A Discourse on the Life, Character and Writings of Gulian Crommelin Verplanck | Page 9

which was so often quoted
against him. I was in Washington, dining with Mr. Verplanck, when the
vote on this nomination was taken. As we were at the table, two of the
Senators, Dickinson, of New Jersey, and Tazewell, of Virginia, entered.
Verplanck, turning to them, asked eagerly: "How has it gone?"
Dickinson, extending his left arm, with the fingers closed, swept the
other hand over it, striking the fingers open, to signify that the
nomination was rejected. "There," said Verplanck, "that makes Van

Buren President of the United States." Verplanck was by no means a
partizan of Van Buren, but he saw what the effect of that vote would be,
and his prediction was, in due time, verified.
While in Congress, Mr. Verplanck procured the enactment of a law for
the further security of literary property. To use his own words, it "gave
additional security to the property of authors and artists in their works,
and more than doubled the term of legal protection to them, besides
simplifying the law in various respects." It was passed in 1831, though
Mr. Verplanck had begun to urge the measure three years before, when
he brought in a bill for the purpose, but party strife was then at its
height, and little else than the approaching elections were thought of by
the members of Congress. When party heat had cooled a little, he
gained their attention, and his bill became a law. If we had now in
Congress a member so much interested for the rights of authors and
artists, and at the same time so learned, so honored, and so persevering,
we might hope that the inhospitable usage which makes the property of
the American author in Great Britain and of the British author in the
United States the lawful prize of whosoever chooses to appropriate it to
himself, would be abolished.
A dinner was given to Verplanck on his return from Washington, in the
name of several literary gentlemen of New York, but the expense was,
in fact, defrayed by a generous and liberal-minded bookseller, Elam
Bliss, who held authors in high veneration and only needed a more
discriminating perception of literary merit to make him, in their eyes at
least, a perfect bookseller. On this occasion Mr. Verplanck spoke well
and modestly of the part he had taken in procuring the passage of the
new law; mentioned with especial honor the "first and ablest
champion" who had then "appeared in this cause," the Hon. Willard
Phillips, who had discussed the question in the "North American
Review;" referred to the opinions of various eminent publicists, and
pointed out that our own Constitution had recognized the right of
literary property while it left to Congress the duty of securing it. He
closed with an animated view of what American literature ought to be
and might be under circumstances favorable to its wholesome and
vigorous growth. We listened with delight and were proud of our

Representative.
During Mr. Verplanck's fourth and last term in Congress he became
separated from his associates of the Democratic party by a difference in
regard to the Bank of the United States. General Jackson had laid rough
hands on this institution and removed to the State banks the public
money which had till then been entrusted to its keeping. Many of our
best men had then a high opinion of the utility of the bank, and thought
much better of its management than, as afterwards appeared, it
deserved. The Whig party declared itself in favor of the bank. Mr.
Calhoun and the Southern politicians of his immediate school joined
them on this question, and Mr. Verplanck, who regarded the bank with
a friendly eye, found himself on the same side, which proved to be the
minority. The time arrived for another election of members of Congress
from this City. The Democratic party desired to re-elect Mr. Verplanck,
if some assurance could be obtained from him that he would not oppose
the policy of the Administration in regard to the bank. That party
understood very well his merits and his usefulness, and made a strong
effort to retain him, but he would give no assurance, even to pursue a
neutral course, on the bank question, and accordingly his name was
reluctantly dropped from their list of nominations. A long separation
ensued between him and those who up to that time had been his
political associates.
In 1834, the Whig party, looking for a strong candidate for the
Mayoralty of the City, offered the nomination to Verplanck, who
accepted it. On the other side, the Democrats brought forward
Cornelius W. Lawrence, a man of popular manners and unquestioned
integrity. Those were happy days when, in voting for a Mayor, the
citizen could be certain that he would not vote amiss, and