2. A great statesman has said, ‘What is a public man worth,
who will not suffer for his country?’ We have seen a public
man sacrifice much for his country, and rise resplendently
triumphant over the calumnies of his enemies.]
MR. CLAY then rose, (evidently laboring under debility from
indisposition, probably increased by the ceremonies of the day,) and
said, ‘Although I have been required, by the advice of my physicians,
to abstain from all social entertainments, with their consequent
excitements, I cannot leave Baltimore, without saying a few words,
by way of public acknowledgment, for the cordial congratulations with
which I have been received during my present visit. I am not so vain,
indeed, as to imagine that any personal considerations have prompted
the enthusiastic demonstrations by which my approach to this city,
and my short sojourn, have been so highly distinguished. Their honored
object, has, it is true, some claims upon the justice, if not the
sympathy, of a generous, intelligent, and high-minded people. Singled
out for proscription and destruction, he has sustained all the fury
of the most ferocious attacks. Calumnious charges, directed against
the honor of his public character, dearer than life itself, sanctioned
and republished by one who should have scorned to lend himself
to such a vile purpose, have been echoed by a thousand profligate
or deluded tongues and presses. Supported by the consciousness of
having faithfully discharged his duty, and defended by the virtue and
intelligence of an enlightened people, he has stood firm and erect
amidst all the bellowings of the political storm. What is a public man,
what is any man worth, who is not prepared to sacrifice himself, if
necessary, for the good of his country?
‘But,’ continued Mr. Clay, ‘the demonstrations which I have here
witnessed, have a higher and a nobler source, than homage to an
individual; they originate from that cause with which I am an humble
associate――the cause of the country――the cause of the constitution――the
cause of free institutions. They would otherwise be unworthy of
freemen, and less gratifying to me. I am not, I hope, so uncharitable
as to accuse all the opponents of that cause with designs unfriendly
to human liberty. I know that they make, many of them sincerely, other
professions. They talk, indeed, of republicanism, and some of them
impudently claim to be the exclusive republican party! Yes! we find
men who, but yesterday, were the foremost in other ranks, upon whose
revolting ears the grating sound of republicanism ever fell, and upon
whose lips the exotic word still awkwardly hangs, now exclaiming, or
acquiescing in the cry, that _they_ are the republican party! I had
thought, if any one, more than all other principles, characterized the
term republican party, it was their ardent devotion to liberty, to its
safety, to all its guarantees. I had supposed, that the doctrines of
that school taught us to guard against the danger of standing armies,
to profit by the lessons which all history inculcates, and never to
forget that liberty, and the predominance of the military principle,
were utterly incompatible. The republican party! In this modern,
new-fangled, and heterogeneous party, Cromwell and Cæsar have
recently found apologists. The judgment of centuries is reversed;
long-established maxims are overturned; the Ethiopian is washed white;
and the only genuine lovers of liberty were the Philips, the Cæsars,
the Cromwells, the Mariuses, and the Syllas, of former ages.
‘It is time for slumbering patriotism to awake, when such doctrines
as these are put forth from the capitol, and from popular assemblies.
It is time that the _real_ republican party, (I speak not of former
divisions, springing from causes no longer existing, and which are
sought to be kept up by some men in particular places, only for
sinister purposes,)――that party, under whatever flag its members may
have heretofore acted, that party which loves freedom, for freedom’s
sake――justly to estimate the impending perils, and to proceed with an
energy, and union, called for by the existing crisis in the republic.
Regardless of all imputations, and proud of the opportunity of free
and unrestrained intercourse with all my fellow-citizens, if it were
physically possible, and compatible with my official duties, I would
visit every state, go to every town and hamlet, address every man in
the union, and entreat them, by their love of country, by their love
of liberty, for the sake of themselves and their posterity――in the
name of their venerated ancestors, in the name of the human family,
deeply interested in the fulfilment of the trust committed to their
hands――by all the past glory which we have won――by all that awaits
us as a nation――if we are true and faithful in gratitude to Him who
has hitherto so signally blessed us――to pause――solemnly pause――and
contemplate the precipice which yawns before us! If, indeed, we have
incurred the divine displeasure, and it be necessary to chastise this
people with the rod of his vengeance, I would humbly prostrate myself
before Him, and implore his mercy, to visit our favored land with war,
with pestilence, with famine, with any scourge other than military
rule, or a blind and heedless enthusiasm for mere military renown.
‘Gentlemen, I wish I had strength to expatiate on this interesting
subject; but I am admonished by the state of my health, to desist.
I pray you to accept my thanks for the sentiment with which you have
honored me, and your permission to offer one which I hope will be
approved by you.
‘GENUINE REPUBLICANS, of every faith, who, true to the cause of
liberty, would guard it against all pernicious examples.’
ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE UNITED STATES
DURING J. Q. ADAMS’S ADMINISTRATION.