The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-07-05

! a0vautA&6o 88tuet WHICH no uno AWAY W oous
tend, his career 10 without parallel In the his.
tory Of great men. TO have seen him youth.
without friends or fortune, and with bat scanty
education, who would have vcntured to predict
for him course SO brilliant and bene6cient. and
fame 80 we'll deserved and enduring? Like
the pine however, which sometimes springs up
amidst the rocks on the mountain side, with
scarce crevice in which to fix its roots, or soil
to noursh them, but which, nevertheless, over.
tops all the trees of the surrounding forest
Henry Clay by his own inherent, self sustaining
energy and genius, rose to an altitude Of fame
almost unequaIed in the age in which he lived
As an orator, Legislator, and statesman, he had
no superior All his faculties were remarkable
and in remarkable combination. Possessed OF
a brilliant genius and fertile Imagination, his
Judgment was sound, discriminating, and emf.
nenty practical. Of an ardent and impetuous
temperament, he was nevertheless persevering
and firm of purpose. Frank, bold, and intrepid
he was cautious in providing against the contin.
geDcies and obstacles which might possibly rise
up in the road to success. Generous, liberal
and entertaining, broad aud expanded views OF
national policy, in his Legislative course he never
transcribed the limits of wise economy.
But Mr.. President, of all his faculties, that OF
making friends and attaching them to him was
| VIC LuO5t IciucTkdDie anu cAGaOIutuhTy. III VII
respect, he seemed to possess a sort of f,scna
ton, by which all who came into his presence
were attracted towards and bound to him by ties
which neither time nor circumstances had power
to dissolve or weaken. In the admiration
Of his friends was the recognition Of the divinity
of intellect; in their attachment to him con
fession of his generous personal qualities and
social virtues.
OF the public services of Mr.. Clay, the pres
ent occasion affords no room for u sketch more
extended than that which his respected col
league Mr.. UNDERwo0D] has presented. |!
is, however, sufficient to say, that for more than
forty years he has been prominent actor in the
drama of American affairs. During the late wal
with England his voice was more potent than
any other in awakening the spirit of the coun-
try infusng confidence into the people, and
rendering available the resources for carrying
on the contest. In our domestic controversies
threatening the peace of the country and the
integrity of the Union, he has always been first
to note danger as well rs to suggest tho means
of averting it. When the waters of the great
political deep were upheaved by the tempest OF
discord, and the ark Of the Union, freighted with
the hopes and destines of freedom, tossing
about on the raging pillows, and drifting every
moment nearer to the vortex which threatened
to swallow it up, it was his clarion voice, rising
above the storm, that admonished the crew OF
impending peril, and counseled the way to safe
| ty.
But, Mr.. President devotedy as he loved his
country, his aspirations were not limited to its
welfare alone. Wherever freedom had vola
ry, that votary had friend in Henry Clay and
in the struggle of the Spanish colonies for indie
pendence he uttered words of encouragement
which have become the notices on the banners
of freedom in every land. But neither the servi
ces which he has rendered his own country, nor
his wishes for the welfare of others, nor his
genius, nor the affection of friends, could turn
aside the destroyer. No price could purchase
exemption from the common lot Of humanity.
Henry Clay, the wise, the great, the gifted, had
to de- and his history is summed up in the BIZ
ography which the Russian poet has prepared
! for all, kings and serfs, viz:
siborn living, dying,
| Quitting the still shore for the troubled wave,
| Struggling with storm-clouds, over shipwrecks
flying,
And casting anchor in the silent grave"
| But though time would not spare him, there il
still this Of consolation: He died peacefully and
happy, ripe in renown, full of years and of hon
ors, and rich in the affections OF his country
He enjoyed, too, the unspeakabo satisfaction OF
closing his eyes whilst the country he had loved
so much and served 80 we'll was still in the en-
joyment of peace, happiness, union, and pros
perity-stil advancing in all the elements OF
wealth, greatness, and power.
know, Mr.. President how unequal have
been to the apparently self.imposed task Of pre-.
senting, in an appropriate manner, the merits OF
the iustrious deceased But if had remained
silent on an occasion like this, when the hearts
of my constituents are swelling with grief,
would have been disowned by them. 1t is foI
this reason-that of giving utterance to their
| feelings as well as Of my own--that have tres
passed on the time of the Senate would that
could have spoken filter words; but, such as
they are, they were uttered by the tongue in re-
spouse to the promptings Of the heart.
/ Mr.. SEWARD. Mr.. President, fifty years
ago. Henry Clay, of Virginia, already adopted
by Kentucky, then as youthful as himself en-
tered the service of his country,a representative
in the unpretending legislature Of that rising
State and having thenceforward pursued, with
ardor and consistency, the gradual paths of at
aspiring change through halls of Congress, for
eign courts, and Executive councils, he has now
with the cheerfulness of patriot, and the &C.
renity of Christian, fifty closed his long and
arduous career, here III the Senate, in the full
presence of the republic, looking down upon the
scene with anxiety and alarm,--not merely 4
| Senator like one of us who yet remain in the
Senate House, but filing that character which
though it had no authority of law and was as
signed without suffrage, Augustus Cesar never
theIess declared waa above the title of Empe
ror, Primus inter Wusres--the Prince of the
Senate.
Generals are tried, Mr. President, by examin
ing the campaigns they have lost or won, and
statesmen by ing the transactions in which
they have been engaged. Hamilton would have
been unknown to US had there been no Consti
tuition to be created. as Brutus would have died
in obscurity had there been no Cm sar to be
slain.
Colonization, revolution, and organ izaion--
three great acts in the drama of our national
progress-had already passed when the West
ern patriot appeared on the public stage He
entered in that next division of the majestic
scenes which was marked by an inevitable re.
action of political forces, wild strife of fac
tons, and ruinous endorsements in our for
egn relations. This transition stage is always