yet every instance of distinguished success reflects a certain interest upon its previous career; and when we applaud the result, we gain but half its lesson, unless we know, also, the steps which led to it. Among those who have achieved an honorable distinction in life by the unassisted power of their own efforts, is the present Attorney General of the United States. Mr. Clifford belongs to a respectable family which emigrated from England at an early period, and settled in the southern part of NewHampshire. His grandfather, Nathaniel Clifford, removed subsequently to the town of Rumney, in that state, where the father of the subject of this sketch resided until his death, in the year 1819. His son, Nathan Clifford, was born on the 18th of August, 1803, and received the rudiments of his education at a public school, which he attended only a few months of the year, in the neighborhood of his paternal home. At the age of fourteen, having profited enough by this limited instruction to understand its deficiencies, he succeeded, with the reluctant consent of his parents, in becoming a pupil of Haverhill Academy, where he remained until 1820, and then left to profit by the superior advantages of the Literary Institution at New-Hampton. At the latter place he was enabled to prosecute his studies but little more than a year, and at the expiration of that time he entered his name as a student at law in the office of Hon. Josiah Quincy, who still occupies a prominent position in New-Hampshire, both as a lawyer and a politician. During this period of four years, from the age of fourteen to that of eighteen, he had literally worked his way, teaching school at intervals, and receiving little or no aid from his family, through a career of honorable culture and attainment, which fitted him in no unworthy manner for the successful study of his chosen profession. At that time, admission to the bar in New-Hampshire (which is now accomplished in a much more summary way,) could only be obtained after a laborious preparation of five years; and this term, although occasionally interrupted by his necessary resort to the duty of school-keeping, Mr. Clifford had faithfully completed in 1827. In June of that year, the Supreme Court of his native state admitted him to practice, and he at once removed to the western portion of Maine, and established himself at Newfield, in the county of York, where he has ever since resided. He carried with him there, not only a substantial fund of legal knowledge, but habits of industry and reflection, which could not fail constantly to increase it; and he consequently soon made his way to the confidence of the people, and found himself in possession of a lucrative and increasing business. He carried with him, also, to his new home, political opinions which had been early formed in the school of Democracy, which had become deepened and strengthened in his mind by subsequent experience and thought, but which he found directly opposed to those of the community among whom he was now to reside. Of about three hundred voters at that time in Newfield, there were scarcely twenty democrats; and it marks strongly the influence which he had gained there, and the estimation in which his character was held by his fellowtownsmen, that in the fall of 1830, he was elected by a majority of 101 to represent them in the State Legislature. To this position he was three times successively elected, and, in 1833, having received the unanimous vote of his party friends in caucus, he was chosen Speaker of the House, and presided over its deliberations with an ability and fairness which gained him the approval of even his political opponents, and made his elevation to the same office in the following year, no less a recognition of his own desert than a compliance with general usage. Having already become a leading member of the bar in the county where he resided, he was now to have an opportunity of extending his practice and his acquaintance throughout the state. In 1834 he was appointed Attorney General of Maine, and continued in the successful discharge of the duties of that office until the close of his official term, in the spring of 1838. The Supreme Court had then, besides its usual docket of appealed cases, original jurisdiction of all crimes against the state, and Mr. Clifford's labors in his new capacity were therefore onerous and important. He performed them, however, with the same fidelity and care which have marked his whole career in life, and resumed his local practice at their conclusion, with an enlarged reputation and increased success. But his retirement was soon to terminate by his removal to a broader sphere of public duty. One of the severest political contests ever known in Maine, was that of September, 1838. By an unusual concurrence of circumstances, a whig government had been elected the previous year, and the democracy were now ardently in the field to recover the state. They had selected the fearless and estimable Fairfield as their gubernatorial candidate, and they sought to strengthen their ticket in every section by the names of their best and strongest men. Under these circumstances, Mr. Clifford was nominated and elected a representative to congress from the district in which he lived. He took his seat at the opening of the stormy session of 1839-40, when the organization of the House depended on the decision of the NewJersey case. Through all the phases of that exciting question, the six republican votes of Maine were uniformly given on the side of popular rights, and this course was justified by Mr. Clifford in one of the most elaborate speeches which that discussion produced. From the terms of the Constitution, from the analogy of precedents, and from the authority, also, of reason and propriety, he argued with convincing force, not only that the House had power to ascertain its own members, but that this power commenced with their first assembling in congress; that it was as competent to investigate a governor's certificate as it was to investigate any other presumptive proof; aud that when, as in the case then under consideration, that certificate was controlled by unquestionable evidence, it was not only the right, but the imperious duty of the House to disregard it. The issue of this remarkable question, in accordance with these views, is known to all our readers. But the twenty-sixth congress was not destined to repose, even after the violence of its organization. The nomination of General Harrison by the Whig Convention at Harrisburg, had opened the Presidential campaign with a warmth and ardor seldom equalled, and the rising contest gave shape and color to almost all the subsequent discussions of the capitol. In the House, the whole field of politics was thrown broadly open, and Mr. Clifford improved the occasion thus offered, to review in the clearest manner the history of American parties, and to deduce from it the cardinal sentiments, by which they were then divided. A large edition of this speech was published, and its wide circulation in his own district, contributed, no doubt, to swell his majority at the next election. He was one of those Democrats who survived the political storm of 1840. One of the first acts of the new administration, was to call a special meeting of congress, and Mr. Clifford's second term, therefore, embraced the first three sessions of the Tyler period. They were marked by discussions of the deepest interest, and by a range of investigation from which scarcely any subject was excluded which had the remotest connection with modern politics. The party which entered upon power in 1841, had been, during the canvass which led to their success, a party of opposition; and hence, at the very commencement of their career, they had not only their old charges to substantiate against their discomfited opponents, but had also the equally serious task to accomplish, of ascertaining and harmonizing their own principles. Their President, unequal to the labors and vexations of his new office, had been hurried to the grave within a month after his inauguration, and their Vice-President, who succeeded him, was found to be more independent and less federal in his political views, than was at all consistent with whig policy, or tolerable by whig leaders. The pet project of Mr. Clay was met by a veto; the Harrison cabinet was dissolved, and another formed better suited to the taste of the new President; and finally, Mr. Tyler was deserted and denounced by all except a "corporal's guard" of those who elected him; so that the fierce contest of 1840 had resulted, at last, in creating an Executive which neither party could wholly sustain, and which was assailed by one party at least, with the most bitter and unsparing anathemas. This condition of things, unfortunate as it was in many other respects, was yet favorable to great latitude of debate, and led, almost of necessity, to a thorough examination of every prominent question of the time. Warmly opposed to the whole series of whig measures which was then proposed-the national bank-the protective tariff-the bankrupt law-the assumption of state debts-and the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands-Mr. Clifford was enabled, during the twenty-seventh congress, to define his views concerning them, not only by the steadiness of his votes, but by the power of his speeches; and his reported arguments, especially those on the tariff and the distribution bill, furnish the most honorable testimony, both of the soundness of his principles and the clearness of his mind. In the great subject of commercial freedom, his interest and efforts were always manifested with peculiar ardor, and he never failed to wage unrelenting war against any other protection, as it is called, of American industry, than that which incidentally results from a well-arranged system of revenue duties. He has now the gratifying honor to form a part of the administration, under whose fortunate auspices the principles for which he then contended, have been triumphantly, and, it is hoped, permanently established. Among the republicans of Maine, and of the northern states generally, it is not usual to return the same representative to congress for more than two successive terms. The wisdom of such a limitation may well, perhaps, be doubted, since its effect is to withdraw a public officer from service just as he has become best fitted for it; yet the limitation has long existed, and Mr. Clifford was excluded, under its influence, from again representing his district in the House. He took leave of congress, therefore, on the 3d of March, 1843, and at once returned to his profession in Newfield. He retired from congress with a high reputation, not only for ability in debate, but for a thorough and accurate knowledge of Parliamentary law; and such was his amenity of temper and his courteous and dignified bearing, that, notwithstanding his zealous and unflinching support of his political opinions, he was able to preserve the most cordial relations with all his congressional associates, and to carry with him to his home no other than their best wishes for his personal success. The summer of 1843 witnessed the largest assembly of delegates which the republican party had ever convened in Maine. It met in the city of Bangor, for the double purpose of selecting a candidate for governor, and of choosing delegates to represent the state in the coming nomination of a Democratic President. Over that assembly Mr. Clifford was called to preside, and he was subsequently an efficient member of the Baltimore Convention, which nominated the present Chief Magistrate of the United States. In favor of that nomination, (although his original preference, like that of a majority of his state, had been for the re-election of Mr. Van Buren,) he exerted himself with untiring ardor during the animated canvass of 1844., Nor were his efforts confined to his own district, but he addressed large masses of the people in nearly every section of the state; and meeting, with especial care, the tariff issue of the whigs, he did more, perhaps, than any political speaker of that period, to disseminate among the voters of Maine sound principles and accurate details on the subject of "protection." Through his efforts, and the equally devoted efforts of the many patriotic men who labored with him, the democracy of the state achieved a victory at that fall election, whose influence was felt in every quarter of the Union. With these occasional interruptions, Mr. Clifford, after leaving congress, devoted himself with great assiduity to the business of his profession, and he had again obtained a large and extended practice, when, less than a year ago, he was summoned to the honorable station which he now fills. Of the manner in which he has thus far discharged the important duties of attorney-general, no one, it is believed, has had the remotest occasion to complain; and his friends will be deeply disappointed, if, in all the substantial qualities which contribute to form a good officer, he does not prove himself a worthy successor of those who have preceded him in that distinguished place. As will be seen from this sketch, Mr. Clifford's life has been chiefly engrossed by his public and professional duties; yet he is by no means deficient in that general information which is derived from books, or that equally valuable knowledge which comes from observation. Without the advantage of a liberal culture in his youth, he has fully repaired the want by the diligent study of his early manhood; and having had, through all his life, no support upon which to lean, either of extensive wealth or exalted family, he now reaps the benefit of such a deprivation, in that strength of character which springs from the manly habit of self-reliance. With this habit, thus formed in the school of adversity, it is not strange that one born, as he was, of a republican family, and reared, as it was his destiny to be, among the healthy influences of New-Hampshire, should have commenced his political existence with feelings and opinions on the side of democracy; but he deserves the additional credit of having at all times remained true to those opinions, and of never having hesitated in their support. This constancy of opinion arises not merely from his integrity of character, but is the fruit in him of a cautious judgment and a well-balanced mind. Having none of that genius which seeks to dazzle rather than to convince, he has the more useful capacity of clear reasoning and thorough investigation. "The highest and surest talent, that which will hold out longest and often reach the greatest elevation; the only talent, one may almost say, which is given to man for intellectual achievement, is the talent of applying his faculties to produce a good result-that is, of laboring with success;" and to this talent, which he possesses in an eminent degree, is Mr. Clifford peculiarly indebted for the honorable attainments which he has made, both of knowledge and reputation. It has been his good fortune, heretofore, to occupy no position to which he was found unequal; but every succeeding step of his previous career has served, on the contrary, as a preparation and a pledge for his further progress. We venture the confident prediction, that the promise of his past life will not fail of ample fulfilment in the future, and that his public services will yet be claimed by the people, in other, and it may be, higher spheres of duty, than any in which he has been hitherto called to act. FINANCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. In our last number, we commented upon the rare state of prosperity which the com. mercial affairs of the Union present, going at some length into the condition of the currency, and contrasting its present sound state and the uniformity and cheapness of "unregula ted” exchanges, with the unstable and fluctuating state of things in former seasons under the paper regime. The events which have elapsed in the last month, have drawn out in bolder relief the strength and advantages of our commercial position, in this hour of England's distress, as compared with our state of trembling dependence, when the whole business of the Union hung on the mandate of the English Banks, as communicated through a national bank and its affiliated branches, to all the channels of American industry. It is not to be denied that there lowers over the affairs of Great Britain a most disastrous revulsion, while those of the United States present an aspect of unshaken prosperity. The causes of a disturbed state of commercial affairs in England, we have alluded to in former numbers, and they are still in active operation, being principally the failure of the crops, and the large rail-road expenditures—the latter cause is perhaps the most serious of the two, being more permanent in its duration and power than the other, by creating an extra demand for that food, of which the supply was insufficient, even under ordinary circumstances. The amount of bullion in the Bank of England was larger in Sept. 1846, than ever before. Since that time, under the operation of the causes indicated, it has sustained four distinct runs for specie, each of which has resulted in a crisis more severe than the one which preceded it. These four periods may be embraced in a table showing the weekly decrease of coin, as follows: WEEKLY VARIATION OF BULLION IN THE ISSUE DEPARTMENT OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND. Week. Increase. Decrease. Week. Decrease. Week. Increase. Decrease. " 26.... Oct. 3.... 23. "30.. "22....233,235.. 29.... 89,745... .... 281,660 Feb. 6...............668,545 June 5....143,845.... 336,490 "13... 74,010 Mar. 6... 13. "20. 27.. " 21.... 71,545.... 14 28.... Dec. 5.... 66 12....141,630.... 46 19.... 2,265.. 26.... 29,030.... 4,295 10.. "17.. 34,215 357,525 105,605 80,050 452,225 32,280 24.. We have here four distinct drains of specie. The first set in in Sept., and continued six weeks to Nov. 7th, when £1,629,075 had been drawn from the Bank, and the tide turned for the moment. In January, the distress of the Bank of France renewed the efflux, and it again continued six weeks, to the 6th of February, when the loss was $2,937,705; the rate of interest had been advanced the Bank, and slightly stringent measures adopted. At that time, however, exchanges were at their lowest point in the United States, and the drain was renewed for nine weeks, in which the loss amounted to £2,909,325, terminating in a panic and pressure said to be more intense while it lasted than any ever before known. The rate of interest was raised very high, and the influx of bullion commenced and lasted eight weeks, in which time the Bank received |
