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 denouncedby 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.