But now, Sir, I must advert to a declaration of the honorable member, which, I confess, did surprise me.  The honorable member says, that, personally, he and myself have been on friendly terms, but that we always differed on great constitutional questions.  Sir, this is astounding.  And yet I was partly prepared for it; for I sat here the other day, and held my breath, while the honorable gentleman declared, and repeated, that he had always belonged to the State-rights party.  And he means, by what he has declared to-day, that he has always given to the Constitution a construction more limited, better guarded, less favorable to the extension of the powers of this government, than that which I have given to it.  He has always interpreted it according to the strict doctrines of the school of State rights!  Sir, if the honorable member ever belonged, until very lately, to the State-rights party, the connection was very much like a secret marriage.  And never was secret better kept.  Not only were the espousals not acknowledged, but all suspicion was avoided.  There was no known familiarity, or even kindness, between them.  On the contrary, they acted like parties who were not at all fond of each other’s company.

Sir, is there a man in my hearing, among all the gentlemen now surrounding us, many of whom, of both houses, have been here many years, and know the gentleman and myself perfectly,—­is there one who ever heard, supposed, or dreamed that the honorable member belonged to the State-rights party before the year 1825?  Can any such connection be proved upon him, can he prove it upon himself, before that time?

Sir, I will show you, before I resume my seat, that it was not until after the gentleman took his seat in the chair which you now occupy, that any public manifestation, or intimation, was ever given by him of his having embraced the peculiar doctrines of the State-rights party.  The truth is, Sir, the honorable gentleman had acted a very important and useful part during the war.  But the war terminated.  Toward the end of the session of 1814-15, we received the news of peace.  This closed the Thirteenth Congress.  In the fall of 1815, the Fourteenth Congress assembled.  It was full of ability, and the honorable gentleman stood high among its distinguished members.  He remained in the House, Sir, through the whole of that Congress; and now, Sir, it is easy to show that, during those two years, the honorable gentleman took a decided lead in all those great measures which he has since so often denounced as unconstitutional and oppressive, the bank, the tariff, and internal improvements.  The war being terminated, the gentleman’s mind turned itself toward internal administration and improvement.  He surveyed the whole country, contemplated its resources, saw what it was capable of becoming, and held a political faith not so narrow and contracted as to restrain him from useful and efficient action.  He was, therefore, at once a full length ahead of all others in measures which were national, and which required a broad and liberal construction of the Constitution.  This is historic truth.  Of his agency in the bank, and other measures connected with the currency, I have already spoken, and I do not understand him to deny any thing I have said, in that particular.  Indeed, I have said nothing capable of denial.