ogether to
get Crawford out of their way by assassination, and that his paralysis
was the result of the drugs and potions administered in performance of
this foul plot. But for a while the rumor stalked abroad among the
people, and many conspicuously bowed down before it because it served
their purpose, and too many others also, it must be confessed, did
likewise because they were deceived and really believed it. Even the
legislature of Tennessee were not ashamed to give formal countenance
to a calumny in support of which not a particle of evidence had ever
been adduced. In a preamble to certain resolutions passed by this (p. 183)
body upon this subject in 1827, it was recited that: "Mr. Adams
desired the office of President; he went into the combination without
it, and came out with it. Mr. Clay desired that of Secretary of State;
he went into the combination without it, and came out with it." No
other charge could have wounded Mr. Adams so keenly; yet no course was
open to him for refuting the slander. Mr. Clay, beside himself with a
just rage, was better able to fight after the fashion of the day--if
indeed he could only find somebody to fight. This he did at last in
the person of John Randolph, of Roanoke, who adverted in one of his
rambling and vituperative harangues to "the coalition of Blifil and
Black George--the combination unheard of till then of the Puritan and
the black-leg." This language led naturally enough to a challenge from
Mr. Clay. The parties met[6] and exchanged shots without result. The
pistols were a second time loaded; Clay fired; Randolph fired into the
air, walked up to Clay and without a word gave him his hand, which
Clay had as it were perforce to take. There was no injury done save to
the skirts of Randolph's long flannel coat which were pierced by one
of the bullets.

[Footnote 6: April 8, 1826.]

By way of revenge a duel may be effective if the wrong man does (p. 184)
not happen to get shot; but as evidence for intelligent men a bloodier
ending than this would have been inconclusive. It so happened,
however, that Jackson, altogether contrary to his own purpose, brought
conclusive aid to President Adams and Secretary Clay. Whether the
General ever had any real faith in the charge can only be surmised.
Not improbably he did, for his mental workings were so peculiar in
their violence and prejudice that apparently he always sincerely
believed all persons who crossed h