Richmond Enquirer

MR. CLAY.

The last Fredericksburg papers state, that Mr. Clay had arrived from Lynchburg by the Cartersville road on Monday evening at St. Julien, the seat of Judge Brooke. A Committee of the town immediately waited upon him with an invitation to dinner, to which Mr. Clay returned the following answer:

St. Julien, 29th September, 1828.

GENTLEMEN—I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day, addressed to me in behalf of a number of my fellow-citizens of Fredericksburg, Falmouth and their vicinities, expressing their wish to embrace the opportunity of personal intercourse, afforded by my arrival in their neighbourhood, and tendering to me the honor of a public dinner. Intending to be in Fredericksburg to-morrow, I shall be extremely happy to avail myself of that occasion to mix, in friendly intercourse, with any portion of my fellow-citizens, who may desire to see me; but I regret very much that the temporary restrictions to which, during my present journey, I have subjected myself, will not permit me to be present at the public entertainment, the proposal of which has been prompted by hospitality and friendship. From the moment that I was constrained to decline accepting a similar testimony of respect, offered by my late Congressional constituents, to whom more than to any others, am I indebted for signal favors, persevering attachment, and unbounded confidence, I have not felt at liberty, however penetrated with gratitude, to deviate from the resolution which I then returned to my fellow-citizens, whom you represent, my warm acknowledgments, and to make acceptable to them the decision which I now communicate.

The generous indignation which you express, on account of the continued and relentless persecution of which I have been so long the object, is as worthy of your hearts as it is grateful to mine. It would have been felt if I had been an alien to Virginia, unconnected with you by the tie of common origin. It is no less due, because I am one of her humble sons. The satisfaction which I have ever derived from the relation in which I stand to her, has sprung from a knowledge of her chivalrous character, from the illustrious names which have adorned her history, and, above all, from her noble exertions in the establishment of free institutions and in the cause of civil liberty.

Accept, gentlemen, my thanks for your kind attentions, and my best wishes for your individual prosperity.

I am, cordially, your friend & fellow-citizen.

H. CLAY.

Messrs. John S. Wellford; Wm. Drowne, Wm. M. Blackford, Hugh Mercer, Rev. R. Wellford, William Dunbar, William C. Beale, Alexander F. Rose, Jeremiah Morton, Thomas B. Barton.

The Committee and a number of gentlemen met Mr. Clay on Tuesday morning, a short distance from the town, and escorted him to the residence of Mr. John S. Wellford, where he received such citizens as chose to call upon him. He dined at Hazle-Hill in the vicinity of the town, with some of his friends, and was to leave Fredericksburg on Wednesday morning, on his return to Washington City.