Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/251

Rh papers with his own hand. It was extremely doubtful whether, if elected President, he would ever be able to discharge the duties of the office. For this reason, aside from other considerations, Clay could not vote for him. Could he vote for Jackson? We remember Clay's speech on Jackson's lawless conduct in the Seminole War. He had not since changed his opinion. “As a friend of liberty, and to the permanence of our institutions,” he wrote to Francis Brooke, “I cannot consent, in this early stage of their existence, by contributing to the election of a military chieftain, to give the strongest guaranty that the Republic will march in the fatal road which has conducted every other republic to ruin.” So again he wrote to Blair: “Mr. Adams, you know well, I should never have selected, if at liberty to draw from the whole mass of our citizens, for a President. But there is no danger in his elevation now, or in time to come. Not so of his competitor, of whom I cannot believe that killing two thousand five hundred Englishmen at New Orleans qualifies for the various difficult and complicated duties of the chief magistracy.” These were his honest opinions. How could he vote to make Jackson President?

It was indeed argued that, as Jackson had received, not a majority of the electoral votes (for he had only ninety-nine out of two hundred and sixty one), but more votes than any one of his competitors, the members of the House of Representatives were bound, in obedience to the popular