New-York tribune., 1871-04-12
HENRY CLAY.


Ninety-four years ago this day. there was born
! to poor Baptist preacher, living not far from
Richmond, Virginia, a son since known to- his
country and the world as HENRY CLAY. Five
! years later, his mother was lett an INDECENT
widow with seven children, of whom Henry
was the fifth. This boy received his scanty
education in log school l-house, wherein
teachers barely less illiterate than their pupils
from time to time earned Il mere subsistence by
| imparting knowledge of letters to the children
of the poor, for whom no public provision was
made by the Chivalry who then ruled Vr-
| gnia their own sODs and daughters receiving
instruction in private seminaries. When IA
years of age, Henry obtained employment III
small retail store in Richmond which he
soon exchanged for clerkship in the office OF
Peter Tinsley, Clerk of the Court of Chancery,
whence, after four years service, he was
taken into the law Office of Robert Brooke,
then Attorney General, afterward Governor,
of the State In November, 1877, when not
vet of legal age, he was licensed to practice
law and migrated at once to Lexington, the
first settlement and then largest village i'll the
embryo State of Kentucky, where he speedily
acquired large and profitable practice ut the
bar.
The formation of a State Constitution and
government being then imminent, and Slavery
having been planted in Kentucky while she
was part of Virginia young Clay took the
stump as an advocate of its gradual, peaceful
! extinction by constitutional restriction. He
was overborne by wealth and numbers, and
! did not maintain a frutless warfare, but his
convictions were neither changed nor dis
guised, and in addressing, i'll 1929, the Ken
lucky Colonization Society, made up of the
slaveholding aristocracy when Slavery ruled
| the Union as well as the State, and he was
| about to be for the second time candidate
! for President, he said:
"More than thirty years ago. attempt made in
this Commonwealth to adopt system of Gradual Eman
cipaon similar TO that introduced in Pennsylvania In
1850 And among the acts Of my life to which look
back with the greatest satisfaction s that OF having
operated with jealous and intelligent friends to procure
the establishment of that system in this state. We be-
eved that the Of good which would be attained by
the of Kentucky in gradual emancipation OF her
slaves, would far transcend the aggregate OF mis-
| chief that would result to herself and the
Union together, from the gradual liberation Of
them, and their dispersion and residence in the
United States. We were overpowered by numbers.
and submitted TO the decision Of the majority with
grace with which the minority in arepubc, should ever
yield to such decision. 1 have nevertheless never
ceased and never shall cease, to regret decision the
effects Of which been to place in the OF
neghbors who are exempt from Slavery, i'll the state Of
Agriculture the progress Of Manufactures, the advance
OF Improvement and the general prosperity OF society,"
Again in 1849, when Kentucky had decided
to revise her Constitution, Mr.. Clay, in
a public letter, urged her to adopt policy OF
Gradual Emancipation and was again over
ruled by vote which was nearly unanimous.
! This persistency in advocating change so
vital yet so unpopular, by one who never dis
guised his aspiration to rise and rule through
the favor and confidence of his fellow citizens,
stamps him one of the few whose vision is
eagle eyed-whO discern the end from the be-
ginning-who can look through present con-
venience and ease to the ultimate consequences
of system essentially fallaciOus and unjust.
Mr.. Clay's unpopular early championship of
Emancipation was soon forgotten by his fell
low-citizens in their admiration of the ardor
and eloquence with which he advocated the
doctrines and measures of the Republican
party and its leader Jefferson in opposition to
the rule of John Adams with his Alien and
Sedition laws. In 1903, he was chosen "a rep
resentative of bis county in the State Legis-
Iature, repeatedly reelected, and in 1906 Sc
lected by his fellow-members to fill vacancy
in the u. s. Senate caused by the
resignation of Gen. John Adair. And,
though a successor was at that ses-
sion chosen to supersede him after his
first session, he had already made his
mark in advocacy of Internal Improvements
by the authority and at the cost of the Union !;
he having introduced and carried resolve
which clearly aflrms their constitutionaty
and expediency. Returning to Kentucky, he
was rechosen to the Assembly, which made
him its Speaker; and in 1909 he was again
sent TO the U. s. Senate, to fill an unexpired
term for the two years ensuing. AT the next
Congress, lac appeared as Representative, and
was elected Speaker of the House on the first
day of his appearance therein-a distinction
attained by no other man since the meeting OF
the first Federal Congress.
Thenceforth, Mr.. Clay's career'as Representa-
tive Speaker, negotiatOr of the Treaty OF
Chent, Senator, Secretary of State, leader OF a
great party and repeatedly its candidate for