Monday
were frequent.

John C. Calhoun was Vice-President of the United States, and
consequently President of the Senate--a position which was to him
very irksome, as he was forced to sit and dumbly listen to debates
in which he was eager to participate. He had been talked of by
some of the best men in the country as a candidate during the then
recent Presidential election, but the North had not given him any
substantial support. Regarding each Senator as an Ambassador from
a sovereign State, he did not believe that as Vice-President he
possessed the power to call them to order for words spoken in
debate. Senator John Randolph abused this license, and one day
commenced one of his tirades by saying: "_Mr. Speaker! I mean
Mr. President of the Senate and would-be President of the United
States, which God in His infinite mercy avert_," and then went on
in his usual strain of calumny and abuse.

Mr. Calhoun was tall, well-formed, without an ounce of superfluous
flesh, with a serious expression of countenance rarely brightened
by a smile, and with his black hair thrown back from his forehead,
he looked like an arch-conspirator waiting for the time to come
when he could strike the first blow. In his dress Mr. Calhoun
affected a Spartan simplicity, yet he used to have four horses
harnessed to his carriage, and his entertainments at his residence
on Georgetown Heights were very elegant. His private life was
irreproachable, although when Secretary of War under Mr. Monroe,
he had suffered obloquy because of a profitable contract, which
had been dishonestly awarded during his absence by his chief clerk
to that official's brother-in-law.

The prime mover of the Senate of that day was Martin Van Buren, of
New York, who was beginning to reap the reward of years of subservient
intrigues. Making the friends of Calhoun and of Crawford believe
that they had each been badly treated by the alliance between Adams
and Clay, he united them in the support of General Jackson, and
yet no one suspected him. When Mr. Van Buren had first been elected
to Congress, Rufus King, of his State, had said to G. F. Mercer,
also a member, "Within two weeks Van Buren will become perfectly
acquainted with the views and feelings of every member, yet no
man will know his."

This prediction was verified, and Mr. Van Buren soon became the
directing spirit among the friends of General Jackson, although no
one was ever able to quote his views. Taking