The times., 1898-10-17
HENRYucLAY.
A View of the Great Statesman at
HIS bwn Home.
prom the Chicago News.

prom the Chicago News.)
For all the pains which have been taken
to give Henry Clay an English ancestry,
as Ebert Hubbard points out, there
seems TO be no doubt that his people
We're farmer folk near Londonderry, Ire
land, where they had been settled for
many generations, spelling their name
Cleigh. Those who are familiar with the
features of this almost the most popular
of American statesmen will find no diff
Guilty In taking this view; while the long,
straight upper lip, the small, sharp
eyes under hanging brows, and the lean,
spare, active frame all make against his
being of the brawnier Saxon breed. His
easy familiarity. never bringing on con-
tempt, however INDUCED, was one of the
chief causes for his enormous following
that and a warm and tender heart which
invited affection. These things are Celtic
matters making to the same end. And 1t
is curious to find him bidding formal
farewell of the Senate at the close of his
term, then changing his mind and going
back once more-the impulsive, change
able Irishman In everything. His ora
tory is the convincing thing. though,
after ALL for there the fervor. the imagi-
nation and the wit Of the most fervent
imaginative and witty folk on the globe
all shone and glittered. And whisky?
the world knows what that has meant
from the days of Daniel Boone to the
present reign of the Bourbon.
How Clay would open his eyes at the
present state of good feeling between
Great Britain and his native land He
hated England with u holy hatred born OF
intimate knowledge and wide experience.
The events which led up to the war Of
lsl2-that later war OF independence-can
never be read advantageousiy to the
mother country Clay took q firm and
patriotic attitude when nearly half the
land was wholly willing TO see the ma
tional flag insulted on every sea, and
American citizens dragged into unwi ing
and detestable slavery by British men-of-
war. There was no preparation for the
contest; on the contrary, the navy rad
been deliberately disbanded. as II was
after the Civil War. But Clay felt, and
he made the people feel with him. that II
was better to suffer once for all, ana
perish II need be, than to drag on a mis-
erable national life as despised ap-
panage OF former owner.
Ashland, the home of the statesman anu
still the home of his descendants, Is on
the outskirts of the city of Lexington,
Clay's birthplace, so named because II
was founded Just as the embattled farmer
sn successfully fired the snot heard round
the world in the New England town Ihe
estate on which the mansion stands com
nrises 600 acres and II is all kept In a
high state of cultivation. Everyone knows
Kentucky horses, and Kentucky cattle are
only less famous. Ashland abounds in
both, and they make pleasant sign, 10Y
city men to see, as Hubbard describes
them.
In the house. the way to which is lined
10, Cd bts h1 hands of
the senator, there are numberless signs
OF his former occupancy His books are
there. lust as he left them, save for the
reverent use given them by his descend
ants They show how much he obtained
from them by marginal notes in his clear,
delicate handwriting on almost every
page There are portraits of him and
busts of him in marble and bronze. HIS
pistols-for Clay fought two duels and
was an American in his Workmanship
are still uninjured by time and rust: his
saddle. bride. and spurs remain to be-
speak his graceful horsemanship-hardly
an accomplishment among Kentucky gen.
! tlemen; his commonplace books and dia-
ries. with countless letters from all sorts
of people, stand yellowing with age to
show him the great politician he was
no less than statesman. And all about
the house climb Towering vines. and
great trees stand mere ana there 10 ten
of the virgin forests which the men from
Virginia conquered long years ago.
Ruins are rare in these United States;
yet such well-preserved memories of our
great men OF two or three generations
ago are rarer. 1t is a pleasant reflection
that the wane which has dulled the lat
er lives of so many of our public serv-
! ants had no part in the closing scenes OF
/ this brave Americans life He was but
the "Mil-Boy of the Slashes." the son of
| a poor Baptist preacher in Virginia. and
| the names of his very brothers and sis
! tiers have not been preserved for us.
What he made himself all the world
| knows. No breath of slsnder touched his
! fair name, from his earliest successes at
! the bar TO his forensic efforts in the SEN
/ ate. He was American of whom his
countrymen can afford to be proud, re-
| gardless of tradition or politics.