_Stubborn facts_ justify us in saying, that if the same bill, containing the same provisions, had been introduced and advocated by Mr. Benton, or Mr. Buchanan, or indeed by any ardent supporter of the administration, the veto never would have been thought of. But it was presented by a hated hand; a hand, that, in the estimation of the president, polluted every thing it touched, and he indignantly spurned its contents to the dust; a hand respecting which he was always ready to ask, ‘can any GOOD THING come out of it?’ There is too much truth in the remark that has been made of him, both by his friends and foes, thousands of times――‘_he would have every thing his own way_.’ But, though defeated by the despotic will of one man, Mr. Clay was not, and could not be, silenced by it. While he had strength to stand up in the councils of his country, he resolved to stand firmly by the side of her rights, and paralyze, if possible, the hand uplifted to infringe them. Though not a participator in those scenes of blood and carnage, in which her broad and beautiful fields were won, yet his sympathizing heart too vividly portrayed the floods of tears, and treasure, and anguish, which the eastern states poured out in perfecting their title papers, to sit tamely down and see them defrauded of their interest in these. The tombs of their heroes who fell in these struggles, would cry aloud for vengeance, if he sealed his mouth, and hid himself, when he saw the robber approaching. No! Henry Clay was not the man to act thus; his country’s rights were _his_ rights, her wishes _his_ wishes, and he would maintain the former, and consult the latter, at any cost. The ‘big foot,’ therefore, of general Jackson, though it ruthlessly ‘trampled’ on his _work_, dared not ‘trample’ on HIM, and he vigorously set about exposing the fallacy, and puerility, even, of the president’s reasons for his veto. This he did in a report which he submitted to the senate, from the committee on public lands, May second, 1834, with special reference to the return of the land bill. Subsequently, from time to time, during several years, efforts were made to wrest the public domain from its rightful owners, which Mr. Clay successfully resisted, and finally succeeded in placing it beyond the reach of those who were bent upon its plunder, giving to each section of the country its equitable share in it. His exertions in accomplishing this have established a foundation for his fame to rest upon, as immovable as the hills which they protected, and which shall endure as long as the verdure which clothes them shall be an object of grateful contemplation.