If Clay transferred his
following to Adams, the charge would gain credence with the masses;
if he were not made secretary of state, it would be alleged that
honest George Kremer had exposed the bargain and prevented its
consummation. In vain, in two successive and elaborate addresses,
[Footnote: Address of 1825 and of 1827, in Clay, Works (Colton's
ed.), V., 299, 341.] did Clay marshal evidence that, before he left
Kentucky, he had determined to vote for Adams in preference to
Crawford or Jackson, and that there was no proof of Kremer's charge.
[Footnote: Clay, Address to the Public (1827), 52; ibid., Works
(Colton's ed.), IV., 109; Adams, Memoirs, VII., 4.] In vain was
evidence produced to show that friends of Jackson [Footnote: Clay,
Works (Colton's ed.), I., chaps. xvi., xvii.; Parton, Jackson, III.,
56, 110-116.] and Crawford [Footnote: Adams, Memoirs, VI., 464, 513,
VII., 91.] solicited Clay's support by even more unblushing offers
of political reward than those alleged against Adams.
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