So dies the wave upon the shore!’
Be it ours to follow him, in the same humble and submissive faith, to heaven. Could he speak to us the counsels of his latest human, and his present heavenly, experience, sure I am that he would not only admonish us to cling to the Saviour, in sickness and in death; but abjure us not to delay to act upon our first convictions, that we might give our best powers and fullest influence to God, and go to the grave with a hope, unshadowed by the long worldliness of the past, or by the films of fear and doubt resting over the future.
The strong staff is broken, and the beautiful rod is despoiled of its grace and bloom; but in the light of the eternal promises, and by the power of Christ’s resurrection, we joyfully anticipate the prospect of seeing that broken staff erect, and that beautiful rod clothed with celestial grace, and blossoming with undying life and blessedness in the Paradise of God.
SPEECHES, &c.
ON DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, APRIL 6, 1810.
[THIS is the first speech on record, of Mr. Clay’s efforts during his congressional career. He had been previously elected to fill a vacancy in the United States senate, for a single session, in 1806, during which, in 1807, he delivered an able speech on internal improvement, which we regret has not been preserved. In 1809, the legislature of Kentucky again elected him a United States senator, and in the following remarks, he avowed himself in favor of the policy of encouraging domestic manufactures, which policy he had before advocated in the legislature of his own state. His early support of these two branches of national policy, which he afterwards called ‘the American System,’ is thus shown by his two first speeches in congress, and his name and influence have become identified with the cause, of which he has always stood forth the distinguished champion.]
MR. PRESIDENT,