Page:The War with Mexico, Vol 2.djvu/288

270 felt like the Washington correspondent of the Boston Atlas, who said, They are "little fellows," and "were they all thrown in a bag together, it would make little difference which came out first"'; and they suspected that Polk aimed to eliminate all possible competitors. Many, indeed, believed it should be so. "Who would not regret," asked Senator Mangum, "to see the choice of this great and free people thrown into shadow by overtopping talent?" The President was inaugurated on a cold, rainy, cheerless day, and sentiment, among those who counted, resembled the weather.

The policy of the administration confirmed these impressions. Polk had no great ideas, no inspiring imagination, no kindling enthusiasm, no moving eloquence, no contagious humor, no winning personality. He was not exactly a "burning bush" of patriotism, hallowing the ground about him, and forcing men to put off their grimy, everyday shoes of selfish designs. To sway the nation or even the Democrats in any grand way lay beyond him. He was a partisan, to be sure, but without a party. His trumpet note — has shed "American blood upon the American soil" — came from a newspaper. Almost his only resource, therefore, was patronage, and the business of trading offices for support is essentially a mean one. It makes intrigue a profession, creates many enemies while it creates few friends and renders confidence well-nigh impossible. Without calling the President "mendacious," one can understand how J. K. Paulding came to say, that he possessed no honesty of purpose, no frankness of heart. 'Tossing out a plump lie now and then would have given less offence than continual secretiveness and evasion caused. Polk described the cunning Pillow as "one of the shrewdest men you ever knew." That gave Polk's measure, and political necessities developed his natural disposition. "This little mole," Blair called him. Blair was prejudiced; but for a different bête noire he would have chosen a different name.

New York state affairs had an especially bad effect on Polk's reputation and influence. Knowing that he had played the part of Jacob, the Supplanter, to Van Buren's Esau at the Baltimore convention, and not expecting to be forgiven, Polk probably felt thoroughly distrustful of the Locofocos from the beginning. Silas Wright's declining positively to run for the Vice Presidency