The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1848-04-26

n Amcr icdn has the following scorctilng and
whitening article on the letter OF Cassius M.
Clay. We add also an extract from the Louis
Vile Journal After this we do not believe
there is a man in the Union but will despis Sc
and shun him:
BLOW, blow, thou winter wind.
Thou arr not so unkind
As mans ingratitude'
We find in Yesterdays New York Courier
and Enquirer, letter from Cassius NJ. Clay.
which we hazard nothing in saying will be
read with more establishment and pain by all
people in the United States, Wings and Dem
ocrats, the friends and the enemies of Henry
| Clay, than any epistolary atrocity which was
ever before conceived in the brain of hatred or
penned by the hand of malice For the first
time in his life. the aged Statesman, the vic
tim of many wounds inflicted by the fury of
political luminosity, finds himself the object of
the sympathy of foes, because struckat last by
the dagger of one who should be a friend--one
who still signs himself, and boastfully too, "a
Wing bears the great name he now
seeks to cover with dishonor; and bearing that
name, and boasiing that title, and recalling the
memory 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 enemy
"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 Understandable, because pro-
diglous-prodigious from the intense malevo-
lence OF sentiment and expression, and The
over boiling current of hatred, gushing as from
heart where i; had been long treasured up
Tor the day of vengeance. five seek the causes
OF TINS most strange, most unnatural and most
Infamous attack, we shall find them plainly
enough expressed in the letter, and of 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
IT, because it assumes the completely of Henry
Clay In scheme of assassination. 'sWhen
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 at least, ceased to be your friend, and
became, by the necessity of my nature, your
enemy"
Ii is true, the world never before heard of
this crime of Henry 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, ap
pears to he Mr.. Clay's letter of the 10Th, an
nouncing his willingness 10 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 brieflnes
which we have quoted; while the offence of be-
ing candidate for the Presidency, is the
lgreat subject of a letter covering nearly
an entire, column of the Courier and En-
quirer.
To expatiaie upon this letter is more than we
can attempt. 1t has made our heart sick to
read it; and we would not infict similar pain
on Others. We know not how any man, a
Wing. Q Kentuckan, an American, could base
per- per and espeeisfyy he e6area ENQUIRER
Wing Journal, devoted totse-i r~<res.s 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, ''with most of itsseniiments,
and disappearing its tone, and especially could
have consented TO do so upon the flmsy pre-
text that the writer ''signed" it, sand thus
sumed the entire responsibility of what it con-
tained.' 1t bursts into notice, prodigy as to
place and time-upon the spot where, and just
the moment after, the whole population OF the
commercial metropolis OF he 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 vir-
tues.
is, indeed, shocking to all the higher feel
lings of our nature, TO think that, at perhaps
one and the same moment, the two writers
were penning their two letters,-Martin Van
Bure n, in the spirit OF a man, expressing gen
erous friendship, and Cassius NJ Clay, in the
temper of tiger deadly hostility,-and that
the friendship of the one and the ferocity ofthe
other were meant for him, the man of his time
the beloved of his country, the great, the good,
the illustrious Henry Clny.-North american.
Our readers, no doubt remember, that, soon
after the Presidential election of 1871, certain
gentlemen, generally supposed to have been
many in number, paid Mr.. Clsy's debts. The
> whole thing was done so secretly that MIR.
Cay knew nothing of the intention until it had
been carried into effect, nor was he, even then.
informed them OF the name of a solitary indi-
= vidual among the contributors. The managers
of The tan saction had the delicacy and the gen
o temanly feeling TO take particular pains that
. none but the contributors themselves should
ever know who had an agency ia it. One OBJ
lection TO the proceeding, and only one sug.
a gested itself TO rs at the time: but that one
!: struck us forcibly. 1t seemed TO us, that, j,
: any of the connbutors should any line af
forwards happen, either with or without cause
to have quarrel with Mr. Clay, they would
have it in their power to taunt him with the
n fact having assisted in the payment of hi:
debts. To be sure we knew that no gentleman
would do this, but we apprehended that there
: Knight be among the many contributors one o
more without just pretensions to that charac
ter. This apprehension, we perceive, has beer
&c realized for the first time in the person of Gas
4 sius NJ. Clay. He says tauntingly in his letter
/" We paid your debts" So now the Hon. III
Is Cay knows who one of the contributors was
aud he will of course call promptly upon Gas
sius nj. Clay fSra statement of the amount o
p his contribution, and require him to take bacl
his money. Whether Cassius, in 1914, awaited
wv IL