Under these conditions the old party of Adams grew restive and impatient for a strong leader, and instinctively turned to the magnetic figure of Ashland. Already his nomination for the Presidency in 1832 was a foregone conclusion. The enthusiastic acclaim which had greeted him on his political tours during his retirement had impressed his sanguine temperament as a sure omen of success. He would have preferred to have remained in retirement pending the election, but the party demand for his leadership in Washington was insistent. The Opposition needed a figure around which it could rally, and as a party leader Webster was a failure. With much reluctance Clay decided to respond to the call. The election in Kentucky had been a keen disappointment, and the enemies of the Administration had a bare majority in the legislature, but it was enough, and he was elected. Early in November he reached the capital, “borne up by the undying spirit of ambition,” looking “well and animated,” to be received with “the most marked deference and respect.”[379] From this time on, throughout Jackson’s Presidency, he was to remain the brilliant, resourceful, bitter, and unscrupulous leader of the Opposition--as brilliant and remarkable an Opposition as has ever confronted a Government in this or any other country. And such a politician! There have been few remotely like him, none his superior in personal popularity. His [Illustration: JOHN C. CALHOUN HENRY CLAY DANIEL WEBSTER] unprecedented sway over a party was due, in large measure, to his remarkably fascinating personality, his audacity and dash, his amazing powers of ingratiation, and his superb eloquence which acted upon the spirit of the party workers like the sound of a bugle to a battle charger. No American orator, perhaps, has ever approached his effect upon a partisan audience. Fluent, and at times capable of passages of inspired eloquence, a consummate master of the implements of sarcasm and ridicule, his was the oratory that moves men to action. He could lash his followers to fury or move them to tears. His speeches often lacked literary finish, and, at times, in their colloquialisms descended beneath the dignity of the man’s position, but even these occasional descents to buffoonery contributed to his popularity. He often spoke the language of the people--Webster and Calhoun, never. The contribution of new ideas to a discussion was not his forte. But he could gather up the material at hand, and weave it into a speech of fervent declamation which created the momentary impression that he was breaking virgin soil. His oratory was in his personality and his delivery. His voice was an exquisite musical instrument, with a clarion note that carried his words to the outskirts of the greatest throng. When he spoke, his expressive countenance glowed with his genius, his eyes flashed or caressed, his commanding figure seemed to grow, and in his combined dignity and grace