and Roger B. Taney
of Maryland, Attorney-General. Van Buren also retired, in conformity
with Jackson's announced intention not to have any one in the Cabinet
who was a candidate for the succession; and Edward Livingston,
Jackson's old Louisiana friend, became Secretary of State.

It was decided that a fitting post for a successor while awaiting his
turn--particularly for one who was not popular--would be the
ministership to Great Britain; and Van Buren duly traveled to London
to take up the duties of this position. But when the appointment was
submitted to the Senate, Calhoun's friends adroitly managed matters so
that the Vice President should have the satisfaction of preventing
confirmation by his casting vote. "It will kill him, sir, kill him
dead," declared the vengeful South Carolinian to a doubting friend.
"He will never kick, sir, never kick." But no greater tactical error
could have been committed. Benton showed the keener insight when he
informed the jubilant Calhoun men that they had "broken a minister,"
only to elect a Vice President.

CHAPTER VII

THE WEBSTER-HAYNE DEBATE

The United States came out of her second war with Great Britain a
proud and fearless nation, though her record was not, on its face,
glorious. She went to war shockingly unprepared; the people were of
divided opinion, and one great section was in open revolt; the
military leaders were without distinction; the soldiery was poorly
trained and equipped; finances were disordered; the operations on land
were mostly failures; and the privateers, which achieved wonders in
the early stages of the contest, were driven to cover long before the
close; for the restoration of peace the nation had to thank England's
war weariness far more than her own successes; and the Treaty of Ghent
did not so much as mention impressment, captures, or any of the other
matters mainly at issue when the war was begun. Peace, however,
brought gratitude, enthusiasm, optimism. Defeats were quickly
forgotten; and Jackson's victory at New Orleans atoned for the
humiliations of years. After all, the contest had been victorious in
its larger outcome, for the new world conditions were such as to
insure that the claims and practices which had troubled the relations
of the United States and Great Britain would never be revived. The
carpings of critics were drowned in the public rejoicings. The
Hartford Convention dissolved unwept and unsung. Flushed with pride
and co