He felt that he could answer every argument made by Nicholas, and in such a way as to gain his hearers from him; and wondered if others were affected as he had been: Though he acknowledged the strength of the speaker's argument, instead of being persuaded, his sense of opposition had been accentuated.
The crowd was beginning to disperse when several began calling for Henry Clay. In answer to these calls, a tall, slender and delicate looking young man, little more than twenty-one, climbed into the wagon and began to speak.
For several minutes, the majority of the crowd hesitated whether to go or remain. The speaker had an excellent voice, an earnest manner and, they soon found out, something to say and knew how to say it. He spoke upon the sole theme of federal usurpation and his speech was so remarkably good, his manner so earnest and the impression he made so unexpected that his hearers were captivated and convinced. Even Calvin Campbell felt his opposition disintegrating. The arguments his mind had framed against what Nicholas had said seemed losing their potency; not so much by what the speaker said as by the magnetic way in which he said it. He seemed to put into words the thoughts of your own mind. Yet Calvin Campbell after he recovered from the influence, said to himself: "That speech would not read well," and this impression was confirmed when in later years he read many speeches of the Great Commoner.
When Clay finished there was a moment of absolute silence, then a great burst of applause.
First Mr. Murray, then Mr. McLean, Federalists, attempted to respond but the people would not hear them. Mr. McLean said something that incensed the crowd. In a high state of excitement many rushed at him and he would have suffered bodily harm had not Nicholas, Clay and Calvin Campbell prevented it.
The two Democratic speakers were lifted first upon the shoulders of several of the crowd, then into the wagon from which they had spoken and drawn at the head of a very noisy procession through the streets of Lexington.
The week that Nicholas and Clay spoke in Lexington, only one voice was raised in support of the Union; and that was at the Presbyterian Church, where Calvin Campbell, reading as the Scripture Lesson Matthew 22:15-22 and Romans 13:1-10, preached on citizenship: "Render therefore to all their dues, custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor."