New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-06-11

To those pSTsons, both in and out oil congress,
who spe,k 60 hippsnty of war with Great
Britain as thing. on the whole perhaps rather to
he wished for than TO be deprecated, We beg 10
commend the rehec ions, en- the subject OF war IN
general, Of an inteliiget. statesa 40, ono who did
not spesk without experience, AMI whose utteran,e
IN tbe subject had aluost the character Of a con-
fessior. ard the weight of seifcondemnAaon.
Nobody he'd greater hand in b'icgiog about the
war Of 1919 than Henry Clay. lie night justly
taken a. al enrichment of the war spirit OF tnat
dsy in It's best character and aspect-that OF 40
Indignant feeling Of resentment at loog coG' nuel
scorsssions, ard of resistance TO wroog Wl'nou'
STOPPING to calculate the consequences too nicely.
Dead indeed would thst Lat on be 10 which thls
feeling did not fnd IFS ardent, unhesltaung, even
head!org sdsocates. Bat, proper and necessary
in every community as tbs feeling Is, there Is not
tie ast daI ger that it wi not fad abundant ex-
preston without TIE necessity that members oil
Congress should pitch the sune add lead oil IN tue
war scrg, A war iQto which nation has T. he
urged, pressed aud spurred bS its Congressional
Representatives. pretty certain 10 turn cut poor
speculation. Still more certairly will the specu'a
ton turn OFT bad Gee when Lot merely the nation
but the Executive Itself must be spurred aud
pressed iuto il. This wes precisely what Helry
Clay and biz associates 10 the Nllth Congress un-
dertook. He was chosen Speaker with tbs Iotent
He constituted all the Committees with this vie ~
II wa. lie who headed the Caucus COMMITTEE
which gave Madis.n the choice Of opposition to his
denomination as President, or of recommending
IL .katA ha 81 4
days embargo by which the war wa, preceded, no
secuted all arguments founded on the necessity OF
preliminary preparations. A Nsw.Y0rk member
wished TO Know wta. vas the situation Of our
fotiesses aud cur preparations generally, aud 10
referred to letter of Brockholst Livingston, then
ore Of the Judges Of the Supreme Court OF the
Cuited States, IN which it was stated that the
forts at New York had neither cannon nor men.
! Clay replied with great yehemence that on
This subject he Did not want Brockhol't
/ Liyines,oas opinions nor those Of anybody
cse. Gentlemen who said so much
sb ut want Of preparations were really opposed to
var. After the injuries we had received, the
stand we lad taken, aud the pledges We had given,
we could lot avoid lighting without inevitable dis
! grace. Nor was he at all embarrassed by the sug
! gcstion that We he'd as much ground Of complaint
against France as against Eoelaod Weak as We
we're said to be we could fight France too, if ne
cessary War; after ALL was not so terrible
| ting There was 70 terror in it except its novel
| IT, He acknowledged come warmth of feeling,
but in that be took pride aid he Pitiee for their
deficient senss OF honor such gentlemen as chose to
! call these sentiments QaiXOtic.
SO spoke the young srd ardent Henry Clay ia
1912. The experience Of that war, full Of disasters
as it WAS, ard concluded it was by a treaty OF
peace signed by himself, 10 which not one word
was said about the injuries that had provoked it,
appears to have good deal modified MS opinions.
/ In speech which be made in 1873 on the subject
CT Spsnish relations, te no longer spoke Of war as
thing which had 10 terror in it except its noy
city Though Spain had given us abundant cause
/ Of war, yet it was rot every cause Of war that
/ Z" should lead to war. Var one Of those drsad-
"fnl sromgfs that 50 shakes The foundations Of So
etty Ore,terns or changes the character Of gOrern
"mtnfs, interrupts or destroys The pursuit cfPrirGte
"happinfSs, brings, in Short misery and ,cretrhed-
:" ness IN many FORMS and at iostis in as issue,
q" so doubtful and hazardous that aOthinS but dire
" necessity cnn justify an APPEAL to arms"
Considering the very active part which Mr. Clay
had tsben in Bringing on the war Of l-l2, the
paragraph which We have paced above in italics
has particular siguifcauce. 1t c.n be regarded
as scarcely less than pcoitential confession oyer
his own precipitaucy and folly on that occasion-a
penittLtal confession which ire foolish and 3
noraut blusterers over tie glofes Of the war Of
1cl2 viii do well to learn By heart.
1t is perhaps, however, presuming = little too
much On tho d.interostednsss the purely public
spirit, of cur Congressional wsrmopgeTs, to
imseino that the mere prospect Of II dreadful
srourge to the nation; shock to tue foundations
of society; changes for the worse IN the character
Of our Government bad as It is already; icterr1p-
ton CT overthrow Of priyats happiness aud misery
and wTetchedness in multiplied for ns, would prove
pIeponderaut considerations with then when
placed ia tie balance against the chanc5 of po-
litral position for themselyes. Let us, therefore,
suggest to OFT sprants for political eninence tha.
for ambitious ciyiIisns nothing can be more doubt
full AID hazardous than war. or this Mr. Clay
biuself had abundant experience. First Gen.
Jackson and then Gen. Harrison stood between HIN
and the Presidential chair placed in ina. position by
military services in the war Of 1872, which alone
made them his rivals. DIR. johnson used TO say
that in tie company of Generals and Admrals he
fell very much hhe creeping under the table Onr
politicians at Arlington are perhaps NOT quite Sd
i L. IL Ct. r IL