Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1827-05-02

try's interest the end and aim Of his exertions
He never sacrificed principle TO secure the
favor Of party, or yielded an opinion from
the fear of its unpopularity. He sought first
and principally the extension Of republican
freedom, and as the best means Of fsecuring il,
laboured with all the energy Of his cloquence,
to maintain unimpaired the union the states.
He Incorporated himself with no party that re-
garded the general government in the light OF
an unwieldy and inert mass powerless Of good,
but supported the true theory which regards
the union as an active and vivifying principle,
pervading all sections, ,ccmenting them together
by the ties of mutual interest and convenience,
and availng itself of its great resources to pro-
duce the most certain and expeditions commu-
nication between them. Finally, and above
all, he possessed the frmness to resist the
attractions of military glory, and the talent to
dispel its delusions, and thus in all human prob
ability, saved the republic from the gulf of
military despotism"
The encomium thus passed on Mr.. Clay, is
not less true than merited, and the public and
private character ofthe Secretary Of State are
equally admirable. As private citizen, no
man is held in higher esteem than Mr.. Clay,
by all who know him; and at home, he has at
tached to him, q numerous society of people,
who look upon him as the pride ofthe country,
and as enc "whom it were no sin to honor;'
and to defend him against the Vaccinations
Of his enemies, they would suffer no effort to
remain idle.
The poor and distressed Of his neighborhood,
bear witness to his generosity and benevolence,
and many widowed mother, has, with
grateful heart, as she told the sad story of her
wayfarings, spoken of the munfcence Of
HENRY CLAY, who, when she was an hunger
ed gave her bread, and who, when she was
houseless, afforded her an asylum, in his hospit-
able mansion. To aid the necesstous, and to
encoura &c talent, and to nurture it., and to elc-
vate depres ed genius, he has made study,
and many here are, who have through his aid,
received the benefits Of education.
No man that has done so much for his coun-
try and for mankind, has been so basely and
infamously traduced as Mr.. Clay; and for the
last three years, numerous presses have been
engaged to sully his reputation, and afix upon
him the odium Of the people. But in their un-
hallowed designs, they have met with defeat;
and whilst they have toiled and tuggcd, and cx-
hausted their resources to render him odious to
the people, the Secretary has gained redoubled
popularity, and taught his traducers, that they
have gnawed against file
In his manners, Mr.. Clay is more than ordi-
narily preposessing, and at the instant, gains
the esteem Of those who are introduced TO his
acquaintance.
A plain republican by birth and educ alton
he considers all men free and equal, and all
entitled to his attention and respect, who de-
port themselves properly, and sustain fair rep
utation. He repulses no man who would ap-
proach him, and spurns the idea, that any of
the human family should bow or bend to
brother mortal.
In the course of the rage Of partizan zeal
andpolitical animosities, he has been assailedby
the venal and proAigate, who have charged him
with the sins of the gambler, and the vices of
the bachannal. Those who know him will not
require refutation Of these calumnies; and
those who are acquainted with him, as poll
tician and statesman only, when they review
his past public life, will be satisfied, that he
who has done so much, and been so industri-
ously employed, could not have been guilty of
the improprieties charged upon him by the NAL
ice Of his enemies.