" The matter
was serious, but official Washington could hardly repress a smile.
Kremer was a thoroughly honest but grossly illiterate rustic busybody
who thus far had attracted the capital's attention mainly by reason of
his curiously cut leopard-skin overcoat. The real author of the charge
seems to have been James Buchanan, and Kremer was simple-minded and
credulous enough to be made the catspaw in the business. Clay was
taken aback. Kremer significantly made no reference to the "code of
honor"; and since a duel with such a personage would be an absurdity,
Clay substituted a request that the House make an immediate
investigation of the charges. A committee of seven was appointed. But
when it summoned Kremer to give his testimony, he refused to appear,
on the ground--which in the present instance was a mere pretext--that
the House had no jurisdiction over the conduct of its members outside
the chamber.
The truth of the matter is that Kremer was only a tool in the hands of
the Jackson managers. He admitted privately to members of the
committee that he did not write the letter in the _Observer_, and it
was plain enough that he did not understand its purport.
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