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.
Washington City, April 20, 1833.
To the Editor of the Portland Courier, in the Mariners' Church
Building, second story, eastern end, Fore street, away Down
East, in the State of Maine.
My Dear Old Friend:—Bein' I haint writ to you for some
time, I am afraid you and our folks up in Downingville will
begin to feel a little uneasy by and by, so I'll jest write you a
little, if it aint but two lines, to let you know how we get on
here. I and the President seem to enjoy ourselves pretty
well together, though it's getting to be a little lonesome since
the Congress folks went off, and Sargent Joel cleared out
with my Downingville company. Poor souls, I wonder if
they have got home yet. I haven't heard a word from 'em
since they left here. I wish you would send up word to Sargent
Joel to write to me and let me know how they got along.
He can send his letter in your Currier, or get Uncle Joshua
to frank it—either way it won't cost me anything. Now I
think of it, I wish you would jest ask Cousin Nabby to ask
Uncle Joshua to frank me on two or three pair of stockings,
for mine have got terribly out at the heels. He can do it jest
as well as not; they make nothing here of franking a bushel
basket full of great books to the Western States. And they
say some of the members of Congress frank their clothes home
by mail to be washed.
I and the President are getting ready to come on that way
this summer. We shall come as far as Portland, and I expect
we shall go up to Downingville, for the President says he
must shake hands with Uncle Joshua before he comes back—
that faithful old Republikan, who has stood by him through
thick and thin, ever since he found he was going to be
elected President. He will either go up to Downingville, or
send for Uncle Joshua to meet him at Portland.
There is some trouble among us here a little, to know how
we shall get along among the Federalists when we come that
way. They say the Federalists in Massachusetts want to
keep the President all to themselves when he comes there.
But Mr. Van Buren says that'll never do; he must stick to the
Demokratic party; he may shake hands with a Federalist
once in a while if the Demokrats don't see him, but whenever
there's any Demokrats round he musn't look at a Federalist.
Mr. McLane and Mr. Livingston advise him t'other way. They
tell him he'd better treat the Federalists pretty civil, and
shake hands with Mr. Webster as quick as he would with Uncle
Joshua Downing. And when they give this advice Mr.
Lewis and Mr. Kendle hop right up as mad as March hairs,
and tell him if he shakes hands with a single Federalist
while he is gone, the Demokratic party will be ruined. And
then the President turns to me and asks me what he had better
do. And I tell him I guess he better go straight ahead,
and keep a stiff upper lip, and shake hands with whoever he
is a mind to.
Mr. Van Buren staid with us awhile at the President's, but
he's moved into a house now on Pennsylvany Avenue, He's
a fine, slick man, I can tell you, and the President says he's
the greatest man in America.
Your old friend,
MAJOR JACK DOWNING.
