The southern press., 1851-08-06
From Ms Laarsnssills Is. C.) Herald.
To Henry CLAY OF Kcutusky--Ke. 9.

To Henry Clay Of Kentusky No. 3.
SIR: In my last declared my purpose 10
drag you TO the bar Of public opinion, and to
prove to betrayed people, the perfidy Of your
conduct as statesman. shall take care that
the credbiity of the evidence adduce shall
not be impeached, even by yourself Your re-
corded acts and declarations will save me the
trouble, sif, of putting you on your poir dire, by
calling upon you to purge your conscience of the
pyramid of political transgressons," which you
have erected over the tomb of that heavenly
monitor. Had you hearkened in time TO that
still small voice, you might have saved your
country yet little while from the illiad of woes
which now so fearfully threaten its repose aud
safety. 1t is now too late for repentance. The
evils you have wrought have penetrated the
public heart, and the germs of violence and
revolution which you have planted, warmed into
life by your fostering care, are spreading the
plague spots of pestence through the land.
Fruitful in resource, prolific in the panaceas OF
compromise as you are, you have no power over
the past, and in your dying hour you will call
upon Nemesis in vain for the boon Of forgetful-
ness You may compromise a revolt, but not a
revolution. And if all your sensibilities be not
extinct, when your fates gather around your
dying couch, the poena forte et d,tra Of barbaric
punishment could add nothing to the tortures
which you must endure, and If your conscience
shall survive, when the pent-up fires which you
have kindled upon the accursed altars of your
abolition idol, shall flash their lurid glare upon
your fading vision, at the moment when the
bloody tragedy of your country's immolation
shall begin, and the praises of your name shall
be chaunted by the ministcring choir, as the
great high priest of the sacrifice. Or, will You,
sir, still faithful to the precepts of the higher
law, and its adjunct, !" rule or ruin" like Hernes
Of the burning belt, at the sepulchral of Pompei,
still, amid the smoke and fame Of your expiring
country seek to grasp the coveted object, Of
Your unballowed ambition, for which this ruin
| is wrought? Nero revelled in drunken de-
bauchery while Rome was burning. Napoleon,
intent on universal empire, looked down upon
Moscow, an ocean Of fame" Butchers Of the
human race! their thrones fioated upon sea of
blood, wrung from the hearts of their victims,
and the united voice of mankind awards to each
an Immortality of infamy. If not too late, it
would be we'll for you to profit by their exam
pie, least you should, upon different stage, and
under circumstances which admit of far less ex-
tenuation, win celebrity allied to Meris, and
adorn your brow with a chaplet from the same
laurels, and earn for yourself similar immor-
tality.
! Your accredited biographer has recorded the
! fact, that you hape neuer permitted your respect
for the Constitution 10 oblterate your feelings as
a man. What does he intend by this but to dis
close to your abolition allies, that like them, your
oath to support the Constitution is superseded
| by the paramount obligations. of higher
law" and as you entered upon the abolition arena
| in 1898, you are entitled to the immortal honor
of the authorship and paternity of the higher
law code? And have you not acted up to the
Infamous precepts of that law from that hour to
this? When, during your whole public life,
have you hesitated to pierce the Constitution
with your dagger, when its limitations opposed
barrier to your progress? When the light of
truth shall have penetrated the veil with which
you have covered the monstrous deformities of
your political principles and conduct, the judg-
ment of a coming age will award to you the
honor of being the originator and founder of the
higher law school. You are indeed the Moses
of the African Exodus; and Seward, your ac-
credited high priest, clothed with the magian
robes Of Office with which You have adorned
him, is but your disciple and humble follower,
and far your inferior in his devotion to the infer.
nal deity of the higher law canon and the tin
sci of his mystic regalia pales before the regal
splendor, of your own.
You made your debut, as an Abolitionist in
Kentucky in 1893 by writing and publishing in
the Kentucky Gazette, series of incendiary ar
ticles, over the signature of "Sc3vola." Soon
after, throwing off your incog, you headed party
Of Aboltionists during the agitationin Kentucky,
Of remodeling the constitution, and in the Ian
guage Of your biographer, ."made bold push
for the abolition of slavery, leaving lasting i'm
preston upon the public mind" In 1929, in a
speech you madejat Frankfort, KY, you used the
following language: "More than thirty years
ago, an attempt was made in this commonwealth
to adopt system of gradual emancipation. We
were overpowered by numbers. have, never
theless never ceased, and never shall cease, to
regret decision, the effects Of which has teen
to place us in The rear Of our neighbors ioho are
eremgt from sIarery Is there no remedyi They
| (the negroes) knoao nell the iorongs which h ir
ancestors suffered, although they may be unable
10 apergs hem." In your place in the Senate, in
1892, you used the following language: "No
man, presume, can fail to cherish the hope, that
at some day or other, The country 'oiH be rid of
s'dUery--ihe darkest spot on her mantle"
! Here. sir, we have model specimen Of the
cant of your abolition associates of the North
at the present day. who in their abolition conven-
tcles, but reproduce your language in their in
cendary fulminations. "You have never ceased
and never will cease to regret dicision which
has placed us in the rear OF our neghbors who
are exempt from slavery" Your preference for
Northern institutions is here boldly avowed, and
your regrets are unceasing, that you cannot abol-
ish the social institutions Of the South, and
adopt those Of the North; and in your pious
agony, like the prophet weeping over the ruin Of
his people, exclaimed with bitterness Of spirit
.fs there no remedy for the sins Of my people?
They (the negroes) know well the wrongs which
their ancestors suffered, though they may be un-
able to avenge them" Is not language like this
calculated TO ncite the slaves Of the South TO in-
surrection--to rebel against their masters, and
to wash ont in the blood Of women and children
the wrongs you tell them they endured Do you
not in terms tell them that the people Of the
South are the hereditary oppressors Of their
race, and TO them debt Of vengeance Is due,
and an att'mpt TO wreak II, by a resort to the
torch and knife, would be jnstihable, The ability
Of successful reroh being the only impeachment
suggesedl How much palmer than this have
the disciples Of Garrison and Fred. Douglass.