Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1856-06-21
WHOLE NO. sos.

WHOLE No. sos.
From the Louisville Journal.
Henry Clay and Janos Baohanan.
We hope that what We are now about 70 write
WIN command the attention Of all honest and hon
orabie men and especially of olJ-lins Whl~n IN,
former supporters Of Henry Clay and the prcssnI
rsverers OF his memory. The boast hss heen mall
that the old-line Wings will % general ruls e,,n
port Mr.. Buchanan for the Presidency. We shsI
zee. -.
All Of our old politicians have vivid recolIec.
ion o. the Leading events Of the election Of Presi
dent by the House q Representative IN the early
part Of 1898. Mr.. Qay was thsn member of the
House and he cast HE vots and lnAusncs IN favor
Of John Quincy Adams, who was elected over
Gen. Jackson and Mr. Cnw}bed NJ. Clav was
subsequently, selected by Mr.. Adams - Nh 6ecye.
t.ry OF State. AZ later period Nr. Clay was
chafgcd by his political enemies wish having sold
his vote 70 NJ. Adams for the Sscrstaryship, and
we - know that this cruel and moustsous charge,
though abundantly rsfdtsd In every form In which
rsfatatton was pos6ibls or conceivable involved 10
great extent the ruin Of Mr.. Cay's polisical for.
tunes. But for that charge, he would Afterwards
have been elected President of the United States
almost by exclamation.
Foremost among those who charged that Mr..
Gays vote was given to Mr.. Adsms on account of
promise OF the secretaryship Of State was Gen.
jackson. The General gave the namS of Nr. IN.
chanan as his authority for the truth Of the charre.
Ar; buchanan had held private conversation
with him upon the subject, making such state
ments as lesf M dnrhs .ron the subject in the
Genersl,s .a'nd. In fact, the General dil -..snsh
sn had come - b MAJ authority from Mr.
Clay or bis friends to propose terms % nm y ae.
laton 70 tneir y8fes. e \. r~orld rrovuiae
o,s,oa N Mr.. Clay OF course, Mr.. Buchanan was
s.iicd on to put into the form of letter what ne
knew upon the subject, and what he had stated 10
Gen. Jackson He accordingly wrote the letter
which afterwards became famous in the controver-
sy The letter was most adroitly written, with
view to relieve the author from the excessively
painful position in which he stood. lie dared DOT
say that he ever had any authority from Mr.. Clay
or his friends to propose terms TO Gen. jackson,
yet he carefully SO shaped his language as to af-
ford Mr. Clay's political enemies pretext Tor re
| peating the atrocious calumny against him. He
expressed his own belief of the bargain and cor
| ruption story. He said:
| "The facts are before the scorid that Mr.. Clay
and has particular friends made Mr.. adams Pres
idcnt, and Olay Secretary of State. The people
and the circumstances connected NTH IL. They sviH
Judge Of the cause from the sfest"
Mr.. Clay and his friends regarded Mr.. Buchan-
ans letter as exculpating him and them fom the
charge of having authorized Mr.. b. to propose
terms to General jackson in relation to their votes
and 80 indeed it did And yet it was so cunningy
written that the whole of Mr.. Clays political ene-
mics throughout the nation considered it and
! treated il not as a vndication Of the Kentucky
statesman but as " confirmation strong" Of the
truth of the accusation against him. Thus the
whole calumny originated in Mr.. Buchanan's state
| ment to General jackson, and, when the author Of
the statement was required by jackson or his or
gan to write it out in the shape of letter, he SO
performed the appointed task, as, while shrinking
from any direct confirmation of the impression he
had previously given to Gen. jackson, to afford a
pretext to the whole Jackson party to assail Mr.
Clay as traitor to his country, and there was not
jackson newspaper or jackson politician In the
aation that did not treat Mr.. Buohanans letter as
evidence OF bargain, intrigue, and corruption be-
tween Mr.. Adams and Mr.. Clay.
The specific charge, as already stated, which
was made against Mr.. Clay, and which Mr.. Buchan-
an was cited as a witness to prove, was that Mr. @.
had proposed to make General jackson President
IL he himself could be Secretary Of State. This
charge, involving the inference that Mr.. Clay did
vote for Mr.. Adams for the promise OF the Secre-
| taryship, was the charge by means of which the
party, that Mr. Buchanan then acted with and ever
afterwards acted WITH broke down the greatest and
best man of his age. And now, fellow-country-
men, we ask you to mark the final development OF
Il
suggesting to Mr. Buchanan during the pendency
of the Presidential election in the House OF Rep
rescntafives in 1925 that he and his friends would
support General jackson If he could have the Sec
retaryship Of State under him, Mr. Buchanan him
self actually sought Mr.. Clay, and, in the presence
of q third gentleman, explicitly declared to him,
| that in the event of his voting for General Jack
son and the election Of the latter, he would have
the Secretaryship. Mr.. Clay's intimate personal
friends often heard him make this statement in the
after wears of his life, and we, with half dozen
Others heard him say in the Presidential campaign
of 1874 that he would not be willing to die without
leaving Il on record. And he did not die without
leaving It on record. A few years ago Mr.. Calvin
Cotton published the Life of Henry Clay, in the
preparation of which he visited Ashland and had
free access to many Of Mr.. Clays private papers
He devoted considerable portion of his book %
the old bargain intrigue and corruption story, and
Mr. Clay wrote out one passage Of it with his own
hand That passage was incorporated in the vol
ume word for word as it came from the venerable
statesman's pen. Let the American people read
1t and ponder upon it. Here it is:
Some time in January, eighteen hundred and
twenty -ye and not long before the election Of Pres
| ident OF the United States by the House of Repre-
| sentatiyes the Hon. James Buchanan, then a mem
Der Of the House. and afterwards many years Sena
tor of the United States from Pennsylvania, who hsc
been q Jealous and influential supporter OF Genera
jackson in the preceding canvass and was supposed
TO enjoy his unbounded confidence called at the lodg
ings OF Mr.. Clay, in the city of Washington MT
Clay was at the time in the room OF ms on,y mess
mate in the House, his intimate and confdentia
friend the Hon. r. p. Letcher, since Governor OF
Kentucky, then also member of the House. Snortly
after Mr. Buchanan's entry into the room ne INTRO
dnced the subject of the approaching Presdentin
election and spoke of the certainty of the election o
his fayorite, adding that be would form the most
splendid cabinet that the country had ever had Mr.
Ietcber asked how could he have one more distin
guished than that of Mr.. Jefferson, in which were
both Madison and Galatnp Where would he b
able to find equally eminent men3 Mr.. buchanan
L mt Of fhcr n Sec