Ashland, September 13, 1823.
Dear Crittenden,
— I received your letter by Mr. Davis. I participate most cordially with you in
the just solicitude which the dispute between Messrs. Breckenridge and
Wickliffe awakens. When it was first mentioned to me, considering the peculiar
circumstances and the character of one of the parties, I feared that all
private interference would be unavailing, and that the best course would be an
appeal to the civil authority, with its chances of delay, — cooling of the
passions, and possible ultimate accommodation. Supposing the intercession of
the civil power, would not Mr. W. be relieved from the necessity of having the
interview, and Mr. B. be stripped of any ground to carry into effect the
alternative, which it is said he menaced? There is, however, no incompatibility
between the two courses, which may be tried in succession, or simultaneously,
according to circumstances. I have therefore prepared and, on my own
part, signed a letter addressed to the parties, and which may be signed by both,
or either of you, and the governor. If the relations of one of them
to your brother should induce you to withhold your signature, that of the
governor may be affixed without yours. I would advise a copy of this letter to
be delivered to each of the seconds; and considering that it is uncertain where
they may meet, I would suggest that one of the judges of the Court of
Appeals or Circuit Courts be applied to for a warrant to bind the parties. The
public rumor of their intention to meet will form a sufficient ground for his
action. One of the motives which took me to Woodford was to see you. The
melancholy event which occurred there of private affliction to you (on which I
offer you my sincere condolence) deprived me of that pleasure. My health is not
re-established, but is improving, and I begin to feel that I see land, or
rather, that I may not get under it.
I am faithfully
yours,
Henry Clay.
Hon. J. J. Crittenden.
SOURCE: Mrs. Chapman Coleman, The Life of John J.
Crittenden, Volume 1, p. 59
