charges against him of base corruption. His administration, although pure, did not give general satisfaction. He was a candidate for the succeeding term, and was de- feated by a large majority ; and he retired to private life, one of the most unpopular of all the prominent poHticians of the country.
In 1831, to the surprise of all, and to the mortification of many of his friends, he accepted a seat in the House of Representatives. He came there avowedly, to use his own words, " bound in allegiance to no party, whether sectional or pohtical." He was thus deprived of that countenance and support which parties give both to their leaders and their tools. He was, it is true, confessedly a Whig ; but so independent was his course, that he w^as continually ridiculed as "running off the track," and re- garded as a man not to be depended on. He exerted but little influence in the House, and attracted but little attention till about the year 1836. At this time the agitation of the anti-slavery question roused the holders of slaves to great exasperation, and alarmed the 4,wo political parties at the North, lest their supposed sympathy with the cause of human freedom might weaken the friendship of their southern allies, and deprive them of their cooperation in the pursuit of office.
Hence Whigs and Democrats contended which should show the most devotion to slavery, the most zeal iu sup- pressing the liberty of the press, and the freedom of dis- cussion. Both whig and democratic Governors assailed the Abolitionists in their official Messages, threatening them with the penalties of the law. Mobs were raised in the large cities, by the efforts of rival newspapers and pohticians. Printing presses were destroyed, individuals assaulted, churches sacked, and the freedom of the Post- Office shamefully invadtsd with the connivance of a demo- cratic President and cabinet, postmasters being permitted to abstract from the mails whatever they deemed offensive to the slaveholders. But vain would it be to suppress anti-slavery tracts and newspapers, if a few in- dependent members were permitted to make anti-slavery speeches on the