Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/171

Rh — the battle of New Orleans. So it was in this instance. The hero of New Orleans could not have intended, he could not have done, any wrong. At any rate, he had full absolution for what he had done, perhaps also for what he might do in the future, and the resolutions disapproving his conduct were voted down by heavy majorities.

Thus was Henry Clay defeated in his first encounter with Andrew Jackson. The great duel had begun which was to embitter the best part of Clay's life. His war of 1812 had put the military hero into his way, and a military hero, too, of the most exasperating kind; a hero who would not be conciliated by a mere recognition of his good intentions; who demanded absolute compliance with his will, and who treated any one finding fault with him as little better than “an outlaw and a pirate;” a hero who not seldom made Clay almost despair of the Republic. The case was indeed not as desperate as Clay sometimes feared. Victorious generals begin to become really dangerous to republican institutions when a large portion of the people are tired of popular liberty. It is true, however, that their peculiarly privileged position before the popular mind may put those institutions at all times to temporary strain, and facilitate the establishment of precedents prolific of evil.

For the present General Jackson, “vindicated” by the House of Representatives, was received wherever he went with great enthusiasm, and was