The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1844-10-25


Does the Bible, or the sanctity oil your ballowed
office as a minister and teacher of its precepts, n-
sruct you to declare that man free from the charge
of desecra,ion of that holy day, who, surrounded
by pomp and paseantry and all the circumstances
of a festive occasion, addresses crowd on poii!-
cal subjects, amid the shouts and huZzas of an as
sembed and Sahbath-breabing multitude? And
yet, doctor, you know that Mr.. Clay is ''no Sab.
bath BREAKER and is moral to the full extent Of its
accredited principles" and all this Is vrtuous,
moral, and lawful, and you owe it to "ruth and
Justice and the claims Of society," so to declare and
certify it. And you, too, "know," doctor, that
Mr.. Clay is 'no profane swearer." Have you
never heard it whispered that this same Mr.. Hen
ry Clay SO far forgot the dgny OF his station as
grave senator and the sage of Ashland, and that
morality according to its most accredited princi-
pies, of which you, doctor, certify he possesses SO
oyerowing and aboundiug quantity, as to say on
the floor of Congress to Gov. Polk, eco home,
God damn you, where you belong!" The charge
has been made by members of Congress who heard
the expression of his iniurate passion; and neither
Mr. Clay nor any ofhis partisan presses have ever
had the hardihood to deny the charge And yet
you, Doctor, endorse him and certify that he is no
pJofane swearer, and that you "know'' the fact,
and owe it to ''trulh and justice to say so," and
that he who asserts the fact alirms that which is
"uttery and hasely false"
This covers the ground of the Rev. Doctors cer-
tlfcatc, which has been so much eXtocd and go-
riicd, that credulJus people would be very apt to
suppose that, on its ''accrcdiled principles" the
account Was fully settled beyond all cayi.iiug and
controversy, aud that Mr. Clay, no longer amena-
bic to the bar Of public opiuion had received at the
Rev doctors hands receiptin full.
A few 5gls addressed TO you, doctor, in the re-
htions, and with all kindness, as members Of the
same Christian church, and I'VE have discharged Il
duty as unpaltablc to us as It is extraordinary and
unauthorized in Jou, as minister o+thC church to
which we belong, to give currency, and the sane
ton olthat church, b. your I0me and authority,
oa certificate Of ''accreaiel" morality TO the dU-
eiist, the protane swearer, the Sabbath-brcaker,
aud the gambler. We know, from better tcstimo-
/
opportunity Of ''kAowiug," we know, from the
general character in these particulars, and others
which we could euumerate. that your honorable
AID ''moral" friend is guilty, has been often guilty,
ofthe charges which you denouncc as Utterly and
ba,ely false, in Whole and in part, sin your start
ling certificate, authorized by YOU to be proclaim
ed aud published to the world as containing ''the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. "
! We "know'' the man whom you have "accrcdit-
el' with such pure and uublcmi.had morality,
d.aited the uahalowed challenge which hurried
into eternity, scarce six years ago, deuded VIC
tim to the bloody ''code of honor" We ''know''
that the man whom you herald to the world as one
Of iancXiJle and "accred.ted virtue" has ,wice
stood forth ON the field of blood 10 uphold that
"cUde of honor" which deiies the laws Of God aud
and desperately wounding the other, and even
now as reckless and unrepcntant, at the advanced
age Of near threescofe years and ten, standing on
the brink Of eternity, and proclamng to the world
most emPhatica!ly, and in daring and defylDg Ian
gnage TO his God, ''that he cannot forcsee what
contingency may arise, and that he cannot recon-
Gle tito his sense Of ProPri@8to make decldra-
I ton one way or the ether" that hc will ''do no
MURDER" and coHsign fellow creature, with all
his sins on his head, unPreparcd and unauealed, to
meet the irowns of an angry Cod And this is the
man, our errng brother, but our brother still,
whom you can reconcile it to your sense of ''pro-
prety," as a man protesting the principles Of our