Senator Henry Clay to Daniel Ullman, September 26, 1851

ASHLAND, September 26, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—I received your favor of the 19th instant, with the memorial inclosed. On the subject of the next Presidency, my opinions and views have undergone no change since I last wrote to you. Should I be able, as I now hope to be, from my slowly improving health, to attend the next session of the Senate, we will confer more freely on that subject. In the mean time, I am glad that my friends in New York have foreborne to present my name as a candidate.

I have looked at the list of events and subjects which are proposed to be inscribed on the medal. I have made out and sent herewith a more comprehensive list, embracing most of the important matters, as to which I had any agency, during my service in the National councils. As to the Cumberland Road, no year can be properly fixed. Appropriations for it were made from year to year, for a series of years, which were violently opposed, and the support of which chiefly devolved on me. So in regard to Spanish America, the first movement was made by me in 1818, and my exertions were continued from year to year, until the measure of recognition was finally completed in 1822.

The list now sent may be too large for inscription on the medal. Of course it is my wish that it should be dealt with, by abridgment, or omission as may be thought proper. The two reports, made by me in the Senate, which gave me much credit and reputation were, 1st. That which proposed an equal distribution among the States of the proceeds of the public domain; and 2d. That which averted General Jackson's meditated war against France, on account of her failure to pay the indemnity. I carried both measures against the whole weight of Jackson; but he pocketed the Land Distribution bill, which was not finally passed until 1841. He could not, however, make war against France, without the concurrence of Congress, and my report preserved the peace of the two countries.

My Panama instructions were the most elaborate (and if I may be allowed to speak of them), the ablest State paper that I composed while I was in the Department of State. They contain an exposition of liberal principles, regulating Maritime War, Neutral Rights, etc., which will command the approbation of enlightened men and of posterity.

I was glad to see that you were nominated for Attorney-General at Syracuse, and I heartily wish for your election.

The address to me from New York, although published in the papers, has not been received officially by me. What is intended? I have had some correspondence about it with Mr. James D. P. Ogden, who sent me a copy informally. I can not venture to encounter the scenes of excitement which would attend me, if I were to go to New York; but in anticipation of the reception of the address I have prepared a pretty long answer, in which I treat of Secession, the state of the country, in regard to the Slavery question, etc. If this answer be capable of doing any good, the sooner it is published the better.

[The medal alluded to in the foregoing letter, was presented to Mr. Clay the 9th of February, 1852, and is described as follows:1

It is of pure California gold, massive and weighty, and is inclosed in a silver case, which opens with a hinge in the manner of a hunting-watch. On the face of the medal is a fine head of Mr. Clay, most felicitous in the likeness, and conveying the characteristic impression of his features in a higher degree than any of the busts or medallions usually seen. The relief is very high, and must have required a pressure of immense power to give it its fullness, sharpness, and delicacy of outline. The reverse exhibits the following inscription:

SENATE,

1806.

SPEAKER, 1811.

WAR OF 1812 WITH GREAT BRITAIN.

GHENT, 1814.

SPANISH AMERICA, 1822.

MISSOURI COMPROMISE, 1821.

AMERICAN SYSTEM, 1824.

GREECE, 1824.

SECRETARY OF STATE, 1825.

PANAMA INSTRUCTIONS, 1826.

TARIFF COMPROMISE,

1833.

PUBLIC DOMAIN, 1833-1841.

PEACE WITH FRANCE PRESERVED, 1835.

COMPROMISE, 1850.

The lines are supported on either hand by tasteful wreaths, in which the six chief American staples—wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco, rice, and hemp-are very happily intertwined.

On the silver case is represented on one side a view of the Capitol (with its contemplated additional wings fully displayed); and on the other in two distinct compartments above, an elevation of the great commemorative monument on the Cumberland road; below, a view of Ashland and its mansion.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 620-2

Senator Henry Clay to Daniel Ullman, March 6, 1852

WASHINGTON, March 6, 1852.

MY DEAR SIR,—I received your favor transmitting an engrossed copy of the address which you did me the honor to make to me on the occasion of presenting the medal which my New York friends had offered me. I thank you for this corrected copy of the address which is very beautifully engrossed.

The medal has been in the possession of the goldsmiths of this place, who desired the custody of it to gratify public curiosity. You wish it returned that a more accurate impression may be made by striking another. I examined it to see if I could discern the defect in the letters to which you refer, and I confess I could not. If to strike it again will occasion any trouble or expense to my friends, I think it might well be avoided, but if you persist in your desire to have it done, I will have it sent to you by Adams' Express next week.

You rightly understood me in expressing a preference for Mr. Fillmore as the Whig candidate for the Presidency. This I did before I left home, and have frequently here in private intercourse, since my arrival at Washington. I care not how generally the fact may be known, but I should not deem it right to publish any formal avowal of that preference under my own signature in the newspapers. Such a course would subject me to the imputation of supposing that my opinions possessed more weight with the public than I apprehend they do. The foundation of my preference is, that Mr. Fillmore has administered the Executive Government with signal success and ability. He has been tried and found true, faithful, honest, and conscientious. I wish to say nothing in derogation from his eminent competitors, they have both rendered great services to their country; the one in the field, the other in the Cabinet. They might possibly administer the Government as well as Mr. Fillmore has done. But then neither of them has been tried; he has been tried in the elevated position he now holds, and I think that prudence and wisdom had better restrain us from making any change without a necessity for it, the existence of which I do not perceive.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 628

Senator Henry Clay to Daniel Ullman, June 14, 1851

ASHLAND, June 14, 1851.

MY DEAR SIR,—I duly received your favor of the 29th ultimo, stating that some of my friends in New York have it under discussion, to make a movement to bring forward my name for the Presidency; and inquiring, in entire confidence, what my own views and wishes are, upon the subject. I have delayed transmitting an answer to your letter, from a desire to give to its important contents the fullest and most deliberate consideration. That I have now done, and I will communicate the result to you.

You will recollect that the last time but one that I was in the city of New York, I had the pleasure of dining with you and a number of other friends at the house of our friend M————; that we then had a frank, full, and confidential conversation on the connection of my name with the next Presidency; and that I then declared that I did not wish ever again to be brought forward as a candidate. From that declaration, I have never since deviated in thought, word, or deed. I have said or done nothing inconsistent with it; nothing which implied any desire on my part to have my name presented as a Presidential candidate. On a review and reconsideration of the whole matter, I adhere to that declaration.

Considering my age, the delicate state of my health, the frequency and the unsuccessful presentation of my name on former occasions, I feel an unconquerable repugnance to such a use of it again. I can not, therefore, consent to it. I have been sometimes tempted publicly to announce that, under no circumstances, would I yield my consent to be brought forward as a candidate. But I have been restrained from taking that step by two considerations. The first was, that I did not see any such general allusion to me, as a suitable person for the office, as to make it proper that I should break silence and speak out; and the second was that I have always thought that no citizen has a right to ostracise himself, and to refuse public service under all possible contingencies.

I might here stop, but I will add some observations on the general subject of the next election. I think it quite clear that a Democrat will be elected, unless that result shall be prevented by divisions in the Democratic party. On these divisions the Whigs might advantageously count, if it were not for those which exist in their own party. It is, perhaps, safest to conclude that the divisions existing in the two parties will counterbalance each other.

Party ties have no doubt been greatly weakened generally, and, in particular localities, have been almost entirely destroyed. But it would be unwise to suppose that, when the two parties shall have brought out their respective candidates, each will not rally around its own standard. There may be exceptions; but those, on the one side, will probably be counterpoised by those on the other. I believe that no one in the Whig party could obtain a greater amount of support from the Democratic party than I could; but in this I may be deceived by the illusions of egotism. At all events it would be unsafe and unwise for a candidate of one party to calculate upon any suffrages of the other. While I do not think that the hopes of success on the part of the Whigs at the next Presidential election are very flattering or encouraging, I would not discourage their putting forth their most energetic exertions. There are always the chances of the war. The other party may commit great blunders, as they did recently in your State, in the course of their Senators, who opposed the enlargement of the Erie Canal; and as they are disposed to do in respect to the lake, river, and harbor improvements.

No candidate, I hope and believe, can be elected who is not in favor of the Union, and in favor of the Compromise of the last Congress (including the Fugitive Slave bill), as necessary means to sustain it. Of the candidates spoken of on the Democratic side, I confess that I should prefer General Cass. He is, I think, more to be relied on than any of his competitors. During the trials of the long session of the last Congress, he bore himself firmly, consistently, and patriotically. He has quite as much ability, quite as much firmness, and, I think, much more honesty and sincerity than Mr. Buchanan.

If I were to offer any advice to my friends, it would be not to commit themselves prematurely to either of the two Whig candidates who have been prominently put forward. Strong objections, although of a very different kind, exist against them both. They had better wait. It will be time enough next winter to decide; and I am inclined to believe that both of those gentlemen will find, in the sequel, that they have taken, or their friends have put them in, the field, too early.

Besides pre-existing questions, a new one will probably arise at the next session of Congress, involving the right of any one of the States of the Union, upon its own separate will and pleasure, to secede from the residue, and become a distinct and independent power. The decision of that momentous question can not but exert some influence, more or less, upon the next Presidential election. For my own part, I utterly deny the existence of any such right, and I think an attempt to exercise it ought to be resisted to the last extremity; for it is, in part, a question of union or no union.

You inquire if I will visit Newport this summer, with the view of ascertaining whether it might not be convenient there, or at some other Eastern place, to present me a gold medal which I understand my good friends are preparing for me. I have been absent from home fifteen out of the last nineteen months, and I feel great reluctance to leaving it, during the present summer. If I were to go to the Eastward, I should have to return early in the autumn, and soon after to go back to Washington, unless I resign my seat in the Senate of the United States. Under these circumstances, my present inclination is to remain at home and to attend to my private affairs, which need my care,

Should my friends persevere in their purpose of presenting me the proposed medal, some suitable time and place can be hereafter designated for that purpose. Surely no man was ever blessed with more ardent and devoted friends than I am, and, among them, none are more or perhaps so enthusiastic as those in the city of New York. God bless them. I wish it was in my power to testify my gratitude to them in full accordance with the fervent impulses of my heart.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 617-20

Senator Henry Clay to Daniel Ullman, February 2, 1850

WASHINGTON, February 2, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—I received your favor, and I am very glad to find that my movement to compromise the Slavery question is approved. The timid from the North hesitate, and the violent from the South may oppose it, but I entertain hopes of its success.

From another quarter (the Administration) there may be a gentle breeze of approbation.

I shall need, therefore, popular support. Large public meetings (one at New York especially), indorsing my plan substantially, would do much good. Perhaps the last of next week or the week after may be early enough.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 600

Senator Henry Clay to Daniel Ullman, February 15, 1850

WASHINGTON, February 15, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—I received your favor of the 12th inst. I am glad to hear of the contemplated popular movement in the city of New York, on the subject of the questions concerning slavery which are producing so much unhappy division and distraction. It will do much good, if it be large, imposing, and be attended without distinction of party. But I must think that its beneficial effects will depend much upon its being conducted and regarded as a local and spontaneous assemblage, without any ground for the imputation of its being prompted from any exterior source. And I therefore think it would be best that there should not be any distant intervention from Congress or from any remote quarter. It would indeed be very difficult, putting that consideration aside, to prevail upon members of Congress, at the moment of so much interest and excitement, to quit Congress and repair to New York to address the meeting. At all events, motives of delicacy and propriety would restrain me from addressing any member of Congress to leave his official position with such purpose. I should hope that it was not necessary, and that gentlemen from New York, the fresher from the masses the better, could be induced, from patriotic considerations, to attend and address the meeting.

My accounts of the reception of my scheme of adjustment and accommodation of the slavery questions are encouraging. There is some holding back in each quarter, from a purpose of not committing itself, until the views of the other are known. But, in spite of this reserve, there are outbreaks of approbation and sanction of the scheme. And although I can not positively say so, I entertain strong hopes that it will furnish the basis of concord and a satisfactory accommodation.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 600-1