mountains in New Hampshire. In the vallies of the Alleghany, near him, Indian corn grows and comes to perfection four thousand feet above the sea. Though I did not ask him, yet, I suspect that at such an elevation it is the New England corn, and not our gourd seed corn. He tells me, that on his elevated ground, where he lives the climate is nearly the same, as that of the District of Columbia. He has no ambition for public life, its cares and responsibilities. After being thirty-five years in office, he desires to retire from it, and be at peace at home, surrounded as he is by a family endeared to him by all the ties which none but a parent can feel. He has five sons and two daughters. The son with him here, is an officer in the army--a promising young man. He appeared to think that his part of the Union had been wholly neglected by the general government. If that be the fact, and I am sure he thinks so, the representatives from South Carolina, should use their endeavors to obtain their due share of the public patronage. To strengthen the bonds of our Union by mutual aid and mutual affection, should be the constant aim of all our national legislation. I told Mr. Calhoun that Ohio had paid twenty millions of dollars for her lands, into the United States treasury, whereas the people of the Atlantic States had gotten their lands originally, merely for settling on them. Mr. Calhoun in reply stated that Wayne’s war, with all its expenditures, must be charged on Ohio and Indiana. I told Mr. Calhoun that within ten years from this time, the national government would be in our hands in the West for safe keeping, and so will remain thenceforth and forever. This idea, I told him, had its full weight on our minds--it made us bear and forbear--bear our evils and forbear to use any violent means now, to acquire what would, of its own accord soon fall into our possession, and be forever ours. General Anderson of Tennessee, coming in here, I left Mr. Calhoun with the most friendly impressions towards him, which will never wear off from my mind during my life-time. Devoid of all intrigue, he is too honest a man to compete with the little men, who have always opposed him. He will only be called for, when great and commanding powers of mind are imperiously demanded by some great emergency. Like a great lamp, he shines to give light for the benefit of others, who see by the aid of its lustre. Perhaps it is best that the greatest talents are unemployed, except in cases of emergency. They are the army in reserve, upon which a defeated party in advance can fall back and be saved from destruction. Why so many incompetent men should rise into high places of trust, while the greatest and the best ones should be passed by, is not always seen. Envy of living merit may be the cause.