1829. INAUGURATION SCENES. 525 erally pursued by a motley concourse of people, riding, running helter-skelter, striving who should first gain admittance into the Executive mansion, where it was understood that refreshments were to be distributed." Once at the White House, the President found it in the possession of a disorderly mob, which swept across the grounds and into the rooms, where all semblance of order was abandoned. To serve the people with cakes and ices was impossible, and in the unseemly scramble china and glass were broken. In the hope of lessening the crush, punch was carried out in tubs and buckets to those still in the grounds. But as those without could not get in, so those within could not get out, and Jackson, despite the efforts of his friends, was pushed through the audience room, was pressed against the wall and well-nigh crushed before those near had time to link arms and make a barrier about him. "It was then," says our witness, "that the windows were thrown open, and the living torrent found an outlet. It was the people's day, the people's President, and the people would rule." * The shameful scramble for cakes and punch at the White House was but the forerunner of a yet more indecent scramble for office at Gadsby's, where the President continued to reside for some days. That a general proscription was to follow was not thought likely even by his opponents. He had come to the presidency as an avowed advocate of civil service, for he had twice in his career placed himself on record as opposed to the partisan use of patronage. Twelve years before he urged a President about to form a Cabinet to exterminate the monster called party spirit; † to ... * National Intelligencer, February 20, 1829. In January, 1829, Webster wrote: "Great efforts are making to put him up to a general sweep as to all offices, springing from great doubt whether he is disposed to go it." Daniel Webster, Private Correspondence, edited by Fletcher Webster, vol. i, p. 467. "What it says about reform in office may be either a prelude to a general change in office or a mere sop to soothe the hunger, without, satisfying it, of the thousand expectants for office who throng the city and clamor all over the country. I expect some changes, but not a great many at present." Ibid., vol. i, p. 473. Jackson to Monroe, November 12, 1816; Niles's Weekly Register, May 15, 1824, pp. 164, 165. select characters most conspicuous for probity, virtue, firmness, and capacity, without regard to party, and thus go far to eradicate those feelings which had so often put obstacles in the way of government. "The Chief Magistrate of a great and powerful nation," said he, "should never indulge in party feelings. His conduct should be liberal and disinterested, always bearing in mind that he acts for the whole and not for a part of the community." Four years before, in the presence of the Legislature of Tennessee, he denounced the appointment of members of Congress to office, and demanded that the Constitution should be so amended as to stop the evil practice forever. These were the sincere and honest utterances of the man. But Jackson was now in the hands of friends, bent on the construction of a new and powerful national party, and fully determined to suffer no idle sentiments of the President to stand one moment in their way.* Of all departments of Government, none then afforded such excellent machinery for party organization as that in When the friends of Jackson were attacking Clay, in 1826, a call was made on the President for a list of members of Congress appointed to office by the President during the terms for which they had been elected, and for six months thereafter. Adams reported that from March 4, 1789, to April 13, 1826, thirtyone senators and fifty-nine representatives had been so appointed through the Department of State-namely: The whole number of such appointments through all departments was 117 -namely: Jackson, between March 4 and June 4, 1829, appointed twelve members of Congress to office-six senators and six representatives. Senate Document No. 77, Twenty-second Congress, Second Session, vol. ii. 1829. REMOVALS OF POSTMASTERS. 527 charge of the Postmaster-General, for on its roll were twenty-seven thousand employés, and, scattered over the face of the country from Maine to Louisiana and Missouri, was a network of seven thousand six hundred and fifty post-offices. With the Post-Office Department, therefore, the work began, and McLean was soon informed that a general removal of postmasters was expected. This he stoutly refused to make, and, as no persuasion could shake his determination, his name was sent to the Senate as the candidate for the vacant seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, and William T. Barry became Postmaster-General. McLean's popularity was great, his administration of the office had been most satisfactory, and his removal called forth so vigorous a protest that a defence of the act became necessary. Mr. McLean, said one Jackson newspaper,* had appointed to office many Adams men whom he was unwilling to remove. But removals must be made, else power will remain in the hands of Jackson's active enemies. We hold that a village postmaster, with the franking privilege and ten dollars a year income, has far more influence than a city postmaster with five thousand a year, and when we take into consideration how many thousands of such men are scattered all over the country, we are appalled at the thought of what their combined influence can accomplish. It is right, said a Western journal,† that the first step taken should be a selection of friendly and faithful agents to perform the duties of the subordinate offices. These posts were filled by the President's enemies, by persons against whom the voice of the nation had pronounced a judgment of condemnation. New men must be placed in them, and this has been done as rapidly as consists with due caution. Public expectation is eager that all these defiers of the will of the people, these calumniators of the people's candidate, shall be one and all removed, and that the change from the enemies of the present Administration to its friends will be general we have no doubt whatever. * New York Enquirer. United States Gazette, March 12, 1829. + Ohio Monitor, April 3, 1829. Expectation was not disappointed, and in a few days the chief clerks of the departments, twenty-two collectors of customs, fourteen surveyors of the customs, seven registers of the land office, three receivers of the public money, two naval officers of ports, two pursers of the navy, and William Henry Harrison, Minister to Colombia, were turned out of office. Next went the chief clerks of the departments, and immediately the mass of clerks and petty office holders became panic stricken, and the office seekers more noisy and impudent than ever. A rumor spread that the President was preparing a circular suspending all subordinate officials, requiring them to report to their chiefs with proof that they had been diligent, able, and faithful, and had never used the facilities of their offices for political purposes. This done, they would be on the same footing with other applicants.* No such circular issued, but the work of proscription went on, and every day a batch of the unfaithful were dismissed. "I turned out six clerks on Saturday,” wrote Kendall, the fourth Auditor of the Treasury, to his wife. "Several of them have families and are poor. It was the most painful thing I ever did, but I could not well get along without it. Among them is a poor old man, with a young wife and several children. I shall help raise a contribution to get him back to Ohio." "If the general," wrote Van Buren from Albany to the son of Alexander Hamilton, who was acting for him as Secretary of State, "makes one removal at this time he must go on. Would it not be better to get the streets of Washington clear of office seekers first in the way I proposed?" So far as depended on him, he would restore, by a single order, every one turned out by Clay for political reasons. There he would pause. But it was no easy matter to clear the streets of Washington of place hunters. Jackson, while he remained at Gadsby's, was beset day after day, and all day long, by swarms of beggars. They filled the tap-room, crowded the hallways, forced their way into his room, and obtruded on his private hours. Even after his removal to what the Jackson men once delighted to call the palace the rage for office was * United States Gazette, March 13, 1829. 1829. THE CROWD OF OFFICE SEEKERS. 529 described as horrible. The very avenues to the President's house, it was said,* and the departments are blocked up with applicants, and those who hold favors to be dispensed are almost driven mad by the cries of such as implore to be retained and the demands of those who insist that they shall not. The feeling of the hunters was well expressed by one of the worst of them to a fellow office seeker in New York. "No damned rascal," said he, "who made use of his office or his profits for the purpose of keeping Mr. Adams in and General Jackson out of power is entitled to the least lenity or mercy, save that of hanging. Whether or not I shall get anything in the general scramble for plunder remains to be proved, but I rather guess I shall. I know Mr. Ingham slightly, and would recommend you to push like a devil if you expect anything from that quarter." He did get some † of the plunder, and became Collector of Customs for the port of New York. "If we have struggled for the success of General Jackson and the acquisition of political power for the benefit of our opponents, I wish to know it," said another, “so that I may know how to act hereafter." Said a third to Van Buren, "I take it for granted that all who do not support the present Administration you will not consider your friends, and of course will lose your confidence. I have said from the commencement of the contest that I would not support any Administration who would support men in power that had contributed to the overthrow of the democratic party in this State. This is not only the doctrine in theory, but we require it to be reduced to practice by the servants of the people to whom we have temporarily delegated the trust. I speak now the universal sentiments of the democracy of this city. There is a charm about bold measures which is extremely fascinating—it has given to General Jackson all his glory.' A letter of the * American Daily Advertiser, March 17, 1829. # 66 + Samuel Swartwout to Jesse Hoyt, March 14, 1829. Life and Times of Martin Van Buren. William L. Mackenzie, p. 209. Lorenzo Hoyt to Jesse Hoyt, March 17, 1829. Mackenzie's Life of Van Buren, pp. 210, 211. # Jesse Hoyt (of New York) to Martin Van Buren, March 21, 1829. Ibid., p. 211. For Van Buren's reply, ibid., p. 216. VOL. V.-35 |