It is suitable that some sentiment,—and not a little,—should be manifested in the community, at the exit from the world of so remarkable a man as HENRY CLAY. It is not every country nor every age that can boast of such a character. Great men there have been in this country and in others, beside Mr. CLAY; but every man has his own peculiar mold. The mold of Mr. CLAY'S character was perfectly peculiar. We do not remember to have seen or read of any thing like it in all history. It was both plastic and elastic,-plastic as being susceptible of influence by every touch of the world around, and elastic as having internal springs which responded to every touch from without. And there was a basis of GOODNESS, which was very sure to make those springs act in a right direction. But for this basis, the other two attributes which we have named might be productive of the most pernicious results,-might even be diabolical. These elements, the last and first two,-are the triune constitution of character; but a healthy morale is the most important of the three. Doubtless, Mr. CLAY had his sportive or impulsive springs of character, which bounded into acts, in his childhood, in his youth, and in his riper years, for which he might be sorry, and which, perhaps, would sometimes give pain to others. But the deep and strong power of natural goodness would restore him to its corrective influence. This goodness, lying at the bottom of a man's heart, prompting its impulses, controlling his conduct, and imparting its character to his deportment, was strikingly exemplified in Mr. CLAY. It is a basis of character which has many important bearings, and produces important results. If a man is sympathetic, it proceeds from this; and sympathy branches out into innumerable forms, according to the nature of the object by which it is challenged. It may be pity for those in want or distress; it may be love of kindred, or love of country; it may be exhilaration with the joyful, or hilarity with the mirthful; it responds, in short, to all possible relations of the social state. It mounts even higher, spreads out into a larger sphere, when the heart is touched by the grace of God; for then it expands to a sympathy with a kingdom which is not of this world, and embraces not only all on earth, but all in heaven, and allies itself to Him who sits upon the throne of heaven. We have had evidence that Mr. CLAY, especially in the latter years of his life, felt the power of this more holy sympathy, and enjoyed its higher and holier satisfactions. But the distinguishing characteristic by which he has been longest and best known, and which has procured for him an ever-during fame, was his love of country, and his sympathy with those rights of man which are most essential to the perfection of the social state in its organized forms. In this wide and deep current flowed the great body of his affections, until they swept over the land of his birth, and reached all of human kind, far and near, civilized and barbarian. He was a PHILANTHROPIST in the highest, purest, and most comprehensive sense of the term; and, to crown all, he was a CHRISTIAN.” HENRY CLAY. BY GEORGE D. PRENTICE. WITH Voice and mien of stern control He stood among the great and proud, But he is gone-the free, the bold- His burning eye is dim and cold, And mute his voice of conscious might, Oh no! not mute-his stirring call And on the hearts of nations fall More awful than his living tones, The impulse that his spirit gave To human thought's wild, stormy sea, Will heave and thrill through every wave Of that great deep eternally. And the all-circling atmosphere, With which is blent his breath of flame, Will sound, with cadence deep and clear, In storm and calm, his voice and name. His words that, like a bugle blast, Unnumbered pilgrims o'er the wave, Will come to kneel beside his grave, Who now, in danger's fearful hour, When all around is wild and dark, We bow, and ask that thou wilt be THE END. |