The Arkansas banner., 1848-05-02
From the New Fork Courier and En9sIsr. LETTER FROM CASSIUS N. CLAY.
NEw YoRK. Anril

NEW YoRx, April l3, ls4s. Hox. HENRY CLAY:
 SIR-In the Tribune of ths morning I find let- ter dated Asha nd, April 10th, lS4S, your sig nature. The letter is addIessed, presume, to the Americsn people. IfI did not know ycu well, the intervening space of three days only between its date and it's arrival here, would lead me to suspect its authenticity. If your determination to allow your name 10 go before the Philadelphia Convcn- ton as candidate for the Presidency had been in accordance merely with your wishes and individ- ual judgment, should ha re kept a respectful si- tence. But as your determination is based upon the supposed interest of the W hig party shall ven- 'ure nnasked, to add my opinion to that of the nu merous whigs 70 whom you refer. When tell You that royalty rarely heaIs the truth, you will thank no doubt, that repeat very stale dogma, if not altogether out of place in republic. Bnt there are parasites in republics as we'll as in desPoasns. and of those you have a very liberal portion just now. Were 10 claim to be your personal friend ! might better, perhaps, accomplish my purPcsrs; but as have never svowed one class of sentiment, whilst m reality holding another, Hell you frankly that although frc m my earliest youth had been something more than cold admirer of yourself, so when you started, on the lltb of August, lS45, to the Virginia Springs, leaving your frir nds and fami y to murder me in my sick bed, for viRdcating those principles which you had taught me, in your speeches, at teasf ceased to be your friend, and be- came, by the necessity of my nature, your enemy. what shall say 10 you now, then, will have the more weight, because you will see that it comes from an honest, if not an unPrejudiced man: whilst shall attempt 10 divest myself of tbe individual and speak as the menheT oi a great party.
 shall then take up your letter in its proper or der. In saving that you had Ia strong disinclina- ton 10 the use of my (yourl name in connection with that office," courtesy leads me to confne my self 10 the remark that you deceive yourself-but no one else! 5 soon as you were defeated in the last eiect'on, committee of your friends from Frankfort wdiied upon you and condoled with you on that me lanchOIy event. You responded in manser that led me, almost with the power of cer- tainty. to remark to some friends that Henry Clay is a candidate again for the presidency. Time at tests my saglcity.
 So strong was my conviction that you would be candidate, when letters read i.l the conven- ton of the "wtig frienGs of Gen. Taylor" in the State House al Frankfort, from the Hon. J. J. CIit- tenden, Hon. Charles $. Morehead and Hon. J. P. Gaines begging us not 10 nom mate Gen. Taylor, and thus push you from the track, and saying that you would on your return home retire from the canvass m the presence of the thousands there seinbled rose up and declared, that although re- spected these gentlemen, had not the least conf- dence that you would in truth Wihdlaw.
 Time attosts my sagacity. Alter you had gone on 10 New York; and delegates were chosen to the National Convention whilst you were the city's guest, and II was again asserted that you would de- cline on yoer return home, l said no, you refused
 
 have gone now, ulless you hpd determined To run for the iesidency. Time at;ests the truth of the prediction. You say that your friends represent that "ihe withdrawal of my name would be fatal to their success" If they speak 10 you, they speak different language elsewhere. have been told that all the members of Congress from our own State but told you that you could not be elec- led, and that divers others whom could name told you the same thing But if these reports be untrue, allow me to tell yoa that have heard almost uni versally that your name would again bring us de- feat. In that opinion concur, and W i'll give my reasons Btcanse am not guillless myself, and because of the had taste of the thing will not urge ohjec ions 10 your private character. Neither Will press your prestige of M luck, in saying that all the measures which you have urged upon the peo- pie, except the Missouri compromise, have been erased fiom the statute book For we lament in common, the fall of the tariff lhe bank and inter nal mp'o oyemehts, under your lead, 1 shall confne ny sell then to The question of availability.
 Three tunes have we run you and three times your name has ought us deieat So soon as Gen W. H. Harrison had brought us up from mser- a' ie minor'y, where you had ieft to aiafge lory you buried on 10 Washington. when MT Tyler tnnder Mir. Webster's lead) was doing good service to 'he country an,i parry. and by attempting to ioiee on Ain and us the 'sobsoote bank" which We had purposeiy siurred in the canvass, yon brought us to spordy mirror i'y'
 A "ions lime ago." being too old to perform the comparatively light duties of Senator, you gave the Pnblie feT. tseH address and retied from public f.fs. The democratic party by the excess of it's numbers, was at once split into widely separated fragments. Messrs. Cass, Calhoun, Van Buren, Tyler, Polk and others, were all pressing their claims with bitterness before unknown to the par ty. ''" hom the gods wish to destroy, they irst make msd'' They deiermied to bring Texas into the Union, oosreiy to break down the power of the free North. and ;s make this nation slave empire The friends of liberty rallied once more, and in spite Of your Missouri compromise, and your consistent denancaton of all real ah slauevy afiea your RaistgA letter made yoa by some fatality our candidate once more. The democratic feuds were at once cured np by the greater hatred Of Henry Clay. MT. Van Bnren. who had taken similar ground with yourself, but who could act unite the patty, was oyerthrown, and Mir. James K. reik