The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1884-09-26
A Renai.liscence of Henry Clay.

We clip from the columns OF the
| Missouri Republican the following IN
teresting communication from Rev. Ed
F. Buckley of Kirkwood, Mo-, formerly
pastor of the Episcopal church In LEX
ington, KY, to which Mr.. Clay be-
longed. and who oficiated alike at the
baptism and funeral of the great south
ern statesman. The incident described
has never before been in print:
Whatever is interesting IN the lives OF
distinguished men ought to be record
ed. There have come under my per-
sonal observation, for | stood to him IN
the relation of pastor during the last
fourteen years OF his life, and knew HIM
we'll. q number of incidents and anec-
dotes connected with Henry Clay, some
of which, on repeated recital to inter
ested listeners, I have been asked to put
in a permanent form.
The following anecdote is Illustrative
of his skill as an orator in selzlng the
occasion to convince a court, a jury and
an audience of the business OF his
before he had made the speech:
About forty years ago, when some
of the dissatisfied legatees of a Mr..
Rogers in Fayette County, KY, brought
suit to set aside his will, which involved
the distribution of seventy or eighty
thousand dollars, Hon. John j. Crit
tenden was engaged by the dissatisfied
party to break the will, and Hon. Henry
Clay was engaged by the other side to
sustain it.
had never heard before of the meet
ing of these political and forensic cham
pions in a legal contest, and prob
ably they had never met in an inferior
court.
The interest of the people was thor
oughly aroused as the time drew near
for the meeting of these legal gladitors.
The trial was held in the court house
at Lexington, the home of Mr.. Clay.
The room was too small to accommo-
date one-fourth of the people who had
gathered in the city to hear these giants
in oratory and the law argue this case,
so full of public interest. They crowded
into every available spot long be-
fore the opening of the court; and
there was no need for the sheriff
to call silence" for every countenance
wore a subdued expression, and seemed
painfully burdened with a feeling of I'M
certainty as to the result of this contest,
and as evidently worried at the thought
of the possibility that the other great
Kentuckian might defeat Mr.. Clay IN
the court house of his own country.
/ was favored with a seat within the
bar, and very near to Mr.. Clay. The
assistant counsel made such statements
to the jury as the occasion called for,
and the closing of the case was left to
these two great competitors.
Out of the material on which he had
to work Mr.. Crittenden made one. of the
most effective speeches of his life. /
have so often regretted for the fame of
the great orators of that day that the
art of shorthand writing had not been
farther advanced, SO that some Of their
most brilliant efforts might have been
recorded for the instruction and graf
ifcation of men in after times. 1t is
not possible, however, that any printed
speech could convey to the mind the
personal presence, the attitudes, the
voice, the passion and the magnetic
power illustrated in their delivery.
During the process Of Mr.. Chitten-
don's speech. Mr.. Clay would occasion
ally ask his son James, who was assoc
ciated with him in practice, for a law
book, and finding his authority, he
would turn down o leaf for easy refer
ence, and lay itdown with indifference.
When Mr.. Chittendon had closed his
argument, a painful, / might rathersay,
shuddering stiffness pervaded the
Jourt room. There seemed written in
every countenance the conviction that
TIE case was cIosed,-Mr. Clay's cause
was lost; that he could have nothing
Effective to say, and that he was beaten
IN his own city by his great compeer,
C~ritt5ndon. He saw and felt the effect
that had been produced by his powerful
opponent. He saw the deep anxiety
| which the dead silence indicated. and
ais friends ready to weep at his apPar-
Il discontinue.
With the sagacity of an expert in
CONTROVERSY he at once determined what
70 do, and that was to call back instant
~ the convictions of his audience, the
court and jury, and by manner and
action to- ask them to hold their de.
cision in allegiance until they heard
from him.
He rose majestically. I never knew
a man that could rise up and sit dowr
with equal dignity and grace. Eli.
small blush eye expressed The
vehemence with which his soul wa:
burning his brow was knitted and hil
under lip quivering with intense emo
ton he raised his hand, and looking
upward, said, by the help Of God
(then turning to the judge and tn,
pleasure Of this court, before I resum,
my seat. intend 10 show the uftn,