Henry Clay And The Cilley Duel

The reference Mr. Adams lately made in the House, to the well known Ciiljy duel, has led to sorne interesting develöpraents. It wil! be recoiiected, thai Mr. Wiae implicaed Mr. Clay as being concerned in that bloody transaction. A statement rocently appeared m the Intelligenter, designed to show the injustice of the charge. To this Mr. Wise rejoins in isuch a way as to place Mr. Cluy in u most unenviable predieament. "No one," says he, 'Telt at libërty or bound, ai the time, to stata the ñames or the advice of all the private friends wno knew of the matter, nnd who were consulted about it. Mr. C'tay's friends, particularly, were very anxious for obvious reasous, not to involve his name, e?pecial!y, in the affair. Tííus many conii.ientiu! facts remained unkauwn on both sides. - Mr. Clay himseSf, it is true, whilst all his friends were trem'ling lest ihe part he took in it shou'd be disclosed, boidly carne to me and said : "Stfr, it is a nine days bubble! Iftkey wantto know whatl didia the matter, teil them to cali me bef ore thern, and I will teil them." Tuis excited tny admiration at the time, and was effecïual to prevent me from unnecessarily bringing his name before the oommittee. It was not my wish that he should be called, and be vsas not caíled." lyrhia being true, and it is cerlaiuly in Keet keeping with the cliaracter and past tory of Henry Ciay, what are we to ■Mbo can lightly speak of Hbrder of a fel !ov being, as"a nine dayss bnbbh?n And this is one of the Gods of 3 American people!, p challenge was Hise says: Kon some time, ttnd you al lasl insisted ih:it 1 should accompany you to Mr. Ciay's room, and be 3I in ihe matter. You me house with him - at Mts. ï3 ill's a few doore from Miss Queen's. 0 his room about 11 A. M.on Friciay, the 23rd,and we n alone. You submiited to him in nce whether there was any alter_ Hen íor you but to challenge Mr. He promptly responded that you jPno oiher course tefi. You then submiited to him the form of the challenge you had drawn. He read it, and did nol approve it, and said thatyour true point of challenge was tbat Mr. Cilley had refu8ed to receive the note of Col. Webb, which you had borne, and had refused also to assign such reasons as would exonérate you from responsibility. 1 immedititely debated this point with him as to the true cauae of dispute; but he persisted in hjs opinión, took the challenge you had drawn. threw it aside, and with his own hand urn: pen wrote the following, to wit: Washington City, Feb. 23, 1838. uAs you have declined accepting a com mnnication which I bore to you from Col. Webb, and as by your note of yesterday you refused to decline on grounds which would exonérate me from all responsibili ty growing out of the affair, I am lelt no other alternative but to ask that satisfaction which is recognized among gentlemen My friend, Hon. Henry A. Wise, is authorized by me to make the arrangements suitablc to the occasion. Yourobedient servanf. W. J. GRAVES. Hon. J. Cilley."You accepted ibis ibrtn und adopled it m lieu of yonr own, copiad tin your handwriting, destroyed the manuscript of Mr. Clay, and then insisted that I should inimediately beqr it lo Mr. Ctlley. Mr. Cluy added hiá pefsuneioua to yours, nud I was prevailed on to bear it lo Mr. Ciitcy, vvhicn l diii a little beiore 13 o'clock on tliat day." "It secms then," ihe Cincinnali Chrouiclo remarks, "that the honorable duelli.sts iid not ex-'ictly know what they 'were 16 rïght about - un;i!, he might havo added, they were insiructed by t lies dislifigufsiisÜ statéSman, Ilenrv Clay. Mark the lust sentence of.the loreoiug - "Mr. Chij ;lded his per&uasions to yours, and 1 was prevailed on to bear it to Mr. Ciil;y." - Agai'n Mr. C!ay appears ay i prihcipiil ttfX'UDpüco in the business. VV'tioii they had selectod rifles, as thcir wtMfiuii.s, Mr. VVise shys: uAa sJon as I coulti (about G oY.loch, P. M.) l weutto Mr. Cluy's iO'm, ind s;u;mitied the tenns to him. 1 i brak you were present. I protested ihey were unu-uMl, barbarou?, and shoüid nut be acceplci!. - Mr. Clay said that you were 44 KentucJijón, and that no Kcntitci'cian could back out from a rijicp that tbc distance -as gjfifJ t, and tbal ú ihe terms vvero uiiusu.il aiid barbarous, tlio pariy propnsing such was mostlikely to ily from thetu himseif." It is impossiblc to read these statemertls without horror. If ihey be true, and il:ey coutain nothing at va Ha nee wfth the character of nduellisi, as Mr. Cl;iy 3 knñwn to be. Mr. Adamd"1 terrible rebuke öf Mr. Wise, was far more richly merited by Mr. Clay. We decply regret that the Cincinuatt Chronicle, u paper penerally ciisiinguished for ia high moral tooe, at;oinpts to screen ibis gentleman from the indigriution which a vÍTiüouscommirnity:bught to leel againet hitn - on the presumpliun hat Mr. VVise hus truly epresenled his conduct in this afTair. "We do not see," lie remarks, that Mr. Ciay did mure than anöwer the inquiries asked ufhim, or thai duüllists are ín any way inconsistent wlien ihey actas honorable paVüès to ftifrjoröUle affirifs,v And vet Mr. Chiy tuld Mr. Graves ihere was no o;her cour;=e for him to pursue, thtin to challenge - ivrotc ihe the form himself- persuaded Mr. Wise, reluctanl as he was, tocarry it i Mr. Ciiley, overruled the scruples of this gentleman, as to theunusual and barbarousmode ia which the duel was to bc coiiducted,;uul when one of the parlied was nlurdecetfj carelessly reniarked, tlnit it was ka niae day'á bubbieP' And yet hc increly responded to the inquirios!! Wherí Mr. 6'iy öhall come before the American people as a cundíoste for the Presidencv,e hai! see wbether they wil I cñns'ütit lo beMow ihe higliest honor ut their gif', on a tn:in vvho regarris the murder of a ftfllpw crcaure, as a mre " uiuc day's bubble."