Mr. Clay commenced his public life as a Jeffersonian democrat. The alien and seditious laws of 1798 alarmed the republicans, who seemed to apprehend an encroachment of what were called the regal powers and prerogative of the executive, at the expense of the legislative department of the state. The popular influence would be, they imagined, overborne or annihilated, by an authority incompatible with republican independence. We do not know whether he would now admit that his fears were then overstrained; but he has, undoubtedly, lived to see extreme democracy in portentous alliance with a strong executive, and more danger to the constitution from mob-led presidents than could be apprehended from personal

ambition.

Our space does not permit us to follow him through the various stages of his public life, and we can afford but a hasty glance at the principal passages by which it was distinguished.

As a commissioner at Ghent, he contributed mainly to the adjustment of the differences respecting the northeastern boundary, and the claims of Great Britain to the sovereignty of the seas, by which neutral maritime powers felt themselves aggrieved and injured. We do not say that these claims were not susceptible of a plausible justification, especially as against a government which made no scruple of violating neutral territory when it was necessary to do so, in order to reach the fastnesses of an enemy. But the American commissioner ably availed himself of every topic by which his country's cause could be strengthened; and undoubtedly, to him, more than to any other member of the commission, is America indebted for her success in these negociations.

Mr. Clay," said Madame de Stael, when she met him in London, shortly after the arrangements at Ghent had been concluded, "I have been doing battle for the Americans ;-but do you know that they were about to send

out the Duke of Wellington against you?” “I am very sorry they did not," was the reply. Why?" rejoined the lady. "Because, madame," said Mr. Clay, "if the Duke beat us it would be no disgrace; as it would be only what he has done to the greatest power in Europe. And if we beat him, how great would be the honour!" In her own saloon the baroness related this incident, in Mr. Clay's presence, to the duke, who at once promptly replied, "If I had been sent to America, and was fortunate enough to be successful against so gallant a people, I would have deemed it the proudest feather in my cap."

And

Upon the slave question, Mr. Clay maintains what may be deemed, for a slave-holder, moderate opinions. Against the extreme abolitionists, he offers the most unflinching opposition, while he would gladly lend every aid to a project of gradual emancipation. That the negro can ever be blended with the white population of America, he regards as a chimera which visionaries and enthusiasts may well declaim upon, but which no serious statesman can ever deliberately entertain. he looks upon colonization upon the African coast, by negroes trained and educated for that purpose, as the only practicable expedient that could be adopted with safety to the one country, or with any prospect of improvement to the other. But how far any such system could now be acted upon with any hope of a successful result, may well be questioned. The following observations are well worthy the attentive perusal of the British states

man:

"Various causes, Mr. President, have contributed to produce the existing excitement on the subject of abolition. The principal one, perhaps, is the example of British emancipation of the slaves in the islands adjacent to our country. Such is the similarity in laws, in language, in institutions, and in common origin, between Great Britain and the United States, that no great measure of national policy can be adopted in the one country, without producing a considerable degree of influence in the other. Confounding the totally different cases together, of the powers of the British parliament and those of the congress of the United States, and the totally different situations of the British West India Islands,

and the slaves in the sovereign and independent states of this confederacy, superficial men have inferred, from the undecided British experiment, the practicability of the abolition of slavery in these states. The powers of the British parliament are unlimited, and are often described to be omnipotent, The powers of the American congress, on the contrary, are few, cautiously limited, scrupulously excluding all that are not granted, and, above all, carefully and absolutely excluding all power over the existence or continuance of slavery in the several states. The slaves, too, upon which British legislation operated, were not in the bosom of the kingdom, but in remote and feeble colonies having no voice in parliament. The West India slaveholder was neither represented, nor representative, in that parliament. And while I most fervently wish complete success to the British experiment of West India emancipation, I confess that I have fearful forebodings of a disastrous termination of it. Whatever it may be, I think it must be admitted that, if the British parliament treated the West India slaves as freemen, it also treated the West India freemen as slaves. If, instead of these slaves being separated by a wide ocean from the parent country, three or four millions of African_negro-slaves had been dispersed over England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and their owners had been members of the British parliament a case which would have presented some analogy to that of our own country-does any one believe that it would have been expedient or practicable to have emancipated them, leaving them to remain, with all their embittered feelings, in the United Kingdom, boundless as the powers of the British parliament are?'

But our space admonishes us that we must hasten to a close.

In the conflicts which have taken place between the slave and the free states, Mr. Clay has exhibited wisdom and moderation; and by his arbitrament, very difficult questions have been brought to a peaceful issue, which threatened the stability of the Union.

Upon the interesting and important question relating to the disposal of the public lands, he has advocated, with considerable success, the enlightened system of bringing them under the sovereignty of the general govern

ment, rather than leaving them to be appropriated by the separate states; and to him, chiefly, is owing the system of internal improvement, by means of roads and canals, affording easy access to all parts of the country, and overcoming the physical obstacles by which intercourse between the northern and southern states was rendered almost as difficult as though an ocean interposed between them. His plans for the accomplishment of this object have experienced great opposition both on the part of presidents and of separate states, who deemed his measures an interference with federal rights, and a violation of the spirit of the constitution. We entertain no doubt that the objections of the presidents were overstrained, and that the pretensions of the sepa rate states were incompatible with that unity of action upon the part of the central government which is indispensable for the purposes of administration.

Upon the manufacturing system, Mr. Clay is widely at variance with the advocates of free trade. He maintains, with much plausibility, the absolute necessity of protecting the infant manufacture of America from foreign competition; and utterly repudiates a doctrine, respecting which the theory of its European propounders is so much at variance with their practice. We must refer our readers to the volumes before us for the best abstract of his opinions on this important subject. Whether the present policy of Great Britain may lead to any modification of them remains yet to be seen. His defeat at the late presidential election may be considered as having put a period to his political activity; but while he lives, there is a large and most respectable class of his countrymen over whom his opinions will exercise an influence; and although he is sternly republican in his feelings and his predilections, there never was a period when his presence in the national council-chamber was more necessary, to impose some salutary restraint upon the heady and the intemperate, whose indiscretions may compromise the welfare of their country, and disturb the repose of Europe.

I HAD just finished reading a flourishing paragraph in some advertising column, announcing an infallible cure for an incurable disease of the heart, and I was gravely pondering the expediency of addressing myself, according to the advertiser's direction, to "V. D., heart complaint, for month," &c., when the carriage of my excellent friend, Dr. Chisholm, from Devonshire-street, stopped at the door.

one

If it be wrong or unwise to unfold family secrets, surely it is a deeper crime to disclose any part of the medical arcana elicited in a friendly consultation; so all I shall say is, that Dr. Chisholm proposed a cure for the heart complaint which, perhaps, might not so quickly have entered into the philosophy of the infallible V. D. It was the oracular "change of air"— fatal sound so often!—a change to many like that the sheriff announces, who conducts the condemned from the prison to the gallows; to me most salutary, spirit-reviving, heart-renewing prescription, for it sent me from London, its smoke and its soirées, its parties and publishers, away, away, to the Black Forest, and its old, dark, murmuring pines-its deep solitudes and its wild mountain waters-it sent me to Rippoldsau!

Reader, if you have not a heart complaint, you may have a complaining heart. Come, then, let me be 66 me your doctor; let woo thee from thyself;" for thy dear sake I have culled this stray leaf from the Black Forest, and waft it with a gentle wish from its own native soil and from my lonely haunts, to join the graceful chaplet with which the learned editor of thy Dublin U has crowned the head of our long "silent sister."

Mount with me at once to the top of the lofty Kniebis-for remember, I pray thee, that our conveyance is but a leaf, and our preliminary steps through Holland and Belgium, and over carnage-crowning Waterloo," could never be traced on a thing so light and airy that a single Dutch or

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Belgic touch would overwhelm both thee and me.

Here, then, we are, on the top of the Kniebis, which that heavy diligence has taken nearly three hours to ascend. Look around-what a glorious view! There are the Vosges Mountains in the distance, and the Rhine in the foreground, wandering, and winding, and glittering on its flat and stilly way for a dull-looking thing it is about here; there is the tall spire of the Strasburg Cathedral; and there, whether we behold them or not, are the hapless Strasburg geese, fattening their livers till they are more diseased than our poor hearts.

But who would attempt description in this age of the world? Macbeth never murdered sleep a bit more literally and actually than Mr. Murray has murdered description. Who would take the responsibility of originality, when plagiarism is lawful and right, and, in a manner, forced upon every one of the million of self-condemned wanderers who, in our times, without one sentimental pang, bid their native land good night in the berth of a steam-packet, bound to--anywhere, save Ireland or Botany Bay-to both of which places, I think, some oldfashioned prejudice is still attached in the minds of most of our world-traversing English, who go forth, like our pilgrims of old, bearing, instead of a staff, a handbook?

"I know them by their book," said a Spanish friend to me in the Pyrenees; and another, who knew still less of my renowned countrymen and countrywomen, asked me why they always carried a red book in their hands, evidently thinking that as the English were reputed to be a religious people, it was one of devotion. But how I am running away with my subject-borne, indeed, like a leaf on the autumn breeze; talking of Murray's Hand-book, instead of copying that treasure of travellers. Here, then, reader, is the sketch that

led me to Rippoldsau, and placed before you a Stray Leaf from the Black Forest:

"Near the highest elevation of the Kniebis, a road turns abruptly to the south, and by a very steep descent plunges into the deep valley of Shappach, in the midst of which, as if fallen from the clouds, stands Rippoldsau,one of the most attractive, but least known of the Brunnen of Germany, situate nearly in the centre of the Black Forest.

It is a small village, or rather a collection of accommodations for travellers, where, to their surprise, in the midst of this apparent solitude, they find themselves seated in one of the most singular and beautiful diningrooms, at a table d'hote, with from one hundred and fifty to two hundred guests to bear them company. The property belonged originally to the Grand Duchy of Baden, but was purchased about ten (more nearly twenty) years ago, of Prince Fürstenburg, by the present proprietor, M. Göringer, who has speculated largely in improvements and buildings, which promise to yield a handsome remuneration, there being few similar places which, in point of scenery, mineralogy, and mineral waters, can rival this secluded spot. The bathhouse is a very handsome establishment; the waters, furnished by three springs-the Joseph's, Leopold's, and Wenzel Brunnen-are alkalo-saline, and considered efficacious in many complaints. The vale of Shappach, at the head of which Rippoldsau is situated, is distinguished for the picturesque costume of its inhabitants, and the rustic fashion of their houses, as well as for its constant variety of pleasing prospect. It is about ten miles long from the Kniebis to Wolfach, where it opens into the Kensig Thal, and its whole length is scattered over with farm-houses. There is

another road from this to Strasburg, by Hausach and Offenburgh, occupying about eight and a half hours, stoppages not included. Baden-Baden may be reached in about ten hours, through Freudenstadt Forbach, Geronsbach, and down the romantic valley of the Mourg."

There are only two emendations to make to the above description:-Rippoldsau is not at all like a village, and is not situated in the centre of the Black

Forest. Herr Göringer is the patriarchal head of his establishment, and as good-natured and obliging a'papa as any of its members could desire. It is not at all like a village; it is a little seigneurie, and Herr Göringer is the seigneur. Rippoldsau is a double line of great white houses-one side ancient, with a little chapel on a rising mound, the other new and handsome, lying in the beautiful valley between two high, pine-covered mountains, whose murmurs blend with the constant murmurs of the never-ceasing streams. There is the Sommerberg, or Summer Mountain, in front, and the Winterberg, or Winter Mountain, behind; and up the slope, and at the foot of the latter more ominously named guardian of my sweet retreat, are pleasant gardens, and trellised garden walks, into which you enter from the delightful salle à manger, which communicating with the salle à danse, makes in itself a promenade, if but I will not over-cast the prospect with even the shadow of a falling cloud. I never was driven to make use of these beautiful rooms as a substitude for a ramble in the Black Forest.

The proprietor of this charming spot has everything within his own domain. There is the post-office,and the bakery, and the forge, and a large hall (out of sight, indeed, for the unique aspect of Rippoldsau is not destroyed by the appearance of any shop), but there is a large hall in the establishment, dedicated to all sorts of pretty little varieties, where pedlars from Tyrol and Bohemia, and Jews from all nations, with the envoys of haberdashers from Strasburg or Baden, hold a sort of fair for the season.

Here, then, in the domain of Herr Göringer, annually meet as agreeable a society of from three to four hundred people, as any complainer of this world can desire to get amongst ; good-hearted, laughing, lively German ladies; and well-behaved, ruminating, sentimentalizing, smoking, German gentleman; with a good number of Swiss, a stray Englishman, and a sprinkling of French, to heighten the mixture.

I believe I am rather an unfashionable person; but certainly at first I felt myself peculiarly unfashionable at Rippoldsau, for I was often in the

forest, or on the mountains, when every one of our little world was either in the court (it cannot be termed shed), or in the bath-house, and vicê vêrsa. I, therefore, set about the task of acquainting myself with the etiquette of the water-drinkers of Rippoldsau. Voila tout !—it is simple enough. At five, or half-past, you must rise, wrap yourself in a huge cloak, and run down to one of the three springs where you are to drink from one to-I know not how manya policeman took twenty-glasses of the most excellent, strengthening, and curative mineral water I ever tried in my life; then you must pace, with all the energy in your power, up and down the pretty and wheel-untracked road leading to Klösterle, formerly a convent; and when your glasses and walking have occupied their appointed time, you join your little knot of commeres, and taking one of the side tables under the awning at the side of the court, you pull a bell, and your appointed breakfast is laid before you, coffee, rolls, and most delicious honey, if you are not forbidden by the rules of the "Cure" to partake of such good things, Then you must disappear-where you go is even still a sort of mystery to me, but I suspect, though I only whisper the suspicionto bed.

The bath has been taken previously, and the toilet is made after; and a universal silence and solitude reigns over Rippoldsau till about half-past eleven o'clock, when the gentlemen become visible, most devoutly smoking, or reading the journals in the court, which is the place of re-union, and the general withdrawing-room of the establishment. Shortly before one the ladies come out with their parasols, and with their own symbolical implement for if the pipe is the symbol of the male, the knitting-needle is that of the female German. There, then, if not a heterodox creature like myself, you should, in pursuance of fashion, either smoke or knit till a great bell is heard, that many a time came on my ear softened from its depth in the valley, as I luxuriated on more ethereal fare than that which Herr Göringer's most splendid table d'hote supplies, on the top of the Sommerberg, or in a view-commanding pavilion on the other side; but when

that bell is heard, you, unlike the unfashionable truant, must be ready at one o'clock to enter the salle à manger, and there I venture to predict thatif excellent French cookery, change of viands, and change of plates, can satisfy you-you will be satisfied; and if you should desire a little relaxation in the labour of despatching such a dinner, you may lean back in your chair, and look out at the quick-flowing river over which you are sitting, and at the gardens of flowers, and at the mountain forest; and if you are seated next a more diligent neighbour, who does not like to waste the moments in idle chat, you may be thankful that the loudness of the music in the orchestra renders a temporary pause by no means so awful as it sometimes is without that means of filling it.

One only rule you must observe with regard to the table d'hote; if you are a water drinker, or trying the "cure," do not presume to taste any dish that is distinguished by a brown rim; it contains some prohibited faresalad, par example.

After dinner you repair to the court again, and there you may talk as merrily and laugh as heartily as you please, but only for a short time, for I think about three o'clock it appears unfashionable to be seen or heard at Rippoldsau. A Kellner may be seen reading a journal; or such a stray being as myself returning dinnerless from the Forest; or from an excursion to the solitary Wildsee, or Wild Lake; or a trip to Friberg, where they make those useful articles called among us Dutch clocks; or from Freudenstadt, or the town of Joy, so called when the Protestants expatriated from Austria were successful in the mining speculations appointed to them; or from having been for five hours lost in the lonely Forest; or from any other place to which I had been drifted, like the seared and straying leaf, that a very zephyr can impel. But save a Kellner or myself, no one is seen at this hour; about five they come forth, formed into groups or parties, perhaps by previous compact, and walking excursions usually take place, and we take coffee, perhaps somewhere on the road, and return in the best spirits possible, to expect the greatest event of the day, and that which may be