Speeches of the Hon. Henry Clay, of the Congress of the United States (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Speeches of the Hon. Henry Clay, of the Congress of the United States

It was the doctrine of thrones, that man was too ignorant to gov ern himself. Their partisans assert his incapacity in reference to all nations; if they cannot command universal assent to the proposition, it is then demanded as to particular nations; and our pride and our presumption too often make converts of us. Mr. Clay contended that it was to arraign the dispositions of Provi dence himself, to suppose that he had created beings incapable of governing themselves, and to be trampled on by kings. He contended that self government was the natural government of man, and he referred to the aborigines of our own land. If he were to speculate in hypotheses unfavorable to human liberty, his should be founded rather upon the vices, refinements, or density of population. Crowded together in compact masses, even if they were philosophers, the contagion of the passions is communicated and caught, and the effect too often, he admitted, was the overthrow of liberty. Dispersed over such an immense space as that on which the people of Spanish America were spread, their physical, and he believed also their moral condition, both favored their liberty.

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