The Arkansas banner., 1844-04-17
POLITICAL.
Eron ihe Nem Yorl Enening Pest.

Jf0H fhe Aeb loff fsfeRiag P0sf,
 MIR CHATS MORAL FITNESS FOR THE
 PRESIDENCY
 Some time since, we quoted from late memoir of Henry Clay, cleyefly written by one of his warm admirers. the proof of his having smuggled himself into the Senate of the United States before he was yet of the proper age 10 be member No notice was taken of the exposure of the iraud--at least none that ever met our eye--by the journals friendly to Mir. CIav Perhaps his admirers regard 1t as one of those clever tricks which cary their own encomium with them, and suppose that any eemmendation or vdieation of t would be like 'seilding refined gold,n &c. Or, perhaps, which is the more charit- able supposition, they are ashamed of the conduct of their favofite on that oceacion, and are anxious that t should be buried in silence, and forgotten
 However this may be, inasmuch us Mir. Clay i is before the people us candidate for the i highest office they have to give, and the cen- l lerring of which Is proof of their highest confidence, we shall take an early occasion again to lay before our readers this proof of manly honesty in the man whom the people are asked to trust with the highest pow srs known to the constitution. Let be remem- bered that this offence against the great lasv of truth was no juvenile transgression, nor scapable of being paliated by saying that 1t was the net of an ineonsiderate young man assailed by a sudden temptation. It was the act of Dir. Clay's manhood, after his eha7ac- ter had been formed, and was committed with the maiurest pgemedilationt
 Meantime, in further illustration of AIr ! Claws moral fitness for the office 10 which his party propose to call him, WI republish little sketch of the circumstances under which he obtained the office of Secretary of State under Mir. Adams. It is drawn up by gentleman, now of Mir Clay's party, a whig all oyer--Mr Geoge r. Badger, of North Carolina, who afterwards held the place oi Secretary of the Navy under General liafr- son, and went ont upon q quarrel with Mir. Tyler We give il as we find t quoted in the Pennsylvaniaa, from an address to the people of North Caroliana, written by Mr. Badger, in 1928
 I s.Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, was one of the four candidates for president; but having the lowest number of electoral votes, was eX- cladcd from the House. The Stale from which he came had instructed her Inembers, in inc event which had then happened, to support General Jackson; b,lt under the in- f1uencc of Mir Clay, q man of intrigue, and of eloquence, of unbounded ambition, and of talents above mediocrty, these members, with those of other @estera 5ialcs, voted for Mir. Adams, and his election was the result. Immediately after his elevation, Mir Adams appointed Mir. Clay Secretary of State, in power and influence the seconl station oi our government, and generally thought to be all introduction to the first.
 "Belween these TWO gentlemen there had been previously neither confidence nor af- (ection, and Mr. Clay had publicly express ed, in language not to be misunderstood, a disbelief of Mr Adams's political integrity count for Mr. Clay's support of Mr. Adams in opposition to tho declared wishes of Ken lucky; Mr. Clay, indeed, and his friends, have endeayored 10 put his choice on the ground of love oi conntry--on his belief ol Jackson's entire unftness for the office. But though Mr, Clay lad disapproved in Con gress of General Jacksoa's conduct in the Seminole wa, yetin the very speech in which his disapprobaton was expressed, he declared that General Jackson had shed much glory on our country, and that towards him ha never had and never could have any other feelings than those of the most profound re .l snect and the utmost kindness Why, then, did he desert the man who was the iavorlte of the nation, the choice, next to himseii, ot Kentucky-tllc man for whom he cherished the utmost kindness and most proioltad re spect,' II order 70 glFe hls support t9 ons lof.Whom he fell neithef respeet nor kind- mess, of whose patriotism lie ehieftained, to say the least, strong suspicious, and agains whom the voice of tie nation, and especially of the State from which sfr- Clay came, had been distinctly expressed:
 4 Take the facts and answer for yourselves whether it be harsh or uacharifable to con clude that he voted for Mr. Adams in the ex- pectation of being Secretary of State, and that ? this expectation. decided his vote Le; the