Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1843-12-23

date was ~obHyed-the old Lios Of DENIM
racy crouched in his ~inif~-peaee was res
tored and the Union saved.
q Mr.. President, my heart recnrs to III
scenes Of that e~ventful hour with emotion
= uputterab'e. md when it shall cease TO bea
9 with the waruiest p,lIsn'ioDs OF mornl MP
!. probation for the ,natehless actor in thu
> great drama Of my conutry's liberty. lie
me receive the excavations Of my country
and curse Of my ceuntty's God. ] said
then, sir, and | say it row., f%enrless ofcon
tradietion. that such an instance Of Il,
power Of mind over the dafing passions o
despolisn, was never before exhibited I,
the world. This edlct was passe l-~tbe
blood warrant s~lgnsd~-the old Lion If De
mocracy grasped it In his pnw--but one
stroke Of that o~vcrpo~ering elo1nence, be
fore which Kings trenbfe md Despofs
bow, mads the Hero Of New Orlean.
quake on his throne, and restore 10 tha
polluted altar of liberty, the blood stained
edict which he had seized with delight.
repsst it sir~~sueb an instance Of the
power Of mind over the daring passions Of
despotism had never before been g Inhibited
10 the world. There was II wreath Of civic
nown--a halo Of immortal glory around
the brow Of Henry Clay in that hour.
which presented him in bold reiief, as the
greatest orator. the pufest patriot. and the
most maj nimous statesman in the uni
verse. Talk Of Calhoun sir, as 'the great
| Hercules Of mind and spirit"-great indeed
are the powers Of Hercules. but gfeat as
| HERCULES IL, the old Lion Of Democracy
had him bound in cords Of HEMp~and
whettinn his bloody fangs, he was ready
10 tesr the Hereulean giant into a thou.
sand atoms. Talk Of Webster, as "ths
rreat muster spirit OF the age''--great in.
| deed IL Webster, but Webster was there
Dir, and grea, as Webster is. he had not the
heart to approach the open Jaws md bloody
fangs Of the bowling lion, and bid him
| stay him wrath. Twas reserved for The
noble soul Of Clay, TO do the deed, and il
was done.
Mr.. President, If no other decd than that
| which has excited the admiration ofan nd.
hiring world, had marked The political ca.
reer Of that illustrious statesman, it is
enough 10 place him first in the hearts and
fret In The affections Of The Whigs--but
sir. his deeds Of f,agnanimity in the eoun.
Gil hall Of bis csttntry--in the cabinet---at
home nni abroad as an Ambassador Of lib.
efty, are engraved in the hearts Of his
countrymen, and in the bosom Of his eonn.
try.
Mr.. President, il il a lumentahle fact.
that orr government for the past len years
has been approaching A despotic monarchy.
Our rutnrs In We dared under the hallnwed
garb Of democracy. TO perpetrate deeds in
defiance Of law, and contrary 10 the es.
pressed will Of the people, which no crow
cd head in Europe could have done. but ut
the risk OF life. II IL time for the people
TO rise In the majesty. Of their rights and
arrest a spirit which threatens to jeopar.
disc oil that IL dear to the genius of Iiber.
ty. have said sir, that the genius Of des.
poiism.which under the hallowed name of
democracy, peryades our country, %ofisina.
ted ut the seat Of government; and it the
incidents to which | have referred, do not
prove il, there is no despotism or earth. II
il too late 10 recall the past and mourn
over the folly Of placing in the highest Of.
fees within the gift Of ffeemen, men Of The
most despot,c principles and notorious Va.
cillation. II only remains for US TO profit
BY tho past and adhere more closely TO
the spirit and precepts Of our illistrio1s
ancestors, in the selection of our chief off,
GERS. Il was said by Washington ''there
nerer mas a bad man who had ability. for
great and good services" Let this. sent.
ment be engraven in The hearts Of Wings
as The criterion by which they are to be
governed in the selection Of their rufers ;
let ii be recorded for posterity, let il be
proclaimed to The world, that in the face of
this sentiment they hold Mr.. Calhoun res.
ponsible for his biography Of Mr.. Van b..
remand in The face Of this sentiment
they place Mr.. Clay as far above those
great political associates, as honesty and
consistency are above prevarication and
~chicanery. Mr.. Calhoun told The Wings,
sir. when they were his only friends and
when they were determined to see him tri.
umph or be suspended by the same halter
with which his neck was Threatened, he
told us then, sir, that Mr.. Van Buren was
n bad man; Just ~ bad a man as Washing
ton assured us was incapable Of great and
good seryices.--Hs told us TINT he was
"the chief adviser of the act which pointed
the guns Of the Natchez at the wharves OF
Charleston"--that she was destitute of
honesty as a man, without principle, with.
out patriotism. n man in whose soul a no. ,
Bile manly principle could not exist" He
told us all this and we believed II; the
whole world either believed or could not
deny the charge, for bis whole life axhibi-
ted him rs a political weather.cock, turn
ing to every point Of the ponr!ar breeze,
and vacilla,lng for and against every prin.
ciple of political economy, from The COM
Increment of his political career. That
bad man, sir, with all the evidences of his
want of honesty and Of patriotism, was ia
ken in the armsof Mr.. Calhoun az his DO.
som friend, worthy Of his confidence and
worthy of the suffrages Of the Wings for
the highest office within their gift. Here.
sir, was the separation of Mr.. Calhoun
and the Wings, except those Of South Ca
sroiina, who, at the bidding Of theirillustri-
Gus leader, became as suddenly converted
as ST. Paul on his jonrneyto Damascus ;
not however, like the Apostle, from the
principles of n false TO a righteous faith,
but 10 The Fl ith Of Van Buren, Democracy,
and the science of Van Buren, .TWISTI-
FICATION," as my old friend Peter Por.
.,,;r. ~. tls 1t. Here SIR. h,,Id the iuteg