The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-13
Letters to The Editor.
lrr. Eaton and the Presidency.

~~NN, given to the keeping of history at an early day. Motley, the American, wrote the History of the Dutch Republic, until then neglected. Niehbuhr, the Dane, and Arnold, the Englis hman, wrote the first
 history of the Roman Republic nearly two thousand years after that model of constitutional systems, of the ages had perished.
 Possibly some Englis hman. bred to the prime. pies of constitutional government, may. in course of time, write the his- tory of the Confederate State of Amer ica. Meantime, the Daughters of the Confederacy. the State Depa tments of History. will continue to supply data to the files of the great newspapers.
 The possibility that this data may un- fold to some honest author the truth that has been lived up to. in the South, must satisfy those of today who hunger for the most tragic and most exalted page of modern history. the history of ourselves.
 The readers of The Advertiser arc in- debted to the Honorable Willis Brewer for repeated reminders of the work of John c. Calhoun. The science of free government may be studied with cease- less profit in the life of this statesman. The English historian, Percy Grey, places him highest in the first rank of the intel lectual men of America. Nevertheless, MT. Brewer remarks with peculiar com placency, that "the Britannica gives Mon taigne (of four centuries ago) ten times the space 1t gives Calhoun" Let us all meet our tasks to correct the insult The Britannica. like Parson Talmadge's ser- mon, is made for the market, in this age Of commerce. The market naturally fa- vors the empire.
 The career of Calhoun is distinguished hv fwn Ituti 70 public service. and in both by the unim- peached and unimpeachable private life Of the man. I am not writing a biogra- phy, nor history, but brief mention only or an historic episode in the life of the
 Government of the United States, in which MT. Eaton enters, and in order to show the supreme importance of the man In the case, I must be allowed to intro- duce him as he was however inadequate the introduction.
 hardly think Mir. Brewers citation of Benton as authority can be entirely seri- ous in the premises. Benton had been for thirty years the man among men in Mis- souri. As long as his hostility to Calhoun was overshadowed by his consuming love Of General Jackson, Missouri took small note Of the significance of that enm ty But Jackson dead. Benton's assaults upon the teaching of Calhoun stood forth upon their merits and the noble Senator went down in the awakening of his great State to his apostacy. Benton wrote the testimony. given by MT Brewer, in his fallen condition with a grievance to air, and he can appear only as a witness with an interest in this case at the bar of his- tory.
 have directed attention to the double capacity in which Calhouns public ser- vices appear. The first in order was legislative. As early as 1S1O, then a young lawyer. devoted to his practice for a livelihood, in South Carolina country village, he saw that Great Britain was closing the Atlantic to American com merce; on the Eastern States as effec- tuaiiy as Spain and France. ten years before, had closed the Mississippi to the commerce of the settlers west of the AL leghanies. He had visited MT. Jefferson at Monticello. and the setting and the rising sun of American democratic prin- ciples had mingled their great thoughts Tor many hours. face to face Jeffe son had freed the Mississippi and now Cal noun came forward to looeen the proud grasp of the mistress of the Atlantic that the young Republic of the wilds might assert her rights fin common upon the main ~.
 Calhoun asked the people of his district to send him to Congress to make war on Great Britain; General Franklin E'more Revolutionary soldier, warned the peo- pie that Calhoun was dangerous, and El- more declared his own candidacy to de- feat the young man. Calhoun defeated Fillmore. by g~eat maj rit'', a'sd, enter- Ing Congress In his twenty ninth year, became the leader of the war party. He never lost his power in South Carolina. measure or power no man ever before or since possessed over the minds and hearts of free and enlightened people
 When Calhoun entered Congress, James Monroe was already Secretary of State, ana when. some years later. he became President. he recurred to the singular ab lltv of the Carolinian in suggesting him in time of war, measures and poli- cies TOT the occasion The result was Preffd mt Monroe call Calhoun into his Cabinet as Secretary of War
 The administration of the war office ny Calhoun was fixed by him upon cer- tam original principles, his own concep- tlons, which now survive to the great honor Of this country. One of these Is now developed in the Weather Bureau so universally applauded. The beginning or government sani ,ary control was with MT. Monroe's Secretary of War. Haviny established as his own the bureau svss tenn in his department, he ordered that the army surgeons at all the posts many of them in the woods of the West, should be supplied with barometers, hygrome- ters. thermometers and all known instru- ments and appliances for observing the weather, the winds and climate and inc effects upon disease. All post renorts were sent to the Surgeon General at Washington He gave new meaning to the government military school at West Point in its increased efficiency: he or dered that corn meal should constitute A part Of the ration of the soldier who had to do his own cooking; he reduced the cost Of each soldier to the government rom S4ol per year to $2S1 and llnuer A more liberal enjoyment of the soldiers comforts.
 Upon the death of Secretary of State Upton, by the "Princeton'' explo sion President Tyler called Mir. Calhoun from retirement tc fill the vacant place. In later wears Calhoun said that although his whole private fortune consisted in agriculture he had never seen tho same crop on his land planted and harvested. until he retired from public life for two years. in lS42. He was never at home in all the years from 1911 to 1850, eXcept in those tYo years. for twelve months in succession.
 Texas was annexed by the diplomacy of Secretary of State CalhouJ. Here is one feature of that diplomacy England had prevailed with France to consider their joint occupancy of the feeble Republic of Texas. ti.e object being to create a base for common operations against the institution o: slavery in the South in with Garrison's movements from the North.
 William R. King of Alabama, was min istor to France. Secretary of State Cal to be read by him to King Louis Philippe and this letter set forth the real status of negro slavery in the South. It was prepared with great elaboration. (See