On the fifth day of April, I went early in the morning to see Mr. Calhoun, the new Secretary of State. I found him already in his office, attending to his official duties. It was long before office hours, and I had a long conversation with him. He received me most cordially and entertained me most agreeably for an hour or two. When it was announced to him that Mr. Chilton, a member of Congress, had called to see him, I retired to call on Mrs. Murphy, of Ohio, and her son, who were putting up near the Secretary’s office. After spending an hour or two with them, I called again at the Secretary’s office, but found him engaged with the Texan ministers, Mr. Henderson and Mr. Van Zandt. The messenger brought me a slip of paper with Mr. Calhoun’s place of residence written on it, “at Mrs. King’s, between 13th and 14th streets, on F st.” I went thither, and waited not long but until Mr. Calhoun and his son had arrived and dined. The Secretary came into the parlour where I was sitting, and we conversed together several hours, until General Anderson of Tennessee came, when I took my leave of Mr. Calhoun. During these interviews I had in my mind two regrets: first, that I had never before in my lifetime had an opportunity to converse with him so freely on a great variety of matters, deeply interesting to the people of these United States; and secondly, that my _first_ was to be my _last_ opportunity of conversing with Mr. Calhoun. Mr. Calhoun, in conversation, is as great as he is in every thing else. He can say a great deal in a few words. His language is appropriate and as beautiful as one could possibly imagine it to be. He is in the full possession of all his corporeal and mental powers, he sees every thing at a glance of his mind, and he can speak as easily as he thinks. He is unquestionably one of the most talented men in the nation. It is quite possible that he has been treated very ungratefully by the men, who have been raised into high places by Mr. Calhoun himself. Without a particle of intrigue in his composition--unacquainted entirely with the machinery of party management and party drill, he has stood no chance of success among such men. He appeared to know and to feel this, though he has always scorned to stoop to such low means of rising into the highest office in the Union. He has not a particle of ill will towards his enemies, and, he said, that he had taken a real pleasure in doing good to those who were employing themselves in their endeavors to injure him, although he well knew what they were doing at that moment when he was serving them. He has come here, merely to treat with England and Texas, and having finished his intended labors, he will resign his present office, and retire to the high ground where he dwells, there to spend the remainder of his days. Just back of the country where he lives, the Alleghany mountains rise to an altitude of seven thousand feet above the sea, which is higher than the White