offer “in ill part.” In an administration thus designed to be constructed upon the principle that the leaders of the ruling party should form part of it, Clay was of course a necessary man; and to offer him a place in the Cabinet appeared not only in itself proper, but unavoidable. Clay would therefore undoubtedly have been invited into the Cabinet whether he had or had not exercised any influence favorable to Mr. Adams's election.
Neither would there have been any question as to the propriety of Clay's accepting any place in the new administration under ordinary circumstances. But that the actual circumstances were not of the ordinary kind, Clay himself felt. When Adams, a few days after the election by the House, offered him at a personal interview the secretaryship of state, he replied that he “would take it into consideration,” and answer “as soon as he should have time to consult his friends.” It was an anxious consultation. At first some of his friends were opposed to acceptance. Would not his taking the secretaryship of state be treated as conclusive evidence proving the justice of the imputations which had been made against him? It was known that Clay and Adams had not been on terms of cordial friendship. They had seriously differed on important points at Ghent. Clay had made opposition to Monroe's administration, and especially had criticised Adams as Secretary of State. Less than two years before, Adams had been attacked by one of the Ghent Commissioners,
