Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/105

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CLAY

III

ON HIS OWN COMPROMISE MEASURES^[1]
(1850)

Was there ever a nation upon which the sun of heaven has shone which has exhibited so much of prosperity as our own? At the commencement of this government, our population amounted to about four millions. It has now reached upwards of twenty millions. Our territory was limited chiefly and principally to that bordering upon the Atlantic Ocean, and that which includes the southern shores of the interior lakes of our country. Our territory now extends from the northern provinces of Great Britain to the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico; from the Atlantic Ocean on the one side to the Pacific on the other—the largest extent of territory under one government existing upon earth, with only two solitary exceptions. Our tonnage, from being nothing, has risen to a magnitude and amount to rival that of the nation

95

↑ From his speech in the United States Senate on February 6, 7, 1850. The attendance of the public on that day in the Senate was so great that the outer passages to the Senate-chamber were thronged with a crowd making such noise that Clay could not be heard inside. The passages were then cleared by direction of the president of the Senate. When Clay had finished his speech, Schurz says, "a great throng of friends—men, women, and children—rushed toward him to shake his hand and to kiss him."

[1] From his speech in the United States Senate on February 6, 7, 1850. The attendance of the public on that day in the Senate was so great that the outer passages to the Senate-chamber were thronged with a crowd making such noise that Clay could not be heard inside. The passages were then cleared by direction of the president of the Senate. When Clay had finished his speech, Schurz says, "a great throng of friends—men, women, and children—rushed toward him to shake his hand and to kiss him."

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