Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1848-04-21
CASSIUS NJ. CLAY'S RESPONSIBLE HEN
RY CLAY'S LETTER.
No. Vo,r NIL ~ rS5S

Hon. HENRY CLAY:
SrR-In the Tribune OF this morning | find a
letter dated Ashland, April 10Th, lS48, over your
signature. The letter is addressed, | presume 10
The American people. If | did not know you
well, The intervening space OF three days only be-
tween lis dale and its arrival here, would lead
me TO suspect its authenticity. II your determi-
nation TO allow your name 10 go before The Phil
adelphia Convention as a candidate tor The Pres
idenry had been in accordance merely with your
wishes and individual judgment, | should have
kept a respectful silence. But as your de,ermi.
nation is based upon The supposed interest OF the
Wig party, ] shall venture u%nasked, TO odd my
opinion 10 that of The numerous Wings 10 whom
you refer. When | tell you that royalty rarely
hears The truth, you will think, no doubt, lha, !
repeat a very stale dogma, if not altogether out OF
place in a republic. But there are parasites in
republics as we'll as in despolisms, and Of those
you have a very liberal portion Just now. Were
| 10 claim 10 be your personal friend, ] might bet
Ter, perhaps, accomplish my purposes; but as |
have never avowed one class OF sentiments
whilst in reality holding anoher, tell you frank.
ly that, although from my earliest youth | had
been something more than a cold admirer OF
yourself, so when You started, on the l4th oil
August, l645, TO The Virginia Springs, leaving
your friends and family 10 murder me in my sick
bed, for vindicalins those principles which you
had taught me, in your speeches, at last. | ceas-
ed 10 be your friend, and became, By The necessi.
" If my nature, your enemy. What | Shall say
TO you now, then, will have the more weie hi, be-
cause you will see that, it comes rom an honest,
if not an unprejudiCcd man; whilst | shall AZ.
tempt 10 divesl myself Of The individual and
speak as the member OF a great party.
shall then take up your letter in lis proper or
der. In saying tbaiyou had "a strong disinclina-
ton 10 the use OF my (ynurl name in connection
with that office" courtesy leads me 10 coutine my
sell 10 he remark lha! you deceive yourseli-but
no one else! So soon as you were defeated in
The last elcciia II, a mi OF your friends from
Frankfort waited upon You and condoled with
you on that melancholy event. You responded
in a manner lha, led me, almost with the power
OF certainty, to remark to some friend that Henry
Clay is a candidate again for The Presidency
Time altes,s my sagacity.
So strong was my conviction that yon would
be a candidate, when letters we're read in the Con-
venlion OF 'the Wing friends Of Gen. Taylor" in
The Stale House al Frankfort, from The Hon. j..
| Cfitrnden, HoA. Ch. S. Morehead and Hon. j.
2. Gaines, begging us not 10 nominate Gen. lay.
| lor, and thus push you from the track, and say
ing that you would on your return home retire
from The canvass, in The presence Of The thousands
there assembled, | rose up and declared that al.
though | respected these gentlemen, | had not the
least confidence that you would in truth Withdraw.
Time attests my s~asacity. After you had gone
on 10 New YORK, and delegates were chosen 10 the
National Convention whilst you were the eiiy's
guest, and it was again asserted that you would
decline on your return home, | said no; you re.
fused TO go 10 New York last summer, you wonld
no, have gone nov, unless you had determined
to run Tor the Presidency. Time auests the
truth OF The prediction. You say lha, your
friends represent that "lhe withdra wal OF my
name would be fatal TO their success" Ii they
so speak to you, they speak a different language
elsewhere. have been told that all the member:
Of Congress from our own Stale, but one, told
you that you could not be elected, and that diver.
others whom | could name, told you the same
thing. But, j. these reports be untrue, allow mi
TO Tell you that ! have heard almost universally
that your name would again bring US defeat. II
tha, opinion | concur, and | will give you my
reasons. Because | am not guillless myself, anc
because OF The bad lasle o. the thing, will no
urge objections 10 your private character. Mel
ther will / press your prestige Of i'll luck, in say
inc that all the measures which you have urged
upon the people, except The Missouri compro
mise. have been erased from The statute book
For we lament in common the fall Of the tariff
The bank, and internal improvements, under you
lead shall confne myself then TO The question
of availability. Three lines have we run you
and three times your name has brought US de
feat! So soon as Gen. w. Fl. Harrison hac
brought us up from a miserable minority, where
YOU had left us, to a large majority, you hurried
on 10 Washington, when Mr.. Tyler under Mr.
Webster's lead was doing good service 10 the
country and party, and by attempting to force on
him and us The "obsolele Bank" which we hat
p~urposeIy slurred in the canvass, you brought u
10 a speedy minority!
A tlong time ago" being TOO old to perform
The comparatively light duties OF Senator, yol
from public life. The Democratic parry BY lh'