The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1869-10-20


sketch:
81 was fortunate enough once to
catch a glimpes of the invisible Amos
Kendall, one of the most remarka-
BILE men in America. He is supposed
to be the moving spring of the whole
Administration the thinker, planner
and doer /; but it is all in the dark.
! Documents are issued, of an excel
lence which prevents their being at
tributed to persons who take the re-
sponsibility of them correspond
ence is kept up all over the country
for which no one SCENE to be answer
able work is done, of goblin extent
and goblin speed, which makes men
look about them with superstitious
wonder; and the invisible Amos Ken
dali has the credit of it all Presi-
dent Jackson's letters to his Cabinet
are said TO be KeudalPs; the report
on Sunday mails is attributed to Ken
dali the letters sent from Washing
ton to appear in remote country news
papers, whence hey are collected and
published in the Globe as demonstra-
tions of public opinion. are pronoun-
ced to be written by Kendall. Eve
ry mysterious paragraph in opposition
newspapers relates to Kendall and
it is some relief to the timid that his
having now the office of Postmaster
General affords opportunity for open
attacks pponsethis twilight parsonage,
who is proved, by the faults in the
Past Office administration, not to be
able to do quite every thing well.
But he is undoubtably a great genius.
He unites with his great talent for
silence Il splendid audacity
''It is clear that he could not do
the work he does Incredible enough
in amount, any way) if he went into
society like other men. He did,
however, one evening 1 think it
was at the Attorney Generals. The
moment L went in intimations reach
ed me from all quarters, amid mods
and winks, Kendall is here that is
J he:' L saw at once that his plea for
secIusion (bad health) is no false one.
The extreme sallowness of his com
plexion, and hair of such perfect
bhiteness as is rarely seen in man
Eof middle age, testified to disease
His countenance does not help the
superstitions to throw off their dread
of him. lie probably does not desire
this superstition to melt away, toI
there is no calculating how much IN
fuence was given to Jackson's Ad.
ministration by the universal belize
that there was concealed eye and
hand behind the machinery of gov
ernment by which every thing could
not be foreseen, and the hardest deed:
DONE, a member of Congress to {
me this night that he had watched
through four sessions for sight OF
Kendall, and had nevers obtained il
till now. Kendall was leaning on g
chair with head beat down and eye
glancing up at a member Of Congress
with whom he was in earnest conver-
sation, and in few minutes he was
gone"
Making all allowances for exag.
geration, and discarding the nonsense
about supernaturalism, we have here
certainly very impressive picture oil
the effect produced on his cotempora
i ries By Amos kendallin the prime OF
his power, l can recall nothing like
it in our history, except perhaps in
the case of Aaron Burr, who had the
same energy and capacity of labor,
and for time exercised, or at least
received credit of, a similar mysteri-
Gus and weird influence. Miss Mar
tiheau wrote chiefly under Wing, in
spiration, but the Wings of that day
were represented at Washington by
men like Clay and Webster, and D as
suredly there must have been some
thing of weight and power in Amos
| Kendall to have made such an i'm
preston on antagonists of their cali
Der. Miss Martinean's supernatural
illusions We're evidently the result Of
a misunderstanding, very common
among foreigners thirty or forty years
ago, of that peculiarly American
species of humor, the essence of which
consists in gravely pretending to be-
lieve the incredible. She really seems
| to have taken for earnest the solemn
jokes of the, Wings about Kendall's
goblin energies, and to have .fancied
she saw the effect of such o supersti-
tion on a people who are the least su-
perstitious in their politics Of any that
| live or have ever lived. ~ 'g... I'D.
But the most singular fact of Mr..
| kendall's life is to me, not his tempo.
rary celebrity, but the subsequent OBJ
security to which | have already allu-
ded. 1t is not easy to conceive how
n, A, 90
dreaded, should have become at once
of so little consequence and so nearly
forgotten, especially when we reflect
that his reputation was won by his
own natural powers of MUD, and not
merely by court or party favor. And
vet after 1910, Amos Kendall ceased
to be of any account whatever in a
nation which, five years before. had
rung with his name. The American
regulations of thirty or forty years ago
however, in politics as in literature,
were most of them grossly exaggera
ted and rapidly fading out. l know
too little personally, of Mf. Kendall
to Judge whether or not his latter OBJ
scurity is owing wholly to this cause.
He has given us no tangible test of
his powers that 1 am aware of, except
a Life of Jackson, and that, I 6elieve, is
unfinished At all events it seems to
have made no impression on the pub
lie. His death, however; which can
not be delayed yer} long, will proba-
bly, call out "reminiscences of the man
from some Of the many competent
Judges who must have been intimate
with him during his forty years resi-