Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-01-21
Speech of G. NJ. Clay,
At Frankfort, Ky.,
FROM THE
CAPITOL STEPS, JAN. 10, 1860.
Reported expressly for the Cincinnati Gazette. ]
[CoatiHEed from Yesterday

THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY RESPONSIBLE.
Now will tell you where the responsibility
came from. It came from this same Democratic
party. Now | make that allegation, but am
not going to base it upon speculation. am
not putting the charge upon inferences drawn
by Oass. Clay. but make the charge direct;
but if don't produce the evidence and prove
that, say, if you give me the opportunity let
me hereafter stand infamous before men.
In the first place, what says the great Amer
lcan party of kentucky, that party which, with
all its faults, still embodes so many great truths
and which, amid all its short comings from the
higher standard that we have marked out for
ourselves, still has some regard for truth and
justice! What does the representative of that
party say, your late President, and the candi-
date Of that party for the Presidency, what does
he say! the man that you Americans voted for;
the man that you have been in the habit Of
holding up as a true patriot and a conservative
mau-what did he say to the late Union meet
ing, what did MillaTd Fillmore say upon that
subject Why said he: Gentlemen, am getting
old, / have retired from political life; my work
is done, good or bed; ! regret that was under
the necessity of signing the bill called the Fu.
gitive Slave Law, out I felt it to be my duty
and however much may regret it, vet a firm
regard to the Constitution and laws Ofthe eOuu
try compelled me to sign that bill. And all this
trouble, says Mr.. Fillmore, ''the lamentable
tragedy at Harper's Ferry is clearly traceable to
this unfortunate controversy about Slavery in
Kansas" Where does he say the responsibility
liesl It lies upon that Democratic measure that
repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1890
There is the cause of it. Still, are we going
to take Mr. Fillmore's word for it, High au.
thority as he may be, we do not intend to take
il; but we viii review for a very few moments
the history Of the country in connection with
that matter, and see if docs not bring the re.
sponsibilty upon thatParty, as affirmed by Mr..
Fillmore, and seconded by myself and the Re-
publican party.
Well now, gentlemen, there is a man lately
dead, man whose name have the honor to
bear, and with great humility say it. l stand
here to.uight to defend his principles. Henry
Clay is admitted to be the founder, and entitled
to all the honor of it, of that compromise of
1920. As passed down yesterday from my
home and my agricultural pursuits, by the city
of Lexington, / saw huge pile of massive
stone raised to the memory of Henry Clay
Gentlemen, are ysu going to rO-enact the folly
and madness that the Saviour denounced in the
ancient Jews! Are you going to ornament and
Whitewash the outward sepulchre while in
Wardly there is nothing but corruptionl Do
you intenl to build eternal monuments Of brass
to the memory of Henry Cay, while you tram
pie under foot the men who have the courage
to stand up and defend his principles! Will
you ganish the tomb, while the immortal spirit
shall be ignored in his representatives. If you
intend to deny these principles, go and level
that monument to the ground, return that mar
bic to the quarry, and then rush upon us and
| hide them in our blood, but not till then. He
is the author of that compromise, and what is
it! That north of SO deg. 80 min, African
slavery shall never extend That is the Mis-
souri, Compromise. Now, while admit that
there is no power in Congress to make strictly
what may be called a compromise, because it
/ has an unlimited and sovereign power bounded
only by the CONSTITUTION itself, 50 that no one
Congress shall say what succeeding Congress
shall or shall not do, yet the language has been
used: it was a compact, and it was elevated and
placed along side the Constitution itself Az
honest registrar of the event states that after
!. passed, so Lress was the saletity of that
measure that it became as part Of the Con-
stitution ITSELF the palladium of our liberly,
and he was afraid if ever it should 90 down,
the Constitution would 60 down with it. It
existed to the year 1884.
ALLEGATIONS ANSWERED.
Gentlemen, ] utterly deny the allegations
that l hear made ia this Hall OF Representa-
tives, that the compromise Of 1920 was repealed
by the compromises of 1850, and upon this
point I appeal to the country. No wonder
| that it is dark tO-night-nO wonder that they
have put out the lights. Read the speeches Of
that day. Why, Mr.. Clay was alive in 1885,
Mr.. Clay was in the Congress of the United
Ststes-he took part in the debates of 1850,
and / am at a loss to find where the
statement was made. In 1854 was the very
first time we were told that it was at all claimed
that there was al intention immediate or re-
mote, direct or reflective, to affect the comprO-
mise of 1920 by that Of 1850. How will
prove that! IproYeit to you by the admission
of Stephen A. Douglas himself Yes, siEs,
that man who is held up here in Ken
tucky, that by a certain kind Of hOcus
pocus il to be foisted upon YOg and che
Charleston Convention, tells Us in his fist
Senate report before the Kansas Nebraska
bill was offered, that no ruthless hand shall
dare to rise against that Compromise. Go to
! the Congressional Globe know it is now on
record I DEFY the Democratic party or any
body to deny that when they referred to the
Compromise of 1890, that it was to be preserved
for years after. 1t is said it was to be repealed.
Are you not ashamed of yourselves! If you
are not, you should be now to venture such an
] assertion as that.
It is history, gentlemep. You may tear me
down from this stand; you may eonSeeTate the
principles which l here tonight defend, with
my blood, if you please; but there will stand
the truth, and that truth says that your asser-
tion is untrue, and that every Democrat knows
it to be untTae, that the Compromise of 1870
was repealed by the Compromise Of 1850. It
| is not true And that it is not true has been
avowed by the leading man that brought in and
carried that bill, and who based his claim for
the Presidency upon his devotion to the South
Thank God for pen, ink and paper, sometimes
used in this Commonwealth and others, al
though it is very anti-demOcratic to use them,
it seems.
! THE CANE OF GRAB.
Let US get along & little further. Why did
they want to repeal the Compromise OF ls2Ol
What is the matter, yOn Democrats of the Uni
ted Statesl You have had tbs power, you say,
/ all the time OF almost all the time from the
foundation of the government to the present
day. You have had possession of the govern
meut SINCE its foundation, and where is the ne
cessity now of repeating this Compromise!
Why, although you had the influence OF the
Government, both in its foreign and domestic
Doliev. under pretence Of subserVing the rights
Of the people, you have used them to MAINTAIN
the rights of slavery, and after race Of Heery
three quarters of century, you are entirely be-
hind. The North has grown in population and
material and intellectual development far be-
yond your growth-"the SceptTe Is about to de-