Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/63

Rh cloud had grown darker still, he introduced a series of resolutions expressing approval of the embargo, denouncing the British Orders in Council by which the rights of neutral ships were arbitrarily overruled, pledging to the general government the active aid of Kentucky in anything it might determine upon to resist British exactions, and declaring that President Jefferson was entitled to the gratitude of the country “for the ability, uprightness, and intelligence which he had displayed in the management both of our foreign relations and domestic concerns.” This brought to his feet the Federalist Humphrey Marshall, a man of ability and standing, — he had been a Senator of the United States, — but who was also noted for the bitterness of his animosities and the violence of his temper. Looking down upon Clay as a young upstart, he opposed the resolutions with extraordinary virulence, but commanded only his own vote against them.

Clay then offered another resolution, recommending that the members of the legislature should wear only such clothes as were the product of domestic manufacture. The avowed object was the encouragement of home industry, to the end of making the country industrially independent of a hated foreign power. This was Henry Clay's first effort in favor of a protective policy, evidently designed to be a mere demonstration. Humphrey Marshall at once denounced the resolution as the clap-trap of a demagogue. A fierce altercation