I shall now, in reply to Mr. Clay’s appeal, give my authority, accompanied by the statement you made to Major John H. Eaton and to Mr. Kremer, and leave Mr. Clay to his further inquiries. He cannot be indulged by me in a paper war, or newspaper discussion. Had his friends not voted out Mr. McDuffie’s resolutions when Mr. Clay threw himself upon the House, the truth or falsehood of these statements would have been made manifest, and the public mind now at rest upon the subject. That they did, will appear, reference being had to the National Journal of the 5th of February, 1825. You will recollect that Mr. McDuffie moved to instruct the Committee to inquire whether the friends of Mr. Clay had hinted that they would fight for those who paid best, and whether overtures were said to have been made by the friends of Mr. Clay, offering him the appointment of Secretary of State for his influence, and to elect Mr. Adams, and whether his friends gave this information to the friends of General Jackson and hinted that if the friends of Jackson would close with them, &c., &c., giving the Committee the power to examine on oath.
I have no doubt, when properly called on, you will come forth and offer me the statement made to Major Eaton, then to Mr. Kremer, and then to me, and give the names of the friends of Mr. Clay who made it to you.
I will thank you to acknowledge the receipt of this letter on its reaching you.
I have the honor to be, with great respect,
Your obedient servant,
Andrew Jackson.
Early in August, 1827, Mr. Buchanan published a card in the Lancaster Journal, embodying the recollections which I have given, but which it is not necessary to reproduce; and after a brief but inconclusive reply from Mr. Markley, the matter passed out of the public mind. Later in the same year (1827) Mr. Clay published an elaborate vindication of his conduct, in the course of which he thus refers to Mr. Buchanan:
“In General Jackson’s letter to Mr. Beverley, of the 6th of June last, he admits that in inferring my privity to the proposition which he describes as borne by Mr. Buchanan, he may have done me injustice; and, in his address to the public of the 18th of July last, giving up the name of this gentleman as his only witness, he repeats that he possibly may have done me injustice, in assuming my authority for that proposition. He even deigns to honor me with a declaration of the pleasure which he will experience if I should be able to acquit myself! Mr. Buchanan has been heard by the public; and I feel justified in asserting that the first impression of the whole nation was, as it is yet that of every intelligent mind unbiased by party prejudice, that his testimony fully exonerated me, and demonstrated that General Jackson, to say no more, had greatly misconceived the purport of the interview between them. And further: that so far as any thing improper was disclosed by Mr. Buchanan touching the late Presidential election, it affected General Jackson and his friends exclusively. He having manifestly injured me, speculation was busy, when Mr. Buchanan’s statement appeared, as to the course which the General would pursue, after his gratuitous expression of sympathy with me. There were not wanting many persons who believed that his magnanimity would prompt him publicly to retract his charge, and to repair the wrong which he had done me. I did not participate in that just expectation, and therefore felt no disappointment that it was not realized. Whatever other merits he may possess, I have not found among them, in the course of my relations with him, that of forbearing to indulge vindictive passions. His silent contemplation of, if not his positive acquiescence in, the most extraordinary interpretation of Mr. Buchanan’s statement that ever was given to human language, has not surprised me. If it had been possible for him to render me an act of spontaneous justice by a frank and manly avowal of his error, the testimony now submitted to the public might have been unnecessary.
[MR. BUCHANAN TO MR. INGHAM.]
Lancaster, August 9, 1827.