controversy. He stood only as the passive representative of
its principles. Behind him was Jackson, aged and infirm in body,
but strong in mind, and unbroken in spirit. With him the struggle
was not only one of principle, but of pride; not merely of judgment,
but of temper; and he communicated to the legions throughout the
country, who regarded him with reverence and gratitude, a full
measure of his own animosity against Clay. In its progress the
struggle absorbed the thought, the action, the passion, of the
whole people. When its result was known, the Whigs regarded the
defeat of Mr. Clay, not only as a calamity of untold magnitude to
the country, but as a personal and profound grief, which touched
the heart as deeply as the understanding. It was Jackson's final
triumph over Clay. The iron-nerved old hero died in seven months
after this crowning gratification of his life.

GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. CLAY.

For twenty years these two great, brave men headed the opposing
political forces of the Union. Whoever might be candidates, they
were the actual leaders. John Quincy Adams was more learned than
either; Mr. Webster was stronger in logic and in speech; Calhoun
more acute, refined, and philosophic; Van Buren better skilled in
combining and directing political forces; but to no one of these
was given the sublime attribute of leadership, the faculty of
drawing men unto him. That is natural, not acquired. There was
not in the whole country, during the long period of their rivalry,
a single citizen of intelligence who was indifferent to Clay or to
Jackson. For the one without qualification, against the other
without reservation, was the rule of division from the northernmost
township of New England to the mouths of the Mississippi. Both
leaders had the highest courage; physical and moral, in equal
degree. Clay held the advantage of a rare eloquence; but Jackson
had a splendid military record, which spoke to the hearts of the
people more effectively than words. Members for twenty years of
the same party, they differed slightly, if at all, in political
principles when the contest began; but Jackson enjoyed the prestige
of a more lineal heirship to the creed of Jefferson, Madison, and
Monroe; while Clay, by his imprudence in becoming secretary of
State, incurred not only the odium of the "bargain and sale," but
a share of the general unpopularity which at that time a