not have happened had General Jones understood the object which Mr. Wise had in view-that of delay. The arrangements being thus far made, there was no time for parleying. Mr. Graves went out the morning previous to the meeting to practice with the rifle. He proved himself to be a very bad shot at a mark. His hand was so huge and clumsy, his fingers so course, that he could not "taste" a hair trigger. He would invariably fire before the word was given, and could not hit a barn door at eighty yards. By this time Mr. Wise had procured a fine, large rifle from Mr. John C. Rives of the Globe, and filled it with vinegar the night before the duel, for the purpose of cleansing it of rust; and by the appointed time Mr. Wise had Mr. Graves ready and upon the field. He was accompanied by Henry A Wise as his armed second, aided by Hon. John J. Crittenden and Hon. Richard H. Menefee, of Kentucky. Mr. Cilley was accompanied by Hon. George W. Jones, as his armed second, aided by Mr. Schaumburg and Mr. Bynum, and by Dr. Duncan, as surgeon. Before these gentlemen went out, propositions of adjustment were written for the guide of Mr. Graves' second, in case an adjustment should be proposed. Mr. Graves won the position, Mr. Cilley the word. Mr. Graves' second selected the west, because the wind was setting from the northwest, from a knowledge of the fact that Mr. Cilley was a crack shot, thinking that he would not make an allowance for the wind against his ball, the variation of which, from the effects of the wind in the distance of eighty yards, would be six inches. This arrangement, and nothing else, saved the life of Mr. Graves. Mr. Cilley stood east; Mr. Graves west. They fired at one o'clock, P. M., nearly across the rays of the sun; Mr. Graves' face in the light, Mr. Cilley's in the shade. Mr. Graves was ordered not to fire until he had good sight, and at the word "three." At the first fire Mr. Graves obeyed orders coolly, but clearly missed his aim. Mr. Cilley's ball struck the ground about forty yards from the place in which he stood. The loss of his fire evidently made him anxious for another exchange of shots. A second shot being determined on, Mr. Menefee placed the rifle in the hands of Mr. Graves, and upbraided him for being so slow. All being ready, and the combatants appearing cool and collected, at the word "fire," the rifle of Mr. Graves went off, his ball striking the ground about ten paces from his feet. Mr. Cilley raised deliberately and shot with dead aim at about two and a half count. All eyes were then turned to Mr. Graves, who dropped the breach of his rifle as his second ran up to him, thinking he was certainly hit; but

it turned out that he had only been pulling at the trigger, when he very calmly blew into the muzzle, exclaiming: "Why, the gun is off." He did not think he had fired. This mortified him. Then came his time for demanding a third fire, for the same cause that induced Mr. Cilley to desire a second shot. Mr. Graves demanded, and would have a third fire. Had Mr. Graves' coat been unbuttoned, the second ball of Mr. Cilley's rifle would have passed through the lapel of his coat. This conclusion was arrived at from the position in which Mr. G. stood and where the ball struck the fence behind him.

As to the propositions of settlement, they were never made, except to enquire what was then to be done. Mr. Cilley yielded nothing; and there was still cause for the duel unmoved, unexplained, unadjusted, and a point of punctillio which can never be explained. Mr. Cilley was obliged to demand a second and Mr. Graves a third fire. Being ready for the fire, they both appeared cool and collected; and there was never a fairer exchange of shots. Mr. Cilley fired a little first, and in one fourth of a second received his mortal wound in front of the left hip, the ball passing entirely through him, severing, no doubt, the aorta. "His rifle fell out of his hands, he beckoned to his second, and died in a few moments, without a struggle or apparently a pang."

After the death of the unfortunate Cilley, the public mind was so excited and indignant by the innumerable falsehoods and slanders emanating from the misinformed, and the enemies of those who were engaged at one time in an attempt at reconciliation and adjustment, that the House of Representatives appointed a committee of investigation, the report of which now stands as a public record. When the com mittee sat, one of the objects was to throw the onus of the whole affair upon Mr. Wise. Mr. Clay heard of the intentions of the committee told Mr. Wise to tell them to call upon him—that although he had shed tears over the "nine days bubble," yet he was cognizant of all the connected facts, and would take great pleasure, at all times, in setting the misrepresented in their true position.

Mr. James Watson Webb, in 1842, alleged, in the Courier and Enquirer, that Mr. Wise had instigated the duel. Such a charge was totally unfounded, unjust and cowardly, from the fact that anything • of the sort should emanate from a man like Mr. Webb, who was directly and knowingly connected with the whole affair. Soon after this slanderous and malicious allegation appeared in the Courier and

Enquirer, Mr. Wise published the facts of the case in the Madisonian. Mr. Clay, finding that explanation might injure him for the Presidency in 1844, or some future time, wrote to Mr. Graves, and got him to say that he (Clay) had no part whatsoever in the advice, counsel, or preparation of the duel. Mr. Clay published that letter in the National Intelligencer as true. Whereupon Mr. Wise wrote to him categorical questions, which he placed in the hands of Dr. Linn, of Missouri. Mr. Clay replied, and admitted his whole part in the affair, and generally justified Mr. Wise as well as himself. For this act of injustice, Mr. Wise could never (nor justly) forgive Mr. Clay. How unjust and unkind is it to accuse innocent men of being the instigators of that which is at all times exceedingly offensive to the masses!

Mr. Wise used all possible and honorable means to prevent a hostile meeting between these gentlemen; and never did he consent to accompany Mr. Graves until he told him that he was determined to go upon the field, whether Mr. Wise accompanied him or not.

Mr. Wise once put a challenge into the hands of Hon. S. S. Prentiss, of Mississippi, for Hon. Mr. Gholson, of the same State; but Mr. Prentiss refused to carry it because he said the onus was upon Mr. Gholson and not upon Mr. Wise.

Mr. Wise also challenged Hon. Thos. H. Bayly of Acomack, but he refused to accept, upon what grounds we have never heard.

RE-ELECTION TO CONGRESS IN 1839.

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IN

1840. SECOND MARRIAGE.

In 1839 Mr. Clay, no doubt, was more anxious to receive the nomination for the Presdency than he was ever before or afterwards. And to make the chances of his nomination more certain, and his election a fixed fact, it was necessary in the opinion of himself and friends, to procure the support and influence of that portion of the Democratic party that had favored the election, in 1836, of Hugh L. White and John Tyler. For this purpose to be secured, Judge White had to be consulted. Mr. Wise being a bosom friend of Judge White, Mr. Clay got him to make the requisite enquiries. In reply to the enquiry whether or not he had any aspirations for the Presidency? he said he had none, and should not have allowed his name to have been' placed in that situation in 1836, had it not been to assert his political and personal independence. As for supporting Mr. Van Buren, whom he considered unsound in toto upon the questions of Slavery and Texas, he

could not think of such a thing. As for Mr. Clay, he held him in the highest personal consideration, but politically, as he understood his policy, they were diametrically opposed to each other, upon the five great cardinal principles that divided the Federal and Republican parties. He could not support Mr. Clay or any other man who advocated a U. States Bank, Protective Tariff, Internal Improvement by the General Government, Distribution, and the right of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and the Territories. Mr. Clay authorized Mr. Wise to say to Judge White that he stood thus upon these five cardinal issues:

1. Bank. "He said he had not changed his opinions since 1816. That he had avowed some change in respect to the constitutionality of that measure, which he had always regretted. That he was sorry he had not adhered to the grounds that he had first taken upon that subject. But then, though he believed in the constitutional power of Congress to incorporate a Bank for Treasury purposes, yet such was the force of circumstances and events, existing then in 1839, he was compelled to conclude that a re-charter for many years would be impolitic, unsafe, and inexpedient. It would never be safe to re-charter a U. States Bank whilst there was a popular minority even opposed to its institution. The friends of such an incorporation were bound to await the arbitrament of enlightened public opinion."-“ And that he would never again recommend a re-charter of the U. States Bank, unless it should be called for by the popular voice, approaching such unanimity as would increase general confidence and safety."

2. On the Tariff he prided himself as being "its Pacificator, in being the author of the Tariff Compromise of 1832. He considered that the North had obtained its consideration in the first five years of the act, and that it would now be bad faith to deprive the South of the benefits it had bargained for in reduction and in equalization of duties upon protected and unprotected articles alike." He emphatically pledged himself not to disturb his own compromise, but to allow it a full and fair operation..

3. Upon Internal Improvements, he said, "the great design of his 'American' system, as it had been called, was to stimulate the States to enterprises of improvement: that he had never thought that these works could be accomplished as economically and as faithfully by the General Government as by the States, and by private companies and individuals acting under State authority. That he had effectually at

tained his end. By the appropriations to works, and to surveys already then made, the States had been stimulated to intoxication. That they had run into an enormous debt of 200 millions. He would rather then assuage the fever, and would arrest all farther stimulus until the State debts were paid."

4. Upon the subject of Distribution of the Proceeds of the Public Lands, he said, "He never proposed a distribution of the proceeds, except when there was a large surplus in the treasury. That by his bill in 1832, he had limited the operation to such a time, only five years, as would exhaust the surplus. As long as the revenue was required for the payment of the public debt, or for any proper object of expenditure, he would never propose a distribution amongst the States. There was then, 1839, a debt of about forty millions, and likely to be a deficiency of revenue unless the tariff was raised, which could not be done without violating his compromise. It was morally certain, then, that if he was nominated and elected, there would be no surplus during his term. He would not distribute a deficiency at all."

5. On the subject of Slavery, he admitted that he had advocated the opinion that Congress had power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and in the Territories; but further remarked, that he had openly avowed since that time, in the Senate, that he regarded the exercise of that power by Congress, without the consent of the States of Virginia and Maryland, inexpedient and dangerous, and that he would resist the wrong with arms; that he would resist the exercise of the power, as if the power was unconstitutional.

Thus we find Mr. Clay in 1839, although on constitutional grounds opposed to the Democratic party upon every cardinal issue, yet pledging himself to be practically with that party. These pledges being given by Mr. Clay through Mr. Wise to Judge White and his friends, they immediately advocated his nomination in preference to that of Mr. Van Buren. But before the pledges were made, Judge White predicted that Mr. Clay would be shelved by the influence of Mr. Webster, and his influence by what was called the "Triangular Correspondence." This name was given to a correspondence that had sprung up in Rochester, Utica and New York for the purpose of throwing a damper upon the claims of Mr. Clay previous to the meeting of the National Whig Convention at Harrisburg. Judge White was right in his predictions. The name of General Scott was used to defeat Mr. Clay through the Webster influence; William H. Harrison and John Tyler receiving