The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1897-10-20
IN cIscInsk1I HOTEL CORRIDORS.
toincinnati Commercial rribune. Oct. 5tb.

| NSineiaAnaA OOnheiciai IrlDCne, Oct oth-1
The venerable and historic Ken
lucky orator, soldier and statesman,
General Cassius NJ. Clay. who for
sixty-five years has been an interest
ing and picturesque figure in the affairs
of his State and Nation, arrived last
evening from his home at Whitehall,
KY, and Will remain in the city for
several days, with headquarters at the
Grand Brutus j. Clay and wife, of
Richmond. KY, his son and daughter-in-
law, accompany him. The objec. of his
trip here is TO submit his eyes to the
treatment of local ocuIist, a cataract
formation having recently considerably
obscured his eyesight.
General Clay will be 81 years old the
18th of this month, but his thick shock
of hair, albeit of snowy Wilderness, which
he wears combed over his forehead
without parting; his sturdy frame and the
vigor of his mind and body would lead
one unacqusnited with the date OF his
birth TO suppose him by many years
younger man.
Those whose memory carries them
back to the day when the settlement of
"the irrepressible conflict" was the ques-
ton upon which all politics was founded
will remember the active pant which
Cassius M. Clay took in the agitation
against negro slavery. Ills name, from
1910 to the close of the rebellion, was as
much of household word as were those
of Horace Greedy, Wendell Phillips and
William Lloyd Garrison. The son OF
slaveholding parents, the member OF an
already illustrious family, and the native
Of a strongly proslavery state, the pro-
minent part he took in opposition to the
institution of slavery attracted wide
spread attention abroad, and aroused the
bitterest antagonism among those of his
neighbors who differed from his views
The stirring incidents of his long
extent in book of memoirs published
by him in Cincinnti in 1886, all that he
has been and done are yet subject for
more adequate treatment at the hands of
a future historian From the time he
graduated from Yale College in 1882
down to few years ago he was potent
factor in every contest in which his State
and Nation were concerned.
While a practising attorney and as a
member OF the Kentucky Legislature,
he denounced slavery by voice and pen,
and in 1915 he engaged in the daring
undertaking of publishing an outspoken
antislayery newspaper in Lexington.
Threats of mob violence having been
made against him and his office, he put
two loa led four-pounder brass cannon in
his Office, installed half dozen armed
men to assist him, barricaGed the doors
and defied his enemies.
He always stood ready to defend his
views 10y word and deed, and was involv-
ed in a number of bloody encounters.
He was an expert in the use of the
bowie knife, and on the stump in Ken
lucky used TO go constantly armed with
a bowie and with pair OF pistols in an
open-mouth grip, which he placed be-
fore him.
He went to the Mexican War, and as
Captain of veteran military company,
which had seen service at Tippecanoe
he distinguished himself by his bravery
and his presence of mind in The midst of
great danger.
He supported Fremont, and afterward
Lincoln, and was appointed Minister TO
Russia in 1861. After year in this serv
ice he resigned, and was given commits
sion as Major General of volunteers.
lie held this Office only a few months,
and vas reappoirtsd Minister to Russia,
where lac remained until in 1869 While
Minister to Russia he became aware
that Alaska could be purchased. and it
was due TO his reports and recon-
mendations that the United State acquir-
ed this important territory of seal fur
and gold. In 1870 he took an active
part in behalf Of the Cuban revolution
isis, publicly supporting their cause, and
becoming President of the Cuban Aid
Society.
Il am ALWAYS ready to give an opinion
on public questions, said Generel Clay
10 a Commercial Tribune reporter at the
Grand last evening, ''but on purely
political matters l have nothing to say
| / have never been a party man. The
main objects of my life were the aboli
ton of slavery and the improvement and
extension of the common school system.
These have become accomplished facts.