The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-02
('AI ssud moIy psnuauoo)

to detect those of his opponents After | his support of Jackson Tn is-s he writes 1 two years later that Jackson Is 'igno- | rant weak" that Clay had done the
 country great mischicf.' In 1884 he supported him for President in 1s40; while in September. 1sfl, he writes that Van
 Buren has no administrative talents,"
 and that he would regard Van B.'s cleo
 ton again to the office as "a great mis-
 fortune" J, C. Adams who went back
 to Congress after his presidency. was April. is41l. that mischievous. bad old
 man. At the same date Mir. Calhoun
 writes that Daniel Webster had become almost universally odious: there Is no confidence in him: his integrity is ques-
 toned by almost all of any party" In
 1887 he writes that Benton. Kendall Blair and Vice President Johnson are filthy
 associates" of Rives and Buchanan. 1t must excite surprise that one who deem- cd himself so good and great could have passed his life among such set of rep rebates and scoundrels. And that MT. credit of the heroic or of martyrology, for so far back as February. 1881. he de- clares that universal discontent. dis-. traction and corruption seem to be taking later he says. "I feel the deepest convic- tion that our politicks must take a new direction, and that the government must be reformed in every department with
 the next four years. or our splendid po-
 litical experiment will fail. and with it
 the best hopes of the human race:"-and
 we are left to surnise if this prediction. proved correct, as Van Buren and his corruption" came into the high places four years later: but if the country was in such vicious condition 1t must be in- ferred that even the missionary labors
 of Mir. Calhoun could not redeem 1t, and that he was unwise to waste his life in
 association with such bad people as Jack akotr Ranf0n Adams. etc. There is at least trifie of the Tartuffe in men who see no virtues
 save their own, and Mir. Calhoun scarce ly comes up to Moliere's opposites who. leaving big words to others they re- ! prove our actions by their own" Mir. Calhoun was an able man and a clean one. but there were others whom he as- sails who were honest and capable. The just rule would seem to be that if We
 consider all men as base we should con fess ourselves as at least fa1lible. MT.
 Calhoun. however, like most persons Of strong will. could never see any faults
 in himself. and hence could not admit of error or repentance.
 The most singular characteristic Of MT. Calhoun. however. as revealed in the let ters of the book before us. is not this disclosure of self-esteem. nor even the absence of profundity of thought and scholarly ear-marks. It is his apparent want of precedence. That he might have been President but for his breach with General Jackson is more than probable, and for that breach Mir. Calhoun was not blameable. It was caused by Judge
 Crawford of Georgia. who. with gross
 impropriety. published the details of
 cabinet meeting held in 1918. at which he said Mir. Calhoun urged that General Jackson should be punished for invading Spanish Florida without orders. Jackson had become President in 1929, and Cal
 houn had been again elected Vice-Presi-
 dent. when this story was brought to the tat. af hA | Van Buren was suspected, as he wanted | and obtained the succession. The breach was never mended. and MT. Calhoun | from his efforts to set himself alright, seems at the time to have realized it's | evil influence on his fortunes. for General Jackson was the most distinctive. per- | sonality that has yet appeared TOT so | long a time in our politics. Quick on the | heels of this breach, which accentuated
 1t. came the notification proceedings in | South Carolina. whereby that State. de- | claring the tariff act of the Federal Con gress oppressive, held that 1t was inop-
 sisted to denationalize Mir. Calhoun, if | we may use the '1ord, while the insist | ence of President Jackson on the enforce
 ment of the law had the opposite effect I on his future as on that of MT. Clay
 who was at the head of that opposition
 which had elected MT. Adams to the
 Presidency in 1924 Thus Mir. Calhoun | foI nd himself outside both the great par
 tisan bodies of the country. With all
 this Mir. Calhoun seems never to have
 lost his aspiration for the Presidency He had supported General Jackson
 against Mir. Adams in 1928. and agreed at
 no point with Mir. Clay; but now u6 May, l tS31J. he writes. T cannot support MT.
 Clay. who, in my opinion, has done great
 mischief to the country. and have no | confidence in Jackson, who is too igno- | rant. too suspicious, and too weak to l conduct our affairs successfully; he must | fali Sfrrnn ho anoakG nntlCh of | the degenerate condition of things, yet ! Is sure the cause of truth must pre- vail. Jackson is losing ground, with
 out his opponent gaining" he writes in April. 1882; yet Jackson was reelected by large majority six months later. In
 March, 1883, Mir. Calhoun writes. Jack
 son Is dead or dying throughout the
 whole South:" and yet General Jackson again writes In February. 1894, "the over
 throw of Jacksonism is certain. and with 1t Van Buren and his party and Jack
 sonism Is broke, and with it trust Van
 Of Jackson elected Mir Van Buren Presi-
 dent two years later. So, circumstances
 causing MT Calhoun to support MT. Van
 Buren in 1S40. or rather to oppose the
 Whigs, he writes CMay. 1SSaI. ''I hold it certain that tho Whg party is destined
 to be defeated and that the defeat must be followed by dissolution" and "the only question" was how its elements would resolve themsetVes' ana vet the Wings swept the country the next year. Again December lS4p. "1 regard the Wings as destroyed" and in Snly, 1S42.
 They are doomed party" yet stX months later Japuary. 1S4S), he says IL is almost certain that Van Buren would be defeated if he got the Democratic nomination: year after February. 1s4D.
 when Van Bnren had forced him out of the race, Calhoun thinks Van B.'s snc- cess would contribute to the permanent ascendency Of the
 Whigs," while some personal