X-iWnASHIN CTO N. D.C.
~   --— ~~~~~Ii~~.                                         H  "




OBITUARY ADDRESSES
ON THE
OCCASION OF THE DEATH
OF THE
HON. HENRY CLAY,
A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE STATE OF
KENTUCKY,
DELIVERED IN THE
Sele  4qa  e        o e  of leee f0efpisb
of ife  4ifea $1ies,
JUNE 30, 1852,
AND THE
FUNERAL SERMON OF THE REV. C. n. BUTLER,
CHAPLAIN OF THE SENATE,
PREACHED IN THE SENATE, JULY 1, 1852.
tined bj opeA of fte  Wse  nd jowae of evesetqffSbes.
WASHINGTON:
PRINTED BY ROBERT ARMSTRONG.
1852.








SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.
JULY 2, 1852.
Mr. MANGUM submitted the following resolution, which
was considered, by unanimous consent, and agreed to:Resolved, That the Committee of Arrangements
cause to be published in a pamphlet form, and in
such manner as may seem to them appropriate, for
the use of the Senate, ten thousand copies of the
addresses made by the members of the Senate, and
members of the House of Representatives, together
with the discourse of the Rev. Dr. BUTLER, upon the
occasion of the death of the Hon. HENRY CLAY.
Attest,
ASBURY DICKINS,
Secretary.
3








OBITUARY ADDRESSES.
SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1852.
After the reading of the Journal, Mr. UNDERWOOD rose,
and addressed the Senate, as follows:
Mr. PRESIDENT: I rise to announce the death of
my colleague, Mr. CLAY. He died at his lodgings,
in the National Hotel of this city, at seventeen
minutes past eleven o'clock yesterday morning, in
the seventy-sixth year of his age. He expired with
perfect composure, and without a groan or struggle.
By his death our country has lost one of its most
eminent citizens and statesmen; and, I think, its
greatest genius. I shall not detain the Senate by
narrating the transactions of his long and useful life.
His distinguished services as a statesman are inseparably connected with the history of his country.
As Representative and Speaker in the other House
of Congress, as Senator in this body, as Secretary of
State, and as Envoy abroad, he has, in all these
positions, exhibited a wisdom and patriotism which
have made a deep and lasting impression upon the
grateful hearts of his countrymen. His thoughts
5




6
and his actions have already been published to the
world in written biography; in Congressional debates and reports; in the Journals of the two Houses;
and in the pages of American history. They have
been commemorated by monuments erected on the
wayside. They have been engraven on medals of
gold. Their memory will survive the monuments
of marble and the medals of gold; for these are effaced and decay by the friction of ages. But the
thoughts and actions of my late colleague have become identified with the immortality of the human
mind, and will pass down from generation to generation as a portion of our national inheritance, incapable of annihilation so long as genius has an admirer,
or liberty a friend.
Mr. PRESIDENT, the character of HENRY CLAY was
formed and developed by the influence of our free
institutions. His physical, mental, and moral faculties were the gift of God. That they were greatly
superior to the faculties allotted to most men cannot
be questioned. They were not cultivated, improved,
and directed by a liberal or collegiate education.
His respectable parents were not wealthy, and had
not the means of maintaining their children at college. Moreover, his father died when he was a boy.
At an early period, Mr. CLAY was thrown upon his
own resources, without patrimony. He grew up in
a clerk's office in Richmond, Virginia. He there
studied law. He emigrated from his native State




7
and settled in Lexington, Kentucky, where he commenced the practice of his profession before he was
of full age.
The road to wealth, to honour, and fame, was
open before him. Under our Constitution and laws
he might freely employ his great faculties unobstructed by legal impediments, and unaided by exclusive privileges. Very soon Mr. CLAY made a
deep and favourable impression upon the people
among whom he began his career. The excellence
of his natural faculties was soon displayed. Necessity stimulated him in their cultivation. His assiduity, skill, and fidelity in professional engagements secured public confidence. He was elected
member of the Legislature of Kentucky, in which
body he served several sessions prior to 1806. In
that year he was elevated to a seat in the Senate of
the United States.
At the bar and in the General Assembly of Kentucky, Mr. CLAY first manifested those high qualities
as a public speaker which have secured to him so
much popular applause and admiration. His physical and mental organization eminently qualified him
to become a great and impressive orator. His person was tall, slender, and commanding. His temperament ardent, fearless, and full of hope. His
countenance clear, expressive, and variable-indicating the emotion which predominated at the moment
with exact similitude. His voice, cultivated and




modulated in harmony with the sentiment lie desired to express, fell upon the ear like the melody
of enrapturing music. His eye beaming with intelligence and flashing with coruscations of genius. His
gestures and attitudes graceful and natural. These
personal advantages won the prepossessions of an
audience, even before his intellectual powers began
to move his hearers; and when his strong common
sense, his profound reasoning, his clear conceptions
of his subject in all its bearings, and his striking and
beautiful illustrations, united with such personal
qualities, were brought to the discussion of any
question, his audience was enraptured, convinced,
and led by the orator as if enchanted by the lyre of
Orpheus.
No man was ever blessed by his Creator with
faculties of a higher order of excellence than those
given to Mr. CLAY. In the quickness of his perceptions, and the rapidity with which his conclusions were formed, he had few equals and no
superior. He was' eminently endowed with a nice
discriminating taste for order, symmetry, and beauty.
He detected in a moment every thing out of place
or deficient in his room, upon his'farm, in his own
or the dress of others. He was a skilful judge of
the form and qualities of his domestic animals, which
he delighted to raise on his farm. I could give you
instances of the quickness and minuteness of his
keen faculty of observation which never overlooked




any thing. A want of neatness and order was offensive to him. He was particular and neat in his
handwriting, and his apparel. A slovenly blot or
negligence of any sort met his condemnation; while
he was so organized that he attended to, and arranged
little things to please and gratify his natural love
for neatness, order, and beauty, his great intellectual
faculties grasped all the subjects of jurisprudence
and politics with a facility amounting almost to intuition. As a lawyer, he stood at the head of his
profession. As a statesman, his stand at the head
of the Republican Whig party for nearly half a
century, establishes his title to pre-eminence among
his illustrious associates.
Mr. CLAY was deeply versed in all the springs of
human action. He had read and studied biography
and history. Shortly after I left college, I had
occasion to call on him in Frankfort, where he was
attending court, and well I remember to have found
him with Plutarch's Lives in his hands. No one
better than he knew how to avail himself of human
motives, and all the circumstances which surrounded
a subject, or could present them with more force and
skill to accomplish the object of an argument.
Mr. CLAY, throughout his public career, was influenced by the loftiest patriotism. Confident in the
truth of his convictions and the purity of his purposes, he was ardent, sometimes impetuous, in the
pursuit of objects which he believed essential to the




10
general welfare. Those who stood in his way were
thrown aside without fear or ceremony. He never
affected a courtier's deference to men or opinions
which he thought hostile to the best interests of his
country; and  hence he may  have wounded  the
vanity of those who thought themselves of consequence. It is certain, whatever the cause, that at
one period of his life Mr. CLAY might have been
referred to as proof that there is more truth than
fiction in those profound lines of the poet"He who ascends the mountain top shall find
Its loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow;
He who surpasses or subdues mankind,
Must look down on the hate of those below:
Though far above the sun of glory glow,
And far beneath the earth and ocean spread.
Round him are icy rocks, and loudly blow
Contending tempests on his naked head,
And thus reward the toils which to those summits led."
Calumny and detraction emptied their vials upon
him. But how glorious the change! He outlived
malice and envy.  He lived long enough to prove to
the world that his ambition was no more than a
holy aspiration to make his country the greatest,
most powerful, and best governed on the earth. If
he desired its highest office, it was because the
greater power and  influence  resulting  from  such
elevation would  enable him  to do more than  he
otherwise could for the progress and advancementfirst of his own countrymen, then of his whole race.
His sympathies embraced all.  The African slave,,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~6




the Creole of Spanish America, the children of renovated classic Greece-all families of men, without
respect to color or clime, found in his expanded
bosom and comprehensive intellect a friend of their
elevation and amelioration. Such ambition as that,
is God's implantation in the human heart for raising
the down-trodden nations of the earth, and fitting
them for regenerated existence in politics, in morals,
and religion.
Bold and determined as Mr. CLAY was in all his
actions, he was, nevertheless, conciliating. He did
not obstinately adhere to things impracticable. If
he could not accomplish the best, he contented himself with the nighest approach to it. He has been
the great compromiser of those political agitations
and opposing opinions which have, in the belief of
thousands, at different times, endangered the perpetuity of our Federal Government and Union.
Mr. CLAY was no less remarkable for his admirable
social qualities than for his intellectual abilities. As
a companion, he was the delight of his friends; and
no man ever had better or truer. They have loved
him from the beginning, and loved him to the last.
His hospitable mansion at Ashland was always open
to their reception. No guest ever thence departed
without feeling happier for his visit. But, alas!
that hospitable mansion has already been converted
into a house of mourning; already has intelligence
of his death passed with electric velocity to that aged




12
and now widowed lady who, for more than fifty
years, bore to him all the endearing relations of wife,
and whose feeble condition prevented her from joining him in this city, and soothing the anguish of
life's last scene by those endearing attentions which
no one can give so well as woman and a wife. May
God infuse into her heart and mind the Christian
spirit of submission under her bereavement! It
cannot be long before she may expect a reunion in
Heaven. A nation condoles with her and her children on account of their irreparable loss.
Mr. CLAY, from the nature of his disease, declined
very gradually. He bore his protracted sufferings
with great equanimity and patience. On one occasion, he said to me, that when death was inevitable
and must soon comle, and when the sufferer was
ready to die, he did not perceive the wisdom of
praying to be c"delivered from sudden death." He
thought under such circumstances the sooner suffering was relieved by death the better. He desired
the termination of his own sufferings, while he
acknowledged the duty of patiently waiting and
abiding the pleasure of God. Mr. CLAY frequently
spoke to me of his hope of eternal life, founded upon
the merits of Jesus Christ as a Saviour; who, as he
remarked, came into the world to bring "life and
immortality to light."  He was a member of the
Episcopalian Church. In one of our conversations
he told me, that as his hour of dissolution ap



13
proached, he found that his affections were concentrating more and more upon his domestic circle-his
wife and children. In my daily visits he was in the
habit of asking me to detail to him the transactions
of the Senate. This I lid, and he manifested much
interest in passing occurrences. His inquiries were
less frequent as his end approached. For the week
preceding his death he seemed to be altogether abstracted from the concerns of the world. When he
became so low that he could not converse without
being fatigued, he frequently requested those around
him to converse. He would then quietly listen.
He retained his mental faculties in great perfection.
His memory remained perfect. He frequently mentioned events and conversations of recent occurrence,
showing that he had a perfect recollection of what
was said and done. He said to me that he was
grateful to God for continuing to him the blessing of
reason, which enabled him to contemplate and reflect
on his situation. He manifested during his confinement the same characteristics which marked his
conduct through the vigour of his life. He was exceedingly averse to give his friends "ctrouble," as he
called it. Some time before he knew it, we commenced waiting through the night in an adjoining
room. He said to me, after passing a painful day,
",Perhaps some one had better remain all night in
the parlour." From this time he knew some friend
was constantly at hand ready to attend to him.




14
Mr. President, the majestic form of Mr. CLAY will
no more grace these Halls. No more shall we hear
that voice which has so often thrilled and charmed
the assembled representatives of the American people. No more shall we seethat waving hand and
eye of light, as when he was engaged unfolding his
policy in regard to the varied interests of our growing and mighty republican empire. His voice is
silent on earth for ever. The darkness of death has
obscured the lustre of his eye. But the memory of
his services-not only to his beloved Kentucky, not
only to the United States, but for the cause of
human freedom and progress throughout the world
-will live through future ages, as a bright example,
stimulating and encouraging his own countrymen
and the people of all nations in their patriotic devotions to country and humanity.
With Christians, there is yet a nobler and a
higher thought in regard to Mr. CLAY. They will
think of him in connection with eternity. They
will contemplate his immortal spirit occupying its
true relative magnitude among the moral stars of
glory in the presence of God. They will think of
him as having fulfilled the duties allotted to him on
earth, having been regenerated by Divine grace, and
having passed through the valley of the shadow of
death, and reached an everlasting and happy home
in that ",house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens."




15
On Sunday morning last, I was watching alone at
Mr. CLAY'S bedside. For the last hour he had been
unusually quiet, and I thought he was sleeping. In
that, however, he told me I was mistaken. Opening
his eyes and looking'at me, he said, "Mr. Underwood, there may be some question where my remains shall be buried. Some persons may designate
Frankfort. I wish to repose at the cemetery in
Lexington, where many of my friends and connections are buried." My reply was, "I will endeavour
to have your wish executed."
I now ask the Senate to have his corpse transmitted to Lexington, Kentucky, for sepulture. Let
him sleep with the dead of that city, in and near
which his home has been for more than half a century. For the people of Lexington, the living and
the dead, he manifested, by the statement made to
me, a pure and holy sympathy, and a desire to
cleave unto them, as strong as that which bound
Ruth to Naomi. It was his anxious wish to return
to them before he died, and to realize what the
daughter of Moab so strongly felt and beautifully
expressed: "Thy people shall be my people, and
thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die, and
there will I be buried."
It is fit that the tomb of HENRY CLAY should be in
the city of Lexington. In our Revolution, liberty's
first libation-blood was poured out in a town of that
name in Massachusetts. On hearing it, the pioneers




I K
16
of Kentucky consecrated the name, and applied it
to the place where Mr. CLAY desired to be buried.
The associations connected with the name harmonize
with his character; and the monument erected to
his memory at the spot selected by him will be visited
by the votaries of genius and liberty with that
reverence which is inspired at the tomb of Washington.  Upon that monument let his epitaph be
engraved.
Mr. President, I have availed myself of Doctor
Johnson's paraphrase of the epitaph on Thomas
Hanmer, with  a  few  alterations  and  additions, to
express in borrowed verse my admiration for the
life and character of Mr. CLAY, and with this hearttribute to the memory of my illustrious colleague I
conclude my remarks:
Born when Freedom her stripes and stars unfurl'd,
When Revolution shook the startled worldHeroes and sages taught his brilliant mind
To know and love the rights of all mankind.
"In life's first bloom his public toils began,
At once commenced the Senator and man:
In business dext'rous, weighty in debate,
Near fifty years he labour'd for the State.
In every speech persuasive wisdom flow'd,
In every act refulgent virtue glow'd;
Suspended faction ceased from rage and strife,
To hear his eloquence and praise his life.
Resistless merit fixed the Members' choice,
Who hail'd him Speaker with united voice."
His talents ripening with advancing yearsHis wisdom growing with his public caresA chosen envoy, war's dark horrors cease,
And tides of carnage turn to streams of peace.




17
Conflicting principles, internal strife,
Tariff and slavery, disunion rife,
All are compromised by his great hand,
And beams of joy illuminate the land.
Patriot, Christian, Husband, Father, Friend,
Thy work of life achieved a glorious end!
I offer the following resolutions:Resolved, That a committee of six be appointed by the
President of the Senate, to take order for superintending
the funeral of HENRY CLAY, late a member of this body,
which will take place to-morrow at twelve o'clock, M., and
that the Senate will attend the same.
Resolved, That the members of the Senate, from a sincere
desire of showing every mark of respect to the memory of
the deceased, will go into mourning for one month by the
usual mode of wearing crape on the left arm.
Resolved, As a further mark of respect entertained by the
Senate for the memory of HENRY CLAY, and his long and
distinguished services to his country, that his remains, in
pursuance of the known wishes of his family, be removed to
the place of sepulture selected by himself at Lexington, in
Kentucky, in charge of the Sergeant at Arms, and attended
by a committee of six Senators, to be appointed by the
President of the Senate, who shall have full power to carry
this resolution into effect.
Mr. CASS.
MR. PRESIDENT: Again has an impressive warning come to teach us, that in the midst of life we
are in death. The ordinary labours of this Hall are
suspended, and its contentions hushed, before the
2




18
power of Him, who says to the storm of human
passion, as He said of old to the waves of Galilee,
PEACE, BE STILL. The lessons of His providence,
severe as they may be, often become merciful dispensations, like that which is now spreading sorrow
through the land, and which is reminding us that we
have higher duties to fulfil, and graver responsibilities to encounter, than those that meet us here, when
we lay our hands upon His holy word, and invoke
His holy name, promising to be faithful to that Constitution, which He gave us in His mercy, and will
withdraw only in the hour of our blindness and disobedience, and of His own wrath.
Another great man has fallen in our land, ripe indeed in years and in honours, but never dearer to the
American people than when called from the theatre
of his services and renown to that final bar where
the lofty and the lowly must all meet at last.
I do not rise, upon this mournful occasion, to indulge in the language of panegyric. My regard for
the memory of -the dead, and for the obligations of
the living, would equally rebuke such a course.
The severity of truth is, at once, our proper duty and
our best consolation. Born during the revolutionary struggle, our deceased associate was one of the
few remaining public men who connect the present
generation with the actors in the trying scenes of that
eventful period, and whose names and deeds will soon




19
be known only in the history of their country. He
was another illustration, and a noble one, too, of the
glorious equality of our institutions, which freely offer
all their rewards to all who justly seek them; for he
was the architect of his own fortune, having made
his way in life by self-exertion; and he was an early
adventurer in the great forest of the West, then a
world of primitive vegetation, but now the abode of
intelligence and religion, of prosperity and civilization. But he possessed that intellectual superiority
which overcomes surrounding obstacles, and which
local seclusion cannot long withhold from general
knowledge and appreciation.
It is almost half a century since he passed through
Chillicothe, then the seat of government of Ohio,
where I was a member of the Legislature, on his
way to take his place in this very body, which is
now listening to this reminiscence, and to a feeble
tribute of regard from one who then saw him for the
first time, but who can never forget the impression
he produced by the charms of his conversation, the
frankness of his manner, and the high qualities with
which he was endowed. Since then he has belonged
to his country, and has taken a part, and a prominent part, both in peace and war, in all the great
questions affecting her interest and her honour; and
though it has been my fortune often to differ from
him, yet I believe he was as pure a patriot as ever




20
participated in the councils of a nation, anxious for
the public good, and seeking to promote it, during all
the vicissitudes of a long and eventful life. That he
exercised a powerful influence, within the sphere of
his action, through the whole country, indeed, we all
feel and know; and we know, too, the eminent endowments to which he owed this high distinction. Frank
and fearless in the expression of his opinion, and in
the performance of his duties, with rare powers of
eloquence, which never failed to rivet the attention
of his auditory, and which always commanded admiration, even when they did not carry conviction
— prompt in decision, and firm in action, and with a
vigorous intellect, trained in the contests of a stirring life, and strengthened by enlarged experience
and observation, joined withal to an ardent love of
country, and to great purity of purpose,-these were
the elements of his power and success; and we dwell
upon them with mournful gratification now, when
we shall soon follow him to the cold and silent tomb,
where we shall commit "earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust," but with the blessed conviction
of the truth of that Divine revelation which teaches
us that there is life and hope beyond the narrow
house, where we shall leave him alone to the
mercy of his God and ours.
He has passed beyond the reach of human praise
or censure; but the judgment of his contemporaries




21
has preceded and pronounced the judgment of history, and his name and fame will shed lustre upon
his country, and will be proudly cherished in the
hearts of his countrymen for long ages to come. Yes,
they will be cherished and freshly remembered, when
these marble columns, that surround us, so often the
witnesses of his triumph-but in a few brief hours,
when his mortal frame, despoiled of the immortal
spirit, shall rest under this dome for the last time,
to become the witnesses of his defeat in that final
contest, where the mightiest fall before the great destroyer-when these marble columns shall themselves have fallen, like all the works of man,
leaving their broken fragments to tell the story of
former magnificence, amid the very ruins which
announce decay and desolation.
I was often with him during his last illness, when
the world and the things of the world were fast fading away before him. He knew that the silver cord
was almost loosened, and that the golden bowl was
breaking at the fountain; but he was resigned to the
will of Providence, feeling that He who gave has the
right to take away, in His own good time and manner. After his duty to his Creator, and his anxiety
for his family, his first care was for his country, and
his first wish for the preservation and perpetuation of
the Constitution and the Union-dear to him in the
hour of death, as they had ever been in the vigour of




22
life. Of that Constitution and Union, whose defence in the last and greatest crisis of their peril, had
called forth all his energies, and stimulated those
memorable and powerful exertions, which he who
witnessed can never forget, and which no doubt
hastened the final catastrophe a nation now deplores,
with a sincerity and unanimity, not less honourable to
themselves, than to the memory of the object of their
affections. And when we shall enter that narrow
valley, through which he has passed before us, and
which leads to the judgment-seat of God, may we be
able to say, through faith in his Son, our Saviour,
and in the beautiful language of the hymn of the
dying Christian —dying, but ever living, and triumphant"The world recedes, it disappearsHeaven opens on my eyes! my ears
With sounds seraphic ring;
Lend, lend your wings! I mount-I fly!
Oh, Grave! where is thy victory?
Oh, Death' where is thy sting?"
"Let me die the death of the righteous, and let
my last hour be like his."
Mr. HUNTER.
Mr. PRESIDENT: We have heard, with deep sensibility, what has just fallen from the Senators who
have preceded me. We have heard, sir, the voice
of Kentucky-and, upon this occasion, she had a'ip




23
right to speak-in mingled accents of pride and
sorrow; for it has rarely fallen to the lot of any
State to lament the loss of such a son. But Virginia, too, is entitled to her place in this procession;
for she cannot be supposed to be unmindful of the
tie which bound her to the dead. When the earth
opens to receive the mortal part which she gave to
man, it is then that affection is eager to bury in its
bosom every recollection but those of love and kindness. And, sir, when the last sensible tie is about
to be severed, it is then that we look with anxious
interest to the deeds of the life, and to the emanations of the heart and the mind, for those more
enduring monuments which are the creations of an
immortal nature.
In this instance, we can be at no loss for these.
This land, sir, is full of the monuments of his
genius. His memory is as imperishable as American history itself, for he was one of those who made
it. Sir, he belonged to that marked class who are
the men of their century; for it was his rare good
fortune not only to have been endowed with the
capacity to do great things, but to have enjoyed the
opportunities of achieving them. I know, sir, it has
been said and deplored, that he wanted some of the
advantages of an early education; but it, perhaps,
has not been remembered that, in many respects, he
enjoyed such opportunities for mental training as




24
can rarely fall to the lot of man. He had not a
chance to learn as much from books, but he had
such opportunities of learning from men as few have
ever enjoyed. Sir, it is to be remembered that he
was reared at a time when there was a state of
society, in the commonwealth which gave him birth,
such as has never been seen there before nor since.
It was his early privilege to see how justice was
administered by a Pendleton and a Wythe, with the
last of whom he was in the daily habit of familiar
intercourse. He had constant opportunities to observe how forensic questions were managed by a
Marshall and a Wickham. He was old enough, too,
to have heard and to have appreciated the eloquence
of a Patrick Henry, and of George Keith Taylor.
In short, sir, he lived in a society in which the
examples of a Jefferson, and a Madison, and a Monroe were living influences, and on which the setting
sun of a Washington cast the mild effulgence of its
departing rays.
He was trained, too, as has been well said by the
Senator from  Michigan, [Mr. CASS,] at a period
when the recent revolutionary struggle had given a
more elevated tone to patriotism, and imparted a
higher cast to public feeling and to public character.
Such lessons were worth, perhaps, more to him than
the whole encyclopedia of scholastic learning. Not
only were the circumstances of his early training




25
favourable to the development of his genius, but the
theatre upon which he was thrown, was eminently
propitious for its exercise. The circumstances of
the early settlement of Kentucky, the generous,
daring, and reckless character of the people —all
fitted it to be the theatre for the display of those
commanding qualities of heart and mind, which he
so eminently possessed. There can be little doubt
but that those people and their chosen leader exercised a mutual influence upon each other; and no
one can be surprised that with his brave spirit and
commanding eloquence, and fascinating address, he
should have led not only there but elsewhere.
I did not know him, Mr. President, as you did,
in the freshness of his prime, or in the full maturity
of his manhood. I did not hear him, sir, as you
have heard him, when his voice roused the spirit
of his countrymen for war-when he cheered the
drooping, when he rallied the doubting through all
the vicissitudes of a long and doubtful contest. I
have never seen him, sir, when, from the height of
the chair, he ruled the House of Representatives by
the energy of his will, or when upon the level of the
floor he exercised a control almost as absolute, by
the mastery of his intellect. When I first knew
him, his sun had a little passed its zenith. The
effacing hand of time had just begun to touch the
lineaments of his manhood. But yet, sir, I saw




26
enough of him to be able to realize what he might
have been in the prime of his strength, and in the
full vigour of his maturity. I saw him, sir, as you
did, when he led the "opposition" during the administration of Mr. Van Buren. I had daily opportunities of witnessing the exhibition of his powers
during the extra session under Mr. Tyler's administration. And I saw, as we all -saw, in a recent contest, the exhibition of power on his part, which was
most marvellous in one of his years.
Mr. President, he may not have had as much
of analytic skill as some others, in dissecting a subject. It may be, perhaps, that he did not seek to
look quite so far ahead as some who have been most
distinguished for political forecast. But it may be
truly said of Mr. CLAY, that he was no exaggerator.
He looked at events through neither end of the
telescope, but surveyed them with the natural and
the naked eye. He had the capacity of seeing
things as the people saw them, and of feeling things
as the people felt them. He had, sir, beyond any
other man whom I have ever seen, the true mesmeric touch of the orator —the rare art of transferring his impulses to others. Thoughts, feelings,
emotions, came from the ready mould of his genius,
radiant and glowing, and communicated their own
warmth to every heart which received them. His,
too, was the power of wielding the higher and




27
intenser forms of passion with a majesty and an
ease, which none but the great masters of the
human heart can ever employ. It was his rare
good fortune to have been one of those who form,
as it were, a sensible link, a living tradition which
connects one age with another, and through which
one generation speaks its thoughts and feelings, and
appeals to another. And, unfortunate is it for a
country, when it ceases to possess such men, for it is
to them that we chiefly owe the capacity to maintain
the unity of the great Epos of human history, and
preserve the consistency of political action.
Sir, it may be said that the grave is still new-made
which covers the mortal remains of one of those
great men who have been taken from our midst, and
the earth is soon to open to receive another. I
know not whether it can be said to be a matter of
lamentation, so far as the dead are concerned, that
the thread of this life has been clipped when once it
had been fully spun. They escape the infirmities
of age, and they leave an imperishable name behind
them. The loss, sir, is not theirs, but ours; and a
loss the more to be lamented that we see none to
fill the places thus made vacant on the stage of
public affairs. But it may be well for us, who have
much more cause to mourn and to lament such
deaths, t6 pause amidst the business of life for the
purpose of contemplating the spectacle before us,




28
and of drawing the moral from the -passing event.
It is when death seizes for its victims those who are,
by "a head and shoulders, taller than all the rest,"
that we feel most deeply the uncertainty of human
affairs, and that "the glories of our mortal state are
shadows, not substantial things." It is, sir, in such
instances as the present that we can best study by
the light of example the true objects of life, and the
wisest ends of human pursuit.
Mr. HALE.
Mr. PRESIDENT: I hope I shall not be considered
obtrusive, if on this occasion for a brief moment, I
mingle my humble voice with those that, with an
ability that I shall neither attempt nor hope to
equal, have sought to do justice to the worth and
memory of the deceased, and at the same time appropriately to minister to the sympathies and sorrows of a stricken people. Sir, it is the teaching of
inspiration that "no man liveth and no man dieth
unto himself."
There is a lesson taught no less in the death than
in the life of every man-eminently so in the case
of one who has filled a large space and occupied a
distinguished position in the thoughts and regard of
his fellow-men. Particularly instructive at this time
is the event which we now deplore, although the
circumstances attending his decease are such as are
calculated to assuage rather than aggravate the grief




29
which it must necessarily cause. His time had fully
come. The three score and ten marking the ordinary period of human life had for some years been
passed, and, full of years and of honours, he has
gone to his rest. And now, when the nation is marshalling itself for the contest which is to decide "who
shall be greatest," as if to chasten our ambition, to
restrain and subdue the violence of passion, to moderate our desires and elevate our hopes,. we have the
spectacle of one who, by the force of his intellect
and the energy of his own purpose, had achieved a
reputation which the highest official honours of the
Republic might have illustrated, but could not have
enhanced, laid low in death-as if, at the very outset of this political contest, on which the nation is
now entering, to teach the ambitious and aspiring
the vanity of human pursuit and end of earthly
honour. But, sir, I do not intend to dwell on that
moral which is taught by the silent lips and closed
eye of the illustrious dead, with a force such as no
man ever spoke with; but I shall leave the event,
with its silent and mute eloquence, to impress its
own appropriate teachings on the heart.
In the long and eventful life of Mr. CLAY, in the
various positions which he occupied, in the many
posts of public duty which lie filled, in the many
exhibitions which his history affords of untiring
energy, of unsurpassed eloquence, and of devoted
patriotism, it would be strange indeed if different
i,




30
minds, as they dwell upon the subject, were all to
select the same incidents of his life as pre-eminently
calculated to challenge admiration and respect.
Sir, my admiration-aye, my affection for Mr. CLAY
-was won and secured many years since, even in
my school-boy days-when his voice of counsel, encouragement, and sympathy was heard in the other
Hall of this Capitol, in behalf of the struggling colonies of the southern portion of this continent, who,
in pursuit of their inalienable rights, in imitation of
our own forefathers, had unfurled the banner of
liberty, and, regardless of consequences, had gallantly rushed into that contest where "life is lost,
or freedom won." And again, sir, when Greece,
rich in the memories of the past, awoke from the
slumber of ages of oppression and centuries of shame,
and resolved
" To call her virtues back, and conquer time and fate"there, over the plains of that classic land, above the
din of battle and the clash of arms, mingling with
the shouts of the victors and the groans of the vanquished, were heard the thrilling and stirring notes
of that same eloquence, excited by a sympathy
which knew no bounds, wide as the world, pleading
the cause of Grecian liberty before the American
Congress, as if to pay back to Greece the debt which
every patriot and orator felt was her due. Sir, in
the long and honourable career of the deceased,
there are many events and circumstances upon




31
which his friends and posterity will dwell with
satisfaction and pride, but none which will preserve
his memory with more unfading lustre to future
ages than the course he pursued in the SpanishAmerican and Greek revolutions.
MR. CLEMENS.
MR. PRESIDENT: I should not have thought it
necessary to add any thing to what has already been
said, but for a request preferred by some of the
friends of the deceased. I should have been content to mourn him in silence, and left it to other
tongues to pronounce his eulogy. What I have now
to say shall be brief-very brief.
Mr. President, it is now less than three short years
ago since I first entered this body. At that period
it numbered among its members many of the most
illustrious statesmen this Republic has ever produced,
or the world has ever known. Of the living, it is
not my purpose to speak; but in that brief period,
death has been busy here; and, as if to mark the
feebleness of human things, his arrows have been
aimed at the highest, the mightiest of us all. First,
died CALHOUN. And well, sir, do I remember the
deep feeling evinced on that occasion by him whose
death has been announced here to-day, when he said:
"I was his senior in years-in nothing else. In the
course of nature I ought to have preceded him. It




32
has been decreed otherwise; but I know that I shall
linger here only a short time, and shall soon follow
him."  It was genius mourning over his younger
brother, and too surely predicting his own approaching end.
He, too, is now gone from among us, and left none
like him behind. That voice, whose every tone was
music, is hushed and still. That clear, bright eye is
dim and lustreless, and that breast, where grew and
flourished every quality which could adorn and dignify our nature, is cold as the clod that soon nmust
cover it. A few hours have wrought a mighty
change-a change for which a lingering illness had,
indeed, in some degree, prepared us; but which, nevertheless, will still fall upon the nation with crushing force. Many a sorrowing heart is now asking,
as I did yesterday, when I heard the first sound of
the funeral bell" And is he gone?-the pure of the purest,
The hand that upheld our bright banner the surest,
Is he gone from our struggles away?
But yesterday lending a people new life,
Cold, mute, in the coffin to-day."
Mr. President, this is an occasion when eulogy
must fail to perform its office. The long life which
is now  ended is a history of glorious deeds too
mighty for the tongue of praise. It is in the hearts
of his countrymen that his best epitaph must be




33
written. It is in the admiration of a world that his
renown must be recorded. In that deep love of
country which distinguished every period of his life,
he may not have been unrivalled. In loftiness of
intellect, he was not without his peers. The skill
with which he touched every chord of the human
heart may have been equalled. The iron will, the
unbending firmness, the fearless courage, which
marked his character, may have been shared by
others. But where shall we go to find all these qualities united, concentrated, blended into one brilliant
whole, and shedding a lustre upon one single head,
which does not dazzle the beholder only because it
attracts his love and demands his worship?
I scarcely know, sir, how far it may be allowable,
upon an occasion like this, to refer to party struggles which have left wounds not yet entirely healed.
I will venture, however, to suggest, that it should
be a source of consolation to his friends that he lived
long enough to see the full accomplishment of the last
great work of his life, and to witness the total disappearance of that sectional tempest which threatened to whelm the Republic in ruins. Both the
great parties of the country have agreed to stand
upon the platform which he erected, and both of
them have solemnly pledged themselves to maintain
unimpaired the work of his hands. I doubt not
the knowledge of this cheered him  in his dying
3




34
moments, and helped to steal away the pangs of
dissolution.
Mr. President, if I knew any thing more that I
could say, I would gladly utter it. To me, he was
something more than kind, and I am called upon to
mingle a private with the public grief. I wish that
I could do something to add to his fame. But he
built for himself a monument of immortality, and
left to his friends no task but that of soothing their
own sorrow for his loss. We pay to him the tribute
of our tears. More we have no power to bestow.
Patriotism, honour, genius, courage, have all come to
strew their garlands about his tomb; and well they
may, for he was the peer of them all.
Mr. COOPER.
Mr. PRESIDENT: It is not always by words that
the living pay to the dead the sincerest and most
eloquent tribute. The tears of a nation, flowing
spontaneously over the grave of a public benefactor,
is a more eloquent testimonial of his worth and of
the affection and veneration of his countrymen, than
the most highly-wrought eulogiumn of the most gifted
tongue. The heart is not necessarily the fountain
of words, but it is always the source of tears, whether
of joy, gratitude, or grief. But sincere, truthful,
and eloquent, as they are, they leave no permanent
record of the virtues and greatness of him on whose




35
tomb they are shed. As the dews of heaven falling
at night are absorbed by the earth, or dried up by
the morning sun, so the tears of a people, shed for
their benefactor, disappear without leaving a trace to
tell to future generations of the services, sacrifices,
and virtues of him to whose memory they were a
grateful tribute. But as homage paid to virtue is an
incentive to it, it is right that the memory of the
good, the great, and noble of the earth should be
preserved and honoured.
The ambition, Mr. President, of the truly great,
is more the hope of living in the memory and estiination of future ages than of possessing power in
their own. It is this hope that stimulates them to
perseverance; that enables them to encounter disappointment, ingratitude, and neglect, and to press on
through toils, privations, and perils to the end. It
was not the hope of discovering a world, over which
he should himself exercise dominion, that sustained
Columbus in all his trials. It was not for this
he braved danger, disappointment, poverty, and reproach. It was not for this he subdued his native
pride, wandered from kingdom to kingdom, kneeling
at the feet of princes, a suppliant for means to prosecute his sublime enterprise.  It was slot for this, after
having at last secured the patronage of Isabella,
that he put off in his crazy and ill-appointed fleet
into unknown seas, to struggle with storms and tem- m a




36
pests, and the rage of a mutinous crew. It was
another and nobler kind of ambition that stimulated
him to contend with terror, superstition, and despair,
and to press forward on his perilous course, when the
needle in his compass, losing its polarity, seemed to
unite with the fury of the elements and the insubordination of his crew in turning him back from his
perilous but glorious undertaking. It was the hope
which was realized at last, when his ungrateful
country was compelled to inscribe, as an epitaph on
his tomb"COLUMBUS HAS GIVEN A NEW WORLD TO THE KINGDOMS OF CASTILE AND LEON,"
that enabled him, at first, to brave so many disappointments, and at last, to conquer the multitude of
perils that beset his pathway on the deep. This, sir,
is the ambition of the truly great-not to achieve
present fame, but future immortality. This being
the case, it is befitting here to-day, to add to the life
of HENRY CLAY the record of his death, signalized as
it is by a nation's gratitude and grief. It is right
that posterity should learn from us, the contemporaries
of the illustrious deceased, that his virtues and services were appreciated by his country, and acknowledged by the tears of his countrymen poured out
upon his grave.
4, ~L I I                I           I II I 




37
The career of HENRY CLAY was a wonderful one.
And what an illustration of the excellence of our
institutions would a retrospect of his life afford!
Born in an humble station, without any of the
adventitious aids of fortune by which the obstructions on the road to fame are smoothed, he rose not
only to the most exalted eminence of position, but
likewise to the highest place in the affections of his
countrymen. Taking into view the disadvantages
of his early position, disadvantages against which
he had always to contend, his career is without a
parallel in the history of great men. To have seen
him a youth, without friends or fortune, and with
but a scanty education, who would have ventured
to predict for him a course so brilliant and beneficent, and a fame so well deserved and enduring?
Like the pine, which sometimes springs up amidst
the rocks on the mountain side, with scarce a
crevice in which to fix its roots, or soil to nourish
them, but which, nevertheless, overtops all the
trees of the surrounding forest, HENRY CLAY, by
his own inherent, self-sustaining energy and genius,
rose to an altitude of fame almost unequalled in the
age in which he lived. As an orator, legislator, and
statesman, he had no superior. All his faculties
were remarkable, and in remarkable combination.
Possessed of a brilliant genius and fertile imagination, his judgment was sound, discriminating, and




38
eminently practical. Of an ardent and impetuous
temperament, he was nevertheless persevering and
firm of purpose. Frank, bold, and intrepid, he was
cautious in providing against the contingencies and
obstacles which might possibly rise up in the road to
success. Generous, liberal, and entertaining broad
and expanded views of national policy, in his legislative course he never transcended the limits of a
wise economy.
But, Mr. President, of all his faculties, that of
making friends and attaching them to him was the
most remarkable and extraordinary. In this respect,
he seemed to possess a sort of fascination, by which
all who came into his presence were attracted
towards, and bound to him by ties which neither
time nor circumstances had power to dissolve or
weaken. In the admiration of his friends was the
recognition of the divinity of intellect; in their
attachment to him a confession of his generous personal qualities and social virtues.
Of the public services of Mr. Clay, the present
occasion affords no room for a sketch more extended
than that which his respected colleague [Mr. UNDERWOOD] has presented. It is, however, sufficient to
say, that for more than forty years he has been a
prominent actor in the drama of American affairs.
During the late war with England, his voice was
more potent than any other in awakening the spirit
a  




39
of the country, infusing confidence into the people,
and rendering available the resources for carrying on
the contest. In our domestic controversies, threatening the peace of the country and the integrity of
the Union, he has always been first to note danger
as well as to suggest the means of averting it.
When the waters of the great political deep were
upheaved by the tempest of discord, and the ark of
the Union, freighted with the hopes and destinies of
freedom, tossing about on the raging billows, and
drifting every moment nearer to the vortex which
threatened to swallow it up, it was his clarion voice,
rising above the storm, that admonished the crew
of impending peril, and counselled the way to
safety.
But, Mr. President, devotedly as he loved his
country, his aspirations were not limited to its
welfare alone. Wherever freedom had a votary,
that votary had a friend in HENRY CLAY; and in the
struggle of the Spanish colonies for independence he
uttered words of encouragement which have become
the mottos on the banners of freedom in every land.
But neither the services which he has rendered his
own country, nor his wishes for the welfare of others,
nor his genius, nor the affection of friends, could turn
aside the destroyer. No price could purchase exemption from the common lot of humanity. HENRY
CLAY, the wise, the great, the gifted, had to die;




40
and his history is summed up in the biography
which the Russian poet has prepared for all, kings
and serfs;
* * * * "born, living, dying,
Quitting the still shore for the troubled wave,
Struggling with storm-clouds, over shipwrecks flying,
And casting anchor in the silent grave."
But though time would not spare him, there is still
this of consolation: he died peacefully and happy,
ripe in renown, full of years and of honours, and
rich in the affections of his country. He had, too,
the unspeakable satisfaction of closing his eyes
whilst the country he had loved so much and served
so well was still in the enjoyment of peace, happiness,
union, and prosperity-still advancing in all the
elements of wealth, greatness, and power.
I know, Mr. President, how unequal I have been
to the apparently self-imposed task of presenting, in
an appropriate manner, the merits of the illustrious
deceased. But if I had remained silent on an occasion like this, when the hearts of my constituents
are swelling with grief, I would have been disowned
by them. It is for this reason —that of giving
utterance to their feelings as well as of my ownthat I have trespassed on the time of the Senate.
I would that I could have spoken fitter words; but,
such as they are, they were uttered by the tongue
in response to the promptings of the heart.




41
Mr. SEWARD.
Mr. PRESIDENT: Fifty years ago, HENRY CLAY of
Virginia, already adopted by Kentucky, then as
youthful as himself, entered the service of his
country, a Representative in the unpretending
Legislature of that rising State; and having thenceforward, with ardour and constancy, pursued the
gradual paths of an aspiring change through Halls
of Congress, Foreign Courts and Executive Councils,
he has now, with the cheerfulness of a patriot, and
the serenity of a Christian, fitly closed his long and
arduous career, here in the Senate, in the full presence of the Republic, looking down upon the scene
with anxiety and alarm, not merely a Senator like
one of us who yet remain in the Senate House, but
filling that character which, though it had no authority of law and was assigned without suffrage,
Augustus Caesar nevertheless declared was above
the title of Emperor, Primus inter lllustres-the
Prince of the Senate.
Generals are tried, Mr. President, by examining
the campaigns they have lost or won, and statesmen
by reviewing the transactions in which they have
been engaged. Hamilton would have been unknown
to us, had there been no constitution to be created;
as Brutus would have died in obscurity, had there
been no Caesar to be slain.
Colonization, Revolution, and Organization —three
great acts in the drama of our National Progress



42
had already passed when the Western Patriot appeared on the public stage. He entered in that next
division of the majestic scenes which was marked
by an inevitable reaction of political forces, a wild
strife of factions and ruinous embarrassments in our
foreign relations. This transition stage is always
more perilous than any other in the career of nations, and especially in the career of Republics. It,
proved fatal to the Commonwealth in England.
Scarcely any of the Spanish-American States have
yet emerged from it; and more than once it has
been sadly signalized by the ruin of the Republican
cause in France.
The continuous administration of Washington
and John Adams had closed under a cloud which
had thrown a broad, dark shadow over the future;
the nation was deeply indebted at home and abroad,
and its credit was prostrate. The Revolutionary
factions had given place to two inveterate parties,
divided by a gulf which had been worn by the conflict in which the Constitution was adopted, and
made broader and deeper by a war of prejudices concerning the merits of the belligerents in the great
European struggle that then convulsed the civilized
world. Our extraordinary political system was little
more than an ingenious theory, not yet practically
established. The union of the States was as yet
only one of compact; for the political, social, and
commercial necessities to which it was so marvel



43
ously adapted, and which, clustering thickly upon
it, now render it indissoluble, had not then been
broadly disclosed, nor had the habits of acquiescence
and the sentiments of loyalty, always slow of growth,
fully ripened. The bark that had gone to sea, thus
unfurnished and untried, seemed quite certain to
founder by reason of its own inherent frailty, even
if it should escape unharmed in the great conflict of
nations which acknowledged no claims of justice
and tolerated no pretensions of neutrality. Moreover, the territory possessed by the nation was inadequate to commercial exigencies and indispensable
social expansion; and yet no provision had been
made for enlargement, nor for extending the political
system over distant regions, inhabited or otherwise,
which must inevitably be acquired. Nor could any
such acquisition be made, without disturbing the
carefully-adjusted balance of powers among the
members of the confederacy.
These difficulties, Mr. President, although they
grew less with time and by slow degrees, continued
throughout the whole life of the statesman whose
obsequies we are celebrating. Be it known, then,
and I am sure that history will confirm the instruction, that Conservatism was the interest of the nation, and the responsibility of its Rulers, during the
period in which he flourished. He was ardent, bold,
generous, and even ambitious; and yet with a profound conviction of the true exigencies of the country,




44
like Alexander Hamilton, he disciplined himself and
trained a restless nation, that knew only self-control,
to the rigorous practice of that often humiliating
conservatism which its welfare and security in that
particular crisis so imperiously demanded.
It could not happen, sir, to any citizen to have
acted alone, nor even to have acted always the
most conspicuous part in a trying period so long
protracted. HENRY CLAY, therefore, shared the responsibilities of Government with not only his
proper contemporaries, but also survivors of the Revolution, as well as also many who will succeed himself. Delicacy forbids the naming of those who retain
their places here, but we may without impropriety
recall among his compeers a Senator of vast resources
and inflexible resolve, who has recently withdrawn
from this Chamber, but I trust not altogether from
public life, (Mr. BENTON); and another, who, surpassing all his contemporaries within his country,
and even throughout the world, in proper eloquence
of the Forum, now in autumnal years for a second
times dignifies and adorns the highest seat in the
Executive Council, (Mr. WEBSTER.)  Passing by
these eminent and noble men, the shades of
Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, Jackson, Monroe,
and Jefferson, rise up before us-statesmen whose
living and local fame has ripened already into historical and world-wide renown.
Among geniuses so lofty as these, HENRY CLAY




45
bore a part in regulating the constitutional freedom
of political debate; establishing that long-contested
and most important line which divides the sovereignty of the several States from that of the States
confederated; asserting the right of Neutrality, and
vindicating it by a war against Great Britain, when
that just but extreme measure became necessary;
adjusting the terms on which that perilous yet
honourable contest was brought to a peaceful close;
perfecting the Army and the Navy, and the national
fortifications; settling the fiscal and financial policy
of the Government in more than one crisis of apparently threatened revolution; asserting and calling
into exercise the powers of the Government for
making and improving internal communications
between the States; arousing and encouraging the
Spanish-American Colonies on this Continent to
throw off the foreign yoke, and to organize Governments on principles congenial to our own, and thus
creating external bulwarks for our own national
defence: establishing equal and impartial peace and
amity with all existing maritime Powers; and extending the constitutional organization of Government over all the vast regions secured in his lifetime
by purchase or by conquest, whereby the pillars of
the Republic have been removed from the banks of
the St. Mary to the borders of the Rio Grande,
and from the margin of the Mississippi to the Pacific coast. We may not yet discuss here the wisdom




46
of the several measures which have thus passed in
review before us, nor of the positions which the deceased statesman assumed in regard to them, but we
may without offence dwell upon the comprehensive
results of them all.
The Union exists in absolute integrity, and the Republican system is in complete and triumphant development. Without having relinquished any part of
their individuality, the States have more than doubled
already, and are increasing in numbers and political
strength and expansion more rapidly than ever before.
Without having absorbed any State, or having even
encroached on any State, the Confederation has
opened itself so as to embrace all the new members
who have come, and now with capacity for further and
indefinite enlargements has become fixed, enduring,
and perpetual. Although it was doubted only half
a century ago whether our political system could be
maintained at all, and whether, if maintained, it
could guarantee the peace and happiness of society,
it stands now confessed by the world the form of
Government not only most adapted to Empire, but
also most congenial with the constitution of Human
Nature.
When we consider that the nation has been conducted to this haven, not only through stormy seas,
but altogether, also, without a course and without
a star; and when we consider moreover, the sum
of happiness that has already been enjoyed by the




47
American People, and still more the influence which
the great achievement is exerting for the advancement and melioration of the condition of mankind,
we see at once that it might have satisfied the highest ambition to have been, no matter how humbly,
concerned in so great transaction.
Certainly, sir, no one will assert that HENRY CLAY
in that transaction performed an obscure or even a
common part. On the contrary, from the day on
which he entered the public service until that on
which he passed the gates of death, he was never a
follower, but always a leader; and he marshalled
either the party which sustained or that which resisted every great measure, equally in the Senate
and among the people.  He  led where duty
seemed to him to indicate, reckless whether he
encountered one President or twenty Presidents,
whether he was opposed by factions or even by the
whole people. Hence it has happened, that although
that people are not yet agreed among themselves on
the wisdom of all, or perhaps of even any of his
great measures, yet they are nevertheless unanimous
in acknowledging that he was at once the greatest,
the most faithful and the most reliable of their
statesmen. Here the effort at discriminating praise of
HENRY CLAY, in regard to his public policy, must stop
in this place, even on this sad occasion which awakens
the ardent liberality of his generous survivors.
But his personal qualities may be discussed withS D




48
out apprehension. What were the elements of the
success of that extraordinary man?  You, sir, knew
him longer and better than I, and I would prefer to
hear you speak of them. He was indeed eloquentall the world knows that. He held the keys to the
hearts of his countrymen, and he turned the wards
within them with a skill attained by *no other
master.
But eloquence was nevertheless only an instrument, and one of many that he used. His conversation, his gesture, his very look, was persuasive,
seductive, irresistible. And his appliance of all
these was courteous, patient and indefatigable.
Defeat only inspired him with new resolution. He
divided opposition by his assiduity of address, while
he rallied and strengthened his own bands of supporters by the confidence of success which, feeling
himself, he easily inspired among his followers. His
affections were high, and pure, and generous, and the
chiefest among them was that which the great
Italian poet designated as the charity of native land.
And in him that charity was an enduring and overpowering enthusiasm, and it influenced all his sentiments and conduct, rendering him more impartial
between conflicting interests and sections than any
other statesman who has lived since the Revolution.
Thus with very great versatility of talent and the
most catholic equality of favour, he identified every
question, whether of domestic administration or




49
foreign policy, with his own great name, and so
became a perpetual Tribune of the people. He
needed only to pronounce in favour of a measure or
against it, here, and immediately popular enthusiasm, excited as by a magic wand, was felt, overcoming all opposition in the Senate Chamber.
In this way he wrought a change in our political
system, that I think was not foreseen by its founders.
He converted this branch of the Legislature from a
negative position, or one of equilibriumr between the
Executive and the House of Representatives, into
the active ruling power of the Republic. Only time
can disclose whether this great innovation shall be
beneficent, or even permanent.
Certainly, sir, the great lights of tbhe Senate have
set. The obscuration is not less palpable to the
country than to us, who are left to grope our uncertain way here, as in a labyrinth, oppressed with
self-distrust. The times, too, present new embarrassments. We are rising to another and a more sublime stage of natural progress,-that of expanding
wealth and rapid territorial aggrandizement. Our
institutions throw a broad shadow across the St.
Lawrence, and stretching beyond the valley of
Mexico, reaches even to the plains of Central America;
while the Sandwich Islands and the shores of China
recognise its renovating influence. Wherever that
influence is felt, a desire for protection under those
institutions is awakened. Expansion seems to be
4




50
regulated, not by any difficulties of resistance, but
by the moderation which results from our own internal constitution. No one knows how rapidly
that restraint may give way. Who can tell how
far or how fast it ought to yield? Commerce has
brought the ancient continents near to us, and
created necessities for new positions-perhaps connections or colonies there-and with the trade and
friendship of the elder nations their conflicts and
collisions are.brought to our doors and to our hearts.
Our sympathy kindles, our indifference extinguishes
the fire of freedom in foreign lands. Before we shall
be fully conscious that a change is going on in Europe, we may find ourselves once more divided by
that eternal line of separation that leaves on the one
side those of our citizens who obey the impulses of
sympathy, while on the other are found those who
submit only to the counsels of prudence. Even
prudence will soon be required to decide whether
distant regions, East and West, shall come under our
own protection, or be left to aggrandize a rapidly
spreading and hostile domain of despotism.
Sir, who among us is equal to these mighty
questions?  I fear there is no one. Nevertheless,
the example of HENRY CLAY remains for our instruction. His genius has passed to the realms of
light, but his virtues still live here for our emulation.
With them there will remain also the protection and
favour of the Most High, if by the practice of justice




51
and the maintenance of freedom we shall deserve it.
Let, then, the bier pass on. With sorrow, but not
without hope, we will follow the revered form that
it bears to its final resting place; and then, when
that grave opens at our feet to receive such an inestimable treasure, we will invoke the God of our
fathers to send us new guides, like him that is now
withdrawn, and give us wisdom to obey their instructions.
MR. JONES, of Iowa.
Mr. PRESIDENT: Of the vast number who mourn the
departure of the great man whose voice has so often
been heard in this Ha1, I have peculiar cause to
regret that dispensation which has removed him
from among us. He was the guardian and director
of my collegiate days; four of his sons were my
collegemates and my warm friends. My intercourse
with the father was that of a youth and a friendly
adviser. I shall never cease to feel grateful to him
-to his now heart-stricken and bereaved widow
and children, for their many kindnesses to me during
four or five years of my life. I had the pleasure of
renewing my acquaintance with him, first, as a delegate in Congress, while he was a member of this
body from 1835 to 1839, and again in 1848, as a
member of this branch of Congress; and during the
whole of which period, some eight years, none but
the most kindly feeling existed between us.




52
As an humble and unimportant Senator, it was
my fortune to cooperate with him throughout the
whole of the exciting session of 1849-'50-the labour
and excitement of which is said to have precipitated
his decease. That cooperation did not end with the
accordant vote on this floor, but, in consequence of
the unyielding opposition to the series of measures
known as the "compromise," extended to many
private meetings held by its friends, at all of which
Mr. CLAY was present. And whether in public or
private life, he everywhere continued to inspire me
with the most exalted estimate of his patriotism and
statesmanship. Never shall I forget the many ardent
appeals he made to Senators, in and out of the Senate, in favour of the settlement of our then unhappy
sectional differences.
Immediately after the close of that memorable
session of Congress, during which the nation beheld
his great and almost superhuman efforts upon this
floor to sustain the wise counsels of the c Father of
his Country," I accompanied him home to Ashland,
at his invitation, to revisit the place where my
happiest days had been spent, with the friends who
there continued to reside. During that, to me, most
agreeable and instructive journey, in many conversations he evinced the utmost solicitude for the welfare
and honour of the Republic, all tending to show that
he believed the happiness of the people and the
cause of liberty throughout the world depended upon




53
the continuance of our glorious Union, and the avoidance of those sectional dissensions which could but
alienate the affections of one portion of the people
from another. With the sincerity and fervour of
a true patriot, he warned his companions in that
journey to withhold all aid from men who laboured,
and from. every cause which tended, to sow the seeds
of disunion in the land; and to oppose such, he declared himself willing to forego all the ties and associations of mere party.
At a subsequent period, sir, this friend of my
youth, at my earnest and repeated entreaties, consented to take a sea voyage from New York to
Havana. He remained at the latter place a fortnight, and then returned by New Orleans to Ashland. That excursion by sea, he assured me, contributed much to relieve him from the sufferings
occasioned by the disease which has just terminated
his eventful and glorious life. Would to Heaven
that he could have been persuaded to abandon his
duties a! a Senator, and to have remained during
the past winter and spring upon that Island of Cuba!
The country Nvould not now, perhaps, have been
called to mourn his loss.
In some matters of policy connected with the administration of our general government, I have
disagreed with him, yet the purity and sincerity of
his motives I never doubted; and as a true lover of
his country, as an honourable and honest man, I trust




54
his example will be reverenced and followed by the
men of this, and of succeeding generations.
Mr. BROOKE.
Mr. PRESIDENT: As an ardent, personal admirer
and political friend of the distinguished dead, I
claim the privilege of adding my humble tribute of
respect to his memory, and of joining in the general
expression of sorrow that has gone forth from this
Chamber. Death, at all times, is an instructive
monitor as well as a mournful messenger; but when
his fatal shaft bath stricken down the great in intellect and renown, how doubly impressive the lesson
that it brings home to the heart that the grave is
the common lot of all-the great leveller of all earthly
distinctions!  But at the same time we are taught
that in one sense the good and great can never die;
for the memory of their virtues and their bright example will live through all coming time in an immortality that blooms beyond the grave. The consolation of this thought may calm our sorrow; and, in the
language of one of our own poets, it may be asked:
"Why weep ye, then, for him, who having run
The bound of man's appointed years, at last,
Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labours done,
Serenely to his final rest has pass'd;
While the soft memory of his virtues yet
Lingers, like twilight hues when the bright sun has set?"
It will be doing no injustice, sir, to the living or
the dead to say, that no better specimen of the true




55
American character can be found in our history than
that of Mr. CLAY. With no adventitious advantages
of birth or fortune, he won his way by the efforts of
his own genius to the highest distinction and honour.
Ardently attached to the principles of civil and religious liberty, patriotism was with him both a passion and a sentiment-a passion that gave energy
to his ambition, and a sentiment that pervaded all
his thoughts and actions, concentrating them upon
his country as the idol of bis heart. The bold and
manly frankness in the expression of his opinions
which always characterized him, has often been the
subject of remark; and in all his victories it may be
truly said he never "stooped to conquer." In his
*long and brilliant political career, personal considerations never for a single instant caused him to swerve
from the strict line of duty, and none have ever
doubted his deep sincerity in that memorable expression to Mr. Preston, "Sir, I had rather be right
than be President."
This is not the time nor occasion, sir, to enter
into a detail of the public services of Mr. CLAY, interwoven as they are with the history of the country
for half a century; but I cannot refrain from adverting to the last crowning act of his glorious life-his
great effort in the Thirty-first Congress for the preservation of the peace and integrity of this great
Republic, as it was this effort that shattered his
bodily strength, and hastened the consummation of




56
death. The Union of the States, as being essential
to our prosperity and happiness, was the paramount
proposition in his political creed, and the slightest
symptom of danger to its perpetuity filled him with
alarm, and called forth all the energies of his body
and mind. In his earlier life he had met this
danger and overcome it. In the conflict of contending factions it again appeared; and coming forth
from the repose of private life, to which age and infirmity had carried'him, with unabated strength of
intellect, he again entered upon the arena of political
strife, and again success crowned his efforts, and
peace and harmony were restored to a distracted
people. But unequal to the mighty struggle, his
bodily strength sank beneath it, and he retired from
the field of his glory to yield up his life as a holy
sacrifice to his beloved country. It has well been
said that peace has its victories as well as war; and
how bright upon the page of history will be the
record of this great victory of intellect, of reason,
and of moral suasion, over the spirit of discord and
sectional animosities!
We this day, Mr. President, commit his memory
to the regard and affection of his admiring countrymen. It is a consolation to them and to us to know
that he died in full possession of his glorious intellect, and, what is better, in the enjoyment of that
" peace which the world can neither give nor take
away."  He sank to rest as the full-orbed king of




57
day, unshorn of a single beam, or rather like the
planet of morning, his brightness was but eclipsed
by the opening to him  of a more full and perfect
day" No waning of fire, no paling of ray,
But rising, still rising, as passing away.
Farewell, gallant eagle) thou'rt buried in lightGod speed thee to heaven, lost star of our night."
The Resolutions submitted by Mr. UNDERWOOD, were then
unanimously agreed to.
Ordered, That the Secretary communicate these Resolutions to the House of Representatives.
On motion by MIr. UNDERWOOD,
Resolved, That, as an additional mark of respect to the
memory of the deceased, the Senate do now adjourn.








HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 1852.
The Journal of yesterday having been read,
A message was received from the Senate, by ASBURY
DICKINS, Esq., its Secretary, communicating information of
the death of HENRY CLAY, late Senator from the State of
Kentucky, and the proceedings of the Senate thereon.
The resolutions of the Senate having been read,
Mr. BRECKINRIDGE then rose and said:
Mr. SPEAKER: I rise to perform the melancholy
duty of announcing to this body the death of HENRY
CLAY, late a Senator in Congress from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Mr. CLAY expired at his lodgings in this city yesterday morning, at seventeen minutes past eleven
o'clock, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His
noble intellect was unclouded to the last. After protracted sufferings, he passed away without pain; and
59




60
so gently did the spirit leave his frame, that the moment of departure was not observed by the friends
who watched at his bedside. His last hours were
cheered by the presence of an affectionate son; and
he died surrounded by friends who, during his long
illness, had done all that affection could suggest to
soothe his sufferings.
Although this sad event has been expected for
many weeks, the shock it produced, and the innumerable tributes of respect to his memory exhibited
on every side, and in every form, prove the depth
of the public sorrow, and the greatnes of the
public loss.
Imperishably associated as his name has been for
fifty years with every great event affecting the fortunes of our country, it is difficult to realize that he
is indeed gone for ever. It is difficult to feel that we
shall see no more his noble form within these walls
-that we shall hear no more his patriot tones, now
rousing his countrymen to vindicate their rights
against a foreign foe, now imploring them to preserve
concord among themselves. We shall see him no
more. The memory and the fruits of his services
alone remain to us. Amidst the general gloom, the
Capitol itself looks desolate, as if the genius of the
place had departed. Already the intelligence has
reached almost every quarter of the Republic, and a
great people mourn with us, to-day, the death of




61
their most illustrious citizen. Sympathizing, as we
do, deeply, with his family and friends, yet private
affliction is absorbed in the general sorrow. The
spectacle of a whole community lamenting the loss
of a great man, is far more touching than any manifestation of private grief.  In speaking of a loss
which is national, I will not attempt to describe the
universal burst of grief with which Kentucky will
receive these tidings. The attempt would be vain
to depict the gloom that will cover her people, when
they know that the pillar of fire is removed, which
has guided their footsteps for the life of a generation.
It is known to the country, that from the memorable session of 1849-'50, Mr. CLAY'S health gradually declined. Although several years of his Senatorial term remained, he did not propose to continue in the public service longer than the present
session. He came to Washington chiefly to defend,
if it should become necessary, the measures of adjustment, to the adoption of which he so largely
contributed; but the condition of his health did not
allow him, at any time, to participate in the discussions of the Senate. Through the winter, he was
confined almost wholly to his room, with slight
changes in his condition, but gradually losing the
remnant of his strength.  Through the long and
dreary winter, he conversed much and cheerfully




62
with his friends, and expressed a deep interest in public affairs. Although he did not expect a restoration to health, he cherished the hope that the mild
season of spring would bring to him strength enough
to return to Ashland, and die in the bosom of his
family. But, alas! spring, that brings life to all nature, brought no life nor hope to him. After'the
month of March, his vital powers rapidly wasted,
and for weeks he lay patiently awaiting the stroke
of death. But the approach of the destroyer had no
terrors for him. No clouds overhung his future.
He met the end with composure, and his pathway
to the grave was brightened by the immortal hopes
which spring from the Christian faith.
Not long before his death, having just returned
from Kentucky, I bore to him a token of affection
from his excellent wife. Never can I forget his appearance, his manner, or his words. After speaking
of his family, his friends, and his country, he changed
the conversation to his own future, and looking on
me with his fine eye undimmed, and his voice full of
its original compass and melody, he said, "I am not
afraid to die, sir. I have hope, faith, and some confidence. I do not think any man can be entirely
certain in regard to his future state, but I have an
abiding trust in the merits and mediation of our Saviour."  It will assuage the grief of his family to
know that he looked hopefully beyond the tomb, and




63
a Christian people will rejoice to hear that such a
man, in his last hours, reposed with simplicity and
confidence upon the promises of the Gospel.
It is the custom, on occasions like this, to speak of
the parentage and childhood of the deceased, and
to follow him, step by step, through life. I will not
attempt to relate even all the great events of Mr.
CLAY'S life, because they are familiar to the whole
country, and it would be needless to enumerate
a long list of public services which form a part of
American history.
Beginning life as a friendless boy, with few advantages save those conferred by nature, while yet a minor, he left Virginia, the State of his birth, and commenced the practice of law at Lexington, in Kentucky. At a bar remarkable for its numbers and
talent, Mr. CLAY soon rose to the first rank. At a
very early age he was elected from the county of
Fayette to the General Assembly of Kentucky, and
was the Speaker of that body. Coming into the
Senate of the United States, for the first time, in
1806, he entered upon a parliamentary career, the
most brilliant and successful in our annals. From
that time he remained habitually in the public eye.
As a Senator, as a member of this House and its
Speaker, as a representative of his country abroad,
and.as a high officer in the Executive department of
the Government, he was intimately connected for




64
fifty years with every great measure of American
policy. Of the mere party measures of this period,
I do not propose to speak. Many of them have
passed away, and are remembered only as the occasions for the great intellectual efforts which marked
their discussion. Concerning others, opinions are
still divided. They will go into history, with the
reasons on either side rendered by the greatest intellects ~of the time.
As a leader in a deliberative body, Mr. CLAY had
no equal in America. In him, intellect, person, eloquence, and courage, united to form a character fit
to command. He fired with his own enthusiasm,
and controlled by his amazing will, individuals and
masses. No reverse could crush his spirit, nor defeat reduce him to despair. Equally erect and dauntless in prosperity and adversity, when successful, he
moved to the accomplishment of his purposes with
severe resolution; when defeated, he rallied his broken bands around him, and from his eagle eye shot
along their ranks the contagion of his own courage.
Destined for a leader, lie everywhere asserted his
destiny. In his long and eventful life he came in
contact with men of all ranks and professions, but
he never felt that he was in the presence of a man
superior to himself. In the assemblies of the people, at the bar, in the Senate-everywhere within




65
the circle of his personal presence he assumed and
maintained a position of preeminence.
But the supremacy of Mr. CLAY, as a party leader,
was not his only, nor his highest title to renown.
That title is to be found in the purely patriotic spirit
which, on great occasions, always signalized his conduct. We have had no statesman, who, in periods
of real and imminent public peril, has exhibited a
more genuine and enlarged patriotism than HENRY
CLAY. Whenever a question presented itself actually threatening the existence of the Union, Mr.
CLAY, rising above the passions of the hour, always
exerted his powers to solve it peacefully and honourably. Although more liable than most men, from
his impetuous and ardent nature, to feel strongly the
passions common to us all, it was his rare faculty to
be able to subdue them in a great crisis, and to hold
toward all sections of the confederacy the language
of concord and brotherhood.
Sir, it will be a proud pleasure to every true American heart to remember the great occasions when Mr.
CLAY has displayed a sublime patriotism-when the
ill-temper engendered by the times, and the miserable jealousies of the day, seemed to have been driven
from his bosom by the expulsive power of nobler
feelings-when every throb of his heart was given
to his country, every effort of his intellect dedicated




66
to her service. Who does not remember the three
periods when the American system of Government
was exposed to its severest trials; and who does not
know that when history, shall relate the struggle
which preceded, and the dangers which were averted
by the Missouri compromise, the Tariff compromise of 1832, and the adjustment of 1850, the same
pages will record the genius, the eloquence, and the
patriotism of HENRY CLAY?
Nor was it in Mr. CLAY'S nature to lag behind until measures of adjustment were matured, and then
come forward to swell a majority. On the contrary,
like a bold and real statesman, he was ever among
the first to meet the peril, and hazard his fame upon
the remedy. It is fresh in the memory of us all that,
when lately the fury of sectional discord threatened
to sever the confederacy, Mr. CLAY, though withdrawn from public life, and oppressed by the burden
of years, came back to the Senate —the theatre of his
glory —and devoted the remnant of his strength to
the sacred duty of preserving the union of the States.
With characteristic courage he took the lead in
proposing a scheme of settlement. But while he
was willing to assume the responsibility of proposing a plan, he did not, with petty ambition, insist
upon its adoption to the exclusion of other modes;
but, taking his own as a starting point for discussion
and practical action, he nobly laboured with his com-'I'.. 




67
patriots to change and improve it in such form as to
make it an acceptable adjustment. Throughout the
long and arduous struggle, the love of country expelled from his bosom the spirit of selfishness, and
Mr. CLAY proved, for. the third time, that though he
was ambitious and loved glory, he had no ambition
to mount to fame on the confusions of his country.
And this conviction is lodged in the hearts of the
people; the party measures and the party passions
of former times have not, for several years, interposed between Mr. CLAY and the masses of his countrymen. After 1850, he seemed to feel that his mission was accomplished; and, during the same period,
the regards and affections of the American people
have been attracted to him in a remarkable degree.
For many months, the warmest feelings, the deepest
anxieties of all parties, centered upon the dying
statesman; the glory of his great actions shed a mellow lustre on his declining years; and to fill the measure of his fame, his countrymen, weaving for him
the laurel wreath, with common hands, did bind it
about his venerable brows, and send him crowned, to
history.
The life of Mr. CLAY, sir, is a striking example of
the abiding fame which surely awaits the direct and
candid statesman. The entire absence of equivocation or disguise, in all his acts, was his master-key
to the popular heart; for while the people will for



68
give the errors of a bold and open nature, he sins
past forgiveness, who deliberately deceives them.
Hence Mr. CLAY, though often defeated in his measures of policy, always secured the respect of his opponents without losing the confidence of his friends.
He never paltered in a double sense. The country
was never in doubt as to his opinions or his purposes.
In all the contests of his time, his position on great
public questions, was as clear as the sun in a cloudless
sky. Sir, standing by the grave of this great man,
and considering these things, how contemptible does
appear the mere legerdemain of politics! What a reproach is his life on that false policy which would
trifle with a great and upright people! If I were to
write his epitaph, I would inscribe, as the highest
eulogy, on the stone which shall mark his restingplace, "Here lies a man who was in the public service for fifty years, and never attempted to deceive
his countrymen."
While the youth of America should imitate his
noble qualities, they may take courage from his career, and note the high proof it affords that, under
our equal institutions, the avenues to honour are open
to all. Mr. CLAY rose by the force of his own genius, unaided by power, patronage, or wealth. At
an age when our young men are usually advanced
to the higher schools of learning, provided only with
the rudiments of an English education, he turned
6..




69
his steps to the West, and amidst the rude collisions
of a border-life, matured a character whose highest
exhibitions were destined to mark eras in his country's history. Beginning on the frontiers of American civilization, the orphan boy, supported only by
the consciousness of his own powers, and by the confidence of the people, surmounted all the barriers of
adverse fortune, and won a glorious name in the annals of his country. Let the generous youth, fired
with honourable ambition, remember that the American system of government offers on every hand
bounties to merit. If, like CLAY, orphanage, obscurity, poverty, shall oppress him; yet if, like CLAY,
he feels the Promethean spark within, let him remember that his country, like a generous mother,
extends her arms to welcome and to cherish every
one of her children whose genius and worth may
promote her prosperity or increase her renown.
Mr. Speaker, the signs of woe around us, and the
general voice, announce that another great man has
fallen. Our consolation is that he was not taken in
the vigour of his manhood, but sank into the grave
at the close of a long and illustrious career. The
great statesmen who have filled the largest space in
the public eye, one by one are passing away. Of
the three great leaders of the Senate, one alone remains, and he must follow soon. We shall witness
no more their intellectual struggles in the American




II
70
Forum; but the monumenits of their genius will be
cherished as the common property of the people, and
their names will continue to confer dignity and renown upon their country.
Not less illustrious than the greatest of these will
be the  name of CLAY —a name pronounced with
pride by Americans in every quarter of the globe;
a name to be remembered while history shall record
the struggles of modern Greece for freedom, or the
spirit of liberty burn in the South American bosom;
a living and immortal name-a name that would
descend to posterity without the aid of letters, borne
by tradition from generation to generation. Every
memorial of such a man will possess a meaning and
a value to his countrymen. His tomb will be a hallowed spot. Great memories will cluster there, and
his countrymen, as they visit it, may well exclaim"Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines,
Shrines to no creed or code confined;
The Delphian vales, the Palestines,
The Meccas of the mind."
Mr. Speaker, I offer the following resolutions:
Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the
United States has received, with the deepest sensibility, intelligence of the death of HENRY CLAY.
Resolved, That the officers and members of the House of
Representatives will wear the usual badge of mourning for
thirty days, as a testimony of the profound respect this
House entertains for the memory of the deceased,




71
Resolved, That the officers and members of the House of
Representatives, in a body, will attend the funeral of
HENRY CLAY, on the day appointed for that purpose by the
Senate of the United States.
Resolved, That the proceedings of this House, in relation
to the death of HENRY CLAY, be communicated to the family
of the deceased by the Clerk.
Resolved, That as a further mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, this House do now adjourn.
Mr. EWING rose and said:
A noble heart has ceased to beat for ever.  A long
life of brilliant and self-devoted public service is
finished at last. We now stand at its conclusion
looking back through the changeful history of that
life to its 1jeginning, contemporaneous with the very
birth of the Republic, and its varied events mingle,
in our hearts and our memories, with the triumphs
and calamities, the weakness and the power, the
adversity and prosperity of a country we love so
much. As we contemplate this sad event, in this
place, the shadows of the past gather over us; the
memories of events long gone crowd upon us, and
the shades of departed patriots seem to hover about
us, and wait to receive into their midst the spirit of
one who was worthy to be a colabourer with them
in a common cause, and to share in the rewards of
their virtues. Henceforth he must be to us as one
of them.
g~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




72
They say he was ambitious. If so, it was a
grievous fault, and grievously has he answered it.
He has found in it naught but disappointment. It
has but served to aggravate the mortification of his
defeats, and furnish an additional lustre to the
triumph of his foes. Those who come after us may,
ay, they will, inquire why his statue stands not
among the statues of those whom men thought
ablest and worthiest to govern.
But his ambition was a high and holy feeling, unselfish, magnanimous. Its aspirations were for his
country's good, and its triumph was his country's
prosperity. Whether in honour or reproach, in
triumph or defeat, that heart of his never throbbed
with one pulsation save for her honour and her
welfare. Turn to him in that last best deed, and
crowning glory of a life so full of public service and
of honour, when his career of personal ambition was
finished for ever. Rejected again and again by his
countrymen; just abandoned by a party which
would scarce have had an existence without his
genius, his courage, and his labours, that great heart,
ever firm and defiant to the assaults of his enemies,
but defenceless against the ingratitude of friends,
doubtless wrung with the bitterest mortification of
his life-then it was, and under such circumstances
as these, the gathering storm rose upon his country.
All eyes turned to him; all voices called for those
services which, in the hour of prosperity and se-, 




73
curity, they had so carelessly rejected. With no
misanthropic chagrin; with no morose, selfish resentment, he forgot all but his country and that
country endangered. He returns to the scene of his
labours and his fame which lie had thought to
have left for ever. A scene-that American Senate
Chamber-clothed in no gorgeous drapery, shrouded
in no superstitious awe or ancient reverence.for
hereditary power, but to a reflecting American mind
more full of interest, or dignity, and of grandeur
than any spot on this broad earth, not made holy
by religion's consecrating seal.  See him  as he
enters there, tremblingly, but hopefully, upon the
last, most momentous, perhaps most doubtful conflict
of his life. Sir, many a gay tournament has been
more dazzling to the eye of fancy, more gorgeous
and imposing in the display of jewelry and cloth of
gold, in the sound of heralds' trumpets, in the grand
array of princely beauty and of royal pride. Many
a battle-field has trembled beneath a more ostentatious parade of human power, and its conquerors
havp been crowned with laurels, honoured with
triumphs, and apotheosised amid the demigods of
history; but to the thoughtful, hopeful, philanthropic
student of the annals of his race, never was there a
conflict in which such dangers were threatened, such
hopes imperiled, or the hero of which deserved a
warmer gratitude, a nobler triumph, or a prouder
monument.
0                                                  I




74
Sir, from that long, anxious, and exhausting conflict, he never rose again. In that last battle for his
country's honour and his country's safety, he received
the mortal wound which laid him low, and we now
mourn the death of a martyred patriot.
But never, in all the grand drama which the story
of his life arrays, never has he presented a sublimer
or a more touching spectacle than in those last days
of his decline and death. Broken with the storms
of State, wounded and scathed in many a fiery conflict, that aged, worn, and decayed body, in such
mournful contrast with the never-dying strength of
his giant spirit, he seemed a proud and sacred,
though a crumbling monument of past glory. Standing among us, like some ancient colossal ruin amid
the degenerate and more diminutive structures of
modern times, its vast proportions magnified by the
contrast, he reminded us of those days when there
were giants in the land, and we remembered that
even then there was none whose prowess could withstand his arm. To watch him in that slow decline,
yielding with dignity, and as it were inch by ipch,
to that last enemy, as a hero yields to a conquering
foe, the glorious light of his intellect blazing still in
all its wonted brilliancy, and setting at defiance the
clouds that vainly attempted to obscure it, he was
more full of interest than in the day of his glory
and his power. There are some men whose brightest
intellectual emanations rise so little superior to the
Im  II               I                i~~~~~~~~~~~




75
instincts of the animal, that we are led fearfully to
doubt that cherished truth of the soul's immortality,
which, even in despair, men press to their doubting
hearts. But it is in the death of such a man as he
that we are reassured by the contemplation, of a
kindred, though superior spirit, of a soul which, immortal, like his fame, knows no old age, no decay,
no death.
The wondrous light of his unmatched intellect
may have dazzled a world; the eloquence of that
inspired tongue may have enchanted millions, but
there are few who have sounded the depths of that
noble heart. To see him in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sadness, in the silent watches of the
night and in the busy daytime —this it was to know
and love him. To see the impetuous torrent of that
resistless will; the hurricane of those passions hushed
in peace, breathe calm and gently as a summer
zephyr; to feel the gentle pressure of that hand in
the grasp of friendship which in the rage of fiery
conflict would hurl scorn and defiance at his foe;
to see that eagle eye which oft would burn with
patriotic ardour, or flash with the lightning of his
anger, beam with the kindliest expressions of tenderness and affection-then it was, and then alone, we
could learn to know and feel that that heart was
warmed by the same sacred fire from above which
enkindled the light of his resplendent intellect. In
the death of such a man even patriotism itself might




76
pause, and for a moment stand aloof while friendship shed a tear of sorrow upon his bier.
"His life was gentle; and the elements
So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, This was a man!"
But who can estimate his country's loss? What
tongue portray the desolation which in this hour
throughout this broad land hangs like a gloomy pall
over his grief-stricken countrymen? How poorly
can words like mine translate the eloquence of a
whole people's grief for a patriot's death. For a
nation's loss let a nation mourn. For that stupendous calamity to our country and mankind, be
the heavens hung with black; let the wailing elements chant his dirge, and the universal heart of
man throb with one common pang of grief and
anguish.
Mr. CASKIE said:
Mr. SPEAKER: Unwell as I am, I must try to lay a
single laurel leaf in that open coffin which is already
garlanded by the eloquent tributes to the illustrious
Departed, which have been heard in this now solemn
Hall; for I come, sir, from the district of his birth.
I represent on this floor that old Hanover so proud of
her Henrys-her Patrick Henry and her HENRY
CLAY. I speak for a People among whom he has
always had as earnest and devoted friends as were
ever the grace and glory of a patriot and statesman.




77
I shall attempt no sketch of his life. That you
have had from other and abler hands than mine.
Till yesterday that life was, of his own free gift, the
property of his country; to-day it belongs to her
history. It is known to all, and will not be forgotten. Constant, stern opponent of his political
school as has been my State, I say for her, that nowhere in this broad land are his great qualities more
admired, or is his death more mourned, than in Virginia. Well may this be so; for she is his mother,
and he was her son.
Mr. Speaker, when I remember the party strifes
in which he was so much mingled, and through
which we all more or less have passed, and then
survey this scene, and think how far, as the lightning has borne the news that he is gone, half-masted
flags are drooping and church bells are tolling, and
hearts are sorrowing, I can but feel that it is good for
man to die. For when Death enters, O! how the
unkindnesses, and jealousies, and rivalries of life do
vanish, and how like incense from an altar do peace,
and friendship, and all the sweet charities of our
nature, rise around the corpse which was once a
man! And of a truth, Mr. Speaker, never was more
of veritable noble manhood cased in mortal mould
than was found in him to whose memory this brief
and humble, yet true and heartfelt tribute is paid.
But his eloquent voice is hushed, his high heart is
stilled. "Like a shock of corn fully ripe, he has




been gathered to his fathers."  With more than
three score years and ten upon him, and honours
clustered thick about him, in the full possession of
unclouded intellect, and all the consolations of Christianity, he has met the fate which is evitable by
none. Lamented by all his countrymen, his name
is bright on Fame's immortal roll. He has finished
his course, and Be has his crown. What more fruit
can life bear? What can it give that HENRY CLAY
has not gained?
Then, Mr. Speaker, around his tomb should be
heard not only the dirge that wails his loss, but the
jubilant anthem which sounds that on the world's
battle-field another victory has been won-another
incontestable greatness achieved.
Mr. CHANDLER, of Pennsylvania, said:
Mr. SPEAKER: It would seem as if the solemn invocation of the honourable gentleman from Kentucky
(Mr. EWING) was receiving an early answer, and
that the heavens are hung in black, and the wailing
elements are singing the funeral dirge of HENRY
CLAY. Amid this elemental gloom, and the distress
which pervades the nation at the death of HENRY
CLAY, private grief should not obtrude itself upon
notice, nor personal anguish seek for utterance.
Silence is the best exponent of individual sorrow,
and the heart that knoweth its own bitterness
shrinks from an exposition of its affliction..                       q ~~~~~~~I




79
Could I have consulted my own feelings on the
event which occupies the attention of the House at
the present moment, I should even have forborne
attendance here, and in the solitude and silence of
my chamber have rpused upon the terrible lesson
which has been administered to the people and the
nation. But I represent a constituency who justly
pride themselves upon the unwavering attachment
they have ever felt and manifested to HENRY CLAY
-a constant, pervading, hereditary love. The son
has taken up the father's affection, and amid all the
professions of political attachments to others, whom
the accidents of party have made prominent, and
the success of party has made powerful, true to his
own instincts, and true to the sanctified legacy of
his father, he has placed the name of HENRY CLAY
forward and pre-eminent as the exponent of what is
greatest in statesmanship and purest in patriotism.
And even, sir, when party fealty caused other attachments to be avowed for party uses, the preference was limited to the occupancy of office, and
superiority admitted for CLAY in all that is reckoned
above party estimation.
Nor ought I to forbear to add that, as the senior
member of.the delegation which represents my Commonwealth, I am requested to utter the sentiments
of the people of Pennsylvania at large, who yield to
no portion of this great Union in their appreciation
of the talents, their reverence for the lofty patriot



80
ism, their admiration of the statesmanship, and hereafter their love of the memory of HENRY CLAY.
I cannot, therefore, be silent on this occasion without injustice to the affections of my constituency,
even though I painfully feel haw inadequate to the
reverence and lo;e my people have toward that
statesman must be all that I have to utter on this
mournful occasion.
I know not, Mr. Chairman, where now the nation
is to find the men she needs in peril; either other
calls than those of politics are holding in abeyance
the talents which the nation may need; or else a
generation is to pass undistinguished by the greatness of our statesmen. Of the noble minds that
have swayed the Senate one yet survives in the
maturity of powerful intellect, carefully disciplined
and nobly exercised. May He who has thus far
blessed our nation, spare to her and the world that
of which the world must always envy our country
the possession! But my business is with the dead.
The biography of HENRY CLAY, from his childhood upward, is too familiar to every American for
me to trespass on the time of this House by a reference directly thereto; and the honourable gentlemen who have preceded me have, with affectionate
hand and appropriate delicacy, swept away the dust
which nearly fourscore years have scattered over a
part of the record, and have made our pride greater
in his life, and our grief more poignant at his death,




81
by showing some of those passages which attract
respect to our republican institutions, of which Mr.
CLAY'S whole life was the able support and the most
successful illustration.
It would, then, be a work of supererogation for
me to renew that effort, though inquiry into the life
and conduct of HENRY CLAY would present new
themes for private eulogy, new grounds for public
gratitude.
How rare is it, Mr. Speaker, that the great man,
living, can with confidence rely on extensive personal friendship, or dying, think to awaken a sentiment of regret beyond that which includes the public
loss or the disappointment of individual hopes. Yet,
sir, the message which yesterday went forth from
this city that HENRY CLAY was dead, brought sorrow,
personal, private, special sorrow, to the hearts of
thousands; each of whom felt that from his own
love for, his long attachment to, his disinterested
hopes in HENRY CLAY, he had a particular sorrow to
cherish and express, which weighed upon his heart
separate from the sense of national loss.
No man, Mr. Speaker, in our nation had the art
so to identify himself with public measures of the
most momentous character, and to maintain at the
same time almost universal affection, like that great
statesman. His business, from his boyhood, was
with national concerns, and he dealt with them as
with familiar things. And yet his sympathies were




82
with individual interests, enterprises, affections, joys,
and sorrows; and while every patriot bowed in
humble deference to his lofty attainments and heartfelt gratitude for his national services, almost every
man in this vast Republic knew that the great
statesman was, in feeling and experience, identified
with his own position. Hence the universal love of
the people; hence their enthusiasm in all times for
his fame. Hence, sir, their present grief.
Many other public men of our country have distinguished themselves and brought honour to tile
nation by superiority in some peculiar branch of
public service, but it seems to have been the gift of
Mr. CLAY to have acquired peculiar eminence in
every path of duty he was called to tread. In the
earnestness of debate, which great public interests
and distinguished opposing talents excited in this
House, he had no superior in energy, force, or effect.
Yet, as the presiding officer, by blandness of language
and firmness of purpose, he soothed and made orderly;
and thus, by official dignity, he commanded the respect which energy had secured to him on the floor.
Wherever official or social duties demanded an
exercise of his power there was a pre-eminence which
seemed prescriptively his own. In the lofty debate
of the Senate and the stirring harangues to popular
assemblages, he was the orator of the nation and of
the people; and the sincerity of purpose and the
unity of design evinced in all he said or did, fixed




83
in the public mind a confidence strong and expansive
as the affections he had won.
Year after year, sir, has HENRY CLAY been achieving the work of the mission with which he was intrusted; and it was only when the warmest wishes
of his warmest friends were disappointed, that he
entered on the fruition of a patriot's highest hopes,
and stood in the full enjoyment of that admiration
and confidence which nothing but the antagonism
of party relations could have divided.
How rich that enjoyment must have been it is
only for us to imagine. How eminently deserved it
was we and the world can attest.
The love and the devotion of his political friends
were cheering and grateful to his heart, and were
acknowledged in all his life-were recognised even
to his death.
The contest in the Senate Chamber or the forum
were rewarded with success achieved, and the great
victor could enjoy the ovation which partial friendship or the gratitude of the benefit prepared. But
the triumph of his life was no party achievement.
It was not in the applause which admiring friends
and defeated antagonists offered to his measureless
success, that he found the reward of his labours, and
comprehended the extent of his mission.
It was only when friends and antagonists paused
in their contests, appalled at the public difficulties
and national dangers which had been accumulating,!                                                  I )




84
unseen and unregarded; it was only when the nation
itself felt the danger, and acknowledged the inefficacy
of party action as a remedy, that HENRY CLAY CaICUlated the full extent of his powers, and enjoyed the
reward of their saving exercise. Then, sir, you
saw, and I saw, party designations dropped, and
party allegiance disavowed, and anxious patriots, of
all localities and name, turn toward the country's
benefactor as the man for the terrible exigencies of
the hour; and the sick chamber of HENRY CLAY became the Delphos whence were given out the oracles
that presented the means and the measures of our
Union's safety. There, sir, and not in the high
places of the country, were the labours and sacrifices
of half a century to be rewarded and closed. With
his right yet in that Senate which he had entered
the youngest, and lingered still the eldest member,
he felt that his work was done, and the object of his
life accomplished. Every cloud that had dimmed
the noonday lustre had been dissipated; and the retiring orb, which sunk from the sight of the nation
in fullness and in beauty, will yet pour up the horizon a posthumous glory that shall tell of the splendour and greatness of the luminary that has passed
away.
Cs                                                 j 




85
Mr. BAYLY, of Virginia.
Mr. SPEAKER: Although I have been all my life a
political opponent of Mr. CLAY, yet from my boyhood
I have been upon terms of personal friendship with
him. More than twenty years ago, I was introduced
to him by my father, who was his personal friend.
From that time to this, there has existed between
us as great personal intimacy as the disparity in our
years and our political difference would justify.
After I became a member of this House, and upon
his return to the Senate, subsequent to his resignation in 1842, the warmn regard upon his part for the
daughter of a devoted friend of forty years' standing,
made him a constant visitor at my house, and frequently a guest at my table. These circumstances
make it proper, that upon this occasion, I should pay
this last tribute to his memory. I not only knew
him well as a statesman, but I knew him better in
most unreserved social intercourse. The most happy
circumstance, as I esteem it, of my political life has
been, that I have thus known each of our great Congressional triumvirate.
I, sir, never knew a man of higher qualities than
Mr. CLAY. His very faults originated in high
qualities. With as great self-possession, with greater
self-reliance than any man I ever knew, he possessed
moral and physical courage to as high a degree as
any man who ever lived. Confident in his own
judgment, never doubting as to his own course,
*                                                  2-S11a




86
fearing no obstacle that might lie in his way, it was
almost impossible that he should not have been imperious in his character. Never doubting himself as
to what, in his opinion, duty and patriotism required
at his hands, it was natural that he should sometimes
have been impatient with those more doubting and
timid than himself. His were qualities to have
made a great general, as they were qualities that
did make him a great statesman, and these qualities
were so obvious that during the darkest period of
our late war with Great Britain, Mr. Madison had
determined, at one time, to make him General-inChief of the American army.
Sir, it is but a short time since the American
Congress buried the first one that went to the grave
of that great triumvirate. We are now called upon
to bury another. The third, thank God! still lives,
and long may he live to enlighten his countrymen
by his wisdom, and set them the example of exalted
patriotism. Sir, in the lives and characters of these
great men, there is much resembling those of the
great triumvirate of the British Parliament.  It
differs principally in this: Burke preceded Fox and
Pitt to the tomb. Webster survives Clay and Calhoun. When Fox and Pitt died, they left no
peer behind them. Webster still lives, now that
Calhoun and Clay are dead, the unrivalled statesnan of his country. Like Fox and Pitt, Clay and
Calhoun lived in troubled times. Like Fox and
11\i




87
Pitt they were each of them the leader of rival
parties. Like Fox and Pitt they were idolized by
their respective friends. Like Fox and Pitt, they
died about the same time, and in the public service;
and as has been said of Fox and Pitt, Clay and Calhoun died with "their harness upon them." Like
Fox and Pitt", With more than mortal powers endow'd
How high they soar'd above the crowd;
Theirs was no common party race,
Jostling by dark intrigue for placeLike fabled gods their mighty war
Shook realms and nations in its jar.
Beneath each banner proud to stand,
Look'd up the noblest of the land.
Here let their discord with them die.
Speak not for those a separate doom;
Whom fate made brothers in the tomb;
But search the land of living men,
Where wilt thou find their like again?"
Mr. VENABLE, said:Mr. SPEAKER: I trust that I shall be pardoned for
adding a few  words upon  this sad occasion.  The
life of the illustrious statesman which has just terminated is so interwoven with  our history, and the
lustre of his great name so profusely shed over its
pages, that simple admiration of his high qualities
might well be my excuse. But it is a sacred privilege
to draw  near; to contemplate the end of the great
and the good. It is profitable as well as purifying
to look upon and realize the office of death in removing all that can excite jealousy or produce disI~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




88
trust, and to gaze upon the virtues which, like jewels,
have survived his powers of destruction. The light
which radiates from the life of a great and patriotic
statesman is often dimmed by the mists which party
conflicts throw around it. But the blast which
strikes him down purifies the atmosphere which
surrounded him in life, and it shines forth in bright
examples and well-earned renown. It is then that
we witness the sincere acknowledgment of gratitude
by a people who, having enjoyed the benefits arising
from the services of an eminent statesman, embalm
his name in their memory and hearts. We should
cherish such recollections as well from patriotism as
self-respect. Ours, sir, is now the duty, in the midst
of sadness, in this high place, in the face of our Republic, and before the world, to pay this tribute by
acknowledging the merits of our colleague, whose
name has ornamented the Journals of Congress for
near half a century. Few, very few, have ever combined the high intellectual powers and distinguished
gifts of this illustrious Senator. Cast in the finest
mould by nature, he more than fulfilled the anticipations which were indulged by those who looked
to a distinguished career as the certain result of that
zealous pursuit of fame and usefulness upon which
he entered in early life. Of the incidents of that
life it is unnecessary for me to speak-they are as
familiar as household words, and must be equally
familiar to those who come after us. But it is use



89
ful to refresh memory, by recurrence to some of
the events which marked his career. We know,
sir, that there is much that is in common in the histories of distinguished men. The elements which
constitute greatness are the same in all times; hence
those who have been the admiration of their generations present in their lives much which, although
really great, ceases to be remarkable, because illustrated by such numerous examples"But there are deeds which should not pass away,
And names that must not wither."
Of such deeds the life of HENRY CLAY affords
many and bright examples. His own name, and
those with whom he associated, shall live with a
freshness which time cannot impair, and shine with
a brightness which passing years cannot dim. His
advent into public life was as remarkable for the
circumstances as it was brilliant in its effect. It
was at a time in which genius and learning, statesmanship and eloquence, made the American Congress the most august body in the world. He was
the contemporary of a race of statesmen, some of
whom-then administering the Government, and
others retiring and retired from office-presented an
array of ability unsurpassed in our history. The
elder Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Gallatin, Clinton,
and Monroe, stood before the Republic in the maturity of their fame; while Calhoun, John Quincy
Adams, Lowndes, Randolph, Crawford, Gaston, and
9,Ji 




90
Cheves, with a host of others, rose a bright galaxy
upon our horizon. He who won his spurs in such
a field earned his knighthood. Distinction amid
such competition was true renown" The fame which a man wins for himself is bestThat he may call his own."
It was such a fame that he made for himself in
that most eventful era in our history. To me, sir,
the recollections of that day, and the events which
distinguish it, is filled with an overpowering interest.
I never can forget my enthusiastic admiration of the
boldness, the eloquence, and the patriotism of HENRY
CLAY during the war of 1812. In the bright array
of talent which adorned the Congress of the United
States; in the conflict growing out of the political
events of that time; in the struggles of party, and
amid the gloom and disasters which depressed the
spirits of most men, and well nigh paralyzed the
energies of the Administration, his cheerful face,
high bearing, commanding eloquence and iron will,
gave strength and consistency to those elements
which finally gave not only success but glory to the
country. When dark clouds hovered over us, and
there was little to save from despair, the country
looked with hope to CLAY and Calhoun, to Lowndes,
and Crawford, and Cheves, and looked not in vain.
The unbending will, the unshaken nerve, and the
burning eloquence of HENRY CLAY did as much to
command confidence and sustain hope as even the.. i  i  




91
news of our first victory after a succession of defeats.
Those great names are now canonized in history;
he, too, has passed to join them on its pages. Associated in his long political life with the illustrious
Calhoun, he survived him but two years. Many of
us heard his eloquent tribute to his memory in the
Senate Chamber on the annunciation of his death.
And we this day unite in a similar manifestation of
reverential regard to him whose voice shall never
more charm the ear, whose burning thoughts, borne
on that medium, shall no more move the hearts of
listening assemblies.
In the midst of the highest specimens of our race,
he was always an equal; he was a man among metn.
Bold, skilful, and determined, he gave character to
the party which acknowledged him as a leader;
impressed his opinions upon their minds, and an
attachment to himself upon their hearts. No man,
sir, can do this without being eminently great.
Whoever attains this position must first overcome
the aspirations of antagonist ambition, quiet the
clamours of rivalry, hold in check the murmurs of
jealousy, and overcome the instincts of vanity and
self-love in the masses thus subdued to his control.
But few men ever attain it. Very rare are the examples of those whose plastic touch forms the minds
and directs the purposes of a great political party.
This infallible indication of superiority belonged to
Mr. CLAY. Ile has exercised that control during a




92
long life; and now through our broad land the
tidings of his death, borne with electric speed, have
opened the fountains of sorrow. Every city, town,
village, and hamlet will be clothed with mourning;
along our extended coast, the commercial and military marine, with flags drooping at half-mast, own
the bereavement; State-houses draped in black proclaim the extinguishment of one of the great lights
of Senates; and minute-guns sound his requiem!
Sir, during the last five years I have seen the
venerable John Quincy Adams, John C. Calhoun,
and HENRY CLAY pass from among us, the legislators
of our country. The race of giants who "were on
the earth in those days" is well-nigh gone. Despite
their skill, their genius, their might, they have sunk
under the stroke of time. They were our admiration and our glory; a few linger with us, the monuments of former greatness, the beacon-lights of a
past age. The death of HENRY CLAY cannot fail to
suggest melancholy associations to each member of
this House. These walls have re-echoed the silvery
tones of his bewitching voice; listening assemblies
have hung upon his lips. The chair which you fill
has been graced by his presence, while his commanding person and unequalled parliamentary attainments inspired all with deference and respect.
Chosen by acclamation because of his high qualifications, he sustained himself before the House and the
country. In his supremacy with his party, and the




93
uninterrupted confidence which he enjoyed to the
day of his death, he seems to have almost discredited
the truth of those lines of the poet Laberius"Non possunt primi esse omnes omni in tempore,
Summum ad gradum cum claritatis veneris,
Consistes oegre, et citius, quam ascendas, cades."
If not at all times first, he stood equal with the
foremost, and a brilliant rapid rise knew no decline
in the confidence of those whose just appreciation of
his merits had confirmed his title to renown.
The citizens of other countries will deplore his
death; the struggling patriots who on our own continent were cheered by his sympathies, and who must
have perceived his influence in the recognition of
their independence by this Government, have taught
their children to venerate his name. He won the
civic crown, and the demonstrations of this hour
own the worth of civil services.
It was with great satisfaction that I heard my
friend from Kentucky, [Mr. BRECKENRIDGE,] the immediate representative of Mr. CLAY, detail a conversation which disclosed the feelings of that eminent man in relation to his Christian hope. These,
Mr. Speaker, are rich memorials, precious reminiscences. A Christian statesman is the glory of his
age, and his memory will be glorious in after times;
it reflects a light coming from a source which clouds
cannot dim nor shadows obscure. It was my privilege, also, a short time since, to converse with this




94
distinguished statesman on the subject of his hopes
in a future state. Feeling a deep interest, I asked
him frankly what were his hopes in the world to
which he was evidently hastening. "I am pleased,"
said he, "my friend, that you have introduced the
subject. Conscious that I must die very soon, I love
to meditate upon the most important of all interests.
I love to converse and to hear conversations about
them. The vanity of the world and its insufficiency
to satisfy the soul of man has long been a settled
conviction of my mind. Man's inability to secure
by his own merits the approbation of God, I feel to
be true. I trust in the atonement of the Saviour of
men as the ground of my acceptance and my hope
of salvation. My faith is feeble, but I hope in His
mercy and trust in His promises." To such declarations I listened with the deepest interest, as I did on
another occasion, when he said: "I am willing to
abide the will of Heaven, and ready to die when
that will shall determine it."
He is gone, sir, professing the humble hope of a
Christian. That hope, alone, sir, can sustain you,
or any of us. There is one lonely and crushed
heart that has bowed before this afflictive event.
Far away, at Ashland, a widowed wife, prevented
by feeble health from attending his bedside and
soothing his painful hours, she has thought even the
electric speed of the intelligence daily transmitted of
his condition too slow for her aching, anxious bosom.




95
She will find consolation in his Christian submission,
and will draw all of comfort that such a case admits
from the assurance that nothing was neglected by
the kindness of friends which could supply her place.
May the guardianship of the widow's God be her protection, and His consolations her support!
"All cannot be at all times first,
To reach the topmost step of glory; to stand there
More hard. Even swifter than we mount we fall."
Mr. HAVEN, said:Mr. SPEAKER: Representing a constituency distinguished for the constancy of its devotion to the political principles of Mr. CLAY, and for its unwavering
attachment to his fortunes and his person-sympathizing deeply with those whose more intimate personal relations with him have made them feel most
profoundly this general bereavement-I desire to
say a few words of him, since he has fallen amongst
us, and been taken to his rest.
After the finished eulogies which have been so
eloquently pronounced by the honourable gentlemen
who have preceded me, I will avoid a course of remark which might otherwise be deemed a repetition,
and refer to the bearing of some of the acts of the
deceased upon the interests and destinies of my own
State. The influence of his public life, and of his
purely American character, the benefits of his wise
forecast, and the results of his efforts for wholesome




96
and rational progress, are nowhere more strongly exhibited than in the State of New York.
Our appreciation of his anxiety for the general
diffusion of knowledge and education, is manifested
in our twelve thousand public libraries, our equal
number of common schools, and a large number of
higher institutions of learning, all of which draw portions of their support from the share of the proceeds
of the public lands, which his wise policy gave to
our State. Our whole people are thus constantly reminded of their great obligations to the statesman
whose death now afflicts the nation with sorrow.
Our extensive public works, attest our conviction of
the utility and importance of the system of internal
improvements he so abl"4vocated; and their value
and productiveness, afford a most striking evidence
of the soundness and wisdom of his policy. Nor has
his influence been less sensibly felt in our agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures. Every department of
human industry acknowledges his fostering care; and
the people of New York are, in no small measure, indebted to his statesmanship for the wealth, comfort,
contentment, and happiness so widely and generally
diffused throughout the State.
Well may New York cherish his memory and acknowlege with gratitude the benefits that his life has
conferred. That memory will be cherished throughout the Republic.
When internal discord and sectional strife have




97
threatened the integrity of the Union, his just weight
of character, his large experience, his powers of conciliation and acknowledged patriotism, have enabled
him to pacify the angry passions of his countrymen,
and to raise the bow of promise and of hope upon the
clouds which have darkened the political horizon.
He has passed from amongst us, ripe in wisdom
and pure in character-full of years and full of honours-he has breathed his last amidst the blessings
of a united and grateful nation.
He was, in my judgment, particularly fortunate
in the time of his death.
He lived to see his country, guided by his wisdom,
come once again unhurt, out of trying sectional difficulties and domestic strife; and he has closed his
eyes in death upon that country, whilst it is in the
enjoyment of profound peace, busy with industry,
and blessed with unequalled prosperity.
It can fall to the lot of but few to die amidst so
warm a gratitude flowing from the hearts of their
countrymen; and none can leave a brighter example
or a more enduring fame.
Mr. BRooKs, of New York, said:Mr. SPEAKER: I rise to add my humble tribute to
the memory of a great and good man now to be gathered to his fathers. I speak for, and from, a community in whose heart is enshrined the name of him
Whom we mourn; who, however much Virginia, the
7




98
land of his birth, or Kentucky, the land of his adoption, may love him, is, if possible, loved where I live
yet more. If idolatry had been Christian, or allowable even, he would have been our idol. But as it
is, for a quarter of a century now, his bust, his portrait, or some medal, has been one of our household
gods, gracing not alone the saloons and the halls of
wealth, but the humblest room or workshop of almost
every mechanic or labourer. Proud monuments of
his policy as a statesman, as my colleague has justly
said, are all about us; and we owe to him, in a good
degree, our growth, our greatness, our prosperity and
happiness as a people.
The great field of Henry Clay, Mr. Speaker, has
been here, on the floor of this House, and in the other
wing of the Capitol. He has held other posts of
higher nominal distinction, but they are all eclipsed
by the brilliancy of his career as a Congressman.
What of glory he has acquired, or what most endear
him to his countrymen, have been won, here, amid
these pillars, under these domes of the Capitol.
"Si queris monumentum, circumspice."
The mind of Mr. Clay has been the governing
mind of the country, more or less, ever since he has
been on the stage of public action. In a minority or
majority-more, perhaps, even in a minority than in
a majority-he seems to have had some commission,
divine as it were, to persuade, to convince, to govern




99
other men. His patriotism, his grand conceptions,
have created measures which the secret fascination
of his manners, in-doors, or his irresistible eloquence
without, have enabled him almost always to frame
into laws. Adverse administrations have yielded to
him, or been borne down by him, or he has taken
them captive as a leader, and carried the country and
Congress with him. This power he has wielded now
for nearly half a century, with nothing but Reason
and Eloquence to back him. And yet when he
came here, years ago, he came from a then frontier
State of this Union, heralded by no loud trumpet of
fame, nay, quite unknown! unfortified even by any
position, social or pecuniary; —to quote his own
words, "My only heritage has been infancy, indigence, and ignorance."
In these days, Mr. Speaker, when mere civil qualifications for high public places-when long civil
training and practical statesmanship are held subordinate-a most discouraging prospect would be rising
up before our young men, were it not for some such
names as Lowndes, Crawford, Clinton, Gaston, Calhoun, CLAY, and the like, scattered along the pages of
our history, as stars or constellations along a cloudless sky. They shine forth and show us, that if the
Chief Magistracy cannot be won by such qualifications, a memory among men can be-a hold upon
posterity, as firm, as lustrous-nay, more imperishable. In the Capitolium of Rome there are long rows




100
of marble slabs, on which are recorded the names of
the Roman consuls; but the eye wanders over this
wilderness of letters but to light up and kindle upon
some Cato or Cicero. To win such fame, thus unsullied, as Mr. CLAY has won, is worth any man's
ambition. And how was it won? By courting the.
shifting gales of populrity?  No, never! By truckling to the schemes, the arts, and seductions of
the demagogue? Never, never! His hardest battles as a public man-his greatest, most illustrious
achievements —have been against, at first, an adverse
public opinion. To gain an imperishable name, he
has often braved the perishable popularity of the
moment. That sort of courage which, in a public
man, I deem the highest of all courage, that sort of
courage most necessary under our form of government to guide as well as to save a State, Mr. CLAY
was possessed of more than any public man I ever
knew. Physical courage, valuable, indispensable
though it be, we share but with the brute; but moral
courage, to dare to do right amid all temptations to do
wrong, is, as it seems to me, the very highest species,
the noblest heroism, under institutions like ours. " I
had rather be right than be President," was Mr.
CLAY'S sublime reply when pressed to refrain from
some measure that would mar his popularity. These
lofty words were the clue of his whole character —the
secret of his hold upon the heads as well as hearts of the
American people; nay, the key of his immortality.
I..




101
Another of the keys, Mr. Speaker, of his universal
reputation was his intense nationality. When taunted but recently, almost within our hearing, as it were,
on the floor of the Senate by a Southern Senator, as
being a Southern man unfaithful to the South-his
indignant but patriotic exclamation was, "I know no
South, no North, no East, no West." The country,
the whole country, loved, reverenced, adored such a
man. The soil of Virginia may be his birthplace,
the sod of Kentucky will cover his grave-what was
mortal they claim-but the spirit, the soul, the
genius of the mighty man, the immortal part, these
belong to his country and to his God.
Mr. FAULKNER, of Virginia, said:Representing, in part, the State which gave birth
to that distinguished man whose death has just been
announced upon this floor, and having for many
years held toward him the most cordial relations of
friendship, personal and political, I feel that I should
fail to discharge an appropriate duty, if I permitted
this occasion to pass by without some expression of
the feeling which such an event is so well calculated
to elicit. Sir, this intelligence does not fall upon
our ears unexpectedly. For months the public mind
has been prepared for the great national loss which
we now deplore; and yet, as familiar as the daily
and hourly reports have made us with his hopeless
condition and gradual decline, and although




102
"Like a shadow thrown
Softly and sweetly from a passing cloud,
Death fell upon him,"
it is impossible that a light of such surpassing splendour should be, as it is now, for ever extinguished
from our view, without producing a shock, deeply
and painfully felt, to the utmost limits of this great
Republic. Sir, we all feel that a mighty intellect
has passed from  among u-; but, happily for this
country, happily for mankind, not until it had accomplished to some extent the exalted mission for
which it had been sent upon this earth; not until
it had reached the full maturity of its usefulness and
power; not until it had shed a bright and radiant
lustre over our national renown; not until time had
enabled it to bequeath the rich treasures of its
thought and experience for the guidance and instruction of the present and of succeeding generations.
Sir, it is difficult, —it is impossible,-within the
limit allowed for remarks upon occasions of this
kind, to do justice to a great historical character like
HENRY CLAY.  He was one of that class of men
whom  Scaliger designates as homines centenariimen that appear upon the earth but once in a
century. His fame is the growth of years, and it
would require time to unfold the elements which
have combined to impart to it so much of stability
and grandeur. Volumes have already been written,
and volumes will continue to be written, to record
~~ ---  II,  -   --  I --  1    I -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1




103
those eminent and distinguished public services
which have placed him in the front rank of American statesmen and patriots. The highest talents,
stimulated by a fervid and patriotic enthusiasm, has
already and will continue to exhaust its powers to
portray those striking and generous incidents of his
life,-those shining and captivating qualities of his
heart, which have made him one of the most beloved,
as he was one of the most admired, of men; and yet
the subject itself will remain as fresh and exhaustless as if hundreds of the best intellects of the land
had not quaffed the inspiration of their genius from
the ever-gushing and overflowing fountains of his
fame. It could not be that a reputation so grand
and colossal as that which attaches to the name of
HENRY CLAY could rest for its base upon any single
virtue, however striking; nor upon any single act,
no matter how marked or distinguished. Such a
reputation as he has left behind him, could only be
the result of a long life of illustrious public service.
And such in truth it was. For nearly half a century he has been a prominent actor in all the stirring
and eventful scenes of American history, fashioning
and moulding many of the most important measures
of public policy by his bold and sagacious mind, and
arresting others by his unconquerable energy and
resistless force of eloquence. And however much
the members of this body may differ in opinion as
to the wisdom of many of his views of national




104
domestic policy, there is not one upon this floor-no,
sir, not one in this nation-who will deny to him
frankness and directness as a public man; a genius
for statesmanship of the highest order; extraordinary capacities for public usefulness, and an ardent
and elevated patriotism, without stain and without
reproach.
In referring to a career of public service so varied
and extended as that of Mr. CLAY, and to a character
so rich in every great and manly virtue, it is only
possible to glance at a few of the most prominent of
those points of his personal history, which have given
to him so distinguished a place in the affections of
his countrymen.
In the whole character of Mr. CLAY, in all that
attached or belonged to it, you find nothing that is
not essentially AMERICAN.  Born in the darkest
period of our revolutionary struggle; reared from
infancy to manhood among those great minds which
gave the first impulse to that mighty movement, he
early imbibed and sedulously cherished those great
principles of civil and political liberty, which he so
brilliantly illustrated in his subsequent life, and
which has made his name a watchword of hope and
consolation to the oppressed of all the earth. In his
intellectual training he was the pure creation of our
own republican soil. Few, if any, allusions are to be
seen in his speeches or writings to ancient or modern
literature, or to the thoughts and ideas of other men.




105
His country, its institutions, its policy, its interests,
its destiny, form the exclusive topics of those eloquent harangues which, while they are destitute of
the elaborate finish, have all the ardour and intensity of thought; the earnestness of purpose, the cogency of reasoning, the vehemence of style, and the
burning patriotism which mark the productions of
the great Athenian orator.
One of the most distinguishing characteristics of
Mr. CLAY as a public man was his loyalty to truth
and to the honest convictions of his own mind. He
deceived no man: he would not permit his own
heart to be deceived by any of those seductive influences which too often warp the judgment of men
in public station. He never paused to consider how
far any step which he was about to take would lead
to his own personal advancement; he never calculated what he might lose or what he might gain by
his advocacy of, or his opposition to, any particular
measure. His single inquiry was, Is it right?  Is it
in accordance with the Constitution of the land?
Will it redound to the permanent welfare of the
country? When satisfied upon these points, his
determination was'fixed; his purpose was immovable. "I would rather be right than President" was
the expression of his genuine feelings, and the principle by which he was controlled in his public career
-a saying worthy of immortality, and proper to be
inscribed upon the heart of every young man in this




106
Republic. And yet, sir, with all of that personal
and moral intrepidity which so eminently marked
the character of Mr. CLAY; with his well-known inflexibility of purpose and unyielding resolution, such
was the genuine sincerity of his patriotism, and such
his thorough comprehension of those principles of
compromise, upon which the whole structure of our
Government was founded, that no one was more
prompt to relax the rigour of his policy the moment
he perceived that it was calculated to disturb the
harmony of the States, or to endanger in any degree
the stability of the Government. With him the
love of this Union was a passion-an absorbing
sentiment-which gave colour to every act of his
public life. It triumphed over party; it triumphed
over policy; it subdued the natural fierceness and
haughtiness of his temper, and brought him into the
most kindly and cordial relations with those who,
upon all other questions, were deeply and bitterly
opposed to him. It has been asserted, sir, upon high
medical authority, and doubtless with truth, that
his life was in all probability shortened ten years by
the arduous and extraordinary labours which he assumed at the memorable session of 1850. If so, he
has added the crowning glory of the MARTYR to the
spotless fame of the PATRIOT; and we may well hope
that a great national pacification, purchased at such
a sacrifice, will long, continue to cement the bonds
of this now happy and prosperous Union.




107
Mr. CLAY possessed, in an eminent degree, the
qualities of a great popular leader; and history, I
will assume to say, affords no example in any republic, ancient or modern, of any individual that so fearlessly carried out the convictions of his own judgment, and so sparingly flattered the prejudices of
popular feeling, who, for so long a period, exercised
the same controlling influence over the public mind.
Earnest in whatever measure he sustained, fearless
in attack,-dexterous in defence,-abounding in intellectual resource, —eloquent in debate,-of inflexible purpose, and with a "courage never to submit or
yield," no man ever lived with higher qualifications
to rally a desponding party, or to lead an embattled
host to victory. That he never attained the highest
post of honourable ambition in this country is not to
be ascribed to any want of capacity as a popular
leader, nor to the absence of those qualities which
attract the fidelity and devotion of "troops" of admiring friends. It was the fortune of Napoleon, at a
critical period of his destiny, to be brought into collision with the star of Wellington; and it was the
fortune of HENRY CLAY to have encountered, in his
political orbit, another great and original mind, gifted
with equal power for commanding success, and blessed with more fortunate elements, concurring at the
time, of securing popular favour. The struggle was
such as might have been anticipated from the collision of two such fierce and powerful rivals. For




108
near a quarter of a century this great republic has
been convulsed to its centre by the divisions which
have sprung from their respective opinions, policy,
and personal destinies; and even now, when they
have both been removed to a higher and a better
sphere of existence, and when every unkind feeling
has been quenched in the triumphs of the grave, this
country still feels, and for years will continue to feel,
the influence of those agitations to which their powerful and impressive characters gave impulse.
But I must pause. If I were to attempt to present all the aspects in which the character of this
illustrious man will challenge the applause of history, I should fatigue the House and violate the just
limit allowed for such remarks.
I cannot however conclude, sir, without making
some more special allusion to Mr. CLAY, as a native
of that State which I have the honour in part to represent upon this floor. We are all proud, and very
properly proud, of the distinguished men to whom our
respective States have given birth. It is a just and
laudable emulation, and one, in a confederated government like ours, proper to be encouraged. And
while men like Mr. CLAY very rapidly rise above
the confined limits of a State reputation, and acquire
a national fame, in which all claim and all have an
equal interest, still there is a propriety and fitness
in preserving the relation between the individual and
his State. Virginia has given birth to a large numn



109
ber of men who have by their distinguished talents
and services impressed their names upon the hearts
and memories of their countrymen; but certainly,
since the colonial era, she has given birth to no man,
who, in the massive and gigantic proportions of his
character, and in the splendour of his native endowments, can be compared to HENRY CLAY. At an
early age he emigrated from his native State, and
found a home in Kentucky. In a speech which he
delivered in the Senate of the United States, in February, 1842-and which I well remember-upon the
occasion of his resigning his seat in that body, he
expressed the wish that, when that event should
occur which has now clothed this city in mourning
and filled the nation with grief, his "earthly remains
should be laid under the green sod of Kentucky, with
those of her gallant and patriotic sons."
Sir, however gratifying it might be to us that his
remains should be transferred to his native soil, to
there mingle with the ashes of Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Lee, and Henry, we cannot complain of the
very natural preference which he has himself expressed. If Virginia did give him birth-Kentucky
has nourished him in his manhood-has freely lavished upon him her highest honours-has shielded
him from harm when the clouds of calumny and detraction gathered heavily and loweringly about him,
and she has watched over his fame with the tenderness and zeal of a mother. Sir, it is not to be won



110
dered that he should have expressed the wish he did,
to be laid by the side of her gallant and patriotic
sons.  Happy Kentucky!  Happy in having an
adopted son so worthy of her highest honours.
Happy, in the unshaken fidelity and loyalty with
which, for near half a century, those honours have
been so steadfastly and gracefully accorded to him.
Sir, whilst Virginia, in the exercise of her own
proper judgment, has differed from Mr. CLAY in some
of his views of national policy, she has never, at any
period of his public career, failed to regard him with
pride, as one of her most distinguished sons; to honour the purity and the manliness of his character,
and to award to him the high credit of an honest and
sincere devotion to his country's welfare. And now,
sir, that death has arrested for ever the pulsations of
that mighty heart, and sealed in eternal silence those
eloquent lips upon whose accents thousands have so
often hung in rapture, I shall stand justified in saying, that a wail of lamentation will be heard from
her people-her whole people-reverberating through
her mountains and valleys, as deep, as genuine, and
as sincere as that, which I know, will swell the noble
hearts and the heaving bosoms of the people of his
own cherished, and beloved Kentucky.
Sir, as I walked to the Capitol this morning, every
object which attracted my eye, admonished me that
a nation's benefactor had departed from amongst us.
He is gone! HENRY CLAY, the idol of his friends,
~n  - i i i ii1111 -  llI -   I~ IC  ll~ I ~I ~IIv I  Il*




the ornament of the Senate Chamber, the pride of
his country; he whose presence gathered crowds of
his admiring fellow-men around him, as if he had
been one descended from above, has passed for ever
from our view.
"His soul, enlarged from its vile bonds, has gone
To that REFULGENT world, where it shall swim
In liquid light, and float on seas of bliss."
But the memory of his virtues and of his services
will be gratefully embalmed in the hearts of his countrymen, and generations yet unborn will be taught
to lisp with reverence and enthusiasm the name of
HENRY CLAY.
Mr. PARKER, of Indiana, said:Mr. SPEAKER: This is a solemn-a consecrated
hour. And I would not detain the members of the
House from indulging in the silence of their own feelings, so grateful to hearts chastened as ours.
But I cannot restrain an expression from a bosom
pained with its fulness.
When my young thoughts first took cognisance of
the fact that I have a country-my eye was attracted
by the magnificent proportions of HENRY CLAY.
The idea absorbed me then, that he was, above all
other men, the embodiment of my country's genius.
I have watched him; I have studied him; I have
admired him-and, God forgive me! for he was but




112
a man, "of like passions with us" —I fear I have
idolized him, until this hour.
But he has gone from among men; and it is for
us now to awake and apply ourselves, with renewed
fervour and increased fidelity, to the welfare of the
country HE loved so well and served so truly and so
long —the glorious country yet saved to us!
Yes, HENRY CLAY has fallen, at last!-as the ripe
oak falls, in the'stillness of the forest. But the verdant and gorgeous richness of his glories will only
fade and wither from the earth, when his country's
history shall have been forgotten.
"One generation passeth away and another generation cometh."  Thus it has been from the beginning, and thus it will be, until time shall be no
longer.
Yesterday morning, at eleven o'clock, the spirit
of HENRY CLAY —SO long the pride and glory of his
own country, and the admiration of all the worldwas yet with us, though struggling to be free. Ere
"high noon" came, it had passed over "the dark
river," through the gate, into the celestial city, inhabited by all the "just men made perfect."
May not our rapt vision contemplate him there,
this day, in sweet communion with the dear friends
that have gone before him? —with Madison, and Jefferson, and Washington, and Henry, and Franklinwith the eloquent Tully, with the "divine Plato,"
with Aaron the Levite, who could "speak well"-,w     1                              I I    I




113
with all the great and good, since and before the
flood!
His princely tread has graced these aisles for the
last time. These halls will wake no more to the
magic music of his voice.
Did that tall spirit, in its etherial form, enter the
courts of the upper sanctuary, bearing itself comparably with the spirits there, as was his walk among
men?
Did the mellifluous tones of his greeting there
enrapture the hosts of Heaven, comparably with his
strains "to stir men's blood" on earth?
Then, may we not fancy, when it was announced
to the inhabitants of that better country, HE COMES!
-HE COMES! —there was a rustling of angel-wingsa thrilling joy-up there, only to be witnessed once
in an earthly age?
Adieu!-a last adieu to thee, HENRY CLAY!
The hearts of all thy countrymen are melted, on
this day, because of the thought that thou art gone.
Could we have held the hand of the "insatiate
archer," thou hadst not died; but thou wouldst have
tarried with us, in the full grandeur of thy greatness,
until we had no longer need of a country.
But we thank our Heavenly Father that thou
wast given to us; and that thou didst survive so
long.
We would cherish thy memory while we live, as
our country's JEwEL-than which none is richer.
8




114
And we will teach our children the lessons of matchless patriotism thou hast taught us; with the fond
hope that our LIBERTY and our UNION may only expire with "the last of earth."
Mr. GENTRY, said:Mr. SPEAKER: I do not rise to pronounce an eulogy on the life and character and public services of
the illustrious orator and statesman whose death this
nation deplores. Suitably to perform that task, a
higher eloquence than I possess might essay in vain.
The gushing tears of the nation, the deep grief
which oppresses the hearts of more than twenty millions of people, constitute a more eloquent eulogium
upon the life and character and patriot services of
HENRY CLAY, than the power of language can express.
In no part of our country is that character more admired, or those public services more appreciated, than
in the State which I have the honour, in part, to represent. I claim for the people of that State a full
participation in the general woe which the sad announcement of to-day will everywhere inspire.
Mr. BOWIE, said:Mr. SPEAKER: I rise not to utter the measured
phrases of premeditated woe, but to speak as my constituency would, if they stood around the grave now
opening to receive the mortal remains, not of a
statesman only, but of a beloved friend.




115
If there is a State in this Union, other than Kentucky, which sends up a wail of more bitter and sincere sorrow than another, that State is Maryland.
In her midst, the departed statesman was a frequent and a welcome guest. At many a board, and
many a fireside, his noble form was the light of the
eyes, the idol of the heart. Throughout her borders,
in cottage, hamlet, and city, his name is a household
word, his thoughts are familiar sentences.
Though not permitted to be the first at his cradle,
Maryland would be the last at his tomb.
Through all the phases of political fortune, amid
all the storms which darkened his career, Maryland
cherished him in her inmost heart, as the most gifted,
patriotic, and eloquent of men. To this hour, prayers ascend from many domestic altars, evening and
morning, for his temporal comfort and eternal welfare. In the language of inspiration, Maryland would
exclaim, " There is a prince and a great man, fallen
this day, in Israel." Daughters of America! weep
for him "who hath clothed you in scarlet and fine
linen."
The husbandman at his plough, the artisan at the
anvil, and the seaman on the mast, will pause and
drop a tear when he hears CLAY is no more.
The advocate of Freedom in both hemispheres, he
will be lamented alike on the shores of the Hellespont and the banks of the Mississippi and Orinoco.
The freed men of Liberia, learning and practising the
g~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




116
art of self-government, and civilizing Africa, have
lost in him a patron and protector, a father and a
friend. America mourns the eclipse of a luminary,
which enlightened and illuminated the continent;
the United States, a counsellor of deepest wisdom
and purest purpose; mankind, the advocate of human rights and constitutional liberty.
Mr. WALSH, said:Mr. SPEAKER: The illustrious man whose death
we this day mourn, was so long my political leader
-so long almost the object of my personal idolatry
-that I cannot allow that he shall go down to the'
grave, without a word at least of affectionate remembrance-without a tribute to a memory which will
exact tribute as long as a heart shall be found to
beat within the bosom of civilized man, and human
agency shall be adequate in any form to give them
an expression; and even, sir, if I had no heartfelt
sigh to pour out here-if I had no tear for that coffin's lid, I should do injustice to those whose representative in part I am, if I did not in this presence,
and at this time, raise the voice to swell the accents
of the profoundest public sorrow.
The State of Maryland has always vied with Kentucky in love and adoration of his name. Her people have gathered around him with all the fervour
of a first affection, and with more than its duration.
Troops of friends have ever clustered about his path



117
way with a personal devotion which. each man of
them  regarded as the highest individual honourfriends, sir, to whose firesides the tidings of his death
will go with all the withering influences which are
felt when household ties are severed.
I wish, sir, I could offer now a proper memorial for
such a subject and such an affection. But as I strive
to utter it, I feel the disheartening influence of the
well-known truth, that in view of death all minds
sink into triteness. It would seem, indeed, sir, that
the great leveller of our race would vindicate his title
to be so considered, by making all men think alike in
regard to his visitation-" the thousand thoughts that
begin and end in one"-the desolation here-the eternal hope hereafter-are influences felt alike by the
lowest intellect and the loftiest genius.
Mr. Speaker, a statesman for more than fifty
years in the councils of his country, whose peculiar
charge it was to see that the Republic suffered no detriment-a patriot for all times, all circumstances,
and all emergencies-has passed away from the
trials and triumphs of the world, and gone to his
reward. Sad as are the emotions which such an
event would ordinarily excite, their intensity is
heightened by the matters so fresh within the
memories of us all:
"' Oh! think how to his latest day,
When death, just hovering, claim'd his prey,
With Palinurus' unalter'd mood,
Firm at his dangerous post he stood,




118
Each call for needful rest repell'd,
With dying hand the rudder held;
Then while on freedom's thousand plains
One unpolluted church remains,
Whose peaceful bells ne'er sent around
The bloody tocsin's maddening sound,
But still, upon the hallow'd day,
Convoke the swains to praise and pray,
While faith and civil peace are dear,
Greet his cold marble with a tear,
He who preserved them-CLAY lies here."
In a character, Mr. Speaker, so illustrious and
beautiful, it is difficult to select any point for particular notice, from those which go to make up its
noble proportions; but we may now, around his honoured grave, call to grateful recollection that invincible spirit which no personal sorrow could sully, and
no disaster could overcome. Be assured, sir, that he
has in this regard left a legacy to the young men of
the Republic, almost as sacred and as dear as that
liberty of which his life was a blessed illustration.
We can all remember, sir, when adverse political
results disheartened his friends, and made them feel
even as men without hope, that his own clarion voice
was still heard in the purpose and the pursuit of right,
as bold and as eloquent as when it first proclaimed
the freedom of the seas, and its talismanic tones
struck off the badges of bondage from the lands of
the Incas, and the plains of Marathon.
Mr. Speaker, in the exultation of the statesman
he did not forget the duties of the man. He was an
affectionate adviser on all points wherein inexpeI




119
rienced youth might require counsel.  He was a disinterested sympathizer in personal sorrows that called
for consolation. He was ever upright and honourable in all the duties incident to his relations in
life.
To an existence so lovely, Heaven in its mercy
granted a fitting and appropriate close. It was the
prayer, Mr. Speaker, of a distinguished citizen, who
died some years since in the metropolis, even while
his spirit was fluttering for its final flight, that he
might depart gracefully. It may not be presumptuous to say, that what was in that instance the aspiration of a chivalric gentleman, was in this the realization of the dying Christian, in which was blended
all that human dignity could require, with all that
Divine grace had conferred; in which the firmness
of the man was only transcended by the fervour of
the penitent.
A short period before his death he remarked to
one by his bedside, "that he was fearful he was becoming selfish, as his thoughts were entirely withdrawn from the world and centred upon eternity."
This, sir, was but the purification of his noble
spirit from all the dross of earth-a happy illustration of what the religious muse has so sweetly
sung"No sin to stain-no lure to stay
The soul, as home she springs;
Thy sunshine on her joyful way,
Thy freedom in her wings."
3                




120
Mr. Speaker, the solemnities of this hour may soon
be forgotten. We may come back from the new-made
grave only still to show that we consider "eternity
the bubble, life and time the enduring substance."
We may not pause long enough by the brink to ask
which of us revellers of to-day shall next be at rest.
But be assured, sir, that upon the records of mortality
will never be inscribed a name more illustrious than
that of the statesman, patriot, and friend whom the
nation mourns.
The question was then put on the adoption of the resolutions proposed by Mr. BRECKINRIDGE, and they were unanimously adopted.




121
ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS AT THE FUNERAL
OF THE
HO N. HENRY CLAY,
A SENATOR OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE STATE OF KENTUCKY.
THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1852.
THE Committee of Arrangements, Pall-Bearers and Mourners, attended at the National Hotel, the late residence of the
deceased, at 11 o'clock, A. M. At half-past eleven the funeral
procession to the Capitol was formed, in the following order:The Chaplains of both Houses of Congress.
Physicians who attended the deceased.
Committee of Arrangements.
Mr. HUNTER,                   Mr. COOPER,
Mr. DAWSON,                   Mr. BRIGHT,
Mr. JONES, of Iowa,           Mr. SMITH.
Pall-Bearers.
Mr. CAss,                     Mr. PRATT,
Mr. MANGUM,                   Mr. ATCHISON,
Mr. DODGE, of Wis.     v      Mr. BELL.
Committee to attend the remains of the deceased to
Kentucky:Mr. UNDERWOOD,                Mr. FISH,
Mr. JONES, of Tenn.           Mr. HOUSTON,
Mr. CASS,                     Mr. STOCKTON.




122
The Family and Friends of the deceased.
The Senators and Representatives from the State of Kentucky, as mourners.
The Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate.
The Senate of the United States, preceded by their President pro tempore, and Secretary.
The other Officers of the Senate.
The Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives, preceded by their Speaker
and Clerk.
The other Officers of the House of Representatives.
Judges of the United States.
Officers of the Executive Departments.
Officers of the Army and Navy.
The Mayor and Corporation of Washington, and of other
Cities.
Civic Associations.
Military Companies.
Citizens and Strangers.
The procession having entered the Senate Chamber, where
the President of the United States, the Heads of Departments, the Diplomatic Corps, and others were already
present, the funeral service was performed by Rev. DR.
BUTLER, Chaplain to the Senate.
At the conclusion of the service, the corpse was placed in
the Rotunda, where it remained until half-past three o'clock,
P. M., when it was removed, in charge of the Committee of
Arrangements and Pall-Bearers, to the Railroad Depot, and
confided to the Committee appointed to accompany it to
Kentucky.




A SERMON
DELIVERED IN THE SENATE CHAMBER OF THE UNITED STATES,
JULY 1, 1852,
ON THE OCCASION OF THE
FUNERAL OF THE HON. HENRY CLAY,
BY THE
REV. C. M. BUTLER, D.D.
CHAPLAIN OF THE SENATE.








SERMON.
"How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!"-JER. xlviii. 17.
BEFORE all hearts and minds in this august assemblage the vivid image of one man stands. To some
aged eye he may come forth, from the dim past, as
he appeared in the neighbouring city of his native
State, a lithe and ardent youth, full of promise, of
ambition, and of hope. To another he may appear
as, in a distant State, in the courts of justice, erect,
high-strung, bold, wearing the fresh forensic laurel
on his young and open brow. Some may see him
in the earlier, and some in the later, stages of his
career, on this conspicuous theatre of his renown;
and to the former he will start out on the background of the past, as he appeared in the neighbouring chamber, tall, elate, impassioned-with flashing
eye, and suasive gesture, and clarion voice, an already acknowledged "Againemnon, King of Men;"
and to others he will again stand in this chamber,
"the strong staff" of the bewildered and staggering
State, and "the beautiful rod," rich with the blossoms of genius, and of patriotic love and hope, the
life of youth still remaining to give animation, grace,
and exhaustless vigour, to the wisdom, the experience,
125




126
and the gravity of age. To others he may be present as he sat in the chamber of sickness, cheerful,
majestic, gentle-his mind clear, his heart warm,
his hope fixed on Heaven, peacefully preparing for
his last great change. To the memory of the minister of God he appears as the penitent, humble, and
peaceful Christian, who received him with the affection of a father, and joined with him in solemn
sacrament and prayer, with the gentleness of a woman, and the humility of a child. "Out of the
strong came forth sweetness."  "How is the strong
staff broken, and the beautiful rod!"
But not before this Assembly only, does the venerated image of the departed Statesman, this day,
distinctly stand. For more than a thousand miles —
east, west, north, and south-it is known and remembered, that at this place and hour, a nation's
Representatives assemble to do honour to him whose
fame is now a nation's heritage. A nation's mighty
heart throbs against this Capitol, and beats through
you. In many cities banners droop, bells toll, cannons boom, funereal draperies wave. In crowded
streets and on sounding wharfs, upon steamboats and
upon cars, in fields and in workshops, in homes, in
schools, millions of men, women, and children have
their thoughts fixed upon this scene, and say mournfully to each other, "This is the hour in which,
at the Capitol, the nation's Representatives are




127
burying HENRY CLAY."  Burying HENRY CLAY!
Bury the records of your country's history-bury
the hearts of living millions-bury the mountains,
the rivers, the lakes, and the spreading lands from
sea to sea, with which his name is inseparably associated, and even then you would not bury HENRY
CLAY-for he lives in other lands, and speaks in
other tongues, and to other times than our's.
A great mind, a great heart, a great orator, a great
career, have been consigned to history. She will record his rare gifts of deep insight, keen discrimination, clear statement, rapid combination, plain, direct, and convincing logic. She will love to dwell
on that large, generous, magnanimous, open, forgiving heart. She will linger, with fond delight, on the
recorded and traditional stories of an eloquence that
was so masterful and stirring, because it was but
himself, struggling to come forth on the living words
-because, though the words were brave and strong,
and beautiful and melodious, it was felt that, behind
them there was a soul braver, stronger, more beautiful, and more melodious, than language could express. She will point to a career of statesmanship
which has, to a remarkable degree, stamped itself
on the public policy of the country, and reached, in
beneficent practical results, the fields, the looms, the
commercial marts, and the quiet homes of all the
land, where his name was, with the departed fathers,




128
and is with the living children, and will be, with successive generations, an honoured household word.
I feel, as a man, the grandeur of this career. But
as an immortal, with this broken wreck of mortality, before me, with this scene as the "end-all" of
human glory, I feel that no career is truly great but
that of him who, whether he be illustrious or obscure, lives to the future in the present, and linking
himself to the spiritual world, draws from God the
life, the rule, the motive, and the reward of all his
labour. So would that great spirit which has departed say to us, could he address us now. So did
he realize, in the calm and meditative close of life.
I feel that I but utter the lessons which, living, were
his last and best convictions, and which, dead, would
be, could he speak to us, his solemn admonitions,
when I say that statesmanship is then only glorious,
when it is Christian: and that man is then only
safe, and true to his duty, and his soul, when the
life which he lives in the flesh is the life of faith in
the Son of God.
Great, indeed, is the privilege, and most honourable and useful is the career, of a Christian American statesman. He perceives that civil liberty came
from the freedom wherewith Christ made its early
martyrs and defenders free. He recognises it as one
of the twelve manner of fruits on the Tree of Life,
which, while its lower branches furnish the best nu



129
triment of earth, hangs on its topmost boughs, which
wave in Heaven, fruits that exhilarate the immortals.
Recognising the State as God's institution, he will
perceive that his own ministry is divine. Living
conscioudtl*nder the eye, and in the love and fear
of God; redeemed by the blood of Jesus; sanctified
by His Spirit; loving His law; he will give himself,
in private and in public, to the service of his Saviour. He will not admit that he may act on less
lofty principles in public, than in private life; and
that he must be careful of his moral influence in the
small sphere of home and neighbourhood, but need
take no heed of it when it stretches over continents
and crosses seas. He will know that his moral responsibility cannot be divided and distributed among
others.  When he is told that adherence to the
strictest moral and religious principle is incompatible with a successful and eminent career, he will
denounce the assertion as a libel on the venerated
Fathers of the Republic-a libel on the honoured living and the illustrious dead-a libel against a great
and Christian nation-a libel against God himself, who
has declared and made "godliness profitable for the
life that now is." He will strive to make laws the
transcripts of the character, and institutions illustrations of the providence of God. He will scan with
admiration and awe the purposes of God in the future history of the world, in throwing open this wide
9




130
Continent, from sea to sea, as the abode of freedom,
intelligence, plenty, prosperity, and peace; and feel
that in giving his energies with a patriot's love, to
the welfare of his country, he is consecrating himself, with a Christian's zeal, to the extension and
establishment of the Redeemer's kingdom. Compared with a career like this, which is equally open
to those whose public sphere is large or small, how
paltry are the trade of patriotism, the tricks of
statesmanship, the rewards of successful baseness!
This hour, this scene, the venerated dead, the country, the world, the present, the future, God, duty,
Heaven, hell, speak trumpet-tongued to all in the
service of their country, to beware how they lay polluted or unhallowed hands
"Upon the ark
Of her magnificent and awful cause!"
Such is the character of that statesmanship which
alone would have met the full approval of the venerated dead. For the religion which always had a
place in the convictions of his mind, had also, within
a recent period, entered into his experience, and
seated itself in his heart. Twenty years since he
wrote-" I am a member of no religious sect, and I
am not a professor of religion. I regret that I am
not. I wish that I was, and trust that I shall be. I
have, and always have had, a profound regard for'U'




131
Christianity, the religion of my fathers, and for its
rites, its usages, and observances."  That feeling
proved that the seed sown by pious parents, was not
dead though stifled. A few years since, its dormant
life was re-awakened. He was baptized in the communion of the Protestant Episcopal Church; and
during his sojourn in this city, he was in full communion with Trinity Parish.
It is since his withdrawal from the sittings of the
Senate, that I have been made particularly acquainted with his religious opinions, character, and
feelings. From the commencement of his illness he
always expressed to me his persuasion that its termination would be fatal. From that period until his
death, it was my privilege to hold frequent religious
services and conversations with him in his room. He
avowed to me his full faith in the great leading doctrines of the Gospel-the fall and sinfulness of man,
the divinity of Christ, the reality and necessity of
the Atonement, the need of being born again by the
Spirit, and salvation through faith in a crucified Redeemer. His own personal hopes of salvation, he
ever and distinctly based on the promises and the
grace of Christ. Strikingly perceptible, on his naturally impetuous and impatient character, was the
influence of grace in producing submission, and " a
patient waiting for Christ," and for death. On one
occasion he spoke to me of the pious example of one




132
very near and dear to him, as that which led him
deeply to feel, and earnestly to seek for himself, the
reality and the blessedness of religion. On another
occasion, he told me that he had been striving to
form a conception of Heaven; and he enlarged upon
the mercy of that provision by which our Saviour
became a partaker of our humanity, that our hearts
and hopes might fix themselves on him. On another
occasion, when he was supposed to be very near his
end, I expressed to him the hope that his mind and
heart were at peace, and that he was able to rest
with cheerful confidence on the promises, and in the
merits of the Redeemer. He said, with much feeling, that he endeavoured to, and trusted that he did
repose his salvation upon Christ; that it was too
late for him to look at Christianity in the light of
speculation; that he had never doubted of its truth;
and that he now wished to throw himself upon it
as a practical and blessed remedy. Very soon after
this, I administered to him the sacrament of the
Lord's Supper. Being extremely feeble, and desirous
of having his mind undiverted, no persons were
present, but his son and his servant. It was a scene
long to be remembered. There, in that still chamber, at a week-day noon, the tides of life flowing all
around us, three disciples of the Saviour, the minister of God, the dying statesman, and his servant,
a partaker of the like precious faith, commemorated
U~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ —



133
their Saviour's dying love. He joined in the blessed
sacrament with great feeling and solemnity, now
pressing his hands together, and now spreading them
forth, as the words of the service expressed the feelings, desires, supplications, confessions, and thanksgivings, of his heart. His eyes were dim with grateful tears, his heart was full of peace and love! After this he rallied, and again I was permitted frequently to join with him in religious services, conversation, and prayer. He grew in grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Among the books which, in connection with
the Word of God, he read most, were "Jay's Morning and Evening Exercises," the "Life of Dr. Chalmers," and " The Christian Philosopher Triumphant
in Death." His hope continued to the end to be,
though true and real, tremulous with humility rather
than rapturous with assurance. When he felt most
the weariness of his protracted sufferings, it sufficed
to suggest to him that his Heavenly Father doubtless knew, that after a life so long and stirring, and
tempted, such a discipline of chastening and suffering was needful to make him more meet for the inheritance of the saints-and at once words of meek
and patient acquiescence escaped his lips.
Exhausted nature at length gave way. On the
last occasion, when I was permitted to offer a brief
prayer at his bedside, his last words to me were that




134
he had hope only in Christ, and that the prayer
which I had offered for his pardoning love, and his
sanctifying grace, included every thing which the dying need. On the evening previous to his departure,
sitting for an hour in silence by his side, I could not
but realize, when I heard him, in the slight wanderings of his mind to other days, and other scenes,
murmuring the words, "My mother! Mother! Mother!" and saying "My dear wife!" as if she were
present, and frequently uttering aloud, as if in response to some silent Litany of the soul, the simple
prayer, "Lord, have mercy upon me!"-I could not
but realize then, and rejoice to think how near was
the blessed reunion of his weary heart with the
loved dead, and with her - Our dear Lord gently
smooth her passage to the tomb! —who must soon follow him to his rest-whose spirits even then seemed
to visit, and to cheer his memory and his hope.
Gently he breathed his soul away into the spirit
world.
"How blest the righteous when they die!
When holy souls retire to rest,
How mildly beams the closing eye,
How gently heaves the expiring breast!
"So fades the summer cloud away,
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er,
So gently shuts the eye of day,
So dies the wave upon the shore!"




135
Be it ours to follow him, in the same humble and
submissive faith, to Heaven. Could he speak to us
the counsels of his latest human, and his present
Heavenly, experience, sure I am that he would not
only admonishus to cling to the Saviour, in sickness
and in death: but abjure us not to delay to act upon
our first convictions, that we might give our best
powers and fullest influence to God, and go to the
grave with a hope, unshadowed by the long worldliness of the past, or by the films of fear and doubt
resting over the future.
The strong staff is broken, and the beautiful rod
is despoiled of its grace and bloom; but in the light
of the eternal promises, and by  the power of
Christ's resurrection, we joyfully anticipate the prospect of seeing that broken staff erect, and that
beautiful rod clothed with celestial grace, and blossoming with undying life and blessedness in the
Paradise of God.
THE END.