sired him, or Mr. H. offered, to ascertain, truly, what occurred in Mr. Monroe's cabinet deliberations, in relation to a proposition supposed to have been made to arrest General Jackson for his conduct in that war, and to inform him of the result, in order as Mr. H. understood, Mr. Lewis might be prepared to defend the General against attack on this point. 252. On his arrival at Sparta, Georgia, Mr. Hamilton, as he declares, ascertaining that Mr. Crawford dwelt sixty miles on the left of his route, and might probably be absent from home, resolved to push on to Savannah; thereby, to take a detour of one hundred and fifty miles, to the right, avoiding one of sixty to his left, by a road, at this season of the year, much worse than that which he declined. At Savannah, Mr. Hamilton, under date of 25th January, wrote to Mr. Forsyth, then Governor of Georgia, whom he had seen at Milledg ville on his way to Sparta, requesting him to procure, from Mr. Crawford, the desired information. Mr. Forsyth replied, Feb. 8th 1828, "I had a long conversation with Mr. Crawford and afterwards read him your letter. By his authority, I state, in reply, to your inquiry, that at a meeting of Mr. Monroe's Cabinet, to discuss the course to be pursued towards Spain, in consequence of General Jackson's proceedings in Florida, during the Seminole war, Mr. Calhoun, the Secretary of the War Department, submitted to, and urged upon, the President, the propriety and necessity of arresting and trying General Jackson. Mr. Monroe was very much annoyed by it; expressed a belief that such a step would not meet the public approbation; that General Jackson had performed too much public service to be treated as a younger or subaltern officer might, without shocking public opinion. Mr. Adams spoke with great violence against the proposed arrest, and justified the General throughout, vehemently, urging the President to make the cause of the General that of the administration.". Mr. Crawford approved of the proposition of Mr. Calhoun, but, disposed of it by reminding the Cabinet, that it was convened to determine, how Spain was to be treated in relation to the Florida affair; that the conduct of the General was a matter exclusively between him and his own Government.

253. Pursuing his way home, Mr. Hamilton arrived at Washington, and took lodgings in the house in which Mr. Calhoun dwelt, and being anxious to obtain the information which he had sought through Mr. Forsyth, solicited an interview with the Vice President, and asked, "whether at any

meeting of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, the propriety of arresting General Jackson for any thing done by him during the Seminole war had been discussed?" Mr. Calhoun replied, "Never! such a measure was not thought of, much less discussed. The only point before the cabinet was, the answer that was to be given to the Spanish Government," On the 19th Feb. Mr. Hamilton wrote, from New York, to Mr. Lewis, at Nashville, informing him, that he had not seen Mr. Crawford, and communicating what he had been told by the Vice Presi-,

dent.

K

But not content with the verbal declaration of Mr. Calhoun, for that might become, thereafter, a subject of dispute,. Mr. Hamilton attempted to procure a written acknowledgment; and, to that end, wrote to Mr. C. under date of 25th Feb. 1828, submitting the reply of Mr. C. above given, and asking, whether, it had been correctly apprehended? In reply, Mr. Calhoun observed, that, "in the conversation to which your letter alludes, I supposed, as you did not state the object, that your inquiry as to what had passed on a particular point, in the cabinet deliberation on the Seminole question, was to obtain information in order to meet mere general rumour, falsely put out to influence the result of the general election. My answer was predicated on such supposition." Learning, now, that his name might be brought before the public, in relation to this matter, a conviction of what was due from him, as a member of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, induced Mr. Calhoun, without the assent of Mr. Monroe and his fellow members of the cabinet, to decline the introduction of his name, in any shape, as connected with what had passed in the cabinet on the occasion referred to.

In his account of what passed at the interview with Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Calhoun observes; that Mr. H. "inquired if any motion had been made in the cabinet to arrest General Jackson?" To which I replied in the negative. It may be proper to remark here, that no such motion, or any other, was made. The discussion, in reference to the course which might be pursued towards him, took place on the suggestion of the propriety of an inquiry into his conduct, and my answer was, therefore, in strict conformity to the facts. I accompanied the answer with some general remarks on the -proceedings of the cabinet, such as I might with propriety make without any breach of confidence. I however feel the most perfect confidence, that I did not use the expression that, "the only point before the cabinet, was the answer to

be given to the Spanish Government, as Mr. Hamilton states, he understood me, on the 25th of February."

On the 28th of February, 1828, Mr. Hamilton received the letter of Mr. Forsyth. On the 10th of March, he replied to Mr. Calhoun, admitting the force of his objection to the use of his name, and stating that he had written to Mr. Lewis, informing him, that his, Mr. C's, name was not to be used, under any circumstances. On the 15th of March, Mr. Calhoun's suspicions having been awakened, that an attack was intended, not against him, but against Mr. Monroe, by the disclosure that the information had been intended for Major Lewis, a particular friend of General Jackson, he, Mr. C. applied by letter to Mr. Hamilton, "to be put in possession of the facts, from which an attack on General Jackson was inferred." And on the 20th of March, Mr. Hamilton replied, "I am not permitted to disclose to you what I know of the matter to which it (Mr. C's letter) refers;" but he gave no information of the discrepancy apparent between the statements of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Crawford.

Mr. Hamilton was at this time, 1st March, 1828, in possession of the following facts, most important in their nature to a skilful politician. Mr. Hamilton was then, as now, the political, personal, and interested friend of Mr. Van Buren, and Mr. Van Buren had every need which a skilful politician could have for such facts, to be used at an opportune occasion. Mr. Hamilton knew, and we cannot for a moment doubt, that Mr. Van Buren also, then knew, that Mr. Crawford avowed, that Mr. Calhoun had, suggested, the arrest, a court of inquiry, or proceeding of some sort, against General Jackson, for his conduct in the Seminole war, and that Mr. Calhoun had denied, that any measures against the General had been proposed by any one in the Cabinet. The letter of Mr. Forsyth of the 8th of January, 1828, was communicated to Major Lewis in the autumn of that year, and from the relations between that gentleman and General Jackson, it is not to be doubted, that he also was soon after informed of its contents. We have one fact yet to mention, which we think may have much bearing on the case. Messrs. Van Buren and Cambreleng, in their Southern progress in the spring of 1827, had spent several days with Mr. Crawford, whose principal friend Mr. Van Buren had been, in the election of 1824; and as Mr. Crawford was in the habit of speaking of these cabinet affairs, and of Mr. Calhoun, whom he most cordially hated and vengefully pursued, it becomes highly probable, al

most certain, that he communicated to his dearest friends the inconsistency, as he supposed, of his enemy, in supporting for President, the man whom he had proposed to arrest, and pos sibly to degrade; overlooking, however, his own inconsistency in giving his aid to the same individual, in prosecuting whom he would have united with Mr. Calhoun. But the latter gentleman was now basking in the sunshine of the General's favor, and might, probably, dérive much benefit from it thereafter; to prevent which was a darling object with Mr. Crawford; who, to that end, wrote to his friend Mr. Balch, of Tennessee, on the 14th of December, 1827, "If you can ascertain that Calhoun will not be benefited by Jackson's election, you will do him a benefit, by communicating the information to me;" and he also wrote to one presidential elector, and we believe to others, to persuade them not to vote for Mr. Calhoun as Vice President. We submit, therefore, that this purpose of Mr. Crawford's heart, was not absent from his mind and conversation when with his friends. Supposing Mr. Van Buren to have been then possessed of these facts and wishes coinciding so well with his interests, we might, had not he denied it, presume him to have been the prompter of Mr. Hamilton's otherwise very extraordinary course.

But, if these facts might prostrate Mr. Calhoun, why not use them, at this time. The reply is obvious: They could not be used with effect. General Jackson was not President, -he might not be; and to make him so, Mr. Calhoun's interest might be indispensable. Neither the Chief himself, nor Mr. Van Buren, would have ventured a quarrel with the Vice President at this time. It might be admitted, however, without injury to Mr. Van Buren's character as a wily politician, that the search after the views of Mr. Monroe's cabinet had been made, with no other purpose than to obtain material to defend General Jackson, and that the events disclosed, affecting Mr. Calhoun, were wholly unlooked for, and wholly unknown to him, at the time of the disclosure to the General.

254. These important facts, known to the friends of Gen ́eral Jackson, and no doubt communicated to him, in 1828, remained unnoticed by the General, until the winter of 1829-30, when the same Mr. Hamilton, who had so successfully and accidentally put the Vice President at issue with Mr. Crawford, called again upon Mr. Forsyth, then a member of the Senate, and requested him, to give to the President, the information he had given to him, (Mr. Hamilton.) Mr. Forsyth bade him give the President a copy of his letter of the 8th of January, 1828:

but this Mr. Hamilton declined, from a motive of delicacy; stating that he had corresponded with Mr. Calhoun upon the subject, and that, the statements of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Crawford did not agree. This information was certainly not new to Mr. Forsyth; yet, it induced him, not to give the information, without Mr. Crawford's assent. Mr. Crawford was, therefore, applied to, in form, and his answer, dated the 30th of April, 1830, was obtained, confirming and enlarging the details given by Mr. Forsyth, in his letter to Mr. Hamilton of the 8th of April, 1828. The copy of Mr. Crawford's letter, duly certified, was furnished to General Jackson, on the 12th of May, 1830. The propriety of Mr. Forsyth's course was obvious. If a rupture was intended between the President and Mr. Calhoun, which his sagacity could not fail to perceive, the letter of the 8th of January, 1828, would make him a principal, until the onus were taken from him, by the substitution of Mr. Crawford. He, therefore, justly, wisely and politically, resolved, that Mr. Crawford should be put in his proper place, in the matter.

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The agency of the delicate Mr. Hamilton, is thus explained by the President in his letter of the 7th of June, to Mr. Forsyth. "I had been informed (when, where or how, does not appear) that Mr. Crawford had made a statement concerning this business, which had come to the knowledge of Col. James A. Hamilton, of New York. On meeting with Col. Hamilton (Mr. Hamilton had been weeks at Washington as acting Secretary of State, in the spring of 1829) I inquired of him and received for answer that he had, but remarked that he did not think it proper to communicate without the consent of the writer. I answered, that, being informed, that the Marshal of this District, had, to a friend of mine, made a similar statement, to that, said to have been made by Mr. Crawford, I would be glad to see Mr. Crawford's statement, and desired, he would write and obtain his consent. My reasons were, that I had, from the uniform friendly professions of Mr. Calhoun, always believed him my friend in all this Seminole business; and I had a desire to know, if, in this, I had been mistaken, and whether it was possible for Mr. Calhoun to have acted with such insincerity and duplicity towards me."

255. Having obtained this copy of Mr. Crawford's letter to Mr. Forsyth, now that the matter was matured for explosion, the President hastened to enclose it in a letter, dated 13th May, 1830, to Mr. Calhoun, reproaching him with insincerity,