The inauguration of Mr. Monroe on the 4th of March, 1817, ushered in the era of good feeling, and gave to Henry Clay the first of his long series of disappointments.  As Secretaries of State had usually succeeded their chiefs in the Presidency, the appointment of Mr. Adams to that office by Mr. Monroe was regarded almost in the light of a nomination to the succession.  To add to Mr. Clay’s mortification, be was tendered the post of Secretary of War, which he had declined a year before, and now again declined.  The President next selected General Jackson, then in the undimmed lustre of his military renown, and still holding his Major-General’s commission.  He received, however, a private notification that General Jackson would not accept a place in the Cabinet.  The President then offered the post to the aged Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky, who had the good sense to decline it.  There appear to have been negotiations with other individuals, but at length, in October, 1817, the place was offered to Mr. Calhoun, who, after much hesitation, accepted it, and entered upon the discharge of its duties in December.  His friends, we are told, unanimously disapproved his going into office, as they believed him formed to shine in debate rather than in the transaction of business.

Fortune favored him again.  Entering the office after a long vacancy, and when it was filled with the unfinished business of the war,—­fifty million dollars of deferred claims, for one item,—­he had the same easy opportunity for distinction which a steward has who takes charge of an estate just out of chancery, and under a new proprietor who has plenty of money.  The sweeping up of the dead leaves, the gathering of the fallen branches, and the weeding out of the paths, changes the aspect of the place, and gives the passer-by a prodigious idea of the efficiency of the new broom.  The country was alive, too, to the necessity of coast and frontier defences, and there was much building of forts during the seven years of Mr. Calhoun’s tenure of place.  Respecting the manner in which he discharged the multifarious and unusual duties of his office, we have never heard anything but commendation.  He was prompt, punctual, diligent, courteous, and firm.  The rules which he drew up for the regulation of the War Department remained in force, little changed, until the magnitude of the late contest abolished or suspended all ancient methods.  The claims of the soldiers were rapidly examined and passed upon.  It was Mr. Calhoun who first endeavored to collect considerable bodies of troops for instruction at one post.  He had but six thousand men in all, but he contrived to get together several companies of artillery at Fortress Monroe for drill.  He appeared to take much interest in the expenditure of the ten thousand dollars a year which Congress voted for the education of the Indians.  He reduced the expenses of his office, which was a very popular thing at that day.  He never appointed nor removed a clerk for opinion’s sake.  In seven years he only removed two clerks, both for cause, and to both were given in writing the reasons of their removal.  There was no special merit in this, for at that day to do otherwise would have been deemed infamous.