of his friends and political antagonists.  In social intercourse he was quite as familiar and intimate with these as with his political friends.  Difference of political principles did not close his eyes to the virtues and worth of any man, and his respect for talent and uprightness was always manifest in his public and private intercourse with those who differed with him in opinion.  His was a happy constitution, and one well fitted to win him friends.  Personally, with the exception of Mr. Lowndes, he was perhaps the most popular man upon the floor of the House of Representatives.  The influence of his character and talent was very great, and his geographical position added greatly to these in his efforts upon the Missouri question.  His speech was widely read, and no one found fault with it.  It was a masterly effort and added greatly to his extended fame.

In the character of Mr. McLean there was a very happy combination of gentleness with firmness.  He carried this into his family, and its influence has made of his children a monument to his fame; they have distinguished, in their characters and conduct, the name and the virtues of their father.  It may be said of him what cannot be said of many distinguished men, his children were equal to the father in talent, usefulness, and virtue.

The Administration of Mr. Monroe saw expire the Federal and Republican parties, as organized under the Administration of John Adams.  It saw also the germ of the Democratic and Whig parties planted.  It was a prosperous Administration, and under it the nation flourished like a green bay-tree.  He was the last of the Presidents who had actively participated in the war of the Revolution.  To other virtues and different merits, those who now aspire to the high distinction of the Presidency must owe their success.  There must always be a cause for distinction.  However great the abilities of a man or exalted his virtues, he must in some manner make a display of them before the public eye, or he must of necessity remain in obscurity.  War developes more rapidly and more conspicuously the abilities of men than any other public employment.  Gallantry and successful conflict presents the commander and subalterns at once prominently before the country; besides military fame addresses itself to every capacity, and strange as it may seem, there is no quality so popular with man and woman, too, as the art of successfully killing our fellow-man, and devastating his country.  It is ever a successful claim to public honors and political preferments.  No fame is so lasting as a military fame.  Caesar and Hannibal are names, though they lived two thousand years ago, familiar in the mouths of every one, and grow brighter as time progresses.  Philip and his more warlike son, Alexander, are names familiar to the learned and illiterate, alike; while those who adorned the walks of civil life with virtues, and godlike abilities, are only known to those who burrow in musty old books, and search out the root of civilization enjoyed by modern nations.  They who fought at Cannae and Marathon, at Troy and at Carthage, are household names; while those who invented the plough and the spade, and first taught the cultivation of the earth, the very base of civilization, are unknown—­never thought of.  Such is human nature.