he made his son his private secretary, in which ca- pacity the boy continued his studies, and also con- tributed editorials to Alabama papers. When his father went to the senate, young Clay completed his law studies at the University of Virginia, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He served in the Alabama legislature in 1842, 1844, and 1845, and iji 1846 became judge of the Madison county court. He resigned in 1848, and in 1853 was elected U. S. senator. In 1857 he delivered an elo- quent eulogy on Senator Butler, of South Carolina, and in 1858 made a speech advocating the admis- sion of Kansas to the Union under the Lecompton constitution. He also advocated a bill repealing the bounty on vessels engaged in the Newfound- land fisheries. As a senator, he regarded himself as the envoy of a sovereign state to the council of the nation, and lost no opportunity of asserting the rights of that state as defined by Mr. Calhoun and other southern statesmen. He was re-elected unanimously in 1859, but withdrew in February, 1861, his state having seceded from the Union. He was formally expelled from the senate in March, 1861, and was chosen a senator in the Confederate congress. He went to Canada in 1864 as a secret agent of the Confederate government, took part in planning the raids on the northern frontier, and made some futile attempts at negotiation with President Lincoln. He returned to the Confeder- acy, but took refuge in Canada at the close of the war. In May, 1865, hearing that a reward had been offered for his arrest, he gave himself up to the U. S. authorities and was for some time a pris- oner in Fort Monroe with Jefferson Davis. He was released in April, 1866. and from that time practised his profession at Huntsville.
CLAY, Edward W., caricaturist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1792; d. in New York city,. 31 Dec,
1857. He was a relative of Henry Clay, had a
liberal education, and served as a midshipman in
the U. S. navy. He then turned his attention to
the law, and, though very young, was at once ap-
pointed pi'othonotary of Philadelphia. His artistic
tastes, however, led him to Europe, and he studied
the old masters there for five years. On his return
to Philadelphia he sketched " The Rats Leaving
the Falling House," on the dissolution of Jack-
son's cabinet. This brought him into notice, and
for more than twenty years he was a noted carica-
turist. After the failure of his eyesight he became
clerk of the Chancery court, and of the Orphan's
court in Delaware.
CLAY, Green, soldier, b. in Powhatan county,
Va., 14 Aug., 1757; d. in Kentucky, 31 Oct., 1826. He
emigrated to Kentucky before he was twenty years
of age, became a surveyor, and acquired a fortune
by locating lands. He was a representative of the
Kentucky district in the Virginia legislature, a
member of the convention that ratified the Federal
constitution, and a leading member of the Kentucky
constitutional convention of 1799. He was long a
member of one or the other branch of the legisla-
ture, and at one time speaker of the senate. In
1813, when Gen. Harrison was besieged by the
British in Fort Meigs, he came to his relief with
3,000 volunteers and forced the enemy to with-
draw. He was left in command at the fort, and
defended it with great skill against an attack of
the British and Indians under Gen. Proctor and
Tecum.seh. After tlie war he retired to his planta-
tion, and devoted himself to agriculture. He was
a cousin of Henry Clay. — His son, Cassius Mar-
cellus, politician, b. in Madison county, Ky., 19
Oct., 1810, studied at Transylvania imiversity, but
afterward entered the Junior class at Yale, and was
graduated there in 1832. While in New Haven he
heard William Lloyd Garrison, and, although his
parents were slave-holders, became an earnest abo-
litionist. He began to practise law in his native
county, and was elected to the legislature in 1835,
but was defeated the next year on account of his
advocacy of internal improvements. He was again
elected in 1837, and in 1839 was a member of the
convention that nominated Gen. Harrison for the
presidency. He then removed to Lexington, and
was again a member of the legislature in 1840, but
in 1841 was defeated, after an exciting canvass, on
account of his anti-slavery views. The improved
jury system and the common-school system of
Kentucky are largely due to his efforts while in the
legislature. Mr. Clay denounced the proposed an-
nexation of Texas, as intended to extend slavery,
and in 1844 actively supported Henry Clay for the
presidency, speaking in his behalf in the northern
states. On 3 June, 1845, he issued in Lexington
the first number of an anti-slavery paper entitled
"The True American." Mob violence had been
threatened, and the editor had prepared himself
for it. He says in his memoirs : " I selected for
my office a brick building, and lined the outside
doors with sheet-iron, to prevent it being burned,
I purchased two brass four-pounder cannon at
Cincinnati, and placed them, loaded with shot and
nails, on a table, breast high ; had folding-doors
secured with a chain, which could open upon the
mob and give play to the cannon. I furnished
my office with Mexican lances, and a limited num-
ber of guns. There were six or eight persons who
stood ready to defend me. If defeated, they were
to escape by a trap-door in the roof ; and I had
placed a keg of powder with a match, which I
could set off and blow up the office and all my
invaders ; and this I should most certainly have
done in case of the last extremity." In August,
while the editor was sick, his press was seized by
the mob and taken to Cincinnati, and he himself
was threatened with assassination ; but, notwith-
standing all opposition, he continued to publish
the paper, printing it in Cincinnati and circulat-
ing it thi'ough Kentucky. This was not his only
narrow escape. He was continually involved in
quarrels, had several bloody personal encounters,
and habitually spoke in political meetings, with a
bowie knife concealed about him, and a brace of
pistols in the mouth of his grip-sack, which he
placed at his feet. When war with Mexico was
declared, Mr. Clay entered the army as captain of
a volunteer infantry company that had already
distinguished itself at Tippecanoe in 1811. He
took this course because he thought a military title
necessary to political advancement in a " fighting
state " like Kentucky. On 23 Jan., 1847, while in
the van, more than 100 miles in advance of the
main army, he was taken prisoner, with seventy-
one others, at Encarnacion, and marched to the
city of Mexico. On one occasion, after the escape
of some of the captives, the lives of the remainder
were saved by Capt. Clay's gallantry and presence
of mind. After being exchanged, he returned to
Kentucky, and was presented by his fellow-citizens
with a sword in honor of his services. He worked
for Gen. Taylor's nomination in the convention of
1848, and carried Kentucky for him. He called a
convention of emancipationists at Frankfort, Ky.,
in 1849, and in 1850, separating from the whig
party, was an anti-slaveiy candidate for governor,
receiving about 5.000 votes. He labored energeti-
cally for Fremont's election in 1856, and for Lin-
coln's in 1860. but took pains to separate himself
from the " radical abolitionists," holding that all
