Then, there was DeWitt Clinton, noble in personal appearance, dignified in manners, eloquent in debate, sagacious and far-sighted in business, a lover of science and a scientist himself; the great promoter of the Erie Canal, which was now on the point of completion, and which was destined to revolutionize the commerce of the country; still only fifty-five years of age, although he had been considered more than twenty years before as the most promising man of the nation, and had within that period been United States Senator, mayor of New York City, candidate for the presidency against Mr. Madison, and twice Governor of New York. [Sidenote: William H. Crawford.] Then, there was William H. Crawford, a Virginian by birth and a Georgian by education; a man of large wealth and of imposing bearing; enjoying a very great reputation for statesmanship without any easily discoverable foundation therefor; now {133} fifty-two years of age, and having already been United States Senator, Minister to France, Secretary of War, and Secretary of the Treasury, which latter office he still held; with the exception, perhaps, of Martin Van Buren, the most astute politician among the great men of his time. He had the political friendship and support of Van Buren. The two seem to have been attracted to each other by the similarity of their methods. He was the author of the law of 1820, limiting the term of the officials of the Treasury to four years, the first step in the direction of making the United States civil service a political machine, such as Van Buren and his fellows in the "Regency" had made out of the civil service of the Commonwealth of New York. It is not astonishing that he, rather than any of the other aspirants for the presidency, procured the assembling of a caucus of the members of Congress, and secured a nomination from it, thus making himself the "regular" candidate. Not a third of the members, however, appeared at the caucus, and the nomination did him more harm than good. [Sidenote: John C. Calhoun.] Then, there was Calhoun, grave, pure, and patriotic as Adams himself, and almost as puritanic; South Carolinian by birth, Scotch-Irish by blood, Presbyterian in religion, and New Englander by education; great, both in dialectics and in the administration of affairs; rather more given to introspection than to objective research; speculative, therefore, rather than inductive in his mental processes; most fascinating in conversation, kind and generous in his feelings, and a gentleman everywhere and upon all occasions; a personality to be looked up to with reverence, admiration, and confidence. He was still only forty-two years of age, and yet he had already passed fourteen years in public service, first as member of the South Carolina Legislature, then as member of Congress, and {134} then as Monroe's Secretary of War for both terms, which office he still held. [Sidenote: Daniel Webster.]