USA > Kentucky > Historical sketches of Kentucky : embracing its history, antiquities, and natural curiosities, geographical, statistical, and geological descriptions with anecdotes of pioneer life, and more than one hundred biographical sketches of distinguished pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, jurists, lawyers, divines, etc. > Part 41
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Upon General Jackson's accession to the executive office, he called Major Barry to the office of postinaster general, which he continued to hold until unable. from physical debility. to discharge its onerous duties. In the hope to retrieve his health, and to place him in a situation where his high qualities might be made eminently honorable to himself. as well as useful to his country, the president appointed him to the office of ambassador to Spain. But the decrees of a higher power had gone forth, and the amiable, the generous and the exalted Barry was
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destined to close in a foreign land, a life which had been honorably devoted to the service of his country.
Major Barry was twice married. His first wife was Miss Overton. daughter of the late John Overton, of Fayette county. Of their children, only one, Mrs. Taylor, wife of James Taylor. Esq. of Newport. Kentucky, survives. His second wife was Miss Mason, of Virginia, sister of General John T. Mason. Of that marriage, one son only survives.
A portion of his fellow citizens of Lexington have erected a plain. unpretending monument to his memory, which, by unanimous consent of the county court, was placed in the public square. But a more interesting monument of his virtues will be found in the heart of every one who knew him as he was, and could judge him without the bias of party prejudice.
JOSEPH CARELL BRECKENRIDGE was the second child and eldest son of the late Hon. John Breekinridge, and was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, the 24th day of July, 1788. Some account has been given of his paternal ancestors in the notice of his father. His mother, Mary Hopkins Cabell, was the daughter of Colonel Joseph Cabell. of Buckingham county, Virginia, whose name he bore; and of Mary Hopkins, the daughter of Arthur Hopkins, an Irish gentleman, who emigrated to Virginia early in the eighteenth century, and was the ancestor of a very numerous family of his own and other names, scattered over the middle and southern states. William Cabell, the great grand father of the subject of this notice, was an Englishman by birth, but emigrated to Virginia at an early period, and at the commencement of the American revolution, his four sons, who were all born in America. embarked with great ardor in that struggle. and were all colonels in the Virginia militia. William Cabell and several of his sons, amongst them Joseph, were by profession physicians. The family was originally Itahan, and the name Capellari. changed in France to Capel, and became in English. Cabell. This modification of names in the various languages of Europe. is extremely com- mon in families of ancient origin. There is a tradition in this family that they are remotely descended from a Catawba Indian chief. whose name was Davis, from whom various other families (Floyd, Burke, Venable, Williams, Morgan, &c.) are also descended ; and in this branch of the Breckenridge family, the cvi- dences of its truth have been carefully collected.
In 1793, when Joseph was in his fifth year, his parents removed to Lexington, Kentucky. The country was newly settled, and the facilities even for elementary instruction, by no means ample. At the age of fourteen, he was sent to a gram- mar school in his native state, and after the usual preparatory studies, entered one of the lower classes in the college of Princeton, New Jersey, where he graduated with distinguished honor in 1810. While a student there. he formed an attach- ment for, and soon afterwards married Miss Mary Clay Smith, daughter of Dr. Samnel Stanhope Smith, president of the college, and grand daughter of Dr. John Witherspoon, a former president, and a whig statesman of the revolution.
The premature and lamented death of his father in 1806, had, for a time. inter- rupted his studies, and called him to Kentucky, to become, in his boyhood. tha head of a large family, and to prepare for the chief labor in managing an extensive and complicated estate. The responsibilities of this new position, gave him even at this early period. a certain prudence and grave maturity of character wlach accompanied hun through life ; and the duties it involved, were faithfully uvi ably performed.
Upon his return to Kentucky, Mr. Breckinridge devoted himself to the virus duties thrown upon him by the death of his father, and to the study of te 19. But before he completed his profession, the troubles on the north-western fronter ealled forth the gallantry and patriotism of Kentucky, and among mug ofor brave men, he volunteered his services to his country, and served one comoption as in -de-camp to General Samuel Hopkins. Soon afterwards he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of law in Lexington.
He had been but a short time before the public. when he began to apract. in a remarkable degree, its notice and regard. His engaging manners and exalted character. irresistibly drew to him the respect and affection of his to How non. He was a stranger to deceit in every form ; no one ever suspected him of dupli- city ; he was open, frank, and true; generous and confiding, perhaps to a fault ;
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and possessed the unbounded confidence of all who knew him. Such qualities naturally fitted him for public life ; and, accordingly, at a very early age, he was elected to the legislature from Fayette county, by the largest majority ever given there. Ilis legislative career was highly honorable to himself and useful to the State. The urbanity of his manners, united to his vigorous talents, and high, steady character, gave him uncommon power and influence. He filled the chair of speaker of the house, with an impartiality and dignity that commanded the approbation of all parties.
Though as far as possible removed from the brawling partisan, and without one quality of the demagogue in his character, Mr. Breckinridge always took a deep interest in public affairs, and his hereditary principles were those of the republican party of '98, which brought Mr. Jefferson into power. The national theatre. in his day, presented comparatively a quiet scene ; for the greater part of his public life was passed in what was called the " era of good feeling"-during the adminis- tration of Mr. Monroe-that interval of peace between the violent party contests of our earlier and later history. In the politics of his own State, it was the rare good fortune of Mr. Breckinridge to command the confidence of both parties ; and when Gen. Adair was elected governor of Kentucky, the voice of the public, and of the governor himself, designated him for the office of secretary of state. He accepted the appointment, and removed to Frankfort with his family in the spring of 1821, where he continued to reside, attending to his lucrative practice and the duties of his office, until the fall of 1823, when he was seized with a malignant fever then raging in the town, which baffled the skill of his physicians, and of which he died on the Ist of September.
Thus was lost to his family, his friends, and his country, at the early age of thirty-five years, Joseph Cabell Breckinridge-a man who, from his first appear- ance on the theatre of affairs, had been steadily growing in the affection and gratitude of his countrymen-whose life had given a sure guarantee of true greatness-and whose noble character and genuine talents promised, in any sphere, to reflect honor on his state. At the bar, his eloquence, which was of a high and persuasive order, united to his extensive professional attainments. placed him in the front rank. The few compositions and published speeches which the pressure of his other avocations allowed him to throw off, show remarkable pu- rity and force of style. Perhaps. in his day, he had no superior as a writer in the west. His mind was of that long maturing kind, which is late in attaining the utmost force and cultivation to which it is susceptible ; and at his death, his powers were expanding into greater strength, and he seemed but upon the thresh- hold of his fame. In social intercourse, his influence on those around him was remarkable. There was a certain individuality about him, not to be forgotten, even by a casual observer-which arose, in part, from his extraordinary personal advantages. but chiefly from a lofty tone of character, which impressed itself on all his conduct. At his death, his position was fixed ; no dispute arose concern- ing it ; the public sentiment was settled and unanimous. And when his coun- trymen were called to mourn his loss. all joined their according testimony to the perfect nobility of his nature, and the steadfast uprightness of his life.
In person, Mr. Breckinridge was somewhat above the middle height, with a form of remarkable symmetry. His complexion was fair, his eyes and hair dark. His whole appearance was strikingly graceful and manly, and he was esteemed one of the most accomplished gentlemen of his day.
For a number of years before his death. he was a professor of religion, and was one of the founders and ruling elders of the second Presbyterian church in Lev- ington. He carried his religious character wherever he went, and died as he had lived, a christian gentleman. His life is worthy of study, and his example of imitation. He left a numerous family, of whom his widow, an only son, and several daughters, still survive.
HENRY CLAY. the son of a Baptist clergyman of respectable standing, was born in Hanover county, Virginia, on the 12th of April, 1777. His father died when youny Henry had attained his fifth year, and the care of superintending his education devolved on his widowed mother. She appears to have been a lady of sterling worth, singular intelligence, and masculine vigor of intellect. Though left in very reduced circumstances, she was enabled, by prudence, economy, and
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energy, to raise her large family in comfort, and to place her sons in the way to assume stations of respectability and honor in society. Mr. Clay bas inever ceased to cherish a tender and profound affection and reverence for the memory of this fond mother. and has frequently expressed his sense of the inestimable advantage derived from this early maternal training.
The boyhood of Henry Clay was furnished with few of those facilities for c.b. taining a literary education, which are now accessible to almost all. His nand was left to develop its powers and attain its growth through the force of its own innate energies, with but little aid from books or competent instructors. Those rich treasures of intellectual wealth, which are to be found in well selected libra- ries and properly organized schools, were to him a sealed fountain. The extent of his boyish attainments in literature, consisted of the common elements taught in a country school of the most humble pretensions. Even these slender advan- tages were but sparingly enjoyed, and the future orator and statesman was com- pelled, by the straitened circumstances of his family, to devote a considerable portion of his time to manual labor in the field. The subsequent brilliant achievements of that master mind, derive increased lustre from the contemplation of the obstacles thus early interposed to its progress, and no more honorable tes- timony can be offered to the ardour, energy, and invincibility of that towering in- tellect and imperial spirit, than the severe trials which at this period it encoun- tered, and over which it triumphed. It is probable that this early familiarity with the sternest realities of life, contributed to give to his mind that strong practical bias, which has subsequently distinguished his career as a statesman : while there can be no doubt that the demands thus continually made upon his energies, tended to a quick development of that unyielding strength of character which bears down all opposition, and stamps him as one of the most powerful spirits of the age.
At the age of fourteen, he was placed in a small drug store in the city of Richmond, Virginia. He continued in this situation but a few months, and in 1792 entered the office of the clerk of the high court of chancery. While in this office he attracted the attention of chancellor Wythe, who, being very favorably impressed by his amiable deportment, uniform habits of industry, and striking displays of intelligence, honored him with his friendship, and employed him as an amanuensis. It was probably through the advice of chancellor Wythe that he first conceived the design of studying law, and he has himself borne testiniiv to the fact. that his intercourse with that great and good man exercised a decided and very salutary influence in the development of his mental powers, and the for- mation of his character.
In the year 1796, he went to reside with Robert Brooke, Esq .. attorney gen- eral of Virginia. While in the family of this gentleman, his opportunities for acquiring a knowledge of the profession to which he had determined to devote his life, were greatly improved, and he appears to have cultivated them with ex- emplary assiduity. The year 1797 seems to have been devoted by Mr. Clay exclusively to the study of his profession. It is worthy of remark, that this was the first year in which his necessities permitted him to pursue an uninterrupted system of study. and so eagerly did he avail himself of the privilege, and such was the ardor and vivacity of his mind, that near the close of the year he wo- tained from the Virginia court of appeals a license to practice. Of course the acquisitions made in the science of law, in the course of these irregular and broken efforts to master that intricate and complex system. were somewhat desut- tory and crude. and it is not the least striking evidence of the wonderful you all- ces of Mr. Clay's genius. that he was enabled, notwithstanding these d .p.A .n. tages, to assume so early in life a high rank in his profession, at a bar distin- guished for the nun ber. ability and profound erudition of its members.
Upon obtaining his license, Mr. Clay, then in the twenty -first year of his age, came to Lexington. Kentucky. He did not, however, immediately enter upon the duties of his profession, but spent several months in reviewing his legal studies, and forming an acquaintance with the people. His appearance at this period is represented to have been that of a man in feeble health. Delicate in his person. slow and languid in all his movements, his whole air and hearing was pervaded by a lassitude, which gave no promise of that untiring energy, which has since so singularly marked his extraordinary history.
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When Mr. Clay entered upon the duties of his profession, the Lexington bar was noted for talent, numbering among its members some of the first lawyers that have ever adorned the legal profession in America. He com- menced the practice under circumstances somewhat discouraging, and as ap- pears from his own statement, with very moderate expectations. His earliest efforts, however, were attended with complete success ; his reputation spread ra- pidly, and, to use his own language, he " immediately rushed into a lucrative practice." This unusual spectacle, so rare in the legal profession, is to be as- cribed mainly to Mr. Clay's skill as an advocate. Gifted by nature with orato- rial genius of a high order, his very youth increased the spell of that potent fascination which his splendid elocution and passionate eloquence-threw over the public mind, and led the imagination a willing captive to its power. It was in the conduct of criminal causes, especially, that he achieved his greatest triumphs. The latitude customary and allowable to an advocate in the defence of his client, the surpassing interest of the questions at issue. presented an occasion and a field which never failed to elicit a blaze of genius, before which the public stood daz- zled and astonished.
A large portion of the litigation at that day, in Kentucky, grew ont of the un- settled tenure by which most of the lands in the country were held. The contests arising out of those conflicting claims. bad built up a system of land law remark- able for its intricacy and complexity, and having no parallel in the whole range of the law of real property. Adapted to the exigencies of the country, and hav- ing its origin in the necessities of the times. it was still remarkable for its logical consistency and sound principle. Kentucky, at that day, could boast some of the most profound. acute and subtle lawyers in the world. And it is no slight tribute to the talents and acquirements of Mr. Clay, to say that, among those strong and deeply learned men, he stood among the foremost.
When Mr. Clay first arrived in Kentucky, the contest between the old federal and democratic parties was violent and bitter. Any one acquainted with the ar- dent, frank, open and somewhat boisterous and extravagant character of the Ken- tuckians at that period, will not require to be told that neutrality in politics, even had Mr. Clay been disposed to pursue that equivocal line of conduct, was for him utterly out of the question, and would not have been tolerated for a moment. He, accordingly united himself with the Jeffersonian or democratic party, with whose principles his own sentiments entirely harmonized. He was prominent at a very early day among those who denounced the most obnoxious measures of the Adams administration, and was especially conspicuous for the energy, elo- quence and efficiency with which he opposed the alien and sedition laws.
In 1803 he was elected to represent the county of Fayette in the most numer- ous branch of the state legislature. He was re-elected to that body at every ses- sion, until 1806. The impression made upon his associates must have been of the most favorable character, since, in the latter year, he was elected to the senate of the United States. to serve out the unexpired term of General Adair. He was elected for one session only.
During this session, Mr. Clay, as a member of the senate, had occasion to inves- tigate the extent of the power of congress to promote internal improvements. and the result of his examination was a full conviction that the subject was clearly within the competency of the general government. These views he has never changed ; and profoundly impressed with the policy of promoting such works, he at the same session gave his cordial support to several measures of that character. When it is remembered how long and earnestly Mr. Clay has labored to engra this upon the settled policy of the government, and that it was almost the first subject upon which he was called to act when he entered the senate, it will he difficult to produce a similar example of consistency and firin persistence in the pursuit of a cherished object, and presents a refreshing contrast to the zigzag trach of some other American statesmen of great eminence. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that to the man who could thus steadily persevere, against an over- whelming tide of opposition, through all changes of party. and all vicissitudes of personal fortune, in the advocacy of a principle, frequently obnoxious, there must have been something in the aspect of truth herself, independent of all extraneous considerations, irresistibly lovely and attractive.
At the close of the session, Mr. Clay returned to Kentucky and resmined the
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practice of his profession. At the ensuing election in August, he was returned as the representative from Fayette to the legislature. When the legislature assembled, he was elected speaker of the house. In this station he was distin- guished for the zeal, energy and decision with which he discharged its duties. He continued a member of the legislature until 1809, when he tendered his resig- nation, and was elected to the senate of the United States for two years, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Thruston. During his contin- uance in the legislature he had produced the deepest impression of his abilities, and won the warm regard and full confidence of his associates. How completely he had established himself in the favorable opinion of that body, may be inferred from the fact that he was elected to the office before named, by a vote of two-thirds. He retired, accompanied by expressions of ardent admiration for his talents, high esteem for his services, and sincere regret for his loss.
The principal matters which came before the senate during Mr. Clay's second terin of service, related to the policy of encouraging domestic manufactures ; the law to reduce into possession, and establish the authority of the United States over the territory between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers, comprehending the present states of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida; and the question of a re- charter of the bank of the United States. In the discussions which arose on each of these questions. Mr. Clay bore a conspicuous part, fully sustaining the high reputation for ability with which he entered the senate.
His speech in favor of giving the preference to articles of American growth and manufacture, in providing supplies for the army and navy, was remarkable. as being the first occasion in which he developed to the national legislature, those peculiar views in reference to the policy of building up a system of home industry, which he had at an earlier day sought to impress on the legislation of Kentucky. Up to this period, this subject, which has since, and mainly through the instru- mentality of Mr. Clay, become so prominent and exciting a question in American polities, had attracted little or no attention, and when the principle of protection and encouragement was at this session brought forward for the first time, and attempted to be embodied in legislative enactments, the resistance it encountered was violent, hitter, and determined. Mr. Clay's speech in favor of the proposition. was the first he delivered upon re-entering the senate, and is remarkable as having distinctly shadowed forth the outlines of that magnificent system of "protection. of which he has been styled the " father," and which has since become a cher- ished object of American policy with our soundest statesmen. To the admirers of Henry Clay it is a source of gratification that the majority of those great prin- ciples of internal polity, which his subsequent life has been devoted to build up and defend, are clearly announced and distinctly to be traced in the first acts of lis public career ; thus presenting in his history as a politician, a consistency and singleness of purpose, as rare as it is honorable to his character as a man, and his foresight as a statesman.
Ili- speech delivered at the same session, on the " line of the Rio Perdido." in which he undertook to investigate and trace the title of the United States to the territory which comprises the present states of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, is a masterpiece of legislative logic, distinguished for the clearness of its state- ments. and the cogent closeness of its reasoning.
At the session of 1810-11, the question of a re-charter of the bank of the United States was brought before the senate, and became the subject of a debate, tend in our congressional history. for its intemperate violence and splendid displays of eloquence. On this occasion Mr. Clay was found opposed to the re-charter of the bank, and maintained his views in a speech of great ingenuity and power. H. afterwards, in 1-16, saw reason to change his opinions, and since then has been finn in the support he has given to that institution. The explanation of this mu- consistency is to be sought in the peculiar views held by American statesten .. t that day, in reference to the construction of the constitution. The grand subject of difference in principle between the old federal and democratic parties, related to the interpretation of that instrument. The federalists were the advocates mi a free construction, granting to the general government the utmost latitude in the " Vereise of its powers. It is probable that in the heat of party controversy they carried their principles to an extreme, perhaps a dangerous length. The de- mocraty, on the other hand, were strict constructionists; opposed to deriving
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powers to congress by implication, and confining the government to the exer. cise of such as were expressly and in terms granted in the constitution. In looking back now with the calm eye of the historian to those troubled times, it is probable that both of the great parties of the day pushed their principles to an impolitic length, and that greater moderation would have approximated each nearer to the truth. The question of a re-charter of the bank of the United States, was the one of all others calculated to develop the peculiar views, and array the ancient prejudices of those powerful parties in deadly opposition. The power to incorporate a bank was one which could be obtained by implication only, and the arguments adduced in its favor assailed the constitutional system of the democrats in its most sacred principles. Mr. Clay was a Jeffersonian democrat, and had been educated in all the peculiar views of that school. He had entered public life at a period when the contest between the parties was most furious and deter- mined ; and he had, with the ardour and energy of his nature, espoused most of the doctrines of the party with which he acted ; consequently, when the question of re-chartering the bank came up, he was found among the ablest and most deter- mined opponents of that measure. His speech, delivered on the occasion. is remarkable for the force with which it arrays the objections to the bank, and may be consulted by any one desirous of obtaining a clear knowledge of the principles of his party at that day in reference to the powers vested in congress by the con- stitution. In 1816, time, and the intervening experience of the war, had, with its usual meliorating effect, modified the opinions of men on this as on other sub- jects. Mr. Clay became convinced of the necessity of a bank to regulate the financial affairs of the government and country, and with the manly frankness characteristic of his nature, yielded to that institution his friendship and support.
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