Evansville weekly journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 184?-18??, 1848-04-27
blow, blow, thou winter windi
Thou art not so unkind
As mans inpratitude.

Wing who bears the great name he now
seeks to cover with dishonor; and bearing that
name, and boasting that title, and recalling the
of the affection of 1874, exults, public
ly, in the face of the world, that he is now, by
by the necessity of his nature, the enema
''of the man whom he once loved and veneer
ated"
The change of feeling is miracle; the letter
appears to be an insanity, the character of the
assault is wholly Undesirable, because pro-
digious- prodiglous from the intense malevo-
lence of sentiment and expression, and the
over boiling current of hatred, gushing as from
a heart where i; had been long treasured up
for the day of vengeance. five seek the causes
of this most strange, most unnatural and most
infamous attack, we shall find them plainly
enough expressed in the letter, and of a two
fold complexion. The original, or remote,
cause, as pretended, is one that shocks the mo-
raj sense of every true-hearted man that reads
1t, because 1t assumes the completely of Henry
Clay in scheme of assassination. 'fWhen
you started, on the 18th of August, 1915, to
the Virginia Springs" says the audacious ac-
cuser, leaving your friends and family to
murder mein my sick bed, for indicating those
principles which you had taught me, in your
speeches atleast, ceased to be your friend, and
became, by the necessity of my nature, your
enemy"
1t is true, the world never before heard of
this crime ofHenry Clay, or of this hatred of
the criminal by the intended victim. A second
provocation was required to goad the latter to
retaliation; and the second cause, therefore, APP
pears to be Mr.. Clay's letter of the 10th, an
nouncing his willingness to accept the Wing
nomination for the Presidency. That this lat
ter crime is even greater than the former, APP
pears from the fact that the offence of murder
GUS intention is revenged in the few brieflines
which we have quoted; while the offence of be-
ing candidate for the Presidency, is the
great subject of a letter covering nearly
an entire column of the Courier and En-
quirer.
To expatiate upon this letter is more than we
can attempt. 1t has made our heart sick to
read it; and we would not inflict similar pain
on others. We know not how any man, a
Wing, Kentuckian, an American, could have
written it. We know not how even any pa
per, and especially the Courier & Enquirer, a
Wing Journal, devoted to the interests of Gen
eral Taylor, who, we are sure, will be among
the first to lament and denounce it, could have
ever consented to print, it "disagreeing," as it
confesses it does, s'with most of It's sentiments,
and disappearing its tone, and especially could
have consented to do so upon the flimsy pre-
text that the writer ''signed' it, sand thus as
sumed the entire responsibility of what it con-
tained.9 1t bursts into notice, a prodigy as to
place and time-upon the spot where, and just
the moment after, the whole population OF the
commercial metropolis of the Union had done
homage to the pure and lofty character of Mr.
Clay, and while that whole city was ringing
with the honorable testimonial which his great
political antagonist, Martin Van Buren,, had
borne to his manly character and exalted viz
tues.
tits, indeed, shocking to all the higher feel
ings of our nature, to think that, at perhaps
one and the same moment the two writers
were penning their two letters,--Martin Van
Buren,, in the spirit ola man, expressing gem
erous friendship, and Cassius NJ. Clay, in the
temper of tiger, deadly hostility,-and that
the friendship of the one and the ferocity the
other were meant for him, the man of his time,
the beloved of his country, the great, the good,
the illustrious Henry Clay.-North american.
Our readers, no doubt remember, that, soon
after the Presidential election of 1914, certain
gentlemen, generally supposed to have been
many in number, paid Mr.. Clays debts The
whole thing was done so secretly that Mr.
Clay knew nothing ofthein intention until it had
been carried into effect, nor was he, even then,
informed them OF the name of solitary indi-
vldual among the contributors The managers
OF the transaction had the delicacy and the gen
tlemanly feeling to take particular pains that
none but the contributors themselves should
ever know who had an agency in it. One OBJ
lection to the proceeding, and only one, sug-
gested itself 10 us at the time; but that one
struck us forcibly. 1t seemed to US, that, il
any of the contributors should at any time af-
| forwards happen, either with or without cause
to have quarrel with Mr. Clay, they would
har in thair IL,
fact of having assisted in the payment of his
debts. To be sure we knew that no gentleman
would do this, but we apprehended that there
might be among the many contributors one Oh
more without just pretenslons to that charac-
| ter. This apprehension, we perceive, has been
realized for the first time in the person of Cas-
sius NJ. Clay. He says tauntingly in his letter
&c We paid your debts" So now the Hon. H.
/ Clay knows who one of the contributors was
and he will of course call promptly upon Gas
slus NJ. Clay for statement of the amount o.
his contribution, and require him to take bach
his money. Whether Cassius, in 1874 availeC
himself of the opportunity of secretly laying
Mr.. Clay under pecuniary obligation with the
view of being able TO taunt him with it upor
some future occasion, knowing at the same
time that the illustrious statesman would scorr
to accept such an obligation from him fawart
of its source, is more than we are prepared tC
say.
Cassius NJ Clay in his letter avows that he
is Mr. Clay's personal enemy, and that he has
from the necessity Of his nature, been so eve
since August, 1915. This certainly seems
strange, viewed in connection with matter
which, ever since Cassius NJ. Clay's return from
Mexico, has been freely spoken ofin Kentucky
| A Kentucky officer, Lieut. Davidson, who wa
captured with G. M. Clay and others by tn,
Mexicans at Encarnacion, stated, that upor
their being made prisoners, Capt. c. NJ. Cha!
protested earnestly la Spanish to the Mexican
commander that he was the son of the Hon
Henry Clay who was at the head of the peace
party in the United States, and that, if he wer
TO be killed, his illustrious father and the who'll
peace party would turn against Mexico and ex
ecute terrible vengeance Upon her. Now it al
most seems as if there must be some mistake
about this thing, for we should hardly suppos
that Cassius NJ. Clay, for the sake of his breatl
the paltry modicum of atmospheric air that oe
in and out at his nose, would pass himself OF
upon an unsupported foreigner as the son of
man to whom he avows himself an enemy
We can imagine but one explanation of tn