m
" PRINCIPLE! AND MZASCKXS, AND MEN THAT WILL CARRY THOSE PRINCIPLE AND MEASURES INTO EFFECT-
VOLUME 1. MJJIBKU 8
BY JAMES R. MORRIS.
OODSFIHLDj OHIO, FRIDAY, SBI'TKMBKU 27, 1844.
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, SPEECH
OF
"MR. LYNN BOYD, OF KY.,
In reply to the Hun. John White, relative to the
charge of bargain between Messrs. Adams and
Clay, in the presidential election of 1824-25.
"' ' Conclusion.
How these Letters came to be written was a sub
ject of inquiry and investigation in Kentucky dur
ing the Presidential canvass of 1828.
Mr. Amos Kendall, then Editor of the Western
Argus, stated in his paper, and on oath before the
Senate of Kentucky, that as an inducement to him
to write to Mr. White, he was informed by Mr.
F. P. Blair, three or four weeks before the Presi
dential election, that if Mr. Adams were elected
he would make Mr. Clay Secretary of State.
"J. Dudley, Esq. a Senator from Franklin and
Owen counties, being called upon, made the fol
lowing statement on the floor of the Senate : One
day in January, 1825, F. P. Blair came into the
Senate Chamber, seated himself near me, and in
quired my opinion on the resolutions passed, re
questing our members of C ngress to vole for Gen
eral Jackson as President of the United States.
Mr. B. desired that I would write letters, request
ing the member, and particularly D. White, from
this district, to consult with Mr. Clay, and vote
as he might desire. To this I objected, and gave
my reasons therefor. Mr. B. appeared surprised
that I should raise any rejections. He said that a
number of members of both Houses who voted lot
the resolution, had written such letters, and that I
could do it with more propriety. He said, if Mr.
White could be induced to vote for Mr. Adams,
he would obtain the vote of Kentucky, nn.l with it
the votes of most of the Western States, which
would elect him; in which case Mr. Clay would
obtain the appointment of Secretary of State. I
then inquired how that fact had been ascertained.
His answer was, that letters had been received
from gentlemen of undoubted veracity, at Washing
ton city, containing such information, and I might
rely with confidence on that statement."
Mr. Blair, when called on "by the Senate of
Kentucky, as a witness, to state how he got the in
' formation which he had communicated to Messrs.
Kendall and Dudley, refused to be sworn or to tes
tify; but concluded an explanation he made to the
Senate in the following manner, viz :
"He had not communicated to any ore the
grounds on which he had made his s'atement to Mr.
Kendall, nor had he shown the letters to which the
gentleman alluded to any person to whom they
were not adJrcssed." .
. Mr. Crittenden had publicly denied that he had
received letters from Washington, of the character
iii question, and upon Mr. Blair the public atten
tion was fixed as the channel through which the in
formation had come fiom Mr. Clay, or some one
else at Washington. Mr. Clay was called upon
to remove the injunction of secresy, and let his
.letters to Mr. Blaircome before the public. Feel
: ing the injurious inferences every where drawn
from the position in which Mr. Clay had been
placed by the investigation into which his friends
in the Senate of Kentucky, had been induced to
enter, J. Harvie, the Chairman of the Adams'
Committee at Frankfort, Kentucky, on the ltlh
April, 1828, addressed a Letter to Mr. Clay, in
which he requested for publication copies ol his
correspondence both with Mr. Blair and Mr. Ken
dall. Mr Clay's reply must have been well con
' sidered; for it was not written until the 5th of June
following. He admitted the existence of a corres
pondence with Mr. Blair on the subject of the
Presidential election, but after giving somerea
' sons, or rather excuses, for his course, comes to the
following conclusion, viz :
'I must decline, therefore, authorising the pub
lication of our correspondence. But the Central
Committee is at liberty to exhibit to the inspection
of any gentleman, of any party, all such portions
of it as relate to the late Presidential election, and
; I will do the same upon any such application being
made to me." .
' . On application to the committee, however, it
was found that they had no copy to show; nor had
Mr. Clay taken any step to furnish them. The
sensation produced by a knowledge of this fact,
compelled the committee to apply to Mr. Blair for
copies, without Mr. Clay's order, and, copies were
furnished. The following is Mr. Kendall's ac
count of them, given at the time', in a Letter ad
dressed to Mr. Clay, through the columns of the
-Argus, viz.:
-: "At last these famous copies are accessible.
have teen them. The one is dated January 8th,
' 1925 an ominous day; the other, January 29th
The former only is of material importance. It Is
perhaps unfortunate for you that it is not acrom
panied by those letters from Mr. Blair, "showing
in whatsense he understood them," to which you
allude; for I aver, that no candid man can read it
without a perfect conviction that the vote of Ken.
tucky was given to Mr. Adams for the purpose of
' promoting your personal aggrandizement. Indeed,
it is impossible for me to conceive how any other
construction can be put upon the letter, than that
the friends of Mr. Adams had promised you the
first office in his gift, with their future support;
, that your Iriends had determined to vote for Mr
Adams on that account; and that you were using
' personal exertions to- bring the member of Con
cress into your views. .'
'Not lushing to expos myself to the .slightest
. imputation of misrepresenting the contents of your
. .letters, I determined to make do remark on that
of (he 29th January, and wrote to the chairman of
the Administration Committee the following note:
"Frankport, July, 2, 1828.
"Sir: I intend to use certain parts of Mr. Clay's
letter to Mr. Blair, dated 8th of January, 1825, in
my reply to the attack made on me by that gentle
man through your committee, and I deem it more
proper, and more just to him, that it should be pub
lished entire, with all the views which it contains,
than that the public should have only my recollec
tions of some of its most prominent passages. Pre
suming that your committee will feel at liberty to
adopt a step which can only tend to guard Mr.
Clay against misconceptions and misrepresenta
tions, I have to request that you will furnish me
with a copy of that letter. This request is confin
ed to the letter ot the 8th January, 1825, in which
I do not perceive any expression "not decorous
towards the public." An answer on this day, or
early to-morrow morning, is solicited.
"Yours, fcc. AMOS KENDALL."
"The chairman received the note with that
suavity and politeness lor which he is so justly dis
tinguished, kindly remarking to my friend who
bore it, that if the htlert had been left in his pos
session I should not have had aright of them,
much lett a copy; but he finally promised to lay
the application before the committee at their next
meeting. As I cannot, from the feelings evinced
by the chairman, expect any thing favorable from
the deliberations of the committee, I feel compel
led to resort to my recollections for the substance
of your letter to Mr. Blair.
"Let the date be recollected it is January 8th,
1825. You commence by giving Mr. Blair your
opinion upon a work by Lord Byron, which you
s.iy y u have sent him (ranked, J presume.)
You then enter into the subject of the Presidential
election, and say, that the time has now arrived
when you must begin to think seriously for whom
you are to vote. You state that the friends of all
the candidates entertained the opinion that on you
rested the decision of the contest, and that your
situation was singular and amusing. You say that
the friends of the several candidates accost you in
turn; that a friend of General Jackson says to you,
"My dear sir , my hopes are upon you do not dis
appoint us; our partiality was for you next to the
hero; you know the anxiety we all had for a West
ern President." That a friend of Mr. Crawford
comes and says : "The hopes of the Republican
Party are upon you: you and Mr. Crawford were
the only Republican candidates: had you been re
turned to the House, wo should all have concen
trated our force upon you." The language of Mr.
Adams' friends you give in nearly the following
words :
'A fiiend of Mr. Adams comes to me, with
tears in his eyes, and says Sir, Mr. Adams has
always had the greatest respect for you, ai.dthe
highest admiration for your talents. There is no
station to which you are not equal. You were un
doubtedly the second choice of New England; and
I pray you to consider whether the public good and
your own future interests do not distinctly point
you to the course which you ought to pursue."
"You then give some reasons why Mr. Adams
should be preferred to -General Jackson, among
which I remember only the statement, that the
iio delegation had determived to vote for Mr.
Adams, the alledged want of qualifications in the
General and his military propensities. You then
declare distinctly, and in nearly the following
words
"My friends entertain the belief that their kind
wishes towards me will, in the end, be more likely
to be accomplished by so bestowing their votes."
"You then declare, that you have urged them to
be governed by their views of the public good alone,
and aver that you have been influenced only by
that consideration. Iu conclusion, you use nearly
the following words:
"Your Representative is inclined to concur with
us in these sentiments; and as I know his respect
for your opinion, I request, if you concur in our
views, that you will write to him by return mail,
to strengthen him in his inclinations. Show this
to Crittenden alone."
This statement as to the contents of that Letter
went the rounds of the Jackson papers through
the whole Union in 1828, and iu accuracy was
uever denied. I am informed that the passages
marked as quoted are nearly, if not precisely, liter
al extracts from the Letter, having been obtained
through several, persons who successively called
and read the Letter, with the concerted design of
getting accurate extracts through their concurrent
recollections. This Letter established the fact be
yond controversy, that the "kind wishes" of Mr.
Clay' friends towards him, induced them to be
stow their vote on Mr. Adams; and that he him
self, well understanding their intention and its ob
ject, was directly instrumental in a secret move
ment to influence the vote of a hesitating colleague,
through apparently spontaneous letters from his
constituents. After that disclosure, few ventured
to deny, in 1828, that the advancement of Mr. Clay
was the controlling motive with him and his friends,
in giving the Presidency to Mr. Adam.
My colleague, Mr. White,) the other day, de
nied the charge of bargain, or understanding, in
the Presidential election of 1825, and went on to
say
"This was too grave a charge to be made on
such vague and uncertain grounds. Until that let
ter was produced, there was not, in his judgment,
any evidence before the country that that letter had
been written; and he now challenged his colleague,
and he would be responsible for it, that if Mr. Clay
was called on be would take off every shackle
from the correspondence. And unless bis col
league produced the letter, he said hi allegation
stood condemned before the American people and
thf civilized world ' '
He further said:
"That he had never heard oi the letter till he
saw the letter of his colleague. He had never seen
it in hi life.' And he had only to say, in relation
to it, that if there wis any Mich letter, and hi col-
league would address a line to Mr. Clay, bp would
throw off all the shackles, and disclose to him all
the correspondence."
Both Mr. Clay and Mr. Blair are now In the
city, and no doubt the Letter is still pieserved. t
propose to my colleague to join me in a call on Mr.
Clay for its publication. It is dun to the country
and to Mr. Clay himself, that all mystery shall be
removed from this transaction. II he can show
that such a Letter does not and never did exist, I
will take all the pains in my power to retrieve his
character from any imputations which its alledgeJ
contents have brought upon it,
Mr. B. asked the Clerk to read the form of a
joint Letter to Mr. Clay which he invited his col
league to sign with himself, and it was read, ss fol
lows, viz :
"House op Representatives,
"April 28, 1844.
"Sir : The public notice having been called to
a letter said to have been written by you at Wash
ington city the 8th of January, 1825, addressed to
Francis P. Blair, then a resident of Frankfort,
Kentucky, touching the then pending Presidential
election, in which it is charged you taid to Mr.
Blair, among other things, in substance as follows :
"A friend of Mr. Adams comes to me with
tears iu his eyes, and says, Sir, Mr. Adams has al
ways had the greatest respect for you, and the
highest admiration for your talents. There is no
station to which you aie not equal. You were un
doubtedly the second choice of New England, and
I pray you to consider whether the public good and
your own future interests do not distinctly point
you to the course which you ought to pursue.
"My friends entertain the belief that their kind
wishes towards me will, in the end, be more likely
to be accomplished by so bestowing their votes.
Your representative is inclined to concur with us
in theie sentiment"; and as I know his respect for
your opinions, I request, if you concur in our
views, that you will write to him by return mail to
strengthen him in his inclinations. Show this to
Crittenden alone."
"To avoid all misapprehension, therefore, and
to the end that even-handed justice may be done
to all, we respectfully ask to be informed whether
such a letter ever existed, and if so, that you will
furnish for publication (if within your reach) the
original or a copy of said letter; or if not within
your reach, that you will give full authority to Mr.
Blair to publish said letter, or a certified copy of it.
"Respectfully your obedient servants,
"Hon. H. Clay."
Mr. WHITE (Mr. B yielding the floor) re
marked to his colleague, that he could not enter
into any such partnership. He could only say to
bis colleague and be did it with the utmost con
fidence that if he would adHress such a letter to
Mr. Clay, he no doubt would frankly respond to
him, and throw off every shackle upon the subjet.
Mr. Boyd said, I choose to call on Mr. Clay and
his friends in my place, as a representative of the
people, to give an explanation as to this letter. I
do not care to encounter the abuse I might receive
from my distinguiseed fellow-Kentuckian if I
should approach him on this subject in my private
capacity, unless I should go under the shield of my
colleague. But, in my public character, I do not
hesitate to call on Mr. Clay and his friends to tear
away the veil of mystery which hangs around this
letter. That it existed, we have the admission of
Mr. Clay himself, in his refusal to let it be pub
lished in 1828; of its substance, and a portion of its
language, we have a statement which has remain
ed over fifteen years uncontradicted and unexplain
ed. If there be any thing wrong about it any
misrepresentation or misconception let us have
the letter; let the world judge for itself, and let am
ple justice be done to Mr. Clay, as well as to those
who are accused of bringing false charges against
him.
His colleague had asked the other day, how be,
Mr. Boyd, could advert to the evidence in this
case without a blush; and now, said Mr. B., if
blushes rise on reading such testimony, they will
be on other cheeks than mine.
Mr. White said he did not intend the remark
for his colleague.
Mr. Boyd said, Sir, although impartial men
may believe, as I do myself, that there was no
technical bargain entered into between Mr. Ad
ams and Mr. Clay, in their own proper persons,
yet it does seem to me, that no one free from preju
dice can carefully examine the circumstances and
evidence iu the case without the most thorough
conviction that it was understood by the parties
that Mr. Clay's appointment to the office of Sec
retary of State would result from the election of
Mr. Adams to the Presidency; that the vote of
Kentucky was cast for Mr. Adams with that view,
and for the further object of promoting Mr. Clay's
prospects for the Presidency, in utter disregard of
the will of that State. And in this, the most fa
vorable view of the transaction, it merited the con
demnatiou it bat received at the -hands of the
American people.
Mr. Boyd said hi colleague had introduced in
evidence Mr. Clay' 6wn declaration to Gen.
Lafayette and others, a well as the opinions of the
editor of the Richmond Enquirer and others, to
prove his innocence. His own declarations were
met at the lime by proof of counter declarations,
and the opinion quoted were expi eased while their
authors were ignorant of a large portion of the evi
dence alterwards elicited. He had not done Mr.
Ritchie the justice to state that, after the expres
sions quoted by him were used, he, Mr. R-, on
the disclosure of further evidence, publicly recant
ed bis first opinion.
Mr. White (Mr. B. yielding) said his colleague,
in every statement he had professed to give, bad
stated it fairly, as far a be bad gone, but be had
omitted much of the testimony. With reference
to the Richmond Enquirer,, he would refer bis
colleague to the article in that paper of February
1825, for his (Mr. W's) quotation, of which Mr.
Ritchi complained, and he would find that he (Mr.
W.)bad taken. every line, every syllabi which
had any just application to the matter. ; ..
Mr. Boyd said, to that matter be would turn
hi colleague over to Mr. Ritchie. ,
But if the opinions of men are to be taken as
good evidence in favor of Mr. Clay, tbey are equal
ly good against him. What will my colleague make
of the following?
"J assert," says Mr. McDuffie, of South Caro
lina, "and am willing to stake my humble stock
Oj reputation upon the truth of the assertion, that
the circumstances of the ejtraordinary coalition
bitween Adams and Clay furnish as strong evi
dence of an abandonment of political principle on
the part oj Mr. Clay, and of a corrupt political
bargain between him ant Mr. Mams, as is ordi
narily required to establish the guilt of those who
are charged in a court of quarter sessions to th the
common crimes known to the law."
I could point to a distinguished member of Con
gress on this floor who is said also to have concur
red in a strong expression of opinion on this sub
ject. Mr. Weller inquired to whom the gentleman
alluded.
Mr. Boyd replied, Mr. Willocghby New
ton. The resolutions were as follows :
"Resolved, That we regard the evidence alrea
dy before the public as amply sufficient to verify
the charge of a corrupt understanding between
John Q. Adams and Henry Clay, by which they
were enabled to elevate each other to office, con
trary to the strongest indications of the wishes of
the people.
Resolved, that we regard the example thus set,
of exposing to auction the highest offices of State,
as an indeliblejstain on the republican party of our
country, and as marking the approach of that de
cay of public morals, ;hich is the constant forerun
ner of the ruin ot republics."
An address of the Central Jackson Committee
for North Carolina, understood to be from the pen
of Geo. E. Batlgir, Gen. Harrison's late Secreta
ry of the Navy, was issued in 1828, which con
tains the following opinion as to the considerations
upon which Mr. Adams was elected, viz.:
"Thus, then, .as we cor.ceive, it sufficiently
appears, that Jackson, the ,man of the people,
was, at the last election, defeated, not upon any
considerations of comparative merit between Mr.
Adams and himself, but in order that Mr. Clay
might be Secretary of State and heir apparent to
the Presidency. And can it be seriously contend
ed that you ought, or that you properly can, give
your sanction to this apostacy from principle
your support to this ambitious project? Because
Mr. Clay once forgot his duty and imposed upon
the nation a President whom the nation did not
desire, ought you to forget your interests and
your rights, offer a reward to treachery, andthus
set an example fatal to the fair and equal operation
of our constitution? To assert that you ought,
seerns little short of an insult to common sense."
On the title, page of this address, 1 find the
names of the Jackson electorial ticket for 1828,
among whom are Willie P. Mangum, now presi
dent of the Senate, E. B. Dudley, and other
distinguished citizens of North Carolina.
Iu 1827, the Tennessee Legislature with only
two negatives in the Senate, and unanimously in
the House of Representatives, adopted a preamble
and resolutions which contain the following docla-'
rations, viz.:
"Political hostility and personal estrangement
had for several years, and on momentous subjects,
separated himself and Mr. Clay. No approach to
union, no inclination for amity, was manifested by
either, until it was ascertained that, as long as they
obeyed the principles and supported the opinions
which had formed their respective pretensions and
produced their avowed opposition, the power at
which they grasped was not to be gained; that
continued disunion Would frustrate, and that
instant combination would gratify their mutual
ambition then, and not till then, long cherished
distrust was mutually forgotten; oft expressed
opinions were practically renounced, and adverse
principles openly abandoned. Each became the
artificer of that man's promotion, whose depres
sion up to the moment had been a chief object of
his exertion. The highest amount of executive
power was divided, and the closest fraternity of
political fortune was established between them.
What is enormous need not be exaggerated; what
is flagrant requires no demonstration. Mr. Adams
desired the office of President; he went into the
combination without it, and came out with it
Mr. Clay desired that of Secretary of State; he
went into the combination without it, and came
out with it. Of this transaction the simplest
history is the best analysis.
"The members of this General Assembly, there
fore, in protesting against the election ot Mr.
Adams as impure and anti republican, are sensible
ot no precipitancy of judgment, or too great
license of language. Unwilling to assert what is
doubtful, they are determined to speak what is
true; nor do they deem it necessary to fortify their
protest by the numerous collateral proofs to be
derived, either from the contradictions contained
iu the studied vindication of the Secretary of
State; from the confessions of his friend, his
colleague, and his champion, or from the pertinent
and concurring reminiscence of respectable wit
nesses." Among those who voted in the affirmative, I
find the names of E. H. Foster, present Senator,
R. Cheatham, E. Hurst and J. A. Rogers.
I find, also, that the Hon. John Bell, late Secre
tary of War, in a letter dated September 17th,
1827, expressed the following opinions, viz.:
'I have seen the highest and most important
office in the government filled by means and under
circumstances affording all the evidences of a
coalition formed upon the basis of mutual benefits
to be received and conferred, independently of
any controverted point in the details, that the
public can ever expect the light of, in any com
bination that has been or may be entered into, to
defeat the will of the people. Ambitious and
aspiring politicians, who have great characters to
sustain, and tense enough to guard against the
common blunder of the less practised adept in
the art of intrigue and management jo forming
i coalition, will but soldom expose themselves to
the danger of detection from positive pYob f. It is
not, therefore, In my view, of so much impor
tance to consider, whether a possibility of inno
cence can be admitted in favor of the parties
implicated, as to determine whether the presump
tion to the contrary is not so great in the present
instance that their continuance in office would be
incompatible with the safety and well being of our
political institutions."
, These opinions, I believe without exception,
were formed and expressed before the disclosure
of Mr. Clay's letter to Mr. Blair, showing, by
what machinery, put in operation by Mr. Clay
himself, the votes of members of Congress were
controlled. After that event the people expressed
their opinion at the polls. Of the electoral votes
there were given
For Gen. Jackson, 109.
For Mr. Adams, 62.
Of the popular votes, there were given
For Gen. Jackson, about 643,096.
For Mr. Adams, about 507,412
Thus was the coalitition of Adams and Clay
condemned by the country, chiefly on the ground
that it was impure in its origin. Nor do I think
their judgment will be reversed, unless it be by a
new generation, who, like my colleague, have
never seen the testimony.
Mr. B. then adverted to Mr. Clay's course on
the bankrupt law. There never was, said he, a
more glaring outrage on the will of constituents
than Mr. Clay's refusal to vote for the repeal of
that law at the session of 1841-2. Through the
members of the House of Representatives, through
the Legislature, through every practicable chan
nel, the will of the people of Kentucky had come
up to their Senators, demanding their votes in
favor of repeal. Mr Clay not only refused to
vote for the repeal, but denounced the act he was
required to do as cruel and inhuman iu the last
degree, thus casting the severest censure on those
who made the call on him aud on his colleagues
in both houses of Congress, who had yielded a
ready obedience. Prior to 1824 Mr. Clay held
the doctirne that a representative was bound to
carry out the will of his constituents, no matter
how he came to a knowledge of that will; but in
the Presidential election of that year, he violated
his former principles, and turned his back upon
Democracy, that he might be, as he ever since has
been, locked in the embraces of of Federalism.
Here tho Speaker's mallet fell, indicating the
termination of Mr. Boyd's hour.
' notes!
1. The opponents of Mr. Adams' administra
tion in Kentucky, or at least that portion of them
who had acquiesced in or promoted his election,
did not at first charge as corrupt the understanding
by which he was made President, and Mr. Clay
Secretary of State. The character of the contro
versy was changed, however, by Mr. Clay's
declarations in his address to the public, comment
ing on Gen. Jackson's letter to Carter Beverly,
dated Lexington, 26th June, 1827. To appreciate
the grounds of that change, the following extracts
from that address should be read in connection
with the foregoing evidence, particularly the
quotations Irom Mr. Clay's letter to Mr. Blair, viz:
"I neither made, nor authorized, nor knew of,
any proposition whatever, to either of the three
candidates who were returned to the House of
Representatives at the last Presidential election,
or to the friends of either of them, for the purpose
of influencing the result of the election, or for
any other purpose. And all allegations, intima
tions and inuendoes, that my vote on that occasion
was offered to be given, or was in fact given, in
consideration of any stipulation or understanding,
expressed or implied, direct or indirect, written
or verbal, that I was, or that any other person was
not, to be appointed Secretary of State, or that I
was, in any other manner, to be personally bene
fitted, are devoid of all truth, and destitute of any
foundation whatever."
"It will be universally admitted, that the
accusation is of the most serious nature. Hardly
any more attrocious could be preferred against a
representative of the people in his official charac
ter. The charge in substance is, that deliberate
propositions of bargain" were made by my Ccn-
gressicnid friends collectively, through an author
ized and distinguished member of Congress to
Gen. Jackson; that their object was, by these
"means of bargain and coiruption," to exclude
Mr. Adams from the department of State, or to
secure my promotion to office; and that I was
privy and assented to those propositions, aud to
the employment of those means. Such being the
accusation and the prosecutor, and the issue
between us, I have now a right to expect that he
wiU substantiate his charges by the exhibition of
satisfactory evidence. In that event, there is no
punishment which would exceed the measure of
my offence. In the opposite event, what ought
to be the iudzme.it of the American public, is
cheerfully to their wisdom and justice."
2. Some whig editor recently lubricated a
statement that Gen. Jackson in a letter to Gen.
Hamilton, had acquitted Mr. Clay of the charge
of bargain in the election of 1825, so extensively
made aud believed. It is fortunate for the cause
of truth, that the venerable hero has lived to put
his tito on this fabrication.
A CARD.
To the editors of the A'ashcille Union:
Gentlemen iily attention has been called to
various newspaper articles referring to a letter said
to have been written by me to Gen. Hamilton,
recanting the charge of bargain made against Mr.
Clay when he voted for Mr. Adams in 1825.
To put an end to all such rumors, I feel it to be
due to myself to state, that I have no recollection
of ever having written such a letter, and do not
believe there is a letter from me to Gen. Hamilton
or any one else that will bear such a construction.
Of the charge brought against both Mr. Adams,
and Mr. Clay at that lime, I formed my opinion as
the country at large did from facts aud circum-
stance that were indisputable and conclusive; and
I may add that this opinion has undergone no
change, , ,; . v.
If Ger Hamilton, or any one eke, has a letter"
from me on this subject, which the friends of Mr.
Clay desire to make public, all that they have to
do Is to apply to hi in for it. As for myself, I have"
no secrets, and do not fear the publication of all
that I have ever written on this or any other sub.
ject; ANDREW JACKSON. ,.
Hermitage, May 3, 1844.
3. The Hon. Mr. Newtou informs me that he
was one of two or three dissentients from the rest
of the meeting, who adopted the' lesoludon with
which hi name stands connected iu the foregoing
speech.
From the Globe
CLAY IN THE HANDS' OF THE POTTER. "
It would seem that both the Clays Henry and
his cousin Cassius are just at this time exceeding
ly plastic. Yesterday's Globe exhibited the various
shapes which Mr. H. Clay had assumed under the
hands of the sereial sects and factions to which
he has committed himself. His different taiiff
forms his changing dueling postures his favor
able and unfavorable, and then again his favorable
aspect towards Texas his abolition and anti
abolition complexion, all these Protean shapes of
the ci-devant Jefferson democrat turned into a
Hamiltonian federalist under the hands of an
Adams, the most odious to him of any oue of the
race, were glanced at. But we did not know this
capability of easy modeling under the pressure of
circumstances, belonged to the whole family of
Clays. From the following article, however, it
appears that C. M. Clay partakes of all the pliabil
ity of the greater Clay, to whos-e political fortunes
he is attached.
It seems that the minor Clay, like the great Ajux
of that name, had at one time hoped to build up
political distinction for himself by annexing Texas
to the United States. The eclat and glory of
adding a new and vast empire to the valley of the
Mississippi seems to have stimulated C. M. Clay
on first entering tha councils of Kentucky, as it
did II. Clay on his entering on the functions of
Secretary of Slate under Mr. Adams. The latter
would have given millions to Mexico to annex
Te::as to the United States. C. M. Clay, follow
ing in the wake of his ambitious namesake, pressed
tho so:;ie cbsign with the most anxious solici.ude,
on the legislature cf Kentucky in 1839. Then,
the annexation of Texas was necessary to avert
"the greatest possible calamity" the dissolution
offithe Union; then to annex Texas as a new bond
of union was an object for which he would "defy
dictation from Giree.it;" tiion, as adding "mcreus
ed strtngth cud iphndor to our federal govern
ment," aj "gitriug us wealt.'', and popul .tion ut
home, and eleculiug v.s anion; fort ign nations,"
Mr. Clay would, although "not unconscious cfthe
difficulties touching ll,it,ra question," risk war
and the worst of evHj for Texas. Now, Mr. C.
M. Clay considers Texas synonymous with slave-
ry and disunion. Ha shouts for "Clay, Union
and Liberty," as the issue on one side, against
"Polk, Slavery, and Teias," as the issue on
the other. "Wih Pok, (he tells the country)
Texas comes in; wilh Texus the north . the
south are inevitably tplit; and away goes the'
fruits, to us here at least, of the American revo
lution!" But we leave to our readers' contemplation the
various transformations which our Jmen of Clay
have undergone. It will take very little philoso
phy to divine the causes and ascertain how far
these violent resolutions are the results of the
ardent patriotism professed, or of an all cbsording
selfishness.
COL. CM. CLAY "IN A FIX" "BETWEEN
HAWK AND BUZZARD" NOW A BIT
TER OPPCSER OF ANNEXATION THE
FIRST LEGISLATOR IN THE UNION TO
MOVE RESOLUTIONS IN FAVOR OF IT
WHIG ABOLITIONISM AND WHIG
CONSISTENCY. .
We are under many obligations to Mr Sprigg
for the extract from Col. C. hi. Clay's letter, pub
lished below. We have received more thau a
dozen letters, asking us to publish all ol the letter
referred to, but cannot comply w ith the wishesof
our correspondents, because we have not been
able to procure a copy. The extracts now given
are sufficient to show, that if Col. Clay is a cor
rect exponent of the opinions of his party, it is not
only closely identified with abolitionism, but they
are in fact, "one and indivisible." It is understood
Mr. Clay is now in the North propagating the doc
trines of bis joint faith of whig abolitionism by all
the powers of his eloquence, at the same time that
he is opposing the annexation of Texas. Mr. S.
has also brought to our view a very important
feature in the political history of Mr. Clay, which
he seems to have forgotten. The lesoludoo
which we publish below will be found at the place
in the journals referred to, aud contrast strangely
enough with Col. Clay's anti-annexation resolu
tions offered at the White Sulphur Springs iu No
vember last, with the present course of himself and
party on that subject. These resolution certainly
take the true ground; and we will show soon that
they were followed by the whig party in this State
in the legislature, only two or three years ago.
Shklbyville, Aug 23, 1844. '
Sir : I have this morning read a letter of C- M.
Clay, esq., of July 10, 1844, addressed to Col. J. J.
Speed, of Ithica, N. Y-, in response to an invita
tion to visit that State aud address mass meetings
of the people. The letter will be found published
in the New York Tribune, vol. 3, No. .August
17, 1844. That letter, written as it is in tb vig
orous style of its talented author, ought to be pub
lished in every paper, whig or democrat, in Ken
tucky. After assigning bis reasons for not com
plying with the invitation received by him which
are, that public and private duties call li'vn (be
where Mr. Clay proceeds to say t. . ,,
"Iu the mean time I am not idle, and my corres
pnndenc with both whigs and liberty men is most
extensive. J confess that my interest in the cause
of the whigs is founded ou the supposition that they
will act in food faith to their profession If wlu'jj-
li
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