The Ottawa free trader., 1845-09-05
The Excitement NJ Lexington.

which he returned reply, treating the commit
lee and meeting with contempt. st. Louis and
other papers since received give full history of
what subsequently took place, AMI of the cause o {
the excitement, which we ccndeuse for the nlor.
nation of our readers.
1t appears the course Of Nr. Clay, ever since
he commenced the publication Of II abolition pa
per in a slave state, has hcen full as violent as
that of any "lhcny' editor OF the north. This
naturally created strong feeling against him. and
tha, feeling could no longer contain itself on the
appear. ne IA his paper of a ,ng address to the
white population, which naincd the following
paragraph;
Blu, remember, you who dwell in marble pala-
ces--thai there are strong arms aud fiery hcarts
in the streets, and plncs of glass only between
them AMI the plate on the board, and lhe smooth
skinned woman on the ottoman. When YOU
have mockod at ,rlue, aud denied the agency OF
God in the affairs of men, and made rapinc youI
honied faith, trcmbIe Cor lLc day OF rcirbulion
is at hand, and the masses will be avenged.
On the appearance Of this paragraph, the meet
ing above noticed was held, The reply Of Mr..
Clay brought together another meeting, OF which
the Louisville Journal gives This account:
During the whole forenoon of to-day august
l5) the popular excitement was very high. Ma
ny anticipated tha! the meeting of p. NJ. woul
tear down the Office of the True american. CLAY,
in anticipation Of such an attempt made his wilt
armed himself, and sent 10 the office, being too
sick to sit up any great length of time) bed to
lie occupied by him during the day. AT 3r.M.
went to the court house aud found il full. Mr..
Walters, in behalf of the committee, reported G..
NJ. Clay's letter, and offered lon, preamble and
resolution which were read 10y tue Hen. L. L.
MARSHALL and unanimously adopted. The pream-
BILE was warm rejoinder 10 Clay's hanJbill-
The resolution was that a mass meeting Of The
citizens Of Lexington and Fayelic be held al the
court house, on the 18Th inst. at o'clock, AM,
for the adoption of such measures as may be
deemed cxpedient. The adjournment was quiet
Immediately after this meeting, but before Clay
had seen its published proceedings, he issued
handbil intended 10 alay excitement. II tdelined
bis position clearly in regard to emancipation, and
indicated disposition on his part to discuss the
matter in future with due Temperance. On sun
day he put forth on ,ther hanJbil, which was in
part response 10 the publication Of the meeting
He therein stated that he had had the typhoid tc.
yer for lhirty-lhree days; that his brain, during
that time, had been almost inccssanly affected
and tha, he was then unable TO hold pen OF pull
trigger. In that document he reiterated most
strongly his previous procstalions, that the lam
guage of his newspaper had been grossly misre-
presented. In the evening of the same day, he
also had large number Of loaded muskets, and
other deadly weapons, with which he had inten-
ded to defend his Office, removed from that build
ing. And on the following mo- ming, MONDAY,
Aug. 1s,) he issued another handblI, addressed
10 the public meeting 10 assemble at / o'clock,
in which he states tba, the article in his paper
,ha. had caused all the Jisquetude was moi writ
ten and had never been read by himself, but had
been inserted by a friend who conducted the pa
per during his sickness: that the paper, from the
beginning, had not been conducted in the man
ner he could have wished; and that he proposed
in future very materially to restrict the latitude Of
discussion. These promises, however, had no ef-
fec, on the people, and a, the time appointed for
holding the meeting, three or four thousand per-
sons assembled at the court house.
The meeting having organized, an address TO
the crowd, in the name of a committee previously
appointed, was read by the Hon. T. +. Marshall
who was the writer of il. The address closed
with a series of resolutions, the substance OF
which was, that the people Of Lexington and
Fayettc would no, permit an abolition paper to
bc published in their midst that committee of
sixty, appointed by the president, should proceed
TO the office Of the True American, and, il they
met with no resistance, put up the presses and all
the other printing materials carefully in boxes,
and place them at tho railroad depot, to be trans
ported TO Cincnnaii and that, in case Of resist
ence to the committee, they should enter the Of
flee and accomplish ,hei, purpose by force The
address and resolutions were adopted ~ aceiama-
ton, not dissenting voice having been heard.
The committee Of sixty was appointed, aud
forthwith the crowd adjourned to &. NJ. Clay's
office, filling up the whole street for consldera-
bic distance On the committees approaching
the door Of the office, pledge was profIered them
in the name and behalf Of Mr.. Cl,y, that, il they
would not molest his property his papei shoolj
be Immediately discontinued. A member of the
committee replied that the proposition came loo
late, and that they must do the work for which
they were appointed. The keys, according to
the orders Of q. NJ. Clay, were then given up TO
them, they entered the office, all other persons
being excluded, and after taking possession Of ii,
sent for some of tho master printers Of the city,
and had every thing boxed up in the mos, work.
manlikc manner, and the boxes were taken to
Frankfort the next morning 10 be placed on the
first Cincinnati boat.
In the above statement We have mainly followed
the Louisville journal, the editor Of which was
at Lexington during the whole excitement, The
reader cannot but be struck with the rapidiy with
which Mr.. Clay's courage oozed out as the popu-