that, when he speaks, it seems as if the people were listening to their own thinking aloud. The dignity of his thought owes nothing to any ceremonial garb of words, but to the manly movement that comes of settled purpose and an energy of reason that knows not what rhetoric means. He has always addressed the intelligences of men, never their prejudice, their passion, or their ignorance."

...

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN, 1782-1850

The foremost defender of slavery and state rights in the halls of Congress, and the ablest opponent of Webster, was John C. Calhoun, of

South Carolina. He was considered by the poet Whittier "the most powerful intellect of his period." His formal education was begun late-at the age of eighteen, when he was tutored by a brother-in-law in preparation for Yale. Two years later he entered the Junior class in that institution, from which he was graduated with honors in 1804. Four years later he was

JOHN C. CALHOUN.

From a painting at Clemson Agricultural
College.

elected to the South Carolina legislature, and served one term.

Becomes a National Figure. In 1811 Calhoun entered the arena of national politics, being elected to the House of

Representatives when the clouds of the second war with England were already forming. In his first speech in Congress he urged preparation for war, admitting that lack of preparation was his only reason for not advocating war at once. After three terms in the House, Calhoun became Secretary of War in Monroe's cabinet, retaining the position to the end of the President's second term. As Secretary he performed a notable service in bringing order and economy into his department, and in greatly increasing the efficiency of the Military Academy at West Point.

Vice President, Senator, Secretary of State. From 1825 to 1832 Calhoun was Vice President. In November of the latter year he resigned in order to become Senator from South Carolina, succeeding Robert Y. Hayne. For eleven years following he was the recognized leader of the party of slavery and state rights. He resigned his seat in the Senate to seek the Democratic nomination for President; and failing to secure this, accepted the Secretaryship of State under President Tyler. During his occupancy of this post, which lasted only a little more than a year, he performed two important duties. One was a prominent part in the negotiations which led later to the annexation of Texas; the other in the settlement of the dispute with Great Britain over Oregon. In 1845 he returned to the Senate, and continued a member of that body till his death five years later.

Champion of State Sovereignty. - John C. Calhoun will not be remembered for his connection with Texas, Oregon, or West Point; he will be remembered as the unfaltering, uncompromising advocate of state sovereignty and its natural sequels, nullification and secession - doctrines which he did not originate, but which he analyzed and reduced to logical form. The theory of state sovereignty was set forth by him in three documents: The South Carolina Exposition, an essay published in 1828; Address to the People of South

Carolina, 1831; and a letter to Governor Hamilton, of South Carolina, in 1832. Of the last, Calhoun's biographer, von Holst, says: "This letter to Governor Hamilton of South Carolina is the final and classical exposition of the theory of state sovereignty. Nothing new has ever been added to it."

Six months later, through his speech in the Senate already referred to, the doctrine was laid before the whole country in a close, logical argument on this text: "The people of Carolina believe that the Union is a union of States, and not of individuals; that it was formed by the States, and that the citizens of the several States were bound to it through the acts of their several States; that each State ratified the

Constitution for itself, and that it was only by such ratifica tion of a State that any obligation was imposed upon its citizens." So powerful was the effect of the speech in the Senate that the opposition immediately sought Webster as the only man capable of replying. Not once in the seventeen years remaining to him did Calhoun waver in his position; and his last speech, March 4, 1850, contained these words: "I have exerted myself to arrest it [i.e., the agitation of the slavery question], with the intention of saving the Union, if it could be done; and if it could not, to save the section where it has pleased Providence to cast my lot, and which I sincerely believe has justice and the Constitution on its side."

The statement in the last clause quoted -- regarding his belief in the right of his position - finds very general acceptance to-day. That Calhoun was in error in his interpretation of the Constitution is probably the opinion of the majority of Americans, though an illustrious minority offers strong grounds for a different view. In any case few will question the integrity of his motives, or deny that "he acted under the firm conviction of an imperious duty towards the South and towards the Union." Had he lived, moreover, to see his South go down in defeat, he would have approved the sentiment closing Hayne's Forgotten :

66

Forgotten! Tho' a thousand years should pass,

Methinks our air will throb with memory's thrills,
A conscious grief weigh down the faltering grass,
A pathos shroud the hills,

Waves roll lamenting, autumn sunsets yearn
For the old time's return!"

TIMROD AND HAYNE

Two Southern Poets.

At this point should be considered two writers of the South who gave expression in verse to sentiments diametrically opposed to those of Whittier and Lowell. Both served

in the Confederate army; of each may be said what Dr. Mabie says of one: "He touched the two themes which lay deepest in his heart, love of nature and love of the personal and social ideals of the Old South, with perfect sincerity, with deep tenderness, and with lyric sweetness." These two poets are Henry Timrod and Paul Hamilton Hayne, lifelong friends and natives of Charleston,

South Carolina, then the literary center of the South. The intimate association of these men through life and the virtual identity of their poetic creeds make it desirable to treat them together.

Henry Timrod (1829-1867). - Timrod was of German descent. His father and grandfather had been distinguished citizens, and his father had been known as a poet. Henry studied for a time at the University of Georgia, but because of poverty and ill health was unable to graduate. He then studied law, but like Byrant, Irving, and other