Western Sun & General Advertiser, Volume 16, Number 12, Vincennes, Knox County, 7 May 1825 — Page 1

WESTEKN SUN & (KENEK a; BY ELIHU STOUT. VINCENNtfS, (IND.) SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1825. Vol. 16. No. is k

i '

E ) V; I 1 7 L'r

THE.fFESTERNSUV, IS nublished at Two Dollars and

FIFTY cents, for Fifty Tvto A'umbers, TThich may be discharged by the payment of TWO DOLLARS at the time of Subscription. Payment in advance being themutual interest of both parties, that mode is solicited. A failure to notify a wish to discontinue at the expiration of the time subscribed for, will be considered a new engagement. No subscriber at liberty to discontinue until all arrearages are paid. Subscribers must pay the postage of their papers sent by mail. Letters by mail to the Editor on business must be paid, or they will not be attended to. Advertisements inserted on the customary terms. fePersons sending Advertisements, must specify the number of times they wish them inserted, or they will be continued until ordered out, and must be paid for accordingly. MR. CLAY'S LETTER. To the fieofile of the Congressional District comfiosed of the counties of Fay -ette, Woodford and Clarke in Kentucky. The relation of your representative and cf your neighbor in which I have so long stood, and in which I have experienced so many strong proofs of your confidence, attachment and friendship, having just been, the one terminated, and the other suspended. I avail myself of the occasion on taking, I hope a temporary leave of you, to express my unfeigned gratitude for all your favours, and to assure you that I shall cherish a fond and unceasing recollection of them The extraordinary circumstances in which, duting the late session of Congress, I have beeo placed, and the unmerited animadversions which I have brought upon myself, for an honest and faithful discharge of my public duty, form an additional motive for this appeal to your candour and justice. If, in the office which I have just left, 1 have abused your confidence and betrayed your intetests, 1 cannot deserve your support in that on the duties which I have entered. On the contrary, should it ap pear that I have been assailed without just cause, and that misguided Zealand interested passions have singled m out as a victim, I cannot doubt that 1 shall continue to find, in the enlightened tribunal of the public, that cheering countenance and impartial judgment, without which a public servant cannot possibly discharge with advantage the trust con fided to him. It is known to you, that my name had been presented, by the respectable states of Ohio, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Missouri, for the office of President, to the American public, and that it had attracted some attention in other quartet s of the Union. When, early in November last took my departure from the district to repair to this city, the issue of the Presidential election before the people was unknown. Events however, had then so far transpired as to render it highly ptobable that there w uld be no election by the people, and that I should be excluded 'from the House of Representatives. It became therefore, my duty to consider, and to make up an opinion on, the respective pretensions of the three gentlemen that might be returned, and at that early period I stated to Dr. Drake, one ol the Professors in the Medical School of Transylvania University, and to John J. Crittenden, Esq of Frankfort, my determination to support Mr. Adams in preference to Gen. Jackson. I wrote to Charles Hammond, Esq. of Cincinnati, about the same time, and mentioned certain objections to the election of Mr Crawford, (among which was that of his continued ill health) that appeared to be almost insuI pcrable. During my journey hither, and ' up to near Christmas, it remained uncer- ' ain whether Mr. Crawford or I would be returned to the House of Representatives. Up to near Christmas, all our information made it highly probable that the vote of Louisiana would be given to me, and that I should consequently be returned to the exclusion of Mr. Craw ford. And whilst that probability was strong, I communicated to Mr. Senator Johnston, from Louisiana my resolution not to allow my name, in consequence of the small number of votes by which it would be carried into the house, if I were returned, to constitute an obstacle, for one moment, to an election in the House of Representatives. During the month of December,

the greater part of January, strong pro-' fesstons of high consideration, and of un- -bounded admiration oL me, were made to my friends in the greatest profusion, by some of the active friends ot all the returned candidates. Every body protessed to. regret, alter I was excluded from the House, that 1 had not been returned to k. I seemed to be the favorite of every. body. Describing my situation to a distant friend I said to him, I am enjoying whilst alive the posthumous honors which are usually awarded to the venerated dead." A person not acquainted with human nature would have been sui ptised in listning to these praises, that the object of them had not been elected by general acclamation. None made more or warmer manifestations of these sentiments of esteem and admiration, than some of the Iricndsof Gen. Jackson. None were so reserved as those of Mr. Adams; under an opinion, (as I have learnt since the election) which they early imbibed, that the western vote would be influenced by its own sense of public duty; and that if its judgment pointed to any other than Mr. Adams, nothing which they could do would secure it to him. These professions and manifestations were taken by me lor what they were worth. 1 knew that the sun beams would quickly disappear after my opinion should be ascertained, and that they would be succeeded by a storm; although I did not foresee exactly how it would burst upon my poor head. I found myself transformed from a candidate before the people. I deliberately examined the duties incident to this new attitude, and weighed all the facts belore me, upon which my judgment was to be formed or reviewed. If the eagerness of any of the heated partisans of the respective candidates suggested a tardiness in the dec

laration of my intention, I believed that the new relation, in which I was placed , to the subject, imposed on me an obligation to pay some respect to delicacy and decorum Meanwhile that vciy reserve supplied aliment to newspaper criticism. The i critics could not comprehend how a matt, ' standing as I had stood towards the other ' gentlemen, shoud be restrained, by a sense of propriety, from instantly fighting under the banners of one of them, against the others Letters were issuer from , he manufactory at Washington, to come ;

back, after performing long journeys, for Washington consump;ion. These letters

imnnted tn "Mr. Clav and bis friends a. i

mysterious air, a portentous silence" Stc. From datk and distant hints the progress was easy to open and bitter denunciation. Anonymous letters, full of menace and abuse, were almost daily poured in on me. Personal threats were communicated to me, through friendly organs, and I was kindly apprised of all the gloriesof village effigies which awaited me. A systematicattack was simultaneously commenced upon me from lioston to Charleston, with an object, present and future, which it was impossible to mistake. No man but myself could know the nature, extent, and variety of means which were employed to awe and influence me. I bore theni, I trust, as your representative ought to have borne them, and as became me. Then followed the letter, afterwards adopted as his own by Mr. Krcmer, to the Columbian Observer With its character and contents you are well acquainted. When I saw that letter, alleged to be written by a member of the very house over which I was presiding; who was so far designated as to be desciibed ai belonging to a particular delegation, by name, a member with whom I might be daily exchanging, at least on my part, friendly salutations, and who vrus possibly receiving from me constantly acts of courtsey and kindness, I felt that I could no longer remain silent. A crisis appeared to me to have arisen in my public life. I issued mv card. I ought not to have put in it

the last paragraph, because, although it : does not necessarily imply the resort to a ( personal combat, it admits of that conI struction; nor will I conceal that such a possible issue was in my contemplation. I owe it to the community to say, that whatever I may heretofore have done, or. by inevitable circumstances, might" be forced to do, no man in it holds in deeper abhorrence than I do. that pernicious practice Condemned as it must be by the judgment and ph'losophy, to say nothing of the religion, of every Ihinking man, it is an affair ot feeling about which we cannot, although wc should, reason Its true corrective will be found when all shall unite, in its unqualified proscription. A few days after the publication of my Card, "Another Card under Mr. Krc-

mers name, was published in the Intel- ; ligencer. The night before, as I was voluntary informed, Mr Eaton, a Senator from Tennessee, and the lliographer of Gen. Jackson, (who boarded in the end of ibis ci'y opposite to that in which Mr. Kt emertook up his abode, a distancce of . about two miles and a hal ) was closeted some lime with him. Mr. Krcmer is entitled to great credit for having overcome all the disadvantages, incident to his early life and want of education, and forced his way to the honorable station of a menn her of the House of Representatives. , Ardent in his attachment to the cause which he had espoused, Gen. Jackson is ' his idol, and ol his blind zeal others have availed themselves, and have made him their dupe- and their instrument I do i not pretend to know the object of Mr. ! Eaton's visit to him. I state the fact, as it was communicated to me, and leave you to judge. Mr. Kremcrs card is com- j posed with- some care an&l no little art, I and he is made to avow in it, though somewhat equivocally, that he is the au- !

thor of the letter to the C olumbian Observer. . To Mr. Crowninstiieid. a member of Massachusetts, formerly Secretary of the Navy, he declared that he was not

the author of that letter In his Card, j he draws a clear line of separation be- j twecn my friends and me, acquitting them ! and undertaking to make good his char- I ges, in that letter, on'y so lar as I was concerned. The purpose of his discrimination is obvious. At that time 'he c- , lection was undecided, and it was there j fore as important to abstain from impu- ; tations against my ftiends, as it wut pol- , itic to fix them upon me. Iftheycouid be made to believe that I had been perfidious, in the transport of their Indigna- 1 tion, they might have been carried to the support of Gen. Jackson. I I rccived the National Intelligencer, containing Mr. Krcmer's card, at break- : fast, (the usual time of its distribution) on ' the morning of its publication. As socn as I read the card I took my resolution , The terms of it clearly implied that it had j hot entered into bis conception to have a j personal affair with me; and I should nave i just'y exposed myself to universal ridicule, if I had sought one with him. I determined to lay the matter beloie the ; house and respectfully to invite an investigition of my conduct. I accoidmgly I made a communication to the house, on the same day, the motives for which I had assigned. Mr. Krcmer was in his place, and, when I sat down, rose and stated that he was prepared and willing to substantiate his charges against me. This was his voluntary declaration, unprompted by . his aiders and abettors, who had no opportunity of previous consultation with him on that point. Here was an issue publicly and solemnly joined, in whkh the accused invoked an inquiry into serious charges agai st him and the accuser professed an ability and a wi;iign-.ss to establish them A. debate ensued, on the next day, vhich occupied t' -great er part of it, du.ing which Mr. K.emcr declared to Mr. Brent, of Louiua-M, a friend of mine, and to Mi Little, of la ryland, a friend of Gen Jackson, as they have certified, "that be never intended to charge .Mr Clay with corruption or dishonor, in his intended vote for Mr Adams as President, or that he had trans- j fcrred, cr could transfer, the votes or in- I tcrcst of his friends; that he (Mr. Krc mer) wasamong the last men in the na- : tion to m ike such a charge against Mt . Cy; and that his letter was never intended to convey the idea given to it." j Mr. Diggcs, a highly respectable Inhab- j itant of this citv.has cet'ifud to the same ,

declarations of Mi. Krcmer. A message was also conveyed to me, daring the discussion, tin ongh a n ember of the house, to ascertain if I would be satisfied with an cxplan ttion which was put on paper and shown me, and which it was stated Mr Krcmer was willing, in his place, to make. I replied that the matter was in the possession of the house. 1 was afterwards told that Mr. Ingham, of Pennsylvania, got hold of tha? paper, put it in his pf-cket, and that he advised Mr Kremcr to take no step without the apnrohatinn of his friends. Mr. Cook, of Illinois, m vrd nn adjonrnment of the house, on information which be received of the probability of Mr. K's making a satisfactoty atonement, on the next day. for the injuiy which he had done me, which I have no doubt he would have made, if he had been left to the impu! scs of his native bursty. Tfce house decided to refer nn communication to a committee, and adjeurned until the next day to appoint it by ballot. In the mean

time Mr. Krcmer had taken, I presume or rather there had been forced upon him the advice ofA friends, and I heard no more of the apology A commute was appointed of seven gentlemen, of whom not one was my political friend, but who were among the most eminent members cf the body. T received no summons or notification from the committee from its first organization to its final dissolution, but Mr. Krcmer-was called upon by it to bring forward his prools. For one moment be pleased to stop here and contemplate his posture his relation to the house and to me, and obligations under which he had voluntarily placed himself. He was a member of one of the most august assemblies upon earth, of which he was bound to to defend the purity, or expose the cortuption, by every consideration which ought to influence a patriot bosom. A most responsible and highly important constitutional duty was to be performed by that assembly. He had chosen, in an anonymous letter, to bting against its presiding officer charges, in respect to that duty,ola most flagitious character. I heso charges cempichcndcd delegations from several highly respectable stales. II true, that presiding officer merited not merely to be dragged Irom the chair, but to bo expelled the house. He challenges ari investigation into his conduct, and Mr. Kreiner holdly excepts the challenge, and promises to sustain his accusation. The committee, appointed by the house itself, with the common conse nt of both parties, calls upon Mr. Kremer to execute his pledge, publicly given in his place, and al.o picviousiy givm in the public prints. Hcic is the. the lire of the alleged arrangements; this the vein ge in ucli the trii:i ought to take placj . E.a i ing was neie fiesh if. the rccoiiCi tiot. ( iho witnesses, il theie wctt any. He?e all tht proofs wen: tence hiratcd. M Kemer Was s'in.u1 tcil by eveiy r -ti. which could imp; tu aetirn. by cot- stency of character; by duty ii. his coi siituents to his country; by that ol re d '.ruing iiis pledge; by his anxious wi for the sucesssof his favorite, who-.ein ercs?s could not fail to be advai ced by supporting his atrocious chaigts Mr. Kicrmr had now the bemfil ot me advice of his friends. He had i.o proofs, for the plainest ol all reasons, because there was no truth in his charges. They saw that to attempt to estab.Uh them, and to fail as he n.ust fail, in the attempt, might lead to an exposure of tht conspiracy, of what he was the organ. They advised he shou d make a retreat, and their adroitness suggested that, in an objection to that jurisdiction of the house, which had been admitted, and in ti c popular topics of the freedom ol the press, his duty to his Consiituents, and the inequality of the Speaker ol the l ouse and a member on the floor, pluu ible mens niivfht be foui d to deceive t..e ignorant, and conceal his disgrace. A labored communication was accordingly prcpated by them, in Mi Kiemer's nan c, and transmitted to the committee, founded upon these suggestions T' us the valiant champif n who hhd b id y stepped foi ward, and promised to cciv aloud and spare not," forgot all his g-c'utious gallantry and boa-ted patiio.ist. , and sunk at once into profound siifnee. With these remarks, I will, for the present leave him, and proceed to assign the reasons, to you, 'o whom alone I admit myself to be officially responsible, for the vote which I gave on thr Presidential election. The first inquiry which it behoved me to ma!i- uas, as to the influence which ought to be excited on my judgment, by the relative sta:c of the clectoral votes which the three returned candidates b (.tight into the House, from the college Gen. Jackson obtained 99 Mr. Adams 84, Mr Crawford 41. Ought the fact of a plurality being given to ono of the candidates to have any, and what, weight? If the constitution had intended that it should have been decided, the constitution would have made it decisive, and interdict d the exercise of any discretion on the part of the House of Representative. The Constitution has not so otdaincd, but, rn the contrary, it has provided, that 4,from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three on the list of those voted forss President, the H of Representatives shall choose, immediately, by ballot, a President." Thus a discretion is necessarily inested in the House; for choice imp'ies ( lamination, comparison, judgment. The fact, therefore, that one ol the three pet sons was the highest ietuin.d, not bung. by the constitution of the country, concln.