Volume 1 — LIFE OF HENRY CLAY. (continued 6)

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.

HENRY CLAY.

With voice and mien of stern control

He stood among the great and proud,

And words of fire burst from his soul

Like lightnings from the tempest cloud;

His high and deathless themes were crowned

With glory of his genius born,

And gloom and ruin darkly frowned

Where fell his bolts of wrath and scorn.

But he is gone—the free, the bold—

The champion of his country’s right;

His burning eye is dim and cold,

And mute his voice of conscious might.

Oh no, not mute—his stirring call

Can startle tyrants on their thrones,

And on the hearts of nations fall

More awful than his living tones.

The impulse that his spirit gave

To human thought’s wild, stormy sea,

Will heave and thrill through every wave

Of that great deep eternally;

And the all-circling atmosphere,

With which is blent his breath of flame,

Will sound, with cadence deep and clear,

In storm and calm, his voice and name.

His words that like a bugle blast

Erst rang along the Grecian shore,

And o’er the hoary Andes passed,

Will still ring on for evermore.

Great Liberty will catch the sounds,

And start to newer, brighter life,

And summon from Earth’s utmost bounds

Her children to the glorious strife.

Unnumbered pilgrims o’er the wave,

In the far ages yet to be,

Will come to kneel beside his grave,

And hail him prophet of the free.

’Tis holier ground, that lowly bed

In which his mouldering form is laid,

Than fields where Liberty has bled

Beside her broken battle-blade.

Who now, in danger’s fearful hour,

When all around is wild and dark,

Shall guard with voice, and arm of power,

Our freedom’s consecrated ark?

With stricken hearts, Oh God, to Thee,

Beneath whose feet the stars are dust,

We bow, and ask that thou wilt be

Through every ill our stay and trust.