The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-03-30

that keen and penetrating eye of his, darting through this
chamber. No more shall we be thrilled by that torrent of clear,
concise, compact logic poured out from lips, which if it did not
always carry conviction to our judgment, always commanded our
great admiration. Those eyes and those lips are closed forever!
And when, Mr.. President, will that great vacancy which has
been created by the event to which we are now abiding, when
will it De filled by an equal amount of ability, patriotism and
oeVotlon &c what ne conceived to be the best interest of his
country?"
Undoubtedly Mr.. Calhoun was one of the great men
OF this Nation. But men are judged, unfortunately, by the sue
cess or failure of their greatest undertaking. Judged from this
point of view, the popular voice Is against him. But there is
philosophy in that line from Tennyson: "He makes no friends
who never made a foe."
The two most conspicuous fgures-and those who will sur
vive longest in the memory of mankind-of that great contest
over the conflicting theories of our government, are John C. Cal
houn and Abraham Lincoln. The achievements of Mr.. Lincoln
are viewed through the glamour of success and the halo of the
martyr, while the cause for which Mr.. Calhoun labored-the per-
petuation of the Union as it came from the hands of the fathers
went down in defeat. Had Lincoln failed, he would have been
censured by disinterested nations for the effort to subvert and
suppress the constitutional rights of free states, by force of arms;
censured for invading and undertaking to destroy the property
rights ofa people, in open violation of both the spirit and letter
OF the Constitution. Success threw a halo about these events;
and prosperity smiling upon the stricken land, aided by time, has
done much to Danish the sense of injuries suffered, and to throw
the mantle of charity over those scenes.
Notwithstanding defeat and disasters attended upon the
work OF Calhoun, he continues to be regarded as the Aristotle Of
American politics: and with the mind of seer and the heart Off
hero, he survives in the respect of his countrynen, wept, honored
and sung. His great compatriot and colaborer Henry Clay, is
lmmortaiized by the sentiment he expressed, that he would
rather be right than to be president. MI. Calhoun was right in
principle, and the Office of president could have added nothing
to his renown.
1t can not be, that passion and sectional strife will hover
even over the grave. When these have vanished, and
when we view Mr.. Calhoun merely as a citizen of our common
country, we will learn to appreciate him at his true value, and
we will inscribe his name on the first page of the book of immor-
tai memories. Nearly all the glory Of ancient Greece that has
survived decays efacing fingers" may be summed up Or
narrated in the biography of her great men. The time will come
In the history of our own country, when our people, without ref
erence to section or party, will cherish the memory of those Of
our great men who have risen as the tall oak, from the level of
the forest, and who, while standing more conspicuously in the
glow ofpublic life, have likewise borne the greater shock and
burden OF the storms that swept the young republic.
Mr.. Calhoun never attacked the Union, but on the contrary,
he always defended it. Whether or not his planso of preservation
would have solved the problem, we do not know. We believe