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148 President asked for an appropriation. Clay strenuously opposed this on the ground that the commissioners had been appointed without the advice and consent of the Senate. He moved instead an appropriation for a regular minister to be sent there.

The speech with which he supported this proposition was in his grandest style. South America had set his imagination on fire. In gorgeous colors he drew a picture of “the vast region in which we behold the most sublime and interesting objects of creation; the loftiest mountains, the most majestic rivers in the world; the richest mines of the precious metals, the choicest productions of the earth; we behold there a spectacle still more interesting and sublime, — the glorious spectacle of eighteen millions of people struggling to burst their chains and to be free.” A burning description followed of their degradation and sufferings, and of the terrible cruelties inflicted upon them by their relentless oppressors. In his imagination they were a people of high mental and moral qualities, notwithstanding their ignorance and their subserviency to the influence of the church. He was sure that, “Spanish America being once independent, whatever may be the form of the governments established in its several parts, these governments will be animated by an American feeling, and guided by an American policy.” He affirmed that they had established and for years maintained an independent govern-