which is squeezed out of people by the application of a very sudden mental force.  I believe he knew not what a revelation he made in a few sentences. They were to us strangers the key, not only to all that was said and done by the South Carolina party during the remainder of the session, but to many things at Charleston and Columbia which would otherwise have passed unobserved and unexplained.”

This intelligent observer saw the chieftain on his native heath:—­

“During my stay in Charleston, Mr. Calhoun and his family arrived from Congress, and there was something very striking in the welcome he received, like that of a chief returned to the bosom of his clan.  He stalked about like a monarch of the little domain, and there was certainly an air of mysterious understanding between him and his followers.”

What Miss Martineau says of the impossibility of Calhoun’s mind communicating with another mind, is confirmed by an anecdote which we have heard related by Dr. Francis Lieber, who, as Professor in the College of South Carolina, was for several years the neighbor and intimate acquaintance of Mr. Calhoun.  The learned Professor, upon his return from a visit to Europe, called upon him, and in the course of the interview Mr. Calhoun declared, in his positive manner, that the slaves in the Southern States were better lodged, fed, and cared for than the mechanics of Europe.  Dr. Lieber, being fresh from that continent, assured the Secretary of State that such was not the fact, as he could testify from having resided in both lands.  “Not at all, not at all,” cried Calhoun dogmatically, and repeated his wild assertion.  The Doctor saw that the poor man had reached the condition of absolute unteachableness, and dropped the subject.  There could not well be a more competent witness on the point in dispute than Dr. Lieber; for, besides having long resided in both continents, it was the habit and business of his life to observe and ponder the effect of institutions upon the welfare of those who live under them.  Calhoun pushed him out of the witness-box, as though he were an idiot.

A survey of the last fifteen years of Calhoun’s life discloses nothing upon which the mind can dwell with complacency.  On the approach of every Presidential election, we see him making what we can only call a grab at a nomination, by springing upon the country some unexpected issue designed to make the South a unit in his support.  From 1830 to 1836, he exhausted all the petty arts of the politician to defeat General Jackson’s resolve to bring in Mr. Van Buren as his successor; and when all had failed, he made an abortive attempt to precipitate the question of the annexation of Texas.  This, too, being foiled, Mr. Van Buren was elected President.  Then Mr. Calhoun, who had for ten years never spoken of Van Buren except with contempt, formed the notable scheme of winning over the President so far as to secure his