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 defeated party.  But he did not hesitate, in the discharge of what he believed to be a solemn duty he owed his country, to throw his influence in behalf of the man whom he believed the best fitted to serve that country in the responsible office of the presidency.  Long before it had been foreseen such a contingency would occur, he had expressed his want of confidence in the ability and fitness of Gen. Jackson for the executive chair.  But in Mr. Adams he saw a man of the utmost purity and integrity of private character—­a scholar of the ripest abilities—­a statesman, a diplomatist, a patriot of unquestioned talents and of long experience,—­one who had been entrusted with most important public interests by Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe, and also had received from these illustrious men every mark of confidence—­whose familiarity with the internal condition and foreign relations of the Union was unequalled by any public man!  Between men so dissimilar in their qualifications, how could Mr. Clay, with the slightest regard to the welfare of the nation, the claims of patriotism, or the dictates of his conscience, hesitate to choose?  He did not hesitate.  With an intrepid determination to meet all consequences, he threw his influence in behalf of Mr. Adams, and secured his election.

This decisive step, as had been clearly foreseen, drew upon the head of Mr. Clay the severest censures of the supporters of Gen. Jackson.  Motives of the deepest political corruption were attributed to him.  They charged him with making a deliberate stipulation or “bargain” with Mr. Adams, to give his influence, on the understanding that he was to receive, in payment, the appointment to the state department.  The undoubted object of this charge was to ruin Mr. Clay’s future prospects, and make capital to the advantage of Gen. Jackson