n the minds of the great
majority of the people interested in political life, and if he had
been persuaded that Aaron Burr and his Federalist allies were to be
restored to power in 1804, he was far too shrewd to be tempted by the
prospects of such a coalition. He had also shown, from his first
entrance into politics, a remarkable capacity for organisation. He had
courage, a social and cheerful temper, engaging manners, and
extraordinary application. He also had the happy faculty of guiding
without seeming to dictate; he could show the way without pushing one
along the path. Finally, back of all, was the ability that soon made
him the peer of Elisha Williams, the ablest lawyer in a county famous
for its brilliant men, enabling him quickly to outgrow the
professional limitations of Kinderhook, and to extend his practice far
beyond the limits of the busy city of Hudson.

Martin Van Buren cannot be ranked as a great orator. He spoke too
rapidly, and he was wanting in imagination, without which eloquence of
the highest character is impossible. Besides, although his head was
well formed and his face singularly attractive, his small figure
placed him at a disadvantage. He possessed, however, a remarkable
command of language, and his graceful, persuasive manner, often
animated, sometimes thrilling, frequently impassioned, inspired
confidence in his sincerity, and easily classed him among the ablest
speakers. His best qualities consisted in his clearness of exposition,
his masterly array of forcible argument, his faculty for balancing
evidence, for acquiring and comparing facts, and for appreciating
tendencies.

When Van Buren entered the State Senate he was recognised as the
Republican leader of his section. A recent biographer says that his
skill in dealing with men was extraordinary, due no doubt to his
temper of amity and inborn genius for society. "As you saw him once,"
wrote William Allen Butler, "you saw him always--always punctilious,
always polite, always cheerful, always self-possessed. It seemed to
any one who studied this phase of his character as if, in some early
moment of destiny, his whole nature had been bathed in a cool, clear,
and unruffled depth, from which it drew this lifelong serenity and
self-control."[173] Any intelligent observer of public life must have
felt that Martin Van Buren was only at the opening of a great
political career. Inferior to DeWitt Clinton in the endowments which
obtain for their