Excerpt from The Works of Henry Clay, Vol. 5 of 10: Comprising His Life, Correspondence and Speeches MY dear sir, - I received your two last favors, and Should have written to you before and Oftener, but that I really have had nothing interesting to communicate. As to politics, we have no past, no future. After forty-four years of existence un der the present Constitution, what single principle is fixed The Bank? No. Internal Improvements? No. The Tariff? No. Who is to interpret the Constitution? We are as much afloat at sea as the day when the Constitution Went into Opera tion. There is nothing certain but that the will of Andrew Jackson is to govern; and that will fluctuates with the change of every pen which gives expression to it. As to the Tariff, now pending before the House, whether it will pass or no in that body depends upon his command. I have been thinking of some settlement of that question, but I have not entirely matured any plan; and if I had, I am not satisfied that it would be expedient to offer it. Any plan that I might offer would be instantly opposed, because I offered it. Sometimes I have thought that, considering how I have been and still am treated by both parties (the Tariff and the Anti I would leave them to fight it out as well as they can. The lingering hopes for my country prevail over these feelings Of a just resentment, and my judgment tells me, that disregard ing them, I ought to the last to endeavor to do what I can to preserve its institutions and re-establish confidence and concord. I Shall act in conformity with this judgment, but I am far from being sanguine that I have the power to effect any thing. You will have seen the late Message. It is able and elaborate, freer from passion than the proclamation, but not more compati ble with the doctrines which prevail at Richmond. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.