The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-11-20
ANOTHER CONTRAST %

oeople would not have MIR. Clay for their Presiden
IN 1874! We have that venerable gentlemans own
word for it, and he National Integeneer, TOO,
comes forward TO endorse it, FalsIah makes inc
assertion, and Bsrdolph is the surety VI course
must be true. Here is Mr.. Clay's language to
the vase giving ladies' of Tennessee, as we ma II
o,otsd in the 'sNational" of this morning, CIhe
whole tale is told in the last Lexington observer
Scene. Mr.. Clay's own house at Ashland. The
principal actors, DR.. MeNairy, OF Nashville and
Mr.. Clay. Present. Mr. Ciuenden and thirty or
6orty other gentlemen. The silver vase presented
bv Dr. Men, ia the names Of the ladies Of Tennes-
see. constituting the principal establishment of the
ceremony Mr. Clay seizss the opportunity, through
hint Of his interloeutor, to sound the tocsin, TO
give the cue TO his party, and, as friend expresses
|p u send ia hi, message to the approaching Con-
rress For example;)
aIf indeed. their kind wishes in relation to the
sus Of the last presidential election had been graf
ned have no doubt that We should lave avoided
some of those public measures, 80 pregnant with
evils TO our country, 10 which you have adVerted'
We should have preserved, undsturbed ana WIN,
|oyt any hazard, peace with all the world have had
|no unhappy war with neighborng sister republic,
and consequently, no deporable waste Of human
life Of which that which has been sacrificed or I'M
haired ia an inaalubnOus climate is far greater and
more lameniable Ihan what has been lost In the
glorious achievements of brave army, commanded
|by skilfnl and gallant general.
I'VE should have saved the millions OF treasure
which that unnecessary war has and will cost-an
immense amount, sufficient to improve every useful
|hsrbor on the lakes, the ocean, on the Gulf OF
Mexico and in the Interior and TO remove obStruc-
lions to navigation in all the great rivers IN the
United States.
1--WE should not have subyerted a patriotic sys-
hem Of domestic protection, fostering the industry
|of our own people and the interests OF our own
|,ountry, the great benefits Of which have been
pncucally demonstrated by experience, for the
klslonary promises OF alien policy Of free trade,
fostering the industry Of foreign people and the IN
srests Of foreign countries, which has brought In
IL train disaster and ruin to every nation that has
had the temerity 10 try Il. The beneheal iarh OF
|Isi2, which raised both the people and the govern
bnsnt Of the United States out Of a condition OF dts
! ess and embarrassment bordering on bankruptcy
he state Of high financial and general prosperity,
ould now be standing unrePealed IN the statute
book, instead Of the fatal tariff Of 1886, whose ca
)smilous effects will, apprehend sooner or later,
j. certainly realized"
"Oh! II could only be President, should be
Iuch blessing to the country! Do just make one
hal more for me-" Such is the sum and substance
bf the above rgmarole! Mr.. Clay falls from bad to
Worse He quits etter-writing, in which hereto
kore, like Millions famous parsonage, he has
'shone," though "darkened," and now takes to
kollical small talk with the ladies. Really, retire
|nent does not agree with the sage Of Ashland. 1t
Iunhlnges his faculties, and makes him say and do
kery silly things!
And yet, since important truths may sometimes
BE- inferred from ridiculous indications, we COM
mend Mr.. Cays egotistical predictions to the at,en
lOu Of the democracy and Of the country. Let US
bee what federal ascendency would have brought
|us, through Mr.. Clay's election in 1874.
Mr. Clay processes to give one side of the pic
lure. Let us take the other, and the true view of
Ee matter. He tells US what would not have hap
)hned, if he had been fortunate enough TO become
he President The " National Intelligencer" calls
Mr.. Gays view "the contrast" With his leave,
ee viii correct his drawing, supply his omissions,
portray faithfully what Mr., Clay and his friends
Ioud 10 their day of power have done, and thus
present the true contrast.
In the irst place, there would then have been no
hazard" for Oregon. That great question would
ave slept gnoby on the shelf where Mr. Webster
bd the federaliss placed it in 1912. Withheld from
be deliberations of Congress, to which the wise
rmness the administration submitted it, it would
lot have taken before the English ministry that i'm
ressve and commanding attitude which made Sir
Robert Peel faer and hesitate and finally fail to ap-
rove the rejection by Mr.. Pakenham of the old
American offer of adustment-a rejection which
|ad become traditional in the archives of England's
teady and stubborn diplomacy. That great con-
foversy would yet have lowered in the distance
yer the country, gathering magnitude and black
less every hour, and awaiting perilously another
|eturn to our councils of that democratic energy by
fhch alone its errors could be broken and dis
|ersed, Had Mr. Clay been President in ls45,
Berger would never have stood up in the French
| hamber of Deputies to say, "America will not
|ied; England will yield, and the question will be
ttted on the line of forty-nae degrees p So to i'm
ress the mind of France and of England, even in
be very moment of the Texas irritation, Demo-
ratio craftsmanship was needed.
And as to Texas, even if the one good work of the
fst administration had been persevered in, and
under federal counsels bad come into the Union
all, there ,oouId yet haze been no Tsras beyond The
lutces' Mr. Webster says 30 in terms, and thai
20, when he stands in direct contradiction to the
ing line of our eminent statesmen, from Mr.. JEFF
rson downwards, and even to Mr.. Clay himself
ut alas what Mr.. Clay said to the proper boun-
fry of our territory, when in his better DAYS az a |
|atesman and a negotstor he was unfolding the
Pnor and interests of his country, affords but
|eacherous indication Of what he would have done
! the federal President in l845 Even as late as |
f33,when urging his compromise bill, Mr.. Clay
|stInctly rsnouncsd the principle of protection, |
fd again in lS4l, in the Senate he urged the tariff |
Pen to look to 'revenue alone" and insisted that
| ere was mo necessitytor proteciion" Yet now we
ehm lamentng that he had not been President
lS45, to keep the tariff Of 1912 standing I'M
Nanged-with all its abominablc protective taxa.
pitts specific determinations against the poor
Pan-and its two hundred per cent minimum
leafs Not one of these, he no,o tells US, would
L have touched-his sayings in 1888 and ls4l, to
contrary notwithstanding.
But the Mnvi,an L.