The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-02
JOHN C. CALHOUNS CHARACTER AS SHOWN
 BY PERUSAL OF HIS CORRESP ONDENCE
The EpeS ned by Him Do Not Show the Bancy Expected from One So Learned and Eloquent the Great South CaronaLeterS
 DiSSatiSfy by the Paucty of Information and Breadth

NdllOu. OuTlHB lIt ldoL t"Ohty SSoAS o@ his life he seems animated by that militant spirit of his youth. If he ever was young. when all the world was at war, and the beautiful Earth, like Ossian's Irish maid, seemed destined as the bride of the strong in arms" His very laurels are dust-stained. His was the genius of the camp. and for him the council-hall was an arena of combat. "Dost well to be angry?" was asked of the prophet and the answer was in the
 stern spirit of Calhoun: ''I do well to be angry even unto death."
 The presidency was the goal at which he aimed. He early indulged this ambi- ton. Nay, others shared it. 1t must seem, at the threshold of his career; for we have in this volume letter from Chancellor Bowie. dated "Taladega (sic) B April 1S4S" wherein he writes that he and the famous Grundy of Tennessee spent the night together "at old MT. Wardlaw's" in 1913, two years after Cal houn entered Congress; and that he. Bowie. predicted that both Clay and Calhoun would be presidents; whereupon Grundy replied T think you will find yourself mistaken; neither will ever be president; and I predict further, that after the last Revolutionary character. who is qualified for the station, shall have filled the office, a first rate statesman will never attain 1t; such a man will never sell himself to a party, and there fore can never be ted;"-certainly a very creditable prophecy for Senator GruEdy. Mfr. Calhoun could certainly hope for the place when he became War Minister, 1s17-1S25. at the age of $. and he was surely an aspirant in 1s4s, which was the last canvass he lived to see. or at least during it's preliminary move ments. He was possessed of this in- fatuation after every admirer has ceased to deem him a possibility. And in these letters he is often saying that he is stronger than he ever was. that his speech on this or that question was we'll receiv- cd on all sides, etc. Thus. in January. 1884, writing "as for myself, I never did. as far as l can judge, occupy more elevated stand in the confidence of the intelligent and the virtuous:'' and in March, 1s45, when MT. Polk failed to con tinue him as Minister of State, which he certainly expected, "As it is, I retire with the good will of all, including the administration. and the regret may say Of almost the whole country, with no small censure on the administration for not inviting me to continue. I may say | never stood higher or flrmer in the opinion of the country" And not seldom thus, with suavity born of pride and dignity, and akin to the dramatic On the other hand we shall point out further on how confident he ever was of the overthrow of his opponents. Thus, In one instance. President Jackson (Feb. iSO wrote him an open letter, strongly protesting against a speech of Mir, Cal houn in which he accused parties close 10, Jackson of speculating in public lands, and Calhoun writes. You will of course have seen his letter to me and the man. ner in which l met it.; my triumph was completel his friends in the Senate hung their heads in dunn (sic) silence:'- which, by the way. Is a kind of silence that kid' making his first pot hooks would get demerit for mentioning, and worse as to spelling than the Earth quake shock of Halleck and the daily newspapers. But. as to this vanity of Mr. Calhoun, we confess an admiration TOT 1t. since vain men are not apt to do pase acts, and thus vanity is a virtue or leads to honorable conduct. just as pride does; while at the same time we must admit that very intelligent man is too well aware of his own insignificance in the everlasting order to be. vain or to over-estimate himself even relatively. It was however. this sclf-estimate of ms strength, often so deceptive
 so imperceptible to others. that made Mir. Calhoun a constant candidate Tor President for twenty-five years, with never the ghost of chance for the Daunle after his breach with General jackson and the nulllfcation excitement, twenty years before Calhoun's death.
 lie retired from the Federal Senate in March lS4S with the purpose to be a cahoioate Tor the Presidency, and with an expectation of success which surely no practicai man could have shared. It is to Governor Hammond that he r,ritos (NoV. ls42) the outlines of the newspaper article that was to launch this venture ana he tells of Gov. H. that no one can 6II out tnls outline with more skill and tack tslc) than himself There have been let ters more modest. He writes that ha would nave 1t said that the measures of government he specifies can only be eff iected through the executive and a prss- Iuent VIII be requirtd of great abilities sklii, experience. firmness. patriotism ana devotion to the cause;" and that the highest degree" No public man nS mat time better filled this setting than MT calhoun; but why should he thus onend the proprieties by portraying him sen sen m such nattering terms to a friend ana follower? The most fulsome pane Eyric ever ,penned is that of M. LamaT- tine upon himself; brilliant in words as It IS audacious in assumption. It amused o up in our teens. but at no age will it cease by Its elegance of diction to please,
 trance. Paris and Europe had their eyes upon him" his popularity at Paris had even become a passIon;" "he alone held the clue of Europe" he was the man Of the emergency. the only predes- tined possessor of power" etc. etc. A man who can talk of his own merits like that must be serenely happy; his life is the embodiment of dream. When Cal houn and Lamartine thus apotheosize themselves we are reminded of what Lu- can says of Cato. that The did believe himself not born for himself but for the whole world" There is a wide abyss be- tween those who advance such preten- sions and an impostor. for this latter has not the ability or virtue to sustain him self. while these others, endowed amply. thelr claims; though cynical age may say It Is a mere question of degree and that the great men" of the world are the greater impostors, as they set man. kind against one another. But in the very extravaganza and glitter of this self-coronation there is the element of grandeur. Medlocrity Is too well poised to so sxalt itself It was absurd for Xerxes to chastise the sea, and for Canute to bid it's proud waves to stay. but these incidents are preserved less from the absurdity of the act than from the magnitude of the conceit And vet it is not our pretensions or estimate of ourselves that will rescue our names from oblivion. We cannot, by taking thought add to our statue. Our contem- porares usually rate us by a standard our talents 1t must seem that the wise would then have the supreme advantage of increasing his stock of happiness by using his wisdom for his individual pur- pose Very earnest souls. however. are much disposed to think they are indis-