, 1876-08-25
THE CLAY COMPROMISE.
Ex-senator cIing'nan's Recollec-
tion3 OF a Momentous
Period.
President Taylor's Stubbornnesa..-1ntcr.
esting to Old Men and
Students.

Wasnivd7oN, Aug. 1B.-To Ns Editor Of khs
At~ 1'ork HtraId: My attention llas been called
to letter Of the Hon. Alexander II. Etcphcns
which nppenra in your paper OF The eth Inst, IN
which some references arc indie to me In cunncc-
tlot with A[essrf, Stephens R'M1 Tomts.
During Tic session vt 1850, NJ wllirll the curn-
promise tntasurrs were passed., Mr. Clay resided
1t tho National Hotel. I waa also II l,uartlcr
there, and, though opposing Mr. Clays'plau, /
WAS In communication Will, him. In fact. II
several dayh lIa.l pnsscd without my calling at
his ru1n In the evening, lie would, IN casually
meeting ME about the Capitol. say, "Whcru
have you been all this wh!lei l c1pcc, you
have been in some mischief" He would say
frequently, :" wish To hear from you ali, aud
then Will decide Tor myself."
nEAsOKIE8 WITH MH. CLAr.
During conversation ote CIV enlng I said to
h!tu thai there were three forces or obstacles TO
Its schcsnc If compromise that wure sufficient
To defeat It, viz: First, tie opposition OF il,e
an,i.*tayery party. led by such tnrn rs Mr.. Sew
ard; secnlNf. that Of the Administration OF Gen.
Taylor; and, third, that OF the sout!ern.lsght.
n,c.l. That he wnuA mt win the support OF
MIR. Sewar1's party, lMTausu thry lcsirpd to
keep up sectional ugttati"H for political ttfcct,
n.,,l wcrc opposed, therefore to any settlement,
and that as the Administration l,al piau of It's
uwn !. would rcgaed itself ns defeated IL any
either form nf settlement was n.9aptel; but that
tie Southern iucn would liz Induced 10 ct,-t,J,-
crate II certain changes were adopted In his
srhene Of adjustment. That one Of two
thugs would l'rng him Southern yotcs
--ciflIrr to cut oft the eoiItl,crr r,,rti.a,
uf California by the liuc Of f1rty.six LlttY, ur,
what ! rrcfcsrctt to let California cnnic il.
Whale, and. ns an equivalent, IN t!le western
slx thirty to the fortic,h parallel, and, nftsr
running # hack to what was The cssstnrn border
NJ Utah, then detect It To thr st,s a,nl extend
1t 10 the pncac Ocean With tile snufcr.l tnl!uh'
ary ol California. Ind M n ereerl'' 1nale u jan.
j,.ctvtl instantly tue prnpostton 10 changc the
line of The Missouri Compromise. Tie nIsn 1T
first said, " You haI aswell tnlk of dividing the
moon as California;" hit, after some further
conversation, eccsned ycld snsncwl'at, ,tllnngl.
not then announce It.
HAarf MOVEMENT nErutsEp.
A few evenings after this. on my meeting him,
he said imrstHnusly, anil with seeming dItap-
polntueut, "You were mistaken. for the South
ern Senators will not support my plan, even II
we agree to the diyisiun If California" ile
then stntcd TINT ScuatOr Footc, of AltssissIpni,
Ind that day spoken to Hunter, suule, Ynlec,
lin that such 1lnsty movement as that which
he had tried was ili-judgcd md ccrtnin to have
failed; that tisno WIS necessary to make tho
preliminary Innyrincnt which, fell confident,
would bring them iu. then explained in detail
to Mr.. Clay whit ] proposed should bc done,
1t Nas liz substance this:
GEN. rArLoK's P1n,fHEss.
Gen. Taylor, 1t was understood, WIS then con-
tcuiplatiig the use Of the army 70 settle the
dispute iii to the boundary ii Texas. There
WIS alarm at tlle prospect vi tho country being
prccip!tatcd into IL civil wnr. The southern
WhIgs especially, were excited, feeling tlIat
they had already gone rs far in their support Of
tho extreme Northern views Of their ,l'asty as
Inv, sir. Humphrey Marshall, Of Kentucky, and
othcrs, were Disposed to abandon tho Admins
tratton II ettct, II policy waB insistel On. After
finding TINT most 4 no, all, Of the m'rs mol
views,,a 4 caucus was called composed of South.
ern Wings n1one, After full interchange of
views !. wa* ayree that, proper
effort should be ,n,ude Ia induce Gen.
event Of failure % to change Ills purpose II was
evident that tho Southern Whivs, probably all
with the exception Of Mr.. Stanley, would aban-
don the Administration, cut loose from the
Northern Whig6 and act with The Democratic
party. Three ggcnt1en'en wore selected to coll
Ter With Gcn. Taylor-AIr. Charles H. Conrad,
OF Louisiana, personal friend Of Gen. Tuylor
md a Representative from Ills own Stale; Mr..
in Mexico; and Mr. roonbs, b. ,rho Ind bcen as, ore
Of tho most actiyc atd influential men IN lrillt;-
lug forward Ten. Taylor ns Presidential cll,-
llatc- In ur'aer that there might not ktc'o tu
be uny ncnacc Implied IN the movement,
should converse will Gen. TaSSior sela:
ratcly. br. Conrad frat saw him and stated
to the tlIr rcanlt nf tho Interview. Hc shil that
the President WIS nhst!nate1y fixed III llis ihE
pose, an. that his mtn., was 80 rreIu.llecd Tint
rsftnrrnf5 tha. j,fa
faetnus, and stimulated by Messrs. Clay alla
Webster from chagrln because t,e Ind super.
seeded them as a Presidential candidate, while
Cass Was lsosttu OIL account Of Ills defeat. Mr.
Marshall Foof after hah MI Interview With u
almItar result. Willis speaking nf it 10 me he
hurst into 4 s3t Of lnnc'itcr, taytB;, "Tlle old
fellow takes tho military view VI tic question;
liz said lIe had ntncty men from thu North Mnd
relative number Of Wh'g n,cin'crs frnn tha
two scct!orisa, and askes, Am To give up my
ninety 7, The North for sonT thirty tu tue
THE DEATH Or THE PRESIDENT
changed the condition uf tllr whole question,
md the calleut did not reassc,nlde ngain. The
machinery with Which thu Southern Wl.st wrrt
TO 10 detached Oh this question {ro.n thrtr
Northern associates Maa destroyed. bud felt
confident that uen. Taylor would refuse our re-
quest, untl was equally confident that 4, such \
contingency the Southern Whjgs would unite
With The Democracy North and South. and un,
der the lend u hls. Clay, aldeti by Gen.
Cass, mako q c!'nl.lpn war on lie Administfs.
tion. As Mr. Clays rrssunal inaueswc
would have brought III few Northern
Whigs Ne should have hccN nhatt twnthlr,ls ot
The Congress, aud would rasly havs entsIe1 Il
substantial ilcBslrc nf rnnhronttc. II would
hive hccn an extension If the Missouri linz 10
the Pacific, OR such a Modification ~ would
laye bccn nn Improvement. We slnn!d have
escaped the tnisclltcvnlls n,tntetrc,ltiun am.
tlEulty, which. III It's results, verified tte evil
Fhft.
katssas and Nebraska struggle, which expedited
tllu roflisIon f1ctwrrH thc h"etions many years.
an.l likewise lhc split at Charleston whttl, pre-
cipitated tho country into immediate wur.
Nit. CLAY CHANGED NlH FOR,tEY.
The tlratll If lsGll. ,rnYinr tltuw tic tssuc