‘At that moment I would have given my right hand, to have seen general Jackson confronted before his magnanimous opponent――face to face with the man whom he had so foully injured. Had he been there――under the eye of that noble-hearted speaker――every word of commendation, every generous acknowledgment of his services, would have fallen upon his head like a rain of fire.’ In every town which he visited, the citizens gathered round him, and wherever he turned, a hundred hands were extended to clasp his own. Public feeling flowed after him as the tides of the ocean follow the moving moon. Passing through Donaldsonville, where the legislature of Louisiana was in session, he unexpectedly entered the hall of the house of representatives, when that body, including speaker, and members of both parties, simultaneously rose to receive him. In the summer of 1830, business called him to Columbus, the capital of Ohio. At the time, a celebration was had by the mechanics of the place and vicinity, at which the following honorary toast was given: ‘our inestimable guest, Henry Clay. An efficient laborer in support of the industry of the country. _Farmers and mechanics know how to appreciate his services_’――to which he responded, in a speech which embraced allusions to his favorite theme, internal improvements, in connection with the hostility of general Jackson to them, as evinced in his veto of acts passed by congress, expressive of its views of that system, and the established policy of the nation. He vindicated their action, and proved its accordance with the provisions of the constitution. The operation of the tariff he also considered, and showed it salutary. In his concluding remarks he adverted to his own circumstances. ‘Why,’ said he, ‘were the fires of unabated persecution kindled around him? Why was the artillery of the press incessantly levelled upon _him_? What had he done? The history of his past life was before the people. If he had erred in any of his endeavors to subserve the best interests of the public, he regretted it. His conscience, at least, did not reproach him. And what was he _doing_ to draw upon him the maledictions of his countrymen? He was a private citizen. He could exercise authority over none, nor had he any engine of governmental patronage, to pervert and make subservient to purposes of personal aggrandizement.’ At this meeting he exposed the turpitude of the odious doctrines of nullification, which had begun to be agitated at the south.