were called.

CHAPTER VIII.

CHARGES OF CORRUPTION AGAINST MR. CLAY AND MR. ADAMS--MR. ADAMS ENTERS
UPON HIS DUTIES AS PRESIDENT--VISIT OF LA FAYETTE--TOUR THROUGH THE
UNITED STATES--MR. ADAMS DELIVERS HIM A FAREWELL ADDRESS--DEPARTS FROM THE
UNITED STATES.

The election of Mr. Adams to the presidency, was a severe disappointment
to the friends of Gen. Jackson. As the latter had received a majority of
fifteen electoral votes over Mr. Adams, it was confidently anticipated,
nay, virtually demanded, that he should be elected by the House of
Representatives. This claim, it was insisted, was in accordance with the
will of the people, as expressed in the electoral colleges, and to resist
it would be to violate the spirit of the constitution, and to set at
nought the fundamental principles of our republican Government. A
sufficient reply to these positions is found in the fact, that Gen.
Jackson did not receive a majority of the electoral votes, and hence a
majority of the people could not be considered as desiring his election.
The absolute truth, subsequently obtained on this point, was, that Mr.
Adams had received more of the primary votes of the people than Gen.
Jackson; and thus, according to all republican principles, was entitled to
be considered the first choice of the citizens of the United States.

The position of Mr. Clay, in this contest for the presidency, was one of
great delicacy and difficulty. He was precisely in that critical posture,
that, whatever course he might pursue, he would be subject to
misrepresentation and censure, and could not but raise up a host of
enemies. Originally one of the four candidates for the presidency, he
failed, by five electoral votes, in having a sufficient number to be one
of the three candidates returned to the House of Representatives, of which
he was then Speaker. In this posture of affairs, it was evident that upon
the course which should be pursued by Mr. Clay, and his friends in the
House, depended the question who should be elected President. As Mr.
Crawford, on account of the critical state of his health, was considered
out of the question, Mr. Clay was left to choose between Mr. Adams and
Gen. Jackson.

In this posture of affairs, Mr. Clay saw, that however patriotic the
principles on which he acted, and however pure the motives by which he
might be governed in making his selection, he must inevitably expose
himself to the severest animadversions from the defeat