The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our Federal system of government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it, and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate.

Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take, I shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just powers of the Constitution and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union. At the same time it will be my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising by the general government those powers only that are clearly delegated; to encourage simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the government; to raise no more money from the people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will best promote the interests of all classes of the community and of all portions of the Union. Constantly bearing in mind that in entering into society "individuals must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire so to discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit of liberal concession and compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow-citizens to those partial sacrifices which they must unavoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable government and Union to the confidence and affections of the American people.

Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in his hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that he will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people.

CLAY

HENRY CLAY was born near Richmond, Virginia, in 1777.

The son of a Baptist minister, who died when the boy was but five years old, he passed his youth in hardship, and for a time worked on a farm. At the age of fifteen he obtained employment in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Chancery, and having gained some influential friends, began in 1796 to study law. A year later he was admitted to the bar and began to practice in Lexing. ton, Kentucky. Having taken a conspicuous part in the discussions concerning the Constitution to be adopted by the State of Kentucky, he was in 1803 chosen member of the Legislature. Three years later, although less than thirty years of age, he became for a few months member of the Senate of the United States. In the next year he again took a seat in the Legislature of Kentucky, of which in 1808 he was chosen Speaker. In 1811 he became a member of the Federal House of Representatives, and was at once elected Speaker, a position which he subsequently held four times. All his energies were now devoted to bringing about a war between the United States and Great Britain. At the end of the contest he was appointed one of the commissioners who were sent to Ghent to conclude a treaty of peace. In 1824 he allowed himself to be nominated for the Presidency, and when the election went to the House of Representatives, Clay gave his support to John Quincy Adams. In Adams' administration Clay held the post of Secretary of State. In 1832, and again in 1844, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency. After the last-named year he retired from public life, but in 1848 he was again sent to the Federal Senate from Kentucky, and in 1850 carried the compromise measures by which he sought to avert a rupture of the Union on the slavery question. He died on July 29, 1851.

DICTATORS IN AMERICAN POLITICS

DENOUNCING ANDREW JACKSON, DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, ON THE POINDEXTER RESOLUTION, APRIL 30, 1834

EVER, Mr. President, have I known or read of an

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administration which expires with so much agony, and so little composure and resignation, as that which now unfortunately has the control of public affairs in this country. It exhibits a state of mind, feverish, fret

ful, and fidgety, bounding recklessly from one desperate expedient to another, without any sober or settled purpose. Ever since the dog days of last summer, it has been making a succession of the most extravagant plunges, of which the extraordinary Cabinet paper, a sort of appeal from a dissenting Cabinet to the people, was the first; and the protest, a direct appeal from the Senate to the people, is the last and the worst.

A new philosophy has sprung up within a few years past, called Phrenology. There is, I believe, something in it, but not quite as much as its ardent followers proclaim. According to its doctrines, the leading passion, propensity, and characteristics of every man are developed in his physi cal conformation, chiefly in the structure of his head. Gall and Spurzheim, its founders, or most eminent propagators, being dead, I regret that neither of them can examine the head of our illustrious Chief Magistrate. But, if it could be surveyed by Dr. Caldwell, of Transylvania University, I am persuaded that he would find the organ of destructiveness prominently developed. Except an enormous fabric of executive power for himself, the President has built up nothing, constructed nothing, and will leave no enduring monument of his administration. He goes for destruction, universal destruction; and it seems to be his greatest ambition to efface and obliterate every trace of the wisdom of his predecessors. He has displayed this remarkable trait throughout his whole life, whether in private walks or in the public service. He signally and gloriously exhibited that peculiar organ when contending against the enemies of his country, in the battle of New Orleans. For that brilliant exploit, no one has ever been more ready than myself to award him all due honor. At the head of our

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armies was his appropriate position, and most unfortunate for his fame was the day when he entered on the career of administration as the chief executive officer. He lives by excitement, perpetual, agitating excitement, and would die in a state of perfect repose and tranquillity. He has never been without some subject of attack, either in individuals, or in masses, or in institutions. I, myself, have been one of his favorites, and I do not know but that I have recently recommended myself to his special regard. During his administration this has been his constant course. Indians and Indian policy, internal improvements, the colonial trade, the Supreme Court, Congress, the bank, have successively experienced the attacks of his haughty and imperious spirit. And if he tramples the bank in the dust, my word for it, we shall see him quickly in chase of some new subject of his vengeance. This is the genuine spirit of conquerors and of conquest. It is said by the biographer of Alexander the Great, that, after he had completed his Asiatic conquests, he seemed to sigh because there were no more worlds for him to subdue; and, finding himself without further employment for his valor or his arms, he turned within himself to search the means to gratify his insatiable thirst of glory. What sort of conquest he achieved of himself, the same biographer tragically records.

Already has the President singled out and designated, in the Senate of the United States, the new object of his hostile pursuit; and the protest, which I am now to consider, is his declaration of war. What has provoked it? The Senate, a component part of the Congress of the United States, at its last adjournment left the Treasury of the United States in the safe custody of the persons and places assigned by law to keep it. Upon reassembling, it found the treasure re