Various - "Roumanian Fairy Tales"

E. V. Lucas - "A Boswell of Baghdad"

Herman Gastrell Seely - "A Son of the City"

Georg Buchner - "Dantons Tod"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Perley\'s Reminiscences, v. 1 to 2

B >> Benjamin Perley Poore >> Perley\'s Reminiscences, v. 1 to 2



Transcriber's note:

The digraphs "ae" and "oe" are spelled out for clarity.

The chapter summaries in the Table of Contents are repeated in the
book at the start of each chapter. At the end of each chapter is
a facsimile autograph and a brief biography of the signer. The
running page titles are omitted.

Vol. I, Chap. XLIII: "President's Message or" changed to "President's
Message on"

Vol. II, Chap. IX: "Lamar" changed to "Lamon"

A tabulation of the 1884 Presidential vote totals has been added.

The typographical fist is represented by the right guillamet (").

LoC catalog number: E179.P8


[Frontispiece: perley.jpg]
Engr. by H. B. Hall's Sons, New York

[Signed] Faithfully yours,
Ben: Perley Poore


PERLEY'S
REMINISCENCES
OF SIXTY YEARS IN THE
NATIONAL METROPOLIS

_Illustrating the Wit, Humor, Genius, Eccentricities, Jealousies,
Ambitions and Intrigues of the Brilliant Statesmen, Ladies, Officers,
Diplomats, Lobbyists and other noted Celebrities of the World that
gather at the Centre of the Nation; describing imposing Inauguration
Ceremonies, Gala Day Festivities, Army Reviews, &c., &c., &c._

BY BEN: PERLEY POORE.

_The Veteran Journalist, Clerk of the Senate Printing Records,
Editor of the Congressional Directory, and Author of Various Works._

Illustrated.

VOL. I.
HUBBARD BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, PHILADELPHIA.
Boston, Cincinnati, Kansas City; W. A. Houghton, New York; A. W.
Stolp, Chicago; A. W. Mills, Tecumseh, Mich.; E. Holdoway & Co.,
St. Louis; L. S. Varney & Co., Minneapolis; A. L. Bancroft & Co.,
San Francisco.


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886, by

BEN: PERLEY POORE,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

NOTICE TO BOOKSELLERS.
This book is sold exclusively by subscription, all agents being
strictly enjoined by contract from selling in any other way. Any
evasion of this plan of sale will be a trespass upon the copyright
rights of the author. HUBBARD BROS.


PREFACE.

The public favor with which the journalistic writings of the
subscriber have been received prompted the publication of these
volumes. Their object is to give personal details concerning
prominent men and women in social and political life at the National
Metropolis since he has known it. He has especially endeavored to
portray those who "in Congress assembled" have enacted the laws,
and those who have interpreted and enforced the provisions under
which the United States has advanced, during the past sixty years,
from comparative infancy into the vigor of mature manhood, and has
successfully defended its own life against a vigorous attempt at
its destruction.

In chronicling what has transpired within his personal recollection
at the National Metropolis, he has gathered what "waifs" he has
found floating on the sea of chat, in the whirlpools of gossip, or
in the quiet havens of conversation. Some of these may be personal
--piquantly personal, perhaps--but the mighty public has had an
appetite for gossipings about prominent men and measures ever since
the time when the old Athenians crowded to hear the plays of
Aristophanes.

The subscriber is aware that some who write of prominent persons
and political events indulge too much in sycophantic flattery,
while others have their brains addled by brooding on some fancied
wrong, or their minds have lost their even poise by dwelling on
insane reforms or visionary projects. All this may have its use,
but the subscriber has preferred to look at things in a more cheerful
way, to pluck roses rather than nettles, and neither to throw filth
nor to blow trumpets.

While the Republic has preserved with commendable pride the histories
of her statesmen and her martial defenders, it is well that the
memories of those of the gentler sex, who have from time to time
taken prominent part in shaping the destinies of the nation, should
also be remembered. This work will give, it is hoped, an idea of stirring
events in both political and social life, of the great men and the
fascinating women who have figured in Washington during the past
six decades. Those who were too well acquainted with these personal
details to think of recording them are fast passing away, and some
account of them cannot but interest younger generations, while it
will not fail to profit the older politicians, publicists, and
journalists.

The great difficulty in the compilation of the "Reminiscences" has
been the selection from the masses of material accumulated in
diaries, autograph letters, and scrap-books containing published
literary matter. To have given a connected political and social
history of what has transpired at the National Metropolis during
the past sixty years would have required a dozen volumes, so the
most conspicuous features only have been here and there selected.

Confident of the exact truthfulness of the sketches here given,
this work is presented, without apologies, to a generous public as
the result of very extensive observation.

BEN: PERLEY POORE.
INDIAN HILL FARM,
Near Newburyport, Mass.


CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS BECOMES PRESIDENT.
The Tenth Presidential Election--A Political Bargain--Election of
President--A Scene in the House--Inauguration of J. Q. Adams--The
Adams Administration--The Mistress of the White House--The President's
Private Secretary--Social Life at the White House--President Adams'
Daily Life--Henry Clay as Secretary of State--The Rival Candidates
--The Death of Two Ex-Presidents.

CHAPTER II.
TRAVELING IN "YE OLDEN TIME."
Travel by Stage and Steamboat--Boston to Providence--The Old Town
of Providence--The Long Island Sound Steamers--New York City--New
York to Philadelphia--Philadelphia to Washington--Washington Hotel
Life--Expenses of Living--The Metropolis of the Union--The National
Capital--Works of Art--The Rotunda--Free-Masonry--The Morgan
Excitement--Theatrical--Division of the Friends' Society.

CHAPTER III.
JOURNALISM IN 1828.
Old Georgetown--The Union Tavern--A Natal African Salute--President
George Washington--Major L'Enfant--Newspaper Organs--The National
Intelligencer--The National Journal--Matthew L. Davis--James Gordon
Bennett--Mordecai M. Noah--Other Washington Correspondents--A
Notable Briton--Gambling-Houses--Senatorial Card Playing--Social
Games of Whist.

CHAPTER IV.
PROMINENT SENATORS OF 1827.
The Nineteenth Congress--Vice-President John C. Calhoun--Martin
Van Buren--Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina--Thomas Hart Benton
--Randolph, of Roanoke--Duel between Clay and Randolph--An Offended
Virginian--A Future President--Prominent Senators--Senatorial
Control of Society--The Dancing Assemblies--Fashionable Attire--
Belles of the Period--The Code of Honor.

CHAPTER V.
PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVES OF 1827.
The Representatives' Hall--Admission of Ladies--Webster, of
Massachusetts--Edward Everett--McDuffie, of South Carolina--Rhode
Island's Bald Eagle--A Bargain Exposed--Retrenchment and Reform--
Prominent Representatives--The Supreme Court--Chief Justice Marshall
--Mr. Justice Washington--The Christmas Holidays.

CHAPTER VI.
THE POLITICAL MACHINE.
The Tenth Presidential Campaign--Election of General Jackson--Death
of Mrs. Andrew Jackson--The Inauguration of "Old Hickory"--Reception
at the White House--An Editorial Phalanx--The Civil Service--
Disciplining a Postmaster General--A Fortunate Mail Contractor--
The Sunday Mail Crusade.

CHAPTER VII.
THE KITCHEN CABINET.
Jackson's First Annual Message--The Kitchen Cabinet--Blair, of the
Globe--Washington Newspapers and News--The First Lady-Bird of the
Press--Nathaniel P. Willis--Peter Force--Social Enjoyments--Mrs.
Trollope on Washington Society--Attempt to Oust a Veteran from
Office--Payment of the Claims on France.

CHAPTER VIII.
BATTLE OF THE GIANTS.
The Great Senatorial Debate--Attack on New England--Webster's Reply
to Hayne--Nullification Nipped in the Bud--Society in Jackson's
Day--Mrs. General Eaton--A Chivalrous President--Theatricals--The
Great Tragedian--Minor Amusements--Executive Charity--Swartwouting
--The Star Spangled Banner.

CHAPTER IX.
STAMPING OUT OF NULLIFICATION.
Rejection of Martin Van Buren--The War against the United States
Bank--Nick Biddle, of the Bank--Re-election of General Jackson--
Financial Debate in the Senate--Calhoun, of South Carolina--Secession
Stamped Out--Union Proclamation--The Expunging Resolution--A
Senatorial Scene--An Appeal from the Chair.

CHAPTER X.
PROMINENT MEN OF JACKSON'S TIME.
Harry of the West--Tilt between Clay and Benton--Rebuke of a
Revolutionary Hero--Apt Oratorical Illustration--Daniel Webster's
Wit--An Excited Visitor--The House of Representatives--General
Houston Reprimanded--Eli Moore, of New York--Churchill C. Cambreleng
--Crockett, of Tennessee--Embryo Presidents--Other Distinguished
Representatives--A Jackson Democrat.

CHAPTER XI.
SOCIETY IN JACKSON'S TIME.
The Van Ness Mansion--A Benefactress--A Popular Citizen--A Much-
Talked-of Lawsuit--A Runaway Nun--General Jackson's Diplomacy--
Washington Society--Anecdotes told by Mr. Clay--Maelzel's Automata
--Condemned Literature.

CHAPTER XII.
JACKSON AND HIS ASSOCIATES.
Democratic Rejoicing--Attempt at Assassination--The Political
Guillotine--The Vicar of Bray--Daniel Webster's Memory--Bayard, of
Delaware--The Claytons--Pearce, of Maryland--The Classical and the
Vernacular--Boulanger's--Location of the New Treasury Building--
Hackett, the Comedian--A Jealous Artist--Sumner's First Visit to
Washington--The Supreme Court and its Justices.

CHAPTER XIII.
JACKSON'S LAST YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
Van Buren as Vice-President--Henry Clay as Champion of the Bank--
Washington's Ceremonial Birthday--Removal of His Remains--The
Decapitation of General Jackson--The President at the Race-Track--
An Old-Time Cock Fight--Wedding at Arlington--The Public Gardener
--Miss Fanny Kemble--Cheese Reception at the White House.

CHAPTER XIV.
VAN BUREN'S STORMY ADMINISTRATION.
Inauguration of Van Buren--His First Reception--Departure of Jackson
for the Hermitage--Van Buren's Embarrassments--The Great Financial
Debate--Antagonism of Clay and Calhoun--An All Night Session--
Morning Excuses--The Graves and Cilley Duel--A Congressional
Comedian.

CHAPTER XV.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT.
The Slavery Agitation--Early Secession Movements--Webster on
Emancipation--His Idea of the Far West--Franklin Pierce's Position
--The Foremost of Orators--Joseph Holt--King, of Alabama--The
Buckshot War--Star Routes--Van Buren's Titles.

CHAPTER XVI.
POLITICAL INTRIGUES AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS.
Presidential Hospitalities--Social Entertainments--A Gifted
Adventuress--Espy, the Weather King--A Foreign Indorsement--Van
Buren's Re-election--The Ogle Speech--Van Buren's New Year's
Reception.

CHAPTER XVII.
LOG-CABINS AND HARD CIDER.
The Harrison Campaign--Political Songs--Whig Conventions--Great
Paraders--Corwin's Reply to Crary--Crary's Complete Discomfiture--
The Campaign Paper--Horace Greeley--Henry Clay on the Stump--Amos
Kendall--The Fall Elections--Pipe Laying--The Whigs Triumphant.

CHAPTER XVIII.
ENTER WHIGS--EXIT DEMOCRATS.
The Fourteenth Presidential Election--Enter Harrison--Exit Van
Buren--The Harrison Cabinet--Attack upon Mr. Webster--"The Salt
Boiler of the Kanawha"--The other Cabinet Officers--Harrison's
Inaugural Message--The Inauguration--The Procession--Scenes at the
Capitol--The Inaugural Address--President Harrison's First Reception
--Inauguration Balls.

CHAPTER XIX.
HARRISON'S ONE MONTH OF POWER.
Civil Service Reform--Differences of Opinion--Difficulty between
Clay and King--Washington Correspondents--Verbatim Reports of
Debates--A Popular British Minister--Other Foreign Diplomats--
Quarrelsome Carolinians--Daniel Webster's Housekeeping--Illness of
President Harrison--Death--Funeral--The Last Honors.

CHAPTER XX.
THE KING IS DEAD--LONG LIVE THE KING.
"Le Roi Est Mort; Vive le Roi"--Extra Session of Congress--Trouble
in the Whig Camp--Edward Everett before the Senate--Thurlow Weed--
Dissensions among the Whigs--Cabinet Troubles--Congressional
Criticisms--Cushing and Adams, of Massachusetts--Wise, of Virginia
--Bagby, of Alabama.

CHAPTER XXI.
DIPLOMATIC AND SOCIAL LIFE OF WEBSTER.
The Ashburton Treaty--Diplomatic Negotiations--Speech by Daniel
Webster--Webster's Social Life--Mr. Clay's Nightcaps--Administration
Organs--Justice to John Tyler.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE CAPITOL AND THE DRAWING ROOMS.
A Stormy Session--John Quincy Adams at Bay--The Code of Honor--The
Supreme Court--Visit of Charles Dickens--The Secretary of State's
Party--A Reception at the White House--The President's Ball for
Children--Diplomatic Hospitality--Ole Bull--A Troublesome
Congressman.

CHAPTER XXIII.
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS.
The Accidental President--Virginia Hospitality--Second-Hand Style
--The Pathfinder's Marriage--Baron de Bodisco, of Russia--Mr. Fox,
of Great Britain--The Author of "Sweet Home"--The Daguerreotype--
The Electric Telegraph--The New York Tribune--Resignation of Mr.
Webster--Reconstruction of the Cabinet--Fatal Accident on the
Princeton--Marriage of President Tyler.

CHAPTER XXIV.
HOW TEXAS BECAME A STATE.
John C. Calhoun, Secretary of State--How Tyler was Managed--Admission
of Texas--Douglas, of Illinois--An Able House of Representatives--
An Exciting Campaign--President Tyler's Programme--Nomination of
Henry Clay--The Democratic Ticket--Surprise of George M. Dallas--
The Liberty Party--Exit John Tyler.

CHAPTER XXV.
PRESIDENT POLK'S ADMINISTRATION.
Inauguration of Polk--His Personal Appearance--Inauguration Balls
--Mrs. Polk--Secretary Buchanan--Governor Marcy, of New York--
Completion of the Cabinet--The Oregon Difficulty--The Mexican War
--A Change of Organist.

CHAPTER XXVI.
DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Washington Society--An Old Whig Supper--Death of John Quincy Adams
--Abraham Lincoln in the House--Jefferson Davis as a Representative
--The Democratic Nomination--Lewis Cass, of Michigan--The Whig
Convention--Daniel Webster and Henry Clay--Nomination of General
Taylor--Letter of Acceptance--The Free-Soil Movement--Inception of
the Great Conspiracy.

CHAPTER XXVII.
MAKING THE MOST OF POWER.
President Taylor and His Secretary--Selection of the Taylor Cabinet
--The Taylor Family--Jefferson Davis--Inauguration Ceremonies--
Office Seekers--Patronage and Spoils--The Galphin, Gardiner, and
other Claims--The Taylor Administration--The White House.

CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE GREAT COMPROMISE DEBATE.
Stormy Scenes at the Capitol--Crimination and Recrimination--Taylor's
Only Message--Return of Mr. Clay to the Senate--The Great Compromise
Debate--Webster's Seventh of March Speech--The Last Days of Calhoun
--Jefferson Davis' Leadership--John P. Hale, of New Hampshire.

CHAPTER XXIX.
PROMINENT STATESMEN AND DIPLOMATS.
Sam Houston, of Texas--Seward, of New York--Buchanan, of Pennsylvania
--Agricultural Donations--Diplomatic Representatives--Social
Enjoyments--Winthrop's Farewell Supper--Fatal Illness of General
Taylor--Death of the President.

CHAPTER XXX.
FILLMORE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
President Fillmore--Funeral of General Taylor--Webster again
Secretary of State--The Compromise Measures--Mrs. Millard Fillmore
--A Proud Father--The Capitol Extension--The Library of Congress--
Washington Society--Public Amusements.

CHAPTER XXXI.
ARRAIGNMENT OF DANIEL WEBSTER.
Accusation Against Mr. Webster--The "Expounder of the Constitution"
Sore at Heart--Belligerent Mississippians--Painting and Sculpture
at the Capitol--Overland Explorations--A Washington Mob--A Washington
Correspondent.

CHAPTER XXXII.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE AND KNOW-NOTHINGISM.
"Filibustering"--The Hulsemann Letter--Kossuth, of Hungary--The
Know-Nothings--Boss Tweed, of New York--Butler, of South Carolina
--Other Prominent Senators--Exit Clay--Enter Sumner--The Officers
of the House.

CHAPTER XXXIII.
PLOTTING FOR THE PRESIDENCY.
President-Making--Political Intrigues--The Democratic Convention--
Nomination of General Pierce--The Whig Candidates--Rivalry Between
Webster and Fillmore--The Last Whig National Convention--Death of
Henry Clay--General Scott as a Candidate--General Frank Pierce, of
New Hampshire--Death of Daniel Webster--General Pierce Elected
President.

CHAPTER XXXIV.
PIERCE BECOMES PRESIDENT.
Inauguration of President Pierce--Vice-President King--The Cabinet
--Popularity of the New President--Pryor, of Virginia--Rare Old
Wines--Peale's Portraits of Washington--Brady's Portraits--Visit
of Thackeray--A Copyright Victim--Jullien's Concerts.

CHAPTER XXXV.
CHIVALRY, AT HOME AND ABROAD.
Executive Appointments--The Ostend Manifesto--Mr. Buchanan at London
--The Kansas-Nebraska Debate--Spicy Words Between Breckinridge and
Cutting--Diplomatic Card-Playing--Assistant-Secretary Thomas--The
Amoskeag Veterans.

CHAPTER XXXVI.
CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
Formation of the Republican Party--The Election of Speaker--Mr.
Banks Triumphant--Division of the Spoils--A Protracted Session--
Assault on Horace Greeley--Territorial Delegates--The Senate--The
Virginia Senators--"Hale," of New Hampshire.

CHAPTER XXXVII.
POLITICAL STORM AND SOCIAL SUNRISE.
Sumner, of Massachusetts--The Assault on Sumner--Troublous Times--
Congressional Courtesies--Senatorial Wit--Convention of Old Soldiers
--Social Routine at the White House--Society Gatherings.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.
GROWTH OF THE METROPOLIS.
The Crampton Difficulty--Unsuccessful French Mediation--The Diplomatic
Corps--Information for Publication--Mr. Buchanan in England--
Washington Hotels--The New Hall of the House.

CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE NORTHERN CHAMPIONS.
Fessenden, of Maine--The Sterling Claim--Social Festivities--Marriage
of Judge Douglas--Congressional Scenes--Secretary of War Davis--
Art and Literature--George W. Childs--J. R. Bartlett.

CHAPTER XL.
EXCITING PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
Democratic Candidates for the Presidency--James Buchanan--Stephen
A. Douglas--Delegates to the Cincinnati Convention--The Struggle--
The Disorganized Democracy United--Opposition Nominations--The
Republican Convention--Election of Mr. Buchanan--Counting the Votes.

CHAPTER XLI.
MISS LANE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
President-elect Buchanan--Miss Harriet Lane--The New Cabinet and
the Message--The Newspaper Organs--Inauguration of President Buchanan
--The Inauguration Ball--The Dred Scott Decision--The Minority
Decision.

CHAPTER XLII.
DIPLOMACY, SOCIETY, AND CIVIL SERVICE.
Foreign Relations--Lord Napier, the British Minister--Sir William
Gore Ouseley--Society in Washington--A Fashionable Pretender--Civil
Service--Office Seeking--Choate's Handwriting--The Governors of
Kansas.

CHAPTER XLIII.
PRELUDE TO THE REBELLION.
Organization of the Senate--John Slidell, of Louisiana--Senator
Douglas Opposes the Administration--Ben Wade's Bon Mot--Meeting of
the House--Election of Speaker--Investigation of the Wolcott Attempts
at Bribery--Debates on the Admission of Kansas--Nocturnal Row in
the House--The North Victorious.

CHAPTER XLIV.
POLITICIANS, AUTHORS, AND HUMORISTS.
Wade, of Ohio--Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi--Johnson, of Arkansas
--Anthony, of Rhode Island--Trollope, of England--One of Mike
Walsh's Jokes--Albert Pike's Wake--The Sons of Malta.


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS [omitted]


LIST OF AUTOGRAPHS

ANDREW JACKSON
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD
EDWARD EVERETT
HENRY CLAY
JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN
SILAS WRIGHT, JR.
DANIEL WEBSTER
THOMAS HART BENTON
RICHARD MENTOR JOHNSON
ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS
ANDREW STEVENSON
WILLIAM RUFUS KING
MARTIN VAN BUREN
TRISTRAM BURGESS
WILLIAM LEARNED MARCY
THOMAS CORWIN
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON
THOMAS EWING
FRANKLIN PIERCE
RUFUS CHOATE
FELIX GRUNDY
CALEB CUSHING
STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS
JAMES KNOX POLK
HENRY STUART FOOTE
ZACHARY TAYLOR
ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP
WILLIAM HENRY SEWARD
MILLARD FILLMORE
ROBERT JAMES WALKER
JEFFERSON DAVIS
JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN
THADDEUS STEVENS
JOHN TYLER
LEWIS CASS
GEORGE WASHINGTON
ABBOTT LAWRENCE
NATHANIEL PRENTISS BANKS
WINFIELD SCOTT
JOHN BUCHANAN FLOYD
PETER FORCE
HOWELL COBB
GEORGE BANCROFT


PERLEY'S REMINISCENCES.

VOL. I.


CHAPTER I.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS BECOMES PRESIDENT.

John Quincy Adams was elected President of the United States by
the House of Representatives on February 9th, 1825. At the tenth
popular election for President, during the previous autumn, there
had been four candidates: Andrew Jackson, then a Senator from
Tennessee, who received ninety-nine electoral votes; John Quincy
Adams, of Massachusetts, then Secretary of State under President
Monroe, who received eighty-four electoral votes; William H.
Crawford, of Georgia, then Secretary of the Treasury, who received
forty-one electoral votes, and Henry Clay, of Kentucky, then Speaker
of the House of Representatives, who received thirty-seven electoral
votes--in all two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes. As neither
candidate had received the requisite majority of one hundred and
thirty-one electoral votes, the election of a President devolved
upon the House of Representatives, in which body each State would
have one vote. As the Constitution required that the choice of the
House be confined to the three highest candidates on the list of those
voted for by the electors, and as Mr. Clay was not one of the three,
he was excluded. Exercising, as he did, great control over his
supporters, it was within his power to transfer their strength to
either Adams or Jackson, thus deciding the election. The Legislature
of his State, Kentucky, had to a certain degree instructed him, by
passing a joint resolution declaring its preference for Jackson over Adams,
and Jackson always believed that had he accepted overtures made to
him, for the promise of the Department of State to Mr. Clay, that
would have insured his election.

Mr. Clay decided, however, to request his friends to support Mr.
Adams. To one of them he wrote: "Mr. Adams, you well know, 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 of
his election 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." Many believed,
however, that a bargain was made between Adams and Clay by which
the latter received, as a consideration for transferring to the
former the votes of Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri, the position of
Secretary of State. The charge was distinctly made by Mr. George
Kremer, a Representative from Pennsylvania, and as positively denied
by Mr. Clay. General Jackson wrote to Major Lewis: "So, you see,
the Judas of the West has closed the contract and will receive the
thirty pieces of silver. His end will be the same. Was there ever
witnessed such a barefaced corruption in any country before?"

When the Senate and the House of Representatives met in joint
convention to count the electoral votes it was found (as every one
present had known for months) that no one had received the requisite
majority. This was formally announced by Vice-President Daniel D.
Tompkins, who also declared that John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina,
had been elected Vice-President. The Senate, headed by the Vice-
President and its Secretary, Charles Cutts, then retired, and the
House proceeded to ballot for President.

The election was by States. Each State delegation appointed one
of their number to act as chairman, collect their votes, and report
the result. Whoever in each delegation received the most votes
was reported as the choice of that delegation to the tellers--one
from each State--who sat in parties of twelve at two tables. Daniel
Webster, the teller of Massachusetts, was appointed by the tellers
at one of the tables to announce the result of the ballot, and John
Randolph, the teller of Virginia, was appointed to the same service
at the other table. The votes of most of the States were matters
of confident calculation, but those of others were in some degree
doubtful, and there was intense interest manifested as their votes
were counted. At last, when the twenty-four States had voted, Mr.
Webster announced, in his deep voice, that thirteen States had
voted for John Quincy Adams, seven States had voted for Andrew
Jackson, and four States had voted for William H. Crawford. Mr.
Speaker Clay then announced, in sonorous tones: "John Quincy Adams,
having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected
President of the United States for four years, from the 4th of
March next ensuing."

A shout arose from the occupants of the galleries, which Mr. McDuffie
promptly asked might be cleared. The vote was carried, and a young
man, who was Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms, mounting to the broad stone
cornice, which ran around the hall outside of the floor of the
galleries, but on a level with them, exclaimed, as he walked along:
"The Speaker orders the galleries to be cleared; all must retire.
Clear the galleries!" The command was obeyed, to the astonishment
of some of the foreign ministers present, who had been accustomed
to see armed guards at such assemblages, and often to witness their
unsuccessful attempts to move the populace. The House soon afterward
adjourned.

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