Lincoln Telegraph

Miscellaneous.

Hon. Daniel Webster.

It is with great pleasure that we publish the following correspondence and affidavits in relation to the foul calumny on Mr. Webster. We copy them from the Louisville Daily Gazette to which paper they were forwarded by the Hon. C. A. Wickliffe, Postmaster General.

Washington City 5th Feb '42

Dear Sir—I send you the note of the Hon. Daniel Webster to me, with its enclosure. You see that he desires this publication as the only means in his power at this time of refuting the slander upon his character as a man. Will you comply with his wishes, and oblige a friend,

C. A. WICKLIFFE

J. B. Marshall, Esq., Louisville, Ky.

Washington, February 6, 1842

My Dear Sir—I am obliged to you for having drawn my attention, this morning, to an anonymous libel published in the Louisville Journal of January 25th, a paper which I had not previously seen.

Although I have not been much in the habit of taking notice of newspaper calumnies, yet this publication is so gross and infamous, and circumstances are such just now, that the obvious purpose of giving credit to the story that I have thought it my duty to take some notice of it as it is at present in my power to do. I enclose therefore my own affidavit denying the truth of the statement in every particular and averring that it is from beginning to end, a naked, base and malicious falsehood and this affidavit, as you will see, is supported by the oath of every Clerk in the office. The testimony of the messengers can be added if deemed useful.

I will thank you to forward these affidavits to some friend in Louisville, with a request that he will cause them to be published in some newspaper in that city.

I am, with regard, yours, &c.

DANIEL WEBSTER

Hon. C. A. Wickliffe

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

To Wit

County of Washington

Be it remembered, on the 8th day of February, in the year eighteen hundred and forty two, before the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace, in and for the county aforesaid, personally appeared Daniel Webster, Secretary of State of the United States, and made oath on the Holy Evangelist of Almighty God, that a certain article in the Louisville Journal, of January 25, 1842 a newspaper purporting to be printed and published at Louisville in the State of Kentucky by Prentice and Weissinger, which said article is entitled, 'Anecdote of Daniel Webster,' is wholly and entirely false in each and every particular thereof, that at no time did any such interview or interviews as those described in said article entitled 'An Anecdote of Daniel Webster' ever occur which could give the slightest color for the statements in said article contained, and that, in truth, said article is from the beginning to the end, a naked wilful, and base falsehood.

DANIEL WEBSTER

Sworn and subscribed before

N. CALLAN, Jr. J. P. [SEAL]

District of Columbia,

County of Washington

To wit

This day personally appeared before me the subscriber, a Justice of the Peace, in and for the said county of Washington, Fletcher Webster, Wm. S. Derrick, Wm. Hunter, Jr. Francis Markoe, Jr. A. H. Derrick, Robert Greenhow, Edw. Stubbs, George S. Watkins, George Hill, Horatio Jones, Thos. W. Dickens, J. S. Ringgold, Benj. C. Vail, R. S. Chew, who being severally sworn on the holy Evangelist of Almighty God, each for himself, depose and say, that they are clerks in the Department of State, and have been so since the fifth day of March last, when Daniel Webster entered on the duties of his office as Secretary of State—except George S. Watkins, who was appointed clerk in said Department on the twenty-ninth day of April last, that they occupy rooms in the Department of State on the same floor with the two rooms occupied by the said Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, that they are generally except in case of illness, or when absent on leave, engaged in the Department from 9 o'clock in the morning until 3 and sometimes later in the afternoon, during which period, the said Daniel Webster is usually at the Department that having read an article in the Louisville Journal, under the date of Jan. 25, 1842, advertised to be printed by Prentice & Weissinger, headed Anecdote of Daniel Webster, they declare that said statement and the matters and things therein contained, and set forth are utterly false in all and every particular, so far as they severally know and believe.

They further declare that they know of no such individual as that described in said statement as a clerk in the Department of State from Pennsylvania—that no clerk in said Department has since the 5th day of March last, resigned in place to their knowledge or belief—that no such occurrence as that described in the said statement having to their knowledge and belief taken place in said Department—and that no such thing could occur without their knowledge, or that of some of them—and that so far as said statement concerns any of them, it is wholly false and untrue.

And the said Fletcher Webster, Wm. S. Derrick, Wm. Hunter, Jr. Francis Markoe, Jr. A. H. Derrick, Robert Greenhow, Edw. Stubbs, George Hill, Horatio Jones, Thos. W. Dickens, J. S. Ringgold, Benj. C. Vail, R. S. Chew, farther make oath respectively, and each for himself, that the deposing clerks herein before named, are the same and the permanent clerks who have been employed in the Department of State since the 5th day of March last, except that on the 6th day of March last, J. L. Martin, the chief clerk, was succeeded by Fletcher Webster, one of the aforesaid affiants; and the Rev. Andrew I. McCormick, was a clerk in the Department on the said 5th day of March last, died on the 27th day of April, and was succeeded on the 29th day of April last, by the said Geo. S. Watkins.

FLETCHER WEBSTER,

W. S. DERRICK,

W. HUNTER, JR.

FRANCIS MARKOE, JR.,

A. H. DERRICK,

ROBT. GREENHOW,

EDW. STUBBS,

GEO. S. WATKINS,

GEO. HILL,

HORATIO JONES,

THOS. W. DICKENS,

J. S. RINGGOLD,

BENJ. C. VAIL,

R. S. CHEW

Subscribed and sworn to on this 5th day of February, eighteen hundred and forty-two. (The insertion of the words Horatio Jones, in the eleventh line from top, of first page and erasure between the word Stubbs, in line eleven of page three and the word George in line twelve of page three being first made)

Given under my hand,

N. CALLAN, JR. J. P. [SEAL]