The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-07-05
]. D. Boushall, Manager, Raleigh, N. C.

est in this valuable contribution to cur
history. Macon's letters are not well writ
ten; their style is crude, they show haste
in composition lack of revision and some
times carelessness in grammar and
rhetoric which often results in obscurity
But withal there is certain directness
ruggedness and forcibleness about them
characteristic. of the man Most of them
were written in moments snatched from a
busy career, and this accounts for THEN
imperfeetions of style. They are full Of
the most interesting political gossip, and
give a keener insight into the times and
the characters of the men who made those
times, than can possibly be obtained from
ordinary history. They are full of re-
Elections on political principles in general
as well as their application to particular
persons and events, which are worthy of
the study Of the present-day politician. As
a single instance of this the following
quotation from one of his letters may be
interesting: Permit me to observe to
you that no Constitution in the United
States exactly. suits me; because the pat
ronage is in no one divided. The idea of
balancing a government by three depart
ments where one cannot receive anything
from the other two and the other two
can take another place from the other Is
falldcious. The thrifty part OF the gov
eminent is that which bestows the loaves
and fishes; hence in all free governments
the patronage should be divided and no
member of one department should be al
lowed to receive a place from another"
Another quotation should be read every
day by all free-thinking people: My
great objection to attending a caucus Is
that the minority yield their opinion, and
support what they disapprove. This
principle, strange as it may seem to the
politician of the twentieth century, Macon
put into practice and at the time that
sentence was written, he had not attend
ed caucus in twenty years.
When we remember that Macon was
most intimately associated in Congress
with such men as Andrew Jackson. Henry
Clay, John Quincy Adams, William l..
Crawford, John c.. Calhoun and others,
and that of this number he was by no
means the least, we can imagine how i'll
teresting must be the political gossip re-
corded in his letters. They are all the
more interesting from the fact that as
Macon wrote them to an intimate friend
for whom alone they were intended, they
were written unreservedly, and are there
fore an accurate expression of his actual
thoughts and feelings uncolored by the ex-
pectancy of publicity
1t is well worth ones time and efforts
thus to study the character of him whom
John Randolph declared to be the "best,
purest and wisest'' man he ever saw; and
of whom Henry Adams in his History of
the United States writes as follows: "The
best qualities of the State North Caro-
ina) were typified in its favorite repre-
sentative, Nathaniel Macon, home-spun
planter, honest and simple, erring more
often in his grammar than in his moral
but knowing little of the world
beyond the borders of North Carolina. No
man in American history left a better
name than Macon, but the name was all
he left An ideal Southern Republican, in
dependent, uEambitious, free from intri-
que, true to his convictions, kindly and
honorable man. his influence was not SO
great as that of some less respectable
but more busy politicians
Copies of the Monograph may be obtain
ed by writing to DR.. Kemp P. Battle at
Chapel Hill.
I'd. w. coNNoR.
Wilson N q