Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-04-30
Post Obit Praises.

y'''i' Post Obit Praises. ai ~ ~
The spectacle presented last Saturday at the
Slasbes of Hanover has elected much remark =
That men should have left their posts IN the
Cabinet the Senate and the House, to have come
together near the humble scene OF his nativity
to do honor to the memory Of an illustrlous CIT
;zen now no more, would not have been so re-
markable, if they had been men who had ever
given reason to believe that they entertained
for him living any of the sentiments they pro.
fess towards him when dead. But when sucn
men as Secretary Cushing, Senator's Douglas
Bigler, Mason, Butler and Jones, OF Iowa. MT.
CadwalIader, Caskie and others of the House
men who scarcely ever held political opinion IN
common with the lamented statesman-who pc
long to party that hunted him through ife
like beast-when such men are found putting
themselves to unusual trouble to eyince their
love and admiration for Henry Clay, other men
who attested their devotion to him living as
well as dead may be pardoned if they attempt 70
find an explanation of conduct which to them
cannot seem less than extraordinary.
It has been only twelve years since Henry
CLAW was candidate for the Presidency. Ihe
gentlemen whom we have named, without an
exception, opposed his election, and sustained
that of citizen of Tennessee, whose birthday
it has never yet been Thought appropriate
nublicly to celebrate To what extent they or
any of them may have Joined in the hue and cry
of fdetraction and caluinny with which their par
ty assailed him then. we have not the means OF
Knowing but we think if any Of them had gone
to his yindication against the foul asperslons
that were poured upon him we should have
known it. We have before US now editorial ar
ticle from the Louisville Democratic, then as
now one of the recognized and most influential
ORGANS of that party in the country-in which,
in tbe space of hand-breath, Mr.. Clay is charg-
ed with the sfoul murder" of Cilley with ina
king his wife maniac" with having s'perlured
himself TO secure a seat in the United States
Senate" with having made ian infamous bar
pa;n with J. Quincy Adams, by which ne sold
ont for A 6 thousand-a-yea office" J" with being
"a Gambler and sabbath-breaker," with en-
tertanng s'political principles precisely and ex-
actly those of the Hartford Convention federal
stsi'and other most base and villainous
that should have palsed the hand that penned
or the tongue that uttered them. Where then
we're these ardent Democratic friends and ad-
m;rers Of the prosecuted and slsndered old man
The whole canvass howled with the clamors OF
his assailants. Did any of these men who have
now come from Washington to Virginia to at
test, their veneration for his character-did any
solitary one of them then open his lips or raise
his hand TO hush the storm or shelter the brave
old Commoner from its fury9 Not one OF them
In his own language at the time "The vile
eurs of party are barking at my heels, and the
of personal malignity are aiming
of INV throat. scorn and defy them as ever
did . II is enough to make ones blood boil 10
think that men who then cried on the brutal
mack. and ioined in the wild halloo OF the chase,
should now trife with and mock the sensibili-
ties of those who really revere the name OF Hen
ry Clay, by uttering maudlin panegyrics IN his
honor. WHY has not this occurred before r.
There have been other celebrations OF his birth
day both before and since his DEATH How does
II happen that not till now have prominent and
asnirine Democrats come forward to lay their Of
fsrinp On his shrinea Why have they come just
at this iuncture in such numbers and with such
votire fervor2 The mystery does not.lie too deep
TO be fathomed. A Presidential election is near
at hand. There is large Wing vote supposed
to be floating and capable Of being netted by
skillful angling. Numbers Of the old friends OF
Henry Clay stand disconnected with the parties
of the day and it is thought that adrolt manage.
ment may enlist them In the ranks OF the De-
mocracy. Hence this irruption of Democratic
leaders into Virginia, and hence this sudden and
surprising affection for the consecrated sage OF
Ashland. 1t has not been great many years
since the Richmond Enquirer called upon the
Democracy of Virginia to meet him on her bor-
der MS he was coming toward his native State,
and drive him back from their SOIL Now, for
purposes of their own, the potentates OF that
party. whose mou,h-piece the Enquirer was,
themselves crowd into Virginia to aid in ma
king immortal the day and the spot on which
he was born.
q There is moral in these things which the
country will not lack the intelligence to deduoe.
Either the abuse by the Democratic party OF
Henry Clay while living was insincere, or its
praises of him now dead are hypocrit ,al-or
their Judgment of him was immensely and mon
strouslv erroneous Their word or their judg-
ment, the one or the other, is not to be trusted,
1t follows that we must take as entitled to no
weight what they may now say of other men
of Millard Fillmore, for example. For, who can
tell but that in short time the chorus OF defa-
nation they are now chanting over him may al
50 be changed into peans of praise! Who can
tell that the soil which shall after while inurn
his ashes may not like sod that covers the pros
trate and Wondering form of Henry Clay, be
mostened with the tears Of the Democracy
Lynch6urg Virginiaa. ptu al 8
DEATH OF Son oP Nelly PIToHER.-The
Carlisle Qllinois) Democrat notices the death In
that place, on Thursday week, of Sergeant John
l.. Hays an old resident of Carlisle and a soldier