Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1844-10-11
SPEECH OF THE HON. CAsSIUs
Nj. CLAY.

The following is the admirable, eloquent,
and highly effective speech, delivered by the
Hon CAssrus Nj. CLAY of Kentucky, at the
fremont Temple on the evening of the
10Th nlt, after the adjournment of the great
Convention on Boston Common:
1t would be ungrateiul to me TO affect TO
be nsensible to the respect and enthusiasm
with which / have been received here, as
elsewhere, in the whole North, yet my graf
ification is diminished by the reflection that
| cannot point to any achievement of my
own-any great public service which de-
serves so much distinction as you are pleas
ed TO bestow upon me. STILL if fxedness
of purpose, an ardent love of country, and
fearless advocacy Of truth are worthy OF
consideration, | trust | may prove not alto
gether undeserving your generous conf
dence. | stand here under very peculiar
circumstances. Having been ever true to
the wing cause, from my earliest manhood
down to the present hour, | find myself
denounced by leading wings as ultra in my
opinions owe the wings nothing-once
having possessed their confidence and sup
port, because | would not submit my con-
|
been by them, or at least by portion of
them, joined by the democratic party, pro-
scrbed forever 1t is unnecessary to say
that from the democratic party meet with
no favor. myself am, then, only respon-
sible for myself I know too well that am
denounced at the South as an enemy Of my
country know also who they are, that
pursue me with memorable malice, which
neither time nor distance, nor any thing
short of utter ruin of my name and person,
can ever satate. To the pro-slavery party
Of the South | owe nothing-no-not my
life; once more now, as heretofore, | scorn
their wrath and defy their power. l appeal
from the 81 ,496 shareholders to the $780,
900 free white iabOrers Of my own loved
State. Yes, to Kentucky, place of my ma
tivity, home of my boyhood. the early and
fond associations of childhood, and more
mature age, owe my first and lasting allie
giance-there shall ever live and there
shall repose in death. To my country, to
posterity, to God, l look for slow coming
Justice and ultimate Judgment.
Shall | repeat that the present crisis is the
most eventful in the annals of our history.
1t is the same great struggle, which from
time immemorial down to the present hour,
has never ceased between liberty and slave
ry. In the language of Mr. Choate, the
question is not how we shall be governed
only, but who shall govern? 1t is the same
issue which the colonies of America, in
seventeen hundred and seventy-six, made
with the tyrannical parliament Of Britain,
except that we are now called upon not on
ly to vindicate the right that taxation aud
representation should be equal and INSOFAR
able, but to stand by, or forever lose many
of those great safeguards of liberty which
we enjoyed under the British rule. Mr.
Webster has asked to-day, "where, ont OF
) America save in England, exist trial by ju-
; ry. free press. public assemblies, the right
Of free discussion and the habeas corpus
act :" | ask you, where but in England do
they exist do they exist here mo, you
know too we'll that they do not. These
great buwarks of human liberty, founded on
the blood and unspeakable woe Of the great
and good, who have for long ages fallen a
: sacrifice to the vindication Of the eternal
, principles of right and truth, are now tramp.
led under foot by the despotic pro-slavery
party of this republic.
$ Yes, it is TO slavery and to the temporis
!. ing policy of our fathers, owing that the wal
of re was incomplete, and that W.. are now
. called upon in 1914 once more to light the
(; battle Of liberty. will not reproach our H.
I. lustrious sires, or de,ract from their glori
aus fame they did more, by the American
, revolution and the constitution of the Uni
ted States, to establish the cause of human
!, freedom, than any other men whose deeds
: illustrate the annals OF the world still sac
). experience has too well proved to us, tina
they left much undone, and the permission
of slavery in the United States government
has well nigh left us nothing of our origin
al franchises. Let us look the evil boldly il
: the face; and if it be not already too late
retrace our steps, and be yet saved from ru
in. 1t cannot be denied that the whole PEG
pie of the Union were participes crimne il
the establishment Of slavery; when they al
lowed the importation of slaves up to 1908
when the North agreed to return slaves T.
the South and allowed three votes for ey
cry five slaves in the federal representation
Yet, if they did not use the word sldUe the
meant it-they meant what they said
they did not say all they meant On tn
: other hand, deny, now and forever, tina
! there was any sacred and inyiolable com
sr promise between slavery and liberty. Al
y ans and Sherman, and Morris, and other
of the North, and Madison and Jeiferso
and the immortal Washington, and otf
le ers of the South--yes, all, with few exceT
j tons, of the ilustrous founders of the cor
e. stitution, were opposed 10 slavery-and a
il all, every one that voted for the consttt
st ton agreed that all alliance with SLAYER!
so Car as expressed in the three clauses nan