Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/319

Rh stamp, who was not under any pro-slavery influence at home, and all whose instincts and impulses were against slavery, permitted that negotiation with Great Britain about the surrender of fugitive slaves to go on under his presidential responsibility, without mentioning it by a single word in his journal as a matter of importance. Less surprising appears such conduct in Clay, who was constantly worked upon by the interests and anxieties of the slave-holding community in which he had his home, and who was a natural compromiser, because his very nature was a compromise.

His four years service as Secretary of State formed on the whole an unhappy period in Clay's life. Although many of his state papers testify by their vigor and brilliancy to the zest with which they were worked out, — even the cool-headed Gallatin recognized that Clay had “vastly improved since 1814,” — yet the office labor, with its constant confinement, grew irksome to him. Here was a lion in a cage. His health suffered seriously. He seemed to be in danger of paralysis, and several times he himself became so alarmed that he could only with difficulty be persuaded by President Adams to remain in office. It was believed by his friends, and it is very probable, that the war of vilification waged against him had something to do with his physical ailment. There is abundance of evidence to prove that he felt deeply the assaults upon his character. The mere fact that anybody dare to represent him as capable of dishonor-