Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-02-08
RURBORROW Lutte Editors and ProprletOrs.

In the time of his celebrity he preferred the
Episcopal, as the most genteel religion.
His political preiulices were equally strong.
He was of slow growth His powers did
not reach their full development till he was
nearly fifty years of age. He had no pTac-
teal wisdom.
From the year 1882 to the end Of his life
he was suffering the process Of moral and
mental deterioration His material part
gained upon his spiritual He had an euor-
nous capacity for physical enjoyment, and
became a great hunter. fisherman, and far
mer, a lover of good wine, and good dinners
and q most jovial companion. But his
mind was fed chiefly upon past acquisitions,
There is nothing IN his later efforts which
shows any intellectual advance. He never
browsed in forests before untrodden, or fed
IN pastures new. For the last ten years Of
his life, though he spent many q thousand
dollars on his library, he had almost ceased
to be an intellectual being. His pecuniary
habits demoralzed him. He was not one
Of those who find in the happiness and pros
perity Of their country, aud in the esteem
of their fellow citizens their own sufficient
and abundant reward for serving her. He
pined for something lower, smalIer-some-
thing personal and vulgar.
He had no religion-not the least tincture
of it; and he seemed at last, in his dealings
with individuals, to have no conscience.
What he called bis religion had no effect
whatever upon the conduct OF his ilies It
made him 20 to church, talk piously puff
the clergy, and pauonize Providence, no
more. He was one Of those who who fell
before the seductions OF his place. He
would accept retaining ices, aud never look
nj 4ha. bFrre4lae sf fsFt.a
panied them, in which were inclosed the
hopes and the fortune OF anxious households
he would receive gifts of money, and toss
into his waste paper basket the list of the
giyers, without having glanced at its con-
tents; thus defrauding them of the only
recompense In his power to grant and the
only one they wished. Mr.. Parton gives
an admirable description of the clement Of
the past which formed such an extraordinary
feature in Daniel Websters composition.
In surveying the life aud works of this
eminent and gifted man we are continually
struck with the evidences of his magnitude.
He was as we have said a very large person.
His brain was within little Of being one
third larger than the average, and it was
one of the largest three on record His
bodily frame, In all its parts, was on ma
jestic scale, and his presence was immense.
He liked large thiugs-mountaiu elms,
great oaks, mighty bulls and oxen, wide
fields, the ocean, the Union, and all things
of magnitude. He liked great Rome far
better than refined Greece, and regeled in
the immense things Of literature such as
Paradise Lost and the Book of job, Burke,
DR.. johnson, and the Sixth Book of Hneid.
Homer he never cared much for-nor, in
deed, anything Greek. lie hated, he
fld "a aaF Mt sF1tg l-tf1 rfHff.
pins, chess, draughts, whist, he never relish
ed, though fond to excess Of out door plea
sures, ike hunting, fishing, yachting. He
liked to be alone with great Nature--alone
in the giant woods or on the shores of the
resounding sea-aloue all day with his gun,
his dog and his thoughts-alone in tho
morning before any one was astiT but him
self, looking out upon the sea and the glori-
Gus sunrise What a delicious picture Of
this large, healthy Son Of Earth Mr.. Ian
man gives US, where he describes his coming
into his bedroom at sunrise, and startling
him out of a deep sleep by sh0utin G,
Awake, sluggardi and look upon this glo-
rious scene, for the sky and the ocean are
enTelopcd in hames He was akin to all
large, slow things IN nature. A herd of fine
cattle gave him keen and inexhaustible
enjoyment; but he never tasted a horse;
he had no horse enthusiasm. In England
he chiefly enjoyed these frr things, the
Tower Of London, Westmln ster a 5ey,
Smithfeld Cattle Market, English farming,
and Sir Robert Peel. Sir Robert Peel he
thought was head and shoulder above any
other man he had ever met. He greatly
excelled, too, III describing immense things.
In speaking Of the Pyramids, once, he asked,
"Who can inform Us by what now unknown
machines was mass thus aggregated to mass,
and quarry piled on quarry, till solid granite
seemed to cover the earth and reach to the
skies His peculiar love of the Union of
these States was partly due, perhaps 10 this
habit of his mind or dwelling with compla-
cency on vastuess. He felt that he wanted
and required a continent to live in; his mind
would have gasped for breath in New Hamp-
shire.
In the same article, Parton thus alludes
to
CLAY AND CALHOUN.
Henry clay improved as be grew old.
He was venerable, serene, and yirtuous
old man. The impctuoslty, restlessness,
ambition and love Of display, and the detri-
mental habits of his earlier years, gave place
to tranquility, moderation, and patriotism
without the alloy Of personal objects. Dis
appointment had chastened, not soured
him. Public life enlarged, not narrowed
him The city Of Washington purified, not
corrupted him. lie came there a gambler,
a drinker, aproiuse consumer of tobacco,
and turner of night into day He over
came the worst of these habits very early in
his residence at the capital. He came to
Washington to exhibit his talents, he re-
mained there to serve his country: nor Of
his country did he ever think the less, or
serve her the less zcalously, because she
denied him the honor he coveted for thirty
years. We cannot say this of Calhoun.
He degenerated frighduly during the last
twenty years Of his life. His energy degen-
Grated into intensity, and his patriotism
narrowed into sectionaGsm. He became
untcachable, incapable Of considering an
opinion opposite to his own, or even fact
that did not favor it. Exempt by his bodily
constitution from all temptation to physical
excesses, his body was worn out by the in
tense, unhealthy working OF his mind,
False opinions falsely held and iutlleranlly
maintained were the detauchery that shar-
pened the lines Of bis face, and converted
his voice into bark Pence, health, and
growth early became impossible to him, for
there was q canker IN the heart Of the man
His once not dishonoyah!e desire of the
Presidency became at last an iuiuriate lust
after it, which his natural sincerity compel
led him to reveal even while wrathfally de-
nying it. He considered that ! had been
defrauded Of the prize, andfshc had some
reason for thinking 50. Some men avenge
fhair vVrGups bv tho nistol othnrs hy ipuac.