resentatives, Gouverneur Kemble, a little time before the offer of a
position in the cabinet, in which he said that he did not relish some
points of Van Buren's policy, nor believe in the honesty of some of his
elbow counselors. I quote a passage from it:--

"As far as I know my own mind, I am thoroughly a republican, and
attached, from complete conviction, to the institutions of my
country; but I am a republican without gall, and have no bitterness
in my creed. I have no relish for Puritans, either in religion or
politics, who are for pushing principles to an extreme, and for
overturning everything that stands in the way of their own zealous
career.... Ours is a government of compromise. We have several
great and distinct interests bound up together, which, if not
separately consulted and severally accommodated may harass and
impair each other.... I always distrust the soundness of political
councils that are accompanied by acrimonious and disparaging
attacks upon any great class of our fellow-citizens. Such are those
urged to the disadvantage of the great trading and financial
classes of our country."

During the ten years preceding his mission to Spain, Irving kept fagging
away at the pen, doing a good deal of miscellaneous and ephemeral work.
Among his other engagements was that of regular contributor to the
"Knickerbocker Magazine," for a salary of two thousand dollars. He wrote
the editor that he had observed that man, as he advances in life, is
subject to a plethora of the mind, occasioned by an accumulation of
wisdom upon the brain, and that he becomes fond of telling long stories
and doling out advice, to the annoyance of his friends. To avoid
becoming the bore of the domestic circle, he proposed to ease off this
surcharge of the intellect by inflicting his tediousness on the public
through the pages of the periodical. The arrangement brought reputation
to the magazine (which was published in the days when the honor of
being in print was supposed by the publisher to be ample compensation to
the scribe), but little profit to Mr. Irving. During this period he
interested himself in an international copyright, as a means of
fostering our young literature. He found that a work of merit, written
by an American who had not established a commanding name in the market,
met very cavalier treatment from our publishers, who frankly said that
they need n