Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1899-08-19
Sure He Was Irish and His
People Came From Lon
dOnderry.
Orator and Statesman Whom
Kentucky HOnOred and
Still Reveres.
BUT In IRISH HIS NAME WAS CLEIGH

For all the pains which have been
taken to give Henry Clay an English an
cestry, as Ebert Hubbard points out,
there seems to be no doubt that his peo-
pie were farmer folk near Londonderry,
Ireland, where they had been settled for
many generations, spelling their name
Cleigh.
Those who are familiar with the fea-
lures of this almost the most popular OF
American statesmen will find no difh-
Guilty in taking this view, while the long,
underhanging brows and the lean, spare,
active frame all make against his being
of the brawnier Saxon breed. His easy
familiarity, never bringing on contempt,
however INDUCED, was one of the chief
causes for his enormous following-that
and a warm and tender heart which in
vited affection. These things are Celtic
matters making to the same end. And
it 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 imag-
ination and the wit of the most fervent, i'm
aginative and witty folk on the globe all
shone and glittered. And whisky? Henry
Clay came from Kentucky-and the
world knows what that has meant from
the days of Daniel Boone to the present
reign of the Bourbon.
Ashland, the home of the statesman
and still the home of his descendants, is
on the outskirts Of the city of Lexington
-Clay's birthplace, so named because it
was founded just as the embattled farmer
so successfully fred the shot heard round
the world in the New England town.
The estate on which the mansion stands
comprises 600 acres, and it is all kept in
high state of cultivation. Every one
knows Kentucky horses, and Kentucky
cattle are only less famous. Ashland
abounds in both, and they make pleas
ant sight for CITY men to see, as Hubbard
describes them.
In the house, the way to which is lined
with locusts planted by the very hands OF
the Senator, there are numberless signs
of his former occupancy. His books are
there Just 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 hi:
clear, delicate handwriting on almost
every page.
There are portraits of him, and bust:
of him in marble and bronze. His pistol:
for Clay fought two duels, and was an
American in his marksmanship-are still
uninlured by time and rust; his saddle
bridal and spurs remain to bespeak hi!
graceful semanship-hardly an accom-
plishment among Kentucky gentlemen
his commonplace books and diaries, with
countless letters from all sorts of people
stand following with age to show hin
the great politician he was-no less thar
statesman. And all about the house
climb Towering vines, and great tree
stand here and there to tell of the virgin
forests which the men from Virgini'
conquered long years ago.
Ruins are rare in the United States
yet such we'll preserved memories of GU
great men of two or three generation
ago are rarer. 1t is a pleasant reflection
that the want which dulled the late
lives of so many of our public servant
had no part in the closing scenes OF THU
brave Americans life. He was but tn
"Mill Boy of the Slashes, +" the son of
poor Baptist preacher in Virginia, ant
the names of his very brothers and Sis
tiers have not been preserved for us
What he made himself all the worl
knows. No breath Of SANDER touche
his fair name from his earliest successe
at the bar to his forensic efforts in tn
Senate. He was an American OF whor
his countrymen can afford to be proud
regardless of tradition and politics.