Washington telegraph., 1852-05-12


tality! Tell me, sir, of a devil intended for the
courts above! If Henry Clay had been ambi
tious, If he had desired honors, powe>place. sta
tlon command, authority-if he had desired these
at the sacrifice of his own self-respect and ineg-
| rlty, who does not know that he could have been
PRESIDENT years and years ago? Ave- ave- and
| loud cheers. Sir, instead of yielding to the sug
gestons OF moderate ambition, he has served his
country, and nothing but his country has been the
polar star by which be has been guided And
Sir, when the storms and the tempest and the
| clouds have lowered around this country, and
when other hearts were failing and trembling,
where did you find this man of ambition? Ever
true to himself, ever faithful to the great vital and
cardinal principles which he proessed standing to
hls country through good and through evil report
lApplause. And sirs, in the darkest hours of our
country's history, when other hearts Were quail
ing and trembling, and when freedom itself stood
In CONSERVATION, not knowing what the result
might be, where did you find Henry Clay? Do
you member the great Missouri question? There
ne stood, and vindicated, not the cause of himself
or OF party, but of his country, his -hole coun-
try, and nothing but his country tremendous
applause. And again. sir, when the storm was
lowering and when hope itself had fled, when the
friends OF freedom wore gloom when the minis
ters and ambassadors of Heaven itself were wear
ing sackcloth and looking with fearful consterna-
ton to the coming crisis, in 1882, who it that
came forward and offered himself as sacrifice (!
1t was Henry Clay, of Kentucky. Cheers.
Again, another fearful crisis came up in the hsto-
ry of this country of oms. ], sir and YOU sir and
all of us remember but two short years ago, when
the whole nation was convulsed. from centre to
circumference, and when the proudest hearts Were
made to tremble and to fear. Who was the great
champion thens Who was the man that could
come and stand on the shore and say to the angry
waves, apart from passion and prejudice: Thus
far hal fhf,rrr opl f,cEb,
of Kentucky. Immense applause.l Tell me
of his service to the country; tell me of his hon
orahie services, of his long years of devotion and
sacrifice, of the pains and the anguish, and the
torture of public service tell me of his persecu-
ton: tell me of his trials and of his triumphs;
tell me of Greece, and of the South American re-
publics tell me all the pride and glorious pictures
of his character; but, away from ALL tell me
where was the man, living or dead, who thrice
saved his country? Tell me of the man that
thrice in threequarters of century, called of
God to stand out and save and redeem his coun-
trys Great applause That man is Henry
Clay. Here is the old camp-here is the old
guard but as for myself say [ am ambitious
aye, write it down, | say l am ambitious.
would rather be member of that old guard;;D
endorsing the character and principles and prac-
tices, and the memory of Henry Clay than to
follow in the train of the proudest man that ever
trod the earth. | have never been worshipper
Of men. | am no Indicator [ believe in the
living and the true God. But, sir, | think there
is something due to character, something due TO
merit, and every thing due to sound and correct
principles; and it is on that ground, and that
ground alone, that | have ever given to this dis
tinguished man the warm the generous, the cor
dial, the undivided appreciation of my head and
my heart. Great applause, and three cheers for
the speaker. But, sir, | will not dwell longer
on that point This is peculiar occasion, and
Onp as | n ed al n
terest; and in responding to the two sentiments
uttered, desire to say thing In respect to the
last, and that is that sentiment which speaks of
our country. | am certain that, whatever of per-
sonal opinion there might be in the first, the lat
ter is sentiment which must find generous re-
sponse in every heart. Our country! Sir
there is something majestic in that term-some-
thing which comes home to the heart of every
Individual. Our country! What aressye with
out our country9 Have not enough III this
country to love, to cherish. to admire, and to
adore so far as alteration of earthly things is to
be found We have country, great and glorl
Gus country a widespread world, vast universe,
which the God of Nature himself has created
Nothing presentsisuch a wonderful and astonishing
aspect as this country of ours And, sir, is 1t not
wonderful? Does it uot strike the mind with
profound astonishnent, when we look back and
remember that, within the life time of the dstin-
ouished Individual whose birthday we are here
Have we not right to wonder, and admire, and
adore that through stupcndous Providence we
have sprung up to one of the ml9htlest nations on
the earth from being merely colony From
three millions of poor defencelcss people, almost
we number now twenty-five millions We were
few colonies combined within narrow limits
but now the world itself seems scarcely large
enough to contain this wonderful American heart
and spirit As an American freeman, | ask you
here tonight; and perhaps it is the last time
shall ever address you. Cries of No, no. III
Well, hope not myself-Gfod forbid; but it may
be So But | put the solemn question to you-ls
there not enough, AYE, more than enough in this
country of ours, to fill the largest desires OF our
hearts And is it not astonishing, is it not strange
is it not passing strange" is it not wonderful
in fatuation, that we can under any state OF cir
cumstances for solitary moment, forget that we
are all members of glorious family, and all heirs
of the same glorious inheritance9 lGreat APP
plausel When | walk along your Streets
sometimes see men gazing on me with curious
eye-I cannot tell why-and sometimes thlnk
"'Well. that fellow is saying to himself, why, he
is southern man.'D And so, if one of your
New York Yankees--and God knows consid-
er YOU the worst specimen of Yankees-cver got
over to my part of the country, the boys would
look after YOU and say, "Oh, there goes YAM
kee.u Now, is not this strange; is it not
humiIiating and does it not fill the patriotic
heart with regret? What right nave you 10 know
that | am southerner, and what right has
southerner to say you from the North! Ap-
plausel ~ know North no South, no East,
no West-nothing but my country" And, SIT, 1t
is that sentiment which draws Henry Clay to my
heart If | believed he a sectional man,
could not love him. If believed he had senti-
ment in his soul which would lead him to disre-
gard the rights of one part of this Union for the
sake of another, | would despise the man.
JCries of bravo.] Is it not strange, my country
men--I had liked to say, my trlends-that mem
bers of the same great family, having an identity
of intellect, a community of feeling and sentl-
ment and who are bound to the same destiny,
would cherish such miserable, such low. such
L -. LIZ. Iuaxl,insr