Litchfield enquirer., 1845-10-30
ELooUENcE OF HENRY CLAY.

ELoQUENCE OF HENRY CLAY.
 The following interesting passage occurs in Con- rows forthcoming book, {" IAe L.fe aud 1Snses ef Henry CIey." It is . graphic sketch of one of the very many able and eloquent speeches Of Mr. CLAY which have never been published ..ss.u..
 Among the best speeches of MT. Clay, the memo " of which lives while they who heard them live, and the thought of which awakens to new life :he feelings they produced, was one delivered at Lex inyfon, as late as May lS43, the occasion and hs- tory of which are as follows: Alter MT. Clay had retired from the Senate of the United States, in ls42, till the next year, during which time it expected he would be nominated for President in ls44. great efforts were made in Kentucky, and throughout the Union, not only to villiy him, but to bring into Odium the twenty.seventh Congress, which was the last in which Mir. Clay had seat as Senator, and the eRdeavoTs of which were chief ly directed to establish the policy and measures called for by the political revolution of lS4O. Mr Clay was virulently traduced by some base persons in Lexington and that neighbo.hOod. Asaperpet- ual dropplng wears stones 90 these incessant at- tacks, though false and Eoul and known to be such. if unnoticed and unrepelled, might produce injuri ous efFecis on the common mind. He therefore re- solved, and caused notice to be published, that he would meet his feilos citizens of Fayette and the adjoining counties at Lexington, on day spec
 
 on this occasion he had consulted, regretted the step as being unnecessary. They thought these at. tacks unworthy of notice. This difference of opin ion was painsal to MT, Clay, and no doubt contrib nted not little to that depth and power ot feeling which he manifested on that occasion The mo- tice brought together great concourse of people, whom no place but the poblic square could accom- modate. The patriarch statesman was to appear before his old friends and neghhors of forty years standing once more aud for the last time, in that capacity in which he had not been heard for many years, and in which no one ever expected to hear him again. And it was the vile tongue ofcalumny that was to be encountered.
 The following account of this address was furnish ed for the author by highly respectable fellow.ct- izen of MT. Clay, and the words of the opening, as quoted, are exact. When Mr. Clay rose he was evidently much excited. He commenced by say tug, with marked emphass--" Fellow citizens: :: am now an old mon-Qsnte an old man." Here he bent himself downward But yet, 1t wall be found an not too old to vindicate my principles, to stand by my friends. or to defend myself
 ing his voice. louder and louder, at each successive member of the sentence, and elavating his person in most impressive manner. He then proceed ed :- ,r 7u. r.N--., sH qrE, .7I. ,.,, ....9.,.
 "lt so happens, that have again located my selfin the practice of my profession, in an office within few rods of the one which occupied, when more than forty years ago, first came among you, an orphan and a stranger, and your fathers took me by the hand and made me what l atn. feel like an old stag. who has long been coursed by the hunters and the hounds, through brakes and briars and OCT distant plains and has at last return. ed to an ancient lair to lay down and die. As yet the vile CUTS of party barking at my heels and the bloodhounds of personal malignity are aiming at my throat. seOrn aud defy them. as erer did :" ,5.....
 When he uttered these last words, he raised him. self to his most erect posture, and elevated his Il :ln al nhNvo hia haaA seeming to have doubled the height of his full per. son. The effect was overwhelming -intescriba- ble. h "A, '' H.. ".' = ~.
 To have any approximate idea of the effect of this speech, which continued for hours, fully sus- tained throughout in vindication of the 27th Con. gress of Whg policy and principles. and in defence of the orator hmself against the calumniators, one should have view ofall the attributes ofeloquence ascribed to MT. Clay in thus chapter. the use of scarcely one of which was wanting on that occa. sion Nor should it be forgotten. that he was then sixty six years old. It may be asked, l any ora tor can be named in all history, who ever produ. ced such an effect, in SO few words, and those the mere exordium of his oration! They all hse.c that what he said was true I am an old man."- Didn't they know that! And the moment he said it they began to weep. When he pointed to his present office and the place of the old one. few rods distant, they all knew thaf. "I came here 40 years ago, an orphan and a stranger" They knew MQt. IdtHeTS tOoN Me uy ""''o o''A made me what am." It is impossible to conceive the effect of this They wept like children, and only wished they could do as much They could at least stand by him. "I feel like an old stag."- Now he is speaking to Kentucky hunters. Their ears are all erect for what is coming. And by the time he had gone through with the figure. and its application, the struggle between the sympathy which streamed from the eyes of some, and the in dignation which clenched the fists Of others, ot that vast multitude.all knowing it was all true, every word of it--was like the throes of a moun. tain in agony. sr . Fo", iI l. .ni
 A part of the sublimity of the spectacle consisted in concern, what might be the fruit of such passion for some of his defamers were present. Bat when Mr. Clay rose in all the majesty of his own loftiness, threw his arms on high. and ms voice into the heavens-he stood under its canopy, and said, .' scors and defy them nosc. as eUer did," they dashed away their tears, and resolved to be stout of heart as he and to vindicate his hon. or, A reply was expected but prudence got the better ofthe purpose.
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