on devolved upon the House of Representatives.
Mr. Clay being the lowest upon the list, the choice by constitutional
requirement was to be made from his three competitors. The influence
of the Kentucky statesman was thrown to Mr. Adams, who was duly
elected, receiving the votes of a bare majority of the States. The
determining vote was given by the sole representative from Illinois,
the able and brilliant Daniel P. Cook, a friend of Mr. Clay.
The sad sequel was the defeat of Cook at the next Congressional
election, his immediate retirement from public life, and early and
lamented death.

Not less sad was the effect of the vote just given upon the political
fortunes of Henry Clay. His high character and distinguished public
services were scant protection against the clamor that immediately
followed his acceptance of the office of Secretary of State tendered
him by President Adams. "Bargain and Corruption" was the terrible
slogan of his enemies in his later struggles for the Presidency
and its echo scarcely died out with that generation.

In this connection, the bitter words spoken in the Senate by
John Randolph will be recalled: "the coalition between the Puritan
and the blackleg." The duel which followed, now historic, stands alone
in the fierce conflicts of men. Whatever the faults of Randolph, let
it be remembered to his eternal honor, that after receiving at
short range the fire of Mr. Clay, he promptly discharged his own
pistol in the air. Even after the lapse of eighty years how pleasing
these words: "At which Mr. Clay, throwing down his own pistol,
advanced with extended hand to Mr. Randolph, who taking his hand
quietly remarked, 'You owe me a coat, Mr. Clay,' to which the latter
exclaimed, 'Thank God the obligation is no greater!'"

Immediately upon the defeat of Jackson, his friends began the
agitation which resulted in his overwhelming triumph over Adams,
in 1828. Chief among his supporters in this, as in his former
contest, was Major Eaton. The untiring devotion of Jackson to his
friends is well known. It rarely found more striking illustration
than in the selection of Eaton as Secretary of War, and in the zeal
with which he sustained him through good and evil report alike,
during later years.

When it became known that Senator Eaton was to hold a seat in
the Cabinet of the new administration, the fashionable circles
of the capital were deeply agitated, and protests earnest and
vehement assai