The age-herald., 1897-09-12

ton we see prevalent with Clay Ills idea was to hold together. The con- tending forces, however, became too mighty for the control of statesman ship and could only be cemented in bat tie. Webster represented Massachusetts and the north, and Calhoun Carolina. and the South. These three men stand out with such distinctness that from them either way all reekonings seem to be made. This era of brillianey Mr. Hoar saw pass away, and was a par ticipant in that which followed as he is in that of the present. No man, there- fore, could well be better qualified to speak of American statesmanship than he.
 Times have indeed changed since the triumvirate was supreme. Debates then in the senate were known beforehand. They were made common social topics. The Hobbies, floor and galleries were crowded with people to hear the ora tions. To borrow the words of Othello, Tit is not so now" Clay and Calhoun were there, the embodiments of the prin- ciples of union and disunion; the lordly Webster, too, contending with Clay for the conservative leadership Lewis Cass famous at home, but less widely known than his greater contemporaries, and Benton. the father of the senate, whom MT. Hoar says would now be a bore. The triumvirate he holds in higher es- teem, but admits that the day of their doing is gone.
 It Is doubtful if either Webster or Clay were more commanding than Calhoun. He was something of a phenomenon, both physically and psychologically, and exercised an influence on the south that made necessary an appeal to arms He is described as a tall,- thin man with sunken cheeks and rigid lips, his 1org grizled hair tossed back in confuson. His body was attenuated, his eye bril- liant, and his nervous energy immense. It is likely that such a figure would rise amid breathless silence. A pecularity was to never lift his eye from a spot on the floor. Calhoun was within two years followed to his grave by Clay, and did not long survive. The vital idea of Clay's political creed was the nation- ality of his country. His reputation was greater than that of any other living American except Webster. Clay, too, NdS tdll anu ltdIl, WllIl d lilllu eye, biS mouth, a noble forehead and homely face, The story of his Vaccinations is a familiar one.
 In everything Webster was the oppo- site of Clay and Calhoun. His dark features, colossal as they were, were chiseled with all the delicacy of Grecian art. His brow almost entombed his eyes. In all the gallery of genius there Is probably not head or face that beats Websters. He looked all that he was, If not more. And 1t is doubtful If the political literature of n nation ever re- ceived more substantial contribution than that of this country did in Web- ster's printed speeches. He died forty five years ago. Sumner took his seat, and shone majestic in the declining light of the great day that was passing. He crystalized the sentiment that abolished slavery, and with emancipation his ca reer practically ended. Then came Blaine, Edmunds and Conkling all in congress when Sumner died, as typical leaders of advanced thought, but under no such conditions as favored the great triumvirate or even Sumner. We were then drifting into the matter-of-fact de- tail of today, which, MT. Hoar assumes, has made leadership in congress impos- sible. J. c. T.