xt7hqb9v1p11 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7hqb9v1p11/data/mets.xml Clay, Henry, 1777-1852. 1844  books b92-113-28170615 English C. Shepard, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Clay, Henry, 1820-1885.Vandenhoff, George, 1820-1885. Clay code  : or, Text-book of eloquence, a collection of axioms, apothegms, sentiments, and remarkable passages on liberty, government, political morality and national honor / gathered from the public speeches of Henry Clay ; edited by G. Vandeandenhoff. text Clay code  : or, Text-book of eloquence, a collection of axioms, apothegms, sentiments, and remarkable passages on liberty, government, political morality and national honor / gathered from the public speeches of Henry Clay ; edited by G. Vandeandenhoff. 1844 2002 true xt7hqb9v1p11 section xt7hqb9v1p11 



















       TILE CLAY CODE;

                   OR,

TEXT-BOOK OF ELOQUENCE.

              A COLLECTION OF

  AXIOMS, APOTHEGMS, SENTIMENTS,
                   AND
          RENIARKABLE PASSAGES
                   ON
   LTBERTY, GOVERNMINT, POLITICAL MORALITY
                   AND
           NATIONAL HONOR:
    GATHERED FRO.M THE PUBLIC SPEECHES OF

            HENRY CLAY.



     EDITED BY G. VANDENHOFF,
           PROFESSOR OF RIIMTORIC.


       I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
       As well as I do know your outivard favor.
       Well, Honor is the subject of miy story.
                            Shaks.

      Disce puer virtutem cx me, verumqise laborcin.
                               Virg.




              NEW YORK:
   C. SHEPARD, 191 BROADWAY.


                  1844.

 





































           Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844,
                         BY 0. SHEPARD,
In the Cleri's Office of the DAtrict Court of the Southern District of New York.



M. Murphy, Printer.

 
















EDITOR'S PREFACE.



  THE great characteristic of Henry Clay, as presented
in his public speeches, and the one that must most strongly
recommend his ORATORY to the hearts of his countrymen,
is his pure, thorough NATIONALITY. This spirit breathes
in every page-pervades every sentence-glows in every
line. We cannot fail to admire his vigor and independ.
ence of mind, his enlarged and statesmanlike views of
policy and government, his energy, intensity of purpose,
and unflinching advocacy of what he conceives to be the
riight-backed by the closest reasoning, a happy power of
illustration, and the keenest satire; but, most of all, we
are struck with his Nationality-his AMIERICANISM.
  He is, indeed, heart and hand, might and main, body
and soul, American. He loves, he ADORES the land of
his birth: he is proud of her extent, her resources, her
natural wealth: he believes her Constitution to be as near
to perfection as any, human institution can be; and he is
most jealous of any interference with it, at home, or from
abroad. Above all, he abhors, he loathes the very idea
offoreign influence, foreign example, foreign interference.

 












Hence, his continual and emphatic inculcation on his
fellow couhtrymen of the necessity and advantage of reli.
ance on themselves, and on their own talents, energy, and
industry; not only for their political liberty and independ.
ence, but (by their cultivation of, and advances in the
industrious arts) for a total independence on other nations
for a plentiful supply of the necessaries, comforts and
luxuries of life.
  Nor is his Nationality a cold and abstract and selfish
feeling: it is an elevated and lofty PATRIOTISM; acutely
and exquisitely sensitive and alive to the glory and happi-
ness and honor of his own land; not dead to the well-being
of others. He loves his own country passionately: he
thinks her FREEST, GREATEST, BEST: but he has a throb
of sympathy for struggling freedom, wherever and by
whomsoever held in bondage. His motto is-" Civil and
relig-ious liberty all over the world!" He regards his own
favoured land as the great Cradle of Liberty-the nurse
of freedom. America, he deems the Polar Star of Inde.
pendence, to which the down-trodden of every nation must
turn with anxious eye for light and guidance and hope,
amid the dark clouds of tyranny and oppression. He
desires that all should be free; that all should be (in that,
his Catholic sense of the word) AMERICANX!
  He sends the glad tidings of encouragement and sym-
                        Kauoms



W.



PRiEFACE.

 









PREFACE.



pathy to SPArISH AMERICA, in her resistance to a hateful
despotism ; and the stirring sound of his voice is heard
animating awakened GREECE in her glorious efforts to
burst her chains, and wafting to her shores what shall
be to her, like an echo from Marathon or Thermopyle-
a message of hope and a prophetic assurance of delive
rance !
  His most ardent prayers at the shrine of his tutelary
goddess, LIBERTY, are for his own country, his own
altars, his own home! But after that, he pours forth an
ardent aspiration for UNIVERSAL FREEDOM; and the strain
of his fervent and impassioned eloquence comprehends, in
the circle of an enlarged benevolence, the inhabitants
of every, the nearest and most distant lands; or (as he
himself expresses it) " The liberty and happiness of the
whole human family."
  On these occasions his eloquence is sublime. Frequent
extracts in the following pages will illustrate these cha.
racteristics:-his NATIONALITY, and his sympathy with
popular rights, and hatred of oppression.
  The publicly expressed maxims and opinions of a dis.
tinguished Orator and Statesman are great lessons to a
people. The higher the intellect, the more exalted the
character, the more widely spread the fame of the man-
the greater the authority of the maxims he promulgates,
and tho opinions he maintains. They are public property;
                         a3



V.

 











they belong to the nation; they form a portion of her
wealth, worthy to be stored in her intellectual treasury,
and to be preserved and transmitted for the guidance and
benefit of posterity.
  In this point of view the speeches of Henry Clay are
very remarkable. On nearly every subject connected
with government and its branches-political economy and
public policy, they exhibit just and enlarged views.
  The people of ancient Greece and Rome carefully
treasured up, and taught their children, the just and no-
ble sentiments of humanity and justice promulgated by
their dramatic poets, Euripides and Terence. It was a
wise and an easy mode of educating the young mind.
Such a sentiment as that of Terence

       HoMo SUM; HUMANI NIHIL A ME ALIENUM PUTO

dwells upon the memory; and makes more impression on
the heart, as a lesson of humanity and philantropy, than
a long-winded homily from the lips of the gravest
teacher.
  In the same manner, the maxims of the statesman, pi-
thily and happily expressed, and gracefully illustrated,
do more in the political education of a people, than a
thousand lectures on political economy. Some of those
which will be found in the following collection might be
printed in letters of gold, that " all who run may read,"



W.e



PREFACE.

 











till they become " fanAliar as household words." Take
one:-
   NATIONS, LIKE MEN, FAIL IN NOTHING WHICH THEY
 BOLDLY ATTEMPT, WHEN SUSTAINED BY VIRTUOUS PUR-
 POSE, AND DETERMINED RESOLUTION.
   What a noble, what a cheering lesson! How encour-
 aging to the hopes and energies of a young people! Such
 pithy lessons (and many will be met with in the follow.
 ing pages, equally worthy to be recorded)-such lessons
 are the best books of education for a free people. Every
 one understands them; they are easily learnt; they can
 never be forgotten; their truth is eternal; they are
                "Not for an age, but for all time."

Such were my feelings on perusing the speeches of Henry
Clay: such were the feelings with which I prepared the
following TEXT BOOK; which I now, with great respect
and deference, offer to the American public.
  Most unfeignedly I assure the reader, that its object
is by no means a party one; nor is it intended as a tribute to
party feeling. With these I have neither a right, nor a wish
to interfere; nor can the editing of this collection (I trust)
be justly considered as an attempt, or evidence of a desire
to do so. ELOQUENCE i. of no one land; she is indigenous
to every soil and every clime; she belongs to no one
country, she owns no party, no clique. Like the sun, she
sheds her light on all. Her language is universal; she



nii.



PREFACE.

 











speaks a tongue to which everyheart responds. Nor can
there be a monopoly by a nation, or a party, or a man,
of the principles of justice, wisdom, truth and honor: they,
also, are universal-unchanging, eternal: and their advo.
cate-whether American, English, French-Conservative
or Liberal-of the cote droite or the cote gauche-Tory,
Whig orDemocrat-is a general benefactor, and (as such)
is entitled to the gratitude of mankind.
  I originally made extracts from the speeches of Henry
Clay, for my own individual purpose, in the preparation
of a rhetorical work. I now edit this collection, not as
a tribute to PARTY, (with which I have no concern) but
as an offering (which will not, I trust, be deemed unwel-
come) to the PUBLIC. to THE WORLD: and, at the same
time, (I may be permitted to add) as a feeble testimony of
my admiration of one unknown to me, except as an
enlightened Statesman, an eloquent Orator, and a great
man!
  I conclude with a sentiment which I have somewhere
met in (I think) a French author: " I bring you a bouquet
of exquisite flowers; I have merely furnished the riband
that binds them together."
  .New York, August, 1844.



VW.



PREFACE.

 

















            CLAY CODE;

                   OR,

TEXT-BOOK OF ELOQUENCE;

      GATHERED FROMI THE PUBLIC SPEECHES

                   OF

          HENRY CLAY.




                PART I.
PASSAGES ILLUSTRATIVE OF HIS PERSONAL AND PUBLIC
   CHARACTER.
NATIONALITY AND SYMPATHY WITH POPULAR RIGHTS.

                PART II.
OPINIO)NS, APOTHEGMS, AND SENTIMENTS, ON GOVERN-
   MENT, POLITICAL ECONOMY, C.

                PART III.
ELOQUENT AND REMARKABLE PASSAGES.

 
This page in the original text is blank.


 
























          PART I.
PERSONAL AND PUBLIC CHARACTER.

 
This page in the original text is blank.



 
















      PERSONAL CHARACTER.



            Justum ac tenacem propositi virum
            Non civium ardor prava jubentium
            Ne vultus instantis tyranni
            Mente quatit solidi.


        The brow whereon doth sit disdain of threat,
        Defiance of aggression, and revenge
        Of contumely !
                                     KxOWLES.

                Ad Veluti in speculum."

             PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE.
  As for myself, born in the midst of the revolution,
the first air that I ever breathed on my native soil of
Virginia, having been that of liberty and independ-
ence, I scorn the wrath and defy the oppression of
power.
  I thank my GOD, HE has endowed me with a soul
incapable of apprehensions .from the anger of any
being but himself.
                                 At Lexington, 1827.
  My ideas of duty are such, that when my rights
are invaded, I must advance to their defence, let
what may be the consequence; even if death itself
were to be my certain fate.
                           1811. Arming against Eng.

 











CLAY CODE;



                       DUELLING.

                                 Beware
         Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
         Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
                                              SHAKS.

   I owe it to the community to say that whatever
heretofore I may have done, or, by inevitable cir-
cumstances may be forced to do, NO MAN HOLDS IN
DEEPER ABHORRENCE, THAN I DO, THAT PERNICIOUS
PRACTICE. CONDEMNED AS IT MUST BE BY THE JUDG-
MENT AND PHILOSOPHY, TO SAY NOTHING OF TIlE RELI-
GION OF EVERY THINKING MAN, it is an affair of feel-
ing, about which we cannot, although we should,
reason. ITS TRUE CORRECTIVE WILL BE FOUND, WHEN
ALL SHALL UNITE, AS ALL OUGIIT TO UNITE, IN ITS UN-
QUALIFIED PROSCRIPTION.
                      Address to his Constituents, 1824-5.


   Mr. Clay's opinion and feeling on this subject are those
which have been entertained by the generality of ancient
men occupying a marked and distinguished position in the
thorn-strewed career of public life. Men so placed, and
so exposed to the envenomed shafts offalsehood and malig-
nity have frequently no other defence against the assasin of
their fame than the pistol or the sword. The very susccp-
tibility of genius, and the very intensity and energy of cha.
racter which has contributed to please them in the elevated
situations they enjoy, may frequently render them more ir.
ritable, and more sensitive even to petty and unworthy
annoyances, than ordinary and feebler spirits. The ion
may be stung into madness by the gnat. Nor can such men
be judged by the same severe rule as may be applied to
the common routine of private life.
  All admit that "the sword is the worst argument a man
can use." But what is called TIHE CODE OF HONOUR i5 SO



14

 









TEXT-BOOK OF ELOQUENCE.



                   MORAL COURAGE.
  I hope that in all that relates to personal firmness
-all that concerns a just appreciation of the insig-
nificance Of human life-whatever may be attempt-

imperious, that many wise and good men have felt them.
selves driven to obey its commands, rather than the dic-
tates of reason, and their own hearts.
  Eminent statesmen of other countries have rushed from
the Senate to the field, in vindication of unsullied honour,
or at call of a political adversary. The names of Pitt, Fox,
Percival, Burke, Canning and a host of others bear witness
to the power of their conventional code.  The Duke of
York (brother of the late and uncle of the present Queen
of England,) thought himself so bound by it, as to wave
the consideration of his royal birth, and if his being the
commanding officer of a gentleman who considered him.
self aggrieved, and to give that private gentleman satisfac.
tion in a personal encounter, in which he (the Duke)well
nigh fell a victim to his choleric feeling of honour. The
greatest soldier of th- age (the Duke of Wellington him.
self) than whom no man, one would think, might more
safely have set his known character for courage and intre-
pidity (proved in a hundred fights in great and noble cau.
ses) against the practice of duelling obeyed the call ofthe
Earl of Winchelsea, and met him in the field; upon some
expressions arising out of the discussion of the Catholic
Emancipation Bill, in the House of Lords. Mr. O'Con-
nell also, it is well known has shot his man; though
his religeous feeling,(as well as philosophical conviction)
always was and is most strongly opposed to the duel.
  The hightest examples cannot of course make wrong,
right, nor sanctify a crime. They only prove how diffi-
cult it is in the course of the struggles of public life to
preserve the same temper and moderation, and follow the
samc wise course of conduct, which reason and duty would
have made easy to the same men in a private and less tur.
bulent sphere. Much may be forgiven them on account of
their position and temptations.-ED.
                          2



15

 










ed to threaten or alarm a soul not easily swayed by
opposition, or awed or intimidated by menace-a
stout heart and a steady eye that can survey, un-
moved and undaunted, any mere personal perils that
assail this poor, transient, perishing frame, I may,
without disparagement, compare with other men.
But there is a sort of courage, which, I frankly con-
fess it, I do not possess-a boldness to which I dare
not aspire, a valor which I cannot covet. I cannot
lay myself down in the way of the welfare and hap-
piness of my country. That-I cannot, I have not the
courage to do. I cannot interpose the power with
which I may be invested-a power conferred not for
my personal benefit, nor for my aggrandizement,
but for my country's good-to check her onward
march to greatness and glory. I have not courage
enough-I am too cowardly for that. I would not, I
dare not, in the exercise of such a trust, lie down
and place my body across the path that leads my
country to prosperity and happiness. This is a sort
of courage widely different from that which a man
may display in his private conduct and personal re-
lations. Personal or private courage is totally dis-
tinct from that higher and nobler courage, which
prompts the patriot to offer himself a voluntary sac-
rifice to his country's good.
                          Bank Veto, 1841.



la



CLAY CODE;"

 









TLXT-11OOK OF ELOQUENCE.



                 HIS EARLY LIFE.
        What merit to be dropped on fortune's hill 
        The honor is to mount it.    KNOWLES.
  In looking back upon my origin, and progress
through life, I have great reason to be thankful. My
father died in 1781 ; leaving me an infant of too ten-
der years to retain any recollection of his smiles or
endearments. My surviving parent removed to this
State in 1792, leaving me, a boy of fifteen years of
age, in the office of the High Court of Chancery, in
the City of Richmond, without guardian, without pe-
cuniiary means of support, to steer my course as I
might or could.  A neglected education was im-
proved by my own irregular exertions, without the
benefit of systematic instruction.  I studied law
principally in the office of a lamented friend, the
late Governor BROOKE, then (Attorney General of
Virginia,) and also under the auspices of the vener-
able and lamented Chancellor WYTHE; for whom I
had acted as an amanuensis.  I obtained a license
to practice the profession from the Judges of the
Court of Appeals of Virginia; and established my-
self in Lexington in 1797, without patrons, without
the favor or countenance of the great or opulent,
without the means of paying my weekly board, and
in the midst of a Bar uncommonly distinguished by
eminent members. I remember how comfortable I
thought I should be, if I could make pound;100 Virginia
money per year, and with what delight I received
the first fifteen shilling fee. My hopes were more
than realized. I immediately rushed into a success-
ful and lucrative practice.
       20              On returning to Kentucky, 1842.



17

 








CLAY CODE;



    VENERATION FOR AND RELIANCE ON PROVIDENCE.
               " Spes et tutamen."
   I should, indeed, sink overwhelmed and subdued
beneath the appalling magnitude of the task which
lies before me, if I did not feel myself sustained and
fortified by a thorough consciousness of the justness
of the cause which I have espoused, and by a persua-
sion I hope not presumptuous, that it has the appro-
bation of that Providence who has so often smiled
upon these United States.
                                     Senate, 1832.

  If it were allowable for us, at the present day, to
imitate ancient examples, I would invoke the aid of
the MOST HIGH.  I would anxiously and fervently
implore His Divine assistance; that He would be
graciously pleased to shower on my country His
richest blessings; and that He would sustain, on
this interesting occasion, the humble individual who
stands before Him, and lend him the power, moral
and physical, to perform the solemn duties which
now belong to his public station.
                                         1824.

  Thank God, we are yet free; and, if we put on the
chains which are forging for us, it will be because we
deserve to wear them. We should never despair of
the republic. If our ancestors had been capable of
surrendering themselves to such ignoble sentiments,
our independence and our liberties would never-have
been achieved. The winter of 1776-7 was one of the
gloomiest periods of the revolution; but on THIS DAY,



is

 








TEXT BOOK OF ELOQUENCE.



fifty-seven years ago, the father of his country ach-
ieved a glorious victory, which diffused joy and glad-
ness and animation throughout the States. Let us
cherish the hope that, since he has gone from among
us, Providence, in the dispensation of his mercies,
has near at hand in reserve for us, though yet unseen
by us, some sure and happy deliverance from all im-
pending dangers.

   Sir: for the preservation of our morals we are res-
ponsible to God, and I trust that that responsibility
will ever remain to Him and His mercy alone.
                               American System, 1832.

   And if a bountiful Providence would allow an un-
worthy sinner to approach the throne of grace, I
would beseech him, as the greatest favor he could
grant to me here below, to spare me until I live to
behold the people rising in their majesty, with a
peaceful and constitutional exercise of their power,
to expel the Goths from Rome; to rescue the pub-
lic treasury from pillage, to preserve the Constitu-
tion of the United States; to uphold the Union a-
gainst the danger of the concentration and consolid-
ation of all power in the hands of the executive;
and to sustain the liberties of the people of this
country against the imminent perils to which they
now stand exposed.
                                       Senate, 1834.

    " Macte nova virtute puer; sic itur ad astra."-Virg.
  What undertaking within the compass of hu-



19

 








20  CLAY COD E;



man power ever failed, when pursued with perse-
verence and blessed by the smiles of Providence !
   Is it credible, is it not a libel upon human nature
 to suppose that the principles of fraud and violence
 and iniquity, can surpass those of virtue and benev-
 olence and humanity
                                     Af Col. 1827.

   I have seen some public service, passed through
many troubled times, and often addressed public
assemblies, in this capitol and elsewhere; but never
before have I risen in a deliberative body, under
more oppressed feelings, or with a deeper sense of
awful responsibility. Never before have I risen to
express my opinions upon any public measure fraught
with such tremendous consequences to the welfare
and prosperity of the country, and so perilous to the
liberties of the people, as I solemnly believe the bill
under consideration will be. If you knew, sir, what
sleepless hours reflection upon it has cost me; if you
knew with what fervor and sincerity I have implored
Divine assistance to strengthen and sustain me in my
opposition to it, I should have credit with you, at
least, for the sincerity of my conviction, if I shall be
so unfortunate as not to have your concurrence as to
the dangerous character of the measure. And I
have thanked my God that he has prolonged my life
until the present time, to enable me to exert myself
in the service of my country, against a project far
transcending, in pernicious tendency, any that I have
ever had occasion to consider. I thank him for the
health I am permitted to enjoy; I thank him for the



s0

 








C21



TEXT-BOOK OF ELOQUENCE.



soft and sweet repose which I experienced last night;
I thank him for the bright and glorious sun which
shines upon us this day.    Sub Treasury Bil, 1838.

  May the blessing of Heaven rest upon the whole
Senate and each member of it, and may the labors of
every one redound to the benefit of the nation and
the advancement of his own fame and renown! And
when you shall retire to the bosom of your constitu-
ents, may you meet the most cheering and gratifying
of all human rewards-their cordial greeting of
"Well done, good and faithful servants !"
                      On retiring from the Senate, 1842.



             PUBLIC CHARACTER.
                " Mens conscia recti."
  With what truth-with what earnestness and de-
votion to civil liberty, I have struggled, the Searcher
of all human hearts best knows.
                                     Senate, 1833.

  That I have often misconceived your true interests,
is highly probable. That I have ever sacrificed
them to the object of personal aggrandizement, I
utterly deny. And, for the purity of my motives,
however in other respects I -may be unworthy to
approach the Throne of Grace and Mercy, I appeal
to the justice of my God, with all the confidence
which can flow fromf a consciousness of perfect
rectitude.
                           To his Constituents, 1844.

 










          CONSZSTENCY.-(POLITICAL CREED.)
   I never but once changed my opinion on any great
question of National policy, or on any great principle
of construction of the national Constitution. In early
life, on deliberate conviction, I adopted the principles
of interpreting the Federal Constitution, which have
been so ably developed and enforced by Mr. Madison,
in his memorable report to the Virginia Legislature;
and to them, as I understood them, I have constantly
adhered. Upon the question coming up in the Sen-
ate, to re-charter the first Bank of the United States,
thirty years ago, I opposed the re-charter upon
convictions which I honestly entertained. The expe-
rience of the war which shortly followed, the condition
into which the currency of the country was thrown
without a Bank, and I may add, later and more
disastrous experience convinced me I was wrong.
I publicly stated to my constituents, in a speech at
Lexington, my reasons for that change; and they
are preserved in the archives of the country. I
appeal to that record; and I am willing to be judged
now and hereafter, by their validity.
                        On returning to Kentucky, 1842.
                PERS0NAL AMBITION.
  I have been accused of ambition in presenting this
measure. Ambition! inordinate ambition I If I had
thought of myself only, I should have never brought
it forward. I know well the perils to which I expose
myself; the risk of alienating faithful and valued
friends, with but little prospect of making new ones,
if any new ones could compensate for the loss ofthose
whom we have long tried and loved; and the honest



22



CLAY CODEv

 








TEXT BOOK OF ELOQUENCE.



misconceptions both of friends and foes. Ambition I
If I had listened to its soft and seducing whispers;
if I had yielded myself to the dictates of a cold, cal-
culating, and prudential policy, I would have stood
still and unmoved. I might even have silently gazed
on the raging storm, enjoyed its loudest thunders and
left those who are charged with the care of the ves-
sel of state, to conduct it as they could. I have been
heretofore often unjustly accused of ambition. Low,
grovelling souls, who are utterly incapable of eleva-
ting themselves to the higher and nobler duties of
pure patriotism-beings who, for ever keeping their
own selfish aims in view, decide all public measures
by their presumed influence on their aggrandizement.
judge me by the venal rule which they prescribe to
themselves. I have given to the winds those false
accusations, as I consign that which now impeaches
my motives. Pass this bill, tranquilize the country,
restore confidence and affection in the Union, and I
am willing to go home to Ashland, and renounce pub-
lic service for ever. I should there find, in its groves,
under its shades, on its lawns, amidst my flocks and
herds, in the bosom of my family, sincerity and truth
attachment and fidelity, and gratitude, which I have
not always found in the walks of public life-Yes,
I have ambition; but it is the ambition of being the
humble instrument, in the hands of Providence, to re-
concile a divided people; once more to revive con-
cord and harmony in a distracted land-the pleasing
ambition of contemplating the glorious spectacle of a
free, united, prosperous, and fraternal people !
                              Compromisc Act, 1834.



23

 








CLAY CODE;



  But the ingenuity of my assailants is never ex-
hausted, and it seems I have subjected myself to a
new epithet, which I do not know whether it should
be taken in honor or derogation: I am held up to the
country as a ' Dictator.' A Dictator ! The idea of
a dictatorship is drawn from Roman institutions;
and at the time the office was created, the person who
wielded the tremendous authority it conferred, con-
centrated in his own person, an absolute power over
the lives and property of all his fellow-citizens. He
could raise armies; he could man and build navies;
he could levy taxes at will, and raise any amount
of money he might choose to demand; and life and
death rested on his fiat. If I have been a Dictator,
as I am baid to have been, where is the power with
which I have been clothed Had I any army any
navy any revenue any patronage in a word,
any power whatever If I have been a Dictator, I
think that even those who have the most freely ap-
plied to me the appellation, must be compelled to
make this admission: that my dictatorship has
been distinguished by no cruel executions, stained
by no blood, nor soiled by any act of dishonor.
  That my nature is warm. my temper ardent, my
disposition, especially in relation to the public ser-
vice, enthusiastic. I am fully ready to own; and
those who supposed that I have been assuming the
dictatorship, have only mistal;en for arrogance or
assumption, that fervent ardor and devotion which
is natural to my constitution, and which I may have
displayed with too little regard to cold, calculating



24

 









TEXT-BOOK OF ELOQUENCE.



and cautious prudence, in sustaining and zealously
supporting important measures of policy which I
have presented and proposed, may have often inad-
vertently or unintentionally, in moments of excited
debate, made use of language that has been offensive
and susceptible of injurious interpretation towards
my brother Senators. If there be any here who
retain wounded feelings of injury or dissatisfaction
produced on such occasions, I beg to assure them
that I now offer the amplest apology for any depar-
ture on my part from the established rules of parlia-
mentary decorum and courtesy. On the other hand,
I assure the Senate, one and all, without exception
and without reserve, that I retire from this Senate
Chamber, without carrying with me a single feeling
of resentment or dissatisfaction to the Senate or to
any one of its members.
                                   On retiring, 1842.
                   PUBLIC LIFE.
'I have done the state some service: and they know it."-Shaks.
  From the period of my entry on this noble theatre
(the Senate) with short intervals, to the present time,
I have been engaged in the public councils at home
and abroad. Of the nature or value of my services
during that long and arduous period of my life, it
does not become me to speak. History,-if she
deign to notice me,-or posterity,-if the recolec-
tion of my humble actions shall be transmitted to
posterity,-will be the best, the truest, the most im-
partial judges. When death shall have closed the
scene, then sentence will be pronounced; and to
                        b



25

 











that I appeal and refer myself. My acts and pub-
lic conduct are a fair subject for the criticism and
judgment of my fellow-men; but, the private mo-
tives by which they have been prompted,-they are
known only to the Great searcher of the human heart,
-and to myself: and, I trust, I may be pardoned
for repeating a declaration made some nineteen
years ago; that, whatever errors,-(and doubtless
there have been many)-may be discovered in a
review of my public service to the country, I can,
with unshaken confidence, appeal to that Divine
Arbiter for the truth of the Declaration, that I have
been influenced by no impure purposes, no personal
motive,-have sought no personal aggrandizement;
but, that in all my public acts, I have had a sole and
single eye, and a warm and devoted heart, directed
and dedicated to what in my judgment I believed to
be the true interest of my country.
                                           Ibid.
            GRATITUDE TO KEN-TUCKY.
      "0 et prcesidium, et dulce decus meum!"-Hor.
  I emigrated from Virginia to the State of Ken-
tucky now nearly forty-five years ago: I went as
an orphan who had not yet attained the age of ma-
jority-who had never recognized a lather's smile
nor felt his caresses-poor, pennyless-without 'the
favor of the great; with an imperfect and inade-
quate education, limited to the ordinary business and
common pursuits of life; but scarce had I set my
foot upon her generous soil when I was seized and
embraced with parental fondness, caressed as though



26



CLAY CODE ;

 








TEXT BOOK OF ELOQUENCE.



I had been a favorite child, and patronized with
liber