In 1836 James Clark was the Whig, and Matthew Flournoy the Dem-
ocratic, candidate for governor of the State. In 1832 the Democrats
had elected that officer, and were now using efforts to choose his suc-
cessor. "Unless a vigorous effort is made we shall lose the race,"
discouragingly wrote Robert P. Letcher from Kentucky to Mr. Crit-
tenden at Washington. " It would be well to call all our delegation
in Congress together," he continues, "and let each man determine to
write six letters every twenty-four hours to his district in relation to
the election of governor. I mean all except Ben Hardin. I should
leave him to himself. Meet in the committee room, and let each man
pledge himself to do his duty by writing letters forthwith. One Con-
gress letter is worth a dozen from a private." Exactly what is meant
by this reference to Mr. Hardin is not clear — whether kind or other-
wise. Why it should have been otherwise is difficult to conjecture,
as Hardin and Letcher were slightly connected, a brother of the latter
having married a sister of Mrs. Hardin ; and besides, Mr. Hardin had
spoken earnestly, ably, and often for Letcher in the latter's contest
with Moore in the Twenty-third Congress. It is possible Letcher
may have supposed that the difficulties of Mr. Hardin's penmanship
might weaken the effect even of a " Congress letter," or subject the
party to the danger of new and unforeseen issues through misinter-
pretation of his correspondence.



» " At the library the hook which Mr. Hardin took from my table and kept was transferred by the
librarian from my charge to his." J. Q. Adams' Memoirs, Vol. IX., page 214.



A PARLIAMENTARY GLADIATOR. 237

It may be safely asserted that Mr. Hardin realized no other pecun-
iary profit from his congressional service than his salary, and some
professional fees in the Supreme Court. Political ethics had not
become as much relaxed at that period as at a later day, when a seat
in Congress opened a road to fortune, in which trod many of the
" honorable gentlemen." "Mr. Hardin was one of the old school of
political morality." writes Colonel Ben Perley Poore, "and no blot
sullied the fair fame of his long, although not continuous, congres-
sional service." After his congressional career had ended, he indulged
the following allusion to the little profit that had attended his service:

"â–  I had the misfortune, and I rather consider it so than otherwise, from
time to time, to have had a seat in Congress, and I found I could not stand
the sacrifice and pecuniary loss longer than for two or four years at a time.
Then I had to quit, and resort agiin to the practice of the law to repair the
loss. At every session I expended not less than two or three hundred dol-
lars in purchasing documents to send among my constituents. I took care
to buy something of value, important documents, good speeches, not too
much or too little, and well made."

The reports of congressional proceedings show that Mr. Hardin
was an active and industrious member. His references to pending
questions, and, much more, his discussions of them, evinced his
familiarity with all their details and merits. When he spoke it was to
utter his own views, and not to echo those of others.

"He was," says Colonel Poore, "a defiant parliamentary gladiator on
the floor. Standing in the aisle by the side of his desk, with his head erect
and rather an arrogant air and tone of voice, he would point the index
finger of his right hand (which was crooked, like a note of interrogation)
at his opponent, and rain upon him interrogatories and propositions couched
in unmistakable Anglo-Saxon." *

John Quincy Adams, in his wonderful diary between 1833 and
1837. when he, like Mr. Hardin, was a member of the House of Rep-
resentatives, very frequently refers to the latter. In alluding to his
speech on the extension of the pension list, in January, 1834, Adams
says: "Hardin spoke about an hour, chiefly in reply to Burgess,
whom he tomahawked without mercy, though he was not present.
The hour expired while Hardin was speaking, but by the suspension
of the rule he was allowed to finish his speech."

In December, 1836, Adams mentions that "Boon, of Indiana, and
Hardin, of Kentucky, spurted and bubbled for the sake of personal
flings at me — Hardin indirectly. Boon directly. Hardin let out some

•'■' Letter of Colonel Ben Perley Poore to author.



22,^



BEN HARDIN.



of his venom upon New England, and said we should have a little
battle when we should come to debate the taking off the duties from
grain and breadstuffs, because the crops had not failed in the States
west of the mountains as they had in the Atlantic States." *

It is doubted whether Mr. Hardin enjoyed much local popularity
while at the capital ; in fact, the contrary may fairly be inferred. As
a rule, he could safely be set down as an opponent of all appropria-
tions, great or small, especially if connected with the district lobby.
The mild aspiration of the Government clerk, not less than the impe-
rious mandate of the President of these United States, found an ever-
recurring obstacle in Mr. Hardin. The first named (in his estimation)
was constantly taking the preliminary steps (unintentionally, no doubt,
but recklessly) to bring upon the country the horrors of the P>ench
Revolution. His remarks on a proposition to create an additional
clerk in the Department of State to assist in arranging and preserving
the public archives clearly indicate that he strongly suspected the
attachment of that class of American citizens to the principles of lib-
erty. The following is the report :

" Mr. Hardui's duty had led him frequendy to look into the offices in our
dei)artments ; and he verily believed that one-half the number of clerks
there employed could do the whole business. Like the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Lincoln), whose speech had provoked such violent and
undeserved attacks (although there was nothing exceptional about it, save
that it had been more extended than was necessary, but was certainly a very
clear and able speech), he believed that the arranging of these papers could
be accomplished by a little extra labor of the clerks already employed. It
seemed that these department clerks had established an arbitrary rule respect-
ing the portion of time that they were to labor.

" Mr. Hardin knew very well that in the counting-houses in Philadelphia,
in Baltimore, in Louisville, and Cincinnati, first-rate clerks were employed
on salaries of five and six hundred dollars, and were daily employed for
eight, ten, and twelve hours out of the twenty-four. But here were a parcel
of clerks, some hundreds of them, who entered their offices about half-past
nine, read the papers till ten, wrote a little, then smoked their cigars, and
hung around till between two and three o'clock, and then all left their offices;
or, if they remained one minute beyond that time they must receive extra
pay. Let gentlemen look at the clerks of the courts, and they would find
deputy clerks regularly laboring for twelve hours out of every twenty-four,
on salaries of four and five hundred dollars. Yet here were great, big, fat,
sleek gentlemen, who, if they worked three or four hours over the time,
must have an extra compensation.

'•■■ J. Q. Adams" Memoirs, Vol. IX., page 324. Mr. Savage in his " Living Representative Men,"
spoke of Hardin as having the reputation of being the terror of the House. Page 145.



ATTOKXEV-GEXERAL BUTLER.



239



" Mr. Hardin referred to the blue book to show the number of clerks in
the State Department. Here were thirteen of them who could not spare an odd
hour apiece to assort, label, and index these records. Why not take it by
turns, one to-day and another to morrow ? If they could not do as much as
this, where was the necessity of continuing such men in office ? New papers
had, no doubt, accumulated, which required labeling as much as these did.
It was their duty to label the whole of these papers. Yet these fat and sleek
gentlemen, who could only work three or four hours a day, were some of
your finest toast-makers at all public dinners- and he had no doubt that
many of the finest of those letter-writers, whose productions so enlightened
the public, were trom among these same geniuses. If they could not work
six hours a day, let them walk out of office — they were fat enough, anyhow —
and let others take their places. It seemed that all governments had a nat-
ural tendency to increase their expenditures, and went on growing more and
more extravagant till they finally broke down, and there was a revolution.
It was this which, in part, had brought about the revolution in France.
They continued, as they proceeded in their downward course, to divide and
subdivide the public service, and all who were employed were striving to
increase their pay and diminish their labor."'

Mr. Hardin did not stop at criticising the government clerk. In
April, 1836, the general appropriation bill being before the House he
proposed to strike out the item of one thousand dollars to Mr. Peters,
the reporter of the Supreme Court, because certain decisions to which
he alluded had been reported inaccurately. Another member, how-
ever, having suggested that the reporter was considered an industrious
man in his profession in Philadelphia, and that if he failed in his dut}'
the proper remedy was removal, Mr. Hardin withdrew his motion,
evidently not aware when he made it that he was questioning the
attainments of a " Philadelphia lawyer."

In 1835, while Mr. Van Buren's law partner, Benjamin F. Butler,
of New York, w^as attorney-general, Congress was asked to provide a
library for his use. Mr. Butler was not only a hypercritical lawyer,
but it was charged that he always stood ready to justify by his legal
opinions the greatest stretch of power the President saw fit to indulge,
and the President at that period pressed his prerogative to its utmost
tension. In 1835 the lunatic Lawrence attempted to assassinate Gen-
eral Jackson as he emerged from the capitol, but w^as arrested in the
act. The physicians called to examine as to his mental condition
pronounced him insane beyond question. General Jackson, who saw
everything of an exciting nature through the medium of his passions,
declined to accept this decision, but insisted that Lawrence was the



240



BEN HARDIN.



tool of his enemies. Mr. Butler advised that while Lawrence might
have delusions, yet that he was generally sane. In short, he was a
thorough-paced courtier of the Polonius order. For such an official
the opponents of the administration felt no partiality. Mr. Hardin's
opposition was ostensibly placed on other grounds, but between the
lines something of the above may be read.

" He said he was utterly opposed to granting appropriations for separate
libraries, either to the departments or to the attorney-general. He would will-
ingly vote rather for an increase of ten thousand dollars more for the library of
Congress, where he supposed the attorney-general, as well as the other heads
of departments, might readily come for such books as they wanted. The
application for books for the use of the attorney-general's office never, here-
tofore, has been made ; and as this attorney-general had, with his public busi-
ness, private practice to attend to, as well as former attorney-generals, the
appropriation, consequently, would be of a jjrivate benefit, rather than to
the public. For, if he practiced as they did — and doubtless he did — he must
have his own books to enable him to do so. He wished the Congress library
to be increased, desiring, like the ancient Roman, to see the capitol the
tinest building in the universe ; so ought, he thought, their library to be the
boast of their country ^> He opposed the appropriation believing that, from
the day Congress would sanction a system of separate libraries, thenceforth
their own would go down ; and he therefore rejoiced at having an opportu-
nity to record his vote against the proposition.''

Formerly one of the most respectable bodies about the national
capital was more or less known as the " naval lobb)-." It was a body
that asked many favors of Congress — was entitled to many and
received not a few. Mr. Hardin thought it received undue considera-
tion, and in the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses he was
active in opposing its claims by vote and argument. February i8,
1835, the bill to increase the pay of naval officers being before the
House for consideration, Mr. Hardin, in closing his remarks, is reported
as follows :

" Upon the subject of gratitude, he could call one fact to the recollection
of gentlemen, that, if a man died an officer in the naval service, his widow
was pensioned from five years to five years. He knew widows of meritorious
officers in the army who were starving. One in his own neighborhood,
whose husband, an officer in the army, fought at Raisin, Niagara, and at
New Orleans, who was now without a cent in the world ; and he had brought
a letter from her to General Jackson, stating that she was reduced to want

* If Congress had been more imbued with Mr. Hardin's enthusiasm for learning, the new Congress-
ional library building, instead of being in the architect's brain, or drawn on paper (its present stage),
would long since have been completed, and constituted a fit receptacle for the grand collection that
overflows the present library. (Note by author.)



REMARKS ON NAVAL APPROPRIATIONS. 24 1

and beggary, and the general promised to do all he could for her. He k.iew
a similar instance of a major in the army, who died at New Orleans, whose
widow and children were also reduced to want and beggary. Hence, it was
that he said the navy got more than the army. He wished to God there
was a law providing for the widows of all those who lost their lives in the
service of their country. But he would again call the attention of the House
to the contrast between the pay of the two services. Mr. Hardin then read
an estimate of the different sums paid to the officers and crews of various
ships engaged during the late war.

"Mr. Hardin then referred to the addresses of Commodore Porter,
Lord Nelson, etc., to show that prize money was the greatest incentive for
sailors to fight well, relating an ancient anecdote to that effect, of a soldier,
who, having lost his budget, as he called his wealth, on an assault, was the
first to mount the breach, and recovered by the plunder of the town more
than he had lost. On another occasion, being called on by his commodore
to do the same, he requested some other man to take liis place who had lost
his budget, for he possessed one. A gentleman referred to a captain, yes-
terday, who had been twenty-nine years in the service, but who was not
worth seven hundred dollars. Mr. Hardin said there were some men whom
you could not make rich. But he would refer to the numerous captains in
this city, living in the finest palaces — no, he must not say palaces — in the
most splendid mansions, built by the public money they had obtained.
Ask a commander how much he had made, and he would reply, why, in the
last war, probably about one hundred thou.sand dollars. It was said

" 'Their march is on the mountain wave,
Their home is on the deep.'

" Their march here was too often from their mansions to the capitol, and
their home was He observed several gentlemen in the gallery.

" Mr. Hardin referred to the officers of the army who were then toiling
in the West, and who were not represented by their committees, etc., and
complained of the proposal of the army having been rejected by the select
committee, and the navy alone taken up and acted on (Mr. Watmough
explained), contrary to the just expectations of all.

"In regard to a lavish expenditure of the public money, the history of
the last three hundred years furnished us with one fact, that it was the nat-
ural tendency of all governments to increase their expenditures from year to
year. Such was the case with the governments of Europe, and he was
afraid the government of the United States would exhibit the same melan-
choly picture, that its expenses will be so increased that, at last, they will
become too oppressive and onerous for the people to bear, and, according to
the language of the other House, reform or revolution must be the end of it.
It was the lavish waste of the public money that brought Charles I. , of Eng-

16



2A2 ^EN HARDIN.

land, and Louis XVI., of France, to the block, and it is one of the main
causes of all the revolutions of empires that have ever happened. Gentle-
men say that the navy is a popular branch of the public service. He
a<rreed. But ought that House to legislate for fashionable attachment? He
knew there was a continual struggle to get expenditures on the seaboard.
He had no wish to impeach the integrity of gentlemen who were so zealous
on the subject of fortifications and other works on the seaboard, but they
could not help being acted on by their feelings. In the language of Sir
Robert Walpole, prune minister of England, he said they came up, year
after year, to be shorn like sheep. We, said Mr. Hardin, come from the
interior every year to be shorn for your fortifications on the seaboard, but I,
for one, am not exactly like the sheep, for, although I might be willing to be
shorn, I will make a noise about it. Mr. Hardin concluded by saying that
he had a threat many more observations which he wished to have offered on
the present occasion, but he was unwilling to intrude too far upon the indul-
gence afforded him by the House, for which he off'ered his acknowledg-
ments, and he should probably take some other opportunity of giving his
sentiments more at length to the public."

Mr. Hardin's course in opposing appropriations so constantly and
indiscriminately subjected him on one occasion to the hostile criticism
of the impetuous Henry A. Wise, then a prominent figure in Con-
gress. As to how Mr. Hardin was regarded in the House by his
political adversaries may be inferred from the following remarks of the
Virginia congressman :

" Mr. Speaker, one would be led to suppose, sir, that the gentleman, from
his uniform and earnest opposition to all money bills, was fighting at his late
period of life for the fame of an economist and reformer. When the Alex-
andria canal bill was up, there was the gentleman from Kentucky; when
Hull's claim was before us, there was the gentleman from Kentucky; when
Meade's claim was presented, there was the gentleman from Kentucky, and
now that the navy bill is on its passage, there is still the gentleman from Ken-
tucky. Such indiscriminate opposition to every description of claim we might
supi)ose to proceed more from habit than from calculation. But, sir, when
the Louisville and Portland canal bill came up, there was not the gentleman
from Kentucky. And at the very moment the gentleman was so manfully
opposing this reasonable increase of navy pay, we found him entertaining us
witii the most delightful eloquence upon the sufferings and services of the
army, and perfectly content with the navy i)ay, when on a former occasion I
have shown and now assert that the pay of the army is more than double that
of the navy. The army, sir, is to the gentleman what the Louisville canal
is. It is stationed in part in the West, and clears the path of settlers on the
frontier. It is not regarded with the same contracted view as the navy is



THE "TIBER.



243



regarded by some, as solely for the seaboard, and therefore its services and
its pay are fully appreciated by the gentleman. Why does the gentleman not
bleat a little when wool is plastered on him as well as when it is shorn off?
The gentleman, sii , is no more shorn, nor is the West, by increasing the pay
of the navy than by increasing the pay of the army. If there is one branch
of the public service in which the whole country is more equally interested
than in another, it is that of the navy."

Not only was Mr. Hardin not the friend of the various persons and
classes already referred to, but he was lacking in attachment for the
locality itself. When it was proposed that Government take stock in
a canal that was to connect Alexandria and Washington, he aided in
defeating the measure, speaking twice on the subject. He was not
even the uncalculating friend of Pennsylvania avenue (the pride of the
national capital), across which flowed Tiber creek, a turbulent stream
that in the days of the fathers of the Constitution meandered down to
the Potomac with all the dignity of a "navigable stream," the waters
of which were once intended " to be carried to the top of Congress
house, to fall in a cascade twenty feet in height and fifty in breadth,
and thence to run in three falls through the gardens into the grand
canal," but which modern engineering has reduced to the ignoble
office of an underground sewer.* On one occasion he inquired how it
was possible the erection of stone arches over Tiber creek, and other
repairs there, could require so large an appropriation as twelve hun-
dred dollars ? He was not aware upon what principle there could be
such an expenditure for this purpose maintained, unless it was that
peculiar principle on which some people of this city were known to
act, namely, to get as much money as they could and do as little work
for it as possible.

An attempt was made by various members to persuade Mr. Hardin
that he was a representative of the District of Columbia as well as of
his own district and State, and that its inhabitants were his constitu-
ents and entitled to his special consideration. But from this doctrine
he entirely dissented. He regarded all their demands with distrust,
and deemed it but just that the cities of the district should take care
of themselves as cities did elsewhere in the Union. Nevertheless, he
found from sad experiences that he who would withstand the district
lobby needed Roman fortitude and virtue, for its fertility of resource
was unbounded and in constant requisition. Every blandishment that

*In this good year (1887) the author stood upon the dome of the capitol and looked out for this
waterway. Possibly he saw its " remains " straggling into the Potomac to the north-west, but a mature
citizen standing by was not sure of it, although he remembered when it crossed Pennsylvania avenue in
its " winding flow."



244 ^^^ HARDIN.

could influence, every appeal to the passions was invoked. The omnip-
otence of beauty's smile spared neither youth nor age, and unequal
was the contest between it and virtue. Now and then an obdurate
member required sterner regimen. Instances were known about that
period where he received assurances that unpleasant consequences
would result from contumacy. Mr. Hardin, realizing the situation, thus
discoursed on the subject in 1835 :

"It has been alleged that the people of this district ought to be the
peculiar objects of our kind and munificent legislation, because they have
no representative in Congress. When any one of the three cities in this
district has business before Congress, its mayor and committees have the
privilege of this hall. The people here have more weight in this House
than the representatives of almost any State in the Union. The members of
Congress associate with them, partake of their hospitalities, and lend a kind
ear to their importunities. These means they are not sparing of, bufexceed-
ingly liberal. Their attentions seem to increase or diminish as they think
they can operate on the members, when they have some object in view.
When these means fail on particular members, a resort is had to abuse and
insult, and not unfrequently anonymous letters are sent to the rebellious
and refractory members, some containing threats and menaces, and others
are deterred from opposing them from the dread of slander and scurrility.
For, as Sir James Mcintosh said in his celebrated defense of the French
printer, who was prosecuted in England at the instance of Bonaparte, for a
libel on the then existing French government, ' there was no man so low and
debased, or so high and exalted, as to be entirely insensible to the approba-
tion or disapprobation of his fellowmen.'

" It is the opinion of mankind upon the actions of others that is the great
regulator of the morality of the world. For man, when left alone, and unin-
fluenced by the opinions of others, will run into excesses of every descrip-
tion : 'His heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' I
am told that some of the people who live in, or are now in, this city, are so