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THE FEDERAL UNION.
\ OJuU 3^ ^
MILLEDGEVILLE, GA. THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 1831.
WHOLE NUMBE14
Jt G»
>THf- UNION
iWWI
EDITED BY
POBUIUIj & J< A.
, ,4 r-uMisltC'l every Thursday at THREE DOILAR?
in idv ince <>" FOUR, if nut paid oefoie lae fiiu ol' the
, ar j S on Wayne Hlreet, opposite McCombs' Tavern.
e ‘ l . r .- , n ' Wri-r.UENTo published at the usual rates.
Notice bv Executors
or , render in their accounts, must be published.::! X WEEKS?.
Sales of Nccroes by Executors and Administrators must be ad
vertised. SIXTY DAYS before the day of sale.
of the difficulties. And front it, and the absolute asse
veration of Col. Johnson, I consider my statement, that
you were well aware that the President disclaimed a/:
right to interfere ami dictate the social intercourse of th.
family of any member of the Cabinet, to be well warran
ted. \
That I am also warranted in having said that you,
ourself, had declared that the President disclaimed to
you any disposition of the sort, will appear from the ex*
j tract which 1 make from a letter of your own, now be
fore me. After recapitulating a conversation of your
^Applications by Executor? and Administrators fer Letters Dismia- j some few days aflenourdt, l fi wikly exposed to him my views
dory, must be published SIX MONTHS. i ^ j iri this subject, and he disclaimed any disposition to press such
a requisition.”
advertised once a month for SIX MONTHS.
Sales of rei-Testate by Executor?, Administrators and Guardians,
-must be published SIXTY DAYS before the day of sale. These
' lies must.be made at the court-house door between the hours ot
the morning and I in the afternoon. No sale troin day to u.^
lid. unless so expressed in the advertisement.
Orders of Court of Ordinary, (accompanied with a copy of t>ie
nd, or agreement) to make titles to laud, must be au/ertised
HREE MONTHS at least.
-ust be afiveitiseii, general -- - — _
U! oniers fur A.!v r ertif emenYs will be pnnctuali} 7 attended to.
.* All letters directed to this Office, or the Editors, mvst be post
paid, to entitle them to .mention.
uo*7mv.
From the Lufoes’ Magazine.
THE LITTLE TO OT.
TVly boy, a-, gently r n oreast,
From infant sport thou smk’st to rest,
And on my hand I feci thee put,
In playful dreams thy little foot,.
"The tiirilling touch sets every string
Of my full heart a quivering;
For aii! I tiling, what chart, can show,
•The ways through which this foot may go 1
fta print will be, in childhood’s hours
Traced in the garden, round 'he flowers;
'ft it youih will bid it leap the rills—
‘Bathe in the dews of distant hills—
It cam o’er the vales, and venture out,
"When riper years would pause and doubt;
jjier brave the pass, nor try the brink,
Where youth’s unguarded foot may sink.
But w hat, when manhood tints thy check,
"Will he the ways this foot may seek?
'Is it to lightly pace the deck ?
To, helpiess, slip from off the wreck ?
i )r wander o’er a foreign shore,
Returning to thy home no more,
Until the bosom, now thy pillow,
% low and cold beneath the willow ?
Or is it tor the battle’s plain,_
'Beside t! e slaver and the slain!
•Till there its final step be taken—
There sleeps thine eye no more to wakeif?
fa it to glory or to shame—
-To sullv or to ?i'd tLy.i’ame-*—
fa it to happiness or wo,
•This little loot is made to go ?
'Bill, wheresoe’er its lines may fat?,
Whether in cottage or in hall,
<i>, may it ever shun the ground
Where'er his foot had not been found,
Who n his path below has shc-d
.A living light that all may tread
Upon Jus earthly step ; and none
E’er dash the foot against a stone:?
Yet if thy wav is marked by fate,
/\ s guilty, dark and .desolate—
If thou must fo nt tiv vice and ennw*
.A wreck up r> n the stream of time;
Oil! rather than behold that day,
I’d k "w this foot, in lightsome play,
Would bound, with guiltless, infant glee,
Upon the sod that shelters me.
J II. F. G.
FOUITICALr.
EX-OFFICIAL CONTROVERSY CONTINUED.
ITrom the Globe of July 2! J .
Mr. Berrien to .Mr. BUtir.
Washington, July 20, 1831.
f5j n : Your note of yesterday was received under cir-
.o*imstances which prevented my immediate attention to
I reply to it now, to correct the misrepresentation in-
wliich you have been led, and which, by '.he publicity
-wliich you liave given to it, is calculated to mislead the
»ublic.
1 extract from yeur note the following sentence:
“My sole object was at once to clear the skir sof the
President from a charge, which you are well aware ought
Si i!. to be attached to him; for you have, as 1 understand,
-explicitly declared, that he disclaimed to you, at the time
when you were in communication witn Col. Johnson, any
■Resign 1'ke that now imputed to him.”
I make this Quotation for the purpose of saying to you,
that you have V eon entirely misinformed—that the state
ment contained in this extract is not warranted by any
declaration ever made by [me;] and still assuming it to
fee your wish to represent this matter truly to the public,
1 am under the necessity of asking you to give publicity
this note.
I am, very respectfully, Sir, your obedient r.erv’t.
JN. MACPftERSON BERRIEN.
£o Francis P. Blair, Esq. Editor cf the Globe.
Mr. Blair to Mr. Berrien.
\V ASHINGTON, July 20, 1831.
£fe R; Your note of this morning will be given iinmodi-
-Uely to the press. In reference to the subject cf which
it treats, you do me but justice when you say that “/
Irish to represent this matter truly to the public." \ ou will
permit me, therefore, briefly to show the ground on which
% felt myself authorized to cav that “you were well aicare,"
that the charge implicating tire President, ought not to
fee attached to him, and that you had yourself explicitly
-declared that lie disclaimed the purpose imputed to him.
As to the first branch of this statement, whMi you do
jioi seem directly to controvert, I have to support me, the
positive written declaration of Col. Johnson, in which he
<jays that the President always disclaimed such a requisi
tion, and that, he told you so. Besides this, I have before
jne, in live hand writing of the President, the identical
paper, which he read to yourself, ar.d Messrs, Branch
-and Ingham, and which presented the attitude that he
thought it his duty to assume in relation to the circum
stances which affected the harmony and character of his
Cabinet. The course which he thought proper then to
adopt, was predicated on information given him by se
veral members of Congress, showing that a combination
had been entered into, in which yourself and the other
f entlemen named, were concerned, to disgrace Major
aton, and coerce his dismission from the Cabinet. Af
ter a prefatory verbal explanation of the reasons induc
ing the interview, the President proceeded to say, that if
it were true that you had taken the course ot which he
spoke, he felt himself called on to make the declaration
which he read to you from his written memorandum, in
which he says that ift was, using his own words, “not on
ly unjust in itself, but highly disrespectful to me” (the
President) “and well calculated to destroy the harmony
yf my Cabinet.” The grounds upon which this opinion
is founded, are substantially these. I do not claim the
right to interfere, in any manner, in the domestic relations or
5 ersonat intercourse of any member of my Cabinet, nor hare
in any manner attempted it" fyc.
In the conclusion of the same paper, after recapitula
ting the circumstance* to which he wished to call your
attention, he says, as the result of the matter, “therefore
have 1 sought this interview, to assure you, if there is any
truth in the report that you have entered into the combina
tion charged, to drive Major Eaton from, my Cabinet, that I
feel it an indignity and insult offered to myself, and is of a
character that will be considered of.”
This ia the ground on which this matter was placed by
th&Prcsjfcl&iA j$i vitli you is ths-faginnin^
In this you have allusion to the written declaration read
to you by the President, which can bear no other inter
pretation than that which you have given it in this ex
tract.
In both the points presented by me, in the extract quo
ted in your last note, I feel myself fully sustained by the
documentary evidence, which I now lay before you; and
trust you will also consider it as fully vindicating the
statement which 1 liave made. Having thus justified my
self, you will permit me tc conclude my correspondence
with you.
I am. Sir, your obedient servant,
F. P. BLAIR.
Mr. Berrien to Mr. Blair.
Vv ASHINGTON, Rvkil July, 1831.
Srn: I have this moment, received your note, in answer
to mine of this date. I make no apology for continuing
.. s correspondence, although you intimate a wish to
Conclude it, because it wili be readily understood that it
is in your cliarac* as a public journalist, anil not as an
individual, that I address you. I exercise a right, there
fore which, as the Editor of a public journal, you can with
no propriety withhold, w hen i ciaim the insertion of this
note in the same paper which conveys your own commu
nication to the public.
I repeat the quotation from your note of yesterday:
“My sole object was at once to clear the skirts of the
President of a charge, which you are w ell aware ought
not to be attached to him; for you have, as 1 understand,
declared that lie disclaimed to you, at the time when you
were in communication with CvL Johnson, any design
like that now imputed to him.”
The first remark which I liave to make upon this quo
tation; with relerence to your observation that, 1 did not
seem to controvert the first branch of Lius statement, is the
following:
Four assertion that/was well aware that tire charge a-
gainst the President, to winch you referred, ought not to
be attached to him, was made expressly io rest upon your
understanding that I had explicitly declared, that he tine
Fresidem) disclaimed to me any such design. When,
therefore, 1 told youtha. such a statement v, as not war-
ram ed by any declaration ever made by me, and of course
that your understanding was not correct, I gave you a
very broad denial of my having any such knowledge as
that which you had imputed tome. In more distinct
terms, however, (if that be possible,) I now renew that
decollation. 1 have no such knowledge. Nay, more, Sir;
I have no knowledge of the paper, “in the hand writing
of the President,” to which you refer. No such paper
was ever read to me, or shown tome, or spoken of to me.
If it had been, I should most certainly not now have had
occasion to address myself to the public on this subject,
through the columns of your paper.
! Having thus disposed of the paper to which you refer,
and shown that this can furnish no ground for your un
derstanding of what 1 was or teas not aicare of, since J ne-
: rcr saw it, and its contents were never communicated to me;
11 advert next ip your suggestion, that this understanding
I is warranted by Col. Johnson’s positive asseveration. Up
on this subject! have already told the public, through you,
that I consider myself bound by the implied understand-
] ing resulting from my correspondence with that gentle-
] man, not to publish any statement of the conversation
| which occurred between him, Messrs. Bianch, and Ing-
• ham, and myself, until he shall have had a reasonable
| time to reply to iny letter. .1 told you, at. the same time,
| that any departure from this understanding, which was
authorized by that gentleman, would absolve me from its
obligation. I still adhere '.o this view, and content my
self, at present, with repeating, in reference to that of
which you suppose me tube well aware, that J have no
such tcnencledge. The time must speedily arrive, when
this forbearance will be no longer necessary.
Your nex, reference is to a letter of mine to Maj. Ea
ton, which you say is in your possession. As you have
published an extract, you are bound to give the corres-
pondence—even before that is done, it is very easy to see
that you liave entirely misunderstood the expression
winch you have quoted—that a disclaimer of an inten
tion to press a requisition, is a wholly different thing from
denial of ever having made it; and tliai in using this ex
pression I could not have had aiiurion to “a written de
claration,” which 1 had never seen or heard ot'.
You will perceive then, Sir, that, you are wholly uri-
susiained in ail the points of your statement, excep' by
a declaration which you admit that, ymi have used with
out authority, anil winch will be met if it becomes neces
sary. As a foithfui journalist, you will, of course, seize
the occasion to correct your error. 1 ou can, no doubt,
do this, m relation to the paper on which you have pla
ced so much reliance, by ad irect appeal to the President,
who win not, I think, authorize the statement that that
paper was ever shown to me. H< m ever this may Ice, I
bear this testimony to the truth. Neither inviting con
troversy, nor seeking political effect, 1 find myself in a
position, in which I must either speak, or silently permit
the public to be misled. 1 have a sufficient sense of what
is due to them, not to intrude myself uncalled upon their
notice; and the consciousness of what I owetomyseit
will not permit me to shrink from the performance of iny
duty.
* I am, very respectfully, Sir, your ob’t. serv’f.
JN. MACPHERSCN BERRIEN. ’
To Francis P. Blair, Esq. Editor ot the Globe.
Mr. Blair to Mr. Berrien.
\\ ashington, July 21, IS3I.
Sin: Your last letter was received iate at night, when
the Globe was made up for the press. To give it inser
tion with the correspondence which preceded it, rendered
it necessary that I should defer the whole until this day,
and substitute other matter, previously set up, for my pa
per.
Without adverting to. the special pleading of your let
ter, (in which, being no lawyer, I have no skill,) I come
at once to the point. A ou take issue again with me, by
declaring “that no such paper as that quoted by me was ever
read to [you,] or shewn to you, or spoken of to you." And
you further say, that the President “will not, you think,
authorize the statement that that paper was ever shown to
[you."]
When the statement which I made, predicated upon
Col. Johnson’s letter, was impeached m your second note,
I made the appeal to the President, which you seem to
think 1 ought now to make. He immediately put into
my hands the original memorandum which he wrote, and
which be read to Messrs. Branch, Ingham, and yourself:
and IVm now expressly authorized to state again, that in
the interview referred to in my note and in your own let
ter, quoted therein, he held in his hand, and reed to you, the
paper from which 1 have given the extracts, which you say
was never read, shown, or spoken of to you. Jlnd I am
authorized further to say, that if you id ill call on the Presi
dent, he will again exhibit and read to you this original docu
ment. It was prepared by him in contemplation that the
interview might lead to an immediate dissolution of his
Cabinet, and it w as intended by him to record the basis
he assumed in doing an act, which involved his own char
acter and the interests of the country. The paper thus
prepared by the President, was communicated at the time
to several of his friends, whom he consulted on the occa
sion. And the substance of the conversation which pre
ceded and followed the communication, was also immedi
ately reduced to writing, and connected with the docu
ment read to you, that nothing might be left to recollec
tion, if circumstances at a remote period should make a
reference to it necessary. With regard to a transaction
vi recorded, and vouched by the concurrent testimony of
-hose consulted on the occasion, there can be no mistake.
A man’s memory may be treacherous when the man him-
jeg is haaeshw I. (On wiBjng to believe tfcjfeis f our cfWGr
You have icnoceritiy forgotten the declaration made fo
the President, which stands authenticated as I havt^jofo
you, as well as the communication of the samejprrport
made to you by Colonel Johnson.
1 am obliged to rely on this written record of a fact, ra
ther than on your memory, especially when I find this
positive proof confirming tlie statement of Colonel Jolm-
son, that the President disclaimed any right or desire to
interfere with the private associations of yourself or your
family, and that you knew it.
I next quoted your own written admission, confirming
the statement of Colonel Johnson, and the written re
cord of the President, in the following words: “In the in
terview to which I was invited by the President some few
days afterwards, (after Colonel Johnson’s visit,) I frankly
expressed to him my views on the subject, and he dis-
jjlaimed any disposition to press such a requisition.”
You say that “a disclaimer of an intention to press
such a requisition, is a wholly different tiling fromdenial
of ever having made iL’**
I thought not, in this case; because no such requisition
had been made. Colonel Johnson says, the President
disclaimed to him any desire to controul your domestic
affairs, or private intercourse, and he told you so. The re
cord of what the President said to you, declares, that he
claimed no right to interfere “in the domestic relations or
personal intercourse of any member of Iris Cabinet;” and,
in allusion to the same conversation, you say, he “dis
claimed any disposition to press such a requisition." When
no such requisition had been made by Col. Johnson;
when he told you the President made none; and when
you do not pretend he mode any, either directly or indirectly,
I could no! but understand your declaration, that “he dis
claimed anil disposition to press such a requisition," as a de
claration that lie made no such requisition.
But I find, in the character you have always sustained
before the public, other conclusive proof, that no such re
quisition was ever made of you, and that you kneno it. If
the President had signified to you, directly or indirectly,
that lie required you to compel your family to associate
with any one, contrary to their will will and yours, you
would not, as a man of honor, have waited for an invita
tion to resign. You would have thrown your commis
sion in the face of the President, and said to him, “Sir,
I Pin no longer adviser or associate with a man who re
quires me to disgrace myself and family, though he he
the President of the United States!!” In your public
character I had a guarantee that you would not, for the
sake of your honor, salary and emoluments, as Attorney
General, sink your character as a man, by tamely listen
ing to such a requisition. No, Sir; it is impossible to be
lieve that you could have listened to such a requisition;
dismissed your self-respect, forgot your southern honor,
and humbly bowed in seeming reverence to the man who
had insulted you, until politely invited to resign! It is im
possible that you could bury such an insult, profess to be
the friend of the President, make the speech that you did
recently in Georgia, and now that you are out of office,
disclose a fact which would seal vour o\*u shame. No,
hir; no such proposition was ever made to you; you had
no cause to comj >la:n of the President; you eulogized him
in public and private: and you would have gladly acted
as Attorney General to the end of Iris administration,
had you not been invited io resign.
But the circumstances under which the harmony of the
la> e Cabinet was restored, repel the inference, which you
will have it, in your last note, that the extract from your
letter to Major Eaton, leaves open, in the ambiguousness
of its expression. From the moment that you denied to
the President any participation in the poliiical combina
tion to drive Major Eaton from the Cabinet, the usual
courtesies were renewed among its members, without any
associa’ ion between their respective familes. Major Ea
ton would liave been as reluctant to receive visiters, dri
ven into his doors fly the power of the President, as they
could possibly have been to submit to such tyranny and
degradation. His house was thronged by those who
v. ere among the most, respectable people of thfi city, by
the most honorable families visiting, annually, here, and
by those from abroad, most distinguished by station. To
the gayety and respectability of parties thus attended,
the appearance of persons constrained by the authority
of the Executive, if it could have been exerted for such
purpose, would have added nothing. It could have ser
ved no purpose to have exacted such a requisition as that
now imputed, to the injury of the President. To have
forced the wife of the Secretary of War, upon that pot-
iion of society which was unwilling to receive her, could
have added nothing to her reputation. It is ridiculous to
impute to the failure of such a design, the dissolution cf
the late Cabinet. You, I think, must know that this step
was the result of the diversity of political views, which
attached the two parties in the Cabinet to different divis
ions of the new parties which became apparent in the
dissention between the President and Vice President.
This produced, in the then state of the Cabinet, combina
tions in Congress, calculated to defeat the most salutary
measures of the administration. In t he opposition which
showed itself with regard to the Turkish negotiation,
he members of the Cabinet favorable to the new-born
o position, were expressly exempted in the denunciations
if those members of the Senate, who then came out and
disclosed, for the first time, their hostility to the Presi
dent and a part of his Cabinet. That a wish to bring
vtajnr Eaton and his family into society here, had no in
fluence in producing the dissolution of the Cabinet, is ap
parent from the fact that it operator! to consign them and
him to privacy. The want of the harmony essential to
he public welfare, however originated, was pregnant
with political effects, and produced this result.
You require of me to correct the error of my decla
ration, predicated rn the infer mation which Colonel
Johnson communicated to me, upon the ground that I
have no authority to use the evidence which establishes
the fact. The testimony which I have in my possession,
under Col. Johnson’s hand, satisfies me thoroughly of
the truth of the assertion 1 have made, and therefore, I
will not admit it to bean error. Your exception to the
use I have made of his testimony, may be applicable as
a censure upon my course.—But I consider, that circum
stances fully justify that course, and I am only responsi
ble to Col. Johnson for my conduct in relation to his let-
ter. Your objection to the authority under which I have
a-’+ed as to Col. Johnson’s evidence, does not, in the least,
change the nature of that evidence. It is as convincing
as it could be under full authority to use it, and probably
more so than evidence purposely prepared for the public
eye.
* You seem to think that I am bound to publish, on my
own account, the correspondence between Mr. Eaton and
yourself, because I have used a paragraph having exclu
sive reference to the President. I do not think so. I will
have nothing to do with the controversy between Major
Eaton and yourself. V ou have a right to bring that sub
ject before the public in any way you please, and on your
out. responsibility. I will not hesitate to print it, or any
part you may etioose to embody, in the discussion with
me.
I closed my last note to you, by an intimation that it
would conclude our correspondence. I did so because
die issue between us depended altogether upon the veri
ty of the statements I had made, contradicting assertions
in the Telegraph, for wliich I did not know that you were
responsible. When you volunteered to question iny state
ments, I iaid before vou frankly the ground on which I
acted; and then, in a second letter, brought to your view
the proof on which, as to myself, I was willing to rest the
issue. But as you seem inclined to make, through me,
an attack on the President, and to use the correspondence
on which you entered (certainly without being called for
by any thing I said, as to yourself,) as the medium of
hrincinf on a general discussion of the question of the
dissolut ion of the late Cabinet, I shall certainly sacrifice
my inclination to what you consider my duty. My re
luctance to continue the correspondence with you pro
ceeds from no want of respect to you. But I believe the
public is sick of the subject; is satisfied with the dissolu
tion of the old Cabinet, and the formation of the new
one; and this induced the inclination I have evinced, to
spare the country the disgust of the dissection of a sub
ject, wliich it seems willing to burv. At all events, the
progress we have made will be sufficient for one lecture.
If you think fit, we will resume it again.
. Yours, Stc.
F. P. BLAIR.
JUDGE BEffliiL...
TO THE~PUBLIC.
Circumstances beyond my control nave placed me un
der the necessity of presenting myself to your notice. I
assert no claim io your attention, which does not belong
equally to every free citizen of the Republic. But I ask,
anti, I feel that I have a right to expect, your candid con
sideration of this address. Its subjects is one of awaken
ing interest to us all. The position in which I find myself,
has nothing inviting in it. It is one forced upon me, and
one in which I am called upon to vindicate not myself
merely, but the cause of truth, and the best and dearest
interest of the community, at a hazard to which fatuity
alone could be insensible.
The *iisrepresentations of a public Journal, professing
to speak the language of the President of the U. States,
and published* under his eye, have presented to me tire
alternative, of submitting to an imputation, ailke dis
honorable and unfounded in fact, or of meeting the issue
which has been tendered tome under the alleged authori
ty of that high officer. If I do not shrink frem this une
qual strife, it. is because 1 have a confidence which has
never wavered, in the intelligence of my countrymen, a
firm, and unshaken reliance in the justice of that tribunal,
whose high prerogative it is at all times, and under all
circumstances, to vindicate the cause of truth.
1 have studiously abstained from any effort to excite
public feeling in relation to the dissolution of the late cabi
net. I have felt that the question efits propriety was
one, the decision of which l>elonged alone to the Ameri
can People. Personally I have not been disposed to deny
the right of the President to exercise his own free will,
as well in the change, as in the original selection of his
Cabinet; and with a perfect sense of the delicacy of my
own situation, I would haveloeen at all times a reluctant
witness in the investigation of the causes which led to
the recent events. It was not however enough that J
should submit myself to his will, although the principle
by which it was avowedly regulated, could have no ap-
F lication to me; for this I liave unheaitai ingly done. But
have been required silently to witness the entire mis
representation of occurrences which the public, were well
aware must have come under my observation; nay, to be
publicly, vouched as authority for that which was direct
ly in conflict with my convictions of truth—and finally
to be called to vindicate my own claim to veracity, as
sailed as it is under the alleged authority of the President
of the United States, or to submit to an imputation which
no honorable man may bear. I mistake the character of
the American People, if they would require this. I am
totally ignorant of my own, if, under any circumstances,
I could yield to it. If, in the face of this great communi
ty, the cause of truth can be prostrated by the arm of
power, at least the privilege of vindicating it, shall not be
..mors wh.eh had ctached .him a* the taig n ol sc. J .m*
prestion which had been made upon hus minu. lie . out*
td me no paper—spoke to ipe of none—int.mano to n < nu
terms which he would hereafter require. By his decim al i. a
that he did not intend to press the requisition which ho
had made through Col.-Johnson, I considered the oljecl
of the interview to be to explain to me the motives vnacr
which he acted, and to announce the change ofhis ufUazrd*
nation. He accompanied this with expressions of pel*
sonal kindness, which 1 thought were intended to soo’ho
the feelings which he must have been conscious/".!’hat mg
excited. Still I thought it was improper for nee longer
to remain in the Cabinet. Admitting that Sufficient
atonement Iiad been made for the indignity offered by th*
message sent through Col. Johnson, there was a perpeu*
al liability to the recurrence of similar outrage. 1 believ
ed it, therefore, to be my duty to retire. My friends
thought otherwise, and my own sense of what the inter*
ests of Georgia at that particular crisis require^, induced
me to repress my feelings.
When at a subsequent, period, the controversy occum*
ed between the President and Vice-President, I thought
1 saw in this, the evidence of an intention again to agi
tate the question, w hich by the agency of the personal
friends of Gen. Jackson, had been before happily repress*
ed. The connexion of Mr. Crawford with this centre*
versy, and my own relation to Gon. Jackson, forbade me
to take any part in it,—and I studiously avoided aii in
terference, except to deprecate Mr. Calhoun’s publica
tion. 1 left Washington on the fourth day of April, <.na
day after Major Eaton had announced to the President
his determination to resign, according to the statement, in
his (Maj. Eaton’s) letter of resignation, A not the slight
est intimation was given to me of the intended change in
the Cabinet. But when I saw the correspondence be
tween the President and the several Heads of Depart
ments, I could not doubt for a moment how, and by
whom, the dissolution had been produced. . I did not feel
at liberty to express my views generally, until my return
to V ashington should enable me to dissolve my ernnee-
tion with the President; but tr. a lew friends wl.o had tha
right to understand my actual position. I stared the u-\et
impossibility of my continuance in the Cabinet, unless ihe
President could place the retirement of my colleagues or!
other grounds than those which I believed to have i rca*
sioned it, and such as I could approve. In full vew of*
the speedy dissolution of aii connection between It 1 res
ident and myself, 1 availed myself of the occasion afford
ed by the kindness of my fellow citizens of Savannah, to
do an act of justice to his public conduct, on a question
vitally interesting to the people of Georg a. If there lie
any man who is incapable cf understanding, or (t appre
ciating the motive which prompted this act, I cannot en
vy his feelings, and wili not attempt to enlighten his un
derstanding. 1 returned to this city, had a conversation
with the President, of which the prominent poinn arc ad-
tamely surrendered in my person. I will bow to the de- . . - . . , . .
cision of my countrymen—but whatever that decision ‘Crted to m my lettev of resigiia'ion which immed rneiy
■ the high consolation of having faithfully discharg- ° ( i% 'ed it, and having brought up the public business,
1 . ” . . - , ,, * i ■» tt'htph irnt in nrroov ratiroil Irnm nfoon
Roger B. Tanet, Attorney General of the United
States, has arrived in this City, and entered upon the du-
ics of his office. He also takes charge of the War De-
oartment qjitjj aijivqj of cKW^~TAe
may be.
ed my duty to them, and to myself, shall not be taken
from me.
The disingenuous and unmanly suggestion of my de
sire to remain in the Cabinet of General Jackson, not
withstanding the occurrences which produced my retire
ment; will be my apology for adverting briefly to the ori
gin of my connexion with it, and to the circumstances
wliich induced its continuance.
It was without any solicitation on my part, or, so far
as 1 know or believe, on the part of any of my friends,
that I was invited to accept the office of Attorney Gener
al of the United States. There were circumstances,
temporary in their nature, but still strongly operative,
which rendered it not desirable to me. I felt, however,
that I was called to decide ujxrn the question of my ac
ceptance, not merely as an individual, but as a citizen,
and especially as a citizen of Georgia. On certain prin
ciples of general policy, some of which were particularly
interesting to the people of that State, the views commu
nicated to me by the President, were in accordance iv-ith
my own: and I felt it to be my duty, not to withhold any
assis'ance which I could give to carry them into effect.
The annunciation of the names of the intended Cabinet
seemed to me, however, to present an insuperable bar tr
my acceptance of the office which was tendered to me.
I thought I foresaw clearly the evils which have too ob
viously resulted from this selection. A stranger to Gen.
Jackson, I could not -with propriety discuss these objec
tions with him. I knew, moreover, that some ofhis con
fidential friends had faithfully discharged their duty to
him, and to the country, by a frank communication ref
them. Jn this state of tluntrs, I sought the counsel of
those around me. To a gentleman high in the confidence
of the President, and to a distinguished citizen of my own
State, I submitted the inquiry, whether, with this view of
the Cabinet which the President had selected, I could
with propriety become a member of it. The former ex
pressed his decided conviction, founded on a long and in
timate knowledge of the President’s character, tb.Rt lie
would himself speedily see, and correct, the evil. The
latter urged the peculiar.relations of Georgia with the
General Government, as presenting a strong claim upon
me not to r.- tse the invitation which had been given to
me. I yielded to these suggestions, and took my place
in the Cabinet, with a firm determination to avoid the con
troversies wliich i feared might occur. To that deter-
I have steadily adhered; Associating on terms of cour
tesy with my colleagues, my official intercourse with
them was never interrupted by discord.
If there were any combinations growing out of the sup
posed conflict between the interests of Mr. Calhoun and
Air. Van Burcn, I had no part in them—and as little in
the supposed measures of that character, having for their
objects to coerce Major Eaton to retire from the Cabinet
—or to exclude his family from the society of Washing
ton. With mine they did not associate; but no advance
had been made on either side, and their actual /elation
seemed therefore to furnish no just ground of offence to
either party. In this posture of things, and shortly after
I had given an evening party to which Mr. Eaton had
not been invited, I received and heard with infinite sur
prise, the message of Co], Johusom
I could make no mistake as to its character, for there
was a direct and repeated reference to the large parties,
which had been then recently given by Messrs. Branch
and Ingham, and myself Such a mistake, if it had been
one, would have been instantly corrected, from the nature
of my reply. If the complaint had been cf a combination
to evict Major Eaton from office, and not to exclude his fami
ly from society, the reference to these evening parties would
liave keen idle: and my declaration that I would not
pprmi' the President to control the lrtvil intercourse of
myself and family, would have been Instantly met by an
explanation, which would have removed the impression
from the minds of Messrs. Branch and Ingham, and my
self. Yet wcall parted with Col. Johnson, with a clear
conviction that, such a proposition had been made, and
feeling as we all did, that an indignity had been offered
to us, there was, I believe, no differeflce of opinion be
tween us as to the course we ought to pursue, if this pro
position should be avowed and pressed by the President.
This conversation took place on Wednesday evening,
and the rumor of our intended removal speedily became
general. On the succeeding day, the personal friends of
General Jackson interposed, And he was awakened to a
sense of the impropriety ofhis projected course. It was
then, according to Col. Johnson’s statement to_Mr. Ing
ham, that the paper spoken of by the Editor of the Globe
was prepared. My two Colleagues had their interview
with the President on the succeeding day, (Friday) and
as Mr. Ingham’s statement, made from full notes taken at
the time, proves, no paper was shmon to kirn on that occasion.
Owing to a mistake in the communication of the Presi
dent’s wishes to me, I did not see him until the succeed-
ing'dav, (Saturday,) and then the excitement ofhis feel
ings had so entirely subsided, that he seemed to me to be
anxious to dispose of the subject as briefly as possible.
He spoke of the falsehood of the reports against Mrs; Ea
ton, of which he said he had sufficient proof; and upon my
declining to discuss that question, he complained of the
injustice of excluding her from society: referred to the
large parties given by Messrs. Ingham and Branch, and
myself, and told me if he could liave been convinced that
there was a combination between those gentlemen and
myself to exclude her from society, that he would have
required our resignations. He immediately added, that
he was entirely satisfied that there had heen no such com
binations, and again referred to those large parties, and
to the rumors to which they had given rise, as having
produced that impression. So far from then suggesting
t’.xt information had been received from any member of
Congress, when I claimed the right of having the name'
of any parsons who had made~t.o him representations on-
fSfrOriifeitetd my cgpi^jcr, he etJfl refowtfl to the thetrwnvl
wliich was in arrear, retired from office.
X\ bile these occurrences Were in progress, Major Ea*
ton addressed to me a letter of like import w ith his first
communication to Mr. Ingham; He called upon me to
sanction or disavow the statement in the Telegraph, that
iny family had refused to associate with Lis. I answer
ed by detailing the conversation which had passed be
tween myself and Col. Johnson, and stated that i had
subsequently expressed the same views to the President*
w ho had disclaimed any disposition to press this requisi
tion, referring to that which I had previously stated to
liave been made through Col. Johnson. The Editor of
the Globe has published this detached sentence of my let
ter, and has made an impotent attempt to distort its
meaning. The public shell judge of the whole corres
pondence for themselves. I had no disposition to publish
this correspondence. Perfectly satisfied that it would at
all times speak for itself, and not emulous of reputation to
be acquired in such controversies, 1 have resisted the nu
merous calls which have been made upon me through
different journals, to gi\*e it to the public. But the Edit
or of the Globe is*in possession of it, and by the publica
tion of an isolated extract, attempts to do me in just &
1 exercise a right, therefore, which belongs to me, when I
take from him, this unfair means of annoyance, by giv
ing the whole to the public:
Friday Nicrit, iSth June, i&31.
Sir—I have studied to disregard rhe abusive slanders
which liave arisen through so debased a source as the L\
a. Telegraph. I have been content to wait for the full
development of w hat, he had to say, and until persons of
responsible charset r Jiould be brought forth to endorse
his vile abuse of me, and of my family. Jn that paper of"
this evening is contained the follow ing remark cf my
wife: “It is proven that the Secretaries ot the Treasu
ry and of t,l»e Navy, and of the Attorney General, refus
ed to associate wit h her.” 1 This publication appears in a
paper which professes to be friendly to you, and is
brought forth under your immediate eye. I desire >tf
know of you whether or not you sanction this statement*
or disavow it. The relation we liave streamed t< wardi
each othere authorizes rne to demand an nr.fficdiate an
swer. Very respectfully,
J. H. EATON;
Jno. M. Berrien, Esq.
- Washington, 13th June, 1831;
Sir:—I received to-day you note of last nigh*, in v. i icn
you call my ai rent,ion to an art icie in the TJ. 8. Telegraph.'
of the 17th instant, relating to your wile—and uesumr*
to know whether I will sanction or disavow tha. s ate-
ment ; you add, “the relation we have sustained towards
each other, authorizes me to demand an immediate ar&-
swer.”
To this inquiry preferred as a mat ter of right, and pre
sented in the form cf a demand, iny answer must be brief.
If consists in the simple denial of the claim which you as
sert, I cannot recognize your right to interrogate roe,
concerning the statements of the Telegraph, or of any
other public journal, which are made without my agenev.
You might with equal propriety select an article from anv
newspaper in the Union, for the purpose of putting ir.tr
to the question—and if the claim which you as ert bd
well founded, I might be required at the instance 6f any'
person aggrieved, to give my confession of faith, in reh *
tion to the various statements to be found in any of the
journals, in wliich my name may chance to lie mentioned.
Such a demand, therefore, cannot be admitted for a mo
ment. But although I cannot recognize your right, eith
er as derived from the relation which we have sustained
towards each other r or from any other source, to make
the demand presented by your noie, 1 am not quite sure v .
looking to the position in which we stand before the pub
lic, that I can acquit myself to the community or to my
self for declining to answer your enquiry. —
In the progress of those events which have at length re
sulted in the dissolution of the Cabinet, my determina
tion has been, not to do any act which was calculated tt*
provoke controversy, nor to deviate under whatever ur
gency from that line of conduct, which my own sense cf
propriety prescribed. Acting upon this determination,
I have necessarily pursued a course, which a refusal to
answer your inquiry, might seem to indicate an unwill
ingness to avow; Such an inference would be unjust as
it regards myself, and delusive in relation to th« public.
Although therefore I have the most unaffected reluctance
to enter upon such a subect, and certainly do nor acqui
esce in your right to demand it, it seems to-ne that ytfo
have by making ihe inquiry, imposed upon me the cblv-
gat ion to do so, from a just consideration of what I owe
to myself and to the public; I have then to state to you.
that up to the time of your marriage, I had not heard the
rumors, which have since in various forms, been present
ed to the public, and was ignorant of Mrs. Eaton’s relt^
tion to the society of this place. I accepted your invitf*
tion to be present at yoyr wedding, therefore, with no
distrust of the propriety of my doing so, other than tire
which resulted from my own situation at that periop.
X ou are yourself no doubt aware how much that even!.-
and your subsequent introduction into the Cabinet, mack:
these rumors the subject of conversation. I could not
longer continue in ignorance of that which was pub her*":
and generally spoken of, and it consequently became ne
cessary for me, embarrassed as the question was, by rhp
•fficial relation in wliich we stood to each other, to cfetc:
mine upon my future conduct. In doing this, it did no:
seem to be necessary, to decide upon the truth or falser
hood of the statements which were made. It Iras sufi -
dent to ascertain, the general sense of the community fo’
which I had recently become a member; and having done
so, to conform to it. In the winter of 1B30, as I presunfo
- known to you, I was caiied upon by & gentleman, w ho
represented himself as acting, tuui who I donfo not d o
tfae cottar*? of freagpfe to «yr«Q