Virginia Free Press

From the New York News.

HENRY CLAY.

Mr. Clay is now in the 63d year of his age. He is six feet high, not stout, and has a very elegant appearance. His complexion is light, high retreating forehead, and very thin hair, slightly grey. His mouth and eyes, the former being very large, and the latter small and grey, give every indication of that genius he is known to possess. The fire of his eye cannot be described; but it can be felt with tremendous power—No one can resist its potency. There is a great deal of suavity in his manners, and he has a happy faculty of making every one to whom he is introduced feel easy and free. There can be no restraint in his company. He makes himself agreeable to all, the greatest or the smallest. He has been a public man near forty years. He entered Congress, first the Senate, I believe, where he did not long remain, at a very early age; and ever since he has filled a large space in the public mind. As a Speaker of the House of Representatives, one of the most difficult, arduous, and important stations in the Government, he presided with an ability which has never been approached. It was in this station that his powerful genius was universally acknowledged. All paid homage to it. As an orator he holds the highest rank in the country. The tones of his full, rich, exquisite voice, and his inimitable and original manner, are fascinating beyond parallel. He is eloquent, argumentative, playful, and persuasive.—He has command over both the feelings and judgments of his bearers. As a legislator, a leader in a legislative body, a ready debater, and practical statesman, he has never been equalled in this, or I believe any other country. Napoleon was not greater as a captain than is Henry Clay as a legislator. He is always ready at his post; and no matter what may spring upon him, he is prepared for it.—His dexterity is astonishing. If his opponents toss him ever so high, he invariably lights on his feet; and let the blows dealt at him be ever so well directed, or ever so powerful, he is sure to ward them off, either by his superior skill or strength. In defence or attack, he is equally an adept—inapproachable. His mind is as elastic as the trunk of an elephant; it can grasp with equal facility the mightiest or minutest objects as the occasion requires. He unites genius and talents with an inexhaustible store of common sense. All his faculties are available. No man ever originated so many great public measures as he has. He has the genius to conceive great things, and the power to consummate them; differing in this respect from all his contemporaries. He is a very bold man, and never waits for others to move, or watches the current to determine his own course; he takes the responsibility. As the leader of a great party, he ranks the mightiest—he was born to command. He is not a learned man, but sufficiently so for all practical purposes, and his knowledge of men and the world is consummate. His sympathies and feelings are all with the people; and he has a stronger hold upon their affections, I firmly believe, than any man living. Of course, too, he has violent opponents; necessarily arising out of his public course in advocating and opposing measures which divide party lines. His temper is quick; he has a great deal of esprit both in public and private affairs, and has one of the best conducted plantations in the whole West. This results from that plain good sense, for which he is so pre-eminent, and which enables him to adapt himself to all the purposes of life. All of his great abilities are of an available character. He never soars up in the air after intangible objects, nor wanders in the mazes of metaphysical abstractions. He is brilliant, but his brilliancy guides and instructs, it does not dazzle or mislead.