The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-04
soArE VIEW o


fishing Company q timely reprint Of q work
which may almost be described as classical, The
ti LIE, Correspondence and Speeches OF HenTv
Clay, edited by CALVIN COTTON. We call this q
timely republication Of tho lifo and work Of tho
great American apostle Of protection. In view of
the fact that the Republican party, committed
rs II 10 to n protectionist policy. has returned to
power, and that even the Democratic party.
when lately IL controlled both houses of Con-
Rress. passed in tho Wilson bill q measure avow-
edly protoctionist. The solo present difference
between tho two great political parties touching
this matter, as defined not by professions but by
acts, has to do simply with the extent to
which tho protectionist principle shall be car
ried. Tho whole history OF protection in
tho United States from tho beginning of
the century to tho civil war may be read in
this life Of Clay, supplemented as tho six vol
umos of the original work are with an introduce
tion by Speaker Reed, and with an additional
volume containing a consecutive account OF
tariff legislation from 1912 to 1896 by President
Mckinley, We shall refer ON another location
70 Mr.. McKinloy's careful and comprehensive
sketch. but, for tho moment, wo confne our
selves 10 q brief summary of the biography it.
self, noting herc and thcre Mr.. Reeds incisive
comments on tho subject. Ono point made in
tho Introduction should be mentioned before we
!. glance at the biography. Mr.. Reed recognizes,
and undertakes to explain. the difficulty expe-
rienced by readers OF our day in appre-
chatting the o~ratory of Henry Clay. They
know what he accomplished. for how
many years he was the leader of his party, and
how deep and broad q mark he has left upon the
- history of his country. When they peruse his
- speeches. however. they fail to understand how
. no camo to occupy q prominent place In tho
eyes of his countrymen. Some four pages are
devoted by Mr.. Reed to q discussion Of this mat
ter. He reminds us in tho first place that the
speeches OF any statesman, who, being o states.
man and not an academic writer or visionary
reformer, is under the memorable necessity of
bringing things to pass, must needs suffer much
from the mere lapse Of time. Even tho next
generation to his own can have but little knowl-
edge Of the obstacles to be overcome. the tenn
porary prejudices to be removed. and the for
merly existing rivalrics which introduced upon
tine actual scene q purely personal ele-
mont, the memory Of which has almost
passed away. Here reformers and men of letters
hnyo an advantage; they arc subject to SO few
limitations that they can utter tho truths Of all
time regardless Of the prejudice of the hour. and
can present arguments in their full strength,
, leaving the future to understand what the
present cannot. Mr.. Reed points out that it is
far otherwise with a speaker who has to deal
with men that are swayed not only by their own
prejudices. but also by those of the constituencies
which they represent and those of the party
Win WHICH tney arc connected. lie must AVOID
many which are sound in themselves
and would be appreciated in history. and must
avoid them because. for the time. they do not
convince. That is a statesman's business;
to convince, to carry his point. To fail
therein Is to fail in n ~statesman's fundamental
quality, the power Of embodying thought in law
or act. From this point Of view, the Speaker
would say that Millions Defence of the Liberty
Of Unlicensed Printing, eloquent and coSent as
80 -AN-,. -.z ~.
like paper, seeing that it was not calculated to
convince and, as a matter of fact, had no effect
upon the people to whom 1t was addressed.
Whatever Clay and men In a like position say
must suffer from the element Of tempo
rary EFFICIENCY, the weight and pressure OF which
It is no longer possible to measure. 1--WE can
not" continues Mr.. Reed. "by the most careful
study, find out all the circumstances which
made the speaker understate an argument
which now seems to have been 30 guarded as to
lose much Of its possible force; nor can we learn
what obstacles caused another argument to stop
short of its legitimate and triumphant conclu-
sions. . The ordinary reader puzzles him
self with few Of these things, and soon finds his
interest relax as he pores over gumen and
phrases devoted to facts which are half forgot
ten and to situations which have grown dim
because tho history of tho country has long
passed by even their consequences"
Another cause. in Mr.. Reeds opinion, from
which Clay's speeches suffer is his very fame as
an orator. 1t Is known, as u matter of historical
= fact. that while. perhaps, no man in his day
ever 80 moved largo masses Of men, he was
even moro potent In courts of justice and in the
houses of Congress, although there matched
now and then with men second in fame only to
himself. The reader, struggling to reconcile
this prominent influence with the text of the
extant speeches, asks himself in perplexity
wherein lay tho secret of Clay's power. Mr..
Reed answers that 1t lay lin his wonderful
personality, his courage. which feared no
peril and shrank from no emergency. He
seemed to be 30 entirely equal to all emer-
Gencies and so sure of himself that he made
all others sure OF his final success. In person he
was tall and majestic. His bearing was high
and his courtesy was lofty. Respecting himself,
no made every other man respect him. His
voice had a melody and strength which have
mover been surpassed. When he spoke. he was
% absorbed in his subject, 80 determined that
his hearers should go with him, that in his
younger days, at least, the whole man spoke
vibrant with the emotion which filled his entire
Being When you add TO this a mastcrful mind.
-aHankness and n strong character. great reason
ing power and an invinciblc determination,
you can form some idea of his power over
audiences in the days when the orator was
the great teacher OF the multitude and swayed
49, SosAAiS '" tIo uht IL ID De-
cause almost all these personal qualities
have. to a considerable extent. disappeared
from the printed word, that men have sought in
vain for the causes of the remarkable results
which Clay produced. But, II 1t be true that
Clay's speeches are not equal to his great fame
- an orator, this was true also, as Mr.. Reed
points out. in q lesser degree, OF Demosthenes;
We are reminded that HEschines said, when in
Punishment he read his rivals grafton on the
Grown to his pupils. who admired 1t. "You
should have heard the lion himself" 1t is, at
the Same time, Mr.. Reeds opinion that the
notion that Clay's speeches arc unworthy of his
tAme has boon carried too far. On the CON
trary, the speeches here reprinted are pro.
nounced replete. not only with wisdom and
sound sense, high craftsmanship and great
power. but with passages which, for beauty OF
diction, cannot be surpassed. As an OK.
ample OF these passages. the reader is
directed to the second volume I. the blos-
AAnhy Eanra o-n III. .,