[◆] Speech on the Commencement of Jackson’s Administration.
[◆] Speech on the Effect of the Protective System on the Southern States.
[◆] Speech on Nullification, &c.
[◆] Speech on the Reduction of Duties on Imports.
[◆] Speech on the Nomination of Mr. Van Buren, as Minister to Great Britain.
[◆] Volume II.
PREFACE.
IN writing the Biography of HENRY CLAY, we are conscious of entering a field several times explored, by individuals of great ability, who have spread before a delighted public the rich rewards of their researches. But its great amplitude—the loftiness of its hills—the breadth of its valleys—and the vastness of its enclosures, induce the belief, that the office of another explorer would not be altogether that of a gleaner; on the contrary, that the proper performance of its duties would result in the discovery of new beauties, and in the acquisition of new treasure. Under the influence of this belief, the resolution was taken and preliminaries settled of our undertaking, and ourself brought to its borders, indulging in visions of anticipated pleasure, not unlike those which an enthusiastic botanist experiences, who, with feranthos across his shoulders, and analyzing apparatus in his satchel, is about to enter the fair field of nature, to cull and examine the loveliest specimens of her skill. Personal gratification, however, was not the only nor chief motive prompting us to the undertaking. We desired to procure a larger and better collection than had ever been made of the mental gems of him who had moved in patriotic majesty over it, and adorned its enclosures of intellectual verdure with the brilliants of pure and lofty action; to gather and collocate these, we were strongly urged by the consideration that we should thus contribute, in some degree, to carry into execution that which formed one of the most interesting features of Mr. Clay’s character—a desire to submit his every public act to the closest public scrutiny—a desire which was never introduced to subserve a certain purpose, but which was coeval with his political existence, and which he ever, under all circumstances, unequivocally avowed. A further motive was derived from our own ardent desire to behold a moredeeply-seated and generally-extended conviction of the purity, disinterestedness, and inestimable value of his services, which, in view of our own experience, we firmly believed would be the invariable issue of a careful and candid examination of them. That we sincerely and strongly wished the dissemination and establishment of this conviction we gladly affirm, not because we attach the slightest importance to it, considered as a mere isolated fact, but because we knew it would be productive of great and permanent good in the minds of all where it should find a lodgment.
It is a well-known and prominent truth, that those who are familiar with the beauties and sublimities of the natural world, are distinguished for expansive, liberal, and noble views. An effect parallel to this is distinctly seen in those who are surrounded by the magnificent scenery of the mental and moral world, and whose dwellings are irradiated by their effulgent luminaries. Hence, a sage custom of the ancient Greeks, as related by one of their historians, of causing their youth to be similarly circumstanced—especially those who were being educated with direct reference to the assumption of the duties and responsibilities of public life. In qualifying these appropriately to discharge the former and sustain the latter, their guardians and preceptors deemed it of vital importance to place before them the noblest scenes and subjects. In close connection with the precept ‘know thyself,’ they enjoined that of ‘know the good and great of others.’ To them it was well known, that the contemplation of deeds of mental and moral grandeur was most salutary—that it generated a desire to imitate and surpass them—nay, more; that it limned them upon the walls of the soul, and filled it with the most beautiful intellectual imagery, which would eventually develope itself in action—magnanimous, patriotic, and conservative of the best interests of mankind. To attempt to prove that such deeds thickly adorn the field of Mr. Clay’s history would be superfluous, since the fact is well established in all civilized countries.