Martinsburg Gazette And Public Advertiser

FROM THE MISSISSIPPI PATRIOT.

Extract of a letter to the Editor of the Mississippi Patriot, dated Washington City, Feb. 25, 1832.

Dear Sir—I have received information through several respectable channels, that letters have been written from this city to Mississippi, purporting to have the sanction of Gen. Jackson, which placed me before my constituents in the attitude of an open enemy to his administration. These communications emanate from individuals near the person of the President, and I shall, therefore, consider them as his own. The fact is distinctly known, not only in the State which I represent, but to the whole American people, that for a number of years preceding my appointment to the Senate, I had taken a deep interest in defending the character and promoting the elevation of Gen. Jackson to the high trust which he now enjoys. If, since that period, my relations to this distinguished individual have been changed, it must be ascribed to causes over which I had no control, and for which I cannot be held responsible.

To disabuse the public mind, and to enable my fellow citizens properly to appreciate my conduct, as a Senator in Congress, and to judge fairly of the course pursued by Gen. Jackson, towards both me and them, I submit to you for publication, in your newspaper, a candid summary of the events, which have led to an alienation of his former professed friendship for me, and which he now seeks to turn to my prejudice among the people of Mississippi. I need not detail to you, because it is already known, the circumstances under which he attempted, from time to time, to encroach on the acknowledged rights of Mississippi, in common with all the other States of the Union, to fill with her own citizens, offices under the General Government, located within her limits. My course was a plain one; I resisted, as I was bound by the high obligation of duty, these attempts to degrade my constituents, and place the State on a footing with a Territorial Government, on the subject of appointments.

I commenced my opposition in the mildest form practicable, and for some time indulged the hope that the President would see his error, and retrace his steps. But the hope was vain and illusory, for it is evident from the moment I refused to lend myself to his purposes, he entertained the most bitter feelings against me, and formed the determination to denounce me at a convenient time, as he had done some of his most distinguished friends, for causes which only existed in his imagination. Anticipating that some difficulties might arise, of an unpleasant character to me, during the present session, and wishing to soothe the acerbity of temper which is so prominent a trait in the character of General Jackson, I waited on him immediately after my arrival in this city in November last, and endeavored by my deportment to conciliate him, and to reconcile him to the course which I found it my indispensable duty to pursue. With the same object, I held a conversation with a gentleman high in his confidence, and whose views I believed to be honest, who, at my request, communicated the substance of that conversation to the President. But these efforts, on my part, to avoid the controversy, which had for a long time been brooding in his mind, were wholly unavailing. His hostile feelings towards me were strongly indicated, whenever my name was mentioned in his presence, and his repeated expressions were calculated to call forth corresponding feelings in my mind towards him. But I extended to his frailties, in this respect, every indulgence which his age and past services entitled him to receive at my hands. Matters remained in this situation until the Senate acted on the nomination of Mr. Gwyn, who had been taken from the Post Office Department here, without any recommendation whatever, and sent to Mississippi to fill the office for which he was nominated. The rejection of this man closed all intercourse between myself and General Jackson, and his language became so extremely intemperate and undignified, that it excited disgust and mortification among his best friends, who were compelled to listen to his vituperation.

This act of mine, which is universally approved here by men of all parties, constitutes the head and front of my offending; and I should regret to believe that there dwells within the State which has honoured me with its confidence, one man acquainted with the subject, who would so far degrade himself, as to submit to, or approve of, the indignity so often repeated by the Chief Magistrate, by a total disregard of the rights of its citizens, and of the practice uniformly observed towards every other State of the Union. It will be seen by reference to the vote taken on this nomination by ayes and noes, that one half of the Senators who voted against the nominee, are ranked among the most decided supporters of General Jackson. Why are they not denounced for contumacy? These honorable men could have no motive to interpose any objection to nominations made by the President, unless there existed the best reasons for doing so. They have by their votes sustained and illustrated the purity of my conduct on the occasion; for had I given just cause of offence by my opposition to this nomination, they are liable in an equal degree, for the high crime of having presumed to differ with the President on the subject of distributing throughout the Union the Patronage of the Federal Government. My actions as a Senator in Congress, are dictated by no factious considerations; they rest on the firm basis of principle, and I am at all times prepared to justify them against the assaults of power, and the bickerings of disappointed aspirants to office. No man knows better than General Jackson, that on all great questions involving the interests of the nation, he has received from me a candid and liberal support. But this was not enough, without yielding my own judgment and affording my aid to advance the views of certain favorites, who endeavour to wield his power and influence to subserve their own unholy purposes. More importance seems to be attached to individual interests, than to great measures, connected with the highest destinies of the American people.

A constituent of mine, a highly respectable gentleman, in conversation with the President the other day, as a matter of favor, to state his objections to my course in Congress. He instantly adverted to those nominations and my opposition to them, and applied to me the most approbrious epithets.

But, said the gentleman, as one of the constituents of Governor Poindexter, I wish you to mention any vote, which he has given against your administration, of which you have a just right to complain: did he not support you at the last session of Congress, when, without that support, your measures would have failed? Sir, said the President, I believe he voted with my friends on all important questions:—the Journals will show: 'Tell Mr. Poindexter that I thank him for his support, and for his generous defence of me on the Seminole war.' Notwithstanding these declarations, which were forced from him by a knowledge that the facts were undeniable, he permits himself to use language indecorous and unbecoming any man who respects honor, whenever he speaks of me. He cannot drive me from my principles, which were formed on great consideration and reflection, without reference to party or personal attachments, and what I shall endeavour, honestly and firmly, to adhere to through life, whatever may be the circumstances in which I am placed, or the responsibility which I may incur.

It is evident that General Jackson is fast declining, both in his body and mind, and I am persuaded that his own fame, if not the good of the country, ought to admonish him to retire at the end of his present term of service. This course, I am inclined to believe, he would have adopted, but for his known solicitude to introduce Martin Van Buren into the Presidential chair, as his successor; to this end all his efforts, for some time past, have been directed, and he now suffers his name to be placed before the American people for re-election, under the belief, that before the expiration of another term, the public mind can be prepared to sanction the pretensions of this New York intriguer to the first office in the gift of the people. Strong exertions will be made to place him on the Jackson ticket as Vice President—calculating on the known popularity of General Jackson to sustain him, and in the event of his success, on his becoming President by some casualty which may create a vacancy in that office, and devolve the trust on the Vice President, under the constitutional provisions on that subject. This is the plan; and it remains to be seen whether the people of the south will fasten this curse on themselves, to gratify the whim of a man whom they have heretofore delighted to honor, but whose mind is enfeebled by age and debility, and who lends himself to a combination of the most corrupt and unprincipled men, who ever aspired to control the destinies of the nation.

These are my candid opinions of the present state of things, and I offer them to the serious consideration of my fellow citizens. Will they support a man who fixed on them the Tariff of 1828, and who is prepared to sacrifice all the great interests of the country at the shrine of his personal ambition? I feel confident that they will not.

I close this communication with an assurance, that although my past services to General Jackson, and my sincere desire to support him in all things not forbidden by duty, have been forgotten and overlooked by him, when clothed with the power which I contributed to give him, I shall steadily pursue that line of conduct which looks directly to the welfare of my constituents, and the advancement of the glory and prosperity of this great republic.

I am, Sir, with the greatest respect,

Your friend and fellow citizen,

GEORGE POINDEXTER.