■^V**" x Xv 
 
 .V* cpV~*~'.^ 
 
 < * * * S ^ 
 
 V* >v^ V* 7 ^ . 
 
 '' / t s *G 
 
 
 i> « 
 
 3 »*•".,% C? 
 
 
 
 ^ *. 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 A* *^> 
 
 
 ^ ,\V 
 
 G 
 
 
feL ' / » * s s A° ^ v i * * s s ^ 
 
 
 
 ^^ 0* 
 
 <*.' 
 
 
 
 
 
 j£* * ' * * ' 
 
 
 v ^ Y * ° / ^ v * x * ° /■ -^ 
 
 ° %*0* 
 
 : W 
 
 <* 
 
 o 
 
 
 * * o „ Vt 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 9* 
 
 x^' 
 
 
 
 
 i * 
 
 
 
 
 ^CU ' * * S Of) 
 
 ^ ^ *^ 
 
 "-^» 
 ^ 
 
 oV 3 
 
 
 Vs^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
5\ 
 
 V 
 
 \ 
 
^^^/^i^ 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 
. «* 
 
 V <■»' 
 
 v KVi, 
 
 
 « • 
 
 « . 
 
 X * 
 
 
<•/ 
 
 
 / 
 
 JUST PUBLISHED, 
 
 THE THIRD EDITION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BtAUTIES OF WEBSTER. 
 
 Opinions of the Press. 
 
 Beauties of Daniel Webster. — "A handsome little vo- 
 lume of 216 pages, bearing this title, containing judiciously 
 selected extracts from the speeches, addresses, &c., of that 
 distinguished gentleman. The work is edited by James 
 Rees, who has added a Critical Essay on the genius and 
 writings of Mr. Webster. Mr. Rees has discharged both 
 duties well and ably, and we wish the book might go into 
 the hands of every person capable of reading, from New 
 Brunswick to Texas." — Neio York Gazette. 
 
 " This is the title of a neat little work, prepared with 
 much care by Mr. James Rees. The selections are judi- 
 ciously made and admirably ai'ranged. Mr. Webster is 
 one of the great men of the country, never at a loss for 
 words, powerful in argument, fascinating and beautiful as 
 an orator. The critical essay is enthusiastic, eloquent, and 
 truthful. The work will meet with an extensive sale." — 
 N. Y. Whig. 
 
 " Most appropriately is this beautiful and precious little 
 volume dedicated to ' the friends of Liberty throughout the 
 world, and to the admirers of the English language in its 
 purity.' 
 
 " We rejoice, therefore, that selections, so tastefully made 
 as those in this volume, have been put forth in a shape and 
 form to give them wide circulation among all classes ; for 
 1 
 
11 
 
 the extracts are such as no American, of whatever party, 
 can fail to admire. 
 
 " We commend these Beauties to all our readers." — N. 
 Y. American. 
 
 " The passages are selected with judgment and good 
 taste, presenting a rare assemblage of noble thoughts, clo- 
 thed in surpassing eloquence of language. We are glad 
 to see that the Editor has been careful not to omit that 
 magnificent outburst of patriotism, the conclusion of the 
 great speech in answer to Mr. Hayne on Nullification." — 
 New York Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 " Mr. James Rees has been culling Beauties from the 
 writings and speeches of Daniel Webster. It may well be 
 doubted whether the world can boast of another mind of 
 equal power and beauty with that of Mr. Webster." — 
 Albany Evening Journal. 
 
JUST PUBLISHED , 
 
 THE THIRD AMERICAN EDITION OF 
 
 MY NIECE; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE STRANGER'S GRAVE. 
 
 Opi?oions of the Press. 
 
 "A deeply afflicting story of guilt, and sorrow, and 
 death — well written, and impressing strongly the salutary 
 admonition to beware of the first beginnings of sin. It is 
 published in a very handsome style, and is a book to be 
 commended for its literary merit, and still more for its 
 moral tendency." — Neiv York Review. 
 
 "A thrilling story, with an awful catastrophe — well 
 told, and original." — Ladies' Companion. 
 
 " This is a reprint of one of the most interesting and 
 beautiful works for the young, to be found. The publisher 
 deserves much praise for the admirable style in which the 
 volume is put forth. Its typography is unexceptionably 
 neat, and the embossed muslin binding is very elegant. 
 We cheerfully commend this work to the attention of pa- 
 rents." — New York Mirror. 
 
 " This beautiful narrative, having been for some time 
 out of print, is now reproduced in a style, both as regards 
 the typographical execution and the binding, which can- 
 Kot fail to procure for it a lasting popularity. It is indeed 
 the most perfect bijoux of its kind that has ever yet ema- 
 nated from the American press , and both the publisher 
 and the printer are entitled to great credit, for the excel- 
 lent taste they have displayed, in presenting ' My Niece' 
 to the public in an attire so exquisitely in keeping with her 
 pretensions and intrinsic merit." — Neto York Expositor. 
 
 " This beautiful and instructive tale, which has been 
 out of print for some years, comes before the public in a 
 
IV 
 
 style worthy of all praise. Beautifully printed and beau- 
 tifully bound, externally it resembles our best annuals, and 
 internally a great superiority is evinced over the most of 
 them. The instructive moral of the tale may be gathered 
 from the author's concluding paragraph, which we ex- 
 tract : 
 
 " 'Reader, I have told thee a tale of no ordinary wo; 
 but it has a moral in it. Whatever thou mayst be, or 
 however situated, guard well the first avenues which lead 
 to sin ; for if one false step be taken, thou canst not tell of 
 how many evils it may be the prelude.' " — A r . Y. Literary 
 Gazette. 
 
 li This is the title of an interesting work, re-printed in 
 a very elegant form, by Edward Walker, of Fulton street, 
 New York. The tale is one of deep interest, and presents 
 a faithful picture of the progress and consequences of 
 vice, and will, if rightly understood, exert an important 
 and beneficial influence upon the youthful mind, in pro- 
 ving how near to the indulgence of innocent enjoyments, 
 is the barrier that separates it from the first steps of vice. 
 The tale is told with an unpretending and delicate beauty. 
 Even in those passages where it is necessary to portray 
 the state of feeling and the power of temptation, the au- 
 thor has preserved a purity of style and description, very 
 admirable. None, but the fastidious — whose opinion is 
 usually worth nothing at all— can find any fault with 
 either the contents or the way in which it is got up. There 
 are some passages of extraordinary power, and of a 
 highly dramatic character. Witness the interview be- 
 tween Margaret and her repentant and unhappy brother. 
 In a very judicious and brief introduction — the pulisher 
 sets forth his opinion — one, by the bye, which we wish he 
 could disseminate through the New York community; viz.: 
 that good editions at reasonable prices are always cheaper 
 than common ones. We have seen few neater works, as 
 regards typography and binding, turned out from New 
 York. We have not yet seen the work advertized in this 
 city. We wish it may have an extended circulation, for 
 the interest it excites and the moral it enforces. If otu- 
 opportunity would allow, our readers should have an 
 extract. — Boston Atlas. 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 l* 
 
THE 
 
 BEAUTIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HON. HENRY CLAY 
 
 M 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED-, 
 
 A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL 
 
 ESSAY. 
 
 -QUID FACUNDIA FOSSET 
 
 RE PATUIT- 
 
 V 'S 
 
 NEW YORK". 
 
 EDWARD WALKER, 
 
 No. 112 Fulton-street. 
 
 1839. 
 
• 8" 
 
 C5" r j 
 
 Entered, 
 
 According to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by 
 
 EDWARD WALKER, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 
 
 States for the Southern District of New York. 
 
 1 f 
 
 CRAIGHEAD & ALLEN, PRINTERS, 
 112 Fulton-street, New YorV. 
 
TO THE 
 
 CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING 
 SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS 
 
 OF THEIR 
 
 PATRIOTIC AND DISTINGUISHED 
 COUNTRYMAN, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY 
 
 THE PUBLISHER. 
 
 New York, 1839. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 In presenting this work to the public, the 
 publisher cannot refrain from making some 
 few remarks, in relation to its appearance. 
 He, some time since, published the " Beauties 
 of Webster," but could not regard that work 
 as complete without an accompanying volume 
 of selections from Clay — two of the greatest 
 names of which America can boast, in her 
 political world. The following selections 
 have been made without reference to any 
 party feelings. Knowing well that Mr. Clay 
 entertained some views on certain subjects, 
 from which many enlightened Americans con- 
 
12 
 
 scientiously differed, it has been his object to 
 omit from these pages any extract which might 
 tend to offend any party whatever. They are 
 presented simply as specimens of eloquence, and 
 as such, the publisher believes they will meet 
 with that success they so well deserve. He 
 has been careful, in the production of this 
 work, to present the rarest gems from the 
 eloquence of Mr. Clay ; such specimens as 
 cannot fail to be interesting to every citizen of 
 America. At this time, too, it is believed that 
 such a work is a desideratum. Neither time 
 nor opportunity will frequently allow a general 
 reader to undertake the perusal of long and 
 intricate arguments, and from this cause it is 
 believed that Mr. Clay's writings are not 
 sufficiently or extensively known ; the present 
 work has been undertaken with a view to re- 
 
13 
 
 move this difficulty. At this precise period, 
 too, Mr. Clay is naturally exciting much at- 
 tention, by the prominent station which he 
 occupies ; nor can the publisher doubt that 
 this work will be received with pleasure by the 
 public. 
 

CONTENTS. 
 
 A Biographical and Critical Essay 17 
 
 Influence of National Glory 61 
 
 The Danger in Excess of Military Glory 63 
 
 The Claims of Greece 6Q 
 
 The Rise of Parties 69 
 
 Defence of the Administration 73 
 
 The Transactions of Europe considered 74 
 
 The Cause of War with England 77 
 
 The Claims of England on American Seamen 79 
 
 Eulogium on Jefferson 82 
 
 Claims of Seamen ., .... 83 
 
 The Bravery of the Army 85 
 
 Duty of the Country in relation to England 87 
 
 Origin of the Seminole "War 88 
 
 Conduct of the Government towards the Indians 92 
 
 Bonaparte 95 
 
 Influence of Bad Example. 96 
 
 Power of the Constitution. . . ; 98 
 
 Agricultural Claims 99 
 
 Labor the Source of Wealth 101 
 
 The Resources of England 103 
 
 Taxation „ 105 
 
 The Necessity of Protecting Industry 107 
 
 The Tariff. HO 
 
 The Advantages of a Productive System 110 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Advance of Internal Improvement 116 
 
 The Powers of Government 117 
 
 Claims of the West 120 
 
 State of the Country 123 
 
 The Union 128 
 
 Defence of Self. 130 
 
 Domestic Manufactures 134 
 
 National Spirit 1 39 
 
 The Power of Wealth 141 
 
 Necessity of a Naval Force 144 
 
 Policy of Spain 146 
 
 Necessity of Domestic Manufactures 149 
 
 Slavery 151 
 
 Colonization 154 
 
 American Industry 1C2 
 
 Military Heroes 165 
 
 Address at Lexington 167 
 
 Public Feeling 176 
 
 The Defence of Government 183 
 
 Opposition to Banks 183 
 
 The American System 190 
 
 Nullification 197 
 
 Public Discontent 206 
 
 The American System 212 
 
 State of the Country 216 
 
 Reply to Mr. Webster 219 
 
 Patriotism 231 
 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL 
 
 ESSAY. 
 
 The History of Henry Clay is to a certain 
 extent the history of his country. Incorpo- 
 rated as he is with her most important deci- 
 sions ; exercising-, as he did, a vigilance unsur- 
 passed over her interest, when danger hovered 
 around ; when one false step might have ruined 
 the cause of liberty throughout the world, and 
 re-established the miseries of a legal despotism. 
 Uniting stern justice in principle with elo- 
 quence in debate, his voice has been more than 
 once heard as the notes of salvation, through 
 the American Continent. ^ With his name is 
 associated many of its proudest recollections, 
 many of the loftiest triumphs of genius, many 
 2* 
 
18 
 
 of the purest outbursts of patriotism, when in 
 the exercise of that mighty power, 
 
 " Which awed and shook a monarch and his throne." 
 
 To trace the dawnings of a mind so richly 
 stored with intellect, so profound in its rea- 
 soning powers, so ready in its invention, 
 cannot fail to be interesting. It must be re- 
 membered, that he has flourished at times of 
 signal disaster, and temporary defeat, when 
 the darkest clouds were hovering over the des- 
 tinies of the new republic, when one false step 
 might ruin the cause of liberty throughout the 
 world. The page of common history had 
 been blotted with one signal failure of an at- 
 tempt to establish republicanism in England, 
 and looking back the dim vista of ages, we re- 
 member with sorrow the causes which led to 
 that result — the wild contention of excited am- 
 bition, the grasping avarice and selfishness of 
 the leaders, and the dark spirit of bigotry and 
 fanaticism which clouded the struggling rays 
 of a purer light, and quenched the incipient 
 struggles of a better system of government. 
 What might have been the effects of a second 
 
19 
 
 failure in a more enlightened age — it is fear- 
 ful to contemplate. Many a wishful eye had 
 been turned, from the darkness of despotism, to 
 the struggles for liberty on our Western shores ; 
 the cause was one in which all were alike in- 
 terested, a common brotherhood existed. The 
 first great battles which expelled the invader, 
 and drove the spoiler from our coast, were past ; 
 they had taken their place among the immortal 
 records of glory, unsurpassed by the loftiest 
 exploits of Roman or Grecian bravery. The 
 attention of all Europe was directed to this 
 side of the Atlantic, anxious to watch for the 
 result of a new experiment in government. 
 They had been watching the great experiment 
 from the commencement of its action. They 
 had heard the predictions which the dying 
 voice of tyranny bequeathed, as it fled forever 
 from the shores of our country, and while gaz- 
 imr at the storm that hovered o'er the horizon, 
 they beheld the clouds give way, retiring be- 
 fore the growing brightness of the sun of free- 
 dom. The whole world felt an interest in our 
 success — they felt that with us, as a great na- 
 
 
20 
 
 tion, alone was entrusted the task of proclaim-* 
 ing the triumph of freedom. The new go- 
 vernment had worked well, and its fond sup- 
 porters found no object for fear or terror. But 
 it could not be concealed from their eyes, that 
 the mother country was searching for an op- 
 portunity again to pounce upon its prey. The 
 progress of manufactures, and the increasing 
 resources of the country — above all, the con- 
 flicting interests of the northern and southern 
 states, speedily verging to a point — presented 
 objects of the first importance to the statesman 
 and the patriot. Internal convulsion and dis- 
 content, a powerful enemy without, called for 
 the exercise of untiring energy, and increasing 
 vigilance. It was at this era, that Henry 
 Clay appears on the scene of his country's 
 history. From that time down to the present, 
 he has occupied a prominent position ; and 
 some account of his progress we feel will be ac- 
 ceptable to his countrymen. 
 
 In Hanover County, Virginia, Henry Clay 
 was born on the 12th of April, 1777. While 
 yet young he was called to sustain the loss of 
 
21 
 
 an affectionate father, a most respectable cler- 
 gyman in that place. At an early age he was 
 placed in the office of the late Mr. Tensley, 
 clerk of the high court of chancery, at Rich- 
 mond, Virginia. Placed in a situation which 
 would naturally draw on the resources of his 
 mind, the thirst for knowledge, ever craving 
 to be gratified, and the ready perception he 
 evinced, soon distinguished him, not only in 
 the notice of his employer, but also of two 
 eminent men of that day, Chancellor Wythe, 
 and subsequently, Governor Brooke. Under 
 their advice, it seems that Henry Clay first 
 entertained an intention of studying the law. 
 A noble field for the exercise of those gifts 
 which were peculiarly his own, was opened 
 before him. It may well be doubted, whether 
 a more judicious step could possibly have 
 been taken. The imagination, always exu- 
 berant in vouth, would thus be somewhat ta- 
 med to a more sober exercise, and the judg- 
 ment increased and corrected by constant care 
 and study. We find him, then, devoting him- 
 self to that profession, which, in this country, 
 
22 
 
 has presented more mighty minds than almost 
 any other, and in which he himself was desti- 
 ned to become one of the brightest ornaments. 
 With a view to the acquisition of both con- 
 fidence and fluency, he at this time became as- 
 sociated with a number of young men in a 
 debating societ} 7 . The anecdote told by a gen- 
 tleman who was present at his first attempt to 
 address this bod} 7 , reminds us forcibly of many 
 similar instances of temporary failure ; and al- 
 though many might at that time feel disposed 
 to attach some importance to the occurrence, 
 Mr. Clay must share their censure in common 
 with Addison and Sheridan, of whom similar 
 stories are told. When rising to address this 
 body, Mr. Clay exhibited the utmost possible 
 confusion ; he appeared to have lost all com- 
 mand over himself, and at length commenced 
 with, " Gentlemen of the Jury." The per- 
 sons present exhibited sufficient philosophy to 
 hide their consciousness of his error ; and the 
 orator, gaining strength from his subject, and 
 confidence as he proceeded, delivered a speech, 
 wonderful at any time, but most extraordinary 
 
23 
 
 in so young a man. A person who was pre- 
 sent has described the speech as abounding 
 with bursts of thrilling eloquence ; the fire of 
 the speaker's eye — the bitterness of his invec- 
 tive — the whole animation of his manner, as 
 much as any thing which he said, won for him 
 at that time expressions of the strongest admi- 
 ration. His efforts in this society were fre- 
 quent, and always successful, betraying the 
 intensity with which he thirsted, and the de- 
 light with which he drank, at the waters of 
 knowledge. So vigilant, indeed, was he in 
 his attention to his studies — so determined 
 were his efforts to succeed — and, above all, so 
 vast and capacious were the resources of his 
 mind — that at the age of twenty he obtained 
 his license to practise. Little was it then sup- 
 posed, though exhibiting gifts of the highest 
 order, that the youthful orator was destined 
 to become the leader of his country's council — 
 the foremost in eloquence and debate. 
 
 He soon after commenced the practice of 
 law, and although at that time he had to con- 
 tend with many formidable rivals, he soon 
 became the most distinguished pleader. It is 
 
24 
 
 said that at this time, his legal knowledge was 
 not so distinguished as his powerful eloquence, 
 and it is not to be doubted that he frequently 
 won the jury more by the richness and vigor of 
 his language, than any profundity of argument 
 which he displayed. It was at this time that 
 the fulness of his intellect was displayed, and 
 here he first won the prophecies of his future 
 renown. Mr. Clay exhibited at this time a 
 knowledge of character and experience of 
 mind, not to be looked for in so young a man. 
 This experience was the result as much pro- 
 bably of the conformation of his mind as of any 
 other cause. The clearness of his judgment 
 has been, and still is, one of his proudest 
 qualifications. Deeply versed in the human 
 heart, exerting a magic power over its feelings 
 and passions, he knew when to lash them into 
 indignation, or calm them back to pity. 
 With such requisites for a pleader, it does not 
 seem surprising that his success should have 
 been complete. At this time he appears to 
 have been intrusted with several cases of great 
 importance, in which he acquitted himself to 
 the satisfaction and admiration of all. His 
 
25 
 
 appeals to the jury were distinguished by their 
 deep earnestness and touching pathos, while 
 he not unfrequently exhibited a tasteful and 
 deep knowledge of classic lore. About this 
 time he rendered himself conspicuous by his 
 conduct in a case which, from its peculiar cir- 
 cumstances, he had undertaken to defend. This 
 was the trial of a Mr. Willis, of Fayette 
 County, who was supposed to have committed 
 a murder under circumstances of peculiar atro- 
 city* On the first trial of the case, Mr. Clay 
 had succeeded in dividing the jury as to the 
 nature of the prisoner's offence. At the next 
 session, the public prosecutor moved for a 
 venire facias dc novo. In his argument be- 
 fore the jury, Mr. Clay contended that, the 
 prisoner had been once tried, and the law re- 
 quired that no man's life should be placed in se- 
 cond jeopardy for the same act. The court inter- 
 fered to prevent his proceeding with the argu- 
 ment, when Mr. Cla\% indignant at the inter- 
 ruption, took his papers, and declaring that 
 unless he argued the cause in his own way, he 
 would not argue it all, left the court with his 
 associate counsel. The event was as he pre- 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 mised. He had scarcely arrived at his cham- 
 bers, before a messenger requested his return 
 to the court, assuring him that he should pur- 
 sue the line of argument which he pleased. He 
 did return, and in one of the most masterly 
 efforts on record, succeeded in inducing the 
 jury to acquit the prisoner .As a proof of the 
 wonderful power possessed by Mr. Clay over 
 the minds of a jury, may be mentioned a cir- 
 cumstance with which he was connected at 
 this time. He had accepted the office of pub- 
 lic prosecutor, and, in the discharge of his 
 dutv, he was called upon to appear against a 
 slave, who irritated by brutal conduct, and 
 struck by his overseer, felled him to the earth. 
 The slave was tried for murder, although the 
 circumstances were calculated onlv to substan- 
 tiate a charge of manslaughter. It was for Mr. 
 Clay however to sustain the charge, and in an 
 elaborate speech he contended, that although 
 the case presented only the charge of man- 
 slaughter had the prisoner been a white man, 
 yet it being by law the duty of slaves to submit, a 
 charge of murder could be substantiated. By 
 the power of his argument, and the force of 
 
27 
 
 his eloquence, he prevailed on the jury to re- 
 turn a verdict of guilty. The man was execu- 
 ted, but Mr. Clay has been frequently heard 
 to say, that he repented his part in this case 
 more than any professional act of his life. 
 
 But we have seen as yet only the glimmer- 
 ings of his future greatness. We have yet to 
 see him in other characters, those too of more 
 importance to the interests and destinies of the 
 people. Fancy alone could as yet portray 
 his renown as the champion of freedom, and 
 the defender of the insulted honor of his coun- 
 try. His political career may be said to have 
 commenced when the people of Kentucky 
 formed their convention, to debate on a new 
 constitution for the state. One of the most im- 
 portant features of the plan was the gradual 
 extermination of slavery. At this time, the 
 voice of Mr. Clay was employed on every oc- 
 casion on behalf of natural justice, nor was his 
 pen idle. He used every influence within his 
 power, to produce the election of men favora- 
 ble to the cause, but, it is to be regretted, with- 
 out effect. The part he took in this matter, 
 drew on him a temporary unpopularity, which 
 
28 
 
 was however but of short duration. Not long 
 after the famous sedition law was passed, and 
 Mr. Clay came boldly forward as the avowed 
 defender of the people's rights — the effect of 
 bis eloquence was to raise a cry of indignation 
 throughout the whole assembly. While des- 
 canting on the nature of this oppression, the 
 torrent of bitter invective which he poured 
 out, the animation of his manner, and the bit- 
 ter indignation of his soul, produced an effect 
 of the most interesting description. In the 
 year 1803, several of Mr. Clay's friends, with- 
 out his knowledge or consent, opened a poll for 
 him at Fayette. His success seemed by no 
 means sure, and although for the first and se- 
 cond day, his support was respectable, it seem- 
 ed exceedingly doubtful whether so young a 
 man could succeed at that time. On the third 
 day, however, Mr. Clay arrived on the ground, 
 and disgusted with the tricks and artifices re- 
 sorted to by his opponents, broke through his 
 previous resolution, and addressed the people. 
 The result was that he was elected almost by 
 acclamation. At this time Mr. Clay distin- 
 guished himself by his efforts in the legislature, 
 
29 
 
 more particularly by his remarks on the remo- 
 val of the seat of government, and his difficul- 
 ties with Mr. Daviess. Soon after this period, 
 Mr. Clay appeared as the counsel of the cele- 
 brated Aaron Burr. Burr had been accused 
 of treason, but the general opinion at that 
 time ran certainly in his favor. So strongly 
 was Mr. Clay persuaded of his innocence, that 
 when Mr. Burr, anxious to procure his profes- 
 sional assistance, forwarded him a large sum of 
 money, he returned it, joining with his associate 
 counsel in expressing his unwillingness to re- 
 ceive a fee for the defence of a persecuted 
 stranger, and a man of no mean standing in the 
 profession. Mr. Burr was brought before the 
 federal court at Frankfort, and discharged, 
 the attorney-general being unprepared with 
 evidence. He was soon after arrested on 
 the same charge ; but in the interval, Mr, Clay 
 had been elected by the Kentucky legislature 
 a Senator of the United States. Not consi- 
 dering his station warranted his appearance as 
 the advocate of one accused of treason, he at 
 
 first declined to act, but persuaded by the re- 
 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 presentations of Burr of his innocence, he made 
 another attempt equally successful. When, 
 however, subsequent events convinced him of 
 his delusion, he resented the deceit practised 
 upon him ; and when in the court in New York, 
 Mr. Burr afterwards tendered him his hand, he 
 declined it, though offered in the presence of 
 the whole court. 
 
 Mr. Clay took his seat for the second time 
 in the Senate of the United States, in the win- 
 ter of 1809, and distinguished himself once 
 more, by his speech in support of domestic 
 manufactures, from which we have taken nu- 
 merous extracts in our w ork. Soon, however, 
 opened the prospect of a war with England, 
 and it was at this time that Mr. Clay particu- 
 larly distinguished himself by the part he took 
 in public affairs. 
 
 In the summer of 1811, he returned to 
 Kentucky, and was elected a member of the 
 national house of representatives, and on the 
 first day of his appearance was elected speaker, 
 by a vote of nearly two to one. This period 
 was one fraught with import to American in- 
 
o 
 
 i 
 
 terests. The breach was widening between 
 our country and England, and gradually as- 
 sumed an appearance which threatened imme- 
 diate rupture. Insult was heaped on injury, 
 and every attempt was made to cramp our re- 
 sources, and cripple our commerce. The 
 British cruisers, in violation of law and jus- 
 tice, boarding our vessels, seized and detained 
 our seamen, treating them as the subjects of 
 the king. In 1812, seven thousand had been 
 captured. In addition to this, attempts were 
 every where made by the British power to 
 check our commerce, by blockading the ports. 
 Every vessel supposed to be destined for 
 France was seized under this mock prohibition. 
 Congress had taken every means to prevent 
 the recurrence of these outrages, and, in order 
 to maintain our peaceful relations, had sub- 
 mitted a series of propositions, which were re- 
 jected with contempt. The proceedings of 
 congress were, at this juncture, looked up to 
 with great and absorbing interest. England 
 at this time was engaged in a fearful 
 struggle with France, and mighty interests 
 
32 
 
 were involved in the struggle. There 
 existed then a strong party in favor of the 
 former, and distinguished by an unmiti- 
 gated detestation of the latter. It was against 
 this party that Mr. Clay exerted himself with 
 an eloquence and ability which has been power- 
 fully described by a native writer. He says, 
 " The occasion was great beyond any that 
 had ever roused his energies, and his soul 
 swelled at the contemplation of it. From the 
 electric home of his mind, a flash went forth, 
 and it was seen blazing and eorruscating 
 through every city and hamlet of the union. 
 Like the eastern magician, he invoked the 
 storm with a voice of power, and the shouts of 
 answering spirits, like the murmurs of subter- 
 ranean waters, went up from every hill, and 
 plain, and valley of his country." At this 
 period he had to encounter the weapons of 
 one of the mightiest minds of the time, in the 
 person of John Randolph ; no other man but 
 Mr. Clay would have dared to meet his hos- 
 tile frown, the lightnings of his mind, or the 
 withering sarcasm of his manner. Mr. Clay, 
 
33 
 
 however, mingled in the fray, and met the on- 
 set of the great orator with a corresponding 
 force and energy. The act of declaration was 
 passed in the house on the 18th of June, and 
 the President's proclamation bears date of the 
 19th. The efforts of Mr. Clay during this 
 period were distinguished by a lofty tone of 
 patriotism, by an unflinching vindication of 
 the honor of his country, and a success which 
 stamped him the peculiar favorite of the 
 people. 
 
 Mr. Clay continued to exercise his powers 
 in congress until January, 1814, when he was 
 appointed one of the commissioners to negoti- 
 ate a treaty of peace. He, therefore, resigned 
 the speaker's chair. He resigned on the 16th 
 of January in an affecting speech, and left the 
 halls where he had so distinguished himself, 
 and where he was then the most powerful and 
 influential member. In this commission he was 
 associated with John Quincy Adams, James 
 A. Bayard, Albert Gallatin, and Jonathan 
 Russell ; they were directed to proceed to Got- 
 tenburgh, from whence the negotiation was 
 
34 
 
 transferred to Ghent, the British Commissioners 
 being Lord Gambier, Henry Goulborn, and 
 William Adams. On his return to America, 
 he was everywhere received with testimonials 
 of respect and gratitude. In Kentucky, his in- 
 fluence was unbounded. Before his arrival, he 
 was unanimously elected a member of congress 
 from the district he had formerly represented. 
 In the next session, he was elected speaker of 
 the house by an almost unanimous vote. He 
 now distinguished himself by his efforts in fa- 
 vor of the bank, in relation to which he soon 
 after changed his opinion. 
 
 The question of the South American Re- 
 publics was now agitated. The feelings of Mr. 
 Clay was enlisted in their favor, and his de- 
 fence of their rights was noble and eloquent. 
 
 From this period his history is too well 
 known to need recapitulation. He has been 
 associated with events still fresh in the recol- 
 lection of his countrymen. His most brilliant 
 efforts from this time were his speeches on in- 
 ternal improvement, the Seminole war, and the 
 Greek revolution. In 1822, Mr. Clay, amongst 
 others, was nominated to the presidency. In 
 
35 
 
 March, 1825, he commenced the duties of Se- 
 cretary of State under the Presidency of Mr. 
 Adams, and during this time he concluded 
 more negotiations than had ever been previous- 
 ly concluded from the first adoption of the con- 
 stitution. From this situation he soon after 
 retired. His history from this time is familiar 
 to all. 
 
 We have thus traced the rise and progress 
 of one of the greatest men of which America 
 can boast. With the recommendation of a long 
 experience, of honest independence, and un- 
 flinching firmness, in the defence of his coun- 
 try, he yet lives in the hearts and affections of 
 the people, and his efforts stand as master- 
 pieces of genius on the broad page of Ameri- 
 can glory. Deeply attached to the principles 
 of the constitution, well versed in the history of 
 governments throughout the world, the past 
 history of the country in moments of afflic- 
 tion give earnest of future hopes. His elo- 
 quence has stopped the mad ambition of exe- 
 cutive governments — his genius has pierced 
 the flimsy veil which covered the injurious 
 measures which have been introduced — his 
 
36 
 
 mind saw clearly the danger present and the 
 danger that was remote, and his whole soul 
 has been thrown into the task of stripping off 
 the borrowed robes, and presenting itself in its 
 naked weakness. The man who has preserved 
 American interest, will not be backward at his 
 country's call. The offsprings of his genius, 
 following in the track of liberty, claim kindred 
 with its loftiest aspirations ; and there can be 
 but one sympathetic feeling of admiration, 
 wherever the American Constitution is admi- 
 red or known. 
 
 A few remarks on the general characteristics 
 of Mr. Clay as an orator, and our task will be 
 completed. 
 
 The distinguishing characteristic of Mr. 
 Clay's oratory is brilliancy. His words seem 
 to flash with the spirit he imparts, and his 
 language attracts the mind, and fascinates it 
 with beauty. He seems to possess the singu- 
 lar and desirable faculty, of throwing a charm 
 over the most dry and abstract argument. 
 From sentence to sentence, from argument 
 to argument, we glide, wondering only at the 
 varied pleasures which attract us as we pass. 
 
37 
 
 Like some noble river, the eloquence of Clay 
 glides, swelling in majesty and grandeur as it 
 rolls. It is singular, too, that when he leaves 
 the direct line of argument, to pour the thun- 
 der on some despot foe, or flash the lightnings 
 of indignation on the betrayers of his country, 
 he has always previously prepared the mind 
 for it. There is not the slightest evidence of 
 labor ; every thing seems the natural fruit of 
 his mighty mind. 
 
 Though not always as powerful as Webster, 
 he is frequently more brilliant. The majestic 
 eloquence of Webster falls like the avalanche, 
 accompanied with clouds and gloom ; the 
 other, like the cascade, sparkling with a thou- 
 sand gems of beauty. Mr. Clay frequently 
 intersperses his political and forensic efforts, 
 with appropriate allusions to classic times. 
 His mind seems to love to dwell amid the 
 memory of their glory ; his imagination, vivid 
 and active, brings them back again to being. 
 He revels and sports in their existence, and is 
 ever drawing from their exhaustless fountain 
 the elements of knowledge. He loves to re- 
 
 4 
 
38 
 
 gard America as the modern land of freedom, 
 and would seek for examples for the imitation 
 of the one, from the renown, the glory, and 
 the arts of the other. 
 
 In argument, Mr. Clay yields to no man at 
 present in the American senate. His speeches, 
 generally long, on important subjects, are never 
 tedious. He presents, in a clear and concise man- 
 ner, the leading points of his subject, nor does he 
 ever shrink from theaccomplishmentof a duty, if 
 required. He is not afraid to grapple with the 
 intricacies which present themselves. He takes 
 no superficial view of his theme, detects the falla- 
 cies, and strikes at them with a sure and un- 
 erring aim. His speeches, too, evince a pro- 
 found knowledge, and extensive acquaintance 
 with political science. He loves to point out 
 the errors of despotic and monarchical misrule, 
 and visits the instances afforded with no sparing 
 hand. 
 
 Frequently, too, his speeches are embellish- 
 ed with passages of deep pathos, so stirring 
 and touching, that they flash to every heart; 
 alternately, he can excite the soul into exulta- 
 tion for past victories, or determination for 
 
39 
 
 future defence. He stands, like Prospero, 
 with his magic wand, to call the spirits of 
 power around him. 
 
 Mr. Clay evinces a high order of genius. 
 His sarcasm is always deep and bitter ; he 
 spares no part of the subject demanding its 
 exercise. He laughs at the puny attempts to 
 subvert or overthrow him ; he seems conscious 
 of playing for a high stake — his country's 
 happiness, and perhaps existence — and he ex- 
 hibits in their defence the unshrinking courage 
 and desperate firmness of the patriot. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that Mr. Clay has ex- 
 erted a great influence upon the destinies of 
 his country. His fellow citizens owe him a 
 great debt of gratitude. At the present mo- 
 ment, though age is stealing on him, he has 
 not deserted his post ; and should it be the 
 pleasure of the people to call him to a more ex- 
 alted sphere of action, who shall calculate the 
 benefit which will accrue from the efforts of his 
 enlightened and patriotic mind. 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF NATIONAL GLORY. 
 
 We are asked, what have we gained by the 
 war % I have shown that we have lost nothing 
 in rights, territory, or honor ; nothing for which 
 we ought to have contended, according to the 
 principles of the gentlemen on the other side, or 
 according to our own. Have we gained nothing 
 by the war % Let any man look at the degra- 
 ded condition of this country before the war, the 
 scorn of the universe, the contempt of ourselves 
 and tell me if we have gained nothing by the 
 war. What is our present situation % Re- 
 spectability and character abroad, security and 
 confidence at home. If we have not obtained, 
 in the opinion of some, the full measure of retri- 
 bution, our character and constitution are placed 
 on a solid basis, never to be shaken. 
 
 The glory acquired by our gallant tars, by 
 our Jacksons and our Browns on the land — is 
 that nothing 1 True, we had our viscissitudes : 
 
 G 
 
G2 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 there were humiliating events which the patriot 
 cannot review without deep regret— but the 
 great account, when it comes to be balanced, 
 will be found vastly in our favor. Is there a 
 man who would obliterate from the proud pages 
 of our history the brilliant achievements of Jack- 
 son, Brown, and Scott, and the host of heroes 
 on land and sea, whom I cannot enumerate ] 
 Is there a man who could not desire a participa- 
 tion in the national glory acquired by the war 1 
 Yes, national glory, which, however the expres- 
 sion may be condemned by some, must be che- 
 rished by every genuine patriot. 
 
 What do I mean by national glory 1 Glory 
 such as Hull, Jackson, and Perry, have acquired. 
 And are gentlemen insensible to their deeds — 
 to the value of them in animating the country 
 in the hour of peril hereafter] Did the battle 
 of Thermopylae preserve Greece but once 1 
 Whilst the Mississippi continues to bear the 
 tributes of the Iron Mountains and the Alle- 
 ghanies to her Delta and to the Gulf of Mexico, 
 the eighth of January shall be remembered, and 
 the glory of that day shall stimulate future patri- 
 ots, and nerve the arms of unborn freemen, in 
 driving the presumptuous invader from our 
 country's soil. 
 
BEAUTIES OP CLAY. (33 
 
 Gentlemen may boast of their insensibility to 
 feelings inspired by the contemplation of such 
 events. But I would ask, does the recollection 
 of Bunker's Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown, af- 
 ford them no pleasure 1 Every act of noble 
 sacrifice to the country, every instance of patri- 
 otic devotion to her cause, has its beneficial in- 
 fluence. A nation's character is the sum of its 
 splendid deed* ; they constitute one common 
 patrimony, the nation's inheritance. They awe 
 foreign powers — they arouse and animate our 
 own people. I luve true glory. It is this sen- 
 timent which ought to be cherished ; and, in 
 spite of cavils and sneers, and attempts to put it 
 down, it will finally conduct this nation to that 
 height to which God and nature have destined 
 it. 
 
 THE DANGER IN EXCESS OE MILITARY HONOR, 
 
 Mr. Chairman, — I trust that I shall be indulg- 
 ed with some few reflections, upon the danger of 
 permitting the conduct on which it has been my 
 painful duty to animadvert, to pass without a 
 solemn expression of the disapprobation of this 
 house. Recall to your recollection, sir, the free 
 nations which have gone before us. Where are 
 they now % 
 
64 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 "Gone glimmering through the dream of things that \vere ? 
 A schoolboy's tale, the wonder of an hour." 
 
 And how have they lost their liberties % If we 
 could transport ourselves back, sir, to the ages 
 when Greece and Rome nourished in their great- 
 est prosperity, and, mingling in the throng, should 
 ask a Grecian if he did not fear that some da- 
 ring military chieftain, covered with glory, some 
 Philip or Alexander, would one day overthrow 
 the liberties of his country, — the confident and 
 indignant Grecian would exclaim, No ! no ! we 
 have nothing to fear from our heroes ; our liber- 
 ties will be eternal. If a Roman citizen had 
 been asked, if he did not fear that the conqueror 
 of Gaul might establish a throne upon the ruins 
 of public liberty, he would have instantly repel- 
 led the unjust insinuation. Yet Greece has 
 fallen; Cesar has passed the Rubicon ; and the 
 patriotic arm even of Brutus could not preserve 
 the liberties of his devoted country. 
 
 Sir, we are fighting a great moral battle for 
 the benefit, not only of our country, but of all 
 mankind. The eyes of the whole world are in 
 fixed attention upon us. One, and the largest 
 portion of it, is gazing with jealousy and with 
 envy ; the other portion with hope, with confi- 
 dence, and with affection. Every where thj 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 65 
 
 black cloud of legitimacy is suspended over the 
 world, save only one bright spot, which breaks 
 out from the political hemisphere of the West, 
 to enlighten, and animate, and gladden the hu- 
 man heart. Obscure that, by the downfall of 
 liberty here, and all mankind are enshrouded in 
 a pall of universal darkness. Beware, then, sir, 
 how you give a fatal sanction, in this infant pe- 
 riod of our republic, to military insubordination. 
 Remember, that Greece had her Alexander, 
 Rome her Cesar, England her Cromwell, France 
 her Bonaparte, and, that if we would escape the 
 rock on which they split, we must avoid their 
 errors. 
 
 I hope, sir, that gentlemen will deliberately 
 survey the awful isthmus on which we stand. 
 They may bear down all opposition. They 
 may even vote the general* the public thanks. 
 They may carry him triumphantly through this 
 house. But if they do, sir, in my humble judg- 
 ment, it will be a triumph of the principle of in- 
 subordination — a triumph of the military over 
 the civil authority — a triumph over the powers 
 of this house — a triumph over the constitution 
 of the land — and I pray, sir, most devoutly, that 
 
 * General Jackson. 
 6* 
 
66 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 it may not prove, in its ultimate effects and con- 
 sequences, a triumph over the liberties of the 
 people. 
 
 THE CLAIMS OP GREECE. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, — There is reason to appre- 
 hend that a tremendous storm is ready to burst 
 upon our happy country — one which may call 
 into action all our vigor, courage, and resources. 
 Is it wise or prudent, then, sir, in preparing to 
 breast the storm, if it must come, to talk to this 
 nation of its incompetency to repel European 
 aggression, to lower its spirit, to weaken its 
 moral energy, and to qualify it for easy con- 
 quest and base submission ! If there be any 
 reality in the dangers which are supposed to 
 encompass us, should we not animate the peo- 
 ple, and adjure them to believe, as I do, that 
 our resources are ample ; and that we can bring 
 into the field a million of freemen ready to ex- 
 haust their last drop of blood, and to spend their 
 last cent, in the defence of the country, its liber- 
 ty, and its institutions ? Sir, are we, if united, 
 to be conquered by all Europe combined ? No, 
 sir, no united nation, that resolves to be free, 
 can be conquered. And has it come to this 1 
 Are we so humble, so low, so debased, that we 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 67 
 
 dare not express our sympathy for suffering 
 Greece ; that we dare not articulate our detesta- 
 tion of the brutal excesses of which she has been 
 the bleeding victim, lest we might offend one or 
 more of their imperial and royal majesties ? 
 Are we so mean, so base, so despicable, that we 
 may not attempt to express our horror, utter 
 our indignation, at the most brutal and atrocious 
 war that ever stained eaith or shocked high 
 heaven : at the ferocious deeds of a savasre and 
 infuriated soldiery, stimulated and urged on by 
 the clergy of a fanatical and inimical religion, 
 and rioting in all the excesses of blood and 
 butchery, at the mere details of which the heart 
 sickens and recoils ? 
 
 But, sir, it is not for Greece alone that I de- 
 sire to see the measure adopted. It will give 
 her but little support, and that purely of a moral 
 kind. It is principally for America, for the 
 credit and character of our common country, for 
 our own unsullied name, that I hope to see it 
 pass. What appearance, Mr. Chairman, on the 
 page of history, would a record like this exhibit 1 ? 
 " In the month of January, in the year of our 
 Lord and Saviour 1824, while all European 
 Christendom beheld, with cold and unfeeling in- 
 difference, the unexampled wrongs and inex- 
 
68 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 pressible misery of Christian Greece, a proposi- 
 tion was made in the congress of the United 
 States, almost the sole, the last, the greatest de- 
 pository of human hope and freedom, the repre- 
 sentatives of a gallant nation, containing a mil- 
 lion of freemen ready to fly to arms, while the 
 people of that nation were spontaneously ex- 
 pressing its deep toned feeling, and the whole 
 continent, by one simultaneous emotion, was ris- 
 ing, and solemnly and anxiously supplicating 
 and invoking high heaven to spare and succor 
 Greece, and to invigorate her arms, in her glo- 
 rious cause, while temples and senate-houses 
 were alike resounding with one burst of gene- 
 rous and holy sympathy, — in the year of our 
 Lord and Saviour, that Saviour of Greece and 
 of us — a proposition was offered in the American 
 congress to send a messenger to Greece, to in- 
 quire into her state and condition, with a kind 
 expression of our good wishes and our sympa- 
 thies — and it was rejected !" Go home, if you 
 can ; go home, if you dare, to your constituents, 
 and tell them that you voted it down. Meet, if 
 you can, the appalling countenance of those 
 who sent you here, and tell them that you 
 shrunk from the declaration of your own senti- 
 ments : — that you cannot tell how, but that some 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 69 
 
 unknown dread, some indescribable apprehen- 
 sion, some indefinable danger, drove you from 
 your purpose : — that the spectres of scimitars, 
 and crowns, and crescents, gleamed before you, 
 and alarmed you : — and that you suppressed all 
 the noble feelings prompted by religion, by 
 liberty, by national independence, and by hu- 
 manity. I cannot, sir, bring myself to believe 
 that such will be the feelings of a majority of 
 this committee. But, for myself, though every 
 friend of the cause should desert it, and I be left 
 to stand alone with the gentleman from Massa- 
 chusetts, I will give to his resolution the poor 
 sanction of my unqualified approbation. 
 
 THE RISE OF PARTIES. 
 
 Considering: the situation in which this coun- 
 try is now placed — a state of actual war with 
 one of the most powerful nations on the earth — 
 it may not be useless to take a view of the past, 
 and of the various parties which have at different 
 times appeared in this country, and to attend to 
 the manner by which we have been driven from 
 a peaceful posture to our present warlike atti- 
 tude. Such an inquiry may assist in guiding us 
 to that result, an honorable peace, which must 
 be the sincere desire of every friend to America. 
 
70 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 The course of that opposition, by which the ad- 
 ministration of the government has been unre- 
 mittingly impeded for the last twelve years, is 
 singular, and, I believe, unexampled in the his- 
 tory of any country. It has been alike the duty 
 and the interest of the administration to preserve 
 peace. It was their duty, because it is necessa- 
 ry to the growth of an infant people, to their ge- 
 nius, and to their habits. It was their interest, 
 because a change of the condition of the nation, 
 brings along: with it a danger of the loss of the 
 affections of the people. The administration has 
 not been forgetful of these solemn obligations. 
 No art has been left unessayed ; no experiment, 
 promising a favorable result, left untried, to 
 maintain the peaceful relations of the country. 
 When, some six or seven years ago, the affairs 
 of the nation assumed a threatening aspect, a 
 partial non-importation was adopted. As they 
 grew more alarming, an embargo was imposed. 
 It would have accomplished its purpose, but it 
 was sacrificed upon the altar of conciliation. 
 Vain and fruitless attempt to propitiate ! Then 
 came a law of non-intercourse ; and a general 
 non-importation followed in the train. In the 
 meantime, any indications of a return to the pub- 
 lic law and the path of justice, on the part of ei- 
 ther belligerent, are seized upon with avidity by 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 71 
 
 the administration. The arrangement with Mr. 
 Erskine is concluded. It is first applauded and 
 then censured by the opposition. No matter 
 with what unfeigned sincerity, with what real 
 effort, administration cultivates peace, the oppo- 
 sition insist that it alone is culpable for every 
 breach that is made between the two countries. 
 Because the President thought proper, in accept- 
 ing the proffered reparation for the attack on a 
 national vessel, to intimate that it would have 
 better comported with the justice of the king, 
 (and who does not think so ?) to punish the of- 
 fending officer, the opposition, entering into the 
 royal feelings, sees in that imaginary insult, 
 abundant cause for rejecting Mr. Erskine's ar- 
 rangement. On another occasion, you cannot 
 have forgotten the hypercritical ingenuity which 
 they displayed, to divest Mr. Jackson's corres- 
 pondence of a premeditated insult to this coun- 
 try. If gentlemen would only reserve for their 
 own government half the sensibility which is in- 
 dulged for that of Great Britain, they would 
 find much less to condemn. Restriction after 
 restriction has been tried : negotiation has been 
 resorted to, until farther negotiation would have 
 been disgraceful. Whilst these peaceful expe- 
 riments are undergoing a trial, what is the con- 
 
72 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 duct of the opposition ] They are the champi- 
 ons of war; the proud, the spirited, the sole re- 
 pository of the nation's honor • the men of ex- 
 clusive vigor and energy. The administration, 
 on the contrary, is weak, feeble, and pusillani- 
 mous — " incapable of being kicked into a 
 war." The maxim, " not a cent for tribute, mil- 
 lions for defence," is loudly proclaimed. Is the 
 administration for negotiation ? The opposi- 
 tion is tired, sick, disgusted with negotiation. 
 They want to draw the sword and avenge 
 the nation's wrongs. When, however, fo- 
 reign nations, perhaps emboldened by the very 
 opposition here made, refuse to listen to the 
 amicable appeals, which have been repeated and 
 reiterated by the administration, to their justice 
 and to their interests ; when, in fact, war with 
 one of them has become identified with our in- 
 dependence and our sovereignty, and to abstain 
 from it was no longer possible, behold the oppo- 
 sition veering round, and becoming the friends of 
 peace and commerce. They tell you of the ca- 
 lamities of war, its tragical events, the squander- 
 ing away of your resources, the waste of the 
 public treasure, and the spilling of innocent 
 blood. " Gorgons, hydras, and chimeras dire." 
 They tell you that honor is an illusion ! Now 
 

 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 we see them exhibiting the terrific forms of the 
 Marina king of the forest : now, the meekness 
 and humility of the lamb ! They are for war 
 and no restrictions, when the administration is 
 for peace. They are for peace and restrictions 
 when the administration is for war. You find 
 them, sir, tacking with every gale, displaying the 
 colors of every party and of all nations, steady 
 only in one unalterable purpose, to steer, if pos- 
 sible, into the haven of power. 
 
 DEFENCE OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 During all this time, the parasites of opposi- 
 tion do not fail, by cunning sarcasm or sly innu- 
 endo to throw out the idea of French influence, 
 which is known to be false, which ought to be 
 met in one manner only, and that is by the he 
 direct The administration of this country de- 
 voted to foreign influence ! The administration 
 of this country subservient to France ! Great 
 God ! what a change ! how is it so influenced ] By 
 what ligament, on what basis, on what possible 
 foundation, does it rest % Is it similarity of lan- 
 guage % No ! we speak different tongues, we 
 speak the English language. On the resem- 
 blance of our laws ? No ! the sources of our 
 
 7 
 
74 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 jurisprudence spring from another and a differ- 
 ent country. On commercial intercourse 1 No ! 
 we have comparatively none with France. Is 
 it from the correspondence in the genius of the 
 two governments 1 No ! here alone is the li- 
 berty of man secure from the inexorable despot- 
 ism, which every where else tramples it under 
 foot. Where then is the ground of such an in- 
 fluence 1 But, sir, I am insulting you by argu- 
 ing on such a subject. Yet, preposterous and 
 ridiculous as the insinuation is, it is propagated 
 with so much industry, that there are persons 
 found foolish and credulous enough to believe it. 
 
 THE TRANSACTIONS OP EUROPE CONSIDERED. 
 
 Throughout the period I have been speaking 
 of, the opposition has been distinguished, amidst 
 all its veerings and changes, by another inflexi- 
 ble feature, the application to Bonaparte of every 
 vile and opprobrious epithet, our language, copi- 
 ous as it is in terms of vituperation, affords. He 
 has been compared to every hideous monster 
 and beast, from that mentioned in the revelations 
 down to the most insignificant quadruped. He 
 has been called the scourge of mankind, the de- 
 stroyer of Europe, the great robber, the infidel, 
 the modern Attila, and heaven knows by what 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 75 
 
 other names. Really, gentlemen remind me of 
 an obscure lady, in a city not very far off, who 
 also took it into her head, in conversation with 
 an accomplished French gentleman, to talk of 
 the affairs of Europe. She too spoke of the 
 destruction of the balance of power ; stormed 
 and raged about the insatiable ambition of the 
 emperor ; called him the curse of mankind, the 
 destroyer of Europe. The Frenchman listened 
 to her with perfect patience, and when she had 
 ceased/saidto her, withineffable politeness, " Ma- 
 dam, it would give my master, the emperor, infi- 
 nite pain, if he knew how hardly you thought of 
 him." Sir, gentlemen appear to me to forget 
 that they stand on American soil ; that they are 
 not in the British house of commons, but m the 
 chamber of the House of Representatives of the 
 United States ; that we have nothing to do with 
 the affairs of Europe, the partition of territory 
 and sovereignty there, except so far as these 
 things affect the interests of our own country. 
 Gentlemen transform themselves into the Burkes, 
 Chathams, and Pitts, of another country ; and for- 
 getting from honest zeal the interests of Ameri- 
 ca engao-e with European sensibility in the dis- 
 cussion °of European interests. If gentlemen 
 ask me, whether I do not view with regret and 
 
76 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 horror the concentration of such vast power in 
 the hands of Bonaparte — I reply, that I do. I re- 
 gret to see the Emperor of China holding such 
 immense sway over the fortunes of millions of our 
 species. I regret to see Great Britain possess- 
 ing so uncontrolled a command over all the wa- 
 ters of our globe, if I had the ability to distribute 
 among the nations of Europe their several por- 
 tions of power and of sovereignty, I would say, 
 that Holland should be resuscitated, and given 
 the weight she enjoyed in the days of her De 
 Witts. I would confine France within her natu- 
 ral boundaries, the Alps, Pyrenees, and the 
 Rhine, and make her a secondary naval power 
 only. I would abridge the British maritime pow- 
 er, raise Prussia and Austria to their original con- 
 dition, and preserve the integrity of the empire 
 of Russia. But these are speculations. I look 
 at the political transactions of Europe, with the 
 single exception of their possible bearing upon 
 us, as I do at the history of other countries, or 
 other times. I do not survey them with half the 
 interest that I do the movements in South Ame- 
 rica. Our political relation with them is much 
 less important than it is supposed to be. I have 
 no fears of French or English subjugation. If 
 we are united, we are too powerful for the 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 77 
 
 mightiest nation in Europe, or all Europe com- 
 bined. If we are separated and torn asunder, 
 we shall become an easy prey to the weakest of 
 them. In the latter dreadful contingency, our 
 country will not be worth preserving. 
 
 THE CAUSE OF WAR WITH ENGLAND. 
 
 I am far from acknowledging, that, had the or- 
 ders in council been repealed, as they have 
 been, before the war was declared, the declara- 
 tion of hostilities would of course have been 
 prevented. In a body so numerous as this is, 
 from which the declaration emanated, it is im- 
 possible to say, with any degree of certainty, 
 what would have been the effect of such a re- 
 peal. Each member must answer for himself. 
 As to myself, I have no hesitation in saying, 
 that I have always considered the impressment 
 of American seamen, as much the most serious 
 aggression. But, sir, how have those orders at 
 last been repealed ] Great Britain, it is true, 
 has intimated a willingness to suspend their 
 practical operation, but she still arrogates to 
 herself the right to revive them upon certain 
 contingencies, of which she constitutes herself 
 the sole judge. She waives the temporary use 
 of the rod, but she suspends it in terrorem over 
 
 7* 
 
78 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 our heads. .Supposing it to be conceded to gen- 
 tlemen, that such a repeal of the orders in council 
 as took place on the twenty-third of June last, 
 exceptionable as it is, being known before the 
 war was proclaimed, would have prevented it : 
 does it follow, that it ought to induce us to lay 
 down. our arms, without the redress of any 
 other injury of which we complain % Does it 
 follow, in all cases, that that which would in the 
 first instance have prevented, would also ter- 
 minate the war 1 By no means. It requires a 
 strong and powerful effort in a nation, prone to 
 peace as this is, to burst through its habits, and 
 encounter the difficulties and privations of war. 
 Such a nation ought but seldom to embark in a 
 belligerent contest ; but when it does, it should 
 be for obvious and essential rights alone, and 
 should firmly resolve to extort, at all hazards, 
 their recognition. The war of the revolution 
 is an example of a war begun for one object, 
 and prosecuted for another. It was waged, in 
 its commencement, against the right asserted by 
 the parent country to tax the colonies. Then 
 no one thought of absolute independence. The 
 idea of independence was repelled. But the 
 British government would have relinquished the 
 principle of taxation. The founders of our 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 79 
 
 liberties saw, however, that there was no se- 
 curity short of independence, and they achieved 
 that independence. When nations are engaged 
 in war, those rights in controversy, which are 
 not acknowledged by the treaty of peace, are 
 abandoned. 
 
 THE CLAIMS OF ENGLAND ON AMERICAN SEAMEN . 
 
 And who is prepared to say, that American 
 seamen shall be surrendered, as victims, to the 
 British principle of impressment 1 And, sir, 
 what is this principle 1 She contends, that she 
 has a right to the services of her own subjects ; 
 and that, in the exercise of this right, she may 
 lawfully impress them, even although she finds 
 them in American vessels, upon the high seas, 
 without her jurisdiction. Now I deny that she 
 has any right, beyond her jurisdiction, to come 
 on board our vessels, upon the high seas, for 
 any other purpose than in the pursuit of enemies, 
 or their goods, or goods contraband of war. 
 But she farther contends, that her subjects can- 
 not renounce their allegiance to her, and con- 
 tract a new obligation to other sovereigns. I 
 do not mean to go into the general question of 
 the right of expatriation. If, as is contended, 
 all nations deny it, all nations, at the same time, 
 
80 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 admit and practice the right of naturalization. 
 Great Britain herself does this. Great Britain, 
 in the very case of foreign seamen, imposes, 
 perhaps, fewer restraints upon naturalization 
 than any other nation. Then, if subjects cannot 
 break their original allegiance, they may, ac- 
 cording to universal usage, contract a new 
 allegiance. What is the effect of this double 
 •obligation ] Undoubtedly, that the sovereign 
 slaving the possession of the subject, would have 
 ihe right to the services of the subject. If he 
 sreturn within the jurisdiction of his primitive 
 sovereign, he may resume his right to his ser- 
 vices, of which the subject, by his own act, could 
 aiot divest himself. But his primitive sovereign 
 can have no right to go in quest of him, out of 
 Iiis own jurisdiction, into the jurisdiction of 
 another sovereign, or upon the high seas where 
 there exists either no jurisdiction, or it is pos- 
 sessed by the nation owning the ship navigating 
 tliem. But, sir, this discussion is altogether 
 useless. It is not to the British principle, ob- 
 jectionable as it is, that we are alone to look ; it 
 is to her practice, no matter what guise she puts 
 on. It is in vain to assert the inviolability of 
 the obligation of allegiance. It is in vain to 
 set up the plea of necessity, and to allege that 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 81 
 
 she cannot exist without the impressment of her 
 seamen. The naked truth is, she comes, by 
 her press gangs, on board of our vessels, seizes 
 our native as well as naturalized seamen, and 
 drags them into her service. It is ihe case, then, 
 of the assertion of an erroneous principle, and 
 of a practice not conformable to the asserted 
 principle — a principle which, if it were theo- 
 retically right, must be forever practically wrong 
 • — a practice which can obtain countenance from 
 no principle whatever, and to submit to which, 
 on our part, would betray the most ahject de- 
 gradation. We are told, by gentlemen in the 
 opposition, that government has not done all 
 that was incumbent on it to do, to avoid just 
 cause of complaint on the part of Great Britain ; 
 that, in particular, the certificates of protection, 
 authorized by the act of 1796, are fraudulently 
 used. Sir, government has done too much in 
 granting those paper protections. I can never 
 think of them without being shocked. They 
 resemble the passes which the master grants to 
 his negro slave — " let the bearer, Mungo, pass 
 and repass without molestation." "What do 
 they imply ] That Great Britain has a right to 
 seize all who are not provided with them. From 
 their very nature they must be liable to abuse 
 
82 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 on both sides. If Great Britain desires a mark, 
 by which she can know her own subjects, let 
 her give them an ear-mark. The colors that 
 float from the mast head should be the creden- 
 tials of our seamen. There is no safety to us, 
 and the gentlemen have shown it, but in the 
 rule that all who sail under the flag, (not being 
 enemies,) are protected by the flag, 
 
 EULOGIUM ON JEFFERSON. 
 
 Neither his retirement from public office, his 
 eminent services, nor his advanced age, can ex- 
 empt this patriot from the coarse assaults of par- 
 ty malevolence. No, sir, in 1S01, he snatched 
 from the rude hand of usurpation the violated 
 constitution of his country, and that is his crime. 
 He preserved that instrument in form, and sub- 
 stance, and spirit, a precious inheritance for 
 generations to come, and for this he can never 
 be forgiven. How vain and impotent is party 
 rage, directed against such a man ! He is not 
 more elevated by his lofty residence upon the 
 summit of his own favorite mountain, than he is 
 lifted by the serenity of his mind and the con- 
 sciousness of a well spent life, above the malig- 
 nant passions and bitter feelings of the day. 
 No ! his own beloved Monticello is not more 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 33 
 
 moved by the storms that beat against its sides, 
 than is this illustrious man, by the howlings of 
 the whole British pack set loose from the Essex 
 kennel ! When the gentleman, to whom I have 
 been compelled to allude, shall have mingled 
 his dust with that of his abused ancestors ; when 
 he shall have been consigned to oblivion, or if 
 he lives at all, shall live only in the treasonable 1 
 annals of a certain junto ; the name of Jefferson 
 will be hailed with gratitude, his memory hon- 
 ored and cherished as the second founder of th© 
 liberties of the people, and the period of his ad- 
 ministration will be looked back to, as one of 
 the happiest and brightest epochs of American 
 history — an Oasis in the midst of a sandy desert. 
 
 CLAIMS OF SEAMEN. 
 
 It is impossible that this country should ever 
 abandon the gallant tars, who have won for us 
 such splendid trophies. Let me suppose that 
 the genius of Columbia should visit one of them 
 in his oppressor's prison, and attempt to re- 
 concile him to his forlorn and wretched con- 
 dition. She would sey to him, in the language 
 of gentlemen on the other side : " Great Britain 
 intends you no harm ; she did not mean to im- 
 press you, but one of her own subjects ; having, 
 
84 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 taken you by mistake, I will remonstrate, and 
 try to prevail upon her, by peaceable means, to 
 release you, but I cannot, my son, fight for you." 
 If he did not consider this mere mockery, the 
 poor tar would address her judgment, and say, 
 " you owe me, my country, protection ; I owe 
 you, in return, obedience. I am no British sub- 
 ject; I am a native of old Massachusetts, where 
 live my aged father, my wife, my children. I 
 have faithfully discharged my duty. Will you 
 refuse to do yours V Appealing to her pas- 
 sions, he would continue : " I lost this eye in 
 fighting under Truxton, with the Insurgente ; I 
 got this scar before Tripoli ; I broke this leg 
 on board the Constitution, when the G-uerriere 
 struck." If she remained still unmoved, he 
 would break out, in the accents of mingled dis- 
 tress and despair : 
 
 Hard, hard is my fate ! once I freedom enjoyed, 
 
 Was as happy as happy could be ! 
 
 Oh ! how hard is my fate, how galling these chains ! 
 
 T will not imagine the dreadful catastrophe to 
 which he would be driven by an abandonment 
 of him to his oppressor. It will not be, it can- 
 not be, that his country will refuse him pro- 
 tection. 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 85 
 
 THE BRAVERY OF THE ARMY. 
 
 The disasters of the war admonish us, we are 
 told, of the necessity of terminating the contest. 
 If our achievements by land have been less 
 splendid than those of our intrepid seamen by 
 water, it is not because the American soldier is 
 less brave. On the one element, organization, 
 discipline, and a thorough knowledge of their 
 duties, exist, on the part of the officers and their 
 men. On the other, almost every thing is yet 
 to be acquired. We have, however, the con- 
 solation, that our country abounds with the 
 richest materials, and that in no instance, when 
 ensragred inaction, have our arms been tarnished. 
 At Brownstown and at Queenstown, the valor of 
 veterans was displayed, and acts of the noblest 
 heroism were performed. It is true, that the 
 disgrace of Detroit remains to be wiped off. 
 That is a subject on which I cannot trust my 
 feelings; it is not fitting I should speak. But 
 this much I will say, it was an event which no 
 human foresight could have anticipated, and for 
 which the administration cannot be justly cen- 
 sured. It was the parent of all the misfortunes 
 we have experienced on land. But for it, the 
 Indian war would have been in a great measure 
 prevented or terminated; the ascendency on 
 
 8 
 
86 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 lake Erie acquired, and the war pushed cm per- 
 haps to Montreal. With the exception of that 
 event, the war, even upon the land, has been at- 
 tended by a series of the most brilliant exploits, 
 which, whatever interest they may inspire on this 
 side of the mountains, have given the greatest 
 pleasure on the other. The expedition, under 
 the command of Governor Edwards and Colonel 
 Russell, to lake Pioria, on the Illinois, was com- 
 pletely successful. So was that of Captain 
 Craig, who, it is said, ascended that river still 
 higher. General Hopkins destroyed the pro- 
 phet's town. We have just received intelligence 
 of the gallant enterprise of Colonel Campbell. 
 In short, sir, the Indian towns have been swept 
 from the mouth to the source of the Wabash, 
 and a hostile country has been penetrated far 
 beyond the most daring incursions of any cam- 
 paign during the former Indian war. Never 
 was more cool, deliberate bravery displayed, 
 than that by Newman's party from Georgia : 
 and the capture of the Detroit, and the destruc- 
 tion of the Caledonia, (whether placed to a 
 maritime or land account,) for judgment, skill, 
 and courage, on the part of Lieutenant Elliot, 
 have never been surpassed. 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 87 
 
 DUTY OF THE COUNTRY IN RELATION TO ENGLAND. 
 
 The honorable gentleman from North Caro- 
 lina, (Mr. Pearson,) supposes, that if Congress 
 would pass a law, prohibiting the employment 
 of British seamen in our service, upon condition 
 of a like prohibition on their part, and repeal 
 the act of non-importation, peace would im- 
 mediately follow. Sir, I have no doubt, if such 
 a law were to pass, with all the requisite solem- 
 nities, and the repeal to take place, Lord Cas- 
 tlereagh would laugh at our simplicity. No, 
 sir, administration has erred in the steps which 
 it has taken to restore peace, but its error has 
 been, not in doing too little, but in betraying 
 too great a solicitude for that event. An ho- 
 norable peace is attainable only by an efficient 
 war. My plan would be to call out the ample 
 resources of the country, give them a judicious 
 direction, prosecute the war with the utmost 
 vigor, strike wherever we can reach the enemy, 
 at sea or oti land, and negotiate the terms of a 
 peace at Quebec or at Halifax. We are told that 
 England is a proud and lofty nation, which, dis- 
 daining to wait for danger, meets it half way. 
 Haughty as she is, we once triumphed over her ; 
 and, if we do not listen to the counsels of timidity 
 and despair, we shall again prevail. In such a 
 
88 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 cause, with the aid of Providence, we must 
 come out crowned with success ; but if we fail, 
 let us fail like men, lash ourselves to our gallant 
 tars, and expire together in one common strug- 
 gle, fighting fox free trade and seamen's rights. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE SEMIxNTOLE WAR. 
 
 In noticing the painful incidents of this war, 
 it is impossible not to inquire into its origin. I 
 fear that it will be found to be the famous trea- 
 ty of Fort Jackson, concluded in August, 1 S14 ; • 
 and I ask the indulgence of the chairman, that 
 the clerk may read certain parts of that treaty. 
 (The clerk having read as requested, Mr. Clay 
 proceeded.) I never perused this instrument 
 until within a few days past, and I read it with 
 the deepest mortification and regret. A more 
 dictatorial spirit I have never seen displayed in 
 any instrument. I will challenge an examina- 
 tion of all the records of diplomacy, not except- 
 ing even those in the most haughty period of 
 imperial Rome, when she was carrying her arms 
 into the barbarian nations that surrounded her; 
 and I do not believe a solitary instance can be 
 found of such an inexorable spirit of domination 
 pervading, a compact purporting to be a treaty 
 of peace. It consists of the most severe and 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 89 
 
 humiliating demands — of the surrender of large 
 territory — of the privilege of making roads 
 through the remnant which was retained — of 
 the right of establishing trading houses — of the 
 obligation of delivering into our hands their pro- 
 phets. And all this, of a wretched people, re- 
 duced to the last extremity of distress, whose 
 miserable existence we had to preserve by a 
 voluntary stipulation, to furnish them with 
 bread ! When did the all-conquering and des- 
 olating Rome ever fail to respect the altars and 
 the gods of those whom she subjugated ! Let 
 me not be told, that these prophets were impos- 
 tors who deceived the Indians. They were their 
 prophets — the Indians believed and venerated 
 them, and it is not for us to dictate a religious 
 belief to them. It does not belong to the holy 
 character of the religion which we profess, to 
 carry its precepts, by the force of the bayonet, 
 into the bosoms of other people. Mild and gen- 
 tle persusion was the great instrument employ- 
 ed by the meek Founder of our religion. VVe 
 leave to the humane and benevolent efforts of 
 the reverend professors of Christianity to con- 
 vert from barbarism those unhappy nations yet 
 immersed in its gloom. But, sir, spare them 
 their prophets ! spare their delusions ! spare 
 8* 
 
90 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 their prejudices and superstitions ! spare even 
 their religion, such as it is, from open and cruel 
 violence. When, sir, was that treaty concluded % 
 On the very day, after the protocol was signed, 
 of the first conference between the American 
 and British commissioners, treating of peace, at 
 Ghent. In the course of that negotiation, pre- 
 tensions so enormous were set up, by the other 
 party, that, when they were promulgated in this 
 country, there was one general burst of indigna- 
 tion throughout the continent. Faction itself 
 was silenced, and the firm and unanimous de- 
 termination of all parties was, to fight until the 
 last man fell in the ditch, rather than submit to 
 such ignominious terms. What a contrast is ex- 
 hibited between the cotemporaneous scenes of 
 Ghent and of Fort Jackson ; what a powerful 
 voucher would the British commissioners have 
 been furnished with, if they could have got hold 
 of that treaty ! The United States demand, The 
 United States demand — is repeated five or six 
 times. And what did the preamble itself dis- 
 close 1 That two thirds of the Creek nation 
 had been hostile, and one third only friendly to 
 us. Now, I have heard, (I cannot vouch for the 
 truth of the statement,) that not one hostile 
 chief signed the treaty. I have also heard, that 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY- 91 
 
 perhaps one or two of them had. If the treaty 
 were really made by a minority of the nation, it 
 was not obligatory upon the whole nation. It 
 was void, considered in the light of a national 
 compact. And if void, the Indians were enti- 
 tled to the benefit of the provision of the ninth 
 article of the treaty of Ghent, by which we 
 bound ourselves to make peace with any tribes 
 with whom we might be at war, on the ratifica- 
 tion of the treaty, and to restore to them their 
 lands as they held them in 1811. I do not know 
 how the honorable Senate, that body for which 
 I entertain so high a respect, could have given 
 their sanction to the treaty of Fort Jackson, so 
 utterly irreconcilable as it is with those noble 
 principles of generosity and magnanimity which 
 I hope to see my country always exhibit, and 
 particularly toward the miserable remnant of 
 the aborigines. It would have comported bet- 
 ter with those principles, to have imitated the 
 benevolent policy of the founder of Pennsylva- 
 nia, and to have given to the Creeks, conquered 
 as they were, even if they had made an unjust 
 war upon us, the trifling consideration, to them 
 an adequate compensation, which he paid for 
 their lands. That treaty, I fear, has been the 
 main cause of the recent war. And if it has 
 
92 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 been, it only adds another melancholy proof to 
 those with which historv abounds, that hard and 
 unconscionable terms, extorted by the power of 
 the sword and the right of conquest, serves but 
 to whet and stimulate revenge, and to give to 
 old hostilities, smothered, not extinguished by 
 the pretended peace, greater exasperation and 
 more ferocity. A truce thus patched up with 
 an unfortunate people, without the means of ex- 
 istence, without bread, is no real peace. The 
 instant there is the slighest prospect of relief 
 from such harsh and severe conditions, the con- 
 quered party will fly to arms, and spend the 
 last drop of blood rather than live in such de- 
 graded bondage. Even if you again reduce him 
 to submission, the expenses incurred by this 
 second war, to say nothing of the human lives 
 that are sacrificed, will be greater than what it 
 would have cost you to have granted him liberal 
 conditions in the first instance. This treaty, I 
 repeat it, was, I apprehend, the cause of the 
 war. It led to those excesses on our southern 
 borders which began it. 
 
 CONDUCT OF GOVERNMENT TOWARDS THE INDIANS. 
 
 The first circumstance, which, in the course 
 of his performing that duty, fixes our attention, 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 93 
 
 fills me with regret. It is the execution of the 
 Indian chiefs. How, I ask, did they come into 
 our possession % Was it in the course of fair, 
 and open, and honorable war % No, but by 
 means of deception — by hoisting foreign colors 
 on the staff from which the stars and stripes 
 should alone have floated. Thus ensnared, the 
 Indians were taken on shore, and without cere- 
 mony, and without delay, were hung. Hang an 
 Indian ! We, sir, who are civilized, and can 
 comprehend and feel the effect of moral causes 
 and considerations, attach ignominy to that 
 mode of death. And the gallant, and refined, 
 and high-minded man, seeks by all possible 
 means to avoid, it. But what cares an Indian 
 whether you hang or shoot him 1 The moment 
 h*e is captured, he is considered by his tribe as 
 disgraced, if not lost. They, too, are indifferent 
 about the manner in which he is despatched. 
 But, I regard the occurrence with grief for 
 other and higher considerations. It is the first 
 instance that I know of, in the annals of our 
 country, in which retaliation, by executing In- 
 dian captives, has ever been deliberately prac- 
 tised. There may have been exceptions, but if 
 there were, they met with contemporaneous 
 condemnation, and have been reprehended by 
 
94 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 the just pen of impartial history. The gentle- 
 man from Massachusetts may tell me, if he choo- 
 ses, what he pleases about the tomahawk and 
 scalping-knife — about Indian enormities, and 
 foreign miscreants and incendiaries. I, too, hate 
 
 o 
 
 them ; from my very soul I abominate them. 
 But I love my country, and its constitution ; I 
 love liberty and safety, and fear military despo- 
 tism more even than I hate these monsters. 
 The gentleman, in the course of his remarks, 
 alluded to the state from which I have the ho- 
 nor to come. Little, sir, does he know of the 
 high and magnanimous sentiments of the peo- 
 pie of that state, if he supposes they will ap- 
 prove of the transaction to which he referred. 
 Brave and generous, humanity and clemency 
 towards a fallen foe constitute one of their no- 
 blest characteristics. Amidst all the struggles 
 for that fair land between the natives and the 
 present inhabitants, I defy the gentleman to 
 point out one instance in which a Kentuckian 
 has stained his hand by — nothing but my high 
 sense of the distinguished services and exalted 
 merits of General Jackson prevents my using 
 a different term — the execution of an unarmed 
 and prostrate captive. Yes, there is one solita- 
 ry exception, in which a man, enraged at be- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 95 
 
 holding an Indian prisoner, who had been cele- 
 brated for his enormities, and who had destroy- 
 ed some of his kindred, plunged his sword into 
 his bosom. The wicked deed was considered 
 as an abominable outrage when it occurred, and 
 the name of the man has been handed down to 
 the execration of posterity. 
 
 BONAPARTE. 
 
 What has been the conduct even of Engf- 
 land towards the greatest instigator of all the 
 wars of the present age 1 The condemnation of 
 that illustrious man to the rock of St. Helena, is 
 a great blot on the English name. And I re- 
 peat what I have before said, that if Chatham 
 or Fox, or even William Pitt himself, had been 
 prime minister in England, Bonaparte had 
 never been so condemned. On that transaction 
 history will one day pass its severe but just 
 censure. Yes, although Napoleon had desolated 
 half Europe ; although there was scarcely a 
 power, however humble, that escaped the migh- 
 ty grasp of his ambition ; although in the course 
 of his splendid career he is charged with having 
 committed the greatest atrocities, disgraceful to 
 himself and to human nature, yet even his life 
 ha.3 been spared. The allies would not, Eng- 
 
96 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 land would not, execute him, upon the ground 
 of his bein^ an instigator of wars. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF BAD EXAMPLE. 
 
 I will not dwell, at this time, on the effect of 
 these precedents in foreign countries, but I will 
 not pass unnoticed their dangerous influence in 
 our own country. Bad examples are generally 
 set in the cases of bad men, and often remote 
 from the central government. It was in the 
 provinces that were laid the abuses and the 
 seeds of the ambitious projects which overturned 
 the liberties of Rome. I beseech the committee 
 not to be so captivated by the charms of elo- 
 quence, and the appeals made to our passions 
 and our sympathies, as to forget the fundament- 
 al principles of our government. The influence 
 of a bad example will often be felt, when its 
 authors, and all the circumstances connected 
 with it, are no longer remembered. 1 know of 
 but one analogous instance of the execution of 
 a prisoner, and that has brought more odium, 
 than almost any other incident, on the unhappy 
 emperor of France. I allude to the instance of 
 the execution of the unfortunate member of the 
 Bourbon house. He sought an asylum in the 
 territories of Baden. Bonaparte despatched a 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 97 
 
 corps of gens d'armcs to the place of his retreat, 
 seized him and brought him to the dungeons of 
 Vincennes. He was there tried by a court 
 martial, condemned, and shot. There, as here, 
 was a violation of neutral territory ; there the 
 neutral ground was not stained with the blood 
 of him whom it should have protected. And 
 there was another most unfortunate difference 
 for the American example. The duke D'Eng- 
 hein was executed according to his sentence. 
 It is said by the defenders of Napoleon, that the 
 duke had been machinating not merely to over- 
 turn the French government, but against the 
 life of its chief. If that were true, he might, 
 if taken in France, have been legally executed. 
 Such was the odium brought upon the instru- 
 ments of this transaction, that those persons, who 
 have been even suspected of participation in it, 
 have sought to vindicate themselves, from what 
 they appear to have considered as an aspersion, 
 before foreign courts. In conclusion of this 
 part of the subject, I most cheerfully and en- 
 tirely acquit General Jackson of any intention to 
 violate the laws of the country, or the obligations 
 of humanity. 1 am persuaded, from all that I 
 ave heard, that he considered himself as equally 
 respecting and observing both. With respect 
 
98 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 to the purity of his intentions, therefore, I am 
 disposed to allow it in the most extensive de- 
 gree. Of his acts, it is my duty to sneak with 
 the freedom which belongs to my station. And 
 I shall now proceed to consider some of them, 
 of the most momentous character, as it regards 
 the distribution of the powers of government. 
 
 POWERS OF THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 Of all the powers conferred by the constitu- 
 tion of the United States, not one is more ex- 
 pressly and exclusively granted, than that which 
 o-ives to Congress the power to declare war. 
 The immortal convention who formed' that 
 instrument, had abundant reason, drawn from 
 every page of history, for confiding this tre- 
 mendous power to the deliberate judgment of 
 the representatives of the people. It was there 
 seen that nations are often precipitated into 
 ruinous war from folly, from pride, from ambi- 
 tion, and from the desire of military fume. It 
 was believed, no doubt, in committing this great 
 subject to the legislature of the union, we should 
 be safe from the mad wars that have afflicted 
 and desolated and ruined other countries. It 
 was supposed that before any war was declared, 
 the nature of the injury complained of would 
 
BEAUTIES OP CLAY. 99 
 
 be carefully examined, the power and resources 
 of the enemy estimated, and the power and re- 
 sources of our own country, as well as the pro- 
 bable issue and consequences of the war. jt 
 was to guard our country against precisely 
 that species of rashness, which has been mani 
 fested in Florida, that the constitution was so 
 framed. If then this power, thus cautiously and 
 clearly bestowed upon Congress, has been assu- 
 med and exercised by any other functionary of 
 the government, it. is cause of serious alarm, 
 and it becomes this body to vindicate and main- 
 tain its authority by all the means in its power ; 
 and yet there are some gentlemen, who would 
 have us not merely yield a tame and si! en 
 acquiescence in the encroachment, but even 
 pass a vote of thanks to the author. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL CLAIMS. 
 
 Our agricultural is our greatest interest. It 
 ought ever to be predominant. Ail others 
 should bend to it. And in considering what is 
 for its advantage, we should contemplate it in 
 all its varieties, of planting, farming, and grazing. 
 Can we do nothing to invigorate it ; nothing to 
 correct the errors of the past, and to brighten 
 the still more unpromising prospects which lie 
 
100 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 before us ] We have seen, I think, the causes 
 of the distresses of the country. We have seen, 
 that an exclusive dependence upon the foreign 
 market must lead to still severer distress, to im- 
 poverishment, to ruin. We must then change 
 somewhat our course. We must give a new 
 direction to some portion of our industry. We 
 must speedily adopt a genuine American policy. 
 Still cherishing the foreign market, let us create 
 also a home market, to give farther scope to the 
 consumption of the produce of American in- 
 dustry. Let us counteract the policy of foreign- 
 ers, and withdraw the support which we now 
 give to their industry, and stimulate that of our 
 own country. It should be a prominent object 
 with wise legislators, to multiply the vocations 
 and extend the business of society, as far as it 
 can be done, by the protection of our interests 
 at home, against the injurious effects of foreign 
 legislation. Suppose we were a nation of fish- 
 ermen, or of skippers, to the exclusion of every 
 other occupation, and the legislature had the 
 power to introduce the pursuits of agriculture 
 and manufactures, would not our happiness be 
 promoted by an exertion of its authority ] All 
 the existing employments of society — the learn- 
 
I 
 
 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 101 
 
 ed professions — commerce — agriculture, are 
 now overflowing:. 
 
 LABOR THE SOURCE OF WEALTH. 
 
 The great desideratum in political economy, 
 is the same as in private pursuits ; that is, what 
 is the best application of the aggregate industry 
 of a nation, that can be made honestly to pro- 
 duce the largest sum of national wealth % La- 
 bor is the source of all wealth ; but it is not na- 
 tural labor only. And the fundamental error of 
 the gentleman from Virginia, and of the school 
 to which he belongs, in deducing, from our 
 sparse population, our unfitness for the introduc- 
 tion of the arts, consists in their not sufficiently 
 weighing the importance of the power of ma- 
 chinery. In former times, when but little com- 
 parative use was made of machinery, manual 
 labor, and the price of wages, were circumstan- 
 ces of the greatest consideration. But it is far 
 otheiv is in these latter times. Such are the 
 improvements and the perfection of machinery, 
 that, in analyzing the compound value of many 
 fabrics, the element of natural labor is so incon- 
 siderable as almost to escape detection. This 
 truth is demonstrated by many facts. Formerly, 
 
 Asia, in consequence of the density of her popu- 
 
 9* 
 
102 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 lation, and the consequent lowness of wages, 
 laid Europe under tribute for many of her fab- 
 rics. Now, Europe reacts upon Asia, and Great 
 Britain, in particular, throws back upon her 
 countless millions of people, the rich treasures 
 produced by artificial labor, to a vast amount, 
 infinitely cheaper than they can be manufactured 
 by the natural exertions of that portion of the 
 globe. But Britain is herself the most striking 
 illustration of the immense power of machinery. 
 Upon what other principle can you account for 
 the enormous wealth which she has accumu- 
 lated, and which she annually produces ! A 
 statistical writer of that country, several years 
 ago, estimated the total amount of the artificial 
 or machine labor, of the nation, to be equal to 
 that of one hundred millions of able-bodied 
 laborers. Subsequent estimates of her artificial 
 labor, at the present day, carry it to the enor- 
 mous height of two hundred millions. But the 
 population of the three kingdoms is twenty-one 
 million, five hundred thousand. Supposing that, 
 to furnish able-bodied labor to the amount of 
 four millions, the natural labor will be but two 
 per cent, of the artificial labor. In the produc- 
 tion of wealth she operates, therefore, by a pow- 
 er (including the whole population) of two hun- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 103 
 
 dred and twenty-one million, five hundred thou- 
 sand ; or, in other words, by a power eleven 
 times greater than the total of her natural power. 
 If we suppose the machine labor of the United 
 States to be equal to that of ten millions of able- 
 bodied men, the United States will operate, in 
 the creation of wealth, by a power (including 
 all their population) of twenty millions. 
 
 THE RESOURCES OP ENGLAND. 
 
 In the creation of wealth, therefore, the 
 power of Great Britain, compared to that of the 
 United States, is as eleven to one. That these 
 views are not imaginary, will be, I think, evin- 
 ced, by contrasting the wealth, the revenue, the 
 power of the two countries. Upon what other 
 hypothesis can we explain those almost incredi- 
 ble exertions which Britain made during the 
 late wars of Europe 1 Look at her immense 
 subsidies ! Behold her standing, unaided and 
 alone, and breasting the storm of Napoleon's 
 colossal power, when all continental Europe 
 owned and yielded to its irresistible sway ; and 
 finally contemplate her vigorous prosecution of 
 the war, with and without allies, to its splendid 
 termination, on the ever-memorable field of 
 Waterloo ! The British works, which the gen- 
 
104 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 tleman from Virginia has quoted, portray a state 
 of the most wonderful prosperity, in regard to 
 wealth and resources, that ever was before con- 
 templated. Let us look a little into the semi- 
 official pamphlet, written with great force, clear- 
 ness, and ability, and the valuable work of Lowe, 
 to both of which that gentleman has referred. 
 The revenue of the United Kingdom amounted, 
 during the latter years of the war, to seventy 
 millions of pounds sterling ; and one year it rose 
 to the astonishing height of ninety millions 
 sterling, equal to four hundred millions of dol- 
 lars. This was actual revenue, made up of real 
 contributions from the purses of the people. 
 After the close of the war, ministers slowly and 
 reluctantly reduced the military and naval es- 
 tablishments, and accommodated them to a state 
 of peace. The pride of power, everywhere the 
 same, always unwillingly surrenders any of 
 those circumstances, which display its pomp 
 and exhibit its greatness. Cotemporaneous with 
 this reduction, Britain was enabled to lighten 
 some of the heaviest burdens of taxation, and 
 particularly that most onerous of all, the income 
 tax. In this lowered state, the revenue of peace 
 gradually rising from the momentary depression 
 incident to a transition from war, attained, in 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 105 
 
 1822, the vast amount of fifty-five millions ster- 
 ling, upwards of two hundred and forty millions 
 of dollars, and more than eleven times that of 
 the United States for the same year ; thus indi- 
 cating the difference, which I have suggested, 
 in the respective productive powers of the two 
 countries. The excise alone (collected under 
 twenty-five different heads) amounted to twenty- 
 eight millions, more than one half of the total 
 revenue of the kingdom. This great revenue 
 allows Great Britain to constitute an efficient 
 sinking fund of five millions sterling, being an 
 excess of actual income beyond expenditure, 
 and amounting to more than the entire revenue 
 of the United States. 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 The amount of the contributions which she 
 draws from the pockets of her subjects, is not 
 referred to for imitation, but as indicative of 
 their wealth. The burden of taxation is always 
 relative to the ability of the subjects of it. A 
 poor nation can pay but little. And the heavier 
 taxes of British subjects, for example, in conse- 
 quence of their greater wealth, may be easier 
 borne than the much lighter taxes of Spanish 
 subjects, in consequence of their extreme pover- 
 
106 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 ty. The object of wise governments should be, 
 by sound legislation, so to protect the industry 
 of their own citizens against the policy of foreign 
 powers, as to give to it the most expansive 
 force in the production of wealth. Great Bri- 
 tain has ever acted, and still acts, on this policy. 
 She has pushed her protection of British inter- 
 est farther than any other nation has fostered its 
 industry. The result is, greater wealth among 
 her subjects, and consequently greater ability to 
 pay their public burdens. If their taxation is 
 estimated by their natural labor alone, nominally 
 it is greater than the taxation of the subjects of 
 any other power. But if on a scale of their na- 
 tional and artificial labor compounded, it is less 
 than the taxation of any other people. Estima- 
 ting it on that scale, and assuming the aggregate 
 of the natural and artificial labor of the United 
 Kingdom to be what I have already stated, two 
 hundred and twenty-one million, five hundred 
 thousand, the actual taxes paid by a British sub- 
 ject are only about three and seven pence ster- 
 ling. Estimating our own taxes, on a similar 
 scale, — that is, supposing both descriptions of 
 labor to be equal to that of twenty millions of 
 able-bodied persons,— the amount of tax paid 
 
BEAUTIES OP CLAY. 107 
 
 by each soul in the United States is four and 
 six pence sterling. 
 
 THE NECESSITY OF PROTECTING INDUSTRY. 
 
 The committee will observe, from that table, 
 that the measure of the wealth of a nation is in- 
 dicated by the measure of its protection of its 
 industry ; and that the measure of the poverty of 
 a nation is marked by that of the degree in 
 which it neglects and abandons the care of its 
 own industry, leaving it exposed to the action 
 of foreign powers. Great Britain protects most 
 her industry, and the wealth of Great Britain is 
 consequently the greatest. France is next in 
 the degree of protection, and France is next in 
 the order of wealth. Spain most neglects the 
 duty of protecting the industry of her subjects, 
 and Spain is one of the poorest of European na- 
 tions. Unfortunate Ireland, disinherited, or 
 rendered in her industry subservient to Eng- 
 land, is exactly in the same state of poverty with 
 Spain, measured by the rule of taxation. And 
 the United States are still poorer than either. 
 
 The views of British prosperity, which I have 
 endeavored to present, show that her protecting 
 policy is adapted alike to a state of war and of 
 peace. Self-poised, resting upon her own inter- 
 
XOS BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 nal resources, possessing a home market, care- 
 fully cherished and guarded, she is ever prepa- 
 red for any emergency. We have seen her 
 coming out of a war of incalculable exertion, 
 and of great duration, with her power unbroken, 
 her means undiminished. We have seen, that 
 almost every revolving year of peace has 
 brought along with it an increase of her manu- 
 factures, of her commerce, and, consequently, of 
 her navigation. We have seen that, construct- 
 ing her prosperity upon the solid foundation of 
 her own protecting policy, it is unaffected by 
 the vicissitudes of other states. What is our 
 own condition 1 Depending upon the state of 
 foreign powers — confiding exclusively in a fo- 
 reign, to the culpable neglect of a domestic po- 
 licy — our interests are affected by all their move- 
 ments. Their wars, their misfortunes, are the 
 only source of our prosperity. In their peace, 
 and our peace, we behold our condition the re- 
 verse of that of Great Britain — and all our in- 
 terests, stationary or declining. Peace brings 
 to us none of the blessings of peace. Our sys- 
 tem is anomalous ; alike unfitted to general 
 tranquillity, and to a state of war or peace, on 
 the part of our own country. It can succeed 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 109 
 
 only in the rare occurrence of a general state of 
 war throughout Europe. 
 
 1 am no eulogist of England. I am far from re- 
 commending her systems of taxation. I have ad- 
 verted to them only as manifesting her extraor- 
 dinary ability. The political and foreign inter- 
 ests of that nation may have been, as I believe 
 them to have been, often badly managed. Had 
 she abstained from the wars into which she has 
 been plunged by her ambition, or the mistaken 
 policy of her ministers, the prosperity of Eng- 
 land would, unquestionably, have been much 
 greater. But it may happen that the public 
 liberty, and the foreign relations of a nation, 
 have been badly provided for, and yet that its 
 political economy has been wisely managed. 
 The alacrity or sullenness with which a people 
 pay taxes, depends upon their wealth or pover- 
 ty. If the system of their rulers leads to their 
 impoverishment, they can contribute but little 
 to the necessities of the state ; if to their wealth, 
 they cheerfully and promptly pay the burdens 
 imposed on them. Enormous as British taxa- 
 tion appears to be, in comparison with that of 
 other nations, but really lighter, as it in fact is, 
 
 when we consider its great wealth, and its pow- 
 
 10 
 
110 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 ers of production, that vast amount is collected 
 with the most astonishing regularity. 
 
 THE TARIFF. 
 
 And what is this tariff 1 It seems to have 
 been regarded as a sort of monster, huge and 
 deformed — a wild beast, endowed with tremen- 
 dous powers of destruction, about to be let loose 
 among our people — if not to devour them, at 
 least to consume their substance. But let us 
 calm our passions, and deliberately survey this 
 alarming, this terrific being. The sole object 
 of the tariff is to tax the produce of foreign in- 
 dustry, with the view of promoting American 
 industry. The tax is exclusively levelled at 
 foreign industry That is the avowed and the 
 direct purpose of the tariff. If it subjects any 
 part of American industry to burdens, that is an 
 effect not intended, but is altogether incidental, 
 and perfectly voluntary. 
 
 THE ADVANTAGES OF A FRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 
 
 But, according to the opponents of the do- 
 mestic policy, the proposed system will force 
 capital and labor into new and reluctant employ- 
 ments ; we are not prepared, in consequence of 
 the high price of wages, for the successful es- 
 tablishment of manufactures, and we must fail in 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. ill 
 
 the experiment. We have seen, that the ex- 
 isting occupations of our society, those of agri- 
 culture, commerce, navigation, and the learned 
 professions, are overflowing with competitors, 
 and that the want of employment is severely 
 felt. Now what does this bill propose ] To 
 open a new and extensive field of business, in 
 which all that choose may enter. There is no 
 compulsion upon any one to engage in it. An 
 option only is given to industry, to continue in 
 the present unprofitable pursuits, or to embark 
 in a new and promising one. The effect will 
 be to lessen the competition in the old branches 
 of business, and to multiply our resources for 
 increasing our comforts, and augmenting the 
 national wealth. The alleged fact of the high 
 price of wages is not admitted. The truth is, 
 that no class of society suffers more, in the pre- 
 sent stagnation of business, than the laboring 
 class. That is a necessary effect of the depres- 
 sion of agriculture, the principal business of 
 the community. The wages of able-bodied men 
 vary from five to eight dollars per month ; and 
 such has been the want of employment, in some 
 parts of the union, that instances have not been 
 unfrequent, of men working merely for the 
 means of present subsistence. If the wages for 
 
112 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 labor here and in England are compared, they 
 will be found not to be essentially different. I 
 agree with the honorable gentleman from Vir- 
 ginia, that high wages are a proof of national 
 prosperity ; we differ orrly in the means by 
 which that desirable end should be attained. 
 But, if the fact were true, that the wages of 
 labor are high, I deny the correctness of the 
 argument founded upon it. The argument as- 
 sumes that natural labor is the principal element 
 in the business of manufacture. r l hat was the 
 ancient theory. But the valuable inventions 
 and vast improvements in machinery, which 
 have been made within a few past years, have 
 produced a new era in the arts. The effect 
 of this change, in the powers of production, 
 may be estimated from what I have already 
 stated, in relation to England, and to the tri- 
 umphs of European artificial labor over the 
 natural labor of Asia. In considering the fit- 
 ness of a nation for the establishment of manu- 
 factures, we must no longer limit our views to 
 the state of its population, and the price of 
 wao-es. All circumstances must be regarded, 
 
 O '~ J 
 
 of which that is, perhaps, the least important. 
 Capital, ingenuity in the construction, and 
 adroitness in the use of machinery, and the pos- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 113 
 
 session of the raw materials, are those which 
 deserve the greatest consideration. All these 
 circumstances, (except that of capital, of which 
 there is no deficiency,) exist in our country in 
 an eminent degree, and more than counter- 
 balance the disadvantage, if it really existed, of 
 the lower wages of labor in Great Britain. 
 The dependence upon foreign nations for the 
 raw material of any great manufacture, has 
 been ever considered as a discouraging fact. 
 The state of our population is peculiarly favor- 
 able to the most extensive introduction of ma- 
 chinery. We have no prejudices to combat, 
 no persons to drive out of employment. The 
 pamphlet, to which we have had occasion so 
 often to refer, in enumerating the causes which 
 have broug-ht in Eng-land their manufactures to 
 such a state of perfection, and which now en- 
 able them, in the opinion of the writer, to defy 
 all competition, does not specify, as one of 
 them, low wages. It assigns three — first, capi- 
 tal ; secondly, extent and costliness of machi- 
 nery ; and, thirdly, steady and persevering in- 
 dustry. Notwithstanding the concurrence of so 
 many favorab'e causes, in our country, for the 
 introduction of the arts, we are earnestly dis- 
 suaded from making the experiment, and our 
 10* 
 
1 14 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 ultimate failure is confidently predicted. Why 
 should we fail 1 Nations, like men, fail in no- 
 thing which they boldly attempt, when sustained 
 by virtuous purpose, and firm resolution. I am 
 not willing to admit this depreciation of Ameri- 
 can skill and enterprise. I am not willing to 
 strike before an effort is made. All our past 
 history exhorts us to proceed, and inspires us 
 with animating hopes of success. Past predic- 
 tions of our incapacity have failed, and present 
 predictions will not be realized. At the com- 
 mencement of this government, we were told that 
 the attempt would be idle to construct a marine 
 adequate to the commerce of the country, or 
 even to the business of its coasting trade. The 
 founders of our government did not listen to 
 these discouraging councils ; and, behold the 
 fruits of their just comprehension of our re- 
 sources ! Our restrictive policy was denoun- 
 ced, and it was foretold that it would utterly 
 disappoint all our expectations. But our re- 
 strictive policy has been eminently successful ; 
 and the share, which our navigation now enjoys 
 in the trade with France, and with the British 
 West India islands, attest its victory. What 
 were not the disheartening predictions of the 
 opponents of the late war 1 Defeat, discomfi- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 115 
 
 ture, and disgrace, were to be the certain, bill 
 not the worst, effect of it. Here, again, did 
 piophesy prove false ; and the energies of our 
 country, and the valor and the patriotism of our 
 people, carried us gloriously through the war. 
 "We are now, and ever will be, essentially, an 
 agricultural people. Without a material change 
 in the fixed habits of the country, the friends of 
 this measure desire to draw to it, as a power- 
 ful auxiliary to its industry, the manufacturing 
 arts. The difference between a nation with 
 and without the arts, may be conceived, by the 
 difference between a keel-boat and a steam- 
 boat, combating the rapid torrent of the Missis- 
 sippi. How slow does the former ascend, hug- 
 ging the sinuosities of the shore, pushed on by 
 her hardy and exposed crew, now throwing 
 themselves in vigorous concert on their oars, 
 and then seizing the pendent boughs of over- 
 hanging trees : she seems hardly to move ; and 
 her scanty cargo is scarcely worth the transport- 
 ation ! With what ease is she not passed by 
 the steam-boat, laden with the riches from all 
 quarters of the world, with a crowd of gay, 
 cheerful, and protected passengers, now dashing 
 into the midst of the current, or gliding through 
 the eddies near the shore ! Nature herself 
 
HG BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 seems to survey, with astonishment, the passing 
 wonder, and in silent submission, reluctantly to 
 own the magnificent triumphs, in her own vast 
 dominion, of Fulton's immortal genius ! 
 
 THE ADVANCE OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 The gentleman from Virginia sought to alarm 
 us by the awful emphasis with which he set be- 
 fore us the total extent of post roads in the union. 
 Eighty thousand miles of post roads ! exclaimed 
 the gentleman : and will you assert for the gene- 
 ral government jurisdiction, and erect turnpikes, 
 on such an immense distance 1 Not to-day, nor 
 to-morrow ; but this government is to last, I 
 trust, forever : we may at least hope it will en- 
 dure until the wave of population, cultivation, 
 and intelligence, shall have washed the Rocky 
 Mountains and mingled with the Pacific. And 
 may we not also hope that the day will arrive 
 when the improvements and the comforts of so- 
 cial life shall spread over the wide surface of this 
 vast continent 1 All this is not to be suddenly 
 done. Society must not be burdened or op- 
 pressed. Things must be gradual and progres- 
 sive. The same species of formidable array 
 which the gentleman makes, might be exhibited 
 in reference to the construction of a navy, or any 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 117 
 
 other of the great purposes of government. We 
 might be told of the fleets and vessels of great 
 maritime powers, which whiten the ocean ; and 
 triumphantly asked if we should vainly attempt 
 to cope with or rival that tremendous power ] 
 And we should shrink from the effort, if we were 
 to listen to his counsels, in hopeless despair. 
 Yes, sir, it is a subject of peculiar delight to me 
 to look forward to the proud and happy period, 
 distant as it may be, when circulation and asso- 
 ciation between the Atlantic and Pacific and the 
 Mexican gulf, shall be as free and as perfect as 
 they are at this moment in England, or in any 
 other the most highly improved country on the 
 globe. In the meantime, without bearing hea- 
 vily upon any of our important interests, let us 
 apply ourselves to the accomplishment of what 
 is most practicable and immediately necessary. 
 
 THE POWERS OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Of all the powers bestowed on this govern- 
 ment, I think none are more clearly vested, than 
 that to regulate the distribution of the intelli- 
 gence, private and official, of the country ; to 
 regulate the distribution of its commerce ; and 
 to regulate the distribution of the physical force 
 of the union. In the execution of the high and 
 solemn trust which these beneficial powers im- 
 
118 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 ply, we must look to the great ends which the 
 framers of our admirable constitution had in 
 view. We must reject, as wholly incompatible 
 with their enlightened and beneficent intentions, 
 that construction of these powers which would 
 resuscitate all the debility and inefficiency of the 
 ancient confederacy. In the vicissitudes of hu- 
 man affairs, who can foresee all the possible 
 cases, in which it may be necessary to apply the 
 public force, within or without the union 1 This 
 government is charged with the use of it, to re- 
 pel invasions, to suppress insurrections, to en- 
 force the laws of the union ; in short, for all the 
 unknown and undefinable purposes of war, fo- 
 reign or intestine, wherever and however it may 
 rage. During its existence, may not govern- 
 ment, for its effectual prosecution, order a road 
 t o be made, or a canal to be cut, to relieve, for 
 example, an exposed point of the union] If, 
 when the emergency comes, there is a power to 
 provide for it, that power must exist in the con- 
 stitution, and not in the emergency. A wise, 
 precautionary, and parental policy, anticipating 
 danger, will beforehand provide for the hour 
 of need. Roads and canals are in the nature 
 of fortifications, since, if not the deposites of 
 military resources, they enable you to bring 
 to rapid action, the military resources of the 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 119 
 
 country, whatever they may be. They are 
 better than any fortifications, because they 
 serve the double purposes of peace and of 
 war. They dispense, in a great degree, with 
 fortifications, since they have all the effect 
 of that concentration, at which fortifications aim. 
 I appeal from the precepts of the President to 
 the practice of the President. While he denies 
 to Congress the power in question, he does not 
 scruple, upon his sole authority, as numerons in- 
 stances in the statute book will testify, to order, 
 at pleasure, the opening of roads by the military, 
 and then come here to ask us to pay for them. 
 Nay, more, sir; a subordinate, but highly respect- 
 able officer of the executive government, I be- 
 lieve, would not hesitate to provide a boat or 
 cause a bridge to be erected over an inconsider- 
 able stream, to ensure the regular transporta- 
 tion of the mail. And it happens to be within 
 my personal knowledge, that the head of the 
 post office department, as a prompt and vigilant 
 officer should do, has recently dispatched an 
 agent to ascertain the causes of the late frequent 
 vexatious failures of the great northern mail, and 
 to inquire if a provision of a boat or bridge over 
 certain small streams in Maryland, which have 
 produced them, would not prevent their recur- 
 rence. 
 
120 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 CLAIMS OF THE WEST. 
 
 If, by one of those awful and terrible dispen- 
 sations of Providence, which sometimes occur, 
 this government should be unhappily annihilated, 
 every where on the seaboard traces of its former 
 existence would be found ; whilst we should not 
 have, in the west, a single monument remaining 
 on which to pour out our affections and our re- 
 grets. Yet, sir, we do not complain. No por- 
 tion of your population is more loyal to the union, 
 than the hardy freemen of the west. Nothing 
 can weaken or eradicate their ardent desire for 
 its lasting preservation. None are more prompt 
 to vindicate the interests and rights of the nation 
 from all foreign aggression. Need I remind you 
 of the glorious scenes in which they participated, 
 during the late war — a war in which they had 
 no peculiar or direct interest, waged for no com- 
 merce, no seamen of theirs. But it was enough 
 for them that it was a war demanded by the cha- 
 racter and the honor of the nation. They did 
 not stop to calculate its cost of blood, or of trea- 
 sure. They flew to arms ; they rushed down the 
 valley of the Mississipi, with all the impetuosi- 
 ty of that noble river. They sought the enemy. 
 They found him at the beach. They fought j 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 121 
 
 they bled ; they covered themselves and their 
 country with immortal glory. They enthusias- 
 tically shared in all the transports occasioned by 
 our victories, whether won on the ocean or on 
 the land. They felt, with the keenest distress, 
 whatever disaster befel us. No, sir, I repeat it, 
 neglect, injury itself, cannot alienate the affec- 
 tions of the west from this government. They 
 cling to it, as to their best, their greatest, their 
 last hope. You may impoverish them, reduce 
 them to ruin, by the mistakes of your policy, and 
 you cannot drive them from you. They do not 
 complain of the expenditure of the public money 
 where the public exigencies require its disburse- 
 ment. But, I put it to your candor, if you ought 
 not, by a generous and national policy, to miti- 
 gate, if not prevent, the evils resulting from the 
 perpetual transfer of the circulating medium from 
 the west to the east. One million and a half of dol- 
 lars, annually, is transferred for the public lands 
 alone : and almost every dollar goes like him who 
 jjoes to death — to a bourne from which no travel- 
 ler returns. In ten years it will amount to fif- 
 teen millions ; in twenty, to but I will not 
 
 pursue the appalling results of arithmetic. Gen- 
 tlemen who believe that these vast sums are sup- 
 plied by emigrants from the east, labor under 
 
 11 
 
122 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 great error. There was a time when the tide 
 of emigration from the east bore along with it 
 the means to effect the purchase of the public 
 domain. But that tide lias, in a great measure, 
 now stopt. And as population advances farther 
 and farther west, it will entirely cease. The 
 greatest migrating states in the union at this 
 time, are Kentucky first, Ohio next, and Tennes- 
 see. The emigrants from those states carry 
 with them, to the states and territories lying be- 
 yond them, the circulating medium, which, being 
 invested in the purchase of the public land, is 
 transmitted to the points where the wants of go- 
 vernment require it. If this debilitating and ex- 
 hausting process were inevitable, it must be 
 borne with manly fortitude. But we think that 
 a fit exertion of the powers of this government 
 would mitigate the evil. We believe that the 
 government incontestibly possesses the constitu- 
 tional power to execute such internal improve- 
 ments as are called for by the good of the whole. 
 And we appeal to your equity, to your parental 
 regard, to your enlightened policy, to perform 
 the high and beneficial trust thus sacredly 
 reposed. I am sensible of the delicacy of the 
 topic to which I have reluctantly adverted, in 
 consequence of the observations of the honora- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 123 
 
 ble gentleman from Virginia. And I hope there 
 will be no misconception of my motives in dwell- 
 ing upon it. A wise and considerate govern- 
 ment slfbuld anticipate and prevent, rather than 
 wait for the operation of causes of discontent. 
 
 STATE OF TIIE COUNTRY. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, — Although it is not entirely 
 compatible with the precautions which are en- 
 joined by the delicate state of my health, to 
 which you have so obligingly alluded, to present 
 myself in this attitude, I cannot refrain from 
 making a public expression to you, and to my 
 fellow citizens here assembled, of my profound 
 acknowledgments for the hearty welcome, and 
 cordial, spontaneous, and enthusiastic manifes- 
 tation of respect and attachment, with which my 
 present visit to your city has been attended. It 
 has been frequently but not less truly said, that 
 the highest reward for public service, is the ap- 
 probation of the public. The support of public 
 opinion is the greatest incentive to the faithful 
 and beneficial discharge of official duty. If, as 
 you have truly suggested, it has been my misfor- 
 tune for several years, to have been abused and 
 assailed without example, I have nevertheless 
 had the satisfaction to have been cheered and 
 
124 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 sustained in all parts of the union, by some of 
 the best and most virtuous men in it. And I 
 seize with pleasure this occasion, to say, that 
 even among my political opponents, many of the 
 moderate and most intelligent, have done me 
 the justice to discredit and discountenance the 
 calumnies of which I have been the object. But 
 no where have I found more constant, ardent, 
 and effective friends, than in this city. I thank 
 them most heartily for all their friendly senti- 
 ments and exertions. 
 
 Whatever may be the issue of the contest 
 which, at present, unhappily divides and dis- 
 tracts our country, I trust that the beneficial sys- 
 tem, to which you have referred, will survive the 
 struggle, and continue to engage the affections, 
 and to cheer and animate the industry, of the 
 people of the United States. It has indeed been 
 recently attacked in another quarter of the union, 
 by some of our fellow citizens, with a harshness 
 and intemperance which must every where ex- 
 cite the patriot's regret. It has been denounced 
 as if it were a new system, that sprung into ex- 
 istence but yesterday, or at least with the present 
 administration, if not during the last session of 
 congress. But it owes i*s origin to a much 
 earlier date. The present administration, though 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 125 
 
 sincerely attached to it, and most anxious for its 
 pieservation, has not the merit of having first 
 proposed or first established it. The manufac- 
 turing system was quickened into existence by 
 the commercial restrictions which preceded the 
 late war with Great Britain, and by that greatest 
 of them all, the war itself. Our wants, no longer 
 supplied from abroad, must have been supplied 
 at home, or we must have been deprived of the 
 necessaries and comforts of civilization, if we 
 had not relapsed into a state of barbarism. The 
 policy of Jefferson and Madison fostered, if it 
 did not create, the manufactures of our country. 
 The peace brought with it a glut of foreign fa- 
 brics, whicli would have prostrated our establish- 
 ments, if government had been capable of un- 
 justly witnessing such a spectacle, without inter- 
 posing its protective power. Protection, there- 
 fore, was not merely called for by the substan- 
 tial independence of our country, but it was a 
 parental duty of government to those citizens 
 who had been tempted by its restrictive policy 
 to embark all their hopes and fortunes in the 
 business of manufacturing. Twelve years ago 
 congress took up the subject, and, after long and 
 mature deliberation, solemnly decided to extend 
 that measure of protection which was alike de- 
 ll* 
 
126 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 manded by sound policy and strict justice. Then 
 the foundations were laid of the American Sys- 
 tem ; and all that has been subsequently done, 
 including- the act of the last session of con- 
 gress, are but the consequences of the policy 
 then deliberately adopted, having for their ob- 
 ject the improvement and perfection- of the great 
 work then began. It is not the least remarkable 
 of the circumstances of these strange times, that 
 some who assisted, in the commencement, who 
 laid corner stones of the edifice, are now ready 
 to pull down and demolish it. 
 
 It is not the fact of the existence of an oppo- 
 sition to the tariff, that can occasion any inqui- 
 etude ; nor that of large and respectable assem- 
 blies of the people, to express their disapproba- 
 tion of the policy, and their firm resolution to 
 consume only the produce of their own industry. 
 These meetings are in the true spirit of our free 
 institutions, and that resolution is in the true 
 spirit of our iVmerican system itself. But what 
 must excite deep regret is, that any persons 
 should allow themselves to speak of open and 
 forcible resistance to the government of their 
 country, and to threaten a dissolution of the 
 union. What is the state of the case ] A great 
 measure of national policy is proposed : it is a 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 127 
 
 subject of discussion for a period of twelve years 
 in the public prints, in popular assemblies, in 
 political circles, and in the congress of the Uni- 
 ted States. That body, after hearing the wishes 
 and wants of all parts of the union, fairly stated 
 by their respective representatives, decides by 
 repeated ?najorities, to adopt the measure. It is 
 accordingly put into successful operation ; impro- 
 ved from time to time, and is rapidly fulfilling 
 all the hopes and expectations of its friends. 
 In this encouraging' condition of things, a small 
 
 CD CD CD 
 
 number of the citizens composing the minority, 
 (for I will not impute to the great body of the 
 minority any such violent purposes,) threaten the 
 employment of force, and the dissolution of the 
 union ! Can any principle be more subversive 
 of all government, or of a tendency more excep- 
 tionable and alarming? It amounts to this, that 
 whenever any portion of the community finds it- 
 self in a minority, in reference to any important 
 act of the government, and by high coloring and 
 pictures of imaginary distress, can persuade it- 
 self that the measui'e is oppressive, that minori- 
 ty may appeal to arms, and, if it can, dissolve the 
 union. Such a principle would reverse the es- 
 tablished maxim of representative government, 
 according to which, the will of the majority 
 
128 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 must prevail. If it were possible that the mi- 
 nority could govern and control, the union may, 
 indeed, as well be dissolved : for it would not 
 then be worth preserving. The conduct of an 
 individual would not be more unwise and suici- 
 dal, who, because of some trifling disease afflict- 
 ing his person, should, in a feverish and fretful 
 moment, resolve to terminate his existence. 
 
 THE UNION. 
 
 Nothing can be more unfair and ridiculous, 
 than to compare any of the acts of the congress 
 of the United States, representing all, and acting 
 for all, to any of the acts of the British parlia- 
 ment, which led to our revolution. The principle 
 on which the colonies receded was, that there 
 should be no taxation without representation. 
 They were not represented in the British par- 
 liament, and to have submitted to taxation would 
 have been to have submitted to slavery, and to 
 have surrendered the most valuable privileges 
 of freemen. If the colonies had been fairly re- 
 presented in the British parliament, and equal 
 taxes, alike applicable to all parts of the British 
 empire, had been imposed by a majority, a case 
 of remote analogy to any act of congress to 
 which a minority is opposed, might be deduced 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 129 
 
 from the history of the revolution. But every 
 state of this confederacy is fairly represented, 
 and has the faculty of being fully heard in the 
 congress of the United States. The representa- 
 tion has been regulated by a joint principle of 
 distribution, the result of a wise spirit of mutual 
 compromise and concession, which I hope never 
 to see disturbed, of which none can justly com- 
 plain, and least of all, those citizens who have 
 resorted to threats of an appeal to arms and 
 
 disunion. 
 
 But there is, I hope and believe, no reason to 
 apprehend the execution of those empty threats. 
 The good sense, the patriotism, and the high 
 character of the people of South Carolina, are 
 sure guarantees for repressing, without aid, any 
 disorders, should any be attempted within her 
 limits. The spirit of Marion, and Pickens, and 
 Sumpter, of the Rutledges, the Pinckneys, and 
 of Lowndes, yet survives, and animates the 
 hio-h minded Carolinians. The Taylors and the 
 Williams's, and their compatriots of the present 
 day, will be able to render a just account of all, 
 if there be any, who shall dare to raise their par- 
 ricidal hands against the peace, the constitution, 
 and the union of the states. Rebuked by public 
 opinion— a sufficient correct! ve— and condemned 
 
130 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 by their own sober reflections, the treasonable 
 purpose will be relinquished, if it were ever se- 
 riously contemplated by any. 
 
 I have no fears for the permanency of our 
 union, whilst our liberties are preserved. It is 
 a tough and strong cord, as all will find who 
 shall presumptuously attempt to break it. It 
 has been competent to suppress all the domes- 
 tic insurrections, and to carry us safely through 
 all the foreign wars with which we have been 
 afflicted since it was formed, and it has come 
 out of each with more strength and greater pro- 
 mise of durability. It is the choicest political 
 blessing which, as a people, we enjoy, and I 
 trust and hope that Providence will permit us 
 to transmit it, unimpaired, to posterity, through 
 endless generations. 
 
 DEFENCE OF SELF. 
 
 Cultivating a farm in Kentucky, and having 
 other objects of private concern, I have found it 
 necessary, both on that account, and the relaxa- 
 tion from official business, indispensable to the 
 preservation of health, annually to visit this 
 quarter of the union, during the period of my 
 connexion with the executive of the United 
 States. In these visits, I have frequently met 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 131 
 
 large portions of my fellow citizens, upon their 
 friendly and pressing invitations. My object 
 has been called in question, and my motives as- 
 sailed. It has been said that my purpose was 
 electioneering. If it be intended to charge^ me 
 with employing improper or dishonorable acts 
 to secure any election, I deny the charge, and 
 disclaim the purpose. I defy my most malig- 
 nant enemies to show that I ever, during any 
 period of my life, resorted to such acts to pro- 
 mote my own election, or that of any other per- 
 son. 1 have availed myself of these assemblies, 
 and of other opportunities, to defend myself 
 against an accusation, publicly made, and a 
 thousand times repeated. I had a right to do 
 this by the immutable laws of self-defence. My 
 addresses to the public, heretofore, have been 
 generally strictly defensive. If they have ever 
 given pain to any of my adversaries, they must 
 reproach themselves with its infliction. There 
 is one way, and but one way, in which they can 
 silence me. My traducers have attributed to 
 me great facility in making a bargain. Whe- 
 ther I possess it or not, there is one bargain 
 which, for their accommodation, I am willing to 
 enter into with them. Tf they will prevail upon 
 their chief to acknowledge that he has been in 
 
132 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 error, and has done me injustice, and if they 
 will cease to traduce and abuse me, 1 will no 
 longer present myself before public assemblies, 
 or in public prints, in my own defence. That 
 is one bargain which I have no expectation of 
 beino- able to conclude; for men who are in a 
 lonsr established line of business, will not volun- 
 tarily quit their accustomed trade, and acknow- 
 ledge themselves bankrupts to honor, decency, 
 and truth. 
 
 Some have persuaded themselves, that they 
 saw in my occasional addresses to the people, 
 incompatibility with the dignity and reserve be- 
 longing to the office I hold. I know not accord- 
 ing to what standard (it can hardly be any ^de- 
 duced from a popular representative govern- 
 ment) these gentlemen have regulated their 
 opinions. True dignity appears to me to be in- 
 dependent of office or station. It belongs to 
 every condition ; but, if there be a difference be- 
 tween private and public life, the more exalted 
 the station, the greater is the obligation of the 
 public functionary, in my humble judgment, to 
 render himself amiable, affable, and accessible. 
 The public officer who displays a natural solici- 
 tude to defend himself against a charge deeply 
 affecting his honor and his character, manifests, 
 
■ 1 
 
 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 133 
 
 at the same time, a just respect for the commu- 
 nity. It is, I think, an erroneous judgment of 
 the nature of office, and its relations, to suppose 
 that it imposes the duty on the officer, of ab- 
 stracting himself from society, and a stiff and 
 stately port. Without, I hope, forgetting what 
 was due to myself, my habit, throughout life, 
 has been that of friendly, free, and frank inter- 
 course with my fellow citizens. I have not 
 thought it necessary to change my personal iden- 
 tity in any of the various offices through which I 
 have passed, or to assume a new character. It 
 may not be easy to draw the line, as to the occa- 
 sions in which a man should remain silent or de- 
 fend himself. In the general, it is better, per- 
 haps, that he should leave his public acts, and 
 the measures which he espouses or carries, to 
 their own vindication ; but if his integrity be 
 questioned, and dishonorable charges, under 
 hio-h and imposing names, be preferred against 
 him, he cannot remain silent without a culpable 
 insensibility to all that is valuable in human life 
 Sir, I feel that I have trespassed too much 
 both upon you and myself. If prudence were a 
 virtue of which I could boast, I should have spa- 
 red both you and me. But I could not deny 
 myself the gratification of expressing my thanks 
 12 
 
134 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 to ray Cincinnati friends, for the numerous in- 
 stances which I have experienced of their kind 
 and respectful consideration. I beg you, sir, 
 and every gentleman here attending, to accept 
 my acknowledgments ; and I especially owe 
 them to the gentlemen of the committee, who 
 did me the honor to meet me at Louisville, and 
 accompany me to this city. Whatever may be 
 my future destiny, whilst my faculties are pre- 
 served, I shall cherish a proud and grateful re- 
 collection of these testimonies of respect and at- 
 tachment. 
 
 DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 
 
 In inculcating the advantages of domestic ma- 
 nufactures, it never entered the head, 1 presume, 
 of any one, to change the habits of the nation 
 from an agricultural to a manufacturing com- 
 munity. No one, I am persuaded, ever thought 
 of converting the plough-share and the sickle in- 
 to the spindle and the shuttle. And yet this is 
 the delusive and erroneous view too often taken 
 of the subject. The opponents of the manufac- 
 turing system transport themselves to the es- 
 tablishments of Manchester and Birmintrham, 
 and dwelling on the indigence, vice, and wretch- 
 edness prevailing there, by pushing it to an ex- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 135 
 
 trcme, argue that its introduction into this country- 
 will necessarily be attended by the same mischie- 
 vous and dreadful consequences. But what is 
 the fact ] That England is a manufacturer of a 
 great part of the world ; and that, even there, 
 the numbers thus employed bear an inconsidera- 
 ble proportion to the whole mass of population. 
 Were we to become the manufacturers of other 
 nations, effects of the same kind might result. 
 But if we limit our efforts by our own wants, 
 the evils apprehended would be found to be chi- 
 merical. The invention and improvement of 
 machinery, for which the present age is so re- 
 markable, dispensing in a great degree with ma- 
 nual labor ; and the employment of those per- 
 sons, who, if we were engaged in the pursuit of 
 agriculture alone, would be either unproductive, 
 or exposed to indolence and immorality, will en- 
 able us to supply our wants without withdraw- 
 ing our attention from agriculture, that first and 
 greatest source of national wealth and happiness. 
 A judicious American farmer, in the household 
 way, manufactures whatever is requisite for his 
 family. He squanders but little in the gewgaws 
 of Europe. He presents in epitome what the 
 nation ousdit to be in extcnso. Their manufac- 
 
 O 
 
 tories should bear the same proportion, and ef- 
 
136 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 feet the same object, in relation to the whole com- 
 munity, which the part of his household employ- 
 ed in domestic manufacturing, bears to the whole 
 family. It is certainly desirable that the ex- 
 ports of the country should continue to be the 
 surplus production of tillage, and not become 
 those of manufacturing establishments. But it 
 is important to diminish our imports — to furnish 
 ourselves with clothing, made by our industry — 
 and to cease to be dependent, for the very coats 
 we wear, upon a foreign and perhaps inimical 
 country. The nation that imports its clothing 
 from abroad, is but little less dependent than if 
 it imported its bread. 
 
 The fallacious course of reasoning urged 
 against domestic manufactures, namely, the dis- 
 tress and servitude produced by those of Eng- 
 land, would equally indicate the propriety of 
 abandoning agriculture itself. Were you to 
 cast your eyes upon the miserable peasantry of 
 Poland, and revert to the days of feudal vassal- 
 age, you might thence draw numerous argu- 
 ments of the kind now under consideration 
 against the pursuits of the husbandman ! What 
 would become of commerce, the favorite theme 
 of some gentlemen, if assailed with this sort of 
 weapon ] The fraud, perjury, cupidity, and cor- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. I37 
 
 ruption with which it is unhappily too often at- 
 tended, would at once produce its overthrow. 
 In short, sir, take the black side of the picture, 
 and every human occupation will be found preg- 
 nant with fatal objections. 
 
 The opposition to manufacturing institutions 
 recalls to my recollection the case of a gen- 
 tleman, of whom I have heard. He had been in 
 the habit of supplying his table from a neigh- 
 boring cook and confectioner's shop, and pro- 
 posed to his wife a reform, in this particular. 
 She revolted at the idea. The sight of a scul- 
 lion was dreadful, and her delicate nerves could 
 not bear the clattering of kitchen furniture. 
 The gentleman persisted in his design ; his ta- 
 ble was thenceforth cheaper and better supplied, 
 and his neighbor, the confectioner, lost one of 
 his best customers. In like manner, Dame Com- 
 merce will oppose domestic manufactures. She 
 is a flirting, flippant, noisy jade, and if we 
 are governed by her phantasies, we shall never 
 put off the muslins of India and the cloths of 
 Europe. But I trust that the yeomanry of the 
 country, the true and genuine landlords of this 
 tenement, called the United States, disregarding 
 her freaks, will persevere in reform, until the 
 
 12* 
 
138 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 whole national family is furnished by itself with 
 the clothing necessary for its own use. 
 
 It is a subject no less of curiosity than of in- 
 terest, to trace the prejudices in favor of foreign 
 fabrics. In our colonial condition, we were in a 
 complete state of dependence on the parent 
 country, as it respected manufactures, as well 
 as commerce. For many years after the war, 
 such was the partiality for her productions, in 
 this country, that a gentleman's head could not 
 withstand the influence of solar heat, unless co- 
 vered with a London hat — his feet could not bear 
 the pebbles, or frost, unless protected by Lon- 
 don shoes — and the comfort or ornament of 
 his person was only consulted when his coat was 
 cut out by the shears of a tailor " just from Lon- 
 don." At length, however, the wonderful dis- 
 covery has been made, that it is not absolutely 
 beyond the reach of American skill and inge- 
 nuity, to provide these articles, combining with 
 equal elegance, greater durability. And I en- 
 tertain no doubt that, in a short time, the no 
 less important fact will be developed, that the 
 domestic manufactories of the United States, 
 fostered by government, and aided by household 
 exertions, are fully competent to supply us with 
 at least every necessary article of clothing. I 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 139 
 
 therefore, sir, for one, (to use the fashionable 
 cant of the day,) am in favor of encouraging 
 them, not to the extent to which they are car- 
 ried in England, but to such an extent as will 
 redeem us entirely from all dependence on fo- 
 reign countries. There is a pleasure — a pride, 
 (if I may be allowed the expression, and I pity 
 those who cannot feel the sentiment,) in being 
 clad in the productions of our own families. 
 Others may prefer the cloths of Leeds and of 
 London, but give me those of Humphreysville. 
 
 NATIONAL SPIRIT. 
 
 Are you prepared to see a foreign power 
 seize what belongs to us 1 I have heard in the 
 most credible manner that, about the period 
 when the President took his measures in rela- 
 tion to that country, agents of a foreign power 
 were intriguing with the people there, to induce 
 them to come under his dominion ; but whether 
 this be the fact or not, it cannot be doubted, 
 that if you neglect the present auspicious mo- 
 ment — if you reject the proffered boon, some 
 other nation, profiting by your errors, will seize 
 the occasion to get a fatal footing in your south- 
 ern frontier. I have no hesitation in saying, 
 that if a parent country will not or cannot main- 
 
140 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 tain its authority in a colony adjacent to us, and 
 there exists in it a state of misrule and disorder, 
 menacing our peace, and if moreover such co- 
 lony, by passing into the hands of any other 
 power, would become dangerous to the integrity 
 of the union, and manifestly tend to the subver- 
 sion of our laws ; we have a right upon the eternal 
 principles of self-preservation, to lay hold upon 
 it. This principle alone, independent of any 
 title, would warrant our occupation of West 
 Florida. But it is not necessary to resort to it, 
 our title being in my judgment incontestibly 
 good. We are told of the vengeance of resus- 
 citated Spain. If Spain, under any modifica- 
 tion of her government, chooses to make war 
 upon us, for the act under consideration, the na- 
 tion, I have no doubt, will be willing to embark 
 in such a contest. But the gentleman reminds 
 us that Great Britian, the ally of Spain, may be 
 obliged, by her connexion with that country, to 
 take part with her against us, and to consider 
 this measure of the President as justifying an 
 appeal to arms. Sir, is the time never to arrive 
 when we may manage our own affairs without 
 the fear of insulting His Britannic Majesty ] Is 
 the rod of British power to be forever suspend- 
 ed over our heads 1 Does congress put on 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 141 
 
 an embargo to shelter our rightful commerce 
 against the piratical depredations committed up- 
 on it on the ocean ? We are immediately warn- 
 ed of the indignation of offended England. Is 
 a law of non-intercourse proposed 1 The whole 
 navy of the haughty mistress of the seas is 
 made to thunder in our ears. Does the Presi- 
 dent refuse to continue a correspondence with a 
 minister who violates the decorum belonging to 
 his diplomatic character, by giving and deliber- 
 ately repeating an affront to the whole nation 1 
 We are instantly menaced with the chastise- 
 ment which English pride will not fail to inflict. 
 Whether we assert our rights by sea or attempt 
 their maintenance by land — whithersoever we 
 turn ourselves, this phantom incessantly pursues 
 us. Already has it had too much influence on 
 the councils of the nation. It contributed to 
 the repeal of the embargo — that dishonorable 
 repeal, which has so much tarnished the charac- 
 ter of our government. 
 
 THE POWER OF WEALTH. 
 
 The power of a nation is said to consist in 
 the sword and the purse. Perhaps at last al* 
 power is resolvable into that of the purse, for 
 with it you may command almost every thing 
 
142 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 else. The specie circulation of the United 
 States is estimated by some calculators at ten 
 millions of dollars, and if it be no more, one 
 moiety is in the vaults of this bank. May not the 
 time arrive, when the concentration of such a 
 vast portion of the circulating medium of the 
 country in the hands of any corporation, will be 
 dangerous to our liberties'? By whom is this 
 immense power wielded 1 By a body, who, in 
 derogation of the great principle of all our in- 
 stitutions, responsibility to the people, is ame- 
 nable only to a few stockholders, and they chiefly 
 foreigners. Suppose an attempt to subvert this 
 government — would not the traitor first aim by 
 force or corruption to acquire the treasure of 
 this company % Look at it in another aspect. 
 Seven tenths of its capital are in the hands of 
 foreigners, and these foreigners chiefly English 
 subjects. We are possibly on the eve of a 
 rupture with that nation. Should such an event 
 occur, do you apprehend that the English pre- 
 mier would experience any difficulty in obtain- 
 \w<y the entire control of this institution ? Re- 
 publics, above all other governments, ought most 
 seriously to guard against foreign influence. All 
 history proves that the internal dissensions ex- 
 cited by foreign intrigue, have produced the 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 143 
 
 downfall of almost every free government that 
 has hitherto existed ; and yet, gentlemen contend 
 that we are benefited by the possession of this 
 foreign capital ! If we could have its use, with- 
 out its attending abuse, I should be gratified 
 also. But it is in vain to expect the one with- 
 out the other. Wealth is power, and, under 
 whatsoever form it exists, its proprietor, whether 
 he lives on this or the other side of the Atlantic, 
 will have a "proportionate influence. It is ar- 
 gued, that our possession of this English capital 
 gives us a great influence over the British go- 
 vernment. If this reasoning be sound, we had 
 better revoke the interdiction as to aliens hold- 
 ing land, and invite foreigners to engross the 
 whole property, real and personal, of the coun- 
 try. We had better at once exchange the con- 
 dition of independent proprietors for that of 
 stewards. We should then be able to govern 
 foreign nations, according to the reasoning of 
 the gentlemen on the other side. But let us put 
 aside this theory, and appeal to the decisions of 
 experience. Go to the other side of the Atlan- 
 tic, and see what has been achieved for us there, 
 by Englishmen holding seven tenths of the capi- 
 t al of this bank. Has it released from galling 
 and ignominious bondage one solitary American 
 
144 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 seaman, bleeding under British oppression ] Did 
 it prevent the unmanly attack upon the Chesa- 
 peake 1 Did it arrest the promulgation, or has 
 it abrogated the orders in council — those orders 
 which have given birth to a new era in com- 
 merce 1 In spite of all its boasted effect, are 
 not the two nations brought to the very brink of 
 war] Are we quite sure, that on this side of 
 the water, it has had no effect favorable to Bri- 
 tish interests. 
 
 NECESSITY OF A NAVAL FORCE. 
 
 The shepherd and his faithful dog are not 
 more necessary to guard the flocks that browze 
 and gambol on the neighbouring mountain. He 
 considered the prosperity of foreign commerce 
 indissolubly allied to marine power Neglect 
 to provide the one, and you must abandon the 
 other. Suppose the expected war with Eng- 
 land is commenced, you enter and subjugate 
 Canada, and she still refuses to do you justice 
 — what other possible mode will remain to 
 operate on the enemy but upon that element 
 where alone you can then come in contract 
 with him ? And if you do not prepare to pro- 
 tect there your own commerce and to assail his, 
 will he not sweep from the ocean every vessel 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 145 
 
 bearing your flag, and destroy even the coasting 
 trade 1 But from the arguments of gentlemen, 
 it would seem to be questioned if foreign com- 
 merce is worth the kind of protection insisted 
 upon. What is this foreign commerce that has 
 suddenly become so inconsiderable ? It has, 
 with very trifling aid from other sources, de- 
 frayed the expenses of government ever since 
 the adoption of the present constitution — main- 
 tained an expensive and successful war with 
 the Indians — a war with the Barbary powers — 
 a quasi war with France — sustained the charges 
 of suppressing two insurrections, and extinguish- 
 ing upwards of forty-six millions of the public 
 debt. In revenue it has, since the year 17S9, 
 yielded one hundred and ninety-one millions of 
 dollars. During the first four years after the 
 commencement of the present government, the 
 revenue averaged only about two millions annu- 
 ally — during a subsequent period of four years, 
 it rose to an average of fifteen millions annually, 
 or became equivalent to a capital of two hun- 
 dred and fifty millions of dollars, at an interest 
 of six per centum per annum. And if our com- 
 merce is re-established it will, in the course of 
 time, nett a sum for which we are scarcely fur- 
 nished with figures in arithmetic. Taking the 
 13 
 
146 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 average of the last nine years, (comprehending 
 of course the season of the embargo,) our ex- 
 ports average upwards of thirty-seven millions 
 of dollars, which is equivalent to a capital of 
 more than six hundred millions of dollars at six 
 per centum interest, all of which must be lost 
 in the event of a destruction of foreign com- 
 merce. In the abandonment of that commerce, 
 is also involved the sacrifice of our brave tars, 
 who have engaged in the pursuit from which 
 they derive subsistence and support, under the 
 confidence that government would afford them 
 that just protection which is due to all. They 
 will be driven into foreign employment, for it 
 is vain to expect that they will renounce their 
 habits of life. 
 
 POLICY OF SPAIN. 
 
 Three hundred years ago, upon the ruins of 
 the thrones of Montezuma and the Incas of Pe- 
 ru, Spain erected the most stupendous system 
 of colonial despotism that the world has ever 
 seen : the most vigorous, the most exclusive. 
 The great principle and object of this system, 
 has been to render one of the largest portions 
 of the world exclusively subservient, in all its 
 faculties, to the interests of an inconsiderable 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 147 
 
 spot in Europe. To effectuate this aim of her 
 policy, she locked up Spanish America from all 
 the rest of the world, and prohibited, under the 
 severest penalties, any foreigner from entering 
 any part of it. To keep the natives themselves 
 ignorant of each other, and of the strength and 
 resources of the several parts of her American 
 possessions, she next prohibited the inhabitants 
 of one vice-royalty or government from visiting 
 those of another; so that the inhabitants of Mexi- 
 co, for example, were not allowed to enter the 
 vice-royalty of New Grenada. The agriculture 
 of those vast regions was so regulated and re- 
 strained, as to prevent all collision with the in- 
 terests of the agriculture of the peninsula. Where 
 nature, by the character and composition of the 
 soil, had commanded, the abominable system of 
 Spain has forbidden, the growth of certain arti- 
 cles. Thus, the olive and the vine, to which 
 Spanish America is so well adapted, are prohi- 
 bited, wherever their culture could interfere with 
 the olive and the vine of the peninsula. The 
 commerce of the country, in the direction and 
 objects of the exports and imports, is also sub- 
 jected to the narrow and selfish views of Spain, 
 and fettered by the odious spirit of monopoly 
 existing in Cadiz. She has sought, by scatter- 
 
148 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 ing discord among the several castes of her Ame- 
 rican population, and by a debasing- course of 
 education, to perpetuate her oppression. "What- 
 ever concerns public law, or the science of go- 
 vernment, all writers upon political economy, or 
 that tend to give vigor and freedom and expan- 
 sion to the intellect, are prohibited. Gentlemen 
 would be astonished by the long list of distin- 
 guished authors whom she proscribes, to be 
 found in Depon's and other works. A main fea- 
 ture in her policy, is that which constantly ele- 
 vates the European and depresses the American 
 character. Out of upwards of seven hundred 
 and fifty viceroys and captains general, whom 
 she has appointed since the conquest of America, 
 about eighteen only have been from the body of 
 the American population. On all occasions, she 
 seeks to raise and promote her European sub- 
 jects, and to degrade and humiliate the Creoles. 
 Wherever in America her sway extends, every 
 thing seems to pine and wither beneath its bane- 
 ful influence. The richest regions of the earth ; 
 man, his happiness and his education, all the fine 
 faculties of his soul, are regulated and modified 
 and moulded to suit the execrable purposes of 
 an inexorable despotism. 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 149 
 
 NECESSITY OF DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 
 
 The wants of man may be classed under three 
 great heads— food, raiment, and defence. They 
 are felt alike in the state of barbarism and of 
 civilization. He must be defended against the 
 ferocious beasts of prey in the one condition, 
 and against the ambition, violence, and injustice 
 incident to the other. If he seeks to obtain a 
 supply of those wants without giving an equiva- 
 lent, he is a beggar or a robber ; if by promising 
 an equivalent which he cannot give, he is fraud- 
 ulent ; and if, by a commerce, in which there is 
 perfect freedom on his side, whilst he meets with 
 nothing but restrictions on the other, he submits 
 to an unjust and degrading inequality. What is 
 true of individuals is equally so of nations. 
 The country, then, which relies upon foreign 
 nations for either of those great essentials, is not, 
 in fact, independent. Nor is it any consolation 
 for our dependence upon other nations, that 
 they also are dependent upon us, even were it 
 true. Every nation should anxiously endeavor 
 to establish its absolute independence, and con- 
 sequently be able to feed and clothe and defend 
 itself. If it rely upon a foreign supply, that 
 may be cut off by the caprice of the nation yield- 
 13* 
 
1/30 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 ing it, by war with it, or even by war with other 
 nations, it cannot be independent. But it is not 
 true that any other nations depend upon us in 
 a degree any thing like equal to that of our de- 
 pendence upon them, for the great necessaries 
 to which I have referred. Every other nation 
 seeks to supply itself with them from its own re- 
 sources ; and so strong is the desire which they 
 feel to accomplish this purpose, that they ex- 
 clude the cheaper foreign article for the dearer 
 home production. Witness the English policy 
 in regard to corn. So selfish, in this respect, is 
 the conduct of other powers, that, in some in- 
 stances, they even prohibit the produce of the 
 industry of their own colonies, when it comes 
 into competition with the produce of the parent 
 country. All other countries but our own ex- 
 clude, by high duties, or absolute prohibitions, 
 whatever they can respectively produce within 
 themselves. The truth is, and it is in vain to 
 disguise it, that we are a sort of independent 
 colonies of England — politically free, commer- 
 cially slaves. Gentlemen tell us of the advan- 
 tages of a free exchange of the produce of the 
 world. But they tell us of what has never 
 existed, does not exist, and perhaps never will 
 exist. They invoke us to give perfect freedom 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 15J 
 
 on our side, whilst, in the ports of every other 
 nation, we are met with a code of odious re- 
 strictions, shutting out entirely a great part of 
 our produce, and letting in only so much as they 
 cannot possibly do without. I will hereafter 
 examine their favorite maxim, of leaving things 
 to themselves, more particularly. At present I 
 will only say, that I too am a friend to free 
 trade, but it must be a free trade of perfect re- 
 ciprocity. If the governing consideration were 
 cheapness, if national independence were to 
 weigh nothing ; if honor nothing ; why not sub- 
 sidize foreign powers to defend us 1 why not 
 hire Swiss or Hessian mercenaries to protect 
 us 1 why not get our arms of all kinds, as we 
 do in part the blankets and clothing of our 
 soldiers, from abroad] We should probably 
 consult economy by these dangerous expedients. 
 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 We are reproached with doing mischief by 
 the agitation of this question. The society goes 
 into no household to disturb its domestic tran- 
 quillity ; it addresses itself to no slaves to weak- 
 en their obligations of obedience. It seeks to 
 affect no man's property. It neither has the 
 power nor the will to affect the property of any 
 
I'jO BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 one contrary to his consent. The execution of 
 its scheme would augment instead of diminish- 
 ing the value of the property left behind. The 
 society, composed of free men, concerns itself 
 only with the free. Collateral consequences we 
 are not responsible for. It is not this society 
 which has produced the great moral revolution 
 which the age exhibits. What would they, who 
 thus reproach us, have done 1 If they would 
 repress all tendencies towards liberty and ulti- 
 mate emancipation, they must do more than put 
 down the benevolent efforts of this society. 
 They must go back to the era of our liberty and 
 independence, and muzzle the cannon which 
 thunders its annual joyous return. They must 
 revive the 3lave trade, with all its train of atro- 
 cities. They must suppress the workings of Bri- 
 tish philanthropy, seeking to meliorate the con- 
 dition of the unfortunate West Indian slaves. 
 Thpy must arrest the career of South American 
 deliverance from thraldom. They must blow 
 out the m >ral lights around us, and extinguish 
 that greatest torch of all which America presents 
 to a benighted world, pointing the way to their 
 rights, their liberties, and their happiness. And 
 when they have achieved all these purposes, 
 their work will be yet incomplete. They must 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 153 
 
 penetrate the human soul, and eradicate the light 
 of reason and the love of liberty. Then, and 
 not till then, when universal darkness and de- 
 spair prevail, can you perpetuate slavery, and 
 repress all sympathies, and all humane and be- 
 nevolent efforts among freemen, in behalf of the 
 unhappy portion of our race doomed to bond- 
 age. 
 
 Animated by the encouragement of the past, 
 let us proceed under the cheering prospects 
 which lie before us. Let us continue to appeal 
 to the pious, the liberal, and the wise. Let us 
 bear in mind the condition of our forefathers, 
 when collected on the beach of England, they 
 embarked, amidst the scoffings, and the false 
 predictions of the assembled multitude, for this 
 distant land ; and here, in spite of all the perils 
 of forest and ocean, which they encountered, 
 successfully laid the foundations of this glorious 
 republic. Undismayed by the prophecies of the 
 presumptuous, let us supplicate the aid of the 
 American representatives of the people, and re- 
 doubling our labors, and invoking the blessinp-s 
 of an all-wise Providence, I boldly and confi- 
 dently anticipate success. I hope the resolution 
 which I offer will be unanimously adopted. 
 
154 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 COLONIZATION. 
 
 The object of the society was the colonization 
 of the free colored people, not the slaves, of the 
 country. Voluntary in its institution, voluntary 
 in its continuance, voluntary in all its ramifica- 
 tions, all its means, purposes, and instruments, 
 are also voluntary. But it was said that no free 
 colored persons could be prevailed upon to 
 abandon the comforts of civilized life, and ex- 
 pose themselves to all the perils of a settlement 
 in a distant, inhospitable, and savage country ; 
 that, if they could be induced to go on such a 
 quixotic expedition, no territory could be pro- 
 cured for their establishment as a colonv ; that 
 the plan was altogether incompetent to effectu- 
 ate its professed object ; and that it ought to be 
 rejected as the idle dream of visionary enthusi- 
 asts. The society has outlived, thank God, all 
 these disastrous predictions. It has survived to 
 swell the list of false prophets. It is no longer 
 a question of speculation whether a colony can 
 or cannot be planted from the United States, of 
 free persons of color, on the shores of Africa. It 
 is a matter demonstrated ; such a colony, in fact, 
 exists, prospers, has made successful war, and 
 honorable peace, and transacts all the multiplied 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 155 
 
 business of a civilized and Christian community. 
 It now has about five hundred souls, disciplined 
 troops, forts, and other means of defence, sove- 
 reignty over an extensive territory, and exerts a 
 powerful and salutary influence over the neigh- 
 boring clans. 
 
 Numbers of the free African race among us 
 are willing to go to Africa. The society has 
 never experienced any difficulty on that subject, 
 except that its means of comfortable transporta- 
 tion have been inadequate to accommodate all 
 who have been anxious to migrate. Why should 
 they not go ? Here they are in the lowest state 
 of social gradation — aliens — political — moral — 
 social aliens, strangers, though natives. There, 
 they would be in the midst of their friends and 
 their kindred, at home, though born in a foreign 
 land, and elevated above the natives of the coun- 
 try, as much as they are degraded here below 
 the other classes of the community. But on this 
 matter, I am happy to have it in my power to 
 furnish indisputable evidence from the most au- 
 thentic source, that of large numbers of free per- 
 sons of color themselves. Numerous meetings 
 have been held in several churches in Baltimore, 
 of the free people of color, in which, after being 
 organized as deliberative assemblies, by the ap- 
 
15G BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 pointment of a chairman, (if not of the same 
 complexion,) presiding as you, Mr. Vice-presi- 
 dent, do, and secretaries, they have voted me- 
 morials addressed to the white people, in which 
 they have argued the question with an ability, 
 moderation, and temper, surpassing any that I can 
 command, and emphatically recommended the 
 colony of Liberia to favorable consideration, as 
 the most desirable and practicable scheme ever 
 yet presented on this interesting subject. I ask 
 permission of the society to read this highly cre^ 
 ditable document. 
 
 [Here Mr. Clay read the memorial referred 
 to.] 
 
 The society has experienced no difficulty in 
 the acquisition of a territory, upon reasonable 
 terms, abundantly sufficient for a most extensive 
 colony. And land in ample quantities, it has 
 ascertained, can be procured in Africa, together 
 with all rights of sovereignty, upon conditions 
 as favorable as those on which the United States 
 extinguish the Indian title to territory within 
 their own limits. 
 
 In respect to the alleged incompetency of the 
 scheme to accomplish its professed object, the 
 society asks that that object should be taken to 
 be, not what the imaginations of its enemies re- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 157 
 
 present it to be, but what it really proposes. 
 They represent that the purpose of the society 
 is to export the whole African population of the 
 United States, bond and free ; and they pro- 
 nounce this design to be unattainable. They 
 declare that the means of the whole country are 
 insufficient to effect the transportation to Africa 
 of a mass of population approximating to two 
 millions of souls. Agreed : but that is not what 
 the society contemplates. They have substi- 
 tuted their own notion for that of the society. 
 What is the true nature of the evil of the exist- 
 ence of a portion of the African race in our popu- 
 lation ? It is not that there are so??ie, but that 
 there are so many among us of a different caste* 
 of a different physical, if not moral, constitution, 
 who never can amalgamate with the great body 
 of our population. In every country, persons 
 are to be found varying in their color, origin, 
 and character, from the native mass. But this 
 anomaly creates no inquietude or apprehension, 
 because the exotics, from the smallhess of their 
 number, are known to be utterly incapable of 
 disturbing the general tranquillity. Here, on 
 the contrary, the African part of our population 
 bears so large a proportion to the residue of Eu- 
 ropean origin, as to create the most lively appre- 
 
 14 
 
158 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 hension, especially in some quarters of the union. 
 Any project, therefore, by which, in a material 
 degree, the dangerous element in the general 
 mass, can be diminished or rendered stationary, 
 deserves deliberate consideration. 
 
 The colonization society has never imagined 
 it to be practicable, or within the reach of any 
 means which the several governments of the 
 union could bring to bear on the subject, to trans- 
 port the whole of the African race within the 
 limits of the United States. Nor is that neces- 
 sary to accomplish the desirable objects of do- 
 mestic tranquillity, and render us one homogene- 
 ous people. The population of the United 
 States has been supposed to duplicate in periods 
 of twenty-five years. That may have been the 
 case heretofore, but the terms of duplication 
 will be more and more protracted as we advance 
 in national age ; and 1 do not believe that it will 
 be found, in any period to come, that our num- 
 bers will be doubled in a less term than one of 
 about thirty-three and a third years. I have not 
 time to enter now into details in support of this 
 opinion. They would consist of those checks 
 which experience has shown to obstruct the pro- 
 gress of population, arising out of its actual aug- 
 mentation and density, the settlement of waste 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 159 
 
 lands, &c. Assuming the period of thirty-three 
 and a third, or any other number of years, to be 
 that in which our population will hereafter be 
 doubled, if, during that whole term, the capital 
 of the African stock could be kept down, or sta- 
 tionary, whilst that of European origin should be 
 left to an unobstructed increase, the result, at 
 the end of the term, would be most propitious. 
 Let us suppose, for example, that the whole 
 population at present of the United States, is 
 twelve millions, of which ten may be estimated 
 of the Anglo-Saxon, and two of the African race. 
 If there could be annually transported from the 
 United States an amount of the African portion 
 equal to the annual increase of the whole of that 
 caste, whilst the European race should be left 
 to multiply, we should find at the termination of 
 the period of duplication, whatever it may be, 
 that the relative proportions would be as twenty 
 to two. And if the process were continued, du- 
 ring a second term of duplication, the propor- 
 tion would be as forty to two — one which would 
 eradicate every cause of alarm or solicitude from 
 the breasts of the most timid. But the trans- 
 portation of Africans, by creating, to the extent 
 to which it might be carried, a vacuum in society, 
 would tend to accelerate the duplication of tho 
 
150 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 European race, who, by all the laws of popula- 
 tion, would fill up the void space. 
 
 This society is well aware, I repeat, that they 
 cannot touch the subject of slavery. But it is 
 no objection to their scheme, limited as it is ex- 
 clusively to those free people of color who are 
 willing to migrate, that it admits of indefinite 
 extension and application, by those w T ho alone, 
 having the competent authority, may choose to 
 adopt and apply it. Our object has been to 
 point out the way, to show that colonization is 
 practicable, and to leave it to those states or in- 
 dividuals, who may be pleased to engage in the 
 object, to prosecute it. We have demonstrated 
 that a colony may be planted in Africa, by the 
 fact that an American colony there exists. The 
 problem which has so long and so deeply inter- 
 ested the thoughts of good and patriotic men, is 
 solved — a country and a home have been found, 
 to which the African race may be sent, to the 
 promotion of their happiness and our own. 
 
 But, Mr. Vice-President, I shall not rest con- 
 tented with the fact of the establishment of the 
 colony, conclusive as it ought to be deemed of 
 the practicability of our purpose. I shall pro- 
 ceed to show, by reference to indisputable sta- 
 tistical details and calculations, that it is within 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. iqi 
 
 the compass of reasonable human means. I am 
 sensible of the tediousness of all arithmetical 
 data, but I will endeavor to simplify them as 
 much as possible. — It will be borne in mind 
 that the aim of the society is to establish in Af- 
 rica a colony of the free African population of 
 the United States, to an extent which shall be 
 beneficial both to Africa and America. The 
 whole free colored population of the United 
 States amounted, in 1790, to fifty-nine thousand 
 four hundred and eighty-one ; in 1800, to one 
 hundred and ten thousand and seventy-two ; in 
 1810, to one hundred and eighty-six thousand 
 four hundred and forty-six ; and in 1820, to two 
 hundred and thirty-three thousand five hundred 
 and thirty. The ratio of annual increase during 
 the first term often years, was about eight and 
 a half per cent per annum ; during the second, 
 about seven per cent per annum ; and during 
 the third, a little more than two and a half. 
 The very great difference in the rate of annual 
 increase, during those several terms, may pro- 
 bably be accounted for by the effect of the num- 
 ber of voluntary emancipations operating with 
 more influence upon the total smaller amount of 
 free coloured persons at the first of those pe- 
 riods, and by the facts of the insurrection in St. 
 14* 
 
162 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 Domingo, and the acquisition of Louisiana, both 
 of which, occurring during the first and second 
 terms, added considerably to the number of our 
 free coloured population. 
 
 AMERICAN INDUSTRY, 
 
 In foreseeing, as many years ago I thought I 
 did, the success which would crown the exer- 
 tions of the people of the L T nited States, by the 
 application of a portion of their industry to the 
 arts, I was gifted with no spirit of prophesy. I 
 only studied the character and the resources of 
 our countrymen and our country. Of their en- 
 terprise, ingenuity, and perseverance, no doubt 
 can be entertained. We produced all the essen- 
 tial raw materials, and we had the command of 
 boundless power, natural and artificial. With 
 these elements, physical and moral, why should 
 we fail 1 Nor has the strength of my conviction 
 abated by the discouraging predictions of the 
 timid and the interested. These have not been 
 wanting, in every stage of our national progress; 
 and the failure of our arms, in both our wars, as 
 well as of our arts, had been confidently fore- 
 told. Our march has, nevertheless, been onward, 
 successful, and triumphant, and glorious. 
 
 If the friends of American industry had pre- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 163 
 
 sented a system for its protection, based upon 
 doubtful theory and visionary speculation — if 
 they had offered to the consideration of their 
 countrymen a scheme which experience in other 
 nations had demonstrated to be impracticable 
 and injurious, all the opposition which they en- 
 countered would have been patriotic and justi- 
 fiable. But they came forward with no doubt- 
 ful project. They were sustained by the expe- 
 rience of all countries, and especially of that from 
 which we sprung. And now the very great suc- 
 cess which has attended those branches of our 
 manufactures which were adequately protected, 
 enables us to add that of our own as a testimony 
 to the wisdom of self-defence and protection. 
 
 Notwithstanding the new markets which have 
 been created, the wants which have been sup- 
 plied, and the animation which has been given to 
 labor, the foes of the American system continue 
 their opposition with a perseverance worthy of a 
 better cause. Availing themselves with the irri- 
 tations and divisions incident to a late contested 
 election, and enlisting under the banners of a 
 distinguished name, they have taken fresh cou- 
 rage, and assail the further progress of our manu- 
 factures with renovated vigor. Prior to that 
 event, they had contented themselves with con- 
 
164 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 troverting the policy of encouragement ; and no 
 statesman in congress had been seen bold enough 
 seriously to question the right of congress to af- 
 ford it. But now the legislature of a distinguish- 
 ed state, after a long deliberation and mature 
 consideration, has solemnly resolved that con- 
 gress does not possess the poircr to counteract 
 foreign legislation by laws of self-protection. 
 From the very commencement of the govern- 
 ment, and throughout all the stages of its exist- 
 ence, in peace and in war, the power has been 
 asserted and exercised. It is delegated by more 
 than one clause in the constitution. Under the 
 authority to regulate commerce with foreign na- 
 tions, we have seen the power exercised to sus- 
 pend, for long and indefinite periods, commer- 
 cial intercourse with all nations, and especially 
 with Great Britain and France. The power to 
 regulate our foreign commerce is plenary, clear 
 and explicit ; and, if the clause which conveys 
 it is not adapted to the purpose, human language 
 is incompetent to supply the appropriate terms. 
 Under another clause, also full and explicit, the 
 power is granted to lay imposts, without limita- 
 tion as to amount, and has been exercised to an 
 extent far beyond the wishes of the friends of 
 the American system to apply it. 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. \q$ 
 
 I hope the vigor of this new attack upon the 
 system will be met by corresponding vigor in its 
 defence. Let us treat our antagonists with the 
 greatest respect, and be tender even of their 
 prejudices. But, faithful to measures, let U3 
 firmly meet concert and co-operation on the other 
 side, by concert and co-operation on ours. Let 
 us oppose mind to mind, and exertion to exer- 
 tion ; and if we must fail — if the bright prospects 
 which lie before us are to be dissipated and de- 
 stroyed, let there be no occasion for reproaching 
 ourselves. If our opponents can make them- 
 selves the majority, however much we may de- 
 plore the issue of the struggle, we will bow with 
 submission and deference to the will of the ma- 
 jority. If, as I hope, our system is preserved, 
 and improved, I will now hazard the prediction, 
 that in less than twenty years the value of our 
 exported manufactures will exceed in amount 
 that of all the exports of raw produce from our 
 country. 
 
 MILITARY HEROES. 
 
 We differed only about men. You wished to 
 commit the national ship to a gallant commander. 
 I thought that was not his element, and I pre- 
 ferred another, who possessed, I believed, more 
 
166 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 skill and experience, and under whose command 
 I thought the ship, and the crew, and the cargo, 
 would be safer and happier. 
 
 You were actuated by one of the noblest of 
 virtues. I too acknowledge its sway. But 
 whilst military merit is no disqualification, but, 
 when accompanied by other requisite attain- 
 ments, may be a reason for civil promotion, 
 standing, as it appeared to me, alone, I did not 
 think we could prudently entrust the chief ma- 
 gistracy of this great country to the distinguish- 
 ed object of your choice. I felt with you the 
 obligations of national gratitude. But I thought 
 they should be fulfilled in other forms. Let the 
 public gratitude manifest itself in just and ade- 
 quate rewards, drawn from the public treasure. 
 Let inspired poets sing the praises of our mili- 
 tary and naval commanders. Let the chisel and 
 the pencil preserve their faithful images for the 
 gratification of the present and future genera- 
 tions. Let the impartial historian faithfully re- 
 cord their deeds of glory and renown, for the 
 admiration and the imitation of posterity. I say 
 too, in the language of a departed sage, " honor 
 to those who fill the measure of their country's 
 glory." But it should be appropriate, conside- 
 rate honor — such as becomes its object, and such 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. Iffi 
 
 as freemen, jealous, cautious, and enlightened 
 freemen, ought to bestow. If my suffrage is 
 asked for the highest civil office of my country, 
 the candidate, however illustrious and successful ' 
 he may be, must present some other title than 
 laurels, however gloriously gathered oh the 
 blood-stained field. 
 
 ADDRESS AT LEXINGTON. 
 
 I beg permission to offer my hearty thanks, 
 and to make my respectful acknowledgments, 
 for the affectionate reception which has been 
 given me during my present visit to my old con- 
 gressional district, and for this hospitable and 
 honorable testimony of your esteem and confi- 
 dence. And I thank you especially for the 
 friendly sentiments and feelings expressed in 
 the toast which you have just done me the honor 
 to drink. I always had the happiness of know- 
 ing that I enjoyed, in a high degree, the attach- 
 ment of that portion of my fellow citizens whom 
 I formerly represented ; but I should never have 
 been sensible of the strength and ardor of their 
 affection, except for the extraordinary character 
 of the times. For near two years and a half I 
 have been assailed with a rancor and bitterness 
 which have few examples. I have found my- 
 
108 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 self the particular object of concerted and con- 
 centrated abuse ; and others, thrusting them- 
 selves between you and me, have dared to ar- 
 raign me for treachery to your interests. But 
 my former constituents, unaffected by the ca- 
 lumnies which have been so perseveringly cir- 
 culated to my prejudice, have stood by me with 
 a generous constancy and a noble magnanimity. 
 The measure of their regard and confidence has 
 risen with, and even surpassed, that of the ma- 
 levolence, great as it is, of my personaljand po- 
 litical foes. 1 thank you, gentlemen, who are "a 
 large portion of my late constituents. I thank 
 you, and every one of them, with all my heart, 
 for the manly support which I have uniformly 
 received. It has cheered and consoled me, amidst 
 all my severe trials ; and may I not add, that it 
 is honorable to the generous hearts and enlight- 
 ened heads who have resolved to protect the 
 character of an old friend and a faithful servant 1 
 The numerous manifestations of your confi- 
 deuce and attachment will be among the latest 
 and most treasured recollections of my life # 
 They impose on me obligations which can never 
 be weakened or cancelled. One of these obli- 
 gations is, that I should embrace every fair op. 
 portunity to vindicate that character which you 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. i 69 
 
 have so generously sustained, and to evince to 
 you and to the world, that you have not yielded 
 to the impulses of a blind and enthusiastic sen- 
 timent. I feel that I am, on all fit occasions, 
 especially bound to vindicate myself to my for- 
 mer constituents. It was as their representative, 
 it was in the fulfilment of a high trust which 
 they confided to me, that I have been accused 
 of violating the most sacred of duties, of treating 
 their wishes with contempt, and their interests 
 with treachery. Nor is this obligation, in my 
 conception of its import, at all weakened by the 
 dissolution of the relations which heretofore ex- 
 isted between us. I would instantly resign the 
 place I hold in the councils of the nation, and 
 directly appeal to the suffrages of my late con- 
 stituents, as a candidate for re-election, if I did 
 not know that my foes are of that class whom 
 one rising from tho dead cannot convince, w T hom 
 nothing can silence, and who wage a war of ex- 
 termination. On the issue of such an appeal, 
 they would redouble their abuse of me and of 
 you : for their hatred is common to us both. 
 
 They have compelled me so often to be the 
 
 theme of my addresses to the people, that I should 
 
 have willingly abstained, on this festive occasion, 
 
 from any allusion to this subject, but for a new 
 
 - 15 
 
170 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 and imposing form which the calumny against 
 me has recently assumed. I am again put on 
 my defence, not of any new charge, nor by any 
 new adversary ; but of the old charges clad in a 
 new dress, and exhibited by an open and undis- 
 guised enemy. The fictitious names have been 
 stricken from the foot of the indictment, and 
 that of a known and substantial prosecutor has 
 been voluntarily offered. Undaunted by the 
 formidable name of that prosecutor, I will avail 
 myself, with your indulgence, of this fit oppor- 
 tunity of free and unreserved intercourse with 
 you, as a large number of my late constituents, 
 to make some observations on the past and pre- 
 sent state of the question. When evidence shall 
 be produced, as I have now a clear right to de- 
 mand, in support of the accusation, it will be 
 the proper time for me to take such notice of it 
 as its nature may require. 
 
 In February, 1S25, it was my duty, as the re- 
 presentative of this district, to vote for some 
 one of the three candidates for the presidency, 
 who were returned to the house of representa- 
 tives. It has been established, and can be far- 
 ther proved, that, before I left this state the 
 preceding fall, I communicated to several gen- 
 tlemen of the highest respectability, my fixed 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 171 
 
 determination not to vote for General Jackson. 
 The friends of Mr. Crawford asserted to the 
 last, that the condition of his health was such as 
 to enable him to administer the duties of the 
 office. I thought otherwise after I reached 
 Washington city, and visited him to satisfy my- 
 self; and thought that physical impediment, if 
 there were no other objections, ought to prevent 
 his election. Although the delegations from 
 four states voted for him, and his pretensions 
 were zealously pressed to the very last moment, 
 it has been of late asserted, and I believe by 
 some of the very persons who then warmly es- 
 poused his cause, that his incompetency was so 
 palpable as clearly to limit the choice to two of 
 the three returned candidates. In my view of 
 my duty, there was no alternative but that which 
 I embraced. That I had some objections to Mr. 
 Adams, I am ready freely to admit ; but these 
 did not weigh a feather in comparison with the 
 greater and insurmountable objections, long and 
 deliberately entertained against his competitor. 
 I take this occasion, with great satisfaction, to 
 state, that my objections to Mr. Adams arose 
 chiefly from apprehensions which have not been 
 realized. I have found him at the head of the go 
 vernment, able, enlightened, patient of investi- 
 
172 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 gation, and ever ready to receive with respect, 
 and when approved by his judgment, to act up- 
 on the councils of his official advisers. I add, 
 with unmixed pleasure, that, from the commence- 
 ment of the government, with the exception of 
 Mr. Jefferson's administration, no chief magis- 
 trate has found the members of his cabinet so 
 united on all public measures, a \d so cordial 
 and friendly in all their intercourse, private and 
 official, as these are of the present president. 
 
 Had I voted for General Jackson, in oppo- 
 sition to the well-known opinions which I en- 
 tertained of him, one tenth part of the ingenuity 
 and zeal which have been employed to excite 
 prejudices against me would have held me up 
 to universal contempt : and what would have 
 been worse, I should hzxefelt that I really de- 
 served it. 
 
 Before the election, a': attempt was made by 
 an abusive letter, published in the Columbian 
 Observer, at Philadelphia, a paper which, as has 
 since transpired, was sustained by Mr. Senator 
 Eaton, the colleague, the friend, and the biogra- 
 pher of General Jackson, to assail my motives, 
 and to deter me in the exercise of my duty. 
 This letter being avowed by Mr. George Kre- 
 mer, I instantly demanded from the house of re- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 173 
 
 preservatives an investigation. A committee 
 was accordingly, on the 5th day of February, 
 1825, appointed in the rare mode of balloting by 
 the house, instead of by the selection of the 
 speaker. It was composed of some of the lead- 
 ing members of that body, not one of whom was 
 my political friend in the preceding presiden- 
 tial canvass. Although Mr. Kremer, in address- 
 ing the house, had declared his willingness to 
 bring forward his proofs, and his readiness to 
 abide the issue of the inquiry, his fears, or other 
 counsels than his own, prevailed upon him to 
 take refuge in a miserable subterfuge. Of all 
 possible periods, that was the most fitting to 
 substantiate the charge, if it was true. Every 
 circumstance was then fresh ; the witnessess all 
 living and present; the election not yet com- 
 plete ; and therefore the imputed corrupt bar- 
 gain not fulfilled. All these powerful consider- 
 ations had no weight with the conspirators and 
 their accessories, and they meanly shrunk from 
 even an attempt to prove their charge, for the 
 best of all possible reasons — because, being 
 false and fabricated, they could adduce no proof 
 which was not false and fabricated. 
 
 During two years and a half, which have now 
 intervened, a portion of the press devoted to the 
 15* 
 
174 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 cause of General Jackson, has been teeming 
 with tie vilest calumnies against me ; and the 
 charge, under every chameleon form, has been a 
 thousand times repeated. Up to this time, I 
 have in vain invited investigation, and demand- 
 ed evidence. None, not a particle, has been 
 adduced. 
 
 The extraordinary ground has been taken, 
 that the accusers were not bound to establish by 
 proof the guilt of their designated victim. In a 
 civilized, Christian, and free community, the 
 monstrous principle has been assumed, that ac- 
 cusation and conviction are synonymous ; and 
 that the persons who deliberately bring forward 
 an atrocious charge, are exempted from all obli- 
 gations to substantiate it ! And the pretext is, 
 that the crime being of a political nature, is 
 shrouded in darkness, and incapable of being 
 substantiated. But is there any real difference, 
 in this respect, between political and other of- 
 fences ] Do not all perpetrators of crime en- 
 deavor to conceal their guilt and to elude de- 
 tection % If the accuser of a political offence is 
 absolved from the duty of supporting his accu- 
 sation, every other accuser of offence stands 
 equally absolved. Such a principle, practically 
 carried into society, would subvert all harmony, 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 175 
 
 peace, and tranquillity. None — no age, nor sex, 
 nor profession, nor calling, would be safe against 
 its baleful and overwhelming influence. It 
 would amount to an universal license to univer- 
 sal calumnv ! 
 
 m 
 
 No one has ever contended, that the proof 
 should be exclusively that of eye-witnesses, tes- 
 tifying from their sense positively and directly 
 to the fact. Political, like all other offences, may 
 be established by circumstantial as well as posi- 
 tive evidence. But I do contend, that some 
 evidence, be it what it may, ought to be exhibit- 
 ed. If there be none, how do the accusers 
 know that an offence has been perpetrated 1 If 
 they do know it, let us have the fact on which 
 their conviction is based. I will not even assert 
 that, in public affairs, a citizen has not a right, 
 freely to express his opinions of public men, and 
 to speculate upon the motives of their conduct. 
 But if he chooses to promulgate opinions, let 
 them be given as opinions. The public will 
 correctly judge of their value and their grounds. 
 No one has a right to put forth a positive asser- 
 tion, that a political offence has been committed, 
 unless he stands prepared to sustain, by satisfac- 
 tory proof of some kind, its actual existence. 
 If he who exhibits a charge of political crime 
 
176 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 is, from its very nature, disabled to establish it, 
 how much more difficult is the condition of the 
 accused 1 How can he exhibit negative proof 
 of his innocence, if no affirmative proof of his 
 guilt is, or can be adduced ^ 
 
 PUBLIC FEELING. 
 
 In passing through my native state, towards 
 which I have ever borne, and shall continue in 
 all vicissitudes to cherish, the greatest respect 
 and affection, I expected to be treated with its 
 accustomed courtesy and private hospitality. 
 But I did not anticipate that I should be the ob- 
 ject of such public, distinguished, and cordial 
 manifestations of regard. In offering you the 
 poor and inadequate return of my warm and 
 respectful thanks, I pray you to believe that I 
 shall treasure up these testimonies among the 
 most gratifying reminiscences of my life. The 
 public service which I have rendered my coun- 
 try, your too favorable opinion of which has 
 prompted you to exhibit these demonstrations 
 of your esteem, has fallen far below the measure 
 of usefulness which I should have been happy 
 to have filled. I claim for it only, the humble 
 merit of pure and patriotic intention. Such as 
 it has been, I have not always been fortunate 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 177 
 
 enough to give satisfaction to every section, and 
 to all the great interests of our country. When 
 an attempt was made to impose upon a new 
 state about to be admitted into the Union, re- 
 strictions, incompatible, as I thought, with her 
 co-equal, sovereign power, I was charged in the 
 north with being too partial to the south, and 
 as being friendly to that unfortunate condition 
 of slaverv, of the evils of which none are more 
 sensible than I am. At another period, when I 
 believed that the industry of this country re- 
 quired some protection against the selfish and 
 contracted legislation of foreign powers, and to 
 constitute it a certain and safe source of supply, 
 in all exigencies, the charge against me was 
 transposed, and I was converted into a foe of 
 southern, and an infatuated friend of northern 
 and western interests. There were not wanting 
 persons, in every section of the Union, in another 
 stage of our history, to accuse me with rashly 
 contributing to the support of a war, the only 
 alternative left to our honor by the persevering 
 injustice of a foreign nation. These contradict- 
 ory charges and perverted views, gave me no 
 concern, because I was confident that time and 
 truth would prevail over all misconceptions ; 
 and because they did not impeach my public in- 
 
178 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 tegrity. But I confess I was not prepared to ex- 
 pect the aspersions which I have experienced on 
 account of a more recent discharge of public 
 duty. My situation on the occasion to which I 
 refer was most peculiar and extraordinary ; un- 
 like that of any other American citizen. One 
 of the three candidates for the presidency pre- 
 sented to the choice of the house of represent- 
 atives was out of the question for notorious rea- 
 sons, now admitted by all. Limited as the com- 
 petition was to the other two, I had to choose 
 between the statesman long experienced at 
 home and abroad in numerous civil situations, 
 and a soldier — brave, gallant, and successful — 
 but a mere soldier — who, although he also had 
 filled several civil offices, had quickly resigned 
 them all, frankly acknowledging, in some in- 
 stances, his incompetency to discharge their du- 
 ties. It has been said that I had some differ- 
 ence with the present chief magistrate at Ghent. 
 It is true that we did not agree on one of the 
 many important questions which arose during 
 the negotiations at that city ; but the difference 
 equally applied to our present minister at Lon- 
 don, and to the lamented Bayard, between whom 
 and myself, although we belonged to opposite 
 political parties, there existed a warm friend- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 179 
 
 ship to the hour of his death. It was not of a 
 nature to prevent our co-operation in the public 
 service, as is demonstrated by the convention at 
 London, subsequently negotiated by Messrs. 
 Adams, Gallatin, and myself. It was a differ- 
 ence of opinion on a point of expediency, and 
 did not relate to any constitutional or fundamen- 
 tal principle. But with respect to the conduct 
 of the distinguished citizen of Tennessee, I had 
 solemnly expressed, under the highest obliga- 
 tions, opinions which, whether right or wron«-, 
 were sincerely and honestly entertained, and are 
 still held. These opinions related to a military 
 exercise ofpower believed to be arbitrary and un- 
 constitutional. I should have justly subjected 
 myself to the grossest inconsistency, if I had 
 given him my suffrage. I thought, if he were 
 elected, the sword and the constitution, bad 
 companions, would be brought too near together. 
 I could not have foreseen, that fully justified as 
 1 have been by those very constituents, in virtue 
 of whose authority I exerted the right of free 
 suffrage, I should nevertheless be charged with a 
 breach of duty and corruption, by strangers to 
 them, standing in no other relation to them, but 
 that of being citizens of other states, members 
 
180 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 of the confederacy. It is in vain that these revi- 
 lers have been called upon for their proofs ; have 
 been defied, and are again invited, to enter 
 upon any mode of fair investigation and trial. 
 Shrinking from every impartial examination, 
 they persevere with increasing zeal in the pro- 
 pagation of calumny, under the hope of supply- 
 ing by the frequency and boldness of assevera- 
 tion, the want of truth, and the deficiency of evi- 
 dence — until we have seen the spectacle exhi- 
 bited, of converting the hall of the first legisla- 
 tive assembly upon earth, on the occasion of 
 discussions which, above all others, should have 
 been characterized by dignity, calmness, and 
 temperance, into a theatre for spreading suspi- 
 cious and groundless imputations, against an 
 absent and innocent individual. Driven from 
 every other hold, they have seized on the only 
 plank left within their grasp, that of my accept- 
 ance of the office of secretary of state, which has 
 been asserted to be the consummation of a pre- 
 vious corrupt arrangement. What can I oppose 
 to such an assertion, but positive, peremptory, and 
 unqualified denial, and a repetition of the demand 
 for proof and trial ] The office to which I have 
 been appointed, is that of the country ; created 
 by it, and administered for its benefit. In deci- 
 ding whether I should accept it or not, I did not 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 1SI 
 
 take counsel from those, who foreseeing the pro- 
 bability of my designation for it, sought to deter 
 me from its acceptance by fabricating anticipa- 
 ted charges, which would have been preferred 
 with the same zeal and alacrity, however I might 
 have decided. I took counsel from my friends, 
 from my duty; from my conscious innocence of 
 unworthy and false imputations. I was not left 
 at liberty by either my enemies, or friends, to de- 
 cline the office. I would willingly have declin- 
 ed if from an unaffected distrust of my ability 
 to perform its high duties, if I could hav.e honor- 
 ably declined it. I hope the uniform tenor of 
 my whole public life, will protect me against 
 the supposition of any unreasonable avidity for 
 public employment. During the administration 
 of that illustrious man, to whose civil services, 
 more than to those of any other American patriot, 
 living or dead, this country is indebted for the 
 blessing of its present constitution, now more 
 than ten years ago, the mission to Russia, and a 
 place in his cabinet, were successively offered 
 me. A place in his cabinet at that period of my 
 life, was more than equivalent to any place un- 
 der any administration, at my present advanced 
 ao-e. His immediate successor tendered me the 
 same place in his cabinet, which he anxiously 
 
 16 
 
182 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 urged me to accept, and the mission to England. 
 Gentlemen, I hope you will believe, that far 
 from being impelled by any vain or boastful 
 spirit to mention these things, I do it with hu- 
 miliation and mortification. 
 
 If I had refused the department of state, the 
 same individuals who now, in the absence of all 
 proof, against all probability, and in utter disre- 
 gard of all truth, proclaim the existence of a cor- 
 rupt, previous arrangement, would have propa- 
 gated the same charge, with the same affected 
 confidence, that they now unblushingly assume, 
 and it would have been said, with at least as 
 much plausibility, that I had contributed to the 
 election of a chief magistrate, of whom I thought 
 so unfavorable, that I would not accept that place 
 in his cabinet which is generally regarded as the 
 first. I thought it my duty, unavved by their 
 denunciations, to proceed in the office assigned 
 me by the president and senate, to render to the 
 country the best service of which my poor abilities 
 are capable. If this administration should show 
 itself unfriendly to American liberty, and to free 
 liberal institutions ; if it should be conducted 
 upon a system adverse to those principles of 
 public policy, which I have ever endeavored to 
 sustain, and I should be found still clinging to 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 183 
 
 office, then nothing could be said by those who 
 are inimical to me which would be undeserved. 
 
 THE DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 This is not a fit occasion, nor perhaps am I a 
 fit person, to enter upon a vindication of its mea- 
 sures. But I hope I shall be excused for asking 
 what measure of domestic policy has been pro- 
 posed or recommended by the present execu- 
 tive, which has not its prototype in the previous 
 acts or recommendations of administrations at 
 the head of which was a citizen of Virginia ] 
 Can the liberal and high minded people of this 
 state condemn measures emanating from a citi- 
 zen of Massachusetts, which when proposed by 
 a Virginian, commanded their express assent or 
 silent acquiescence, or to which, if in any in- 
 stance they made opposition, it was respectful, 
 limited, and qualified ] The present adminis- 
 tration desires only to be judged by its measures, 
 and invites the strictest scrutiny and the most 
 watchful vigilance on the part of the public. 
 With respect to the Panama mission, it is true 
 that it was not recommended by any prece- 
 ding administration, because the circumstances 
 of the world were not then such as to present it 
 as a subject for decision. But during that of 
 
184 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 Mr. Monroe, it has been seen that it was a 
 matter of consideration, and there is every rea- 
 son to believe if he were now at the head of 
 affairs, his determination would correspond with 
 that of his successor. Let me suppose that it 
 was the resolution of this country, under no 
 circumstances, to contract with foreign powers 
 intimate public engagements, and to remain 
 altogether unbound by any treaties of alliance, 
 what should have been the course taken with 
 the very respectful invitation which was given 
 to the United States to be represented at Pana- 
 ma ? Haughtily folding your arms, would you 
 have given it a cold and abrupt refusal ] Or 
 would you not rather accept it, send ministers, 
 and in a friendly and respectful manner, endea- 
 vor to satisfy those who are looking to us for 
 counsel and example, and imitating our free 
 institutions, that there is no necessity for such 
 an alliance ; that the dangers which alone could, 
 in the opinion of any one, have justified it, have 
 vanished, and that it is not good for them or for 
 us. "What may be the nature of the instructions 
 with which our ministers may be charged, it is 
 not proper that I should state ; but all candid 
 and reflecting men must admit, that we have 
 great interests in connexion with the southern 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 185 
 
 republics, independent of any compacts of alli- 
 ance. Those republics, now containing a popu- 
 lation of more than twenty millions, duplicating 
 their numbers probably in periods still shortsr 
 than we do, comprising within their limits the 
 most abundant sources of the precious metals, 
 offer to our commerce, to our manufactures, to our 
 navigation, so many advantages, that none can 
 doubt the expediency of cultivating the most 
 friendly relations with them. If treaties of com- 
 merce and friendship, and liberal stipulations in 
 regard to neutral and belligerent rights, could 
 be negotiated with each of them at its separate 
 seat of government, there is no doubt that much 
 greater facilities for the conclusion of such trea- 
 ties present themselves at a point, where all 
 being represented, the way may be smoothed, 
 and all obstacles removed, by a disclosure of the 
 views and wishes of all, and by mutual and 
 friendly explanations. There was one consi- 
 deration which had much weight with the execu- 
 tive in the decision to accept the mission, and 
 that was the interest which this country has, and 
 especially the southern states, in the fate and 
 fortunes of the island of Cuba. No subject of 
 our foreign relations has created with the ex- 
 ecutive government, more anxious concern than 
 16* 
 
1S6 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 that of the condition of that island, and the pos- 
 sibility of prejudice to the southern states, from 
 the convulsions to which it might be exposed. 
 It was believed, and is yet believed, that the 
 dangers which, in certain contingencies, might 
 threaten our quiet and safety, may be more suc- 
 cessfully averted at a place, at which all the 
 American powers should be represented, than 
 any where else. And I have no hesitation in 
 expressing the firm conviction, that if there be 
 one section of this union more than all others 
 interested in the Panama mission, and the bene- 
 fits which may flow from it, that section is the 
 south. It was therefore, with great and un- 
 affected surprise, that I witnessed the obliquity 
 of those political views, which led some gentle- 
 men from that quarter, to regard the measure, 
 as it might operate on the southern states, in an 
 unfavorable light. Whatever may be the result 
 of the mission, its moral effect in Europe will 
 be considerable : and it cannot fail to make the 
 most friendly impression upon our southern 
 neighbors. It is one of which it is difficult, in 
 sober imagination, to conceive any possible mis- 
 chievous consequences, and which the execu- 
 tive could not have declined, in my opinion, 
 without culpable neglect of the interests of this 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. ]S7 
 
 country, and without giving some dissatisfaction 
 to nations, whose friendship we are called upon 
 by every dictate of policy to conciliate. 
 
 There are persons who would impress on the 
 southern states, the belief that they have just 
 cause of apprehending danger, to a certain por- 
 tion of their property, from the present adminis- 
 tration. It is not difficult to comprehend the 
 object, and the motive of these idle alarms. 
 What measure of the present administration 
 gives any just occasion, for the smallest appre- 
 hension to the tenure by which that species of 
 property is held 1 However much the presi- 
 dent and the members of his administration may 
 deprecate the existence of slavery among us as 
 the greatest evil with which we are afflicted, 
 there is not one of them that does not believe, 
 that the constitution of the general government 
 confers no authority to interpose between the 
 master and his slave, none to apply an adequate 
 remedy, if indeed there be any remedy within 
 the scope of human power. Suppose the object 
 of these alarms were accomplished, and the slave 
 holding states were united in the sentiment, 
 that the policy of this government in all time to 
 come, should be regulated on the basis of the 
 fact of slavery, would not union on one side, 
 
1SS BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 lead to union on the other ; and would not such 
 a fatril division of the people and states of this 
 confederacy, produce perpetual, mutual irrita- 
 tion and exasperation, and ultimately disunion 
 itself? The slavebolding states cannot forget 
 that they are now in a minority, which is in a 
 constant relative diminution, and should cer- 
 tainly not be the first to put forth a principle of 
 public action, by which they would be the great- 
 est losers. I am but too sensible of the un- 
 reasonable trespass on your time which I have 
 committed, and of the egotism of which my dis- 
 course has partaken. I must depend for my 
 apology upon the character of the times, and 
 the venom of the attacks which have been made 
 upon my character and conduct, and upon the 
 generous sympathy of the gentlemen here as- 
 sembled. 
 
 OPPOSITION TO BANKS. 
 
 I will observe, in the first place, that I am not 
 in favor with such a bank as was recommended 
 in the message of the President of the United 
 States, at the commencement of the last session 
 of congress ; that, with the committee of the 
 two houses, I concur in thin kins: it would be an 
 institution of a dangerous and alarming charac- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. _. 189 
 
 ter ; and that, fraught as it would be wit! 
 most corrupting tendencies, it might be made 
 powerfully instrumental in overturning our li- 
 berties.' As to the existing bank, I think it has 
 been generally administered, particularly of 
 late years, with great ability and integrity ; that it 
 has fulfilled all the reasonable expectations of 
 those who constituted it ; and, with the same 
 committees, I think it has made an approxima- 
 tion towards the equalization of the currency, as 
 great as is practicable. * "Whether the charter 
 ought to be renewed or not, near six years hence, 
 in my judgment, is a question of expedien- 
 cy to be decided by the then existing state of 
 the country. It will be necessary at that time 
 to look carefully at the condition both of the 
 bank and of the union. To ascertain, if the 
 public debt shall, in the mean time, be paid off, 
 what effect that will produce % what will be our 
 then financial condition 1 what that of local banks, 
 the state of our commerce, foreign and domes- 
 tic, as well as the concerns of our currency ge- 
 nerally ? I am, therefore, not now prepared to 
 say whether the charter ought or ought not to 
 be renewed on the expiration of its present 
 term. The bank may become insolvent, and 
 may hereafter forfeit all pretensions to a renew- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 'The question is premature. I may not be 
 alive to form any opinion upon it. It belongs 
 to posterity, and if they would have the good- 
 ness to decide for us some of the perplexing and 
 practical questions of the present day, we might 
 be disposed to decide that remote question for 
 them. As it is, it ought indefinitely to be post- 
 poned. 
 
 THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 With respect to the American system, which 
 demands your undivided approbation, and in re- 
 gard to which you are pleased to estimate much 
 highly my service, its great object is to se- 
 ItVe' the independence of our country, to aug- 
 ment its wealth, and to diffuse the comforts of 
 civilization throughout society. That object, it 
 has been supposed, can be best accomplished by 
 introducing, encouraging, and protecting the arts 
 among us. It may be called a system of real 
 reciprocity, under the operation of which one 
 citizen or one part of the country can exchange 
 one description of the produce of labor, with 
 another citizen of another part of the country 
 for a different description of the produce of la- 
 bor. It is a system which develops, improves, 
 and perfects the capabilities of our common 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 
 country, and enables us to avail ourselres 
 the resources with which Providence has blest 
 us. To the laboring classes it is invaluable, 
 since it increases and multiplies the demands 
 for their industry, and gives them an option of 
 employments. It adds power and strength to 
 our union by new ties of interest, blending and 
 connecting together all its parts, and creating an 
 interest with each in the prosperity o^ the whole. 
 It secures to our own country, whose skill and 
 enterprise, properly fostered and sustained, can- 
 not be surpassed, those vast profits which are 
 made in other countries, by the operation of con- 
 verting the raw material into manufactured ar^^ 
 tides. It naturalizes and creates within the^bji™ 
 som of our country all the arts, and mixing the 
 farmer, manufacturer, mechanic, artist, and those 
 engaged in other vocations, together, admits of 
 those mutual exchanges, so conducive to the 
 prosperity of all and every one, free from the 
 perils of the sea and war. All this it effects, 
 whilst it nourishes and leaves a fair scope to fo- 
 reign trade. Suppose we were a nation that 
 clad ourselves, and made all the implements ne- 
 cessary to civilization, but did not produce our 
 own bread, which we brought from foreign coun- 
 tries, although our own was capable of produ- 
 
"tTCETit, u 
 
 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 it, under the influence of suitable laws of 
 protection, ought not such laws to be enacted % 
 The case supposed is not essentially different 
 from the real state of things which led to the 
 
 O 
 
 adoption of the American system. 
 
 That system has had a wonderful success. It 
 has more than realized all the hopes of its found- 
 ers. It has completely falsified all the predic- 
 tions of its opponents. It has increased the 
 wealth, and power, and population of the nation. 
 It has diminished the price of articles of con- 
 sumption, and has placed them within the reach 
 of a far greater number of our people than could, 
 have found means to command them, if they had 
 een manufactured abroad instead of at home. 
 But it is useless to dwell on the argument in 
 support of this beneficent system before this au- 
 dience. It will be of more consequence here to 
 examine some of the objections which are still 
 urged against it, and the means which are pro- 
 posed to subvert it. These objections are now 
 principally confined to its operation upon the 
 great staple of cotton wool, and they are urged 
 with most vehemence in a particular state. If 
 the objections are well founded, the system 
 should be modified, as far as it can consistently 
 with interest, in other parts of the union. If 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 193 
 
 they are not well founded, it is to be hoped they 
 will be finally abandoned. 
 
 In approaching the subject, I have thought it 
 of importance to inquire what was the profit 
 made upon capital employed in the culture of 
 cotton, at its present reduced price. The result 
 has been information, that it netts from seven to 
 eighteen per cent, per annum, varying according 
 to the advantage of situation, and the degree of 
 skill, judgment, and industry, applied to the pro- 
 duction of the article. But the lowest rate of 
 profit, in the scale, is more than the greatest 
 amount which is made on capital employed in 
 the farming portions of the union. 
 
 If the cotton planter have any just complaint 
 against the expediency of the American system, 
 it must be founded on the fact, that he either 
 sells less of his staple, or sells at lower prices, or 
 purchases for consumption at dearer rates or of 
 worse qualities, in consequence of that system, 
 than he would do, if it did not exist. If he would 
 neither sell more of his staple, nor sell it at bet- 
 ter prices, nor could purchase better or cheaper 
 articles for consumption, provided the system 
 did not exist, then he had no cause, on the score 
 of its burthensome operation, to complain of the 
 
 17 
 
194 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 system, but must look to other sources for the 
 grievances which he supposes afflict him. 
 
 As respects the sale of his staple, it would be 
 indifferent to the planter whether one portion of 
 it was sold in Europe and the other in America, 
 provided the aggregate of both were equal to all 
 that he could sell in one market, if he had but 
 one, and provided he could command the same 
 price in both cases. The double market would 
 indeed be something better for him, because of 
 its o-reater security in time of war as well as in 
 peace, and because it would be attended with 
 less perils and less charges. If there be an equal 
 amount of the raw material manufactured, it 
 must be immaterial to the cotton planter, in the 
 sale of the article, whether there be two theatres 
 of the manufacture, one in Europe and the other 
 in America, or but one in Europe ; or if there 
 be a difference, it will be in favor of the two 
 places of manufacture, instead of one, for rea- 
 sons already assigned, and others that will be 
 hereafter stated. 
 
 It could be of no advantage to the cotton 
 planter, if all the cotton now manufactured both 
 in Europe and America, was manufactured ex- 
 clusively in Europe, and an amount of cotton 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 195 
 
 fabrics should be brought back from Europe, 
 equal to what is now brought from there and 
 what is manufactured in the United States toge- 
 ther. Whilst he would gain nothing, the United 
 States would lose the profit and employment re- 
 sulting from the manufacture of that portion 
 which is now wrought up by the manufacturers 
 of the United States. 
 
 Unless, therefore, it can be shown that, by the 
 reduction of import duties and the overthrow of 
 the American system, and by limiting the manu- 
 facture of cotton to Europe, a greater amount of 
 the raw material would be consumed than is at 
 present, it is difficult to see what interest, so far 
 as respects the sale of that staple, the cotton 
 planter has in the subversion of that system. If 
 a reduction of duties would admit of larger in- 
 vestments in British or European fabrics of cot- 
 ton, and their subsequent importation into this 
 country, this additional supply would take the 
 place, if consumed, of an equal amount of Ame- 
 rican manufactures, and consequently would not 
 augment the general consumption of the raw 
 material. Additional importation does not ne 
 cessarily imply increased consumption, especi- 
 ally when it is effected by a policy which would 
 impair the ability to purchase and consume. 
 
196 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 Upon the supposition, just made, of a restric- 
 tion to Europe of the manufacture of cotton, 
 would more or less of the article be consumed 
 than now is ] More could not be, unless in con- 
 sequence of such a monopoly of the manufac- 
 ture, Europe could sell more than she now does. 
 But to what countries could she sell more % She 
 gets the raw material now unburthened by any 
 duties except such moderate ones as her policy, 
 not likely to be changed, imposes. She is ena- 
 bled thereby to sell as much of the manufactured 
 article as she can find markets for in the states 
 within her own limits or in foreign countries. 
 The destruction of the American manufacture 
 would not induce her to sell cheaper, but might 
 enable her to sell dearer than she now does. 
 The ability of those foreign countries, to pur- 
 chase and consume, would not be increased by 
 the annihilation of our manufactures, and the 
 monopoly of European manufacture. The pro- 
 bability is that those foreign countries, by the 
 fact of that monopoly, and some consequent in- 
 crease of price, would be worse and dearer sup- 
 plied than they now are under the operation of 
 a competition between America and Europe in 
 their supply. 
 
 At most, the United States, after the transfer 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 197 
 
 from their territory to Europe of the entire 
 manufacture of the article, could not consume of 
 European fabrics from cotton a greater amount 
 than they now derive from Europe and from 
 manufactures within their own limits. 
 
 NULLIFICATION. 
 
 The doctrine of some of the South Carolina 
 politicians is, that it is competent to that state 
 to annul, within its limits, the authority of an 
 act deliberately passed by the congress of the 
 United States. They do not appear to have 
 looked much, beyond the simple act of nullifica- 
 tion, into the consequences which would ensue, 
 and have not distinctly announced whether one 
 of them might not necessarily be to light up a 
 civil war. They seem, however, to suppose 
 that the state might, after the act was performed, 
 remain a member of the union. Now, if one 
 state can, by an act of its separate power, absolve 
 itself from the obligations of a law of congress, 
 and continue a part of the union, it could hardly 
 be expected that any other state would render 
 obedience to the same law. Either every other 
 state would follow the nullifying example, or 
 congress would feel itself constrained, by a sense 
 of equal duty to all parts of the union, to repeal 
 17* 
 
198 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 altogether the nullified law. Thus, the doctrine 
 of South Carolina, although it nominally as- 
 sumes to act for one state only, in effect, would 
 be legislating for the whole union. 
 
 Congress embodies the collective will of the 
 whole union, and that of South Carolina among 
 its other members. The legislation of congress 
 is, therefore, founded upon the basis of the re- 
 presentation of all. In the legislature, or a con- 
 vention of South Carolina, the will of the people 
 of that state is alone collected. They alone are 
 represented, and the people of no other state 
 have any voice in their proceedings. To set up 
 for that state a claim, by a separate exercise of 
 its power, to legislate, in effect, for the whole 
 union, is to assert a pretension at war with the 
 fundamental principles of all representative and 
 free governments. It would practically subject 
 the unrepresented people of all other parts of 
 the union to the arbitrary and despotic power of 
 one state. It would substantially convert them 
 into colonies, bound by the parental authority of 
 that state. 
 
 Nor can this enormous pretension derive any 
 support from the consideration that the power to 
 annul is different from the power to originate 
 laws. Both powers are, in their nature, legisla- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 199 
 
 live ; and the mischiefs which might accrue to 
 the republic from the annulment of its whole- 
 some laws, may be just as great as those which 
 would flow from the origination of bad laws. 
 There are three things to which, more than all 
 others, mankind, in all ages, have shown them- 
 selves to be attached, their religion, their laivs^ 
 and their language. 
 
 But it has been argued, in the most solemn 
 manner, " that the acknowledgment of the ex- 
 clusive right of the federal government to deter- 
 mine the limits of its own powers, amounts to a 
 recognition of its absolute supremacy over the 
 states and the people, and involves the sacrifice 
 not only of our dearest rights and interest, but 
 the very existence of the southern states." 
 
 In cases where there are two systems of go- 
 vernment, operating at the same time and place 
 over the same people, the one general and the 
 other local or particular, one system or the other 
 must possess the right to decide upon the extent 
 of the powers, in cases of collision, which are 
 claimed by the general government. No third 
 party of sufficient impartiality, weight, and res- 
 ponsibility, other than such a tribunal as a su- 
 preme court, has yet been devised, or perhaps 
 can be created. 
 
200 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 The doctrine of one side is, that the general 
 government, though limited in its nature, must 
 necessarily possess the power to ascertain what 
 authority it has, and, by consequence, the extent 
 of that authority. And that, if its legislative or 
 executive functionaries, by act, transcend that 
 authority, the question may be brought before the 
 supreme court, and being affirmatively decided 
 by that tribunal, their act must be obeyed, until 
 repealed or altered by competent power. 
 
 Against the tendency of this doctrine to ab- 
 sorb all power, those who maintain it, think there 
 are reasonable, and, they hope, sufficient securi- 
 ties. In the first place, all are represented in 
 every legislative or executive act, and of course, 
 each state can exert its proper influence, to pre- 
 vent the adoption of any that may be deemed 
 prejudicial or unconstitutional. Then, there are 
 sacred oaths, elections, public virtue and intelli- 
 gence, the power of impeachment, a common 
 subjection to both systems of those functionaries 
 who act under either, the right of the states to 
 interpose and amend the constitution, or to dis- 
 solve the union ; and, finally, the right, in ex- 
 treme cases, when all other remedies fail, to re- 
 sist insupportable oppression. 
 
 The necessity being felt, by the framers of the 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 201 
 
 constitution, to declare which system should be 
 supreme, and believing that the securities now 
 enumerated, or some of them, were adequate, 
 they have accordingly provided that the consti- 
 tution of the United States, and the laws made 
 in pursuance of it, and all treaties made under 
 the authority of the United States, shall be the 
 supreme law of the land ; and that the judicial 
 power shall extend to all cases arising under the 
 constitution, laws, or treaties, of the United 
 States. 
 
 The South Carolina doctrine, on the other 
 side, is, that that state has the right to determine 
 the limits of the powers granted to the general 
 government ; and that, whenever any of its acts 
 transcend those limits, in the opinion of the 
 state of South Carolina, she is competent to 
 annul them. If the power, with which the fede- 
 ral government is invested by the constitution, 
 to determine the limits of its authority, be liable 
 to the possible danger of ultimate consolidation, 
 and all the safeguards which have been men- 
 tioned might prove inadequate, is not this power, 
 claimed for South Carolina, fraught with infi- 
 nitely more certain, immediate, and fatal danger ! 
 It would reverse the rule of supremacy prescribed 
 in the constitution. It would render the au- 
 
202 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 thority of a single state paramount to that of the 
 whole union. For, undoubtedly, that govern- 
 ment, to some extent, must be supreme, which 
 can annul and set aside the acts of another. 
 
 The securities which the people of other parts 
 of the United States possess against the abuse 
 of this tremendous power claimed for South 
 Carolina, will be found, on comparison, to be 
 greatly inferior to those which she has against 
 the possible abuses of the general government. 
 They have no voice in her councils ; they could 
 not, by the exercise of the elective franchise, 
 change her rulers ; they could not impeach her 
 judges, they could not alter her constitution, nor 
 abolish her government. 
 
 Under the South Carolina doctrine, if estab- 
 lished, the consequence would be a dissolution 
 of the union, immediate, inevitable, irresistible. 
 There would be twenty-four chances to one 
 against its continued existence. The appre- 
 hended dangers of the opposite doctrine, re- 
 mote, contingent, and hardly possible, are greatly 
 exaggerated ; and, against their realization, all 
 the precautions have been provided, which 
 human wisdom and patriotic foresight could 
 conceive and devise. 
 
 Those who are opposed to the supremacy of 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 203 
 
 the constitution, laws, and treaties of the United 
 States, are adverse to all union, whatever con- 
 trary professions they may make. For it may 
 be truly affirmed, that no confederacy of states 
 can exist without a power, somewhere residing 
 in the government of that confederacy, to deter- 
 mine the extent of the authority granted to it by 
 the confederating states. 
 
 It is admitted that the South Carolina doctrine 
 is liable to abuse ; but it is contended, that the 
 patriotism of each state is an adequate security, 
 and that the nullifying power would only be ex- 
 erted "in an extraordinary case, where the 
 powers reserved to the states, under the consti- 
 tution, are usurped by the federal government." 
 And is not the 'patriotism of all the states, as 
 great a safeguad against the assumption of 
 powers not conferred upon the general govern- 
 ment, as the patriotism of one state is against 
 the denial of powers which are clearly granted % 
 But the nullifying power is only to be exercised 
 in an extraordinary case. Who is to judge of 
 this extraordinary case ] What security is 
 there, especially in moments of great excite- 
 ment, that a state may not pronounce the plain- 
 est and most common exercise of federal power, 
 an extraordinary case ? The expressions in the 
 
204 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 constitution, " general welfare," have been often 
 justly criticised, and shown to convey, in them- 
 selves, no power, although they may indicate 
 how the delegated power should be exercised. 
 But this doctrine of an extraordinary case, to 
 be judged of and applied by one of the twenty- 
 four sovereignties, is replete with infinitely more 
 danger than the doctrine of the " general wel- 
 fare," in the hands of all. 
 
 We may form some idea of future abuses 
 under the South Carolina doctrine, by the appli- 
 cation which is now proposed to be made of it. 
 The American system is said to furnish an ex- 
 traordinary case justifying that state to nullify 
 it. The power to regulate foreign commerce, 
 by a tariff, so adjusted as to foster our domestic 
 manufactures, has been exercised from the com- 
 mencement of our present constitution down to 
 the last session of congress. I have been a 
 member of the house of representatives at three 
 different periods, when the subject of the tariff 
 was debated at great length, and on neither, ac- 
 cording to my recollection, was the want of a 
 constitutional power in congress, to enact it, 
 dwelt on, as forming a serious and substantial 
 objection to its passage. On the last occasion 
 (I think it was) in which I participated in the 
 
BEAUTIES OP CLAY. 205 
 
 debate, it was incidentally said to be against the 
 spirit of the constitution. — Whilst the authority 
 of the father of the constitution is invoked to 
 sanction, by a perversion of his meaning, princi- 
 ples of disunion and rebellion, it is rejected to 
 sustain the controverted power, although his 
 testimony in support of it has been clearly and 
 explicitly rendered. This power, thus asserted, 
 exercised, and maintained, in favor of which, 
 leading politicians in South Carolina have them- 
 selves voted, is alleged to furnish " an extra- 
 ordinary case, where the powers reserved to the 
 states, under the constitution, are usurped by 
 the general government." If it be, there is 
 scarcely a statute in our code which would not 
 present a case equally extraordinary, justifying 
 South Carolina or any other state to nullify it. 
 
 The United States are not only threatened with 
 the nullification of numerous acts, which they 
 have deliberately passed, but with a withdrawal 
 of one of the members from the confederacy. 
 If the unhappy case should ever occur of a state 
 being really desirous to separate itself from the 
 union, it would present two questions. The 
 first would be, whether it had a right to with- 
 draw, without the common consent of the mem- 
 bers ; and supposing, as I believe, no such right 
 18 
 
206 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 to exist", whether it would be expedient to yield 
 consent. Although there may be power to pre- 
 vent a secession, it might be deemed politic to 
 allow it. It might be considered expedient to 
 permit the refractory state to take the portion 
 of goods that falleth to her, to suffer her to 
 gather her all together, and to go off with her 
 living. But, if a state should be willing, and 
 allowed thus to depart, and to renounce her 
 future portion of the inheritance of this great, 
 glorious, and prosperous republic, she would 
 .speedily return, and in language of repentance, 
 say to the other members of this union, breth- 
 ren, " I have sinned against heaven and before 
 thee." Whether they would kill the fatted 
 calf, and y chiding any complaining member of 
 the family, say, " this thy sister was dead, and 
 is alive again — and was lost, and is found," I 
 sincerely pray the historian may never have 
 occasion to record. 
 
 PUBLIC DISCONTENT. 
 
 No, Mr. President, it is not destruction but 
 preservation of the system at which we aim. If 
 dangers now assail it, we have not created them. 
 I have sustained it upon the strongest and clear- 
 est convictions of its expediency. They are 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 207 
 
 entirely unaltered. Had others, who avow at- 
 tachment to it, supported it with equal zeal and 
 straightforwardness, it would be now free from 
 embarrassment ; but with them it has been a 
 secondary interest. I utter no complaints — I 
 make no reproaches. I wish only to defend 
 myself now, as heretofore, against unjust as- 
 saults. I have been represented as the father 
 of this system, and I am charged with an un- 
 natural abandonment of my own offspring. I 
 have never arrogated to myself any such inti- 
 mate relation to it. I have, indeed, cherished it 
 with parental fondness, and my affection is un- 
 diminished. But in what condition do I find 
 this child 1 Tt is in the hands of the Philistines, 
 who would strangle it. I fly to its rescue, to 
 snatch it from their custody, and to place it on a 
 bed of security and repose for nine years, where 
 it may grow and strengthen, and become accep- 
 table to the whole people. I behold a torch 
 about being applied to a favorite edifice, and I 
 would save it, if possible, before it is wrapt in 
 flames, or at least preserve the precious furni- 
 ture which it contains. I wish to see the tariff 
 separated from the politics of the country, that 
 business men may go to work in security, with 
 some prospect of stability in our laws, and with- 
 
208 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 out every thing being staked on the issue of 
 elections as it were on the hazards of the die. 
 
 And the other leading obiect which has 
 prompted the introduction of this measure, the 
 tranquillizing of the country, is no less impor- 
 tant. All wise human legislation must consult 
 in some degree the passions, and prejudices, and 
 feelings, as well as the interests of the people. 
 It would be vain and foolish to proceed at all 
 times, and. under all circumstances, upon the 
 notion of absolute certainty in any system, or 
 infallibility in any dogma, and to push these out 
 without regard to any consequences. With us, 
 who entertain the opinion that congress is con- 
 stitutionally invested with power to protect do- 
 mestic industry, it is a question of mere expedi- 
 ency as to the form, the degree, and the time that 
 the protection shall be afforded. In weighing 
 all the considerations which should control and 
 regulate the exercise of that power, we ought 
 not to overlook what is due to those who honest- 
 ly entertain opposite opinions to large masses of 
 the community, and to deep, long cherished, and 
 growing prejudices. Perceiving, ourselves, no 
 constitutional impediment, we have less difficul- 
 ty in accommodating ourselves to the sense of 
 the people of the United States upon this inter* 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 209 
 
 esting subject. I do believe that a majority of 
 them is in favor of this policy ; but I am induced 
 to believe this almost against evidence. Two 
 states in New England, which had been in favor 
 of the system, have recently come out against it. 
 Other states of the north and the east have 
 shown a remarkable indifference to its preser- 
 vation. If, indeed, they have wished to pre- 
 serve it, they have nevertheless placed the 
 powers of government in hands which ordinary 
 information must have assured them were ratlier 
 a hazardous depository. With us in the west, 
 although we are not without some direct, and 
 considerable indirect, interest in the system, we 
 have supported it more upon national than sec- 
 tional grounds. 
 
 Meantime, the opposition of a large and re- 
 spectable section of the union, stimulated by 
 political success, has increased, and is increasing. 
 Discontents are multiplying and assuming new 
 and dangerous aspects. They have been cher- 
 ished by the course and hopes inspired during 
 this administration, which, at the very moment 
 that it threatens and recommends the use of the 
 power of the whole union, proclaims aloud the 
 injustice of the system whicli it would enforce. 
 These discontents are not limited to those who 
 
210 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 maintain the extravagant theory of nullification ; 
 they are not confined to one state ; they are co- 
 extensive with the entire south, and extend even 
 to northern states. It has been intimated by the 
 senator from Massachusetts, that, if we legislate 
 at this session on the tariff, we would seem to 
 legislate under the influence of a panic. I be- 
 lieve, Mr. President, I am not more sensible to 
 danger of any kind than my fellow men are gen- 
 erally. It, perhaps, requires as much moral cou- 
 rage to legislate under the imputation of a 
 panic, as to refrain from it, lest such an imputa- 
 tion should be made. But he who regards the 
 present question as being limited to South 
 Carolina alone, takes a view of it much too con- 
 tracted. There is a sympathy of feeling and in- 
 terest throughout the whole south. Other south- 
 ern states may differ from that as to the remedy 
 to be now used, but all agree, (great as in my 
 humble judgment is their error,) in the substan- 
 tial justice of the cause. Can there be a doubt 
 that those who think in common will sooner or 
 later act in concert? Events are on the wing, 
 and hastening this co-operation. Since the com- 
 mencement of this session, the most powerful 
 southern member of the union has taken a mea- 
 sure which cannot fail to lead to important conse- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 21 1 
 
 quences. She has deputed one of her most dis- 
 tinguished citizens to request a suspension of 
 measures of resistance. No attentive observer 
 can doubt that the suspension will be made. 
 Well, sir, suppose it takes place, and congress 
 should fail at the next session to afford the re- 
 dress which will be solicited, what course 
 would every principle of honor, and every con- 
 sideration of the interests of Virginia, as she 
 understands them, exact from her 1 Would she 
 not make common cause with South Carolina ; 
 and, if she did, would not the entire south eventu- 
 ally become parties to the contest 1 The rest 
 of the union might put down the south, and re- 
 duce it to submission ; but, to say nothing of 
 the uncertainty and hazards of all war, is that a 
 desirable state of things 1 Ought it not to be 
 avoided if it can be. honorably prevented ] I 
 am not one of those who think that we must re- 
 ly exclusively upon moral power, and never re- 
 sort to physical force. I know too well the 
 frailties and follies of man, in his collective as 
 well as individual character, to reject, in all pos- 
 sible cases, the employment of force ; but I do 
 think, that, when resorted to, especially among 
 the members of a confederacy, it should manifest- 
 ly appear to be the only remaining appeal. 
 
212 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 THE AMERICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 But it is confidently believed that the con- 
 Sumption of cotton fabrics, on the supposition 
 which has been made within the United States, 
 would be much less than it is at present. It 
 would be less, because the American consumer 
 would not possess the means or ability to pur- 
 chase as much of the European fabric as he now 
 does to buy the American. Europe purchases 
 but little of the produce of the northern, middle, 
 and western regions of the United States. The 
 staple productions of those regions are excluded 
 from her consumption by her policy or by her 
 native supplies of similar productions. The ef- 
 fect, therefore, of obliging the inhabitants of 
 those regions to depend upon the cotton manu- 
 factures of Europe for necessary supplies of the 
 article, would be alike injurious to them and to 
 the cotton grower. They Would suffer from 
 their inability to supply their wants, and there 
 would be a consequent diminution of the con- 
 sumption of cotton. By the location of the ma- 
 nufacture in the United States, the quantity of 
 cotton consumed is increased, and the more nu- 
 merous portion of their inhabitants, who would 
 not be otherwise sufficiently supplied, are abun- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 213 
 
 dantly served. That this is the true state of 
 things, I think cannot be doubted by any reflect- 
 ing and unprejudiced man. The establishment 
 of manufactures within the United States, ena- 
 bles the manufacturer to sell to the farmer, the 
 mechanic, the physician, the lawyer, and all who 
 are engaged in other pursuits of life ; and these, 
 in their turns, supply the manufacturer with 
 subsistence, and whatever else his wants require. 
 Under the influence of the protecting policy, 
 many new towns have been built and old ones 
 enlarged. The population of these places draw 
 their subsistence from the farming interest of 
 our country, their fuel from our forests and coal 
 mines, and the raw material from which they 
 fashion and fabricate, from the cotton planter 
 and the mines of our country. These mutual 
 exchanges, so animating and invigorating to the 
 industry of the people of the United States, could 
 not possibly be effected between America and 
 Europe, if the latter enjoyed the monopoly of 
 manufacturing. 
 
 It results, therefore, that, so far as the sale of 
 the great southern staple is concerned, a greater 
 quantity is sold and consumed, and consequently 
 better prices are obtained, under the operation 
 of the American system, than would be without it. 
 19 
 
214 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 Does that system oblige the cotton planters to 
 buy dearer or worse articles of consumption than 
 he could purchase, if it did not exist ? 
 
 The same couse of American and European 
 competition, which enables him to sell more of 
 the produce of his industry, and at better prices, 
 also enables him to buy cheaper and better arti- 
 cles for consumption. It cannot be doubted that 
 the tendency of the competition, between the 
 European and American manufacturer, is to re- 
 duce the price and improve the quality of their 
 respective fabrics, whenever they come into col- 
 lision. This is the immutable law of all compe- 
 tition. If the American manufacture were dis- 
 continued, Europe would then exclusively fur- 
 nish those supplies which are now derived from 
 the establishments in both continents ; and the 
 first consequence would be an augmentation of 
 the demand, beyond the supply, equal to what 
 is now manufactured in the United States, but 
 which, in the contingency supposed, would be 
 wrought in Europe. If the destruction of the 
 American manufactures were sudden, there 
 would be a sudden and probably a considerable 
 rise in the European fabrics. Although in the 
 end, they might be again reduced, it is not likely 
 that the ultimate reduction of the prices would 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 215 
 
 be to such rates as if both the workshops of 
 America and Europe remained sources of sup- 
 ply. There would also be a sudden reduction 
 in the price of the raw material in consequence 
 of the cessation of American demand. And this 
 reduction would be permanent, if the supposition 
 be correct, that there would be a diminution in 
 the consumption of cotton fabrics arising out of 
 the inability, on the part oflarge portions of the 
 people of the United States, to purchase those 
 of Europe. 
 
 That the effect of competition between the 
 European and American manufacture has been 
 to supply the American consumer with cheaper 
 and better articles, since the adoption of the 
 American system, notwithstanding the existence 
 of causes which have obstructed its fair opera- 
 tion, and retarded its full development, is incon- 
 testible. Both the freeman and the slave are 
 now better and cheaper supplied than they were 
 prior to an existence of that system. Cotton 
 fabrics have diminished in price, and been im- 
 proved in their texture, to an extent that it is dif- 
 ficult for the imagination to keep pace with. 
 Those partly of cotton and partly of wool are 
 gtlso better and cheaper supplied. The same 
 observation is applicable to those which are ex- 
 
216 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 clusively wrought of wool, iron, or glass. In 
 short, it is believed that there is not one item of 
 the tariffinserted for the protection of native in- 
 dustry, which has not fallen in price. The Ame- 
 rican competition lias tended to keep down tiie 
 European rival fabric, and the European has 
 tended to lower the American, 
 
 STATE OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 This, or some other measure of conciliation, 
 is now more than ever necessary, since the pas- 
 sage, through the senate, of the enforcing bill- 
 To that bill, if 1 had been present, on the final 
 vote, I should have given my assent, although 
 with great reluctance. I believe this govern- 
 ment not only possessed of the constitutional 
 power, but to be bound, by every consideration, 
 to maintain the authority of the laws. But I 
 deeply regretted the necessity which seemed 
 to require the passage of such a bill. And I 
 was far from being without serious apprehen- 
 sions as to the consequences to which it might 
 lead. I felt no new born zeal in favor of the 
 present administration, of which 1 now think as 
 I have always thought. I could not vote against 
 the measure : I could not speak in its behalf. 
 I thought it most proper in me to leave to the 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 217 
 
 friends of the administration, and to others who 
 might feel themselves particularly called upon, 
 to defend and sustain a strong measure of the 
 administration. With respect to the series of 
 acts to which the executive has resorted, in rela- 
 tion to our southern disturbance, this is not a 
 fit occasion to enter upon a full consideration of 
 them ; but I will briefly say, that, although the 
 proclamation is a paper of uncommon ability and 
 eloquence, doing great credit, as a composition, 
 to him who prepared it, and to him who signed 
 it, I think it contains some ultra doctrines, 
 which no party in this country had ventured to 
 assert. With these are mixed up many sound 
 principles and just views of our political system. 
 If it is to be judged by its effects upon those to 
 whom it was more immediately addressed, it 
 must be admitted to have been ill-timed and un- 
 fortunate. Instead of allaying the excitement 
 which prevailed, it increased the exasperation in 
 the infected district, and afforded new and 
 unnecessary causes of discontent and dissatisfac- 
 tion in the south generally. The message, subse- 
 quently transmitted to congress, communicating 
 the proceedings of South Carolina, and calling 
 for countervailing enactments, was characterized 
 with more prudence and moderation. And, if 
 
 19* 
 
218 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 this unhappy contest is to continue, I sincerely 
 hope that the future conduct of the administra- 
 tion may be governed by wise and cautious 
 counsels, and a parental forbearance. But when 
 the highest degree of animosity exists ; when both 
 parties, however unequal, have arrayed them- 
 selves for the conflict, who can tell when, by the 
 indiscretion of subordinates, or other unforeseen 
 causes, the bloody struggle may commence % 
 In the midst of magazines, who knows when the 
 fatal spark may produce a terrible explosion 1 
 And the battle once begun, where is its limit 1 
 What latitude will circumscribe its rage 1 Who 
 is to command our armies ? When, and where, 
 and how, is the war to cease 1 In what condition 
 will the peace leave the American System, the 
 American union, and what is more than all, 
 American liberty 1 I cannot profess to have a 
 confidence which I have not, in this administra- 
 tion ; but if 1 had all confidence in it, I should 
 still wish to pause, and, if possible, by any 
 honorable adjustment, to prevent awful conse- 
 quences, the extent of which no human wisdom 
 can foresee. 
 
 It appears to me then, Mr. President, that we 
 ought not to content ourselves with passing the 
 enforcing bill only. Both that and the bill of 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 219 
 
 peace seem to me to be required for the good of 
 our country. The first will satisfy all who love 
 order and law, and disapprove the inadmissible 
 doctrine of nullification. The last will soothe 
 those who love peace and concord, harmony 
 and union. One demonstrates the power and 
 the disposition to vindicate the authority and 
 supremacy of the laws of the union ; the other 
 offers that which, if it be accepted in the frater- 
 nal spirit in which it is tendered, will super- 
 sede the necessity of the employment of all 
 force. 
 
 REPLY TO MR. WEBSTER. 
 
 I have long, with pleasure and pride, co-ope- 
 rated in the public service with the senator froro 
 Massachusetts; and I have found h!m faithful, 
 enlightened, and patriotic. I have not a particle 
 of doubt as to the pure and elevated motives 
 which actuate him. Under these circumstances, 
 it gives me deep and lasting regret to find my- 
 self compelled to differ from him as to a measure 
 involving vital interests, and perhaps the safety 
 of the union. On the other hand, I derive greai 
 consolation from finding myself, on this occasion*, 
 in the midst of friends with whom I have long 
 acted, in peace and in war, and especially with 
 
32© BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 the honorable senator from Maine, [Mr. Holmes,] 
 with whom I had the happiness to unite in a 
 memorable instance. It was in this very cham- 
 ber, that senator presiding in the committee of 
 the senate, and I in the committee of twenty- 
 four of the house of representatives, on a Sab- 
 bath day, that the terms were adjusted, by which 
 die compromise was effected of the Missouri 
 question. Then the dark clouds that hung over 
 our beloved country were dispersed ; and now 
 the thunders from others not less threatening, 
 and which have been longer accumulating, will, 
 1 hope, roll over us harmless and without injury. 
 The senator from Massachusetts objects to the 
 bill under consideration on various grounds. He 
 argues that it imposes unjustifiable restraint on 
 the power of future legislation; that it abandons 
 the protective policy; and that the details of the 
 bill are practically defective. He does not ob- 
 ject to the gradual, but very inconsiderable, re- 
 duction of duties which is made prior to 1S42. 
 To that he could not object ; because it is a spe- 
 cies of prospective provision, as he admits, in 
 conformity with numerous precedents on our 
 statute book. He does not object so much to 
 the state of the proposed law prior to 1842, du- 
 ring a period of nine years ; but throwing him- 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 221 
 
 self forward to the termination of that period, he 
 contends that congress will then find itself under 
 inconvenient shackles, imposed by our indiscre- 
 tion. In the first place,, I would remark, that 
 the bill contains no obligatory pledges ; it could 
 make none ; none are attempted. The power 
 over the subject is in the constitution ; put there 
 by those who formed it, and liable to be taken 
 out only by an amendment of the instrument. 
 The next congress, and every succeeding con- 
 gress, will undoubtedly have the power to repeal 
 the law whenever they may think proper. Whe- 
 ther they will exercise it or not, will depend up- 
 on a sound discretion, applied to the state of the 
 whole country, and estimating fairly the conse- 
 quences of the repeal, both upon the general 
 harmony and the common interests. Then, the 
 bill is founded in a spirit of compromise. Now, 
 in all compromises there must be mutual conces- 
 sions. The friends of free trade insist that du- 
 ties should be laid in reference to revenue alone. 
 The friends of American industry say that an- 
 other, if not paramount, object in layiug them, 
 should be to diminish the consumption of foreign, 
 and increase that of domestic products. On this 
 point the parties divide, and, between these two 
 opposite opinions, a reconciliation is to be effect- 
 
222 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 ed, if it can be accomplished. The bill assumes 
 as a basis, adequate protection for nine years, 
 and less beyond that term. The friends of pro- 
 tection say to their opponents, we are willing to 
 take a lease of nine years, with the long chapter 
 of accidents beyond that period, including the 
 chance of war, the restoration of concord, and 
 alono: with it. a conviction, common to all, of the 
 utility of protection ; and, in consideration of it, 
 if. in 1S42, none of these contingencies shall 
 have been realized, we are willing to submit, as 
 long as congress may think proper, to a maxi- 
 mum rate of 20 per cent., with the power of dis- 
 crimination below it, cash duties, home valua- 
 tions, and a liberal list of free articles, for the 
 benefit of the manufacturing interest. To these 
 conditions, the opponents of protection are ready 
 to accede. The measure is what it professes to 
 be, a compromise ; but it imposes and could im- 
 pose no restriction upon the will or power of a 
 future congress. Douhtless great respect will 
 be paid, as it ought to be paid, to the serious 
 condition of the country that has prompted the 
 passage of this bill. Any future congress that 
 might disturb this adjustment would act under a 
 high responsibility, but it would be entirely 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 223 
 
 within its competency to repeal, if it thought 
 proper, the whole bill. 
 
 It is far from the object of those who support 
 this bill, to abandon or surrender the policy of 
 protecting American industry. Its protection 
 or encouragement may be accomplished in vari- 
 ous ways. 1st. By bounties, as far as they are 
 within the constitutional power of congress to 
 offer them. 2d. By prohibitions, totally exclu- 
 ding the foreign rival article. 3d. By high du- 
 ties, without regard to the aggregate amount of 
 revenue which they produce. 4th. By discrimi- 
 nating duties, so adjusted as to limit the revenue 
 to the economical wants of government. And 
 5thly, by the admission of the raw material, and 
 articles essential to manufactures, free of duty. 
 To which may be added, cash duties, home valu- 
 ations, and the regulation of auctions. A per- 
 fect system of protection would comprehend 
 most, if not all these modes of affording it. 
 There might be, at this time, a prohibition of 
 certain articles, (ardent spirits and coarse cot- 
 tons, for example,) to public advantage. If there 
 were not inveterate prejudices and conflicting 
 opinions prevailing, (and what statesman can to- 
 tally disregard impediments of that character 1) 
 such a compound system might be established. 
 
224 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, before the assertion is 
 made that the bill surrenders the protective po- 
 licy, gentlemen should understand perfectly what 
 it does not, as well as what it does, propose. It 
 impairs no power of congress over the whole 
 subject; it contains no promise or pledge what- 
 ever, express or implied, as to bounties, prohi- 
 bitions, or auctions ; it does not touch the power 
 of congress in regard to them, and congress is 
 perfectly free to exercise that power at any time ; 
 it expressly recognises discriminating duties 
 within a prescribed limit ; it provides for cash 
 duties and home valuations; and it secures a free 
 list, embracing numerous articles, some of high 
 importance to the manufacturing arts. Of all 
 the modes of protection which I have enume- 
 rated, it affects only the third ; that is to say, the 
 imposition of high duties, producing a revenue 
 beyond the wants of government. The senator 
 from Massachusetts contends that the policy of 
 protection was settled in 1816, and that it has 
 ever since been maintained. Sir, it was settled 
 long before 1S16. It is coeval with the present 
 constitution, and it will continue, under some of 
 its various aspects, during the existence of the 
 government. No nation can exist, no nation, 
 perhaps, ever existed, without protection, in 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 225 
 
 some form, and to some extent, being applied to 
 its own industry. The direct and necessary- 
 consequence of abandoning the protection of its 
 own industry, would be to subject it to the re- 
 strictions and prohibitions of foreign powers ; 
 and no nation, for any length of time, can endure 
 an alien legislation, in which it has no will. The 
 discontents which prevail, and the safety of the 
 republic, may require the modification of a spe- 
 cific mode of protection, but it must be preserved 
 in some other more acceptable shape. 
 
 All that was settled in 1816, in 1824, and in 
 1828, was, that protection should be afforded by 
 liigh duties, without regard to the amount of the re- 
 venue which they might yield. During that whole 
 period, we had a public debt which absorbed 
 all the surpluses beyond the ordinary wants of 
 government. Between 1816 and 1824, the reve- 
 nue was liable to the great fluctuations, vibrating 
 between the extremes of about nineteen and 
 thirty-six millions of dollars. If there were 
 more revenue, more debt was paid ; if less, a 
 smaller amount was reimbursed. Such was 
 sometimes the deficiency of the revenue, that it 
 became necessary, to the ordinary expenses of 
 government, to trench upon the ten millions an- 
 nually set apart as a sinking fund, to extinguish 
 
 20 
 
226 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 the public debt. If the public debt remained 
 undischarged, or we had any other proper and 
 practical mode of appropriating the surplus reve- 
 nue, the form of protection, by high duties, might 
 be continued without public detriment. It is 
 the payment of the public debt, then, and the 
 arrest of internal improvements by the exercise 
 of the veto, that unsettle that specific form of 
 protection^ Nobody supposes,, or proposes that 
 we should continue to levy, by means of high 
 duties, a hirge annual surplus, of which no prac- 
 tical use can b£_made, for the sake of the inci- 
 dental protection which they afford. The sec- 
 retary of the treasury estimates that surplus on 
 the existing scale of duties, and with the other 
 sources of revenue, at six millions, annually. 
 An annual accumulation, at that rate, would, in 
 a few years, bring into the treasury the whole 
 currency of the country, to lie there inactive and 
 dormant. 
 
 This view of the condition of the country has 
 impressed every public man with the necessity 
 of some modification of the principle of protec- 
 tion, so far as it depends upon high duties. The 
 senator from Massachusetts feels it ; and hence 
 in the resolutions which he submitted, he pro-^ 
 poses to reduce the duties, so as to limit the 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 227 
 
 amount of the revenue to the wants of $e 
 government With him, revenue is the princi- 
 pal, protection the subordinate object. If pro- 
 tection cannot be enjoyed after such a reduction 
 of duties as he thinks ought to be made, it is not 
 to be extended. He says specific duties, and 
 the power of discrimination, are preserved b^ 
 iiis resolutions. So they may be under the ope- 
 ration of the bill. The only difference between 
 the two schemes is, that the bill, in the maximum 
 which it provides, suggests a certain limit ; whilst 
 liis resolutions lay down none. Below that 
 maximum, the principle of discrimination and 
 specific duties may be applied. The senator 
 from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Dallas] who, equally 
 with the senator from Massachusetts, is opposed. 
 to this bill, would have agreed to the bill if it 
 had fixed thirty instead of twenty per centum; 
 and he would have dispensed with home valua- 
 tion, and come down to the revenue standard in 
 live or six years. Now, Mr. President, I prefer, 
 and I think the manufacturing interest will pre- 
 fer, nine years o£ adequate protection, home 
 valuations, and twenty per cent., to the plan of 
 the senator from Pennsylvania- 
 Mr. President, I want to be perfectly under- 
 stood as to the motives which have prompted 
 
228 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 m£ to offer this measure. I repeat what I said 
 on the introduction of it, that they are, first, to 
 preserve the manufacturing interest, and, second- 
 ly, to quiet the country. I believe the American 
 System to be in the greatest danger ; and I be- 
 lieve it can be placed on a better and safer 
 foundation at this session than at the next. I 
 heard, with surprise, my friend from Massachu- 
 setts say, that nothing had occurred within the 
 last six months to increase its hazard. I entreat 
 him to review that opinion. Is it correct 1 
 Is the issue of numerous elections, including 
 that of the highest officer of the government, 
 nothing ? Is the explicit recommendation of 
 that officer, in his message at the opening of the 
 session, sustained, as he is, by a recent triumph- 
 ant election, nothing 1 Is his declaration in his 
 proclamation, that the burdens of the south ought 
 to be reliever!, nothing 1 Is the introduction of 
 a bill into the house of representatives during 
 this session, sanctioned by the head of the treasury 
 and the administration, prostrating the greater 
 part of the manufactures of the country, nothing 1 
 Are the increasing discontents, nothing 1 Is 
 the tendency of recent events to unite the whole 
 south, nothing 1 What have we not witnessed 
 in this chamber % Friends of ihe administration 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 229 
 
 bursting all the ties which seemed indissolubly 
 to unite them to its chief, and, with few excep- 
 tions south of the Potomac, opposing, and vehe- 
 mently opposing, a favorite measure of that ad- 
 ministration, which three short months ago they 
 contributed to establish ! Let us not deceive 
 ourselves. Now is the time to adjust the ques- 
 tion in a manner satisfactory to both parties. 
 Put it off until the next session, and the alterna- 
 tive may, and probably then would be a speedy 
 and ruinous reduction of the tariff, or a civil war 
 with the entire south. 
 
 It is well known that the majority of the do- 
 minant party is adverse to the tariff. There are 
 many honorable exceptions, the senator from 
 New Jersey [ Mr. Dickerson ] among them. 
 But for the exertions of the other party, the tariff 
 would have been lono: since sacrificed. Now 
 let as look at the -composition of the two branches 
 of congress at the next session. In this body 
 we lose three friends of the protective policy, 
 without being sure of gaining one. Here, judg- 
 ing from present appearances^ we shall, at the 
 next session, be in the minority. In the house 
 it is notorious that there is a considerable acces- 
 sion to the number of the dominant, party. How 
 then, I ask, is the system to be sustained against 
 
 20* 
 
230 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 numbers, against the whole weight of the admi- 
 nistration, against the united south, and against 
 the increased pending danger of civil war ] 
 There is, indeed, one contingency that might 
 save it, but that is too uncertain to rely upon. A 
 certain class of northern politicians, professing 
 friendship to the tariff, have been charged with 
 being secretly inimical to it, for political pur- 
 poses. They may change their ground, and 
 come out open and undisguised supporters of 
 the system. They may even find in the measure 
 which 1 have brought forward, a motive for their 
 conversion. Sir, 1 shall rejoice in it, from what- 
 ever cause it may proceed. And if they can 
 give greater strength and durability to the sys- 
 tem, and at the same quiet the discontent of its 
 opponents, I shall rejoice still more. They 
 shall not find me disposed to abandon it because 
 it has drawn succor from an unexpected quarter. 
 
 PATRIOTISM. 
 
 There are some who say, let the tariff go 
 down ; let our manufactures be prostrated, if 
 such be the pleasure, at another session, of those 
 to whose hands the government of this country 
 is confided; let bankruptcy and ruin be spread 
 over the land ; and let resistancet o the laws, at 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 231 
 
 all hazards, be subdued. Sir, they take counsel 
 from their passions. They anticipate a terrible 
 reaction from the downfall of the tariff, which 
 would ultimately re-establish it upon a firmer 
 basis than ever. But it is these very agitations, 
 these mutual irritations between brethren of the 
 same family, it is the individual distress and 
 general ruin that would necessarily follow the 
 overthrow of the tariff, that ought, if possible, to 
 be prevented. Besides, are we certain of this 
 reaction 1 Have we not been disappointed in 
 it as to other measures heretofore % But sup- 
 pose, after a long and embittered struggle, it 
 should come, in what relative condition would it 
 find the parts of this confederacy 1 In what 
 state our ruined manufactures % When they 
 should be laid low, who, amidst the fragments of 
 the general wreck, scattered over the face of the 
 land, would have courage to engage in fresh en- 
 terprises, under a new pledge of the violated 
 faith of the government] If we adjourn, then, 
 without passing this bill, having entrusted the 
 executive with vast powers to maintain the laws, 
 should he be able by the next session to put 
 down all opposition to them, will he not, as a 
 necessary consequence of success, have more 
 power than ever to put down the tariff also 1 
 
232 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 Has he not said that the south is oppressed, and 
 its burdens ought to be relieved'? And will he 
 not feel himself bound, after he shall have tri- 
 umphed, if triumph he may in a civil war, to 
 appease the discontents of the south by a modi- 
 fication of the tariff, in conformity with its wishes 
 and demands 3 No, sir ; no, sir ; let us save 
 the country from the most dreadful of all calami- 
 ties, and let us save its industry, too, from 
 threatened destruction. Statesmen should reffu- 
 
 O 
 
 late their conduct and adapt their measures to 
 the exigencies of the times in which they live. 
 They cannot, indeed, transcend the limits of the 
 constitutional rule ; but, with respect to those 
 systems of policy which fall within its scope, 
 they should arrange them according to the inter- 
 ests, the wants, and the prejudices of the people. 
 Tw© great daggers threaten the public safety. 
 The true patriot will not stop to inquire how 
 they have been brought about, but will fly to the 
 deliverance of his country. The difference be- 
 tween the friends and the foes of the compro- 
 mise, under consideration, is, that they would, 
 in the enforcing act, send forth alone a flaming 
 sword. We would send out that also, but along 
 with it the olive branch, as a messenger of peace. 
 They cry out, the law ! the law ! the law ! Power ! 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 233 
 
 power! power! We, too, reverence the law, 
 and bow to the supremacy of its obligation ; but 
 we are in favor of the law executed in mildness, 
 and of power tempered with mercy. They, as 
 we think, would hazard a civil commotion, 
 beginning in South Carolina, and extending God 
 only knows where. While we would vindicate 
 the authority of the federal government, we are 
 for peace, if possible, union and liberty. We 
 want no war, above all, no civil war, no family 
 strife. We want to see no sacked cities, no 
 desolated fields, no smoking ruins, no streams of 
 American blood shed by American arms! 
 
 I have been accused of ambition in present- 
 ing this measure. Ambition ! inordinate ambi- 
 tion ! If I had thought of myself only, I 
 should have never brought it forward. I know 
 well the perils to which I expose myself; the 
 risk of alienating faithful and valued friends, with" 
 but little prospect of making new ones, if any 
 new ones could compensate for the loss of those 
 whom we have long tried and loved ; and the 
 honest misconceptions both of friends and foes. 
 Ambition ! If I had listened to its soft and 
 seducing whispers ; if I had yielded myself to 
 the dictates of a cold, calculating, and pruden- 
 tial policy, I would have stood still and unmoved. 
 
234 BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 
 
 I might even have silently gazed on the raging 
 storm, enjoyed its loudest thunders, and left 
 those who are charged with the care of the ves- 
 sel of state to conduct it as they could. I have 
 been heretofore often unjustly accused of am- 
 bition. Low, grovelling souls, who are utterly 
 incapable of elevating themselves to the higher 
 and nobler duties of pure patriotism — beings, 
 who, forever keeping their own selfish aims in 
 view, decide all public measures by their pre- 
 sumed influence on their aggrandizement, judge 
 me by the venal rule which they prescribe to 
 themselves. I have given to the winds these 
 false accusations, as I consign that which now 
 impeaches my motives. I have no desire for 
 office, not even the highest. The most exalted 
 is but a prison, in which the incarcerated incum- 
 bent daily receives his cold, heartless visitants, 
 marks his weary hours, and is cut off from the 
 practical enjoyment of all the blessings of 
 genuine freedom. I am no candidate for any 
 office in the gift of the people of these states, 
 united or separated ; I never wish, never expect 
 to be. Pass this bill, tranquillize the country, 
 restore confidence and affection in the union, 
 and I am willing to go borne to Ashland, and 
 renounce public service forever. I should there 
 
BEAUTIES OF CLAY. 235 
 
 find, in its groves, under its shades, on ' tR lawns, 
 amidst my flocks and herds, in the bosom of my fa- 
 mily, sincerity and truth, attachment and fidelity, 
 and gratiude, which I have not always found in 
 
 the walks of public life Yes, I have ambition, 
 
 but it is the ambition of being the humble instru- 
 ment, in the hands of Providence, to reconcile 
 a divided people, once more to revive coneord 
 and harmony in a distracted land — the pleasing 
 ambition of contemplating the glorious spectacle 
 of a free, united, prosperous, and fraternal 
 people ! 
 
 THE END. 
 

 V 
 

 %.<y 
 
 £> ^ 
 
 
 0° . '.<& rP' 
 
 Or 
 
 0°' % % 
 
 
 ^5 Ok 
 
 : 
 
 .% 
 
 
 ^ 9* 
 
 tf 
 
 ^ 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 ^•^ . ' \ 
 
 
 # ^ 
 
 #' 
 
 
 
 \rf 
 
 
 \^ 
 
 * 4 %• 
 
 n 
 
 
 9? 
 
 \> * ' 'U 
 
 
 0° 
 
 "V^ 
 
 ^ 
 % 
 
 
 
 
 
 # 
 
 c 
 
 
 
 
 "ft* 
 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 ^ * 
 
 \* 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 \0 
 
 C 
 
 
 0> 
 
 V V ^ 
 
 
 
 
 V s 
 
 V 
 
 V 
 
 ■ 
 
 
_ 
 
 
 
 
 ^c? %o^ \d< 
 
 
 9: # °o ^ 
 
 ^ U : $ 
 
 
 V \> <^ -, 
 
 *> ^ 
 
 % 
 
 A <■ 
 
 < 
 > 
 
 ^