Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 33

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II > Part 33

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acquired in congress was unlimited. In the house, it was probably equal to that he had obtained a few years before in the Kentucky legislature.

In 1814, having been appointed in conjunction with Messrs. John Q. Adams, James A. Bayard, Albert Gallatin, and Jonathan Russell, a commissioner to meet commissioners appointed on the part of Great Britain, he proceeded to Europe. On the sixth of August, the plenipotentiaries of both nations met in the ancient city of Ghent, prepared to proceed to business. The plan of this sketch does not require, nor would it admit of a detailed account of the negotiations, extending through several months, which finally resulted in a treaty of peace between the two nations. These are to be found related at large, in the public histories of the time, and to them we refer the reader for a full knowledge of those transactions. Let it suffice to say, that, on this, as on all other occasions, Mr. Clay mingled controllingly in the deliberations of his distinguished colleagues, and exercised a very commanding influence over the course of the negotiation. There is, indeed, · reason to believe, that, but for his firmness and tact, the right to the exclusive nav- igation of the Mississippi river would have been surrendered for a very inconsid- erable equivalent. His colleagues in the negotiation have always borne the most honorable testimony to the ability and comprehensive knowledge displayed by Mr. Clay in those memorable transactions, and he returned to the United States with a reputation materially enhanced.

When the commissioners had closed their diplomatic labors, Mr. Clay visited Paris, and subsequently London, forming an acquaintance with many of the most distinguished characters on the continent and in England. In 1815, he left the shores of Europe, and returned to America, which continent he has not since left, except on one occasion, when he made a brief visit to the island of Cuba for the benefit of his health.

He found upon his arrival in Kentucky, that, during his absence, he had been nominated by his friends and elected to congress ; but, as there arose doubts respecting the legality of his election, he resigned, and the canvass was opened anew. This resulted as the previous vote, in his being returned by an overwhelm- ing majority. He was re-elected in succession to every congress that assem- bled, until the session of 1820-21, when he retired to repair the inroads made in his private fortune by his long devotion to public affairs. During this period, he was thrice elected speaker of the house, and presided over the deliberations of that body during the whole period which intervened between 1815 and 1821.

On his re-entrance into congress, Mr. Clay was called to defend the treaty, in - the formation of which he had participated so largely, against the animadversions of his old enemies, the Federalists. That treaty was made the subject of un- bridled criticism, by those who bad opposed the war, and with the magical astuteness of hatred, they discovered objectionable features in every clause. In the course of the discussions which thus arose, he had frequent occasion to review the origin, progress, and termination of the war, which task he performed with masterly ability, exposing the inconsistency and malignity of his adversaries to deserved odium. He met them at every point, and never failed to make their ran- corous virulence recoil on their own heads with tremendous effect.

During the time of this, Mr. Clay's second incumbency in the house of repre- sentatives, many questions were presented for its deliberation of surpassing inter- est, and closely touching the permanent welfare of the republic. The finances of the country were found to be in a condition of ruinons embarrassment ; the nation was deeply involved in debt. and the little money left in the country was being con- tinually drained away to pay for foreign importations. It was in this gloomy con- juncture of affairs that the session of 1815-16 opened. and congress was called to the arduous task of repairing the breaches which thus yawned in the public pros- perity. In all those measures recommended by Mr. Madison's administration, with a view to the accomplishment of this end, Mr. Clay heartily co-operated. Among other things, he gave his support to a proposition to reduce the direct tax of the United States. He advocated, as has been already stated, the incorporation of a United States' bank. This he justified on the ground that such an institution was necessary to the financial department of the government, and to maintain a healthy condition of the circulating medium. At the same session a law was passed, establishing a tariff for revenue and protection. The principle of pro- tection was distinctly avowed and clearly developed. To this measure, of course,

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Mr. Clay gave all the support of his great talents and commanding influence On this occasion John C. Calhoun was found arrayed on the side of protection, and Daniel Webster in the opposition. But

" Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis."

The position and sentiments of these gentlemen are now entirely reversed. Mr. Calhoun has become the great nullifier, and Mr. Webster is universally recog- nized as one of the most powerful champions of protection.

In 1820 the subject of a protective tariff again came before Congress, and Mr. Clay gave an ardent support to a bill introduced for the purpose of increasing the measure of protection. Nor did he relax his efforts until he finally had the satis- faction of seeing the system for which he had been so long struggling fully es- tablished. This firmness and constancy in the pursuit of a favorite object con- stitutes one of the prominent features in Mr. Clay's character, and has given to his career as a politician a consistency rarely to be observed among that fickle and ever changing tribe. There is an iron tenacity and obduracy of purpose evinced in his life, which knows not to yield to opposition or obstacles, however formida- ble. With a foresight rarely equaled, his measures were founded in a profound knowledge of the condition, resources and wants of the nation, and hence he has but seldom had occasion to change his opinions on any subject.

In March, 1818, a resolution was introduced declaring that Congress had power to construct post-roads and canals, and also to appropriate money for that object. This resolution encountered a most formidable array of opposition. Mr. Madison, previous to his retirement from the presidential chair, had vetoed a bill for the promotion of internal improvements, and in succeeding him, Mr. Monroe manifested a disposition to " follow in his footsteps." But nothing daunted by the overwhelming opposition against which he had to contend, and the discoura- ging fact that the administrations of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe were all against the policy, Mr. Clay continued to urge upon Congress the adoption of his system, from a profound conviction that it was intimately connected with the progress of the country in all those elements which promote the general good. The resolution was adopted by a vote of ninety to seventy-five. It was a tri- umph, and a signal one, over opposition that had been accumulating during two previous administrations, and which, in the existing one, was directed against him with all the violence and impetuosity that power, patronage, and energy could impart to it. It was a moment of proud satisfaction to the indefatigable statesman, when he beheld the last vestige of opposition disappear beneath his feet. The system of internal improvements has been since erected so much under his supervision and through his direct instrumentality, as to give him the title of "its father."

The recognition of the South American republics by the government of the United States, a measure which was almost entirely attributable to the indefati- gable exertions, personal influence and powerful eloquence of Mr. Clay, while it shed lustre on the Monroe administration, surrounded the brow of the great statesman with a halo of true glory which grows brighter with the lapse of time.

At the session of 1816-17 the subject of the Seminole war was brought before Congress, and Mr. Clay, in the course of his speech on that occasion, found it necessary to speak with some severity of the conduct of General Jackson. This was the origin of that inveterate hostility on the part of the old general towards the great Kentuckian, the consequences of which were deeply felt in after years.

The only remaining measure of importance with which Mr. Clay's name is connected in the history of those times, was the great and exciting question which arose on the application of Missouri for admission into the union. Prob- ably at no period of our history has the horoscope of our country's destiny looked so dark and threatening. The union was convulsed to its centre. An universal alarm pervaded all sections of the country and every class of the community. A disruption of the confederacy seemed inevitable-civil war, with its attendant horrors, seemed to scowl from every quarter, and the sun of American liberty ap- peared about to set in a sea of blood. At this conjuncture every eye in the coun- try was turned to Henry Clay. He labored night and day, and such was the ex- sitement of his mind, that he has been heard to declare that if the settlement of

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the controversy had been suspended three weeks longer, it would have cost him his life. Happy was it for America that he was found equal to the emergency, and that the tempest of desolation which seemed about to burst upon our heads was, through his agency, permitted to pass away harmless. At the close of the session of congress in 1821, Mr. Clay retired, and resumed the practice of his profession. He did not again enter congress until 1823.

Upon resuming his place in congress at the commencement of the session of 1823-4, Mr. Clay was elected speaker, over Mr. Barbour of Virginia, by a con- siderable majority. He continued speaker of the house until he entered the cab- inet of Mr. Adams, in 1825. During this time, the subject of the tariff again came before congress, and was advocated by Mr. Clay in one of the most mas- terly efforts of his life. His speech on the occasion, was distinguished for the thorough knowledge of the subject which it displayed ; for its broad, comprehen- sive and statesmanlike views, and for its occasional passages of impressive and thrilling eloquence. He also advocated a resolution, introduced by Mr. Webster, to defray the expenses of a messenger to Greece, at that time engaged against the power of the Turks in an arduous and bloody struggle for independence. A spectacle of this kind never failed to enlist his profoundest sympathies, and elicit all the powers of his genius.

Toward the close of the year 1824, the question of the presidency was gener- ally agitated. As candidates for this office, Messrs. J. Q. Adams, Andrew Jack- son, Henry Clay and W. H. Crawford had been brought forward by their respective friends. Mr. Clay had been nominated by the Kentucky legislature as early as 1822. The people failing to make a choice, the election was thrown into the house. Mr. Clay, being the lowest on the list, was excluded from the house by the constitutional provision, which makes it the duty of congress to select one of the three highest candidates. His position in the house now became exceed- ingly delicate as well as important. He had it in his power, by placing himself. at the head of the party who went with him in the house, to control its choice of the three candidates before it. When the election came on, he cast his vote for Mr. Adams, who thus became president of the United States. This vote of Mr. Clay has been made the subject of much calumny and misrepresentation. At the time, it was charged that he had been bought up by the offer of a seat in the cab- inet. Efforts were made to produce evidence to this effect, but it was attended by signal failure. Of late years the charge was reiterated by General Jackson, the defeated candidate, which led to an investigation of the whole affair. The result of this was the exposure of one of the darkest conspiracies ever formed, to ruin the character of an individual. Our limits forbid an attempt to array the ev- idence on this subject, and we must content ourselves with the remark, that there is probably not one man of intelligence now in the Union, who gives to the charge of " bargain and corruption," the slightest credit.

During Mr. Adams' administration, Mr. Clay occupied a seat in his cabinet, as secretary of state. The various official documents prepared by him while in this office, are among the best in our archives. While secretary of state, he nego- tiated many treaties with the various foreign powers with whom this country maintained relations, in which he approved himself as superior as a diplomatist, as he had been before unrivalled as a legislator and orator. He was a universal favorite with the foreign ministers, resident at Washington, and contributed much, by his amenity and suavity of deportment, to place the negotiations on a footing most favorable to his own country.

At the expiration of Mr. Adatns' term of office, Mr. Clay retired to Ashland, his seat near Lexington. He continued engaged in the avocations of his profession untit 1831, when he was elected to the senate of the United States for the term of six years. About the same time, in a national convention at Baltimore, he was nom- inated to the presidency in opposition to General Jackson.

The subjects brought before the senate during this term of Mr. Clay's service, were of the most important and exciting character. The subjects of the tariff, the United States' bank, the public lands, &c., embracing a system of legislative policy of the most comprehensive character and the highest importance, constant- ly engaged the attention of the country and of congress. During the period signalized by the agitation of these great questions, probably the most exciting in the political annals of America, no man filled a larger space in the public eye

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than Mr. Clay. He was the centre of a constellation of genius and talent, the most brilliant that has ever lighted this western hemisphere. Although defeated when the election for president came on, that circumstance appeared but to in- crease the devotion of his friends, and perhaps the star of Henry Clay never blazed with a lustre so bright, so powerful, and far-pervading, as at this moment, when all the elements of opposition, envy, hatred, malice, and detraction, con- glomerated in lowering masses, seemed gathering their forces to extinguish and obscure its light forever.

It was at this period that the lines were drawn between those two great and powerful parties, which, assuming to themselves the respective noms de guerre of Whig and Democratic, lighted up those flames of civil contention which have kept this country in a state of confusion ever since. At the head of these two parties, towering in colossal strength above their followers, stood two of the most remarkable men of the age. One of these two great men has since descended to the tomb. Like all strong and decided characters, it was his fortune to be pursued with a relentless hatred by his enemies, and rewarded with a love, admiration, and devotion equally boundless. uncalculating, and indiscriminating on the part of his friends. He was unquestionably a man of great virtues and high qualities ; but the coloring of his character was marred by shades of darkness, which ap- peared yet more repulsive from their strong contrast to those traits of brightness and nobility which, gleaming out through the habitual sternness of his nature, shed a redeeming glory over his life. He left the traces of his mind engraved in deep and enduring marks upon the history of his time, and, whatever may be the sentence pronounced by posterity upon his character, truth will say that when Andrew Jackson died, he left no braver heart behind him. He was brave to the definition of bravery : deterred by no danger, moral or physical. A man of im- petuous impulses, of strong will and indomitable firmness-he was one of those characters that seem born to command. Such was the man whose powerful hand, gathering up the scattered fragments of many factions and parties, and moulding their heterogeneous elements into one combined, consistent and firm knit mass, seemed resolved to direct its concentrated energies to the destruction of any institution, the subversion of any principle, and the prostration of any individual, that jarred with his feelings. his prejudices or his interests.

It was in opposition to this great leader, and this powerful party, that Mr. Clay was called to act upon his entrance into the senate in 1831. It was an exigency which demanded all his energy and all his talents. We shall not pretend to say that the conduct of Mr. Clay in these bitter and exciting controversies, was free from the influence of passion. On the contrary, passion constitutes one of the strong forces of his character, and is stamped on every action of his life. Perhaps, with the exception of Andrew Jackson, there was not a man in America so remarkable for the fierce and unyielding power of his will, and the deep and fervent impetu- osity of his passions, as Henry Clay. It is the characteristic of all decided men. Mr. Clay had no love for his great antagonist, either personal or political. The hostility between them was deep, bitter, and irremediable; and of them it may be truly said, that,

" Like fabled gods, their mighty war Shook realms and nations in its jar."

Our limits will not allow us to give more than a mere summary of the great questions and events which made up the history of those busy times. They be- long to the public history of the country, and to that source the reader must re- sort for particulars.

General Jackson's veto of the bill to re-charter the Bank of the United States, while it clearly indicated the unsparing temper in which this war of parties was to be prosecuted, produced an effect on the financial condition of the country, which resulted in the most disastrous consequences to trade, commerce, and busi- ness in all its branches. The establishment of the pet bank system but aggra- vated and hastened the evil, and in those first measures of General Jackson's second term of service, were sown the seeds which, at a future day, were reaped in a harvest of woe and desolation. As in 1816, Mr. Clay advocated the re- charter of the bank, and denounced the veto in unmeasured terms. He predicted

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the consequences which would result from the measure, and subsequent events verified his anticipations.

In relation to the tariff, South Carolina had assumed a hostile attitude. She declared her intention to resist the execution of the revenue laws within her bor- ders, and prepared to maintain herself in this resistance by force of arms. Jack- son, on the contrary, swore by the Eternal, that the revenue laws should be en- forced at all hazards, and threatened to hang Mr. Calhoun and his coadjutors as high as Haman. The national horizon began to look bloody, and peaceable men to tremble. At this juncture, Mr. Clay again stepped forward as mediator. Al- though wedded to the protective system, by his conviction of its utility, and its close connection with the progress of the country in arts, wealth, and civiliza- tion, he was not the man to jeopardize the existence of the union, or sacrifice the peace of his country to the preservation of any favorite system of policy. He ac- cordingly introduced, and after great efforts succeeded in passing, a compromise measure, which, without yielding the principle of protection, but deferring to the exigencies of the times, pacified the troubled elements of contention, and restored harmony to a distracted people. Perhaps one motive which governed Mr. Clay in his anxiety to pass the compromise act, was his just alarm at the rapidly in- creasing power of the executive, which, about this period, began to assume a most portentous aspect. He was doubtful of the prudence of entrusting in the hands of President Jackson, the power necessary to enforce the collection of the revenue by hostile measures. He considered that the power and patronage of the executive had already attained a magnitude incompatible with the public liberty. Subsequent developments justified his apprehensions.

Mr. Clay's land bill, introduced into congress about this time, embodying a system for the gradual disposition of the unappropriated public domain of the United States, although it has been the subject of rancorous contention, compre- hends perhaps the most wise, federal, and judicious plan for accomplishing that object, that has yet been devised. We have not space for a detail of the princi- ples and particulars of this celebrated measure. 'T'hey belong to the public his- tory of the nation, and would be out of place in this sketch.

In 1836, Mr. Van Buren became President of the United States, and Mr. Clay was re-elected to the senate. Mr. Van Buren's administration was taken up principally with the disputes relative to the currency. The pet bank system hav- ing failed, and a general derangement and prostration of all the business relations and facilities of the country having followed in its train, an attempt was made to rescue the government from the embarrassment in which it had involved the na- tion, by the establishment of the sub-treasury system. Up to this period, the power of the executive had gone on steadily increasing, until it had absorbed every department of the government. This is the feature which distinguishes the Jackson and Van Buren administrations from all which preceded them. It was against this tendency of politics and legislation that the whigs, under the lead of Mr. Clay, were called to combat, and it finally got to be the engrossing subject of controversy. The sub-treasury was intended to consummate, complete, and rivet that enormous system of executive power and patronage, which had commenced under General Jackson, and attained its maximum during the admin- istration of his obsequious follower and slavish imitator, Martin Van Buren. The debates in congress on this exciting question, are among the ablest in our his- tory, and it is scarcely necessary to say, that among those who opposed on the floor of the senate, by the most gigantic efforts of human intellect. the creation of this dangerous money power in the government, Mr. Clay was with the foremost and most able. The sub-treasury, however, was established, and the system of executive patronage under which the majesty of law and the independence of official station disappeared, was complete.

In 1840, General Harrison, the whig candidate for the presidency, was elected by one of those tremendous and irresistible popular movements, which ate seen in no other country besides this. During the canvass, Mr. Clay visited Hanover county, the place of his nativity, and while there addressed an assembly of the people. It was one of the ablest speeches of his life, and contained a masterly exposition of the principles and subjects of controversy between the two parties.

After the election of General Harrison, when congress assembled, it set itself to work to repair the ravages made in the prosperity and institutions of the country

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by twelve years of misgovernment. Unfortunately, however, the work had scarcely commenced before death removed the lamented Harrison from the scene of his usefulness, and Mr. Tyler, the vice-president, succeeded to his place. 'Then followed, in rapid succession, veto after veto, until all hope of accomplish- ing the objects for which the whigs came into power, were extinct.

During this period, Mr. Clay labored night and day to bring the president into an accommodating temper, but without success. He seemed resolved to sever all connection between himself and the party which brought him into power. He will go down to posterity with the brand of traitor stamped upon his brow, and take his place with the Arnolds of the revolution.

On the 31st of March, 1842, Mr. Clay executed his long and fondly cherished design of retiring to spend the evening of his days amid the tranquil shades of Ashland. He resigned his seat in the senate, and presented to that body the cre- dentials of his friend and successor, Mr. Crittenden. The scene which ensued was indescribably thrilling. Had the guardian genius of congress and the nation been about to take his departure, deeper feeling could hardly have been manifested than when Mr. Clay arose to address, for the last time, his congressional com- peers. All felt that the master spirit was bidding them adieu ; that the pride and ornament of the senate, and the glory of the nation was being removed, and all grieved in view of the void that would be created. When Mr. Clay resumed his seat, the senate unanimously adjourned for the day.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 33

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1654

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654