English, “Down Among the Dead Men,” The Old Guard, VIII (June 1870), 468.
38. The Aristidean, I (December, 1845), 476.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 251:]
39. Copy of a letter from Robert J. Walker to Cornelius W. Lawrence, May 11, 1846, Collectors Small Ports, No. 10, Set G., Record Group 56, Records of the Department of the Treasury, National Archives Building, Washington.
40. Poe's charge was made in a letter to George W. Eveleth. See The Letters of Edgar Allan Poe, edited by John Ward Ostrom (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1948), II, 348. The relationship between English and Poe during the year 1846 will be treated in Chapter IX of the present study
41. Introduction to the “Memorabilia Fragmenta,” p. 5.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 252:]
42. Newark Evening News, April 1, 1902, p. 1, col. 7.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 253:]
43. English, “Down Among the Dead Men,” The Old Guard, VII (November, 1869), 832-833.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 254:]
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 256:]
46. Ibid., pp. 900-901.
47. Ibid., p. 902. English mistakenly asserts that King (i. e., William Rufus Devans King) was still a member of the Senate in the winter of 1846-47. Dixon H. Lewis had been appointed Senator from Alabama in King's place when King resigned his seat in 1844. In 1846 King tried to regain the seat from Lewis, but was defeated. See the biographical sketch of King by Samuel C. Williams in the Dictionary of American Biography, X, 93.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 257:]
48. For information given here concerning Lewis, other than that taken from English's personal reminiscences, see the biographical sketch by Theodore H. Jack in the Dictionary of American Biography, XI, 209-210.
[The following footnote appears at the bottom of page 259:]
49. English, “Down Among the Dead Men,” The Old Guard, VII (December, 1869), 902-903.
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Notes:
None.
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[S:0 - EPLCTDE, 1953] - Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore - Bookshelf - The Early Political and Literary Career of Thomas Dunn English (Gravely)