The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-08


tbe TVbis Iesder in the House, offered reso-
luton of censure; but Marshall, not desLtiiIis
IL strong enough, amended II py PIea.ilD0 .
of great length and two resolutions! Uno
ening expulsion, the other administering |"
severe reprimand. lie suPPoIIeI iiH 1oo.so5
ment nv a long speech, in which he launched
his satire against Adams, much to his own
satisfaotiou and the amusement of his parti-
cans He was satisfied that his eloquence-it
was a splendid piece of inveotive-had made
him, if not the head and front, at least a
man of mark in the body which he as
pired to lead. He was mistaken: he was
about to be violently expelled from it in dis
grace. He had at length aroused the old lion.
When Marshall had finished Mr.. Adams arose
in great fury and ordered the clerk to "read
for the benefit of this boy-this puny mind,
which originates a crime, frames a law, and
provides a punishment in a breath the second
clause of the Declaration of Independence.
''The second clause of the Declaration of lnde-
pendence ~ he added, fiercely, rapping rapidly
and loudly on his desk, and then in his sub
lime anger repeating for the third time in his
strident voice, "The second clause of the De-
claration of Independence % Alas for poor
Toms shallow eloquence the grandeur OF the
old mans anger and the vigor and force OF MS
quotation demolished it utterly. No sooner
had the clerk finished reading than Adams,
now comparatively calm and in another
vein, but not with less relentless purpose,
quietly demolished the one or two feeble
arguments advanced by Marshall, and then
after indulging in some personal illusions
to the young man who had been teas
ing him through a whole session, he suddenly
convulsed the House by some quaint alluslon
to this raw recruit for the "Corporals Guard"
(the name previously given by Mr.. Adams to
the Wings who sustained John Tyler), OF which
John Tyler was Captain, and the gentleman
from Virginia, Mr.. Gilmer, was First Corporal.
The allusion was as neat and irresistible as his
extinguisher on ''the late Mr.. Crazy" which,
it will be remembered following on the heels
of Corwin's laughable description, drove that
worthy aspirant for military honors into an OBJ
scurity from which he is occasionally summoned
only to be laughed at. Adams allusion to
Marshall on this occasion did the same for him;
the House roared at him; and though he came
back repeatedly to the attack with spirit, it was
only to be ANONYMOUSLY defeated by the vote
of the House ON his resolutions. The political
capital he had thought to make proved "bo-
gus, :" his grasp at the leadership fell short;
he found himself every where hailed as "Mr.
Adams young man," and "John Tyler's raw
recruit;'' he never held up his head again, and
could only look forward anxiously to Clay in
the Senate for support and rescue.
''He never budged ~ exclaimed Marshall at
this point of his story-"he never moved.
He feared the old lion even at the safe dis
tance of the other end of the Capitol. | was
out of Congress. Clay deserted me
like a coward, sir, like coward. left Wash
ington, and never want to see it again. My
constituents at home laughed at me as much
as the House did, and left that district and
politics, too, in disgust"
Marshall fell into what was evidently a
painful train of thought, and was silent for a
minute or two. At last frightening up, he
added
''You see bearded the old lion in his den,
and, his sense of humor getting the better of
his bitterness, 81 got a id sight the worst
of it -
Marshall never forgave Clay this desertion
of him, as he called it, though what action he
could have expected Clay to take l cannot
conceive. He hated the whole Clay family
intensely, and in his darker moods and condi-
tions he never failed to pour out his vitupera-
tion on their heads. AS late as 1857 saw him
spend little of this venom on young Tom
Clay, grandson of 'the sage" ON whom he
forced a senseless quarrel in public room in
which they had met. OF course his feeling
against Clay was unreasonable. Not Clay's
desertiOn of him, but Adams speech and final
success, when the resolution of censure was
forever laid on the table, put an end to Mar
shall's career as a politician and, in fact,
himself for from his first speech in Congress,
that memorable debut on June 10, 1641, which
he loosely began by cOngratulating himself
on "haying been in Washington only three
weeks, and had caught everything from bad
cold to the Speakers eye," he had persistently
attacked Adams and delivered great deal of
cutting satire.
In those days the reporters of the Congress
Slonat Globe made only brief synopses of the
principal speeches, and they appeared in print
IN the third instead Of the first person. Much
| OF Marshalps wit was thus lost to us; but the
custom OF the reporters gave rise to an incident
illustrating his manner. He closed his speech
on one occasion by ordering the reporters not
to publish his remarks "as he could both
write and speak the English language, and
! didn't want any bOdy's gibberish." The re-
porters ever after omitted his speeches, and
alluded to him as ga Mr. Marshall, a ne,O mem
Der from Kentucky" If Marshall had ever
given them an opportunity after the sold
lion' had growled at him, they would doubt
less have called him "Mr. Marshall, Mr..
Adams young man" or ga raw recruit from
Kentucky"
Marshall never lost an opportunity to show
his hatred of Clay; and his passion, often de-
priVing him of some of his discretion, he fre-
quently laid himself open to crushing retorts
from the "sage of Ashland" He was once
pitted against Clay in an important suit in the
Kentucky Court of Appeals. Clay was en-
titled to the closing speech in the argument,
Marshall having to precede him. Marshall
never was great at an aTgument-appeal was
his forte-and Robert j. Breckenridge had
been engaged to do the arguments in this case;
but on this occasion Marshall took it into his