Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-07-02
NO. XXXII.

ell to utter fact and rot opinion. lie undertook
to assert, ms from authority, that General Jack
son wonld form the most splendid cabinet the
country had ever had, and that Mr.. Clay, if he
should support him, would be his Secretary Of
State.
Mr. Clay stated in the passage he wrote out
for Colton's biography OF him, that, while he
was so hotly assiiled with the charge ofbargain
and corruption during the Adams administra-
ton, he notified Mr.. Buchanan OF his intention
to publish the occurrence in question, but was
induced by that gentlenan's earnest entreaties
to forbear doing so. Mr.. Cotton said in his Lio-
graphy that he had understood that several
times in later years Mr.. Clay had intimated to
Mr. Buchanan that it might be his duty to put-
lish the facts, and that he was dissuaded from it
by Mr. Buchanan We also know that Mr..
Clay often between 1925 and 1915 contemplated
publishing the facts, and was vehemently urged
by his political friends to DO so as matter OF
justice, not merely to his own fame, but to his
party, and that he was prevented only by MIR.
| Buclianans entreaties. Governor Letcher. who
was present at the interview in January, 1927,
and heard all that passed, was always of the o.
9pjpon that Mr.. Clay ought to make the pubca-
ftiQh and often told him SO, but Mr.. Clay was
long suffering, and carried his generosity too far.
Mr.. Letcher, it seems, after the interview OF
January, 1926 relieved Mr.. Buchanans appre-
hension by the assurance that he would not
publish the facts of the interview without Mr..
Buchanan's consent. But SO strong and deep
was Mr.. Letcher's conviction that the facts
ought TO be published, that he wrote to Mr. Buc-
hanan upon the subject during the great Presi-
dental conflict of 1914, declaring, however. in
his letter that he would not violate the pledge
he had originally given. Mr.. Buchanan replied,
| L.. IL fta
observance of the pledge. The reply was made
with Mr.. Buchanar's characteristic cunning,and
we give it below entire. One might think, from
the language of his letter, that he had no distinct
recollection of the conversation with Mr.. Clay
in Mr.. Letcher's room in January, 1925, and
| yet that very conversation, exceedingly eInpha-
tical as it was, had been, from the very first and
through all the ensuing years, matter OF the
deepest anxiety and even agitation to Mr.. Bsc-
hanan, who, as Mr.. Clay has testified under his
own hand, had earnestly entreatcd that it might
not be given to the world. Here is Mr.. Buc-
hanan's letter to Mr.. Letcher: 6
GM'. buchanan to X. p. Letcher.]
LANCASTER, June 81, 1874
My DEAI SIR:-I this moment received your
very kind letter. land hasten to give it an answer.
| cannot perceive what good purpose it would
subserve Mr. Clay to publish the private and un-
reserved conservation to which you refer.
was then his ardent friend and admirer; and
much of this ancient feeling still survives, not.
withstanding our political differences since. l
did him ample justice, but no more than justice,
both in my speech on Chiltons resolutions and
in my letter in answer to Gen. Jackson.
| have not myself any very distinct recollec-
ton of what transpired in your room nearly
twenty years ago. but doubtless | expressed
strong wish to himself, as had done hundred
times to others, that lie might vote for General
Jackson, and il he desired il, bscoine his Secre-
tary of State. Had he voted for the General,
in case of his election, | should most certainly
have exercised any influence might have pos
sessed to accomplish this result and this
should have done from the most disinterested,
friendly, and patriotic motives.
This conversation of mine, whatever it may
have been, can never be brought home to Gen.
Jackson. | never had but one conversation with
him on the subject of the then pending election,
and that upon the street, and the whole of it
rer6atim ct iteratim, when comparatively fresh
upon my memory, was given to the public in
my letter of August, 1927 The publication,
then of this private conversation could serve no
other purpose than to embarrass Inc and force
me prominently into the pending contest-which
desire to avoid. ftls
''You told me explicitly that you did not feel ut
liberty to give the conversation alluded to, and
would not do so, under any circumstances with
out my express permission" In this You acted,
as you have ever done, like man of honor and
principle.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
To show how the terrible exposition made
by Mr. Clay in Colton's biography of him was
regarded at the time, we may mention the fact
that, when it appeared, all the Democratic or
gans were startled by it. Mr.. Buchanan was
then no candidate for office, and on that account
it created less powerful impression than it
would otherwise have done. but We wildly re-
member the sensation manifested by the DEM
ocratic papers, especially those OF Pennsylvania.
We copied into the Journal an article from the
most prominent and influential OF them ll,declal
ing,as several of the rest did, that Mr. Buchanan
must respond to and refute the charge made a.
gainst him or expect to be dispensed with by
his party. And we and hundreds OF other Wing
editors called upon him and defed him to re-
spond while vet Henry Clay and r. p. Letcher
were both living to meet any denial or equi.o-
cation that he might put forth. But he replied
not. He uttered no word lie could not be in
duced either by the warning threats of political
| friends or the loud defiance and demands of m-
litical opponents to open his mouth. llnmbly
lie bore from the greatest man then living upon
the earth published charge, Which, If true, ex-
bibted the most irredeemable infaniy on his
part.
And now we ask the old friends of Henry
Clay, we ask the Old-Line Wings, we ask all
honorable men. we ask the whole American
people, what they think of James Buchanan and
how they mean to act toward him o what %
shame, what a burning shame, what an ever
lasting shame it would be if the American ma
ton, after having thrice rejected Henry Clay
from the Presidency on account of charge Of
bargain and corruption resting on the alleged
authority of James Buchanan, and all because
Mr.. Clay listened to the earnest prayers of Mr.
Buchanan, the real proposer of bargain and cor
ruption and spared him for nearly the lifetime
of generation, were now to elect that same
Mr. Buchanan to the Presidency. Truly it would
be almost enough to make man sick Of his
species.
MAKING NEEDLE-Needes are made Of
steel wire. The wire is first cut by shears from
coils into the length of the needles to be made.
After batch of such bits of wire are cut off
they are placed in a hot ftrnance, then taken
out and rolled backward and forward on table
until they are straight. They are now TO be
ground. The needle pointer takes up two dozen
or so of the wires, and rolls them between his
thumb and fingers with their ends on the GRIND :
stone, first one and then the other Next Is a
machine which fattens and cutters the heads of
ten thousand needles an hour. Next comes
the punching of the eyes; and a boy does it so
fast the eye can hardly keep pace with him.
The splitting follows, which is running a fine
wire through dozen, perhaps of these twin
needles.
A woman, with little anvil before her, files
between the heads and separates them They
are nov complete needles, but are rough and
rusty, and they easily bend. The hardening
comas neyt They are heated In hntchor e., %