be accomplished. All the influence that I possess, shall be exerted to prevent the formation at least of an executive party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of no member of that body to any measure of mine that does not satisfy his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds his appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people, but that asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to the legal administration of their affairs."

I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the Christian religion, and a thorough conviction that sound morals, religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility, are essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers, and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time. [Here the oath of office was administered by Chief-Justice TANEY.] Fellow-citizens: Being fully invested with that high office to which the partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the remembrance of the pledge I have this day given to discharge all the high duties of my exalted station according to the best of my ability; and I shall enter upon their performance with entire confidence in the support of a just and generous people.

A PROCLAMATION.

MARCH 17, 1841.

WHEREAS, Sundry important and weighty matters, principally growing out of the condition of the revenue and finances of the country, appear to me to call for the consideration of Congress at an earlier day than its next annual session, and thus form an extraordinary occasion, such as renders necessary, in my judgment, the convention of the two houses as soon as may be practicable, I do, therefore, by this my proclamation, convene the two houses of Congress, to meet in the capitol, at the city of Washington, on the last Monday, being the thirty-first day, of May next, and I require the respective senators and representatives then and there to assemble, in order to receive such information respecting the state of the Union as may be given to them, and to devise and adopt such measures as the good of the country may seem to them, in the exercise of their wisdom and discretion, to require.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand.

Done at the city of Washington, this seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, and of the independence of the United States the sixty-fifth.

THE ancestors of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States, and the sixth chief magistrate of the nation whose birthplace was Virginia, were among the early English settlers of the Old Dominion. This family of Tyler, it is understood, traced their lineage back to Walter, or Wat Tyler, who, in the fourteenth century, headed an insurrection in England, and, while demanding of the king (Richard II.) a recognition of the rights of the people, lost his life in their cause.

The father of the subject of this sketch, bearing the same name, was the second son of John Tyler, who was marshal of the colony, under the royal government, up to the period of his death, which occurred after the remonstrances against the stamp act, and whose patrimonial estate covered a large tract of country in and about Williamsburg. The son early entered with warmth and spirit into the discussion of those grievances which afterward kindled the flame of the revolution; and so earnestly were his sympathies enlisted in the cause of colonial rights, and so unhesitatingly were his opinions expressed, that his father, the marshal, often told him that he would some day be hung for a rebel. A rebel he did indeed prove, but his consequent exaltation was destined to be, not the scaffold, but the chair of state. Removing from James City, some time in 1775, to Charles City, he was, not long after, elected from that county a member of the house of delegates of Virginia, and in that capacity distinguished himself by the zeal and fearlessness with which he advocated the boldest measures of the revolution, and the devotion with which he lent all the energies of a powerful mind to its success.*

The intimate friend of Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and Edmund Randolph, he was scarcely less beloved by the entire people of Virginia.

⚫ We are indebted to a life of President Tyler, written by one of his friends, and published by Harper and Brothers, in 1844, for a part of this sketch.

Throughout the revolution, Mr. Tyler devoted himself unceasingly and untiringly to its success. A bold, free, and elegant speaker, his voice was never silent when it could avail aught for the great cause in which he was enlisted; and possessing an ample fortune at the commencement of the revolution-partly the inheritance of his father, but more the result of his own industry as a distinguished lawyer of the colony-the liberality with which he lavished his wealth upon its progress, and the utter disre gard of selfish considerations with which he sacrificed his whole time during its continuance, to aid in bringing it to a successful termination, left him almost utterly impoverished at its close. None appreciated better than the people of Virginia the great services he had rendered, and the patriotic sacrifices he had made to the cause of independence; and he was elevated by them successively to the offices of speaker of the house of delegates, governor of the state, and judge in one of her highest courts. At the breaking out of the last war, he was appointed, by Mr. Madison, a judge of the federal court of admiralty. In February, 1813, he died, full of years and honors. The legislature passed resolutions expressive of their sense of the bereavement, and went into mourning for the remainder of the session.

Judge Tyler left three sons, Wat, John, and William, the second of whom, the subject of this memoir, was born in Charles City county, Virginia, on the 29th of March, 1790. Passing over the period of his early youth, when he was noted for his love of books, and particularly of historical works, we find young Tyler, at the age of twelve years, entering William and Mary college. Here he soon attracted the notice of Bishop Madison, the venerable president of that institution; and during his whole collegiate course, Mr. Tyler was, in an especial degree, a favorite of that distinguished man, as well as of his fellow-students. He passed through the courses at the age of seventeen, and on that occasion delivered an address on the subject of "female education," which was pronounced by the faculty to have been the best commencement oration delivered there within their recollection.

After leaving college, Mr. Tyler devoted himself to the study of law, already commenced during his collegiate studies, and passed the next two years in reading, partly with his father, and partly with Edmund Randolph, formerly governor of Virginia, and one of the most eminent lawyers in the state. At nineteen years of age, he appeared at the bar of his native county as a practising lawyer, a certificate having been given him without inquiry as to his age; and such was his success, that ere three months had elapsed there was scarcely a disputable case on the docket of the court in which he was not retained upon the one side or the other. The year after his appearance at the bar, he was offered a nomination as member of the legislature from his own county, but he declined the proffered honor, until the following year, when, having reached the age of twenty

one but a few days before the election took place, he was chosen nearly unanimously, a member of the house of delegates.

He took his seat in that branch of the Virginia legislature in December, 1811. The breaking out of the war soon after, afforded fine scope for his oratorical abilities. Attached to the democratic party, and an advocate of the course of policy which had been pursued by Jefferson and Madison, in the limited sphere he then occupied, his voice was ever heard urging, so far as lay in the power of the government, the most energetic measures in carrying on the war. He spoke often, with the view of improving his powers of oratory; and the youthful debater had the gratification to find, that even in the forum of Virginia, the country of eloquence, his speeches commanded universal attention.

The senators in Congress from Virginia at that time, were Messrs. Giles and Brent, who had been instructed by the legislature to vote against the renewal of the charter of the bank of the United States. This instruction was disobeyed by Mr. Brent, in his vote on the question, in February, 1811, and Mr. Tyler introduced a resolution of censure into the house of delegates, animadverting severely upon the course of the senator, and laying it down as a principle to be established thereafter, that any person accepting the office of senator of the United States from the state of Virginia, by such acceptance tacitly bound himself to obey, during the period he should serve, the instructions he might receive from its legislature. Twenty-five years afterward he had not forgotten the ideas of senatorial duty he then inculcated, when, himself a senator, he was called upon to record a vote not less repugnant to his judgment than to his conscience. Mr. Tyler was elected to the legislature for five successive years; and, as an instance of his popularity in his native county, it may be mentioned, that on one occasion he received all the votes polled except five. Some years later, when a candidate for Congress, of the two hundred votes given in the same county, he received all but one, over a distinguished competitor.

At the time the British forces were in the Chesapeake bay, and threatened an attack on Norfolk and Richmond, Mr. Tyler evinced a disposition to serve his country in the field as well as in the halls of legislation, by raising a volunteer company, and devoting himself assiduously to effecting an efficient organization of the militia in his neighborhood. Hence the title of "Captain Tyler," which was applied to him, in ridicule, when president of the United States. In the sequel, the troops under his command were not brought into action, and his military career was, consequently, short and bloodless.

During the session of 1815-'16, while he was still a member of the house of delegates, Mr. Tyler was elected one of the executive council, in which capacity he acted until November, 1816, when, by the death of the Hon. John Clopton, a vacancy occurred in the representation in

Congress, from the Richmond district. Two candidates were presented, Mr. Andrew Stevenson, afterward distinguished in the national councils, and then speaker of the house of delegates, and Mr. Tyler. The contest was severe, and enlisted to a great extent the public feeling, though it produced no cessation of the friendly relations which had always existed between the two opposing candidates. Mr. Stevenson was a most popular man in Richmond, his place of residence, but Mr. Tyler's popularity was not less great in his own and the neighboring counties; and, after a closely contested canvass, Mr. Tyler was elected, by a majority of only about thirty votes. It was a mere trial of personal popularity, as they were both of the same political principle; and when Mr. Tyler retired from Congress, in 1821, he warmly advocated the election of Mr. Stevenson as his successor.

Mr. Tyler took his seat in the house of representatives in December, 1816, having reached the twenty-sixth year of his age the previous month of March. As a new member, custom, not less than the modesty which is ever the accompaniment of merit, prohibited him from taking a very active part in the proceedings of the house. Yet even during this period he was not idle, but occasionally participated in the discussions which occupied the short portion of time for which he had been elected.

Having witnessed the inauguration of President Monroe, Mr. Tyler returned home to his constituents, in March, 1817, and the following month he received a testimonial of their approbation, in his re-election to Congress by an overwhelming majority over his former rival, Mr. Stevenson.

In the fifteenth Congress many subjects of magnitude were brought forIward and discussed. Among them were the Seminole war and the South American question. Mr. Clay, the speaker, introduced a proposition to acknowledge the independence of the provinces of Rio de la Plata, against which Mr. Tyler voted. He supported the resolutions of censure on the conduct of General Jackson in the Seminole war, taking the same view as some of his colleagues and Mr. Clay on that subject. The question of internal improvements by the general government was agitated at this session, as it had been by the previous Congress; on both occasions Mr. Tyler voted against all the propositions offered in the house which countenanced the doctrine of the possession of the power by the general gov ernment, under the constitution, to make internal improvements. Thus he avowed on, all occasions, the state-rights or strict construction doctrines of the dominant party in Virginia, on constitutional points. The conduct of the directors of the bank of the United States, which institution was chartered in 1816, was the subject of investigation at this session of Congress, and Mr. Tyler was placed on the committee appointed to inspect the concerns of the bank. When the report of the committee was made, Mr. Tyler supported a resolution offered by Mr. Trimble of Kentucky, requiring that a scire facias should be issued immediately against the bank.