he
federal bench and be "reasonable" in the matter of patronage.

By the last week of January it was rather generally understood that
Clay's strength would be thrown to Adams. Up to this time the Jackson
men had refused to believe that such a thing could happen. But
evidence had been piled mountain-high; adherents of both allies were
openly boasting of the arrangements that had been made. The
Jacksonians were furious, and the air was filled with recriminations.
On January 28, 1825, an anonymous letter in the _Columbian Observer_
of Philadelphia made the direct charge that the agents of Clay had
offered the Kentuckian's support to both Jackson and Adams in return
for an appointment as Secretary of State, and that, while the friends
of Jackson would not descend to "such mean barter and sale," a bargain
with the Adams forces had been duly closed. Clay's rage was
ungovernable. Through the columns of the _National Intelligencer_ he
pronounced his unknown antagonist "a base and infamous calumniator, a
dastard and a liar," called upon him to "unveil himself," and declared
that he would hold him responsible "to all the laws which govern and
regulate men of honor."

Two days later an obscure Pennsylvania Congressman by the name of
George Kremer tendered his respects to "the Honorable H. Clay," avowed
his authorship of the communication in question, offered to prove the
truth of his charges, and closed sententiously by affirming that as a
representative of the people he would "not fear to 'cry aloud and
spare not' when their rights and privileges are at stake." The matter
was serious, but official Washington could hardly repress a smile.
Kremer was a thoroughly honest but grossly illiterate rustic busybody
who thus far had attracted the capital's attention mainly by reason of
his curiously cut leopard-skin overcoat. The real author of the charge
seems to have been James Buchanan, and Kremer was simple-minded and
credulous enough to be made the catspaw in the business. Clay was
taken aback. Kremer significantly made no reference to the "code of
honor"; and since a duel with such a personage would be an absurdity,
Clay substituted a request that the House make an immediate
investigation of the charges. A committee of seven was appointed. But
when it summoned Kremer to give his testimony, he refused to appear,
on the ground--which in the present instance was a mere pretext--that
the House had no jurisdiction over the conduct of it