may not have heard that I was lately nominated as candidate for governor of Kentucky. I was constrained to accept it, and shall return to Kentucky in the early part of June.

Farewell, my dear son.

Major G. B. CRITTENDEN.

J. J. CRITTENDEN.

A public dinner was tendered to Mr. Crittenden on the occasion of his retirement from the Senate, by a large number of his friends in Congress and a number of the citizens of the District. This compliment may be said to have been impromptu. Almost every member of the Senate in the city, and a large number of the members of the House of Representatives, without distinction of party, united in the invitation.

No similar mark of respect was, perhaps, ever offered to any public man with more readiness and sincerity. The dinner was given at the National Hotel, Mr. Senator Mangum presiding, assisted by the Hon. J. S. Pendleton and the Hon. Robert Toombs, of the House of Representatives. The toast to Mr. Crittenden, expressive of affectionate respect and warm admiration, was responded to by him in eloquent and affecting terms. The following is the correspondence which preceded the banquet:

TO THE HON. J. J. CRITTENDEN.

WASHINGTON, June 12, 1848.

The undersigned, a few of the many friends whom you have made in the course of your distinguished career as a public man, having heard that you were about to leave Washington immediately, in obedience to the call of the great State which has honored you so long, and in honoring you has so much honored herself, beg that you will remain long enough to receive at their hands a slight testimony of their confidence, respect, and esteem, and they will also add, of their sincere regret that any circumstances should at this time make it necessary that you retire from a "theatre" on which you have enacted, and by all the qualifications of a statesman and a patriot are able to enact, so useful and so eminent a part. They purpose that you will remain long enough to dine with them on such a day and at such an hour as may suit your convenience.

D. WEBSTER,
W. P. MANGUM,
W. L. DAYTON,
J. M. MASON,

A. P. BAGBY,
SYDNEY BREESE,

A. FELCH,

D. S. YULEE,

A. C. GREENE,
JOHN BELL,

WM. UPHAM,
J. C. CALHOUN,

S. M. DOWNS,

D. W. LEWIS,
H. JOHNSON,
J. A. PEARCE,
J. R. UNDERWOOD,
SOLON BORLAND,
J. M. NILES,

C. G. ATHERTON,
J. MCP. BERRIEN,
THOS. CORWIN,
REVERDY JOHNSON,
THOMAS J. RUSH,
A. P. BUTLER,

R. M. T. HUNTER,

On the part of the Senate.

J. S. PENDLETON,
R. TOOMBS,
W. B. PRESTON,
R. W. THOMPSON,
GEORGE G. DUNN,
T. S. FLOURNOY,
P. T. SYLVESTER,
J. W. HOUSTON,
E. C. CABELL,
GREEN ADAMS,
JAMES POLLOCK,
T. A. TALMADGE,
TH. P. CAMPBELL,
GEORGE ASHMUN,
R. C. WINTHROP,
J. B. THOMPSON,
W. DUER,
A. S. FULTON,
R. C. SCHENCK,
J. C. ROMAN,

W. T. LAWRENCE,
JOHN BLANCHARD,

M. P. GENTRY,
JOHN FREEDLY,
J. E. HOLMES,
JOHN STROHM,
G. N. ECKERT,
E. THERRILL,
J. COLLAMER,
JOHN DICKEY,
JOHN CROZIER,
J. G. HAMPTON,
L. C. SEVIER,
A. STEWART,
A. H. STEPHENS,
J. R. INGERSOLL,
AYLETT BUCKNER,
D. RUMSEY,
P. W. THOMPKINS,
W. L. GOGGIN,
GARNETT DUNCAN,
J. W. CRISFIEld,
B. G. THIBODEAUX,
WILLIAM COCKE,

JEFFERSON DAVIS,
SIMON CAMERON,
JOHN A. DIX,
D. S. DICKINSON,
J. D. WESTCOTT,
W. K. SEBASTIAN,
D. R. ATKINSON,

E. B. HOLMES,
W. HUNT,
T. BUTLER KING,
E. EMBREE,
D. M. BARRINGER,
DANIEL DUNCAN,
R. C. CANBY,
M. HAMPTON,
O. KELLOGG,
T. L. CLINGMAN,
JOHN W. JONES,
CALEB B. SMITH,
SAMUEL F. VINTON,
J. W. FARRELLY,
W. NELSON,
D. B. ST. JOHN,
JOSEPH GRINNELL,
JOHN GAYLE,
A. LINCOLN,
C. S. MOREHEAD,
JOHN L. TAYLOR,

SENATE, June 12, 1848. GENTLEMEN,-I have received your most kind letter and invitation of this day's date, in which you are pleased to express your regret at my intended resignation of my seat in the Senate of the United States, and request that I would postpone my departure from Washington "long enough to dine with you on such a day and at such an hour as will suit my convenience."

This most unexpected mark of your kindness and regard does me too much honor. Your commendation, gentlemen, is praise indeed; it is far, I know, beyond any merit of mine. But yet I take it to my heart as a testimony of your personal regard; I will treasure it as a most precious treasure, and it will grow in my memory as long as memory shall last.

I have no language in which to make you suitable acknowledgments. I will only ask you to believe that I receive this testimony of your "confidence, respect, and esteem" with a heart full of feeling, which I know not how to express.

I have only to add that I accept with pleasure the invitation to dine with you. The necessity of my speedy departure from the city obliges me to name to-morrow.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

J. J. CRITTENDEN.

TO DAN. WEBSTER and others of the Senate; Hon. J. S. PENDLETON and others of the House of Representatives; W. W. SEATON and others of the citizens of Washington.

VOL. I.-20

CHAPTER XXIV.

1848.

Great Whig Meeting at Pittsburg-Crittenden's Speech-Letter of Tom ClayLetter of General Taylor to Crittenden from New Orleans - Crittenden's canvassing for Office of Governor-Debate with Powell-Letter to Orlando Brown.

(From the Weekly Commercial Journal of Pittsburg, June 24, 1848.)

T having been announced that Mr. Crittenden would address

was crowded at an early hour to its utmost capacity.

Mr. Crittenden appeared upon the platform and was greeted with loud applause. Mr. Forward rose and said he had great pleasure in introducing to the meeting the Hon. J. J. Crittenden, of Kentucky. (Loud and continuous applause.) From the prominent part which this eloquent and able gentleman had taken in the advocacy of interests especially near to us, his name has become as familiar to us as household words.

After Mr. Forward sat down, the cries for Crittenden! Crittenden! were absolutely deafening, and when he rose the welkin rang with shouts and cheers.

Mr. Crittenden said he wished he could address the meeting in a style to justify the highly complimentary introduction he had received from Mr. Forward, or that he was as well able to instruct and entertain his fellow-citizens as that distinguished gentleman. Could I address you with his ability, the utmost measure of my ability would be filled. Fellow-citizens, I hope no one will believe me guilty of the presumption of desiring the people of this great city to be called together for the purpose of hearing an address from me. I received an invitation by telegraph, and promised Hampton I would be here.

"The great topic now agitating the public mind is that relative to the presidential question. The chief executive magistrate of this Union occupies a position which extends over the whole country and into all the departments of government. The two great parties have met in convention and selected their candidates and made their nominations. The Whig Convention has nominated General Zachary Taylor. Preceding this nomination there existed, as there always will upon such occasions, great difference of opinion among the Whigs as to who should

be their candidate. It was not possible that the wishes of all could be gratified; but the convention was composed of delegates from all sections of the Union; they compared their opinions, and General Taylor's nomination was the result of the free and full interchange of their views. The only virtue these conventions can have is to unite us. The National Whig Convention of Philadelphia has nominated General Zachary Taylor for President of the United States, and he is presented to us as our candidate by all the forms known to us in such cases. I now propose to examine somewhat into the qualifications of General Taylor for this high office, and the traits which recommend him for it. In the first place, I know General Taylor personally. What objection can be made to him? What objection is made to him by his opponents? I have heard no impeachment of his character as a soldier or a man; but his qualifications for the office of President have been called in question. I do not myself think that mere military talents and renown qualify a man for exalted civil stations any more than I think that great civil talents qualify a man to command an army. It is sometimes the case, however, that those who wield the sword bravely in the defense of their country are also endowed with the qualifications of statesmen, learned in civil duties, and submissive to the Constitution and laws of their country. What is the foundation of the belief that the possession of high intellectual powers is the great qualification necessary for an aspirant to the presidential office? After all, the heart of a man is the best qualification,-a heart that is honest and faithful. Gratitude will keep such a heart in the right path, and under the rule of such a man we could not be in danger. None of our Presidents have ever failed through want of intellect. The failure of our administrations (where they have failed) have been through want of heart, and not of head. A man with a sound American heart and a good common understanding is what is wanted, and with such we are secure against treachery and danger. An honest man is needed, and honest men are not so scarce as is sometimes supposed. We have an anecdote of an old philosopher who, when asked why he walked in daylight with a torch, replied, that he was searching for an honest man. Well, gentlemen, I think the people of the United States have found what the old philosopher searched for,-they have found an honest man in Zachary Taylor. They have not needed to carry a torch to find him, his character is a torch, lighting up and showing an honest man. That torch flames so high that all the world can see it, and the earth and the heavens are filled with its light. A word as to General Taylor's political principles, and to the attempts of politicians to investigate his character. No man