had forty electoral votes, and would have tied Crawford.* Their two names might then have come before the House as a double third candidate. Or had the House been called on to decide which of the two was third, the name of Clay, both from preference and alphabetical precedence, would undoubtedly have been selected.

Clay had long been convinced that his name could not come before the House, and had returned to Washington fully impressed with the responsibility that rested upon him. He could not be President, but it was for him to say who should

* One of the Clay deserters voted for Crawford. Had he voted for Clay Crawford would have had but forty electoral votes.

1895.

THE POSITION OF CLAY.

77

be. To choose was not difficult. During the summer of 1824 Crawford had been stricken with paralysis, and, though much improved in health, was still unable to sign official documents with his own hand. He was in no physical condition to be Inade President. To vote for Jackson was impossible. Since Clay's great speech six years before, denouncing the "military chieftain" for his conduct in the Seminole War, the two had not spoken. But now that Clay was known to hold the vote of the House of Representatives, strenuous efforts were made to renew intercourse. A visit of courtesy made by Clay when Jackson was in Washington in the days of the Seminole speech had never been returned. Members of the Tennessee delegation now assured the Speaker that "the hero was suffering under some indisposition at the time. Clay replied that in condemning Jackson's conduct in the war he "expressed opinions in respect to public acts," but had no feeling of enmity. Indeed, he had opened his great speech in 1818 with just such a statement. Then it meant nothing. Now it meant much, and the Tennessee delegation gave a dinner which Jackson and Clay both attended. Each a little later dined the other, and for the time being the old feud seemed at an end.

During all this while Clay never faltered in his determination to support Adams. To one friend he wrote that, as a friend to liberty and to the permanence of our institutions, he could not consent to endanger them at so early a stage of their existence "by contributing to the election of a military chieftain." Another was assured that, while Adams was far from being his own choice, he could not consider that killing twenty-five hundred Englishmen at New Orleans was any indication of the fitness of Jackson for the "difficult and complicated duties of the chief magistracy."

When this determination began to be suspected, when no assurances of support could be drawn from Clay, he was set upon by the friends of Jackson. Every mail brought him letters full of abuse, of threats of vengeance, of predictions of riot and bloodshed if Jackson were not elected. Yet he remained firm.

Then, toward the close of January, 1825, finding Clay

could neither be persuaded nor frightened, an attempt was made to ruin him politically. That he was greatly disappointed when Monroe did not make him Secretary of State was well known. That if Adams were elected, Clay would in all likelihood be offered the place and would accept was almost certain. On this certainty a scheme was concocted which, it was hoped, would force him to support Jackson if he wanted to be Secretary, or if he gave his influence to Adams would compel him to decline the portfolio of State.

A member of Congress was persuaded to write an anonymous letter to a newspaper published in Philadelphia and called the Columbian Observer. He declared that an attempt had been made to corrupt the friends of Jackson; that when it failed the Clay men had applied to followers of Adams; that a most "unholy coalition" had been made, and that, in return for the office of Secretary of State, Clay had promised to use his influence in the House of Representatives to secure the election of Adams to the Presidency.

Lest Clay should not see the letter, the editor of the Columbian Observer sent him a marked copy. He ought to have flung it in the fire. But, stung to the quick, he snatched his pen, dashed off a card to the National Intelligencer-a newspaper published in Washington-and gave to the libel publicity and importance. In his card Clay denied the coalition, denounced the unknown writer as "a base and infamous calumniator, a dastard, and a liar," who, if he would disclose his name, should be held responsible "to all the laws which govern men of honor." In plain words, he should be summoned to the duelling grounds at Bladensburg. The writer thus challenged did discover himself, and, in a note to the National Intelligencer, informed the "Hon. H. Clay" that George Kremer of the House of Representatives was ready to prove to the satisfaction of unprejudiced minds that a bargain had really been made. Kremer was a bustling member of the House from Pennsylvania, whose chief claims to notoriety were a leopard-skin overcoat and eccentric manners. The thought of the great Mr. Clay-of "Harry of the West "Speaker of the House for twelve sessions, hurrying off to Bladensburg in the dusk of a winter morning to take aim at

1825.

KREMER'S CHARGE.

79

one of the spots on Kremer's coat now made the whole affair ridiculous.

But Clay was angry, and, having forced from cover the member who had stated things which, if true, were as disgraceful to the House as to its Speaker, he took occasion one morning, as soon as the House was organized, to lay the matter before it, and asked an investigation. "The respectability," said he, "of the station which the member holds who prefers the charges, and that of the people he represents, entitle his accusation to grave consideration. It may well be worthy of consideration whether the character and dignity of the House itself does not require a full investigation; for if they are true, if I am base enough to betray the solemn trust which the Constitution has confided to me, the House would be scandalized by my continuing to occupy the chair with which it has so long honored me, and I ought to be instantly expelled. I earnestly hope, therefore, that the House will be pleased to direct an inquiry to be made into the truth of the charges."

The House was amazed. Not half the members had seen the cards in the newspapers or knew that one of their fellows had made so serious an attack on the Speaker and themselves. Indignant at such behavior, the appeal of Clay was ordered to be spread on the journal, and a committee was appointed to investigate. Kremer, standing in his place and in the presence of the House, now solemnly promised to appear before the committee, and if he did not make good the charge he hoped he might receive the reprobation he should in that case deserve. But when the committee had been chosen and called on Kremer to submit proof, he refused to come, and sent instead a long letter denying the right of the House to take any action in the matter.

When the House had listened to the reading of Kremer's letter, the document was laid on the table, and, the day being the second Wednesday in February, a messenger was sent to inform the Senate that the House was ready to witness the counting of the electoral votes.

Precisely at noon the Senate, preceded by its sergeantat-arms and its President, entered the hall and took seats on the right of the Speaker's desk. The representatives on

this occasion sat uncovered, for the custom of wearing hats during the daily sittings was still in use, and it was only on such occasions that the members were required to take them off. When all were seated the President of the Senate was escorted to the Speaker's chair, while the Speaker took that of the clerk. After a short pause the chairman rose and announced that the certificates were ready to be delivered to the tellers, whereupon two appointed by the House took their stand before the clerk's table and two appointed by the Senate stood in front of the table of the secretary of the Senate. The chairman then announced that if no objection was made he would begin to open and count the votes for President and Vice-President of the United States. A short pause ensued, and, no objection being made, he lifted from the table a little package marked "Original," and declaring it had been received from the Department of State as the original votes of Maine, he broke the seals and read aloud the returns from the electoral college of Maine. The package was then handed to the Speaker, who in turn read the returns aloud and delivered the package to the clerk of the House, for by him alone could the original votes of the States be recorded. The chairman now took a second package marked "Duplicate votes," and, declaring that he held in his hand the "duplicate votes of Maine," opened it and went through the same form as before. But when the package reached the Speaker he delivered it to the tellers on the part of the Senate, who handed it to the secretary of the Senate, whose duty it was to record the duplicate votes. All the certificates having been opened and read, and the tellers having compared their counts, the President rose and declared that, as Andrew Jackson had received ninety-nine votes, J. Q. Adams eighty-four votes, W. H. Crawford forty-one, and Henry Clay thirtyseven, no person had received a majority; that no person was elected, and that, as Jackson, Adams, and Crawford were the three who received the highest votes, it remained for the House of Representatives to elect one of them. Calhoun received one hundred and eighty-two electoral votes for VicePresident, and was thereby elected.

When the Senate had retired to its own hall, and the roll