New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-07-10

L
this >reason-that of giving utterance to their
1 feelings rs well as my own-that have tres
passed on the time of the Senate. / would that |
| Lcould have spoken filter words; but such as |
| they are, they were uttered by the tongue in re-
sponse to the promptings of the heart
Mr.. seward-.Fifty years ago Henry Clay, OF
Virginia, already adopted by Kentucky, then as
youthful as himself, entered the service of his
country representative in the unpretending
| legislature of that rising State; and having
! thenceforward pursued, with ardor and con-
stancy, the gradual paths Of an aspiring change
through halls of Congress, foreign courts, and
executive councils, he has now, with the cheer
| fulness of patriot and the serenity OF CHRIS
| tan, fitly closed his long and arduous career,
here in the Senate, in the full presence of the
republic, looking down upon the scene with anx-
iety and alarm, not merely 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 assigned without suf-
frage, Augustus Caesar nevertheless declared
was above the title of Emperor, Prsnaus inter
IHustres-the Prince Of the Senate.
Generals are tried, Mr.. President, by exam
| ming the campaigns they have lost orfwon, and
statesmen by reviewing the transactions in which
they have been engaged. Hamilton would have
been unknown to us had there been no constitu-
ton to be created; as Brutus would have died
in obscurity, had there been no Caesar to be
slain.
Colonization, revolution, and organization
three great acts in the drama Of our national
| progress-had already passed when the western
patriot appeared on the public stage He en-
tered in that next division Of the ma estic scenes
! which was marked by an inevitable reaction of
political forces, wild strife Of factions, and ru-
nous embarrassments in our foreign relations.
This transition stage is always more perilous
than any other in the career OF nations. and
especially in the career of republics. 1t proved
, fatal to the Commonwealth in England. Scarce
i y any of the Spanish American States have
g vet emerged from it; and it has more than once
been sadly signalized by the ruin Of the republic
Z can cause in France.
t The continuous administrations of Washing
1 ton and John Adams, had closed under cloud
) which had thrown broad, dark shadow over
i the future The nation was deeply indebted at
e home and abroad, and its credit was PROSTATE
1 | The revolutionary factions had given place tc
o two inyeterate parties, divided by gulf which
I, had been worn by the conflict in which the con,
}, stitution was adopted, and made broader apc
= deeper by war Of prejudices concerning thu
: merits Of the billgsrents in the great European
struggle that then convulsed the civilized world
y Our extraordinary political system was httl'
a more than an ingenious theory, not yet practi
l. cally established. The Union Of the States wa
as yet only one Of compact; for the political, so
of cial and commercial necessities to which it wa
SO maryellously adapted, and which, clusterin.
thickly upon it, now render it lnolssoubie, a.
j. not then been broadly disclosed, nor had tn
le habits of acquescence and the sentiments Q
~ lloyalty always slow of growth, fully ripened
re The bark that had gone to sea, thus unfurnlshe
lg and untried seemed quite certain to founder b.
y, reason of its own inherent frailty, even if
should escape unharmed in the great conflict G
at nations, which acknowledged no claims Of jus
tice and tolerated no pretensions of neutrality
1 = Sa1 w m a
y, was inadequate to commercial exigencies andin
y dispensible social expansion; and yet no prov
sion had been made for enlargement, nor tor es
III tending the political system over distant regions
IT, inhabited otherwise, which must inevitabl
OF be acquired. Nor could any such acquisiho
m, be made without disturbing the carefully at
ne iusted balance of power among the members
ne the confederacy.
X These difficulties, Mr.. President, althous
he they grew less with time and by slow degree
continued throughout the whole life OF the state
OF man whose obsequies we are celebrating. Be
ch known, then-and | am sure that history W.
m confirm the instruction-that conservatism W
10 the interest of the nation, and the responsible
of- of it's rulers during the period in which
no fourished He was ardent, bold, generous, al
'se even ambitious; and yet with profound conyi
ell ton of the true exigencies of the country, lii
W | Alexander Hamilton, he disciplined himself al
he trained a restless nation, that knew only sci
~ control, to the rigorous practice OF that ott'
sh : humiliating conservatism which its welfare al
me security in that peculiar crisis so imperious
Wy demanded.
nd 1t could not have happened, sir, to any cit
n zen to have acted alone, nor even to have act'
an the most conspicuous part, in trying period
'u, long protracted. Henry Clay, therefore, shar
nd the responsibilities Of government with not on
a his proper contemporaries, but also survivors
ms the revolution, as well as also many who VI
H. na1s Wiki tIC =,
ous naming those who retain their places here, b
ing we may without impropriety recall among b
'a' compeers Senator of vast resources and
on flexible resolve, who has recently Withdraw
ply from this Chamber, but trust not altogeth
ID from public life, MIR Benton;] and anothe
ieo who, surprising all his contemporaries with
i've his country, and even throughout the world,
use the proper eloquence of the forum, now IN a
tumnal years, for a second time digniies Al
hat adorns the highest seat in the executive counc
nm Mr. Webster.] Passing by these eminent a.
ry noble men, the shades of Calhoun, John Quin
OF Adams jackson, Monroe and Jefferson, rise
his before us-statesmen whose living and loo
10 fame has ripened already into historical a
I'M worldwide renown.
IN Among geniuses so lofty as these, Henry Vi
mi bore part in regulating the constitutional frt
CHI dom of political debate; establishing that lor
Der contested and most important line which dlvit
the sovereignty of the several States from I'll
sent of the States confederated; asserting the rs
ex- OF neutrality, and vindieating it by a v
que against Great Britain, when that just but {
ow- tleme measure became necessary; adjusting
'rty terms on which that perlous yet honorable c,
tne test was brought to peaceful close; perfect
late the army, and the navy and national fortiti
tent tons settling the fiscal and financial policy
the the government in more than one crisis OF
ana parently threatened revolution; asserting 6
'ing calling into exercise the powers of the COVE
sies' ment for making and improving internal &C
IN munications between the States arousing {
hrst encouraging the Spanish American colonies
cans this continent to throw off the foreign yoke
reat to organize governments on principles congel
st OF with our own, and thus creating external
with warks for our national defence establish
bout equal and impartial peace and amity with
mo- existing maritime powers; and extending
ID to constitutional organization of government {
sing the vast regions, all secured in his lifetime
Nv OF purchase OF by conquest whereby thepillal
to the republic have been removed from the banl
:. the St. Mary's to the borders Of the Rio Graz
ms and from the margin Of the Mississippi to
20 It's Pacific coast We may not yet discuss the
'ota- dom of the several measures which have
lay; passed in review before u.s. nor of the posit
IS Tor which the deceased statesman assumed in reg
rage to them, but we may, without offence, dwell
n the on the comprehensive results of them all.
ither | Tho IIn;on ayists in absolute integrity,