Clement Comer Clay, an American politician, born in Madison co., Alabama, in 1819. He graduated from the law department of the university of Virginia in 1839, and was admitted to the bar of Alabama in 1840. In 1842 and 1844 he was elected to the legislature, and in 1846 judge of the county court, which office he resigned in 1848. In November, 1853, he was elected to the United States senate, and took his seat in December, 1854. In November, 1857, he was reelected for a second term of six years from March 4, 1859. In the spring of 1858 he delivered a speech in favor of the admission of Kansas under the Lecomp-ton constitution. Later in the session he spoke in favor of a bill repealing the bounty on vessels engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries. In 1860 he was chairman of the committee on commerce. In February, 1861, he resigned his seat in the senate, and was chosen a senator in the confederate congress. In 1864 he went to Canada as one of the secret agents of the confederate government, and took part in planning the raids on the northern frontier; and in July made some unsuccessful attempts to enter upon negotiations with President Lincoln. He returned to the confederacy, but after the surrender of the armies took refuge in Canada. Being subsequently pardoned, he resumed the practice of law in Alabama.