The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-12
ARTICLE VII.

our great men have risen from obscure
beginnings. Read the long roll of those
who have made an impress tpon our in
situations ana what a large proportion OF
them you viii discover to be Of this class
There you will find such names as Jack
son and Webster and Sherman and rGant
and Lincoln and Garfield ana a host of
others that illuminate our history. Each
of these may be described
AS some divinely gifted man,
Whose life in low estate began
And on a simple village green;
Who breaxs his births invidious bar.
And grasos the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows Of circumstance,
And grapples with his evil star;
Who makes by force his merit known
And lives to clutch the golden Keys,
10 mold mighty states deere IS,
And shape the whisper of the throne;
And moving up from high to higher.
Becomes on fortunes GROWING slope
The pillar of a peoples hope,
The center of worlds desire.
Such a ran was Henry Clay He was
born 123 Years ago; he will live forever
His early rtcolections were of a humble
home in wretched little settle nent In
Virginia, ir his latest years he was
known to all the world. He was the son
of an obscure Baptist preacher; ne be-
came tha idol of the nation.
His Early Years
The early years OF Clay were without
incidents, save such as come to all in
telligent, ambitious young men who have
to make their OWL way in the wc1ld. At
the age of tWenty-one, as an impecuni-
Gus young lawyer, he turned his face to
the West, that mecca of fortune-hunt-
ers who desire an adequate field for the
exercise OF conscious but untried powers.
Settling in Lexington, KY, then small
frontier town, he began the practice
Of his profession Inevitably one so young
and with such scanty early training
had very little general education and
very little special knowledge of the law.
But what he lacked in mental discipline
and information was fully atoned for by
special gifts. He had a graceful bear
ing, a magnificent voice and a auency
of strong and effective speech that never
failed him. These gifts he cultivated to
the fullest extent, and as he likewise
possessed in a remarkable measure that
mysterious power termed personal mag
netism" he made his way rapidly and
soon had a more enthusiastic and devoted
personal following than any other man in
his state. And from that allegiance they
never wavered. AT the age Of twenty
nine he was sent to fill out an unexpired
term in the United States senate-the
youngest man that ever held a seat in
that body-and from that day almost
until the end of life, a period of forty
six years. he was a prominent public
man. Not that he held office for the
entire time, nor that he was always en-
gagged in national politics, but he gained
a reputation so rapidly that from the
beginning he was recognized as man. Of
great powers, who would yet be heard
from.
Speaker of Legislature.
In 1871 Clay was chosen as member
of the house of representatives and it
was In this congenial arena that his
really great public career began. His
style of oratory found this a mere fit
ting field for It's exercise at that time
than was the severer standard of the
senate He had already gained wide
popularity and was promptly chosen
speaker. But this position Of dignity
and power did not interfere with the
frequent display of his oratorfca1 gifts.
Many important questions during this
period were considered in committee
of the whole, and Clay Cook an active
and, of course, the leading part in the
discussions. He belonged to the agrees
cratic party The big party Of which
he was afterward a leader, did not come
into being till fifteen or more years
later. In these years Clay was one of
the strongest advocates of the war of
1872 and did all he could to lead con-
greSs to adopt measures in support of
the war and to arouse the people to
stand by the government in prosecuting
the struggle.
JoI@1 L.
and those that made the deepest and
tory were performed in subsequent years.
These were largely the labors that gave
to him the title Of "the great compromis-
err or "great pacihcator."
No question In all our history ever gave
rise to SO bitter and so prolonged con-
troversy as that Of slavery. Even in the
framing of the constitution this subject
came up for dispute. Should slaves be
counted as men or as chattels? If as
men, then the slaveholding states would
have an undue proportion Of representa-
tives in congress; If as chattels, then the
South would have to bear an undue part
Of the burden of direct taxation. When
voting the slave states wanted the ne
groes counted; when paying taxes they
preferred to leave them out. The result
was compromise, whereby five negroes
were to be counted as equal to three
white men. 1t was largely owing to this
provision that the slave states exercised
a controlling Influence in our national
legislature for nearly the entire period Of
our history from the inauguration of JEFF
ferson to the outbreak Of the civil war.
The Real Question.
So long as the country included only
the original states or those either so far
south or so far north that the existence
of slavery within them, or its exclusion,
when admitted to the Union, was a fore
gone conclusion, this question gave rise
to no difficulties. But when new states
on the border that might become either
slave territory or free knocked at the
door Of the nation controversy was sure
to arise. And this not only because prop
erty interests were involved, but, most of
all, because political, social and moral
questions were raised that touched the
very springs Of national existence.
In 1919 Missouri applied for statehood.
At once a proposition was introduced in
congress forbidding slavery. So sudden
was the appearance Of this question that
Jefferson wrote that it startled 4.in like
a. fire bell In the night" Congress had
unbottled a terrible genius and knew not
how to confne 1t again. The division
over the question was not on party lines.
The controversy over slavery cut right
across the old parties and cut to the
Neither party for many years
after this had the courage to array itself
positively either for or against the ex-
tension OF the Institution. The division
was rather by states. Members Of slave
states voted against the proposition, |
while those from the free states sup
- [D..G 4 ~Io - k1e.e Had