326
CALHOUN
AS
A
LAWYER
AND
STATESMAN.
By Walter L. M1ller of the South Carol1na Bar. III. ONE of the most able, eloquent, and in teresting of all the speeches ever made by Mr. Calhoun was that in reply to Mr. Clay on the Sub-Treasury Bill. In reply to the charge that he had deserted his party and gone over to the administration, he be came exceedingly animated, and in the most scathing terms criticised the conduct of Mr. Clay. Among other things he said : " Leave it to time to disclose my motive for going over! I, who have changed no opinion, abandoned no principle, and deserted no party; I, who have stood still and main tained my ground against every difficulty, to be told that it is left to time to disclose my motive! The imputation sinks to the earth, with the groundless charge on which it rests. I stamp it, with scorn, in the dust. I pick up the dart, which fell harmless at my feet. I hurl it back. What the senator charges on me unjustly, he has aetually done. He went over on a memorable occasion, and did not leave it to time to disclose his motive." He referred here to the election of Mr. Adams and to the acceptance of a place in his cabinet by Mr. Clay, and it was a home thrust. His speech on this occasion has been likened to the famous oration De Corona by Demosthenes when vindicating himself from the charges made against him by j-Eschines. His appearance on this oc casion and the impression which he made has been vividly described as follows : " The keen fulgent eyes of the speaker shot light nings at every glance, his hair stood on end, large drops of sweat rested on his brow, and every feature and muscle were alive with ani mation. And while this burning flood of indignation was rolling in a deluge from his lips, the audience were so completely en
chained that perfect silence was preserved, and a pin might have been heard to drop in any part of the chamber; and when he declared, with a gesture suited to his words, that he hurled back the dart which had been thrown against him, the eyes of all were in voluntarily turned to witness the effect of the blow." It was not often that Mr. Calhoun became so thoroughly aroused as he was on this occasion. He felt that his character and motives had been impeached, and, be sides that, they had revived an old charge against him, on which he had always been sensitive, — that he was impractical, with too much of genius and too little of common sense. In an article in the " North American Re view," ex-President Jefferson Davis gives us the following interesting account of his manner and conduct in the Senate: "Asa senator he was a model of courtesy. He politely listened to each one who spoke, neither reading nor writing when in his seat, and, as long as his health permitted, was punctual and constant in his attendance. His correspondence was conducted by rising at dawn and writing before breakfast. Issues growing out of the public lands within the States occupied much of the time of Con gress, and, for this and more important reasons, he proposed, on certain conditions, to surrender the public lands to the new States in which they lay. This was but an other exhibition of his far-reaching patriotism and wisdom, as shown in his arguments for the measure." Always earnest, often intense in debate, he was never rhetorical, seldom sought the aid of illustration, simile, or quotation, but, concisely and in logical sequence, stated his
