Excerpt from Martin Van Buren: Lawyer, Statesman and Man At this moment, when our ideas are mustered at the tap of the drum, and when we are waiting for new intellects and new reputations, with an impatience which speaks our extreme need of them, the end of a life loaded with the honors of a past generation seems of little account. We can hardly spare the time to cast even a glance at the retreating figure, which, as it passes from the stage, does not lessen the number of actors in the foreground, who are carrying forward, to its close, the great drama of present events. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.