But he had not secured the confidence or the support of the Democracy.

The members of that party were willing to fill his offices throughout the country, and to absorb the honors and emoluments of his administration; but the leaders of positive influence, men of the grade of Van Buren, Buchanan, Cass, Dallas, and Silas Wright, held aloof, and left the government to be guided by Democrats who had less to risk, and by Whigs of the type of Henry A.Wise of Virginia and Caleb Cushing of Massachusetts, who had revolted from the rule of Mr.
Clay.

It was the sagacity of Wise, rather than the judgment of Tyler, which indicated the immense advantage of securing Mr.Calhoun for the head of the cabinet.

The great Southern leader was then in retirement, having resigned from the Senate the preceding year.
By a coincidence worth nothing, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were all at that moment absent from the Senate, each having voluntarily retired.

In later life, chastened by political adversity, they returned to the chamber where, before their advent and since their departure, there have been no rivals to their fame.
Naturally, Mr.Calhoun would have been reluctant to take office under Tyler at any time, and especially for the brief remainder of an administration which had been continually under the ban of public opinion, and which had not the slightest prospect of renewal.