The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-03-19
HENRY CLAY AND TOM MARSHALL.
How the ImPeriOus VVhig Leader VAN
aHIslled His UnElaIE snbnlleEn.

How the ImperiOus Vhig Leader VAN
qEIished His UnrEaIy subaItern.
The Galaxy for March contains an ad-
mirable paper on Tom Marshall, from
the pen of Paul R. Shipman, formerly
an editor of the Louisville Journal,
from which the following anecdote is
extracted
Tom Marshall left congress in a great
huff with Henry Clay, who, it appears.
had taken ofense at some of Toms
speeches and votes, which did not fall
within the party lines as drawn by the
wing leader. One morning Clay step
ped into the Office of the Lexington OBJ
server and Reporter, and handing a
short notice, written in his own pecu-
liarly neat hand, to Mr.. ID. @. Wick
Life, the editor, requested him to insert
1t IN the next number of his paper.
Certainly, Mr.. Clay" replied Mr.
Wickliffe. "But you have not read il, -
said MIR. Clay. Read It; perhaps yOu
will not approve 1t. Mr.. Wickliffe
read the notice, which he saw at a
glance, as he had seen IN the eye and
port of its author, portended mischief
to the knot of young insubordinates
headed by Marshall. Though short, it
was very significant, importing that on
a certain day, two or three weeks dis
tant, Mr.. Clay would address the peo-
| pie In the courthouse at Lexington on
/ the principles and measures f the whig
] party, which of late had been the sub
iect of animadYersion in various quar-
| ters.
Such was the import, but the words
and their collocation unmistakably be-
spoke the hand of Mr.. Clay. Wickliffs
till the day of his death could repeat
the notice word for word. It duly ap-
| peared in the Observer and Reporter, a
few hours after which Tom Marshall en-
tered the Office. Mr.. Wickliffe's mid
die name was Carmichael, from which
his friends nicknamed him Mike.
"Mike, said Tom, with that tossing of
| the head which betOkened him very
sure of the scent, "who wrote that no
/ tice at the head of your columns this
/ morning p "Who wrote it % answered
Wickliffe evasively "why, it appears as
editorial" q" know" rejoiued Tom !;
s'but you didn't write it. Tell me,
didn't Mr.. Clay writa- that himself ?"
Well, said Mr.. Wicklff-, "to be
frank with you, Mr.. Marshall, he did" ="
IS knew 1t, exclaimed Tom with an
oath, "and he means me - adding,
with another oath, % and intend to an
swer him." Nothing more was needed
to put the whole community on the
tiptOe of expectation.
The excitement was great, and grew
until the appointed day, which saw the
flower of the population of the Blue
Grass region assembled in and around
the Lexington courthouse to witness
the intellectual contest poutyanee be-
tween the imperious leader and his
G fled but refractory young subaltern.
The public interest was wrought up to
pitch almost painful. Mr. Clay be-
gan his speech. Tom Marshall was
present, stationed upright in a remote
window, slightly back of MIR, C1ay's
position, where he thought Mr.. Clay
would not see him. But he was mis-
taken. The " Great Commoner was
in excellent plight, and spoke in his
happiest vein, with even more than his
usual head of magnetic power, en-
chanting and fairly electTifying the
multitude, not, excepting Marshall him
self, who, drawn by unwilling sympa-
thy with the speaker, had leaned for
ward from his " coigne of vantage" I'M
til his tall figure stood in view.
At this point, Mr.. Clay having come
to the subject of the clique of which
Mr.. Marshall was chief, closed a with
ering sentence by turning round sud
denly upon Tom, and hurting his look,
voice and gesture III one electric missile
at the spell-bound culprit, who shot
back into the window as If struck by a
cannon-ball, or as if himself discharged
from the cannon's mouth. His demon
alization was complete. Mr.. Clay con-
cluded amid tumult of applause, up
on wcich arose everywhere loud shouts
for A" Marshall | f" " Marshall ! But
Marshall did not appear. Marshallwas
not to be found. His followers had
nothing to do but to retire, leaving Mr..
Clay in undisputed possession of the
field-a movement which they executed,
we may be sure, with ill concealed dis
gust at the econdnct of their recent cham
pion.
The next morning Tom Marshall, &C
cording to his custom, s5alked into the
office of the Observer and Reporter
g Well, Mike, "I1said he; ' I reckon you
think Mr.. Clay made a big speech yes
rteday ?" g Yes, - replied Mr.. Wickliffe,
"I do. Don's you ?" "Not so great
as he could have made" said Tom with
meaning look. eff I had spoken
and roweled him up as I could
have done, then you would have heard
a great speech" Z" But why didn't you
speak, MIR. Marshall 20 asked WickIiffe.
Because" cried Tom, with bitter en-
phasis, " ] was a - coward I have
lost theopportunity of my life. If 1 had
spoken, should have been certain to
make fine speech anyhow, and, wheth-
er got the best of it or not, all the
democrats from Maine to Louisiana
would have sworn that 1 made mince
meat of Mr.. Clay" This was a shrewd
view, and it must have occurred to Mar
shall beforehand, but it unfortunately
I vaC,rTra1 fo o,1kr - than
/ he happened TO have at the pinch. The
4 truth is, Tom Marshall always felt the
moral mastery of MIR. Clay, and almost
always chafed under it to such a degree
! that his well-known estrangement from
! that leader of men was, at bottom, prob
| ably owing as much TO this one cause
/ as to all other causes united. 1t was
kind of tribute that genius paid to
character.
Marshall, in at least one point of his
| congressional career, however, gave sat
| isfaetion TO Mr.. Clay, for he cherished
/ and expressed as great contempt for the
administration of Tyler as Mr.. Clay
/ himself felt, declaring on the floor OF
the house that when the history of the
| country was written the Tyler admins
! tration might be put IN parenthesis,
which he defined from Lindley Murray
as "a clause of a sentence inclosed be-
! tween black lines or brackets which
! should be pronounced in low tone Of
/ voice, and light be left out altogether
/ without iBjuring the sense. For this
sally Mr.. Clay might well (and probs-
! bio did forgive much.
Concerning Maeduff and Macbeth.
Macduf was a historical character,
I and the claims of the Earls of Fife and