DEATH OF WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD.
He was among the few men of fame that I have seen, that aggrandized
on the approach--that having the reputation of a great man,
became greater, as he was more closely examined. There was every
thing about him to impress the beholder favorably and grandly--in
stature "a head and shoulders" above the common race of men, justly
proportioned, open countenance, manly features, ready and impressive
conversation, frank and cordial manners. I saw him for the first
time in 1820, when he was a member of Mr. Monroe's cabinet--when
the array of eminent men was thick--when historic names of the
expiring generation were still on the public theatre, and many of
the new generation (to become historic) were entering upon it: and
he seemed to compare favorably with the foremost. And that was the
judgment of others. For a long time he was deferred to generally,
by public opinion, as the first of the new men who were to become
President. Mr. Monroe, the last of the revolutionary stock, was
passing off: Mr. Crawford was his assumed successor. Had the
election come on one term sooner, he would have been the selected
man: but his very eminence became fatal to him. He was formidable to
all the candidates, and all combined against him. He was pulled down
in 1824; but at an age, with an energy, a will, a talent and force
of character, which would have brought him up within a few years,
if a foe more potent than political combinations had not fallen
upon him: he was struck with paralysis before the canvass was over,
but still received an honorable vote, and among such competitors as
Jackson, Adams, and Clay. But his career was closed as a national
man, and State appointments only attended him during the remaining
years of his life.
Mr. Crawford served in the Senate during Mr. Madison's
administration, and was the conspicuous mark in that body, then
pre-eminent for its able men. He had a copious, ready and powerful
elocution--spoke forcibly and to the point--was the Ajax of the
administration, and as such, had constantly on his hands the
splendid array of federal gentlemen who then held divided empire
in the Senate chamber. Senatorial debate was of high order then--a
rivalship of courtesy, as well as of talent: and the feeling of
respect for him was not less in the embattled phalanx of opposition,
than in the admiring ranks of his own party. He was invaluable
in the Senate, but the state of Europe--then convulsed with the
approaching downfall of the Great Emperor--our own war with Great
Britain, and the uncertainty of the new combinations which might be
formed--all required a man of head and nerve--of mind and will, to
represent the United States at the French Court: and Mr. Crawford
was selected for the arduous post. He told Mr. Madison that the
Senate would be lost if he left it (and it was); but a proper
representative in France in that critical juncture of Europe,
was an overpowering consideration--and he went. Great events took
place while he was there. The Great Emperor fell: the Bourbons
came up, and fell. The Emperor reappeared, and fell again. But the
interests of the United States were kept unentangled in European
politics; and the American minister was the only one that could
remain at his post in all these sudden changes. At the marvellous
return from Elba, he was the sole foreign representative remaining
in Paris. Personating the neutrality of his country with decorum
and firmness, he succeeded in commanding the respect of all, giving
offence to none. From this high critical post he was called by Mr.
Monroe, at his first election, to be Secretary of the Treasury;
and, by public expectation, was marked for the presidency. There
was a desire to take him up at the close of Mr. Monroe's first
term; but a generous and honorable feeling would not allow him to
become the competitor of his friend; and before the second term was
out, the combinations had become too strong for him. He was the
last candidate nominated by a Congress caucus, then fallen into
great disrepute, but immeasurably preferable, as an organ of public
opinion, to the conventions of the present day. He was the dauntless
foe of nullification; and, while he lived, that heresy could not
root in the patriotic soil of Georgia.