on of his
father, insisting that if the earlier one deserved the retribution of
a Republican victory, the latter one deserved a similar fate.

Van Buren's language had the courteous dignity that uniformly
characterised his speeches. He charged no personal wrong-doing; he
insinuated no base motives; he rejected the unfounded story of the
sale of the Presidency to Adams; he voted for Clay's confirmation as
secretary of state, and, as a member of the senatorial committee, he
welcomed the new President upon his inauguration; but from the moment
John Quincy Adams became President, the Senator from New York led the
opposition to his administration with the astuteness of a great
parliamentary leader, determined to create a new party in American
politics. Van Buren also had some strong allies. With him, voted
Findlay of Pennsylvania, Holmes of Maine, Woodbury of New Hampshire,
Dickerson of New Jersey, and Kane of Illinois, besides twelve Southern
senators. But, from the outset, he was the leader. His speeches,
smooth and seldom impassioned, were addressed to the intellect rather
than to the feelings. He was the master of the art of making a
perfectly clear statement of the most complicated case, and of
defending his measures, point by point, with never-failing readiness
and skill throughout the most perplexing series of debates. He talked
to make converts, appealing to his colleagues with a directness well
calculated to bring to his side a majority of the waverers.

Van Buren's opposition to the Adams administration has been called
factious and unpatriotic. It was certainly active and continuous, and,
perhaps, now and then, somewhat more unscrupulous than senatorial
opposition is in our own time; but his policy was, unquestionably, the
policy of more modern political parties. His tactics created an
organisation which, inside and outside of the Senate, was to work
unceasingly, with tongue and pen, to discredit everything done by the
men in office and to turn public opinion against them. It was a part
of his plan not only to watch with jealous care all the acts of the
Administration, but to make the most of every opportunity that could
be used to turn them out of office; and when the Senate debate ended,
the modern Democratic party had been formed. Adams recorded in his now
famous diary that Van Buren made "a great effort to combine the
discordant elements of the Crawford and Jackson and Calhoun men into a
united opposition aga