WHEN General Scott was selected as the whig candidate for the presidency, the impression very generally prevailed, we believe, that no other man in the party would prove so available a candidate. The failure to elect him has had the effect to create in the minds of men some distrust as to the policy of relying too much upon what many have considered as availability, and now it is said: 'Let us present our candidates to the people solely on their merits, without any reference to their particular qualifications for popularity; let us trust to the good sense and discernment of the people: they are too wise to be wrought upon again by empty cider-barrels, 'coon-skins, and such fooleries.' Without doubt, they are too wise to be influenced by any such nonsense; and they were also too wise in 1840. The cider-barrels and the 'coon-skins did nothing of themselves alone to elect Harrison president: it was only as they served as emblems of the simple tastes and habits of that goodnatured, kind-hearted, and hospitable old man. And the people cannot be misled as to what is emblematic of the character of the men they are solicited to vote for. Every one knows that it would have been impossible to have made the same commotion with cider-barrels and 'coon-skins, if the object of such commotion had been to elect Webster or Cass, instead of Harrison. The people are not apt long to run after cider-barrels and 'coon-skins when the cider and the 'coons are gone. When there is one link in the chain uniting a candidate for the presidency to the human race that is almost a non-conductor- a link over which deep and fervid sympathies cannot well pass from one to the other he has but a small chance of being elected. Love thyself last,' was one part of Wolsey's advice to Cromwell. These three words form the broad foundation of all popularity.

It is generally thought, in this country at least, we believe, that we are a good-looking people;' and it is a fact much more easily susceptible of proof, that we are a somewhat peculiar people. By glancing hastily

at some of these prominent peculiarities, we shall be much better able to form a clear idea of what sort of qualities are likely to prove available in candidates for the presidency, and in office-seekers generally.

The wonderful elasticity of the Americans is one of their prominent traits that is much dwelt upon. There is a gutta-percha pliability of disposition and temper, which prevents them from being cast down and discouraged, however great may be the misfortunes and reverses to which they are subjected. They never make a great loss without considerable gain; they seldom fall a great distance without bouncing up in a corresponding proportion. Like Blucher, they never know they are beaten, but rise after every defeat, however hopeless it may seem to others, and fight on as if nothing had happened. Read the lives of our prominent men, and observe how great a variety of fortune many of them have experienced. If Patrick Henry had been able or willing to pay a little more attention to his business when he kept a small grocery, his shop might have supported him, and his name have remained unknown to fame. Gen. Greene could not reconcile his taste for books and his military ardor with his labors at the forge; so he doffed his leather apron and quaker's coat, bade adieu to his young wife, and enlisted as a private soldier. A bungling use of the lap-stone and awl made Roger Sherman a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Elihu Burritt threw down his blacksmith's hammer, and a short time after, was astonishing the great and learned of the old world by his powers as a linguist, and the extent of his learning. John Neal and John Pierpont, so distinguished as poets and prose-writers, were once together in the dry-goods business. After two failures, one was driven to the magazine and newspaper, and the other went to the pulpit. They soon achieved great eminence in their new avocations. Even two or three reverses in business were necessary to develop the peculiar but world-renowned talents of Barnum. Some distinguished preachers have run the gauntlet of occupations before they became ministers of the Gospel. They have been, perhaps, shoe-makers, peddlers, schoolteachers, horse-jockeys, and what not, before they reached the pulpit. Their varied experience has enabled them to carry to the profession of the ministry a practical knowledge of human nature, which makes their preaching, if they have talent, very effective. Coarse tastes and habits, too, a ready adaptation of disposition to circumstances, almost enables them to leave off with their old clothes.

Instances of this kind in the old countries, are the exceptions; in this country they are the rule.

It is a well-known fact, that of the most enlightened nations of the old world there is but little versatility of talent among the people at large. Generation after generation follows in the foot-steps of its illustrious or ignoble predecessors. Children almost invariably follow the same avocations, or are brought up to the same employments, that their fathers pursued before them. In this country, it is entirely different. Boys with or without education take to this or that employment, that, for the time being, 'pays the best,' and they generally feel, while retaining it, that they will only remain at it till something better offers. They very seldom feel settled at any thing, but are constantly looking

for something better. This is a predominating feeling with them until nearly or quite middle age, when they are apt to become fully persuaded what calling in life they are best qualified for. We are not sure that it is any particular harm for a man to box the compass of occupations and experiences in his early years. If a rolling stone gathers no moss, a rolling snow-ball gathers a good deal of snow; and how much more is moss worth than snow? The host of miscellaneous facts a man thus acquires, and the varied experience he undergoes, afford a broad and firm foundation to build a fine superstructure of character upon; and, so there be no wear and tear of moral principle in preparing the foundation, it does not matter much whether a man commence life,' as it is called, at twenty or thirty, or forty, even. Dr. Johnson commenced studying Greek when he was seventy; and if a man has leisure at that age, it is better, perhaps, for him to commence his education then, than to omit it altogether.

The old adage, Jack at all trades and good at none,' never originated on this side of the Atlantic. The Americans have very conclusively shown, that a man can be Jack at all trades, and good at all. The fact is, a real live Yankee' (no better opportunity probably will offer for a little necessary national hyperbole,) will crowd more activity, energy, and enterprise into a new pursuit that he may enter upon; will do more to develop it, and draw out all the advantages to himself it is susceptible of yielding, in five years, than most old countrymen can in their life-time. For this reason, versatility, instead of rendering a man unfit for success at any thing, is more likely to make him successful at every thing he undertakes. An opinion prevails with many, that versatility and profundity cannot well be associated together. We very much doubt if Brougham would have been a more profound lawyer or statesman, if he had left literature, science, and almost every thing else alone. The great literary acquirements of Story, Legare, Choate, and others, did not prevent them from being profoundly versed in the law. Cæsar was none the worse general because he excelled as a statesman, a writer, and an orator. Alexander Hamilton and John Hancock were none the worse statesmen for being good accountants, and the former for being, beside, a good general. We are inclined to think, as a general thing, that versatility of talent is apt to be accompanied by unusual activity and industry. The versatile man thinks quicker and more intensely, has more mental life and energy, than the man whose thoughts are all concentrated upon the same objects, whose labors are all directed in the same channel. Elasticity of spirits and versatility of talent generally go hand in hand; and it seems a wise provision of nature that they should; for a man with a large endowment of the latter requires the aid of the former to sustain him, and carry him through the multiplicity of enterprises into which he is led.

We deem these prefatory remarks necessary to a consideration of availability in some prominent men talked of as candidates for the presidency. Certain qualities in a man may be much more popular with one nation than with another, although there are qualities of the heart which win their way with the whole human family. Napoleon is said to have understood French nature to perfection; but his know

ledge of human nature was less remarkable. His popularity with any other nation beside the French, probably would have been less unbounded; but such men as Cimon, the Grecian General, and Mark Antony, notwithstanding their great vices, would be popular among any people at any age of the world. Shakspeare has put into the mouth of Cæsar words which describe some of the heroic qualities of Mark Antony :

'ANTONY,
Leave thy lascivious wassails! When thou once
Wast beaten from Modena, where thou slewest
HIRTIUS and PANSA, consuls, at thy heel

Did famine follow; whom thou fought'st against,
Though daintily brought up, with patience more
Than savages could suffer; thou didst drink
The stale of horses, and the gilded puddle

Which beasts would cough at: thy palate then did deign
The roughest berry on the rudest hedge:

Yea, like a stag, when snow the pasture sheets,
The barks of trees thou browsedst: on the Alps,
It is reported, thou didst eat strange flesh,
Which some did die to look on: and all this
(It wounds thine honor that I speak it now,)
Was borne so like a soldier, that thy cheek'
So much as lanked not.'

We presume, too, he made no ostentation about being obliged to eat what little he had, hastily.

The four most prominent men talked of as candidates for the next presidency, beside the present incumbent of the presidential chair, we believe, are Everett, Seward, Houston, and Douglas. We propose to glance hastily at the life and character of each, regarding them more especially with a view to availability as candidates for the presidency. Edward Everett, the greatest living orator, the all-accomplished, ripe scholar, the experienced statesman, and the perfect gentleman, would confer great honor upon the presidential chair, if chosen to fill it.

Nature dealt very liberally with Mr. Everett in the outset, and circumstances and his own exertions have done the rest. The son of a clergyman, he graduated from Harvard College at a very early age, with a reputation for extraordinary abilities. On leaving college, he first commenced the study of law, but soon turned his attention to theology; and on the death of Buckminster, the most celebrated preacher of the time, was called, at the early age of nineteen, to fill his place. Great as was the renown of his predecessor, the fame of the youthful Everett soon almost eclipsed it. People flocked in great numbers to hear him, and his reputation for great eloquence spread far and wide. Fired by a noble ambition for excellence, he labored with such untiring energy and assiduity that he soon impaired his health, and was obliged to resign his ministry. He then went abroad, and spent several years travelling through Great Britain and Europe. On his return to the United States, he was made Greek Professor in Harvard College. Soon after this, the editorship of the North American Review fell into his hands, and that venerable quarterly was conducted by him for many years with marked ability. Its pages now glisten with more than fifty brilliant essays, on every variety of topic, that have been contributed to it by his fertile and inexhaustible pen. He was but little upward of thirty

when he was chosen member of Congress, a post that he filled with great credit for about ten years. He was then chosen Governor of Massachusetts, and continued to fill that office until he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of London. This was an office that he was admirably calculated to reflect the highest honor upon; and the United States has never been more ably represented at that court, than in his person. On his return from England, he was chosen president of Harvard College, has since been Cabinet Minister, and is now United States Senator.

What a rich and varied experience he has crowded into the period intervening between the ages of nineteen and sixty! More than all, he has occupied no position and filled no office that he did not confer as much honor upon as he received from them. No man in the United States, probably, has been brought in more immediate contact, through all his life, with the conservatism of the old world and the new, than Mr. Everett ; and notwithstanding his great wealth and very gentlemanly tastes, habits, and associations, we know of no production from any other distinguished man in the Union, breathing a more wholesome and pure democracy, than his address before the Colonization Society at Washington, a year or two ago. It contains, however, but the sentiments of his early years, again reïterated and enforced, after a larger experience and a more mature judgment. We make one short quotation from his early writings on 'Aristocracy':

'Ir requires a hundred years to raise human weakness to beatific purity; but the hundred years, if circumstances are favorable, will do it. What subsists to-day by violence, continues to-morrow by acquiescence, and is perpetuated by tradition; till at last the hoary abuse shakes the gray hairs of antiquity at us, and gives itself out as the wisdom of ages. Thus the clearest dictates of reason are made to yield to a long suecession of follies. And this is the foundation of the aristocratic system at the present day. Its strong-hold with all those not immediately interested in it, is the reverence of antiquity.'

In his manners, Mr. Everett is dignified and somewhat reserved, but bland and affable. He, however, lacks that hearty, careless, free-andeasy, good-natured manner, which has distinguished some of our great men, Jackson and Clay, for instance, and which 'tells' so much for availability in a candidate for the presidency.

There is in some men a constitutional good-nature, a gayety and heartiness of manner, which no amount of education or experience of greatness can affect. One of this kind was Judge Story. It is said that the Earl of Carlisle, a man who, as the reader knows, has the blood of all the Howards running in his veins, when in this country, called one day at his house in Cambridge, and found him with a large party of young children, his fine, benevolent countenance radiant with perspiration and delight, all sliding down the bannister on the stairs. A fourth-rate lawyer, whose dignity was his principal capital, (not regarding the impossibility of his being so engaged,) would have felt extreme mortification at being found on such an occasion in such undignified employment. We doubt if Mr. Everett has ever been found by any of the Howards, or the Smiths even, sliding down stair-bannisters since early boyhood, but no one, we presume, would be surprised to find Seward or Houston so engaged, and it is not impossible that the Little Giant'