al law, and political
economy; English grammar and composition, and, also, if required, the
French and Spanish languages by natives of those countries." This
elaborate scheme was never put into execution, as Mr. Bennett did not
receive a sufficient number of applications to warrant him in opening
the school. He next attempted a course of lectures on political economy
at the old Dutch Church in Ann Street, but this enterprise was also a
pecuniary failure. In 1825 he purchased the "New York Courier," a Sunday
paper, but did not succeed with it. He continued to write for the press,
principally for one or two papers, selling his articles where he could,
and in 1826 formed a regular connection with the "National Advocate," a
Democratic journal. To his duties in this position he applied himself
with an energy and industry never surpassed, and rarely equaled, in his
profession. He took an active part in politics, and wrote regularly and
constantly for his paper, acquiring considerable reputation by his
articles against the tariff and on banks and banking. He now embarked in
journalism as the business of his life, and with the determination to
succeed. In order to win success, he knew he must first learn to master
himself. He neither smoked, drank, nor gambled. He indulged in no
species of dissipation, but was temperate and prudent in all things. A
few years later he said of himself, "I eat and drink to live, not live
to eat and drink. Social glasses of wine are my aversion; public dinners
are my abomination; all species of gormandizing my utter scorn and
contempt. When I am hungry, I eat; when thirsty, drink. Wine or viands
taken for society, or to stimulate conversation, tend only to
dissipation, indolence, poverty, contempt, and death."

In 1827 the "National Advocate" changed hands, and, under its new
proprietors, supported John Quincy Adams for President. Mr. Bennett,
being a supporter of Martin Van Buren, then a United States Senator,
resigned his position on the paper, and soon after, in connection with
the late M.M. Noah, established "The Enquirer," which warmly espoused
the cause of Andrew Jackson in the Presidential canvass of 1828. About
this time he became a recognized member of the Tammany Society.

In the spring of 1828 he went to Washington, where he resided for some
time as the correspondent of "The Enquirer." In looking through the
library of Congress one day, he found an edition of Horace Walpole's
letters, w