The General's presence was a plain surprise to more than one; they could not construe it. For himself, he carried it off as though his being there were the most expected of possible things. The General sat on the right hand of the presiding Lee. I was, myself, to the General's right hand. Opposite was Calhoun with that Calhoun triangle of the cabinet, Berrien, Branch and Ingham. The quartet got on most beamingly. The General, as we came up, rendered them a sweeping bow which they might share among them.
“Calhoun,” whispered the General, indicating the Vice-President with a nod, “is, you see, openly claiming his half of my cabinet. I'll startle him some day by making him a present of the three.”
An hour passed on; the banquet reached that glass-and-bottle stage which Noah anticipated. There were a round score of regular toasts; each would smell of secession, while the speeches were even more malodorous of that villainy.
I, with a hundred others, was narrowly watching the General, and, well as I knew him, I wondered at the calmness wherewith he maintained himself. This man who had a genius for anger, who went head-free into each debate, who offered you his last thoughts in an unrestricted stream of talk, would now be as impassive as marble. The General, throughout these wordy treasons of speech and toast, showed cold and stern and master of a dignity that became both himself and the exalted character of his station.
The hour was hurrying towards the late. Calhoun glanced across at the General; there was a questioning uneasiness in his look. Evidently the urgent moment was at hand.
Calhoun offered a slip of paper to Lee, presiding, and whispered a word.
“The Vice-President proposes a toast,” cried Lee.
There fell a stillness, laughter died and talk was hushed. The Chairman read:
“'The Federal Union. Next to our liberty, the most dear. May we all remember that it can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the States, and distributing equally the benefits and the burden of the Union.'”
That stillness of death continued, marked and profound. Folk strained and craned at both the General and Calhoun as do ones who would observe the effect of a shot. There were eyes replete of interrogation, and if one must have it truly told, defiance, to be peculiarly turned upon the General.