Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-05-21
AIR. CLAY.

we conceive to be ono of his happiest sx,empofs
productions, and the warmth and animation
which pervado it. full we'll tell, that every SEN
timent contained in the speech, flowed imme.
dia,ely from the heart OF the speahor. He
| spoke as a man, fearless Of all consequences,
! when engaged in promoting tho good of his
country, should speak he was not to be in
tmdated by the chickering's Of party or the
howllngs Of the political tempest that warred
around him.
As was expected, some Of tho opposition
presses have seized upon tho speech, and spoke
Of it in terms not in the most mild or agreeable
to the ears Of tho friends of the Secretary, and
among others who have thus deported them
selves, We arc sorry to find our friend Major
Noah ofthe New-York Enquirer. This gentle
man, once the enthusiastic admirer Of Mr.. Clay,
and once the efficient supporter Of tho then
Speaker Of the House Of Representatives, has,
ever since Mr.. Clay took the Office which he
now fills with so much ability, and to the entire
satisfa ction Of the nation, endeavored to make
him guilty of moral and political alterations,
which he as we'll as all others, arc satisfied he
never committed In thus attempting what ne
can never accomplish, Major Noah discovers
want Of discretion, and an open inconsistency
Of conduct, which we arc sorry TO see manifest
cd by a contemporary, who unites with the pro-
prieti.s Of a gentleman, the talents Of on ac-
complished writer. Take Mr.. Noah aside from
~ ~. al fr,
the gaze o! an infatuated party, to whose
car he has blindly hhchcd his fortunes, and ask
him, if in the sincerity Of his heart, he believes
that the Secretary of State, is the bad man
that he represents him, and he will tell you that
he docs not. and that he looks upon MIR. Clay
as one OF the first statesmen Of the age, and as
tho pride and boast Of the republican party
But he will tell you further than this, that his
party have dccreed the destruction Of the Sec
rotary, and that in compliance with usage, he
is bound to assassinate the very man that he
the most admires! Hard is the fortune Of the
lucke and misguided wight. who to subserve
the designs of his party, finds himself called
| upon to assassinatc his friends!
There are others, as well as Major Noah,
who are engaged in an Improbable crusade
against Henry Clay, who, whilst they pursue
the man with all their forces, in secre. and in
silence, sincerely dcplore the exigences of the
times, or rather that the cxigenccs ofa party,
command them to war against man, whose
probity they honor, and whose splendid genius
they admire.
If we look back, for the space Of four short
years only, we find that those who are now the
most vehement against Mr.. Clay. were then his
friends and associates, though they might not
have supported him for the Presidency, because
he was not presented to tho people through the
ma chinery and operandi Of a caucus nomina-
lion. Then Henry Clay was the pride Of the
country; the boast Of the republican party
equally admired by Democrats and Federalists;
and the communicating breath Of suspicion
had not lighted upon his vostmen's;-no man
dared to doubt even for a moment, his moral
or political integrity--alI delighted in the ora
tor Of the west, and pointed to him as the hoad
Of the immaculate republican Church Hi,
whole life had been devoted to the interests Of
his country, and in the darkest hours Of her af
Fiction. he has not shrunk, bui, undismayed,
was at all times found firm at his post, and
among the first to encourage the discouraged,
and to add new energies to the nation.
He has not been time serving politician,
or hunter of popularity;-a course as even as
il was independent marked his career, and he
acted upon whatever question presented itself,
without reference to his own private advantage,
and looked forward for the good of his country,
and for that only.
Unacquainted with the base designs Of the
intriguing politician, he did not stop to ascer-
tain whether a question would be popular or
otherwise before he acted; ;-on the contrary,
he understood the question in dispute. and hav-
ing examined its bearings and probable effects,
he espouscd that side, which appeared To be
based on justice, and conceived by WISDOM
He was rarely at the commencement Of a
| question among the majority-most frequently
he was at the head Of small minority; but
taking the subject up in good earnest ,and devot-
ing to it his talents he soon SUI ceeded in acqur-
| ing for it the ascendency, and in the end car
lied it trumphantly through the councils Of the
nation.
To advance tho true interests Of the nation.
and to encourage dcspondcnt Manufacturers,
I in the year 1916, at time when he was the
J most popular man in the Southern and Western
! States,-at time when he possessed the conf
dence and better feelings Of the Southern pop
ulation, he came forward with proposed Ia