ates here, it had been his wish to pass on quietly, without attracting any notice on his own account, or coming into contact with large portions of his fellow-citizens. It was especially his desire to avoid all public entertainments, with which it might be proposed to honor him. But no self-imposed restraints, no considerations of expediency, could induce him to remain silent, after the address which he had just heard, or to withhold the expression of his heartfelt gratitude, for the warm greeting, the cordial welcome, and the enthusiastic demonstrations, with which he had been received; and especially THIS DAY, in this venerable hall. Among his earliest recollections-recollections which served deeply to impress upon his mind an attachment to civil liberty-were revolutionary events and incidents, of which this hall, this city, and this state, were the patriotic theatre. And if, as history assures us, in the progress of human affairs, human liberty shall be ONCE MORE exposed to danger in this favored land, he trusted that this hall will again resound with inspired eloquence, and that a spirit will here go forth to sustain its interests, and vindicate its rights."

Mr. Clay said, that "he had everywhere, since he passed the mountains, received testimonies of respect and attachment, far transcending the value of any public services he had ever performed. They were gratifying rewards of the past, and powerful incentives to fresh exertions in future, if it should ever become his duty to make them, in behalf of our common country. At all events, he should carry to the retirement, which he most anxiously desired, a cherished recollection of them.

Mr. Clay said, "he should have been pleased to have found himself able to accept the public hospitality, so cordially offered him by the citizens of Boston, and to have met them in another manner in this hall. But, having declined all similar invitations in other cities, he could not make an exception, without an invidious discrimination. It was some compensation for this privation, that, as his sojourn here would be longer than in any other places, he hoped to find opportunities of meeting all who might be disposed to honor him with a friendly intercourse. And he embraced the occasion to tender to them collectively, as he hoped he might do individually, his respectful salutations, and his best and earnest wishes."

Some five to six thousand persons, it was supposed, were individually presented to Mr. Clay, on this occasion. On the 25th of October, he visited Lowell, passed through the manufacturing establishments, and was waited upon by the people at the town hall in the evening. A pair of silver pitchers, with appropriate devices, weighing 150 ounces, was presented to Mr. Clay by the young men of Boston, on which occasion, being taken unawares, as was

setts, where he was received with a national salute, and a numerous concourse of citizens of that town and others. In the evening, at the town-hall, he was welcomed to the hospitalities of Springfield, and introduced to a large assemblage of ladies and gentlemen, with a pertinent and eloquent recital of his public services, by Judge (Oliver B.) Morris, to which Mr. Clay replied in a short speech, that was received with strong marks of satisfaction and delight, being frequently interrupted with bursts of applause. He closed amid the deafening cheers of the audience. While at Springfield, he visited the public works and the Chickopee factories.

From Springfield, Mr. Clay next visited Northampton. "Curiosity," says the Courier of that town, "to see so distinguished a man-who has occupied so conspicuous a place in our political history, and done so many deeds worthy of national gratitudewas not small."

In passing to Pittsfield, through the woollen-factory village, near Northampton, the operatives came out, with their aprons on, to cheer him as he passed, and slyly tossed a roll of fine broadcloth into his carriage."

At Troy, New York, on being presented by the young men with a superbly-mounted and highly-finished rifle, made in that city. accompanied with an address, the close of which wished him a long life and a career of usefulness, Mr. Clay replied :—

"I reciprocate your kind wishes of a long life and a career of usefulness. But, my young friends, it is known to you all, that long life is not for the aged. In the course of human nature, we who are now upon the stage, must soon resign the bustle, the burden, and the cares of public toil-of upholding our republic, and of preserving our institutions and liberties. They are a precious inheritance, and have been handed down to us unimpaired by our fathers. We, in turn, will soon be called upon to hand them over to you. Upon you, then, will rest all these responsibilities. Let me, therefore, exhort you-and through you, all with whom you stand connected, to prepare yourselves by your devotion to principles, and your attachment to virtue and religion—TO GUARD THEM WELL-so that, when you, in your turn, cast off this 'mortal coil,' this priceless inheritance, our happy institutions, may still pass on to the next generation-and from generation to generation —pure and unimpaired."

The public welcome given to Mr. Clay, in the courthouse of Troy, by an address from the mayor of the city, and the reply of their distinguished guest, constituted one of the most interesting and

instructive occasions of Mr. Clay's tour. Mr. Clay said, in conclusion:

That" he had but one complaint to make-it might seem very ungracious for one who had received so much kindness to complain-but he was like the countryman who could not see the town, because there were so many houses. He [Mr. Clay] had made his journey to see the country and its improvements. But the people would not let him see anything but THEMSELVES."

Mr. Clay's reception at Albany was worthy of the place, where they drew forth a speech from him, by presenting him a cloak that had been made up in three hours. The dignitaries of the city and of the state waited upon him, and proffered, not an empty and heartless hospitality, but a cordial welcome, and good entertainment. The masses of the people were all in movement to do him honor, and were heard as well as seen.

On Mr. Clay's return to New York, he visited the city of Newark, New Jersey, renowned for wealth created by its manufacturing establishments, where all were emulous to do him honor, which honored themselves. While there, Mr. Clay left orders for a carriage. It came quicker than he expected. After having been set down at his hotel in New York in the evening, from a new carriage of the same description he had ordered, drawn from Newark by six milk-white steeds, in company with a host of citizens, General Darcy made a brief address, and asked leave, with the compliments of the citizens of Newark, to send the carriage to Ashland for Mrs. Clay. The generous offer took Mr. Clay entirely by surprise. He hesitated in receiving a present so valuable, until he was persuaded that his declining its acceptance would occasion some mortification to his Newark friends. Mr. Clay returned to Washington at the opening of Congress, through Philadelphia, and Wilmington, Delaware, at which places he was honored with the usual greetings.

In a note from Mr. Clay to Judge Brooke, after he had returned to Washington, dated December 11, 1833, he speaks of the agreeable impressions he received from this journey, as follows:

"My journey was full of gratification. In spite of my constant protestations, that it was undertaken with objects of a private nature exclusively, and my uniformly declining public dinners, the people everywhere-and at most places without discrimination of party-took possession of me, and gave enthusiastic demonstrations of respect, attachment, and confidence. In looking back on VOL. II.-23

the scenes through which I passed, they seem to me to resemble those of enchantment, more than real life."

Mr. Clay has had occasion to make several journeys, north and south, during his public life, for private purposes; in all of which, it was equally impossible to repress demonstrations of popular regard, as in this of 1833, which may be taken as a specimen of the whole.

There will have been observed several allusions in this chapter to Mr. Clay's generous, disinterested patriotism-no doubt with perfect sincerity. There is one form in which this character is exemplified in Mr. Clay's history, not before noticed in this work, and never yet observed by the public, because the evidence is of a negative character. Eminent as Mr. Clay has been, long as was his public life, with numberless opportunities, and with almost boundless influence for such purposes, he has never bestowed an office, nor been the means of its being bestowed, on a family connexion, notwithstanding those connexions have been numerous; and at this time Mr. Clay has no relation or connexion holding any office whatever under the government of the United States. This is not an accident, but the result of principle; and Mr. Clay has not escaped reproach for his scrupulous observance of this rule. His son-in-law, Mr. Duralde, of New Orleans, at the instance of the Louisiana delegation in Congress, and without any aid from Mr. Clay, was appointed in 1841 to the office of surveyor of the customs; but has been dismissed by President Polk! Every one will see, that it has been in the power of Mr. Clay to provide for every family connexion living, to the remotest cousin ; but not one of them has been the better for his eminent position and commanding influence.

the executive, in consequence of his apostacy, did not fulfil his obligations, it was no fault of the twenty-seventh Congress. They were faithful to the public vows of 1840.

Mr. Clay was accused of being "a dictator" in that Congress. That he had some influence there is quite probable; it will hardly be denied that he was entitled to it; and so long as he used it, in conjunction with his fellow-laborers of that body, in bringing down the annual expenditures of government ten millions or more, it will not be brought in charge against him as a crime. His project of reform, which he submitted on the 1st of March, 1842, has already been considered. The average annual expenditures of the preceding administration had been upward of thirty-five millions; he proposed to reduce them to twenty-two millions, and showed how it could be done.

Mr. Woodbury, secretary of the treasury, had notified Congress, in his annual report of 1840, that the public revenue thereafter, from existing sources, "would not probably exceed ten or eleven millions of dollars." Thus was the government of the country, already involved in debt, without credit, spending at the rate of thirty-five millions a year, with nearly thirty millions of outstanding appropriations, and a prospective income not exceeding one third of the demand of its prodigal habits, transferred to the new administration of 1841, imposing on the twenty-seventh Congress the task of managing, as best they could, this appalling condition of the public finances. They, in the first place, reduced the expenditures; next, they funded the public debt; they immediately passed the revenue bill of 1841, imposing duties on free articles, which was an essential relief; and they enacted the tariff of 1842, which revived public credit, relieved the treasury, has paid off the public debt, and placed both the government and people of the country in an easy condition, in regard to public and private finances.