This bill preserved all the essential fe_A Biography of Henry Clay, the Senator from Kentucky Containing Also, a Complete Report of All His Speeches; Selections From His Private Correspondence; Eulogies in the Senate and House; and a Poem, by George D. Prentice, Esq.

of the protective system unimpaired; too much, indeed, to please the

south. Violently opposed to any measures of protection which made the

slightest encroachment upon their sectional interests, they regarded

the provisions of this bill with the most bitter hatred. The leaven of

nullification, which was rapidly spreading itself at the south, gloated

over these, and derived new strength to go forth and disseminate its

invalidating dogmas. Its aspect grew more and more menacing every

day, until, at last, indubitable evidences of an organized opposition

to this bill began to appear. In this, South Carolina took the lead.

The legislature of that state ratified an ordinance, passed by a

state convention at Columbus, in November, 1832, declaring the tariff

acts unconstitutional, and utterly null and void. The most decided

determination was expressed, to disregard them, and not a few were

found insisting upon the right to do so. Measures were devised to

resist their enforcement, and munitions of war procured, and warlike

preparations made; the other southern states were invited to join her;

reports were put in circulation, that Great Britain was about to become

her fast and firm ally; and the lovers of liberty began to tremble

for the result. The anti-republicans began to chuckle over the fancied

prospect, that their predictions were about to be verified――that

our liberties, our institutions, and our union, were about to be

overwhelmed in utter destruction, by the all-devouring jaws of civil

war. President Jackson promptly issued his proclamation, denouncing the

doctrines of nullification, and declared that the entire military force

of the United States, if necessary, should be employed to put down all

attempts to oppose or resist any enactment of the general government.

He remonstrated with the people of South Carolina, and urged them to

submit to the laws of the United States. His wishes, however, were

not heeded. The governor (Mr. Hayne) immediately issued a counter

proclamation, setting forth the arbitrary measures which the federal

executive sought to subject them to, and counselling them to resist

these, even by force of arms, if necessary. The danger that impended

increased every hour, notwithstanding the bold and decided stand,

which the president took by the side of the laws of the union. In

this respect his conduct is entitled to all praise. But it was not

occasioned by any good or friendly feeling towards the protective

system, nor by any diminution of his hostility towards this. He gave

increasing evidence of his willingness to contribute to its destruction,

by yielding to the rebellious state all she desired, in abandoning

the principle of protection. This had been distinctly avowed, in the

report of the secretary of the treasury, recommending the reduction of

duties to a revenue standard, and on the twenty-seventh of December,

Mr. Verplanck, from the committee on ‘ways and means,’ reported a bill

which, in accordance with the recommendation of the secretary’s report,

proposed to reduce the duties on imported goods, to an average of about

fifteen per cent. upon the foreign valuation. This bill was designed

to take immediate effect, and to make a further reduction of duties,

on all protected articles, in March, 1834. Thus the administration came

over to the ground which the nullifiers desired it to occupy. After

the bill had been discussed about a week, the president transmitted a

message to congress, together with the abrogating enactments of South

Carolina, and recommended the course he deemed proper to be pursued in

relation to them. A bill to enforce the collection of the revenue, was

brought before the senate a few days subsequent, directing coercive

measures to be employed, in case of resistance. Matters seemed

fast coming to extremities. The disorganizers, though in a state of

readiness, took no decisive steps, but seemed to be looking for an

adjustment of the subject occasioning their disquietude, in a way

to suit their peculiar views. But the prospect that this would be

accomplished, grew every day fainter. At this critical juncture,

when no source of help was visible, when the political heavens were

continually gathering blackness, and the thunder of insurgency fell

with appalling plainness upon the ear, Mr. Clay stepped forth to

disperse the gloom, and clothe with the garments of peace, an almost

distracted people. He clearly saw, that, to heal the breach which had

been made, and which was continually widening, it was necessary to

make a partial retrocession from the vantage ground, which by toil

and strife he had gained, in relation to the American system. To yield

an inch of this, of such vital importance did he conceive it to be

to the country, was like allowing the sources of his own existence to

be annihilated, one by one. But the salvation of it depended, at this

crisis, on making this ♦retrograde movement, as well as the peace, and

perhaps life, of no inconsiderable portion of the people. Under these

circumstances, he did not hesitate as to the course he ought to pursue.

It seemed as though he had, some time previous, cast his solicitous

eyes over the whole ground; that he had foreseen while in embryo

the dark elements of faction and resistance, and nullification, and

foresaw that they would commingle, and ferment, and finally originate

just such an emergency, as that which reared its horrid front before

him. Something like _compromise_ had suggested itself to him, some

weeks previous, while spending a season of leisure with a relative in

Philadelphia. He then gave the subject considerable consideration, and

digested a plan suited to the extremity, which he knew would, sooner or

later, arrive. _It had come_, bringing in its train, remote though they

might be, consequences which no patriot, no well-wisher to his country,

could contemplate, without standing aghast. To avert these, Mr. Clay

deemed it not only desirable, but highly obligatory upon those who

were the recipients of the blessings of freedom. Having completed

his remedial plan, he spread it before the senate on the eleventh of

February, 1833, in the form of a _compromise_ bill. This was the result

of mature deliberation and much consultation, both with the friends and

enemies of protection. He thought it expedient to ascertain, not only

the manner of its reception, but of its operation. Many of those whom

he consulted did not approve of his plan. Among these was Mr. Webster.

With him Mr. Clay discussed the provisions thoroughly, and though

partially convinced of its utility, he did not yield it his entire

confidence. Mr. Webster’s opinion, carrying with it great weight,

tended to gather a pretty formidable opposition around him at the

north, while nullification at the south contributed its share. Mr.

Clay, therefore, found it necessary to advance with great caution; to

survey carefully every inch of ground he intended to occupy, previous

to setting foot upon it. Never, perhaps, was a bill brought before

congress under such peculiar circumstances, or when greater talent

and skill were needed. The south was willing to be conciliated, but

somewhat inclined to dictate terms. A hair-breadth deviation from the

line which her predilection designated, might prove fatal to his scheme,

and cause the gathering storm to pour its desolating strength upon the

land. As far as practicable, Mr. Clay ascertained the feelings of this

section in relation to it, and had several interviews with Mr. Calhoun,

and other influential members from the south. The proclamation of the

president had temporarily diverted their enmity from the system of

protection, towards him. To the summary and stern manner in which

general Jackson proposed, and even seemed anxious, to settle existing

difficulties, there was a great and growing repugnance at the north,

and which operated favorably in disposing the south to embrace any

plan that might be proposed, though it should not embody all the

peculiarities of their views.

Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, zealously coöperated with Mr. Clay,

incessantly exerting himself to propagate his views, and, in

consequence of his commanding influence, his efforts were crowned

with gratifying success. He was strongly attached to Mr. Calhoun, and

many other southern members, and would often express his admiration of

their distinguished talents and noble qualities, and a desire to see

them retained in the service of their and his country. ‘Noble fellows,

Clay! noble fellows!’ he would say. ‘We must save them, if possible;

it will not do to let general Jackson hang them; the country needs

them; _she cannot spare them yet_!’ Southern members generally took

sides with South Carolina, so far as to consult her wishes in selecting

such measures as would satisfy her. The principle of home valuation,

which Mr. Clay and his friends insisted upon incorporating with his

compromise bill, they opposed at first, but finally most of them agreed

to it, among whom was Mr. Calhoun. When the bill was taken up by the

senate, he, for the first time, signified his assent to that principle,

and paid a handsome tribute to the patriotism and motives of Mr. Clay.

He intimated, plainly, that Mr. Clay’s bill was calculated to heal the

wound which the confederacy had received, and expressed the strongest

anxiety that this would be accomplished without abandoning a tittle

of the constitutional right of protection. In a debate, which was

protracted several days, the enemies of the bill arrayed against

it all their power. Mr. Webster, with the mighty weapons which his

giant intellect was capable of forging, assaulted it with tremendous

vehemence. Its defeat was considered at one stage of the discussion

as certain. Said Mr. Forsyth, tauntingly, ‘_the tariff is at its last

gasp; no hellebore can cure it_.’ ‘It contains nothing but _protection_,

from beginning to end,’ said Mr. Smith, of Maryland, ‘_and therefore I

oppose it_.’

During the debate, a personal difficulty occurred between Mr.

Poindexter, of Mississippi, and Mr. Webster, which threatened to

lead to something serious. Mr. Clay, by his generous interference,

pacificated the parties, by bringing about a satisfactory explanation.

The compromise bill finally was adopted in the house, by a vote of

one hundred and twenty to eighty-four, and in the senate, by a vote

of twenty-nine to sixteen, and received the president’s signature,

in March, 1833. And thus the country once more breathed freely; the

good and benevolent, who had clad themselves in sackcloth, and, in a

posture of the deepest humiliation and grief, sat supplicating a kind

Providence to shield her, in this her hour of imminent peril, and guide

her safely through it, arose and poured out to Him the libations of

their gratitude. Neither did they forget the instrument which he had

deigned to employ in accomplishing her deliverance. Both friends and

foes acknowledged his agency in this. As in the settlement of the

Missouri question, so in this, he was hailed as the liberator of a

nation from the jaws of impending danger, and perhaps of ruin. The tide

of popular praise and profound regard set towards him from all parts

of it, like the streams of gravitation towards the centre of the earth.

Men of all parties contributed to swell this. Those who rarely spoke of

him, except in detracting terms, now joined heartily in the popular cry

of approval. President Tyler was heard to say, several years subsequent

to the passage of Mr. Clay’s bill, in view of his agency in carrying

it through congress, ‘in my deliberate opinion, there was but one man

who could have arrested the then course of things (the tendency of

nullification to dissolve the union), and that man was _Henry Clay_.

It rarely happens to the most gifted and talented and patriotic, to

record their names upon the page of history, in characters indelible

and enduring. But if to have rescued his country from civil war――if

to have preserved the constitution and union from hazard and total

wreck――constitute any ground for an immortal and undying name among

men, _then do I believe that he has won for himself that high renown_.

I speak what I do know, for I was an actor in the scenes of that

perilous period. When he rose in the senate chamber, and held in his

hand the olive branch of peace, I, who had not known what envy was

before, _envied him_. I was proud of him as my fellow countryman, and

still prouder that the _slashes of Hanover_, within the limit of my old

district, gave him birth.’

The above is a fair sample of the expressions of praise and regard,

for his eminent services rendered, in connection with introducing those

wise and sanative provisions which poured the balm of peace into the

lacerated hearts of an afflicted people. Probably they were never more

united in any one measure, than in that of expressing their gratitude

to Mr. Clay, for his successful interference. And well did he merit

it. The task which he performed was no easy one. It cost an amount of

mental labor which cannot be easily estimated. Many sleepless nights

were passed in exhausting thought, in revolving in his mind the subject,

in all its aspects and details, with an anxiety to devise some remedy

that would meet the exigencies of the case, that drank up the very

sources of his existence. It required the mightiest effort of his great

and varied powers, to prevent its strangulation at its inception. While

in the hands of the committee, its enemies endeavored to cause the

impression to be received, that the bill, as designed by Mr. Clay,

could not pass; that there was not the slightest chance of its success;

and several members of the committee were determined that it should not

be reported to the senate in any form, and were more than once on the

point of abandoning their places to secure this. ‘Gentlemen,’ Mr. Clay

would say, ‘this subject has been committed to us, and we must not

dismiss it in this manner; it is our duty to report it in some shape,

and it _shall_, at all events, _be reported_.’ It appeared subsequently,

from the testimony of Mr. Hugh L. White, on whom the duty of selecting

the committee devolved, that _general Jackson had, in person, urged

him to choose such members as were friendly to Mr. Verplanck’s

bill, and consequently hostile to Mr. Clay’s_. It is matter of great

surprise, that, under such circumstances, it should have passed at all,

except with the entire abandonment of protection. More than sleepless

vigilance was requisite, to bring it safely out from beneath the

uplifted arms of a powerful party, led on by the executive himself, and

place it on the statute book of the nation. Columbus hardly encountered

fiercer storms, or braved greater dangers, in _discovering_ America,

than Mr. Clay in originating, sustaining, and consummating, a measure

that resulted in the preservation of a great portion of it from falling

into the hands of the worst of all human enemies, _civil war_. Well did

he deserve, then, the meed of praise which its inhabitants unanimously

accorded to him. Most righteous was their decision, in relation to

his motives――that they were _unimpeachably pure_. In these days of

political degeneracy, it is refreshing to look back and suffer one’s

vision to rest upon that spot on which he planted his feet, and fought

his glorious, patriotic battle; their prints are still seen; they have

gathered greenness with the lapse of years, presaging that the floods

and storms of time will never obliterate or mar them.

We have before alluded to Mr. Clay’s indomitable adhesion to principle,

that no party or selfish consideration could induce him for a moment to

swerve from it. This led him to act for the good of his whole country,

and _never to act_, while a member of her councils, unless an occasion

when that was at stake arose. We have searched long, but in vain, for

evidence to the contrary. We have examined, with great care, his public

character, as spread out upon the records of the nation, and solemnly

declare our belief, that none, either expressed or implied, exists.

If, in relation to his public career, we were asked, ‘what is its most

prominent characteristic?’ we should unhesitatingly reply, _purity of

motive_. We believe, in reference to this, that he stands on a moral

eminence, high enough to command a view of the globe. So prominent does

this appear, the more it is examined, the conviction cannot be resisted,

that, in all his public action, of which his country was the object,

his desire to act right was stronger than that of life itself. Says one

of his personal friends, ‘on one occasion he did me the honor to send

for and consult with me, in reference to a step he was about to take.

After stating what he proposed, I suggested, whether there would not be

danger in it, whether such a course would not injure his own prospects,

as well as those of the whig party in general.’ His reply was, ‘I

did not send for you to ask what might be the effects of the proposed

movement on my prospects, BUT WHETHER IT IS RIGHT; _I would rather be

right than be president_.’ A noble sentiment! and would it were more

common among politicians.

The compromise act was intended to expire in 1842, to which time it

provided for a gradual reduction of duties, when twenty per centum

should be the rate until otherwise regulated by law.

Soon after the adjournment of congress, accompanied by a portion of

his family, Mr. Clay took a long-contemplated tour to the eastern

cities. This gave the people an opportunity of beholding the great and

successful champion of their rights, and in many instances of tendering

to him their thanks. His whole route was like the movement of some

mighty conqueror――almost one unbroken triumphal procession. He was

taken into the arms of popular favor, as soon as he stepped from the

threshold of his dwelling, and hardly suffered to alight, until they

had returned him thither.[1] He was escorted into all the principal

places through which he passed, with the highest possible respect.

At New York, every demonstration of gratitude and rejoicing welcomed

him. An immense throng of gentlemen on horseback, escorted him to his

lodgings. The governor’s room in the city hall, was appropriated to

his use, and was crowded by a constant succession of ♦visitors. All

parties seemed to vie with each other in devising and presenting the

most fitting testimonials of regard. Through the eastern states, his

reception was marked with every token of esteem; their inhabitants

rose up from their occupations, almost like one person, to do him

homage. For a season, their spindles, shuttles, and manufacturing

establishments, ceased operation, in honor of the presence of their

defender. Arrived at Boston, whose population had been anticipating and

preparing for his arrival, the enthusiasm which had been swelling and

increasing and accompanying his progress, was given back from Faneuil

hall and Bunker hill, in echoes that reverberated to the remotest

parts of the country. The young men of that city presented him a pair

of superb silver pitchers, weighing one hundred and fifty ounces;

committees waited on and addressed him; and invitations to public

festivals on his account were numerous. On his return, after visiting

Troy and Albany, his reception at New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,

and other places, was, if possible, more enthusiastic than it was

when he passed through them on his way east. He was released from the

‘bondage’ of the people’s favor, in season for him to renew his efforts

in vindicating their privileges and their liberties.

The policy advocated by Mr. Clay in disposing of the public lands,

rendered him a fit subject for the continuance of that favor which

the people had lavished so unsparingly upon him, and a target for his

enemies to give fresh specimens of their skill in archery. The question

came up in this manner. Mr. Bibb, of Kentucky, on the twenty-second

of March, 1832, moved to reduce the price of public lands, and Mr.

Robinson, of Illinois, the propriety of ceding them to the several

states in which they were located. The administration party managed

to have this question referred (though with manifest impropriety) to

the committee on _manufactures_. This they did with the obvious intent

of perplexing Mr. Clay, who was a member of that committee. They knew

his prompt and decided manner; that he would not dismiss the question,

without taking some definite action. They knew, also, that local

prejudices and interests were so deeply involved in it, as to make its

consideration peculiarly difficult, and to bring down upon the agent of

its adjustment, the loud displeasure of that section, whose interests

must, in a measure, from its very nature, be sacrificed. Their only

motive was to impair his popularity with the east, if he suffered their

interest to be transferred to the west, and with the latter, if he

made provision for its maintenance. To a narrow-minded politician, this

subject would have presented a dilemma, but to Mr. Clay none at all.

He gave his enemies fresh and most overwhelming evidence, of the utter

fruitlessness of appealing to what scarcely existed within him――_to his

cupidity_. He would not deviate a hair from the path of rectitude, to

accept the highest gift which the nation could confer. Its reference

to the committee on manufactures he knew to be, and pronounced, highly

irregular, as well as improper, yet it had been made, and for one he

was resolved not to shrink from the duty of examining it. He therefore

took up the subject, and according to his notion of equity and justice

to all in any way interested in the disposal of the public domain,

framed his noted ‘land bill,’ of which the following is a synopsis.

It provided, that, after the thirty-first day of December, 1832,

twelve and a half per centum of the net proceeds of the sales of

the public lands within Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama, Missouri,

and Mississippi, should be paid to them independent of what they

were entitled to according to the terms of their admission into the

confederacy. This was to be appropriated for purposes of internal

improvement and education, under the supervision of their several

legislatures. The remainder of the proceeds was to be distributed among

all the states in proportion to their representative population, for

similar purposes, and under similar control, or in liquidation of any

debt contracted in making internal improvement.

The act was to continue five years, except in case of war. Additional

provisions were to be made for any new state that might be admitted

during its continuance.

The minimum price of the lands was not to be increased, and not less

than eighty thousand dollars per annum to be applied in completing the

public surveys. Land offices were to be discontinued, where the net

proceeds of the sales in them should not be sufficient to defray the

expense of their continuance, and that certain designated quantities

of land should be granted to six of the new states, not to be sold at

a less than the minimum price of lands sold by the United States.

Such was the bill introduced by Mr. Clay, and great was the

astonishment of the administration party in view of its munificent

provisions, and that exemplary impartiality, which consulted the

interests of all sections of the country alike. Being a candidate

for the presidency, they had confidently expected that he would make

such a disposition of the question as to secure the support of all the

western states, or, at least, so manage as to make it bear favorably on

his election. Great, therefore, was their astonishment, in subjecting

his bill to their microscopic scrutiny, in not being able to find

the remotest reference to _self_, not the slightest looking towards

the presidency, and great was their disappointment also. They had

tried various schemes to destroy his popularity, without success, and,

thinking that he would reason on this subject as _they themselves_,

concluded that he would become entangled in their snare. They almost

began to chuckle over the anticipated cry of ‘bargain’ and ‘corruption,’

with which they should be able to fill the land, on the appearance of

his bill. Great was their disappointment, therefore, when his sterling

integrity, his purity of intention, appeared in their place.

On the twentieth of June, Mr. Clay’s land bill was taken up by the

senate. He exerted himself nobly in its defence, and was opposed by

Mr. Benton, who, together with other administration men, strenuously

supported the policy of reducing the price of a part of the public

lands, and of surrendering the remainder to the states in which they

lie.

Efforts were made to postpone and amend the bill, but it was so ably

enforced, and the objections to it so completely refuted, that it

passed the senate by a vote of twenty to eighteen, on the third of

July. The house, in regard to some of its provisions, disagreed, and

this circumstance enabled its enemies to postpone its consideration,

until December, next following, by a vote of ninety-one to eighty-eight.

At the next session it was taken up and passed, by votes of twenty-four

to twenty in the senate, and ninety-six to forty in the house, and sent

to the president for his signature. Had he returned it immediately,

even with his veto, it would have become a law, according to the

constitution, requiring a vote of two thirds; but, unfortunately for

the country, the president’s constitutional privilege of retaining

bills a designated length of time, did not expire until after the

adjournment of congress, which gave general Jackson an opportunity

of taking the business of legislation out of the hands of the people,

which he eagerly embraced――to trample this bill, as Mr. Benton

exultingly said, ‘under his big foot,’ although he knew it expressed

the obvious wishes of the people. He, therefore, kept the bill,

until the commencement of the next session, (fifth of December, 1833,)

when he returned it to the house, with his objections. He regarded

Mr. Clay’s proposition of giving a certain per centage of the sales

of the public lands to the states in which they were located, as an

‘indirect and undisguised violation of the pledge given by congress to

the states before a single cession was made, abrogating the condition

on which some of the states came into the union, and setting at nought

the terms of cession spread upon the face of every grant, under which

the title of that portion of the public lands are held by the federal

government.’ In close connection with his objection to surrendering

a _part_ of the public domain to the several states, as mentioned,

came his proposal to yield them the _whole_. To grant them a _part_,

would be unconstitutional; but to grant them the _whole_, would be

constitutional. This reasoning is perfectly _sui generis_; presenting

a singular specimen of _logic and consistency_ united. It behoved the

president to support his veto by some prop, but no person supposed

he would select such a crooked and frail one. The fact that he did,

shows how long and tedious must have been his wanderings through the

political forest, with his executive axe upon his shoulder, in search

of a straight and firm one. The truth of the whole matter probably is,

that the veto originated more from his personal hostility to Mr. Clay

himself, than from any valid constitutional objection to his land bill.

This view of the subject receives strong confirmation, by a reference

to his message of December fourth, 1832. In this, the president

_specifically recommended_ the basis of _just such a bill_ as that

introduced by Mr. Clay. _Stubborn facts_ justify us in saying, that

if the same bill, containing the same provisions, had been introduced

and advocated by Mr. Benton, or Mr. Buchanan, or indeed by any ardent

supporter of the administration, the veto never would have been

thought of. But it was presented by a hated hand; a hand, that, in the

estimation of the president, polluted every thing it touched, and he

indignantly spurned its contents to the dust; a hand respecting which

he was always ready to ask, ‘can any GOOD THING come out of it?’ There

is too much truth in the remark that has been made of him, both by his

friends and foes, thousands of times――‘_he would have every thing his

own way_.’

But, though defeated by the despotic will of one man, Mr. Clay was not,

and could not be, silenced by it. While he had strength to stand up in

the councils of his country, he resolved to stand firmly by the side

of her rights, and paralyze, if possible, the hand uplifted to infringe

them. Though not a participator in those scenes of blood and carnage,

in which her broad and beautiful fields were won, yet his sympathizing

heart too vividly portrayed the floods of tears, and treasure, and

anguish, which the eastern states poured out in perfecting their title

papers, to sit tamely down and see them defrauded of their interest

in these. The tombs of their heroes who fell in these struggles, would

cry aloud for vengeance, if he sealed his mouth, and hid himself, when

he saw the robber approaching. No! Henry Clay was not the man to act

thus; his country’s rights were _his_ rights, her wishes _his_ wishes,

and he would maintain the former, and consult the latter, at any cost.

The ‘big foot,’ therefore, of general Jackson, though it ruthlessly

‘trampled’ on his _work_, dared not ‘trample’ on HIM, and he vigorously

set about exposing the fallacy, and puerility, even, of the president’s

reasons for his veto. This he did in a report which he submitted to

the senate, from the committee on public lands, May second, 1834, with

special reference to the return of the land bill. Subsequently, from

time to time, during several years, efforts were made to wrest the

public domain from its rightful owners, which Mr. Clay successfully

resisted, and finally succeeded in placing it beyond the reach of those

who were bent upon its plunder, giving to each section of the country

its equitable share in it. His exertions in accomplishing this have

established a foundation for his fame to rest upon, as immovable as

the hills which they protected, and which shall endure as long as the

verdure which clothes them shall be an object of grateful contemplation.

In 1831–32, Mr. Van Buren’s nomination as minister to England came

before the senate for confirmation. Mr. Clay opposed it, on the ground

of that gentleman’s anti-republican conduct in giving, while secretary

of state, instructions to Mr. McLane. In these he not only manifested

a desire to attach unnecessary blame to the United States, in their

intercourse with Great Britain, but unjustly disparaged, in the eyes

of that power, the preceding administration. He stated, that its acts

had induced England to withhold from them certain privileges, which it

otherwise would have extended to them. On the objectionable portions

of these instructions, Mr. Clay animadverted with merited severity.

‘According to Mr. Van Buren,’ said he, ‘on our side _all was wrong_――on

the British side _all was right_. We brought forward nothing but claims

and pretensions; the British government asserted, on the other hand,

a clear and incontestible right. We erred, in too tenaciously and too

long insisting upon our pretensions, and not yielding at once to the

force of just demands. And Mr. McLane was commanded, to avail himself

of all the circumstances in his power to mitigate our offence, and to

dissuade the British government from allowing their feelings, justly

incurred by the past conduct of the party driven from power, to have

an adverse influence towards the American party now in power. Sir, was

that becoming language, from one independent nation to another? Was it

proper in the mouth of an American minister? Was it in conformity with

the high, unsullied, and dignified character of our previous diplomacy?

Was it not, on the contrary, the language of an humble vassal to

a proud and haughty lord? Was it not prostrating and degrading the

American eagle before the British lion?’

The nomination was rejected in the senate by the casting vote of Mr.

Calhoun, the vice president. Mr. Clay’s opposition to it was based upon

grounds purely national――on a desire to maintain the dignity and honor

of his country’s character. It was fair for him, and for every one, to

infer, that the spirit of cringing obsequiousness which Mr. Van Buren

evinced, in framing instructions for a foreign minister, would display

itself before the court of St. James, in acts as humiliating to her

feelings as derogatory to her honor; in a word, that he would take

the low attitude of the _parasite_, and not the erect position of the

high-minded representative of an independent and mighty nation. How

could Mr. Clay’s course have been otherwise? Viewed with the eye of

a partisan, it may be deemed impolitic; it may have contributed more

than any thing else to elevate Mr. Van Buren to the presidency, by

recommending him more strongly to the favor of his party, as the victim

of political persecution. Party politics, however, had nothing to

do in determining Mr. Clay’s action; this was not the result of the

consultations of any clique, nor the product of any party machinery; it

was the offspring of his prompt, spontaneous, and unqualified obedience

to his country’s mandate. He was never found grovelling among the dingy

kennels and filthy sewers of party cabal, seeking the performance of

some dirty job; for his country, his _whole country_, gave him too

much and too honorable employment to allow him any leisure for this,

had he been thus inclined. We have seen that it was his ardent desire

to develope the resources of his country to their greatest possible

extent, and to cause the tide of prosperity to flow unremittingly

into the depositaries of her treasures; and he possessed the abilities

requisite to accomplish both, if these could have been suitably

directed. Unfortunately, however, circumstances rendered it necessary

for them to be almost constantly employed in beating off those who were

determined to lay violent hands on her facilities and riches. Instead,

therefore, of erecting new political edifices, his time was incessantly

occupied in preventing her enemies from tearing down those that were

already established. These, he fought and belabored to the last, and

plucked from their ravenous jaws many fair portions of his country’s

possessions. But it needed more than human aid to overthrow their now

combined and embattled forces. We have reached the period rendered

memorable by their ruthless ravages, the darkest and most disgraceful

of our history――chronicling the vilest acts of those in power, and the

noblest deeds of those out of power. Hitherto, in tracing the public

career of Mr. Clay, our path has been, for the most part, smooth and

flowery; but now it is to become rugged and thorny, for we have arrived

at the border of the _great desert of our political annals_――a region

of ruin, covered with the black monuments of political depravity and

unprincipled faction――a region we would gladly avoid, did not our

path lead across it, which we enter reluctantly, and with feelings not

unlike those of the traveller who has journeyed through an enlightened

country, beautified by art, literature, and science, and is about

to pass into one destitute of the conveniences and necessaries of

civilization. As he pauses and turns to take a last look of the beauty

of the former, before he plunges into the gloom and dreariness of the

latter, so let us cast a glance at the bright region behind, before

entering the dismal one before us. The vision is cheered by a vast

country, basking in the sunshine of high prosperity, with its various

departments organized and governed with the most scrupulous fidelity,

and with strict regard for the interests of those for whom they were

established. No evils are seen to exist, except such as are incident

to the most wisely regulated human institutions. On all sides we behold

a population harmonious and happy, pursuing their different vocations

without clashing or defection, or rejoicing over the rewards of honest

and judicious industry. The great sources of their thrift, and most

conspicuous features of their country, are the broad, deep, and

crystalline streams of agriculture, commerce, currency, and domestic

manufactures, with its noble tributary, internal improvement. These

meander throughout its whole extent, deposit their sweet waters at

every man’s dwelling, and make the whole land vocal with innocent

mirth and pure enjoyment. Such was the condition of the country through

which we have just journeyed, and, had we leisure, would gladly linger

to enumerate more particularly the benefits and blessings which the

enriching influences of those magnificent streams generated; but

we must hasten to trace their progress in the country before us.

Previously, however, to commencing our cheerless march, let us, from

our lofty position, survey their appearance, after they enter its

lonely wilds and barrens. According to a universal and fundamental

law of nature, their magnitude should be greatly increased, but they

present an instance of its suspension, for some have dwindled to mere

rills, and some have entirely disappeared, while others, encountering

some unnatural impediments, have become dammed up, and inundated

immense tracts with their waters, which stagnate and pollute the

atmosphere with noxious vapors. The appearance of the country and

its inhabitants, is sickening to behold. The former, broken, uncouth,

and uncultivated, looks as though it were laboring under an attack of

delirium tremens. Among the latter, commotion, confusion, and disorder,

prevail. There is an abundance of action, but it is that of desperation

and excitement, but it is perfectly ♦beneficial. A noble few seem to be

struggling virtuously against a tide of ruin and excess; but the great

mass appear to be in the hot pursuit of the wildest schemes that human

imagination ever invented, trampling upon all order and restraint,

diffusing the wildest intoxication through every department of public

and private life, and making them the rendezvous of the worst evils

known or named among men. The causes of these singular phenomena, a

brief recital of facts, as connected with the subject of our memoir,

will explain; to gather which, we must enter the territory whose

condition we have been anticipating. The first that we notice is the

policy of general Jackson towards the bank of the United States――an

institution which he found in most prosperous circumstances, and

answering every expectation that could be reasonably entertained

in relation to such an establishment, and pronounced by the best

financiers sound and safe. Nevertheless, soon after entering upon his

official duties, he commenced his ‘humble efforts’ at improving its

condition, which, however, aimed at nothing more nor less than making

it subservient to party interests. Attempts were made to accomplish

this, which, however, proved utterly abortive; the president of the

bank replying to them, that its management should not be in any way

connected with politics, and that the position which it should maintain,

would be that of a _faithful and impartial friend_ to the government,

and not that of a party or government politician. Enticement proving

unsuccessful, resort was then had to threats, which, however, failed of

their effect. President Jackson, in his first message, commenced paving

the way for the destruction of the bank, by causing the impression to

be received that it was unsound, and that _the people_ questioned the

constitutionality and expediency of the law by which it was established.

In his second message he intimates the same, and makes such allusions

to the _veto power_ as to show that he designed to employ it, unless

his own peculiar views should be consulted in renewing the charter

of the bank. In his third message he takes similar ground in relation

to it, but says he ‘leaves the subject to the investigation of

the people and their representatives.’ This was promptly made, and

resulted in rechartering the bank, by a vote of one hundred and seven

to eighty-five in the house, which was as promptly vetoed by him.

In his veto message is the following remarkable passage. ‘_If the

executive had been called on to furnish the project of a national

bank, the duty would have been cheerfully performed._’

In the senate, Mr. Clay met the veto in a becoming manner, and

denounced its absurd doctrines in the most faithful manner. On this

occasion he gave a full _exposé_ of his views respecting it; proving

its spirit at variance with our institutions, and expressed himself

decidedly in favor of permanently limiting its exercise. The most

absurd of its dogmas related to expounding the constitution, which

declared that every public officer might interpret it as he pleased.

This called forth one of Mr. Clay’s most impetuous bursts of eloquence.

‘I conceive,’ said he, ‘with great deference, that the president has

mistaken the purport of the oath to support the constitution of the

United States. No one swears to support it as he understands it, but

to support it simply as it is in truth. All men are bound to obey the

laws――of which the constitution is supreme――but must they obey them as

they understand them, or as they are? If the obligation of obedience is

limited and controlled by the measure of information――in other words,

if the party is bound to obey the constitution only as he understands

it――what would be the consequence? There would be general disorder and

confusion throughout every branch of administration, from the highest

to the lowest offices――_universal nullification_.’

The insinuations and charges of the president led to a rigid

examination of the affairs of the bank, which showed its assets to

exceed its liabilities, by more than _forty millions of dollars_. So

perfectly safe did congress consider the public deposits in its vaults,

that the house passed a vote, of one hundred and nine to forty-six,

expressive of their belief of their safety. Not the shadow of evidence

was adduced, to give the slightest coloring of truth to the assumptions

of the president, or that there was any necessity for augmenting

the ‘_limited powers_’ (as he termed them) _of the secretary of the

treasury over the public money_. But general Jackson had declared

its continuance in the bank dangerous, and he seemed determined on

acting as though it were in fact the case. It was requisite for him

to have some justifying pretext for the arbitrary measure he designed

to adopt, in subverting that noble institution; hence, his hints of

the unconstitutionality and inexpediency of its existence, and the

unsafety of the people’s money in its vaults; but these were now merged

in direct attack. He succeeded in withdrawing from them the public

deposits――an act that spread panic, embarrassment, and unparalleled

distress, through the country, and was the great prolific cause of

causes, of all the evils with which it was subsequently visited. This

act, to all intents and purposes, was the _president’s_, although it

was performed through the instrumentality of Mr. Taney, the secretary

of the treasury, who executed the unconstitutional bidding of the

president, for decidedly refusing to execute which, two previous

secretaries, Messrs. McLane and Duane, he had removed. Indeed, in his

message of 1833, he distinctly avowed, that he urged the removal of the

public money.

Mr. Clay introduced resolutions to the senate, calling for a copy

of the documents in which the secretary pretended to find precedents,

justifying the course he had pursued, which passed the senate, and,

on the thirteenth of December, Mr. Taney placed in the hands of that

body, a communication, which contained, however, nothing satisfactory,

or contemplated by the resolutions. Mr. Clay declared the ground which

the secretary assumed, untenable, and, on the twenty-sixth of December,

introduced resolutions to the senate, pronouncing his reasons for

removing the deposits, as communicated to congress, unsatisfactory

and insufficient, and that the president, in dismissing the secretary

of the treasury because he would not, in violation of his sense of

duty, remove, as directed, the public money, had assumed the exercise

of a power over the treasury of the United States, not granted by the

constitution and laws, and dangerous to the liberties of the people.

In defence of these, Mr. Clay made one of his ablest speeches, and

forcibly demonstrated the unconstitutionality and illegality of the

procedure of the president and secretary. He foretold, with prophetic

accuracy, the fatal consequences which would flow from it, and depicted

in glowing colors the dangers that threatened the best interests of the

nation. These resolutions passed the senate, and, on the seventeenth

of April, 1833, the president communicated to the senate his celebrated

protest――a document perfectly characteristic of him, replete with

the most arrogant assumptions and declarations. This led to a warm

and protracted debate, in which Messrs. Clay, Poindexter, Sprague,

Frelinghuysen, and Southard, joined, whose powerful arguments drove

the president from the last vestige of the fallacious grounds he had

assumed, and scattered the doctrines of his protest to the winds.

The senate, by a vote of twenty-seven to sixteen, excluded it from

the journals, and maintained that the president possessed no right

to protest against any of its proceedings. During the discussion,

Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, paid Mr. Clay a rich and merited compliment,

for his services in allaying the spirit of nullification at the south,

in 1832 and 1833. ‘I cannot but remember,’ said he, ‘when all men

were trembling under the apprehension of civil war――trembling from

the conviction, that if such a contest should arise, let it terminate

how it might, it would put our present institutions in jeopardy, and

end either in consolidation or disunion; for I am persuaded that the

first drop of blood which shall be shed in a civil strife between the

federal government and any state, will flow from an irremediable wound,

that none may ever hope to see healed. I cannot but remember, that

the president, though ♦wielding such a vast power and influence, never

contributed the least aid to bring about the compromise that saved

us from the evils which all men, I believe, and I, certainly, so much

dreaded. The men are not present to whom we are chiefly indebted for

that compromise; and I am glad they are absent, since it enables me

to speak of their conduct, as I feel I might not without, from a sense

of delicacy. I raise my humble voice in gratitude for that service, to

_Henry Clay_ of the senate, and _Robert P. Letcher_, of the house of

representatives.’

At the time of introducing resolutions pronouncing secretary Taney’s

reasons insufficient, Mr. Clay took occasion to refute an assertion

which a prominent person had made in relation to his (Mr. Clay’s)

connection with the United States bank, which intimated that it was

dishonorable. He declared that he did not owe the bank, nor any of its

branches, a cent; that he had never received a gratuity from it, in

any form; that he had acted as counsel, and transacted a vast amount

of business for it, in Ohio, and received only the customary fees; and

that, in consequence of endorsing for a friend, he had become indebted

to the bank, to a considerable amount, but that, by establishing a

system of rigid economy, he had entirely liquidated it.

Immediately after the passage of the resolutions excluding the protest,

Mr. Clay introduced others, providing for the restoration of the

deposits, and reiterating the insufficiency of the secretary’s reasons

for removing them, and remarked, that whatever might be the fate of the

resolutions at the other end of the capitol, or in any other building,

that consideration ought not to influence, in any degree, their action.

They passed the senate, but, as had been expected, were laid on the

table in the house.

During the celebrated session, of 1833–34, known as the _panic

session_, Mr. Clay performed an amount of labor seldom equalled.

He let no suitable occasion pass, without opposing the despotic

proceedings of the president, and raising his warning voice against

his suicidal policy. The distress caused by the removal of the deposits,

and consequent curtailment of the issues of the United States bank,

called forth memorials from the people, which poured into congress

continually, denouncing the president’s financial experiment, and

calling for relief. Many of these were presented by Mr. Clay, who

generally accompanied them by a brief speech. One, which he made in

presenting a memorial from Kentucky, and one from Troy, contains an

accurate and faithful picture of the condition of the country at that

period. The evils of the ‘pet bank system,’ soon began to develope

themselves. On one occasion, in alluding to it, Mr. Clay remarked

as follows. ‘The idea of uniting thirty or forty local banks for

the establishment and security of an equal currency, could never be

realized. As well might the crew of a national vessel be put on board

thirty or forty bark canoes, tied together by a grape vine, and sent

out upon the troubled ocean, while the billows were rising mountains

high, and the tempest was exhausting its rage on the foaming elements,

in the hope that they might weather the storm, and reach their distant

destination in safety. The people would be contented by no such fleet

of bark canoes, with admiral Taney in their command. They would be

heard again calling out for old Ironsides, which had never failed them

in the hour of trial, whether amidst the ocean storm, or in the hour of

battle.’

The session terminated the last of June, when Mr. Clay set out for

Kentucky. While travelling in the stage-coach from Charlestown to

Winchester, Virginia, he narrowly escaped death, by its upsetting,

a young gentleman being instantly killed by his side.

In 1834–35, the subject of French spoliations came before congress,

in considering which, Mr. Clay rendered valuable services. A treaty

had been concluded with France, stipulating for indemnification,

the first instalment of which was not promptly paid, whereupon the

president, with injudicious precipitancy, recommended the passage of

a law authorizing reprisals upon French property, unless at the next

session of the French chamber provision should be made for its payment.

The tendency of this recommendation was most deleterious upon our

commercial interests. The subject was referred to the committee on

foreign relations, at the head of which the senate had placed Mr. Clay.

On the sixth of January, 1835, he read a lengthy and most able report,

which detailed, with great minuteness and perspicuity, the facts

connected with the subject of the spoliations, which was received

with great applause, and twenty thousand copies printed and circulated

through the country, which soon restored commercial confidence. The

doctrines of the report were such as commended themselves to every

patriotic heart――simple, just, exacting to the last tithe our demands

on France, but yet deprecating rashness in obtaining them. The

committee did not doubt the power of the United States to enforce

payment, but deemed it inexpedient to exercise it, until other

means had been exhausted. They coincided with the president in a

determination to have the treaty fulfilled, but desired to avoid too

great haste. They concluded by recommending the senate to adopt a

resolution, declaring it ‘inexpedient to pass, at this time, any law

vesting in the president authority for making reprisals upon French

property, in the contingency of provision not being made for paying

to the United States the indemnity stipulated by the treaty of 1831,

during the present session of the French chambers.’

On the fourteenth of January, in accordance with previous

arrangement, Mr. Clay called for the consideration of the report and

its accompanying resolution. It being expected that he would address

the senate, the members of the house generally left their seats to

listen to him, nor were they disappointed; for he spoke nearly an

hour, in strains of eloquence that thrilled the hearts of all who

listened to him. After being slightly modified, the resolution passed

the senate unanimously, and thus, mainly through the efforts of Mr.

Clay, a hostile collision with France was averted, and that pacific

intercourse which had previously existed between her and the United

States reëstablished, and the consummation of the treaty greatly

accelerated. As he justly deserved, his country awarded him sincere

praise, for his magnanimous course in achieving this.

Soon after the president’s recommendation of reprisals, the French

minister was recalled from Washington, and passports presented to our

minister at Paris, by the order of Louis Philippe, the French king,

in anticipation of a rupture with the United States. In consequence

of these proceedings, Mr. Clay, near the close of the session, made

a short report from the committee on foreign relations, recommending

that the senate adhere to the resolution previously adopted, await

the result of another appeal to the French chambers, and hold

itself in readiness for whatever exigency might arise. The advice

of the committee was adopted by the senate, and thus terminated the

consideration of the subject.

On the fourth of February, 1835, an occasion occurred favorable for

the exercise of Mr. Clay’s philanthropic feelings, which he promptly

embraced. He had received a memorial from certain Indians of the

Cherokee tribe, setting forth their condition, grievances, wants, and

rigid and cruel policy pursued towards them by the state of Georgia.

A portion desired to remain where they were, and a portion to remove

beyond the Mississippi. In presenting their petition, Mr. Clay made

remarks which came burning with pathos and eloquence from his inmost

soul. He manifested the deepest feeling, as he dwelt upon the story of

their wrongs, and their downtrodden state. This he represented as worse

than that of the slave, for his master cared for and fed him, ‘but what

human being,’ said he, ‘is there, to care for the unfortunate Indian?’

Mr. Clay alluded to the numerous solemn treaties, in which the United

States pledged their faith towards the red man, to allow him the

unmolested occupancy of his hunting grounds. He was much affected,

and many of his audience were bathed in tears. Mr. Clay’s sympathetic

feelings flowed forth unbidden, and unchecked by selfish considerations,

whenever he beheld suffering humanity, and no class have participated

more largely in them than the poor, friendless aborigines. He

invariably advocated their claims, and a full redress of their

grievances. The presence of a Cherokee chief and a female of the tribe

greatly enhanced the interest of the occasion, who seemed to hang upon

the lips of the benevolent speaker, and drink in every word as though

it had been water to their thirsty souls. In conclusion, Mr. Clay

submitted a resolution, directing the committee on the judiciary to

inquire into the expediency of making further provision, by law, to

enable Indian tribes to whom lands have been secured by treaty, to

defend and maintain their rights to such lands, in the courts of the

United States. Also, a resolution directing the committee on Indian

affairs, to inquire into the expediency of setting apart a district

of country west of the Mississippi, for such of the Cherokee nations

as were disposed to emigrate, and for securing in perpetuity their

peaceful enjoyment thereof, to themselves and their descendants.

A bill was reported to the senate, abating executive patronage, which

Mr. Clay supported by a speech, on the eighteenth of February, 1835,

embodying an accurate account of the multifarious evils resulting from

the selfish and arbitrary course pursued by the chief magistrate――evils

which no lover of his country and her liberties could contemplate

but with apprehensions of terror. He also spoke in favor of making an

appropriation for continuing the construction of the Cumberland road,

and against surrendering it to the control of the states through which

it passed.

During the session of 1835–6, a further consideration of the subject

of French spoliations was had. Mr. Clay, being again placed at the

head of the committee on foreign relations, on the eleventh of January,

1836, introduced a resolution to the senate, calling on the president

for information relative to our affairs with France. Three weeks

subsequently, he introduced another, calling for the _exposé_ which

accompanied the French bill of indemnity, for certain notes which

passed between the Duc de Broglie, and our _chargé_, Mr. Barton, and

those between our minister, Mr. Livingston, and the French minister

of foreign affairs. With some modifications, these resolutions were

adopted.

On the announcement of the president, February eighth, 1836, that

Great Britain had offered her mediation between the United States and

France, Mr. Clay took occasion to remark that he could not withhold

the expressions of his congratulations to the senate, for the agency

it had in producing the happy termination of our difficulties with

France. If the senate had not, by its unanimous vote of last September,

declared that it was inexpedient to adopt any legislative action upon

the subject of our relations with France, if it had yielded to the

recommendations of the executive, in ordering reprisals against that

power, it could not be doubted but that war would have existed, at that

moment, in its most serious state.

On the fourteenth of April, Mr. Clay’s land bill was taken up in the

senate, and discussed at length, for several days, during which he ably

and faithfully defended it. On the twenty-sixth, he made a speech in

its behalf, which was not far behind his most brilliant efforts. In

reference to it says the National Intelligencer, ‘we thought, after

hearing the able and comprehensive arguments of Messrs. Ewing, Southard,

and White, in favor of this beneficent measure, that the subject was

exhausted; that, at any rate, but little new could be urged in its

defence. Mr. Clay, however, in one of the most luminous and forcible

arguments which we have ever heard him deliver, placed the subject in

new lights, and gave to it new claims to favor. The whole train of his

reasoning appeared to us a series of demonstrations.’

By a vote of twenty-five to twenty, it passed the senate, May fourth,

1836, in the same form, substantially, as that vetoed by general

Jackson; but in the house his influence was too powerful to admit of

its passage there at that time.

On the right of petition, Mr. Clay stated his views, which supported

the belief that the servants of the people ought to examine, deliberate,

and decide, either to grant or refuse the prayer of a petition, giving

the reasons for such decision; and that such was the best mode of

putting an end to the agitation of the public on the subject. The right

of congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, he thought,

existed, but seemed inclined to question the expediency of exercising

it, under the circumstances then existing.

The condition of the deposit banks was made the subject of a report

by the secretary of the treasury, on the seventeenth of March, 1836,

when Mr. Clay demonstrated the insecurity of the public monies in their

keeping, and foretold, with astonishing accuracy, the crisis which in

1837 occurred.

The recognition of the independence of Texas, was effected by the

exertions of Mr. Clay, on ascertaining that it had a civil government

in successful operation. Up to the close of the session, (July fourth,

1836,) Mr. Clay’s vigilance and activity in the service of his country

did not abate in the least. The fortification bill, reduction of duties

on articles not coming in collision with the manufacturing interests,

and various other questions of national importance, engaged his

attention.

On returning to Kentucky, a dinner was tendered him, by the citizens of

Woodford county, at which he reviewed, in a masterly manner, the doings

of the administration, and expressed his determination to withdraw from

public life, and even went so far as to declare his wish that the state

would look for some other individual to fill the station then occupied

by him, but which would soon be vacant by the expiration of his term.

While surveying his cattle, in the autumn of 1836, he narrowly

escaped death, by a furious bull, which rushed towards him, plunging

his horns into the horse on which he was seated, killing him suddenly,

and throwing Mr. Clay several feet. He, however, escaped with a slight

contusion.

In 1836, Mr. Clay accepted the appointment of president of the American

Colonization Society, in the place of ex-president Madison, deceased.

Being strongly importuned from a variety of sources, Mr. Clay

consented to become a candidate for the senatorship again, and was

reëlected. Immediately after the convening of congress, he once more

brought forward his land bill. After being read twice, it was referred

to the appropriate committee, at the head of which was Mr. Walker, of

Mississippi, who said, that he had been instructed by it to move the

indefinite postponement of the bill, whenever it should come up for

consideration. A few days after, he introduced his own bill, proposing

to restrict the sales of lands to actual settlers. On the ninth of

February, 1837, Mr. Calhoun introduced _his_ bill, which ostensibly

sold, but in reality gave to the new states, the public lands. This

plan was vigorously denounced by Mr. Clay, who expressed himself

opposed to all schemes of disposing of the national domain which

would deprive the old states of their rightful interest in it, and

that, while he had strength to stand and speak, he would employ it in

protesting against their adoption. He implored the senate not to appeal

to the cupidity of the new states from party inducements, and exhorted

a faithful adhesion to equity and justice in apportioning the public

lands.

On a bill, originating with the committee on finance, which contained

provisions conflicting with the compromise act, Mr. Clay spoke at

considerable length; also on a resolution introduced by Mr. Ewing,

rescinding the specie circular, which required all payments for public

lands to be in specie.

On the sixteenth of January, Mr. Clay discussed the question of

_expunging_ from the records of the senate, for 1834, his resolution

censuring general Jackson for removing the deposits unconstitutionally;

Mr. Benton having introduced a resolution requiring its erasure. In his

speech, Mr. Clay so blended indignant invective, sarcasm, scorn, humor,

and argument, as to make it one of the most withering rebukes ever

administered. ‘What patriotic purpose,’ said he, ‘is to be accomplished

by this expunging resolution? Can you make that not to be, which has

been? Can you eradicate from memory, and from history, the fact, that

in March, 1834, a majority of the senate of the United States passed

the resolution which excites your enmity? Is it your vain and wicked

object to arrogate to yourself that power of annihilating the past,

which has been denied to omnipotence itself? Do you intend to thrust

your hands into our hearts, and to pluck out the deeply rooted

convictions which are there? Or is it your design merely to stigmatize

us? You cannot stigmatize us.

‘Ne’er yet did base dishonor blur our name.’

‘Standing securely upon our conscious rectitude, and bearing aloft

the shield of the constitution of our country, your puny efforts are

impotent, and we defy all your power. Put the majority of 1834 in one

scale, and that by which this expunging resolution is to be carried in

the other, and let truth and justice in heaven above and on earth below,

and liberty and patriotism, decide the preponderance.

‘What patriotic purpose is to be accomplished by this expunging

resolution? Is it to appease the wrath, and heal the wounded pride,

of the chief magistrate? If he be really the hero that his friends

represent him, he must despise all mean condescension, all grovelling

sycophancy, all self-degradation and self-abasement. He would

reject with scorn and contempt, as unworthy of his fame, your _black

scratches_ and _your baby lines_, in the fair records of his country.’

The expunging resolution, however, passed, and thus the just resolution

of Mr. Clay was stricken from the national records, but not from the

_record of memory_; there will it live until her functions cease,

the memento of a patriotic purpose to place the signet of a nation’s

displeasure upon as unprincipled an act as any ruler of that nation

ever perpetrated.

In the autumn of 1836, the presidential election took place,

which resulted in elevating Mr. Van Buren to the chair of the

chief magistracy, by one hundred and seventy of the two hundred and

ninety-four electoral votes. At the time he entered upon the discharge

of his official duties, the situation of the country was deplorable

in the extreme. She was reaping the bitter fruits, which Mr. Clay had

again and again predicted general Jackson would bring back from his

experimental crusade and thrust down her throat. From Maine to Florida,

her population were eating them, and gnashing their teeth with rage,

when they contrasted their present lamentable condition, with what

it was during the halcyon and equitable administration of Mr. Adams.

Then, there was every thing to admire, and nothing to deprecate; now,

there was nothing to admire and every thing to deprecate; then, the

most devoted patriot, as he cast his eyes over his country, discovered

abundant evidence of health, and the existence of few evils, and those

medicable, or, if not, easily patible; now, wounds and bruises and

putrescence, disfiguring it, he beheld at every stage of his survey,

and ills of untold magnitude and enormity, for which no remedy could be

devised. But there is no necessity for specification; it is sufficient

to say, that when general Jackson took up the reins of government, he

found the country prosperous and happy, and that when he laid them down,

its _condition was just the reverse_. For every good which he found,

its opposite evil had been substituted; for solvency, insolvency;

for confidence, suspicion; for credit, discredit; for a sound and

safe currency, one, if possible, worse than unsound and unsafe;

for honesty, dishonesty; for purity, corruption; for justice,

injustice; for frankness and candor, intrigue and duplicity; for order,

disorder; for quiet, turmoil; for fidelity, infidelity; for enterprise,

indolence; for wealth, poverty; for patient industry, wild speculation;

for republican simplicity, haughty aristocracy; for wisdom, folly;

for health, disease; for happiness, misery; for hope, despair; and

for life, death. This substitution, Mr. Clay clearly foresaw would be

made; he predicted it, and forewarned the country of it. Such was the

condition of the country, when Mr. Van Buren attempted to ‘walk in the

footsteps of his illustrious predecessor.’ Soon after his inauguration,

he issued his proclamation, ordering an extra session of congress,

to commence the first Monday in September. Pursuant to this, congress

met to prescribe some mode of relief. In his message, the president

recommended the _sub-treasury system_ for the deposit, transfer, and

disbursement of the public revenue. This was the engrossing topic of

the session, and which Mr. Clay combated and denounced unsparingly.

He detected in it, and lucidly exposed, _that_ which was calculated,

not only to perpetuate the excesses and abuses under which the land

was then groaning, but to superinduce fresh ones. He saw in it the

grand link of that chain, destined to bind the resources and patronage

of the government to the _car of party_, which for eight long years

Mr. Van Buren’s predecessor had been so busily engaged in forging.

Mr. Clay’s speech on this occasion is an inimitable specimen of close

argumentative reasoning. After exposing the defects, absurdities, and

danger of the sub-treasury scheme, he declared his decided conviction,

that the only practicable measure for restoring a sound, safe, and

uniform currency to the United States, was a properly organized United

States bank, but that it would be unwise to propose such an institution,

until the conviction of its necessity should become permanently

impressed upon the minds of the people. The sub-treasury bill passed

the senate by a vote of twenty-five to twenty, but in the house was

laid on the table by a vote of one hundred and twenty to one hundred

and seven.

Petitions for the erection of a national bank poured into congress

incessantly, quite too fast to please the administration, which began

to tremble for the safety of its darling projects. Mr. Wright, from the

committee on finance, moved that the prayer of the memorialists ought

not to be granted. Mr. Clay said, if the honorable senator persisted

in his opposition, he should feel constrained to move to strike out

all after _resolved_, and substitute ‘that it will be expedient to

establish a bank of the United States, whenever it shall be manifest,

that a clear majority of the people of the United States desire such

an institution.’

On the nineteenth of February, 1838, Mr. Clay once more addressed

the senate in opposition to the sub-treasury plan, in one of the

longest speeches he ever delivered, and made a complete _exposé_ of the

ulterior intentions of the present and previous administrations, which

were, to subvert the whole banking system, and build upon its ruins a

mighty government, treasury bank, to be mainly organized and controlled

by the executive department.

During the session, Mr. Clay, in presenting a petition for the

establishment of a national bank, communicated some of his own views

in relation to such an institution. He desired, first, that its capital

should not be enormously large――about fifty millions of dollars――and

its stock divided between the general government, the states, and

individual subscribers; secondly, that in its organization, reference

should be had to public and private control, public and private

interests, and to the exclusion of foreign influence; thirdly, that

a portion of its capital should be set apart, and placed in permanent

security, adequate to meet any contingency that might arise in

connection with the issues of the bank; fourthly, perfect publicity

in relation to all its affairs; fifthly, that its dividends should be

limited to a certain per centum; sixthly, a prospective reduction in

the rate of interest to six, and, if practicable, to five per centum;

seventhly, that there should be a restriction upon the premium demanded

upon post notes and checks used for remittance, to about one and a

half per centum as the maximum between the most remote points of the

union, thereby regulating domestic exchanges; eighthly, that effective

provisions should be made against executive interference with the bank,

and of it with the elections of the country. Such a public banking

institution Mr. Clay advocated, from the conviction that it would

perform every thing requisite in furnishing a good currency. The

question of its constitutionality, he considered as satisfactorily

settled by the fact, that the people during forty years had cherished

the bank, that it had been approved by Washington, the father of his

country, by Madison, the father of the constitution, and by Marshall,

the father of the judiciary.

The subject of abolition was introduced into the senate, which

Mr. Clay approached, and freely discussed, although urged to avoid

it by his friends. He considered it, as it might be expected he would,

in the true spirit of philanthropy, benevolence, and patriotism. His

sentiments were conceived and uttered in such a noble, liberal, and

magnanimous manner, as to elicit expressions of approbation and of

commendation even from both anti and pro slavery men. Mr. Calhoun

admitted the correctness of his sentiments, and the entire security

which their adoption would promise to the union. As a matter in course,

the enemies of Mr. Clay strove to cause the impression to be received,

that, in his thus advocating the right of petition, he was actuated by

motives of a personal nature, by a desire to render himself popular

with abolitionists. His advocacy of this right _did_ render him popular,

not only with that class of individuals, but with all who revere and

love the immutable and eternal principles of truth and justice, and

rejoice to see the outpourings of sympathy towards a worthy object.

During the summer of 1839, in his return from a northeastern tour,

he visited the city of New York, where his reception was as gratifying

to his feelings as it was spontaneous and brilliant on the part of

those who gave it. The whole city joined in it, and it may well be

questioned, whether any individual ever entered the city, attended

by such enthusiastic tokens of popular favor. He approached it in

the steamer James Madison, at the foot of Hammond street, Greenwich,

early in the afternoon. As he stepped on the wharf, the air was rent

by the welcoming acclamations of an immense multitude assembled there,

which were taken up and continued by similar collections of people

lining his whole route (a distance of three miles) to the Astor House,

where lodgings had been prepared for him. He sat in an open barouche,

preceded by a band of music, and followed by an immense concourse of

citizens in carriages. The streets through which he passed were crowded

with one dense mass of _people_, and the houses were covered with them.

At all the principal places in his route, bands of music were stationed,

that, as he approached, sent forth their spirit-stirring peals, which,

with the vociferous shouts of thousands on thousands, and waving of

handkerchiefs, flags, and banners, rendered his march like that of an

oriental pageant. When he reached the Park, the shouting was almost

deafening, which went up like the roar of the sea. The most interesting

feature of this grand reception, was its _spontaneousness_. It was

not ‘_got up_,’ but it was the unprovided for, the unsolicited, and

voluntary _act of the people_, tendering to their best, their most

devoted friend, their sincere and heart-felt greetings and gratulations.

Mr. Clay had greatly endeared himself to all capable of appreciating

lofty and disinterested action, who, as Mr. Van Buren’s presidential

term drew to a close, began to be mentioned continually as the most

suitable whig candidate for president. On the fourth of December, 1839,

the democratic whig convention met at Harrisburgh to nominate one. Not

a doubt was entertained that Mr. Clay was the man of their choice, when

they assembled, and that his selection would have been the result of

their assembling, had not the most dishonorable means been employed to

defeat it.

On the fifth of December, the convention was organized, Hon. James

Barbour being appointed president. The committee appointed to report

a candidate, after a session of two days, during which the intriguers

were busy in circulating their falsehoods, and reading letters

pretended to have been received from distinguished individuals in

different parts of the country, and which were filled with false

assertions of Mr. Clay’s unpopularity, finally decided upon William

Henry Harrison. Their decision was received by those of Mr. Clay’s

friends who stood by him to the last, without a murmur, although with

melancholy looks, and silent disappointment. Mr. Banks, one of the

delegation from Kentucky, was the first to rise and express their

cordial concurrence In the nomination made. Mr. Preston expressed

himself similarly, and desired that a letter from Mr. Clay, which

had been in the possession of a delegate several days, should be read

to the convention, and which had not been previously shown, lest the

motives for its exhibition should have been misconstrued. It was read

by colonel Coombs, of Kentucky. In this, Mr. Clay says, ‘with a just

and proper sense of the high honor of being called to the office of

president of the United States, by a great, free, and enlightened

people, and profoundly grateful to those of my fellow citizens who

are desirous to see me placed in that exalted and responsible station,

I must nevertheless say, in entire truth and sincerity, that, if

the deliberations of the convention shall lead them to the choice

of another, as the candidate of the opposition, far from feeling any

discontent, the nomination will have my best wishes, and receive my

cordial support.’ He then exhorted the delegation from Kentucky to

think not of _him_, but of their bleeding, prostrate country, and to

coöperate with the convention in selecting such an individual as should

seem most competent to deliver her from the perils and dangers with

which she was environed.

The reading of this remarkable communication, sent a thrill of

astonishment and admiration through the hearts of all who listened

to it. Many were affected to tears. Mr. Barbour said, after assenting

to the determination of the convention, that he had been on terms of

intimacy with Mr. Clay for thirty years, and that a more devoted or

purer patriot and statesman never breathed, and that during that period

he had never heard him give utterance to a single sentiment unworthy

this character; that there was no place in his heart for one petty or

selfish consideration. Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, said, he never thought

that Mr. Clay needed the office, but that the country needed him. That

office could confer no dignity or honor on Henry Clay. The measure

of his fame was full, and whenever the tomb should close over him, it

would cover the loftiest intellect and the noblest heart that this age

had produced or known. ‘_I envy Kentucky, for when he dies she will

have his ashes!_’ said the venerable Peter R. Livingston, of New York.

In selecting a candidate for the vice presidency, it was thought that a

suitable one was found in John Tyler, of Virginia, who was accordingly

chosen.

Mr. Clay concurred, cheerfully and nobly, in the nomination of

general Harrison, and exerted himself manfully in promoting his

election. Mr. Clay did not evince the slightest disappointment at the

result of the nominating convention, but seemed to rejoice over it. In

the presidential canvass, preceding the election of general Harrison,

Mr. Clay took a prominent part. In advocating the claims of general

Harrison to the presidency, he labored sedulously, also, to procure the

adoption of those principles which he considered ought to constitute

the rule of action to all virtuous politicians. Averse to every thing

like concealment himself, respecting his political sentiments, he

ascertained, accurately, those of general Harrison, and then faithfully

exhibited them. The contest resulted in the election of general

Harrison, who received two hundred and thirty-four of the two hundred

and ninety-four electoral votes cast. By the same vote Mr. Tyler was

elected to the vice presidency.

Mr. Clay continued, with unrelaxing energy, his services during the

session of 1839–40. The land bill came up again, and a warm debate

ensued between him and Mr. Calhoun, and somewhat harsh language passed

between them. The latter insinuated, that, at a certain time, he had

the ascendency over Mr. Clay in debate――that he was his (Mr. Clay’s)

master. In reply, Mr. Clay said, that so far from admitting Mr. Calhoun

to be his _master_, he would not own him for a _slave_. Mr. Clay,

however, was not the man to harbor hard feelings towards any one,

especially towards a political opponent. Soon after retiring from the

senate in 1842, he met Mr. Calhoun as he was passing out of the senate

chamber, and exchanged with him cordial salutations, while tears came

to the eyes of both.

On a variety of questions of public interest, Mr. Clay spoke, the

principal of which were, that of the abolition of slavery, the Maine

boundary line, the navy appropriation bill, branch mints, expenditures

of government, Cumberland road, and internal improvements. On the

twentieth of January, 1840, he delivered a speech of rare ability on

the sub-treasury, now called the independent treasury bill, which he

denominated a government bank in disguise.

On all suitable occasions Mr. Clay frankly avowed his political faith,

but never, perhaps, more minutely or explicitly, than at a dinner given

to him at Taylorsville, in June, 1840. His speech at that time is a

storehouse of sound political tenets, among which we find the following.

First. That there should be a provision to render a person ineligible

to the office of president of the United States, after a service of one

term.

Second. That the veto power should be more precisely defined, and be

subjected to further limitations and qualifications.

Third. That the power of dismission from office should be restricted,

and the exercise of it rendered responsible.

Fourth. That the control over the treasury of the United States should

be confided and confined exclusively to congress; and all authority

of the president over it, by means of dismissing the secretary of

the treasury, or other persons having the immediate charge of it, be

rigorously precluded.

Fifth. That the appointment of members of congress to any office, or

any but a few specific offices, during their continuance in office, and

for one year thereafter, be prohibited.

General Harrison, previously to commencing his journey to Washington,

visited Mr. Clay, and tendered him any office in the president’s gift,

but he courteously, yet firmly, declined accepting one, and expressed

his unalterable resolution to withdraw from public life, as soon as he

should see those fundamental measures, for which he had been so long

and so ardently struggling, put in a train of accomplishment. To the

very last of Mr. Van Buren’s administration, he labored untiringly

to place them in such a position. He was the strenuous advocate of

a uniform system of bankruptcy. This was embodied in a bill reported

to the senate by the judiciary committee, in the spring of 1840, on

account of the numerous petitions presented in its favor. It passed the

senate, by a vote of twenty-four to twenty-three, but was defeated in

the house.

Directly after the inauguration of general Harrison, he issued his

proclamation ordering an extra session of congress, to commence on

the last Monday in May. Before that period arrived, the president

was no more. He died just one month after his introduction to office.

The intelligence of his death filled the nation with sadness, yet no

serious grounds of fear were entertained, because it was believed that

Mr. Tyler would discharge the duties of the presidency with fidelity.

Congress assembled in accordance with the proclamation of the late

lamented Harrison. Mr. Clay commenced the public business with vigor

and alacrity. The subjects which he deemed of pressing importance, and

should engage the immediate attention of the senate, were,

First, the repeal of the sub-treasury law.

Secondly, the incorporation of a bank adapted to the wants of the

people and government.

Thirdly, the provision of an adequate revenue, by the imposition of

duties, and including an authority to contract a temporary loan to

cover the public debt created by the last administration.

Fourthly, the prospective distribution of the proceeds of the public

lands.

Fifthly, the passage of necessary appropriation bills.

Sixthly, some modification in the banking system of the District of

Columbia, for the benefit of the people of the district.

From the head of the committee on finance, Mr. Clay moved the

appointment of a select committee, to take into consideration the bank

question, of which he was made chairman.

In June, Mr. Clay reported a plan for a national bank, which, after

an animated discussion, was adopted by both houses, which, on the

sixteenth of August, was vetoed by president Tyler. The return of

the bill was hailed with mingled surprise, sorrow, and alarm, in the

senate, which was addressed on the subject of the veto, by Mr. Clay, in

strains of lofty eloquence, almost surpassing himself. Another bill was

then framed with special reference to the objections of the president;

in other words, it was just such a bill as he had recommended. The

surprise and indignation were overwhelming, when it was known that

this bill had encountered the fate of its predecessor. Mr. Clay did

not scruple to denounce the exercise of the veto, as he had denounced

it in the case of general Jackson, as unjustifiable, and as involving

a manifest encroachment upon the liberties of the people.

With the solitary exception of Mr. Webster, the cabinet resigned their

seats, and the feeling of indignation, enkindled at Washington, spread

through and lit up the whole country into a glow of wrath, at the

uncalled for and unexpected procedure of Mr. Tyler.

Although baffled, and in a measure defeated, by the despotism of one

man, still Mr. Clay did not slacken his exertions to render relief

to his suffering and distracted country. He was at the head of two

important committees, and performed an amount of labor truly surprising.

He had the gratification of witnessing the repeal of the abominable

sub-treasury scheme, the passage of the bankrupt law, and his land bill.

An attempt to adjust the tariff was made, which occasioned another veto

from the president. This was directed mainly against the distribution

clause, which was finally surrendered to accommodate the views of the

president. The tariff bill at length became a law.

On the thirty-first of March, 1842, Mr. Clay executed his long and

fondly cherished design of retiring to the quiet of private life.

He resigned his seat in the senate, and presented to that body the

credentials of Mr. Crittenden, his friend, and successor. The scene

which ensued when he tendered his resignation, was indescribably

thrilling. It was not unlike that, when the father of his country,

surrounded by his companions in arms, pronounced his farewell address,

as they were about to disband and enter upon the possession and

enjoyment of that independence which their invincible arms had won.

Had the guardian genius of congress and the nation been about to take

his departure, and giving his parting admonitions, deeper feeling could

hardly have been manifested, than when Mr. Clay rose to address, on

this occasion, his congressional compeers. An individual witnessing the

breathless silence that pervaded the densely crowded senate chamber,

and the tears flowing freely and copiously from the eyes of all, would

have said, that wherever else Mr. Clay might have enemies, he had none

in that assembly. In those who were politically opposed, and in those

who were personally hostile to him, the movings of the best principles

of our being were not subjected to the cruel control of selfishness or

envy, but permitted to respond to the voice of nature, calling them in

her most enticing tones to unite with his devoted friends, in bearing

appropriate testimony to his public worth. The former no less than

the latter, manifested the most sincere regret at the prospect of his

departure. All felt that a master spirit was bidding them adieu――that

the pride and ornament of the senate and the glory of the nation was

being removed, and all grieved in view of the void that would be made.

He spoke as it might be expected the patriot warrior of a thousand

victorious battles would speak, standing on the field where they were

fought――the living, burning, sublime sentiments of patriotism. His

feelings often overpowered him. His voice, naturally musical, seemed

the very refinement of sweetness and pathos, whose honied accents

sank into the hearts of his hearers, like heaven’s benediction.

When Mr. Clay closed, the most intense emotion agitated the senate.

Mr. Preston rose, and remarked, in view of it, that he presumed there

would be little disposition to transact business; that the event that

had just occurred, was an epoch in the legislative history of the

nation, and that therefore he would move that the senate adjourn. The

motion was adopted unanimously.

His resignation as senator did not by any means close his intercourse

with his fellow-countrymen. He still labored for his country; and

by letters from his residence in Kentucky, and by speeches delivered

there and elsewhere, frequently sent forth his opinions on the various

topics of the day. The Whig party had long regarded him as their most

prominent candidate for the chief magistracy, and he was nominated by

acclamation in the convention of 1844, when ‘Justice to Henry Clay,’

was the watchword of the contest. He was defeated, however, by the late

James K. Polk, who unexpectedly received the democratic nomination, and

remained in retirement until after the election of General Taylor to

the Presidency. In compliance with the earnest wishes of his political

friends he consented to resume his seat in the senate, and in 1849 was

again elected to that honorable position. During the exciting session

of 1849–50, all his energies were devoted to securing the passage of

the series of measures known as the ‘Compromise Acts,’ and there is

no doubt that his incessant and intense labors upon the multifarious

schemes which engrossed the attention of congress, occasioned serious

debility and hastened his death. When, in the winter of 1850–51,

it became but too evident that his disease was gaining the mastery

over him, he visited New Orleans and Havana, in the hope that travel

and relaxation, united with the effects of change of climate, would

renovate his physical system. No ♦permanent advantage, however,

resulted from this experiment, and he was again induced, by a

consciousness of his failing health, to resign his seat in the

senate――the resignation to take effect on the 6th of September, 1852.

But he was not destined to see that day. He became gradually weaker and

weaker, and was confined to his room in Washington for several weeks,

where he breathed his last on the morning of the 29th of June, 1852, at

seventeen minutes past eleven o’clock. No one was present at the time,

except his son, Thomas Hart Clay, and governor Jones, of Tennessee. His

last moments were calm and quiet, and he seemed in full possession of

all his faculties, apparently suffering but little. He did not speak

for many hours before his dissolution, but his countenance indicated

a happy resignation and full knowledge of his condition. He had long

previously made every preparation for death, giving his son full

instructions as to the disposition of his body and the settlement of

his worldly affairs.

Perhaps the death of no individual since that of the revered

Washington ever spread such a universal gloom over the country. In

all the principal cities of the Union, funeral honors were paid to

his memory, which were heartfelt and sincere, and evinced a pervading

feeling in the public mind that a great benefactor and friend was no

more. In the Senate and House of Representatives, as will be seen by

the subjoined proceedings, every one seemed anxious to testify his

respect for the memory of the great man who had so long figured in

our national councils. Political differences were forgotten, and all

parties united in rendering homage to his transcendent worth and in

mourning his irreparable loss. A committee was appointed to attend his

remains to Kentucky, where they now repose.

We shall not attempt an analysis of his mind, conscious of our

inability to do it justice. Its powers were so numerous and so great,

as to make the task no light one. Its most prominent attribute was

_patriotism_. This was the sun of its lofty faculties, which revolved

about it in the order of satellites. Every thing was subordinate to,

or absorbed by it. This was seen in every part of his career, towering

magnificently upwards, like a mighty mountain, to bathe its head in

everlasting sunshine, and formed its loveliest and most attractive

feature. With Mr. Clay, patriotism was no unmeaning word. He made it

the grand test of both principle and measure, and the main-spring of

action. His devotion to it was most remarkable; so exclusive, as to

lead him to sacrifice every other consideration upon its altar. On

one occasion, acting under its influence, he said to Mr. Grundy, ‘Tell

general Jackson, that if he will sign _that bill_ (the land bill),

I will pledge myself to retire from congress, and _never enter public

life again_;’ of such vital importance did he consider that bill to

the welfare of his beloved country. One cannot avoid breaking out

in exclamations of admiration, and reverence, even, in view of such

self-immolating political purity, as this sincere declaration evinces.

_My country, my country_, seems to have been the constant apex of his

thoughts and wishes. This attribute gave to his commanding eloquence

its invincible power, and was the rocky pedestal on which he reared the

temple of his immortal fame.

Political consistency was another prominent characteristic of Mr. Clay.

This, like a line of light, is traceable through all his public life.

The soundness of his judgment was worthy of note, by which he was

enabled to predict, with almost prophetic accuracy, the effect of

the adoption of certain measures. As a writer, Mr. Clay’s style was

nervous, perspicuous, and concise, evincing the freshness and beauty

of originality, usually moving on in a deep and quiet current, but at

times rushing like the mountain torrent, overthrowing all obstacles.

He was peculiarly qualified for the regions of argument and close

investigation, yet he could soar into that of imagination, and whenever

he did, it was the flight of the eagle towards heaven. His power of

illustration was felicitous, demonstrating an intimate acquaintance

with the secret springs of the soul, and a sagacious knowledge of its

♦mysterious movements. His conversational faculties were striking,

and exceedingly versatile, enabling him to accommodate himself to

the capacities of all, to the humblest, as well as to the loftiest

intellect. It was remarked of Mr. Burke, by Dr. Johnson, that if a

tempest, or any other occurrence, should cause him to take shelter

under the roof of a peasant, he would find sufficient topics to employ

his conversational powers, and _would so employ_ them as to leave

indelibly impressed upon the mind of its lowly occupant, the belief,

that he was listening to no ordinary man. This would be emphatically

true of Mr. Clay, who possessed, in an eminent degree, the faculty

attributed to Mr. Burke. It was the exercise of this, that so endeared

him to those who were privileged to come within the sphere of its

influence, which invested his domestic and social relations with their

greatest charms.

In private life, Mr. Clay exhibited the noblest characteristics of

human nature, which may be expressed by one word――_openheartedness_.

He was kind and liberal to a fault. Says one who was intimate with

him, ‘his door and his purse were alike open to the friendless stranger

and the unfortunate neighbor. Frank, open, and above the meanness of

deception himself, and consequently never searching for duplicity and

treachery in those around him, he more than once suffered from the vile

ingratitude of men who have been cherished by his bounty and upheld by

his influence.

‘The curse of aristocracy never chilled the warm flow of his natural

feelings. His heart continued as warm, his hand as free, and his smile

as familiar as they were when, without friends and without influence,

he first responded to the hearty welcome of the Kentuckian. His

feelings never changed with his fortunes.’

Mr. Clay was admirably qualified for the interchange of social and

friendly feelings, in which he indulged most judiciously. His convivial

interviews were enlivened by enjoyments of a marked intellectual

character. His readiness at repartee, and aptitude for reply, were

conspicuous features in his character. No emergency, however sudden

or unexpected, found him unprepared, or disarmed him. He perceived the

bearing of remarks, with the quickness of intuition, however vague or

ambiguous they might be, and, with the suddenness of thought, framed

and uttered a suitable reply.

Perhaps we cannot better close this imperfect memoir than by appending

the following eloquent tribute from the pen of GEORGE D. PRENTICE, Esq.

It originally appeared in the _Southern Ladies’ Book_, for June, 1853,

and has been extensively republished in other periodicals――an evidence

of its claim to preservation in a less perishable form.

A Biography of Henry Clay, the Senator from Kentucky Containing Also, a Complete Report of All His Speeches; Selections From His Private Correspondence; Eulogies in the Senate and House; and a Poem, by George D. Prentice, Esq. · 第 17 / 250 题

This bill preserved all the essential features and characteristics