Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-07-27
From the Democratic Press.

From, the Democratic Press
MR.. CLAY AND MIR. CANNING.
In reading the late debates in tie British Par
Lament, we find that Lord Grey has made some
remarks on the speech delivered, and as Is
known, carefully corrected by Mr. Canning, not
long ago, IN the affairs Of Portugal. In the
course of tina, speech, Mr.. Canning, ii will be
remembered, said, that it was he who had cal
led the news states Of this continent into being,
ad that he hat, done SO as an equivalent for the
of,nd England had lost in Europe, by allow
France 20 invade Spain in 1928. Lord
Greys first OBJ; ec ton to this assertion is, the
principle which it involves, of England, with
Il her power, tamely looking on, whilst consti-
tutionaI liberty was trampied down in Spain,
and the example of such an outrage upon ma.
tinnal independence sanctioned before all Eu-
rope, merely for the sake of afterwards calling
the new states into being; an extraordinary
part for great and liberal statesman to have
acted, his lordship thinks! But his next ob]ec-
ton is that it was an idle boast Of MIR. Canning's,
Chase are the words)without any foundation in
fact. And here it is impossible to read Lord
Grey'S speech without being struck with Mr..
Cannings further imperfections OF memory;
imperfections which have been already so poin-
tedly laid before our public in The discussions
of the colonial question by the american Cit
izen." Strange as it may seem, it is ncverthe
less true, that Mr.. Canning, in March, 1925,
actually declared to the minister Of the king
Of Spain, then at the court of London, that the
separation of Tie Spanish colonies from the mo-
Their country had NOT been The york or eUen the
,cisho of England, her government hdoins had no
participation in that separation. LordGrey quotec
from Mr.. Canning's own despatch to the Span
ish minister, in the above precise words.
we have SAID thus much only as introducto-
ry to few remarks that belong 10 the heading
1--WE have taken for our article today. The
fame of our eminent men makes up the fame OF
the country, and we have fallen upon lamenta-
BILE state Of public opinion if do not cherish
the fame ofour statesmen, as eagerly as we are
wont to do that of our soldiers. BY the COM
mand of our constitution, by the spirit Of our
laws, by all the highest obligations that bind us
to perpe,uity Of freedom, we are called upon
TO place the former in he first rank, instead of
throwing it out of view altogether, as too many
Of US are for doing. If Lord Grey had been
wel!-inforned, and had added candor 10 his
knowledge, he would have said, that it was
Henry Clay who called these new states into be-
ing, not George Canning We speak with the
proper qualification, We know that it was to
their own exerlions, that the Spanish Ameri-
cans were primarily indebted for heir indepen.
dence. Without their own tolls, their own
blood, their own invincible efforts and resolution,
it had all passed away like a vapour. But we
do say, that next 10 God and their own exertions,
it was Henry Clay who called them into being.
1t was he who more than any other mortal in
either hemisphere, out of Spanish America,
called them into being; and more, thousand
rDII thop I A
meiican who prizes the fame Of his country in
its connection with the just renown of her sons,
gainsay this. 1t was Henry Clay who first led
the forth TO recognition, more than any other
living mortal; thus establishing them among
the nations Of the earth, exalting them in their
own consciousness, lifting up their long worn
spirits and mos, essentially aiding to stop the
carnage that was desolaling their land.
1t was he who did this whilst others, let it be
confessed--nations as well as individuals--were
still looking on with dlstrust, with doubt, and if
even with sympathy, cold forbearing, useless
sympathy. Some, too, there were, and in Eng.
land, who looked on with hostility and haired in
their hearts. Yes it was he, Henry Clay, whose
master and buoyant mind, with more offuturity
in it than was shared by his compatriots, and to
whose expanded and generous spirit human Ii.
berty was dear in whatever region struggling
for birth, it was who pierced the way for
these new states in the crowning work of their
emancipation This is history. This is truth
They know it from the Orinoco to the La Plata,
from the tops of the Andes to the Pacific
They have gratefully acknowledged it in all
those vast regions. Amongst ourselves it ought
not to be forgotten. thought to be proclaimed
aloud, reiterated anew, and again and again,
for moment questioned. 1t is a
high, a glorious distinction, of which Mr.
Clay's friends will forever be proud; of which
his country should be proud. 1t was a noble
field that he fought in, & he won the patriots tri-
umphs; the triumphs of wisdom, Of forecast, of
the triuInphs that swell the eleva-
ted soul at beholdipg shackles thrown off, and
freedom extended and secured to new portions
of mankind, Away with George Canning pre-