his life for forty years has been literally that of his country. He was so identified with the government for more than two-thirds of its existence, that, during that time, hardly any act which has redounded to its honor, its prosperity, its present rank among the nations of the earth, can be spoken of, without calling to mind involuntarily the lineaments of his noble person. It would be difficult to determine whether in peace or in war, in the field of legislation or of diplomacy, in the spring-tide of his life or in its golden ebb, he won the highest honor. It can be no disparagement to any one of his contemporaries to say, that, in all the points of practical statesmanship, he encountered no superior in any of the employments which his constituents or his country conferred upon him.

Henry Clay was indebted to no adventitious circumstances for the success and glory of his life. Sprung from an humble stock, "he was fashioned to much honor from his cradle;" and he achieved it by the noble use of the means which God and nature had given him. He was no scholar, and had none of the advantages of collegiate education. But there was a "divinity that stirred within him." He was a man of a genius mighty enough to supply all the defects of education. By its keen, penetrating observation, its quick apprehension, its comprehensive and clear conception, he gathered knowledge without the study of books; he could draw it from the fountain head, pure and undefiled; it was unborrowed; the acquisition of his own observation, reflection, and experience; and all his own. It entered into the composition of the man, forming part of his mind, and strengthening and preparing him for all those great scenes of intellectual exertion or controversy in which his life was spent. His armor was always on, and he was ever ready for the battle.

This mighty genius was accompanied, in him, by all the qualities necessary to sustain its action, and to make it most irresistible. His person was tall and commanding, and his demeanor

"Lofty and sour to them that loved him not ;

But to those men that sought him, sweet as summer.

He was direct and honest, ardent and fearless, prompt to form his opinions, always bold in their avowal, and sometimes impetuous, or even rash, in their vindication. In the performance of his duties he feared no responsibility. He scorned all evasion of untruth. No pale thoughts ever troubled his decisive mind.

"Be just and fear not" was the sentiment of his heart and the principle of his action. It regulated his conduct in private and public life; all the ends he aimed at were his country's, his God's, and truth's.

Such was Henry Clay, and such were his talents, qualities, and objects. Nothing but success and honor could attend such a character. For nearly half a century he was an informing spirit, brilliant and heroic figure in our political sphere, marshalling our country in the way she ought to go. The "bright track of his fiery car" may be traced through the whole space over which, in his day, his country and its government have passed in the way to greatness and renown. It will still point the way to further greatness and renown.

The great objects of his public life were to preserve and strengthen the Union; to maintain the constitution and laws of the United States; to cherish industry; to protect labor; and to facilitate, by all proper national improvements, the communication between all the parts of our widely-extended country. This was his American system of policy. With inflexible patriotism he pursued and advocated it to his end. He was every inch an American. His heart, and all that there was of him, were devoted to his country, to its liberty, and its free institutions. He inherited the spirit of the Revolution, in the midst of which he was born; and the love of liberty and the pride of freedom were in him principles of action.

A remarkable trait in the character of Mr. Clay was his inflexibility in defending the public interest against all schemes for its detriment. His exertions were, indeed, so steadily employed and so often successful in protecting the public against the injurious designs of visionary politicians or party demagogues, that he may be almost said to have been, during forty years, the guardian.

angel of the country He never would compromise the public interest for anybody, or for any personal advantage to himself.

He was the advocate of liberty throughout the world, and hist voice of cheering was raised in behalf of every people who struggled for freedom. Greece, awakened from a long sleep of servitude, heard his voice, and was reminded of her own Demosthenes. South America, too, in her struggle for independence, heard his brave words of encouragement, and her fainting heart was animated, and her arm made strong.

Henry Clay is the fair representative of the age in which he lived; an age which forms the greatest and brightest era in the history of man; an age teeming with new discoveries and developments, extending in all directions the limits of human knowledge, — exploring the agencies and elements of the physical world, and turning and subjugating them to the uses of man, unfolding and establishing, practically, the great principles of popular rights and free governments, and which, nothing doubting, nothing fearing, still advances in majesty, aspiring to and demanding further improvement and further amelioration of the condition of mankind.

With the chivalrous and benignant spirit of this great era Henry Clay was thoroughly imbued. He was, indeed, moulded by it, and made in its own image. That spirit, be it remembered, was not one of licentiousness, or turbulence, or blind innovation. It was a wise spirit, good and honest as it was resolute and brave; and truth and justice were its companions and guides.

These noble qualities of truth and justice were conspicuous in the whole public life of Henry Clay. On that solid foundation he stood erect and fearless; and when the storms of state beat around and threatened to overwhelm him, his exclamation was still heard, “Truth is mighty, and public justice certain." What a magnificent and heroic figure does Henry Clay here present to the world! We can but stand before and look upon it in silent revHis appeal was not in vain; the passions of party subsided, truth and justice resumed their sway, and his generous coun-. trymen repaid him for all the wrong they had done him with gratitude, affection and admiration, in his life, and tears for his death.

erence.

It has been objected to Henry Clay that he was ambitious. So he was. But in him ambition was virtue. It sought only the proper, fair objects of honorable ambition, and it sought these by honorable means only, by so serving the country as to deserve its favors and its honors. If he sought office, it was for the purpose of enabling him, by the power it would give, to serve his country more effectually and preeminently; and, if he expected and desired thereby to advance his own fame, who will say that was a fault? Who will say that it was a fault to seek and desire office for any of the personal gratifications it may afford, so long as those gratifications are made subordinate to the public good?

That Henry Clay's object in desiring office was to serve hist country, and that he would have made all other considerations subservient, I have no doubt. I knew him well, — I had full opportunity of observing him in his most unguarded moments and conversations, and I can say that I have never known a more unselfish, a more faithful or intrepid representative of the people, of the people's rights, and the people's interests, than Henry Clay. It was most fortunate for Kentucky to have such a representative, and most fortunate for him to have such a constituent as Kentucky; fortunate for him to have been thrown, in the early and susceptible period of his life, into the primitive society of her bold and free people. As one of her children, I am pleased to think that from that source he derived some of that magnanimity and energy which his after life so signally displayed. I am pleased to think, that, mingling with all his great qualities, there was a sort of Kentuckyism (I shall not undertake to define it), which, though it may not have polished or refined, gave to them additional point and power, and free scope of action.

You all knew Mr. Clay; your knowledge and recollection of him will present him more vividly to your minds than any picture I can draw of him. This I will add, he was in the highest, truest sense of the term, a great man, and we ne'er shall look upon his like again. He has gone to join the mighty dead in another and better world. How little is there of such a man that can die! His fame, the memory of his benefactions, the lessons

of his wisdom, all remain with us, over these death has no power.

How few of the great of this world have been so fortunate as he! How few of them have lived to see their labors so rewarded! He lived to see the country that he loved and served advanced to great prosperity and renown, and still advancing. He lived till every prejudice which at any period of his life had existed against him was removed; and until he had become the object of the reverence, love and gratitude, of his whole country. His work seemed then to be completed, and fate could not have selected a happier moment to remove him from the troubles and vicissitudes of this life.

Glorious as his life was, there was nothing that became him like the leaving of it. I saw him frequently during the slow and lingering disease which terminated his life. He was conscious of his approaching end, and prepared to meet it with all the resignation and fortitude of a Christian hero. He was all patience, meekness, and gentleness; these shone round him like a mild, celestial light, breaking upon him from another world;

"And, to add greater honors to his age

Than man could give, he died fearing God."

COMPLETION OF THE WABASH AND ERIE CANAL. L. Cass.

IT is profitable in the career of life occasionally to pause to withdraw ourselves from the very busy scenes with which we mingle, and to look back upon the progress we have made, and forward, as far as it is given to us to look forward upon the prospect before us. These are high places in the journey of life, whence the region around is best contemplated and understood. In all time great events have been thus commemorated. The principle has its foundation in human nature, though perverted in its application by power or superstition. And many a monument, which has survived its own history and the objects of its founders, yet looks out upon the silence around it, the solitary evidence of some great but forgotten event in the fitful drama of life. And we