ity of harmonizing the conflicting
interests of his followers by a clear-cut and explicit utterance on the
tariff.

With so many candidates in the field, it was difficult to forecast the
outcome of the presidential campaign. Even if there had been a
pronounced popular drift toward any candidate, the result would have
remained in doubt until the six States which still gave the choice of
electors to their legislatures had completed the complicated electoral
process. There was a strong likelihood, however, that the election would
go to the House of Representatives. As the choice would then be confined
to the three candidates having the highest vote, there was not a little
bargaining in the States where the legislatures chose the electors. The
completed returns gave Jackson 99 electoral votes; Adams, 84; Crawford,
41; and Clay, 37. Calhoun was elected Vice-President by more than two
thirds of the electoral vote. The House, therefore, as wiseacres had
foretold, was called upon for the second time to decide a contested
presidential election.

The position of Clay was one of unenviable distinction and power. He
could not be elected President, but he could, it was believed, determine
which of his rivals should have the coveted office. His own State
favored Jackson as a second choice; but Clay wrote to a friend that he
could not consider the killing of twenty-five hundred Englishmen at New
Orleans proved the fitness of Jackson for the chief civil magistracy.
Crawford was personally less objectionable to Clay; but he had suffered
a paralytic stroke and his health was precarious. Besides, Crawford had
opposed some of the policies which Clay had most at heart. For years
Clay had been a bitter opponent of Adams; yet after all was said, he was
bound to admit that his interests would be best served by an alliance
with this stiff-necked New Englander. At an early date, therefore, he
determined to throw his support to Adams.

For weeks the capital was enveloped in an atmosphere of intrigue. Clay
was courted by all factions. The possibility of securing his support was
a standing temptation to wire-pullers. Even Adams wrote in his diary,
"_Incedo super ignes_" (I walk over fires). When Clay announced
positively, on January 24, that he and his friends would support Adams,
a storm of passionate denunciation broke upon him. An anonymous letter
appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper, charging that friends of Adams had
offered Clay the Secret