one is numbered with the dead, another springs up to fill his place, to emulate his virtues, and to follow his example. Not the least worthy, and not the least conspicuous among them, was the subject of this memoir. For nearly forty years he occupied a prominent place among the most eminent statesmen of America. His reputation, furthermore, had crossed the Atlantic, where he had himself never been, and had elicited the most flattering encomiums from those high in ability and in station. At home, among his own countrymen, his independence of thought, his fearlessness in the expression of his opinions, and his unbending and uncompromising integrity, caused him to be generally admired even among those who differed from him the most widely upon political questions. While, therefore, his sentiments with reference to matters of public policy were not always cordially approved, but were oftentimes earnestly opposed, his character and his talents were held in esteem in every section of the Union, and it may be truly said that his fame was national, and was bounded only by the confines of our territory. For much the greater portion of the period during which he was in public life, he held a seat in the legislature of his native state, or represented her in one or other of the two houses of Congress. To the people of South Carolina he was closely endeared, as well by the sterling qualities of his head and heart, as by his fidelity in watching over and protecting their interests, and his long and arduous services in the councils of the state and nation. Open and frank in the avowal of his sentiments upon the great questions that divided the public mind-prompt and energetic-faithful and true-he commanded alike their respect and their admiration. To most of them personally a stranger, yet when his name was uttered, it awoke many a lofty and animating recollection, and around it clustered hosts of stirring associations. They looked up to him as their leader and their head,—they trusted in him to carry them safe through every emergency, and to sustain them in every crisis. Did danger threaten them from within or without, he was invoked as the guardian genius who possessed the power to heal all dissensions, and to triumph over all opposition. Did the gathering clouds on the political horizon forebode aught of disaster, to him they applied as to one who could not be daunted by the omens that filled the souls of others with terror and awe; and when the warning voice, the counsels, or the admonitions, of that statesman-planter, were heard rolling down from his distant home at the foot of the Blue Ridge over the lowlands of South Carolina, few there were who did not heed and obey them. Like a gallant knight he was foremost in every position of danger, and when his banner was unfurled in the midst of the timid and faint-hearted, they raised their eyes to it in the confidence of faith, and turned from it full of encouragement and hope. Possessing such traits of character, and uniting with them a commanding intellect, and an indomitable will, it is not surprising that he exerted an influence so widespread and so powerful. "When a firm decisive spirit is recognized," says Mr. Foster, "it is curious to see how the space clears around a man, and leaves him room and freedom. A conviction that he understands and that he wills with extraordinary force, silences the conceit that intended to perplex or instruct him, and intimidates the malice that was disposed to attack him. There is a feeling, as in respect to Fate, that the decrees of so inflexible a spirit must be right, or that, at least, they will be accomplished."* It was so with Mr. Calhoun. Without an effort on his part, other than the natural operations of his mind and character in the progress of development, he acquired a reputation of which his fellow-citizens were exceedingly proud, as they well might be. They soon learned to love him, and loving, to admire and revere. For twenty years he was first and foremost in their affections, and the dearest hopes of thousands followed him to the silence of the tomb. In their hearts his memory must long be enshrined, and the spot hallowed by the presence of all that remained of his mortal existence must be to them as "holy ground,"-like Mecca to the followers of the Prophet, or the meadow of Grütli to the peasantry of Switzerland. It is consecrated earth that contains beneath its bosom "Ashes which make it holier, dust which is The paternal ancestors of Mr. Calhoun came originally from Ireland, that fruitful hive from which sprung most of the early inhabitants of the eastern slopes of the Alleghany mountains. His grandfather emigrated with his family to Pennsylvania in the year 1733; they afterward removed to Virginia, and in 1756 finally Essay on Decision of Character, Letter ii. established themselves permanently in the province of South Carolina, near the base of the Blue Ridge, and in the fine healthy region drained by the tributaries of the Savannah river. His father, Patrick Calhoun, was born in Donegal, but was a mere child when the family left Ireland. Accustomed from his earliest years to sights and scenes well calculated to heighten the natural daring of his spirit, and to render him courageous and self-reliant ; familiar with hardship and privation, with war and bloodshed; he was distinguished for his boldness and intrepidity, his determined energy, and his manly independence, traits which were reproduced and reëxemplified in the life and character of his distinguished son. The family were driven from their temporary home in Virginia by the hordes of ruthless savages let loose upon the frontier settlements in consequence of the defeat of Braddock, and in the hostile encounters that took place previous to their removal, Patrick was old enough to take a prominent part. He subsequently participated in the frequent skirmishes between the white settlers of South Carolina and the Cherokee Indians previous to and during the Revolution. For a long time he commanded a company of rangers, who did good service in keeping off the marauders that hovered upon the borders of the infant colony, seeking an opportunity to plunder and destroy. His occupation was that of a farmer or planter, and he resided upon and cultivated the same place where his father's family first settled, and which now belongs to the heirs of his youngest son. He was married in 1770 to a young lady, whose maiden name was Cald well, and who was a native of Charlotte county, Virginia. Her father was a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, and was one of the founders of the settlement on Cub Creek. The elder Mr. Calhoun was an industrious and enterprising citizen. To great natural shrewdness he added an inquiring disposition, and a boldness and independence of sentiment that were rarely imitated. He thought, and spoke, and acted for himself. He was a Whig in principle long before the Revolution, and when the crisis. came, he did not hesitate publicly to make profession of "the faith that was in him." He battled manfully against the Tories; he contended with them in speech; and at the head of his rangers aided essentially in putting them down with the strong hand. Both the Caldwells and the Calhouns were active and zealous Whigs. such, they were the peculiar objects of the red man's hate and the Tory's vengeance. Of three of the Caldwells able to bear arms during the revolutionary struggle, one was murdered by the Tories in cold blood, in his own yard, after his house had been set on fire; another fell dead at the battle of the Cowpens, being pierced with thirty sabre wounds; and the third was taken prisoner by the enemy, and confined for nine months in a loathsome dungeon at St. Augustine. As Nothing but his stout arm and intrepidity of soul, saved Patrick Calhoun from experiencing a similar fate. "Upon one occasion," says a memoir of his son, published by his political friends during the presidential canvass of 1843-4,-" with thirteen other whites, he maintained a desperate conflict for hours with the Cherokee Indians, until overwhelmed by superior numbers, he was forced to retreat, leaving seven of his |