tleman from Kent (Mr. Chambers) says, but
a gentleman much over half the age of the
gentleman from Kent—a gentleman of wealth,
family and position; in every respect a gen-
tleman. That is the way in which this state-
ment came to be made. And I am sure the
gentleman from Kent will bear me witness
that this is the statement I very freely sub-
mitted to his inspection.
I am perfectly willing that the whole mat-
ter shall go upon the record, only saying
this, that instead of 'that statement inflicting
one touch upon the fair name and fame of
Henry Clay, it shows him to be, in the very
language of that written statement, above
any imputation, no matter from what source
it may come, I only make these remarks
as a matter of personal explanation.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I am not aware that the
statement the gentleman has just made has
impeached one syllable of my statement. As
regards the age of the young man, I do not
think be could have been at that time thirty-
eight years old, as the gentleman supposes.
now old is he now ?
Mr. SANDS. I suppose largely over forty.
Mr. CHAMBERS. And this occurred some
eighteen years ago, I believe.
Mr. SANDS. Mr. Clay was not on a visit
to Mr. Carroll, but on a visit to Mr. Robert
Hare, and staid at his house for a day or
two and a night.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I understand it very dif-
ferently. I understood from inquiry that be
was there only a few hours. Is there any
gentleman present who is acquainted with
that fact?
Mr. LANSDALE. I remember distinctly the
visit of Mr. Clay to Mr. Hare. It was while
Mr. Clay was on his way to another place
that he visited Mr. Hare in order to avoid
the crowd.
Mr. SANDS. That accounts for the absence
of a crowd that the gentleman from Kent re-
ferred to.
Mr. LANSDALE. Mr. Clay was taken to the
house of Mr. Hare, where be remained some
two or three hours. He may have made him
a visit at some other time.
Mr. SANDS. I would ask the gentleman it
Mr. Hare would make a statement that was
incorrect ?
Mr. LANSDALE. I do not think he would.
I only state my recollection of Mr. Clay's
visit.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well, let it remain there,
Now, it seems that I have been myself ar-
raigned; but I ought not to complain of
being in company with him whose case I
have just disposed of. It seems that some
gentleman here has thought proper to refer
to my course, and has presented me before
this body as having forfeited the claim which
I made at the beginning of this Convention,
to beconsidered exempt from all party bonds.
Now, I repeat, I have not been a member of |
either of these parties that now prevail; either
the abolition party, the league party, the anti-
league party, the union party, the republican
party, the democratic party, or any party by
whatever name it may be called. Since the
whig party had an extinguisher put upon it,
I have retired from politics; and except upon
some general questions in which I have been
called upon to take some interest, I have
never been at a political meeting and have
never voted an entire party ticket. As far as
voting was concerned, I have ever held it. to
be the duty of every citizen to vote. There
is always a choice; there is a great choice now
even between Fremont and Lincoln—a very
decided choice; bad and very bad. I have
always deemed it my duty to vote, and have
taken the tickets of all the parties, and I have
made out from them what I considered the
best that could be made and voted that ticket.
I am like a great many other gentlemen—
tempora mutantur—there is no mistake about
that. How far the balance of the quotation
can be applied to me, is to be judged, I have
not abandoned any political principle I have.
heretofore entertained. I put in a ticket for
the last whig candidates—Mr. Everett being
one of them. And I go for the Constitution
and the laws; and I go for their enforce-
ment; I go the whole figure.
I have been charged with inconsistency. I
shall come lo that bye and bye. But I tell
the gentleman (Mr. Thomas) beforehand, that
he may be bunting up his artillery; I shall
defy him to show any inconsistency on my
part. I may formerly have used words that
bad then a different interpretation from
what they have now. I have only understood
within a very short time what the word
"government" means now. It means now,
the President of the United States. Now that
term has changed; I have not changed. It
does not follow that I claim to owe allegiance
to Abraham Lincoln now, because I claimed
to owe allegiance to the Government of the
United States heretofore; meaning by the use
of that term, that system of control which
the Constitution and the laws provide for
the country; that system which the people
choose to ordain for themselves—all the parts
and branches of that system. It just occurs
to me to inquire, if inconsistency be such a
crime, who is to throw the first stone? It
was in my day the universal opinion that
Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison,
et id omne genus, all cattle of that description
deserved hardly anything abort of the jail or
the penitentiary. That they were objects of
deserved execration. Still the people of that
day did not think about stopping their
mouths, or consider it a great favor to let
them express their sentiments. But the re-
sult of that expression of sentiment was uni-
versal condemnation. Why, sir, an aboli-
tionist was considered in this country very
little better than one from the lower regions. |
