Nowhere, perhaps, does his vision as an empire-builder, shine more luminously than in his letter to Calhoun, Secretary of War, proposing a scientific expedition in 1819, under the sanction and with the coöperation of the Federal Government.[335] This was the programme of a statesman. And he asked for experts for the expedition--engineers, zoölogists, botanists, mineralogists. Determining to accompany the expedition, it is interesting to note the sagacity of the reason he assigns: “I think it very important to carry the flag of the United States into those remote sections where it has never been borne by any one in public station.” This was the most important expedition ever undertaken by the American Government up to that time, and was so regarded by the press of the period. If we add to this, his successful negotiations of treaties with the Indians under dramatic circumstances, we have the work and record of “The Father of the West”--empire-builder from 1813 until he entered the Cabinet of Jackson in 1831. And this man of action, fighting life-and-death battles on the fringe of civilization, found time for the gratification of literary tastes. Here he suggests the Roosevelt of a much later day. When starting forth on an expedition into the wilderness, it was his custom to supply himself with a small library for his entertainment while floating in canoes on the rivers or the lakes. His articles in later years disclose the scholar.[336] Just before entering the Cabinet he had delivered a scholarly address at Hamilton College which has been preserved in a number of the popular collections of orations.[337] Livingston the Nationalist. Cass, the Empire-Builder. Taney, the Crusader. Out of the career of any one of these might be woven a romance. All were of heroic mould, veritable Plutarchian figures. And we shall see that the time had arrived when Jackson would need the wisest and most courageous of counselors--for Henry Clay was returning in shining armor to lead the bitterest of partisan battles against the Administration. CHAPTER VI KITCHEN CABINET PORTRAITS I