The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-04-13

bearing on ia ps obas,e ,vaIas 81; tAs subma.
rfne telegraph, that TIE obno1iOuss orders in
council which constltated The salieat point iu
our controversy with Engiaud, had been 70.
ws oar se,. ins
ced several weeks haSore the battle Of the
Eighth of January. 4xas-eNzss -
Returning 70 America, Mr. Clay was wei.
coined BY tkeplaudits OF the whole country.
and resumtng his place in Congress- under
what ne regarded as the greater Necessity, re-
newed his plans for the encouragement Of do
mestic industry and the development OF the
national resources by works of internal i'm
proyement :. To these ho now added, by a
change Of opinion, the advocacy Of a Natio n
~ Bank, rendered necessary In the Judgment
of a large majority Of the leading men, BY the
financial condition OF the country. These
measures. together with his celebrated Land
Bitl, introduced at q later period, rounded of
and Completed the national system with
which his name, his eloQuence, and his fame
nave been, and will be indissofu bly, connec ted
passing word is due TO the brilliant epi.
sode in Mr.. Clay's Congressional career, when,
with all the energy Of his ardent nature and
the full power Of his fiery eloquence, he advo-
Gated the cause Of the patriots of South Amer
lea, and somewhat later, Of insurgent Greece.
HIS SPEECHES ON these subjects are among the
finest of his 1i6e-one of them was translated
by order Of Bolivar and read at the head OF
thearmy to animate the htful courage Of his
turbed and pitiAble condition OF our South
ern neighbors-or to those who coldly Judge
OF the policy or morality Of nations by their
success Or fatenFH the1e s4orss IN behalf of
Oppressed and struggling nationalities, may
appear to be visionary and improper-bns
they are honorable to the nature Of the man.
and show as he nobly said, that his sympa-
th:es were with the masses Of mankind. May
the counsels offered In vain to another peU.
pie return to find favor here, and exert their
happiest influence upon his own countrymen!
In the Missouri question was now present.
ed on the national arena that fearful issue
MIR. Clay won his grand title OF Paciflcator by
what was vainly regarded as flaal scttle-
ment OF the QuestiOn-but which was, in
truth. but the dropping of the curtain on the
intervals to convulse the nation for forty
years, and whose end is not yet. .e.
Under the prestige Of this success and the
su bsequent incidents of his Congressional
life, he came before the American people in
1921 as a candidate for the Presidency, and
from that moment we may date his decline in
popular favor. Up to that period he had been
borne along on flood-tide Of popularity, and
there is scarcely a reasonable doubt that il his
had been one of the three names presented to
the House Of Represen tatives, he would have
been promptly elected to the Presidency. As
it was, be was obliged to make his selection
among his rivals; and this fact, together with
his acceptance of office under Mr.. Adams. cast
Il disastrous influence upon his political for
tunes from which he was never able to recover
Now that The mists and prejudices of party
have passed from this subject, now absurd ap.
pears the charge that he who had repeatedly
refused Cabinet appointments and foreign
missions from Madison and Monroe should
have bartered his honor, sold his birthriaht
for q position which, SO far from advancing
his prospects of promotion, actually weakened
them by Withdrawing him from the public
eye. Bat this obvious view was forgotten
or not duly weighed in the excitement Of the
g..
averment that Mr.. Clay had privately assured
him, sometime before the contingency occur.
red, that If he should be required to decide be
tween Adams and Jackson, he must choose
the former. was vainly offered 10 men who had
determined to see nothing but baseness in
what was really 4 self-denying and chiyalrous
act. 1t was sufficient fer party purposes tha,
ON the surface there was show OF combina-
ton, and the SANDER once propagated, sanh
deep into the hearts of the people.
"Repose denied her requiem to his name,
And Folly loved the marty rdOm Of Fame"
ance of this office was an Astounding blum.
der" and, when too late none saw it more
clearly than Mr.. Clay himself. my error.
he said, sin accepting the Office, arose out OF
my undertaking the power of detraction and
the force Of ignorance, and abiding with too
sure a confidence in the conscious Integrity
and uprightEess OF my own motives" But, af-
ter all, why should we mourn this event! II
bility of soul-it made him the Henry Clay
now enshrined in our hearts He lost an office
but the nation gained the fruits Of a Nigh y
mind, nerved TO its highest power by the deter.
mination to "liye down" the calumny. Guilt
would have SHRINK abashed from the storm OF
obloquy-a tanner spirit, though innocent
would nave sunk in despOndency-a heart Less
patriotic would have been content to hurl
back scorn for contumely. But Henry Clay
was guiltless. and above all such cowardice OF
mean revenge. Undismayed and unrewarded
he labOred on for his country, ana this day
now and forever, his fame is the brighter fol
the foil of that black slander which he lived
t. tear from his escutcheOn and trample be-
meath his feet. -
will not detain you with any heightened
recital Of his struggle with that Iron Chief.
ny''-with what business later posterity mus
determine, when it comes calmly to review
the incidents and results of that mighty con.
test. For The present, personal antipa:hies
and riyalries are so mixed up with the poll ii.
cal incidents Of that period, and the ashes are
SO lightly laid over the fierce fires that then
ragged through the land, that deem it entire.
ly unsuited TO the present occasion to speak OF
them more fully than is needed to preserve
the unity of my narrative and do justice to thu
subject. It is sufficient for us to remembel
that against the most fearful odds, aud agains
great popular favOrile, Mr.. Clay commended
with = zeal and energy unsurpassed in our an.
mails for the measures which he deemed vital
for the welfare of the nation. And when. a
he thought, the dignity ofthat Senate of which
he was clearly chief, had been assailed, he re-
peiled it with a spirit as high and defiant a
that which prompted the attack. Against ths
assumption, as he regarded il, of arbitrary au
thority, he poured forth the full measure O
his imperial defamation; and when he saw
or suspected subserviency or sycophancY t(
prosperous power, he launched the lightning
of his terrible irony and scathing rebuke Blu
in the midst OF these fierce conflicts he was
ever ready 10 throw aside all personal feeling,
n ~ hi
| rescue his country from impending danger
The diffic ulties growing out of the tariff ques
tion-the threatened war with France-drev
| forth and exhibited the fuliness of his patriot
ism, and the fertility Of his statesmanship
Mr.. Clay now found himself At the head O
that great party which inscribed upon its ban
ner the principles and policy Of his life, anc
took his name as its Watchword, whoever
might be the nominal leader. may be aliowec
to add that 1t was party whose virtues wer,
never fully acknowledged, perhaps never fully
recognized. until it was deemed necessary L
write its merited epitaph. Whether its mis-
tered or united, it's members will be constan
to the memory OF their noble chief.
Though more our annals show
Still in death, deteat. woe.
Ours be 10y atty unshaken."
General jackson retired from the Presidency
leaving his country "free, prosperous snC
happy" and was succeeded by Mr.. Van Buren,
I hope and believe that shalt shock no politi.
cal sensibiuties by the historical statement tina
his administration was dreary failure or by
the suggestion that he has never receiyed one
tithe Of the sympathy he deserved at The hands
Of the nation. A landsman at the helm Of the
Great Eastern In q hurricane, is feeble type
Of his entire inability to direct the ship Of
State In that fearful financial storm which
soon burst upon the country. Whethsr this
proceeded from the experiments NJ On the
monetary system which Mr.. Chy % much
deprecated, II Is foreign 70 my purpose to dis.
cuss but all must agIe that theSe was q SIN.
gular coincidence between his predictions and
rho rnnult Nono nOrroWAd more hav !, NJ ~.