The Newtown bee., 1880-03-10
ADAMS, JACKSON, CLAY.
The Secretary of the Navy's Interestins Reminiscences of these Eminent Americans.

The Secretary of the Navy's Interesting
 "Reminiscences of these Eminent
 Americans.
 Secretary of the Navy Thompson has given a Brooklyn audience an exceed ingly interesting narration of his per sonaI recollectfons of John Q. Adams, Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay, with brief references to Chief Justice Mar shall, the Hon. Henry A. Wise. John C.. Calhoun, Daniel Webster and others. He regarded MT. Adams as one of the greatest men, if not the ablest statesman. the United States has ever produced. He said that while Adams appeared to be cold and unsympathetic in his na- ture, and exhibited no warmth of feeling in his intercourse with others, his pas sions were really violent. and, at times, seemingly beyond his control. They slept Within him like the smoldering lava within the depths of a volcano, and when they burst forth they were terrific in their effect. Jackson and Clay had the same kind of courage, they were formed in the same mold. Each felt that he was born to command, as in fact they were. Neither of them, when aroused, calculated the consequences or took any heed of danger. Mir. Thomp- son stated that he served with MT. Adams in the House of Representatives during the Twenty and Twenty death. He was looking at him when he fell at his desk. He died like media- val knight with all his armor on, and at his post of duty. He was ready at the last moment to break a lance with any adversary, come from wha teyer quarter he might. The speaker said he wit messed one of the most remarkable events of MT. Adams's life. and that was his trial in the House of Representa- tives for introducing a petition from some of the citizens ot Massachusetts to dissolve the Union. Very few events had impressed him as did that. Con- gress sought to censure him by resolu- ton for what Mir. Adams conceived to be, and the speaker said, what in point of fact was the plain performance of his duty. This petition was introduced by him January i, l842, and it was accom- panied by motion that the committee be instructed to report against the prayer of the petitioners. He deter mined to maintain inviolate the consti- tutional right of petition. He had but few days before exhibited his earnest ness and his honesty by presenting pc tition from Georgia asking for his own removal from the chairmanship of the committee on foreign relations, because, as the petition recited, he was a mono maniac on the subject of slavery. Henry A Wise, Tom Marshall and Gilmer, of Virginia, were selected to lead an attack upon MT. Adams. This remarkable contest lasted for eleven days, and though Adams adversaries were in the full vigor and flush of manhood, and Adams was trembling with age and weak with the labors of an industrious life, the result was the triumphant vic tory of Adams and the overwhelming defeat of his assailants. The speaker happened to know, he said, before this memorable contest occurred, that Mar shall considered himself more than a match for Adams, for the brilliant Ken tuckian was not without egotism. To knowingly invoke a controversy with Adams was almost as unwise as for one to enter cage with wild animals. Be- sides himself there was but one other member of Congress, MT. Thompson said, who witnessed that memorable debate who now survived,
 The first time the speaker ever saw Andrew Jackson was at Nashville, Tenn, on January 8, 1927. He had been before, in the contest with Adams, Clay and Crawford, and at that time was again a candidate. The occasion was the celebration of his memorable Tie7 tory at New Orleans by which he had fairly earned the title of the hero of the age. His appearance on horseback, as he rode from the Hermitage into the town, impressed the beholder as man on whom the Almighty had fixed the speaker had seen him was on the occa- sion of his inauguration at Washington, March 4, 1899, in W hich city the speaker and his father had arrived from their Western homes on horseback. MT. Thompson had been introduced to the President on that occasion by his father, who remarked to Jackson that the young man was even at that time falling away from the principles of Democracy which he (the elder Thompson) had always maintained. Instead of receiving a lecture from Jackson, as he greatly feared, the President placed his hand upon. the speakers head, and said : My son, think always for yourself, and let your conscience be your invari- able guide" It had been claimed that Jackson did not write his inaugural address. MT. Thompson stated that he was in the possession of letters which were of a private and personal character, and could not, therefore, be published with propriety, which proved beyond a doubt that Jackson wrote this state paper at the Hermitage before he left home without the assistance of any one and without consultation with any one.
 Clay's oratory Mir. Thompson thought unequaled. He was not classically edu
 cated, having in his early years, unlike Adams, been compelled to devote his energies to the obtaining of Livelihood. He never studied oratory. His elo- auence consisted in the utterance of such thoughts and sentiments as 1t was necessary to utter without striving fol effect. His eloquence was like the blaze of internal fires breaking forth. MT Thompson witnessed Clay's farewell te his colleagues of the Senate in lS42, after s continuous public service of forty years
 The scene was dramatic and effective and it reached its climax when Cal houn, between whom and MT. Clay nt
 private intercouTse had existed for som' years-w walked across the Senate cham | Der and grasped MT. Clay by the hand
 and without words bade his ancient ad
 versary a mute adieu. Now, whel | the silver cord is loosened and tn
 golden bond is broken" when he wa
 alike insensible to either praise or cen
 sure, those who saw and realized tn
 power of this great man should not D denied the privilege of expressing thei
 admiration tor him in life, and thel
 yeneration for his memory now when h
 was dead.
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