The bitterness of political warfare in the four
years which we are next to consider might well make the
administration of the last of the Virginia dynasty seem peaceful and
happy by contrast.
Monroe's presidential career descended to a close in a mellow sunset
of personal approval, despite the angry clouds that gathered on the
horizon. He had grown in wisdom by his experiences, and, although
not a genius, he had shown himself able, by patient and
dispassionate investigation, to reach judgments of greater value
than those of more brilliant but less safe statesmen. Candor, fair-
mindedness, and magnanimity were attributed to him even by those who
were engaged in bitter rivalry for the office which he now laid
down. He was not rapid or inflexible in his decisions between the
conflicting views of his official family; but in the last resort he
chose between policies, accepted responsibility, and steered the
ship of state between the shoals and reefs that underlay the
apparently placid sea of the "Era of Good Feeling.
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