THE invaluable practical services recently rendered by Mr. Tyler to the cause of those principles which have always been advocated by this Review, and sustained by its political friends, have attached to his position an interest which necessarily extends in no slight degree to his person also. There are probably very few among our readers, who have any idea of the counteance and appearance of a man, who not only fills the most exalted official station in their country, but whose name, for the past year and a half, from the direction of events, has been doubtless more frequently on their lips than that of any other individual. The portraits of Mr. Tyler which have gone abroad into a very limited circulation, are in general the veriest daubs of caricature. A remarkably fine daguerreotype likeness having fallen in our way, we have therefore deemed that an acceptable service would be rendered to our subscribers and the public, by causing it to be engraved for insertion in the series of portraits of which it now constitutes the thirtyfourth Number. A counterfeit present ment' of any human countenance, prince or peasant, executed by the unflattering fidelity of this process—a process of art which nothing extenuates nor sets down aught in malice,' -needs no endorsement to its accuracy of resemblance. We trust that our Whig friends will be duly grateful for the introduction in the Democratic Review, of a portrait of the Chief Magistrate of their own choice and election; and spare in future the reproaches that have heretofore been sometimes made, against the exclusiveness with which the selection of the subjects of this series has been confined to the prominent men of our own party. We hope that they will appreciate the delicacy of the intended com

pliment paid to them, in the fact, that, in taking one of their great men for this purpose, we have selected the particular one whom they themselves took such very extraordinary pains to place in the position from which we did our best to keep him out. And when we add, that this kind and liberal desire to gratify our political opponents, by presenting them the first accurate likeness of their own chosen President, received no inconsiderable stimulus from the circumstance of the patriotic enthusiasm for him and his office, manifested at a recent celebrated dinner to an English lord, we are sure we shall have completed our title to their most grateful acknowledgments.

The following sketch of Mr. Tyler, we feel bound to say, was written by a warm friend and political supporter of that gentleman, and offered to us for insertion, to accompany the portrait. We have preferred, on the whole, to let it pass unmodified by any of those alterations of the editorial pen, which, if begun, might perhaps run somewhat further than might be agreeable to the author. We have heretofore expressed so distinctly our own impressions in relation to him, his position and course, that we deem it unnecessary to state here more particularly how far we may agree to, and how far dissent from the views urged by the writer, with the zeal of political and personal attachment. For Mr. Tyler's recent important vetoes we sincerely thank and honor him,-at the same time that we feel bound to say, that the general course of his administration in other respects has by no means been what we hoped at the outset it might possibly be. He leaves us yet in no slight degree of doubt, as to the spirit in which his course has had its origin and stimulus. Confidence is a plant of slow growth sometimes in other, also,

than aged bosoms. If Mr. Tyler has now done well for one year, he had before done very ill for ten. If his recent deserts have been great, great also was all he had to atone for. An ancient sage would pronounce no man happy in his life, till death had set his seal upon his mortal fate and career. So too do we await a further development of Mr. Tyler's administration, before deciding on the judgment which should be recorded opposite to his name, in the annals of the great office imposed upon him, by that same fatality of accident which seems to have attended his whole political career.-ED. D. R.

It has fallen to the lot of but few individuals to exercise so potent an influence on the destinies of their country, as the subject of this sketch. But recently elevated to the office of Vice President of the nation, a post which has heretofore been considered of far less than secondary importance to that of the Chief Magistrate, Mr. Tyler by a solemn dispensation of Providence became invested with the attributes of Executive power on the very threshold of his official career. The death of President Harrison, and his accession thereby to the station of Chief Magistrate, are events of too recent occurrence to require more than a passing notice. The limits assigned to this sketch will not permit an elaborate review of the earlier incidents of his life, and we shall therefore but briefly glance over the more prominent features of his history, and proceed to the discussion of those great measures of public policy which have been agitated since his elevation to the Presidency, and over many of which he has exercised so salutary a control.

John Tyler was born in Charles City County, Virginia, on the 29th of April, 1790, and is now in the fifty-third year of his age. His father for a considerable period held the office of Governor of that ancient Commonwealth, and enjoyed the friendship and esteem of the distinguished statesmen of his day. A neighbor and intimate friend of Thomas Jefferson, he possessed the unreserved confidence of that eminent apostle of Democracy, which continued uninterrupted to the close of his existence. The friendship of the father

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was continued to the son, and accordingly, at Mr. Jefferson's demise, the subject of our sketch was called on to deliver a eulogy on the departed patriot; a task to the performance of which he brought the whole energies of a cultivated mind, and an ardent admiration of the character of the deceased statesman. This eulogy was delivered at Richmond, and evinces a deep-seated conviction of the importance of Mr. Jefferson's political principles, and an enthusiastic appreciation of the eminent services he rendered to his country. At the early age of twenty-one years, Mr. Tyler was elected to the Legislature of Virginia, and five years thereafter was placed in Congress. In 1826, he was elevated to the distinguished station of Governor of the State of Virginia, the duties of which he discharged for about one year and a half, when the Legislature selected him to fill a vacancy in the Senate of the United States. Having served in that capacity during one term, he was re-elected, and continued in that office until a difference of opinion arose between General Jackson and himself, on some measures of public policy, when, being instructed by the Legislature of Virginia to vote in their favor, he resigned his seat and went into voluntary retirement. In the various stations thus briefly alluded to, Mr. Tyler's talents and judgment were called into frequent exercise, and his speeches and written addresses are marked by forcible and brilliant conceptions clothed in language of great beauty and purity.

The Whig Convention which assembled at Harrisburg, in the State of Pennsylvania, selected him as their candidate for Vice President, to which office he was elected in the autumn of 1840. Up to this period the influence of Mr. Tyler's views was necessarily limited to a comparatively circumscribed sphere of action, but the demise of General Harrison at once placed him on an eminence where the exercise of the legitimate functions of his station involved the most momentous consequences to the well-being of the whole nation.

Flushed with success, the Whig party anticipated no obstacle to the complete triumph of those favorite schemes, which, however veiled from the public eye during the presidential

canvass, were not the less cherished by the Federal phalanx throughout all the phases of their ever-shifting career. Rushing to the possession of place and power with an appetite whetted by the protracted struggle which had preceded victory, the wire-pullers found themselves unexpectedly checked by the decision and firmness of an individual elevated by themselves. And here it becomes us to pause and review the position of the Executive at this important crisis.

Having for a long period occupied stations of public trust, which rendered necessary the promulgation of his sentiments on the most grave and weighty subjects connected with our political institutions, he found himself surrounded by influences the most hostile to his pre-conceived and frequently declared principles, and was left the alternative of abandoning the convictions of a long life and falsifying his character for consistency, or of firmly maintaining his fidelity at the cost of encountering the embittered assaults of those who were instrumental in his elevation. Foremost among those important measures of national policy, the question of establishing a moneyed corporation by the General Government stood forth, broad, massive, and overshadowing.

On numerous occasions-in the Senate of the United States-on the hustings in Virginia-in communications to individuals and public bodies, and in casual and private conversations, Mr. Tyler had steadily denied the constitutional right of Congress to charter such an institution.

To fortify this settled conviction, the President found that the evils which the framers of the Constitution had, with far-seeing eye, anticipated from the existence of such a monopoly, were more than verified by the blistering developments that were unfolded in the management of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania, with its admitted "odor of nationality; " and he wisely determined to stand by his principles without calculating the cost or inconvenience to himself personally. The result is before the country, and we intend briefly to glance at the effects, past, present, and prospective, which have followed and may be expected to follow from his official acts. We are aware, indeed, that Mr. Tyler

has been accused of treachery by a large portion of his Whig allies, but we find the burden of testimony decidedly opposed to such a conclusion. Certain it is, that the settled policy of that party at the late presidential campaign caused them to openly disavow the imputation attempted to be fastened on them by their opponents, that they were the advocates of a National Bank; and accordingly we find even Henry Clay declaring at a public meeting at Taylorville, Hanover county, Virginia, on the 27th June, 1840, that the question of chartering a National Institution "should be left to the arbitrament of an enlightened public opinion."

From a published communication of Mr. Henry A. Wise, recently addressed to his constituents in Virginia, the fact is directly asserted, that during the time which elapsed between the nominations at Harrisburg and the election, and while Congress was in session, it was considered necessary that the views of Mr. Tyler upon a National Bank should be obtained. For this purpose Mr. Wise was selected to address Mr. Tyler on that subject, who, in his reply, stated distinctly that his views in relation to such an institution remained unchanged, and that were he the President he could never sign a charter for any such incorporation while the Constitution remained in its present form.

This he plainly and unequivocally stated, that his views might be submitted to the Whigs in Congress, and, through them, to the nation.

This letter was shown by Mr. Wise to Mr. Biddle, of Pittsburgh, and other leading Whig members of Congress at that time, and it was left for them to say whether the letter should be published or not. They decided that Mr. Tyler's letter should not go before the public! The above explicit declaration of the honorable member of Congress appears abundantly conclusive, and we are therefore justified in the conclusion that he was selected as the candidate of the Whigs in 1840 for his availability, without regarding the cohesion of his views with their own, or demanding the abandonment or modification of his cherished convictions. Thus, by a Providential dispensation, neither usual nor uninstructive, the temporary ascendency of a deceptive course of policy was overthrown, and the high

priests of Error were stricken with a singular but merited retribution while administering the sacrificial rites at the very altar of their triumph.

On the threshold of his administration the President was brought into official communication with advisers selected by his predecessor, and, nerving himself for the mighty struggle which he foresaw was approaching, he permitted some minor measures to pass without opposition, which under other circumstances he might have opposed.

The passage of the bill to incorporate a Bank of the United States signalized the great crisis, and demanded the exercise of his utmost firmness.

We learn from an eye-witness the extraordinary measures which were adopted at this period to overthrow the President's settled purpose.

Committees of Congress were in constant attendance at his rooms, assailing him with earnest appeals to his feelings and his interests on the one hand, while on the other the phials of federal wrath were denounced if he continued obdurate. Even the privacy of his bed-chamber was invaded at unseasonable hours by individuals in high station, and the extraordinary expedient was resorted to, of summoning his intimate personal friends from his native State to beseech him to give his sanction to the bill of abominations. To crown the machinations of the federal politicians in and out of Congress, the members of the President's Cabinet, with an indelicacy and violation of duty unparalleled in the history of our Government, held a secret meeting at the Treasury Department, apart from the President, and without his knowledge, to devise plans to coerce him into submission. While these extraordinary and persevering efforts were in progress, the Democratic members of Congress were naturally suspicious of the fidelity to principle of one who had been elevated to office by the Federal forces, and they consequently declined any interference in the matter. The result was, that Mr. Tyler was left single-handed and alone to combat the powerful influences which were assailing his integrity, and was compelled to rely on the sustaining power of his Maker, and the approving voice of his own conscience.

Fortunately for the country, he planted his foot on the rock of principle,

and on the 16th September, 1841, placed his official veto on the odious law. To properly estimate the value of Mr. Tyler's firmness, we must review the position of the Democratic party at this eventful crisis. Defeated at all points, and overwhelmed by the force of the political tornado which had swept over the land, they saw before them but a succession of aristocratic usurpations, whose effects would shake the very foundations of our va lued institutions. The firmness of Mr. Tyler dispelled the gathering gloom, and the meed of approval awarded him by the patriot at the Hermitage met with a willing response from the Democracy of the whole Union, until its echoes were lost in the caverns of the Rocky Mountains.

The defeat of their darling object induced the Whig party in Congress, and their allies in the Cabinet, to attempt to destroy Mr. Tyler's influence if they could not bend him to their purpose.

To accomplish this they plied him with artful queries as to the kind of Government Bank or agency he would sanction, noted all his remarks, and husbanded every isolated expression with the intention of instituting a question of veracity between themselves and him. His veto of the second Bank Bill was followed by the resignation of all his Cabinet ministers except the Secretary of State, who, with a lack of delicacy which cannot be too highly censured, issued addresses to the public criminating the President, and accusing him of deception and insincerity. Their statements, however, being inconsistent with each other, failed to effect the object intended, and their manifestoes and themselves are consigned to merited obscurity; or if remembered, live alone in the contempt of the community.

During the recess between the adjournment of Congress, at its special session, and the commencement of its regular meeting in December last, the impoverished state of the National Treasury induced the President to recommend the repeal of that section of the act to distribute the proceeds of the public lands among the States which authorizes such distribution whenever the duties on imports did not exceed twenty per centum on their value.

This recommendation, although evidently justified by the exigencies of the Government, was assailed with great bitterness by the Whig leaders in Congress, and met with prompt rejection by the federal majority of that body.

The breach between the President and his quondam allies had now evidently become irreparable, and we find the remainder of the session of Congress wasted in fruitless endeavors to place the Executive in a false position. The first movement to effect this object was made by that arch-leader of the Federal forces, Henry Clay, who signalized his withdrawal from the Senate of the United States by an assault on the veto power, in which he advocated such a change in the Constitution as would annul or materially weaken this salutary check on congressional usurpation. His followers in Congress were not, however, exactly prepared to adopt so revolutionary a suggestion, and the resolutions of Mr. Clay quietly repose on the table of the United States Senate, an enduring monument of the folly of which their distinguished author could be capable.

The next scheme to coerce the President, was an attempt to reduce him to a compliance with the wishes of the Whig party, by virtually threatening to cut off the supplies. On the last day of July, the duties on all imported goods were reduced, by the terms of the compromise act, to twenty per cent., but the provisions of the law were couched in language so ambiguous, that doubts were entertained of the power to enforce the collection of the revenue. The passage of "the little Tariff Bill" legalized the provisions of the compromise act, but provided at the same time for the suspension, for thirty days, of that portion of the distribution law which prevented the division of the proceeds of the public lands when the duties on imports excceded twenty per cent. To sanction this law would have convicted Mr. Tyler of gross inconsistency, while its rejection involved embarrassment to the national finances, and endangered the public credit.

The President promptly vetoed the bill (the veto message was sent to Congress on the 29th of June) having wisely decided that the invasion of a high moral principle is irreparable, while the inconvenience created by a

rigid adherence to right is susceptible of removal or modification. The passage of the second tariff bill, embodying the same unacceptable features as its predecessors, again elicited a presidential veto, and the Federal majority were left the unpleasant alternative of abandoning the ground they had so vauntingly occupied, or of encountering the opposition of the manufacturers, who were clamoring at the doors of the capitol, demanding legislative protection. The indignant rebukes of the people at the reckless conduct of the congressional majority during a session of nearly nine months' duration, at length forced an unwilling action on the tariff question, which resulted in the passage of the present law. The bill thus enacted in hot haste at the close of the session, although odious in many of its leading provisions, was necessarily approved by the Executive, and became a law. The views of Mr. Tyler, on the subject of revenue, appear, from his published declarations, to be consonant with sound policy, while the principle of indirect taxation continues to be adhered to by our Government. The recent indications of returning sanity on the part of the British Government, in relation to the inexpediency of levying prohibitory duties, warrants the hope, that the day is not far distant when the principles of free-trade will be more generally understood and recognised, and governments will learn that unloosing the shackles of commerce is the most certain method of attaining the highest state of national prosperity. The odious appendage to the apportionment law, which was adopted at the close of the session, and the repeal of the salutary provision of the distribution law before alluded to-followed by the immediate adjournment of Congress,gave the President an opportunity of withholding his sanction to those bills, and thus defeating them without the necessity of formal vetoes. A brief glance at the tendency of the more important measures adopted by the Whig majority of Congress, and which were disapproved by Mr. Tyler, will not be here out of place.

The country was passing through a financial crisis of unparalleled severity; and to the social and political evils connected with the establishment of a Bank of the United States, would have