James B. Clay to Senator Henry Clay, May 26, 1850

LISBON, May 26, 1850.

MY DEAR FATHER,—You can not imagine in what a state of uncertainty, uneasiness, and expectation, we have been during this entire month. I had been informed by Mr. Clayton that it was the opinion of the Secretary of the Navy that the ship from the Mediterranean, with my final instructions, would reach here by the 1st of this month, and it is now nearly the last, and it has not arrived. I have seen by the English papers that the storeship Erie, which, I presume, took Commodore Morgan his orders, was lying, with the commodore, in the harbor of Naples, on the 27th last month, in fifteen days after he ought to have been here; why he is not, God only knows. I have been constantly uneasy for fear that his non-arrival might prejudice the settlement of our affairs; and if this Government had a grain of common sense, it would have done so very much. Their true policy, having determined not to pay, was most certainly to offer an arbitration of all the claims, and I have been every instant fearing that such an offer would be made; a rejection of it, which I would have to make, would, of course, have put us in a worse position before the world.

The English Chargé, Mr. Howard, the brother of the Earl of Carlisle, told me the other day, that Mr. Bulwer had written to Lord Palmerston, as he promised you, to advise these people to pay all the claims which were just, and to offer to arbitrate the others; and I presume he did so, for Mr. Howard told me, at the same time, that Count Fayal had informed him that he had offered to arbitrate all. This impression he has been for some time trying to create, through the papers and otherwise. You may have seen an article in "The London Times" speaking of my rejection of the offer, etc.; this, I know, was denied from Fayal, who shows every thing to the correspondent of that paper. Lord Palmerston has very little influence here. He has been always opposed to the Cabral Ministry, and there is no goodwill between them. I took occasion to inform Mr. Howard, that it was wholly untrue that Count Fayal had offered to arbitrate all our claims, and said that I had no objection to his so informing his Government.

I can not predict what will be the effect produced by the coming of the ship, if ever she does arrive, or of my demand for my passport, if they don't pay. Our action has, throughout the affair, been so dilatory, that I am sure it can not have so great influence as promptness would have done. It has always been my opinion that I ought to have been sent here in a ship of war, with the same instructions given at last. Our position at the time of my arrival was by all odds better than it is now.

Should we be suffered to go away, I am undetermined whether we shall go to Naples and to Paris, through Italy and Switzerland, or go at once to Paris. I shall be determined by Commodore Morgan's course. If he offers to take us to Naples, as it will not be out of his way, I shall accept. If we go that way, we will still reach America in November.

As the season has arrived for Southerners to be in Kentucky, perhaps my house could now be sold. I should like it to be; as on our return home, if you won't sell me Ashland, I am determined to try and buy Crutchfield's place on the Ohio. Can you write to Trotter or Pindell about the house?

28th.—Commodore Morgan has not arrived, and I am in hourly expectation of receiving, what I feared I should receive, a proposition to arbitrate all the claims. I dined last night with the Duke of Leuchtenberg, the son-in-law of the Emperor of Russia, at the Russian Legation, when the Minister asked if I had received such a proposition, as Count Fayal had told him he intended to make it. He seemed surprised when I told him I had not. I shall regret to receive it, because I think my instructions will oblige me to reject it, and I know it will place us in a worse position before the world. Either Commodore Morgan has had orders of which I was not informed, or he has not been as active as he might, and ought to have been.

Nine o'clock at night.—I have just received a note from the Minister, stating the willingness of his Government to arbitrate all the claims, but as he rejects the last of them in the same note, and as his language is not a distinct proposition to arbitrate, I shall not so consider it.

We are all well, and Susan joins me in affectionate love to you.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 607-9

Senator Henry Clay to James B. Clay, May 27, 1850

WASHINGTON, May 27, 1850.

MY DEAR SON,—I have written to you less of late than I wished, owing to my perpetual public occupations. We are yet in the midst of our slavery discussions, with no certainty of the final result. I have hopes of the final success of the compromise reported by me of the Committee of Thirteen, but with less confidence than I desire.

By this time, I presume that your public duties at Lisbon are brought to an unsuccessful close. I fear that the display of force in the port of Lisbon has not been attended with the benefit anticipated from it.

I have got Henry Clay admitted as a cadet in West Point, and he has gone home to see his relations, and to return to me next week to enter the Academy.

You will see in the papers that I have spoken a great deal (much more than I wished) in the Senate. In my last speech I had to attack the plan of the Administration, for compromising our slavery difficulties; its course left me no other alternative. My friends speak in terms of extravagant praise of my speeches, and especially of the last.

Since I began this letter, I received your letter of the 28th April, with Susan's long and interesting letter to her mother, which I have read and forwarded this moment.

I do not entertain much hope of the effect of the display of naval force in getting our claims allowed, and consequently I expect you will leave Lisbon soon after you receive this letter. Should they be allowed, and should Portugal raise the rank of her representatives, I suppose the measure would be reciprocated by our Executive.

I am delighted to hear that you are all so happy, and that dear Lucy has some good prospect of recovery.

I send a letter from Mary to Susan, and I am to blame for some delay in its transmission. My love to her, and to all your dear children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 609-10

Senator Henry Clay to Mary Mentelle Clay, July 13, 1850

WASHINGTON, July 13, 1850.

MY DEAR MARY,—I received your letter with its inclosure. I wish you would tell your mother not to pay the Abion's account, or any other account against me, without my direction. I will arrange these matters myself.

My health is reasonably good. Mrs. Brand, of Lexington, and her party are now here, and will to-day witness the funeral ceremonies of General Taylor, about which the whole city is now in commotion.

Tell Thomas that I think the event which has happened will favor the passage of the Compromise bill.

I can not tell you, my dear Mary, how anxious I am to be at home with your dear mother, my wife, and all of you.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 610-1

Senator Henry Clay to Thomas H. Clay, August 6, 1850

PHILADELPHIA, August 6, 1850.

MY DEAR THOMAS,—I am here on my way to Newport, for which place I proceed to-morrow, and hope to reach it during the night.

I received your letter of the 28th ultimo, and I was gratified to learn that your prospects from the saw-mill were so good.

My relations with Mr. Fillmore are perfectly friendly and confidential. In the appointment of Mr. Crittenden I acquiesced. Mr. F. asked me how we stood? I told him that the same degree of intimacy between us which once existed, no longer prevailed; but that we were on terms of civility. I added that, if he thought of introducing him into his Cabinet, I hoped that no considerations of my present relations to him would form any obstacle.

I shall be very glad if any thing can be done for Carroll, and I will see on my return to Washington.

As to the post-office in Lexington, my wishes will, I anticipate, finally prevail.

I am very much worn down, but I hope that Newport will replace my health and strength.

My love to Mary and the children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 611

Senator Henry Clay to Thomas H. Clay, August 15, 1850

NEWPORT, August 15, 1850.

MY DEAR THOMAS,—I received your two last letters, the last inclosing one from Mary to Susan, which I have forwarded. James will return in October or November; he has closed his negotiation, and although he has concluded no convention with Portugal, he has succeeded in placing our claims with that Government on a much better footing than they ever stood before. He has sent old Aaron home, and he is now in Washington. I have been benefited by my visit to this place, and shall remain here about a week longer. It is so cool here as to require the use of fires.

They are passing through the Senate, in separate bills, all the measures of our Compromise, and if they should pass the House also, I hope they will lead to all the good effects which would have resulted from the adoption of the Compromise.

I have seen Henry Pindle's wife here, and I was very glad to hear from her that your mother is in good health, and that she has been enjoying more of society than she has been accustomed to do.

Give my love to Mary and the children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 611-2

Senator Henry Clay to Thomas H. Clay, September 6, 1850

WASHINGTON, September 6, 1850.

MY DEAR THOMAS,—I have received your letter of the 31st ult. I congratulate Louisa and her family upon her marriage, which I hope and believe may prove a happy one. We can see no end yet of this fatiguing session. So far, nothing is definitely decided on the slavery question. Perhaps there may be to-day or to-morrow. In the mean time I am again getting very much exhausted. I wish that I had remained longer at Newport, where I was much benefited. I shall as soon as possible return home, where I desire to be more than I ever did in my life.

My love to Mary and the children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 612

Senator Henry Clay to Susan Jacob Clay, September 6, 1850

ASHLAND, November 21, 1850.

I was rejoiced, my dear Susan, to have seen by the newspapers, that you and your children had arrived safely at New York, and by the telegraphic dispatch, which you sent me from Pittsburg, that you had reached that city. Not knowing whether you will first come here or go to Louisville, I address this letter to you at the latter. I expect to leave home on the first or second of next month. Will you come here before I go? If not, I must try to go by Louisville to see you and the children.

I have sold James' house for nine thousand dollars, one third to be paid at New Orleans the first of January next, one third in October next, and the other third the October following, all well secured. Harvey Miller was the purchaser. Considering James' anxiety to sell, and the low price of town property, the sale is considered a good one. But if he had been at home, and could have made an arrangement with me for the purchase of Ashland, I would have allowed him ten thousand dollars for his house. Mr. Miller had left the house, and I could get no good tenant. So you see you are without house and home; but I hope you will pass as much of your time as you can at Ashland. John expects to go to New Orleans in two or three weeks. We are all well here and at Mansfield.

Write me immediately about your movements. My love to Lucy and the other children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 612-3

Senator Henry Clay to James B. Clay, December 23, 1850

WASHINGTON, December 23, 1850.

MY DEAR JAMES,—Prior to the receipt of your letter, dated at Ashland the 17th instant, I had addressed a letter to you containing some things not necessary to be repeated here. I have not yet had a good opportunity of conversing with either the President or Mr. Webster about you or your late mission; but the other night at Jenny Lind's concert, sitting by Mr. Webster, he broke forth in extravagant praises of you. I do not think that you ought to put an unfriendly interpretation upon any thing which occurred about your return to Lisbon. Your letter from Geneva of September did not contain an unconditional offer to return. You submitted some point of honor to Mr. Webster. I think he might have sent earlier instructions to you; but I suppose his absence from Washington and his indisposition formed his excuse. In his letter of the 5th November (which I hastily read) he seems to have been undecided whether you wished to return or not, but left it to you to determine. After you returned to the United States I do not think that you ought to have gone back to Lisbon for the temporary purpose of concluding the Convention. And, upon the whole, I have no regrets about it, considering how well and how strongly the President speaks of you, in his annual Message, and in what favorable terms, officially and privately, Mr. Webster speaks of you, and that the public ascribes to you the success of the negotiation. I wrote you that I think you are entitled to your salary up to the 20th November and a quarter beyond, and to indemnity for any loss in furniture, etc., in consequence of your sudden departure from Lisbon. I believe it is usual also to charge for stationery, postage, etc. If you will send me your account I will endeavor to have it settled.

I was in hopes that you would stay with your mother until my return, and that we would then talk about your future. As to your purchase of Ashland, I never desired that you should make it, unless prompted by your own interests and feelings. When I go hence it must be sold, and I have never feared that it would not command a fair and full price.

I should regret deeply to see you set down doing nothing. You must engage in some occupation or you will be miserable. The law, farming, or the public service, are the only pursuits which I suppose present themselves to you. You don't like the first, which is moreover nowhere in Kentucky profitable; and your decision must be between the two others. I had inferred that you were tired of diplomacy, unless you could get a higher grade than that which you lately held. At present there is none that I know of; but perhaps some vacancy may occur. As to elevating the mission to Lisbon, I have heard here of no proposal to that effect. It does not depend, you know, exclusively on the Executive; Congress must sanction it. Possibly after the conclusion of the Convention, if Portugal should desire to elevate the rank of her minister, it may be proposed to reciprocate it by the President; but I do not apprehend that a higher rank would be thought of than that of minister resident.

You did not say whether you were satisfied or not with my sale of your house and lot. I would not have sold it but for your great anxiety to sell. It was a good house, but I never liked its external appearance. The situation was one of the finest in Lexington.

You will direct what I shall do with the draft for $3000 when I receive it from New Orleans.

My love to Susan, Lucy, and the other children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 613-4

Charles Sumner to George Sumner, January 8, 1850

You will see by the papers the doings at Washington. The contest on the Speakership is showing its good influence already.¹ The slave-power has received its first serious check, and all parties see that the slavery question is soon to be paramount to all others. General Cass's motion in the Senate² will probably be defeated; it would certainly be a dangerous precedent. Nevertheless, I am so sincerely displeased by the conduct of Austria, I should be willing to see our country depart from its general course of international usage in order to testify its condemnation of what has occurred. But, alas! while we have slavery our voice is powerless. Every word for freedom exposes the horrid inconsistency of our position. The slavery discussion will follow that of the Austrian mission. In the Senate I predict great weight for my friend, the new senator from Ohio, Mr. Chase. He is a man of decided ability, and I think will trouble Calhoun on the slavery question more than any others. He is in earnest, is a learned and well-trained lawyer, and is a grave, emphatic, and powerful speaker."³

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¹ Howell Cobb of Georgia and Winthrop being the Democratic and Whig candidates. Ante, p. 148.

² Looking to a suspension of diplomatic relations with Austria, on account of her treatment of Hungary.

³ Mr. Chase spoke against Clay's Compromise, March 26 and 27, 1850, making the most thorough and spirited speech on that side.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 212

Charles Sumner to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, January 24, 1850

[January 24, 1850.]

DEAR HENRY,

Whittier is here on a short visit. I go to-night with Miss Bremer to hear Wendell Phillips, and to-morrow evening dine out, or I should insist upon taking him [Whittier] to you. He is staying at the Quincy Hotel, in Brattle Street.

I regret the sentiments of John Van Buren about mobs, but rejoice that he is right on slavery. I do not know that I should differ very much from him in saying that we have more to fear from the corruption of wealth than from mobs. Edmund Dwight once gave, within my knowledge, two thousand dollars to influence a single election. Other men whom we know very well are reputed to have given much larger sums. It is in this way, in part, that the natural antislavery sentiment of Massachusetts has been kept down; it is money, money, money, that keeps Palfrey from being elected. Knowing these things, it was natural that John Van Buren should say that we had more to fear from wealth than from mobs. He is a politician,—not a philanthropist or moralist, but a politician, like Clay, Winthrop, Abbott Lawrence; and he has this advantage, that he has dedicated his rare powers to the cause of human freedom. In this I would welcome any person from any quarter.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 212

Charles Sumner to William Jay, March 18, 1850

In this moment of discomfiture I turn to you. I am sick at heart as I think of the treason of our public men. Freedom is forgotten in the miserable competition of party and in the schemes of an ignorant ambition. Webster has placed himself in the dark list of apostates. He reminds me very much of Strafford, or of the archangel ruined. In other moods, I might call him Judas Iscariot, or Benedict Arnold. John Quincy Adams, as he lay in his bed in Boston after he was struck with that paralysis which closed his days at Washington, expressed to me a longing to make one more speech in Congress in order to give his final opinions on slavery, and particularly (I now give his own words) “to expose the great fallacy of Mr. Daniel Webster, who is perpetually talking about the Constitution, while he is indifferent to freedom and those great interests which the Constitution was established to preserve.” Alas! that speech was never made. But the work ought to be done. Blow seems to follow blow. There was Clay's barbarous effort, then Winthrop's malignant attack,¹ and now comes Webster's elaborate treason. What shall we do? But I have unbounded faith in God and in the future. I know we shall succeed. But what shall we do?

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¹ Speech in the House, Feb. 21, 1850.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 213

William C. Bouck to Senator Daniel S. Dickinson, April 24, 1850

FULTENHAM, April 24, 1850.

SENATOR DICKINSON—Dear Sir—Yours of the 17th inst. came to hand by due course of mail.

I sincerely hope you will succeed in adjusting the slavery question. The position of yourself, Cass, Clay, Webster, and the majority in the Senate on this question, is, no doubt, in accordance with the wishes of a vast majority of the American people. If you succeed, which God grant, it will, for all future time, set at rest the vexed question of slavery. It will do more: fanaticism and abolitionism will be rebuked, and demagogues who have been riding these hobbies will stand disgraced in the estimation of all honest men. It will virtually carry out and sustain the position taken by yourself and General Cass at the beginning of the excitement. Clay and Webster are putting themselves on high ground.

Yours,

W. C. BOUCK,

SOURCE: John R. Dickinson, Editor, Speeches, Correspondence, Etc., of the Late Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Vol. 2, p. 430

Littleton Waller Tazewell* to Senator Robert M. T. Hunter, August 18, 1850

NORFOLK, [VA.], August 18th, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR: Upon receipt of your kind letter of the 10th Inst[ant], I immediately commenced such a reply to it as I thought you wished to have and I myself best approved. I soon discovered, however, that my inclination had imposed upon me a task surpassing my physical ability to perform; and I was so constrained to desist. The attempt has been renewed several times since, with no better success. Age has so dimed my sight and stiffened my fingers, that I now write with much difficulty and generally with some pain.

Hence, nothing but absolute necessity induces me ever to touch a pen. But in the pleasing hope, that by complying with your request I might give you some proof of my continued respect, esteem and confidence, and feebly disburthen my own mind of the sad forebodings that sometimes oppress it, I forgot the infirmities of age and commenced such a letter as I have described. I wrote con amore, but I had not proceeded far, when I was obliged to acknowledge to myself, that altho’ the spirit was still willing the flesh was no longer able to aid it; and with some mortification, I reluctantly abandoned a subject, which, in my mode of treating it, threatened to expand into a volume.

I was a little consoled under this compulsory abandonment of my first design, by reading in our newspapers, that while I had been writing most of the subjects I was discussing were no longer open questions (as the lawyers say) but had passed into res judicatae, so far at least as the body of which you are a member is concerned. Mr. Clay's Compromise Bill had been rejected as a whole, altho' many of the parts of which this whole was compounded had been approved by the Senate. The votes by which these results had been brought about, show so clearly the motive power that had produced them, as to leave no doubt upon the mind of any, I suppose, that what remains will meet with like approbation. Therefore, to continue the discussion of questions already decided, and so decided too, would be a labour painful to myself and quite profitless to you. I will not deny myself the pleasure of saying to you, however, that I concur with you entirely in every opinion you have expressed and in every vote you have given in regard to any and all of the several subjects involved in the so called Compromise Bill, so far as these votes and opinions are known to me. In saying this, I believe I express the sentiments of a very great majority of the Citizens of Virginia. But, my friend, while you and your Colleague may both rest assured that the course you have pursued meets the cordial approbation of a very large proportion of the people of Virginia at present, neither of you should flatter yourselves with the hope that these opinions will be permanent here.

Throughout the U[nited] S[tates] patent causes have been silently operating for some time past to produce a radical change in their Government; and the future action of these causes must be greatly aided and facilitated by the measures recently adopted by the Senate. It was my purpose, at first, to enumerate these causes, to trace them to their sources and to show to what results they must inevitably lead, even if not designed to produce such effects. But, as I have said, I am no longer able to perform such a task. I can give you only a birds-eye view of the principles the Senate has asserted, in some of their votes, of the practices they have established to serve as precedents for themselves and their successors hereafter, of the influence these precedents must have upon the destiny of the U[nited] S[tates] both abroad and at home, and of the cause that has effected all this mischief. I am not able to complete the picture, but must leave it to you to fill up the outline.

By the admission of California into the Union, under the circumstances existing when she presented herself, the Senate have decided that the unknown dwellers and sojourners in a territory recently conquered, while they are still subject to the strict discipline of a military rule, may, without even asking the permission of their Conquerors, put off this rule, erect themselves into a sovereign state, appropriate to their own use such part of the conquered territory as they please, and govern it thereafter as they think proper. That for such acts of mutinous insurrection and open rebellion against the legitimate authority of their conquerors, instead of meeting the censure and punishment which existing laws denounce, they shall be rewarded. Provided they will take care to insert as a condition in their Organic law, that none of the slaves belonging to the citizens of one half of the states of the Union shall ever be introduced within the limits they have chosen.

By the purchase of a large portion of the territory admitted to belong to Texas, which purchase the Senate have authorized to be made, they have asserted the doctrine that it is competent to the Federal Government to buy up the whole or any part it may wish to acquire of one of the Confederated States of the Union.

By the proposed annexation of the territory to be bought from Texas to a portion of the conquered country of New Mexico, the narrow limits of the latter will be expanded into a territory of a respectable size, many of the free citizens of Texas will be degraded into territorial subjects of the Government of the U[nited] S[tates]; and when to escape from this state of vassalage, they shall hereafter ask to be admitted into the union like California, you may rely upon it, that this boon will be refused, unless like California they will exclude all Southern Slaves from their limits, by their Organic law.

The Statesman must be deficient in political sagacity, I think, who does not foresee that all the nations holding territories adjacent to the U[nited] S[tates] must feel anxiety for the safety of their dominions, when such principles if not openly avowed are acted upon systematically by the Government of the U[nited] S[tates]; and that the portion of the great family of civilized nations can regard with indifference the effects of these new doctrines interpolated into the public law.

Of their effects upon the slave holding states of the Union, I have neither space enough left to express more than a brief remark. These states have long accustomed themselves to regard the Senate of the U[nited] S[tates] as the only body upon which any reliance could be placed for the conservation of their political rights and interests. They will now see, I suppose, that this was mere delusion; that these rights and interests have been wantonly sacrificed by members of that body in whom they had good reason to repose confidence; and like the dying Caesar, struck down at the foot of Pompey's statute by the daggers of pretended friends, they may well cry out et tu quoque Brute. It is neither necessary or proper for me to say any thing now as to the course which, I think, they ought and will adopt under present circumstances. The measures which the Senate have recommended and sanctioned by their votes have not yet received the assent of the other Departments of the Government; and altho' to indulge the anticipation of any different result in these quarters may be hoping against hope, yet while a single chance remains, however remote it may be, prudence would seem to indicate that the slave holding States should abstain from any hypothetical declaration of their purpose. Whatever that purpose may be, I am sure it will not be influenced by any craven fears, and so far as Virginia is concerned, I hope it will be worthy of her character. For my own part, whatever that purpose may be I will abide by it. I have often invoked my God to witness the solemn pledge I willingly gave to be "faithful and true" to her; and when I forget the sacred obligation of this vow of allegiance, may that God forget me.

Accept this long letter, (which I have written with difficulty) as a testimonial of the high consideration in which I hold you, I commit it to your discretion, to be used as you please, provided always that it shall not reach the newspapers. Altho' I have no care to conceal any thing that I have ever thought said or done in my whole life, yet I have ever felt a morbid horror at becoming a subject of notoriety.

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* One of the early followers of John C. Calhoun; representative in Congress from Virginia, 1800-1801; Senator in Congress from Virginia, 1824-1832; governor of Virginia, 1834-1836.

SOURCE: Charles Henry Ambler, Editor, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, in Two Volumes, Vol. II, Correspondence of Robert M. T. Hunter (1826-1876), p. 115-8

Senator Henry Clay to Thomas Clay, January 8, 1850

WASHINGTON, January 8, 1850.

MY DEAR THOMAS,—I received your favor of the 2d instant, and I was glad to learn from it that you had placed your pecuniary affairs on a satisfactory footing; but I hope that you had not agreed to pay to Mr. Hart exorbitant interest. You tell me that, not wanting the check I sent you for $450, you handed it to R. Pindell to deposit the amount to my credit with the B. Bank. I wish you would see that it is done, and let me know the fact.

I am greatly concerned about your poor mother. I am afraid that she has too much suffering and trouble for one person to bear. John promised me to do all in his power to promote her comfort and happiness. I wish you and Mary would do all in your power to lighten her burdens as much as possible. I do not think that I will leave her again another winter.

I wrote yesterday to John to send our mules to Greensboro', in Georgia, where I have a prospect of a good sale of them. Indeed, I consider them all already engaged at fair prices. I wish you would assist him in getting them off. It would be well to have them washed. And I desire the person in whose charge they may be placed should inform me, from time to time, as he makes progress on the journey.

I am very sorry that John has so much trouble in hiring slaves. You will, of course, continue to assist him; and I hardly know what advice to give from this place. He and you must be the best judges, being on the spot. If there be no better alternative, I suppose that I shall be obliged to purchase one or two young men, if good ones can be bought.

Give my love to Mary and your children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 598

Senator Henry Clay to Thomas Clay, January 12, 1850

WASHINGTON, January 12, 1850.

MY DEAR THOMAS,—I received a letter from you, inclosing a copy of a letter from General Taylor to me, dated at Monterey, in November, 1847. It was the copy I wanted. I was only mistaken as to its date.

I also received the letter for Henry Clay, jun., and I have forwarded it to him.

We have a Mayday to-day.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 599

Senator Henry Clay to “General” Elijah Combs, January 22, 1850

WASHINGTON, January 22, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—I received your favor of the 15th, and I previously received other favors. I do not write often, because really I have nothing positive to communicate, and I have neither time nor inclination to write merely speculative letters.

Every thing here is uncertain—the Slavery question in all its bearings, California, New Mexico, Texas, etc.

Of course, provision for your debt, and all other debts of Texas, is among the uncertain things.

My relation with the President and his Cabinet is amicable, but not remarkably confidential with them all. I have neither sought nor declined confidential intercourse. I do not go out at night, and in the day time both they and I are too much engaged to see much of each other.

Are you not pushing subscriptions to railroads too far? We want one to the Ohio river; two would be better, and three better yet. But we ought not to go too fast.

I am awaiting with anxiety for popular expressions in Kentucky in favor of the Union, let what come that may. Is there not danger from delay that the contagion of disunion may seize you?

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 599

Senator Henry Clay to James Harlan, January 24, 1850

WASHINGTON, January 24, 1850.

MY DEAR SIR,—If I have not written to you often, it is because of my perpetual involuntary engagements, and because I have really nothing to write about of a practical nature, and I don't like indulging in speculation. Slavery here is the all-engrossing theme; and my hopes and my fears alternately prevail as to any satisfactory settlement of the vexed question. I have been anxiously considering whether any comprehensive plan of adjustment can be devised and proposed to adjust satisfactorily the distracting question. I shall not, however, offer any scheme unless it meets my entire concurrence.

I do not know whether any thing will be done about the Marshall in Kentucky. All our Whig delegation concurred in the propriety of a change; but when we came to designate the man, there was unfortunately much division. The Executive may not, under these circumstances, deem it expedient to remove the present incumbent.

My relations to the President are civil and amicable, but they do not extend to any confidential consultations in regard to public measures. I am, etc.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 599-600

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

Senator Henry Clay to James Clay, March 6, 1850

WASHINGTON, March 6, 1850.

MY DEAR SON,—I have been so excessively occupied that I have written less to you than I wished. Henry Clay came safely to me, and I have placed him, for the present, at the Georgetown College, where he seems contented.

Nothing has occurred since I last wrote to you on your Portuguese affairs. And I presume that no communication will be made to Congress in respect to them, until we settle, if we ever do settle, the Slavery subject. On this subject I made a speech, and offered a plan of compromise, of which I send you a copy. The speech has produced a powerful and salutary effect in the country and in Congress. Whether the plan will be adopted or not remains to be seen. I think if any is finally adopted it will be substantially mine.

The Kentucky Legislature has passed moderate resolutions, given me no instructions, and refused to be represented in the Nashville Convention. All this is well.

My relations to the Executive are civil but not very cordial or confidential. There has been much talk all the session about changes in the Cabinet, and the retirement of Mr. Clayton especially. I am inclined to think that there is some foundation for the rumors.

All are well at home.

My love to Susan, Lucy and the rest of the children.

SOURCE: Calvin Colton, Editor, The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, p. 601-2