SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY,

The Life and Times of Henry Clay. By Calvin Colton. Author of the " Junius

Tracts," &c. In two volumes Wiley and Pubsams.

TRAVELLING SKETCHES,

Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo, by way of Lisbon, Athens, Con- stantinople, and Jerusalem : performed in the Steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company. By Mr. M. A. Titmarsh, Author of " The Irish Sketch Book."

&c Chapman and Hall.

POETRY,

Poems. By Thomas Hood. In two volumes Massa.

COLTON'S LIFE AND TIMES OF HENRY CLAY.

THESE bulky volumes relate more to the Times than the Life of Henry Clay; and are less a regular biography than a notice of the politi- cian in most of the aspects of his public career, and of the different

public questions with which he has been connected. The tone and spirit of Mr. Colton are inflated provincialism ; and his object is to

exalt Henry Clay over the heads of all competitors. The style is

verbose ; the composition ill-compacted, and involving frequent repeti- tions ; and the matter, as may be supposed from this account, bearing no proportion to the bulk in which it is embodied. The faults, however, are rendered more endurable by the general plan of the author ; which is very good. Instead of attempting a continuous chronological narrative of

Clay's life, he arranges it under different heads,—as in private life, his birth, boyhood, and youthful career, Seat in a store, and then as lawyer's clerk, till he became a young lawyer at twenty-one, and, with American precocity, immediately jumped into full practice. In like manner the other aspects of the hero's personal career or general character are presented in

sections,—as "Mr. Clay's Wit and other Brilliant Qualities"; though we find but two remarks in the whole chapter that even make an approach to wit or brilliancy. The great public questions in which Clay has been engaged are also taken up consecutively, and exhausted, from the war of 1812, which Mr. Clay advised down to the last election for President, in which he was defeated by the grossest corruption ; so that Henry

Clay is in reality "legal" President, and Polk a mere usurper. This plan of treating every topic independently leads to an undue expansion : but it has the advantage of presenting each subject singly and as a com- plete whole in itself; so that the reader can pick and choose his topics ; and though he cannot escape the exaggeration and verbosity, he feels the

latter less than lie would do had the continuous form been adopted. The

circumstance of Henry Clay from the outset of his career having lived in public, and the probability that there is less of what we call domestic

life in America than in England, renders the plan more natural and effec- tive than it might be with many men. The object of the author iA choosing it seems to have been, to be able to exalt his hero at the ex- pense of everybody else ; which is done upon every occasion. Henry- Clay advocated the American, that is the " protective system," against the free-traders and political economists ; and Henry Clay is, of course, right. It was Henry Clay, (which is, perhaps, very near the truth, for

he excelled in temporizing between two parties,) who saved the country from civil war, if not dismemberment, on the Nullification question;

laid the plan of internal improvements ; he stood up against the " real" powers assumed by General Jackson and his successor ; in short, he has left his "impress on a great nation, and imparted character to the age in which he lives." That age, however, has been so ungrateful as to op- pose itself to many of his views ; to disappoint the hero in the dearest object of his wishes, the Presidentship ; and to drive him into private life, the victim of a "great conspiracy."

The story of this alleged "conspiracy" occupies a considerable space, and is tediously spun out by letters to editors, "cards," and so forth ;

which, however necessary to an American statesman, seem to us degrad- ing, not so much altogether for the thing done, as for the mode of doing it. The substance is this. In 1825, Clay, Jackson, and Adams, were candidates for the Presidentship. It was found that the struggle would lie between Adams and Jackson, Clay having no chance of success ; but his voters could turn the scale. According to an account by General.

Jackson, published under his own hand, a member of Congress [Mr. Buchanan] proposed to him to engage that if Clay's friends voted for him, Jackson, he would appoint Clay as Secretary of State. To this Jackson "in substance replied"— "That in politics, as in everything else, my guide was principle; and, contrary to the expressed and unbiassed will of the people, I never would step into the Presidential chair: and requested him to say to Mr. Clay and his friends, (for I. did suppose he had come from Mr. Clay, although he used the term of ' Ms. Clay's triends;) that before I would reach the Presidential chair by such meal/sof bargain and corruption, I would see the earth open and swallow both Mr. Clay and, his friends and myself with them."

In another letter he observes—" The conclusions and inferences from that conversation—the time, manner, and all the circumstances—satisfied my mind that it was not unauthorized" • and in May 1844, not long before his death, the veteran reasserted his belief. On the truth or falsehood of -these inferences we pronounce no judgment. Suffice it to say, that the charge, coupled with the subsequent acceptance of office under Adams, was extensively believed; it gave Jackson the Presidentship at the en- suing election, and has blighted Clay's prospects, and it would seem his character with a certain class.

Believe what or which we may of the business, the story does not impress one very favourably with the spirit or feeling of the two great leaders of the American Union, or of a state of, society where such

charges could be advanced with a colour of credit against such men. But, according to Mr. Calvin Colton, the same sort of baseness is a leads

ing motive of action with American politicians, always excepting his own hero. If this author is to be believed, the causes of great events in the Democratical Republic par excellence are more despicable than in mo- narchies of yore, when so much was attributed to bedchamber-women and mistresses ; because we look for higher motives in great patriots, and a deeper sense of responsibility following from larger views, than we do from courtesans and dependents. Mr. Colton will not allow a harsh or mistaken conclusion to General Jackson, or that ambition prompted him to take an unfair advantage of an unauthorized communication. He not only charges "conspiracy," but conspiracy originating in personal vindictiveness. Mr. Clay had moved a resolution implying but not di- rectly expressing censure upon General Jackson, for his conduct in the Seminole campaign; where he violated the Spanish territories, entrapped and hanged two Indians, as well as two Indian traders—Arbuthnot and Ambrister. The resolutions were lost; but the unforgiving malignity of Andrew Jackson determined upon vengeance and profit at the same time. He therefore concocts this " conspiracy," to blast the character of his opponent and carry his own election. So, when General Jackson got what he had played so foully for, he found that Mr. Calhoun, the Vice- President, had, as Secretary of War, proposed that he the General should be punished, or .censured for his conduct in the aforesaid campaign. Mr. Calhoun, thus " cut off from his chance of succession " to the office of President, is insinuated to have concocted the "Nullification " project, by which he risked a civil war and the safety of the Union, in order to spite General Jackson. And so Mr. Colton goes on, imputing motives and bringing charges against everybody opposed to Henry Clay's party, and pouring out diatribes on the head of poor Tyler. We are not to be under- stood as charging Mr. Colton with calumny, though he is obviously a vehement partisan. We merely say, that if his statements are true, the moral turpitude among the public men of America quite equals if it does not exceed that of European monarchies in what are considered the worst periods.

Nor, according to his showing, would it appear that the lower officials, or the mass of the people, are a jot better than their chiefs. The elec- tion of Mr. Polk has, he says, been carried by acts of corruption, so universal, so open, and so gross, that really nothing but a conspiracy amongst the public officers, and a shameless indifference to right and wrong in the mass, could have permitted its success. His story is far too long to quote entire; but we will take a few examples ; observing, that he is supported to some extent, as to the facts, by the North American Review.

" The notorious Plaquemine frauds of Louisiana had not even the decency of disguise, but were open and violent, the judges and public officers taking lead in them. Law was trampled under foot, and anarchy ruled for the occasion. Several hundreds of non-residents of the parish were freighted in steam-boats from New Orleans, carried down to the precincts of Plaquemine, and induced to walk the rounds of voting two and three times each; some under a different name for each time, some under the same name, being furnished with tickets of the right kind, which were opened by the inspectors in violation of law, before being de posited, to be sure they were right! Nearly all the Whig votes offered, were refused; challengers were silenced; all attempts to invoke the authority of law treated with contempt and menace; and Whig tickets, after being delivered, were changed for others[ It was proved that the parish was entitled to less than five hundred votes: the number deposited was 1,044! and only thirty-seven for the Whig electors." • ♦ * * ♦ " The frauds in the city and state of New York were probably more syste- matized, consequently more productive, and practised on a larger scale, than anywhere else. It was admitted on all hands, that the party which should gain that state, would in all probability secure the general government. It was, therefore, an object of supreme importance. The spectacle exhibited in the courts of the city of New York, a few weeks, more especially the last few days, before the election—manufacturing American citizens by thousands, out of the raw material freshly imported, and thrown into their hands by committees ap- pointed for the purpose, who bad raked them up from the gutters and dark dens of the city, unable to speak the English language, or to understand anything what they were about, being as perfectly passive in the operation as any other raw material passed through any other factory in the land—is itself proof incon- testable of the fraudulent character of these transactions as to their great bulk. If some of them were entitled to naturalization by the letter of the law, few of them were by its spirit. It is evident that the law was designed for voluntary use, as a privilege, and not to be forced upon its subjects; much less that they should be hfred, bought Muse a power which they knew nothing about, and would not desire except as they were paid for it. • ♦ * The volunteer practice of obtaining what is called a legal residence in several wards, and in several districts of the same ward, and then appearing as many times at the polls to vote, in a different dress, and in other ways disguised, is another mode of fraud practised to a large extent. Hundreds of young men go the rounds of the city the whole of an election-day, frequently changing dress, and offering their votes, which are often received without being challenged, and when challenged they pass on to another; making open boast of ft, and saying, ' He is afool that will not vote as many times as he can.'

"But a new mode of fraud is alleged and believed to have been practised on a large scale' in the city of New York, in 1844. That of employing men for at least six months before the election to obtain residences in every ward and district of the city (districts seventy-nine,) at the cheap boarding-houses, that could be sworn to, if necessary, they being known as boarders at all these places, though not always there. Being entirely devoted to the task, and paid for it, they could visit each place frequently, and be recognized as residents. In this single mode, thousands of fraudulent votes are believed to have been given in the city of New York, at the Presidential election of 1844. The funds necessary were raised by betting, and advanced. Considering all the various modes by which fraudulent votes were obtained, five thousand for the city of New York, and fifteen thousand for the State, wouldprobably be an underestimate." "In tanta tamque corrupts civitate,"* one is not very much surprised to hear that advances are making towards arbitrary power; that is to say, to the domination of particular will instead of general law and rule. Upon this point we have the authority of Henry Clay himself; which, though to be received with the caution due to a party man, is-a good deal better than that of Mr. Colton. Their general conclusions may be stated thus. In all governments, there must exist a "regal," that is, an executive or centralized principle, in opposition to the popular or represen- tative principle; and this regal power has been greatly strengthened of late years. The usurpation was begun by Jackson, continued by Tyler, and will doubtless be persisted in by Polk. The modes in which it has been advanced are various. General Jackson claimed the right of interpreting the laws according to his understanding of them ; and on this plan set law, usage, and the votes of the Legislature, at defiance. He as- sumed the whole patronage of the state : the constitution gives the Presi-

*Sallustli Catilina, cap. xiv.

dent the command of the army : when he seized the deposits, he got into his own hand the " power of purse and sword." By immediate dismissals, the joint power of appointment to certain offices lodged in the Senate and the President has been neutralized; since it was useless to name a man who would instantly be displaced. They have used the veto power not merely to stop legislation, but actually to make laws, since by intimating their will and pleasure, they have forced Congress to shape bills to avoid rejection, though many parts of those bills were disapproved of by the Houses ; and they have in other modes enforced their mere will in opposition to that of the people, declared through their representatives. The views which we have here condensed sound so strange in England, but are so important, that we will quote some extracts from Mr. Clay himself, that the reader at all events may see what he says. The passages are from various speeches.

THE urrirr OF THE EXECUTIVE.

The late President of the United States [Jackson] advanced certain new and alarming pretensions for the executive department of the Government, the effect of which, if established and recognized by the people, must inevitably convert it into a monarchy. The first of these, and it was a favourite principle with him, was, that the executive department should be regarded as a UNIT. By this principle of uwrry he meant and intended, that all the executive officers of government should be bound to obey the commands and execute the orders of the President of the United States; and that they should be amenable to him, and he be responsible for them. Prior to his adminis- tration, it had been considered that they were bound to observe and obey the constitution and laws, subject only to the general superintendence of the President, and responsible by impeachment, and to the tribunals of justice, for injuries inflicted on private citizens. • • • And so bold and daring has the executive branch of the Government become, that one of its Cabinet Ministers, himself a subordinate officer, has contemptuously refused to members of the House of Representatives to disclose the grounds on which he has undertaken to dismiss from office persons acting as Deputy-Postmasters in his department.

ENCROACHMENT ON THE SENATE.

It attacked the treaty-making power. None could now rread the language of the constitution without at once coming to the conclusion that the intention of the authors of that instrument was, that the Senate should be consulted by the Presi- dent, not merely in the ratification, but in the inception of all treaties; that in the commencement of the negotiations the instructions of the ministers appointed to treat, the character and provisions of the treaty, the Senate should be consulted and should first yield its assent. And such had, in fact, been the interpretation put upon the treaty-making power in the first and purest years of our govern- ment. Every one must recollect the early history of the exercise of the power, and the high sanction for such a usage. The first President had been wont to come to the Senate, there to propose a foreign mission, and to consult with his constitutional advisers, the members of the Senate, on the instructions to be given to the minister who should be sent. But this practice had since been abandoned. The President now, without a word of consultation with the Senate, on his own mere personal sense of propriety, concluded a treaty, and promised to the foreign power its ratification; and then, after all this had been done, and the terms of the treaty agreed upon, he for the first time submitted it to the Senate for ratification. Now, every one must see that there was a great difference between rejecting what had been already actually done, and refusing to do that thine., if asked beforehand. All must feel that they often gave their official assent to what they never would have sanctioned but for the consideration that the treaty was already concluded, and that the faith of the nation was in some sort pledged for its ratification.

A SUMMARY.

The sum of the whole is, that there is but one power, one control, one will, in the state. All is concentrated in the President. He directs, orders, commands, the whole machinery of the state. Through the official agencies scattered

throughout the laud, and absolutely subjected to his will, he executes, according to his pleasure or caprice, the whole power of the commonwealth, which has been absorbed and engrossed by him. And one sole will predominates in and animatea the whole of this vast community. If this be not practical despotism, I am in- capable of conceiving or defining it. Names are nothing. The existence or non. existence of arbitrary government does not depend upon the title or denomination bestowed on the chief of the state, but upon the quantum of power which he

possesses and wields. Autocrat, Sultan, Emperor, Dictator, King, e, President,

are all mere names, in which the power respectively by them is not to be found, but is to be looked for in the constitution, or the established usages and practices of the several states which they govern and control.

These views are perhaps to be received cum grano, as the state- ments of a party man on party occasions; and there seems a fallacy in the conclusion which confounds democratical power with despotic power. As long as the President is elected every four years, a strong minority of the country must approve of his particular course; and it would seem that a majority will most likely approve of the President, or at all events of his general policy. The true ground of the evil seems to lie in the constitution, which has given the suffrage to ignorance, poverty, and corruption. No doubt, here are all the elements of des- potism. The junction of a corrupt populace, possessing constitutional powers, with unscrupulous and ambitious chiefs, overthrew the Roman Republic : the American Republic is without the breakwaters which Rome possessed in her religious establishment, her aristocracy, and gentry (patricians and knights) ; and which in fact withstood the mere des- potism of will, (however oppressive they might themselves be by law,) until the civil wars and proscriptions of Marius and Sylla, Pompey and Clear, and the confusions which followed Cresar's death, actually "killed them off." But the opportunity to apply the elements seems wanting to the President of the United States. Their great extent of territory gives to the Americans a more easy economical condition than is to be found in any old established community ; and though the President may have the power of the sword, his swords are very few in number. War, which would render a large army and a strong executive necessary things, might create this opportunity ; and the mischief, not to say the danger, of changing the President in a crisis, might enable that officer to slip into the Imperator with another name ; confirming the sagacity of De Tocqueville's prediction, that a war was likely to break up the Union, or establish a monarchy. It might do both. As regards the public life and character of Henry Clay, a selection if not a complete edition of his speeches, accompanied by prefatorial anno- tations, would probably convey a better account of it than these volumes: it is certain that his " Life and Times " might be done very much better than by Mr. Colton. Still, the book contains a great deal of matter and information, for those who may feel inclined to wade through its verbiage ;

for it presents a view, however onesided, of all the great historical questions that have occupied the public mind of America since 1810, and on two occasions seemed to have threatened the stability of its Union, which they have left something like the unity of Popery—a nominal adhesion and practical independence. The book will also pre- sent many specimens of Clay's oratory ; which the reader will find real in its character, solid in its substance, clear, plain, and forcible in its expression, with little inflation, and not mud:hyperbole. In imagery it would seem to be scanty; for Henry Clay appealed to the reason or prejudice of his auditors rather than to their imagination : nor is a great figure always justly or effectively managed in his hands. There is, moreover, a want of that conjoint weight and finish which we look for in the great orator ; partly owing, perhaps, to a very deficient education, slenderly overcome by self-study during a few years of youth, partly to the inferior taste of his audiences, to which the manner of a speaker must descend, if he retains his tone and matter. To this last we are inclined to ascribe a certain effort and some redundancy in his im- passioned appeals, as if spirit consisted in reiterating words.

The public character of Henry Clay, as exhibited in these pages, does not support his reputation, at least for honour and chivalrous bearing. The American Whigs are considered to correspond in principles and re- spectability with the better class of Tories and Conservatives of this country ; but we must say that Henry Clay seems to resemble genuine British Whiggery too closely to inspire us with much respect for him as a politician. If his party are all like him, we see little difference between the Whigs and the Democrats ; and indeed prefer the latter, by as much as we prefer boldness and openness to art and guile. Commencing life as a follower of Jefferson, and still professing to be a Democrat, Henry Clay advocated all those assaults upon the Constitution of Washington, which, in less than two generations, have brought it to what it is. Nearly thirty years ago, he was the head of a minority urging on the then cautious and even conservative majority the recognition of the South American Republics. He originated the claims of the American " resident " States to the whole of the Western part of America, "with one or two inconsiderable exceptions ; and from Cape Horn to the fifty-first degree of North latitude, in North America, on the Pacific ocean, without ANY exception." * * * * "There is there- fore NO CHASM within the prescribed limits, in which a new European colony could now be introduced WITHOUT VIOLATING THE TERRI- TORIAL RIGHTS OF SOME AMERICAN STATE. An attempt to acquire such a colony, and by its establishment to acquire sovereign rights for any European power, must be regarded as an inadmissible encroach- ment." This, far more than any idea of title, or even than a territorial lust, is at the bottom of the Oregon question ; though it would seem that Clay's partisans are going to charge as a crime upon their opponents, not their demands or views of right, but the mode of urging them. Florida, under the Government and Congress of a quarter of a century ago, was regularly ceded after negotiation. It would appear that this seemed to Henry Clay a needless process, since Florida could have been seized by the less troublesome and expensive mode of annexation. " Tha ripe fruit will not more certainly fall," was his image, than Florida must: come to us by waiting for it. Even now, it would appear from these volumes that the difference between Clay and Polk is chiefly a difference about Free Trade and a State Bank : for each sets up as a Democrat; each claims the whole Oregon as matter of right, simply because it is in America; each supports the "domestic institution" of slavery, though Clay may be the more fine-spoken over it; each professes to yield implicit obedience to the will of the sovereign populace; and each would go "the whole hog " for Yankee objects, though Clay might beat about for arguments, whilst Polk would lay his course without.

His career is not without a moral—the moral of what we here call Whiggery.l "I have no commiseration for Princes," said Henry Clay On the South American question : and we must confess that we have no sympathy with your superfine Democrat, who stimulates the "fierce democracy" for his own purposes, but whose palate or whose pride, shrinking from following out the legitimate conclusions of his own premises, finds his object snatched from his grasp by bolder and less queasy Competitors, and, after labouring all his life for the " most sweet voices" of the populace, is by them forced into retirement with blighted prospects and a clouded character.