During the short period he remained a member, he originated and carried through several measures, which proved in practice to be salutary, and have become a permanent portion of the legislation of the state.

CHAPTER II.

Including the period from his entering Congress until his appointment as Secretary of War.

In the mean time, the growing difficulties in our foreign relations, especially with Great Britain, impressed the community at large with the belief that war with that formidable power was approaching. The impression naturally turned the attention of the people, in selecting candidates for Congress, to those whom they believed to be the most competent to serve them at so trying a period. The eyes of the congressional district in which Mr. Calhoun resided were turned towards him, and he was elected by an overwhelming majority over his opponent. This was in the fall of 1810, and he took his seat in the councils of the nation a year afterward, in the first session of the twelfth Congress, known as the war session, with his two distinguished colleagues, Mr. Cheves and Mr. Lowndes, who, like himself, had been elected in reference to the critical condition of the country. His reputation had preceded him, and he was placed second on the Committee of Foreign Relations, which, in the existing state of our relations with the two great belligerents, was regarded as the most important of the committees, and was, accordingly, filled by members selected in reference to the magnitude of its duties. The other distinguished individuals who composed it were Peter B. Porter, the chairman, and Felix Grundy, of Tennessee, on the Republican side, and John Randolph and Philip Barton Key on the other. It was, indeed, an eventful period of our history, and the duties which it imposed on the committee were of the most difficult and responsible character.

It is not easy, at this day, to estimate the magnitude of the crisis. Our present government had its origin just preceding the commencement of the great Revolution in France, which, in its progress, involved her in a war without example or parallel in the history of the world, taking into estimate its cause, extent, duration, the immensity of force brought into conflict, the skill which directed it, the variety and magnitude of its incidents, and the importance of the stake at issue. England was the great antagonist power to France in this mighty struggle, whose shocks reached even our distant shores. From the beginning, our mutual rights were invaded by both sides, and our peace endangered; but so recently had our government been established, so hazardous was it to put it to the test of war, and especially in such a struggle, and so advantageous to our commerce and prosperity was our position as a neutral power, while all Europe was at war, that it became the fixed policy of the government to preserve peace and bear wrongs, so long as the one could be preserved and the other endured without sacrificing the honour and independence of the country. This pacific and wise policy was, with some slight exceptions, steadily pursued for more than fifteen years. At length came the Berlin and Milan Decrees on the part of France, and the hostile orders in council on the part of England, which forced on our government the embargo and other restrictive measures, adopted from an anxious desire of preserving peace, and in the hope of obtaining respect for our rights from one or other of the two belligerents. Experience soon proved how impotent these measures were, and how fallacious was our hope. The encroachments on our rights and independence continued to advance, till England at length pushed her aggressions so far that our commerce was reduced to a state of dependance as complete as when we were her colonies, and our ships were converted, at the same time, into a recruiting-ground

to man her navy. Not a vessel of ours was permitted to reach Europe but through her ports, and more than 3000 of our hardy seamen were impressed into her service, to fight battles in which they had no interest. Our independence, as far as the ocean was concerned, had become an empty name; but so hazardous was it to take up arms in the unprepared state of the country, and to be drawn into a struggle apparently so fearful and interminable between the two first powers on earth, that the stoutest and boldest might well have paused at taking the step.

It was in such a crisis of our affairs that Mr. Calhoun took his seat in Congress. To him it was not unexpected. He had little confidence from the beginning in the peaceful measures resorted to for the redress of our wrongs, and saw beforehand that the final alternatives would be war or submission, and had deliberately made up his mind, that to lose independence, and to sink down into a state of acknowledged inferiority, depending for security on forbearance, and rot on our capacity and disposition to defend ourselves, would be the worst calamity which could befall the country. According to his opinion, the ability of the government to defend the country against external danger, and to cause its rights to be respected from without, was as essential as protection against violence within, and that, if it should prove incompetent to meet successfully the hazard of a just and necessary war, it would fail in one of the two great objects for which it was instituted, and that the sooner it was known the better. With these fixed opinions, his voice, on taking his seat, was for the most decisive

course.

The President's Message, at the opening of the session, was, in its general features, warlike, and yet there were expressions of an ambiguous character, which led many to doubt what course of policy was really intended by the administration. The portion which related to our affairs with other powers was referred to the Committee of Foreign Relations. The excitement in the country was intense, and party spirit never ran higher. All eyes were turned on the proceedings of the committee. They reported, at an early period of the session, resolutions strongly recommending immediate and extensive preparations to defend our rights and redress our wrongs by an appeal to arms. The debate was opened by the chairman, Mr. Porter, and he was followed on the same side by Mr. Grundy. It was allotted to Mr. Calhoun to follow Mr. Randolph, who, on the opposite side, succeeded Mr. Grundy in an able and eloquent speech. The discussion from the beginning excited profound interest, both in the body and the crowded audience daily assembled in the lobby and galleries, and this interest had increased as the discussion advanced. It was Mr. Calhoun's first speech in Congress, except a few brief remarks on the Apportionment Bill. The trial was a severe one; expectation was high. The question was of the greatest magnitude, and he to whom he had to reply, a veteran statesman of unsurpassed eloquence. How he acquitted himself, the papers of the day will best attest. The remarks of the Richmond Enquirer, then, as now, a leading journal on the Republican side, may be taken as an example. Mr. Ritchie, in his remarks on the speeches, after characterizing Mr. Randolph's, said: "Mr. Calhoun is clear and precise in his reasoning, marching up directly to the object of his attack, and felling down the errors of his opponent with the club of Hercules; not eloquent in his tropes and figures, but, like Fox, in the moral elevation of his sentiments; free from personality, yet full of those fine touches of indignation, which are the severest cut to the man of feeling. speech, like a fine drawing, abounds in those lights and shades which set off each other the cause of his country is robed in light, while her opponents are wrapped in darkness. It were a contracted wish that Mr. Calhoun were a Virginian; though, after the quota she has furnished with opposition talents, such a wish might be forgiven us. We beg leave to participate, as Americans and friends of our country, in the honours of South Carolina. We hail this young B

His

Carolinian as one of the master-spirits who stamp their names upon the age in which they live.”

When Mr. Calhoun sat down, he was greeted by the great body of the party for his successful effort, and thenceforward took rank with the ablest and most influential members of the body. But, as clear as it appeared to him that the period had arrived when a resort to arms could no longer be avoided without sacrificing the honour and interest of the country, such was far from being the feeling of many, even of the Republican members of the body. Many, who saw the necessity, hesitated; some from the great hazard of war, others from the want of preparation, or the difficulty of selecting between the belligerents, when both had so grossly violated our rights; and not a few from a lingering confidence in the Non-importation Act, and other restrictive measures, as the means of redressing our wrongs. Mr. Calhoun, although he approved of the motive which had led to a resort to those measures in the first instance, and regarded them as wise temporary expedients, never had any confidence in them as instruments of avenging or redressing the wrongs of the country. lieving that they had accomplished all they ever could, and that a latent attachment to them was one of the principal impediments to a resort to arms, he did not hesitate to attack the whole system.

Be

To realize the boldness and hazard of such a step, it must be borne in mind that the support or opposition to the system had been for many years the main test of party fidelity, and that party spirit was never higher than at the time. But as strongly as he was attached to the administration, to the Republican party, and their general policy, and opposed as he was to the Federalists, he did not hesitate, young as he was, when he believed duty and the interest of the country required it, to place himself above all party considerations, and to expose manfully the defects of a system which had been so long cherished and defended by the party to which he belonged. The following extracts from a speech delivered against it will give in his own language some of the most prominent objections which he urged against the system, and afford, at the same time, a fair specimen of his powers of reasoning and eloquence at that early period, and of the lofty and patriotic sentiments which actuated him in the line of policy that he advocated.

"The restrictive system," he said, "as a mode of resistance, or as a means of obtaining redress, has never been a favourite one with me. I wish not to censure the motives which dictated it, or attribute weakness to those who first resorted to it for a restoration of our rights. But, sir, I object to the restrictive system because it does not suit the genius of the people, or that of our government, or the geographical character of our country. We are a people essentially active; I may say we are pre-eminently so. No passive system can suit such a people; in action superior to all others, in patient endurance inferior to none. Nor does it suit the genius of our government. Our government is founded on freedom, and hates coercion. To make the restrictive system effective, requires the most arbitrary laws. England, with the severest penal statutes, has not been able to exclude prohibited articles; and Napoleon, with all his power and vigilance, was obliged to resort to the most barbarous laws to enforce his Continental system."

After showing how the whole mercantile community must become corrupt by the temptations and facilities for smuggling, and how the public opinion of the commercial community (upon which the system must depend for its enforcement) becomes opposed to it, and gives sanction to its violation, he proceeds: "But there are other objections to the system. It renders government odious. The farmer inquires why he gets no more for his produce, and he is told it is owing to the embargo, or commercial restrictions. In this he sees only the hand of his own government, and not the acts of violence and injustice which this system is intended to counteract. His censures fall on the govern.

ment. This is an unhappy state of the public mind; and even, I might say, in a government resting essentially on public opinion, a dangerous one. In war it is different. Its privation, it is true, may be equal or greater; but the public mind, under the strong impulses of that state of things, becomes steeled against sufferings. The difference is almost infinite between the passive and active state of the mind. Tie down a hero, and he feels the puncture of a pin: throw him into battle, and he is almost insensible to vital gashes. So in war. Impelled alternately by hope and fear, stimulated by revenge, depressed by shame, or elevated by victory, the people become invincible. No privation can shake their fortitude; no calamity break their spirit. Even when equally successful, the contrast between the two systems is striking. War and restriction may leave the country equally exhausted; but the latter not only leaves you poor, but, even when successful, dispirited, divided, discontented, with diminished patriotism, and the morals of a considerable portion of your people corrupted. Not so in war. In that state, the common danger unites all, strengthens the bonds of society, and feeds the flame of patriotism. The national character mounts to energy. In exchange for the expenses and privations of war, you obtain military and naval skill, and a more perfect organization of such parts of your administration as are connected with the science of national defence. Sir, are these advantages to be counted as trifles in the present state of the world? Can they be measured by moneyed valuation? I would prefer a single victory over the enemy, by sea or land, to all the good we shall ever derive from the continuation of the Non-importation Act. I know not that a victory would produce an equal pressure on the enemy; but I am certain of what is of greater consequence, it would be accompanied by more salutary effects on ourselves. The memory of Saratoga, Princeton, and Eutaw is immortal. It is there you will find the country's boast and pride the inexhaustible source of great and heroic sentiments. But what will history say of restriction? What examples worthy of imitation will it furnish to posterity? What pride, what pleasure, will our children find in the events of such times? Let me not be considered romantic. This nation ought to be taught to rely on its courage, its fortitude, its skill and virtue, for protection. These are the only safeguards in the hour of danger. Man was endued with these great qualities for his defence. There is nothing about him that indicates that he is to conquer by endurance. He is not incrusted in a shell; he is not taught to rely upon his insensibility, his passive suffering, for defence. No, sir; it is on the invincible mind, on a magnanimous nature, he ought to rely. Here is the superiority of our kind; it is these that render man the lord of the world. It is the destiny of his condition that nations rise above nations, as they are endued in a greater degree with these brilliant qualities."

But this is not the only instance in which Mr. Calhoun, at this early stage of his public life, manifested a spirit above party influence or control, that spirit which he has so often since exhibited, when duty and patriotism demanded it. No one appreciates more highly the value of party ties within proper limits, or adheres more firmly to his party within them, than he does. He never permits them to influence him beyond those necessary limits. Acting accordingly, he did not hesitate to give his cordial and warm support to a bill for the increase of the navy, reported by his able and distinguished colleague, who was then chairman of the Naval Committee, although, at and previous to that time, the great body of the Republican party was and had been opposed to it. It was owing to the decided support which it received from Mr. Cheeves, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Lowndes, and Mr. Clay, and its brilliant achievements afterward (even then confidently anticipated by them), that it has since become with the whole Union the favourite arm of defence.

As prominent as was the situation of Mr. Calhoun at the commencement of this eventful session, as the second on the most important committee, it became

still more so in its progress. The chairman, Mr. Porter, withdrew from Congress, and Mr. C. found himself at the head of the committee, which, in addition to its peculiar duties, was charged, by a vote of the House, with a large portion of those properly belonging to the Committee on Military Affairs. Few individuals with so little parliamentary experience have ever been placed in so responsible a situation. He had never before served in a deliberative body except for two short sessions in the Legislature of his own state, making together but nine weeks. With such limited experience, it is difficult to conceive a situation of the kind more arduous than that in which he was placed at the head of such a committee at such a period, when party spirit was at its height and the opposition under the guidance of leaders distinguished for their talents and experience; and yet, so ample were his resources, and so great his aptitude for business, that he not only sustained himself, but acquired honour and distinction for the ability with which he discharged the duties of his station.

It will not be attempted to trace Mr. Calhoun's course through this laborious and long-to-be-remembered session. It is sufficient to say that he exhibited throughout the same zeal and ability with which he commenced it. Near its close he reported and carried through the bill declaring war against Great Britain-a war under all circumstances fairly entitled to its appellation as the second war of independence. The proceedings were in secret session, contrary to his opinion and wishes.

Such was the brilliant career of Mr. Calhoun during his first session, and that under the most responsible and trying circumstances. Much of his success is to be attributed to his early and wise determination not to come forward till he had laid the foundation in a solid education, and fully prepared himself to act his part in life. Without them, the mere force of natural talents could not have carried him successfully through the difficulties he had to encounter at the outset of his congressional career.

The declaration of war fixed the policy of the government for the time, and the discussions in Congress during its continuance turned, for the most part, on questions relating to the finances, the army, the navy, the mode of conducting the war, and its success and disasters. These gave rise to many warm and animated debates of deep interest and excitement at the time, and in most of which Mr. Calhoun took a prominent part, and fully sustained the reputation he had acquired for ability and eloquence; but as the subjects were generally of a temporary character, and have long since lost much of their interest, the object of this sketch does not require that they should be particularly noticed. They will, accordingly, be passed in silence, and the notice of the events of the period confined to those that may be regarded as exceptions to the ordinary party discussions of the day. This course is the more readily adopted, because it is believed that the whole country is disposed to do ample justice to the patriotism, the intelligence, and ability with which he performed his part during this eventful period of our history.

tees.

The first incident that will be noticed took place at the commencement of the session immediately succeeding the declaration of war. South Carolina had in that Congress an unusual number of men of talents: General D. R. Williams, Langdon Cheves, William Lowndes, and the subject of this sketch, all of whom were entitled to prominent positions in the arrangement of commitMr. Calhoun was the youngest. The speaker was embarrassed. There was a difficulty in placing so many from one state, and that a small one, at the head of prominent committees, and Mr. Calhoun, with his characteristic disinterestedness, cheerfully assented to be placed second on that at the head of which he had served with so much distinction at the preceding session. Mr. Smilie, an old and highly-respectable member from Pennsylvania, was placed at the head of the committee. At its first meeting the chairman, without previously intimating his intention, moved that Mr. Calhoun should be elected