doubt that all my valued friend would 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object, but eventually, by this very speech, completely destroyed his sole chance of success, and was ultimately withdrawn from the contest.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 he may have already changed it.

    “ALSO,

“From E. Muir, of the same county, on the same night, (and supposed to have gone in company,) a negro man, named Bob, about twenty-nine years old, near six feet high, weighing about 180 or 90 pounds, of a dark copper color, of a pleasant countenance, uncommonly smooth face, and a remarkable small hand for a negro of his size.  He spells and reads a little.  His clothing was a greenish jean coat and black cloth pantaloons.

“We will give the above reward for the delivery of said negroes to the undersigned, or their confinement in jail, so that we get them; or 150 dollars for either of them, if taken out of the State, or 100 dollars for them, or 50 dollars for either, if taken out of the county, and in the State.

    “HENRY CLAY, Senior,

    “E.  MUIR.

    “Bourbon Co.  Ky., Sept. 17, 1839.”

]