The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-08-13
4 LIZ Of j ohn G. Calhoun.


One Of the latest additions to the series Of
biographies entitled American Statesmen"
Is A Life Of John c. Calhoun. by DIR. H. yoN
Hoist HOughton. Miniin l. Co... Tho author
has produced work (which lie likely to please
men Of all parties for while he is himself an
advocate OF national system as opposed to an
inordinate development Of State rights. he
fully recognizes the magnitude OF the part
played by Calhoun on the stage of American
politics. He admits! that as the years roll on
the fame OF Daniel Webster Is gradually
growing DINNER. whereas the namo OF CAL
houn Mas az yet lost but little of the lustre with
which it glowed toward the end Of the first half
OF this century. He finds the explanation OF
this fact in the circumstance that Calhoun was
in a far higher degree than any Of his con-
temporaries the representative OF an Idea.
This idea, moreover. was the pivotal point on
which the history Of the United States turned
from 1919 10 nearly the end of the first century
Of the republics existence. From about 1880
to the day Of his death in March. 1850. Calhoun
may DO called the very impersonation Of the
slavery question.
OF Calhoun the man. as distinguished from
the statesman. DIR. Won Hoist finds little to mar
rate. 1t appears that even his contemporaries
with the exception OF his nearest neighbors
did not know much OF his private or domestic
affairs. The newspapers Of the time and the
private letters Of his co-actors on the public
stage recount hardly anything OF the personal
relations and home life OF the man whose light
est public utterance was at one time listened to
with eagerness by whole nation. We hear
that he was a just and kind master to his
slaves, that he was possessed OF an uncommon
talent for conversation. and that he exercised
an especial fascination upon young men.
Tzl.& Toll C,lh lar t,,t ho
beyville district. South Carolina. March IS.
1882. His father Patrick Calhoun. who died
while John was still boy seems to have been
a small farmer. and his mother was the daugh-
ter Of O Presbyterian emigrant from Ireland.
Neither on his fathers nor on his mothers
side did he represent the class OF great planters
OF whose interests he was to be the chief advo-
cate. He would have been obliged to content
himself with n common school education. but
for his brother-in-law. DIR. Waddell. through
whose assistance he was prepared for college.
! and enabled toen Yale. where he was gradual
ed at the age Of "a. After graduation he devoted
| some three years to the study of law. half OF
| which time was spent at the law school in
| Litchfeld Connecticut Tho biographer is,
| doubtless. right in ascribing to his pro-
longed sojourn in New England a marked
influence on the formation of those nationalist
opinions which he held in the beginning Of his
| political career. and which differed SO widely
| from the theories no afterward embraced. Hav-
| ing returned to Abbeyvllle. he began to prac-
| tise law. and was presently sent by his district
to the State Legislature. 1t would seem that
| he promptly designated on,this small stage his
| fitness for larger one. for In 1911, being then
| 20 years old. he was elected u member Of Con-
gress In the same year he married his cousin.
Florida Calhoun, who was possessed of mod