any time, by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person, it is said to have emanated. I was in the house, I believe on a compliance with which their vote was made to de-every day of that session at which the president was electpend. I will further say, I cannot believe that gen. Jackson made the declarations attributed to him in the letter purporting to have been written by a "highly respectable Virginian." I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WM. M'LEAN. T. Watkins, esq. Washington City. ed; and have no hesitation in saying, that so far from making any proposition, or overture, were the friends of Mr. Clay, in favor of the general, that had the friends of the general made such a proposition, we would have considered it as an indignity offered to our intergrity and understanding. I could not have voted for the general, in any event, for many reasons-two of which I will mention: First, I believed him far inferior to all the other candidates in point of talents: Second, I had doubted his Canfield, Trumbull county, Ohio, May, 12, 1827. being a real friend to the tariff to protect the manufacDEAR SIR: Your favor of the 1st was received this tures of our own country. I will also mention that I had morning. In answer to your enquiries, I reply, that I do entertained doubts of his being friendly to internal imnot know or believe that any proposition was ever made provement, under the direction of the general governby any of Mr. Clay's friends to those of general Jackson's, ment. These opinions have been, within the present on the morning of the presidential election, or at any year, verified by declarations, and the course pursued by other time, having any bearing on the candidate to be se- the general's leading friends, and his silence on the sublected from the three returned to the house, nor do Iject, after being solicited to come out. know or believe that any conditions of any sort were I am, dear sir, with respect, your obedient servant, proposed by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person, on a M. BARTLEY compliance with which their vote was made to depend;" T. Watkins, esq. but I do believe that the assertion made by general Jackson, as reported by "a highly respectable Virginian," St. Comsville, May 9th, 1827. and all of the charges of a like character, imputing SIR: Yours of the 1st inst. was received the 7th, and either to Mr. Adams or to Mr. Clay, or to their friends, in answer to your inquiry I frankly state to you that if any improper, inconsistent, corrupt, or fraudulent conany such proposition as you state, was made by the friends duct, on that interesting and momentous occasion, are of Clay to those of gen. Jackson, I had no knowledge of base slanders, known to be such by those who put them it; and I was one of the friends of Clay: I therefore be in circulation, yet very honestly accredited by many wor-lieve the report to be without an honest foundation. thy citizens. My intercourse with the friends of Mr. Clay was such that, had any proposition been made by them, I should have been very likely to have known of it. No man was ever elevated to an office by views more pure and patriotic than was Mr. Adams. The assertion imputed to general Jackson is ridiculous on the face of it. Admitting that Mr. Clay, and his friends were oscillating, previous to the charges made against Mr. Clay, of which Mr. Kremer afterwards assumed to be the author, those charges must have separated them from general Jackson and his friends; but, as between Mr. Adams and The letter you refer to, dated Nashville, and said to general Jackson, neither Mr. Clay, nor his friends doubt-be first published in the "Fayetteville Observer," was ed for a moment whom to support, and if it had been read by me some time since, in some of my newspapers, known on the day that congress met that Mr. Clay would and thrown aside. I have searched for it, but cannot not be returned, and the vote had then been taken, (con- find it. The letter general Jackson to Carter Beversidering Mr. Crawford's illness), the result would have ly, dated Hermitage, June 6th, 1827, is before me, and I been the same as when the election was held. If Mr. shall refer to it in my reply to you, under a belief that Clay's friends were halting between two opin ons, on the it contains the substance of the accusations made by Bemorning of the election, how happens it the charges of verly in his Nashville letter. fraud, corruption, bargain, and sale, were made ten days or a fortnight before that time? If general Jackson has any evidence in his possession to sustain his declaration, why does he withhold it from the public? Very respectfully, yours, T. Watkins, esq. E. WHITTLESEY. Mansfield, Ohio, May 24th, 1827. Respectfully, yours, &c. T. Watkins, esq. JOHN PATTERSON. Mount Sterling, (Ken.) Aug. 12, 1827. Sin: I have been constantly from home for some weeks past, and have not had leisure until this morning to an swer your letter, requesting me to state what I know and believe about the charges made against Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams, by gen. Jackson and his friends. in aid of the election of Mr. Adams; nor do I know, or believe, that any pledge or promise of any kind, was made by Mr. Adams or his friends, to Mr. Clay or his friends, to procure his aid in the election. I do not know of my own knowledge, nor have I been informed by others, that offers, propositions, or overtures, such as are spoken of by gen. Jackson in his letter to Beverly, or similar thereto, or of any kind whatever, were made by Mr. Adams or his friends to Mr. Clay or his friends; or by Mr. Clay or his friends, to gen. Jackson or his friends. I do not know, nor do I believe that Mr. Adams or his friends, made overtures or offers, directly or indirectly, to Mr. Clay or his friends to make DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 2nd instant was just re-him secretary of state, if he and his friends would unite ceived, giving a statement of the contents of a letter said to have been written by a highly respectable Virginian, relative to a statement said to have been made by general Jackson on the subject of the late presidential election. Before I proceed, in justice to the general, I will say I never heard from Mr. Clay, or any of his friends, or that I do not believe that he ever made the declaration al-any one else, that he was willing to vote for gen. Jackluded to by the writer of said letter, for the general was there when the election took place, and must inevitably have known that such a statement would carry falsehood on the very face of it. It was well known that some of the friends of Mr. Clay, from Ohio, would not, in any event, give their support to gen. Jackson, because Mr. Adams was their second choice, and believed to be the second choice of a majority of the people of this state; and further, general Jackson must know that two weeks previous to the election, Mr. Clay and his friends were assailed in a vulgar and ungentlemanly manner for declaring their intention to vote for the present executive; yet this proposition is said to have been made to the friends of general Jackson; that on certain conditions, "the general should be president in one hour," which, if true, must have been made only one hour before the canvass took place in the house. This statement of itself needs no refutation except for the respectable source from which son, if the general would say, or any of his friends for him, that Mr. Adams should not be continued secretary of state; nor do I know or believe that Mr. Clay ever expressed a willingness, or any of his friends for him, to support or vote for general Jackson, if he could obtain the office of secretary of state under him. I do not know, nor do I believe, that any overtures, or offers of any kind, were made by Mr. Clay or his friends, to Mr. Adams or his friends, to vote for him or support him, if he would make Mr. Clay secretary of state; or to general Jackson or his friends, to vote for him or sup port him, if he could obtain the office of secretary of state under him; nor do I believe that Mr. Clay would have taken office under him if he had been elected. I cannot believe the statement made to gen. Jackson nor do I believe that Mr. Clay made, or authorized any of his friends to make overtures to him, directly or indi rectly, because I know that Mr. Clay intended to vote Against him. I know Mr. Clay had determined to vote | sible circumstances. I gave it as my opinion, that gen. for Mr. Adams as early as October, 1824, if the election Jackson was not qualified to fill the station, and discharge should devolve upon the house of representatives, in its multifarious and complicated duties, foreign and docongress, with his own name excluded from the list. In mestic: To this he agreed, and added, that the impartial this I cannot be mistaken, because he told me so express-world would probably consider Mr. Adams better qualily. He may have forgotten what he said to me, but the fied than either Jackson, Crawford, or himself: That at substance of the conversation is fresh in memory with all events, (Crawford aside), the difference in point of myself, and I will endeavor to detail such portions of it, qualification was so clear and obvious in favor of Adams, as will evince his prepossessions in favor of Mr. Adams, that his motives might be questioned by impartial men, if as well as his fixed intention to vote for him. he should vote for Jackson; and that he would be unable to defend the vote, because in his own judgment it would afford just ground of censure. Mr. Adams, we all know, was elected on the 9th of February, 1825. The prevailing opinion, you will recollect, as early as January, 1824, if not earlier was, that He made several objections to gen. Jackson, and in the none of the candidates would obtain a majority of the course of his remarks, expressed himself decidedly hoswhole number of electoral votes, (261), and it was ex-tile to the selection of military men to administer the pected, as a matter of course, that the eventual election civil government of free nations. No nation, he said, would devolve upon the house of representatives. The had ever done it with impunity: The warnings of histo friends of Mr. Clay believed that he would go before the ry were against it: He considered it a bad example, and house as one of the three highest on the list of candidates; a dangerous experiment, and declared that he would not but this was not certain, and on the contrary it was rea- give it the sanction of a precedent in our government by sonable to suppose that he might fail. In looking for any act of his. He turned the conversation to the Semiward to a failure on his part, and to the possible events nole war, and to the occurrences connected with it-reand consequences which might follow, I was frequently ferred particularly to the constitutional principles which brought to consider which of the other three candidates were brought forward and supported by himself and Mr. ought to be preferred as a chief magistrate of the nation. Lowndes and others in the course of the debate upon It is enough to say, without dwelling upon matters con- that subject, and declared that he could not consent to cerning myself, that I concluded as early as February, place gen. Jackson at the head of the nation, after see1824, to vote for Mr. Adams as a second choice in the ing him trample on the constitution, and violate the rights event of Mr. Clay's exclusion from the house; subject of humanity, as he had done at the head of the army, in at all times to a change of opinion, for such reasons as the progress of that war. ought to influence the judgment of a public agent, de- I made some reference to the supposed difference of sirous of discharging his public trusts faithfully and ho-opinion between himself and Mr. Adams about the treanestly; and intending at the proper season to consult ty of Ghent. He said in reply, that it had been greatly fully and freely with the rest of my colleagues; holding magnified by the friends of his competitors for electionmyself at liberty all along to consider the claims of Mr. eering purposes-that it ought to have no influence in Crawford, if his health should be restored, which, how the vote which he might be called upon to give-that if ever, I thought improbable, if not impossible. It so hap-be was weak enough to allow his personal feelings to inpened, that the honorable Robert Trimble, then a judge fluence his public conduct, there would be no change in of the federal court for the district of Kentucky, and now his mind on that account, because he was then upon much one of the justices of the supreme court of the United worse terms with gen. Jackson about the Seminole war, States, came to the city of Washington, in the month of than he could ever be with Mr. Adams about the treaty February, 1824, and I well remember that I conversed of Ghent-but that in the selection of a chief magistrate with him freely upon the subject of the election. I in- for the union, he would endeavor to disregard all privateformed him of my preference for Mr. Adams as a second feelings, and look entirely to the interests of the country, choice, and explained to him the principles and views of and the safety of its institutions. policy which would govern me in making the selection. I gave him my opinion of Mr. Adams as a statesman, and probably went so far as to mention some of my objections to gen. Jackson. The recollections of judge Trimble on the subject have been asked for, and if re-it-that his own election had been advocated by his friends ceived in time shall be enclosed. He spoke at large upon the subjects of agriculture, internal improvements, and domestic manufactures-said, that he was pledged to the nation in support of the Ame rican system of policy, and of all measures favorable to in part upon that ground, and that he would consider it a duty to himself and friends to strengthen the great cause in which they were all engaged, as much as possible. In this respect he was satisfied, he said, that Mr. Adams was the best choice, and that if there was no other ground of preference he would feel himself bound on that account to vote for him. My preference to Mr. Adams was strengthened by the occurrences of the session ending in May, 1824. It was manifest to me from what I saw and heard, that the bitterness of opposition to measures in favor of agriculture, internal improvements, and domestic manufactures had increased, and was increasing in the south, and I was satisfied that the American system of policy, including I do not remember whether I informed Mr. Clay of our western interests in it, could not be sustained in cou- my own preference for Mr. Adams at that time or not, gress without the co-operation of members in favor of but am inclined to think that I did not, and I am satisfied the system from the eastern states, as well as from the that I had not done so on any previous occasion. It is middle and the western states. I concluded, and right-known to me, that Mr. Clay had a similar conversation, ly too I think, as time will show, that the best, it not the only way to ensure the success of the American system, and sustain our western interests in it, would be to elect Mr. Adams, if Mr. Clay should be defeated. about the same period, with a citizen of Kentucky-who stands as high as any man in it-to whom he made known his intention to vote for Mr. Adams, and gave various reasons why he would do so, declaring at the same time, In this state of mind I met with Mr. Clay at Frankfort, that he would not vote for gen. Jackson in any possible in Kentucky, about the first of October, 1824. It was event. The reasons given by him to the gentleman alIny impression at the time, from the news of the day,luded to, so far as they have been detailed to me, are and other sources of information, that Mr. Crawford similar to those which he assigned to me in favor of his would get some sixty or seventy electoral votes, and that preference for Adams. I am not authorized to name the Mr. Clay would be left out of the house. We conversed person alluded to, but have no doubt that he would wilfor some time about the election; and in the course of con-lingly furnish a statement of the conversation which Mr. versation, after speaking freely to him about his own Clay held with him, if it should be considered necessary chances and prospects, I asked him which of the other or material. candidates he would vote for in the event of a failure on I should have thought strange of it, if Mr. Clay had his part: He said, that the event supposed would place voted for gen. Jackson after saying what he did of mili bim in a delicate attitude before the house and nation; tary men, and military violence and rashness, in the dethat a choice among his competitors under any aspect of bate upon the Seminole war; and still more strange atit, would be painful and embrassing: That from recent ter declaring as he has often done in my hearing-int information, the restoration of Mr. Crawford's health the most solemn manner, that the constitution had been was entirely hopeless, and that he could not consistently trampled down and violated by the lawless arm of miliwith his principles vote for gen. Jackson, under any pos-tary power in that war; and stranger still, after advanc ing the opinions and principles, and giving the votes president coming, ultimately, before the house of rewhich he did on that occasion; but, I should have been presentatives. We concurred in opinion, that, from the astonished beyond measure if he had supported general number of candidates, it was improbable any one would Jackson for the presidency, after what he said to me at have a majority of the electoral votes; and that if Mr, Frankfort on the subject. A vote, so much at war with Crawford's friends continued to entertain hopes of his his principles and inclinations, and so entirely contrary recovery, and to press his claims to the presidency, it was to his better judgment, and his known avowed intentions doubtful whether he or Mr. Clay would be left out of would have left me in amazement, and I am bold to say, the house. You expressed the opinion that, (Clay aside), that I should have turned my back upon him and voted Mr. Adams was the safest and best choice, and that the for Adams, even if I had been in a minority of the dele- friends of agriculture, internal improvements and dogation from the state. I say, that I would have turned mestic manufactures, ought to unite upon him in the my back upon him, and I would certainly have done so, event of Mr. Clay's exclusion from the house. You rebecause, knowing what I did, I should have been com- marked, that you had once entertained some prejudices pelled to doubt the integrity of his character, and the against Mr. Adams as a statesman, but that the more soundness of his political principles. If he had voted you had seen of him as a statesman, the more you had for Jackson and taken office under him, my amazement been convinced these prepossessions were not wellwould have had no limits. A change of principles and founded. You alluded to the tariff bill of 1824, then preferences so sudden and singular, and so inconsistent under discussion in congress; expressed your determinawith his previous character and conduct, could not have tion to support it as a system of protection to domestic been explained upon the ordinary approveable motives of manufactures; and said, if you should have to vote, as a human action; and I should have been driven to suspect member of the house of representatives in the election of the existence of extraordinary seducements, and censur- president, you would vote for the man who, and whose able compliances. Voting as he has done, I still consi- friends you should think most favorable to what you calder him as I always did-an able, independent, fear-led the American system. You said that Mr. Clay bad less statesman; uncorrupted, and incorruptible. been the great champion of that system; that if we lost I am satisfied in my own mind, that the imputations of him, you thought Mr. Adams and his friends, next most corruption made against Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams by favorable to it; that you could not, and would not vote their enemies, are entirely groundless. Speaking for for any man who, and whose friends, you believed to my self, I am bound to say in justice to both of them, be united in opposition to it; that some of Mr. Adams' that I have no knowledge of any fact or circumstance friends were opposed to it, but many of them in favor of connected with them, or either of them, directly or indi- it, and that you believed his opinions were favorable to rectly, which throws a shade of doubt.upon the fairness the system. I remarked, that it was, perhaps, too early of their conduct in the election. to make up a decisive opinion, in the event of the election Some days after the election, Mr. Adams made an of- coming into the house of representatives;-that the views fer of the department of state to Mr. Clay, and request- of men, and of parties, in reference to these great national ed a conference with him. The course pursued by Mr. interests of agriculture, internal inprovements and doClay from that time, until he concluded to accept the of-mestic manufactures, would probably be further defice, forbids the belief that he had any previous assurances from Mr. Adams, or that there was any previous understanding between them on the subject. With assurances of regard, 1 am, sir, yours, very respectfully, DAVID TRIMBLE. Tobias Watkins, esq. Paris, (Ken.) August 13, 1827. DEAR SIR: In consequence of my absence from home, I did not receive your letter of the 8th of July until after my return from the court at Columbus, Ohio, on Monday evening, the 9th instant. You request me to state the substance of a conversation which took place between us at the city of Washington, in February or March, 1824, after having visited Mr. Crawford together, in relation to the then next presidential election. The occasion has passed over in which a statement of that conversation would have been of any direct service to you; yet, as it may be some satisfaction to you to know what my recollection is of the conversation alluded to, I will state it. While in the city, in February and March, 1824, I visited Mr. Crawford several times. I recollect, perfectly, that, on one occasion, you and I went together to pay him a visit of respect, as we both entertained for him a very high regard. In going to, and returning from Mr. Crawford's we conversed freely about his health, and on the subject of the approaching presidential election; and I have a distinct recollection of what passed, after leaving him, on our way to our lodgings, at Brown's. You asked me what I thought of Mr. Crawford's health, and of the probability of its restoration, so as to enable him to discharge the duties of president. I answered, that my opinion was decisively against the probability of his recovery, so as to be able to undergo the labors, and discharge the duties of the office; and that I thought his restoration, so as to justify his election, might be considered hopeless. I added my conviction that he could not recover, and that his life would be endangered until he quit his present office, and left the city with all its cares and troubles behind him. You expressed your entire concurrence; and remarked, that you had wished to know whether my deliberate views of his condition corresponded with those you had previously formed. The conversation turned upon the probability of the election of voloped before the election. You answered, truc; but that you had thought much upon the system for their encouragement and protection; that you had made up your opinion upon it; and you added, emphatically, "my creed is fixed as to the principles which must influence my de cision." In other conversations with me at the city, I understood you as indicating similar views; but in the particular conversation above detailed, you were more explicit than in any other; and the very emphatic manner in which you concluded your remarks, made a strong and lasting impression on my memory, and satisfied me, that in the events contemplated, you would vote for Mr. Adaras, unless something should transpire before the election, to change your opinion of him, in reference to your fa vorite system. With sentiments of sincere regard, your obedient ser- vant, Bowling Green, 23d May, 1827. DEAR SIR: Yours of the 2d instant is received, in which you call my attention to the extract of a letter, said to be written by "a highly respectable Virginian," dated Nashville, 8th of March last, and which you recite as follows: "He, gen. Jackson], told me this morning before all his company, in reply to a question I put to him, concerning the election of J. Q. Adams to the presidency, that Mr. Clay's friends made a proposition to his friends, that they would promise, for him, not to put Mr. Adams into the seat of secretary of state, Clay and his friends would, in one hour, make him, Jackson, the president. He most indignantly rejected the proposition, and declared he would not compromit himself, and unless most openly and fairly made the president, he would not receive it. He declared that he said to them, be would see the earth sink under him, before he would bargain or intrigue for it." Previous to the receipt of yours, I had observed this viewed it as a sheer fabrication, extract in the papers. another instance of the out pourings of that disappointed ambition, prejudice and envious malignity, which have been so bountifully bestowed on Mr. Clay and some of his friends, for the last two years and a half; and such it seemed to me it ought to have been esteemed, so long as it rested alone on the authority of an anonymous writer. For several reasons I do not think we ought to give credence to gen. Jackson's having made such a statement, without good proof of the fact. Viewing the publication in the light I have mentioned, I had not supposed any notice of it could be called for or expected. I have no hesitation, however, in answering your inquiries. After reciting the above extract, you say to me, "If such a proposition were ever made by the friends of Mr. Clay to those of gen. Jackson, it must have been known to many persons, and the fact, therefore, may be ascertained. May I ask the favor of you to inform me whether you know or believe any such proposition was ever made? Or whether conditions, of any sort, were made by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person, on a compliance with which their vote was made to depend?" To the first branch of the inquiry, my answer is, that I have no knowledge of any such a proposition, nor do I believe any such was ever made. To the second I answer, that I neither know of, nor do I believe, that any "conditions, of any sort, were made by the friends of Mr. Clay to any person, on compliance with which their vote was to depend." Very respectfully, your humble servant, FR. JOHNSON. T. Watkins, esq. that Mr. Clay would not have accepted an appointment under the general, I am at a loss to conjecture where, or from whom the authority for making such propositions could have been derived. But if any individual, calling himself the friend of Mr. Clay, did make proposals of such a character, why not name the man, and let him state to the public by what authority he made them? With great respect, I am dear sir, your obedient servant, THOMAS METCALFE. T. Watkins, esq. 4th aud. treasury department. Lancaster, Ky. 26th June, 1827. DEAR SIR: Yours of the 2d May, did not reach me until a day or two ago. You inquire whether I know any thing in relation to the following statement, said to have been made by "a highly respectable Virginian:" "He, gen. Jackson, told me this morning, before all his company, in reply to a question I put to him, concerning the election of J. Q. Adams to the presidency, that Mr. Clay's friends made a proposition to his friends, that if they would promise for him, not to put Mr. Adams into the seat of secretary of state, Clay and his friends would, in one hour, make him, Jackson the president." I know of no such proposition or intimation, nor have I a knowledge of any fact or circumstance which would induce me to believe Mr. Clay's friends, or any one of them, ever made such a proposition to the friends of gen. With great respect, your obedient servant, R. P. LETCHER. T. Watkins, esq. - been written by "a highly respectable Virginian," dated at Nashville, 8th of March last, which first appeared in the Fayette Observer, in which general Jackson is represented as having said, before all his company, in reply to a question put to him by the Virginian, concerning the election of J. Q. Adams to the presidency, that Mr. Clay's friends made a proposition to his friends, that if they would promise, for him, not to put Mr. Adams into the seat of the secretary of state, Clay and his friends would, in one hour, make him, Jackson, the president." In answer to your inquiries on this subject, I will remark, that I have no reason to believe that any such proposition was made. Indeed no proposition, of any description, relating to the election of president, was made, so far as I know or believe, by Mr. Clay's friends to those of general Jackson, or of any other person. With great respect, your obedient servant, Mason county, Ky. 12th June, 1827. DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 2d of May last, address-Jackson. ed to me at Carlisle, in this state, having been duly received by my family, and handed to me on my return home a few days ago from the state of Mississippi, I hasten to give you the information required. As to the letter which Greensburg, Ky. May 26, 1827. is said to have been written by "a highly respectable DEAR SIR: Having been absent from home, for some Virginian," dated at Nashville, on the 8th day of last time, yours of the 2d of this month was not received unMarch, which first appeared in the Fayetteville Observer, til a day or two since. You mention a letter said to have stating that he, the writer, had been told that morning by the general, before all his company, that a proposition had been made by the friends of Mr. Clay to the friends of Jackson, that if they would promise for him not to put Mr. Adams in the seat of secretary of state, Clay and his friends would in one hour make him, Jackson, president, &c." I have to state, that I never heard or thought of such a proposition, until the letter of the "highly respectable Virginian" appeared in the public prints. Some time before the presidential vote was given in the house of representatives, I well remember to have heard it stated by some one, that in the event of the election of gen. Jackson, Mr. Adams would most probably be withdrawn from the national cabinet, and made governor of Massachusetts; that it was not likely that he would accept an appointment under the general if offered to him. Neither before, nor since that election, have I interchanged a word with Mr. Adams respecting it. But my opinion at that time was that if not elected, he would retire from the cabinet, as a matter of choice, and not of necessity. As one of the friends of Mr. Clay, I enter the most solemn protest against the right of the general, through his organ, the "highly respectable Virginian," or otherwise, to say that I would have assisted in making him president on the conditions stated. On the contrary, if I could have been made to believe that general Jackson would not have offered to Mr. Adams, the place which he had filled with so much ability under Mr. Monroe, that belief would have constituted in my mind a strong additional objection to the general's success. I should then have taken it for granted, that it was the intention of the general to surround himself with that class or party of politicians with whom he had in a great degree become identified, and between whom and myself there existed such a radical difference of opinion in relation to the great leading ques-position made by the friends of Mr. Clay to the friends I now answer your inquiry, and say I know of no protion of national policy. Lallude to the army, the anti-tariff of general Jackson to make him president if he would and anti-internal improvement parties. If it is intended not select Mr. Adams to the seat of secretary, and I do to impose the belief that Mr. Clay's friends were desi- not believe a proposition of any kind was made, and I raus of obtaining that appointment for him, to the ex- expect if the friend of the general should ever speak on clusion of Mr. Adams or otherwise, under gen. Jackson this subject, he will be a second Kremer. Yours with as one of his friends, I pronounce it a base and an infa- respect, mous assault upon the motives and honor, so far as I am P. THOMPSON, concerned or believe, of those who did not choose to supgort him for the presidency. T. Watkins, esq. RICHARD A. BUCKNER. Yellow Banks, 19th June, 1827. DEAR SIR: 1 did not answer your letter of the 2d May last, and the apology I offer I expected general Jackson would have contradicted the report of the conversation he had with the "respectable Virginian," or that he would have designated the friend of Mr. Clay who made the proposition to make him president, if he would not make Mr. Adams secretary. an answer from me would have been unnecessary. T. Watkins, esq. In reply to your second inquiry, I have to say that, if conBaton Rouge, July 17, 1827. ditions of any sort were ever made by the friends of Mr.in which you inquire whether I know or believe that the DEAR SIR: In answer to your letter of the 1st of May, Clay to any person, on a compliance with which their friends of Mr. Clay during the pendency of the last prerotuvas made to depend, I knew nothing of it. Believingsidential election, proposed to the friends of gen. Jackson to make him the president upon condition that he would not continue Mr. Adams secretary of state, I reply, that I have no knowledge of any proposition having been made by the friends of Mr. Clay, or any of them, to the friends of gen. Jackson, or to any other person, in relation to the election of president; or the proposition of conditions of any sort, on a compliance with which their vote was made to depend; I believe the charge wholly destitute of truth. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. H. GURLEY. Doctor T. Watkins. votes on that important occasion. So far, therefore, as I am implicated in the communication of the Virginian, and the letter of gen. Jackson, I deem it my duty to make the following statement, and place it in the hands of some gentleman at the seat of government to be used at discretion. 1. Neither Mr. Adams, nor his friends ever made any promises or overtures to me, nor did they hold out to me any inducements of any sort, kind or character whatever, to procure me to vote for Mr. Adams. Nor did Mr. Adams, or any of his friends, ever say or insinuate who would be placed at the head of the department of state, or any other department, in the event that Mr. Adams should be elected, nor do I believe any propositions were made to Mr. Clay or his friend by Mr. Adams or his friends:-if there were, I know it not. 2. I was frequently with Mr. Crawford, but he never hinted at the presidential election. The friends of Mr. Crawford, including Thomas H. Benton, T. W. Cobb, Jesse B. Thomas, Lewis McLane, Mr. Van Buren, and others, did press me to vote for Mr. Crawford, which, (having lost Mr. Clay), I readily admit, I was inclined to do had his health been good, and would my vote have availed him. They urged, however, no reasons other than the promotion of virtue, talents and integrity; nor did I understand his friends as acting by the authority or consent of Mr. Crawford. 3. The friends of gen. Jackson, (including Thomas H. Benton, after he had abandoned Mr. Crawford), did urge me in the most impetuous manner to vote for gen. Jackson, but I did not understand them as doing so by the advice or consent of gen. Jackson, though they fre quently said he would do great things for the west it elected; that he was a man of strong gratitude, and would ga the whole for his friends and against his enemies. St. Martisville, Attakapas, La. 4th June, 1827. DEAR SIR: I had seen the letter you alluded to in the public prints before I received yours of the 1st May. I cannot express the indignant feelings it excited. It is the fabrication of a desperate man, who, to obtain his object, dares to assert what he knows to be false. You ask me to say, whether I "know or believe that such a proposition was ever made, or whether conditions of any sort were proposed by the friends of Mr. Clay to any one, on a compliance with which their vote was made to depend." No honorable man can believe for a moment, that such a proposition was ever made, or such a condition stipulated. I was a friend of Mr. Clay's throughout the contest; I was in the confidence of all his friends, and I declare to God that I never heard of such a thing, until it was asserted by the disappointed adherents of general Jackson. I am not only ignorant of any such arrangements, but do not believe they ever existed. I know full well, that at the time the charge was made by general Jack son or his friends, that no person with whom I conversed believed Mr. Clay had acted improperly, except the adherents of gen. Jackson, who, I shall always believe, felt angry at Mr. Clay and his friends for having too much firmness in the first instance to be acted upon by their violence; and in the second instance, too much integrity and love of country to yield to a faction headed by a military chief, without talents, and whose life is a history of immorality, bloodshed and violation to the laws of God and of his country. I well recollect that the high-minded and honorable friends of Mr. Crawford, amongst whom I name the honorable Mr. Forsyth of Georgia, the hon. Mr. Stevenson of Virginia, the hon. Mr. Williams, Saunders, Edwards, of North Carolina, and others whom I could name, and amongst them the hon. Samuel Smith, of Maryland, in frequent conversations with me, repelled such charges as the effusions of disappointed men, and approved of the choice made by the friends of Mr. Clay, in preference to general Jackson. I regret now to see these gentlemen, all except Mr. Williams acting against their then opinions. I regret it the more, for I entertain for each of them the highest esteem, nor can I believe that they will presist in a course 5. I never consulted or advised with any one how I which will end in their support of gen. Jackson. I am should vote, except with the two senators from my own not astonished at their opposing the administration, as it state, and with Mr. Clay whose advice I voluntarily soli. is friendly to "internal improvements and domestic ma- cited. The answer of Mr. Clay to me when I requestnufactures," but I can never believe that they will give aed his opinion and advice was substantially this: That preference to a man like gen. Jackson over our present chief magistrate. 4. I never exchanged one syllable with gen. Jackson, in person on the subject of the presidential election, neither before or after the election. I never made to gen. Jackson, or to any of his friends, any proposition in reference to the presidential election, either as regarded the appointment of Mr. Clay, or any other person to office, or the exclusion of Mr. Adams or any other person from office. I was never spoken to by Mr. Clay or any of his friends about making any proposition to gen. Jackson or his friends of any kind whatsoever; nor did I ever hear it insinuated or hinted that any proposition was made or intended to be made by Mr. Clay, or his friends, to general Jackson or his friends, or to any other candidate or their friends, for or relating to the presidency; and I do believe had any proposition been made, or intended to have been made by Mr. Clay, or his friends, from my intimacy and constant intercourse with them, I should have known or heard thereof. I personally knew all the candidates well, that he would give no opinion that might go to the prejudice of any canI think the friends of Mr. Clay ought to contradict the didate, or operate to influence any elector; that all he base unfounded charge: as one, I am determined that would say was that I ought not to be hasty and commit such an accusation shall not rest upon me. If gen. Jack-myself, but wait till the last moment for advices from my son does not establish his assertion, (which he cannot), state, to the legislature of which, then in session, I had tre ought to stand forth to the world, as a proven base ca- applied for information on the subject of the election. lumniator, as unworthy of public or private confidence, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient and avoided by every man who has a respect for virtue servant, JOHN SCOTT. and for honor. Your obedient servant, T. Watkins, esq. WM. BRENT. P. S. You may use this letter as you think proper. I shall be at Washington about 15th July, when I will see you. St. Genevieve, Missouri, August 2nd, 1827. DEAR SIR: I saw some time since in the public prints, a letter said to have been written from Nashville, by a highly respectable Virginian, detailing a conversation held by him with gen. Jackson in relation to the last presidential election. I have since seen and perused a letter of general Jackson himself to Mr. Carter Beverly, of the 6th of June, on the same subject. I was one of the open and avowed friends of Mr. Clay, in the last presidential contest, and held one of the twenty-four (B.) Frankfort, September 3d, 1827. MY DEAR SIR: I have received your letter of the 23d of July last, and cannot hesitate to give you the statement you have requested. Sometime in the fall of 1824, conversing upon the subjeet of [the] then pending presidential election, and speaking in reference to your exclusion from the contest, and to your being called upon to decide and vote between the other candidates who might be returned to the house of representatives, you declared that you could not, or that it was impossible for you to vote for general Jackson, in any event. Such, I think, was nearly the language used by you, and, I am satisfied, contains the substance of |