Excerpt from The Medals and Tokens of Henry Clay In 1824 it was Clay's privilege to welcome the great hero, the Marquis de Lafayette, to the House of Representatives. It was a solemn and touch ing scene, and Clay delivered an address full of feeling. With delicacy he seized upon theopoetic side of Lafayette's visit, saying: The vain wish has been sometimes indulged that Providence would allow the patriot, after death, to return to his country, and to contemplate the intermediate changes which had taken place, to View the forests felled, the cities built, the mountains leveled, the canals cut, the highways constructed the progress of the arts, the advancement of learning, and the increase in the popula tion. General, your present visit to the United States is a realization of the consoling object of that wish. You are in the midst of posterity. Clay and Lafayette had long been friends and correspondents. The old soldier had been completely won by the brilliant and frank Clay, and he was repeatedly heard to speak of Clay as the man whom he most wished to see made President of the United States. On March 25th, 1825, the House thanked Clay by resolution for the able, impartial and dignified manner in which he had presided over its deliberations. His biographers state that Clay stands in the traditions of the House as the greatest of its Speakers. He was a past master of parlia mentary law. Even his bitter enemies felt obliged to give their assent to this resolution. Clay got into an argument with John Randolph of Vir ginia in 1825, and Randolph called him a blackleg. A duel promptly resulted. They exchanged shots, both missed. Only Randolph's coat was touched. At the second shot Clay put another bullet through Randolph's coat, xbut Randolph emptied his pistol into the air, exclaiming, I do not fire at you, Mr. Clay. Thereupon they shook hands and forgot their enmity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.