ckson soon after
followed, and, as the embodiment of the principle, rallied around him
its supporters from every section. With these, and his immense
popularity personally, he scotched, for a time, the Puritan snake; but,
true to its instincts, it struggled to bite, though its head was off.

Mr. Adams saw in Troup a strong and uncompromising foe; he knew, too,
the right was with him, and that if pushed to extremities the result
would be damaging to his fame, as having, in persevering for the wrong,
destroyed the Government, and at a time, too, when every benefit from
such destruction would inure to the South. Under the circumstances his
course was taken: he dared not consult or trust Mr. Clay with the real
motives which influenced him to yield, and made a virtue of patriotism
and magnanimity which cloaked his pusillanimity, and shielded from
public view his envenomed chagrin.

It was doubtless this triumph which secured the second election of
Troup. Personally he was unpopular with the masses. His rearing had
been in polished society, and though he was in principle a democrat, in
his feelings, bearing, and associations he was an aristocrat. He
accorded equality to all under the law and in political privilege, but
he chose to select his associates, and admitted none to the familiarity
of intimacy but men of high breeding and unquestioned honor. In many
things he was peculiar and somewhat eccentric. In dress, especially
so--often appearing in midwinter in light, summer apparel; and again,
in summer, with a winter cloak wrapped carefully about him. When he
appeared first before the assembled Legislature, and many of the first
citizens of the State, to take the oath of office, it was a raw, cold
day in November; his dress was a round jacket of coarse cotton, black
cassimere vest, yellow nankeen pantaloons, silk hose, and
dancing-pumps, with a large-rimmed white hat, well worn. In his
address, which was short and most beautiful, he made his hat
conspicuous by holding it in his right hand, and waving it with every
gesture. In person, he was below the middle size, slender, though
finely formed; his hair was red, and his eyes intensely blue and deeply
set beneath a heavy brow; his nose was prominent and aquiline; his
mouth, the great feature of his face, was Grecian in mould, with
flexible lips, which, while in repose, seemed to pout. His rabid
opposition to those engaged in the Yazoo frauds, and his hatred for
those who defe