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My thirty years out of the Senate

Smith, Seba (1792-1868)
  
[frontispiece]
  
[title page]
  
PREFACE.
  
CONTENTS.
  
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE
  
SKETCH OF MY EARLY LIFE. IN WHICH I TELL CONSIDERABLE MORE ABOUT MY GRANDFATHER THAN I DO ABOUT MYSELF.

 1. 
MY LETTERS AND OTHER DOCKYMENTS. LETTER I.
 2. 
LETTER II. ABOUT POOR MR. ROBERTS HAVING TO STAND UP.
 3. 
LETTER III. UNCLE JOSHUA TELLS HOW HE WENT TO BOSTON AND TOOK DINNER WITH THE GINERAL COURT.
  
DOCKYMENTS.
 4. 
LETTER IV. COUSIN NABBY ADVISES MR. DOWNING TO COME HOME.
 5. 
LETTER V. MR. DOWNING TELLS WHAT A HOBBLE THE LEGISLATURE GOT INTO IN TRYING TO MAKE SO MANY GOVERNORS.
 6. 
LETTER VI. MR. DOWNING DESCRIBES A SAD MISHAP THAT BEFELL THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
 7. 
LETTER VII. AFFAIRS TAKE A MORE FAVORABLE TURN.
 8. 
LETTER VIII. MRS. DOWNING URGES HER SON TO COME HOME.
 9. 
LETTER IX. MR. DOWNING TELLS ABOUT TRIGGING THE WHEELS OF GOVERNMENT.
 10. 
LETTER X. MR. DOWNING ADVISES UNCLE JOSHUA TO HOLD ON TO HIS BUSHEL OF CORN, BECAUSE THE LEGISLATURE HAD BEGUN TO “RIP UP THEIR DUINS.”
 11. 
LETTER XI. MR. DOWNING DESCRIBES SOME QUEER DUINS IN THE SENATE.
 12. 
LETTER XII. MR. DOWNING TELLS WHAT IT MEANS TO SET UP A CANDIDATE FOR OFFICE.
 13. 
LETTER XIII. MR. DOWNING TELLS HOW THE LEGISLATURE CLEARED OUT, AND HOW ELDER HALL WENT HOME.
 14. 
LETTER XIV. MR. DOWNING HINTS TO UNCLE JOSHUA THAT HE HAS A PROSPECT OF BEING NOMINATED FOR GOVERNOR.
 15. 
LETTER XV. UNCLE JOSHUA SHOWS REMARKABLE SKILL IN THE SCIENCE OF POLITICS, AND ADVISES MR. DOWNING BY ALL MEANS TO STAND AS A CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR.
 16. 
LETTER XVI. MR. DOWNING GIVES HIS OPINION ABOUT NEWSPAPERS.
 17. 
LETTER XVII. MR. DOWNING TELLS ABOUT THE PORTLAND TOWN-MEETING, AND HOW THE VOTES TURNED OUT.
 18. 
LETTER XVIII. RETURN OF VOTES FROM DOWNINGVILLE—THE SKIES LOOK BRIGHTER.
 19. 
LETTER XIX. MR. DOWNING TELLS HOW HE GOT A NEW KINK INTO HIS HEAD, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE BLOW-UP OF PRESIDENT JACKSON'S FIRST CABINET.
 20. 
LETTER XX. MR. DOWNING TELLS ABOUT THE TALK HE HAD WITH THE BOSTON EDITORS ON HIS WAY TO WASHINGTON.
 21. 
LETTER XXI. MR. DOWNING RELATES HIS INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR NOAH, AT NEW-YORK.
 22. 
LETTER XXII. MR. DOWNING TELLS HOW HE STRIPT UP HIS SLEEVES AND DEFENDED MR. INGHAM ON HIS FRONT DOOR-STEPS, DURING THE AFTER-CLAP THAT FOLLOWED THE BLOW-UP OF GINERAL JACKSON'S FIRST CABINET.
 23. 
LETTER XXIII. MR. DOWNING RECEIVES A CAPTAIN'S COMMISSION IN THE UNITED STATES ARMY, WITH ORDERS TO GO AND PROTECT THE INHABITANTS OF MADAWASKA.
 24. 
LETTER XXIV. UNCLE JOSHUA DESCRIBES TO PRESIDENT JACKSON HOW THEY DRAFTED THE MILITIA COMPANY IN DOWNINGVILLE TO GO WITH CAPT. JACK DOWNING TO THE MADAWASKA WAR.
 25. 
LETTER XXV. CAPTAIN DOWNING'S FIRST MILITARY REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT.
 26. 
LETTER XXVI. MR. DOWNING TELLS HOW THE JACKSONITES IN THE LEGISLATURE HAD A DREADFUL TUSSLE TO POUR A “HEALING ACT” DOWN THE THROATS OF THE HUNTONITES.
 27. 
LETTER XXVII. CAPTAIN DOWNING IS IN A PECK OF TROUBLE ABOUT THE LEGISLATURE'S SELLING MADAWASKA TO THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT, TO BE GIVEN UP TO THE BRITISH, AND SITS DOWN AND FIGURES UP THE PRICE.
 28. 
LETTER XXVIII. CAPTAIN DOWNING RELATES A CONFIDENTIAL CONVERSATION WITH PRESIDENT JACKSON WHILE ON A JOURNEY TO TENNESSEE.
 29. 
LETTER XXIX. CAPTAIN DOWNING RUNS AN EXPRESS FROM BALTIMORE TO WASHINGTON, AND FOOTS IT THROUGH PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE TO THE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE.
 30. 
LETTER XXX. CAPTAIN DOWNING RECEIVES A MAJOR'S COMMISSION, AND IS APPOINTED TO MARCH AGAINST THE NULLIFIERS.
 31. 
LETTER XXXI. UNCLE JOSHUA TELLS WHAT A TUSSLE THEY HAD IN DOWNINGVILLE TO KEEP THE FEDERALISTS FROM PRAISING THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE NULLIFIERS.
 32. 
LETTER XXXII. MAJOR DOWNING DESCRIBES THE ARRIVAL OF SARGENT JOEL WITH THE COMPANY AT WASHINGTON.
 33. 
LETTER XXXIII. MAJOR DOWNING GIVES HIS OPINION ABOUT NULLIFICATION AND ILLUSTRATES IT WITH A LUCID EXAMPLE.
 34. 
LETTER XXXIV. COUSIN EPHRAIM TELLS THE MAJOR HOW MATTERS GET ALONG AT AUGUSTA, AND GIVES A SPECIMEN OF THE VALUE OF POLITICAL PROMISES.
 35. 
LETTER XXXV. MAJOR DOWNING GOES UP TOP THE CONGRESS HOUSE AND LISTENS TO SEE IF HE CAN HEAR THE GUNS IN SOUTH CAROLINA, AND ALSO HAS A TALK WITH THE PRESIDENT ABOUT THE SLANDER OF THE NEWSPAPERS.
 36. 
LETTER XXXVI. COUSIN EPHRAIM EXPLAINS THE SCIENCE OF LAND SPECULATION.
 37. 
LETTER XXXVII. MAJOR DOWNING TELLS HOW MR. CLAY PUT A STOP TO THAT FUSS IN SOUTH CAROLINA, BESIDES HUSHING UP SOME OTHER QUARRELS.
 38. 
LETTER XXXVIII. MAJOR DOWNING GIVES THE RESULT OF A CONSULTATION AMONG THE GOVERNMENT ON THE QUESTION WHETHER THE PRESIDENT SHOULD SHAKE HANDS WITH THE FEDERALISTS DURING HIS JOURNEY DOWN EAST.
 39. 
LETTER XXXIX. MAJOR DOWNING DEFENDS THE PRESIDENT FROM THE ASSAULT OF LIEUTENANT RANDOLPH, ON BOARD THE STEAMBOAT CYGNET.
 40. 
LETTER XL. MAJOR DOWNING SHAKES HANDS FOR THE PRESIDENT AT PHILADELPHIA, WHILE ON THE GRAND TOUR DOWN EAST.
 41. 
LETTER XLI. THE PRESIDENT AND MAJOR DOWNING HAVE A VERY NARROW ESCAPE AT THE BREAKING DOWN OF THE CASTLE GARDEN BRIDGE IN NEW YORK.
 42. 
LETTER XLII. MAJOR DOWNING DESCRIBES THE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT AT BOSTON, AND ALSO COMPLAINS OF THE RASCALLY COUNTERFEITERS THAT WRITE LETTERS IN HIS NAME FOR THE NEWSPAPERS.
 43. 
LETTER XLIII. THE PRESIDENT AND THE REST OF 'EM TURN A SHORT CORNER AT CONCORD, AND SET THEIR FACES TOWARD WASHINGTON.
 44. 
LETTER XLIV. COUSIN NABBY DESCRIBES THE UNUTTERABLE DISAPPOINTMENT AT DOWNINGVILLE BECAUSE THE PRESIDENT DIDN'T COME, AND TELLS WHAT A TERRIBLE PUCKER ANT KEZIAH WAS IN ABOUT IT—GREAT UPROAR IN DOWNINGVILLE.
  
DOCKYMENT. NOMINATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
 45. 
LETTER XLV. MAJOR DOWNING TELLS ABOUT GOING TO CAMBRIDGE AND MAKING THE PRESIDENT A DOCTOR OF LAWS.
 46. 
LETTER XLVI. MAJOR DOWNING TELLS ABOUT THE QUARREL THAT HE AND MR. VAN BUREN HAD AT CONCORD AFTER THEY WENT UP CHAMBER TO BED; AND ALSO DECLARES HIS INTENTION TO RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
 47. 
LETTER XLVII. COUSIN EPHRAIM DESCRIBES THE METHOD OF PUTTING “DIMOKRATS” OVER ON TO THE FEDERAL SIDE, AND LAYS A PLAN TO GET THE DOWNINGVILLE POST-OFFICE.
 48. 
LETTER XLVIII. IN WHICH THE PRESIDENT BEGUN TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT ME AND DANIEL.
 49. 
LETTER XLIX. IN WHICH THE PRESIDENT FINISHED WHAT HE WAS GOING TO SAY ABOUT ME AND DANIEL.
 50. 
LETTER L. MAJOR DOWNING PREVENTS A ROBBERY IN THE SENATE CHAMBER.
  
THE GAP IN HISTORY.
  
DOCKYMENT.
 51. 
LETTER LI. PRESIDENT POLK ON HIS TOUR DOWN EAST—HIS INTERVIEW WITH MAJOR DOWNING.
  
DOCKYMENT.
 52. 
LETTER LII. PRESIDENT POLK AND MAJOR DOWNING IN THE STATE OF MAINE.
 53. 
LETTER LIII. MAJOR DOWNING, ON THE ROAD TO THE WAR, SITS DOWN BY THE ROADSIDE AND WRITES TO THE EDITORS OF THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER AN ACCOUNT OF HIS INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT POLK AND OLD MR. RITCHIE, EDITOR OF THE GOVERNMENT ORGAN.
  
DOCKYMENT.
 54. 
LETTER LIV.
 55. 
LETTER LV. MAJOR DOWNING'S FIRST DISPATCHES FROM THE CITY OF MEXICO.
 56. 
LETTER LVI. MAJOR DOWNING'S SECOND DISPATCHES FROM THE CITY OF MEXICO.
 57. 
LETTER LVII. MAJOR DOWNING'S THIRD DISPATCHES FROM THE CITY OF MEXICO.
 58. 
LETTER LVIII. MAJOR DOWNING'S FOURTH DISPATCH FROM THE CITY OF MEXICO.
 59. 
LETTER LIX. FIFTH DISPATCH OF MAJOR DOWNING FROM THE CITY OF MEXICO.
 60. 
LETTER LX. PRIVATE LETTER TO MAJOR JACK DOWNING.
 61. 
LETTER LXI.
 62. 
LETTER LXII. A VERY PRIVATE LETTER FROM MAJOR DOWNING TO PRESIDENT POLK.
 63. 
LETTER LXIII. MAJOR DOWNING ADVISES MR. RITCHIE TO KEEP COOL, AND NOT FIGHT SO HARD AGAINST THE WHIG ADMINISTRATION.
 64. 
LETTER LXIV. SHOWING THE FOLLY OF THE UNPROFITABLE QUARRELS OF UNCLE SAM'S SONS, AND THE EFFECT OF A HIGH FENCE ON MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.
 65. 
LETTER LXV. THE MAJOR'S PLAN FOR CONSOLIDATING TWENTY PARTIES INTO TWO.
 66. 
LETTER LXVI. THE MAJOR AND UNCLE JOSHUA AGREE ON A NEW POLITICAL PLATFORM.
 67. 
LETTER LXVII. MAJOR DOWNING'S LETTER OF FRIENDSHIP AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO GOVERNOR KOSSUTH, OF HUNGARY, SOON AFTER HIS ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK.
 68. 
LETTER LXVIII. PROCEEDINGS OF THE DOWNINGVILLE CONVENTION TO CHOOSE A DELEGATE TO BALTIMORE, AND DECIDE ON THE PRESIDENCY.
 69. 
LETTER LXIX. PROCEEDINGS AT THE ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN DOWNINGVILLE, TO CHOOSE A DELEGATE TO BALTIMORE, AND DECIDE ON THE PRESIDENCY.
 70. 
LETTER LXX. THE MAJOR GIVES UNCLE JOSHUA A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE SEVERE TUG THEY HAD AT BALTIMORE TO NOMINATE A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.
 71. 
LETTER LXXI. SHOWING HOW THE MAJOR PERSUADED UNCLE JOSHUA TO TAKE HOLD AND HELP ELECT GENERAL PIERCE TO THE PRESIDENCY, AND HOW DOWNINGVILLE RATIFIED THE NOMINATION.
 72. 
LETTER LXXII. SHOWING HOW UNCLE JOSHUA AND THE MAJOR STUCK TO GENERAL PIERCE, AND HOW SARGENT JOEL'S HURRAHS FOR GENERAL SCOTT CAME NEAR LOSING THE ELECTION.
 73. 
LETTER LXXIII.
 74. 
LETTER LXXIV PRIVATE LETTER TO GENERAL PIERCE.
 75. 
LETTER LXXV. PRIVATE DISPATCH, TO GO THROUGH THE ORGAN TO GENERAL PIERCE.
 76. 
LETTER LXXVI. PRIVATE DISPATCH TO GINERAL PIERCE, TO GO THROUGH ONE OF THE ORGANS—THE UNION OR THE SENTINEL, OR THE STAR, OR ONE OF THE OTHER ORGANS—IF THEY'VE GOT AGOING YET.
 77. 
LETTER LXXVII. THE OSTEND CONGRESS—THE THREE S'S, SOULE, SICKLES, AND SAUNDERS—PEABODY'S FOURTH OF JULY DINNER IN LONDON—DEMOCRACY IN ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND SPAIN.
 78. 
LETTER LXXVIII. PRIVATE DISPATCHES TO GINERAL PIERCE—NOT TO BE GIVE UP TO CONGRESS IF THEY CALL FOR IT.
 79. 
LETTER LXXIX.
 80. 
LETTER LXXX.
  
A POSTSCRIPT.

  
THE “GREAT REPUBLIC” MONTHLY.
  
Oaksmith & Co.'s Publications.
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8. LETTER VIII.
MRS. DOWNING URGES HER SON TO COME HOME.

Downingville, Feb. 6, 1830.

My Dear Son:—It's a good while since I write a letter, and I
almost forget how; but you stay down there to Portland so
long, I kind of want to say something to you. I have been
churning this morning, and my hand shakes so I can't hardly
hold my pen still. And then I am afraid the news I've got to
tell will be such a blow to you, it makes me feel sort of
narvous. Last Sunday the schoolmaster and Jemime Parsons
had their names stuck up together in the meeting-house
porch. Now I hope you won't take on, my dear Jack, for if I
was you, I should be glad to get rid of her so. I guess she's
rather slack, if the truth was known; for I went in there one
day, and she'd jest done washing the floor; and I declare, it
looked as gray as if she'd got the water out of a mud puddle.
And then she went to making pies without washing her
hands or shifting her apron. They made me stop to supper,
but I never touched Jemime's pies. There's Dolly Spaulding,
I'm sure she's likelier looking than Jemime Parsons, if 'twant
for that habit she's got of looking two ways at once. If she's
making a soup, one eye is always in the pot, if t'other does look
up the chimney. She's as good a cook as ever was born, and
neat as wax-work. Sally Kean was to our house spinning
linen t'other day, because I burnt my hand so bad trying out
lard I couldn't hold the thread, and she said Dolly had more

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sheets and pillow-cases than you could count for one while,
and she is always making blankets and coverlids. She has
sold footings enough to buy her half a dozen silver spoons
and a case of knives. When I was young such a gal would
had a husband long ago. The men didn't use to ask if a gal
looked one way, or two ways with her eyes, but whether she
was neat and smart; only if she had thin lips and peaked
nose, they were sometimes a little shy of her.

O, Jack, I'm afraid these Legislaters will be the ruination
of you! 'Twill make you jest like your Uncle Joshua. You
know he had rather stand and dispute about politiks any
time, than work on his farm, and talking will never build a
stone wall or pay our taxes.

I don't care so much about the shushon as your poor cousin
Nabby does about the cotton cloth. But your father has got
the rumatiz dreadfully this winter; and it's rather hard for
him to have to cut all the wood and make the fires this cold
weather. I can't see what good 'twill do for you to stay in
Portland any longer, and I think you had better come home
and see a little to the work on the farm.

Your loving mother,

MARY DOWNING.
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