The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1844-07-25
AN INTERESTING LETTER.

OF MIR. CLAY, addressed to a committee of
the Dauphine (Pa) County Clay Club
The exalted position which the writer occu-
pies-on the very eve o. having extended to
him the highest mark of public confidence
which has ever been extended to any man
in this country-renders his reference TO
the abiding faith he has always cherished in
the justice of his fellow-citizens, worthy of
special attention. The entire letter will be
perused with marked pleasure by our read
ers:
WASHINGTON, May IL, 1874.
GENTLEMEN:-I received the letter which
you did me the honor to address 10 me, in
viting me, prior to my return home, TO Wis.,
it the capital of Pennsylvania. Subsequent
TO lis date, | thought it right tc announce to
the public my determination to make no vis-
IFS, nor attend any public meetings which
might be deemed political, until the Presi-
dental Election was decided. To that de-
terminationI shall adhere. 1t depriyes me
of the pleasure of accepting your friendly in
%vitaticn.
Gentlemen, | agree with you-"No State
in this Union would be benefited more by
the permanent establishment of a sound wing
policy than Pennsylvania have had The
great satisfaction, always, to agree with
Pennsylvania in regard to public measures,
whenever the genuine feelings of Pennsyl-
vania have been fairly expressed. There
was not merely a cordial concurrence, but
an intimate friendship, between her Finlay,
Smile, Lacock, Roberts, Brown, and other
distinguished sons, and me, in the Congress
which declared the last war. | united also
with the. survivors of them, or other eminent
citizens of this State, in laying the founda-
ton of the National prosperity, after a re-
turn of peace. have no recollection ofany
important public measures respecting which
[ have differed from Pennsylvania. | was
perfectly aware that ssihe time was when
the people of Pennsylvania were made to
believe that you ID were not their friendn
Acting under the maxim that honesty was
the best policy, and upon the conviction that
truth is o%mnipotent, and public justice GER
tain, | bore the unmerited reproaches cast
upon me, as became me-. | have not been
disappointed. | stand indicated, In the
hearts and by the spontaneous acclamations
of my fellow citizens. The industry and
malignity of my enemies will no doubt
prompt perseverance in those attacks
PerVersions of my language, misrepresenta-
lions of my course, old scraps from tatered
and obsolete newspapers-eVen fabrication
and forgery are and will continue to be en-
ployed to v;tuperate and yillify me. But
like all preceding assaults, they will be un-
a~vailing, and | shall remain invulnerable to
them all.
In the meantime, | congratulate you on
the bright and cheering prospects of the es-
adjustment of that Wing Policy so essen
tial, | believe, not only to the prosperity of
Pennsylvania, but 10 that of the whole I'm
ion.
I happened 10 be in the House of Repre-
sentatives when an important part Of that
policy signally iumphed. TIE Tariff of
1912 has been bitterly denounced, and gross
epithets applied to it. Its repeal was pro-
nounced TO be a favorite object of our POI
litical opponents. They have a majority of
fifty or sixty in the House. A bill 10 repeal
that Tariff has been pending a great part of
the present session oil. Congress. And yet,
yesterday, on a test vote, a majority of the
House decided against the repeating bill
leaving the Tariff of 1912 in FULL AND sALU-
rARx oPERArIoN!--This decision was an in
voluntary concession OF our political oppo-
nents 10 the wisdom, and bene6cence of wing
policy, produced by the returning prosperity
of the country, and the enlightened opinion of
the people.
But, gentlemen, / have a much higher
qualification than any which could be deriv-
ed from the decision O the House of Rep
: resentatives. 1t is that the people of the
United States, from the St. Johns to the Sa-
bine, who have been SO long divided and
agitated on the question of the encourage
ment of Domestic Industry, are about to set
tie down in union and harmony, upon the
equitable basis of raising in time of peace,
the amount of revenue requisite TO an eco
nomical administration of the Government,
exclusively from foreign imports, by a Tariff
SO adjusted as that, by proper dis examinations,
just and reasonable encouragement shall be
extended to American Industry. May this
happy union and harmony pervade all other
great measures of public policy, and nothing
occur to disturb the peace, to sully the char
acter, or check the onward and glorious march
of our country.
| am your friend
And obedient servant,
I'll. CLAY.
Messrs. Samuel Fl. Clarke, Al. Jones, and