CHAPTER X.
Crockett's Tour to the North and the East.
His Reelection to Congress.--The Northern Tour.--First Sight of a
Railroad.--Reception in Philadelphia.--His First Speech.--Arrival in
New York.--The Ovation there.--Visit to Boston.--Cambridge and
Lowell.--Specimens of his Speeches.--Expansion of his Ideas.--Rapid
Improvement.
Colonel Crockett, having been reelected again repaired to
Washington. During the session, to complete his education, and the
better to prepare himself as a legislator for the whole nation, he
decided to take a short trip to the North and the East. His health
had also begun to fail, and his physicians advised him to go. He was
thoroughly acquainted with the Great West. With his rifle upon his
shoulder, in the Creek War, he had made wide explorations through
the South. But the North and the East were regions as yet unknown to
him.
On the 25th of April, 1834, he left Washington for this Northern
tour. He reached Baltimore that evening, where he was invited to a
supper by some of the leading gentlemen. He writes:
"Early next morning. I started for Philadelphia, a place where I had
never been. I sort of felt lonesome as I went down to the steamboat.
The idea of going among a new people, where there are tens of
thousands who would pass me by without knowing or caring who I was,
who are all taken up with their own pleasures or their own business,
made me feel small; and, indeed, if any one who reads this book has
a grand idea of his own importance, let him go to a big city, and he
will find that he is not higher valued than a coonskin.
"The steamboat was the Carroll of Carrollton, a fine craft, with the
rum old Commodore Chaytor for head man. A good fellow he is--all
sorts of a man--bowing and scraping to the ladies, nodding to the
gentlemen, cursing the crew, and his right eye broad-cast upon the
'opposition line,' all at the same time. 'Let go!' said the old one,
and off we walked in prime style.
"Our passage down Chesapeake Bay was very pleasant. In a very short
run we came to a place where we were to get on board the rail-cars.
This was a clean new sight to me. About a dozen big stages hung on
to one machine. After a good deal of fuss we all got seated and
moved slowly off; the engine wheezing as though she had the tizzic.
By-and-by, she began to take short breaths, and away we went, with a
blue streak after us. The whole distance is seventeen miles. It was
run in fifty-five minutes.
"At Delaware City, I again embarked on board of a splendid
steamboat. When dinner was ready, I set down with the rest of the
passengers. Among them was Rev. O. B. Brown, of the Post-Office
Department, who sat near me. During dinner he ordered a bottle of
wine, and called upon me for a toast. Not knowing whether he
intended to compliment me, or abash me among so many strangers, or
have some fun at my expense, I concluded to go ahead, and give him
and his like a blizzard. So our glasses being filled, the word went
round, 'A toast from Colonel Crockett.' I give it as follows:
'Here's wishing the bones of tyrant kings may answer in hell, in
place of gridirons, to roast the souls of Tories on.' At this the
parson appeared as if he was stumpt. I said, 'Never heed; it was
meant for where it belonged.' He did not repeat his invitation, and
I eat my dinner quietly.
"After dinner I went up on the deck, and saw the captain hoisting
three flags. Says I, 'What does that mean?' He replied, that he was
under promise to the citizens of Philadelphia, if I was on board, to
hoist his flags, as a friend of mine had said he expected I would be
along soon.
"We went on till we came in sight of the city and as we advanced
towards the wharf, I saw the whole face of the earth covered with
people, all anxiously looking on towards the boat. The captain and
myself were standing on the bow-deck; he pointed his finger at me,
and people slung their hats, and huzzaed for Colonel Crockett. It
struck me with astonishment to hear a strange people huzzaing for
me, and made me feel sort of queer. It took me so uncommon
unexpected, as I had no idea of attracting attention. But I had to
meet it, and so I stepped on to the wharf, where the folks came
crowding around me, saying, 'Give me the hand of an honest man.' I
did not know what all this meant: but some gentleman took hold of
me, and pressing through the crowd, put me into an elegant barouche,
drawn by four fine horses; they then told me to bow to the people: I
did so, and with much difficulty we moved off. The streets were
crowded to a great distance, and the windows full of people, looking
out, I suppose, to see the wild man. I thought I had rather be in
the wilderness with my gun and dogs, than to be attracting all that
fuss. I had never seen the like before, and did not know exactly
what to say or do. After some time we reached the United States
Hotel, in Chesnut Street."
' The crowd had followed me filling up the street, and pressing into
the house to shake hands. I was conducted up stairs, and walked out
on a platform, drew off my hat, and bowed round to the people. They
cried out from all quarters, 'A speech, a speech, Colonel Crockett.'
"After the noise had quit, so I could be heard, I said to them the
following words:
"'GENTLEMEN OF PHILADELPHIA:
"'My visit to your city is rather accidental. I had no expectation
of attracting any uncommon attention. I am travelling for my health,
without the least wish of exciting the people in such times of high
political feeling. I do not wish to encourage it. I am unable at
this time to find language suitable to return my gratitude to the
citizens of Philadelphia. However, I am almost induced to believe it
flattery--perhaps a burlesque. This is new to me, yet I see nothing
but friendship in your faces; and if your curiosity is to hear the
backwoodsman, I will assure you I am illy prepared to address this
most enlightened people. However, gentlemen, if this is a curiosity
to you, if you will meet me to-morrow, at one o'clock, I will
endeavor to address you, in my plain manner.'
"So I made my obeisance to them, and retired into the house."
It is true that there was much of mere curiosity in the desire to
see Colonel Crockett. He was a strange and an incomprehensible man.
His manly, honest course in Congress had secured much respect. But
such developments of character as were shown in his rude and vulgar
toast, before a party of gentlemen and ladies, excited astonishment.
His notoriety preceded him, wherever he went; and all were alike
curious to see so strange a specimen of a man.
The next morning, several gentlemen called upon him, and took him in
a carriage to see the various objects of interest in the city. The
gentlemen made him a present of a rich seal, representing two horses
at full speed, with the words, "Go Ahead." The young men also made
him a present of a truly magnificent rifle. From Philadelphia he
went to New York. The shipping astonished him. "They beat me all
hollow," he says, "and looked for all the world like a big clearing
in the West, with the dead trees all standing."
There was a great crowd upon the wharf to greet him. And when the
captain of the boat led him conspicuously forward, and pointed him
out to the multitude, the cheering was tremendous. A committee
conducted him to the American Hotel, and treated him with the
greatest distinction. Again he was feted, and loaded with the
greatest attentions. He was invited to a very splendid supper, got
up in his honor, at which there were a hundred guests. The Hon.
Judge Clayton, of Georgia, was present, and make a speech which, as
Crockett says, fairly made the tumblers hop.
Crockett was then called up, as the "undeviating supporter of the
Constitution and the laws." In response to this toast, he says,
"I made a short speech, and concluded with the story of the red cow,
which was, that as long as General Jackson went straight, I followed
him; but when he began to go this way, and that way, and every way,
I wouldn't go after him; like the boy whose master ordered him to
plough across the field to the red cow. Well, he began to plough,
and she began to walk; and he ploughed all forenoon after her. So
when the master came, he swore at him for going so crooked. 'Why,
sir,' said the boy, 'you told me to plough to the red cow, and I
kept after her, but she always kept moving.'"
His trip to New York was concluded by his visiting Jersey City to
witness a shooting-match with rifles. He was invited to try his
hand. Standing, at the distance of one hundred and twenty feet, he
fired twice, striking very near the centre of the mark. Some one
then put up a quarter of a dollar in the midst of a black spot, and
requested him to shoot at it. The bullet struck the coin, and as
Crockett says made slight-of-hand work with it.
From New York he went to Boston. There, an the opponent of some of
President Jackson's measures which were most offensive to the New
England people, he was feted with extraordinary enthusiasm. He dined
and supped, made speeches, which generally consisted of but one
short anecdote, and visited nearly all the public institutions.
Just before this, Andrew Jackson had received from Harvard
University the honorary title of LL.D. Jackson was no longer a
favorite of Crockett. The new distinguished guest, the renowned
bear-hunter, was in his turn invited to visit Harvard. He writes:
"There were some gentlemen that invited me to go to Cambridge, where
the big college or university is, where they keep ready-made titles
or nick-names to give people. I would not go, for I did not know but
they might stick an LL.D. on me before they let me go; and I had no
idea of changing 'Member of the House of Representatives of the
United States,' for what stands for 'lazy, lounging dunce,' which I
am sure my constituents would have translated my new title to be.
Knowing that I had never taken any degree, and did not own to
any--except a small degree of good sense not to pass for what I was
not--I would not go it. There had been one doctor made from
Tennessee already, and I had no wish to put on the cap and bells.
"I told them that I did not go to this branding school; I did not
want to be tarred with the same stick; one dignitary was enough from
Tennessee; that as far as my learning went, I would stand over it,
and spell a strive or two with any of them, from a-b-ab to crucifix,
which was where I left off at school."
A gentleman, at a dinner-party, very earnestly invited Crockett to
visit him. He returned the compliment by saying:
"If you ever come to my part of the country, I hope you will call
and see me."
"And how shall I find where you live?" the gentleman inquired.
"Why, sir," Crockett answered, "run down the Mississippi till you
come to the Oberon River. Run a small streak up that; jump ashore
anywhere, and inquire for me."
From Boston, he went to Lowell. The hospitality he had enjoyed in
Boston won his warmest commendation. At Lowell, he was quite charmed
by the aspect of wealth, industry, and comfort which met his eye.
Upon his return to Boston, he spent the evening, with several
gentlemen and ladies at the pleasant residence of
Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong. In reference to this visit, he
writes:
"This was my last night in Boston, and I am sure, if I never see the
place again, I never can forget the kind and friendly manner in
which I was treated by them. It appeared to me that everybody was
anxious to serve me, and make my time agreeable. And as a proof that
comes home--when I called for my bill next morning, I was told there
was no charge to be paid by me, and that he was very much delighted
that I had made his house my home. I forgot to mention that they
treated me so in Lowell--but it is true. This was, to me, at all
events, proof enough of Yankee liberality; and more than they
generally get credit for. In fact, from the time I entered New
England, I was treated with the greatest friendship; and, I hope,
never shall forget it; and I wish all who read this book, and who
never were there, would take a trip among them. If they don't learn
how to make money, they will know how to use it; and if they don't
learn industry, they will see how comfortable everybody can be that
turns his hands to some employment."
Crockett was not a mere joker. He was an honest man, and an earnest
man; and under the tuition of Congress had formed some very decided
political principles, which he vigorously enforced with his rude
eloquence.
When he first went to Congress he was merely a big boy, of very
strong mind, but totally uninformed, and uncultivated. He very
rapidly improved under the tuition of Congress; and in some degree
awoke to the consciousness of his great intellectual imperfections.
Still he was never diffident. He closed one of his off-hand
after-dinner speeches in Boston, by saying:
"Gentlemen of Boston, I come here as a private citizen, to see you,
and not to show myself. I had no idea of attracting attention. But I
feel it my duty to thank you, with my gratitude to you, and with a
gratitude to all who have given a plain man, like me, so kind a
reception. I come from a great way off. But I shall never repent of
having been persuaded to come here, and get a knowledge of your
ways, which I can carry home with me. We only want to do away
prejudice and give the people information.
"I hope, gentlemen, you will excuse my plain, unvarnished ways,
which may seem strange to you here. I never had but six months'
schooling in all my life. And I confess, I consider myself a poor
tyke to be here addressing the most intelligent people in the world.
But I think it the duty of every representative of the people, when
he is called upon, to give his opinions. And I have tried to give
you a little touch of mine."
Every reader will be interested in the perusal of the following
serious speech, which he made in Boston. It is a fair specimen of
his best efforts, and will give one a very correct idea of his
trains of thought, and modes of expression. It also clearly shows
the great questions which agitated the country at that time. It can
easily be perceived that, as a stump orator in the far West,
Crockett might have exercised very considerable power. This phase of
his peculiar character is as worthy of consideration as any other.
"GENTLEMEN:
"By the entire friendship of the citizens of Boston, as well as the
particular friendship with which you have received me this evening,
I have been brought to reflect on times that have gone by, and
review a prejudice that has grown up with me, as well as thousands
of my Western and Southern friends. We have always been taught to
look upon the people of New England as a selfish, cunning set of
fellows, that was fed on fox-ears and thistle-tops; that cut their
wisdom-teeth as soon as they were born; that made money by their
wits, and held on to it by nature; that called cheatery mother-wit;
that hung on to political power because they had numbers; that
raised up manufactures to keep down the South and West; and, in
fact, had so much of the devil in all their machinery, that they
would neither lead nor drive, unless the load was going into their
own cribs. But I assure you, gentlemen, I begin to think different
of you, and I think I see a good many good reasons for so doing.
"I don't mean that because I eat your bread and drink your liquor,
that I feel so. No; that don't make me see clearer than I did. It is
your habits, and manners, and customs; your industry; your proud,
independent spirits; your hanging on to the eternal principles of
right and wrong; your liberality in prosperity, and your patience
when you are ground down by legislation, which, instead of crushing
you, whets your invention to strike a path without a blaze on a tree
to guide you; and above all, your never-dying, deathless grip to our
glorious Constitution. These are the things that make me think that
you are a mighty good people."
Here the speaker was interrupted by great applause.
"Gentlemen, I believe I have spoke the truth, and not flattery; I
ain't used to oily words; I am used to speak what I think, of men,
and to men. I am, perhaps, more of a come-by-chance than any of you
ever saw; I have made my way to the place I now fill, without
wealth, and against education; I was raised from obscurity, and
placed in the high councils of the nation, by the kindness and
liberality of the good people of my district--a people whom I will
never be unfaithful to, here or elsewhere; I love them, and they
have honored me; and according as God has given me judgment, I'll
use it for them, come of me what may.
"These people once passed sentence upon me of a two years'
stay-at-home, for exercising that which I contend belongs to every
freeman in this nation: that was, for differing in opinion with the
chief magistrate of this nation. I was well acquainted with him. He
was but a man; and, if I was not before, my constituents had made a
man of me. I had marched and counter-marched with him: I had stood
by him in the wars, and fought under his flag at the polls: I helped
to heap the measure of glory that has crushed and smashed everything
that has come in contact with it: I helped to give him the name of
'Hero,' which, like the lightning from heaven, has scorched and
blasted everything that stood in its way--a name which, like the
prairie fire, you have to burn against, or you are gone--a name
which ought to be the first in war, and the last in peace--a name
which, like 'Jack-o'-the lantern, blinds your eyes while you follow
it through mud and mire.
"Gentlemen, I never opposed Andrew Jackson for the sake of
popularity. I knew it was a hard row to hoe; but I stood up to the
rack, considering it a duty I owed to the country that governed me.
I had reviewed the course of other Presidents, and came to the
conclusion that he did not of right possess any more power than
those that had gone before him. When he transcended that power, I
put down my foot. I knew his popularity; that he had come into place
with the largest majority of any one that had gone before him, who
had opposition: but still, I did not consider this as giving him the
right to do as he pleased, and construe our Constitution to meet his
own views.
"We had lived the happiest people under the sun for fifty years,
governed by the Constitution and laws, on well-established
constructions: and when I saw the Government administered on new
principles, I objected, and was politically sacrificed: I persisted
in my sins, having a clear conscience, that before God and my
country, I had done my duty.
"My constituents began to look at both sides; and finally, at the
end of two years, approving of my course, they sent me back to
Congress--a circumstance which was truly gratifying to me.
"Gentlemen, I opposed Andrew Jackson in his famous Indian bill,
where five hundred thousand dollars were voted for expenses, no part
of which has yet been accounted for, as I have seen. I thought it
extravagant as well as impolitic. I thought the rights reserved to
the Indians were about to be frittered away; and events prove that I
thought correct.
"I had considered a treaty as the sovereign law of the land; but now
saw it considered as a matter of expedience, or not, as it pleased
the powers that be. Georgia bid defiance to the treaty-making power,
and set at nought the Intercourse Act of 1802; she trampled it under
foot; she nullified it: and for this, she received the smiles and
approbation of Andrew Jackson. And this induced South Carolina to
nullify the Tariff. She had a right to expect that the President was
favorable to the principle: but he took up the rod of correction,
and shook it over South Carolina, and said at the same time to
Georgia, 'You may nullify, but South Carolina shall not.'
"This was like his consistency in many other matters. When he was a
Senator in Congress, he was a friend to internal improvements, and
voted for them. Everything then that could cement the States
together, by giving them access the one to the other, was right.
When he got into power, some of his friends had hard work to dodge,
and follow, and shout. I called off my dogs, and quit the hunt. Yes,
gentlemen, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and Tennessee, and other States,
voted for him, as a supporter of internal improvements.
"Was he not a Tariff man? Who dare deny it! When did we first hear
of his opposition? Certainly not in his expression that he was in
favor of a judicious tariff. That was supposed to be a clincher,
even in New England, until after power lifted him above the
opposition of the supporters of a tariff.
"He was for putting down the monster 'party,' and being the
President of the people. Well, in one sense, this he tried to do: he
put down every one he could who was opposed to him, either by reward
or punishment; and could all have come into his notions, and bowed
the knee to his image, I suppose it might have done very well, so
far as he was concerned. Whether it would have been a fair reading
of his famous letter to Mr. Monroe, is rather questionable. "He was
to reform the Government. Now, if reformation consists in turning
out and putting in, he did it with a vengeance.
"He was, last of all, to retrench the expenditures. Well, in time, I
have no doubt, this must be done; but it will not consist in the
abolishing useless expenditures of former Administrations. No,
gentlemen; the spoils belonged to the victor; and it would never do
to lessen the teats when the litter was doubled. The treasury trough
had to be extended, and the pap thickened; kin were to be provided
for; and if all things keep on as they are, his own extravagances
will have to be retrenched, or you will get your tariff up again as
high as you please.
"I recollect a boy once, who was told to turn the pigs out of the
corn-field. Well, he made a great noise, hallooing and calling the
dogs--and came back. By-and-by his master said, 'Jim, you rascal!
you didn't turn out the pigs.' 'Sir,' said he, 'I called the dogs,
and set them a-barking.'
"So it was with that big Retrenchment Report, in 1828. Major
Hamilton got Chilton's place as chairman--and called the dogs.
Ingham worked honestly, like a beaver; Wickliff was as keen as a
cutworm: all of them worked hard; and they did really, I suppose,
convince themselves that they had found out a great deal of
iniquity; or, what was more desirable, convinced the people that
Andrew Jackson and his boys were the only fellows to mend shoes for
nothing, and find their own candles. Everett and Sargeant, who made
the minority report, were scouted at. What has come of all this?
Nothing--worse than nothing. Jackson used these very men like dogs:
they knew too much, and must be got rid off, or they would stop his
profligacy too. They were greased and swallowed: and he gave them up
to the torments of an anti-Jackson conscience.
"Yes, gentlemen, as long as you think with him, very well; but if
not--clear out; make way for some fellow who has saved his wind; and
because he has just begun to huzza, has more wind to spare. General
Jackson has turned out more men for opinion's sake, than all other
Presidents put together, five times over: and the broom sweeps so
low that it reaches the humblest officer who happens to have a mean
neighbor to retail any little story which he may pick up.
"I voted for Andrew Jackson because I believed he possessed certain
principles, and not because his name was Andrew Jackson, or the
Hero, or Old Hickory. And when he left those principles which
induced me to support him, I considered myself justified in opposing
him. This thing of man-worship I am a stranger to; I don't like it;
it taints every action of life; it is like a skunk getting into a
house--long after he has cleared out, you smell him in every room
and closet, from the cellar to the garret.
"I know nothing, by experience, of party discipline. I would rather
be a raccoon-dog, and belong to a negro in the forest, than to
belong to any party, further than to do justice to all, and to
promote the interests of my country. The time will and must come,
when honesty will receive its reward, and when the people of this
nation will be brought to a sense of their duty, and will pause and
reflect how much it cost us to redeem ourselves from the government
of one man. It cost the lives and fortunes of thousands of the best
patriots that ever lived. Yes, gentlemen, hundreds of them fell in
sight of your own city.
"I this day walked over the great battle-ground of Bunker's Hill,
and thought whether it was possible that it was moistened with the
sacred blood of our heroes in vain, and that we should forget what
they fought for.
"I hope to see our once happy country restored to its former peace
and happiness, and once more redeemed from tyranny and despotism,
which, I fear, we are on the very brink of. We see the whole country
in commotion: and for what? Because, gentlemen, the true friends of
liberty see the laws and Constitution blotted out from the heads and
hearts of the people's leaders: and their requests for relief are
treated with scorn and contempt. They meet the same fate that they
did before King George and his parliament. It has been decided by a
majority of Congress, that Andrew Jackson shall be the Government,
and that his will shall be the law of the land. He takes the
responsibility, and vetoes any bill that does not meet his
approbation. He takes the responsibility, and seizes the treasury,
and removes it from where the laws had placed it; and now, holding
purse and sword, has bid defiance to Congress and to the nation. 1
"Gentlemen, if it is for opposing those high-handed measures that
you compliment me, I say I have done so, and will do so, now and
forever. I will be no man's man, and no party's man, other than to
be the people's faithful representative: and I am delighted to see
the noble spirit of liberty retained so boldly here, where the first
spark was kindled; and I hope to see it shine and spread over our
whole country.
"Gentlemen, I have detained you much longer than I intended: allow
me to conclude by thanking you for your attention and kindness to
the stranger from the far West."
The following extract also shows the candor of his mind, his anxiety
to learn, and the progress his mind was making in the science of
political economy:
"I come to your country to get a knowledge of things, which I could
get in no other way but by seeing with my own eyes, and hearing with
my awful ears--information I can't get, and nobody else, from book
knowledge. I come, fellow-citizens, to get a knowledge of the
manufacturing interest of New England. I was over-persuaded to come
by a gentleman who had been to Lowell and seen the manufactories of
your State--by General Thomas, of Louisiana. He persuaded me to come
and see.
"When I was first chose to Congress, I was opposed to the protecting
system. They told me it would help the rich, and hurt the poor; and
that we in the West was to be taxed by it for the benefit of New
England. I supposed it was so; but when I come to hear it argued in
the Congress of the nation, I begun to have a different opinion of
it. I saw I was opposing the best interest of the country:
especially for the industrious poor man. I told my people who sent
me to Congress, that I should oppose it no longer: that without it,
we should be obliged to pay a tax to the British Government, and
support them, instead of our own labor. And I am satisfied of it the
more since I have visited New England. Only let the Southern
gentlemen come here and examine the manufactories, and see how it
is, and it would make more peace than all the legislation in
Congress can do. It would give different ideas to them who have been
deluded, and spoke in strong terms of dissolving the Union."
Crockett returned to Washington just in time to be present at the
closing scenes, and then set out for home. So much had been said of
him in the public journals, of his speeches and his peculiarities,
that his renown now filled the land.
