ay without fear and trembling. Men spoke in whispers,
and walked doubtfully as if the earth might quake beneath their feet.
The result was a change in the party relations of those who lived in
towns without a parallel in our history. And it was soon seen that a new
party was forming in comparison of which the _tertium quid_ party of
Jefferson's administration was a mere bubble floating on the surface of
the stream. In that tempest was rocked the cradle of that large and
intellectual party, which assumed the appellation of Whig, which won
some splendid victories, which encountered some decisive defeats, which
then slept awhile, and which has recently burnished its armor anew for a
fresh campaign.

Richmond set the example among us of holding meetings of the people,
with a view of urging the restoration of the deposits to the Bank.
Watkins Leigh and Chapman Johnson made on that occasion an appeal to the
people of Virginia in favor of a restoration, which was heard from so
respectable a source with the attention it deserved. The Assembly then
in session, which, when elected, had been favorable to the
administration of Jackson, faltered in their faith, instructed the
senators in Congress to vote for a restoration of the deposits, and on
the resignation of Mr. Rives, who upheld the policy of the
administration, elected Mr. Leigh in his stead. Even the _Richmond
Enquirer_, its polar star momentarily obscured, was tossing helplessly
on that tempestuous sea.

In this state of things, some of the citizens of Norfolk, of both
parties, as those parties had previously stood, highly distinguished by
social position, by talents, by wealth, and by their intimate connection
with our banking institutions, called on Mr. Tazewell, and requested him
to take the chair at a public meeting to be held on the 8th of January,
1834. He consented to do so, and on taking the chair delivered one of
the most graceful, most nervous, and most eloquent speeches that ever
fell from his lips. In language not to be misunderstood, he denounced
the act of removing the deposits from the Bank of the United States,
advised their immediate restoration, and condemned the whole series of
the measures of the President of the United States in relation thereto.
A gentleman happening to be present who had heard Canning, Brougham, and
Sir Robert Peel from the hustings and in the House of Commons, declared
that the speech of Mr. Tazewell fully equalled their grandest e