nough to be called a party.

On the 24th of February, 1806, Mr. Josiah Glass, having come all the way
from North Carolina in search of a Mr. Robert Clary, went to the town of
Sparta with a warrant which he requested Judge Charles Tait to indorse.
This Judge Tait did in due form. The warrant was for negro stealing,
and was directed against Mr. Robert Clary. Mr. Clary was arrested by
Mr. Josiah Glass in Washington County, and was carried to Greene County
Superior Court. On the first day of the court, Mr. Josiah Glass wrote
a letter to Judge Tait, and requested him to attend, and take the
examination of a man then in his custody, who would make confessions
highly interesting to the State and the United States. Judge Tait,
accompanied by Squire Oliver Skinner, attended that night, and took
a part of the confessions of Mr. Robert Clary, and completed them the
following night. Then he gave Mr. Josiah Glass a certified copy of the
same to take with him to North Carolina, to which State he was taking
Mr. Robert Clary, on a warrant charging him with negro stealing.

Now, it seems that the warrant against Clary was merely intended as
a scheme to get him to North Carolina to testify against a man named
Collins. History has suppressed the confessions made by Mr. Robert
Clary; but it is certain that they contained a most offensive charge
against General John Clarke, whose patriotic services in behalf of the
people during the Revolution gave him great fame and popularity. No
sooner did John Clarke hear of this affair than he proceeded to act with
his usual promptness. When he learned the particulars about the taking
of the affidavit at night, he at once jumped to the conclusion that
he had been made the victim of a conspiracy. There had been some
disagreement between him and Hon. William H. Crawford; and as Judge
Tait had been the partner of Mr. Crawford, and was his firm friend,--for
Crawford was a man great enough to command and deserve friends,--General
Clarke suspected that Clary and Glass had been made tools of to damage
his reputation. General Clarke acted at once. He presented a memorial to
the Legislature, making certain charges against Judge Tait with respect
to the taking of the "dark-lantern affidavits," as they were called by
his friends. The Legislature found, as it ought to have done, that the
charges made in the memorial of General Clarke were unsupported by fact
or evidence. In the very nature of things, it could not