Cassius M. Clay

Ambition - avcry great desire forpübJ lic distinction - isone of the predoniinant traita in' Mr. Clay's clmra'ctèr. It has been thé source of most of his inconsis Icncic's of riclion, and it ha3now sent him to Texas, at the head of a company of j cavalry, to figlit the battles of Síavéry, instead of rctnaining at home, a moral ( hei'o, to labor in the cause of hurmnn freei dom. The announceme'nt of this fact t was received wilh general incrèdibility by his northern friends ; but now that it is fully confirmed, their disappoinlmcnt is I very great. The N. Y. Tribune e. pro&ses greal surprise and regret at this niovcment, and the Liberty papers regard i it as fatal to his future antislavery influ ence. In whosc hands the the Truc A meridan is left wc know not : but it is evi( dentthat if he haslcftit, its charra has t gone. The Philadelphia Citizen reprej sents thator sométimc hè has had but 1 i lile i to do with it artd thfttit has een p'ublished ( by a northern man chiefly on norlhern i account. t By this military expedition, Mr. Clay undoubtcdly hoped to regain his lost popularity in Kcntucky, where the war is very popular. But he has so strongly conf denrncd the support of the w"ar, that notht ing more forcible than his own lnnguage 1 can be ndduced to convict himself of the 1 grossest delusion or the blackcst irifamy. i Mear him in his paper respecting this Mexican war,lvo weeks beforc he starled. , "Amcricans, sons of YVashington, of , Ad.uns, of Franklin, of Jeflcrson, have wc come (o this? Símil we prove ourselves willing traitors to the liberlics of men? - ' iSuill we shed our blood in such a ' nnhlc cause? No! let us rise in the once mighly strength of our illustrious sires,the unconque rabie power of a just and free people nnd say to those infamous tyrants, witlulrawyour army from nnoth er's soil - restore the constitution of our unhappy country - and let slavery, the cause of all our wocs, ceasc on the wholc continent!" This is just, noble, mauly, Chrisliun, patriotic. The next we henrofhiin he is on his way to .Mexico, a volunlecr,ready, if nccesaary, to -lsked his hlood in such a damnable cause ' 1 f he be so inconsislent on this subject, in what can we trust him? Aflcr he leftan 'adJresa to his readers' appearod in tho Truc American, for which we must make roorn next weck. - A single sentence will show ils tenor. "Our opinión, ís, that the war, so unjustly and wickedlv begun, should be pressed with vigor, il is the only alternativo left." Comnion sense, rcason, justice and liis own article just quoted, leach us that any course of action, "unjustly and wickedlv begun," should be ceased (rom immedialely. Not so Cassius. Having now enlisted in the war, he is íur "pressing it with vigor !" Is this the sentiment of thé man who has been exlolled to the very héayérm in the Liberly papei-s? ro have ever aimed to do Mr. Clny justice, and we think we have. We have freely accordcd to him, on ïr.any ot cisión?, noble fëclings, impulses, purposes aud actions: but wc have nol vet been convinced that he ' possessés tliat Hepth and comprehensiveness of moral principie, that slability of chaVactcr which are indispensable in the characler of the moral hero.