23 December 1824
adams-john10 Neal MillikanElections, Presidential 1824

72923. V:15. Call on T. Newton— Sat to Sully for my picture; at King’s house— At one O’Clock I presented the Baron de Mareuil to the President, and he delivered his Credential Letter from Charles the 10th. the new King of France— He also introduced the Count de Ganay, and Mr Sontag to the President. He made a short speech, of which he gave me a copy requesting the substance of the President’s answer, also in writing. At the Office, W. Lee came and introduced D. Strobel our Consul at Bordeaux. R. P. Letcher had a long conversation with me, upon the subject which he had broached the other day— We had company to dinner. Tracy remained the Evening with me. Mrs Adams and the girls, were at a party at Coll. Bomford’s— Charles arrived— The object of Letcher appeared to me to be, to convince me of the importance of obtaining an Election in the House of Representatives, at the first ballot; and that it would be obtainable; by securing the votes of the States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Louisiana— I told him candidly that however desirable this might be, it would be utterfly impracticable; and that I had no expectation of receiving the vote of his own State of Kentucky— He seemed anxious to convince me that I might receive it, and enumerated the whole delegation, stating how each of them was now disposed—a majority of them being uncommitted.— I consider Letcher as moving for Mr Clay; and this anxiety of a friend of Clay’s that I should obtain the election at the first ballot in the house is among the whimsical results of political combination at this time. [“]Incedo super ignes”— Our company to dinner were Messrs. Clay and Calhoun, Senators Knight and Van Buren; members of H.R. Burleigh, Fuller, Letcher, Livingston, M’Lane, Morgan, Swan, Tomlinson, Tracy, Tucker of Virginia, and Udree; Mr Babcock, Russel Freeman, M’Call, and Trumbull— Messrs. Brown and Elliot, Senators, and Hemphill, Hooks, Owen, and Tattnall had been invited, but did not come— Tracy’s conversation with me was confidential— He thinks the vote of New-York in the house very doubtful— Counts upon 7 for Jackson, and 14. in the first instance for Crawford.

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