John Quincy Adams wrote, there was “no goodwill lost between Clay and Webster.” Their disagreement on the compromise measures of 1833, and still more their constant rivalry as to the presidency, had estranged them. Even after his withdrawal, many of Webster's friends continued very actively to oppose Clay's pretensions, especially in the important State of New York. Directly and indirectly, their influence was exerted for General William H. Harrison, of Ohio, as Clay was believed to have favored Harrison rather than Webster in 1836. It seems to be one of the weaknesses of great men, in the competition for the highest honors, to prefer comparatively small men to one another.
Harrison possessed the advantage of being a “military hero.” A quarter of a century before, he had beaten the Indians at Tippecanoe, and also won the “battle of the Thames,” where Tecumseh was killed. He had filled the territorial governorship of Indiana, and a seat in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, with quiet respectability. His “claims” as a statesman were, in his own opinion, not very exalted. “In relation to politics,” he wrote to Clay in September, 1839, “I can only say that my position in relation to yourself is to me distressing and embarrassing. How little can we judge of our future destinies! A few years ago I could not have believed in the possibility of my being placed in a position of apparent rivalry to you, particularly in relation to the presi-
