CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY
407
CLEMATIS
he took his seat was chosen speaker. He was heartily in favor of war with England, and named his committees with a view to an early declaration of war. The war party was in a majority in the i3th Congress, which met in May, 1813, and again Clay was made speaker. When overtures of peace were made by the British, Clay was appointed one of the commissioners, and helped to draft the treaty of Ghent. Re-elected to Congress while in Europe on this mission, he was chosen speaker for the third time, and, except one term, when he declined an election, he was a representative and speaker until 1825. At this session he made some of his finest speeches, in favor of the South American patriots who were struggling for independence from Spain; later on he was just as eager in behalf of Greece, when fighting to free herself from the yoke of Turkey. In 1821 he brought forward the famous Missouri Compromise; 20 years afterward, when South Carolina wished to secede on the tariff question, he proposed a gradual lowering of the tariff, such as would work the least harm to manufactures; and in 1850 he attempted, by compromise, to settle the slavery question, which his Missouri Compromise had failed to dispose of, and in other ways he stood between the warring factions of north and south, to bring about concessions that would, in a measure, satisfy both sides, thus winning the title of the Great Pacificator.
In 1824 Mr. Clay was one of the four candidates for president, and received 37 electoral votes. In 1832 he ran for president again; but was beaten by Jackson. He was nominated again by the Whigs in 1844, but beaten by Polk, who received 65 more electoral votes. Clay served as secretary of state in John Quincy Adams' cabinet, and, besides filling the two vacancies in the senate referred to, was chosen senator from Kentucky for three full terms. One of those who opposed him politically is on record as saying that as a congressional leader Mr. Clay had no equal in America. He was the most persuasive speaker in the country during what was called the golden age of American oratory. He was, further, most popular with his party, while few men had a larger following of personal friends. He died at Washington, D. C., on June 29, 1852.
Clayton=Bulwer Treaty, a treaty concluded in 1850 between the United States and Great Britain, by which the contracting parties agreed that neither power should obtain or exercise exclusive control over a ship-canal then contemplated to be constructed across Central America and connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific. The negotiators were, on the part of Britain, Sir Henry Bulwer Lytton (afterward Lord Balling), brother of the novelist; and, on
the part of the United States, J. Middleton Clayton, secretary of state under President Taylor. The treaty, about 1880 and 1900, once more came under public discussion, in consequence of efforts being made to proceed actively in the construction of the Nicaragua Inter-Oceanic Canal, which many of our senators and public men desired to place, untrammeled, under the control of the United States. A new agreement was reached in 1901 through the adoption of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. This treaty omitted the restrictions against fortification, and this has been interpreted by the United States as giving her the right to fortify. Without such a right, the defenders of this interpretation point out, her coasts would be far more open to attack with the canal than without it. Her objections to defending the canal by agreement among the Powers are that such treaties are often observed only so long as it is to the interest of the parties to observe them; furthermore, that under such an arrangement the canal would be as open to the fleet of an enemy as to her own. Under her treaty with Panama the United States binds herself to maintain the neutrality of the canal, the independence of the republic of Panama and that the canal shall be open to all nations on uniform terms.
Clearinghouse. See BANKS
Cleary, The Most Reverend James Vincent, Archbishop of Kingston, was born at Waterford, Ireland, 1828, and studied theology at Rome, Maynooth (Ireland) and Salamanca, Spain. In 1854 he was appointed professor of theology in St. John's College, Waterford, becoming president in 187 3. He was appointed bishop of Kingston (Ontario) in 1880 and archbishop in 1889. He reopened Regiopolis College (theological) at Kingston in 1896, giving a large private contribution for the purpose.
Cleburne, Texas, the county-seat of Johnson County, is located in a good agricultural region. Its leading industries are cotton-gins, flour-mills and machine-shops. The division-offices and shops of the Gulf, C. & S. F. R. R. are located here. Cleburne has good schools, and is a growing, progressive city. Population, 10,304.
Cleistogamous (klis-tog'd-mus) Flowers. In many flowering plants, in addition to the ordinary conspicuous flowers, there are other flowers which are very small and inconspicuous, and even concealed. The common violet is a prominent illustration of such a plant. Cleistogamous flowers are now known in very many genera. Such flowers never open, are self-pollinated, and are very productive of good seed.
Clem'atis. A genus of plants of the crow-foot family, consisting of climbing vines or erect herbs, all more or less woody. About 150 species are recognized^, which
