CLAY 



1413 



CLEARING HOUSE 



Two years later, in 1831, the state of Ken- 

 tucky again sent him to the Senate, where the 

 tariff issue, bound up in the greater issue of 

 slavery, once more engaged his attention. The 

 South, which was bitterly protesting against 

 the "tariff of abominations" of 1828, he endeav- 

 ored to pacify by the more moderate law of 

 1832. 



This measure, however, provoked threats of 

 nullification and secession, and the next year 

 he brought forward the famous compromise 

 of 1833, which caused its author again to be 

 hailed as "The Great Pacificator." Mean- 

 while, in 1832, he had been unanimously nom- 

 inated for the Presidency by the Whigs, but 

 in the election lost overwhelmingly to Jackson, 

 largely because of his tariff record and because 

 he unwisely made an issue of the National 

 Bank. 



During the Democratic administration of 

 Martin Van Buren, Clay was an unsuccessful 

 leader of the opponents of the independent 

 subtreasury system. He was at this time 

 steering a middle course in the troubled sea 

 of the slavery dispute, thereby pleasing neither 

 side. In 1839 he delivered a speech in which 

 he declared himself the foe of slavery, but 

 stated in no uncertain terms that the aboli- 

 tionists were responsible for the discord that 

 was threatening to disrupt the Union. Warned 

 by his friends that this speech would ruin his 

 chances for the Presidency, he made the often- 

 quoted remark, "I would rather be right than 

 be President." 



In 1842 he retired from the Senate, and two 

 years later was nominated for the Presidency 

 against James K. Polk of Tennessee. Clay's 

 hesitancy in taking a firm stand against the 

 annexation of Texas alienated the abolitionists. 

 In 1848 he was defeated for the Whig nomina- 

 tion by Taylor, but in the same year was re- 

 elected to the Senate, and devoted the remain- 

 ing years of his life to preserving peace be- 

 tween the Northern and the Southern states. 



In 1850 he made his last great speech in the 

 Senate in support of the Compromise of 1850, 

 a group of measures that postponed for ten 

 years the outbreak of the War of Secession. 

 Time justified Clay's policy of compromise, 

 for the last decade before the war gave oppor- 

 tunity for the strengthening of the sentiment 

 of national unity, and enabled both sides to 

 bear the shock of the great struggle which be- 

 gan in 1861. 



During his career in the Senate Clay shared 

 with Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun 



the glories of that great trio of American ora- 

 tors. From a literary standpoint his speeches 

 have not the excellence of Webster's, but his 

 eloquence, personal magnetism, fine bearing, 

 and above all, his voice, which was likened by 

 his hearers to some delicately-attuned musical 

 instrument, combined to produce an effect 

 comparable to that produced by the oratory 

 of his great contemporary. B.M.W. 



Consult Barton's Famous Americans; Schurz's 

 Henry Clay; Peck's Party Leaders. 



Related Subjects. For a broader view of 

 Clay's activities the reader is referred to the 

 following articles in these volumes : 

 Adams, John Quincy Nullification 

 Compromise of 1850 Political Parties 

 Jackson, Andrew Tariff 



Liberty Party Whigs 



CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY, a treaty 

 entered into between Great Britain and the 

 United States in 1850, and so named because 

 it was signed after long deliberation between 

 John M. Clayton, Secretary of State, and Sir 

 Henry Bulwer, British ambassador. Both 

 countries agreed to guarantee the neutrality 

 of a canal through Central America, without 

 exercising any control over the territory or 

 in any way fortifying it. In 1901 the Clayton- 

 Bulwer Treaty was abrogated and the Hay- 

 Pauncefote Treaty came into force. Repeated 

 attempts had been made to change the wording 

 of the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, giving America 

 greater power over any inter-oceanic canal 

 which might be built, and at times discussion of 

 the subject led to strained relations between 

 Great Britain and the United States. See HAY- 

 PAUNCEFOTE TREATY; NICARAGUA CANAL; PAN- 

 AMA CANAL. 



CLEAR 'ING HOUSE. We are living in an 

 age when time- and labor-saving devices are 

 used in all branches of human activity. In 

 modern banking the clearing house is such a 

 device. It is an institution maintained by an 

 association of banks in a city which secures a 

 daily and speedy settlement of the claims each 

 bank has against the others, with the least pos- 

 sible transfer of actual cash between them. 



The Work of a Clearing House. A brief 

 description of the method used in the New 

 York clearing house, which serves as a model 

 for all the others in America, is given below. 

 Each bank sends to the clearing house at least 

 two representatives, a so-called delivery clerk 

 and a settling clerk. In a large room each bank 

 is assigned a desk at which the settling clerk 

 or clerks are seated. Upon arrival at the clear- 

 ing house each clerk hands over to the manager 



