Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1838-09-13
miscellaneous.

Nh. CLAY.-It may have struck our
readers with some little surprise, that III
combating the argu ments adduced AGAINST
the great financial refOru proposed by the
Administrator, we have taken 50 liltle no
tice Oi those vi MIR. L LAY. Inc TACT Is,
that his speeches upon lhe sublect--ii
speeches they deserve 10 be culieu--urc so
devoid oi mlnd aud argument as 10 be ut
terly unworthy oil discussion; aud this Is
the opinion otseyerai OF his party, friends
as " ell as toes We know, and the tact Is
notorious, that his ablesl friends busned Tor
the worse than mediocrity oi mis- Efforts
upon The great question, the discussion Oh
which has elected SO much tulen, on boti,
sides. Whence comes it that MIR. Clay has
lost SO much OF that ability which formerly
disting uished his political course! Ills
mind, often unequal to itself, and always
ill-regulated, once indicated powers oi d
high order, though uminprovcd by study,
and impaired by his habits oi life. The
secret vi its present deterioration is To be
found in the fact that he has deserted hls
first love, and prOsiituted his powers To the
support, Of all those anti-republicau doc
trines, MS strenuous OppOsillon to which, III
ca,ly life, was the foundation OF that repu-
tation aud popularity upon which he ycl
lives. Ever since this melancholy change,
he has been sinking lower anu lower in The
scale Of intellect, until he presents in the
Senate u spectacle oi fallen greatness pitIa-
ble to his friends and uunirers. we venture
to say that no man, especially in the las,
twelven0nth, has lost SD much ground IN
the estimation Of those woIthy 10 Judge as
Henry Clay. How man, indeed, can
manage to keep himself prominent III the
public eye, with 50 little intellectual capital,
IL curious phenomenon. His whole sys-
tenn OF augmentation may be defined in a
single phrase, the argumentum al i:ynorun-
ttdn,-the lowest appeals to the coarsesl
ignorance. |, is that kind of argument
which implies in the man who uses it the
most thorough c"n,cmp, ior himself and Ior
those to whom it is addressed. Mounle-
bank geslicuations. sell complacent airs.
sla & phrases. hackneyed anecdotes, cor
codiic tears, whecdliug caIolerics, tustain
faniarronadc, alternate imprecations and
suppiicatiOns--all these together, or in sue.
cession. make up the etoYuence OF this si,i-
rious patriot and vul gar hero. 1t requires
no little cooiness to utter such stuff, for hours
together, with the air OF saying things wor-
shyto go down to posterily. We have seen
his friends hang their heads during the ut
terauce ofthese piiifui aborlions, while lie
would 60 OH with the most self.compIacent
air, AZ IL the highest eloquence were pouring
from his tongue. While listening To the
vivid aud houndcring gasconades Of this
most Forcible Feeble, we could not but
think that we detected in the countenauce
OF his much greater competitor an express
sion OF contempt, the more profound from
the necessity of reprcssing it The feel
ings. of such man as Daniel Webster 1--WE
speak Of him now Intellectually must. in
decd. he not a little curious, when listening
20 the his ironic declamations of fbluH Harry.
And yet the degraded partisans of this
okrn-st,svu n pui,rat sppr'ss. sxp,,c, The
people TO sacrifice all their honest preiudi-
ces and sound doctrines in his behalf, from
no other motive but admiration -!