98 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



year 1801. He there lived in the family of his aunt, Mrs. 

 F. Calhoun, whose daughter he afterwards married. He 

 was graduated in Yale College in 1804, after only two years 

 of actual residence. He was a first-rate young man, 

 both for scholarship and talent, and for pure and gentle- 

 manly conduct. His high destination was foreseen by 

 Dr. Dwight ; but his mind was of a peculiar structure, 

 and his views also were often peculiar. Three of his 

 College instructors are still here, President Day, Pro- 

 fessor Kingsley, and myself; and both towards us and 

 the College he always manifested feelings of warm at- 

 tachment, and we in turn esteemed him and loved him. 

 His public career has been highly distinguished. It is, 

 however, very much to be regretted that he, many years 

 ago, narrowed down his great mind to sectional views, and 

 that he became morbidly sensitive and jealous of encroach- 

 ment as regards the South, and especially in reference to 

 the protective tariff and to slavery. The former prompted 

 his efforts for nullification, and the latter excited him to 

 a vindication of slavery in the abstract. He in a great 

 measure changed the state of opinion and the manner of 

 speaking and writing upon this subject in the South, until 

 we have come to present to the world the mortifying and 

 disgraceful spectacle of a great republic and the only 

 real republic in the world standing forth in vindication 

 of slavery, without prospect of, or wish for, its extinction. 

 If the views of Mr. Calhoun, and of those who think with 

 him, are to prevail, slavery is to be sustained on this great 

 continent forever. I will not occupy time of a Sabbath 

 day, nor my pages, with any extended remarks upon this 

 subject, which is now agitating the national councils, and 

 to a degree the nation itself. These private pages are not 

 intended for politics, and I will not devote them even to 

 this great moral subject. It is in better hands than man's ; 

 and I trust that ultimately the colored men of all races on 

 this continent will be received into the great human family 



