have taught him, he knew already. He could not be ignorant of the
contrast presented by his own State of Kentucky, and the adjoining State
of Ohio, and that the difference is solely owing to slavery. If J.J.
Gurney could have shewn that abolition would soon be the high road to
the President's chair, it is not improbable that he would have made an
illustrious convert to anti-slavery principles. Henry Clay's celebrated
speech before alluded to, was delivered in the character of a candidate
for the Presidency just before the last election--it was prepared with
great care, and rehearsed beforehand to a select number of his political
friends. The whig party being the strongest, and he being the foremost
man of that party, he might be looked upon as President-elect, if he
could but conciliate the south, by wiping off the cloud of abolitionism
that faintly obscured his reputation. He succeeded to his heart's desire
in his immediate object, but eventually, by this very speech, completely
destroyed his sole chance of success, and was ultimately withdrawn from
the contest. Thus does ambition overleap itself.[A]

[Footnote A: As a practical commentary on Henry Clay's professions of a
regard for the cause of human liberty, I append the following
advertisement, which, about two years ago, was circulated in Ohio:

"THREE HUNDRED DOLLAR'S REWARD.

"_Run away_ from James Kendall, in Bourbon County, Ky., to whom
he was hired the present year, on Saturday night last, the 14th
instant, a negro man, named Somerset, about twenty-six years of
age, five feet, seven or eight inches high, of a dark copper
color, having a deep scar on his right cheek, occasioned by a
burn, stout made, countenance bold and determined, and voice
coarse. His clothing it is thought unnecessary to describe, as