ond day after this
communication and reply, it was announced in the newspapers that Mr.
Clay had come out openly and avowedly in favor of Mr. Adams.[6]

[5] _Niles' Weekly Register_, vol. XXXII., p. 162.

[6] _Niles' Weekly Register_, vol. XXXII., p. 316.

To this accusation Mr. Clay, in a letter to the public, dated the 4th
of July, 1827, made "a direct, unqualified, and indignant denial," and
called on General Jackson "to substantiate his charges by satisfactory
evidence." General Jackson immediately gave to the public the name of
James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, as "the respectable member of
Congress" who made to him this communication and proposition. This
declaration compelled Mr. Buchanan to come before the public; who
accordingly, in a letter dated the 8th of August, 1827,[7] published to
the world what he declared to be "_the only conversation which he ever
held with General Jackson_," in which he stated to him that, having
heard a rumor that he intended, in case of his election, to appoint Mr.
Adams Secretary of State, and thinking such an appointment would "cool
the ardor of his friends," he called on him, and informed him of the
rumor, and asked him whether he had ever intimated such intention; that
Jackson replied he had not, and that, if elected President, he would
enter upon the office untrammelled; and that this was substantially the
whole conversation. Mr. Buchanan added, that he did not call upon
General Jackson as the agent of Mr. Clay, or his friends, which he was
not; and that he was incapable of entertaining the opinion Jackson had
charged him with, that "_it was right to fight such intriguers with
their own weapons_;" and that he thought that Jackson "could not have
received this impression until after Mr. Clay and his friends had
actually elected Mr. Adams President, and Mr. Adams had appointed Mr.
Clay Secretary of State."

[7] Ibid., p. 415.

A more full, direct, and conclusive contradiction of every fact asserted
by General Jackson is impossible. Yet it had no effect upon his
prospects or policy. His partisans continued to propagate the calumny,
and profess their belief in it; and he gave encouragement to this course
by maintaining a scrupulous silence on Mr. Buchanan's contradiction. Mr.
Clay, speaking on this point, observed: "After Mr. Buchanan's statement
appeared, there were many persons who believed that General Jackson's
magnanimity would immediately prompt him to