fight;
Webster, too, lost interest and advised the directors of the Bank that
the cause was lost. Calhoun, who had supported Clay and Webster to
humiliate Jackson, could not retreat; he was again isolated, and he felt
his position bitterly. McDuffie resigned his seat and his chairmanship
in the House in utter disgust. To all but the president of the United
States Bank the case seemed hopeless when Congress adjourned in early
summer without passing any act bearing on the situation. Biddle's remark
in a letter to a friend in Baltimore, "If the Bank charter were renewed
or prolonged, I believe the pecuniary difficulties of the country would
be immediately healed," shows his attitude; and by this time the people
seem to have come to the conclusion that it was not a war of Jackson
upon the Bank so much as a war of the Bank upon the country to compel
the reissue of a charter which was about to expire. Petitions now poured
into Biddle's office and delegations from Middle States cities urged a
change of the Bank's policy; even Albert Gallatin, long a defender and
ardent friend, deserted Biddle. And at last, after the nation's currency
of some hundred millions had been reduced by one third, and when money
rates in New York were running as high as twenty-four per cent, the
order went out to the branch banks to suspend the stringent punitive
measures in order that "We may save our beloved country from the curse
of Van Burenism," as one of the directors described it.

The decline of the power of the Bank was now rapid. In the state and
congressional elections of 1834 the President of the United States was
everywhere sustained, even the Whigs quietly taking the same ground. The
friendship of the Bank was now enough to damn any party; Biddle realized
the danger of his situation, and on election day sent his family out of
town and barricaded his house and office. The legislatures of
Pennsylvania and New York, where his flag had flown triumphantly for
years, denounced him and planned to issue bonds for the relief of the
people. The autumn saw a complete reversal of policy on the part of the
Bank, and business at once resumed its normal course. Money became
easy, prices rose to the former level, and the wheels of industry began
to turn. Nothing seemed more conclusively shown than that most of the
trouble had been due to the demand on the part of a few men for a
continuation of financial privileges.

Jackson's first great victory was w