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.

by Unknown

It will be recollected, that during this session, the great tariff measure was passed. An incident grew out of Mr. Clay’s exertions in its behalf, which occasioned no little amusement in Washington, at the time, and throughout Virginia. Mr. William B. Giles, since governor of Virginia, on the appearance of Mr.Clay’s tariff speech, published several articles entitled ‘The Golden Casket,’ in which he introduced Mr. Clay’s name pretty often, and in no very courteous connection. The articles were of course perused by Mr. Clay, who, aware of the foibles of their author, took no serious offence thereat, but set to work to manufacture amusement from them. He sat down in a comic mood one day, and wrote Mr. Giles a long letter, complimenting him on the vigor of his intellect, his great mental ability, and his accurate critical acumen, but praising him especially for those qualities of which he was utterly destitute. When it was completed, he showed it to Mr. Archer, of Virginia, and several other friends, all of whom enjoyed it immoderately, and urged him to send it to Mr. Giles, and accordingly he sent it. As had been anticipated, the old gentleman devoured it with the greatest gusto and satisfaction. It contained just what he most desired—praise of his weakest traits of character. He read it repeatedly, and at each successive reading his heart relented towards the author, to such a degree as to cause him to observe, that had he received the communication previous to the publication of his ‘Casket,’ he should not have spoken of Mr. Clay as he did in that work. Shortly after, he exhibited this letter to some of his intimate friends, to let them see in what high estimation he was held by the great orator and statesman, but unfortunately nearly the first one who read it, discovered the hoax played on him, and immediately circulated it. Curiosity to see the letter now pervaded the whole community, and some difference of opinion prevailed as to its true character. A few of Mr. Giles’ friends expressed their belief that it had been written in good faith, but most that it was intended for a joke at his expense. Quite a violent dispute grew out of it; one party instigated by angry, and the other by mirthful feelings. At length, Mr. Archer, who resided in the same district with Mr. Giles, returned from congress, and the true version of the matter was soon trumpeted through the community, which caused unusual merriment. This was too much for Mr. Giles, who sent his son, a lad of sixteen years of age, to demand an explanation of Mr. Clay. He received the boy very civilly, who made known to Mr. Clay the nature of his business, saying that he was commissioned by his father to ask if he were the author of that letter, at the same time exhibiting to him the famous epistle, and if he were, to demand his motives in writing it. When he had concluded his interrogations, Mr. Clay coolly replied, ‘tell your father that I shall make no explanation to him through his own son. If he will employ a proper messenger, I will render him another answer.’ The lad departed, and nothing more was heard from Mr. Giles.

On the fifteenth of August, 1824, general Lafayette, the nation’s guest, arrived at New York, and on the tenth of December following, was introduced to the house of representatives by a selectcommittee appointed for the purpose, and was received by Mr. Clay, in an apposite and beautiful address, of which the following is an extract. ‘The vain wish has been sometimes indulged, that providence would allow the patriot after death, to return to his country, and to contemplate the intermediate change that had taken place, to view the forests felled, the cities built, the mountains levelled, the canals cut, the highways constructed, the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the increase of population. General, your present visit to the United States, is a realization of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the midst of posterity. Every where you must have been struck with the great changes, physical and moral, which have occurred since you left us. Even this city, bearing a venerated name, alike endeared to you and to us, has since emerged from the forest which then covered its site. In one respect you find us unaltered, and that is, in the sentiment of continued devotion to liberty, and of ardent affection and profound gratitude to your departed friend, the father of his country, and to you, and to your illustrious associates in the field and the cabinet, for the multiplied blessings which surround us, and for the very privilege of addressing you, which I now exercise. This sentiment, now fondly cherished by more than ten millions of people, will be transmitted with unabated vigor, down the tide of time, through the countless millions who are destined to inhabit this continent, to the latest posterity.’

To this address, the general replied in a manner which evinced that he had been most deeply affected by it; indeed, it was calculated to thrill his heart with proud joy, conveying to him as it did a rich tribute of gratitude from a mighty nation, expressed in the full, silvery voice of sincerity and affection, whose every tone sank into his soul with the power of a warm welcome. He contracted a strong attachment for Mr. Clay, which existed to the day of his death.

At this period, Mr. Clay’s influence had reached a commanding height. His control over the legislation of the United States, was unquestionably greater than that of any other individual, not even excepting the executive himself. Although Mr. Clay disagreed with president Monroe on the great measures of national policy, internal improvements, and the tariff, and also respecting the mode of recognizing South American independence, still, the latter, entertaining the most profound regard for his ability, and appreciating the value of his services to his country, repeatedly offered him a seat in his cabinet, and the choice of all the foreign missions. Justice to Mr. Clay’s disinterested patriotism demands it to be recorded, that his honest conviction, that he could be more serviceable to his country by remaining in her popular assembly, than in representing her abroad, was one of the most weighty motives which prevented him from planting his foot upon one ofthe many stepping-stones, to place and power, which the hand of executive favor had, unsolicited, laid before him. The differences of opinion existing between him and Mr. Monroe, never interrupted for a moment, the amicable relations of social intercourse which they mutually maintained.

Towards the close of his second term, which expired in 1825, the question of the next presidency was generally agitated. As candidates for this office, Messrs. J. Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford, had been brought forward by their respective friends. As early as November, 1822, in a meeting of the members of the legislature of Kentucky, Mr. Clay had been nominated to it, and a short time after, he was nominated also in meetings of the members of the legislatures of Missouri, Ohio, and Louisiana. Enthusiastic expressions, approbating this nomination, issued from large assemblies throughout the land, and as the period for the election approached, there were many cheering indications that it would be carried in his favor. But efforts were resorted to, not the most creditable to those who employed them, for the purpose of defeating his election. About the commencement of the canvass, reports were industriously circulated, calculated to diminish his support. Among them was one announcing his withdrawal from the contest, for which the unscrupulous exertions of many of his opponents gained extensive credence, notwithstanding our late lamented chief magistrate, and many other friends of Mr. Clay in Ohio, published a counter report, declaring that he ‘would not be withdrawn from the contest but by the fiat of his Maker.’ The probabilities, however, of his success, continued to increase, until the time of the choice of electors in Louisiana, by the legislature of that state. In that body, Mr. Clay’s popularity was such as to secure him the vote of the state; this was evident from the fact of his nomination by it. The members of the legislature friendly towards the other candidates, endeavored to effect a compromise with those who supported Mr. Clay; but the latter, aware of their strength, rejected it. The compromise proposed to give him four of the five electoral votes to which the state was entitled, which would have carried him into the house of representatives, to the exclusion of Mr. Crawford, as one of the highest three candidates, from which, according to the constitution, it would be obliged to make a selection. Unfortunately, about the time when the state of Louisiana made choice of her electors, three of Mr. Clay’s friends became so seriously indisposed, as to preclude their attendance on the legislature. This event furnished the friends of Mr. Adams and general Jackson an opportunity to form a coälescence, which they eagerly embraced, and divided the five votes so as to give the former three and the latter two. This consequently excluded Mr. Clay from the house, into which, had he gone, there is no doubt that his unbounded popularity in thatbody would have secured his election to the office. When, however, it became apparent, that no election of president would be made by the people, with a nobleness and a nice sense of honor, so characteristic of him, he resolved not to go into the house, but to withdraw his name, and at a time too when the prospect was of his being one of the highest three candidates. With great magnanimity, therefore, he put into execution his resolution, assigning to several of his intimate friends his reasons, among which was the belief, that by his doing so, the choice would be more readily and pacifically made. Such generous and self-sacrificing conduct, while it illustrates the purity and strength of his patriotism, is worthy of all admiration and commendation.

Near the close of December, 1824, the result of the canvass was ascertained, by which it appeared that the three candidates returned to the house, were Andrew Jackson, John Q. Adams, and W. H. Crawford, by votes of ninety-nine, eighty-four, and forty-one.

Mr. Clay’s position now was exceedingly delicate as well as important. He had it in his power, by placing himself at the head of the party who went with him in the house, to control its choice of the three candidates returned to it. This he well knew, as also their friends, who beset him continually and in every possible manner, to secure his influence in behalf of their favorite candidates. His predilection was well known to his personal friends, but he sedulously refrained from making it the basis of any caucusses or intrigues, which, knowing the unhealthy excitement always generated by them, he desired to avoid. During the several weeks immediately pending the election, the warm partisans of the parties supporting Messrs. Jackson and Adams, approached him in the most obsequious manner, expressing the deepest regret that he had not been returned to the house, and lavished on him the most fulsome flatteries and mawkish caresses. After trying these for some time ineffectually, finding the more than Roman firmness of the statesman unmoved by them, they attempted to coërce him into a compliance with their wishes, and the most unprincipled attempts were made to accomplish this. He was attacked through the medium of anonymous letters incessantly, filled with abusive and menacing language. These arrived almost hourly, from every part of the country; indeed, the enginery of compulsion discharged their missiles at him from every fortress of his political opponents, in the hope of making him espouse their cause. Vain hope! A foolish waste of power, as they might have known. It were easier for the infant of a day with his puny hand to bow the oak of a thousand years, than for the combined efforts of his enemies to cause him to yield an inch of the high ground he had taken. In writing to a friend, he thus alludes to the blandishments and brow-beatings which he received at this time. Of the former, he said, ‘I am enjoying whilst alive, theposthumous honors which are usually awarded to the illustrious dead;’ and of the latter, he remarked. ‘I bore them, I trust, as your representative ought to have borne them, and as became me.’ But the basest attempts which they made, one which capped the climax of their depraved assaults, and which was intended to fix the foul stigma of disgrace indelibly upon their victim, was embraced by a letter published in a Philadelphia newspaper, called the ‘Columbian Observer.’ Without any preamble, this charged Mr. Clay with the deliberate intention of selling his vote to the highest bidder. This letter purported to have been written by a member of congress from Pennsylvania, and declared that the terms of a contract had been settled, which gave Mr. Clay the secretaryship, for which he was to bring his influence to bear in electing Mr. Adams. This allegation, the former lost no time in denying, in a communication published in the National Intelligencer, over his own signature, in which he pronounces the author of the letter ‘a base and infamous calumniator,’ and called upon him, whoever he might be, to come out boldly, avow and sustain the charge. This was answered a few days after, by a member of congress from Pennsylvania, Mr. George Kremer, who admitted himself the author, and also his readiness to substantiate his assertions in relation to the character of Mr. Clay. Subsequent developements have made it more than probable that Kremer did not write the epistle in question, his declaration to the contrary notwithstanding, but that it was written by the individual who sustained the ‘Columbian Observer,’ John H. Eaton, and the latter did not deny the authorship, although Mr. Clay directly charged him with it. The evidence elicited was such as to show Mr. Kremer’s entire passivity in the whole matter—a mere machine, moved by the hands of the vile plotters behind the scene, made to speak and act as they directed, and caused to father the villainous slander, which was generated amid the slime of their hearts, as destitute of honor and patriotism as the icebergs of Greenland of verdure. This supple tool had the frankness (to his credit be it spoken,) to acknowledge afterwards to Mr. Crowninshield, a member of congress from Massachusetts, that he was not the originator or author of it.

The more effectually to vindicate himself, Mr. Clay desired to place the subject before the house. To this he was prompted by his own feelings, and also by the belief that the dignity and honor of the body over which he presided, demanded that a complete investigation should be instituted, of those gross charges which had caused such disreputable imputations to rest upon his character. In accordance, therefore, with his request, a committee was appointed on the fifth of February, 1825, consisting of many leading members in the house, all of whom were his political opponents. Probably the matter had now gone farther than Mr. Kremer wishedor expected it to go, as he began to manifest considerable uneasiness respecting the result, notwithstanding he had but a day or two previous arisen in his place and substantially reiterated the contents of the communication he had acknowledged, stating that ‘if, upon an investigation being instituted, it should appear that he had not sufficient reason to justify the statements he had made, he trusted he should receive the marked reprobation which had been suggested by the speaker. Let it fall where it might, he was willing to meet the inquiry and abide the result.’ And yet, when it was proposed to adopt a course which would establish the truth or falsehood of his statements, which would test this willingness ‘to meet the inquiry,’ he shrank back and shuffled under a mean subterfuge. The committee, in their report, declared that Mr. Kremer refused to appear before, or communicate to them any facts of which he had virtually admitted himself to be in possession, and protested against acting either as an accuser or a witness, although strongly urged thereto by them, and not feeling authorized to use compulsion in procuring evidence, they suffered the subject to drop. While it was in the hands of the house, he was heard to remark to Messrs. Brent and Little, one of whom was a warm friend of general Jackson, that he never intended to charge Mr. Clay with corruption; that he had transferred or could transfer the votes or interests of his friend; and that he was among the last men in the nation to make such a charge against Mr. Clay. To this declaration both these gentlemen certified. Although Mr. Kremer was weak enough to allow himself to be made the organ of the abominable conspirators, and, as it appears, a little contrary to his convictions of truth and honor, he could not stifle the compunctious visitations of conscience, which he experienced on account of the abusive treatment which, through him, had fallen on an unoffending individual, and that individual one of the main pillars of the republic. He often expressed his intention of apologizing to Mr. Clay, and even went so far as to prepare an apology, containing a minute explanation of all the circumstances connected with the whole affair, from its inception to its completion, and which fully exonerated Mr. Clay from every charge brought against him in the letter. Information of his repentings and intended reparation soon came to the ears of the grand instigators, which carried panic to their cowardly hearts, and caused them to quake, lest their party-colored covering, composed of the very quintessence of meanness, baseness, and falsehood, should be stripped from them, and their nakedness exposed to the view and the derision of the world. To prevent such dreaded consequences, they began instantly to bestir themselves, at what expense of principle or integrity, they stopped not to consider. Their first efforts were very naturally directed towards the instrument of their machinations, who was seized, the apology taken from, and a muzzlefastened upon him, to prevent the slightest utterance of his repentant emotions. They then drew up a labored statement in his name, and laid it before the house, reeking with duplicity, and infecting the very atmosphere with its nauseating effluvia. Who can contemplate the loathsome picture of depravity, worthy of the arch fiend himself, which those evidently instigated by him, painted and attempted to suspend on the walls of the nation’s dwelling-place—the holy home of Liberty—in desecrating and contaminating proximity to the canvass emblazoning the form and the features of the ‘father of his country,’ and the glorious scenes of his revolutionary valor, without mingled feelings of disgust, indignation, and regret?—what patriotic heart, what lover of liberty and political virtue, in view of the fountain of immaculate purity, on the one hand, whose streams went forth incessantly, to fertilize, and gladden, and bless a mighty nation, and their diabolical attempts, on the other, to pollute and blot it from existence, without sending up the fervent ejaculation, ‘Heaven save my country from falling into such hands’?

After the dust and fog created by their unnatural endeavors had passed away, the object of their malice appeared in his proper place, as unmoved and serene as though the clangor of their strife had not saluted his ears, and as unaffected by the showers of their envenomed arrows, as though he had been sitting in his native forests amid the rain-like fall of autumnal leaves. Their loud and discordant clamors did not for a moment interrupt his meditations concerning that important, that solemn duty, which had devolved upon him, in the performance of which he had resolved that no arts of wheedling or coercion should influence him; that no man nor set of men should act as his casuist; and that he would not select from the numerous casuistical proposals, which party zeal had placed before him, one that should determine the mode of its discharge. No! he chose to settle that question at a tribunal from which there was no appeal—at the tribunal of Nature, which Nature’s God had erected in his own bosom. To that he resorted; indeed, it was one of his most favorite resorts; and spreading out this momentous question before her bar, we hear him exclaim, ‘My position in relation to the presidential contest is highly critical, and such as to leave me no path on which I can move without censure. I have pursued in regard to it the rule which I always observe in the discharge of my public duty. I have interrogated my conscience as to what I ought to do, and that faithful guide tells me that I ought to vote for Mr. Adams. I shall fulfil its injunctions. Mr. Crawford’s state of health, and the circumstances under which he presents himself to the house, appear to me to be conclusive against him. As a friend to liberty, and to the permanence of our institutions, I cannot consent, in this early stage of their existence, by contributing to the election of a military chieftain,to give the strongest guarantee that this republic will march in the fatal road which has conducted every other republic to ruin. I am, and shall continue to be, assailed by all the abuse which partisan zeal, malignity and rivalry can invent. I shall view without emotion these effusions of malice, and remain unshaken in my purpose. What is a public man worth, if he will not expose himself, on fit occasions, for the good of his country?’ Yes! he did act according to the response which that ‘faithful guide’ gave to his sincere interrogation, and had the anathemas of the world been thundered in his ears, they would not have driven him from thus acting. He deemed her will paramount to that of his constituents, who had desired him to vote for general Jackson. They afterwards, however, not only justified, but highly approved—as must every good man—his decision. It would be an act of superfluity to specify minutely the grounds of Mr. Clay’s preference. He had obtained occular evidence of Mr. Crawford’s inability to sustain the responsibilities and perform the arduous duties of the chief magistracy. He ascertained it to be a fact, but one carefully concealed from the community, that Mr. Crawford had become almost entirely debilitated by paralysis, both physically and mentally, which itself, aside from the knowledge which he possessed, that his influence could not elect him, was sufficient to induce his rejection. Between general Jackson and Mr. Adams, it cannot be supposed that Mr. Clay would long hesitate to choose. His determination had been taken a long time previous to his knowing the result of the election by the people. He had repeatedly given utterance to that determination to friends and foes, at home and at Washington, in public and in private, declaring that no supposable contingency could arise to constrain him to vote for general Jackson, and even went so far as to say, that if, in consequence of his well known and often promulged opinion of the character, acquirements, and abilities, of that individual, he should sustain him, he would subject himself to the just contempt and reprobation of all parties. Neither did he nor his friends look for Mr. Clay’s support, and said that if he did give it, he would be guilty of duplicity. It is very natural to suppose, that a consultation of his experience would be sufficient to cause Mr. Clay to prefer Mr. Adams. He had been associated with the latter in many situations of trust and responsibility, requiring the most consummate skill and statesmanship, and he had invariably found him more than sufficient for them all. He had always found him prepared for any emergency or exigency, however suddenly or unexpectedly it might arise. But in reference to the military chieftain, its consultation elicited evidence just the reverse; he searched in vain for a page recording his diplomatic wisdom, sound expositions of governmental policy, and accurate estimates of presidential qualifications; it was wanting. But on many he found indelibly written, acts of unwarrantable and unjustifiableusurpation, evincing a disposition to trample on law, humanity, and the constitution itself. But general Jackson’s supposed hostility to internal improvements and protection to domestic manufactures, had these enumerated deficiences and defects in his character been wanting, would have been sufficient to exclude him from receiving Mr. Clay’s suffrage. These cherished systems, which he regarded as of no subordinate importance to the nation, and to establish which he had expended the prime of his life, he knew, found a firm supporter in Mr. Adams. This fact furnished the fundamental reason (if any one may be thus denominated) which determined his choice. Mr. Clay therefore gave Mr. Adams his vote, who was elected president. He immediately tendered the former the office of secretary of state, which was accepted with that promptitude and decision which he always manifested in entering upon the discharge of those duties to which he believed his country called him. By this act he proved himself consistent with his advocacy of the claims of Mr. Adams to the presidency, under whom he believed that he could render more efficient service, than in his present position in the house. There can be no other reason assigned, which carries with it even the shadow of validity, inducing him to accept a place in the cabinet of the president. The same place had been tendered him by Messrs. Madison and Monroe, and had been declined, on the ground of his belief that he could make himself more serviceable to the nation, by continuing where he was. The great measures of national policy which were suspended upon his shoulders, at the time they desired to transfer him from that body to their cabinets, he had disposed of, and had also happily removed most of the serious impediments and obstructions which then greatly retarded the wheels of legislation, so that there was a fair prospect that they would roll on smoothly, without requiring his immediate aid. He could, therefore, seek with safety another sphere, and one where he could exert a more extended and salutary influence.

In relation to his having bargained for the office of secretary of state, Mr. Adams speaks, in reply to an address from a committee of gentlemen, expressing their confidence in his purity and patriotism, and a hope that the evening of his days would be passed in that tranquillity which is only the lot of the good. He said that upon Mr. Clay, ‘the foulest slanders have been showered. Long known and appreciated, as successively a member of both houses of your national legislature, as the unrivalled speaker, and at the same time, most efficient leader of debates in both of them, as an able and successful negotiator for your interests in war and in peace with foreign powers, and as a powerful candidate for the highest of your trusts. The department of state itself was a station, which, by its bestowal, could confer neither profit nor honor upon him, but upon which he has shed unfading honor by themanner in which he has discharged its duties. Prejudice and passion have charged him with obtaining that office by bargain and corruption. Before you, my fellow citizens, in the presence of our country, and of heaven, I pronounce that charge totally unfounded. This tribute of justice is due from me to him, and I seize with pleasure the opportunity, offered me by your letter, of discharging the obligation.