To the end of
his career, the charge remained a stumbling-block to Clay's
ambitions, and the more he denounced and summoned witnesses
[Footnote: See, for example, testimony of congressmen, Niles'
Register, XXVIII., 69, 133, 134, 203; Address of David Trimble
(1828).] the more the scandal did its poisonous work.
After all, it was Adams who gave the charge immortality. Even if he
had appreciated the power of public feeling he would not have
hesitated. If the accusation was a challenge to the spirited
Kentuckian, it was a call to duty to the Puritan. Two days after his
election, Adams, asking Monroe's advice about the composition of the
cabinet, announced that he had already determined to appoint Clay
secretary of state, "considering it due," said he, "to his talents
and services to the western section of the Union, whence he comes,
and to the confidence in me manifested by their delegations."
[Footnote: Adams, Memoirs, VI., 508.] Clay spoke lightly of the
threatened opposition as a mere temporary ebullition of
disappointment at the issue of the election, [Footnote: Adams,
Memoirs, VI.
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