Two Letters from Henry Clay to Judge Holman
edited byJames Duvall, M. A.
Jesse Lynch Holman (1784 — 1842), was born in Danville, Kentucky. and read law with Henry Clay as a young man. He moved to Carrollton (then called Port William), Ky., where he briefly practiced law, before moving to Indiana territory. He is one of the founders of Aurora, Indiana, and served, among other offices, in the legislature, as a supreme court judge for the state of Indiana (1816-1830), and as a federal judge, to which position he was appointed in 1834.
Judge Holman is of interest since he was a Kentucky native. He was in the North Bend Association of Baptists, Boone County, though he lived in Indiana. He is one of the two authors of the obituary of Absalom Graves, which was reprinted in Graves Hymnbook published in Frankfort.
He had a distinguished political career in Indiana, but is chiefly noted in Kentucky as the author of an early novel, which he later repudiated and caused to be burnt on the public square of Aurora. He is regarded as the first novelist in the State of Indiana, though he did not write it there. He wrote his novel in Kentucky in his youth, where it was published. The Prisoners of Niagara, or Errors of Education. A New Novel, Founded on Fact. (Frankfort: Printed by William Gerard, 1810). It has, as one writer pointed out, the dubious distinction of being also the first novel burned in Indiana, for he became dissatisfied with it, and came to the conclusion it might contain some things injurious to morality, had all copies of it he could secure burnt on the public square in Aurora. "Aurora," says this writer, "If it was not the place where "The Errors of Education" was written, has a more melancholy distinction; it was the place where the first Indiana novel was destroyed." There are three original copies left (two of them imperfect), but it has been reprinted. (Berea: KY Imprints, 1973, in an edition of five hundred copies; there also microfilmes copies available in a number of libraries.)
In the first letter reprinted here Holman has repaid some money he owed to Clay, and the latter replies that the debt is entirely extinguished, and adds some kind words regarding his career.
Henry Clay to Jessee Lynch Holman
Lexington, 13 May 1817
Dear Sir,
I have to acknowledge your obliging favor of the 1st. inst. I had previously received the &120 which you directed to be paid to me, and which I pray you to consider as entirely extinguishing the obligation to which it was intended to refer. With respect to the lapse of time I assure you that it has not, in the slightest degree, affected my favorable sentiments & feelings towards you. I should indeed sincerely regret, if you had been put to the smallest inconvenience by the advance of the money, at this time, and should have prefered, if I believed that to have been the case, waiting still longer.
You very greatly overrate any services I may have rendered to you, and attribute to mewhat is the result of your own exertions. I have seen, with the highest pleasure, your prosperous advancement in life; and your welfare & fame will always continue to have the solicitude of D[ea]r Sir Y[ou]r faithful friend.
H. Clay
Jesse L. Holman, Esq.
In 1825 there is an exchange of letters between the two men. Jesse L. Holman wrote to Henry Clay from his homestead in Veraestau, Indiana, 24 Oct 1825.
The letter to Clay was ostensibly written to recommend that the printers of the Indiana Palladium of Lawrenceburg, Indiana to print the Laws of the Union. Federal Printing jobs were much in demand as political favours. The Indiana Palladium did receive patronage from the State Department towards the close of the administration of John Quincy Adams. Holman was chiefly interested in explaining to Clay why he had voted for his opponent, John Quincy Adams, as a state elector.
The presidential election of 1824 was disputed, and the electorial college gave no single candidate a majority of the votes, as required by the consititution. Andrew Jackson received 99 votes, Adams, 84, William H. Crawford, 41, and Clay, 37. The election was voted on by the House of Representatives, and Clay, who hated Jackson, voted instead for Adams, ignoring instructions from the Kentucky Legislature that he was to vote for Jackson. Clay was appointed by Adams as Secretary of State. Since Clay himself had thrown his support to Adams, and was Secretary of State under Adams, it is not hard to see why he wasn't upset with Holman. Doubtless he regarded it expedient to retain the good will of people like Holman, who might be able to help him at a later date.
In the letter Holman records his obligation to Clay as his mentor and instructor in early life:
"I have a clear recollection of what I was when I entered under your tuition, & of the vast benefit I derived from your instruction, besides a knowledgeof the Law. I never review my course of life, & compare my uniform ,yet quiet success, with that of my youthful companions, whose prospects were even better than mine, without feeling the weight of my obligations to Henry Clay."
Clay's reply, which follows, is gracious.
Henry Clay to Jessee Lynch Holman
Washington, 6 Nov. 1825
I received, in due course of the mail, your obliging letter of the 24 Oct. Your recommendation of Mess. Gregg and Culley Editors of the Indiana Palladium to be designated as printers of the Laws shall have full consideration, when I come to act on that subject. For the friendly sentiments expressed in your letter I am very thankful. I have not been an indifferent spectator of your progress in life, which I have, on the contrary, witnessed with much gratification. As to the part taken by you, in the late presidential election, with which I was acquainted, you would have been unworthy of the esteem which I entertain for you, if you had not have independently formed and acted on your own judgment. The reasons which you assign for your preference of another have great force, and being satisfactory to you, are entirely so to me.
With my best wishes for your continued prosperity, in which Mrs. Clay cordially joins me, I remain Faithfully your friend and obedient Servant
H. Clay
The Hon[oura]ble Jesse L. Holman.
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