Iowa capitol reporter. [volume] (Iowa City, Iowa) 1841-1855, 1848-05-17

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The most extraordinary characteristic
about MIR. Clay's Card, or Letter, or Pc
tition for nomination, or Proclamation Of
acceptance-call it what you will--the
most extraordinary feature OF ii seems to
us to be the matchless arrogance of its
tone. From all that appears in the docu-
ment itself, no soul has asked him to pub
lish it. Doubtless his friends wishedliim
not to refuse nomination if offered. But
no man, woman, or child in the country,
lwho knew ANYTHING about him, OF his his
tory, or his character, ever thought that
he acodd SO refuse. His proclamation,
over his own signature, was not only ut
terly 'mcdlted tor - it was absolutely with
out any decent PRESET whatever. aH..
And coming thus UPON us, what is it on
its very face? 1t is Mr.. Claws solemn
assurance to the wings, that rather than
see them broken up and defeated, as they
must be with him, he will even forego his
hitherto carefully concealed preference
for private life, (Heaven save the mark')
and will even volunteer himself two
months beforehand, the willing victim Of
their suifrages, heretofore SO often bestow-
ed on him in vain! 1t is a new spectacle
of solicitation for the presidency. For the
presidency! Yes; or for any other Office
in the popular gift No parallel to such
a step can be found since the proud Pa
ltricians of Rome put On airs of mock hui
mility, and stood in their white vestures
(candiduh) to solicit or demand the suf-
frages of the Plebeian Tribes!
But Mr.. Clay's modesty is not at all con-
tent with urging at length to his wing
friends that they cannot do without him
at least in the ''free States" He is quite
willing-most magnanmous man that he
ls.-to pardon those short-sighted wings,
or whiglings, who had, in an unwary and
ill-advised moment, been tempted to turn
away their eyes from the wing Napoleon
OF defect, and look timidly and askance to-
wards some other man. He will gener-
ously forgive their error! Doubtless, they
fell into it, because Of their despair Of ev-
er persuading him to run! He has been
so very unwilling to be voted for before,
that they surely could not expect he would
consent again. Besides, when forced
from his retirement to plead cause--a
most opportune cause-in the Supreme
Court at Washington, he kept himself so
quiet on his way ho'ne. lie stunned the
public so, ard showed so clearly that, as
in The case Of TIE melancholy Prince Of
Denmark, '"Inan delights not him: no, nor
troaaen neiher!" After SO many and such
shrinking signs Of besottcd devotion TO
privacy, surely the error in supposing
that he would never be public man again
was natural. Hear how generously he
excuses them for it:
| 1t will be seen from what have relat.
ed, that there lcas reason 10 anticipate that
Iuoutd decline gining my consent TO the use
Of my name cgain as candidate for the
presidency Of The United States. During
perhaps, TO THIS, as rel as OTTER ccuscs,
many of my friends and fellow citizens
have avowed a preference for, and d..
rected their attention to, the distinguished
names Of other citizens Of The United S'cfes
| take pleasure in truly. declaring THAI 7
hnre no regrets to e.cFress-1.O comptaiRt3--
no reDroaches 10 make on cccount of auy
such preference, which lam fully persuad-
ed are generally founded on honest and pa
trlotic convictions. ... 3T-. -F-1
.s..,.... -. II. CLAY. 49,.
! AsuLASp, April II, 1913. 1870.
I Why, what absurd etIrontery is this
Have things come to such pass, that Mr..
Clay feels bound to assure the ''Public"
that he, has no t.'co0,plqint'' (D Or 'rs-
Pronch { y to make, because some wing
citizens may hare thought of somebody else,
for the presidency? Trucly the wings
are to be pitied! Awful, indeed, would
!. have been their plight, had not their mas
ter been turned to mercy And this is
the party which darcs to haunt before the
, public eye, and play antic tricks OF protest
u against what it calls submissionto the one
+ man-power! '."..'A''#
} Well, the crisis is over now The edict
has come forth. The fiat has been spoken.
Let the, wing stragglers now be whipped
:, in as they best may Once more let the
wing party shoulder is bruised and bat
tered idol, and tread again its beaten and
weary way of defeat. The free Suites"
demand it, and the Dictator says il !! OF
course, what can the wings Of the south
do but snccumb? And, meantime, tie DC
rnocracy--warned and simulated by the
humiliation OF their opponents-will rally
, as OF yofe, to prohouuce and register the
doom of free people upon the man-wor-.
! shipping faction Of privilege, which knows
not how to respect itself, or to preserve
its independence from being tra,npled i'm
? der the insulting feet of its seltlconstituted
Ileader!-t Mon. Is. IL 'L@ '..'.'' "
.-3-The Democrat says that during one
Of the battlas in Mexico, soldier, after
being struck by bullet, was heard to
cxchim; 'sthm last SHOT knocked all the
i Whiggery om Of me- The fair presump-
ton is, that the shot carried away a good
portion Of the fellows brains louisville
Journal $50 tr@~&T asi5 s@ ..'
! That presumtion is unwarrantable. If
1.-THE fellow had had any brains, he would
mot have had any fWhiegerry in him; lie
was undoubtedly hit in the rear.-salem
Times. f,sa~ 10 g.. s.>5,
I. what doyou call an impression?' asked
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