The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-07-01
THIRTY-SECOND CONGRESS-.
FIRST SESSION.
WEDNESDAY,, June 80, 1852.
SENATE,

Hotel Of this city. seventeen n,iaues past eIey
O'Clock yesterday morning, in the seventy sixth
year OF his age. He expired with perfec compo-
sure, and without q groAn or struggle.
by his death our country has lost one of its
nost eminent cit4cns and statesmen; and | think
ITS greatest geuias. shall not detain the Senate
oy narratine the transactions Of his long and use
tui iio' His distinguished services a states
man are inscparably connected with the history of
ms country As Representative and Speaker in
mo other House OF Congress, as Senator in this
body. as Secretary of State. and as Envoy abroad ,
he has, in all these positions. exhibited a wisdom
and patriotism which have made deep and last
ing impression upon the grateful hearts of his
countrymen. His thoughts and his actions have
already been published to the world in writtcn
oiographyj In Congressional debates and reports;
IN the journals Of the two Houses and in the pa 4
gee Of American history. They have been com
memorated by monuments erected on the wayside .
Ihey have been engraven on medals of gold Their
memory Will survive the monumentsof mar Bile anoI
the medals OF gold. for these eaced and deca vi
by the friction OF ages. But the thou ghts and nc
tions Of my late colleague have become identified
with the Immortality Of the human mind and wild
pass down from generation to generation as a Dor j
ton OF our national inheritance incapable of ami
hiiauon 80 long as genius has an admrcr. or lib
erty a friend.
Mr.. President, the character OF HESRy Cray
was formed and developed by the influence of our
Tree institutions His physical, mental, and moral
faculties we're the Rift of God. That they were
Grea'iy superior to the faculties allotted to moat
men Cannot be questioned. They were not cult
waited, improved. and directed by liberal or col
iegiato education. His respectable parents were
not wealthy. and had the means of maintain.
ing their children at college. Moreover. his father
died when he was a boy. At an early period Mr.
CLAY was thrown upon his own resources, without
Patrimony He grew up in a clerks office in
aich'nond, virginia. He there studied law. He
SinIgrated from his native State and settled in
Lexington, Kentucky, where he commenced the
practice OF his profession before he was Of full age
Inc road TO wealth, to honor, and fame, was open
before him. Under our institutions and laws he
hIl 4.
structed by legal impedments, and unaided by ex.
elusive privileges. Very soon Mr.. CLAY made a
deep and favorable impression upon the people
among whom he began his career The excel
ienoe OF his natural faculties was soon dispa we'd
Necessity stimulated him in their cultivation HE
assiduty, skill, and fidelity in profe ssional en-
Sagements secured public confidence. He was
elected member of the Legislature of Kentucky
IN which body he served several sessions prior I'd
ioo6 In that year he was elevated to a seat in
the Senate of the United States.
AT the bar and in the General Assembly Of Ken
lucky Mr.. CLAY first manifested those high quail j
ties as public speaker which have occurred to bim
90 much popular applause and admiration. IIia
physical and mental organization emin tly quail
ned him TO become a great and impressive ora tor
HIS person was tall, slender, and comma pding
His temperament ardent, fearless, and full oil
nope; HIS countenance clear, expressive, and
aWlaoie-lndlcntlng the emotion which predomi i
mated at the moment with exact similitude IIie|
voice, cultivated and modulated in harmony With
the sentiment he desired to express fell upon theI
cor ike tue fuelOdy oil eDrapturlng music. iiisI
eye, beaming with intelligence and flashing with
corruscations Of genius. His gestures and at,i
tudes graceful and natural. These personal nd
van'ages won the prcpossessions of an audience
even before his intellectual powers began to move
his hearers; and when his strong common sense
his profound reasoning, his clear conceptions oil
his subject in all its bearings, and his striking and
beautiful illustrations, united with such pers,p
qualities, brought to the disc ussion of anvil
question. his audience was enraptured convinced
and LED by the orator as If enchanted by the lyre
of Orpheus.
No man was ever blessed by his Creator with fac
uties OF a higher order of excellence than those
given to Mr.. CLAY. In the quickneas of his perccp
uons, and the rapidity with which his conclusions
were formed, he had few equals and no superior
He was eminently endowed with nice difcrini
mating taste for order, symmetry, and beauty III,
detected In moment every thing out of place orj
deficient in his room, upon his arm in his own ar
the dreaa OF others. He skilful Judge of the|
form and qualities Of his domestic ANIMALS which
nc delighted to raise his farm. ! could give yo|
instances OF the quickness and minutences OF his|
keen faculty OF observation which never
any thing. want Of ncatness and order yaeI
offensive TO him. He particular and neat in|
bis handwriting, and his apparel. A slovenly blot
or negligence oil any sort, met his condemnation 4
while he was go organized that he attended to, and
arranged little things to please and CRAFTY his ma
tura love Tor neatness, order, and beauty his grca
intellectual faculties grasped all the subjects OF
rlsprudence and politics with facility amountin oil
almost to intuition. As lawyer, he stood at the
head OF his profession. AS a statesman his stand
at The head of the Republican Whig party for|
nearly half century establishes his title to nrc-
eminepce among hs illastrious associates.
Mr. CLAY was deeply versed in all the springs|
oil human action. He had read and studied biog
raphy and history. Shortly after | left college II
had occasion to call him in Frankfort, wbereI
he was attending court, and well remember toI
have found him with Plutarch's Lives in his ba nds
No one better than. he knew how to avail himself
of human motives and all the circumstance W hichj
surrounded a subject, could present them with
more force and skill to accomplish the object of an
argument.
MIR. CLAY, throughout bis public career, was in
huenced by the lofticst patriotism. Confident inI
the truth OF his convictions and the purity of b;s
purposes he was ardent, sometimes impetuous ini
the pursuit OF objects which he believed essential
the general welfare. Thoee who stood in his VIZ vi
were thrown aside without fear ceremony Hel
never affected courtiers Difference TO men or opn
ions which he thought hostile to the beat interests
OF his country; and hence he may have wounded
the vanity Of those who thought themselves oil
consequence 1t is certain, whatever the cause
that at one period OF his life Mr. CLAY might have
been referred TO proof that there ia more TRUTH
than fiction in those profound lines of the poet
" He who ascends the mountain top shall find
Its lotiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and
snow;
He who SURPRISES or subdues mankind
Must look down on the hate of those below
Though far above the sun of glory glow.
And far beneath the earth and ocean spread
Round him icy rocks, and loudly blow
Contending tempests on his naked head,
And thus reward the tolls which to those sum
mits led"
Calumny and detracon emptied their vialss
upon him. But how glorious the change! He out
lived malice and envy. He lived long enough to1
prove to the world that his ambition was no more
than holy aspiration to mako his country theH
greatest, most powerful and best governed on tbeE
earth ii he desired its highest office, il was be
cause the greatest power and influence resulting
from such elevation would enable him TO do nores
than be otherwise could for the progress and adj
vancenent-hrst OF his own counirymen, then Off
bis whole race. His sympathies embraced all ns
The African slave, the Creole of Spanish America IL
the children Of renovated classic Greece-all fan &
lies Of men, without respect TO color or cline, ~
found in his expanded bosom and comprehensveE
intellect friend of their elevation and arneliorn
ton. Such ambition as that 10 Gods impanta ton
in the human heart for raising the down uoddcn2
nations OF the cnrth, and fitting them for regene
rated existence in politics, in morals and religion
Bold and determined as MIR. Clay was in all bsE
actions, he was, nevertheless, concilatnr. HeH
did not obstnately adhere TO things impracticable
II he could not accomplish the best, be contenteI
himself with the highest approach to it. He has Z
been the great compromises of those political aei r.
tatiops and opposing opinions which have, in thcE
belief OF thousands, at different times endangered.
the perpetuity OF our Federal Government nndy