The Life and Times of
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The Life and Times of
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Chapter Nine Mr. Lowndes reached Washington before the opening of Congress and wrote to General Pinckney:
To Mr. Cheves Mr. Lowndes had written fully from London, upon the supply of specie for the Bank of the United States (California being yet afar off), giving information derived from the Mr. Shaw already mentioned, and from some of the directors of the Bank of England with whom he had become acquainted. He now wrote again (first speaking with great feeling of the alarming illness of Mr. Calhoun), to introduce another merchant who might assist in this difficult business, the supply of specie. It is through the kindness of the grandson of Mr. Cheves, Langdon Cheves, Esq., that these letters have been placed in the hands of the present writer. Unfit as she feels herself to profit by their discussions of banking, currency, bullion, etc., she is consoled by the knowledge that an admirable account of this chapter of the financial history of the country, the management of the Bank of the United States, has been prepared by the great-granddaughter of Mr. Cheves, Miss Louise Cheves Haskell. After thoroughly discussing all these questions, Mr. Lowndes adds in a letter dated Washington, November 21, 1819:
This was a favorite plan, and he frequently refers to it in his letters of the next two yean. In a notebook are some of the materials which he intended to use. It begins, " In this book I propose to collect the historical anecdotes which I hear, i. e. those not obtained from published books" Then follow a number of anecdotes chiefly derived from conversations with Mr. Madison, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Quincy, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Forsyth, etc. The latter gentlemen had all been foreign ministers at exciting periods; but with time the interest of many of the stories has lapsed, and others have already been given to the public. He had paid a visit to Mr. Madison in 1817, and to Jefferson, at Monticello, at the same time. The following is curious as an opinion of the great Virginian orator.
There are many other notes, but of course the plan came to naught, the time was too brief; but it served to please and occupy some weary hours.Congress met December 6th, and in a few days Mr. Lowndes was appointed chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and became at once engrossed in public business. The fateful question of the admission of Missouri to the Union, which had been opened in the last Congress, was to be the chief occupation of this; but before Mr. Lowndes had said more than a few words upon it he had the pleasanter duty of presenting a motion for the relief of the family of Commodore Perry, a measure which afterwards produced the most carefully reported of all his speeches. The law then was that only the families of those men who died from wounds should be pensioned. Perry had died from ill health consequent upon service, and the relief was not due to his family, therefore the resolution : " That the Committee on Naval Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of extending to the widow of Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, the provision which is now made by law for the widows and children of naval officers who die from wounds received in action." In support of the resolution, Mr. Lowndes merely said that it was conceived that the family of Commodore Perry was embraced by the existing laws which provide for pensions, as it was not to be supposed the generosity or magnanimity of Congress did not intend to comprehend such a case; but as this appeared to be doubted, he had deemed it proper to propose tbe inquiry which he had submitted." "Resolution adopted nem. con." The affair is remarkable for one of the very few compliments which John Randolph ever paid to a living man (of dead ones he spoke beautifully); he said:
Mr. Hazard, of Rhode Island (Perry's State), offered thanks to all, and the resolution being adopted, a committee of three was appointed to bring in a bill, etc. Yet so slow was Congress that it was not for nearly a year later that Mr. Lowndes was able to write to his wife the only exultant letter to be found among his papers.
Curiously enough, in the account of the passage of this bill in the " Abridged Debates" Mr. Lowndes's name is not mentioned. No one would know that he had then, January 23, 1821, spoken at all, but after his death, the speech, which he had written out at the request of his friend, Senator Silsbie, of Massachusetts, was inserted by Mr. Benton in the " Debates M as a " Supplemental Speech." Being printed there in full, — the only one of his speeches so printed, — it is not riven here, although the MS. copy sent to his wife is still preserved by his descendants. The efforts being made at this present time for the establishment of the rights of neutrals and the protection of private property upon the high seas give a peculiar interest to the following words of Mr. Lowndes taken from Niles's " Register." He had, as has been remarked, steadily opposed privateering, even when it seemed most advantageous to the United States, and now it came to him as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations to present a report on two " Memorials of citizens of Ohio, praying the suppression of privateering." The report says:
The Committee think that it will be right in the Government of the United States to renew its attempt to obtain the mitigation of a barbarous code whenever there shall be probability of success. They do not doubt it will do so. " The Committee are not unaware that the United States are better situated than any other nation to profit by privateering, but they are far from opposing this calculation to a regulation, which, if the powers of the world would adopt it, they too should consider as a happy improvement' in the law of nations." At the close of the Crimean War, a correspondence took place between Secretary Marcy and the European powers. Mr. Marcy's letter seems to have been anticipated by the report above, and also the efforts which at this present moment (June, 1899) the representatives of America are making at the Hague in the cause of civilization and humanity. From December, 1819, to March, 1820, the debates upon what was long known as the " Missouri Question " went on. Missouri, a portion of the Louisiana purchase, having now sufficient population, applied to the government to be received as a State. Maine applied about the same time. The bill brought in was simply " to authorize the people of the Missouri territory to organize a Constitutionand State government, and for the admission of the same into the Union." Almost instantly came the amendment prohibiting " the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude except for the punishment of crimes," etc., and " that all children born within the limits of the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be free at the age of twenty-five years." This meant that there were already many slaves in Missouri, and looked to the emancipation of their children. The House sat as committee of the whole, and North and South for the first time stood solidly against each other. It is an old story now, and it is needless to go into it. The simple constitutional question, " Has Congress power to limit the constitution of a State which complies with demands already prescribed ? " was answered differently according to latitude, as such questions have been answered since. When one reads the speeches it seems wonderful that war was not declared then and there. The most opprobrious epithets were hurled at the slaveholders, who were quite able to take their own part. The real difficulty, screened by the humanitarian question, was the balance of power, as Rufus King, of New York, candidly declared. If the whole Louisiana purchase were cut into slave States, the South would gain the majority; if slavery were excluded, then the North, which held it already, would gain such supremacy that the South would find herself hopelessly outvoted. The Southerners knew well that to them it was life or death. That measure carried, their whole system of society would go, all soothing assurances to the contrary notwithstanding, and Macon of North Carolina meant just what he said when he declared — " It may be a matter of philosophy and abstraction with the gentlemen from the East, but it is a different thing with us. They may philosophize and town meeting about it as much as they please, but, with great submission, sir, they know nothing about the question." In this controversy Mr. Lowndes at first spoke but little. He was one of the committee appointed to confer with the Senate, and as such spoke briefly in support of the compromise offered by the committee of conference, and urged with great earnestness the propriety " of a decision which would restore tranquillity to the country, which was demanded by every consideration of discretion, of moderation, of wisdom, and of virtue." This compromise (the first on this question) allowed Missouri to make her constitution unrestricted, but forbade slavery in all other parts of the Louisiana purchase north of thirty-six degrees six minutes, north latitude. This bill was voted on and carried on the 2d of March, 1820, and gave peace for a time. The remainder of the session was chiefly occupied with the Spanish treaty and the revision of the tariff, on both of which questions Mr. Lowndes spoke at length. Having himself proposed the first tariff for protection, he was deeply concerned now that the useful instrument should not become a weapon of offense. The manufacturing interest claimed such large increase of duties that he could but be alarmed. In his speech, April 20, 1820, he went largely into the danger of favoring one industry at the expense of others, contrary to every principle of political economy. He went considerably into detail as to where it was proposed to do this, and dwelt most especially on the injury which an excessive tariff discouraging navigation would be to the commerce,the shipping interests of a country. The East Indian trade, he said," would be almost destroyed by this tariff, and the East Indian trade gave bread to hundreds of hardy sailors, sailors who were invaluable to the nation in time of war," thus returning, now that the end of his career was so near, to his first and abiding interest, the navy. In November, 1820, Congress met again. Mr. Clay resigned the speakership, and Mr. Lowndes was among those spoken of as his successor. This appears to have been the only public position which Mr. Lowndes ever desired, but he was doomed to disappointment. Party spirit was naturally high, and Mr. Taylor, of New York, who had been one of the leaders on the Missouri question, was elected after three days of incessant balloting. "Mr. Lowndes had been within one vote of the requisite' number," says John Quincy Adams in his journal, " but fourteen were diverted from him by the candidacy of General X------, of G------, a man ruined in fortune and reputation, yet who commanded votes enough to defeat the election of Lowndes, a man of irreproachable character, amiable disposition, and popular manners."
This is followed by minute directions for " deep trench
ploughing," " sowing lucerne," and remarks on making the Grove a " grass
farm." It examines the case so calmly and dispassionately that Mr. Lowndes was asked ironically whether he came from North or South. Yet, yielding no jot or tittle of State's Rights, the report asserted that Missouri, having complied with the orders of Congress at the last session, was already a State, and as such entitled to admission to the Union. It stated the facts and precedents bearing upon the case, as, for instance, that Delaware had a similar clause in her constitution, and pointed out what would be the consequences of exposing the interests of the people and the government to the disorganized condition consequent upon rejection. It urged that, the State being admitted, doubtful clauses should be submitted to the Judiciary of the United States, as the last authority, concluding, " If Congress shall determine neither to expound clauses which are obscure, nor to decide constitutional questions which must be difficult and perplexing, equally interesting to old States, whom our construction could not, as to the new whom it ought not to coi erce, the rights and duties of Missouri will be left to the determination of the sr.me temperate and impartial tribunal which has decided the conflicting claims, and received the confidence of the other States. The committee recommend . . . that the State of Missouri shall be, and is hereby declared to be, one of the United States of America, and is admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever." Mr. Lowndes moved to refer the resolution to the House in committee of the whole, and remarked that it should not be taken up without full notice to all parties concerned; and if no other person did, he should himself, when proposing to call for the consideration of the report, give a day or two notice of his intention to do so. Whilst up he took occasion to say, that " this report, as indeed all reports of committees, must be considered as the act of a majority, and not as expressing the sentiments of every individual of the committee." The report certainly did not express the sentiments of Mr. Sergeant, of Pennsylvania (the second member), for in the subsequent debate he became the chief opponent of the resolution. On the 6th of December, Mr. Lowndes opened the debate on this new branch of the subject by a speech which is given in full in the "Abridged Debates," vol. vii. page 12. It is of this speech that Benton says that the first words were lost to the reporter from the noise made by members leaving their seats to get near him. "Mr. Lowndes being one of those, so rare in every assembly, around whom members clustered when he rose to speak, so that not a word should be lost, where every word was to be luminous with intelligence, and captivating with candor. This clustering arouiAd him, always the case with Mr. Lowndes when he rose to speak, was more than usually eager upon this occasion, from the circumstances under which he spoke; the circumstances of the Union verging to dissolution, and his own condition verging to the grave. By his efforts and those of other patriots the Union was saved. No skill or care could stay his own march to that undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." Mr. Thomas, of Massachusetts, quoted above, says "He was listened to, as to the oracles of truth." The speech, carefully reported, is interesting, conveying as it does the views of an absolutely just and upright man, learned in the lore of statesmanship, not only on the particular case but upon the dutiesof Congress and members of Congress towards the work of their own body. Could they grant a right at one session and resume it at
another ? Mr. Benton says that this is the last considerable speech which he ever made; but he spoke several times in the succeeding weeks, briefly, on the bank question, and also on the motion of Mr. Archer, of Virginia, to " inquire into the condition of things in Missouri," and presented a memorial from citizens of Missouri, which the House refused to consider. He still had great hopes of being able to effect a compromise by inducing Missouri voluntarily to remove the offensive provision from her constitution (which she ultimately did), and there are notes hardly more legible than shorthand, on scraps of paper, on this subject. But his health was giving way fast; others appear to have been more sensible than he himself was of the decline, and when, on February 10th, Mr. Clay, who had been absent for a great part of the session, revived the question of the South American Provinces, he was not in the House. Mr. Reid, of Georgia, moved to " postpone consideration owing to the absence of the gentleman at the head of the Committee on Foreign Affairs." Mr. Clay answered "that he had conferred with his friend the head, etc., etc., who was absent from a slight indisposition, and did not wish to be sent for." This "Blightin disposition" was the beginning of the end, for, although he lived eighteen months longer, he never was well again. He wrote to his wife on February 13, 1821:
The illness continued to the end of the session, and the notes to Mrs. Lowndes are curious tales of bleeding, etc. How any one who chanced to fall ill ever recovered in those days is a wonder. In one letter he says: I am growing very uneasy in the apprehension that I shan't be able to go away for some time, and then by water. I have a strong repugnance to the change of plan, but may be obliged to submit to both. Your letters and the children's are the only things I can read, and it seems to me that I get fewer of these than I used." Mrs. Lowndes was unable at this time to go to her husband, and his sister, Mrs. Brown, with her usual kindness, offered to come from New York to nurse him, but he declined the affectionate offer. By the 27th he was able to write:
Mr. Lowndes it is said felt keenly the impossibility of participating in these final scenes. He had naturally hoped to have had the leadership at the moment, but his friend Judge Huger told the writer that when he (Judge H.) had expressed his regret, Mr. Lowndes answered cheerfully, " It was probably best so. Clay had more influence with the Western men than I, and could persuade them to conciliatory measures." The summer was spent at home, between the Grove and Sullivan's Island; his health slightly improved, but many of his friends saw that the end was near. His family, apparently, did not. The friend often quoted, Judge Huger, who lived near General Pinckney's island house, said that he could never forget that last summer, when he would lie still upon a couch, looking almost like a dead man, but with bright eyes and eager talk. " Upon politics ? " asked the listener. " He never talked politics," was the answer; "he talked on questions of national interest, or on agriculture, or books, or on what the new inventions would do for the country. Always on great subjects. That was the character of his mind. And the weaker his body got, the brighter was his intellect." By the autumn he thought himself well enough to return to Washington, but stayed at home until the end of December, when he took his seat and spoke briefly upon Transactions in Florida and some other subjects. His last work of importance was upon the 11th of March, 1822, when he presented a report for the " Select Committee on Weights and Measures," proposing ways for insuring accuracy and uniformity. The report shows much labor and painstaking inquiry into every branch of the subject. His votes are recorded until near the end of die session, but he never spoke again. It was at this time that Mr., afterwards President, Buchanan made what he himself considered to be the best speech of his life. It was in opposition to the Bankrupt Act then proposed (March 12,1822). Mr. Curtis, in his Life of Mr. Buchanan, says: " The reason was that he had derived much assistance from conversations with Mr. Lowndes upon the subject. That great and good statesman was then suffering under the disease which proved fatal to him soon after. He attempted to make a speech against the bill, but was compelled to desist by physical exhaustion before he had fairly entered upon his subject."
This picture — the only likeness of Mr. Lowndes except a miniature which shows him as a lovely boy of six years old — now hangs in the Corcoran gallery in Washington, D. C, and it must be confessed that his descendants are glad to know that it was a caricature. Nevertheless, with some slight reduction of the features, the likeness to his daughter, Mrs. Butledge, becomes so strong that it is greatly to be regretted that he did not allow the proposed alterartions to be made. Taken from a point much above him, the eyes are entirely lost, and the whole face is, as it were, seen in reverse.
It is curious that, at this time when his ill health must have been apparent to all, the President should have offered, and Mrs. Lowndes have wished him to accept, the mission to France; so it was, however, and he alludes to it in the next letter, the longest, perhaps, which he ever wrote:
That Mrs. Lowndes should have wished him to accept the French Mission is not extraordinary. She had been a minister's daughter, and would have liked to be a minister's wife. Her father had been a Westminster boy (Grecian of his year), she would have wished her son to do likewise ; she remembered her own happy school days in France, and would have willingly had her daughter enjoy the same advantages; but most of all she thought — and never ceased to think — that going abroad then would have been of immense service to her husband's health, as it had been two years before. She yielded with great reluctance, not dreaming how soon, and how sadly, her wish was to be granted. The long letter above is given almost entire, to show how keen an interest Mr. Lowndes still felt in life, and how far he was from anticipating his approaching end. In regard to his opinion of Mr. Adams, it must be remembered that as chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations his relations with the Secretary of State were necessarily intimate, and his knowledge of the latter's way of doing business was consequently full. The plan of going to Newport was a favorite one with him. He refers to it again in a day or two.
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