The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1878-03-22
ADAMS, JACKSON AND CLAY.

He proposed to speak of three dead
statesmen, with whom he had been
personally acquainted, and whose
public life he had witnessed. They
were selected because they represented
three distinct types of character and
each of whom were great in their par
ticular sphere. Whatever their con-
temporaries, in the heat and bitterness
of party conflict, had said about them,
now that we can view their characters
and deeds through this unbiased me-
dunn of history, their claim to the
first rank among American statesmen
will not be disputed. Adams, Jackson
and Clay, names which reused the
fiercest passions and evoked the bitterest
invectives from minds inflaned by
rancor of political contests.
There is point of difference, as we'll
as resemblance, with these three men,
arising from their dissimilar family
and social relations. Adams descended
from an old and wealthy family in
early life came under the influence of
education and the associations of we'll
regulated and law-abiding community.
jackson and Clay, born in poverty,
without early advantages, were COM
PEELED in wild, unsettled community,
where the scenes shifted according to
the passing passion, to seek that for
tune which was not theirs by inheri-
lance. They were all men of marked
ability. Adams, of a cautious, deliber-
ate nature, with almost the appearance
of timidity. But it was only appearance
that he was combative his opponents
had good reason to know. Outwardly
cold, his passions were violent, slnoul-
dering within like the pent.up fire of
a volcano.
Jackson and Clay were men made
in the same mould, men conscious that
they were born to rule, and men who
! were inspired with such a sublimity
of patriotism that they were ready to
sacrifice their lives upon the altar of
their country. 1 served with Adams
in the House during the twenty-seventh
and twenty-eighth congress. I saw him
die at his desk like medieval knight
with his armor on. One scene in his
life brings out fully the mans char
acter. 1t was in that celebrated trial
for treason in 1912. Adams was a firm
supporter of the right of petition, and
when he was asked to present a Pc
| tition looking to the dissolution of the
Union, he did so, because he held that
all petitioners had at least the right
to be heard. For this he was charged
with treason and arraigned for trial.
Against him were arrayed Marshall,
Gilmore and Wise, men of pre-elninent
and acknowledged ability as orators
and debaters. In the long excited debate
which followed, Adams, with the ma
ture ability of u giant, laid his OPP
ponents in the dust, and achieved the
proudest triumph of his life.
The first time I saw Jackson was at
one of the annual celebrations of the
battle of New Orleans, at Nashville,
Tennessee. He then impressed me, as
I saw him on horseback, as one whom
nature had stamped as Il nobleman.
He was great man with kind heart,
the truest of friends, answering in
duty. If he committed errors it was
not from disinclination to do what
was right. The number of persons now
! living who were personally acquainted
with Clay is growing less every year,
and his fame now rests with the his
torian. From a perusal his speeches,
| it may be difficult to understand the
power which he welded. Even we,
whose hearts were touched and played
upon by his burning eloquence, can
not describe his power to others. Clay
never studied oratory; his eloquence
was tho blaze of an internal fire.
| Hence, his set speeches do not give a
fair idea of his power. He needed the
stimulant of a great occasion in order
to rise to the full height of his power.
| The lecturer closed with an eloquent
flight on the power of the orator.