Showing posts with label Henry Clay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Henry Clay. Show all posts

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Congressman Horace Mann, September 8, 1850

SEPT. 8, 1850.

Texas has not a particle of rightful claim to all the north-western region this bill contends for; but she has passed a law claiming it, and threatens to make war upon the Union if her claim is not allowed. An extra session of her legislature is now in being. Her governor recommends that she should raise and equipmen to march to Santa Fé, and subdue the people there to her control (who are Mexicans, and who hate her); and the legislature is now preparing means to carry, or rather to seem to carry, their threats into execution. Our great Presidency-seekers, Webster, Cass, Clay, &c., wish to succumb to her claims. They cannot afford to offend any party at the South, because they want the votes of the South. The South wants Texas to have all this territory, because Texas is one of the most atrocious proslavery States in the Union; and, if any part of the territory is set off to New Mexico, they say it may eventually be free. Those who think their party will gain something by yielding to this false claim of Texas go for it with their leaders. Texas would not relinquish an inch of it but for money: therefore it is proposed to give her ten millions of dollars to buy her off. It is the most outrageous piece of swindling ever practised. In reality, we give her, by this boundary, a hundred thousand more square miles than she owns, and ten millions of dollars besides. President Taylor meant to maintain the rights of the country; and, if he had lived, we should have tried strength with the miserable braggarts of Texas: but, since his death, the whole policy of the Administration is changed, and with that, owing to their power and patronage, Congress is demoralized, and the bill has passed, and the Territories have governments without any prohibition of slavery. California is admitted as a free State; and that is all the compensation we have.

I am sick at heart, and disgusted at the wickedness of men.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 322-3

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Miss Anne Charlotte Lynch* to Senator & Mrs. Daniel S. Dickinson, January 7, 1853

NEW YORK, January 7, 1853.

MY DEAR MR. AND MRS. DICKINSON—I should not have allowed your kind letter to remain so long unanswered, had I not, by a very painful finger, been prevented from using a pen. The first use I make of its restoration is to thank you most cordially for your kind invitation to visit you. I assure you nothing would afford me more pleasure than to accept it, were it possible for me to leave home at this time; but my mother's health is delicate, and I am besides so entangled with petty cares of housekeeping and other matters, that however pleasant it would be, I could not just now escape from them. But as your invitation is not limited to this winter, I shall promise myself the pleasure of accepting it at some future time.

I am glad to know that you remember Washington with pleasure. I am afraid it has spoiled me for all other society, with its intellectual superiority and its delightful freedom. It will have for me a new attraction if, after the 4th of March, the two valued friends to whom I write shall be established there, as I most earnestly hope they will be.

I know that you will both be gratified to hear that my success in Washington, for which I was indebted to such kind friends as yourselves, has been the foundation of a permanent independence for my mother and myself. I therefore owe a large debt of gratitude to the 31st Congress collectively, while I have a particular regard for some of its individual members.

While I was in Washington last winter, one great pleasure and privilege which I enjoyed was in writing for Mr. Clay, and in one letter I wrote as amanuensis to Mr. Dickinson, I was strongly tempted to put in a postscript on my own account. Dear old man! he is gone, and how many besides of the brilliant constellation! To-day we have had the sad news of the death of Mr. Pierce's son.1 With what heavy hearts they will enter upon their new life. For me, when I see how death is thinning the ranks of those I once knew, and how friends around me fall, "like leaves in wintry weather," I am sure that I set a higher value upon those that remain, for it is after all in the amenities and affections of social life that happiness is found, or even the shadow of it, which is all that we are here permitted to attain.

At some future day I shall hope to have the pleasure of seeing you here as guests of mine.

Will you remember me most cordially to Mrs. Courtney and your young daughter? and believe me,

Sincerely and truly yours,
ANNE C. LYNCH.
_______________

* Anne Lynch lived in Washington DC from 1850 to 1853, while serving as the personal secretary to Senator Henry Clay.

1 Eleven year old Benjamin Pierce, son of President-elect Franklin Pierce, was crushed to death and nearly decapitated on January 6, 1853 when the railroad car the Pierce family was travelling in derailed and rolled down an embankment near Andover, Massachusetts.

SOURCE: John R. Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, p. 473-4

Friday, March 8, 2024

Thomas H. Clay to Mary Mentelle Clay, June 29, 1852

CITY OF WASHINGTON, June 29, 1852.

MY DEAR MARY,—Shortly after I wrote to you this morning, I was summoned by James to my father's bedside. "Sit near me, my dear son," he said; "I do not wish you to leave me for any time to-day." In about an hour after, he said, "Give me some water." I gave him about half a glassful, which he drank, and still retained the tube in his mouth. In a few moments he released the tube, and said, "I believe, my son, I am going." Five minutes after, he told me "to button his shirt collar," which I did. He then caught my hand, and retained it in his pressure for some time. When he relinquished it, I discovered he was dying. I summoned Governor Jones, of Tennessee, who occupied the room above him, and in five or ten minutes after he had ceased to breathe.

May my mother, and all of you, be prepared for it. A nation mourns, but it is his gain. He is free from pain, and I thank God. Oh! how sickening is the splendid pageantry I have to go through from this to Lexington.

My love to all.

My father died at seventeen minutes past eleven. I telegraphed Mr. Harrison at twelve A. M.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 636

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Thomas H. Clay, May 13, 1852

WASHINGTON CITY, May 13, 1852.

My father passed the last night comfortable without much coughing. The only thing the doctors can do, is to alleviate as much as they can the pain arising from his cough and his excessive debility.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 633

Thomas H. Clay, May 18, 1852

My father has passed the last twenty-four hours much more comfortably than he had been for a week before. He has slept well and should he acquire strength with it, in spite of the predictions of the medical men, I shall begin to hope. It is the cough and that alone that has prostrated him; once relieved from that, I know not what we may not hope for. There is yet more vitality in him, than the reports in the newspapers would lead one to infer. I will keep you all correctly informed. Believe nothing that you see or hear, except it comes from me.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 633

Thomas H. Clay, May 20, 1852

My father coughed but little last night, yesterday he was a good deal harassed. Could it be possible to remove his cough, he would get well beyond a doubt. He is very feeble, but is not so much reduced in flesh as I had supposed before I came on here. It is the cough as he himself has always said, that is killing him. His lungs are not at all affected.

He insists on my writing to some of the family, either at Mansfield or Ashland, every day. I have but little to communicate in addition to informing you how he passes the days and nights.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 633

Thomas H. Clay, May 26, 1852

My father passed a tolerable night; you must be aware that any improvement in his condition must be gradual, as the prostration he labors under came on in the same way. I have been nowhere, and made as few acquaintances as I could; I am confined all day to his rooms, and last night was up until twelve o'clock, as James appeared anxious to go out.

I am doing everything that I can to render his situation as comfortable as possible, allowing myself but little time even for a walk.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 633-4

Thomas H. Clay, June 1, 1852

My father listens attentively to the perusal of every letter from home.

He passed last night in more comfort than he did the night before. He had some appetite for his dinner yesterday.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 634

Thomas H. Clay, June 4, 1852—1 a.m.

ONE O'CLOCK AT NIGHT, June 4, 1852.

I wrote you this morning that my father had a bad night, and that he was then trying to get some rest; since I have been here, when he has passed a bad night, he was usually able to make up for the want of rest, during the following day. But such has not been the case to-day. He has coughed a great deal, and has had but little intermission from it. He took his opiate about two hours ago, and I hope that he will be enabled to get some sleep and rest in the next twenty-four hours. I shall keep my letter open to let you know how he is until tomorrow evening. He has suffered a good deal since this time last night.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 634

Thomas H. Clay, June 7, 1852

My father was yesterday much depressed. He had held a long conversation with Mr. Crittenden and requested me to treat him kindly. Besides a cold sweat after dinner, all these things were sufficient to make him feel low spirited. He told me that he thought there would soon be a termination to it. The doctor thought on his afternoon visit that he was no worse than usual. God alone knows.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 634

Thomas H. Clay, June 9, 1852

My father has become feeble within a few days, and I do not think it possible for him to hold out long.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 634

Thomas H. Clay, June 16, 1852

My father is to-day decidedly worse than he has been since my arrival. I wrote to Mr. Theobald this morning that there was but little or no change in his condition; since then, I am satisfied he is worse. He has had a copious perspiration, which has greatly weakened him. The attending physician, Dr. Hall, rubbed him all over the person with brandy and alum. He told me this morning that he did not think he should last more than ten days.

I have been constant in my attendance on him. I think I can see a marked change in his countenance.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 635

Thomas H. Clay, June 20, 1852

My father did not pass a good night, nor has he slept much this morning. A friend yesterday afternoon brought him three woodcocks; he ate a little of one of them this morning. He never now gets out of bed. He is moved occasionally from one bed to the other, for the purpose of ventilating and making up. He was too feeble this morning to carry a glass of water to his lips. The weather has been very hot during the week, the mercury rising at one time to 93°.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 635

Thomas H. Clay to Mary Mentelle Clay, June 25, 1852

June 25, 1852.

I now look for a termination in my father's case before many hours. I do not feel in any mood to write to any one but you, my wife. Judge Underwood coincides with me in opinion that he will not last many hours. The next you receive from me will probably be a telegraphic dispatch, directed to Mr. Harrison.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 635

Thomas H. Clay, June 29, 1852

I had never before imagined that any one could live in the extreme state of debility under which my father is now suffering. The act of taking even a single swallow of water is painful to him, on account of his great feebleness. He has eaten nothing of any consequence (only a few mouthfuls of soup) for five or six days. I can not believe he can possibly survive through the week.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 635-6

Thomas H. Clay to James O. Harrison, June 29, 1852

[Washington, 29th, 1852, twelve o'clock]
J. O. HARRISON

My father is no more. He has passed without pain into eternity.

THOS. H. CLAY.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 636

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Congressman Horace Mann, July 23, 1850

JULY 23, 1850.

Yesterday Mr. Clay made his closing speech on the Compromise Bill. He spoke three hours and ten minutes, and seemed to retain his vigor and mental activity to the last. It is certainly very remarkable. He is now in his seventy-fourth year. For more than two months, he has sat in his seat every day, listening to the attacks made upon his favorite measures, occasionally replying when he thought it expedient, sometimes by a speech of half an hour, and always alive and on the alert; and now, at the end of this long and intense vigilance, he makes a speech of more than three hours, full of energy and skill, and comes out of it alive. He is certainly an extraordinary man, prepared by nature to do great and good things, but has not fulfilled his destiny in regard to the latter.

Every day of my life impresses the conviction upon me more and more, how important is the early direction given to the sentiments as well as to the intellect. There is now power enough among the educated men of the country to save it, if that power were rightly directed.

SOURCE: Mary Tyler Peabody Mann, Life of Horace Mann, p. 309

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Senator Henry Clay to James B. Clay, March 14, 1852

WASHINGTON, March 14, 1852.

MY DEAR SON,—I received your letter of the 1st instant, and at the same time one from Susan. They both interested me, as I like to hear all the details of your business and operations. You find, as every body finds, building and improvement more expensive than you had expected.

My health continues nearly stationary, not getting better nor worse, except in one particular, and that is sleep. Although I take an opiate every night, and lie in bed fourteen hours, I can get no sound, refreshing sleep. A man whose flesh, strength, appetite and sleep have been greatly reduced, must be in a bad way, but that is my condition. I have taken immense quantities of drugs; but with little if any effect on my cough, the disease which threatens me. I may linger on some months, but if there be no speedy improvement, I must finally sink under it. Give my love to dear Susan and all your children. I hope that she will continue to write to me.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 629

Senator Henry Clay to Daniel Ulman, March 18, 1852

WASHINGTON, March 18, 1852.

MY DEAR SIR,—I received your kind letter informing me of the loss of the medal. I am truly sorry for the occurrence, and the more so because I ought to have followed your directions to send it by Adams' Express. But Miss Lynch being in my room the evening before she started for the city of New York, and being informed that I was about to send the medal to you, she kindly offered to take charge of it, and I accordingly placed it under her care. I have no doubt she suffers as much as any of us by its loss, and I would not say one word by way of reproach to her. I should be very sorry if any trouble or expense were taken in replacing it. The fact of its presentation, and even the representations upon the medal have been so widely diffused as to render the presentation of it historical. You will recollect that I jocosely remarked while you were here that some Goth, when I was laid low in the grave, might be tempted to break off my nose and use the valuable metal which it contains! I did not then, however, anticipate the possibility of such an incident occuring so quickly.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 629

Senator Henry Clay to James B. Clay, March 22, 1852

WASHINGTON, March 22, 1852.

MY DEAR SON,—I received your letter of the 8th. I was glad to receive your letter and to peruse all the details in it.

My health continues without any material change. I am very weak, write with no comfort, sleep badly, and have very little appetite for my food.

You must not mind what you see in the newspapers about me, such as that I was going to the Senate to make a speech, etc. Not a word of truth in it.

My love to Susan and all the children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 630