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Morse Jr</title> + + +<style type="text/css"> +<!-- + +body {font-size: 1em; text-align: justify; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} + +h1 {font-size: 1.4em; text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h2 {font-size: 1.2em; text-align: center; margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h3 {font-size: 1.2em; text-align: center; margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h4 {text-align: center; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 2em;} +h6 {font-size: 0.8em; text-align: center;} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +.pagenum {visibility: hidden; position: absolute; right:0; font-size: smaller; +text-align: right; color: #C0C0C0; background-color: inherit;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.left60 {margin-left: 60%;} + +.quote {margin-left: 05%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.poem {margin-left: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} +.poem1 {margin-left: 20%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +a {text-decoration: none;} + +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +.c20 {width: 20%;} +.c50 {width: 50%;} + +.index {margin-left: 5%;} +.index-5 {margin-left: -5%;} +.index5 {margin-left: 5%;} + +--> +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of John Quincy Adams, by John. T. Morse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: John Quincy Adams + American Statesmen Series + +Author: John. T. Morse + +Release Date: December 26, 2006 [EBook #20183] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN QUINCY ADAMS *** + + + + +Produced by Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p>[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. +The original spelling has been retained.<br> +Missing page numbers correspond to blank pages.]</p> + +<a id="img001" name="img001"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img001.jpg" width="400" height="484" +alt="John Quincy Adams" title=""> +</div> + + + + + +<h1>American Statesmen</h1> + +<h2>STANDARD LIBRARY EDITION</h2> + +<a id="img002" name="img002"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img002.jpg" width="400" height="403" +alt="The Home of John Quincy Adams" title=""> +</div> + + +<h4>HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.</h4> + + + + + + +<h2>American Statesmen</h2> + +<h1>JOHN QUINCY ADAMS</h1> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h1>JOHN T. MORSE, JR.</h1> + +<a id="img003" name="img003"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/img003.jpg" width="150" height="201" +alt="Front" title=""> +</div> + + +<h4>BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br> +HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY<br> +The Riverside Press, Cambridge</h4> + + + + + +<h6>Copyright, 1882 and 1898,<br> +<span class="smcap">By JOHN T. MORSE, JR.</span></h6> + +<h6>Copyright, 1898,<br> +<span class="smcap">By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.</span></h6> + +<h6><i>All rights reserved.</i></h6> + + + + +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagev" name="pagev"></a>(p. v)</span> + + +<p>Nearly sixteen years have elapsed since this book was written. In that +time sundry inaccuracies have been called to my attention, and have +been corrected, and it may be fairly hoped that after the lapse of so +long a period all errors in matters of fact have been eliminated. I am +not aware that any fresh material has been made public, or that any +new views have been presented which would properly lead to alterations +in the substance of what is herein said. If I were now writing the +book for the first time, I should do what so many of the later +contributors to the series have very wisely and advantageously done: I +should demand more space. But this was the first volume published, and +at a time when the enterprise was still an experiment insistence upon +such a point, especially on the part of the editor, would have been +unreasonable. Thus it happens that, though Mr. Adams was appointed +minister resident at the Hague in 1794, and thereafter continued in +public life, almost without interruption, until his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevi" name="pagevi"></a>(p. vi)</span> death in +February, 1848, the narrative of his career is compressed within +little more than three hundred pages. The proper function of a work +upon this scale is to draw a picture of the man.</p> + +<p>With the picture which I have drawn of Mr. Adams, I still remain +moderately contented—by which remark I mean nothing more egotistical +than that I believe it to be a correct picture, and done with whatever +measure of skill I may happen to possess in portraiture. I should like +to change it only in one particular, viz.: by infusing throughout the +volume somewhat more of admiration. Adams has never received the +praise which was his due, and probably he never will receive it. In +order that justice should be done him by the public, his biographer +ought to speak somewhat better of him than his real deserts would +require. He presents one of those cases where exaggeration is the +servant of truth; for this moderate excess of appreciation would only +offset that discount from an accurate estimate which his personal +unpopularity always has caused, and probably always will cause, to be +made. He was a good instance of the rule that the world will for the +most part treat the individual as the individual treats the world. +Adams was censorious, not to say uncharitable in the extreme, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="pagevii" name="pagevii"></a>(p. vii)</span> +always in an attitude of antagonism, always unsparing and +denunciatory. The measure which he meted has been by others in their +turn meted to him. This habit of ungracious criticism was his great +fault; perhaps it was almost his only very serious fault; it cost him +dear in his life, and has continued to cost his memory dear since his +death. Sometimes we are not sorry to see men get the punishments which +they have brought on themselves; yet we ought to be sorry for Mr. +Adams. After all, his fault-finding was in part the result of his +respect for virtue and his hatred of all that was ignoble and +unworthy. If he despised a low standard, at least he held his own +standard high, and himself lived by the rules by which he measured +others. Men with vastly greater defects have been much more kindly +served both by contemporaries and by posterity. There can be no +question that Adams deserved all the esteem which ought to be accorded +to the highest moral qualities, to very high, if a little short of the +highest, intellectual endowment, and to immense acquirements. His +political integrity was of a grade rarely seen; and, in unison with +his extraordinary courage and independence, it seemed to the average +politician actually irritating and offensive. He was in the same +difficulty +in <span class="pagenum"><a id="pageviii" name="pageviii"></a>(p. viii)</span> +which Aristides the Just found himself. But +neither assaults nor political solitude daunted or discouraged him. +His career in the House of Representatives is a tale which has not a +rival in congressional history. I regret that it could not be told +here at greater length. Stubbornly fighting for freedom of speech and +against the slaveholders, fierce and unwearied in old age, falling +literally out of the midst of the conflict into his grave, Mr. Adams, +during the closing years of his life, is one of the most striking +figures of modern times. I beg the reader of this volume to put into +its pages more warmth of praise than he will find therein, and so do a +more correct justice to an honest statesman and a gallant friend of +the oppressed. Doing this, he will improve my book in the particular +wherein I think that it chiefly needs improvement.<br> +<span class="left60">JOHN T. MORSE, JR.</span><br> + July, 1898.</p> + + + + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<p>CHAPTER I.</p> + +<p class="smcap"><a href="#page001">Youth and Diplomacy</a></p> + +<p class="p2">CHAPTER II.</p> +<p class="smcap"><a href="#page101">Secretary of State and President</a></p> + +<p class="p2">CHAPTER III.</p> +<p class="smcap"><a href="#page225">In the House of Representatives</a></p> + +<p class="p2 smcap"><a href="#page311">Index</a></p> +</div> + + + + +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<p><span class="smcap"><a href="#img001">John Quincy Adams</a></span><br> + +From the original painting by John Singleton Copley, +in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.<br> + +Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston +Public Library.</p> + +<p class="p2"><a href="#img002"></a> +The vignette of Mr. Adams's home in Quincy is +from a photograph.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap"><a href="#img004">William H. Crawford</a></span><br> + +From the painting by Henry Ulke, in the Treasury +Department at Washington.<br> +Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston +Public Library.</p> + + +<p class="p2"><span class="smcap"><a href="#img005">Stratford Canning</a></span><br> +After a drawing (1853) by George Richmond.<br> +Autograph from "Life of Stratford Canning."</p> + + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="smcap"><a href="#img006">Henry A. Wise</a></span><br> +From a photograph by Brady, in the Library of the +State Department at Washington.<br> +Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston +Public Library.</p> +</div> + + + + +<h1>JOHN QUINCY ADAMS +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page001" name="page001"></a>(p. 001)</span></h1> + + +<h3>CHAPTER I</h3> + +<h4>YOUTH AND DIPLOMACY</h4> + + +<p>On July 11, 1767, in the North Parish of Braintree, since set off as +the town of Quincy, in Massachusetts, was born John Quincy Adams. Two +streams of as good blood as flowed in the colony mingled in the veins +of the infant. If heredity counts for anything he began life with an +excellent chance of becoming famous—<i>non sine dîs animosus infans</i>. +He was called after his great-grandfather on the mother's side, John +Quincy, a man of local note who had borne in his day a distinguished +part in provincial affairs. Such a naming was a simple and natural +occurrence enough, but Mr. Adams afterward moralized upon it in his +characteristic way:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "The incident which gave rise to this circumstance is not without + its moral to my heart. He was dying when I was baptized; and his + daughter, my grandmother, present at my birth, requested that I + might receive +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page002" name="page002"></a>(p. 002)</span> + his name. The fact, recorded by my father + at the time, has connected with that portion of my name a charm + of mingled sensibility and devotion. It was filial tenderness + that gave the name. It was the name of one passing from earth to + immortality. These have been among the strongest links of my + attachment to the name of Quincy, and have been to me through + life a perpetual admonition to do nothing unworthy of it." +</p> + +<p>Fate, which had made such good preparation for him before his birth, +was not less kind in arranging the circumstances of his early training +and development. His father was deeply engaged in the patriot cause, +and the first matters borne in upon his opening intelligence concerned +the public discontent and resistance to tyranny. He was but seven +years old when he clambered with his mother to the top of one of the +high hills in the neighborhood of his home to listen to the sounds of +conflict upon Bunker's Hill, and to watch the flaming ruin of +Charlestown. Profound was the impression made upon him by the +spectacle, and it was intensified by many an hour spent afterward upon +the same spot during the siege and bombardment of Boston. Then John +Adams went as a delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, +and his wife and children were left for twelve months, as John Quincy +Adams says,—it +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page003" name="page003"></a>(p. 003)</span> +is to be hoped with a little exaggeration of +the barbarity of British troops toward women and babes,—"liable every +hour of the day and of the night to be butchered in cold blood, or +taken and carried into Boston as hostages, by any foraging or +marauding detachment." Later, when the British had evacuated Boston, +the boy, barely nine years old, became "post-rider" between the city +and the farm, a distance of eleven miles each way, in order to bring +all the latest news to his mother.</p> + +<p>Not much regular schooling was to be got amid such surroundings of +times and events, but the lad had a natural aptitude or affinity for +knowledge which stood him in better stead than could any dame of a +village school. The following letter to his father is worth +preserving:—</p> + +<div class="quote"> +<p><span class="left60 smcap">Braintree</span>, +<i>June the 2d, 1777</i>.<br> +<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—I love to receive letters +very well, much better than + I love to write them. I make but a poor figure at composition, my + head is much too fickle, my thoughts are running after birds' + eggs, play and trifles till I get vexed with myself. I have but + just entered the 3d volume of Smollett, tho' I had designed to + have got it half through by this time. I have determined this + week to be more diligent, as Mr. Thaxter will be absent at Court + and I Cannot pursue my other Studies. I have Set myself a Stent + and determine to read the 3d volume Half out. If I +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page004" name="page004"></a>(p. 004)</span> can + but keep my resolution I will write again at the end of the week + and give a better account of myself. I wish, Sir, you would give + me some instructions with regard to my time, and advise me how to + proportion my Studies and my Play, in writing, and I will keep + them by me and endeavor to follow them. I am, dear Sir, with a + present determination of growing better. Yours.</p> + +<p>P.S. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me with a Blank + book, I will transcribe the most remarkable occurrences I met + with in my reading, which will serve to fix them upon my mind.</p> +</div> + +<p>Not long after the writing of this model epistle, the simple village +life was interrupted by an unexpected change. John Adams was sent on a +diplomatic journey to Paris, and on February 13, 1778, embarked in the +frigate Boston. John Quincy Adams, then eleven years old, accompanied +his father and thus made his first acquaintance with the foreign lands +where so many of his coming years were to be passed. This initial +visit, however, was brief; and he was hardly well established at +school when events caused his father to start for home. Unfortunately +this return trip was a needless loss of time, since within three +months of their setting foot upon American shores the two travellers +were again on their stormy way back across the Atlantic in a leaky +ship, which had +to <span class="pagenum"><a id="page005" name="page005"></a>(p. 005)</span> +land them at the nearest port in Spain. +One more quotation must be given from a letter written just after the +first arrival in France:—</p> + +<div class="quote"> + <p> <span class="left60 smcap">Passy</span>, <i>September the 27th, 1778</i>.<br> + + <span class="smcap">Honored Mamma</span>,—My Pappa enjoins it upon me to keep a Journal, or + a Diary of the Events that happen to me, and of objects that I + see, and of Characters that I converse with from day to day; and + altho' I am Convinced of the utility, importance and necessity of + this Exercise, yet I have not patience and perseverance enough to + do it so Constantly as I ought. My Pappa, who takes a great deal + of pains to put me in the right way, has also advised me to + Preserve Copies of all my letters, and has given me a Convenient + Blank Book for this end; and altho' I shall have the + mortification a few years hence to read a great deal of my + Childish nonsense, yet I shall have the Pleasure and advantage of + Remarking the several steps by which I shall have advanced in + taste, judgment and knowledge. A Journal Book and a letter Book + of a Lad of Eleven years old Can not be expected to Contain much + of Science, Literature, arts, wisdom, or wit, yet it may serve to + perpetuate many observations that I may make, and may hereafter + help me to recollect both persons and things that would other + ways escape my memory.</p> +</div> + +<p>He continues with resolutions "to be more thoughtful and industrious +for the future," and reflects with pleasure upon the prospect that +his <span class="pagenum"><a id="page006" name="page006"></a>(p. 006)</span> +scheme "will be a sure means of improvement to myself, +and enable me to be more entertaining to you." What gratification must +this letter from one who was quite justified in signing himself her +"dutiful and affectionate son" have brought to the Puritan bosom of +the good mother at home! If the plan for the diary was not pursued +during the first short flitting abroad, it can hardly be laid at the +door of the "lad of eleven years" as a serious fault. He did in fact +begin it when setting out on the aforementioned second trip to Europe, +calling it</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<p><span class="smcap">A Journal by</span> J. Q. A.,</p> + +<p><i>From America to Spain.</i></p> + +<p>Vol. I.</p> + +<p>Begun Friday, 12 of November, 1779.</p> +</div> + +<p>The spark of life in the great undertaking flickered in a somewhat +feeble and irregular way for many years thereafter, but apparently +gained strength by degrees until in 1795, as Mr. C. F. Adams tells us, +"what may be denominated the diary proper begins," a very vigorous +work in more senses than one. Continued with astonishing persistency +and faithfulness until within a few days of the writer's death, the +latest entry is of the 4th of January, 1848. Mr. Adams achieved many +successes during +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page007" name="page007"></a>(p. 007)</span> +his life as the result of conscious effort, +but the greatest success of all he achieved altogether unconsciously. +He left a portrait of himself more full, correct, vivid, and +picturesque than has ever been bequeathed to posterity by any other +personage of the past ages. Any mistakes which may be made in +estimating his mental or moral attributes must be charged to the +dulness or prejudice of the judge, who could certainly not ask for +better or more abundant evidence. Few of us know our most intimate +friends better than any of us may know Mr. Adams, if we will but take +the trouble. Even the brief extracts already given from his +correspondence show us the boy; it only concerns us to get them into +the proper light for seeing them accurately. If a lad of seven, nine, +or eleven years of age should write such solemn little effusions amid +the surroundings and influences of the present day, he would probably +be set down justly enough as either an offensive young prig or a +prematurely developed hypocrite. But the precocious Adams had only a +little of the prig and nothing of the hypocrite in his nature. Being +the outcome of many generations of simple, devout, intelligent Puritan +ancestors, living in a community which loved virtue and sought +knowledge, all inherited and all present influences combined +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page008" name="page008"></a>(p. 008)</span> +to make him, as it may be put in a single word, sensible. He had +inevitably a mental boyhood and youth, but morally he was never either +a child or a lad; all his leading traits of character were as strongly +marked when he was seven as when he was seventy, and at an age when +most young people simply win love or cause annoyance, he was +preferring wisdom to mischief, and actually in his earliest years was +attracting a certain respect.</p> + +<p>These few but bold and striking touches which paint the boy are +changed for an infinitely more elaborate and complex presentation from +the time when the Diary begins. Even as abridged in the printing, this +immense work ranks among the half-dozen longest diaries to be found in +any library, and it is unquestionably by far the most valuable. +Henceforth we are to travel along its broad route to the end; we shall +see in it both the great and the small among public men halting onward +in a way very different from that in which they march along the +stately pages of the historian, and we shall find many side-lights, by +no means colorless, thrown upon the persons and events of the +procession. The persistence, fulness, and faithfulness with which it +was kept throughout so busy a life are marvellous, but are also highly +characteristic of the most persevering and industrious of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page009" name="page009"></a>(p. 009)</span> +men. That it has been preserved is cause not only for thankfulness but +for some surprise also. For if its contents had been known, it is +certain that all the public men of nearly two generations who figure +in it would have combined into one vast and irresistible conspiracy to +obtain and destroy it. There was always a superfluity of gall in the +diarist's ink. Sooner or later every man of any note in the United +States was mentioned in his pages, and there is scarcely one of them, +who, if he could have read what was said of him, would not have +preferred the ignominy of omission. As one turns the leaves he feels +as though he were walking through a graveyard of slaughtered +reputations wherein not many headstones show a few words of measured +commendation. It is only the greatness and goodness of Mr. Adams +himself which relieve the universal atmosphere of sadness far more +depressing than the melancholy which pervades the novels of George +Eliot. The reader who wishes to retain any comfortable degree of +belief in his fellow men will turn to the wall all the portraits in +the gallery except only the inimitable one of the writer himself. For +it would be altogether too discouraging to think that so wide an +experience of men as Mr. Adams enjoyed through his long, varied, and +active life must lead to such an unpleasant array of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page010" name="page010"></a>(p. 010)</span> +human +faces as those which are scattered along these twelve big octavos. +Fortunately at present we have to do with only one of these +likenesses, and that one we are able to admire while knowing also that +it is beyond question accurate. One after another every trait of Mr. +Adams comes out; we shall see that he was a man of a very high and +noble character veined with some very notable and disagreeable +blemishes; his aspirations were honorable, even the lowest of them +being more than simply respectable; he had an avowed ambition, but it +was of that pure kind which led him to render true and distinguished +services to his countrymen; he was not only a zealous patriot, but a +profound believer in the sound and practicable tenets of the liberal +political creed of the United States; he had one of the most honest +and independent natures that was ever given to man; personal integrity +of course goes without saying, but he had the rarer gift of an +elevated and rigid political honesty such as has been unfrequently +seen in any age or any nation; in times of severe trial this quality +was even cruelly tested, but we shall never see it fail; he was as +courageous as if he had been a fanatic; indeed, for a long part of his +life to maintain a single-handed fight in support of a despised or +unpopular opinion seemed his natural function and almost exclusive +calling; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page011" name="page011"></a>(p. 011)</span> +he was thoroughly conscientious and never knowingly +did wrong, nor even sought to persuade himself that wrong was right; +well read in literature and of wide and varied information in nearly +all matters of knowledge, he was more especially remarkable for his +acquirements in the domain of politics, where indeed they were vast +and ever growing; he had a clear and generally a cool head, and was +nearly always able to do full justice to himself and to his cause; he +had an indomitable will, unconquerable persistence, and infinite +laboriousness. Such were the qualities which made him a great +statesman; but unfortunately we must behold a hardly less striking +reverse to the picture, in the faults and shortcomings which made him +so unpopular in his lifetime that posterity is only just beginning to +forget the prejudices of his contemporaries and to render concerning +him the judgment which he deserves. Never did a man of pure life and +just purposes have fewer friends or more enemies than John Quincy +Adams. His nature, said to have been very affectionate in his family +relations, was in its aspect outside of that small circle singularly +cold and repellent. If he could ever have gathered even a small +personal following his character and abilities would have insured him +a brilliant and prolonged success; but, for a man of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page012" name="page012"></a>(p. 012)</span> his +calibre and influence, we shall see him as one of the most lonely and +desolate of the great men of history; instinct led the public men of +his time to range themselves against him rather than with him, and we +shall find them fighting beside him only when irresistibly compelled +to do so by policy or strong convictions. As he had little sympathy +with those with whom he was brought in contact, so he was very +uncharitable in his judgment of them; and thus having really a low +opinion of so many of them he could indulge his vindictive rancor +without stint; his invective, always powerful, will sometimes startle +us by its venom, and we shall be pained to see him apt to make enemies +for a good cause by making them for himself.</p> + +<p>This has been, perhaps, too long a lingering upon the threshold. But +Mr. Adams's career in public life stretched over so long a period that +to write a full historical memoir of him within the limited space of +this volume is impossible. All that can be attempted is to present a +sketch of the man with a few of his more prominent surroundings +against a very meagre and insufficient background of the history of +the times. So it may be permissible to begin with a general outline of +his figure, to be filled in, shaded, and colored as we proceed. At +best our task is much more difficult of satisfactory achievement +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page013" name="page013"></a>(p. 013)</span> +than an historical biography of the customary elaborate order.</p> + +<p>During his second visit to Europe, our mature youngster—if the word +may be used of Mr. Adams even in his earliest years—began to see a +good deal of the world and to mingle in very distinguished society. +For a brief period he got a little schooling, first at Paris, next at +Amsterdam, and then at Leyden; altogether the amount was +insignificant, since he was not quite fourteen years old when he +actually found himself engaged in a diplomatic career. Francis Dana, +afterward Chief Justice of Massachusetts, was then accredited as an +envoy to Russia from the United States, and he took Mr. Adams with him +as his private secretary. Not much came of the mission, but it was a +valuable experience for a lad of his years. Upon his return he spent +six months in travel and then he rejoined his father in Paris, where +that gentleman was engaged with Franklin and John Jay in negotiating +the final treaty of peace between the revolted colonies and the mother +country. The boy "was at once enlisted in the service as an additional +secretary, and gave his help to the preparation of the papers +necessary to the completion of that instrument which dispersed all +possible doubt of the Independence of his Country."</p> + +<p>On <span class="pagenum"><a id="page014" name="page014"></a>(p. 014)</span> +April 26, 1785, arrived the packet-ship Le Courier de +L'Orient, bringing a letter from Mr. Gerry containing news of the +appointment of John Adams as Minister to St. James's. This unforeseen +occurrence made it necessary for the younger Adams to determine his +own career, which apparently he was left to do for himself. He was +indeed a singular young man, not unworthy of such confidence! The +glimpses which we get of him during this stay abroad show him as the +associate upon terms of equality with grown men of marked ability and +exercising important functions. He preferred diplomacy to dissipation, +statesmen to mistresses, and in the midst of all the temptations of +the gayest capital in the world, the chariness with which he sprinkled +his wild oats amid the alluring gardens chiefly devoted to the culture +of those cereals might well have brought a blush to the cheeks of some +among his elders, at least if the tongue of slander wags not with +gross untruth concerning the colleagues of John Adams. But he was not +in Europe to amuse himself, though at an age when amusement is natural +and a tinge of sinfulness is so often pardoned; he was there with the +definite and persistent purpose of steady improvement and acquisition. +At his age most young men play the cards which a kind fortune puts +into their hands, with the reckless +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page015" name="page015"></a>(p. 015)</span> +intent only of immediate +gain, but from the earliest moment when he began the game of life +Adams coolly and wisely husbanded every card which came into his hand, +with a steady view to probable future contingencies, and with the +resolve to win in the long run. So now the resolution which he took in +the present question illustrated the clearness of his mind and the +strength of his character. To go with his father to England would be +to enjoy a life precisely fitted to his natural and acquired tastes, +to mingle with the men who were making history, to be cognizant of the +weightiest of public affairs, to profit by all that the grandest city +in the world had to show. It was easy to be not only allured by the +prospect but also to be deceived by its apparent advantages. Adams, +however, had the sense and courage to turn his back on it, and to go +home to the meagre shores and small society of New England, there to +become a boy again, to enter Harvard College, and come under all its +at that time rigid and petty regulations. It almost seems a mistake, +but it was not. Already he was too ripe and too wise to blunder. He +himself gives us his characteristic and sufficient reasons:—</p> + +<div class="quote"> +<p> "Were I now to go with my father probably my immediate + satisfaction might be greater than it will be +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page016" name="page016"></a>(p. 016)</span> in + returning to America. After having been travelling for these + seven years almost and all over Europe, and having been in the + world and among company for three; to return to spend one or two + years in the pale of a college, subjected to all the rules which + I have so long been freed from; and afterwards not expect + (however good an opinion I may have of myself) to bring myself + into notice under three or four years more, if ever! It is really + a prospect somewhat discouraging for a youth of my ambition, (for + I have ambition though I hope its object is laudable). But still</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<span class="poem1">'Oh! how wretched</span><br> + Is that poor man, that hangs on Princes' favors,'</p> + + +<p> or on those of any body else. I am determined that so long as I + shall be able to get my own living in an honorable manner, I will + depend upon no one. My father has been so much taken up all his + lifetime with the interests of the public, that his own fortune + has suffered by it: so that his children will have to provide for + themselves, which I shall never be able to do if I loiter away my + precious time in Europe and shun going home until I am forced to + it. With an ordinary share of common sense, which I hope I enjoy, + at least in America I can live <i>independent</i> and <i>free</i>; and + rather than live otherwise I would wish to die before the time + when I shall be left at my own discretion. I have before me a + striking example of the distressing and humiliating situation a + person is reduced to by adopting a different line of conduct, and + I am determined not to fall into the same error."</p> +</div> + + +<p>It <span class="pagenum"><a id="page017" name="page017"></a>(p. 017)</span> +is needless to comment upon such spirit and sense, or upon +such just appreciation of what was feasible, wise, and right for him, +as a New Englander whose surroundings and prospects were widely +different from those of the society about him. He must have been +strongly imbued by nature with the instincts of his birthplace to +have formed, after a seven years' absence at his impressible age, so +correct a judgment of the necessities and possibilities of his own +career in relationship to the people and ideas of his own country.</p> + +<p>Home accordingly he came, and by assiduity prepared himself in a very +short time to enter the junior class at Harvard College, whence he was +graduated in high standing in 1787. From there he went to Newburyport, +then a thriving and active seaport enriched by the noble trade of +privateering in addition to more regular maritime business, and +entered as a law student the office of Theophilus Parsons, afterwards +the Chief Justice of Massachusetts. On July 15, 1790, being +twenty-three years old, he was admitted to practice. Immediately +afterward he established himself in Boston, where for a time he felt +strangely solitary. Clients of course did not besiege his doors in the +first year, and he appears to have waited rather stubbornly than +cheerfully for more active days. These came +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page018" name="page018"></a>(p. 018)</span> +in good time, +and during the second, third, and fourth years, his business grew +apace to encouraging dimensions.</p> + +<p>He was, however, doing other work than that of the law, and much more +important in its bearing upon his future career. He could not keep his +thoughts, nor indeed his hands, from public affairs. When, in 1791, +Thomas Paine produced the "Rights of Man," Thomas Jefferson acting as +midwife to usher the bantling before the people of the United States, +Adams's indignation was fired, and he published anonymously a series +of refuting papers over the signature of Publicola. These attracted +much attention, not only at home but also abroad, and were by many +attributed to John Adams. Two years later, during the excitement +aroused by the reception and subsequent outrageous behavior here of +the French minister, Genet, Mr. Adams again published in the Boston +"Centinel" some papers over the signature of Marcellus, discussing +with much ability the then new and perplexing question of the +neutrality which should be observed by this country in European wars. +These were followed by more, over the signature of Columbus, and +afterward by still more in the name of Barnevelt, all strongly +reprobating the course of the crazy-headed foreigner. The writer was +not permitted +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page019" name="page019"></a>(p. 019)</span> +to remain long unknown. It is not certain, but +it is highly probable, that to these articles was due the nomination +which Mr. Adams received shortly afterward from President Washington, +as Minister Resident at the Hague. This nomination was sent in to the +Senate, May 29, 1794, and was unanimously confirmed on the following +day. It may be imagined that the change from the moderate practice of +his Boston law office to a European court, of which he so well knew +the charms, was not distasteful to him. There are passages in his +Diary which indicate that he had been chafing with irrepressible +impatience "in that state of useless and disgraceful insignificancy," +to which, as it seemed to him, he was relegated, so that at the age of +twenty-five, when "many of the characters who were born for the +benefit of their fellow creatures, have rendered themselves +conspicuous among their contemporaries, ... I still find myself as +obscure, as unknown to the world, as the most indolent or the most +stupid of human beings." Entertaining such a restless ambition, he of +course accepted the proffered office, though not without some +expression of unexplained doubt. October 31, 1794, found him at the +Hague, after a voyage of considerable peril in a leaky ship, commanded +by a blundering captain. He was a young diplomat, indeed; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page020" name="page020"></a>(p. 020)</span> it +was on his twenty-seventh birthday that he received his commission.</p> + +<p>The minister made his advent upon a tumultuous scene. All Europe was +getting under arms in the long and desperate struggle with France. +Scarcely had he presented his credentials to the Stadtholder ere that +dignitary was obliged to flee before the conquering standards of the +French. Pichegru marched into the capital city of the Low Countries, +hung out the tri-color, and established the "Batavian Republic" as the +ally of France. The diplomatic representatives of most of the European +powers forthwith left, and Mr. Adams was strongly moved to do the +same, though for reasons different from those which actuated his +compeers. He was not, like them, placed in an unpleasant position by +the new condition of affairs, but on the contrary he was very +cordially treated by the French and their Dutch partisans, and was +obliged to fall back upon his native prudence to resist their +compromising overtures and dangerous friendship. Without giving +offence he yet kept clear of entanglements, and showed a degree of +wisdom and skill which many older and more experienced Americans +failed to evince, either abroad or at home, during these exciting +years. But he appeared to be left without occupation in the altered +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page021" name="page021"></a>(p. 021)</span> +condition of affairs, and therefore was considering the +propriety of returning, when advices from home induced him to stay. +Washington especially wrote that he must not think of retiring, and +prophesied that he would soon be "found at the head of the diplomatic +corps, be the government administered by whomsoever the people may +choose." He remained, therefore, at the Hague, a shrewd and close +observer of the exciting events occurring around him, industriously +pursuing an extensive course of study and reading, making useful +acquaintances, acquiring familiarity with foreign languages, with the +usages of diplomacy and the habits of distinguished society. He had +little public business to transact, it is true; but at least his time +was well spent for his own improvement.</p> + +<p>An episode in his life at the Hague was his visit to England, where he +was directed to exchange ratifications of the treaty lately negotiated +by Mr. Jay. But a series of vexatious delays, apparently maliciously +contrived, detained him so long that upon his arrival he found this +specific task already accomplished by Mr. Deas. He was probably not +disappointed that his name thus escaped connection with engagements so +odious to a large part of the nation. He had, however, some further +business <span class="pagenum"><a id="page022" name="page022"></a>(p. 022)</span> +of an informal character to transact with Lord +Grenville, and in endeavoring to conduct it found himself rather +awkwardly placed. He was not minister to the Court of St. James, +having been only vaguely authorized to discuss certain arrangements in +a tentative way, without the power to enter into any definitive +agreement. But the English Cabinet strongly disliking Mr. Deas, who in +the absence of Mr. Pinckney represented for the time the United +States, and much preferring to negotiate with Mr. Adams, sought by +many indirect and artful subterfuges to thrust upon him the character +of a regularly accredited minister. He had much ado to avoid, without +offence, the assumption of functions to which he had no title, but +which were with designing courtesy forced upon him. His cool and +moderate temper, however, carried him successfully through the whole +business, alike in its social and its diplomatic aspect.</p> + +<p>Another negotiation, of a private nature also, he brought to a +successful issue during these few months in London. He made the +acquaintance of Miss Louisa Catherine Johnson, daughter of Joshua +Johnson, then American Consul at London, and niece of that Governor +Johnson, of Maryland, who had signed the Declaration of Independence +and was afterwards placed on the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page023" name="page023"></a>(p. 023)</span> +bench of the Supreme Court +of the United States. To this lady he became engaged; and returning +not long afterward he was married to her on July 26, 1797. It was a +thoroughly happy and, for him, a life-long union.</p> + +<p>President Washington, toward the close of his second term, transferred +Mr. Adams to the Court of Portugal. But before his departure thither +his destination was changed. Some degree of embarrassment was felt +about this time concerning his further continuance in public office, +by reason of his father's accession to the Presidency. He wrote to his +mother a manly and spirited letter, rebuking her for carelessly +dropping an expression indicative of a fear that he might look for +some favor at his father's hands. He could neither solicit nor expect +anything, he justly said, and he was pained that his mother should not +know him better than to entertain any apprehension of his feeling +otherwise. It was a perplexing position in which the two were placed. +It would be a great hardship to cut short the son's career because of +the success of the father, yet the reproach of nepotism could not be +lightly encountered, even with the backing of clear consciences. +Washington came kindly to the aid of his doubting successor, and in a +letter highly complimentary to Mr. John Quincy Adams strongly urged +that well-merited +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page024" name="page024"></a>(p. 024)</span> +promotion ought not to be kept from him, +foretelling for him a distinguished future in the diplomatic service. +These representations prevailed; and the President's only action as +concerned his son consisted in changing his destination from Portugal +to Prussia, both missions being at that time of the same grade, though +that to Prussia was then established for the first time by the making +and confirming of this nomination.</p> + +<p>To Berlin, accordingly, Mr. Adams proceeded in November, 1797, and had +the somewhat cruel experience of being "questioned at the gates by a +dapper lieutenant, who did not know, until one of his private soldiers +explained to him, who the United States of America were." Overcoming +this unusual obstacle to a ministerial advent, and succeeding, after +many months, in getting through all the introductory formalities, he +found not much more to be done at Berlin than there had been at the +Hague. But such useful work as was open to him he accomplished in the +shape of a treaty of amity and commerce between Prussia and the United +States. This having been duly ratified by both the powers, his further +stay seemed so useless that he wrote home suggesting his readiness to +return; and while awaiting a reply he travelled through some portions +of Europe which he had not before seen. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page025" name="page025"></a>(p. 025)</span> +His recall was one +of the last acts of his father's administration, made, says Mr. +Seward, "that Mr. Jefferson might have no embarrassment in that +direction," but quite as probably dictated by a vindictive desire to +show how wide was the gulf of animosity which had opened between the +family of the disappointed ex-President and his triumphant rival.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams, immediately upon his arrival at home, prepared to return to +the practice of his profession. It was not altogether an agreeable +transition from an embassy at the courts of Europe to a law office in +Boston, with the necessity of furbishing up long disused knowledge, +and a second time patiently awaiting the influx of clients. But he +faced it with his stubborn temper and practical sense. The slender +promise which he was able to discern in the political outlook could +not fail to disappoint him, since his native predilections were +unquestionably and strongly in favor of a public career. During his +absence party animosities had been developing rapidly. The first great +party victory since the organization of the government had just been +won, after a very bitter struggle, by the Republicans or Democrats, as +they were then indifferently called, whose exuberant delight found its +full counterpart in the angry despondency of the Federalists. That +irascible old gentleman, the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page026" name="page026"></a>(p. 026)</span> +elder Adams, having experienced +a very Waterloo defeat in the contest for the Presidency, had ridden +away from the capital, actually in a wild rage, on the night of the 3d +of March, 1801, to avoid the humiliating pageant of Mr. Jefferson's +inauguration. Yet far more fierce than this natural party warfare was +the internal dissension which rent the Federal party in twain. Those +cracks upon the surface and subterraneous rumblings, which the +experienced observer could for some time have noted, had opened with +terrible uproar into a gaping chasm, when John Adams, still in the +Presidency, suddenly announced his determination to send a mission to +France at a crisis when nearly all his party were looking for war. +Perhaps this step was, as his admirers claim, an act of pure and +disinterested statesmanship. Certainly its result was fortunate for +the country at large. But for John Adams it was ruinous. At the moment +when he made the bold move, he doubtless expected to be followed by +his party. Extreme was his disappointment and boundless his wrath, +when he found that he had at his back only a fraction, not improbably +less than half, of that party. He learned with infinite chagrin that +he had only a divided empire with a private individual; that it was +not safe for him, the President of the United States, to originate +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page027" name="page027"></a>(p. 027)</span> +any important measure without first consulting a lawyer +quietly engaged in the practice of his profession in New York; that, +in short, at least a moiety, in which were to be found the most +intelligent members, of the great Federal party, when in search of +guidance, turned their faces toward Alexander Hamilton rather than +toward John Adams. These Hamiltonians by no means relished the French +mission, so that from this time forth a schism of intense bitterness +kept the Federal party asunder, and John Adams hated Alexander +Hamilton with a vigor not surpassed in the annals of human +antipathies. His rage was not assuaged by the conduct of this dreaded +foe in the presidential campaign; and the defeated candidate always +preferred to charge his failure to Hamilton's machinations rather than +to the real will of the people. This, however, was unfair; it was +perfectly obvious that a majority of the nation had embraced +Jeffersonian tenets, and that Federalism was moribund.</p> + +<p>To this condition of affairs John Quincy Adams returned. Fortunately +he had been compelled to bear no part in the embroilments of the past, +and his sagacity must have led him, while listening with filial +sympathy to the interpretations placed upon events by his incensed +parent, yet to make liberal allowance for the distorting +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page028" name="page028"></a>(p. 028)</span> +effects of the old gentleman's rage. Still it was in the main only +natural for him to regard himself as a Federalist of the Adams +faction. His proclivities had always been with that party. In +Massachusetts the educated and well-to-do classes were almost +unanimously of that way of thinking. The select coterie of gentlemen +in the State, who in those times bore an active and influential part +in politics, were nearly all Hamiltonians, but the adherents of +President Adams were numerically strong. Nor was the younger Adams +himself long left without his private grievance against Mr. Jefferson, +who promptly used the authority vested in him by a new statute to +remove Mr. Adams from the position of commissioner in bankruptcy, to +which, at the time of his resuming business, he had been appointed by +the judge of the district court. Long afterward Jefferson sought to +escape the odium of this apparently malicious and, for those days, +unusual action, by a very Jeffersonian explanation, tolerably +satisfactory to those persons who believed it.</p> + +<p>On April 5, 1802, Mr. Adams was chosen by the Federalists of Boston to +represent them in the State Senate. The office was at that time still +sought by men of the best ability and position, and though it was +hardly a step upward on the political ladder for one who had +represented +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page029" name="page029"></a>(p. 029)</span> +the nation in foreign parts for eight years, yet +Mr. Adams was well content to accept it. At least it reopened the door +of political life, and moreover one of his steadfast maxims was never +to refuse any function which the people sought to impose upon him. It +is worth noting, for its bearing upon controversies soon to be +encountered in this narrative, that forty-eight hours had not elapsed +after Mr. Adams had taken his seat before he ventured upon a display +of independence which caused much irritation to his Federalist +associates. He had the hardihood to propose that the Federalist +majority in the legislature should permit the Republican minority to +enjoy a proportional representation in the council. "It was the first +act of my legislative life," he wrote many years afterward, "and it +marked the principle by which my whole public life has been governed +from that day to this. My proposal was unsuccessful, and perhaps it +forfeited whatever confidence might have been otherwise bestowed upon +me as a party follower." Indeed, all his life long Mr. Adams was never +submissive to the party whip, but voted upon every question precisely +according to his opinion of its merits, without the slightest regard +to the political company in which for the time being he might find +himself. A compeer of his in the United States +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page030" name="page030"></a>(p. 030)</span> +Senate once +said of him, that he regarded every public measure which came up as he +would a proposition in Euclid, abstracted from any party +considerations. These frequent derelictions of his were at first +forgiven with a magnanimity really very creditable, so long as it +lasted, especially to the Hamiltonians in the Federal party; and so +liberal was this forbearance that when in February, 1803, the +legislature had to elect a Senator to the United States Senate, he was +chosen upon the fourth ballot by 86 votes out of 171. This was the +more gratifying to him and the more handsome on the part of the +anti-Adams men in the party, because the place was eagerly sought by +Timothy Pickering, an old man who had strong claims growing out of an +almost life-long and very efficient service in their ranks, and who +was moreover a most stanch adherent of General Hamilton.</p> + +<p>So in October, 1803, we find Mr. Adams on his way to Washington, the +raw and unattractive village which then constituted the national +capital, wherein there was not, as the pious New Englander instantly +noted, a church of any denomination; but those who were religiously +disposed were obliged to attend services "usually performed on Sundays +at the Treasury Office and at the Capitol." With what anticipations +Mr. Adams's mind was filled during his journey to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page031" name="page031"></a>(p. 031)</span> this +embryotic city his Diary does not tell; but if they were in any degree +cheerful or sanguine they were destined to cruel disappointment. He +was now probably to appreciate for the first time the fierce vigor of +the hostility which his father had excited. In Massachusetts social +connections and friendships probably mitigated the open display of +rancor to which in Washington full sway was given. It was not only the +Republican majority who showed feelings which in them were at least +fair if they were strong, but the Federal minority were maliciously +pleased to find in the son of the ill-starred John Adams a victim on +whom to vent that spleen and abuse which were so provokingly +ineffective against the solid working majority of their opponents in +Congress. The Republicans trampled upon the Federalists, and the +Federalists trampled on John Quincy Adams. He spoke seldom, and +certainly did not weary the Senators, yet whenever he rose to his feet +he was sure of a cold, too often almost an insulting, reception. By no +chance or possibility could anything which he said or suggested please +his prejudiced auditors. The worst augury for any measure was his +support; any motion which he made was sure to be voted down, though +not unfrequently substantially the same matter being afterward moved +by somebody else would be +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page032" name="page032"></a>(p. 032)</span> +readily carried. That cordiality, +assistance, and sense of fellowship which Senators from the same State +customarily expect and obtain from each other could not be enjoyed by +him. For shortly after his arrival in Washington, Mr. Pickering had +been chosen to fill a vacancy in the other Massachusetts senatorship, +and appeared upon the scene as a most unwelcome colleague. For a time, +indeed, an outward semblance of political comradeship was maintained +between them, but it would have been folly for an Adams to put faith +in a Pickering, and perhaps <i>vice versa</i>. This position of his, as the +unpopular member of an unpopular minority, could not be misunderstood, +and many allusions to it occur in his Diary. One day he notes a motion +rejected; another day, that he has "nothing to do but to make +fruitless opposition;" he constantly recites that he has voted with a +small minority, and at least once he himself composed the whole of +that minority; soon after his arrival he says that an amendment +proposed by him "will certainly not pass; and, indeed, I have already +seen enough to ascertain that no amendments of my proposing will +obtain in the Senate as now filled;" again, "I presented my three +resolutions, which raised a storm as violent as I expected;" and on +the same day he writes, "I have no doubt of incurring much censure +and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page033" name="page033"></a>(p. 033)</span> +obloquy for this measure;" a day or two later he speaks +of certain persons "who hate me rather more than they love any +principle;" when he expressed an opinion in favor of ratifying a +treaty with the Creeks, he remarks quite philosophically, that he +believes it "surprised almost every member of the Senate, and +dissatisfied almost all;" when he wanted a committee raised he did not +move it himself, but suggested the idea to another Senator, for "I +knew that if I moved it a spirit of jealousy would immediately be +raised against doing anything." Writing once of some resolutions which +he intended to propose, he says that they are "another feather against +a whirlwind. A desperate and fearful cause in which I have embarked, +but I must pursue it or feel myself either a coward or a traitor." +Another time we find a committee, of which he was a member, making its +report when he had not even been notified of its meeting.</p> + +<p>It would be idle to suppose that any man could be sufficiently callous +not to feel keenly such treatment. Mr. Adams was far from callous and +he felt it deeply. But he was not crushed or discouraged by it, as +weaker spirits would have been, nor betrayed into any acts of foolish +anger which must have recoiled upon himself. In him warm feelings were +found in singular combination +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page034" name="page034"></a>(p. 034)</span> +with a cool head. An +unyielding temper and an obstinate courage, an invincible confidence +in his own judgment, and a stern conscientiousness carried him through +these earlier years of severe trial as they had afterwards to carry +him through many more. "The qualities of mind most peculiarly called +for," he reflects in the Diary, "are firmness, perseverance, patience, +coolness, and forbearance. The prospect is not promising; yet the part +to act may be as honorably performed as if success could attend it." +He understood the situation perfectly and met it with a better skill +than that of the veteran politician. By a long and tedious but sure +process he forced his way to steadily increasing influence, and by the +close of his fourth year we find him taking a part in the business of +the Senate which may be fairly called prominent and important. He was +conquering success.</p> + +<p>But if Mr. Adams's unpopularity was partly due to the fact that he was +the son of his father, it was also largely attributable not only to +his unconciliatory manners but to more substantial habits of mind and +character. It is probably impossible for any public man, really +independent in his political action, to lead a very comfortable life +amid the struggles of party. Under the disadvantages involved in this +habit Mr. Adams +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page035" name="page035"></a>(p. 035)</span> +labored to a remarkable degree. Since +parties were first organized in this Republic no American statesman +has ever approached him in persistent freedom of thought, speech, and +action. He was regarded as a Federalist, but his Federalism was +subject to many modifications; the members of that party never were +sure of his adherence, and felt bound to him by no very strong ties of +political fellowship. Towards the close of his senatorial term he +recorded, in reminiscence, that he had more often voted with the +administration than with the opposition.</p> + +<p>The first matter of importance concerning which he was obliged to act +was the acquisition of Louisiana and its admission as a state of the +Union. The Federalists were bitterly opposed to this measure, +regarding it as an undue strengthening of the South and of the slavery +influence, to the destruction of the fair balance of power between the +two great sections of the country. It was not then the moral aspect of +the slavery element which stirred the northern temper, but only the +antagonism of interests between the commercial cities of the North and +the agricultural communities of the South. In the discussions and +votes which took place in this business Mr. Adams was in favor of the +purchase, but denied with much emphasis the constitutionality of the +process by which the purchased +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page036" name="page036"></a>(p. 036)</span> +territory was brought into +the fellowship of States. This imperfect allegiance to the party gave +more offence than satisfaction, and he found himself soundly berated +in leading Federalist newspapers in New England, and angrily +threatened with expulsion from the party. But in the famous +impeachment of Judge Chase, which aroused very strong feelings, Mr. +Adams was fortunately able to vote for acquittal. He regarded this +measure, as well as the impeachment of Judge Pickering at the +preceding session, as parts of an elaborate scheme on the part of the +President for degrading the national judiciary and rendering it +subservient to the legislative branch of the government. So many, +however, even of Mr. Jefferson's stanch adherents revolted against his +requisitions on this occasion, and he himself so far lost heart before +the final vote was taken, that several Republicans voted with the +Federalists, and Mr. Adams could hardly claim much credit with his +party for standing by them in this emergency.</p> + +<p>It takes a long while for such a man to secure respect, and great +ability for him ever to achieve influence. In time, however, Mr. Adams +saw gratifying indications that he was acquiring both, and in +February, 1806, we find him writing:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "This is the third session I have sat in Congress. I +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page037" name="page037"></a>(p. 037)</span> + came in as a member of a very small minority, and during the two + former sessions almost uniformly avoided to take a lead; any + other course would have been dishonest or ridiculous. On the very + few and unimportant objects which I did undertake, I met at first + with universal opposition. The last session my influence rose a + little, at the present it has hitherto been apparently rising." +</p> + +<p>He was so far a cool and clear-headed judge, even in his own case, +that this encouraging estimate may be accepted as correct upon his +sole authority without other evidence. But the fair prospect was +overcast almost in its dawning, and a period of supreme trial and of +apparently irretrievable ruin was at hand.</p> + +<p>Topics were coming forward for discussion concerning which no American +could be indifferent, and no man of Mr. Adams's spirit could be +silent. The policy of Great Britain towards this country, and the +manner in which it was to be met, stirred profound feelings and opened +such fierce dissensions as it is now difficult to appreciate. For a +brief time Mr. Adams was to be a prominent actor before the people. It +is fortunately needless to repeat, as it must ever be painful to +remember, the familiar and too humiliating tale of the part which +France and England were permitted for so many years to play in our +national politics, when our parties were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page038" name="page038"></a>(p. 038)</span> +not divided upon +American questions, but wholly by their sympathies with one or other +of these contending European powers. Under Washington the English +party had, with infinite difficulty, been able to prevent their +adversaries from fairly enlisting the United States as active +partisans of France, in spite of the fact that most insulting +treatment was received from that country. Under John Adams the same +so-called British faction had been baulked in their hope of +precipitating a war with the French. Now in Mr. Jefferson's second +administration, the French party having won the ascendant, the new +phase of the same long struggle presented the question, whether or not +we should be drawn into a war with Great Britain. Grave as must have +been the disasters of such a war in 1806, grave as they were when the +war actually came six years later, yet it is impossible to recall the +provocations which were inflicted upon us without almost regretting +that prudence was not cast to the winds and any woes encountered in +preference to unresisting submission to such insolent outrages. Our +gorge rises at the narration three quarters of a century after the +acts were done.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams took his position early and boldly. In February, 1806, he +introduced into the Senate certain resolutions strongly condemnatory +of the <span class="pagenum"><a id="page039" name="page039"></a>(p. 039)</span> +right, claimed and vigorously exercised by the +British, of seizing neutral vessels employed in conducting with the +enemies of Great Britain any trade which had been customarily +prohibited by that enemy in time of peace. This doctrine was designed +to shut out American merchants from certain privileges in trading with +French colonies, which had been accorded only since France had become +involved in war with Great Britain. The principle was utterly illegal +and extremely injurious. Mr. Adams, in his first resolution, +stigmatized it "as an unprovoked aggression upon the property of the +citizens of these United States, a violation of their neutral rights, +and an encroachment upon their national independence." By his second +resolution, the President was requested to demand and insist upon the +restoration of property seized under this pretext, and upon +indemnification for property already confiscated. By a rare good +fortune, Mr. Adams had the pleasure of seeing his propositions +carried, only slightly modified by the omission of the words "to +insist." But they were carried, of course, by Republican votes, and +they by no means advanced their mover in the favor of the Federalist +party. Strange as it may seem, that party, of which many of the +foremost supporters were engaged in the very commerce which Great +Britain <span class="pagenum"><a id="page040" name="page040"></a>(p. 040)</span> +aimed to suppress and destroy, seemed not to be so +much incensed against her as against their own government. The theory +of the party was, substantially, that England had been driven into +these measures by the friendly tone of our government towards France, +and by her own stringent and overruling necessities. The cure was not +to be sought in resistance, not even in indignation and remonstrance +addressed to that power, but rather in cementing an alliance with her, +and even, if need should be, in taking active part in her holy cause. +The feeling seemed to be that we merited the chastisement because we +had not allied ourselves with the chastiser. These singular notions of +the Federalists, however, were by no means the notions of Mr. John +Quincy Adams, as we shall soon see.</p> + +<p>On April 18, 1806, the Non-importation Act received the approval of +the President. It was the first measure indicative of resentment or +retaliation which was taken by our government. When it was upon its +passage it encountered the vigorous resistance of the Federalists, but +received the support of Mr. Adams. On May 16, 1806, the British +government made another long stride in the course of lawless +oppression of neutrals, which phrase, as commerce then was, signified +little else than Americans. A proclamation +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page041" name="page041"></a>(p. 041)</span> +was issued +declaring the whole coast of the European continent, from Brest to the +mouth of the Elbe, to be under blockade. In fact, of course, the coast +was not blockaded, and the proclamation was a falsehood, an +unjustifiable effort to make words do the work of war-ships. The +doctrine which it was thus endeavored to establish had never been +admitted into international law, has ever since been repudiated by +universal consent of all nations, and is intrinsically preposterous. +The British, however, designed to make it effective, and set to work +in earnest to confiscate all vessels and cargoes captured on their way +from any neutral nation to any port within the proscribed district. On +November 21, next following, Napoleon retaliated by the Berlin decree, +so called, declaring the entire British Isles to be under blockade, +and forbidding any vessel which had been in any English port after +publication of his decree to enter any port in the dominions under his +control. In January, 1807, England made the next move by an order, +likewise in contravention of international law, forbidding to neutrals +all commerce between ports of the enemies of Great Britain. On +November 11, 1807, the famous British Order in Council was issued, +declaring neutral vessels and cargoes bound to any port or colony of +any country with +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page042" name="page042"></a>(p. 042)</span> +which England was then at war, and which +was closed to English ships, to be liable to capture and confiscation. +A few days later, November 25, 1807, another Order established a rate +of duties to be paid in England upon all neutral merchandise which +should be permitted to be carried in neutral bottoms to countries at +war with that power. December 17, 1807, Napoleon retorted by the Milan +decree, which declared denationalized and subject to capture and +condemnation every vessel, to whatsoever nation belonging, which +should have submitted to search by an English ship, or should be on a +voyage to England, or should have paid any tax to the English +government. All these regulations, though purporting to be aimed at +neutrals generally, in fact bore almost exclusively upon the United +States, who alone were undertaking to conduct any neutral commerce +worthy of mention. As Mr. Adams afterwards remarked, the effect of +these illegal proclamations and unjustifiable novel doctrines "placed +the commerce and shipping of the United States, with regard to all +Europe and European colonies (Sweden alone excepted), in nearly the +same state as it would have been, if, on that same 11th of November, +England and France had both declared war against the United States." +The merchants of this country might as well have +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page043" name="page043"></a>(p. 043)</span> +burned +their ships as have submitted to these decrees.</p> + +<p>All this while the impressment of American seamen by British ships of +war was being vigorously prosecuted. This is one of those outrages so +long ago laid away among the mouldering tombs in the historical +graveyard that few persons now appreciate its enormity, or the extent +to which it was carried. Those who will be at the pains to ascertain +the truth in the matter will feel that the bloodiest, most costly, and +most disastrous war would have been better than tame endurance of +treatment so brutal and unjustifiable that it finds no parallel even +in the long and dark list of wrongs which Great Britain has been wont +to inflict upon all the weaker or the uncivilized peoples with whom +she has been brought or has gratuitously forced herself into unwelcome +contact. It was not an occasional act of high-handed arrogance that +was done; there were not only a few unfortunate victims, of whom a +large proportion might be of unascertained nationality. It was an +organized system worked upon a very large scale. Every American seaman +felt it necessary to have a certificate of citizenship, accompanied by +a description of his features and of all the marks upon his person, as +Mr. Adams said, "like the advertisement for a runaway negro slave." +Nor was even this protection by any means +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page044" name="page044"></a>(p. 044)</span> +sure to be always +efficient. The number of undoubted American citizens who were seized +rose in a few years actually to many thousands. They were often taken +without so much as a false pretence to right; but with the +acknowledgment that they were Americans, they were seized upon the +plea of a necessity for their services in the British ship. Some +American vessels were left so denuded of seamen that they were lost at +sea for want of hands to man them; the destruction of lives as well as +property, unquestionably thus caused, was immense. When after the +lapse of a long time and of infinite negotiation the American +citizenship of some individual was clearly shown, still the chances of +his return were small; some false and ignoble subterfuge was resorted +to; he was not to be found; the name did not occur on the rolls of the +navy; he had died, or been discharged, or had deserted, or had been +shot. The more illegal the act committed by any British officer the +more sure he was of reward, till it seemed that the impressment of +American citizens was an even surer road to promotion than valor in an +engagement with the enemy. Such were the substantial wrongs inflicted +by Great Britain; nor were any pains taken to cloak their character; +on the contrary, they were done with more than British insolence and +offensiveness, and were accompanied +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page045" name="page045"></a>(p. 045)</span> +with insults which alone +constituted sufficient provocation to war. To all this, for a long +time, nothing but empty and utterly futile protests were opposed by +this country. The affair of the Chesapeake, indeed, threatened for a +brief moment to bring things to a crisis. That vessel, an American +frigate, commanded by Commodore Barron, sailed on June 22, 1807, from +Hampton Roads. The Leopard, a British fifty-gun ship, followed her, +and before she was out of sight of land, hailed her and demanded the +delivery of four men, of whom three at least were surely native +Americans. Barron refused the demand, though his ship was wholly +unprepared for action. Thereupon the Englishman opened his broadsides, +killed three men and wounded sixteen, boarded the Chesapeake and took +off the four sailors. They were carried to Halifax and tried by +court-martial for desertion: one of them was hanged; one died in +confinement, and five years elapsed before the other two were returned +to the Chesapeake in Boston harbor. This wound was sufficiently deep +to arouse a real spirit of resentment and revenge, and England went so +far as to dispatch Mr. Rose to this country upon a pretended mission +of peace, though the fraudulent character of his errand was +sufficiently indicated by the fact that within a few hours after his +departure the first +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page046" name="page046"></a>(p. 046)</span> +of the above named Orders in Council was +issued but had not been communicated to him. As Mr. Adams indignantly +said, "the same penful of ink which signed his instructions might have +been used also to sign these illegal orders." Admiral Berkeley, the +commander of the Leopard, received the punishment which he might +justly have expected if precedent was to count for anything in the +naval service of Great Britain,—he was promoted.</p> + +<p>It is hardly worth while to endeavor to measure the comparative +wrongfulness of the conduct of England and of France. The behavior of +each was utterly unjustifiable; though England by committing the first +extreme breach of international law gave to France the excuse of +retaliation. There was, however, vast difference in the practical +effect of the British and French decrees. The former wrought serious +injury, falling little short of total destruction, to American +shipping and commerce; the latter were only in a much less degree +hurtful. The immense naval power of England and the channels in which +our trade naturally flowed combined to make her destructive capacity +as towards us very great. It was the outrages inflicted by her which +brought the merchants of the United States face to face with ruin; +they suffered not very greatly at the hands of Napoleon. Neither could +the villainous process of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page047" name="page047"></a>(p. 047)</span> +impressment be conducted by +Frenchmen. France gave us cause for war, but England seemed resolved +to drive us into it.</p> + +<p>As British aggressions grew steadily and rapidly more intolerable, Mr. +Adams found himself straining farther and farther away from those +Federalist moorings at which, it must be confessed, he had long swung +very precariously. The constituency which he represented was indeed in +a quandary so embarrassing as hardly to be capable of maintaining any +consistent policy. The New England of that day was a trading +community, of which the industry and capital were almost exclusively +centred in ship-owning and commerce. The merchants, almost to a man, +had long been the most Anglican of Federalists in their political +sympathies. Now they found themselves suffering utterly ruinous +treatment at the hands of those whom they had loved overmuch. They +were being ruthlessly destroyed by their friends, to whom they had +been, so to speak, almost disloyally loyal. They saw their business +annihilated, their property seized, and yet could not give utterance +to resentment, or counsel resistance, without such a humiliating +devouring of all their own principles and sentiments as they could by +no possibility bring themselves to endure. There was but one road open +to them, and that was the ignoble +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page048" name="page048"></a>(p. 048)</span> +one of casting themselves +wholly into the arms of England, of rewarding her blows with caresses, +of submitting to be fairly scourged into a servile alliance with her. +It is not surprising that the independent temper of Mr. Adams revolted +at the position which his party seemed not reluctant to assume at this +juncture. Yet not very much better seemed for a time the policy of the +administration. Jefferson was far from being a man for troubled +seasons, which called for high spirit and executive energy. His +flotillas of gunboats and like idle and silly fantasies only excited +Mr. Adams's disgust. In fact, there was upon all sides a strong dread +of a war with England, not always openly expressed, but now perfectly +visible, arising with some from regard for that country, in others +prompted by fear of her power. Alone among public men Mr. Adams, while +earnestly hoping to escape war, was not willing to seek that escape by +unlimited weakness and unbounded submission to lawless injury.</p> + +<p>On November 17, 1807, Mr. Adams, who never in his life allowed fear to +become a motive, wrote, with obvious contempt and indignation: "I +observe among the members great embarrassment, alarm, anxiety, and +confusion of mind, but no preparation for any measure of vigor, and an +obvious strong disposition to yield +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page049" name="page049"></a>(p. 049)</span> +all that Great Britain +may require, to preserve peace, under a thin external show of dignity +and bravery." This tame and vacillating spirit roused his ire, and as +it was chiefly manifested by his own party it alienated him from them +farther than ever. Yet his wrath was so far held in reasonable check +by his discretion that he would still have liked to avoid the perilous +conclusion of arms, and though his impulse was to fight, yet he could +not but recognize that the sensible course was to be content, for the +time at least, with a manifestation of resentment, and the most +vigorous acts short of war which the government could be induced to +undertake. On this sentiment were based his introduction of the +aforementioned resolutions, his willingness to support the +administration, and his vote for the Non-importation Act in spite of a +dislike for it as a very imperfectly satisfactory measure. But it was +not alone his naturally independent temper which led him thus to feel +so differently from other members of his party. In Europe he had had +opportunities of forming a judgment more accurate than was possible +for most Americans concerning the sentiments and policy of England +towards this country. Not only had he been present at the negotiations +resulting in the treaty of peace, but he had also afterwards been for +several months engaged in the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page050" name="page050"></a>(p. 050)</span> +personal discussion of +commercial questions with the British minister of foreign affairs. +From all that he had thus seen and heard he had reached the +conviction, unquestionably correct, that the British were not only +resolved to adopt a selfish course towards the United States, which +might have been expected, but that they were consistently pursuing the +further distinct design of crippling and destroying American commerce, +to the utmost degree which their own extensive trade and great naval +authority and power rendered possible. So long as he held this firm +belief, it was inevitable that he should be at issue with the +Federalists in all matters concerning our policy towards Great +Britain. The ill-will naturally engendered in him by this conviction +was increased to profound indignation when illiberal measures were +succeeded by insults, by substantial wrongs in direct contravention of +law, and by acts properly to be described as of real hostility. For +Mr. Adams was by nature not only independent, but resentful and +combative. When, soon after the attack of the Leopard upon the +Chesapeake, he heard the transaction "openly justified at noon-day," +by a prominent +Federalist,<a id="footnotetag1" name="footnotetag1"></a><a href="#footnote1">[1]</a> +"in a public insurance office upon the +exchange at Boston," his temper rose. "This," he afterward wrote, +"this <span class="pagenum"><a id="page051" name="page051"></a>(p. 051)</span> +was the cause ... which alienated me from that day and +forever from the councils of the Federal party." When the news of that +outrage reached Boston, Mr. Adams was there, and desired that the +leading Federalists in the city should at once "take the lead in +promoting a strong and clear expression of the sentiments of the +people, and in an open and free-hearted manner, setting aside all +party feelings, declare their determination at that crisis to support +the government of their country." But unfortunately these gentlemen +were by no means prepared for any such action, and foolishly left it +for the friends of the administration to give the first utterance to a +feeling which it is hard to excuse any American for not entertaining +beneath such provocation. It was the Jeffersonians, accordingly, who +convened "an informal meeting of the citizens of Boston and the +neighboring towns," at which Mr. Adams was present, and by which he +was put upon a committee to draw and report resolutions. These +resolutions pledged a cheerful coöperation "in any measures, however +serious," which the government might deem necessary and a support of +the same with "lives and fortunes." The Federalists, learning too late +that their backwardness at this crisis was a blunder, caused a town +meeting to be called at Faneuil Hall +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page052" name="page052"></a>(p. 052)</span> +a few days later. This +also Mr. Adams attended, and again was put on the committee to draft +resolutions, which were only a little less strong than those of the +earlier assemblage. But though many of the Federalists thus tardily +and reluctantly fell in with the popular sentiment, they were for the +most part heartily incensed against Mr. Adams. They threatened him +that he should "have his head taken off for apostasy," and gave him to +understand that he "should no longer be considered as having any +communion with the party." If he had not already quite left them, they +now turned him out from their community. But such abusive treatment +was ill adapted to influence a man of his temper. Martyrdom, which in +time he came to relish, had not now any terrors for him; and he would +have lost as many heads as ever grew on Hydra, ere he would have +yielded on a point of principle.</p> + +<p>His spirit was soon to be demonstrated. Congress was convened in extra +session on October 26, 1807. The administration brought forward the +bill establishing an embargo. The measure may now be pronounced a +blunder, and its proposal created a howl of rage and anguish from the +commercial states, who saw in it only their utter ruin. Already a +strong sectional feeling had been developed between the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page053" name="page053"></a>(p. 053)</span> +planters of the South and the merchants of the North and East, and the +latter now united in the cry that their quarter was to be ruined by +the ignorant policy of this Virginian President. Terrible then was +their wrath, when they actually saw a Massachusetts Senator boldly +give his vote for what they deemed the most odious and wicked bill +which had ever been presented in the halls of Congress. Nay, more, +they learned with horror that Mr. Adams had even been a member of the +committee which reported the bill, and that he had joined in the +report. Henceforth the Federal party was to be like a hive of enraged +hornets about the devoted renegade. No abuse which they could heap +upon him seemed nearly adequate to the occasion. They despised him; +they loathed him; they said and believed that he was false, selfish, +designing, a traitor, an apostate, that he had run away from a failing +cause, that he had sold himself. The language of contumely was +exhausted in vain efforts to describe his baseness. Not even yet has +the echo of the hard names which he was called quite died away in the +land; and there are still families in New England with whom his +dishonest tergiversation remains a traditional belief.</p> + +<p>Never was any man more unjustly aspersed. It is impossible to view all +the evidence dispassionately without +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page054" name="page054"></a>(p. 054)</span> +not only acquitting Mr. +Adams but greatly admiring his courage, his constancy, his +independence. Whether the embargo was a wise and efficient or a futile +and useless measure has little to do with the question of his conduct. +The emergency called for strong action. The Federalists suggested only +a temporizing submission, or that we should avert the terrible wrath +of England by crawling beneath her lashes into political and +commercial servitude. Mr. Jefferson thought the embargo would do, that +it would aid him in his negotiations with England sufficiently to +enable him to bring her to terms; he had before thought the same of +the Non-importation Act. Mr. Adams felt, properly enough, concerning +both these schemes, that they were insufficient and in many respects +objectionable; but that to give the administration hearty support in +the most vigorous measures which it was willing to undertake, was +better than to aid an opposition utterly nerveless and servile and +altogether devoid of so much as the desire for efficient action. It +was no time to stay with the party of weakness; it was right to +strengthen rather than to hamper a man so pacific and spiritless as +Mr. Jefferson; to show a readiness to forward even his imperfect +expedients; to display a united and indignant, if not quite a hostile +front <span class="pagenum"><a id="page055" name="page055"></a>(p. 055)</span> +to Great Britain, rather than to exhibit a tame and +friendly feeling towards her. It was for these reasons, which had +already controlled his action concerning the non-importation bill, +that Mr. Adams joined in reporting the embargo bill and voted for it. +He never pretended that he himself had any especial fancy for either +of these measures, or that he regarded them as the best that could be +devised under the circumstances. On the contrary, he hoped that the +passage of the embargo would allow of the repeal of its predecessor. +That he expected some good from it, and that it did some little good, +cannot be denied. It did save a great deal of American property, both +shipping and merchandise, from seizure and condemnation; and if it cut +off the income it at least saved much of the principal of our +merchants. If only the bill had been promptly repealed so soon as this +protective purpose had been achieved, without awaiting further and +altogether impossible benefits to accrue from it as an offensive +measure, it might perhaps have left a better memory behind it. +Unfortunately no one can deny that it was continued much too long. Mr. +Adams saw this error and dreaded the consequences. After he had left +Congress and had gone back to private life, he exerted all the +influence which he had with the Republican members of Congress to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page056" name="page056"></a>(p. 056)</span> +secure its repeal and the substitution of the Non-intercourse +Act, an exchange which was in time accomplished, though much too +tardily. Nay, much more than this, Mr. Adams stands forth almost alone +as the advocate of threatening if not of actually belligerent +measures. He expressed his belief that "our internal resources [were] +competent to the establishment and maintenance of a naval force, +public and private, if not fully adequate to the protection and +defence of our commerce, at least sufficient to induce a retreat from +hostilities, and to deter from a renewal of them by either of the +warring parties;" and he insisted that "a system to that effect might +be formed, ultimately far more economical, and certainly more +energetic," than the embargo. But his "resolution met no +encouragement." He found that it was the embargo or nothing, and he +thought the embargo was a little better than nothing, as probably it +was.</p> + +<p>All the arguments which Mr. Adams advanced were far from satisfying +his constituents in those days of wild political excitement, and they +quickly found the means of intimating their unappeasable displeasure +in a way certainly not open to misapprehension. Mr. Adams's term of +service in the Senate was to expire on March 3, 1809. On June 2 and 3, +1808, anticipating by many +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page057" name="page057"></a>(p. 057)</span> +months the customary time for +filling the coming vacancy, the legislature of Massachusetts proceeded +to choose James Lloyd, junior, his successor. The votes were, in the +Senate 21 for Mr. Lloyd, 17 for Mr. Adams; in the House 248 for Mr. +Lloyd, and 213 for Mr. Adams. A more insulting method of administering +a rebuke could not have been devised. At the same time, in further +expression of disapprobation, resolutions strongly condemnatory of the +embargo were passed. Mr. Adams was not the man to stay where he was +not wanted, and on June 8 he sent in his letter of resignation. On the +next day Mr. Lloyd was chosen to serve for the balance of his term.</p> + +<p>Thus John Quincy Adams changed sides. The son of John Adams lost the +senatorship for persistently supporting the administration of Thomas +Jefferson. It was indeed a singular spectacle! In 1803 he had been +sent to the Senate of the United States by Federalists as a +Federalist; in 1808 he had abjured them and they had repudiated him; +in 1809, as we are soon to see, he received a foreign appointment from +the Republican President Madison, and was confirmed by a Republican +Senate. Many of Mr. Adams's acts, many of his traits, have been +harshly criticised, but for no act that he ever did or ever was +charged with doing has he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page058" name="page058"></a>(p. 058)</span> +been so harshly assailed as for +this journey from one camp to the other. The gentlemen of wealth, +position, and influence in Eastern Massachusetts, almost to a man, +turned against him with virulence; many of their descendants still +cherish the ancestral prejudice; and it may yet be a long while before +the last mutterings of this deep-rooted antipathy die away. But that +they will die away in time cannot be doubted. Praise will succeed to +blame. Truth must prevail in a case where such abundant evidence is +accessible; and the truth is that Mr. Adams's conduct was not ignoble, +mean, and traitorous, but honorable, courageous, and disinterested. +Those who singled him out for assault, though deaf to his arguments, +might even then have reflected that within a few years a large +proportion of the whole nation had changed in their opinions as he had +now at last changed in his, so that the party which under Washington +hardly had an existence and under John Adams was not, until the last +moment, seriously feared, now showed an enormous majority throughout +the whole country. Even in Massachusetts, the intrenched camp of the +Federalists, one half of the population were now Republicans. But that +change of political sentiment which in the individual voter is often +admired as evidence of independent thought is stigmatized +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page059" name="page059"></a>(p. 059)</span> in +those more prominent in politics as tergiversation and apostasy.</p> + +<p>It may be admitted that there are sound reasons for holding party +leaders to a more rigid allegiance to party policy than is expected of +the rank and file; yet certainly, at those periods when substantially +new measures and new doctrines come to the front, the old party names +lose whatever sacredness may at other times be in them, and the +political fellowships of the past may properly be reformed. Novel +problems cannot always find old comrades still united in opinions. +Precisely such was the case with John Quincy Adams and the +Federalists. The earlier Federalist creed related to one set of +issues, the later Federalist creed to quite another set; the earlier +creed was sound and deserving of support; the later creed was not so. +It is easy to see, as one looks backward upon history, that every +great and successful party has its mission, that it wins its success +through the substantial righteousness of that mission, and that it +owes its downfall to assuming an erroneous attitude towards some +subsequent matter which becomes in turn of predominating importance. +Sometimes, though rarely, a party remains on the right side through +two or even more successive issues of profound consequence to the +nation. The Federalist mission was +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page060" name="page060"></a>(p. 060)</span> +to establish the +Constitution of the United States as a vigorous, efficient, and +practical system of government, to prove its soundness, safety, and +efficacy, and to defend it from the undermining assaults of those who +distrusted it and would have reduced it to imbecility. Supplementary +and cognate to this was the further task of giving the young nation +and the new system a chance to get fairly started in life before being +subjected to the strain of war and European entanglements. To this end +it was necessary to hold in check the Jeffersonian or French party, +who sought to embroil us in a foreign quarrel. These two functions of +the Federalist party were quite in accord; they involved the +organizing and domestic instinct against the disorganizing and +meddlesome; the strengthening against the enfeebling process; +practical thinking against fanciful theories. Fortunately the able men +had been generally of the sound persuasion, and by powerful exertions +had carried the day and accomplished their allotted tasks so +thoroughly that all subsequent generations of Americans have been +reaping the benefit of their labors. But by the time that John Adams +had concluded his administration the great Federalist work had been +sufficiently done. Those who still believe that there is an overruling +Providence in the affairs of men and nations may +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page061" name="page061"></a>(p. 061)</span> +well point +to the history of this period in support of their theory. +Republicanism was not able to triumph till Federalism had fulfilled +all its proper duty and was on the point of going wrong.</p> + +<p>During this earlier period John Quincy Adams had been a Federalist by +conviction as well as by education. Nor was there any obvious reason +for him to change his political faith with the change of party +success, brought about as that was before its necessity was apparent +but by the sure and inscrutable wisdom so marvellously enclosed in the +great popular instinct. It was not patent, when Mr. Jefferson +succeeded Mr. Adams, that Federalism was soon to become an unsound +political creed—unsound, not because it had been defeated, but +because it had done its work, and in the new emergency was destined to +blunder. During Mr. Jefferson's first administration no questions of +novel import arose. But they were not far distant, and soon were +presented by the British aggressions. A grave crisis was created by +this system of organized destruction of property and wholesale +stealing of citizens, now suddenly practised with such terrible +energy. What was to be done? What had the two great parties to advise +concerning the policy of the country in this hour of peril? +Unfortunately for the Federalists old predilections +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page062" name="page062"></a>(p. 062)</span> were +allowed now to govern their present action. Excusably Anglican in the +bygone days of Genet's mission, they now remained still Anglican, +when to be Anglican was to be emphatically un-American. As one reads +the history of 1807 and 1808 it is impossible not to feel almost a +sense of personal gratitude to John Quincy Adams that he dared to step +out from his meek-spirited party and do all that circumstances +rendered possible to promote resistance to insults and wrongs +intolerable. In truth, he was always a man of high temper, and +eminently a patriotic citizen of the United States. Unlike too many +even of the best among his countrymen in those early years of the +Republic, he had no foreign sympathies whatsoever; he was neither +French nor English, but wholly, exclusively, and warmly American. He +had no second love; the United States filled his public heart and +monopolized his political affections. When he was abroad he +established neither affiliations nor antipathies, and when he was at +home he drifted with no party whose course was governed by foreign +magnets. It needs only that this characteristic should be fully +understood in order that his conduct in 1808 should be not alone +vindicated but greatly admired.</p> + +<p>At that time it was said, and it has been since repeated, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page063" name="page063"></a>(p. 063)</span> +that he was allured by the loaves and fishes which the Republicans +could distribute, while the Federalists could cast to him only meagre +and uncertain crusts. Circumstances gave to the accusation such a +superficial plausibility that it was believed by many honest men under +the influence of political prejudice. But such a charge, alleged +concerning a single act in a long public career, is to be scanned with +suspicion. Disproof by demonstration is impossible; but it is fair to +seek for the character of the act in a study of the character of the +actor, as illustrated by the rest of his career. Thus seeking we shall +see that, if any traits can be surely predicated of any man, +independence, courage, and honesty may be predicated of Mr. Adams. His +long public life had many periods of trial, yet this is the sole +occasion when it is so much as possible seriously to question the +purity of his motives—for the story of his intrigue with Mr. Clay to +secure the Presidency was never really believed by any one except +General Jackson, and the beliefs of General Jackson are of little +consequence. From the earliest to the latest day of his public life, +he was never a party man. He is entitled to the justification to be +derived from this life-long habit, when, in 1807-8, he voted against +the wishes of those who had hoped to hold him in the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page064" name="page064"></a>(p. 064)</span> bonds +of partisan alliance. In point of fact, so far from these acts being a +yielding to selfish and calculating temptation, they called for great +courage and strength of mind; instead of being tergiversation, they +were a triumph in a severe ordeal. Mr. Adams was not so dull as to +underrate, nor so void of good feeling as to be careless of, the +storm of obloquy which he had to encounter, not only in such shape as +is customary in like instances of a change of sides in politics, but, +in his present case, of a peculiarly painful kind. He was to seem +unfaithful, not only to a party, but to the bitter feud of a father +whom he dearly loved and greatly respected; he was to be reviled by +the neighbors and friends who constituted his natural social circle in +Boston; he was to alienate himself from the rich, the cultivated, the +influential gentlemen of his neighborhood, his comrades, who would +almost universally condemn his conduct. He was to lose his position as +Senator, and probably to destroy all hopes of further political +success so far as it depended upon the good will of the people of his +own State. In this he was at least giving up a certainty in exchange +for what even his enemies must admit to have been only an expectation.</p> + +<p>But in fact it is now evident that there was not upon his part even an +expectation. At the first +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page065" name="page065"></a>(p. 065)</span> +signs of the views which he was +likely to hold, that contemptible but influential Republican, Giles, +of Virginia, also one or two others of the same party, sought to +approach him with insinuating suggestions. But Mr. Adams met these +advances in a manner frigid and repellent even beyond his wont, and +far from seeking to conciliate these emissaries, and to make a +bargain, or even establish a tacit understanding for his own benefit, +he held them far aloof, and simply stated that he wished and expected +nothing from the administration. His mind was made up, his opinion was +formed; no bribe was needed to secure his vote. Not thus do men sell +themselves in politics. The Republicans were fairly notified that he +was going to do just as he chose; and Mr. Jefferson, the arch-enemy of +all Adamses, had no occasion to forego his feud to win this recruit +from that family.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams's Diary shows unmistakably that he was acting rigidly upon +principle, that he believed himself to be injuring or even destroying +his political prospects, and that in so doing he taxed his moral +courage severely. The whole tone of the Diary, apart from those few +distinct statements which hostile critics might view with distrust, is +despondent, often bitter, but defiant and stubborn. If in later life +he ever anticipated the possible publication of these private +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page066" name="page066"></a>(p. 066)</span> +pages, yet he could hardly have done so at this early day. Among +certain general reflections at the close of the year 1808, he writes: +"On most of the great national questions now under discussion, my +sense of duty leads me to support the Administration, and I find +myself, of course, in opposition to the Federalists in general. But I +have no communication with the President, other than that in the +regular order of business in the Senate. In this state of things my +situation calls in a peculiar manner for prudence; my political +prospects are declining, and, as my term of service draws near its +close, I am constantly approaching to the certainty of being restored +to the situation of a private citizen. For this event, however, I hope +to have my mind sufficiently prepared."</p> + +<p>In July, 1808, the Republicans of the Congressional District wished to +send him to the House of Representatives, but to the gentleman who +waited upon him with this proposal he returned a decided negative. +Other considerations apart, he would not interfere with the reëlection +of his friend, Mr. Quincy.</p> + +<p>Certain remarks, written when his senatorial term was far advanced, +when he had lost the confidence of the Federalists without obtaining +that of the Republicans, may be of interest at this point. He wrote, +October 30, 1807: "I employed +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page067" name="page067"></a>(p. 067)</span> +the whole evening in looking +over the Journal of the Senate, since I have been one of its members. +Of the very little business which I have commenced during the four +sessions, at least three fourths has failed, with circumstances of +peculiar mortification. The very few instances in which I have +succeeded, have been always after an opposition of great obstinacy, +often ludicrously contrasting with the insignificance of the object in +pursuit. More than one instance has occurred where the same thing +which I have assiduously labored in vain to effect has been afterwards +accomplished by others, without the least resistance; more than once, +where the pleasure of disappointing me has seemed to be the prominent +principle of decision. Of the preparatory business, matured in +committees, I have had a share, gradually increasing through the four +sessions, but always as a subordinate member. The merely laborious +duties have been readily assigned to me, and as readily undertaken and +discharged. My success has been more frequent in opposition than in +carrying any proposition of my own, and I hope I have been +instrumental in arresting many unadvised purposes and projects. Though +as to the general policy of the country I have been uniformly in a +small, and constantly deceasing minority; my opinions and votes have +been <span class="pagenum"><a id="page068" name="page068"></a>(p. 068)</span> +much oftener in unison with the Administration than +with their opponents; I have met with at least as much opposition from +my party friends as from their adversaries,—I believe more. I know +not that I have made any personal enemies now in Senate, nor can I +flatter myself with having acquired any personal friends. There have +been hitherto two, Mr. Tracey and Mr. Plumer, upon whom I could rely, +but it has pleased Providence to remove one by death, and the changes +of political party have removed the other." This is a striking +paragraph, certainly not written by a man in a very cheerful or +sanguine frame of mind, not by one who congratulates himself on having +skilfully taken the initial steps in a brilliant political career; +but, it is fair to say, by one who has at least tried to do his duty, +and who has not knowingly permitted himself to be warped either by +passion, prejudice, party alliances, or selfish considerations.</p> + +<p>As early as November, 1805, Mr. Adams, being still what may be +described as an independent Federalist, was approached by Dr. Rush +with tentative suggestions concerning a foreign mission. Mr. Madison, +then Secretary of State, and even President Jefferson were apparently +not disinclined to give him such employment, provided he would be +willing to accept it +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page069" name="page069"></a>(p. 069)</span> +at their hands. Mr. Adams simply +replied, that he would not refuse a nomination merely because it came +from Mr. Jefferson, though there was no office in the President's gift +for which he had any wish. Perhaps because of the unconciliatory +coolness of this response, or perhaps for some better reason, the +nomination did not follow at that time. No sooner, however, had Mr. +Madison fairly taken the oath of office as President than he bethought +him of Mr. Adams, now no longer a Federalist, but, concerning the +present issues, of the Republican persuasion. On March 6, 1809, Mr. +Adams was notified by the President personally of the intention to +nominate him as Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia. It was a new +mission, the first minister ever nominated to Russia having been only +a short time before rejected by the Senate. But the Emperor had often +expressed his wish to exchange ministers, and Mr. Madison was anxious +to comply with the courteous request. Mr. Adams's name was accordingly +at once sent to the Senate. But on the following day, March 7, that +body resolved that "it is inexpedient at this time to appoint a +minister from the United States to the Court of Russia." The vote was +seventeen to fifteen, and among the seventeen was Mr. Adams's old +colleague, Timothy Pickering, who probably never in his life +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page070" name="page070"></a>(p. 070)</span> +cast a vote which gave him so much pleasure. Mr. Madison, however, did +not readily desist from his purpose, and a few months later, June 26, +he sent a message to the Senate, stating that the considerations +previously leading him to nominate a minister to Russia had since been +strengthened, and again naming Mr. Adams for the post. This time the +nomination was confirmed with readiness, by a vote of nineteen to +seven, Mr. Pickering, of course, being one of the still hostile +minority.</p> + +<p>At noon on August 5, 1809, records Mr. Adams, "I left my house at the +corner of Boylston and Nassau streets, in Boston," again to make the +tedious and uncomfortable voyage across the Atlantic. A miserable and +a dangerous time he had of it ere, on October 23, he reached St. +Petersburg. Concerning the four years and a half which he is now to +spend in Russia very little need be said. His active duties were of +the simplest character, amounting to little more than rendering +occasional assistance to American shipmasters suffering beneath the +severities so often illegally inflicted by the contesting powers of +Europe. But apart from the slender practical service to be done, the +period must have been interesting and agreeable for him personally, +for he was received and treated throughout his stay by the Emperor +and <span class="pagenum"><a id="page071" name="page071"></a>(p. 071)</span> +his courtiers with distinguished kindness. The Emperor, +who often met him walking, used to stop and chat with him, while Count +Romanzoff, the minister of foreign affairs, was cordial beyond the +ordinary civility of diplomacy. The Diary records a series of court +presentations, balls, fêtes, dinners, diplomatic and other, launches, +displays of fireworks, birthday festivities, parades, baptisms, plays, +state funerals, illuminations, and Te Deums for victories; in short, +every species of social gayety and public pageant. At all these Mr. +Adams was always a bidden and apparently a welcome guest. It must be +admitted, even by his detractors, that he was an admirable +representative of the United States abroad. Having already seen much +of the distinguished society of European courts, but retaining a +republican simplicity, which was wholly genuine and a natural part of +his character and therefore was never affected or offensive in its +manifestations, he really represented the best element in the politics +and society of the United States. Winning respect for himself he won +it also for the country which he represented. Thus he was able to +render an indirect but essential service in cementing the kindly +feeling which the Russian Empire entertained for the American +Republic. Russia could then do us little good +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page072" name="page072"></a>(p. 072)</span> +and almost no +harm, yet the friendship of a great European power had a certain moral +value in those days of our national infancy. That friendship, so +cordially offered, Mr. Adams was fortunately well fitted to +conciliate, showing in his foreign callings a tact which did not mark +him in other public relations. He was perhaps less liked by his +travelling fellow countrymen than by the Russians. The paltry ambition +of a certain class of Americans for introduction to high society +disgusted him greatly, and he was not found an efficient ally by these +would-be comrades of the Russian aristocracy. "The ambition of young +Americans to crowd themselves upon European courts and into the +company of nobility is a very ridiculous and not a very proud feature +of their character," he wrote; "there is nothing, in my estimate of +things, meaner than courting society where, if admitted, it is only to +be despised." He himself happily combined extensive acquirements, +excellent ability, diplomatic and courtly experience, and natural +independence of character without ill-bred self-assertion, and never +failed to create a good impression in the many circles into which his +foreign career introduced him.</p> + +<p>The ambassadors and ministers from European powers at St. Petersburg +were constantly wrangling about precedence and like petty matters of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page073" name="page073"></a>(p. 073)</span> +court etiquette. "In all these controversies," writes Mr. +Adams, "I have endeavored to consider it as an affair in which I, as +an <i>American</i> minister, had no concern; and that my only principle is +to dispute upon precedence with nobody." A good-natured contempt for +European follies may be read between the lines of this remark; wherein +it may be said that the Monroe Doctrine is applied to court etiquette.</p> + +<p>He always made it a point to live within the meagre income which the +United States allowed him, but seems to have suffered no diminution of +consideration for this reason. One morning, walking on the Fontanka, +he met the Emperor, who said: "Mons. Adams, il y a cent ans que je ne +vous ai vu;" and then continuing the conversation, "asked me whether I +intended to take a house in the country this summer. I said, No.... +'And why so?' said he. I was hesitating upon an answer when he +relieved me from embarrassment by saying, 'Peut-être sont-ce des +considerations de finance?' As he said it with perfect good humor and +with a smile, I replied in the same manner: 'Mais Sire, elles y sont +pour une bonne +part.'"<a id="footnotetag2" name="footnotetag2"></a><a href="#footnote2">[2]</a></p> + +<p>The volume of the journal which records this residence in St. +Petersburg is very interesting as a picture of Russian life and +manners in high +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page074" name="page074"></a>(p. 074)</span> +society. Few travellers write anything +nearly so vivid, so thorough, or so trustworthy as these entries. +Moreover, during the whole period of his stay the great wars of +Napoleon were constantly increasing the astonishment of mankind, and +created intense excitement at the Court of Russia. These feelings +waxed stronger as it grew daily more likely that the Emperor would +have to take his turn also as a party defendant in the great conflict. +Then at last came the fact of war, the invasion of Russia, the burning +of Moscow, the disastrous retreat of the invaders ending in +ignominious flight, the advance of the allies, finally the capture of +Paris. All this while Mr. Adams at St. Petersburg witnessed first the +alarm and then the exultation of the court and the people as the +rumors now of defeat, anon of victory, were brought by the couriers at +tantalizing intervals; and he saw the rejoicings and illuminations +which rendered the Russian capital so brilliant and glorious during +the last portion of his residence. It was an experience well worth +having, and which is pleasantly depicted in the Diary.</p> + +<p>In September, 1812, Count Romanzoff suggested to Mr. Adams the +readiness of the Emperor to act as mediator in bringing about peace +between the United States and England. The suggestion was promptly +acted upon, but with no +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page075" name="page075"></a>(p. 075)</span> +directly fortunate results. The +American government acceded at once to the proposition, and at the +risk of an impolitic display of readiness dispatched Messrs. Gallatin +and Bayard to act as Commissioners jointly with Mr. Adams in the +negotiations. These gentlemen, however, arrived in St. Petersburg only +to find themselves in a very awkward position. Their official +character might not properly be considered as attaching unless England +should accept the offer of mediation. But England had refused, in the +first instance, to do this, and she now again reiterated her refusal +without regard for the manifestation of willingness on the part of the +United States. Further, Mr. Gallatin's nomination was rejected by the +Senate after his departure, on the ground that his retention of the +post of Secretary of the Treasury was incompatible, under the +Constitution, with this diplomatic function. So the United States +appeared in a very annoying attitude, her Commissioners were +uncomfortable and somewhat humiliated; Russia felt a certain measure +of vexation at the brusque and positive rejection of her friendly +proposition on the part of Great Britain; and that country alone came +out of the affair with any self-satisfaction.</p> + +<p>But by the time when all hopes of peace through the friendly offices +of Russia were at an +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page076" name="page076"></a>(p. 076)</span> +end, that stage of the conflict had +been reached at which both parties were quite ready to desist. The +United States, though triumphing in some brilliant naval victories, +had been having a sorry experience on land, where, as the Russian +minister remarked, "England did as she pleased." A large portion of +the people were extremely dissatisfied, and it was impossible to +ignore that the outlook did not promise better fortunes in the future +than had been encountered in the past. On the other hand, England had +nothing substantial to expect from a continuance of the struggle, +except heavy additional expenditure which it was not then the fashion +to compel the worsted party to recoup. She accordingly intimated her +readiness to send Commissioners to Göttingen, for which place Ghent +was afterwards substituted, to meet American Commissioners and settle +terms of pacification. The United States renewed the powers of Messrs. +Adams, Bayard, and Gallatin, a new Secretary of the Treasury having in +the meantime been appointed, and added Jonathan Russell, then Minister +to Sweden, and Henry Clay. England deputed Lord Gambier, an admiral, +Dr. Adams, a publicist, and Mr. Goulburn, a member of Parliament and +Under Secretary of State. These eight gentlemen accordingly met in +Ghent on August 7, 1814.</p> + +<p>It <span class="pagenum"><a id="page077" name="page077"></a>(p. 077)</span> +was upwards of four months before an agreement was +reached. During this period Mr. Adams kept his Diary with much more +even than his wonted faithfulness, and it undoubtedly presents the +most vivid picture in existence of the labors of treaty-making +diplomatists. The eight were certainly an odd assemblage of +peacemakers. The ill-blood and wranglings between the opposing +Commissions were bad enough, yet hardly equalled the intestine +dissensions between the American Commissioners themselves. That the +spirit of peace should ever have emanated from such an universal +embroilment is almost sufficiently surprising to be regarded as a +miracle. At the very beginning, or even before fairly beginning, the +British party roused the jealous ire of the Americans by proposing +that they all should meet, for exchanging their full powers, at the +lodgings of the Englishmen. The Americans took fire at this "offensive +pretension to superiority" which was "the usage from Ambassadors to +Ministers of an inferior order." Mr. Adams cited Martens, and Mr. +Bayard read a case from Ward's "Law of Nations." Mr. Adams suggested +sending a pointed reply, agreeing to meet the British Commissioners +"at any place other than their own lodgings;" but Mr. Gallatin, whose +valuable function was destined to be the keeping of the peace among +his fractious +colleagues, <span class="pagenum"><a id="page078" name="page078"></a>(p. 078)</span> +as well as betwixt +them and the Englishmen, substituted the milder phrase, "at any place +which may be mutually agreed upon." The first meeting accordingly took +place at the Hôtel des Pays Bas, where it was arranged that the +subsequent conferences should be held alternately at the quarters of +the two Commissions. Then followed expressions, conventional and +proper but wholly untrue, of mutual sentiments of esteem and good +will.</p> + +<p>No sooner did the gentlemen begin to get seriously at the work before +them than the most discouraging prospects were developed. The British +first presented their demands, as follows: 1. That the United States +should conclude a peace with the Indian allies of Great Britain, and +that a species of neutral belt of Indian territory should be +established between the dominions of the United States and Great +Britain, so that these dominions should be nowhere conterminous, upon +which belt or barrier neither power should be permitted to encroach +even by purchase, and the boundaries of which should be settled in +this treaty. 2. That the United States should keep no naval force upon +the Great Lakes, and should neither maintain their existing forts nor +build new ones upon their northern frontier; it was even required that +the boundary line should run along the southern +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page079" name="page079"></a>(p. 079)</span> +shore of the +lakes; while no corresponding restriction was imposed upon Great +Britain, because she was stated to have no projects of conquest as +against her neighbor. 3. That a piece of the province of Maine should +be ceded, in order to give the English a road from Halifax to Quebec. +4. That the stipulation of the treaty of 1783, conferring on English +subjects the right of navigating the Mississippi, should be now +formally renewed.</p> + +<p>The Americans were astounded; it seemed to them hardly worth while to +have come so far to listen to such propositions. Concerning the +proposed Indian pacification they had not even any powers, the United +States being already busied in negotiating a treaty with the tribes as +independent powers. The establishment of the neutral Indian belt was +manifestly contrary to the established policy and obvious destiny of +the nation. Neither was the answer agreeable, which was returned by +Dr. Adams to the inquiry as to what was to be done with those citizens +of the United States who had already settled in those parts of +Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio, included within the territory which it +was now proposed to make inalienably Indian. He said that these +people, amounting perhaps to one hundred thousand, "must shift for +themselves." The one-sided disarmament upon the lakes and along the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page080" name="page080"></a>(p. 080)</span> +frontier was, by the understanding of all nations, such an +humiliation as is inflicted only on a crushed adversary. No return was +offered for the road between Halifax and Quebec; nor for the right of +navigating the Mississippi. The treaty of peace of 1783, made in +ignorance of the topography of the unexplored northern country, had +established an impossible boundary line running from the Lake of the +Woods westward along the forty-ninth parallel to the Mississippi; and +as appurtenant to the British territory, thus supposed to touch the +river, a right of navigation upon it was given. It had since been +discovered that a line on that parallel would never touch the +Mississippi. The same treaty had also secured for the United States +certain rights concerning the Northeastern fisheries. The English now +insisted upon a re-affirmance of the privilege given to them, without +a re-affirmance of the privilege given to the United States; ignoring +the fact that the recent acquisition of Louisiana, making the +Mississippi wholly American, materially altered the propriety of a +British right of navigation upon it.</p> + +<p>Apart from the intolerable character of these demands, the personal +bearing of the English Commissioners did not tend to mitigate the +chagrin of the Americans. The formal civilities had counted with the +American Commissioners for +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page081" name="page081"></a>(p. 081)</span> +more than they were worth, and +had induced them, in preparing a long dispatch to the home government, +to insert "a paragraph complimentary to the personal deportment" of +the British. But before they sent off the document they revised it and +struck out these pleasant phrases. Not many days after the first +conference Mr. Adams notes that the tone of the English Commissioners +was even "more peremptory, and their language more overbearing, than +at the former conferences." A little farther on he remarks that "the +British note is overbearing and insulting in its tone, like the two +former ones." Again he says:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "The tone of all the British notes is arrogant, overbearing, and + offensive. The tone of ours is neither so bold nor so spirited as + I think it should be. It is too much on the defensive, and too + excessive in the caution to say nothing irritating. I have seldom + been able to prevail upon my colleagues to insert anything in the + style of retort upon the harsh and reproachful matter which we + receive." +</p> + +<p>Many little passages-at-arms in the conferences are recited which +amply bear out these remarks as regards both parties. Perhaps, +however, it should be admitted that the Americans made up for the +self-restraint which they practised in conference by the disagreements +and bickerings in which they indulged when consulting +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page082" name="page082"></a>(p. 082)</span> +among +themselves. Mr. Gallatin's serene temper and cool head were hardly +taxed to keep the peace among his excited colleagues. Mr. Adams and +Mr. Clay were especially prone to suspicions and to outbursts of +anger. Mr. Adams often and candidly admits as much of himself, +apparently not without good reason. At first the onerous task of +drafting the numerous documents which the Commission had to present +devolved upon him, a labor for which he was well fitted in all +respects save, perhaps, a tendency to prolixity. He did not, however, +succeed in satisfying his comrades, and the criticisms to which they +subjected his composition galled his self-esteem severely, so much so +that erelong he altogether relinquished this function, which was +thereafter performed chiefly by Mr. Gallatin. As early as August 21, +Mr. Adams says, not without evident bitterness, that though they all +were agreed on the general view of the subject, yet in his "exposition +of it, one objects to the form, another to the substance, of almost +every paragraph." Mr. Gallatin would strike out everything possibly +offensive to the Englishmen; Mr. Clay would draw his pen through every +figurative expression; Mr. Russell, not content with agreeing to all +the objections of both the others, would further amend the +construction of every sentence; and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page083" name="page083"></a>(p. 083)</span> +finally Mr. Bayard would +insist upon writing all over again in his own language. All this +nettled Mr. Adams exceedingly. On September 24 he again writes that it +was agreed to adopt an article which he had drawn, "though with +objections to almost every word" which he had used. "This," he says, +"is a severity with which I alone am treated in our discussions by all +my colleagues. Almost everything written by any of the rest is +rejected, or agreed to with very little criticism, verbal or +substantial. But every line that I write passes a gauntlet of +objections by every one of my colleagues, which finally issues, for +the most part, in the rejection of it all." He reflects, with a +somewhat forced air of self-discipline, that this must indicate some +faultiness in his composition which he must try to correct; but in +fact it is sufficiently evident that he was seldom persuaded that his +papers were improved. Amid all this we see in the Diary many +exhibitions of vexation. One day he acknowledges, "I cannot always +restrain the irritability of my temper;" another day he informed his +colleagues, "with too much warmth, that they might be assured I was as +determined as they were;" again he reflects, "I, too, must not forget +to keep a constant guard upon my temper, for the time is evidently +approaching when it will be wanted." Mr. Gallatin alone seems +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page084" name="page084"></a>(p. 084)</span> +not to have exasperated him; Mr. Clay and he were constantly in +discussion, and often pretty hotly. Instead of coming nearer together, +as time went on, these two fell farther apart. What Mr. Clay thought +of Mr. Adams may probably be inferred from what we know that Mr. Adams +thought of Mr. Clay. "Mr. Clay is losing his temper, and growing +peevish and fractious," he writes on October 31; and constantly he +repeats the like complaint. The truth is, that the precise New +Englander and the impetuous Westerner were kept asunder not only by +local interests but by habits and modes of thought utterly dissimilar. +Some amusing glimpses of their private life illustrate this +difference. Mr. Adams worked hard and diligently, allowing himself +little leisure for pleasure; but Mr. Clay, without actually neglecting +his duties, yet managed to find ample time for enjoyment. More than +once Mr. Adams notes that, as he rose about five o'clock in the +morning to light his own fire and begin the labors of the day by +candle-light, he heard the parties breaking up and leaving Mr. Clay's +rooms across the entry, where they had been playing cards all night +long. In these little touches one sees the distinctive characters of +the men well portrayed.</p> + +<p>The very extravagance of the British demands at +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page085" name="page085"></a>(p. 085)</span> +least saved +the Americans from perplexity. Mr. Clay, indeed, cherished an +"inconceivable idea" that the Englishmen would "finish by receding +from the ground they had taken;" but meantime there could be no +difference of opinion concerning the impossibility of meeting them +upon that ground. Mr. Adams, never lacking in courage, actually wished +to argue with them that it would be for the interests of Great Britain +not less than of the United States if Canada should be ceded to the +latter power. Unfortunately his colleagues would not support him in +this audacious policy, the humor of which is delicious. It would have +been infinitely droll to see how the British Commissioners would have +hailed such a proposition, by way of appropriate termination of a +conflict in which the forces of their nation had captured and +ransacked the capital city of the Americans!</p> + +<p>On August 21 the Englishmen invited the Americans to dinner on the +following Saturday. "The chance is," wrote Mr. Adams, "that before +that time the whole negotiation will be at an end." The banquet, +however, did come off, and a few more succeeded it; feasts not marked +by any great geniality or warmth, except perhaps occasionally warmth +of discussion. So sure were the Americans that they were about to +break <span class="pagenum"><a id="page086" name="page086"></a>(p. 086)</span> +off the negotiations that Mr. Adams began to consider +by what route he should return to St. Petersburg; and they declined to +renew the tenure of their quarters for more than a few days longer. +Like alarms were of frequent occurrence, even almost to the very day +of agreement. On September 15, at a dinner given by the American +Commissioners, Lord Gambier asked Mr. Adams whether he would return +immediately to St. Petersburg. "Yes," replied Mr. Adams, "that is, if +you send us away." His lordship "replied with assurances how deeply he +lamented it, and with a hope that we should one day be friends again." +On the same occasion Mr. Goulburn said that probably the last note of +the Americans would "terminate the business," and that they "must +fight it out." Fighting it out was a much less painful prospect for +Great Britain just at that juncture than for the United States, as the +Americans realized with profound anxiety. "We so fondly cling to the +vain hope of peace, that every new proof of its impossibility operates +upon us as a disappointment," wrote Mr. Adams. No amount of pride +could altogether conceal the fact that the American Commissioners +represented the worsted party, and though they never openly said so +even among themselves, yet indirectly they were obliged to recognize +the truth. On November +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page087" name="page087"></a>(p. 087)</span> +10 we find Mr. Adams proposing to +make concessions not permitted by their instructions, because, as he +said:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "I felt so sure that [the home government] would now gladly take + the state before the war as the general basis of the peace, that + I was prepared to take on me the responsibility of trespassing + upon their instructions thus far. Not only so, but I would at + this moment cheerfully give my life for a peace on this basis. If + peace was possible, it would be on no other. I had indeed no hope + that the proposal would be accepted." +</p> + +<p>Mr. Clay thought that the British would laugh at this: "They would +say, Ay, ay! pretty fellows you, to think of getting out of the war as +well as you got into it." This was not consoling for the +representatives of that side which had declared war for the purpose of +curing grievances and vindicating alleged rights. But that Mr. Adams +correctly read the wishes of the government was proved within a very +few days by the receipt of express authority from home "to conclude +the peace on the basis of the <i>status ante bellum</i>." Three days +afterwards, on November 27, three and a half months after the +vexatious haggling had been begun, we encounter in the Diary the first +real gleam of hope of a successful termination: "All the difficulties +to the conclusion of a peace appear to be now +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page088" name="page088"></a>(p. 088)</span> +so nearly +removed, that my colleagues all consider it as certain. I myself think +it probable."</p> + +<p>There were, however, some three weeks more of negotiation to be gone +through before the consummation was actually achieved, and the ill +blood seemed to increase as the end was approached. The differences +between the American Commissioners waxed especially serious concerning +the fisheries and the navigation of the Mississippi. Mr. Adams +insisted that if the treaty of peace had been so far abrogated by the +war as to render necessary a re-affirmance of the British right of +navigating the Mississippi, then a re-affirmance of the American +rights in the Northeastern fisheries was equally necessary. This the +English Commissioners denied. Mr. Adams said it was only an exchange +of privileges presumably equivalent. Mr. Clay, however, was firmly +resolved to prevent all stipulations admitting such a right of +navigation, and the better to do so he was quite willing to let the +fisheries go. The navigation privilege he considered "much too +important to be conceded for the mere liberty of drying fish upon a +desert," as he was pleased to describe a right for which the United +States has often been ready to go to war and may yet some time do so. +"Mr. Clay lost his temper," writes Mr. Adams +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page089" name="page089"></a>(p. 089)</span> +a day or two +later, "as he generally does whenever this right of the British to +navigate the Mississippi is discussed. He was utterly averse to +admitting it as an equivalent for a stipulation securing the contested +part of the fisheries. He said the more he heard of this [the right of +fishing], the more convinced he was that it was of little or no value. +He should be glad to get it if he could, but he was sure the British +would not ultimately grant it. That the navigation of the Mississippi, +on the other hand, was an object of immense importance, and he could +see no sort of reason for granting it as an equivalent for the +fisheries." Thus spoke the representative of the West. The New +Englander—the son of the man whose exertions had been chiefly +instrumental in originally obtaining the grant of the Northeastern +fishery privileges—naturally went to the other extreme. He thought +"the British right of navigating the Mississippi to be as nothing, +considered as a grant from us. It was secured to them by the peace of +1783, they had enjoyed it at the commencement of the war, it had never +been injurious in the slightest degree to our own people, and it +appeared to [him] that the British claim to it was just and +equitable." Further he "believed the right to this navigation to be a +very useless thing to the British.... But their +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page090" name="page090"></a>(p. 090)</span> +national +pride and honor were interested in it; the government could not make a +peace which would abandon it." The fisheries, however, Mr. Adams +regarded as one of the most inestimable and inalienable of American +rights. It is evident that the United States could ill have spared +either Mr. Adams or Mr. Clay from the negotiation, and the joinder of +the two, however fraught with discomfort to themselves, well served +substantial American interests.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams thought the British perfidious, and suspected them of not +entertaining any honest intention of concluding a peace. On December +12, after an exceedingly quarrelsome conference, he records his belief +that the British have "insidiously kept open" two points, "for the +sake of finally breaking off the negotiations and making all their +other concessions proofs of their extreme moderation, to put upon us +the blame of the rupture."</p> + +<p>On December 11 we find Mr. Clay ready "for a war three years longer," +and anxious "to begin to play at <i>brag</i>" with the Englishmen. His +colleagues, more complaisant or having less confidence in their own +skill in that game, found it difficult to placate him; he "stalked to +and fro across the chamber, repeating five or six times, 'I will never +sign a treaty upon the <i>status ante bellum</i> with the Indian article. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page091" name="page091"></a>(p. 091)</span> +So help me God!'" The next day there was an angry controversy +with the Englishmen. The British troops had taken and held Moose +Island in Passamaquoddy Bay, the rightful ownership of which was in +dispute. The title was to be settled by arbitrators. But the question, +whether the British should restore possession of the island pending +the arbitration, aroused bitter discussion. "Mr. Goulburn and Dr. +Adams (the Englishman) immediately took fire, and Goulburn lost all +control of his temper. He has always in such cases," says the Diary, +"a sort of convulsive agitation about him, and the tone in which he +speaks is more insulting than the language which he uses." Mr. Bayard +referred to the case of the Falkland Islands. "'Why' (in a transport +of rage), said Goulburn, 'in that case we sent a fleet and troops and +drove the fellows off; and that is what we ought to have done in this +case.'" Mr. J. Q. Adams, whose extensive and accurate information more +than once annoyed his adversaries, stated that, as he remembered it, +"the Spaniards in that case had driven the British off,"—and Lord +Gambier helped his blundering colleague out of the difficulty by +suggesting a new subject, much as the defeated heroes of the Iliad +used to find happy refuge from death in a god-sent cloud of dust. It +is amusing to read that +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page092" name="page092"></a>(p. 092)</span> +in the midst of such scenes as these +the show of courtesy was still maintained; and on December 13 the +Americans "all dined with the British Plenipotentiaries," though "the +party was more than usually dull, stiff, and reserved." It was +certainly forcing the spirit of good fellowship. The next day Mr. Clay +notified his colleagues that they were going "to make a damned bad +treaty, and he did not know whether he would sign it or not;" and Mr. +Adams also said that he saw that the rest had made up their minds "at +last to yield the fishery point," in which case he also could not sign +the treaty. On the following day, however, the Americans were +surprised by receiving a note from the British Commissioners, wherein +they made the substantial concession of omitting from the treaty all +reference to the fisheries and the navigation of the Mississippi. But +Mr. Clay, on reading the note, "manifested some chagrin," and "still +talked of breaking off the negotiation," even asking Mr. Adams to join +him in so doing, which request, however, Mr. Adams very reasonably +refused. Mr. Clay had also been anxious to stand out for a distinct +abandonment of the alleged right of impressment; but upon this point +he found none of his colleagues ready to back him, and he was +compelled perforce to yield. Agreement was therefore now +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page093" name="page093"></a>(p. 093)</span> +substantially reached; a few minor matters were settled, and on +December 24, 1814, the treaty was signed by all the eight negotiators.</p> + +<p>It was an astonishing as well as a happy result. Never, probably, in +the history of diplomacy has concord been produced from such +discordant elements as had been brought together in Ghent. Dissension +seemed to have become the mother of amity; and antipathies were mere +preliminaries to a good understanding; in diplomacy as in marriage it +had worked well to begin with a little aversion. But, in truth, this +consummation was largely due to what had been going on in the English +Cabinet. At the outset Lord Castlereagh had been very unwilling to +conclude peace, and his disposition had found expression in the +original intolerable terms prepared by the British Commissioners. But +Lord Liverpool had been equally solicitous on the other side, and was +said even to have tendered his resignation to the Prince Regent, if an +accommodation should not be effected. His endeavors were fortunately +aided by events in Europe. Pending the negotiations Lord Castlereagh +went on a diplomatic errand to Vienna, and there fell into such +threatening discussions with the Emperor of Russia and the King of +Prussia, that he thought it prudent +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page094" name="page094"></a>(p. 094)</span> +to have done with the +American war, and wrote home pacific advices. Hence, at last, came +such concessions as satisfied the Americans.</p> + +<p>The treaty established "a firm and universal peace between his +Britannic Majesty and the United States." Each party was to restore +all captured territory, except that the islands of which the title was +in dispute were to remain in the occupation of the party holding them +at the time of ratification until that title should be settled by +commissioners; provision was made also for the determination of all +the open questions of boundary by sundry boards of commissioners; each +party was to make peace with the Indian allies of the other. Such +were, in substance, the only points touched upon by this document. Of +the many subjects mooted between the negotiators scarcely any had +survived the fierce contests which had been waged concerning them. The +whole matter of the navigation of the Mississippi, access to that +river, and a road through American territory, had been dropped by the +British; while the Americans had been well content to say nothing of +the Northeastern fisheries, which they regarded as still their own. +The disarmament on the lakes and along the Canadian border, and the +neutralization of a strip of Indian territory, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page095" name="page095"></a>(p. 095)</span> +were yielded +by the English. The Americans were content to have nothing said about +impressment; nor was any one of the many illegal rights exercised by +England formally abandoned. The Americans satisfied themselves with +the reflection that circumstances had rendered these points now only +matters of abstract principle, since the pacification of Europe had +removed all opportunities and temptations for England to persist in +her previous objectionable courses. For the future it was hardly to be +feared that she would again undertake to pursue a policy against which +it was evident that the United States were willing to conduct a +serious war. There was, however, no provision for indemnification.</p> + +<p>Upon a fair consideration, it must be admitted that though the treaty +was silent upon all the points which the United States had made war +for the purpose of enforcing, yet the country had every reason to be +gratified with the result of the negotiation. The five Commissioners +had done themselves ample credit. They had succeeded in agreeing with +each other; they had avoided any fracture of a negotiation which, up +to the very end, seemed almost daily on the verge of being broken off +in anger; they had managed really to lose nothing, in spite of the +fact that their side had had +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page096" name="page096"></a>(p. 096)</span> +decidedly the worst of the +struggle. They had negotiated much more successfully than the armies +of their countrymen had fought. The Marquis of Wellesley said, in the +House of Lords, that "in his opinion the American Commissioners had +shown a most astonishing superiority over the British during the whole +of the correspondence." One cannot help wishing that the battle of New +Orleans had taken place a little earlier, or that the negotiation had +fallen a little later, so that news of that brilliant event could have +reached the ears of the insolent Englishmen at Ghent, who had for +three months been enjoying the malicious pleasure of lending to the +Americans English newspapers containing accounts of American +misfortunes. But that fortunate battle was not fought until a few days +after the eight Commissioners had signed their compact. It is an +interesting illustration of the slowness of communication which our +forefathers had to endure, that the treaty crossed the Atlantic in a +sailing ship in time to travel through much of the country +simultaneously with the report of this farewell victory. Two such good +pieces of news coming together set the people wild with delight. Even +on the dry pages of Niles's "Weekly Register" occurs the triumphant +paragraph: "Who would not be an American? Long +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page097" name="page097"></a>(p. 097)</span> +live the +Republic! All hail! last asylum of oppressed humanity! Peace is signed +in the arms of victory!" It was natural that most of the ecstasy +should be manifested concerning the military triumph, and that the +mass of the people should find more pleasure in glorifying General +Jackson than in exalting the Commissioners. The value of their work, +however, was well proved by the voice of Great Britain. In the London +"Times" of December 30 appeared a most angry tirade against the +treaty, with bitter sneers at those who called the peace an +"honorable" one. England, it was said, "had attempted to force her +principles on America, and had failed." Foreign powers would say that +the English "had retired from the combat with the stripes yet bleeding +on their backs,—with the recent defeats at Plattsburgh and on Lake +Champlain unavenged." The most gloomy prognostications of further wars +with America when her naval power should have waxed much greater were +indulged. The loss of prestige in Europe, "the probable loss of our +trans-Atlantic provinces," were among the results to be anticipated +from this treaty into which the English Commissioners had been +beguiled by the Americans. These latter were reviled with an abuse +which was really the highest compliment. The family name of Mr. Adams +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page098" name="page098"></a>(p. 098)</span> +gained no small access of distinction in England from this +business.</p> + +<p>After the conclusion of the treaty Mr. Adams went to Paris, and +remained there until the middle of May, 1815, thus having the good +fortune to witness the return of Napoleon and a great part of the +events of the famous "hundred days." On May 26 he arrived in London, +where there awaited him, in the hands of the Barings, his commission +as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain. +His first duty was, in connection with Mr. Clay and Mr. Gallatin, to +negotiate a treaty of commerce, in which business he again met the +same three British Commissioners by whom the negotiations at Ghent had +been conducted, of whose abilities the government appeared to +entertain a better opinion than the Marquis of Wellesley had +expressed. This negotiation had been brought so far towards conclusion +by his colleagues before his own arrival that Mr. Adams had little to +do in assisting them to complete it. This little having been done, +they departed and left him as Minister at the Court of St. James. Thus +he fulfilled Washington's prophecy, by reaching the highest rank in +the American diplomatic service.</p> + +<p>Of his stay in Great Britain little need be said. He had few duties of +importance to perform. The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page099" name="page099"></a>(p. 099)</span> +fisheries, the right of +impressment, and the taking away and selling of slaves by British +naval officers during the late war, formed the subjects of many +interviews between him and Lord Castlereagh, without, however, any +definite results being reached. But he succeeded in obtaining, towards +the close of his stay, some slight remission of the severe +restrictions placed by England upon our trade with her West Indian +colonies. His relations with a cabinet in which the principles of +Castlereagh and Canning predominated could hardly be cordial, yet he +seems to have been treated with perfect civility. Indeed, he was not a +man whom it was easy even for an Englishman to insult. He remarks of +Castlereagh, after one of his first interviews with that nobleman: +"His deportment is sufficiently graceful, and his person is handsome. +His manner was cold, but not absolutely repulsive." Before he left he +had the pleasure of having Mr. Canning specially seek acquaintance +with him. He met, of course, many distinguished and many agreeable +persons during his residence, and partook of many festivities, +especially of numerous civic banquets at which toasts were formally +given in the dullest English fashion and he was obliged to display his +capacity for "table-cloth oratory," as he called it, more than was +agreeable to him. He +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>(p. 100)</span> +was greatly bored by these solemn and +pompous feedings. Partly in order to escape them he took a house at +Ealing, and lived there during the greater part of his stay in +England. "One of the strongest reasons for my remaining out of town," +he writes, "is to escape the frequency of invitations at late hours, +which consume so much precious time, and with the perpetually +mortifying consciousness of inability to return the civility in the +same manner." The republican simplicity, not to say poverty, forced +upon American representatives abroad, was a very different matter in +the censorious and unfriendly society of London from what it had been +at the kindly disposed Court of St. Petersburg. The relationship +between the mother country and the quondam colonies, especially at +that juncture, was such as to render social life intolerably trying to +an under-paid American minister.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams remained in England until June 15, 1817, when he sailed from +Cowes, closing forever his long and honorable diplomatic career, and +bidding his last farewell to Europe. He returned home to take the post +of Secretary of State in the cabinet of James Monroe, then lately +inaugurated as President of the United States.</p> + + + + +<h3>CHAPTER II +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>(p. 101)</span></h3> + +<h4>SECRETARY OF STATE AND PRESIDENT</h4> + + +<p>From the capitals of Russia and Great Britain to the capital of the +United States was a striking change. Washington, in its early struggle +for existence, was so unattractive a spot, that foreigners must have +been at a loss to discover the principle which had governed the +selection. It combined all the ugliness with all the discomfort of an +unprosperous frontier settlement on an ill-chosen site. What must +European diplomats have thought of a capital city where snakes two +feet long invaded gentlemen's drawing-rooms, and a carriage, bringing +home the guests from a ball, could be upset by the impenetrable depth +of quagmire at the very door of a foreign minister's residence. A +description of the city given by Mr. Mills, a Representative from +Massachusetts, in 1815, is pathetic in its unutterable horror:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "It is impossible [he writes] for me to describe to you my + feelings on entering this miserable desert, this scene of + desolation and horror.... My anticipations were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>(p. 102)</span> +almost + infinitely short of the reality, and I can truly say that the + first appearance of this seat of the national government has + produced in me nothing but absolute loathing and disgust." +</p> + +<p>If the place wore such a dreadful aspect to the simple denizen of a +New England country town, what must it have seemed to those who were +familiar with London and Paris? To them the social life must have been +scarcely less dreary than the rest of the surroundings. Accordingly, +with this change of scene, the Diary, so long a record of festivities +sometimes dull and formal, but generally collecting interesting and +distinguished persons, ceases almost wholly to refer to topics of +society. Yet, of course, even the foul streets could not prevent +people from occasionally meeting together. There were simple +tea-drinkings, stupid weekly dinners at the President's, infrequent +receptions by Mrs. Monroe, card-parties and conversation-parties, +which at the British minister's were very "elegant," and at the French +minister's were more gay. Mons. de Neuville, at his dinners, used to +puzzle and astound the plain-living Yankees by serving dishes of +"turkeys without bones, and puddings in the form of fowls, fresh cod +disguised like a salad, and celery like oysters;" further, he +scandalized some and demoralized others by having +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>(p. 103)</span> +dancing on +Saturday evenings, which the New England ladies had been "educated to +consider as holy time." Mr. and Mrs. Adams used to give weekly parties +on Tuesday evenings, and apparently many persons stood not a little in +awe of these entertainments and of the givers of them, by reason of +their superior familiarity with the manners and customs of the best +society of Europe. Mrs. Adams was, "on the whole, a very pleasant and +agreeable woman; but the Secretary [had] no talent to entertain a +mixed company, either by conversation or manners;" thus writes this +same Mr. Mills, whose sentiments towards Mr. Adams were those of +respect rather than of personal liking. The favorite dissipation then +consisted in card-playing, and the stakes were too often out of all +just proportion to the assets of the gamesters. At one time Mr. Clay +was reputed to have lost $8,000, an amount so considerable for him as +to weigh upon his mind to the manifest detriment of his public +functions. But sometimes the gentlemen resident in the capital met for +purposes less innocent than Saturday evening cotillons, or even than +extravagant betting at the card-table, and stirred the dulness of +society by a duel. Mr. Adams tells of one affair of this sort, fought +between ex-Senator Mason, of Virginia, and his cousin, wherein the +weapons +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>(p. 104)</span> +used were muskets, and the distance was only six +paces. Mason was killed; his cousin was wounded, and only by a lucky +accident escaped with his life. Mr. Adams had little time and less +taste for either the amusements or the dangers thus offered to him; he +preferred to go to bed in good season, to get up often long before +daybreak, and to labor assiduously the livelong day. His favorite +exercise was swimming in the Potomac, where he accomplished feats +which would have been extraordinary for a young and athletic man.</p> + +<p>The most important, perplexing, and time-consuming duties then called +for by the condition of public affairs happened to fall within Mr. +Adams's department. Monroe's administration has been christened the +"era of good feeling;" and, so far as political divisions among the +people at large were concerned, this description is correct enough. +There were no great questions of public policy dividing the nation. +There could hardly be said to be two political parties. With the close +of the war the malcontent Federalists had lost the only substantial +principle upon which they had been able vigorously to oppose the +administration, and as a natural consequence the party rapidly shrank +to insignificant proportions, and became of hardly more importance +than were the Jacobites in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>(p. 105)</span> +England after their last hopes +had been quenched by the failure of the Rebellion of '45. The +Federalist faith, like Jacobitism, lingered in a few neighborhoods, +and was maintained by a few old families, who managed to associate it +with a sense of their own pride and dignity; but as an effective +opposition or influential party organization it was effete, and no +successor was rising out of its ruins. In a broad way, therefore, +there was political harmony to a very remarkable degree.</p> + +<p>But among individuals there was by no means a prevailing good feeling. +Not held together by the pressure exerted by the antagonism of a +strong hostile force, the prominent men of the Cabinet and in Congress +were busily employed in promoting their own individual interests. +Having no great issues with which to identify themselves, and upon +which they could openly and honorably contend for the approval of the +nation, their only means for securing their respective private ends +lay in secretly overreaching and supplanting each other. Infinite +skill was exerted by each to inveigle his rival into an unpopular +position or a compromising light. By a series of precedents Mr. Adams, +as Secretary of State, appeared most prominent as a candidate for the +succession to the Presidency. But Mr. Crawford, in the Treasury +Department, had +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>(p. 106)</span> +been very near obtaining the nomination +instead of Monroe, and he was firmly resolved to secure it so soon as +Mr. Monroe's eight years should have elapsed. He, therefore, finding +much leisure left upon his hands by the not very exacting business of +his office, devoted his ingenuity to devising schemes for injuring the +prestige of Mr. Adams. Mr. Clay also had been greatly disappointed +that he had not been summoned to be Secretary of State, and so made +heir apparent. His personal enmity was naturally towards Mr. Monroe; +his political enmity necessarily also included Mr. Adams, whose +appointment he had privately sought to prevent. He therefore at once +set himself assiduously to oppose and thwart the administration, and +to make it unsuccessful and unpopular. That Clay was in the main and +upon all weighty questions an honest statesman and a real patriot must +be admitted, but just at this period no national crisis called his +nobler qualities into action, and his course was largely influenced by +selfish considerations. It was not long before Mr. Calhoun also +entered the lists, though in a manner less discreditable to himself, +personally, than were the resources of Crawford and Clay. The daily +narrations and comments of Mr. Adams display and explain in a manner +highly instructive, if not altogether agreeable, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>(p. 107)</span> +the +ambitions and the manœuvres, the hollow alliances and unworthy +intrigues, not only of these three, but also of many other estimable +gentlemen then in political life. The difference between those days +and our own seems not so great as the <i>laudatores temporis acti</i> are +wont to proclaim it. The elaborate machinery which has since been +constructed was then unknown; rivals relied chiefly upon their own +astuteness and the aid of a few personal friends and adherents for +carrying on contests and attaining ends which are now sought by vastly +more complex methods. What the stage-coach of that period was to the +railroads of to-day, or what the hand-loom was to our great cotton +mills, such also was the political intriguing of cabinet ministers, +senators, and representatives to our present party machinery. But the +temper was no better, honor was no keener, the sense of public duty +was little more disinterested then than now. One finds no serious +traces of vulgar financial dishonesty recorded in these pages, in +which Mr. Adams has handed down the political life of the second and +third decades of our century with a photographic accuracy. But one +does not see a much higher level of faithfulness to ideal standards in +political life than now exists.</p> + +<a id="img004" name="img004"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img004.jpg" width="400" height="532" +alt=" Wm. H. Crawford" title=""> +</div> +<a id="img004b" name="img004b"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img004b.jpg" width="400" height="78" +alt=" Wm. H. Crawford" title=""> +</div> + + +<p>As has been said, it so happened that in Mr. Monroe's +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>(p. 108)</span> +administration the heaviest burden of labor and responsibility rested +upon Mr. Adams; the most important and most perplexing questions fell +within his department. Domestic breaches had been healed, but foreign +breaches gaped with threatening jaws. War with Spain seemed imminent. +Her South American colonies were then waging their contest for +independence, and naturally looked to the late successful rebels of +the northern continent for acts of neighborly sympathy and good +fellowship. Their efforts to obtain official recognition and the +exchange of ministers with the United States were eager and +persistent. Privateers fitted out at Baltimore gave the State +Department scarcely less cause for anxiety than the shipbuilders of +Liverpool gave to the English Cabinet in 1863-64. These perplexities, +as is well known, caused the passage of the first "Neutrality Act," +which first formulated and has since served to establish the principle +of international obligation in such matters, and has been the basis of +all subsequent legislation upon the subject not only in this country +but also in Great Britain.</p> + +<p>The European powers, impelled by a natural distaste for rebellion by +colonists, and also believing that Spain would in time prevail over +the insurgents, turned a deaf ear to South American agents. But in the +United States it was different. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>(p. 109)</span> +Here it was anticipated that +the revolted communities were destined to win; Mr. Adams records this +as his own opinion; besides which there was also a natural sympathy +felt by our people in such a conflict in their own quarter of the +globe. Nevertheless, in many anxious cabinet discussions, the +President and the Secretary of State established the policy of reserve +and caution. Rebels against an established government are like +plaintiffs in litigation; the burden of proof is upon them, and the +neutral nations who are a sort of quasi-jurors must not commit +themselves to a decision prematurely. The grave and inevitable +difficulties besetting the administration in this matter were +seriously enhanced by the conduct of Mr. Clay. Seeking nothing so +eagerly as an opportunity to harass the government, he could have +found none more to his taste than this question of South American +recognition. His enthusiastic and rhetorical temperament rejoiced in +such a topic for his luxuriant oratory, and he lauded freedom and +abused the administration with a force of expression far from +gratifying to the responsible heads of government in their troublesome +task.</p> + +<p>Apart from these matters the United States had direct disputes of a +threatening character pending with Spain concerning the boundaries of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>(p. 110)</span> +Louisiana. Naturally enough boundary lines in the half +explored wilderness of this vast continent were not then marked with +that indisputable accuracy which many generations and much bloodshed +had achieved in Europe; and of all uncertain boundaries that of +Louisiana was the most so. Area enough to make two or three States, +more or less, might or might not be included therein. Such doubts had +proved a ready source of quarrel, which could hardly be assuaged by +General Jackson marching about in unquestionable Spanish territory, +seizing towns and hanging people after his lawless, ignorant, +energetic fashion. Mr. Adams's chief labor, therefore, was by no means +of a promising character, being nothing less difficult than to +conclude a treaty between enraged Spain and the rapacious United +States, where there was so much wrong and so much right on both sides, +and such a wide obscure realm of doubt between the two that an +amicable agreement might well seem not only beyond expectation but +beyond hope.</p> + +<p>Many and various also were the incidental obstacles in Mr. Adams's +way. Not the least lay in the ability of Don Onis, the Spanish +Minister, an ambassador well selected for his important task and whom +the American thus described:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "Cold, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>(p. 111)</span> + calculating, wily, always commanding his own + temper, proud because he is a Spaniard, but supple and cunning, + accommodating the tone of his pretensions precisely to the degree + of endurance of his opponent, bold and overbearing to the utmost + extent to which it is tolerated, careless of what he asserts or + how grossly it is proved to be unfounded, his morality appears to + be that of the Jesuits as exposed by Pascal. He is laborious, + vigilant, and ever attentive to his duties; a man of business and + of the world." +</p> + +<p>Fortunately this so dangerous negotiator was hardly less anxious than +Mr. Adams to conclude a treaty. Yet he, too, had his grave +difficulties to encounter. Spanish arrogance had not declined with the +decline of Spanish strength, and the concessions demanded from that +ancient monarchy by the upstart republic seemed at once exasperating +and humiliating. The career of Jackson in Florida, while it exposed +the weakness of Spain, also sorely wounded her pride. Nor could the +grandees, three thousand miles away, form so accurate an opinion of +the true condition and prospects of affairs as could Don Onis upon +this side of the water. One day, begging Mr. Adams to meet him upon a +question of boundary, "he insisted much upon the infinite pains he had +taken to prevail upon his government to come to terms of +accommodation," and pathetically +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>(p. 112)</span> +declared that "the King's +Council was composed of such ignorant and stupid <i>nigauds</i>, grandees +of Spain, and priests," that Mr. Adams "could have no conception of +their obstinacy and imbecility."</p> + +<p>Other difficulties in Mr. Adams's way were such as ought not to have +been encountered. The only substantial concession which he was willing +to make was in accepting the Sabine instead of the Rio del Norte as +the southwestern boundary of Louisiana. But no sooner did rumors of +this possible yielding get abroad than he was notified that Mr. Clay +"would take ground against" any treaty embodying it. From Mr. Crawford +a more dangerous and insidious policy was to be feared. Presumably he +would be well pleased either to see Mr. Adams fail altogether in the +negotiation, or to see him conclude a treaty which would be in some +essential feature odious to the people.</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "That all his conduct [wrote Mr. Adams] is governed by his views + to the Presidency, as the ultimate successor to Mr. Monroe, and + that his hopes depend upon a result unfavorable to the success or + at least to the popularity of the Administration, is perfectly + clear.... His talent is intrigue. And as it is in the foreign + affairs that the success or failure of the Administration will be + most conspicuous, and as their success would promote the + reputation and influence, and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>(p. 113)</span> +their failure would lead + to the disgrace of the Secretary of State, Crawford's personal + views centre in the ill-success of the Administration in its + foreign relations; and, perhaps unconscious of his own motives, + he will always be impelled to throw obstacles in its way, and to + bring upon the Department of State especially any feeling of + public dissatisfaction that he can, ... and although himself a + member of the Administration, he perceives every day more clearly + that his only prospect of success hereafter depends upon the + failure of the Administration by measures of which he must take + care to make known his disapprobation." +</p> + +<p>President Monroe was profoundly anxious for the consummation of the +treaty, and though for a time he was in perfect accord with Mr. Adams, +yet as the Spanish minister gradually drew nearer and nearer to a full +compliance with the American demands, Monroe began to fear that the +Secretary would carry his unyielding habit too far, and by insistence +upon extreme points which might well enough be given up, would allow +the country to drift into war.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, as it turned out, Mr. Adams was not afraid to take the +whole responsibility of success or failure upon his own shoulders, +showing indeed a high and admirable courage and constancy amid such +grave perplexities, in which it seemed that all his future political +fortunes were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>(p. 114)</span> +involved. He caused the proffered mediation of +Great Britain to be rejected. He availed himself of no aid save only +the services of Mons. de Neuville, the French minister, who took a +warm interest in the negotiation, expostulated and argued constantly +with Don Onis and sometimes with Mr. Adams, served as a channel of +communication and carried messages, propositions, and denials, which +could better come filtered through a neutral go-between than pass +direct from principal to principal. In fact, Mr. Adams needed no other +kind of aid except just this which was so readily furnished by the +civil and obliging Frenchman. As if he had been a mathematician +solving a problem in dynamics, he seemed to have measured the precise +line to which the severe pressure of Spanish difficulties would compel +Don Onis to advance. This line he drew sharply, and taking his stand +upon it in the beginning he made no important alterations in it to the +end. Day by day the Spaniard would reluctantly approach toward him at +one point or another, solemnly protesting that he could not make +another move, by argument and entreaty urging, almost imploring, Mr. +Adams in turn to advance and meet him. But Mr. Adams stood rigidly +still, sometimes not a little vexed by the other's lingering +manœuvres, and actually once saying +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>(p. 115)</span> +to the courtly +Spaniard that he "was so wearied out with the discussion that it had +become nauseous;" and, again, that he "really could discuss no longer, +and had given it up in despair." Yet all the while he was never wholly +free from anxiety concerning the accuracy of his calculations as to +how soon the Don might on his side also come to a final stand. Many a +tedious and alarming pause there was, but after each halt progress was +in time renewed. At last the consummation was reached, and except in +the aforementioned matter of the Sabine boundary no concession even in +details had been made by Mr. Adams. The United States was to receive +Florida, and in return only agreed to settle the disputed claims of +certain of her citizens against Spain to an amount not to exceed five +million dollars; while the claims of Spanish subjects against the +United States were wholly expunged. The western boundary was so +established as to secure for this country the much-coveted outlet to +the shores of the "South Sea," as the Pacific Ocean was called, south +of the Columbia River; the line also was run along the southern banks +of the Red and Arkansas rivers, leaving all the islands to the United +States and precluding Spain from the right of navigation. Mr. Adams +had achieved a great triumph.</p> + +<p>On February 22, 1819, the two negotiators signed +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>(p. 116)</span> +and sealed +the counterparts of the treaty. Mr. Adams notes that it is "perhaps +the most important day of my life," and justly called it "a great +epoch in our history." Yet on the next day the "Washington City +Gazette" came out with a strong condemnation of the Sabine concession, +and expressed the hope that the Senate would not agree to it. "This +paragraph," said Mr. Adams, "comes directly or indirectly from Mr. +Clay." But the paragraph did no harm, for on the following day the +treaty was confirmed by an unanimous vote of the Senate.</p> + +<p>It was not long, however, before the pleasure justly derivable from +the completion of this great labor was cruelly dashed. It appeared +that certain enormous grants of land, made by the Spanish king to +three of his nobles, and which were supposed to be annulled by the +treaty, so that the territory covered by them would become the public +property of the United States, bore date earlier than had been +understood, and for this reason would, by the terms of the treaty, be +left in full force. This was a serious matter, and such steps as were +still possible to set it right were promptly taken. Mr. Adams appealed +to Don Onis to state in writing that he himself had understood that +these grants were to be annulled, and that such had been the intention +of the treaty. The Spaniard replied in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>(p. 117)</span> +a shape imperfectly +satisfactory. He shuffled, evaded, and laid himself open to suspicion +of unfair dealing, though the charge could not be regarded as fully +proved against him. Mr. Adams, while blaming himself for carelessness +in not having more closely examined original documents, yet felt +"scarce a doubt" that Onis "did intend by artifice to cover the grants +while we were under the undoubting impression they were annulled;" and +he said to M. de Neuville, concerning this dark transaction, that "it +was not the ingenious device of a public minister, but '<i>une fourberie +de Scapin</i>.'" Before long the rumor got abroad in the public prints in +the natural shape of a "malignant distortion," and Mr. Adams was +compelled to see with chagrin his supposed brilliant success +threatening to turn actually to his grave discredit by reason of this +unfortunate oversight.</p> + +<p>What might have been the result had the treaty been ratified by Spain +can only be surmised. But it so befell—happily enough for the United +States and for Mr. Adams, as it afterwards turned out—that the +Spanish government refused to ratify. The news was, however, that they +would forthwith dispatch a new minister to explain this refusal and to +renew negotiations.</p> + +<p>For his own private part Mr. Adams strove to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>(p. 118)</span> +endure this +buffet of unkindly fortune with that unflinching and stubborn temper, +slightly dashed with bitterness, which stood him in good stead in many +a political trial during his hard-fighting career. But in his official +capacity he had also to consider and advise what it behooved the +administration to do under the circumstances. The feeling was +widespread that the United States ought to possess Florida, and that +Spain had paltered with us long enough. More than once in cabinet +meetings during the negotiation the Secretary of State, who was always +prone to strong measures, had expressed a wish for an act of Congress +authorizing the Executive to take forcible possession of Florida and +of Galveston in the event of Spain refusing to satisfy the reasonable +demands made upon her. Now, stimulated by indignant feeling, his +prepossession in favor of vigorous action was greatly strengthened, +and his counsel was that the United States should prepare at once to +take and hold the disputed territory, and indeed some undisputed +Spanish territory also. But Mr. Monroe and the rest of the Cabinet +preferred a milder course; and France and Great Britain ventured to +express to this country a hope that no violent action would be +precipitately taken. So the matter lay by for a while, awaiting the +coming of the promised envoy from Spain.</p> + +<p>At +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>(p. 119)</span> +this time the great question of the admission of Missouri +into the Union of States began to agitate Congress and the nation. Mr. +Adams, deeply absorbed in the perplexing affairs of his department, +into which this domestic problem did not enter, was at first careless +of it. His ideas concerning the matter, he wrote, were a "chaos;" but +it was a "chaos" into which his interest in public questions soon +compelled him to bring order. In so doing he for the first time fairly +exposes his intense repulsion for slavery, his full appreciation of +the irrepressible character of the conflict between the slave and the +free populations, and the sure tendency of that conflict to a +dissolution of the Union. Few men at that day read the future so +clearly. While dissolution was generally regarded as a threat not +really intended to be carried out, and compromises were supposed to be +amply sufficient to control the successive emergencies, the underlying +moral force of the anti-slavery movement acting against the +encroaching necessities of the slave-holding communities constituted +an element and involved possibilities which Mr. Adams, from his +position of observation outside the immediate controversy, noted with +foreseeing accuracy. He discerned in passing events the "title-page to +a great tragic volume;" and he predicted that the more or less distant +but sure +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>(p. 120)</span> +end must be an attempt to dissolve the Union. His +own position was distinctly defined from the outset, and his strong +feelings were vigorously expressed. He beheld with profound regret the +superiority of the slave-holding party in ability; he remarked sadly +how greatly they excelled in debating power their lukewarm opponents; +he was filled with indignation against the Northern men of Southern +principles. "Slavery," he wrote, "is the great and foul stain upon the +North American Union, and it is a contemplation worthy of the most +exalted soul whether its total abolition is or is not practicable." "A +life devoted to" the emancipation problem "would be nobly spent or +sacrificed." He talks with much acerbity of expression about the +"slave-drivers," and the "flagrant image of human inconsistency" +presented by men who had "the Declaration of Independence on their +lips and the merciless scourge of slavery in their hands." "Never," he +says, "since human sentiments and human conduct were influenced by +human speech was there a theme for eloquence like the free side of +this question.... Oh, if but one man could arise with a genius capable +of comprehending, and an utterance capable of communicating those +eternal truths that belong to this question, to lay bare in all its +nakedness that outrage upon the goodness of God, human slavery; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>(p. 121)</span> +now is the time and this is the occasion, upon which such a man +would perform the duties of an angel upon earth." Before the +Abolitionists had begun to preach their great crusade this was strong +and ardent language for a statesman's pen. Nor were these exceptional +passages; there is much more of the same sort at least equally +forcible. Mr. Adams notes an interesting remark made to him by Calhoun +at this time. The great Southern chief, less prescient than Mr. Adams, +declared that he did not think that the slavery question "would +produce a dissolution of the Union; but if it should, the South would +be from necessity compelled to form an alliance offensive and +defensive with Great Britain."</p> + +<p>Concerning a suggestion that civil war might be preferable to the +extension of slavery beyond the Mississippi, Adams said: "This is a +question between the rights of human nature and the Constitution of +the United States"—a form of stating the case which leaves no doubt +concerning his ideas of the intrinsic right and wrong in the matter. +His own notion was that slavery could not be got rid of within the +Union, but that the only method would be dissolution, after which he +trusted that the course of events would in time surely lead to +reorganization upon the basis of universal freedom for all. He +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>(p. 122)</span> +was not a disunionist in any sense, yet it is evident that his +strong tendency and inclination were to regard emancipation as a +weight in the scales heavier than union, if it should ever come to the +point of an option between the two.</p> + +<p>Strangely enough the notion of a forcible retention of the slave +States within the Union does not seem to have been at this time a +substantial element of consideration. Mr. Adams acknowledged that +there was no way at once of preserving the Union and escaping from the +present emergency save through the door of compromise. He maintained +strenuously the power of Congress to prohibit slavery in the +Territories, and denied that either Congress or a state government +could establish slavery as a new institution in any State in which it +was not already existing and recognized by law.</p> + +<p>This agitation of the slavery question made itself felt in a way +personally interesting to Mr. Adams, by the influence it was exerting +upon men's feelings concerning the still pending and dubious treaty +with Spain. The South became anxious to lay hands upon the Floridas +and upon as far-reaching an area as possible in the direction of +Mexico, in order to carve it up into more slave States; the North, on +the other hand, no longer cared very eagerly for an extension of the +Union upon its southern side. Sectional interests were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>(p. 123)</span> +getting to be more considered than national. Mr. Adams could not but +recognize that in the great race for the Presidency, in which he could +hardly help being a competitor, the chief advantage which he seemed to +have won when the Senate unanimously ratified the Spanish treaty, had +almost wholly vanished since that treaty had been repudiated by Spain +and was now no longer desired by a large proportion of his own +countrymen.</p> + +<p>Matters stood thus when the new Spanish envoy, Vivês, arrived. Other +elements, which there is not space to enumerate here, besides those +referred to, now entering newly into the state of affairs, further +reduced the improbability of agreement almost to hopelessness. Mr. +Adams, despairing of any other solution than a forcible seizure of +Florida, to which he had long been far from averse, now visibly +relaxed his efforts to meet the Spanish negotiator. Perhaps no other +course could have been more effectual in securing success than this +obvious indifference to it. In the prevalent condition of public +feeling and of his own sentiments Mr. Adams easily assumed towards +General Vivês a decisive bluntness, not altogether consonant to the +habits of diplomacy, and manifested an unchangeable stubbornness which +left no room for discussion. His position was simply that Spain might +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>(p. 124)</span> +make such a treaty as the United States demanded, or might +take the consequences of her refusal. His dogged will wore out the +Spaniard's pride, and after a fruitless delay the King and Cortes +ratified the treaty in its original shape, with the important addition +of an explicit annulment of the land grants. It was again sent in to +the Senate, and in spite of the "continued, systematic, and laborious +effort" of "Mr. Clay and his partisans to make it unpopular," it was +ratified by a handsome majority, there being against it "only four +votes—Brown, of Louisiana, who married a sister of Clay's wife; +Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, against his own better judgment, from +mere political subserviency to Clay; Williams, of Tennessee, from +party impulses connected with hatred of General Jackson; and Trimble, +of Ohio, from some maggot of the brain." Two years had elapsed since +the former ratification, and no little patience had been required to +await so long the final achievement of a success so ardently longed +for, once apparently gained, and anon so cruelly thwarted. But the +triumph was rather enhanced than diminished by all this difficulty and +delay. A long and checkered history, wherein appeared infinite labor, +many a severe trial of temper and hard test of moral courage, bitter +disappointment, ignoble artifices of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>(p. 125)</span> +opponents, ungenerous +opposition growing out of unworthy personal motives at home, was now +at last closed by a chapter which appeared only the more gratifying by +contrast with what had gone before. Mr. Adams recorded, with less of +exultation than might have been pardonable, the utter discomfiture of +"all the calculators of my downfall by the Spanish negotiation," and +reflected cheerfully that he had been left with "credit rather +augmented than impaired by the result,"—credit not in excess of his +deserts. Many years afterwards, in changed circumstances, an outcry +was raised against the agreement which was arrived at concerning the +southwestern boundary of Louisiana. Most unjustly it was declared that +Mr. Adams had sacrificed a portion of the territory of the United +States. But political motives were too plainly to be discerned in +these tardy criticisms; and though General Jackson saw fit, for +personal reasons, to animadvert severely upon the clause establishing +this boundary line, yet there was abundant evidence to show not only +that he, like almost everybody else, had been greatly pleased with it +at the time, but even that he had then upon consultation expressed a +deliberate and special approval.</p> + +<p>The same day, February 22, 1821, closed, says Mr. Adams, "two of the +most memorable transactions +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>(p. 126)</span> +of my life." That he should +speak thus of the exchange of ratifications of the Spanish treaty is +natural; but the other so "memorable transaction" may not appear of +equal magnitude. It was the sending in to Congress of his report upon +weights and measures. This was one of those vast labors, involving +tenfold more toil than all the negotiations with Onis and Vivês, but +bringing no proportionate fame, however well it might be performed. +The subject was one which had "occupied for the last sixty years many +of the ablest men in Europe, and to which all the power and all the +philosophical and mathematical learning and ingenuity of France and of +Great Britain" had during that period been incessantly directed. It +was fairly enough described as a "fearful and oppressive task." Upon +its dry and uncongenial difficulties Mr. Adams had been employed with +his wonted industry for upwards of four years; he now spoke of the +result modestly as "a hurried and imperfect work." But others, who +have had to deal with the subject, have found this report a solid and +magnificent monument of research and reflection, which has not even +yet been superseded by later treatises. Mr. Adams was honest in labor +as in everything, and was never careless at points where inaccuracy or +lack of thoroughness might be expected to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>(p. 127)</span> +escape detection. +Hence his success in a task upon which it is difficult to imagine +other statesmen of that day—Clay, Webster, or Calhoun, for +example—so much as making an effort. The topic is not one concerning +which readers would tolerate much lingering. Suffice it then to say +that the document illustrated the ability and the character of the +man, and so with this brief mention to dismiss in a paragraph an +achievement which, had it been accomplished in any more showy +department, would alone have rendered Mr. Adams famous.</p> + +<p>It is highly gratifying now to look back upon the high spirit and +independent temper uniformly displayed by Mr. Adams abroad and at home +in all dealings with foreign powers. Never in any instance did he +display the least tinge of that rodomontade and boastful extravagance +which have given an underbred air to so many of our diplomats, and +which inevitably cause the basis for such self-laudation to appear of +dubious sufficiency. But he had the happy gift of a native pride which +enabled him to support in the most effective manner the dignity of the +people for whom he spoke. For example, in treaties between the United +States and European powers the latter were for a time wont to name +themselves first throughout the instruments, contrary to the custom of +alternation practised in treaties between +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>(p. 128)</span> +themselves. With +some difficulty, partly interposed, it must be confessed, by his own +American coadjutors, Mr. Adams succeeded in putting a stop to this +usage. It was a matter of insignificant detail, in one point of view; +but in diplomacy insignificant details often symbolize important +facts, and there is no question that this habit had been construed as +a tacit but intentional arrogance of superiority on the part of the +Europeans.</p> + +<p>For a long period after the birth of the country there was a strong +tendency, not yet so eradicated as to be altogether undiscoverable, on +the part of American statesmen to keep one eye turned covertly askance +upon the trans-Atlantic courts, and to consider, not without a certain +anxious deference, what appearance the new United States might be +presenting to the critical eyes of foreign countries and diplomats. +Mr. Adams was never guilty of such indirect admissions of an +inferiority which apparently he never felt. In the matter of the +acquisition of Florida, Crawford suggested that England and France +regarded the people of the United States as ambitious and encroaching; +wherefore he advised a moderate policy in order to remove this +impression. Mr. Adams on the other side declared that he was not in +favor of our giving ourselves any concern whatever about +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>(p. 129)</span> +the +opinions of any foreign power. "If the world do not hold us for +Romans," he said, "they will take us for Jews, and of the two vices I +would rather be charged with that which has greatness mingled in its +composition." His views were broad and grand. He was quite ready to +have the world become "familiarized with the idea of considering our +proper dominion to be the continent of North America." This extension +he declared to be a "law of nature." To suppose that Spain and England +could, through the long lapse of time, retain their possessions on +this side of the Atlantic seemed to him a "physical, moral, and +political absurdity."</p> + +<p>The doctrine which has been christened with the name of President +Monroe seems likely to win for him the permanent glory of having +originated the wise policy which that familiar phrase now signifies. +It might, however, be shown that by right of true paternity the +bantling should have borne a different patronymic. Not only is the +"Monroe Doctrine," as that phrase is customarily construed in our day, +much more comprehensive than the simple theory first expressed by +Monroe and now included in the modern doctrine as a part in the whole, +but a principle more fully identical with the imperial one of to-day +had been conceived and shaped +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>(p. 130)</span> +by Mr. Adams before the +delivery of Monroe's famous message. As has just been remarked, he +looked forward to the possession of the whole North American continent +by the United States as a sure destiny, and for his own part, whenever +opportunity offered, he was never backward to promote this glorious +ultimate consummation. He was in favor of the acquisition of +Louisiana, whatever fault he might find with the scheme of Mr. +Jefferson for making it a state; he was ready in 1815 to ask the +British plenipotentiaries to cede Canada simply as a matter of common +sense and mutual convenience, and as the comfortable result of a war +in which the United States had been worsted; he never labored harder +than in negotiating for the Floridas, and in pushing our western +boundaries to the Pacific; in April, 1823, he wrote to the American +minister at Madrid the significant remark: "It is scarcely possible to +resist the conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our Federal +Republic will be indispensable to the continuance and integrity of the +Union." Encroachments never seemed distasteful to him, and he was +always forward to stretch a point in order to advocate or defend a +seizure of disputed North American territory, as in the cases of +Amelia Island, Pensacola, and Galveston. When discussion arose with +Russia concerning her +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>(p. 131)</span> +possessions on the northwest coast of +this continent, Mr. Adams audaciously told the Russian minister, Baron +Tuyl, July 17, 1823, "that we should contest the rights of Russia to +<i>any</i> territorial establishment on this continent, and that we should +assume distinctly the principle that the American continents are no +longer subjects for any new European colonial establishments." "This," +says Mr. Charles Francis Adams in a footnote to the passage in the +Diary, "is the first hint of the policy so well known afterwards as +the Monroe Doctrine." Nearly five months later, referring to the same +matter in his message to Congress, December 2, 1823, President Monroe +said: "The occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a +principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are +involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent +condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to +be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European +powers."</p> + +<p>It will be observed that both Mr. Adams and President Monroe used the +phrase "continents," including thereby South as well as North America. +A momentous question was imminent, which fortunately never called for +a determination by action, but which in this latter part of 1823 +threatened to do so at any moment. Cautious +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>(p. 132)</span> +and moderate as +the United States had been, under Mr. Adams's guidance, in recognizing +the freedom and autonomy of the South American states, yet in time the +recognition was made of one after another, and the emancipation of +South America had come, while Mr. Adams was yet Secretary, to be +regarded as an established fact. But now, in 1823-24, came mutterings +from across the Atlantic indicating a strong probability that the +members of the Holy Alliance would interfere in behalf of monarchical +and anti-revolutionary principles, and would assist in the +resubjugation of the successful insurgents. That each one of the +powers who should contribute to this huge crusade would expect and +receive territorial reward could not be doubted. Mr. Adams, in unison +with most of his countrymen, contemplated with profound distrust and +repulsion the possibility of such an European inroad. Stimulated by +the prospect of so unwelcome neighbors, he prepared some dispatches, +"drawn to correspond exactly" with the sentiments of Mr. Monroe's +message, in which he appears to have taken a very high and defiant +position. These documents, coming before the Cabinet for +consideration, caused some flutter among his associates. In the +possible event of the Holy Alliance actually intermeddling in South +American affairs, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>(p. 133)</span> +it was said, the principles enunciated by +the Secretary of State would involve this country in war with a very +formidable confederation. Mr. Adams acknowledged this, but +courageously declared that in such a crisis he felt quite ready to +take even this spirited stand. His audacious spirit went far in +advance of the cautious temper of the Monroe administration; possibly +it went too far in advance of the dictates of a wise prudence, though +fortunately the course of events never brought this question to trial; +and it is at least gratifying to contemplate such a manifestation of +daring temper.</p> + +<p>But though so bold and independent, Mr. Adams was not habitually +reckless nor prone to excite animosity by needless arrogance in action +or extravagance in principle. In any less perilous extremity than was +presented by this menaced intrusion of combined Europe he followed +rigidly the wise rule of non-interference. For many years before this +stage was reached he had been holding in difficult check the +enthusiasts who, under the lead of Mr. Clay, would have embroiled us +with Spain and Portugal. Once he was made the recipient of a very +amusing proposition from the Portuguese minister, that the United +States and Portugal, as "the two great powers of the western +hemisphere," should +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>(p. 134)</span> +concert together a grand American +system. The drollery of this notion was of a kind that Mr. Adams could +appreciate, though to most manifestations of humor he was utterly +impervious. But after giving vent to some contemptuous merriment he +adds, with a just and serious pride: "As to an American system, we +have it; we constitute the whole of it; there is no community of +interests or of principles between North and South America." This +sound doctrine was put forth in 1820; and it was only modified in the +manner that we have seen during a brief period in 1823, in face of the +alarming vision not only of Spain and Portugal restored to authority, +but of Russia in possession of California and more, France in +possession of Mexico, and perhaps Great Britain becoming mistress of +Cuba.</p> + +<p>So far as European affairs were concerned, Mr. Adams always and +consistently refused to become entangled in them, even in the +slightest and most indirect manner. When the cause of Greek liberty +aroused the usual throng of noisy advocates for active interference, +he contented himself with expressions of cordial sympathy, accompanied +by perfectly distinct and explicit statements that under no +circumstances could any aid in the way of money or auxiliary forces be +expected from this country. Neutrals we +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>(p. 135)</span> +were and would +remain in any and all European quarrels. When Stratford Canning urged, +with the uttermost measure of persistence of which even he was +capable, that for the suppression of the slave trade some such +arrangement might be made as that of mixed tribunals for the trial of +slave-trading vessels, and alleged that divers European powers were +uniting for this purpose, Mr. Adams suggested, as an insuperable +obstacle, "the general extra-European policy of the United States—a +policy which they had always pursued as best suited to their own +interests, and best adapted to harmonize with those of Europe. This +policy had also been that of Europe, which had never considered the +United States as belonging to her system.... It was best for both +parties that they should continue to do so." In any European +combinations, said Mr. Adams, in which the United States should become +a member, she must soon become an important power, and must always be, +in many respects, an uncongenial one. It was best that she should keep +wholly out of European politics, even of such leagues as one for the +suppression of the slave trade. He added, that he did not wish his +language to be construed as importing "an unsocial and sulky spirit on +the part of the United States;" for no such temper existed; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>(p. 136)</span> +it had simply been the policy of Europe to consider this country as +standing aloof from all European federations, and in this treatment +"we had acquiesced, because it fell in with our own policy."</p> + +<p>In a word, Mr. Adams, by his language and actions, established and +developed precisely that doctrine which has since been adopted by this +country under the doubly incorrect name of the "Monroe Doctrine,"—a +name doubly incorrect, because even the real "Monroe Doctrine" was not +an original idea of Mr. Monroe, and because the doctrine which now +goes by that name is not identical with the doctrine which Monroe did +once declare. Mr. Adams's principle was simply that the United States +would take no part whatsoever in foreign politics, not even in those +of South America, save in the extreme event, eliminated from among +things possible in this generation, of such an interference as was +contemplated by the Holy Alliance; and that, on the other hand, she +would permit no European power to gain any new foothold upon this +continent. Time and experience have not enabled us to improve upon the +principles which Mr. Adams worked out for us.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams had some pretty stormy times with Mr. Stratford Canning—the +same gentleman who in his later life is familiar to the readers of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>(p. 137)</span> +Kinglake's "History of the Crimean War" as Lord Stratford de +Redclyffe, or Eltchi. That minister's overbearing and dictatorial +deportment was afterwards not out of place when he was representing +the protecting power of Great Britain in the court of the "sick man." +But when he began to display his arrogance in the face of Mr. Adams he +found that he was bearding one who was at least his equal in pride and +temper. The naïve surprise which he manifested on making this +discovery is very amusing, and the accounts of the interviews between +the two are among the most pleasing episodes in the history of our +foreign relations. Nor are they less interesting as a sort of +confidential peep at the asperities of diplomacy. It appears that +besides the composed and formal dignity of phrase which alone the +public knows in published state papers and official correspondence, +there is also an official language of wrath and retort not at all +artificial or stilted, but quite homelike and human in its sound.</p> + +<p>One subject much discussed between Mr. Adams and Mr. Canning related +to the English propositions for joint efforts to suppress the slave +trade. Great Britain had engaged with much vigor and certainly with an +admirable humanity in this cause. Her scheme was that each power +should keep armed cruisers on the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>(p. 138)</span> +coast of Africa, that the +war-ships of either nation might search the merchant vessels of the +other, and that mixed courts of joint commissioners should try all +cases of capture. This plan had been urged upon the several European +nations, but with imperfect success. Portugal, Spain, and the +Netherlands had assented to it; Russia, France, Austria, and Prussia +had rejected it. Mr. Adams's notion was that the ministry were, in +their secret hearts, rather lukewarm in the business, but that they +were so pressed by "the party of the saints in Parliament" that they +were obliged to make a parade of zeal. Whether this suspicion was +correct or not, it is certain that Mr. Stratford Canning was very +persistent in the presentation of his demands, and could not be +persuaded to take No for an answer. Had it been possible to give any +more favorable reply no one in the United States in that day would +have been better pleased than Mr. Adams to do so. But the obstacles +were insuperable. Besides the undesirability of departing from the +"extra-European policy," the mixed courts would have been +unconstitutional, and could not have been established even by act of +Congress, while the claims advanced by Great Britain to search our +ships for English-born seamen in time of war utterly precluded the +possibility of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>(p. 139)</span> +admitting any rights of search whatsoever +upon her part, even in time of peace, for any purpose or in any shape. +In vain did the Englishman reiterate his appeal. Mr. Adams as often +explained that the insistence of England upon her outrageous claim had +rendered the United States so sensitive upon the entire subject of +search that no description of right of that kind could ever be +tolerated. "All concession of principle," he said, "tended to +encourage encroachment, and if naval officers were once habituated to +search the vessels of other nations in time of peace for one thing, +they would be still more encouraged to practise it for another thing +in time of war." The only way for Great Britain to achieve her purpose +would be "to bind herself by an article, as strong and explicit as +language can make it, never again in time of war to take a man from an +American vessel." This of course was an inadmissible proposition, and +so Mr. Stratford Canning's incessant urgency produced no substantial +results. This discussion, however, was generally harmonious. Once +only, in its earlier stages, Mr. Adams notes a remark of Mr. Canning, +repeated for the second time, and not altogether gratifying. He said, +writes Mr. Adams, "that he should always receive any observations that +I may make to him with a just deference to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>(p. 140)</span> +my advance of +years—over him. This is one of those equivocal compliments which, +according to Sterne, a Frenchman always returns with a bow."</p> + +<p>It was when they got upon the matter of the American settlement at the +mouth of the Columbia River, that the two struck fire. Possession of +this disputed spot had been taken by the Americans, but was broken up +by the British during the war of 1812. After the declaration of peace +upon the <i>status ante bellum</i>, a British government vessel had been +dispatched upon the special errand of making formal return of the port +to the Americans. In January, 1821, certain remarks made in debate in +the House of Representatives, followed soon afterward by publication +in the "National Intelligencer" of a paper signed by Senator Eaton, +led Mr. Canning to think that the Government entertained the design of +establishing a substantial settlement at the mouth of the river. On +January 26 he called upon Mr. Adams and inquired the intentions of the +Administration in regard to this. Mr. Adams replied that an increase +of the present settlement was not improbable. Thereupon Mr. Canning +dropping the air of "easy familiarity" which had previously marked the +intercourse between the two, and "assuming a tone more peremptory" +than Mr. Adams "was disposed to endure," expressed his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>(p. 141)</span> +great +surprise. Mr. Adams "with a corresponding change of tone" expressed +equal surprise, "both at the form and substance of his address." Mr. +Canning said that "he conceived such a settlement would be a direct +violation of the article of the Convention of 20th October, 1818." Mr. +Adams took down a volume, read the article, and said, "Now, sir, if +you have any charge to make against the American Government for a +violation of this article, you will please to make the communication +in writing." Mr. Canning retorted, with great vehemence:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "'And do you suppose, sir, that I am to be dictated to as to the + manner in which I may think proper to communicate with the + American Government?' I answered, 'No, sir. We know very well + what are the privileges of foreign ministers, and mean to respect + them. But you will give us leave to determine what communications + we will receive, and how we will receive them; and you may be + assured we are as little disposed to submit to dictation as to + exercise it.' He then, in a louder and more passionate tone of + voice, said: 'And am I to understand that I am to be refused + henceforth any conference with you upon the subject of my + mission?' 'Not at all, sir,' said I, 'my request is, that if you + have anything further to say to me <i>upon this subject</i>, you would + say it in writing. And my motive is to avoid what, both from the + nature of the subject and from the manner in which you +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>(p. 142)</span> + have thought proper to open it, I foresee will tend only to + mutual irritation, and not to an amicable arrangement.' With some + abatement of tone, but in the same peremptory manner, he said, + 'Am I to understand that you refuse any further conference with + me on this subject?' I said, 'No. But you will understand that I + am not pleased either with the grounds upon which you have sought + this conference, nor with the questions which you have seen fit + to put to me.'" +</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams then proceeded to expose the impropriety of a foreign +minister demanding from the Administration an explanation of words +uttered in debate in Congress, and also said that he supposed that the +British had no claim to the territory in question. Mr. Canning +rejoined, and referred to the sending out of the American ship of war +Ontario, in 1817, without any notice to the British +minister<a id="footnotetag3" name="footnotetag3"></a><a href="#footnote3">[3]</a> +at +Washington,—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "speaking in a very emphatic manner and as if there had been an + intended secret expedition ... which had been detected only by + the vigilance and penetration of the British minister. I + answered, 'Why, Mr. Bagot did say something to me about it; but I + certainly did not think him serious, and we had a good-humored + laughing conversation on the occasion.' Canning, with great + vehemence: 'You may rely upon it, sir, that it was no laughing + matter to him; for I have seen his report to his government and + <span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>(p. 143)</span> +know what his feelings concerning it were.' I replied, + 'This is the first intimation I have ever received that Mr. Bagot + took the slightest offence at what then passed between us, ... + and you will give me leave to say that when he left this + country'—Here I was going to add that the last words he said to + me were words of thanks for the invariable urbanity and + liberality of my conduct and the personal kindness which he had + uniformly received from me. But I could not finish the sentence. + Mr. Canning, in a paroxysm of extreme irritation, broke out: 'I + stop you there. I will not endure a misrepresentation of what I + say. I never said that Mr. Bagot took offence at anything that + had passed between him and you; and nothing that I said imported + any such thing.' Then ... added in the same passionate manner: 'I + am treated like a school-boy.' I then resumed: 'Mr. Canning, I + have a distinct recollection of the substance of the short + conversation between Mr. Bagot and me at that time; and it was + this'—'No doubt, sir,' said Canning, interrupting me again, 'no + doubt, sir, Mr. Bagot answered you like a man of good breeding + and good humor.'" +</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams began again and succeeded in making, without further +interruption, a careful recital of his talk with Mr. Bagot. While he +was speaking Mr. Canning grew cooler, and expressed some surprise at +what he heard. But in a few moments the conversation again became warm +and personal. Mr. Adams remarked that heretofore +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>(p. 144)</span> +he had +thrown off some of the "cautious reserve" which might have been +"strictly regular" between them, and that</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "'so long as his (Canning's) professions had been supported by + his conduct'—Here Mr. Canning again stopped me by repeating with + great vehemence, 'My conduct! I am responsible for my conduct + only to my government!'" +</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams replied, substantially, that he could respect the rights of +Mr. Canning and maintain his own, and that he thought the best mode of +treating this topic in future would be by writing. Mr. Canning then +expressed himself as</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "'willing to forget all that had now passed.' I told him that I + neither asked nor promised him to forget.... He asked again if he + was to understand me as refusing to confer with him further on + the subject. I said, 'No.' 'Would I appoint a time for that + purpose?' I said, 'Now, if he pleased.... But as he appeared to + be under some excitement, perhaps he might prefer some other + time, in which case I would readily receive him to-morrow at one + o'clock;' upon which he rose and took leave, saying he would come + at that time." +</p> + +<p>The next day, accordingly, this genial pair again encountered. Mr. +Adams noted at first in Mr. Canning's manner "an effort at coolness, +but +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>(p. 145)</span> +no appearance of cheerfulness or good humor. I saw there +was no relaxation of the tone he had yesterday assumed, and felt that +none would on my part be suitable." They went over quietly enough some +of the ground traversed the day before, Mr. Adams again explaining the +impropriety of Mr. Canning questioning him concerning remarks made in +debate in Congress. It was, he said, as if Mr. Rush, hearing in the +House of Commons something said about sending troops to the Shetland +Islands, should proceed to question Lord Castlereagh about it.</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "'Have you,' said Mr. Canning, 'any claim to the Shetland + Islands?' 'Have you any <i>claim</i>,' said I, 'to the mouth of + Columbia River?' 'Why, do you not <i>know</i>,' replied he, 'that we + have a claim?' 'I do not <i>know</i>,' said I, 'what you claim nor + what you do not claim. You claim India; you claim Africa; you + claim'—'Perhaps,' said he, 'a piece of the moon.' 'No,' said I, + 'I have not heard that you claim exclusively any part of the + moon; but there is not a spot on <i>this</i> habitable globe that I + could affirm you do not claim!'" +</p> + +<p>The conversation continued with alternations of lull and storm, Mr. +Canning at times becoming warm and incensed and interrupting Mr. +Adams, who retorted with a dogged asperity which must have been +extremely irritating. Mr. Adams said +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>(p. 146)</span> +that he did "not expect +to be plied with captious questions" to obtain indirectly that which +had been directly denied. Mr. Canning, "exceedingly irritated," +complained of the word "captious." Mr. Adams retaliated by reciting +offensive language used by Mr. Canning, who in turn replied that he +had been speaking only in self-defence. Mr. Canning found occasion to +make again his peculiarly rasping remark that he should always strive +to show towards Mr. Adams the deference due to his "more advanced +years." After another very uncomfortable passage, Mr. Adams said that +the behavior of Mr. Canning in making the observations of members of +Congress a basis of official interrogations was a pretension the more +necessary to be resisted because this</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "'was not the first time it had been raised by a British minister + here.' He asked, with great emotion, who that minister was. I + answered, 'Mr. Jackson.' 'And you got rid of him!' said Mr. + Canning, in a tone of violent passion—'and you got rid of + him!—and you got rid of him!' This repetition of the same words, + always in the same tone, was with pauses of a few seconds between + each of them, as if for a reply. I said: 'Sir, my reference to + the pretension of Mr. Jackson was not'—Here Mr. Canning + interrupted me by saying: 'If you think that by reference to Mr. + Jackson I am to be intimidated from +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>(p. 147)</span> +the performance of + my duty you will find yourself greatly mistaken.' 'I had not, + sir,' said I, 'the most distant intention of intimidating you + from the performance of your duty; nor was it with the intention + of alluding to any subsequent occurrences of his mission; + but'—Mr. Canning interrupted me again by saying, still in a tone + of high exasperation,—'Let me tell you, sir, that your reference + to the case of Mr. Jackson is <i>exceedingly offensive</i>.' 'I do not + know,' said I, 'whether I shall be able to finish what I intended + to say, under such continual interruptions.'" +</p> + +<p>Mr. Canning thereupon intimated by a bow his willingness to listen, +and Mr. Adams reiterated what in a more fragmentary way he had already +said. Mr. Canning then made a formal speech, mentioning his desire "to +cultivate harmony and smooth down all remnants of asperity between the +two countries," again gracefully referred to the deference which he +should at all times pay to Mr. Adams's age, and closed by declaring, +with a significant emphasis, that he would "never forget the respect +due from him <i>to the American Government</i>." Mr. Adams bowed in silence +and the stormy interview ended. A day or two afterward the disputants +met by accident, and Mr. Canning showed such signs of resentment that +there passed between them a "bare salutation."</p> + +<p>In +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>(p. 148)</span> +the condition of our relations with Great Britain at the +time of these interviews any needless ill-feeling was strongly to be +deprecated. But Mr. Adams's temperament was such that he always saw +the greater chance of success in strong and spirited conduct; nor +could he endure that the dignity of the Republic, any more than its +safety, should take detriment in his hands. Moreover he understood +Englishmen better perhaps than they have ever been understood by any +other of the public men of the United States, and he handled and +subdued them with a temper and skill highly agreeable to contemplate. +The President supported him fully throughout the matter, and the +discomfiture and wrath of Mr. Canning never became even indirectly a +cause of regret to the country.</p> + +<p>As the years allotted to Monroe passed on, the manœuvring among the +candidates for the succession to the Presidency grew in activity. +There were several possible presidents in the field, and during the +"era of good feeling" many an aspiring politician had his brief period +of mild expectancy followed in most cases only too surely by a +hopeless relegation to obscurity. There were, however, four whose +anticipations rested upon a substantial basis. William H. Crawford, +Secretary of the Treasury, had been the rival of Monroe for nomination +by the Congressional caucus, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>(p. 149)</span> +and had then developed +sufficient strength to make him justly sanguine that he might stand +next to Monroe in the succession as he apparently did in the esteem of +their common party. Mr. Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives, +had such expectations as might fairly grow out of his brilliant +reputation, powerful influence in Congress, and great personal +popularity. Mr. Adams was pointed out not only by his deserts but also +by his position in the Cabinet, it having been the custom heretofore +to promote the Secretary of State to the Presidency. It was not until +the time of election was near at hand that the strength of General +Jackson, founded of course upon the effect of his military prestige +upon the masses of the people, began to appear to the other +competitors a formidable element in the great rivalry. For a while Mr. +Calhoun might have been regarded as a fifth, since he had already +become the great chief of the South; but this cause of his strength +was likewise his weakness, since it was felt that the North was fairly +entitled to present the next candidate. The others, who at one time +and another had aspirations, like De Witt Clinton and Tompkins, were +never really formidable, and may be disregarded as insignificant +threads in the complex political snarl which must be unravelled.</p> + +<a id="img005" name="img005"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img005.jpg" width="400" height="595" +alt="Stratford Canning" title=""> +</div> +<a id="img005b" name="img005b"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img005b.jpg" width="400" height="104" +alt="Stratford Canning" title=""> +</div> + +<p>As +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>(p. 150)</span> +a study of the dark side of political society during this +period Mr. Adams's Diary is profoundly interesting. He writes with a +charming absence of reserve. If he thinks there is rascality at work, +he sets down the names of the knaves and expounds their various +villainies of act and motive with delightfully outspoken frankness. +All his life he was somewhat prone, it must be confessed, to +depreciate the moral characters of others, and to suspect unworthy +designs in the methods or ends of those who crossed his path. It was +the not unnatural result of his own rigid resolve to be honest. +Refraining with the stern conscientiousness, which was in the +composition of his Puritan blood, from every act, whether in public or +in private life, which seemed to him in the least degree tinged with +immorality, he found a sort of compensation for the restraints and +discomforts of his own austerity in judging severely the less +punctilious world around him. Whatever other faults he had, it is +unquestionable that his uprightness was as consistent and unvarying as +can be reached by human nature. Yet his temptations were made the +greater and the more cruel by the beliefs constantly borne in upon him +that his rivals did not accept for their own governance in the contest +the same rules by which he was pledged to himself to abide. Jealousy + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>(p. 151)</span> +enhanced suspicion, and suspicion in turn pricked jealousy. +It is necessary, therefore, to be somewhat upon our guard in accepting +his estimates of men and acts at this period; though the broad general +impression to be gathered from his treatment of his rivals, even in +these confidential pages, is favorable at least to his justice of +disposition and honesty of intention.</p> + +<p>At the outset Mr. Clay excited Mr. Adams's most lively resentment. The +policy which seemed most promising to that gentleman lay in antagonism +to the Administration, whereas, in the absence of substantial party +issues, there seemed, at least to members of that Administration, to +be no proper grounds for such antagonism. When, therefore, Mr. Clay +found or devised such grounds, the President and his Cabinet, vexed +and harassed by the opposition of so influential a man, not +unnaturally attributed his tactics to selfish and, in a political +sense, corrupt motives. Thus Mr. Adams stigmatized his opposition to +the Florida treaty as prompted by no just objection to its +stipulations, but by a malicious wish to bring discredit upon the +negotiator. Probably the charge was true, and Mr. Clay's honesty in +opposing an admirable treaty can only be vindicated at the expense of +his understanding,—an explanation certainly not to be accepted. But +when Mr. Adams attributed to the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>(p. 152)</span> +same motive of embarrassing +the Administration Mr. Clay's energetic endeavors to force a +recognition of the insurgent states of South America, he exaggerated +the inimical element in his rival's motives. It was the business of +the President and Cabinet, and preëminently of the Secretary of State, +to see to it that the country should not move too fast in this very +nice and perilous matter of recognizing the independence of rebels. +Mr. Adams was the responsible minister, and had to hold the reins; Mr. +Clay, outside the official vehicle, cracked the lash probably a little +more loudly than he would have done had he been on the coach-box. It +may be assumed that in advocating his various motions looking to the +appointment of ministers to the new states and to other acts of +recognition, he felt his eloquence rather fired than dampened by the +thought of how much trouble he was making for Mr. Adams; but that he +was at the same time espousing the cause to which he sincerely wished +well is probably true. His ardent temper was stirred by this struggle +for independence, and his rhetorical nature could not resist the +opportunities for fervid and brilliant oratory presented by this +struggle for freedom against mediæval despotism. Real convictions were +sometimes diluted with rodomontade, and a true feeling was to some +extent stimulated by the desire to embarrass a rival.</p> + +<p>Entire +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>(p. 153)</span> +freedom from prejudice would have been too much to +expect from Mr. Adams; but his criticisms of Clay are seldom marked by +any serious accusations or really bitter explosions of ill-temper. +Early in his term of office he writes that Mr. Clay has "already +mounted his South American great horse," and that his "project is that +in which John Randolph failed, to control or overthrow the Executive +by swaying the House of Representatives." Again he says that "Clay is +as rancorously benevolent as John Randolph." The sting of these +remarks lay rather in the comparison with Randolph than in their +direct allegations. In January, 1819, Adams notes that Clay has +"redoubled his rancor against me," and gives himself "free swing to +assault me ... both in his public speeches and by secret machinations, +without scruple or delicacy." The diarist gloomily adds, that "all +public business in Congress now connects itself with intrigues, and +there is great danger that the whole Government will degenerate into a +struggle of cabals." He was rather inclined to such pessimistic +vaticinations; but it must be confessed that he spoke with too much +reason on this occasion. In the absence of a sufficient supply of +important public questions to absorb the energies of the men in public +life, the petty game of personal politics was playing with unusual +zeal. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>(p. 154)</span> +As time went on, however, and the South American +questions were removed from the arena, Adams's ill-feeling towards +Clay became greatly mitigated. Clay's assaults and opposition also +gradually dwindled away; go-betweens carried to and fro disclaimers, +made by the principals, of personal ill-will towards each other; and +before the time of election was actually imminent something as near +the <i>entente cordiale</i> was established as could be reasonably expected +to exist between competitors very unlike both in moral and mental +constitution.<a id="footnotetag4" name="footnotetag4"></a><a href="#footnote4">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Adams's unbounded indignation and profound contempt were reserved +for Mr. Crawford, partly, it may be suspected by the cynically minded, +because Crawford for a long time seemed to be by far the most +formidable rival, but partly also because Crawford was in fact unable +to resist the temptation to use ignoble means for attaining an end +which he coveted too keenly for his own honor. It was only by degrees +that Adams began to suspect the underhand methods and malicious +practices of Crawford; but as conviction was gradually brought home to +him his native tendency towards suspicion was enhanced to an extreme +degree. He then +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155"></a>(p. 155)</span> +came to recognize in Crawford a wholly +selfish and scheming politician, who had the baseness to retain his +seat in Mr. Monroe's Cabinet with the secret persistent object of +giving the most fatal advice in his power. From that time forth he saw +in every suggestion made by the Secretary of the Treasury only an +insidious intent to lead the Administration, and especially the +Department of State, into difficulty, failure, and disrepute. He +notes, evidently with perfect belief, that for this purpose Crawford +was even covertly busy with the Spanish ambassador to prevent an +accommodation of our differences with Spain. "Oh, the windings of the +human heart!" he exclaims; "possibly Crawford is not himself conscious +of his real motives for this conduct." Even the slender measure of +charity involved in this last sentence rapidly evaporated from the +poisoned atmosphere of his mind. He mentions that Crawford has killed +a man in a duel; that he leaves unanswered a pamphlet "supported by +documents" exhibiting him "in the most odious light, as sacrificing +every principle to his ambition." Because Calhoun would not support +him for the Presidency, Crawford stimulated a series of attacks upon +the War Department. He was the "instigator and animating spirit of the +whole movement both in Congress and at Richmond against Jackson and +the Administration." +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>(p. 156)</span> +He was "a worm preying upon the vitals +of the Administration in its own body." He "solemnly deposed in a +court of justice that which is not true," for the purpose of bringing +discredit upon the testimony given by Mr. Adams in the same cause. But +Mr. Adams says of this that he cannot bring himself to believe that +Crawford has been guilty of wilful falsehood, though convicted of +inaccuracy by his own words; for "ambition debauches memory itself." A +little later he would have been less merciful. In some vexatious and +difficult commercial negotiations which Mr. Adams was conducting with +France, Crawford is "afraid of [the result] being too favorable."</p> + +<p>To form a just opinion of the man thus unpleasantly sketched is +difficult. For nearly eight years Mr. Adams was brought into close and +constant relations with him, and as a result formed a very low opinion +of his character and by no means a high estimate of his abilities. +Even after making a liberal allowance for the prejudice naturally +supervening from their rivalry there is left a residuum of +condemnation abundantly sufficient to ruin a more vigorous reputation +than Crawford has left behind him. Apparently Mr. Calhoun, though a +fellow Southerner, thought no better of the ambitious Georgian than +did Mr. Adams, to whom one day +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>(p. 157)</span> +he remarked that Crawford was +"a very singular instance of a man of such character rising to the +eminence he now occupies; that there has not been in the history of +the Union another man with abilities so ordinary, with services so +slender, and so thoroughly corrupt, who had contrived to make himself +a candidate for the Presidency." Nor was this a solitary expression of +the feelings of the distinguished South Carolinian.</p> + +<p>Mr. E. H. Mills, Senator from Massachusetts, and a dispassionate +observer, speaks of Crawford with scant favor as "coarse, rough, +uneducated, of a pretty strong mind, a great intriguer, and determined +to make himself President." He adds: "Adams, Jackson, and Calhoun all +think well of each other, and are united at least in one thing,—to +wit, a most thorough dread and abhorrence of Crawford."</p> + +<p>Yet Crawford was for many years not only never without eager +expectations of his own, which narrowly missed realization and might +not have missed it had not his health broken down a few months too +soon, but he had a large following, strong friends, and an extensive +influence. But if he really had great ability he had not the good +fortune of an opportunity to show it; and he lives in history rather +as a man from whom much was expected than as a man who +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158"></a>(p. 158)</span> +achieved much. One faculty, however, not of the best, but serviceable, +he had in a rare degree: he thoroughly understood all the artifices of +politics; he knew how to interest and organize partisans, to obtain +newspaper support, and generally to extend and direct his following +after that fashion which soon afterward began to be fully developed by +the younger school of our public men. He was the <i>avant courier</i> of a +bad system, of which the first crude manifestations were received with +well-merited disrelish by the worthier among his contemporaries.</p> + +<p>It is the more easy to believe that Adams's distrust of Crawford was a +sincere conviction, when we consider his behavior towards another +dangerous rival, General Jackson. In view of the new phase which the +relationship between these two men was soon to take on, Adams's hearty +championship of Jackson for several years prior to 1825 deserves +mention. The Secretary stood gallantly by the General at a crisis in +Jackson's life when he greatly needed such strong official backing, +and in an hour of extreme need Adams alone in the Cabinet of Monroe +lent an assistance which Jackson afterwards too readily forgot. Seldom +has a government been brought by the undue zeal of its servants into a +quandary more perplexing than that into which the reckless military +hero brought the Administration +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page159" name="page159"></a>(p. 159)</span> +of President Monroe. Turned +loose in the regions of Florida, checked only by an uncertain and +disputed boundary line running through half-explored forests, +confronted by a hated foe whose strength he could well afford to +despise, General Jackson, in a war properly waged only against +Indians, ran a wild and lawless, but very vigorous and effective, +career in Spanish possessions. He hung a couple of British subjects +with as scant trial and meagre shrift as if he had been a mediæval +free-lance; he marched upon Spanish towns and peremptorily forced the +blue-blooded commanders to capitulate in the most humiliating manner; +afterwards, when the Spanish territory had become American, in his +civil capacity as Governor, he flung the Spanish Commissioner into +jail. He treated instructions, laws, and established usages as teasing +cobwebs which any spirited public servant was in duty bound to break; +then he quietly stated his willingness to let the country take the +benefit of his irregular proceedings and make him the scapegoat or +martyr if such should be needed. How to treat this too successful +chieftain was no simple problem. He had done what he ought not to have +done, yet everybody in the country was heartily glad that he had done +it. He ought not to have hung Arbuthnot and Ambrister, nor to have +seized +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name="page160"></a>(p. 160)</span> +Pensacola, nor later on to have imprisoned Callava; +yet the general efficiency of his procedure fully accorded with the +secret disposition of the country. It was, however, not easy to +establish the propriety of his trenchant doings upon any acknowledged +principles of law, and during the long period through which these +disturbing feats extended, Jackson was left in painful solitude by +those who felt obliged to judge his actions by rule rather than by +sympathy. The President was concerned lest his Administration should +be brought into indefensible embarrassment; Calhoun was personally +displeased because the instructions issued from his department had +been exceeded; Crawford eagerly sought to make the most of such +admirable opportunities for destroying the prestige of one who might +grow into a dangerous rival; Clay, who hated a military hero, indulged +in a series of fierce denunciations in the House of Representatives; +Mr. Adams alone stood gallantly by the man who had dared to take +vigorous measures upon his own sole responsibility. His career touched +a kindred chord in Adams's own independent and courageous character, +and perhaps for the only time in his life the Secretary of State +became almost sophistical in the arguments by which he endeavored to +sustain the impetuous warrior against an adverse Cabinet. The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>(p. 161)</span> +authority given to Jackson to cross the Spanish frontier in +pursuit of the Indian enemy was justified as being only defensive +warfare; then "all the rest," argued Adams, "even to the order for +taking the Fort of Barrancas by storm, was incidental, deriving its +character from the object, which was not hostility to Spain, but the +termination of the Indian war." Through long and anxious sessions +Adams stood fast in opposing "the unanimous opinions" of the +President, Crawford, Calhoun, and Wirt. Their policy seemed to him a +little ignoble and wholly blundering, because, he said, "it is +weakness and a confession of weakness. The disclaimer of power in the +Executive is of dangerous example and of evil consequences. There is +injustice to the officer in disavowing him, when in principle he is +strictly justifiable." This behavior upon Mr. Adams's part was the +more generous and disinterested because the earlier among these doings +of Jackson incensed Don Onis extremely and were near bringing about +the entire disruption of that important negotiation with Spain upon +which Mr. Adams had so much at stake. But few civilians have had a +stronger dash of the fighting element than had Mr. Adams, and this +impelled him irresistibly to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jackson +in such an emergency, regardless of possible consequences to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>(p. 162)</span> +himself. He preferred to insist that the hanging of Arbuthnot and +Ambrister was according to the laws of war and to maintain that +position in the teeth of Stratford Canning rather than to disavow it +and render apology and reparation. So three years later when Jackson +was again in trouble by reason of his arrest of Callava, he still +found a stanch advocate in Adams, who, having made an argument for the +defence which would have done credit to a subtle-minded barrister, +concluded by adopting the sentiment of Hume concerning the execution +of Don Pantaleon de Sa by Oliver Cromwell,—if the laws of nations had +been violated, "it was by a signal act of justice deserving universal +approbation." Later still, on January 8, 1824, being the anniversary +of the victory of New Orleans, as if to make a conspicuous declaration +of his opinions in favor of Jackson, Mr. Adams gave a great ball in +his honor, "at which about one thousand persons +attended."<a id="footnotetag5" name="footnotetag5"></a><a href="#footnote5">[5]</a></p> + +<p>He +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>(p. 163)</span> +was in favor of offering to the General the position of +minister to Mexico; and before Jackson had developed into a rival of +himself for the Presidency, he exerted himself to secure the +Vice-Presidency for him. Thus by argument and by influence in the +Cabinet, in many a private interview, and in the world of society, +also by wise counsel when occasion offered, Mr. Adams for many years +made himself the noteworthy and indeed the only powerful friend of +General Jackson. Nor up to the last moment, and when Jackson had +become his most dangerous competitor, is there any derogatory passage +concerning him in the Diary.</p> + +<p>As the period of election drew nigh, interest in it absorbed +everything else; indeed during the last year of Monroe's +Administration public affairs were so quiescent and the public +business so seldom transcended the simplest routine, that there was +little else than the next Presidency to be thought or talked of. The +rivalship for this, as has been said, was based not upon conflicting +theories concerning public affairs, but solely upon individual +preference for one or another of four men no one of whom at that +moment represented any great principle in antagonism to any of the +others. Under no circumstances could the temptation to petty intrigue +and malicious tale-bearing be greater than when votes were +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>(p. 164)</span> +to be gained or lost solely by personal predilection. In such a +contest Adams was severely handicapped as against the showy prestige +of the victorious soldier, the popularity of the brilliant orator, and +the artfulness of the most dexterous political manager then in public +life. Long prior to this stage Adams had established his rule of +conduct in the campaign. So early as March, 1818, he was asked one day +by Mr. Everett whether he was "determined to do nothing with a view to +promote his future election to the Presidency as the successor of Mr. +Monroe," and he had replied that he "should do absolutely nothing." To +this resolution he sturdily adhered. Not a breach of it was ever +brought home to him, or indeed—save in one instance soon to be +noticed—seriously charged against him. There is not in the Diary the +faintest trace of any act which might be so much as questionable or +susceptible of defence only by casuistry. That he should have +perpetuated evidence of any flagrant misdoing certainly could not be +expected; but in a record kept with the fulness and frankness of this +Diary we should read between the lines and detect as it were in its +general flavor any taint of disingenuousness or concealment; we should +discern moral unwholesomeness in its atmosphere. A thoughtless +sentence would slip from the pen, a +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>(p. 165)</span> +sophistical argument +would be formulated for self-comfort, some acquaintance, interview, or +arrangement would slide upon some unguarded page indicative of +undisclosed matters. But there is absolutely nothing of this sort. +There is no tinge of bad color; all is clear as crystal. Not an +editor, nor a member of Congress, nor a local politician, not even a +private individual, was intimidated or conciliated. On the contrary it +often happened that those who made advances, at least sometimes +stimulated by honest friendship, got rebuffs instead of encouragement. +Even after the contest was known to have been transferred to the House +of Representatives, when Washington was actually buzzing with the +ceaseless whisperings of many secret conclaves, when the air was thick +with rumors of what this one had said and that one had done, when, as +Webster said, there were those who pretended to foretell how a +representative would vote from the way in which he put on his hat, +when of course stories of intrigue and corruption poisoned the honest +breeze, and when the streets seemed traversed only by the busy tread +of the go-betweens, the influential friends, the wire-pullers of the +various contestants,—still amid all this noisy excitement and extreme +temptation Mr. Adams held himself almost wholly aloof, wrapped in the +cloak +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>(p. 166)</span> +of his rigid integrity. His proud honesty was only not +quite repellent; he sometimes allowed himself to answer questions +courteously, and for a brief period held in check his strong natural +propensity to give offence and make enemies. This was the uttermost +length that he could go towards political corruption. He became for a +few weeks tolerably civil of speech, which after all was much for him +to do and doubtless cost him no insignificant effort. Since the days +of Washington he alone presents the singular spectacle of a candidate +for the Presidency deliberately taking the position, and in a long +campaign really never flinching from it: "that, if the people wish me +to be President I shall not refuse the office; but I ask nothing from +any man or from any body of men."</p> + +<p>Yet though he declined to be a courtier of popular favor he did not +conceal from himself or from others the chagrin which he would feel if +there should be a manifestation of popular disfavor. Before the +popular election he stated that if it should go against him he should +construe it as the verdict of the people that they were dissatisfied +with his services as a public man, and he should then retire to +private life, no longer expecting or accepting public functions. He +did not regard politics as a struggle in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>(p. 167)</span> +which, if he should +now be beaten in one encounter, he would return to another in the hope +of better success in time. His notion was that the people had had +ample opportunity during his incumbency in appointive offices to +measure his ability and understand his character, and that the action +of the people in electing or not electing him to the Presidency would +be an indication that they were satisfied or dissatisfied with him. In +the latter event he had nothing more to seek. Politics did not +constitute a profession or career in which he felt entitled to persist +in seeking personal success as he might in the law or in business. +Neither did the circumstances of the time place him in the position of +an advocate of any great principle which he might feel it his duty to +represent and to fight for against any number of reverses. No such +element was present at this time in national affairs. He construed the +question before the people simply as concerning their opinion of him. +He was much too proud to solicit and much too honest to scheme for a +favorable expression. It was a singular and a lofty attitude even if a +trifle egotistical and not altogether unimpeachable by argument. It +could not diminish but rather it intensified his interest in a contest +which he chose to regard not simply as a +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>(p. 168)</span> +struggle for a +glittering prize but as a judgment upon the services which he had been +for a lifetime rendering to his countrymen.</p> + +<p>How profoundly his whole nature was moved by the position in which he +stood is evident, often almost painfully, in the Diary. Any attempt to +conceal his feeling would be idle, and he makes no such attempt. He +repeats all the rumors which come to his ears; he tells the stories +about Crawford's illness; he records his own temptations; he tries +hard to nerve himself to bear defeat philosophically by constantly +predicting it; indeed, he photographs his whole existence for many +weeks; and however eagerly any person may aspire to the Presidency of +the United States there is little in the picture to make one long for +the preliminary position of candidate for that honor. It is too much +like the stake and the flames through which the martyr passed to +eternal beatitude, with the difference as against the candidate that +he has by no means the martyr's certainty of reward.</p> + +<p>In those days of slow communication it was not until December, 1824, +that it became everywhere known that there had been no election of a +president by the people. When the Electoral College met the result of +their ballots was as follows:—</p> + +<div class="quote"> +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>(p. 169)</span> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Result of the ballot"> +<colgroup> + <col class="c50"> + <col class="c20"> +</colgroup> + +<tbody> +<tr> + <td> +General Jackson led with + </td> + <td> +99 votes. + </td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td> +Adams followed with + </td> + <td> +84 " + </td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td> +Crawford had + </td> + <td> +41 " + </td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td> +Clay had + </td> + <td> +37 " + </td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td> + + </td> + <td> +--- + </td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td> +Total + </td> + <td> +261 votes. + </td> +</tr> + +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Calhoun was elected Vice-President by the handsome number of 182 +votes.</p> + +<p>This condition of the election had been quite generally anticipated; +yet Mr. Adams's friends were not without some feeling of +disappointment. They had expected for him a fair support at the South, +whereas he in fact received seventy-seven out of his eighty-four votes +from New York and New England; Maryland gave him three, Louisiana gave +him two, Delaware and Illinois gave him one each.</p> + +<p>When the electoral body was known to be reduced within the narrow +limits of the House of Representatives, intrigue was rather stimulated +than diminished by the definiteness which became possible for it. Mr. +Clay, who could not come before the House, found himself transmuted +from a candidate to a President-maker; for it was admitted by all that +his great personal influence in Congress would almost undoubtedly +confer success upon the aspirant whom he should favor. Apparently his +predilections were at least possibly in favor of Crawford; but +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>(p. 170)</span> +Crawford's health had been for many months very bad; he had had a +severe paralytic stroke, and when acting as Secretary of the Treasury +he had been unable to sign his name, so that a stamp or die had been +used; his speech was scarcely intelligible; and when Mr. Clay visited +him in the retirement in which his friends now kept him, the fact +could not be concealed that he was for the time at least a wreck. Mr. +Clay therefore had to decide for himself, his followers, and the +country whether Mr. Adams or General Jackson should be the next +President of the United States. A cruel attempt was made in this +crisis either to destroy his influence by blackening his character, or +to intimidate him, through fear of losing his reputation for +integrity, into voting for Jackson. An anonymous letter charged that +the friends of Clay had hinted that, "like the Swiss, they would fight +for those who pay best;" that they had offered to elect Jackson if he +would agree to make Clay Secretary of State, and that upon his +indignant refusal to make such a bargain the same proposition had been +made to Mr. Adams, who was found less scrupulous and had promptly +formed the "unholy coalition." This wretched publication, made a few +days before the election in the House, was traced to a dull-witted +Pennsylvania Representative by the name +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>(p. 171)</span> +of Kremer, who had +obviously been used as a tool by cleverer men. It met, however, the +fate which seems happily always to attend such ignoble devices, and +failed utterly of any more important effect than the utter +annihilation of Kremer. In truth, General Jackson's fate had been +sealed from the instant when it had fallen into Mr. Clay's hands. Clay +had long since expressed his unfavorable opinion of the "military +hero," in terms too decisive to admit of explanation or retraction. +Without much real liking for Adams, Clay at least disliked him much +less than he did Jackson, and certainly his honest judgment favored +the civilian far more than the disorderly soldier whose lawless career +in Florida had been the topic of some of the great orator's fiercest +invective. The arguments founded on personal fitness were strongly +upon the side of Adams, and other arguments advanced by the +Jacksonians could hardly deceive Clay. They insisted that their +candidate was the choice of the people so far as a superiority of +preference had been indicated, and that therefore he ought to be also +the choice of the House of Representatives. It would be against the +spirit of the Constitution and a thwarting of the popular will, they +said, to prefer either of his competitors. The fallacy of this +reasoning, if reasoning it could be called, was glaring. If the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>(p. 172)</span> +spirit of the Constitution required the House of Representatives +not to <i>elect</i> from three candidates before it, but only to induct an +individual into the Presidency by a process which was in form voting +but in fact only a simple certification that he had received the +highest number of electoral votes, it would have been a plain and easy +matter for the letter of the Constitution to have expressed this +spirit, or indeed to have done away altogether with this machinery of +a sham election. The Jackson men had only to state their argument in +order to expose its hollowness; for they said substantially that the +Constitution established an election without an option; that the +electors were to vote for a person predestined by an earlier +occurrence to receive their ballots. But besides their unsoundness in +argument, their statistical position was far from being what they +undertook to represent it. The popular vote had been so light that it +really looked as though the people had cared very little which +candidate should succeed; and to talk about a manifestation of the +<i>popular will</i> was absurd, for the only real manifestation had been of +popular indifference. For example, in 1823 Massachusetts had cast +upwards of 66,000 votes in the state election, whereas in this +national election she cast only a trifle more than 37,000. Virginia +distributed +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>(p. 173)</span> +a total of less than 15,000 among all four +candidates. Pluralities did not signify much in such a condition of +sentiment as was indicated by these figures. Moreover, in six States, +viz., Vermont, New York, Delaware, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, +the electors were chosen by the legislatures, not by the people; so +that there was no correct way of counting them at all in a discussion +of pluralities. Guesses and approximations favored Adams, and to an +important degree; for these six States gave to Adams thirty-six votes, +to Jackson nineteen, to Crawford six, to Clay four. In New York, +Jackson had hardly an appreciable following. Moreover, in other States +many thousands of votes which had been "cast for no candidate in +particular, but in opposition to the caucus ticket generally," were +reckoned as if they had been cast for Jackson or against Adams, as +suited the especial case. Undoubtedly Jackson did have a plurality, +but undoubtedly it fell very far short of the imposing figure, nearly +48,000, which his supporters had the audacity to name.</p> + +<p>The election took place in the House on February 9, 1825. Daniel +Webster and John Randolph were tellers, and they reported that there +were "for John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, thirteen votes; for +Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, seven votes; for William H. Crawford, +of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>(p. 174)</span> +Georgia, four votes." Thereupon the speaker announced Mr. +Adams to have been elected President of the United States.</p> + +<p>This end of an unusually exciting contest thus left Mr. Adams in +possession of the field, Mr. Crawford the victim of an irretrievable +defeat, Mr. Clay still hopeful and aspiring for a future which had +only disappointment in store for him, General Jackson enraged and +revengeful. Not even Mr. Adams was fully satisfied. When the committee +waited upon him to inform him of the election, he referred in his +reply to the peculiar state of things and said, "could my refusal to +accept the trust thus delegated to me give an opportunity to the +people to form and to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the +object of their preference, I should not hesitate to decline the +acceptance of this eminent charge and to submit the decision of this +momentous question again to their decision." That this singular and +striking statement was made in good faith is highly probable. William +H. Seward says that it was "unquestionably uttered with great +sincerity of heart." The test of action of course could not be +applied, since the resignation of Mr. Adams would only have made Mr. +Calhoun President, and could not have been so arranged as to bring +about a new election. Otherwise the course of his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>(p. 175)</span> +argument +would have been clear; the fact that such action involved an enormous +sacrifice would have been to his mind strong evidence that it was a +duty; and the temptation to perform a duty, always strong with him, +became ungovernable if the duty was exceptionally disagreeable. Under +the circumstances, however, the only logical conclusion lay in the +inauguration, which took place in the customary simple fashion on +March 4, 1825. Mr. Adams, we are told, was dressed in a black suit, of +which all the materials were wholly of American manufacture. Prominent +among those who after the ceremony hastened to greet him and to shake +hands with him appeared General Jackson. It was the last time that any +friendly courtesy is recorded as having passed between the two.</p> + +<p>Many men eminent in public affairs have had their best years +embittered by their failure to secure the glittering prize of the +Presidency. Mr. Adams is perhaps the only person to whom the gaining +of that proud distinction has been in some measure a cause of chagrin. +This strange sentiment, which he undoubtedly felt, was due to the fact +that what he had wished was not the office in and for itself, but the +office as a symbol or token of the popular approval. He had held +important and responsible public positions +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>(p. 176)</span> +during +substantially his whole active life; he was nearly sixty years old, +and, as he said, he now for the first time had an opportunity to find +out in what esteem the people of the country held him. What he wished +was that the people should now express their decided satisfaction with +him. This he hardly could be said to have obtained; though to be the +choice of a plurality in the nation and then to be selected by so +intelligent a body of constituents as the Representatives of the +United States involved a peculiar sanction, yet nothing else could +fully take the place of that national indorsement which he had +coveted. When men publicly profess modest depreciation of their +successes they are seldom believed; but in his private Diary Mr. Adams +wrote, on December 31, 1825:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "The year has been the most momentous of those that have passed + over my head, inasmuch as it has witnessed my elevation at the + age of fifty-eight to the Chief Magistracy of my country, to the + summit of laudable or at least blameless worldly ambition; not + however in a manner satisfactory to pride or to just desire; not + by the unequivocal suffrages of a majority of the people; with + perhaps two thirds of the whole people adverse to the actual + result." +</p> + +<p>No President since Washington had ever come into office so entirely +free from any manner of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177"></a>(p. 177)</span> +personal obligations or partisan +entanglements, express or implied, as did Mr. Adams. Throughout the +campaign he had not himself, or by any agent, held out any manner of +tacit inducement to any person whomsoever, contingent upon his +election. He entered upon the Presidency under no indebtedness. He at +once nominated his Cabinet as follows: Henry Clay, Secretary of State; +Richard Rush, Secretary of the Treasury; James Barbour, Secretary of +War; Samuel L. Southard, Secretary of the Navy; William Wirt, +Attorney-General. The last two were renominations of the incumbents +under Monroe. The entire absence of chicanery or the use of influence +in the distribution of offices is well illustrated by the following +incident: On the afternoon following the day of inauguration President +Adams called upon Rufus King, whose term of service as Senator from +New York had just expired, and who was preparing to leave Washington +on the next day. In the course of a conversation concerning the +nominations which had been sent to the Senate that forenoon the +President said that he had nominated no minister to the English court, +and</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "asked Mr. King if he would accept that mission. His first and + immediate impulse was to decline it. He said that his + determination to retire from the public service +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178"></a>(p. 178)</span> had + been made up, and that this proposal was utterly unexpected to + him. Of this I was aware; but I urged upon him a variety of + considerations to induce his acceptance of it.... I dwelt with + earnestness upon all these motives, and apparently not without + effect. He admitted the force of them, and finally promised fully + to consider of the proposal before giving me a definite answer." +</p> + +<p>The result was an acceptance by Mr. King, his nomination by the +President, and confirmation by the Senate. He was an old Federalist, +to whom Mr. Adams owed no favors. With such directness and simplicity +were the affairs of the Republic conducted. It is a quaint and +pleasing scene from the period of our forefathers: the President, +without discussion of "claims" to a distinguished and favorite post, +actually selects for it a member of a hostile political organization, +an old man retiring from public life; then quietly walks over to his +house, surprises him with the offer, and finding him reluctant +urgently presses upon him arguments to induce his acceptance. But the +whole business of office-seeking and office-distributing, now so +overshadowing, had no place under Mr. Adams. On March 5 he sent in +several nominations which were nearly all of previous incumbents. +"Efforts had been made," he writes, "by some of the senators to obtain +different +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page179" name="page179"></a>(p. 179)</span> +nominations, and to introduce a principle of +change or rotation in office at the expiration of these commissions, +which would make the Government a perpetual and unintermitting +scramble for office. A more pernicious expedient could scarcely have +been devised.... I determined to renominate every person against whom +there was no complaint which would have warranted his removal." A +notable instance was that of Sterret, naval officer at New Orleans, "a +noisy and clamorous reviler of the Administration," and lately busy in +a project for insulting a Louisiana Representative who had voted for +Mr. Adams. Secretary Clay was urgent for the removal of this man, +plausibly saying that in the cases of persons holding office at the +pleasure of the Administration the proper course was to avoid on the +one hand political persecution, and on the other any appearance of +pusillanimity. Mr. Adams replied that if Sterret had been actually +engaged in insulting a representative for the honest and independent +discharge of duty, he would make the removal at once. But the design +had not been consummated, and an <i>intention</i> never carried into effect +would scarcely justify removal.</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "Besides [he added], should I remove this man for this cause it + must be upon some fixed principle, which would apply to others as + well as to him. And where +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page180" name="page180"></a>(p. 180)</span> +was it possible to draw the + line? Of the custom-house officers throughout the Union, four + fifths in all probability were opposed to my election. Crawford, + Secretary of the Treasury, had distributed these positions among + his own supporters. I had been urged very earnestly and from + various quarters to sweep away my opponents and provide with + their places for my friends. I can justify the refusal to adopt + this policy only by the steadiness and consistency of my adhesion + to my own. If I depart from this in one instance I shall be + called upon by my friends to do the same in many. An invidious + and inquisitorial scrutiny into the personal dispositions of + public officers will creep through the whole Union, and the most + selfish and sordid passions will be kindled into activity to + distort the conduct and misrepresent the feelings of men whose + places may become the prize of slander upon them." +</p> + +<p>Mr. Clay was silenced, and Sterret retained his position, constituting +thereafter only a somewhat striking instance among many to show that +nothing was to be lost by political opposition to Mr. Adams.</p> + +<p>It was a cruel and discouraging fatality which brought about that a +man so suicidally upright in the matter of patronage should find that +the bitterest abuse which was heaped upon him was founded in an +allegation of corruption of precisely this nature. When before the +election the ignoble George Kremer anonymously charged that +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181"></a>(p. 181)</span> +Mr. Clay had sold his friends in the House of Representatives to Mr. +Adams, "as the planter does his negroes or the farmer his team and +horses;" when Mr. Clay promptly published the unknown writer as "a +base and infamous calumniator, a dastard and a liar;" when next +Kremer, being unmasked, avowed that he would make good his charges, +but immediately afterward actually refused to appear or testify before +a Committee of the House instructed to investigate the matter, it was +supposed by all reasonable observers that the outrageous accusation +Was forever laid at rest. But this was by no means the case. The +author of the slander had been personally discredited; but the slander +itself had not been destroyed. So shrewdly had its devisers who saw +future usefulness in it managed the matter, that while Kremer slunk +away into obscurity, the story which he had told remained an assertion +denied, but not disproved, still open to be believed by suspicious or +willing friends. With Adams President and Clay Secretary of State and +General Jackson nominated, as he quickly was by the Tennessee +Legislature, as a candidate for the next Presidential term, the +accusation was too plausible and too tempting to be allowed to fall +forever into dusty death; rather it was speedily exhumed from its +shallow burial and galvanized into +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182"></a>(p. 182)</span> +new life. The partisans +of General Jackson sent it to and fro throughout the land. No denial, +no argument, could kill it. It began to gain that sort of half belief +which is certain to result from constant repetition; since many minds +are so constituted that truth may be actually, as it were, +manufactured for them by ceaseless iteration of statement, the many +hearings gaining the character of evidence.</p> + +<p>It is long since all students of American history, no matter what are +their prejudices, or in whose interest their researches are +prosecuted, have branded this accusation as devoid of even the most +shadowy basis of probability, and it now gains no more credit than +would a story that Adams, Clay, and Jackson had conspired together to +get Crawford out of their way by assassination, and that his paralysis +was the result of the drugs and potions administered in performance of +this foul plot. But for a while the rumor stalked abroad among the +people, and many conspicuously bowed down before it because it served +their purpose, and too many others also, it must be confessed, did +likewise because they were deceived and really believed it. Even the +legislature of Tennessee were not ashamed to give formal countenance +to a calumny in support of which not a particle of evidence had ever +been adduced. In a preamble to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183"></a>(p. 183)</span> +certain resolutions passed by +this body upon this subject in 1827, it was recited that: "Mr. Adams +desired the office of President; he went into the combination without +it, and came out with it. Mr. Clay desired that of Secretary of State; +he went into the combination without it, and came out with it." No +other charge could have wounded Mr. Adams so keenly; yet no course was +open to him for refuting the slander. Mr. Clay, beside himself with a +just rage, was better able to fight after the fashion of the day—if +indeed he could only find somebody to fight. This he did at last in +the person of John Randolph, of Roanoke, who adverted in one of his +rambling and vituperative harangues to "the coalition of Blifil and +Black George—the combination unheard of till then of the Puritan and +the black-leg." This language led naturally enough to a challenge from +Mr. Clay. The parties +met<a id="footnotetag6" name="footnotetag6"></a><a href="#footnote6">[6]</a> +and exchanged shots without result. The +pistols were a second time loaded; Clay fired; Randolph fired into the +air, walked up to Clay and without a word gave him his hand, which +Clay had as it were perforce to take. There was no injury done save to +the skirts of Randolph's long flannel coat which were pierced by one +of the bullets.</p> + +<p>By way of revenge a duel may be effective if the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184"></a>(p. 184)</span> +wrong man +does not happen to get shot; but as evidence for intelligent men a +bloodier ending than this would have been inconclusive. It so +happened, however, that Jackson, altogether contrary to his own +purpose, brought conclusive aid to President Adams and Secretary Clay. +Whether the General ever had any real faith in the charge can only be +surmised. Not improbably he did, for his mental workings were so +peculiar in their violence and prejudice that apparently he always +sincerely believed all persons who crossed his path to be knaves and +villains of the blackest dye. But certain it is that whether he +credited the tale or not he soon began to devote himself with all his +wonted vigor and pertinacity to its wide dissemination. Whether in so +doing he was stupidly believing a lie, or intentionally spreading a +known slander, is a problem upon which his friends and biographers +have exhausted much ingenuity without reaching any certain result. But +sure it is that early in the year 1827 he was so far carried beyond +the bounds of prudence as to declare before many persons that he had +proof of the corrupt bargain. The assertion was promptly sent to the +newspapers by a Mr. Carter Beverly, one of those who heard it made in +the presence of several guests at the Hermitage. The name of Mr. +Beverly, at first concealed, soon +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185"></a>(p. 185)</span> +became known, and he was +of course compelled to vouch in his principal. General Jackson never +deserted his adherents, whether their difficulties were noble or +ignoble. He came gallantly to the aid of Mr. Beverly, and in a letter +of June 6 declared that early in January, 1825, he had been visited by +a "member of Congress of high respectability," who had told him of "a +great intrigue going on" of which he ought to be informed. This +gentleman had then proceeded to explain that Mr. Clay's friends were +afraid that if General Jackson should be elected President, "Mr. Adams +would be continued Secretary of State (innuendo, there would be no +room for Kentucky); that if I would say, or permit any of my +confidential friends to say, that in case I were elected President, +Mr. Adams should not be continued Secretary of State, by a complete +union of Mr. Clay and his friends they would put an end to the +Presidential contest in one hour. And he was of opinion it was right +to fight such intriguers with their own weapons." This scarcely +disguised suggestion of bargain and corruption the General said that +he repudiated indignantly. Clay at once publicly challenged Jackson to +produce some evidence—to name the "respectable" member of Congress +who appeared in the very unrespectable light of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186"></a>(p. 186)</span> +advising a +candidate for the Presidency to emulate the alleged baseness of his +opponents. Jackson thereupon uncovered James Buchanan, of +Pennsylvania. Mr. Buchanan was a friend of the General, and to what +point it may have been expected or hoped that his allegiance would +carry him in support of his chief in this dire hour of extremity is +matter only of inference. Fortunately, however, his fealty does not +appear to have led him any great distance from the truth. He yielded +to the prevailing desire to pass along the responsibility to some one +else so far as to try to bring in a Mr. Markley, who, however, never +became more than a dumb figure in the drama in which Buchanan was +obliged to remain as the last important character. With obvious +reluctance this gentleman then wrote that if General Jackson had +placed any such construction as the foregoing upon an interview which +had occurred between them, and which he recited at length, then the +General had totally misconstrued—as was evident enough—what he, Mr. +Buchanan, had said. Indeed, that Jackson could have supposed him to +entertain the sentiments imputed to him made Mr. Buchanan, as he said, +"exceedingly unhappy." In other words, there was no foundation +whatsoever for the charge thus traced back to an originator who denied +having originated +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187"></a>(p. 187)</span> +it and said that it was all a mistake. +General Jackson was left to be defended from the accusation of +deliberate falsehood only by the charitable suggestion that he had +been unable to understand a perfectly simple conversation. Apparently +Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay ought now to be abundantly satisfied, since not +only were they amply vindicated, but their chief vilifier seemed to +have been pierced by the point which he had sharpened for them. They +had yet, however, to learn what vitality there is in falsehood.</p> + +<p>General Jackson and his friends had alone played any active part in +this matter. Of these friends Mr. Kremer had written a letter of +retraction and apology which he was with difficulty prevented from +publishing; Mr. Buchanan had denied all that he had been summoned to +prove; a few years later Mr. Beverly wrote and sent to Mr. Clay a +contrite letter of regret. General Jackson alone remained for the rest +of his life unsilenced, obstinately reiterating a charge disproved by +his own witnesses. But worse than all this, accumulations of evidence +long and laboriously sought in many quarters have established a +tolerably strong probability that advances of precisely the character +alleged against Mr. Adams's friends were made to Mr. Clay by the most +intimate personal associates of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188"></a>(p. 188)</span> +General Jackson. The +discussion of this unpleasant suspicion would not, however, be an +excusable episode in this short volume. The reader who is curious to +pursue the matter further will find all the documentary evidence +collected in its original shape in the first volume of Colton's "Life +of Clay," accompanied by an argument needlessly elaborate and +surcharged with feeling yet in the main sufficiently fair and +exhaustive.</p> + +<p>Mr. Benton says that "no President could have commenced his +administration under more unfavorable auspices, or with less +expectation of a popular career," than did Mr. Adams. From the first a +strong minority in the House of Representatives was hostile to him, +and the next election made this a majority. The first indication of +the shape which the opposition was to take became visible in the vote +in the Senate upon confirming Mr. Clay as Secretary of State. There +were fourteen nays against twenty-seven yeas, and an inspection of the +list showed that the South was beginning to consolidate more closely +than heretofore as a sectional force in politics. The formation of a +Southern party distinctly organized in the interests of slavery, +already apparent in the unanimity of the Southern Electoral Colleges +against Mr. Adams, thus received further illustration; and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189"></a>(p. 189)</span> +the skilled eye of the President noted "the rallying of the South and +of Southern interests and prejudices to the men of the South." It is +possible now to see plainly that Mr. Adams was really the first leader +in the long crusade against slavery; it was in opposition to him that +the South became a political unit; and a true instinct taught him the +trend of Southern politics long before the Northern statesmen +apprehended it, perhaps before even any Southern statesman had +distinctly formulated it. This new development in the politics of the +country soon received further illustration. The first message which +Mr. Adams had occasion to send to Congress gave another opportunity to +his ill-wishers. Therein he stated that the invitation which had been +extended to the United States to be represented at the Congress of +Panama had been accepted, and that he should commission ministers to +attend the meeting. Neither in matter nor in manner did this +proposition contain any just element of offence. It was customary for +the Executive to initiate new missions simply by the nomination of +envoys to fill them; and in such case the Senate, if it did not think +the suggested mission desirable, could simply decline to confirm the +nomination upon that ground. An example of this has been already seen +in the two nominations of Mr. Adams +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190"></a>(p. 190)</span> +himself to the Court of +Russia in the Presidency of Mr. Madison. But now vehement assaults +were made upon the President, alike in the Senate and in the House, on +the utterly absurd ground that he had transcended his powers. +Incredible, too, as it may seem at this day it was actually maintained +that there was no occasion whatsoever for the United States to desire +representation at such a gathering. Prolonged and bitter was the +opposition which the Administration was compelled to encounter in a +measure to which there so obviously ought to have been instant assent +if considered solely upon its intrinsic merits, but upon which +nevertheless the discussion actually overshadowed all other questions +which arose during the session. The President had the good fortune to +find the powerful aid of Mr. Webster enlisted in his behalf, and +ultimately he prevailed; but it was of ill augury at this early date +to see that personal hostility was so widespread and so rancorous that +it could make such a prolonged and desperate resistance with only the +faintest pretext of right as a basis for its action. Yet a great and +fundamental cause of the feeling manifested lay hidden away beneath +the surface in the instinctive antipathy of the slaveholders to Mr. +Adams and all his thoughts, his ways, and his doings. For into this +question of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page191" name="page191"></a>(p. 191)</span> +countenancing the Panama Congress, slavery and +"the South" entered and imported into a portion of the opposition a +certain element of reasonableness and propriety in a political sense. +When we see the Southern statesmen banded against President Adams in +these debates, as we know the future which was hidden from them, it +almost makes us believe that their vindictiveness was justified by an +instinctive forecasting of his character and his mission in life, and +that without knowing it they already felt the influence of the acts +which he was yet to do against them. For the South, without present +dread of an abolition movement, yet hated this Panama Congress with a +contemptuous loathing not alone because the South American states had +freed all slaves within their limits, but because there was actually a +fair chance that Hayti would be admitted to representation at the +sessions as a sovereign state. That the President of the United States +should propose to send white citizens of that country to sit cheek by +jowl on terms of official equality with the revolted blacks of Hayti +fired the Southern heart with rage inexpressible. The proposition was +a further infusion of cement to aid in the Southern consolidation so +rapidly going forward, and was substantially the beginning of the +sense of personal alienation henceforth +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page192" name="page192"></a>(p. 192)</span> +to grow steadily +more bitter on the part of the slaveholders towards Mr. Adams. Without +designing it he had struck the first blow in a fight which was to +absorb his energies for the rest of his life.</p> + +<p>Such evil forebodings as might too easily be drawn from the course of +this debate were soon and amply fulfilled. The opposition increased +rapidly until when Congress came together in December, 1827, it had +attained overshadowing proportions. Not only was a member of that +party elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, but a decided +majority of both Houses of Congress was arrayed against the +Administration—"a state of things which had never before occurred +under the Government of the United States." All the committees too +were composed of four opposition and only three Administration +members. With more exciting issues this relationship of the executive +and legislative departments might have resulted in dangerous +collisions; but in this season of political quietude it only made the +position of the President extremely uncomfortable. Mr. Van Buren soon +became recognized as the formidable leader and organizer of the +Jackson forces. His capacity as a political strategist was so far in +advance of that of any other man of those times that it might have +secured success even had +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193"></a>(p. 193)</span> +he been encountered by tactics +similar to his own. But since on the contrary he had only to meet +straightforward simplicity, it was soon apparent that he would have +everything his own way. It was disciplined troops against the militia +of honest merchants and farmers; and the result was not to be doubted. +Mr. Adams and his friends were fond of comparing Van Buren with Aaron +Burr, though predicting that he would be too shrewd to repeat Burr's +blunders. From the beginning they declined to meet with his own +weapons a man whom they so contemned. It was about this time that a +new nomenclature of parties was introduced into our politics. The +administrationists called themselves National Republicans, a name +which in a few years was changed for that of Whigs, while the +opposition or Jacksonians were known as Democrats, a title which has +been ever since retained by the same party.</p> + +<p>The story of Mr. Adams's Administration will detain the historian, and +even the biographer, only a very short time. Not an event occurred +during those four years which appears of any especial moment. Our +foreign relations were all pacific; and no grave crisis or great issue +was developed in domestic affairs. It was a period of tranquillity, in +which the nation advanced rapidly in prosperity. For many years +dulness had +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194"></a>(p. 194)</span> +reigned in business, but returning activity was +encouraged by the policy of the new Government, and upon all sides +various industries became active and thriving. So far as the rule of +Mr. Adams was marked by any distinguishing characteristic, it was by a +care for the material welfare of the people. More commercial treaties +were negotiated during his Administration than in the thirty-six years +preceding his inauguration. He was a strenuous advocate of internal +improvements, and happily the condition of the national finances +enabled the Government to embark in enterprises of this kind. He +suggested many more than were undertaken, but not perhaps more than it +would have been quite possible to carry out. He was always chary of +making a show of himself before the people for the sake of gaining +popularity. When invited to attend the annual exhibition of the +Maryland Agricultural Society, shortly after his inauguration, he +declined, and wrote in his Diary: "To gratify this wish I must give +four days of my time, no trifle of expense, and set a precedent for +being claimed as an article of exhibition at all the cattle-shows +throughout the Union." Other gatherings would prefer equally +reasonable demands, in responding to which "some duty must be +neglected." But the opening of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was an +event +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195"></a>(p. 195)</span> +sufficiently momentous and national in its character +to justify the President's attendance. He was requested in the +presence of a great concourse of people to dig the first shovelful of +earth and to make a brief address. The speech-making was easy; but +when the digging was to be done he encountered some unexpected +obstacle and the soil did not yield to his repeated efforts. Not to be +defeated, however, he stripped off his coat, went to work in earnest +with the spade and raised the earth successfully. Naturally such +readiness was hailed with loud applause and pleased the great crowd +who saw it. But in Mr. Adams's career it was an exceptional occurrence +that enabled him to conciliate a momentary popularity; it was seldom +that he enjoyed or used an opportunity of gaining the cheap admiration +or shallow friendship of the multitude.</p> + +<p>At least one moral to be drawn from the story of Mr. Adams's +Presidency perhaps deserves rather to be called an <i>immoral</i>, and +certainly furnishes unwelcome support to those persons who believe +that conscientiousness is out of place in politics. It has been said +that no sooner was General Jackson fairly defeated than he was again +before the people as a candidate for the next election. An opposition +to the new Administration was in process of formation actually before +there had been time for that Administration to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196"></a>(p. 196)</span> +declare, much +less to carry out, any policy or even any measure. The opposition was +therefore not one of principle; it was not dislike of anything done or +to be done; it did not pretend to have a purpose of saving the people +from blunders or of offering them greater advantages. It was simply an +opposition, or more properly an hostility, to the President and his +Cabinet, and was conducted by persons who wished in as short a time as +possible themselves to control and fill those positions. The sole +ground upon which these opponents stood was, that they would rather +have General Jackson at the head of affairs than Mr. Adams. The issue +was purely personal; it was so when the opposition first developed, +and it remained so until that opposition triumphed.</p> + +<p>Under no circumstances can it be more excusable for an elective +magistrate to seek personal good will towards himself than when his +rival seeks to supplant him simply on the basis of enjoying a greater +measure of such good will. Had any important question of policy been +dividing the people, it would have been easy for a man of less moral +courage and independence than belonged to Mr. Adams to select the side +which he thought right, and to await the outcome at least with +constancy. But the only real question raised was this: will Mr. Adams +or General Jackson—two +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197"></a>(p. 197)</span> +individuals representing as yet no +antagonistic policies—be preferred by the greater number of voters in +1829? If, however, there was no great apparent issue open between +these two men, at least there was a very wide difference between their +characters, a point of some consequence in a wholly personal +competition. It is easy enough now to see how this gaping difference +displayed itself from the beginning, and how the advantage for winning +was throughout wholly on the side of Jackson. The course to be pursued +by Mr. Adams in order to insure victory was obvious enough; being +simply to secure the largest following and most efficient support +possible. The arts by which these objects were to be attained were not +obscure nor beyond his power. If he wished a second term, as beyond +question he did, two methods were of certain utility. He should make +the support of his Administration a source of profit to the +supporters; and he should conciliate good will by every means that +offered. To the former end what more efficient means could be devised +than a body of office-holders owing their positions to his appointment +and likely to have the same term of office as himself? His neglect to +create such a corps of stanch supporters cannot be explained on the +ground that so plain a scheme of perpetuating power +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198"></a>(p. 198)</span> +had not +then been devised in the Republic. Mr. Jefferson had practised it, to +an extent which now seems moderate, but which had been sufficiently +extensive to deprive any successor of the honor of novelty in +originating it. The times were ripe for it, and the nation would not +have revolted at it, as was made apparent when General Jackson, +succeeding Mr. Adams, at once carried out the system with a +thoroughness that has never been surpassed, and with a success in +achieving results so great that almost no politician has since failed +to have recourse to the same practice. Suggestions and temptations, +neither of which were wanting, were however alike thrown away upon Mr. +Adams. Friendship or hostility to the President were the only two +matters which were sure to have no effect whatsoever upon the fate of +an incumbent or an aspirant. Scarcely any removals were made during +his Administration, and every one of the few was based solely upon a +proved unfitness of the official. As a consequence very few new +appointments were made, and in every instance the appointee was, or +was believed to be, the fittest man without regard to his political +bias. This entire elimination of the question of party allegiance from +every department of the public service was not a specious +protestation, but an undeniable fact at which friends grumbled +bitterly, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199"></a>(p. 199)</span> +and upon which foes counted often with an +ungenerous but always with an implicit reliance. It was well known, +for example, that in the Customs Department there were many more +avowed opponents than supporters of the Administration. What was to be +thought, the latter angrily asked, of a president who refused to make +any distinction between the sheep and the goats? But while Mr. Adams, +unmoved by argument, anger, or entreaty, thus alienated many and +discouraged all, every one was made acquainted with the antipodal +principles of his rival. The consequence was inevitable; many +abandoned Adams from sheer irritation; multitudes became cool and +indifferent concerning him; the great number of those whose political +faith was so weak as to be at the ready command of their own +interests, or the interests of a friend or relative, yielded to a +pressure against which no counteracting force was employed. In a word, +no one who had not a strong and independent personal conviction in +behalf of Mr. Adams found the slightest inducement to belong to his +party. It did not require much political sagacity to see that in quiet +times, with no great issue visibly at stake, a following thus composed +could not include a majority of the nation. It is true that in fact +there was opening an issue as great as has ever been presented to the +American people,—an +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200"></a>(p. 200)</span> +issue between government conducted with +a sole view to efficiency and honesty and government conducted very +largely, if not exclusively, with a view to individual and party +ascendency. The new system afterward inaugurated by General Jackson, +directly opposite to that of Mr. Adams and presenting a contrast to it +as wide as is to be found in history, makes this fact glaringly plain +to us. But during the years of Mr. Adams's Administration it was dimly +perceived only by a few. Only one side of the shield had then been +shown. The people did not appreciate that Adams and Jackson were +representatives of two conflicting principles of administration which +went to the very basis of our system of government. Had the issue been +as apparent and as well understood then as it is now, in retrospect, +the decision of the nation might have been different. But +unfortunately the voters only beheld two individuals pitted against +each other for the popular suffrage, of whom one, a brilliant soldier, +would stand by and reward his friends, and the other, an uninteresting +civilian, ignored all distinction between friend and foe.</p> + +<p>It was not alone in the refusal to use patronage that Mr. Adams's +rigid conscientiousness showed itself. He was equally obstinate in +declining ever to stretch a point however slightly in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201"></a>(p. 201)</span> +order +to win the favor of any body of the people whether large or small. He +was warned that his extensive schemes for internal improvement would +alienate especially the important State of Virginia. He could not of +course be expected to change his policy out of respect to Virginian +prejudices; but he was advised to mitigate his expression of that +policy, and to some extent it was open to him to do so. But he would +not; his utterances went the full length of his opinions, and he +persistently urged upon Congress many plans which he approved, but +which he could not have the faintest hopes of seeing adopted. The +consequence was that he displeased Virginia. He notes the fact in the +Diary in the tone of one who endures persecution for righteousness' +sake, and who means to be very stubborn in his righteousness. Again it +was suggested to him to embody in one of his messages "something +soothing for South Carolina." But there stood upon the statute books +of South Carolina an unconstitutional law which had greatly +embarrassed the national government, and which that rebellious little +State with characteristic contumaciousness would not repeal. Under +such circumstances, said Mr. Adams, I have no "soothing" words for +South Carolina.</p> + +<p>It was not alone by what he did and by what he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202"></a>(p. 202)</span> +would not do +that Mr. Adams toiled to insure the election of General Jackson far +more sedulously and efficiently than did the General himself or any of +his partisans. In most cases it was probably the manner quite as much +as the act which made Mr. Adams unpopular. In his anxiety to be +upright he was undoubtedly prone to be needlessly disagreeable. His +uncompromising temper put on an ungracious aspect. His +conscientiousness wore the appearance of offensiveness. The Puritanism +in his character was strongly tinged with that old New England notion +that whatever is disagreeable is probably right, and that a painful +refusal would lose half its merit in being expressed courteously; that +a right action should never be done in a pleasing way; not only that +no pill should be sugar-coated, but that the bitterest ingredient +should be placed on the outside. In repudiating attractive vices the +Puritans had rejected also those amenities which might have decently +concealed or even mildly decorated the forbidding angularities of a +naked Virtue which certainly did not imitate the form of any goddess +who had ever before attracted followers. Mr. Adams was a complete and +thorough Puritan, wonderfully little modified by times and +circumstances. The ordinary arts of propitiation would have appeared +to him only a feeble and diluted +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203"></a>(p. 203)</span> +form of dishonesty; while +suavity and graciousness of demeanor would have seemed as unbecoming +to this rigid official as love-making or wine-bibbing seem to a +strait-laced parson. It was inevitable, therefore, that he should +never avert by his words any ill-will naturally caused by his acts; +that he should never soothe disappointment, or attract calculating +selfishness. He was an adept in alienation, a novice in conciliation. +His magnetism was negative. He made few friends; and had no interested +following whatsoever. No one was enthusiastic on his behalf; no band +worked for him with the ardor of personal devotion. His party was +composed of those who had sufficient intelligence to appreciate his +integrity and sufficient honesty to admire it. These persons respected +him, and when election day came they would vote for him; but they did +not canvass zealously in his behalf, nor do such service for him as a +very different kind of feeling induced the Jackson men to do for their +candidate.<a id="footnotetag7" name="footnotetag7"></a><a href="#footnote7">[7]</a> +The fervid laborers in politics left +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204"></a>(p. 204)</span> +Mr. Adams +alone in his chilling respectability, and went over to a camp where +all scruples were consumed in the glowing heat of a campaign conducted +upon the single and simple principle of securing victory.</p> + +<p class="p2"> </p> + +<p>Mr. Adams's relations with the members of his Cabinet were friendly +throughout his term. Men of their character and ability, brought into +daily contact with him, could not fail to appreciate and admire the +purity of his motives and the patriotism of his conduct; nor was he +wanting in a measure of consideration and deference towards them +perhaps somewhat greater than might have been expected from him, +sometimes even carried to the point of yielding his opinion +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205"></a>(p. 205)</span> +in matters of consequence. It was his wish that the unity of the body +should remain unbroken during his four years of office, and the wish +was very nearly realized. Unfortunately, however, in his last year it +became necessary for him to fill the mission to England, and Governor +Barbour was extremely anxious for the place. It was already apparent +that the coming election was likely to result in the succession of +Jackson, and Mr. Adams notes that Barbour's extreme desire to receive +the appointment was due to his wish to find a good harbor ere the +approaching storm should burst. The remark was made without anger, in +the tone of a man who had seen enough of the world not to expect too +much from any of his fellow men; and the appointment was made, +somewhat to the chagrin of Webster and Rush, either one of whom would +have gladly accepted it. The vacancy thus caused, the only one which +arose during his term, was filled by General Peter B. Porter, a +gentleman whom Mr. Adams selected not as his own choice, but out of +respect to the wishes of the Cabinet, and in order to "terminate the +Administration in harmony with itself." The only seriously unpleasant +occurrence was the treachery of Postmaster-General McLean, who saw fit +to profess extreme devotion to Mr. Adams while secretly aiding General +Jackson. His +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206"></a>(p. 206)</span> +perfidy was not undetected, and great pressure +was brought to bear on the President to remove him. Mr. Adams, +however, refused to do so, and McLean had the satisfaction of stepping +from his post under Mr. Adams into a judgeship conferred by General +Jackson, having shown his impartiality and judicial turn of mind, it +is to be supposed, by declaring his warm allegiance to each master in +turn.</p> + +<p>The picture of President Adams's daily life is striking in its +simplicity and its laboriousness. This chief magistrate of a great +nation was wont to rise before daybreak, often at four or five o'clock +even in winter, not unfrequently to build and light his own fire, and +to work hard for hours when most persons in busy life were still +comfortably slumbering. The forenoon and afternoon he devoted to +public affairs, and often he complains that the unbroken stream of +visitors gives him little opportunity for hard or continuous labor. +Such work he was compelled to do chiefly in the evening; and he did +not always make up for early hours of rising by a correspondingly +early bedtime; though sometimes in the summer we find him going to bed +between eight and nine o'clock, an hour which probably few Presidents +have kept since then. He strove to care for his health by daily +exercise. In the morning he swam in the Potomac, often +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page207" name="page207"></a>(p. 207)</span> +for a +long time; and more than once he encountered no small risk in this +pastime. During the latter part of his Presidential term he tried +riding on horseback. At times when the weather compelled him to walk, +and business was pressing, he used to get his daily modicum of fresh +air before the sun was up. A life of this kind with more of hardship +than of relaxation in it was ill fitted to sustain in robust health a +man sixty years of age, and it is not surprising that Mr. Adams often +complained of feeling ill, dejected, and weary. Yet he never spared +himself, nor apparently thought his habits too severe, and actually +toward the close of his term he spoke of his trying daily routine as +constituting a very agreeable life. He usually began the day by +reading "two or three chapters in the Bible with Scott's and Hewlett's +Commentaries," being always a profoundly religious man of the +old-fashioned school then prevalent in New England.</p> + +<p>It could hardly have added to the meagre comforts of such a life to be +threatened with assassination. Yet this danger was thrust upon Mr. +Adams's attention upon one occasion at least under circumstances which +gave to it a very serious aspect. The tranquillity with which he went +through the affair showed that his physical courage was as +imperturbable as his moral. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page208" name="page208"></a>(p. 208)</span> +The risk was protracted +throughout a considerable period, but he never let it disturb the even +tenor of his daily behavior or warp his actions in the slightest +degree, save only that when he was twice or thrice brought face to +face with the intending assassin he treated the fellow with somewhat +more curt brusqueness than was his wont. But when the danger was over +he bore his would-be murderer no malice, and long afterward actually +did him a kindly service.</p> + +<p class="p2"> </p> + +<p>Few men in public life have been subjected to trials of temper so +severe as vexed Mr. Adams during his Presidential term. To play an +intensely exciting game strictly in accordance with rigid moral rules +of the player's own arbitrary enforcement, and which are utterly +repudiated by a less scrupulous antagonist, can hardly tend to promote +contentment and amiability. Neither are slanders and falsehoods +mollifying applications to a statesman inspired with an upright and +noble ambition. Mr. Adams bore such assaults, ranging from the charge +of having corruptly bought the Presidency down to that of being a +Freemason with such grim stoicism as he could command. The +disappearance and probable assassination of Morgan at this time led to +a strong feeling throughout the country against +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page209" name="page209"></a>(p. 209)</span> +Freemasonry, +and the Jackson men at once proclaimed abroad that Adams was one of +the brotherhood, and offered, if he should deny it, to produce the +records of the lodge to which he belonged. The allegation was false; +he was not a Mason, and his friends urged him to say so publicly; but +he replied bitterly that his denial would probably at once be met by a +complete set of forged records of a fictitious lodge, and the people +would not know whom to believe. Next he was said to have bargained for +the support of Daniel Webster, by promising to distribute offices to +Federalists. This accusation was a cruel perversion of his very +virtues; for its only foundation lay in the fact that in the +venturesome but honorable attempt to be President of a nation rather +than of a party, he had in some instances given offices to old +Federalists, certainly with no hope or possibility of reconciling to +himself the almost useless wreck of that now powerless and shrunken +party, one of whose liveliest traditions was hatred of him. Stories +were even set afloat that some of his accounts, since he had been in +the public service, were incorrect. But the most extraordinary and +ridiculous tale of all was that during his residence in Russia he had +prostituted a beautiful American girl, whom he then had in his +service, in order "to seduce the passions +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page210" name="page210"></a>(p. 210)</span> +of the Emperor +Alexander and sway him to political purposes."</p> + +<p>These and other like provocations were not only discouraging but very +irritating, and Mr. Adams was not of that careless disposition which +is little affected by unjust accusation. On the contrary he was +greatly incensed by such treatment, and though he made the most stern +and persistent effort to endure an inevitable trial with a patience +born of philosophy, since indifference was not at his command, yet he +could not refrain from the expression of his sentiments in his secret +communings. Occasionally he allowed his wrath to explode with harmless +violence between the covers of the Diary, and doubtless he found +relief while he discharged his fierce diatribes on these private +sheets. His vituperative power was great, and some specimens of it may +not come amiss in a sketch of the man. The senators who did not call +upon him he regarded as of "rancorous spirit." He spoke of the +falsehoods and misrepresentations which "the skunks of party slander +... have been ... squirting round the House of Representatives, thence +to issue and perfume the atmosphere of the Union." His most intense +hatred and vehement denunciation were reserved for John Randolph, whom +he thought an abomination too odious and despicable to be described + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page211" name="page211"></a>(p. 211)</span> +in words, "the image and superscription of a great man +stamped upon base metal." "The besotted violence" of Randolph, he +said, has deprived him of "all right to personal civility from me;" +and certainly this excommunication from courtesy was made complete and +effective. He speaks again of the same victim as a "frequenter of gin +lane and beer alley." He indignantly charges that Calhoun, as Speaker, +permitted Randolph "in speeches of ten hours long to drink himself +drunk with bottled porter, and in raving balderdash of the meridian of +Wapping to revile the absent and the present, the living and the +dead." This, he says, was "tolerated by Calhoun, because Randolph's +ribaldry was all pointed against the Administration, especially +against Mr. Clay and me." Again he writes of Randolph: "The rancor of +this man's soul against me is that which sustains his life: the agony +of [his] envy and hatred of me, and the hope of effecting my downfall, +are [his] chief remaining sources of vitality. The issue of the +Presidential election will kill [him] by the gratification of [his] +revenge." So it was also with W. B. Giles, of Virginia. But Giles's +abuse was easier to bear since it had been poured in torrents upon +every reputable man, from Washington downwards, who had been prominent +in public affairs +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page212" name="page212"></a>(p. 212)</span> +since the adoption of the Constitution, so +that Giles's memory is now preserved from oblivion solely by the +connection which he established with the great and honorable statesmen +of the Republic by a course of ceaseless attacks upon them. Some of +the foregoing expressions of Mr. Adams may be open to objection on the +score of good taste; but the provocation was extreme; public +retaliation he would not practise, and wrath must sometimes burst +forth in language which was not so unusual in that day as it is at +present. It is an unquestionable fact, of which the credit to Mr. +Adams can hardly be exaggerated, that he never in any single instance +found an excuse for an unworthy act on his own part in the fact that +competitors or adversaries were resorting to such expedients.</p> + +<p class="p2"> </p> + +<p>The election of 1828 gave 178 votes for Jackson and only 83 for Adams. +Calhoun was continued as Vice-President by 171 votes, showing plainly +enough that even yet there were not two political parties, in any +customary or proper sense of the phrase. The victory of Jackson had +been foreseen by every one. What had been so generally anticipated +could not take Mr. Adams by surprise; yet it was idle for him to seek +to conceal his disappointment that an Administration which +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page213" name="page213"></a>(p. 213)</span> +he had conducted with his best ability and with thorough +conscientiousness should not have seemed to the people worthy of +continuance for another term. Little suspecting what the future had in +store for him, he felt that his public career had culminated and +probably had closed forever, and that if it had not closed exactly in +disgrace, yet at least it could not be regarded as ending gloriously +or even satisfactorily. But he summoned all his philosophy and +fortitude to his aid; he fell back upon his clear conscience and +comported himself with dignity, showing all reasonable courtesy to his +successor and only perhaps seeming a little deficient in filial piety +in presenting so striking a contrast to the shameful conduct of his +father in a like crucial hour. His retirement brought to a close a +list of Presidents who deserved to be called statesmen in the highest +sense of that term, honorable men, pure patriots, and, with perhaps +one exception, all of the first order of ability in public affairs. It +is necessary to come far down towards this day before a worthy +successor of those great men is met with in the list. Dr. Von Holst, +by far the ablest writer who has yet dealt with American history, +says: "In the person of Adams the last statesman who was to occupy it +for a long time left the White House." General Jackson, the candidate +of the populace and the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page214" name="page214"></a>(p. 214)</span> +representative hero of the ignorant +masses, instituted a new system of administering the Government in +which personal interests became the most important element, and that +organization and strategy were developed which have since become known +and infamous under the name of the "political machine."</p> + +<p>While Mr. Adams bore his defeat like a philosopher, he felt secretly +very depressed and unhappy by reason of it. He speaks of it as leaving +his "character and reputation a wreck," and says that the "sun of his +political life sets in the deepest gloom." On January 1, 1829, he +writes: "The year begins in gloom. My wife had a sleepless and painful +night. The dawn was overcast, and as I began to write my shaded lamp +went out, self-extinguished. It was only for lack of oil, and the +notice of so trivial an incident may serve but to mark the present +temper of my mind." It is painful to behold a man of his vigor, +activity, and courage thus prostrated. Again he writes:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "Three days more and I shall be restored to private life, and + left to an old age of retirement though certainly not of repose. + I go into it with a combination of parties and public men against + my character and reputation, such as I believe never before was + exhibited against any man since this Union existed. Posterity + will scarcely believe it, but so it is, that this combination + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page215" name="page215"></a>(p. 215)</span> +against me has been formed and is now exulting in + triumph over me, for the devotion of my life and of all the + faculties of my soul to the Union, and to the improvement, + physical, moral, and intellectual of my country." +</p> + +<p>Melancholy words these to be written by an old man who had worked so +hard and been so honest, and whose ambition had been of the kind that +ennobles him who feels it! Could the curtain of the future have been +lifted but for a moment what relief would the glimpse have brought to +his crushed and wearied spirit. But though coming events may cast +shadows before them, they far less often send bright rays in advance. +So he now resolved "to go into the deepest retirement and withdraw +from all connection with public affairs." Yet it was with regret that +he foretold this fate, and he looked forward with solicitude to the +effect which such a mode of life, newly entered upon at his age, would +have upon his mind and character. He hopes rather than dares to +predict that he will be provided "with useful and profitable +occupation, engaging so much of his thoughts and feelings that his +mind may not be left to corrode itself."</p> + +<p>His return to Quincy held out the less promise of comfort, because the +old chasm between him and the Federalist gentlemen of Boston had been + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page216" name="page216"></a>(p. 216)</span> +lately reopened. Certain malicious newspaper paragraphs, born +of the mischievous spirit of the wretched Giles, had recently set +afloat some stories designed seriously to injure Mr. Adams. These +were, substantially, that in 1808-9 he had been convinced that some +among the leaders of the Federalist party in New England were +entertaining a project for separation from the Union, that he had +feared that this event would be promoted by the embargo, that he +foresaw that the seceding portion would inevitably be compelled into +some sort of alliance with Great Britain, that he suspected +negotiations to this end to have been already set on foot, that he +thereupon gave privately some more or less distinct intimations of +these notions of his to sundry prominent Republicans, and even to +President Jefferson. These tales, much distorted from the truth and +exaggerated as usual, led to the publication of an open letter, in +November, 1828, addressed by thirteen Federalists of note in +Massachusetts to John Quincy Adams, demanding names and specifications +and the production of evidence. Mr. Adams replied briefly, with +dignity, and, considering the circumstances, with good temper, stating +fairly the substantial import of what he had really said, declaring +that he had never mentioned names, and refusing, for good reasons +given, either to do +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page217" name="page217"></a>(p. 217)</span> +so now or to publish the grounds of such +opinions as he had entertained. It was sufficiently clear that he had +said nothing secretly which he had reason to regret; and that if he +sought to shun the discussion opened by his adversaries, he was +influenced by wise forbearance, and not at all by any fear of the +consequences to himself. A dispassionate observer could have seen that +behind this moderate, rather deprecatory letter there was an abundant +reserve of controversial material held for the moment in check. But +his adversaries were not dispassionate; on the contrary they were +greatly excited and were honestly convinced of the perfect goodness of +their cause. They were men of the highest character in public and +private life, deservedly of the best repute in the community, of +unimpeachable integrity in motives and dealings, influential and +respected, men whom it was impossible in New England to treat with +neglect or indifference. For this reason it was only the harder to +remain silent beneath their published reproach when a refutation was +possible. Hating Mr. Adams with an animosity not diminished by the +lapse of years since his defection from their party, strong in a +consciousness of their own standing before their fellow citizens, the +thirteen notables responded with much acrimony to Mr. Adams's +unsatisfactory letter. Thus +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page218" name="page218"></a>(p. 218)</span> +persistently challenged and +assailed, at a time when his recent crushing political defeat made an +attack upon him seem a little ungenerous, Mr. Adams at last went into +the fight in earnest. He had the good fortune to be thoroughly right, +and also to have sufficient evidence to prove and justify at least as +much as he had ever said. All this evidence he brought together in a +vindicatory pamphlet, which, however, by the time he had completed it +he decided not to publish. But fortunately he did not destroy it, and +his grandson, in the exercise of a wise discretion, has lately given +it to the world. His foes never knew how deeply they were indebted to +the self-restraint which induced him to keep this formidable missive +harmless in his desk. Full of deep feeling, yet free from ebullitions +of temper, clear in statement, concise in style, conclusive in facts, +unanswerable in argument, unrelentingly severe in dealing with +opponents, it is as fine a specimen of political controversy as exists +in the language. Its historical value cannot be exaggerated, but apart +from this as a mere literary production it is admirable. Happy were +the thirteen that they one and all went down to their graves +complaisantly thinking that they had had the last word in the quarrel, +little suspecting how great was their obligation to Mr. Adams +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page219" name="page219"></a>(p. 219)</span> +for having granted them that privilege. One would think that they +might have writhed beneath their moss-grown headstones on the day when +his last word at length found public utterance, albeit that the +controversy had then become one of the dusty tales of +history.<a id="footnotetag8" name="footnotetag8"></a><a href="#footnote8">[8]</a></p> + +<p>But this task of writing a demolishing pamphlet against the prominent +gentlemen of the neighborhood to which he was about to return for his +declining years could hardly have been a grateful task. The passage +from political disaster to social enmities could not but be painful; +and Mr. Adams was probably never more unhappy than at this period of +his life. The reward which virtue was tendering to him seemed unmixed +bitterness.</p> + +<p class="p2"> </p> + +<p>Thus at the age of sixty-two years, Mr. Adams found himself that +melancholy product of the American governmental system—an +ex-President. At +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page220" name="page220"></a>(p. 220)</span> +this stage it would seem that the fruit +ought to drop from the bough, no further process of development being +reasonably probable for it. Yet Mr. Adams had by no means reached this +measure of ripeness; he still enjoyed abundant vigor of mind and body, +and to lapse into dignified decrepitude was not agreeable, indeed was +hardly possible for him. The prospect gave him profound anxiety; he +dreaded idleness, apathy, and decay with a keen terror which perhaps +constituted a sufficient guaranty against them. Yet what could he do? +It would be absurd for him now to furbish up the rusty weapons of the +law and enter again upon the tedious labor of collecting a clientage. +His property was barely sufficient to enable him to live respectably, +even according to the simple standard of the time, and could open to +him no occupation in the way of gratifying unremunerative tastes. In +March, 1828, he had been advised to use five thousand dollars in a way +to promote his reëlection. He refused at once, upon principle; but +further set forth "candidly, the state of his affairs:"—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "All my real estate in Quincy and Boston is mortgaged for the + payment of my debts; the income of my whole private estate is + less than $6,000 a year, and I am paying at least two thousand of + that for interest on my debt. Finally, upon going out of office + in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page221" name="page221"></a>(p. 221)</span> +one year from this time, destitute of all means of + acquiring property, it will only be by the sacrifice of that + which I now possess that I shall be able to support my family." +</p> + +<p>At first he plunged desperately into the Latin classics. He had a +strong taste for such reading, and he made a firm resolve to compel +this taste now to stand him in good stead in his hour of need. He +courageously demanded solace from a pursuit which had yielded him +pleasure enough in hours of relaxation, but which was altogether +inadequate to fill the huge vacuum now suddenly created in his time +and thoughts. There is much pathos in this spectacle of the old man +setting himself with ever so feeble a weapon, yet with stern +determination, to conquer the cruelty of circumstances. But he knew, +of course, that the Roman authors could only help him for a time, by +way of distraction, in carrying him through a transition period. He +soon set more cheerfully at work upon a memoir of his father, and had +also plans for writing a history of the United States. Literature had +always possessed strong charms for him, and he had cultivated it after +his usual studious and conscientious fashion. But his style was too +often prolix, sententious, and turgid—faults which marked nearly all +the writing done in this country in those days. The world +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page222" name="page222"></a>(p. 222)</span> +has probably not lost much by reason of the non-completion of the +contemplated volumes. He could have made no other contribution to the +history of the country at all approaching in value or interest to the +Diary, of which a most important part was still to be written. For a +brief time just now this loses its historic character, but makes up +for the loss by depicting admirably some traits in the mental +constitution of the diarist. Tales of enchantment, he says, pleased +his boyhood, but "the humors of Falstaff hardly affected me at all. +Bardolph and Pistol and Nym were personages quite unintelligible to +me; and the lesson of Sir Hugh Evans to the boy Williams was quite too +serious an affair." In truth, no man can ever have been more utterly +void of a sense of humor or an appreciation of wit than was Mr. Adams. +Not a single instance of an approach to either is to be found +throughout the twelve volumes of his Diary. Not even in the simple +form of the "good story" could he find pleasure, and subtler +delicacies were wasted on his well-regulated mind as dainty French +dishes would be on the wholesome palate of a day-laborer. The books +which bore the stamp of well-established approval, the acknowledged +classics of the English, Latin, and French languages he read with a +mingled sense of duty and of pleasure, and evidently +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page223" name="page223"></a>(p. 223)</span> with +cultivated appreciation, though whether he would have made an original +discovery of their merits may be doubted. Occasionally he failed to +admire even those volumes which deserved admiration, and then with +characteristic honesty he admitted the fact. He tried Paradise Lost +ten times before he could get through with it, and was nearly thirty +years old when he first succeeded in reading it to the end. Thereafter +he became very fond of it, but plainly by an acquired taste. He tried +smoking and Milton, he says, at the same time, in the hope of +discovering the "recondite charm" in them which so pleased his father. +He was more easily successful with the tobacco than with the poetry. +Many another has had the like experience, but the confession is not +always so frankly forthcoming.</p> + +<p>Fate, however, had in store for Mr. Adams labors to which he was +better suited than those of literature, and tasks to be performed +which the nation could ill afford to exchange for an apotheosis of our +second President, or even for a respectable but probably not very +readable history. The most brilliant and glorious years of his career +were yet to be lived. He was to earn in his old age a noble fame and +distinction far transcending any achievement of his youth and middle +age, and was to attain the highest pinnacle +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page224" name="page224"></a>(p. 224)</span> +of his fame +after he had left the greatest office of the Government, and during a +period for which presumably nothing better had been allotted than that +he should tranquilly await the summons of death. It is a striking +circumstance that the fullness of greatness for one who had been +Senator, Minister to England, Secretary of State, and President, +remained to be won in the comparatively humble position of a +Representative in Congress.</p> + + + + +<h3>CHAPTER III +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page225" name="page225"></a>(p. 225)</span></h3> + +<h4>IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES</h4> + + +<p>In September, 1830, Mr. Adams notes in his Diary a suggestion made to +him that he might if he wished be elected to the national House of +Representatives from the Plymouth district. The gentleman who threw +out this tentative proposition remarked that in his opinion the +acceptance of this position by an ex-President "instead of degrading +the individual would elevate the representative character." Mr. Adams +replied, that he "had in that respect no scruple whatever. No person +could be degraded by serving the people as a Representative in +Congress. Nor in my opinion would an ex-President of the United States +be degraded by serving as a selectman of his town, if elected thereto +by the people." A few weeks later his election was accomplished by a +flattering vote, the poll showing for him 1817 votes out of 2565, with +only 373 for the next candidate. He continued thenceforth to represent +this district until his death, a period of about sixteen years. During +this time he was occasionally suggested as +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page226" name="page226"></a>(p. 226)</span> +a candidate for +the governorship of the State, but was always reluctant to stand. The +feeling between the Freemasons and the anti-Masons ran very high for +several years, and once he was prevailed upon to allow his name to be +used by the latter party. The result was that there was no election by +the people; and as he had been very loath to enter the contest in the +beginning, he insisted upon withdrawing from before the legislature. +We have now therefore only to pursue his career in the lower house of +Congress.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, but of obvious necessity, it is possible to touch only +upon the more salient points of this which was really by far the most +striking and distinguished portion of his life. To do more than this +would involve an explanation of the politics of the country and the +measures before Congress much more elaborate than would be possible in +this volume. It will be necessary, therefore, to confine ourselves to +drawing a picture of him in his character as the great combatant of +Southern slavery. In the waging of this mighty conflict we shall see +both his mind and his character developing in strength even in these +years of his old age, and his traits standing forth in bolder relief +than ever before. In his place on the floor of the House of +Representatives he was destined to appear a more impressive figure +than in any of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page227" name="page227"></a>(p. 227)</span> +the higher positions which he had previously +filled. There he was to do his greatest work and to win a peculiar and +distinctive glory which takes him out of the general throng even of +famous statesmen, and entitles his name to be remembered with an +especial reverence. Adequately to sketch his achievements, and so to +do his memory the honor which it deserves, would require a pen as +eloquent as has been wielded by any writer of our language. I can only +attempt a brief and insufficient narrative.</p> + +<p class="p2"> </p> + +<p>In his conscientious way he was faithful and industrious to a rare +degree. He was never absent and seldom late; he bore unflinchingly the +burden of severe committee work, and shirked no toil on the plea of +age or infirmity. He attended closely to all the business of the +House; carefully formed his opinions on every question; never failed +to vote except for cause; and always had a sufficient reason +independent of party allegiance to sustain his vote. Living in the age +of oratory, he earned the name of "the old man eloquent." Yet he was +not an orator in the sense in which Webster, Clay, and Calhoun were +orators. He was not a rhetorician; he had neither grace of manner nor +a fine presence, neither an imposing delivery, nor even pleasing +tones. On the contrary, he was exceptionally lacking +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page228" name="page228"></a>(p. 228)</span> in all +these qualities. He was short, rotund, and bald; about the time when +he entered Congress, complaints become frequent in his Diary of weak +and inflamed eyes, and soon these organs became so rheumy that the +water would trickle down his cheeks; a shaking of the hand grew upon +him to such an extent that in time he had to use artificial assistance +to steady it for writing; his voice was high, shrill, liable to break, +piercing enough to make itself heard, but not agreeable. This hardly +seems the picture of an orator; nor was it to any charm of elocution +that he owed his influence, but rather to the fact that men soon +learned that what he said was always well worth hearing. When he +entered Congress he had been for much more than a third of a century +zealously gathering knowledge in public affairs, and during his career +in that body every year swelled the already vast accumulation. +Moreover, listeners were always sure to get a bold and an honest +utterance and often pretty keen words from him, and he never spoke to +an inattentive audience or to a thin house. Whether pleased or +incensed by what he said, the Representatives at least always listened +to it. He was by nature a hard fighter, and by the circumstances of +his course in Congress this quality was stimulated to such a degree +that parliamentary history does not show his +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page229" name="page229"></a>(p. 229)</span> +equal as a +gladiator. His power of invective was extraordinary, and he was +untiring and merciless in his use of it. Theoretically he disapproved +of sarcasm, but practically he could not refrain from it. Men winced +and cowered before his milder attacks, became sometimes dumb, +sometimes furious with mad rage before his fiercer assaults. Such +struggles evidently gave him pleasure, and there was scarce a back in +Congress that did not at one time or another feel the score of his +cutting lash; though it was the Southerners and the Northern allies of +Southerners whom chiefly he singled out for torture. He was irritable +and quick to wrath; he himself constantly speaks of the infirmity of +his temper, and in his many conflicts his principal concern was to +keep it in control. His enemies often referred to it and twitted him +with it. Of alliances he was careless, and friendships he had almost +none. But in the creation of enmities he was terribly successful. Not +so much at first, but increasingly as years went on, a state of +ceaseless, vigilant hostility became his normal condition. From the +time when he fairly entered upon the long struggle against slavery, he +enjoyed few peaceful days in the House. But he seemed to thrive upon +the warfare, and to be never so well pleased as when he was bandying +hot words with slave-holders and the Northern +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page230" name="page230"></a>(p. 230)</span> +supporters of +slave-holders. When the air of the House was thick with crimination +and abuse he seemed to suck in fresh vigor and spirit from the +hate-laden atmosphere. When invective fell around him in showers, he +screamed back his retaliation with untiring rapidity and marvellous +dexterity of aim. No odds could appall him. With his back set firm +against a solid moral principle, it was his joy to strike out at a +multitude of foes. They lost their heads as well as their tempers, but +in the extremest moments of excitement and anger Mr. Adams's brain +seemed to work with machine-like coolness and accuracy. With flushed +face, streaming eyes, animated gesticulation, and cracking voice, he +always retained perfect mastery of all his intellectual faculties. He +thus became a terrible antagonist, whom all feared, yet fearing could +not refrain from attacking, so bitterly and incessantly did he choose +to exert his wonderful power of exasperation. Few men could throw an +opponent into wild blind fury with such speed and certainty as he +could; and he does not conceal the malicious gratification which such +feats brought to him. A leader of such fighting capacity, so +courageous, with such a magazine of experience and information, and +with a character so irreproachable, could have won brilliant victories +in public life at the head of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page231" name="page231"></a>(p. 231)</span> +even a small band of devoted +followers. But Mr. Adams never had and apparently never wanted +followers. Other prominent public men were brought not only into +collision but into comparison with their contemporaries. But Mr. +Adams's individuality was so strong that he can be compared with no +one. It was not an individuality of genius nor to any remarkable +extent of mental qualities; but rather an individuality of character. +To this fact is probably to be attributed his peculiar solitariness. +Men touch each other for purposes of attachment through their +characters much more than through their minds. But few men, even in +agreeing with Mr. Adams, felt themselves in sympathy with him. +Occasionally conscience, or invincible logic, or even policy and +self-interest, might compel one or another politician to stand beside +him in debate or in voting; but no current of fellow feeling ever +passed between such temporary comrades and him. It was the cold +connection of duty or of business. The first instinct of nearly every +one was opposition towards him; coalition might be forced by +circumstances but never came by volition. For the purpose of winning +immediate successes this was of course a most unfortunate condition of +relationships. Yet it had some compensations: it left such influence +as Mr. Adams could exert by steadfastness and +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page232" name="page232"></a>(p. 232)</span> +argument +entirely unweakened by suspicion of hidden motives or personal ends. +He had the weight and enjoyed the respect which a sincerity beyond +distrust must always command in the long run. Of this we shall see +some striking instances.</p> + +<p>One important limitation, however, belongs to this statement of +solitariness. It was confined to his position in Congress. Outside of +the city of Washington great numbers of the people, especially in New +England, lent him a hearty support and regarded him with friendship +and admiration. These men had strong convictions and deep feelings, +and their adherence counted for much. Moreover, their numbers steadily +increased, and Mr. Adams saw that he was the leader in a cause which +engaged the sound sense and the best feeling of the intelligent people +of the country, and which was steadily gaining ground. Without such +encouragement it is doubtful whether even his persistence would have +held out through so long and extreme a trial. The sense of human +fellowship was needful to him; he could go without it in Congress, but +he could not have gone without it altogether.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams took his seat in the House as a member of the twenty-second +Congress in December, 1831. He had been elected by the National +Republican, afterward better known as the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page233" name="page233"></a>(p. 233)</span> +Whig party, but +one of his first acts was to declare that he would be bound by no +partisan connection, but would in every matter act independently. This +course he regarded as a "duty imposed upon him by his peculiar +position," in that he "had spent the greatest portion of his life in +the service of the whole nation and had been honored with their +highest trust." Many persons had predicted that he would find himself +subjected to embarrassments and perhaps to humiliations by reason of +his apparent descent in the scale of political dignities. He notes, +however, that he encountered no annoyance on this score, but on the +contrary he was rather treated with an especial respect. He was made +chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, a laborious as well as an +important and honorable position at all times, and especially so at +this juncture when the rebellious mutterings of South Carolina against +the protective tariff were already to be heard rolling and swelling +like portentous thunder from the fiery Southern regions. He would have +preferred to exchange this post for a place upon the Committee on +Foreign Affairs, for whose business he felt more fitted. But he was +told that in the impending crisis his ability, authority, and prestige +were all likely to be needed in the place allotted to him to aid in +the salvation of the country.</p> + +<p>The +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page234" name="page234"></a>(p. 234)</span> +nullification chapter of our history cannot here be +entered upon at length, and Mr. Adams's connection with it must be +very shortly stated. At the first meeting of his committee he remarks: +"A reduction of the duties upon many of the articles in the tariff was +understood by all to be the object to be effected;" and a little later +he said that he should be disposed to give such aid as he could to any +plan for this reduction which the Treasury Department should devise. +"He should certainly not consent to sacrifice the manufacturing +interest," he said, "but something of concession would be due from +that interest to appease the discontents of the South." He was in a +reasonable frame of mind; but unfortunately other people were rapidly +ceasing to be reasonable. When Jackson's message of December 4, 1832, +was promulgated, showing a disposition to do for South Carolina pretty +much all that she demanded, Mr. Adams was bitterly indignant. The +message, he said, "recommends a total change in the policy of the +Union with reference to the Bank, manufactures, internal improvement, +and the public lands. It goes to dissolve the Union into its original +elements, and is in substance a complete surrender to the nullifiers +of South Carolina." When, somewhat later on, the President lost his +temper and flamed out +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page235" name="page235"></a>(p. 235)</span> +in his famous proclamation to meet the +nullification ordinance, he spoke in tones more pleasing to Mr. Adams. +But the ultimate compromise which disposed of the temporary dissension +without permanently settling the fundamental question of the +constitutional right of nullification was extremely distasteful to +him. He was utterly opposed to the concessions which were made while +South Carolina still remained contumacious. He was for compelling her +to retire altogether from her rebellious position and to repeal her +unconstitutional enactments wholly and unconditionally, before one jot +should be abated from the obnoxious duties. When the bill for the +modification of the tariff was under debate, he moved to strike out +all but the enacting clause, and supported his motion in a long +speech, insisting that no tariff ought to pass until it was known +"whether there was any measure by which a State could defeat the laws +of the Union." In a minority report from his own committee he strongly +censured the policy of the Administration. He was for meeting, +fighting out, and determining at this crisis the whole doctrine of +state rights and secession. "One particle of compromise," he said, +with what truth events have since shown clearly enough, would +"directly lead to the final and irretrievable dissolution of the +Union." In +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page236" name="page236"></a>(p. 236)</span> +his usual strong and thorough-going fashion he +was for persisting in the vigorous and spirited measures, the mere +brief declaration of which, though so quickly receded from, won for +Jackson a measure of credit greater than he deserved. Jackson was +thrown into a great rage by the threats of South Carolina, and replied +to them with the same prompt wrath with which he had sometimes +resented insults from individuals. But in his cool inner mind he was +in sympathy with the demands which that State preferred, and though +undoubtedly he would have fought her, had the dispute been forced to +that pass, yet he was quite willing to make concessions, which were in +fact in consonance with his own views as well as with hers, in order +to avoid that sad conclusion. He was satisfied to have the instant +emergency pass over in a manner rendered superficially creditable to +himself by his outburst of temper, under cover of which he sacrificed +the substantial matter of principle without a qualm. He shook his fist +and shouted defiance in the face of the nullifiers, while Mr. Clay +smuggled a comfortable concession into their pockets. Jackson, +notwithstanding his belligerent attitude, did all he could to help +Clay and was well pleased with the result. Mr. Adams was not. He +watched the disingenuous game with disgust. It is certain that if he +had still +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page237" name="page237"></a>(p. 237)</span> +been in the White House, the matter would have had +a very different ending, bloodier, it may be, and more painful, but +much more conclusive.</p> + +<p>For the most part Mr. Adams found himself in opposition to President +Jackson's Administration. This was not attributable to any sense of +personal hostility towards a successful rival, but to an inevitable +antipathy towards the measures, methods, and ways adopted by the +General so unfortunately transferred to civil life. Few intelligent +persons, and none having the statesman habit of mind, befriended the +reckless, violent, eminently unstatesmanlike President. His ultimate +weakness in the nullification matter, his opposition to internal +improvements, his policy of sacrificing the public lands to individual +speculators, his warfare against the Bank of the United States +conducted by methods the most unjustifiable, the transaction of the +removal of the deposits so disreputable and injurious in all its +details, the importation of Mrs. Eaton's visiting-list into the +politics and government of the country, the dismissal of the oldest +and best public servants as a part of the nefarious system of using +public offices as rewards for political aid and personal adherence, +the formation from base ingredients of the ignoble "Kitchen +Cabinet,"—all these doings, together with much more +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page238" name="page238"></a>(p. 238)</span> +of the +like sort, constituted a career which could only seem blundering, +undignified, and dishonorable in the eyes of a man like Mr. Adams, +who regarded statesmanship with the reverence due to the noblest of +human callings.</p> + +<p>Right as Mr. Adams was generally in his opposition to Jackson, yet +once he deserves credit for the contrary course. This was in the +matter of our relations with France. The treaty of 1831 secured to +this country an indemnity of $5,000,000, which, however, it had never +been possible to collect. This procrastination raised Jackson's ever +ready ire, and casting to the winds any further dunning, he resolved +either to have the money or to fight for it. He sent a message to +Congress, recommending that if France should not promptly settle the +account, letters of marque and reprisal against her commerce should be +issued. He ordered Edward Livingston, minister at Paris, to demand his +passports and cross over to London. These eminently proper and +ultimately effectual measures alarmed the large party of the timid; +and the General found himself in danger of extensive desertions even +on the part of his usual supporters. But as once before in a season of +his dire extremity his courage and vigor had brought the potent aid of +Mr. Adams to his side, so now again he came under a heavy debt of +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page239" name="page239"></a>(p. 239)</span> +gratitude to the same champion. Mr. Adams stood by him with +generous gallantry, and by a telling speech in the House probably +saved him from serious humiliation and even disaster. The President's +style of dealing had roused Mr. Adams's spirit, and he spoke with a +fire and vehemence which accomplished the unusual feat of changing the +predisposed minds of men too familiar with speech-making to be often +much influenced by it in the practical matter of voting. He thought at +the time that the success of this speech, brilliant as it appeared, +was not unlikely to result in his political ruin. Jackson would +befriend and reward his thorough-going partisans at any cost to his +own conscience or the public welfare; but the exceptional aid, +tendered not from a sense of personal fealty to himself, but simply +from the motive of aiding the right cause happening in the especial +instance to have been espoused by him, never won from him any token of +regard. In November, 1837, Mr. Adams, speaking of his personal +relations with the President, said:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "Though I had served him more than any other living man ever did, + and though I supported his Administration at the hazard of my own + political destruction, and effected for him at a moment when his + own friends were deserting him what no other member of Congress + ever accomplished for him—an unanimous +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page240" name="page240"></a>(p. 240)</span> +vote of the + House of Representatives to support him in his quarrel with + France; though I supported him in other very critical periods of + his Administration, my return from him was insult, indignity, and + slander." +</p> + +<p>Antipathy had at last become the definitive condition of these two +men—antipathy both political and personal. At one time a singular +effort to reconcile them—probably though not certainly undertaken +with the knowledge of Jackson—was made by Richard M. Johnson. This +occurred shortly before the inauguration of the war conducted by the +President against the Bank of the United States; and judging by the +rest of Jackson's behavior at this period, there was probably at least +as much of calculation in his motives, if in fact he was cognizant of +Johnson's approaches, as there was of any real desire to reëstablish +the bygone relation of honorable friendship. To the advances thus made +Mr. Adams replied a little coldly, not quite repellently, that +Jackson, having been responsible for the suspension of personal +intercourse, must now be undisguisedly the active party in renewing +it. At the same time he professed himself "willing to receive in a +spirit of conciliation any advance which in that spirit General +Jackson might make." But nothing came of this intrinsically hopeless +attempt. On the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page241" name="page241"></a>(p. 241)</span> +contrary the two drew rapidly and more +widely apart, and entertained concerning each other opinions which +grew steadily more unfavorable, and upon Adams's part more +contemptuous, as time went on.</p> + +<p>Fifteen months later General Jackson made his visit to Boston, and it +was proposed that Harvard College should confer upon him the degree of +Doctor of Laws. The absurdity of the act, considered simply in itself, +was admitted by all. But the argument in its favor was based upon the +established usage of the College as towards all other Presidents, so +that its omission in this case might seem a personal slight. Mr. +Adams, being at the time a member of the Board of Overseers, strongly +opposed the proposition, but of course in vain. All that he could do +was, for his own individual part, to refuse to be present at the +conferring of the degree, giving as the minor reason for his absence, +that he could hold no friendly intercourse with the President, but for +the major reason that "independent of that, as myself an affectionate +child of our Alma Mater, I would not be present to witness her +disgrace in conferring her highest literary honors upon a barbarian +who could not write a sentence of grammar and hardly could spell his +own name." "A Doctorate of Laws," he said, "for which an apology was +necessary, was +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page242" name="page242"></a>(p. 242)</span> +a cheap honor and ... a sycophantic +compliment." After the deed was done, he used to amuse himself by +speaking of "Doctor Andrew Jackson." This same eastern tour of +Jackson's called forth many other expressions of bitter sarcasm from +Adams. The President was ill and unable to carry out the programme of +entertainment and exhibition prepared for him: whereupon Mr. Adams +remarks:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "I believe much of his debility is politic.... He is one of our + tribe of great men who turn disease to commodity, like John + Randolph, who for forty years was always dying. Jackson, ever + since he became a mark of public attention, has been doing the + same thing.... He is now alternately giving out his chronic + diarrhœa and making Warren bleed him for a pleurisy, and + posting to Cambridge for a doctorate of laws; mounting the + monument of Bunker's Hill to hear a fulsome address and receive + two cannon balls from Edward Everett," etc. "Four fifths of his + sickness is trickery, and the other fifth mere fatigue." +</p> + +<p>This sounds, it must be confessed, a trifle rancorous; but Adams had +great excuse for nourishing rancor towards Jackson.</p> + +<p>It is time, however, to return to the House of Representatives. It was +not by bearing his share in the ordinary work of that body, important +or exciting as that might at one time or another happen to be, that +Mr. Adams was to win +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page243" name="page243"></a>(p. 243)</span> +in Congress that reputation which has +been already described as far overshadowing all his previous career. A +special task and a peculiar mission were before him. It was a part of +his destiny to become the champion of the anti-slavery cause in the +national legislature. Almost the first thing which he did after he had +taken his seat in Congress was to present "fifteen petitions signed +numerously by citizens of Pennsylvania, praying for the abolition of +slavery and the slave-trade in the District of Columbia." He simply +moved their reference to the Committee on the District of Columbia, +declaring that he should not support that part of the petition which +prayed for abolition in the District. The time had not yet come when +the South felt much anxiety at such manifestations, and these first +stones were dropped into the pool without stirring a ripple on the +surface. For about four years more we hear little in the Diary +concerning slavery. It was not until 1835, when the annexation of +Texas began to be mooted, that the North fairly took the alarm, and +the irrepressible conflict began to develop. Then at once we find Mr. +Adams at the front. That he had always cherished an abhorrence of +slavery and a bitter antipathy to slave-holders as a class is +sufficiently indicated by many chance remarks scattered through his +Diary from +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page244" name="page244"></a>(p. 244)</span> +early years. Now that a great question, vitally +affecting the slave power, divided the country into parties and +inaugurated the struggle which never again slept until it was settled +forever by the result of the civil war, Mr. Adams at once assumed the +function of leader. His position should be clearly understood; for in +the vast labor which lay before the abolition party different tasks +fell to different men. Mr. Adams assumed to be neither an agitator nor +a reformer; by necessity of character, training, fitness, and official +position, he was a legislator and statesman. The task which accident +or destiny allotted to him was neither to preach among the people a +crusade against slavery, nor to devise and keep in action the thousand +resources which busy men throughout the country were constantly +multiplying for the purpose of spreading and increasing a popular +hostility towards the great "institution." Every great cause has need +of its fanatics, its vanguard to keep far in advance of what is for +the time reasonable and possible; it has not less need of the wiser +and cooler heads to discipline and control the great mass which is set +in motion by the reckless forerunners, to see to the accomplishment of +that which the present circumstances and development of the movement +allow to be accomplished. It fell to Mr. Adams to direct +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page245" name="page245"></a>(p. 245)</span> the +assault against the outworks which were then vulnerable, and to see +that the force then possessed by the movement was put to such uses as +would insure definite results instead of being wasted in endeavors +which as yet were impossible of achievement. Drawing his duty from his +situation and surroundings, he left to others, to younger men and more +rhetorical natures, outside the walls of Congress, the business of +firing the people and stirring popular opinion and sympathy. He was +set to do that portion of the work of abolition which was to be done +in Congress, to encounter the mighty efforts which were made to stifle +the great humanitarian cry in the halls of the national legislature. +This was quite as much as one man was equal to; in fact, it is certain +that no one then in public life except Mr. Adams could have done it +effectually. So obvious is this that one cannot help wondering what +would have befallen the cause, had he not been just where he was to +forward it in just the way that he did. It is only another among the +many instances of the need surely finding the man. His qualifications +were unique; his ability, his knowledge, his prestige and authority, +his high personal character, his persistence and courage, his +combativeness stimulated by an acrimonious temper but checked by a +sound judgment, his merciless +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page246" name="page246"></a>(p. 246)</span> +power of invective, his +independence and carelessness of applause or vilification, friendship +or enmity, constituted him an opponent fully equal to the enormous +odds which the slave-holding interest arrayed against him. A like +moral and mental fitness was to be found in no one else. Numbers could +not overawe him, nor loneliness dispirit him. He was probably the most +formidable fighter in debate of whom parliamentary records preserve +the memory. The hostility which he encountered beggars description; +the English language was deficient in adequate words of virulence and +contempt to express the feelings which were entertained towards him. +At home he had not the countenance of that class in society to which +he naturally belonged. A second time he found the chief part of the +gentlemen of Boston and its vicinity, the leading lawyers, the rich +merchants, the successful manufacturers, not only opposed to him, but +entertaining towards him sentiments of personal dislike and even +vindictiveness. This stratum of the community, having a natural +distaste for disquieting agitation and influenced by class +feeling,—the gentlemen of the North sympathizing with the +"aristocracy" of the South,—could not make common cause with +anti-slavery people. Fortunately, however, Mr. Adams was returned by a +country district where the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page247" name="page247"></a>(p. 247)</span> +old Puritan instincts were still +strong. The intelligence and free spirit of New England were at his +back, and were fairly represented by him; in spite of high-bred +disfavor they carried him gallantly through the long struggle. The +people of the Plymouth district sent him back to the House every two +years from the time of his first election to the year of his death, +and the disgust of the gentlemen of Boston was after all of trifling +consequence to him and of no serious influence upon the course of +history. The old New England instinct was in him as it was in the mass +of the people; that instinct made him the real exponent of New England +thought, belief, and feeling, and that same instinct made the great +body of voters stand by him with unswerving constancy. When his fellow +Representatives, almost to a man, deserted him, he was sustained by +many a token of sympathy and admiration coming from among the people +at large. Time and the history of the United States have been his +potent vindicators. The conservative, conscienceless respectability of +wealth was, as is usually the case with it in the annals of the +Anglo-Saxon race, quite in the wrong and predestined to well-merited +defeat. It adds to the honor due to Mr. Adams that his sense of right +was true enough, and that his vision was clear enough, to lead him out +of that strong thraldom which +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page248" name="page248"></a>(p. 248)</span> +class feelings, traditions, +and comradeship are wont to exercise.</p> + +<p>But it is time to resume the narrative and to let Mr. Adams's acts—of +which after all it is possible to give only the briefest sketch, +selecting a few of the more striking incidents—tell the tale of his +Congressional life.</p> + +<p>On February 14, 1835, Mr. Adams again presented two petitions for the +abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, but without giving +rise to much excitement. The fusillade was, however, getting too thick +and fast to be endured longer with indifference by the impatient +Southerners. At the next session of Congress they concluded to try to +stop it, and their ingenious scheme was to make Congress shot-proof, +so to speak, against such missiles. On January 4, 1836, Mr. Adams +presented an abolition petition couched in the usual form, and moved +that it be laid on the table, as others like it had lately been. But +in a moment Mr. Glascock, of Georgia, moved that the petition be not +received. Debate sprang up on a point of order, and two days later, +before the question of reception was determined, a resolution was +offered by Mr. Jarvis, of Maine, declaring that the House would not +entertain any petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District +of Columbia. This resolution was supported on the ground +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page249" name="page249"></a>(p. 249)</span> +that Congress had no constitutional power in the premises. Some days +later, January 18, 1836, before any final action had been reached upon +this proposition, Mr. Adams presented some more abolition petitions, +one of them signed by "one hundred and forty-eight ladies, citizens of +the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; for, I said, I had not yet brought +myself to doubt whether females were citizens." The usual motion not +to receive was made, and then a new device was resorted to in the +shape of a motion that the motion not to receive be laid on the table.</p> + +<p>On February 8, 1836, this novel scheme for shutting off petitions +against slavery immediately upon their presentation was referred to a +select committee of which Mr. Pinckney was chairman. On May 18 this +committee reported in substance: 1. That Congress had no power to +interfere with slavery in any State; 2. That Congress ought not to +interfere with slavery in the District of Columbia; 3. That whereas +the agitation of the subject was disquieting and objectionable, "all +petitions, memorials, resolutions or papers, relating in any way or to +any extent whatsoever to the subject of slavery or the abolition of +slavery, shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid upon +the table, and that no further action whatever shall be +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page250" name="page250"></a>(p. 250)</span> had +thereon." When it came to taking a vote upon this report a division of +the question was called for, and the yeas and nays were ordered. The +first resolution was then read, whereupon Mr. Adams at once rose and +pledged himself, if the House would allow him five minutes' time, to +prove it to be false. But cries of "order" resounded; he was compelled +to take his seat and the resolution was adopted by 182 to 9. Upon the +second resolution he asked to be excused from voting, and his name was +passed in the call. The third resolution with its preamble was then +read, and Mr. Adams, so soon as his name was called, rose and said: "I +hold the resolution to be a direct violation of the Constitution of +the United States, the rules of this House, and the rights of my +constituents." He was interrupted by shrieks of "order" resounding on +every side; but he only spoke the louder and obstinately finished his +sentence before resuming his seat. The resolution was of course agreed +to, the vote standing 117 to 68. Such was the beginning of the famous +"gag" which became and long remained—afterward in a worse shape—a +standing rule of the House. Regularly in each new Congress when the +adoption of rules came up, Mr. Adams moved to rescind the "gag;" but +for many years his motions continued to be voted down, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page251" name="page251"></a>(p. 251)</span> as a +matter of course. Its imposition was clearly a mistake on the part of +the slave-holding party; free debate would almost surely have hurt +them less than this interference with the freedom of petition. They +had assumed an untenable position. Henceforth, as the persistent +advocate of the right of petition, Mr. Adams had a support among the +people at large vastly greater than he could have enjoyed as the +opponent of slavery. As his adversaries had shaped the issue he was +predestined to victory in a free country.</p> + +<p>A similar scene was enacted on December 21 and 22, 1837. A "gag" or +"speech-smothering" resolution being then again before the House, Mr. +Adams, when his name was called in the taking of the vote, cried out +"amidst a perfect war-whoop of 'order:' 'I hold the resolution to be a +violation of the Constitution, of the right of petition of my +constituents and of the people of the United States, and of my right +to freedom of speech as a member of this House.'" Afterward, in +reading over the names of members who had voted, the clerk omitted +that of Mr. Adams, this utterance of his not having constituted a +vote. Mr. Adams called attention to the omission. The clerk, by +direction of the Speaker, thereupon called his name. His only reply +was by a motion that his answer as already made +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page252" name="page252"></a>(p. 252)</span> +should be +entered on the Journal. The Speaker said that this motion was not in +order. Mr. Adams, resolute to get upon the record, requested that his +motion with the Speaker's decision that it was not in order might be +entered on the Journal. The next day, finding that this entry had not +been made in proper shape, he brought up the matter again. One of his +opponents made a false step, and Mr. Adams "bantered him" upon it +until the other was provoked into saying that, "if the question ever +came to the issue of war, the Southern people would march into New +England and conquer it." Mr. Adams replied that no doubt they would if +they could; that he entered his resolution upon the Journal because he +was resolved that his opponent's "name should go down to posterity +damned to everlasting fame." No one ever gained much in a war of words +with this ever-ready and merciless tongue.</p> + +<p>Mr. Adams, having soon become known to all the nation as the +indomitable presenter of anti-slavery petitions, quickly found that +great numbers of people were ready to keep him busy in this trying +task. For a long while it was almost as much as he could accomplish to +receive, sort, schedule, and present the infinite number of petitions +and memorials which came to him praying for the abolition of slavery +and of the slave-trade +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page253" name="page253"></a>(p. 253)</span> +in the District of Columbia, and +opposing the annexation of Texas. It was an occupation not altogether +devoid even of physical danger, and calling for an amount of moral +courage greater than it is now easy to appreciate. It is the incipient +stage of such a conflict that tests the mettle of the little band of +innovators. When it grows into a great party question much less +courage is demanded. The mere presentation of an odious petition may +seem in itself to be a simple task; but to find himself in a constant +state of antagonism to a powerful, active, and vindictive majority in +a debating body, constituted of such material as then made up the +House of Representatives, wore hardly even upon the iron temper and +inflexible disposition of Mr. Adams. "The most insignificant error of +conduct in me at this time," he writes in April, 1837, "would be my +irredeemable ruin in this world; and both the ruling political parties +are watching with intense anxiety for some overt act by me to set the +whole pack of their hireling presses upon me." But amid the host of +foes, and aware that he could count upon the aid of scarcely a single +hearty and daring friend, he labored only the more earnestly. The +severe pressure against him begat only the more severe counter +pressure upon his part.</p> + +<p>Besides +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page254" name="page254"></a>(p. 254)</span> +these natural and legitimate difficulties, Mr. Adams +was further in the embarrassing position of one who has to fear as +much from the imprudence of allies as from open hostility of +antagonists, and he was often compelled to guard against a peculiar +risk coming from his very coadjutors in the great cause. The +extremists who had cast aside all regard for what was practicable, and +who utterly scorned to consider the feasibility or the consequences of +measures which seemed to them to be correct as abstract propositions +of morality, were constantly urging him to action which would only +have destroyed him forever in political life, would have stripped him +of his influence, exiled him from that position in Congress where he +could render the most efficient service that was in him, and left him +naked of all usefulness and utterly helpless to continue that +essential portion of the labor which could be conducted by no one +else. "The abolitionists generally," he said, "are constantly urging +me to indiscreet movements, which would ruin me, and weaken and not +strengthen their cause." His family, on the other hand, sought to +restrain him from all connection with these dangerous partisans. +"Between these adverse impulses," he writes, "my mind is agitated +almost to distraction.... I walk on the edge of a precipice almost +every step +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page255" name="page255"></a>(p. 255)</span> +that I take." In the midst of all this anxiety, +however, he was fortunately supported by the strong commendation of +his constituents which they once loyally declared by formal and +unanimous votes in a convention summoned for the express purpose of +manifesting their support. His feelings appear by an entry in his +Diary in October, 1837:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "I have gone [he said] as far upon this article, the abolition of + slavery, as the public opinion of the free portion of the Union + will bear, and so far that scarcely a slave-holding member of the + House dares to vote with me upon any question. I have as yet been + thoroughly sustained by my own State, but one step further and I + hazard my own standing and influence there, my own final + overthrow, and the cause of liberty itself for an indefinite + time, certainly for more than my remnant of life. Were there in + the House one member capable of taking the lead in this cause of + universal emancipation, which is moving onward in the world and + in this country, I would withdraw from the contest which will + rage with increasing fury as it draws to its crisis, but for the + management of which my age, infirmities, and approaching end + totally disqualify me. There is no such man in the House." +</p> + +<p>September 15, 1837, he says: "I have been for some time occupied day +and night, when at home, in assorting and recording the petitions and + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page256" name="page256"></a>(p. 256)</span> +remonstrances against the annexation of Texas, and other +anti-slavery petitions, which flow upon me in torrents." The next day +he presented the singular petition of one Sherlock S. Gregory, who had +conceived the eccentric notion of asking Congress to declare him "an +alien or stranger in the land so long as slavery exists and the wrongs +of the Indians are unrequited and unrepented of." September 28 he +presented a batch of his usual petitions, and also asked leave to +offer a resolution calling for a report concerning the coasting trade +in slaves. "There was what Napoleon would have called a superb NO! +returned to my request from the servile side of the House." The next +day he presented fifty-one more like documents, and notes having +previously presented one hundred and fifty more.</p> + +<p>In December, 1837, still at this same work, he made a hard but +fruitless effort to have the Texan remonstrances and petitions sent to +a select committee instead of to that on foreign affairs which was +constituted in the Southern interest. On December 29 he "presented +several bundles of abolition and anti-slavery petitions," and said +that, having declared his opinion that the gag-rule was +unconstitutional, null, and void, he should "submit to it only as to +physical force." January 3, 1838, he presented "about +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257"></a>(p. 257)</span> a +hundred petitions, memorials, and remonstrances,—all laid on the +table." January 15 he presented fifty more. January 28 he received +thirty-one petitions, and spent that day and the next in assorting and +filing these and others which he previously had, amounting in all to +one hundred and twenty. February 14, in the same year, was a field-day +in the petition campaign: he presented then no less than three hundred +and fifty petitions, all but three or four of which bore more or less +directly upon the slavery question. Among these petitions was one</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "praying that Congress would take measures to protect citizens + from the North going to the South from danger to their lives. + When the motion to lay that on the table was made, I said that, + 'In another part of the Capitol it had been threatened that if a + Northern abolitionist should go to North Carolina, and utter a + principle of the Declaration of Independence'—Here a loud cry of + 'order! order!' burst forth, in which the Speaker yelled the + loudest. I waited till it subsided, and then resumed, 'that if + they could catch him they would hang him!' I said this so as to + be distinctly heard throughout the hall, the renewed deafening + shout of 'order! order!' notwithstanding. The Speaker then said, + 'The gentleman from Massachusetts will take his seat;' which I + did and immediately rose again and presented another petition. He + did not dare tell me that I could not proceed +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258"></a>(p. 258)</span> +without + permission of the House, and I proceeded. The threat to hang + Northern abolitionists was uttered by Preston of the Senate + within the last fortnight." +</p> + +<p>On March 12, of the same year, he presented ninety-six petitions, +nearly all of an anti-slavery character, one of them for "expunging +the Declaration of Independence from the Journals."</p> + +<p>On December 14, 1838, Mr. Wise, of Virginia, objected to the reception +of certain anti-slavery petitions. The Speaker ruled his objection out +of order, and from this ruling Wise appealed. The question on the +appeal was taken by yeas and nays. When Mr. Adams's name was called, +he relates:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "I rose and said, 'Mr. Speaker, considering all the resolutions + introduced by the gentleman from New Hampshire as'—The Speaker + roared out, 'The gentleman from Massachusetts must answer Aye or + No, and nothing else. Order!' With a reinforced voice—'I refuse + to answer, because I consider all the proceedings of the House as + unconstitutional'—While in a firm and swelling voice I + pronounced distinctly these words, the Speaker and about two + thirds of the House cried, 'order! order! order!' till it became + a perfect yell. I paused a moment for it to cease and then said, + 'a direct violation of the Constitution of the United States.' + While speaking these words +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259"></a>(p. 259)</span> +with loud, distinct, and + slow articulation, the bawl of 'order! order!' resounded again + from two thirds of the House. The Speaker, with agonizing lungs, + screamed, 'I call upon the House to support me in the execution + of my duty!' I then coolly resumed my seat. Waddy Thompson, of + South Carolina, advancing into one of the aisles with a sarcastic + smile and silvery tone of voice, said, 'What aid from the House + would the Speaker desire?' The Speaker snarled back, 'The + gentleman from South Carolina is out of order!' and a peal of + laughter burst forth from all sides of the House." +</p> + +<p>So that little skirmish ended, much more cheerfully than was often the +case.</p> + +<p>December 20, 1838, he presented fifty anti-slavery petitions, among +which were three praying for the recognition of the Republic of Hayti. +Petitions of this latter kind he strenuously insisted should be +referred to a select committee, or else to the Committee on Foreign +Affairs, accompanied in the latter case with explicit instructions +that a report thereon should be brought in. He audaciously stated that +he asked for these instructions because so many petitions of a like +tenor had been sent to the Foreign Affairs Committee, and had found it +a limbo from which they never again emerged, and the chairman had said +that this would continue to be the case. The chairman, sitting two +rows behind +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260"></a>(p. 260)</span> +Mr. Adams, said, "that insinuation should not be +made against a gentleman!" "I shall make," retorted Mr. Adams, "what +insinuation I please. This is not an insinuation, but a direct, +positive assertion."</p> + +<p>January 7, 1839, he cheerfully records that he presented ninety-five +petitions, bearing "directly or indirectly upon the slavery topics," +and some of them very exasperating in their language. March 30, 1840, +he handed in no less than five hundred and eleven petitions, many of +which were not receivable under the "gag" rule adopted on January 28 +of that year, which had actually gone the length of refusing so much +as a reception to abolition petitions. April 13, 1840, he presented a +petition for the repeal of the laws in the District of Columbia, which +authorized the whipping of women. Besides this he had a multitude of +others, and he only got through the presentation of them "just as the +morning hour expired." On January 21, 1841, he found much amusement in +puzzling his Southern adversaries by presenting some petitions in +which, besides the usual anti-slavery prayers, there was a prayer to +refuse to admit to the Union any new State whose constitution should +tolerate slavery. The Speaker said that only the latter prayer could +be <i>received</i> under the "gag" rule. Connor, of North +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261"></a>(p. 261)</span> +Carolina, moved to lay on the table so much of the petition as could +be received. Mr. Adams tauntingly suggested that in order to do this +it would be necessary to mutilate the document by cutting it into two +pieces; whereat there was great wrath and confusion, "the House got +into a snarl, the Speaker knew not what to do." The Southerners raved +and fumed for a while, and finally resorted to their usual expedient, +and dropped altogether a matter which so sorely burned their fingers.</p> + +<p>A fact, very striking in view of the subsequent course of events, +concerning Mr. Adams's relation with the slavery question, seems +hitherto to have escaped the attention of those who have dealt with +his career. It may as well find a place here as elsewhere in a +narrative which it is difficult to make strictly chronological. +Apparently he was the first to declare the doctrine, that the +abolition of slavery could be lawfully accomplished by the exercise of +the war powers of the Government. The earliest expression of this +principle is found in a speech made by him in May, 1836, concerning +the distribution of rations to fugitives from Indian hostilities in +Alabama and Georgia. He then said:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "From the instant that your slave-holding States become the + theatre of war, civil, servile, or foreign, from +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262"></a>(p. 262)</span> that + instant the war powers of the Constitution extend to interference + with the institution of slavery in every way in which it can be + interfered with, from a claim of indemnity for slaves taken or + destroyed, to a cession of the State burdened with slavery to a + foreign power." +</p> + +<p>In June, 1841, he made a speech of which no report exists, but the +contents of which may be in part learned from the replies and +references to it which are on record. Therein he appears to have +declared that slavery could be abolished in the exercise of the +treaty-making power, having reference doubtless to a treaty concluding +a war.</p> + +<p>These views were of course mere abstract expressions of opinion as to +the constitutionality of measures the real occurrence of which was +anticipated by nobody. But, as the first suggestions of a doctrine in +itself most obnoxious to the Southern theory and fundamentally +destructive of the great Southern "institution" under perfectly +possible circumstances, this enunciation by Mr. Adams gave rise to +much indignation. Instead of allowing the imperfectly formulated +principle to lose its danger in oblivion, the Southerners assailed it +with vehemence. They taunted Mr. Adams with the opinion, as if merely +to say that he held it was to damn him to everlasting infamy. The only +result was that they +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page263" name="page263"></a>(p. 263)</span> +induced him to consider the matter more +fully, and to express his belief more deliberately. In January, 1842, +Mr. Wise attacked him upon this ground, and a month later Marshall +followed in the same strain. These assaults were perhaps the direct +incentive to what was said soon after by Mr. Adams, on April 14, 1842, +in a speech concerning war with England and with Mexico, of which +there was then some talk. Giddings, among other resolutions, had +introduced one to the effect that the slave States had the exclusive +right to be consulted on the subject of slavery. Mr. Adams said that +he could not give his assent to this. One of the laws of war, he said, +is</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "that when a country is invaded, and two hostile armies are set + in martial array, the commanders of both armies have power to + emancipate all the slaves in the invaded territory." +</p> + +<p>He cited some precedents from South American history, and continued:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "Whether the war be servile, civil, or foreign, I lay this down + as the law of nations. I say that the military authority takes + for the time the place of all municipal institutions, slavery + among the rest. Under that state of things, so far from its being + true that the States where slavery exists have the exclusive + management of the subject, not only the President of the United + States but the commander of the army has power +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page264" name="page264"></a>(p. 264)</span> to order + the universal emancipation of the slaves." +</p> + +<p>This declaration of constitutional doctrine was made with much +positiveness and emphasis. There for many years the matter rested. The +principle had been clearly asserted by Mr. Adams, angrily repudiated +by the South, and in the absence of the occasion of war there was +nothing more to be done in the matter. But when the exigency at last +came, and the government of the United States was brought face to face +with by far the gravest constitutional problem presented by the great +rebellion, then no other solution presented itself save that which had +been suggested twenty years earlier in the days of peace by Mr. Adams. +It was in pursuance of the doctrine to which he thus gave the first +utterance that slavery was forever abolished in the United States. +Extracts from the last-quoted speech long stood as the motto of the +"Liberator;" and at the time of the Emancipation Proclamation Mr. +Adams was regarded as the chief and sufficient authority for an act so +momentous in its effect, so infinitely useful in a matter of national +extremity. But it was evidently a theory which had taken strong hold +upon him. Besides the foregoing speeches there is an explicit +statement of it in a letter which he wrote from Washington April 4, +1836, to Hon. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265"></a>(p. 265)</span> +Solomon Lincoln, of Hingham, a friend and +constituent. After touching upon other topics he says:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "The new pretensions of the slave representation in Congress of a + right to refuse to receive petitions, and that Congress have no + constitutional power to abolish slavery or the slave-trade in the + District of Columbia, forced upon me so much of the discussion as + I did take upon me, but in which you are well aware I did not and + could not speak a tenth part of my mind. I did not, for example, + start the question whether by the law of God and of nature man + can hold <i>property</i>, <span class="smcap">HEREDITARY</span> +property, in man. I did not start + the question whether in the event of a servile insurrection and + war, Congress would not have complete unlimited control over the + whole subject of slavery, even to the emancipation of all the + slaves in the State where such insurrection should break out, and + for the suppression of which the freemen of Plymouth and Norfolk + counties, Massachusetts, should be called by Acts of Congress to + pour out their treasures and to shed their blood. Had I spoken my + mind on these two points, the sturdiest of the abolitionists + would have disavowed the sentiments of their champion." +</p> + +<p>The projected annexation of Texas, which became a battle-ground +whereon the tide of conflict swayed so long and so fiercely to and +fro, profoundly stirred Mr. Adams's indignation. It is, he said, "a +question of far deeper root +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266"></a>(p. 266)</span> +and more overshadowing branches +than any or all others that now agitate this country.... I had opened +it by my speech ... on the 25th May, 1836—by far the most noted +speech that I ever made." He based his opposition to the annexation +upon constitutional objections, and on September 18, 1837, offered a +resolution that "the power of annexing the people of any independent +State to this Union is a power not delegated by the Constitution of +the United States to their Congress or to any department of their +government, but reserved to the people." The Speaker refused to +receive the motion, or even allow it to be read, on the ground that it +was not in order. Mr. Adams repeated substantially the same motion in +June, 1838, then adding "that any attempt by act of Congress or by +treaty to annex the Republic of Texas to this Union would be an +usurpation of power which it would be the right and the duty of the +free people of the Union to resist and annul." The story of his +opposition to this measure is, however, so interwoven with his general +antagonism to slavery, that there is little occasion for treating them +separately.<a id="footnotetag9" name="footnotetag9"></a><a href="#footnote9">[9]</a></p> + +<p>People +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267"></a>(p. 267)</span> +sometimes took advantage of his avowed principles +concerning freedom of petition to put him in positions which they +thought would embarrass him or render him ridiculous. Not much +success, however, attended these foolish efforts of shallow wits. It +was not easy to disconcert him or to take him at disadvantage. July +28, 1841, he presented a paper of this character coming from sundry +Virginians and praying that all the free colored population should be +sold or expelled from the country. He simply stated as he handed in +the sheet that nothing +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268"></a>(p. 268)</span> +could be more abhorrent to him than +this prayer, and that his respect for the right of petition was his +only motive for presenting this. It was suspended under the "gag" +rule, and its promoters, unless very easily amused, must have been +sadly disappointed with the fate and effect of their joke. On March 5, +1838, he received from Rocky Mount in Virginia a letter and petition +praying that the House would arraign at its bar and forever expel John +Quincy Adams. He presented both documents, with a resolution asking +that they be referred to a committee for investigation and report. His +enemies in the House saw that he was sure to have the best of the +sport if the matter should be pursued, and succeeded in laying it on +the table. Waddy Thompson thoughtfully improved the opportunity to +mention to Mr. Adams that he also had received a petition, "numerously +signed," praying for Mr. Adams's expulsion, but had never presented +it. In the following May Mr. Adams presented another petition of like +tenor. Dromgoole said that he supposed it was a "quiz," and that he +would move to lay it on the table, "unless the gentleman from +Massachusetts wished to give it another direction." Mr. Adams said +that "the gentleman from Massachusetts cared very little about it," +and it found the limbo of the "table."</p> + +<p>To +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269"></a>(p. 269)</span> +this same period belongs the memorable tale of Mr. Adams's +attempt to present a petition from slaves. On February 6, 1837, he +brought in some two hundred abolition petitions. He closed with one +against the slave-trade in the District of Columbia purporting to be +signed by "nine ladies of Fredericksburg, Virginia," whom he declined +to name because, as he said, in the present disposition of the +country, "he did not know what might happen to them if he did name +them." Indeed, he added, he was not sure that the petition was +genuine; he had said, when he began to present his petitions, that +some among them were so peculiar that he was in doubt as to their +genuineness, and this fell within the description. Apparently he had +concluded and was about to take his seat, when he quickly caught up +another sheet, and said that he held in his hand a paper concerning +which he should wish to have the decision of the Speaker before +presenting it. It purported to be a petition from twenty-two slaves, +and he would like to know whether it came within the rule of the House +concerning petitions relating to slavery. The Speaker, in manifest +confusion, said that he could not answer the question until he knew +the contents of the document. Mr. Adams, remarking that "it was one of +those petitions which +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270"></a>(p. 270)</span> +had occurred to his mind as not being +what it purported to be," proposed to send it up to the Chair for +inspection. Objection was made to this, and the Speaker said that the +circumstances were so extraordinary that he would take the sense of +the House. That body, at first inattentive, now became interested, and +no sooner did a knowledge of what was going on spread among those +present than great excitement prevailed. Members were hastily brought +in from the lobbies; many tried to speak, and from parts of the hall +cries of "Expel him! Expel him!" were heard. For a brief interval no +one of the enraged Southerners was equal to the unforeseen emergency. +Mr. Haynes moved the rejection of the petition. Mr. Lewis deprecated +this motion, being of opinion that the House must inflict punishment +on the gentleman from Massachusetts. Mr. Haynes thereupon withdrew a +motion which was so obviously inadequate to the vindictive gravity of +the occasion. Mr. Grantland stood ready to second a motion to punish +Mr. Adams, and Mr. Lewis said that if punishment should not be meted +out it would "be better for the representatives from the slave-holding +States to go home at once." Mr. Alford said that so soon as the +petition should be presented he would move that it should "be taken +from the House +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271"></a>(p. 271)</span> +and burned." At last Mr. Thompson got a +resolution into shape as follows:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "That the Hon. John Quincy Adams, by the attempt just made by him + to introduce a petition purporting on its face to be from slaves, + has been guilty of a gross disrespect to this House, and that he + be instantly brought to the bar to receive the severe censure of + the Speaker." +</p> + +<p>In supporting this resolution he said that Mr. Adams's action was in +gross and wilful violation of the rules of the House and an insult to +its members. He even threatened criminal proceedings before the grand +jury of the District of Columbia, saying that if that body had the +"proper intelligence and spirit" people might "yet see an incendiary +brought to condign punishment." Mr. Haynes, not satisfied with Mr. +Thompson's resolution, proposed a substitute to the effect that Mr. +Adams had "rendered himself justly liable to the severest censure of +this House and is censured accordingly." Then there ensued a little +more excited speech-making and another resolution, that Mr. Adams,</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "by his attempt to introduce into this House a petition from + slaves for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, + has committed an outrage on the feelings of the people of a large + portion of this Union; +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272"></a>(p. 272)</span> +a flagrant contempt on the + dignity of this House; and, by extending to slaves a privilege + only belonging to freemen, directly incites the slave population + to insurrection; and that the said member be forthwith called to + the bar of the House and be censured by the Speaker." +</p> + +<p>Mr. Lewis remained of opinion that it might be best for the Southern +members to go home,—a proposition which afterwards drew forth a +flaming speech from Mr. Alford, who, far from inclining to go home, +was ready to stay "until this fair city is a field of Waterloo and +this beautiful Potomac a river of blood." Mr. Patton, of Virginia, was +the first to speak a few words to bring members to their senses, +pertinently asking whether Mr. Adams had "attempted to offer" this +petition, and whether it did indeed pray for the abolition of slavery. +It might be well, he suggested, for his friends to be sure of their +facts before going further. Then at last Mr. Adams, who had not at all +lost his head in the general hurly-burly, rose and said, that amid +these numerous resolutions charging him with "high crimes and +misdemeanors" and calling him to the bar of the House to answer for +the same, he had thought it proper to remain silent until the House +should take some action; that he did not suppose that, if he should be +brought to the bar of the House, +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page273" name="page273"></a>(p. 273)</span> +he should be "struck mute +by the previous question" before he should have been given an +opportunity to "say a word or two" in his own defence. As to the +facts: "I did not present the petition," he said, "and I appeal to the +Speaker to say that I did not.... I intended to take the decision of +the Speaker before I went one step towards presenting or offering to +present that petition." The contents of the petition, should the House +ever choose to read it, he continued, would render necessary some +amendments at least in the last resolution, since the prayer was that +slavery should <i>not</i> be abolished!" The gentleman from Alabama may +perchance find, that the object of this petition is precisely what he +desires to accomplish; and that these slaves who have sent this paper +to me are his auxiliaries instead of being his opponents."</p> + +<p>These remarks caused some discomfiture among the Southern members, who +were glad to have time for deliberation given them by a maundering +speech from Mr. Mann, of New York, who talked about "the deplorable +spectacle shown off every petition day by the honorable member from +Massachusetts in presenting the abolition petitions of his infatuated +friends and constituents," charged Mr. Adams with running counter to +the sense of the whole country +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page274" name="page274"></a>(p. 274)</span> +with a "violence paralleled +only by the revolutionary madness of desperation," and twitted him +with his political friendlessness, with his age, and with the +insinuation of waning faculties and judgment. This little phial having +been emptied, Mr. Thompson arose and angrily assailed Mr. Adams for +contemptuously trifling with the House, which charge he based upon the +entirely unproved assumption that the petition was not a genuine +document. He concluded by presenting new resolutions better adapted to +the recent development of the case:—</p> + +<div class="quote"> +<p> "1. That the Hon. John Quincy Adams, by an effort to present a + petition from slaves, has committed a gross contempt of this + House.</p> + +<p> "2. That the member from Massachusetts above-named, by creating + the impression and leaving the House under such impression, that + the said petition was for the abolition of slavery, when he knew + that it was not, has trifled with the House.</p> + +<p> "3. That the Hon. John Quincy Adams receive the censure of the + House for his conduct referred to in the preceding resolutions."</p> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Pinckney said that the avowal by Mr. Adams that he had in his +possession the petition of slaves was an admission of communication +with slaves, and so was evidence of collusion with them; and that Mr. +Adams had thus +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page275" name="page275"></a>(p. 275)</span> +rendered himself indictable for aiding and +abetting insurrection. A <i>fortiori</i>, then, was he not amenable to the +censure of the House? Mr. Haynes, of Georgia, forgetting that the +petition had not been presented, announced his intention of moving +that it should be rejected subject only to a permission for its +withdrawal; another member suggested that, if the petition should be +disposed of by burning, it would be well to commit to the same +combustion the gentleman who presented it.</p> + +<p>On the next day some more resolutions were ready, prepared by +Dromgoole, who in his sober hours was regarded as the best +parliamentarian in the Southern party. These were, that Mr. Adams</p> + +<div class="quote"> +<p>"by stating in his place that he had in his possession a paper + purporting to be a petition from slaves, and inquiring if it came + within the meaning of a resolution heretofore adopted (as + preliminary to its presentation), has given color to the idea + that slaves have the right of petition and of his readiness to be + their organ; and that for the same he deserves the censure of the + House.</p> + +<p>"That the aforesaid John Quincy Adams receive a censure from the + Speaker in the presence of the House of Representatives."</p> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Alford, in advocating these resolutions, talked about "this awful +crisis of our beloved country." +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page276" name="page276"></a>(p. 276)</span> +Mr. Robertson, though +opposing the resolutions, took pains "strongly to condemn ... the +conduct of the gentleman from Massachusetts." Mr. Adams's colleague, +Mr. Lincoln, spoke in his behalf, so also did Mr. Evans, of Maine; and +Caleb Cushing made a powerful speech upon his side. Otherwise than +this Mr. Adams was left to carry on the contest single-handed against +the numerous array of assailants, all incensed and many fairly savage. +Yet it is a striking proof of the dread in which even the united body +of hot-blooded Southerners stood of this hard fighter from the North, +that as the debate was drawing to a close, after they had all said +their say and just before his opportunity came for making his +elaborate speech of defence, they suddenly and opportunely became +ready to content themselves with a mild resolution, which condemned +generally the presentation of petitions from slaves, and, for the +disposal of this particular case, recited that Mr. Adams had "solemnly +disclaimed all design of doing anything disrespectful to the House," +and had "avowed his intention not to offer to present" to the House +the petition of this kind held by him; that "therefore all further +proceedings in regard to his conduct do now cease." A sneaking effort +by Mr. Vanderpoel to close Mr. Adams's mouth by +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page277" name="page277"></a>(p. 277)</span> +moving the +previous question involved too much cowardice to be carried; and so on +February 9 the sorely bated man was at last able to begin his final +speech. He conducted his defence with singular spirit and ability, but +at too great length to admit of even a sketch of what he said. He +claimed the right of petition for slaves, and established it so far as +argument can establish anything. He alleged that all he had done was +to ask a question of the Speaker, and if he was to be censured for so +doing, then how much more, he asked, was the Speaker deserving of +censure who had even put the same question to the House, and given as +his reason for so doing that it was not only of novel but of difficult +import! He repudiated the idea that any member of the House could be +held by a grand jury to respond for words spoken in debate, and +recommended the gentlemen who had indulged in such preposterous +threats "to study a little the first principles of civil liberty," +excoriating them until they actually arose and tried to explain away +their own language. He cast infinite ridicule upon the unhappy +expression of Dromgoole, "giving color to an idea." Referring to the +difficulty which he encountered by reason of the variety and disorder +of the resolutions and charges against him with which "gentlemen from +the South had +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page278" name="page278"></a>(p. 278)</span> +pounced down upon him like so many eagles upon +a dove,"—there was an exquisite sarcasm in the simile!—he said: +"When I take up one idea, before I can give color to the idea, it has +already changed its form and presents itself for consideration under +other colors.... What defence can be made against this new crime of +giving color to ideas?" As for trifling with the House by presenting a +petition which in the course of debate had become pretty well known +and acknowledged to be a hoax designed to lead Mr. Adams into a +position of embarrassment and danger, he disclaimed any such motive, +reminding members that he had given warning, when beginning to present +his petitions, that he was suspicious that some among them might not +be genuine.<a id="footnotetag10" name="footnotetag10"></a><a href="#footnote10">[10]</a> +But while denying all intention of trifling with the + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page279" name="page279"></a>(p. 279)</span> +House, he rejected the mercy extended to him in the last of +the long series of resolutions before that body. "I disclaim not," he +said, "any particle of what I have done, not a single word of what I +have said do I unsay; nay, I am ready to do and to say the same +to-morrow." He had no notion of aiding in making a loophole through +which his blundering enemies might escape, even though he himself +should be accorded the privilege of crawling through it with them. At +times during his speech "there was great agitation in the House," but +when he closed no one seemed ambitious to reply. His enemies had +learned anew a lesson, often taught to them before and often to be +impressed upon them again, that it was perilous to come to close +quarters with Mr. Adams. They gave up all idea of censuring him, and +were content to apply a very mild emollient to their own smarting +wounds in the shape of a resolution, to the effect that slaves did not +possess the right of petition secured by the Constitution to the +people of the United States.</p> + +<p>In the winter of 1842-43 the questions arising out of the affair of +the Creole rendered the position then held by Mr. Adams at the head of +the House Committee on Foreign Affairs exceedingly distasteful to the +slave-holders. On January +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page280" name="page280"></a>(p. 280)</span> +21, 1842, a somewhat singular +manifestation of this feeling was made when Mr. Adams himself +presented a petition from Georgia praying for his removal from this +Chairmanship. Upon this he requested to be heard in his own behalf. +The Southern party, not sanguine of any advantage from debating the +matter, tried to lay it on the table. The petition was alleged by +Habersham, of Georgia, to be undoubtedly another hoax. But Mr. Adams, +loath to lose a good opportunity, still claimed to be heard on the +charges made against him by the "infamous slave-holders." Mr. Smith, +of Virginia, said that the House had lately given Mr. Adams leave to +defend himself against the charge of monomania, and asked whether he +was doing so. Some members cried "Yes! Yes!"; others shouted "No! he +is establishing the fact." The wrangling was at last brought to an end +by the Speaker's declaration, that the petition must lie over for the +present. But the scene had been only the prelude to one much longer, +fiercer, and more exciting. No sooner was the document thus +temporarily disposed of than Mr. Adams rose and presented the petition +of forty-five citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts, praying the House +"immediately to adopt measures peaceably to dissolve the union of +these States," for the alleged cause of the incompatibility +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page281" name="page281"></a>(p. 281)</span> +between free and slave-holding communities. He moved "its reference to +a select committee, with instructions to report an answer to the +petitioners showing the reasons why the prayer of it ought not to be +granted."</p> + +<p>In a moment the House was aflame with excitement. The numerous members +who hated Mr. Adams thought that at last he was experiencing the +divinely sent madness which foreruns destruction. Those who sought his +political annihilation felt that the appointed and glorious hour of +extinction had come; those who had writhed beneath the castigation of +his invective exulted in the near revenge. While one said that the +petition should never have been brought within the walls of the House, +and another wished to burn it in the presence of the members, Mr. +Gilmer, of Virginia, offered a resolution, that in presenting the +petition Mr. Adams "had justly incurred the censure of the House." +Some objection was made to this resolution as not being in order; but +Mr. Adams said that he hoped that it would be received and debated and +that an opportunity would be given him to speak in his own defence; +"especially as the gentleman from Virginia had thought proper to play +second fiddle to his +colleague<a id="footnotetag11" name="footnotetag11"></a><a href="#footnote11">[11]</a> +from Accomac." Mr. Gilmer retorted +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page282" name="page282"></a>(p. 282)</span> +that he "played second fiddle to no man. He was no fiddler, +but was endeavoring to prevent the music of him who,</p> + +<p class="poem"> + 'In the space of one revolving moon,<br> + Was statesman, poet, fiddler, and buffoon.'" +</p> + +<p>The resolution was then laid on the table. The House rose, and Mr. +Adams went home and noted in his Diary, "evening in meditation," for +which indeed he had abundant cause. On the following day Thomas F. +Marshall, of Kentucky, offered a substitute for Gilmer's resolution. +This new fulmination had been prepared in a caucus of forty members of +the slave-holding party, and was long and carefully framed. Its +preamble recited, in substance, that a petition to dissolve the Union, +proposing to Congress to destroy that which the several members had +solemnly and officially sworn to support, was a "high breach of +privilege, a contempt offered to this House, a direct proposition to +the Legislature and each member of it to commit perjury, and involving +necessarily in its execution and its consequences the destruction of +our country and the crime of high treason:" wherefore it was to be +resolved that Mr. Adams, in presenting a petition for dissolution, had +"offered the deepest indignity to the House" and "an insult to the +people;" that if "this outrage" should be "permitted to pass unrebuked +and unpunished" he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page283" name="page283"></a>(p. 283)</span> +would have "disgraced his country ... in +the eyes of the whole world;" that for this insult and this "wound at +the Constitution and existence of his country, the peace, the security +and liberty of the people of these States" he "might well be held to +merit expulsion from the national councils;" and that "the House deem +it an act of grace and mercy when they only inflict upon him their +severest censure;" that so much they must do "for the maintenance of +their own purity and dignity; for the rest they turned him over to his +own conscience and the indignation of all true American citizens."</p> + +<p>These resolutions were then advocated by Mr. Marshall at great length +and with extreme bitterness. Mr. Adams replied shortly, stating that +he should wish to make his full defence at a later stage of the +debate. Mr. Wise followed in a personal and acrimonious harangue; Mr. +Everett<a id="footnotetag12" name="footnotetag12"></a><a href="#footnote12">[12]</a> +gave some little assistance to Mr. Adams, and the House +again adjourned. The following day Wise continued his speech, very +elaborately. When he closed, Mr. Adams, who had "determined not to +interrupt him till he had discharged his full cargo of filthy +invective," rose to "make a preliminary point." He questioned the +right of the House to entertain Marshall's resolutions since the +preamble assumed him +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page284" name="page284"></a>(p. 284)</span> +to be guilty of the crimes of +subornation of perjury and treason, and the resolutions themselves +censured him as if he had been found guilty; whereas in fact he had +not been tried upon these charges and of course had not been +convicted. If he was to be brought to trial upon them he asserted his +right to have the proceedings conducted before a jury of his peers, +and that the House was not a tribunal having this authority. But if he +was to be tried for contempt, for which alone he could lawfully be +tried by the House, still there were an hundred members sitting on its +benches who were morally disqualified to judge him, who could not give +him an impartial trial, because they were prejudiced and the question +was one "on which their personal, pecuniary, and most sordid interests +were at stake." Such considerations, he said, ought to prevent many +gentlemen from voting, as Mr. Wise had avowed that they would prevent +him. Here Wise interrupted to disavow that he was influenced by any +such reasons, but rather, he said, by the "personal loathing, dread, +and contempt I feel for the man." Mr. Adams, continuing after this +pleasant interjection, admitted that he was in the power of the +majority, who might try him against law and condemn him against right +if they would.</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "If +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page285" name="page285"></a>(p. 285)</span> +they say they will try me, they must try me. If they + say they will punish me, they must punish me. But if they say + that in peace and mercy they will spare me expulsion, I disdain + and cast away their mercy; and I ask them if they will come to + such a trial and expel me. I defy them. I have constituents to go + to who will have something to say if this House expels me. Nor + will it be long before the gentlemen will see me here again." +</p> + +<p>Such was the fierce temper and indomitable courage of this inflexible +old man! He flung contempt in the face of those who had him wholly in +their power, and in the same breath in which he acknowledged that +power he dared them to use it. He charged Wise with the guilt of +innocent blood, in connection with certain transactions in a duel, and +exasperated that gentleman into crying out that the "charge made by +the gentleman from Massachusetts was as base and black a lie as the +traitor was base and black who uttered it." When he was asked by the +Speaker to put his point of order in writing,—his own request to the +like effect in another case having been refused shortly before,—he +tauntingly congratulated that gentleman "upon his discovery of the +expediency of having points of order reduced to writing—a favor which +he had repeatedly denied to me." When Mr. Wise was speaking, "I +interrupted him occasionally," says +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page286" name="page286"></a>(p. 286)</span> +Mr. Adams, "sometimes to +provoke him into absurdity." As usual he was left to fight out his +desperate battle substantially single-handed. Only Mr. Everett +occasionally helped him a very little; while one or two others who +spoke against the resolutions were careful to explain that they felt +no personal good will towards Mr. Adams. But he faced the odds +courageously. It was no new thing for him to be pitted alone against a +"solid South." Outside the walls of the House he had some sympathy and +some assistance tendered him by individuals, among others by Rufus +Choate then in the Senate, and by his own colleagues from +Massachusetts. This support aided and cheered him somewhat, but could +not prevent substantially the whole burden of the labor and brunt of +the contest from bearing upon him alone. Among the external +manifestations of feeling, those of hostility were naturally largely +in the ascendant. The newspapers of Washington—the "Globe" and the +"National Intelligencer"—which reported the debates, daily filled +their columns with all the abuse and invective which was poured forth +against him, while they gave the most meagre statements, or none at +all, of what he said in his own defence. Among other amenities he +received from North Carolina an anonymous letter threatening him with +assassination, having +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page287" name="page287"></a>(p. 287)</span> +also an engraved portrait of him with +the mark of a rifle-ball in the forehead, and the motto "to stop the +music of John Quincy Adams," etc., etc. This missive he read and +displayed in the House, but it was received with profound indifference +by men who would not have greatly objected to the execution of the +barbarous threat.</p> + +<p>The prolonged struggle cost him deep anxiety and sleepless nights, +which in the declining years of a laborious life told hardly upon his +aged frame. But against all odds of numbers and under all +disadvantages of circumstances the past repeated itself, and Mr. Adams +alone won a victory over all the cohorts of the South. Several +attempts had been made during the debate to lay the whole subject on +the table. Mr. Adams said that he would consent to this simply because +his defence would be a very long affair, and he did not wish to have +the time of the House consumed and the business of the nation brought +to a stand solely for the consideration of his personal affairs. These +propositions failing, he began his speech and soon was making such +headway that even his adversaries were constrained to see that the +opportunity which they had conceived to be within their grasp was +eluding them, as had so often happened before. Accordingly on February +7 the motion +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page288" name="page288"></a>(p. 288)</span> +to "lay the whole subject on the table forever" +was renewed and carried by one hundred and six votes to ninety-three. +The House then took up the original petition and refused to receive it +by one hundred and sixty-six to forty. No sooner was this consummation +reached than the irrepressible champion rose to his feet and proceeded +with his budget of anti-slavery petitions, of which he "presented +nearly two hundred, till the House adjourned."</p> + +<p>Within a very short time there came further and convincing proof that +Mr. Adams was victor. On February 26 he writes: "D. D. Barnard told me +he had received a petition from his District, signed by a small number +of very respectable persons, praying for a dissolution of the Union. +He said he did not know what to do with it. I dined with him." By +March 14 this dinner bore fruit. Mr. Barnard had made up his mind +"what to do with it." He presented it, with a motion that it be +referred to a select committee with instructions to report adversely +to its prayer. The well-schooled House now took the presentation +without a ripple of excitement, and was content with simply voting not +to receive the petition.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the toil and anxiety imposed upon Mr. Adams by this +effort to censure and disgrace him, the scheme, already referred to, +for +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page289" name="page289"></a>(p. 289)</span> +displacing him from the chairmanship of the Committee on +Foreign Affairs had been actively prosecuted. He was notified that the +Southern members had formed a cabal for removing him and putting Caleb +Cushing in his place. The plan was, however, temporarily checked, and +so soon as Mr. Adams had triumphed in the House the four Southern +members of the committee sent to the House a paper begging to be +excused from further services on the committee, "because from recent +occurrences it was doubtful whether the House would remove the +chairman, and they were unwilling to serve with one in whom they had +no confidence." The fugitives were granted, "by a shout of +acclamation," the excuse which they sought for so welcome a reason, +and the same was also done for a fifth member. Three more of the same +party, nominated to fill these vacancies, likewise asked to be +excused, and were so. Their letters preferring this request were "so +insulting personally" to Mr. Adams as to constitute "gross breaches of +privilege." "The Speaker would have refused to receive or present them +had they referred to any other man in the House." They were published, +but Mr. Adams, after some hesitation, determined not to give them the +importance which would result from any public notice in the House upon +his part. He could afford to keep silence, and judged wisely in doing +so.</p> + +<p>Amid +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page290" name="page290"></a>(p. 290)</span> +all the animosity and rancor entertained towards Mr. +Adams, there yet lurked a degree of respect for his courage, honesty, +and ability which showed itself upon occasion, doubtless not a little +to the surprise of the members themselves who were hardly conscious +that they entertained such sentiments until startled into a +manifestation of them. An eminent instance of this is to be found in +the story of the troubled days preceding the organization of the +twenty-sixth Congress. On December 2, 1839, the members elect of that +body came together in Washington, with the knowledge that the seats of +five gentlemen from New Jersey, who brought with them the regular +gubernatorial certificate of their election, would be contested by +five other claimants. According to custom Garland, clerk of the last +House, called the assemblage to order and began the roll-call. When he +came to New Jersey he called the name of one member from that State, +and then said that there were five other seats which were contested, +and that not feeling authorized to decide the dispute he would pass +over the names of the New Jersey members and proceed with the roll +till the House should be formed, when the question could be decided. +Plausible as appeared this abstention from an exercise of authority in +so grave a dispute, it was +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page291" name="page291"></a>(p. 291)</span> +nevertheless really an assumption +and not a deprecation of power, and as such was altogether +unjustifiable. The clerk's sole business was to call the names of +those persons who presented the usual formal credentials; he had no +right to take cognizance that the seats of any such persons might be +the subject of a contest, which could properly be instituted, +conducted, and determined only before and by the House itself when +organized. But his course was not innocent of a purpose. So evenly was +the House divided that the admission or exclusion of these five +members in the first instance would determine the political complexion +of the body. The members holding the certificates were Whigs; if the +clerk could keep them out until the organization of the House should +be completed, then the Democrats would control that organization, +would elect their Speaker, and through him would make up the +committees.</p> + +<p>Naturally enough this arrogation of power by the clerk, the motives +and consequences of which were abundantly obvious, raised a terrible +storm. The debate continued till four o'clock in the afternoon, when a +motion was made to adjourn. The clerk said that he could put no +question, not even of adjournment, till the House should be formed. +But there was a general cry to adjourn, and the clerk declared the +House adjourned. +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page292" name="page292"></a>(p. 292)</span> +Mr. Adams went home and wrote in his Diary +that the clerk's "two decisions form together an insurmountable +objection to the transaction of any business, and an impossibility of +organizing the House.... The most curious part of the case is, that +his own election as clerk depends upon the exclusion of the New Jersey +members." The next day was consumed in a fierce debate as to whether +the clerk should be allowed to read an explanatory statement. Again +the clerk refused to put the question of adjournment, but, "upon +inspection," declared an adjournment. Some called out "a count! a +count!" while most rushed out of the hall, and Wise cried loudly, "Now +we are a mob!" The next day there was more violent debating, but no +progress towards a decision. Various party leaders offered +resolutions, none of which accomplished anything. The condition was +ridiculous, disgraceful, and not without serious possibilities of +danger. Neither did any light of encouragement break in any quarter. +In the crisis there seemed, by sudden consent of all, to be a turning +towards Mr. Adams. Prominent men of both parties came to him and +begged him to interfere. He was reluctant to plunge into the +embroilment; but the great urgency and the abundant assurances of +support placed little less than actual compulsion upon him.</p> + +<a id="img006" name="img006"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img006.jpg" width="400" height="527" +alt="Henry A. Wise" title=""> +</div> +<a id="img006b" name="img006b"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> +<img src="images/img006b.jpg" width="400" height="71" +alt="Henry A. Wise" title=""> +</div> + +<p>Accordingly +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page293" name="page293"></a>(p. 293)</span> +on December 5 he rose to address the House. He +was greeted as a <i>Deus ex machina</i>. Not speaking to the clerk, but +turning directly to the assembled members, he began: "Fellow citizens! +Members elect of the twenty-sixth Congress!" He could not resist the +temptation of administering a brief but severe and righteous +castigation to Garland; and then, ignoring that functionary +altogether, proceeded to beg the House to <i>organize itself</i>. To this +end he said that he would offer a resolution "ordering the clerk to +call the members from New Jersey possessing the credentials from the +Governor of that State." There had been already no lack of +resolutions, but the difficulty lay in the clerk's obstinate refusal +to put the question upon them. So now the puzzled cry went up: "How +shall the question be put?" "I intend to put the question myself," +said the dauntless old man, wholly equal to the emergency. A tumult of +applause resounded upon all sides. Rhett, of South Carolina, sprang up +and offered a resolution, that Williams, of North Carolina, the oldest +member of the House, be appointed chairman of the meeting; but upon +objection by Williams, he substituted the name of Mr. Adams, and put +the question. He was "answered by an almost universal shout in the +affirmative." Whereupon Rhett and Williams conducted +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page294" name="page294"></a>(p. 294)</span> +the old +man to the chair. It was a proud moment. Wise, of Virginia, afterward +said, addressing a complimentary speech to Mr. Adams, "and if, when +you shall be gathered to your fathers, I were asked to select the +words which in my judgment are calculated to give at once the best +character of the man, I would inscribe upon your tomb this sentence, +'I will put the question myself!'" Doubtless Wise and a good many more +would have been glad enough to put almost any epitaph on a tombstone +for Mr. +Adams.<a id="footnotetag13" name="footnotetag13"></a><a href="#footnote13">[13]</a> +It must, however, be acknowledged that the +impetuous Southerners behaved very handsomely by their arch foe on +this occasion, and were for once as chivalrous in fact as they always +were in profession.</p> + +<p>Smooth water had by no means been reached when Mr. Adams was placed at +the helm; on the contrary, the buffeting became only the more severe +when the members were no longer restrained by a lurking dread of grave +disaster if not of utter shipwreck. Between two bitterly incensed and +evenly divided parties engaged in a struggle for an important prize, +Mr. Adams, having no strictly lawful authority pertaining to +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page295" name="page295"></a>(p. 295)</span> +his singular and anomalous position, was hard taxed to perform his +functions. It is impossible to follow the intricate and acrimonious +quarrels of the eleven days which succeeded until on December 16, upon +the eleventh ballot, R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, was elected Speaker, +and Mr. Adams was relieved from the most arduous duty imposed upon him +during his life. In the course of the debates there had been "much +vituperation and much equally unacceptable compliment" lavished upon +him. After the organization of the House, there was some talk of +moving a vote of thanks, but he entreated that it should not be done. +"In the rancorous and bitter temper of the Administration party, +exasperated by their disappointment in losing their Speaker, the +resolution of thanks," he said, "would have been lost if it had been +offered." However this might have been, history has determined this +occurrence to have been one of the most brilliant episodes in a life +which had many distinctions.</p> + +<p>A few incidents indicative of respect must have been welcome enough in +the solitary fight-laden career of Mr. Adams. He needed some +occasional encouragement to keep him from sinking into despondency; +for though he was of so unyielding and belligerent a disposition, of +such ungracious demeanor, so uncompromising with +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page296" name="page296"></a>(p. 296)</span> +friend and +foe, yet he was a man of deep and strong feelings, and in a way even +very sensitive though a proud reserve kept the secret of this quality +so close that few suspected it. His Diary during his Congressional +life shows a man doing his duty sternly rather than cheerfully, +treading resolutely a painful path, having the reward which attends +upon a clear conscience, but neither light-hearted nor often even +happy. Especially he was frequently disappointed at the returns which +he received from others, and considered himself "ill-treated by every +public man whom circumstances had brought into competition with him;" +they had returned his "acts of kindness and services" with "gross +injustice." The reflection did not induce him to deflect his course in +the least, but it was made with much bitterness of spirit. Toward the +close of 1835 he writes:—</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "Among the dark spots in human nature which in the course of my + life I have observed, the devices of rivals to ruin me have been + sorry pictures of the heart of man.... H. G. Otis, Theophilus + Parsons, Timothy Pickering, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan + Russell, William H. Crawford, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, + Daniel Webster, and John Davis, W. B. Giles, and John Randolph, + have used up their faculties in base and dirty tricks to thwart + my progress in life and destroy my character." +</p> + + +<p>Truly +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page297" name="page297"></a>(p. 297)</span> +a long and exhaustive list of enmities! One can but +suspect that a man of so many quarrels must have been quarrelsome. +Certain it is, however, that in nearly every difference which Mr. +Adams had in his life a question of right and wrong, of moral or +political principle, had presented itself to him. His intention was +always good, though his manner was so habitually irritating. He +himself says that to nearly all these men—Russell alone specifically +excepted—he had "returned good for evil," that he had "never wronged +any one of them," and had even "neglected too much his self-defence +against them." In October, 1833, he said: "I subject myself to so much +toil and so much enmity, with so very little apparent fruit, that I +sometimes ask myself whether I do not mistake my own motives. The best +actions of my life make me nothing but enemies." In February, 1841, he +made a powerful speech in castigation of Henry A. Wise, who had been +upholding in Southern fashion slavery, duelling, and nullification. He +received afterward some messages of praise and sympathy, but noted +with pain that his colleagues thought it one of his "eccentric, wild, +extravagant freaks of passion;" and with a pathetic sense of +loneliness he adds: "All around me is cold and discouraging and my own +feelings are wound up to a pitch that +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page298" name="page298"></a>(p. 298)</span> +my reason can scarcely +endure." A few days later he had the pleasure of hearing one of the +members say, in a speech, that there was an opinion among many that +Mr. Adams was insane and did not know what he said. While a fight was +going on such incidents only fired his blood, but afterwards the +reminiscence affected his spirits cruelly.</p> + +<p>In August, 1840, he writes that he has been twelve years submitting in +silence to the "foulest and basest aspersions," to which it would have +been waste of time to make reply, since the public ear had not been +open to him. "Is the time arriving," he asks, "for me to speak? or +must I go down to the grave and leave posterity to do justice to my +father and to me?"</p> + +<p>He has had at least the advantage of saying his say to posterity in a +very effective and convincing shape in that Diary, which so +discomfited and enraged General Jackson. There is plain enough +speaking in its pages, which were a safety valve whereby much wrath +escaped. Mr. Adams had the faculty of forcible expression when he +chose to employ it, as may be seen from a few specimen sentences. On +March 28, 1840, he remarks that Atherton "this day emitted half an +hour of his rotten breath against" a pending bill. Atherton was +infamous as the mover of the "gag" resolution, and Mr. Adams abhorred + +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page299" name="page299"></a>(p. 299)</span> +him accordingly. Duncan, of Cincinnati, mentioned as +"delivering a dose of balderdash," is described as "the prime bully of +the Kinderhook Democracy," without "perception of any moral +distinction between truth and falsehood, ... a thorough-going +hack-demagogue, coarse, vulgar, and impudent, with a vein of low humor +exactly suited to the rabble of a popular city and equally so to the +taste of the present House of Representatives." Other similar bits of +that pessimism and belief in the deterioration of the times, so common +in old men, occasionally appear. In August, 1835, he thinks that "the +signs of the times are portentous. All the tendencies of legislation +are to the removal of restrictions from the vicious and the guilty, +and to the exercise of all the powers of government, legislative, +judicial, and executive, by lawless assemblages of individuals." +December 27, 1838, he looks upon the Senate and the House, "the cream +of the land, the culled darlings of fifteen millions," and observes +that "the remarkable phenomenon that they present is the level of +intellect and of morals upon which they stand; and this universal +mediocrity is the basis upon which the liberties of this nation +repose." In July, 1840, he thinks that</p> + +<p class="quote"> + "parties are falling into profligate factions. I have seen this + before; but the worst symptom now is the +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page300" name="page300"></a>(p. 300)</span> +change in the + manners of the people. The continuance of the present + Administration ... will open wide all the flood-gates of + corruption. Will a change produce reform? Pause and ponder! + Slavery, the Indians, the public lands, the collection and + disbursement of public money, the tariff, and foreign + affairs:—what is to become of them?" +</p> + +<p>On January 29, 1841, Henry A. Wise uttered "a motley compound of +eloquence and folly, of braggart impudence and childish vanity, of +self-laudation and Virginian narrow-mindedness." After him Hubbard, of +Alabama, "began grunting against the tariff." Three days later Black, +of Georgia, "poured forth his black bile" for an hour and a half. The +next week we find Clifford, of Maine, "muddily bothering his trickster +invention" to get over a rule of the House, and "snapping like a +mackerel at a red rag" at the suggestion of a way to do so. In July, +1841, we again hear of Atherton as a "cross-grained numskull ... +snarling against the loan bill." With such peppery passages in great +abundance the Diary is thickly and piquantly besprinkled. They are not +always pleasant, perhaps not even always amusing, but they display the +marked element of censoriousness in Mr. Adams's character, which it is +necessary to appreciate in order to understand some parts of his +career.</p> + +<p>If +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page301" name="page301"></a>(p. 301)</span> +Mr. Adams never had the cheerful support of popularity, so +neither did he often have the encouragement of success. He said that +he was paying in his declining years for the good luck which had +attended the earlier portion of his life. On December 14, 1833, he +calculates that he has three fourths of the people of Massachusetts +against him, and by estranging the anti-Masons he is about to become +obnoxious to the whole. "My public life will terminate by the +alienation from me of all mankind.... It is the experience of all ages +that the people grow weary of old men. I cannot flatter myself that I +shall escape the common law of our nature." Yet he acknowledges that +he is unable to "abstract himself from the great questions which +agitate the country." Soon after he again writes in the same vein: "To +be forsaken by all mankind seems to be the destiny that awaits my last +days." August 6, 1835, he gives as his reason for not accepting an +invitation to deliver a discourse, that "instead of having any +beneficial influence upon the public mind, it would be turned as an +instrument of obloquy against myself." So it had been, as he +enumerates, with his exertions against Freemasonry, his labors for +internal improvement, for the manufacturing interest, for domestic +industry, for free labor, for the disinterested +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page302" name="page302"></a>(p. 302)</span> +aid then +lately brought by him to Jackson in the dispute with France; "so it +will be to the end of my political life."</p> + +<p>When to unpopularity and reiterated disappointment we add the physical +ills of old age, it no longer surprises us to find Mr. Adams at times +harsh and bitter beyond the excuse of the occasion. That he was a man +of strong physique and of extraordinary powers of endurance, often +surpassing those of young and vigorous men, is evident. For example, +one day in March, 1840, he notes incidentally: "I walked home and +found my family at dinner. From my breakfast yesterday morning until +one this afternoon, twenty-eight hours, I had fasted." Many a time he +showed like, if not quite equal vigor. But he had been a hard worker +all his life, and testing the powers of one's constitution does not +tend to their preservation; he was by no means free from the woes of +the flesh or from the depression which comes with years and the dread +of decrepitude. Already as early as October 7, 1833, he fears that his +health is "irretrievable;" he gets but five hours a night of +"disturbed unquiet sleep—full of tossings." February 17, 1834, his +"voice was so hoarse and feeble that it broke repeatedly, and he could +scarcely articulate. It is gone forever," he very mistakenly but +despondingly adds, "and it is in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page303" name="page303"></a>(p. 303)</span> +vain for me to contend +against the decay of time and nature." His enemies found little truth +in this foreboding for many sessions thereafter. Only a year after he +had performed his feat of fasting for twenty-eight hours of business, +he received a letter from a stranger advising him to retire. He admits +that perhaps he ought to do so, but says that more than sixty years of +public life have made activity necessary to him; it is the "weakness +of his nature" which he has "intellect enough left to perceive but not +energy to control," so that "the world will retire from me before I +shall retire from the world."</p> + +<p>The brief sketch which can be given in a volume of this size of so +long and so busy a life does not suffice even to indicate all its many +industries. The anti-slavery labors of Mr. Adams during his +Congressional career were alone an abundant occupation for a man in +the prime of life; but to these he added a wonderful list of other +toils and interests. He was not only an incessant student in history, +politics, and literature, but he also constantly invaded the domain of +science. He was Chairman of the Congressional Committee on the +Smithsonian bequest, and for several years he gave much time and +attention to it, striving to give the fund a direction in favor of +science; he +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page304" name="page304"></a>(p. 304)</span> +hoped to make it subservient to a plan which he +had long cherished for the building of a noble national observatory. +He had much committee work; he received many visitors; he secured +hours of leisure for his favorite pursuit of composing poetry; he +delivered an enormous number of addresses and speeches upon all sorts +of occasions; he conducted an extensive correspondence; he was a very +devout man, regularly going to church and reading three chapters in +his Bible every day; and he kept up faithfully his colossal Diary. For +several months in the midst of Congressional duties he devoted great +labor, thought, and anxiety to the famous cause of the slaves of the +Amistad, in which he was induced to act as counsel before the Supreme +Court. Such were the labors of his declining age. To men of ordinary +calibre the multiplicity of his acquirements and achievements is +confounding and incredible. He worked his brain and his body as +unsparingly as if they had been machines insensible to the pleasure or +necessity of rest. Surprisingly did they submit to his exacting +treatment, lasting in good order and condition far beyond what was +then the average of life and vigorous faculties among his +contemporaries engaged in public affairs.</p> + +<p>In August, 1842, while he was still tarrying in +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page305" name="page305"></a>(p. 305)</span> the +unwholesome heats of Washington, he had some symptoms which he thought +premonitory, and he speaks of the next session of Congress as probably +the last which he should ever attend. March 25, 1844, he gives a +painful sketch of himself. Physical disability, he says, must soon put +a stop to his Diary. That morning he had risen "at four, and with +smarting, bloodshot eyes and shivering hand, still sat down and wrote +to fill up the chasm of the closing days of last week." If his +remaining days were to be few he was at least resolved to make them +long for purposes of unremitted labor.</p> + +<p>But he had one great joy and distinguished triumph still in store for +him. From the time when the "gag" rule had been first established, Mr. +Adams had kept up an unbroken series of attacks upon it at all times +and by all means. At the beginning of the several sessions, when the +rules were established by the House, he always moved to strike out +this one. Year after year his motion was voted down, but year after +year he renewed it with invincible perseverance. The majorities +against him began to dwindle till they became almost imperceptible; in +1842 it was a majority of four; in 1843, of three; in 1844 the +struggle was protracted for weeks, and Mr. Adams all but carried the +day. It was evident that victory was not +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page306" name="page306"></a>(p. 306)</span> +far off, and a kind +fate had destined him to live not only to see but himself to win it. +On December 3, 1844, he made his usual motion and called for the yeas +and nays; a motion was made to lay his motion on the table, and upon +that also the question was taken by yeas and nays—eighty-one yeas, +one hundred and four nays, and his motion was <i>not</i> laid on the table. +The question was then put upon it, and it was carried by the handsome +vote of one hundred and eight to eighty. In that moment the "gag" rule +became a thing of the past, and Mr. Adams had conquered in his last +fight. "Blessed, forever blessed, be the name of God!" he writes in +recording the event. A week afterwards some anti-slavery petitions +were received and actually referred to the Committee on the District +of Columbia. This glorious consummation having been achieved, this +advanced stage in the long conflict having been reached, Mr. Adams +could not hope for life to see another goal passed. His work was +nearly done; he had grown aged, and had worn himself out faithfully +toiling in the struggle which must hereafter be fought through its +coming phases and to its final success by others, younger men than he, +though none of them certainly having over him any other militant +advantage save only the accident of youth.</p> + +<p>His +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page307" name="page307"></a>(p. 307)</span> +mental powers were not less than at any time in the past +when, on November 19, 1846, he was struck by paralysis in the street +in Boston. He recovered from the attack, however, sufficiently to +resume his duties in Washington some three months later. His +reappearance in the House was marked by a pleasing incident: all the +members rose together; business was for the moment suspended; his old +accustomed seat was at once surrendered to him by the gentleman to +whom it had fallen in the allotment, and he was formally conducted to +it by two members. After this, though punctual in attendance, he only +once took part in debate. On February 21, 1848, he appeared in his +seat as usual. At half past one in the afternoon the Speaker was +rising to put a question, when he was suddenly interrupted by cries of +"Stop! Stop!—Mr. Adams!" Some gentlemen near Mr. Adams had thought +that he was striving to rise to address the Speaker, when in an +instant he fell over insensible. The members thronged around him in +great confusion. The House hastily adjourned. He was placed on a sofa +and removed first to the hall of the rotunda and then to the Speaker's +room. Medical men were in attendance but could be of no service in the +presence of death. The stern old fighter lay dying almost on the very +field of so many battles and in the very +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page308" name="page308"></a>(p. 308)</span> +tracks in which he +had so often stood erect and unconquerable, taking and dealing so many +mighty blows. Late in the afternoon some inarticulate mutterings were +construed into the words, "Thank the officers of the House." Soon +again he said intelligibly, "This is the last of earth! I am content!" +It was his extreme utterance. He lay thereafter unconscious till the +evening of the 23d, when he passed quietly away.</p> + +<p>He lies buried "under the portal of the church at Quincy" beside his +wife, who survived him four years, his father and his mother. The +memorial tablet inside the church bears upon it the words "Alteri +Sæculo,"—surely never more justly or appropriately applied to any man +than to John Quincy Adams, hardly abused and cruelly misappreciated in +his own day but whom subsequent generations already begin to honor as +one of the greatest of American statesmen, not only preëminent in +ability and acquirements, but even more to be honored for profound, +immutable honesty of purpose and broad, noble humanity of aims.</p> + + + + + +<h2>INDEX +<span class="pagenum"><a id="page311" name="page311"></a>(p. 311)</span></h2> + +<div class="index"> +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Abolitionists</span>, their part in anti-slavery movement, +<a href="#page244">244</a>, +<a href="#page245">245</a>;<br> + urge Adams to extreme actions, +<a href="#page254">254</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Adams</span>, Abigail, shows battle of Bunker Hill to her son, +<a href="#page002">2</a>;<br> + life near Boston during siege, +<a href="#page002">2</a>, +<a href="#page003">3</a>;<br> + letter of J. Q. Adams to, on keeping journal, +<a href="#page005">5</a>;<br> + warns him against asking office from his father as President, +<a href="#page023">23</a>;<br> + his spirited reply, +<a href="#page023">23</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Adams</span>, C. F., on beginning of Adams's diary, +<a href="#page006">6</a>;<br> + on Adams's statement of Monroe doctrine, +<a href="#page131">131</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Adams</span>, John, influence of his career in Revolution upon his son, +<a href="#page002">2</a>;<br> + leaves family near Boston while attending Continental Congress, +<a href="#page002">2</a>, +<a href="#page003">3</a>;<br> + letter of his son to, on reading, +<a href="#page003">3</a>;<br> + first mission to France, +<a href="#page004">4</a>;<br> + second one, +<a href="#page004">4</a>;<br> + advises his son to keep a diary and copies of letters, +<a href="#page005">5</a>;<br> + makes treaty of peace, +<a href="#page013">13</a>;<br> + appointed Minister to England, +<a href="#page014">14</a>;<br> + elected President, +<a href="#page023">23</a>;<br> + at Washington's suggestion, appoints J. Q. Adams Minister to Prussia, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + recalls him, +<a href="#page025">25</a>;<br> + his rage at defeat by Jefferson, +<a href="#page025">25</a>, +<a href="#page026">26</a>;<br> + disrupts Federalist party by French mission, +<a href="#page026">26</a>;<br> + his rivalry with and hatred for Hamilton, +<a href="#page026">26</a>, +<a href="#page027">27</a>;<br> + charges defeat to Hamilton, +<a href="#page027">27</a>;<br> + qualified sympathy of J. Q. Adams with, +<a href="#page027">27</a>, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + his enemies and adherents in Massachusetts, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + his unpopularity hampers J. Q. Adams in Senate, +<a href="#page031">31</a>, +<a href="#page034">34</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Adams</span>, John Quincy, birth, +<a href="#page001">1</a>;<br> + ancestry, +<a href="#page001">1</a>;<br> + named for his great-grandfather, +<a href="#page001">1</a>;<br> + describes incident connected with his naming, +<a href="#page001">1</a>, +<a href="#page002">2</a>;<br> + early involved in outbreak of Revolution, +<a href="#page002">2</a>;<br> + life near Boston during the siege, +<a href="#page002">2</a>, +<a href="#page003">3</a>;<br> + scanty schooling, +<a href="#page003">3</a>;<br> + describes his reading in letter to John Adams, +<a href="#page003">3</a>, +<a href="#page004">4</a>;<br> + accompanies his father to France in 1778, +<a href="#page004">4</a>;<br> + and again to Spain, +<a href="#page004">4</a>, +<a href="#page005">5</a>;<br> + tells his mother of intention to keep diary while abroad, +<a href="#page005">5</a>, +<a href="#page006">6</a>;<br> + begins it in 1779, its subsequent success, +<a href="#page006">6</a>;<br> + its revelation of his character, +<a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page010">10</a>;<br> + unchangeableness of his traits, +<a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page008">8</a>;<br> + describes contemporaries bitterly in diary, +<a href="#page009">9</a>, +<a href="#page010">10</a>;<br> + shows his own high character, +<a href="#page010">10</a>;<br> + also his disagreeable traits, +<a href="#page011">11</a>, +<a href="#page012">12</a>;<br> + difficulty of condensing his career, +<a href="#page012">12</a>;<br> + his schooling in Europe, +<a href="#page013">13</a>;<br> + at fourteen acts as private secretary to Dana on mission to Russia, +<a href="#page013">13</a>;<br> + assists father in peace negotiations, +<a href="#page013">13</a>;<br> + his early gravity, maturity, and coolness, +<a href="#page014">14</a>, +<a href="#page015">15</a>;<br> + decides not to accompany father to England, but return home, +<a href="#page015">15</a>;<br> + gives his reason for decision, +<a href="#page015">15</a>, +<a href="#page016">16</a>;<br> + studies at Harvard, +<a href="#page017">17</a>;<br> + studies law with Parsons at Newburyport, +<a href="#page017">17</a>;<br> + begins practice in Boston in 1790, +<a href="#page017">17</a>;<br> + writes Publicola papers against Paine's "Rights of Man," +<a href="#page018">18</a>;<br> + writes in papers against Genet, +<a href="#page018">18</a>;<br> + his restlessness and ambition, +<a href="#page019">19</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>Foreign Minister</i></span>. Appointed Minister to the Hague, +<a href="#page019">19</a>;<br> + his voyage, +<a href="#page019">19</a>;<br> + in Holland at time of its capture by French, +<a href="#page020">20</a>;<br> + cordially received by French, +<a href="#page020">20</a>;<br> + his skill in avoiding entanglement, +<a href="#page020">20</a>;<br> + persuaded by Washington to remain, although without occupation, +<a href="#page021">21</a>;<br> + prevented from participating in Jay's negotiations over the treaty, +<a href="#page021">21</a>;<br> + has dealings with Grenville, +<a href="#page022">22</a>;<br> + marriage with Miss Johnson, +<a href="#page022">22</a>, +<a href="#page023">23</a>;<br> + transferred to Portugal, +<a href="#page023">23</a>;<br> + question as to propriety of remaining minister after his father's election, +<a href="#page023">23</a>;<br> + persuaded by Washington to remain, +<a href="#page023">23</a>, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + appointed minister to Prussia, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + ratifies treaty of commerce, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + travels in Europe, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + recalled by his father, +<a href="#page025">25</a>;<br> + resumes practice of law, +<a href="#page025">25</a>;<br> + not involved in Federalist quarrels, +<a href="#page027">27</a>, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + removed by Jefferson from commissionership in bankruptcy, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + elected to State Senate, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + irritates Federalists by proposing to allow Democrats a place in council, +<a href="#page029">29</a>;<br> + his entire independence, +<a href="#page029">29</a>, +<a href="#page030">30</a>;<br> + elected to United States Senate over Pickering, +<a href="#page030">30</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>United States Senator</i></span>. His journey to Washington, +<a href="#page030">30</a>, +<a href="#page031">31</a>;<br> + unfriendly greeting from his father's enemies, +<a href="#page031">31</a>;<br> + isolation in the Senate, +<a href="#page032">32</a>, +<a href="#page033">33</a>;<br> + unfriendly relations with Pickering, +<a href="#page032">32</a>;<br> + refuses to yield to unpopularity, +<a href="#page033">33</a>, +<a href="#page034">34</a>;<br> + estranges Federalists by his absence of partisanship, +<a href="#page034">34</a>, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + votes in favor of Louisiana purchase, although calling it unconstitutional, +<a href="#page035">35</a>, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + condemned by New England, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + votes for acquittal of Chase, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + realizes that he is conquering respect, +<a href="#page036">36</a>, +<a href="#page037">37</a>;<br> + introduces resolutions condemning British seizures of neutrals, +<a href="#page038">38</a>, +<a href="#page039">39</a>;<br> + and requesting President to insist on reparation, +<a href="#page039">39</a>;<br> + his measure carried by Democrats, +<a href="#page039">39</a>;<br> + comments on Orders in Council and Napoleon's decrees, +<a href="#page042">42</a>, +<a href="#page046">46</a>;<br> + refuses to follow New England Federalists in advocating submission, +<a href="#page047">47</a>, +<a href="#page048">48</a>;<br> + disgusted at Jefferson's peace policy, +<a href="#page048">48</a>;<br> + but supports Non-importation Act, +<a href="#page049">49</a>;<br> + believes in hostile purpose of England, +<a href="#page049">49</a>, +<a href="#page050">50</a>;<br> + urges Boston Federalists to promise support to government during Chesapeake affair, +<a href="#page051">51</a>;<br> + attends Democratic and Federalist meetings to this effect, +<a href="#page051">51</a>, +<a href="#page052">52</a>;<br> + read out of party by Federalists, +<a href="#page052">52</a>;<br> + votes for and supports embargo, +<a href="#page053">53</a>;<br> + execrated in New England, +<a href="#page053">53</a>;<br> + his patriotic conduct, +<a href="#page053">53-55</a>;<br> + his opinion of embargo, +<a href="#page055">55</a>;<br> + regrets its too long continuance, +<a href="#page055">55</a>, +<a href="#page056">56</a>;<br> + advocates in vain military and naval preparations, +<a href="#page056">56</a>;<br> + refused reëlection by Massachusetts legislature, +<a href="#page056">56</a>, +<a href="#page057">57</a>;<br> + resigns before expiration of term, +<a href="#page057">57</a>;<br> + harshly criticised then and since for leaving Federalists, +<a href="#page057">57</a>, +<a href="#page058">58</a>;<br> + propriety and justice of his action, +<a href="#page058">58</a>, +<a href="#page059">59</a>;<br> + led to do so by his American feeling, +<a href="#page061">61</a>, +<a href="#page062">62</a>;<br> + absurdity of charge of office-seeking, +<a href="#page063">63</a>;<br> + disproved by his whole character and career, +<a href="#page063">63</a>, +<a href="#page064">64</a>;<br> + his courage tested by necessity of abandoning friends, +<a href="#page064">64</a>;<br> + repels advances from Giles, +<a href="#page065">65</a>;<br> + statement of his feelings in his diary, +<a href="#page065">65</a>, +<a href="#page066">66</a>;<br> + refuses election to Congress from Democrats, +<a href="#page066">66</a>;<br> + sums up barrenness of his career in Senate, +<a href="#page066">66-68</a>;<br> + approached by Madison in 1805 with suggestion of foreign mission, +<a href="#page068">68</a>;<br> + his cool reply, +<a href="#page069">69</a>;<br> + nominated Minister to Russia by Madison, +<a href="#page069">69</a>;<br> + appointment refused, then confirmed, +<a href="#page069">69</a>, +<a href="#page070">70</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>Minister to Russia</i></span>. Peace of Ghent. His voyage, +<a href="#page070">70</a>;<br> + his life at St. Petersburg, +<a href="#page070">70</a>, +<a href="#page071">71</a>;<br> + his success as foreign representative, +<a href="#page071">71</a>, +<a href="#page072">72</a>;<br> + disgusted by snobbery of American travelers, +<a href="#page072">72</a>;<br> + declines to take part in squabbles for precedence, +<a href="#page072">72</a>, +<a href="#page073">73</a>;<br> + hampered by meagre salary, +<a href="#page073">73</a>;<br> + describes Russia during Napoleonic wars, +<a href="#page074">74</a>;<br> + nominated to act as peace commissioner with England, +<a href="#page075">75</a>, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + describes negotiations in his diary, +<a href="#page077">77</a>;<br> + suggests refusing to meet British commissioners at their lodgings, +<a href="#page077">77</a>;<br> + remarks on arrogance of British, +<a href="#page081">81</a>;<br> + vents irritation upon colleagues, +<a href="#page082">82</a>, +<a href="#page083">83</a>;<br> + begins drafting communications, but abandons duty to Gallatin, +<a href="#page082">82</a>;<br> + nettled at criticisms of colleagues on his drafts, +<a href="#page082">82</a>, +<a href="#page083">83</a>;<br> + quarrels with all but Gallatin, +<a href="#page084">84</a>;<br> + incompatible with Clay, +<a href="#page084">84</a>;<br> + urges strong counter-claims, +<a href="#page085">85</a>;<br> + thinks negotiations certain to fail, +<a href="#page086">86</a>;<br> + obliged to work for peace as defeated party, +<a href="#page086">86</a>, +<a href="#page087">87</a>;<br> + willing to return to status quo, +<a href="#page087">87</a>;<br> + disagrees with Clay over fisheries and Mississippi navigation, +<a href="#page088">88</a>;<br> + determined to insist on fisheries, +<a href="#page089">89</a>, +<a href="#page090">90</a>, +<a href="#page092">92</a>;<br> + suspects British intend to prevent peace, +<a href="#page090">90</a>;<br> + controverts Goulburn, +<a href="#page091">91</a>;<br> + signs treaty, +<a href="#page093">93</a>;<br> + at Paris during Napoleon's "hundred days," +<a href="#page098">98</a>;<br> + appointed Minister to England, +<a href="#page098">98</a>;<br> + with Clay and Gallatin, makes treaty of commerce with England, +<a href="#page098">98</a>;<br> + his slight duties as minister, +<a href="#page098">98</a>, +<a href="#page099">99</a>;<br> + bored by English dinners, +<a href="#page099">99</a>, +<a href="#page100">100</a>;<br> + sensitive to small income, +<a href="#page100">100</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>Secretary of State</i></span>. Appointed, +<a href="#page100">100</a>;<br> + describes dullness of Washington in diary, +<a href="#page102">102</a>;<br> + as host, +<a href="#page103">103</a>;<br> + his habits of life, +<a href="#page104">104</a>;<br> + prominent candidate for succession to Monroe, +<a href="#page105">105</a>;<br> + intrigued against by Crawford, +<a href="#page106">106</a>;<br> + and by Clay and Calhoun, +<a href="#page106">106</a>, +<a href="#page107">107</a>;<br> + expects Spanish colonies to gain independence, +<a href="#page109">109</a>;<br> + but maintains cautious public attitude, +<a href="#page109">109</a>;<br> + describes Spanish ambassador, +<a href="#page111">111</a>;<br> + negotiates concerning boundaries of Louisiana, +<a href="#page111">111</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>;<br> + his position, +<a href="#page112">112</a>;<br> + fears opposition from Clay and Crawford, +<a href="#page112">112</a>;<br> + urged by Monroe not to claim too much, +<a href="#page113">113</a>;<br> + rejects English mediation, +<a href="#page114">114</a>;<br> + uses French Minister as go-between, +<a href="#page114">114</a>;<br> + succeeds in reaching a conclusion, +<a href="#page114">114</a>, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + a triumph for his diplomacy, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + chagrined at discovery of Spanish land grants, +<a href="#page116">116</a>, +<a href="#page117">117</a>;<br> + and at refusal of Spanish government to ratify treaty, +<a href="#page118">118</a>;<br> + urges the seizure of disputed territory, +<a href="#page118">118</a>;<br> + at first indifferent to Missouri question, +<a href="#page119">119</a>;<br> + soon appreciates the slavery issue, +<a href="#page119">119</a>;<br> + predicts an attempt to dissolve the Union, +<a href="#page119">119</a>, +<a href="#page120">120</a>;<br> + sharp comments on slavery, slaveholders, and Northern weakness, +<a href="#page120">120</a>;<br> + notes Calhoun's threat of alliance of slave States with England, +<a href="#page121">121</a>;<br> + thinks abolition impossible without disunion, +<a href="#page121">121</a>, +<a href="#page122">122</a>;<br> + maintains power of Congress over slavery in Territories, +<a href="#page122">122</a>;<br> + realizes that failure of treaty damages his chance for presidency, +<a href="#page123">123</a>;<br> + refuses to reopen question with new Spanish envoy, +<a href="#page123">123</a>;<br> + forces ratification of treaty with annulment of land grants, +<a href="#page124">124</a>;<br> + his satisfaction with outcome of negotiations, +<a href="#page125">125</a>, +<a href="#page126">126</a>;<br> + prepares report on weights and measures, +<a href="#page126">126</a>;<br> + its thoroughness, +<a href="#page127">127</a>;<br> + his pride of country without boastfulness in negotiations, +<a href="#page127">127</a>, +<a href="#page128">128</a>;<br> + declines to consider what European courts may think, +<a href="#page128">128</a>, +<a href="#page129">129</a>;<br> + considers it destiny of United States to occupy North America, +<a href="#page129">129</a>;<br> + considers annexation of Cuba probable, +<a href="#page130">130</a>;<br> + always willing to encroach within America, +<a href="#page130">130</a>, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + tells Russia American continents are no longer open for colonies, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + fears possibility of European attack on Spain's colonies, +<a href="#page132">132</a>;<br> + willing to go to war against such an attack, +<a href="#page133">133</a>;<br> + but, in default of any, advocates non-interference, +<a href="#page133">133</a>, +<a href="#page134">134</a>;<br> + refuses to interfere in European politics, +<a href="#page134">134</a>;<br> + unwilling to enter league to suppress slave trade, +<a href="#page135">135</a>;<br> + the real author of Monroe doctrine, +<a href="#page136">136</a>;<br> + dealings with Stratford Canning, +<a href="#page136">136</a>;<br> + his reasons for refusing to join international league to put down slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>, +<a href="#page139">139</a>;<br> + discusses with him the Astoria question, +<a href="#page140">140-148</a>;<br> + insists on Canning's making communications on question in writing, +<a href="#page141">141</a>;<br> + stormy interviews with him, +<a href="#page142">142-147</a>;<br> + refuses to discuss remarks uttered in debate in Congress, +<a href="#page142">142</a>, +<a href="#page145">145</a>;<br> + angry breach of Canning with, +<a href="#page147">147</a>, +<a href="#page148">148</a>;<br> + success of his treatment of Canning, +<a href="#page148">148</a>;<br> + description in his diary of presidential intrigues, +<a href="#page150">150</a> ff.;<br> + his censorious frankness, +<a href="#page150">150</a>;<br> + his judgments of men not to be followed too closely, +<a href="#page151">151</a>;<br> + accuses Clay of selfishness in opposition to Florida treaty, and +in urging recognition of Spanish colonies, +<a href="#page151">151</a>, +<a href="#page152">152</a>;<br> + compares him to John Randolph, +<a href="#page153">153</a>;<br> + later becomes on better terms, +<a href="#page154">154</a>;<br> + his deep contempt for Crawford, +<a href="#page154">154</a>;<br> + gradually suspects him of malicious practices, +<a href="#page154">154</a>, +<a href="#page155">155</a>;<br> + and of sacrificing everything to his ambition, +<a href="#page155">155</a>, +<a href="#page156">156</a>;<br> + sustained by Calhoun in this estimate, +<a href="#page157">157</a>;<br> + supports Jackson in Cabinet, +<a href="#page158">158</a>, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + strains his conscience to uphold Jackson's actions, +<a href="#page160">160</a>, +<a href="#page161">161</a>;<br> + defends him against Canning, +<a href="#page162">162</a>;<br> + gives a ball in his honor, +<a href="#page162">162</a>;<br> + wishes to offer him position of Minister to Mexico, +<a href="#page163">163</a>;<br> + favors Jackson for Vice-President, +<a href="#page163">163</a>;<br> + determines to do nothing in his own behalf as candidate, +<a href="#page164">164</a>;<br> + no trace of any self-seeking in his diary, +<a href="#page164">164</a>, +<a href="#page165">165</a>;<br> + holds aloof at all stages, +<a href="#page165">165</a>;<br> + manages to be polite to all, +<a href="#page166">166</a>;<br> + yet prepares to be keenly hurt at failure, +<a href="#page166">166</a>;<br> + considers election a test of his career, +<a href="#page167">167</a>;<br> + and of his personal character in the eyes of the people, +<a href="#page167">167</a>;<br> + picture of his anxiety in his diary, +<a href="#page168">168</a>;<br> + receives second largest number of electoral votes, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + preferred by Clay to Jackson, +<a href="#page171">171</a>;<br> + elected by the House of Representatives, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br> + dissatisfied with the result, +<a href="#page174">174</a>;<br> + would have preferred a new election if possible, +<a href="#page174">174</a>;<br> + congratulated by Jackson at his inauguration, +<a href="#page175">175</a>;<br> + wishes office as a token of popular approval, +<a href="#page175">175</a>;<br> + realizes that this election does not signify that, +<a href="#page176">176</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>President</i></span>. Freedom from political indebtedness, +<a href="#page177">177</a>;<br> + his cabinet, +<a href="#page177">177</a>;<br> + asks Rufus King to accept English mission, +<a href="#page177">177</a>, +<a href="#page178">178</a>;<br> + renominates officials, +<a href="#page178">178</a>;<br> + refuses to consider any rotation in office, +<a href="#page179">179</a>;<br> + refuses to punish officials for opposing his election, +<a href="#page179">179</a>, +<a href="#page180">180</a>;<br> + charged with bargaining for Clay's support, +<a href="#page181">181-183</a>;<br> + unable to disprove it, +<a href="#page183">183</a>;<br> + story spread by Jackson, +<a href="#page184">184</a>;<br> + after disproof of story, continues to be accused by Jackson, +<a href="#page187">187</a>;<br> + meets strong opposition in Congress, +<a href="#page188">188</a>;<br> + notes combination of Southern members against him, +<a href="#page189">189</a>;<br> + sends message concerning Panama Congress, +<a href="#page189">189</a>;<br> + accused in Senate and House of having transcended his powers, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + aided by Webster, +<a href="#page190">190</a>;<br> + reasons for Southern opposition to, +<a href="#page191">191</a>;<br> + confronted by a hostile majority in both Houses, +<a href="#page192">192</a>;<br> + lack of events in his administration, +<a href="#page193">193</a>;<br> + advocates internal improvements, +<a href="#page194">194</a>;<br> + declines to make a show before people, +<a href="#page194">194</a>;<br> + his digging at opening of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, +<a href="#page194">194</a>, +<a href="#page195">195</a>;<br> + formation of personal opposition to his reëlection by Jackson, +<a href="#page195">195</a>, +<a href="#page196">196</a>;<br> + his only chance of success to secure a personal following, +<a href="#page197">197</a>;<br> + refuses to remove officials for political reasons, +<a href="#page198">198</a>;<br> + fails to induce any one except independent men to desire his reëlection, +<a href="#page199">199</a>;<br> + his position as representative of good government not understood, +<a href="#page200">200</a>;<br> + refuses to modify utterances on internal improvements, to appease Virginia, +<a href="#page201">201</a>;<br> + refuses to "soothe" South Carolina, +<a href="#page201">201</a>;<br> + alienates people by personal stiffness and Puritanism, +<a href="#page202">202</a>, +<a href="#page203">203</a>;<br> + fails to secure personal friends, +<a href="#page203">203</a>;<br> + friendly relations with Cabinet, +<a href="#page204">204</a>, +<a href="#page205">205</a>;<br> + nominates Barbour Minister to England, +<a href="#page205">205</a>;<br> + fills vacancy with P. B. Porter at Cabinet's suggestion, +<a href="#page205">205</a>;<br> + refuses to remove McLean for double-dealing, +<a href="#page206">206</a>;<br> + his laboriousness, +<a href="#page206">206</a>;<br> + daily exercise, +<a href="#page206">206</a>, +<a href="#page207">207</a>;<br> + threatened with assassination, +<a href="#page207">207</a>, +<a href="#page208">208</a>;<br> + stoicism under slanders, +<a href="#page208">208</a>;<br> + refuses to deny accusation of being a Mason, +<a href="#page209">209</a>;<br> + accused of trying to buy support of Webster, +<a href="#page209">209</a>;<br> + other slanders, +<a href="#page209">209</a>;<br> + shows his wrath in his diary, +<a href="#page210">210</a>;<br> + hatred of Randolph, +<a href="#page210">210</a>, +<a href="#page211">211</a>;<br> + of Giles, +<a href="#page211">211</a>;<br> + defeated in election of 1828, +<a href="#page212">212</a>;<br> + feels disgraced, +<a href="#page213">213</a>, +<a href="#page214">214</a>;<br> + significance of his retirement, +<a href="#page213">213</a>;<br> + the last statesman in presidency, +<a href="#page213">213</a>;<br> + his depression, +<a href="#page214">214</a>, +<a href="#page215">215</a>;<br> + looks forward gloomily to retirement, +<a href="#page215">215</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>In Retirement</i></span>. Returns to Quincy, +<a href="#page216">216</a>;<br> + followed by slanders of Giles, +<a href="#page216">216</a>;<br> + declines to enter into controversy with Federalists +over disunion movement of 1808, +<a href="#page216">216</a>, +<a href="#page217">217</a>;<br> + attacked by the Federalists for his refusal, +<a href="#page217">217</a>, +<a href="#page218">218</a>;<br> + prepares a crushing reply which he does not publish, +<a href="#page218">218</a>;<br> + dreads idleness, +<a href="#page220">220</a>;<br> + unable to resume law practice, +<a href="#page220">220</a>;<br> + his slight property, +<a href="#page221">221</a>;<br> + reads Latin classics, +<a href="#page221">221</a>;<br> + plans biographical and historical work, +<a href="#page221">221</a>;<br> + writes in diary concerning his reading, +<a href="#page222">222</a>;<br> + does not appreciate humor, +<a href="#page222">222</a>;<br> + has difficulty in reading Paradise Lost, +<a href="#page223">223</a>;<br> + learns to like Milton and tobacco, +<a href="#page223">223</a>;<br> + asked if willing to be elected to Congress, +<a href="#page225">225</a>;<br> + replies that he is ready to accept the office, +<a href="#page225">225</a>;<br> + elected in 1830, +<a href="#page225">225</a>;<br> + as candidate for governor, withdraws name in case of choice by legislature, +<a href="#page226">226</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>Member of House of Representatives</i></span>. + His principal task the struggle with Southern slaveholders, +<a href="#page226">226</a>;<br> + gains greater honor in this way than hitherto, +<a href="#page226">226</a>, +<a href="#page227">227</a>;<br> + his diligence and independent action in the House, +<a href="#page227">227</a>;<br> + called "old man eloquent," +<a href="#page227">227</a>;<br> + not in reality a pleasing or impressive speaker, +<a href="#page227">227</a>, +<a href="#page228">228</a>;<br> + but effective and well-informed, +<a href="#page228">228</a>;<br> + his excessive pugnacity, +<a href="#page229">229</a>;<br> + his enemies, +<a href="#page229">229</a>, +<a href="#page230">230</a>;<br> + success as debater, +<a href="#page230">230</a>;<br> + absence of friends or followers, +<a href="#page231">231</a>;<br> + supported by people in New England, +<a href="#page232">232</a>;<br> + declares intention to be independent, +<a href="#page233">233</a>;<br> + greeted with respect, +<a href="#page233">233</a>;<br> + on Committee on Manufactures, +<a href="#page233">233</a>;<br> + willing to reduce duties to please South, +<a href="#page234">234</a>;<br> + condemns apparent surrender of Jackson to South Carolina, +<a href="#page234">234</a>;<br> + pleased with Jackson's nullification proclamation, +<a href="#page235">235</a>;<br> + wishes to coerce South Carolina before making concessions, +<a href="#page235">235</a>;<br> + insists on a decision of question of nullification, +<a href="#page235">235</a>;<br> + dissatisfied with Jackson's failure to push matters, +<a href="#page236">236</a>;<br> + in opposition to Jackson, +<a href="#page237">237</a>, +<a href="#page238">238</a>;<br> + supports proposal of Jackson to take determined attitude toward France, +<a href="#page239">239</a>;<br> + wins no gratitude from Jackson, +<a href="#page240">240</a>;<br> + receives attempt at reconciliation coolly, +<a href="#page240">240</a>;<br> + opposes granting of Doctorate of Laws to Jackson by Harvard, +<a href="#page241">241</a>, +<a href="#page242">242</a>;<br> + considers Jackson's illness a sham, +<a href="#page242">242</a>;<br> + presents abolition petitions from beginning of term, +<a href="#page243">243</a>;<br> + does not favor abolition in District of Columbia, +<a href="#page243">243</a>;<br> + always disliked slavery and slaveholders, +<a href="#page243">243</a>;<br> + not an agitator or reformer, +<a href="#page244">244</a>;<br> + his qualifications to oppose slave power in Congress, +<a href="#page245">245</a>, +<a href="#page246">246</a>;<br> + hostility in Congress and coldness in Boston, +<a href="#page246">246</a>;<br> + his support in his district, +<a href="#page247">247</a>;<br> + and among people of North, +<a href="#page247">247</a>;<br> + continues to present petitions, +<a href="#page248">248</a>;<br> + presents one signed by women, +<a href="#page249">249</a>;<br> + opposes assertion that Congress has no power +to interfere with slavery in a State, +<a href="#page250">250</a>;<br> + opposes gag rule, +<a href="#page250">250</a>;<br> + advocates right of petition, +<a href="#page251">251</a>;<br> + tries to get his protest entered on journal, +<a href="#page251">251</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>;<br> + savage reply to an assailant, +<a href="#page252">252</a>;<br> + receives and presents floods of petitions, +<a href="#page252">252</a>, +<a href="#page253">253</a>;<br> + single-handed in task, +<a href="#page253">253</a>;<br> + urged to rash movements by abolitionists, +<a href="#page254">254</a>;<br> + his conduct approved by constituents, +<a href="#page255">255</a>;<br> + resolves to continue, although alone, +<a href="#page255">255</a>;<br> + description in his diary of presentation of petitions, +<a href="#page255">255-261</a>;<br> + continues to protest against "gag" rule as unconstitutional, +<a href="#page256">256</a>;<br> + scores Preston for threatening to hang abolitionists, +<a href="#page257">257</a>, +<a href="#page258">258</a>;<br> + defies the House and says his say, +<a href="#page258">258</a>, +<a href="#page259">259</a>;<br> + wishes petitions referred to a select committee, +<a href="#page259">259</a>;<br> + passage at arms with chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee, +<a href="#page259">259</a>, +<a href="#page260">260</a>;<br> + taunts Connor with folly of "gag" rule, +<a href="#page261">261</a>;<br> + holds that Congress, under war power, may abolish slavery, +<a href="#page261">261-263</a>;<br> + attacked by Southerners, +<a href="#page262">262</a>, +<a href="#page263">263</a>;<br> + cites precedents, +<a href="#page263">263</a>;<br> + his theory followed by Lincoln, +<a href="#page264">264</a>;<br> + refers to the theory in letter, +<a href="#page265">265</a>;<br> + opposes annexation of Texas, +<a href="#page265">265</a>, +<a href="#page266">266</a>;<br> + his reasons, +<a href="#page266">266</a> n.;<br> + presents absurd petitions, +<a href="#page266">266</a>;<br> + presents petitions asking for his own expulsion, +<a href="#page268">268</a>;<br> + allows matter to drop, +<a href="#page268">268</a>;<br> + presents petition from slaves and asks opinion of speaker, +<a href="#page269">269</a>;<br> + fury of slaveholders against, +<a href="#page270">270</a>;<br> + resolutions of censure against, +<a href="#page271">271</a>;<br> + disconcerts opponents by his cool reply, +<a href="#page272">272</a>, +<a href="#page273">273</a>;<br> + but receives new attacks and resolutions of censure, +<a href="#page274">274</a>, +<a href="#page275">275</a>;<br> + defended by a few New Englanders, +<a href="#page276">276</a>;<br> + reluctance of Southerners to allow him to reply, +<a href="#page276">276</a>;<br> + his speech, +<a href="#page277">277-279</a>;<br> + sarcasms upon his enemies, +<a href="#page277">277</a>, +<a href="#page278">278</a>;<br> + presents petition asking for his own removal from chairmanship +of Committee on Foreign Affairs, +<a href="#page280">280</a>;<br> + prevented from defending himself, +<a href="#page280">280</a>;<br> + presents petition for dissolution of Union while disapproving it, +<a href="#page280">280</a>, +<a href="#page281">281</a>;<br> + resolutions of censure against, +<a href="#page281">281</a>, +<a href="#page282">282</a>;<br> + attacked by Marshall and Wise, +<a href="#page283">283</a>;<br> + objects to injustice of preamble, +<a href="#page284">284</a>;<br> + defies his enemies and scorns mercy, +<a href="#page285">285</a>;<br> + bitter remarks on his opponents, +<a href="#page285">285</a>;<br> + helped by Everett, +<a href="#page286">286</a>;<br> + slight outside sympathy for, +<a href="#page286">286</a>;<br> + abused in newspapers, +<a href="#page286">286</a>;<br> + threatened with assassination, +<a href="#page286">286</a>, +<a href="#page287">287</a>;<br> + willing to have matter laid on table, +<a href="#page287">287</a>;<br> + his triumph in the affair, +<a href="#page288">288</a>;<br> + attempt to drive him from Foreign Affairs Committee, +<a href="#page289">289</a>;<br> + refusal of Southerners to serve with, +<a href="#page289">289</a>;<br> + refuses to notice them, +<a href="#page289">289</a>;<br> + retains respect of House for his honesty, +<a href="#page290">290</a>;<br> + appealed to, to help organize House in 1839, +<a href="#page292">292</a>;<br> + his bold and successful action, +<a href="#page293">293-295</a>;<br> + praised by Wise, +<a href="#page294">294</a>;<br> + succeeds in presiding eleven days until organization, +<a href="#page294">294</a>, +<a href="#page295">295</a>;<br> + deprecates a resolution of thanks, +<a href="#page295">295</a>;<br> + his occasional despondency and loneliness, +<a href="#page295">295</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>;<br> + describes his enemies, +<a href="#page296">296</a>;<br> + tries to act justly to all of them, +<a href="#page297">297</a>;<br> + castigates Wise for dueling, +<a href="#page297">297</a>;<br> + called insane, +<a href="#page297">297</a>, +<a href="#page298">298</a>;<br> + his bitter language on opponents in the Diary, +<a href="#page298">298-300</a>;<br> + low opinion of Congress, +<a href="#page299">299</a>;<br> + on partisanship, +<a href="#page299">299</a>, +<a href="#page300">300</a>;<br> + describes his unpopularity, +<a href="#page301">301</a>;<br> + describes all his acts as turned to his discredit, +<a href="#page301">301</a>;<br> + his ill-health, +<a href="#page302">302</a>, +<a href="#page303">303</a>, +<a href="#page305">305</a>;<br> + chairman of committee on Smithsonian bequest, +<a href="#page303">303</a>;<br> + his religious and social activity, +<a href="#page304">304</a>;<br> + in Amistad case, +<a href="#page304">304</a>;<br> + continues attack upon gag rule, +<a href="#page305">305</a>;<br> + his final victory and exultation, +<a href="#page306">306</a>;<br> + struck by paralysis, +<a href="#page307">307</a>;<br> + greeted on return to House, +<a href="#page307">307</a>;<br> + his death in Capitol, +<a href="#page307">307</a>, +<a href="#page308">308</a>;<br> + estimate of character and services, +<a href="#page308">308</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>Characteristics</i></span>. General view, +<a href="#page010">10-12</a>, +<a href="#page308">308</a>;<br> + ambition, +<a href="#page016">16</a>, +<a href="#page019">19</a>, +<a href="#page025">25</a>, +<a href="#page164">164-167</a>;<br> + censoriousness, +<a href="#page009">9</a>, +<a href="#page012">12</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page150">150</a>, +<a href="#page242">242</a>;<br> + conscientiousness, +<a href="#page066">66</a>, +<a href="#page200">200</a>, +<a href="#page277">277</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>;<br> + coldness, +<a href="#page011">11</a>, +<a href="#page034">34</a>, +<a href="#page037">37</a>, +<a href="#page165">165</a>, +<a href="#page230">230</a>, +<a href="#page240">240</a>;<br> + courage, +<a href="#page010">10</a>, +<a href="#page015">15</a>, +<a href="#page033">33</a>, +<a href="#page054">54</a>, +<a href="#page058">58</a>, +<a href="#page064">64</a>, +<a href="#page113">113</a>, +<a href="#page208">208</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>, +<a href="#page253">253</a>, +<a href="#page293">293</a>;<br> + dignity, +<a href="#page071">71</a>, +<a href="#page099">99</a>, +<a href="#page127">127</a>, +<a href="#page213">213</a>, +<a href="#page216">216</a>;<br> + diplomatic ability, +<a href="#page020">20</a>, +<a href="#page022">22</a>, +<a href="#page072">72</a>, +<a href="#page114">114</a>, +<a href="#page123">123</a>, +<a href="#page137">137-148</a>;<br> + exercise, love of, +<a href="#page206">206</a>, +<a href="#page207">207</a>;<br> + honor, +<a href="#page010">10</a>, +<a href="#page022">22</a>, +<a href="#page058">58</a>, +<a href="#page063">63</a>, +<a href="#page166">166</a>;<br> + ill-health, +<a href="#page302">302</a>, +<a href="#page305">305</a>;<br> + independence, +<a href="#page010">10</a>, +<a href="#page016">16</a>, +<a href="#page029">29</a>, +<a href="#page030">30</a>, +<a href="#page048">48</a>, +<a href="#page059">59</a>, +<a href="#page127">127</a>, +<a href="#page133">133</a>, +<a href="#page246">246</a>;<br> + industry, +<a href="#page008">8</a>, +<a href="#page011">11</a>, +<a href="#page126">126</a>, +<a href="#page206">206</a>, +<a href="#page227">227</a>;<br> + invective, +<a href="#page012">12</a>, +<a href="#page229">229</a>, +<a href="#page230">230</a>, +<a href="#page246">246</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>, +<a href="#page277">277-279</a>, +<a href="#page281">281</a>, +<a href="#page283">283-285</a>, +<a href="#page298">298-300</a>;<br> + irritability, +<a href="#page083">83</a>, +<a href="#page154">154</a>, +<a href="#page210">210</a>, +<a href="#page211">211</a>, +<a href="#page302">302</a>;<br> + knowledge of politics, +<a href="#page011">11</a>, +<a href="#page091">91</a>, +<a href="#page228">228</a>, +<a href="#page245">245</a>;<br> + legal ability, +<a href="#page018">18</a>;<br> + literary interests, +<a href="#page221">221-223</a>;<br> + melancholy, +<a href="#page214">214</a>;<br> + observation, power of, +<a href="#page074">74</a>, +<a href="#page077">77</a>, +<a href="#page111">111</a>;<br> + oratorical ability, +<a href="#page227">227</a>, +<a href="#page228">228</a>;<br> + patriotism, +<a href="#page062">62</a>, +<a href="#page127">127</a>, +<a href="#page148">148</a>;<br> + persistence, +<a href="#page011">11</a>, +<a href="#page025">25</a>, +<a href="#page034">34</a>, +<a href="#page114">114</a>, +<a href="#page123">123</a>, +<a href="#page143">143</a>, +<a href="#page245">245</a>;<br> + personal appearance, +<a href="#page228">228</a>;<br> + pessimism, +<a href="#page019">19</a>, +<a href="#page033">33</a>, +<a href="#page067">67</a>, +<a href="#page153">153</a>, +<a href="#page272">272</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>, +<a href="#page299">299</a>;<br> + precocity, +<a href="#page017">17</a>;<br> + pride, +<a href="#page166">166</a>, +<a href="#page167">167</a>, +<a href="#page201">201</a>;<br> + prolixity, +<a href="#page082">82</a>, +<a href="#page277">277</a>;<br> + pugnacity, +<a href="#page049">49</a>, +<a href="#page050">50</a>, +<a href="#page052">52</a>, +<a href="#page081">81</a>, +<a href="#page133">133</a>, +<a href="#page141">141</a>, +<a href="#page160">160</a>, +<a href="#page228">228-236</a>, +<a href="#page245">245</a>, +<a href="#page246">246</a>, +<a href="#page285">285</a>;<br> + Puritanism, +<a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page030">30</a>, +<a href="#page066">66</a>, +<a href="#page150">150</a>, +<a href="#page164">164</a>, +<a href="#page202">202</a>;<br> + religious views, +<a href="#page030">30</a>, +<a href="#page207">207</a>, +<a href="#page304">304</a>;<br> + sensitiveness, +<a href="#page033">33</a>, +<a href="#page083">83</a>, +<a href="#page208">208</a>, +<a href="#page298">298</a>;<br> + sobriety, +<a href="#page008">8</a>, +<a href="#page014">14</a>, +<a href="#page118">118</a>;<br> + social habits, +<a href="#page103">103</a>, +<a href="#page202">202</a>, +<a href="#page203">203</a>;<br> + suspiciousness, +<a href="#page082">82</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page138">138</a>, +<a href="#page151">151</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>;<br> + unpopularity, +<a href="#page195">195</a>, +<a href="#page202">202-204</a>, +<a href="#page231">231</a>, +<a href="#page246">246</a>, +<a href="#page253">253</a>, +<a href="#page295">295</a>, +<a href="#page301">301</a>, +<a href="#page307">307</a>.<br> + +<span class="index5"><i>Political Opinions</i></span>. Appointments to office, +<a href="#page178">178-180</a>, +<a href="#page197">197-200</a>, +<a href="#page206">206</a>;<br> + cabinet relations with, +<a href="#page204">204</a>, +<a href="#page205">205</a>;<br> + candidate, attitude of, +<a href="#page164">164-167</a>, +<a href="#page197">197-206</a>;<br> + Chase, impeachment of, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + Chesapeake affair, +<a href="#page051">51</a>;<br> + Congress, powers over slavery, +<a href="#page122">122</a>, +<a href="#page250">250</a>, +<a href="#page261">261-265</a>;<br> + court etiquette, +<a href="#page073">73</a>;<br> + Cuba, annexation of, +<a href="#page130">130</a>;<br> + disunion, +<a href="#page119">119</a>, +<a href="#page122">122</a>, +<a href="#page281">281</a>;<br> + election of 1824, +<a href="#page174">174-176</a>;<br> + emancipation, +<a href="#page121">121</a>;<br> + embargo, +<a href="#page053">53</a>, +<a href="#page056">56</a>;<br> + England, +<a href="#page047">47</a>, +<a href="#page050">50</a>, +<a href="#page051">51</a>, +<a href="#page090">90</a>, +<a href="#page145">145</a>, +<a href="#page148">148</a>;<br> + English society, +<a href="#page100">100</a>;<br> + Federalist party, +<a href="#page028">28</a>, +<a href="#page048">48</a>, +<a href="#page050">50</a>, +<a href="#page057">57</a>, +<a href="#page061">61</a>;<br> + fisheries, +<a href="#page088">88</a>, +<a href="#page090">90</a>;<br> + Florida, +<a href="#page115">115</a>, +<a href="#page118">118</a>, +<a href="#page123">123</a>, +<a href="#page130">130</a>;<br> + France, policy towards, +<a href="#page239">239</a>;<br> + "gag" rule, +<a href="#page250">250</a>, +<a href="#page251">251</a>, +<a href="#page256">256</a>, +<a href="#page257">257</a>, +<a href="#page305">305</a>, +<a href="#page306">306</a>;<br> + Genet, +<a href="#page118">118</a>;<br> + gunboat scheme, +<a href="#page048">48</a>;<br> + internal improvements, +<a href="#page194">194</a>, +<a href="#page201">201</a>;<br> + Jackson's administration, +<a href="#page237">237</a>;<br> + Jackson's Florida career, +<a href="#page160">160</a>, +<a href="#page163">163</a>;<br> + Louisiana, +<a href="#page035">35</a>, +<a href="#page130">130</a>;<br> + Louisiana boundary, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + manifest destiny, +<a href="#page130">130</a>, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + Mississippi navigation, +<a href="#page088">88</a>, +<a href="#page089">89</a>;<br> + Missouri Compromise, +<a href="#page121">121</a>;<br> + Monroe doctrine, +<a href="#page130">130</a>, +<a href="#page131">131</a>, +<a href="#page134">134-136</a>;<br> + non-importation, +<a href="#page040">40</a>, +<a href="#page049">49</a>, +<a href="#page055">55</a>;<br> + nullification, +<a href="#page234">234</a>, +<a href="#page235">235</a>;<br> + Oregon, +<a href="#page140">140-143</a>;<br> + Panama Congress, +<a href="#page189">189</a>;<br> + party fidelity, +<a href="#page029">29</a>, +<a href="#page030">30</a>, +<a href="#page054">54</a>, +<a href="#page059">59</a>, +<a href="#page062">62</a>, +<a href="#page233">233</a>;<br> + Republican party, +<a href="#page036">36</a>, +<a href="#page065">65</a>;<br> + right of search, +<a href="#page038">38</a>, +<a href="#page139">139</a>;<br> + slaveholders, +<a href="#page243">243</a>, +<a href="#page257">257</a>, +<a href="#page260">260</a>;<br> + slavery, +<a href="#page120">120</a>, +<a href="#page121">121</a>, +<a href="#page243">243</a>, +<a href="#page255">255</a>, +<a href="#page304">304</a>;<br> + slave trade, +<a href="#page135">135</a>, +<a href="#page138">138</a>;<br> + Smithsonian bequest, +<a href="#page303">303</a>;<br> + Spanish-American republics, +<a href="#page109">109</a>, +<a href="#page131">131-133</a>;<br> + Texas, annexation of, +<a href="#page265">265</a>, +<a href="#page266">266</a>;<br> + treaty of Ghent, +<a href="#page077">77-98</a>;<br> + weights and measures, +<a href="#page126">126</a>, +<a href="#page127">127</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Adams</span>, Dr. William, on English peace commission, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + suggests abandonment by United States of its +citizens in proposed Indian Territory, +<a href="#page079">79</a>;<br> + irritated at proposal that English restore possession of +Moose Island pending arbitration, +<a href="#page091">91</a>;<br> + negotiates treaty of commerce, +<a href="#page098">98</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Alexander</span>, Emperor of Russia, desires to exchange ministers with +United States, +<a href="#page069">69</a>;<br> + his courtesy to Adams, +<a href="#page070">70</a>, +<a href="#page071">71</a>;<br> + anecdote of Adams's conversation with, +<a href="#page073">73</a>;<br> + attempts to mediate between England and United States, +<a href="#page074">74</a>, +<a href="#page075">75</a>;<br> + discussions with Castlereagh, +<a href="#page093">93</a>;<br> + slander concerning relations with Adams, +<a href="#page209">209</a>, +<a href="#page210">210</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Alford</span>, Julius C., wishes to burn Adams's petition from slaves, +<a href="#page270">270</a>;<br> + threatens war, +<a href="#page272">272</a>, +<a href="#page275">275</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Ambrister</span>. See Arbuthnot.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Amistad</span> case, share of Adams in, +<a href="#page304">304</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Anti-Mason</span> movement, used by Jacksonians against Adams, +<a href="#page208">208</a>, +<a href="#page209">209</a>;<br> + connection of Adams within Massachusetts, +<a href="#page226">226</a>, +<a href="#page301">301</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Arbuthnot</span> and Ambrister, hanged by Jackson, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + execution of, defended by Adams, +<a href="#page162">162</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Atherton</span>, Charles G., bitter remarks of Adams on, +<a href="#page298">298</a>, +<a href="#page300">300</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Austria</span>, rejects England's plan for suppression of slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Bagot, Sir Charles</span>, question of his opinion on Oregon +question, discussed by Canning and Adams, +<a href="#page142">142</a>, +<a href="#page143">143</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Bank</span>, Jackson's attack on, +<a href="#page240">240</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Barbour</span>, James, appointed Secretary of War, +<a href="#page177">177</a>;<br> + desires mission to England, +<a href="#page205">205</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Barings</span>, give Adams his commission, +<a href="#page098">98</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Barnard</span>, D. D., by Adams's advice, presents petition for dissolution of Union, +<a href="#page288">288</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Barrou</span>, James, commands Chesapeake when attacked by Leopard, +<a href="#page045">45</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Bayard</span>, James A., appointed peace commissioner, +<a href="#page075">75</a>, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + resents proposal to meet at lodgings of English commissioners, +<a href="#page077">77</a>;<br> + criticises Adams's drafts of documents, +<a href="#page083">83</a>;<br> + enrages Goulburn, +<a href="#page091">91</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Benton</span>, T. H., on unfavorable beginning to Adams's administration, +<a href="#page188">188</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Berkeley</span>, Admiral G. C., commands Leopard, and is +promoted for attacking Chesapeake, +<a href="#page046">46</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Berlin</span> decree, +<a href="#page041">41</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Beverly</span>, Carter, reports that Jackson has proof of Clay and Adams bargain, +<a href="#page184">184</a>;<br> + upheld by Jackson, +<a href="#page185">185</a>;<br> + apologizes to Clay, +<a href="#page187">187</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Black</span>, Edward J., of Georgia, comment of Adams on, +<a href="#page300">300</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Bonaparte</span>, Napoleon, issues Berlin and Milan decrees, +<a href="#page041">41</a>, +<a href="#page042">42</a>;<br> + seen during "hundred days" by Adams, +<a href="#page098">98</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Brown</span>, James, votes against Spanish treaty through Clay's influence, +<a href="#page124">124</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Buchanan</span>, James, refuses to substantiate Jackson's story of +corrupt offer from Clay in election of 1824, +<a href="#page186">186</a>, +<a href="#page187">187</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Burr</span>, Aaron, compared by Adams to Van Buren, +<a href="#page193">193</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Cabinet</span>, relations of Adams to, +<a href="#page204">204</a>, +<a href="#page205">205</a>;<br> + treachery of McLean, +<a href="#page205">205</a>, +<a href="#page206">206</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Calhoun</span>, J. C., candidate for succession to Monroe, +<a href="#page106">106</a>;<br> + on Southern alliance with England in case of dissolution of Union, +<a href="#page121">121</a>;<br> + candidacy damaged by Southern origin, +<a href="#page149">149</a>;<br> + his opinion of Crawford, +<a href="#page156">156</a>;<br> + displeased at Jackson's disregard of instructions, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + elected Vice-President, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + irritation of Adams at his failure to suppress Randolph, +<a href="#page211">211</a>;<br> + reëlected Vice-President, +<a href="#page212">212</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of plotting to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Canada</span>, desire of Adams for annexation of, +<a href="#page085">85</a>, +<a href="#page130">130</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Canning</span>, George, seeks acquaintance with Adams, +<a href="#page099">99</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Canning</span>, Stratford, urges American submission to mixed tribunals +to suppress slave trade, +<a href="#page135">135</a>;<br> + his arrogance met by Adams, +<a href="#page136">136</a>, +<a href="#page137">137</a>;<br> + discusses with Adams the suppression of slave trade, +<a href="#page137">137-139</a>;<br> + on Adams's superior years, +<a href="#page139">139</a>;<br> + high words with Adams over question of an American +settlement at mouth of Columbia, +<a href="#page140">140-147</a>;<br> + loses temper at request to put objections in writing, +<a href="#page141">141</a>;<br> + and at persistence of Adams in repeating words of previous English minister, +<a href="#page142">142</a>, +<a href="#page143">143</a>;<br> + his offer to forget subject declined by Adams, +<a href="#page144">144</a>;<br> + complains of Adams's language, +<a href="#page145">145</a>, +<a href="#page146">146</a>;<br> + resents reference to Jackson's recall, +<a href="#page146">146</a>, +<a href="#page147">147</a>;<br> + his anger shown later, +<a href="#page147">147</a>;<br> + this does not affect relations between countries, +<a href="#page148">148</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Castlereagh</span>, Lord, unwilling at first to conclude peace, +<a href="#page093">93</a>;<br> + influenced by attitude of Prussia and Russia, advises concessions, +<a href="#page094">94</a>;<br> + dealings with Adams, +<a href="#page099">99</a>;<br> + described by Adams, +<a href="#page099">99</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Cavalla</span>, ——, imprisoned by Jackson, +<a href="#page159">159</a>, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + seizure defended by Adams, +<a href="#page162">162</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Chase</span>, Judge Samuel, his acquittal voted for by J. Q. Adams, +<a href="#page036">36</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Chesapeake</span> attacked by Leopard, +<a href="#page045">45</a>;<br> + effect upon Adams and Federalists, +<a href="#page050">50</a>, +<a href="#page051">51</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Chesapeake</span> and Ohio Canal, incident of Adams's opening of, +<a href="#page195">195</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Choate</span>, Rufus, sympathizes with Adams when attacked by resolutions of censure, +<a href="#page286">286</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Civil</span> service, appointments to, under Adams, +<a href="#page178">178-180</a>, +<a href="#page196">196</a>, +<a href="#page198">198</a>, +<a href="#page199">199</a>, +<a href="#page206">206</a>, +<a href="#page209">209</a>;<br> + under Jackson, +<a href="#page198">198</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Clay</span>, Henry, on peace commission, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + his irascibility, +<a href="#page082">82</a>, +<a href="#page084">84</a>;<br> + criticises Adams's figurative style in documents, +<a href="#page082">82</a>;<br> + irritates Adams, +<a href="#page084">84</a>;<br> + his conviviality, +<a href="#page084">84</a>;<br> + thinks English will recede, +<a href="#page085">85</a>;<br> + then thinks English will refuse to accept <i>status ante bellum</i>, +<a href="#page087">87</a>;<br> + willing to sacrifice fisheries to prevent English Mississippi navigation, +<a href="#page088">88</a>, +<a href="#page089">89</a>;<br> + thinks fisheries of little value, +<a href="#page089">89</a>;<br> + willing to meet English with defiance, +<a href="#page090">90</a>;<br> + threatens not to sign treaty, +<a href="#page090">90</a>, +<a href="#page092">92</a>;<br> + abandoned by colleagues on point of impressment, +<a href="#page092">92</a>;<br> + negotiates treaty of commerce, +<a href="#page098">98</a>;<br> + his gambling habits, +<a href="#page103">103</a>;<br> + jealous of Adams's appointment as Secretary of State, +<a href="#page106">106</a>;<br> + leads opposition to administration, +<a href="#page108">108</a>;<br> + wishes to recognize independence of Spanish colonies, +<a href="#page109">109</a>;<br> + threatens to oppose treaty accepting Sabine as Louisiana boundary, +<a href="#page112">112</a>;<br> + opposes treaty with Spain, +<a href="#page116">116</a>;<br> + fails to prevent ratification, +<a href="#page124">124</a>;<br> + ambitious for presidency, +<a href="#page149">149</a>;<br> + low motives for opposition to administration as signed by Adams, +<a href="#page151">151</a>;<br> + his honesty in advocating recognition of South American republics, +<a href="#page152">152</a>;<br> + compared by Adams to Randolph, +<a href="#page153">153</a>;<br> + becomes reconciled with Adams before election, +<a href="#page154">154</a>;<br> + denounces Jackson, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + vote for, in 1824, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + able to decide choice of President by influence in Congress, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + at first prefers Crawford, +<a href="#page169">169</a>, +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br> + charged with having offered to support either Jackson or Adams, +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br> + his preference for Adams over Jackson, +<a href="#page171">171</a>;<br> + appointed Secretary of State, +<a href="#page177">177</a>;<br> + urges removal of Sterret for proposing an insult to Adams, +<a href="#page179">179</a>;<br> + calls author of bargain slander a liar, +<a href="#page181">181</a>;<br> + charge against, repeated by Tennessee legislature, +<a href="#page183">183</a>;<br> + duel with Randolph, +<a href="#page183">183</a>;<br> + challenges Jackson to produce evidence, +<a href="#page185">185</a>;<br> + exonerated by Buchanan, +<a href="#page187">187</a>;<br> + and by Kremer and Beverly, +<a href="#page187">187</a>;<br> + actually receives advances from Jackson's friends, +<a href="#page187">187</a>, +<a href="#page188">188</a>;<br> + opposition to his nomination as Secretary of State, +<a href="#page188">188</a>;<br> + abused by Randolph, +<a href="#page211">211</a>;<br> + engineers compromise with South Carolina, +<a href="#page236">236</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Clifford</span>, Nathan, of Maine, contemptuously described by Adams, +<a href="#page300">300</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Clinton</span>, De Witt, his candidacy for President in 1824, +<a href="#page149">149</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Congress</span>, in election of 1824, +<a href="#page165">165</a>, +<a href="#page169">169-172</a>;<br> + influence of Clay in, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + elects Adams President, +<a href="#page172">172</a>, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br> + investigates bargain story, +<a href="#page181">181</a>;<br> + opposition in, to Adams, from the beginning, +<a href="#page188">188</a>;<br> + attacks Adams's intention to send delegates to Panama Congress, +<a href="#page190">190</a>;<br> + opposes Adams throughout administration, +<a href="#page192">192</a>;<br> + resolutions denying its power to interfere with slavery debated in House, +<a href="#page249">249</a>, +<a href="#page250">250</a>;<br> + position of Adams with regard to its power to abolish slavery in the States, +<a href="#page250">250</a>, +<a href="#page261">261-265</a>;<br> + its degeneracy lamented by Adams, +<a href="#page299">299</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Connor</span>, John C., taunted by Adams in Congress, +<a href="#page261">261</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Constitution</span> of United States, in relation to Louisiana purchase, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + prohibits submission of United States to mixed foreign tribunals + for suppressing slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>;<br> + in connection with election of 1824, +<a href="#page172">172</a>;<br> + held by Adams to forbid "gag" rule, +<a href="#page250">250</a>, +<a href="#page256">256</a>, +<a href="#page258">258</a>;<br> + held by Adams to justify abolition of slavery under war power, +<a href="#page261">261-265</a>;<br> + in relation to Texas annexation, +<a href="#page266">266</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Crawford</span>, W. H., his ambitions for the presidency, +<a href="#page105">105</a>, +<a href="#page106">106</a>, +<a href="#page148">148</a>;<br> + intrigues against Adams, +<a href="#page106">106</a>, +<a href="#page154">154</a>;<br> + his action described by Adams, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page113">113</a>;<br> + advises moderate policy to remove foreign prejudices against United States, +<a href="#page128">128</a>;<br> + contempt of Adams for, +<a href="#page154">154</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of all kinds of falsity and ambition, +<a href="#page155">155</a>, +<a href="#page156">156</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>;<br> + his real character, +<a href="#page156">156</a>, +<a href="#page157">157</a>;<br> + Calhoun's opinion of, +<a href="#page156">156</a>;<br> + described by Mills, +<a href="#page157">157</a>;<br> + a party politician, +<a href="#page158">158</a>;<br> + eager to ruin Jackson, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + vote for, in 1824, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + his illness causes abandonment by Clay. +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br> + receives four votes in House of Representatives, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br> + fills custom-houses with supporters, +<a href="#page180">180</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Creeks</span>, treaty with, discussed in Senate, +<a href="#page033">33</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Creole</span> affair, +<a href="#page279">279</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Cuba</span>, its annexation expected by Adams, +<a href="#page130">130</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Cushing</span>, Caleb, defends Adams against resolutions of censure, +<a href="#page276">276</a>;<br> + movement to put him in Adams's place on Committee on Foreign Affairs, +<a href="#page289">289</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Dana, Francis</span>, takes Adams as private secretary to Russia, +<a href="#page013">13</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Davis</span>, John, accused by Adams of trying to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Deas</span>, Mr., exchanges ratifications of Jay treaty, +<a href="#page021">21</a>;<br> + disliked by English cabinet, +<a href="#page022">22</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Democratic</span> party, organized as opposition to Adams, +<a href="#page192">192</a>;<br> + managed by Van Buren, +<a href="#page192">192</a>, +<a href="#page193">193</a>, +<a href="#page195">195</a>;<br> + not based on principle, but on personal feeling, +<a href="#page196">196</a>;<br> + its attacks upon Adams, +<a href="#page208">208-210</a>;<br> + its methods condemned by Adams, +<a href="#page237">237</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Diary</span>, suggested by John Adams, +<a href="#page005">5</a>;<br> + begun, +<a href="#page006">6</a>;<br> + its nature and content, +<a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page008">8</a>;<br> + its bitterness, +<a href="#page009">9</a>, +<a href="#page010">10</a>;<br> + picture of the author, +<a href="#page010">10</a>, +<a href="#page011">11</a>;<br> + quotations from, in Boston, +<a href="#page019">19</a>;<br> + during career in Senate, +<a href="#page032">32</a>, +<a href="#page034">34</a>;<br> + on damaging party, +<a href="#page066">66</a>;<br> + during peace negotiations, +<a href="#page077">77</a>, +<a href="#page082">82</a>, +<a href="#page083">83</a>, +<a href="#page089">89</a>, +<a href="#page090">90</a>;<br> + during election of 1824, +<a href="#page150">150</a>, +<a href="#page151">151</a>, +<a href="#page164">164</a>, +<a href="#page168">168</a>;<br> + in election of 1828, +<a href="#page201">201</a>, +<a href="#page210">210</a>, +<a href="#page211">211</a>;<br> + during anti-slavery career, +<a href="#page255">255</a>, +<a href="#page292">292</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>, +<a href="#page298">298-300</a>;<br> + in last years, +<a href="#page301">301-303</a>, +<a href="#page305">305</a>, +<a href="#page306">306</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Diplomatic</span> history, mission of Dana to Russia, +<a href="#page013">13</a>;<br> + mission of Adams to Holland, +<a href="#page019">19-21</a>;<br> + to Prussia, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + Rose's mission to United States, +<a href="#page045">45</a>, +<a href="#page046">46</a>;<br> + mission of Adams to Russia, +<a href="#page070">70-74</a>;<br> + offer of Russia to mediate in war of 1812, +<a href="#page074">74</a>, +<a href="#page075">75</a>;<br> + refusal by England, +<a href="#page075">75</a>;<br> + peace negotiations, +<a href="#page076">76-98</a> (see treaty of Ghent);<br> + commercial negotiations with England, +<a href="#page098">98</a>;<br> + mission of Adams to England, +<a href="#page098">98-100</a>;<br> + negotiations of Adams with Spain, +<a href="#page110">110-118</a>, +<a href="#page123">123-125</a>;<br> + question of Sabine River boundary, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page116">116</a>;<br> + final agreement, details of treaty, acquisition of Florida, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + and Western outlet to Pacific, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + dispute over Spanish land grants, +<a href="#page116">116</a>, +<a href="#page117">117</a>;<br> + rejection of treaty by Spain, +<a href="#page117">117</a>;<br> + renewed mission of Vivês, +<a href="#page123">123</a>;<br> + ratification of treaty, +<a href="#page124">124</a>;<br> + independent attitude of United States under Adams, +<a href="#page127">127</a>, +<a href="#page128">128</a>;<br> + Monroe doctrine, +<a href="#page129">129-136</a>;<br> + dealings with Russia over Alaska, +<a href="#page130">130</a>, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + proposal of Portugal for an alliance, +<a href="#page133">133</a>;<br> + dealings of Adams with Greek revolt, +<a href="#page134">134</a>;<br> + dealings of Adams with Stratford Canning over slave trade, +<a href="#page135">135</a>, +<a href="#page137">137</a>;<br> + high words over Columbia River settlement, +<a href="#page140">140-147</a>;<br> + refusal of Adams to explain words uttered in Congress, +<a href="#page142">142</a>, +<a href="#page145">145-147</a>;<br> + commercial treaties in Adams's administration, +<a href="#page194">194</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">"Doughfaces,"</span> attacks of Adams upon, +<a href="#page120">120</a>, +<a href="#page229">229</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Dromgoole</span>, George C., remark on petition to expel Adams, +<a href="#page268">268</a>;<br> + introduces resolutions of censure on Adams, +<a href="#page275">275</a>;<br> + ridiculed by Adams, +<a href="#page277">277</a>, +<a href="#page278">278</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Duncan</span>, Alexander, bitterly described by Adams, +<a href="#page299">299</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5">Eaton, Senator J. H.</span>, leads Canning to suspect American plan to colonize Oregon, +<a href="#page140">140</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Eaton</span>, Mrs., her influence in Jackson's administration, +<a href="#page237">237</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Election</span> of 1824, candidates, +<a href="#page148">148</a>, +<a href="#page149">149</a>;<br> + Adams's opinion of them, +<a href="#page151">151-163</a>;<br> + choice simply between persons, not principles, +<a href="#page163">163</a>;<br> + Adams refuses to canvass for himself, +<a href="#page164">164</a>, +<a href="#page165">165</a>;<br> + electoral college votes for four candidates, +<a href="#page168">168</a>, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + influence of Clay in House proves decisive factor, +<a href="#page169">169</a>, +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br> + Crawford discarded, +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br> + the Clay-Adams bargain story started, +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br> + claims of Jackson men, +<a href="#page171">171</a>;<br> + difficulty of discovering popular vote, +<a href="#page172">172</a>, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br> + choice of Adams, +<a href="#page173">173</a>, +<a href="#page174">174</a>;<br> + subsequent history of bargain story, +<a href="#page180">180-188</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Election</span> of 1828, question of principle veiled by personality of candidates, +<a href="#page196">196</a>, +<a href="#page197">197</a>, +<a href="#page200">200</a>;<br> + choice of Jackson, +<a href="#page212">212</a>;<br> + its significance, +<a href="#page213">213</a>, +<a href="#page214">214</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Embargo</span>, proposed by Jefferson, +<a href="#page052">52</a>;<br> + supported by Adams, +<a href="#page053">53</a>;<br> + opposed by Federalists, +<a href="#page053">53</a>;<br> + preferred by Adams to submission, +<a href="#page054">54</a>, +<a href="#page055">55</a>;<br> + its effects, +<a href="#page055">55</a>;<br> + its repeal urged by Adams, +<a href="#page055">55</a>, +<a href="#page056">56</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">England</span>, ratifies Jay treaty, +<a href="#page021">21</a>;<br> + tries to induce Adams to negotiate instead of Deas, +<a href="#page022">22</a>;<br> + its commercial policy toward United States, +<a href="#page037">37</a>, +<a href="#page038">38</a>;<br> + its right of search protested against by Adams, +<a href="#page039">39</a>;<br> + Non-importation Act adopted against, +<a href="#page040">40</a>;<br> + proclaims blockade, +<a href="#page041">41</a>;<br> + issues Orders in Council, +<a href="#page041">41</a>, +<a href="#page042">42</a>;<br> + its policy of impressment, +<a href="#page043">43</a>, +<a href="#page044">44</a>;<br> + refuses compensation for Chesapeake affair and promotes Berkeley, +<a href="#page045">45</a>;<br> + its policy understood by Adams, +<a href="#page049">49</a>, +<a href="#page050">50</a>;<br> + embargo against, +<a href="#page051">51-55</a>;<br> + refuses Russia's offer to mediate in war of 1812, +<a href="#page075">75</a>;<br> + wins victories, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + willing to treat directly, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + appoints commissioners, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + demands great concessions, +<a href="#page078">78</a>, +<a href="#page079">79</a>;<br> + ready, if necessary, to continue war, +<a href="#page086">86</a>;<br> + alters policy and concludes treaty, +<a href="#page093">93</a>, +<a href="#page094">94</a>;<br> + dissatisfied with treaty, +<a href="#page097">97</a>;<br> + commercial treaty with, +<a href="#page098">98</a>;<br> + mission of Adams to, +<a href="#page098">98-100</a>;<br> + social life of Adams in, +<a href="#page099">99</a>, +<a href="#page100">100</a>;<br> + its offer to mediate between United States and Spain rejected, +<a href="#page114">114</a>;<br> + hopes no violent action will be taken against Spain, +<a href="#page118">118</a>;<br> + endeavors to induce United States to join in suppressing slave trade, +<a href="#page135">135</a>, +<a href="#page137">137</a>;<br> + its sincerity suspected by Adams, +<a href="#page138">138</a>;<br> + its claim to right of search causes refusal of request, +<a href="#page138">138</a>, +<a href="#page139">139</a>;<br> + its claims to Oregon discussed by Canning and Adams, +<a href="#page140">140</a>, +<a href="#page142">142</a>, +<a href="#page143">143</a>, +<a href="#page145">145</a>;<br> + Adams's opinion of its territorial claims, +<a href="#page145">145</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Era</span> of good feeling, +<a href="#page104">104</a>;<br> + characterized by personal rivalries, +<a href="#page105">105</a>;<br> + question of presidential succession, +<a href="#page105">105</a>, +<a href="#page106">106</a>;<br> + intrigues, +<a href="#page106">106</a>, +<a href="#page107">107</a>, +<a href="#page148">148</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Evans</span>, George, defends Adams from resolutions of censure, +<a href="#page270">270</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Everett</span>, Edward, his address to Jackson condemned as fulsome by Adams, +<a href="#page242">242</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Everett</span>, Horace, defends Adams against resolutions of censure, +<a href="#page283">283</a>, +<a href="#page286">286</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Everett</span>, Mr., told by Adams of determination to do nothing to secure election, +<a href="#page164">164</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Federalist</span> party, defeated by Jefferson, +<a href="#page025">25</a>, +<a href="#page026">26</a>;<br> + dissensions in, between John Adams and Hamilton, +<a href="#page026">26</a>, +<a href="#page027">27</a>;<br> + J. Q. Adams a member of, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + elects Adams to State Senate, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + irritated by his independence, +<a href="#page029">29</a>;<br> + elects him United States senator, +<a href="#page030">30</a>;<br> + antipathy of, in Senate, toward son of John Adams, +<a href="#page031">31</a>;<br> + opposes Louisiana purchase, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + condemns Adams for favoring Louisiana, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + supports English policy, +<a href="#page038">38</a>;<br> + angered against Jefferson for not submitting to English aggression, +<a href="#page039">39</a>, +<a href="#page040">40</a>, +<a href="#page053">53</a>;<br> + opposes Non-importation Act, +<a href="#page040">40</a>;<br> + urged by Adams to resent Chesapeake affair, +<a href="#page051">51</a>;<br> + does so, but condemns Adams for participating in Republican meeting, +<a href="#page052">52</a>;<br> + its outburst of fury at Adams for supporting embargo, +<a href="#page053">53</a>, +<a href="#page054">54</a>;<br> + refuses to reëlect him, +<a href="#page057">57</a>;<br> + discussion of its part in United States history, +<a href="#page059">59-62</a>;<br> + its success in organization, +<a href="#page059">59</a>, +<a href="#page060">60</a>;<br> + supported by Adams as long as it remains sound, +<a href="#page061">61</a>;<br> + takes false position after 1807, +<a href="#page062">62</a>;<br> + disappears, +<a href="#page104">104</a>, +<a href="#page105">105</a>;<br> + thirteen members demand evidence of Adams's statement +concerning plans for disunion, +<a href="#page216">216</a>;<br> + their rejoinder to his reply, +<a href="#page217">217</a>, +<a href="#page218">218</a>;<br> + proved to have planned disunion by Adams's unpublished pamphlet, +<a href="#page218">218</a>, +<a href="#page219">219</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Fisheries</span>, intention of English to ignore, in treaty of Ghent, +<a href="#page080">80</a>, +<a href="#page088">88</a>;<br> + disputes over, between Adams and Clay, +<a href="#page088">88-90</a>;<br> + finally omitted from treaty, +<a href="#page092">92</a>, +<a href="#page094">94</a>;<br> + later negotiations over, +<a href="#page099">99</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Florida</span>, question of its acquisition, +<a href="#page110">110</a>, +<a href="#page111">111</a>;<br> + acquired by treaty, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + its seizure advocated by Adams against Monroe, +<a href="#page118">118</a>, +<a href="#page123">123</a>;<br> + treaty concerning, opposed by Clay, +<a href="#page151">151</a>;<br> + illegal actions of Jackson in, +<a href="#page159">159</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Foreign</span> Affairs, Committee on, petition for Adams's removal from, +<a href="#page280">280</a>;<br> + refusal of Southern members to serve on, with Adams, +<a href="#page289">289</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">France</span>, conquers Holland, +<a href="#page020">20</a>;<br> + attitude of John Adams toward, +<a href="#page026">26</a>;<br> + replies to English blockade by Berlin and Milan decrees, +<a href="#page041">41</a>, +<a href="#page042">42</a>;<br> + unable to damage American shipping as much as England, +<a href="#page046">46</a>, +<a href="#page047">47</a>;<br> + war with Russia, +<a href="#page074">74</a>;<br> + hopes no violent action will be taken against Spain, +<a href="#page118">118</a>;<br> + rejects England's plan for suppression of slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>;<br> + its slowness in paying debt causes Jackson to break off diplomatic relations, +<a href="#page238">238</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Franklin</span>, Benjamin, negotiates treaty of peace, +<a href="#page013">13</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">"Gag"</span> rule, adopted over Adams's protest, +<a href="#page250">250</a>, +<a href="#page251">251</a>;<br> + effort of Adams to get his protest on journal, +<a href="#page251">251</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>;<br> + further protests of Adams against, +<a href="#page256">256</a>, +<a href="#page258">258</a>, +<a href="#page305">305</a>;<br> + difficulties in enforcing, +<a href="#page260">260</a>;<br> + dwindling majorities for, +<a href="#page305">305</a>;<br> + repealed on Adams's motion, +<a href="#page306">306</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Gallatin</span>, Albert, appointed peace commissioner, +<a href="#page075">75</a>;<br> + his appointment rejected by Senate, +<a href="#page075">75</a>;<br> + reappointed, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + moderates resentment of colleagues at English pretensions, +<a href="#page077">77</a>, +<a href="#page082">82</a>;<br> + acts as peacemaker in conference, +<a href="#page082">82</a>;<br> + supplants Adams in drafting documents, +<a href="#page082">82</a>;<br> + on good terms with Adams, +<a href="#page084">84</a>;<br> + negotiates treaty of commerce, +<a href="#page098">98</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Gambier</span>, Lord, on English peace commission, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + laments Adams's intention to return to St. Petersburg, +<a href="#page086">86</a>;<br> + interposes to calm a quarrel, +<a href="#page091">91</a>;<br> + negotiates treaty of commerce, +<a href="#page098">98</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Garland</span>, Hugh A., attempts to secure organization of House of +Representatives without taking in contested seats, +<a href="#page290">290</a>;<br> + intends to give House to Democrats, +<a href="#page291">291</a>;<br> + refuses to put any question until House is organized, +<a href="#page291">291</a>, +<a href="#page292">292</a>;<br> + prevents organization, +<a href="#page292">292</a>;<br> + pushed aside by Adams, +<a href="#page293">293</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Garrison</span>, William Lloyd, adopts Adams's theory of power of Congress over slavery, +<a href="#page264">264</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Genet</span>, E. C., his course attacked by Adams in papers, +<a href="#page018">18</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Gerry</span>, Elbridge, notifies John Adams of appointment as Minister to England, +<a href="#page014">14</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Giddings</span>, Joshua R., his position on power of Congress over slavery not indorsed by Adams, +<a href="#page263">263</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Giles</span>, W. B., attempts to win Adams to support Jefferson, +<a href="#page065">65</a>;<br> + abuses Adams, +<a href="#page211">211</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>;<br> + his memory preserved solely by his slanders, +<a href="#page212">212</a>;<br> + circulates slanders in New England against Adams, +<a href="#page216">216</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Gilmer</span>, Thomas W., offers resolution of censure on Adams for presenting +petition to dissolve the Union, +<a href="#page281">281</a>;<br> + denies Adams's charge of imitating Wise, +<a href="#page281">281</a>, +<a href="#page282">282</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Glascock</span>, Thomas, moves that anti-slavery petition be not received, +<a href="#page248">248</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Goulburn</span>, Henry, on English peace commission, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + thinks war must continue, +<a href="#page086">86</a>;<br> + loses temper with Bayard and Adams, +<a href="#page091">91</a>;<br> + negotiates treaty of commerce, +<a href="#page098">98</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Grantland</span>, Seaton, wishes to punish Adams for presenting petition +from slaves, +<a href="#page270">270</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Greece</span>, revolt of, refusal of Adams to commit United States to interference, +<a href="#page134">134</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Gregory</span>, Sherlock S., his eccentric anti-slavery petition, +<a href="#page256">256</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Grenville</span>, Lord, dealings of Adams with, in 1795, +<a href="#page022">22</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Gunboat</span> scheme, despised by Adams, +<a href="#page048">48</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Habersham, Richard W.</span>, alleges petition for removal of Adams to be a hoax, +<a href="#page280">280</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Hamilton</span>, Alexander, real leader of Federalist party during John +Adams's administration, +<a href="#page027">27</a>;<br> + his feud with Adams, +<a href="#page027">27</a>;<br> + his influence in Massachusetts, +<a href="#page028">28</a>, +<a href="#page030">30</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Harvard</span> College, studies of John Quincy Adams in, +<a href="#page017">17</a>;<br> + its proposal to confer degree upon Jackson opposed by Adams, +<a href="#page241">241</a>;<br> + confers the degree, +<a href="#page241">241</a>, +<a href="#page242">242</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Haynes</span>, Charles E., moves rejection of Adams's petition from slaves, +<a href="#page270">270</a>, +<a href="#page275">275</a>;<br> + moves to make censure of Adams severe, +<a href="#page271">271</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Hayti</span>, its possible representation at Panama Congress causes South +to advocate refusal to send delegates, +<a href="#page191">191</a>;<br> + petitions for recognition of, +<a href="#page259">259</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Holland</span>, mission of Adams to, +<a href="#page020">20</a>;<br> + conquered by France, +<a href="#page020">20</a>;<br> + made into "Batavian Republic," +<a href="#page020">20</a>;<br> + agrees to suppress slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Holy</span> Alliance, fear of its attempting to reconquer Spanish colonies, +<a href="#page132">132</a>, +<a href="#page134">134</a>, +<a href="#page136">136</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">House</span> of Representatives, Adams's career in, +<a href="#page225">225-308</a>;<br> + election of Adams to, +<a href="#page225">225</a>;<br> + his labors in committee and other work of, +<a href="#page227">227</a>;<br> + solitariness of Adams in, +<a href="#page231">231</a>;<br> + his position in, with regard to tariff of 1833, +<a href="#page235">235</a>;<br> + debate in, over Jackson's policy to France, +<a href="#page239">239</a>;<br> + anti-slavery petitions presented in, at first without remark, +<a href="#page243">243</a>, +<a href="#page248">248</a>;<br> + debates plans to prevent their reception, +<a href="#page248">248-250</a>;<br> + adopts "gag" rule against Adams's protest, +<a href="#page251">251</a>;<br> + attempts of Adams to infringe its rule, +<a href="#page257">257</a>, +<a href="#page258">258</a>;<br> + debates power to abolish slavery, +<a href="#page262">262</a>;<br> + debates proposed censure of Adams for presenting a petition from slaves, +<a href="#page269">269-279</a>;<br> + resolves that slaves do not possess right of petition, +<a href="#page279">279</a>;<br> + Adams's speech in reply, +<a href="#page277">277-279</a>;<br> + attempts to censure Adams for presenting petition for dissolution of Union, +<a href="#page280">280-288</a>;<br> + lays subject on table, +<a href="#page288">288</a>;<br> + does not resent a second disunion petition, +<a href="#page288">288</a>;<br> + refusal of Garland to organize according to custom, in 1839, +<a href="#page290">290-292</a>;<br> + appeals to Adams, +<a href="#page292">292</a>;<br> +organized by his leadership, +<a href="#page293">293-295</a>;<br> + pays compliment to Adams on his return after illness, +<a href="#page307">307</a>;<br> + death of Adams in, +<a href="#page307">307</a>, +<a href="#page308">308</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Hubbard</span>, David, comment of Adams on, +<a href="#page300">300</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Hunter</span>, R. M. T., elected Speaker of House, +<a href="#page295">295</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Impressment</span>, description of its exercise by England and effects upon United States, +<a href="#page043">43-45</a>;<br> + difficulty of reclaiming impressed Americans, +<a href="#page044">44</a>, +<a href="#page045">45</a>;<br> + the Chesapeake affair, +<a href="#page045">45</a>, +<a href="#page046">46</a>;<br> + not mentioned in treaty of Ghent, +<a href="#page092">92</a>, +<a href="#page095">95</a>;<br> + later negotiations over, +<a href="#page099">99</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Indians</span>, propositions concerning, in peace negotiations, +<a href="#page078">78</a>;<br> + dissensions over, between American commissioners, +<a href="#page090">90</a>;<br> + article concerning, +<a href="#page094">94</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Internal</span> improvements, Adams's advocacy of, +<a href="#page194">194</a>, +<a href="#page201">201</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Jackson, Andrew</span>, his view of Adams's office-seeking, +<a href="#page063">63</a>;<br> + wins battle of New Orleans, +<a href="#page096">96</a>, +<a href="#page097">97</a>;<br> + his outrages in Spanish territory, +<a href="#page110">110</a>;<br> + enrages Spain, +<a href="#page111">111</a>;<br> + approves Adams's Spanish treaty, later condemns it, +<a href="#page125">125</a>;<br> + becomes candidate for presidency in 1824, +<a href="#page149">149</a>;<br> + his Indian wars in Florida, +<a href="#page158">158</a>, +<a href="#page159">159</a>;<br> + hangs Arbuthnot and Ambrister, +<a href="#page159">159</a>;<br> + captures Pensacola, +<a href="#page159">159</a>;<br> + difficulty of praising or blaming him, +<a href="#page159">159</a>, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + condemned by President and Cabinet, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + and by Clay, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br> + defended by Adams, +<a href="#page160">160-162</a>;<br> + ball in his honor given by Adams, +<a href="#page162">162</a>;<br> + supported for Minister to Mexico and for Vice-President by Adams. +<a href="#page163">163</a>;<br> + on good terms with Adams up to election, +<a href="#page163">163</a>;<br> + receives largest electoral vote in 1824, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + said to have refused offer of Clay to bargain for support, +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br> + impossibility of Clay's supporting him, +<a href="#page171">171</a>;<br> + popular argument for his choice, +<a href="#page171">171</a>, +<a href="#page172">172</a>;<br> + absurdity of claim of popular will in favor of, +<a href="#page172">172</a>, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br> + vote for, in House of Representatives, +<a href="#page174">174</a>;<br> + enraged at defeat, +<a href="#page174">174</a>;<br> + yet greets Adams at inauguration, +<a href="#page175">175</a>;<br> + nominated for President by Tennessee legislature, +<a href="#page181">181</a>;<br> + spreads tale of Clay and Adams's bargain, +<a href="#page184">184</a>;<br> + declares he has proof, +<a href="#page184">184</a>, +<a href="#page185">185</a>;<br> + tells story of offer from Clay, +<a href="#page185">185</a>;<br> + calls upon Buchanan for testimony, +<a href="#page186">186</a>;<br> + his statements disavowed by Buchanan, +<a href="#page186">186</a>, +<a href="#page187">187</a>;<br> + continues to repeat story, +<a href="#page187">187</a>;<br> + his candidacy for 1828 purely on personal grounds, +<a href="#page195">195-197</a>, +<a href="#page200">200</a>;<br> + advantages all on his side, +<a href="#page197">197</a>;<br> + originator of spoils system, +<a href="#page198">198</a>;<br> + his position as advocate of unsound government not understood in 1828, +<a href="#page200">200</a>;<br> + secretly aided by McLean, +<a href="#page205">205</a>, +<a href="#page206">206</a>;<br> + rewards him by a judgeship, +<a href="#page206">206</a>;<br> + elected President in 1828, +<a href="#page212">212</a>;<br> + begins a new era, +<a href="#page213">213</a>, +<a href="#page214">214</a>;<br> + his message of 1832 condemned by Adams, +<a href="#page234">234</a>;<br> + his proclamation against nullification upheld by Adams, +<a href="#page235">235</a>;<br> + ultimately yields to South Carolina, +<a href="#page236">236</a>;<br> + his administration condemned by Adams, +<a href="#page237">237</a>;<br> + its character, +<a href="#page237">237</a>;<br> + recommends vigorous action against France, +<a href="#page238">238</a>;<br> + supported by Adams in House, +<a href="#page239">239</a>;<br> + continues to hate Adams, +<a href="#page239">239</a>, +<a href="#page240">240</a>;<br> + futile attempt of Johnson to reconcile him with Adams, +<a href="#page240">240</a>, +<a href="#page241">241</a>;<br> + granted degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard, +<a href="#page241">241</a>, +<a href="#page242">242</a>;<br> + suspected by Adams of feigning illness for effect, +<a href="#page242">242</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Jackson</span>, F. J., his recall referred to in conversation between Canning and Adams, +<a href="#page146">146</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Jarvis</span>, Leonard, introduces resolution that House will not entertain abolition petitions, +<a href="#page248">248</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Jay</span> treaty, ratified, +<a href="#page021">21</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Jefferson</span>, Thomas, negotiates treaties of commerce, +<a href="#page013">13</a>;<br> + republishes Paine's "Rights of Man," +<a href="#page018">18</a>;<br> + his inauguration avoided by John Adams, +<a href="#page026">26</a>;<br> + removes J. Q. Adams from position of commissioner in bankruptcy, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + attempts to explain apparent malice, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + Adams's view of his attacks on Pickering and Chase, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + approves Non-importation Act, +<a href="#page040">40</a>;<br> + inefficient in war-time, +<a href="#page048">48</a>, +<a href="#page054">54</a>;<br> + advocates embargo, +<a href="#page054">54</a>;<br> + not reconciled with J. Q. Adams in spite of latter's support, +<a href="#page065">65</a>;<br> + unconciliatory reply of Adams to, when offered a mission, +<a href="#page069">69</a>;<br> + his desire to make Louisiana a State opposed by Adams, +<a href="#page130">130</a>;<br> + begins political use of offices to secure reëlection, +<a href="#page198">198</a>;<br> + said to have been warned by Adams of Federalist disunion plots, +<a href="#page216">216</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Johnson</span>, Joshua, father-in-law of Adams, +<a href="#page022">22</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Johnson</span>, Louisa Catherine, marries Adams, +<a href="#page022">22</a>, +<a href="#page023">23</a>;<br> + in Washington society, +<a href="#page103">103</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Johnson</span>, Richard M., led by Clay to oppose Spanish treaty, +<a href="#page124">124</a>;<br> + endeavors to reconcile Adams and Jackson, +<a href="#page240">240</a>;<br> + his probable motives, +<a href="#page240">240</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Johnson</span>, Thomas, Governor, connected by marriage with Adams, +<a href="#page022">22</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">King, Rufus</span>, description of Adams's offer of English mission to, +<a href="#page177">177</a>, +<a href="#page178">178</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Kremer</span>, George, originates bargain slander against Clay and Adams, +<a href="#page171">171</a>, +<a href="#page180">180</a>;<br> + refuses to testify before House Committee, +<a href="#page181">181</a>;<br> + writes a retraction and apology, +<a href="#page187">187</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Leopard</span>. See Chesapeake.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Lewis</span>, Dixon H., urges punishing Adams for offering petition from slaves, +<a href="#page270">270</a>;<br> + wishes Southern members to go home, +<a href="#page272">272</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Lincoln</span>, Solomon, letter of Adams to, on power of Congress over slavery, +<a href="#page265">265</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Lincoln</span>, Levi, defends Adams against resolution of censure, +<a href="#page276">276</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Liverpool</span>, Lord, his anxiety to conclude peace, +<a href="#page093">93</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Livingston</span>, Edward, ordered by Jackson to demand passports from France, +<a href="#page238">238</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Lloyd</span>, James, Jr., chosen Senator in Adams's place, +<a href="#page057">57</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Louisiana</span>, acquisition opposed by Federalist party, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + supported by Adams, although, in his eyes, unconstitutional, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + negotiations with Spain concerning its boundary, +<a href="#page110">110</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page114">114-116</a>;<br> + proposed boundary at Sabine opposed by Clay, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page116">116</a>;<br> + boundaries agreed upon in treaty, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + dispute over Spanish land grants in, +<a href="#page116">116</a>, +<a href="#page117">117</a>, +<a href="#page124">124</a>;<br> + the boundary later attacked, but, at the time of treaty, approved, +<a href="#page125">125</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Lowell</span>, John, justifies action of Leopard in attacking Chesapeake, +<a href="#page050">50</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">McLean, J. T.</span>, professes devotion to Adams and aids Jackson, +<a href="#page205">205</a>, +<a href="#page206">206</a>;<br> + rewarded by Jackson with a judgeship, +<a href="#page206">206</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Madison</span>, James, as Secretary of State, favors giving Adams a foreign mission, +<a href="#page068">68</a>;<br> + as President, appoints him Minister to Russia, +<a href="#page069">69</a>, +<a href="#page070">70</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Manifest</span> destiny, upheld by Adams, +<a href="#page130">130</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Mann</span>, Abijah, Jr., of New York, attacks Adams in Congress, +<a href="#page273">273</a>, +<a href="#page274">274</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">"Marcellus"</span> papers, +<a href="#page018">18</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Manufactures</span>, Committee on, Adams a member of, +<a href="#page233">233</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Marshall</span>, Thomas F., attacks Adams for advocating power of Congress over slavery, +<a href="#page263">263</a>;<br> + offers resolution of censure on Adams for presenting disunion petition, +<a href="#page282">282</a>, +<a href="#page283">283</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Markley</span>, Philip S., mentioned by Buchanan in Clay-Adams bargain story, +<a href="#page186">186</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Mason</span>, S. T., killed in a duel, +<a href="#page103">103</a>, +<a href="#page104">104</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Massachusetts</span>, upper classes in, belong to Federalist party, +<a href="#page028">28</a>;<br> + legislature of, sends Adams to United States Senate, +<a href="#page030">30</a>;<br> + refuses to reëlect him, +<a href="#page056">56</a>, +<a href="#page057">57</a>;<br> + condemns embargo, +<a href="#page057">57</a>;<br> + lasting bitterness in, against Adams, for his change of party, +<a href="#page058">58</a>, +<a href="#page216">216-218</a>;<br> + anti-Mason movement in, +<a href="#page226">226</a>, +<a href="#page301">301</a>;<br> + educated society in, disapproves of Adams's anti-slavery position, +<a href="#page246">246</a>;<br> + farmers support him, +<a href="#page247">247</a>, +<a href="#page255">255</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Milan</span> decree issued, +<a href="#page042">42</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Mills</span>, E. H., describes Washington city, +<a href="#page101">101</a>;<br> + describes Mr. and Mrs. Adams, +<a href="#page103">103</a>;<br> + describes Crawford, +<a href="#page157">157</a>;<br> + describes Adams's ball in honor of Jackson, +<a href="#page162">162</a>;<br> + on reasons for Adams's personal unpopularity, +<a href="#page203">203</a> n.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Milton</span>, Adams's opinion of, +<a href="#page223">223</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Mississippi</span> navigation, demand of English for, in treaty of Ghent, +<a href="#page080">80</a>, +<a href="#page088">88</a>;<br> + disputes over, between Clay and Adams, +<a href="#page088">88</a>;<br> + finally omitted from treaty, +<a href="#page092">92</a>, +<a href="#page094">94</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Missouri</span>, admission of, +<a href="#page119">119</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Monroe</span>, James, appoints Adams Secretary of State, +<a href="#page100">100</a>;<br> + social life of, +<a href="#page102">102</a>;<br> + character of his administration, +<a href="#page104">104</a>, +<a href="#page133">133</a>;<br> + enmity of Clay toward, +<a href="#page106">106</a>;<br> + anxious for treaty with Spain, dreads Adams's obstinacy, +<a href="#page113">113</a>;<br> + refuses to seize Florida, +<a href="#page118">118</a>;<br> + his connection with "Monroe doctrine," +<a href="#page129">129</a>, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + anticipated by Adams, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + not the originator of modern idea of non-interference, +<a href="#page136">136</a>;<br> + alarmed at Jackson's conduct in Florida, +<a href="#page160">160</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Monroe</span> doctrine, enlarged by modern interpretation, +<a href="#page129">129</a>;<br> + outlined by Adams in reply to Russia, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + stated by Monroe, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + its principles followed out by Adams, +<a href="#page132">132-148</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Morgan</span>, William, his alleged assassination by Masons, +<a href="#page208">208</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Neutrality Act</span>, passed to prevent privateering against Spain, +<a href="#page108">108</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Neuville</span>, Hyde de, social doings of, in Washington, +<a href="#page102">102</a>, +<a href="#page103">103</a>;<br> + aids Adams in Spanish treaty, +<a href="#page114">114</a>;<br> + remark of Adams to, on Onis's policy, +<a href="#page117">117</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">New</span> England, policy of merchants of, in advocating submission to England, +<a href="#page047">47</a>, +<a href="#page048">48</a>;<br> + condemns embargo, +<a href="#page052">52</a>;<br> + supports Adams for President in 1824, +<a href="#page169">169</a>;<br> + applauds his anti-slavery course, +<a href="#page232">232</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">New</span> Jersey, disputed election in, prevents organization +of House of Representatives, +<a href="#page290">290-292</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">New</span> Orleans, battle of, +<a href="#page096">96</a>;<br> + celebrations over, +<a href="#page096">96</a>, +<a href="#page097">97</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">New</span> York, supports Adams in 1824, 169;<br> + chooses electors by legislature, +<a href="#page173">173</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Niles's</span> "Weekly Register," celebrates battle of New Orleans, +<a href="#page096">96</a>, +<a href="#page097">97</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Non-importation</span>, act for, passed, +<a href="#page040">40</a>;<br> + opposed by Federalists, supported by Adams, +<a href="#page040">40</a>, +<a href="#page049">49</a>;<br> + its substitution for embargo urged by Adams, +<a href="#page056">56</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Nullification</span>, opinion of Adams on, +<a href="#page235">235</a>, +<a href="#page236">236</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Observatory</span>, National, desire of Adams to found, +<a href="#page304">304</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Onis</span>, Don, Spanish Minister, his character described by Adams, +<a href="#page111">111</a>;<br> + complains to Adams of folly of home government, +<a href="#page111">111</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>;<br> + expostulations of De Neuville with, +<a href="#page114">114</a>;<br> + forced to yield to Adams's terms, +<a href="#page114">114</a>, +<a href="#page115">115</a>;<br> + tries to evade explanation of royal land grants, +<a href="#page116">116</a>, +<a href="#page117">117</a>;<br> + angered at Jackson's doings, +<a href="#page161">161</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Orders</span> in Council, +<a href="#page041">41</a>, +<a href="#page042">42</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Oregon</span> question, debated between Adams and Canning, +<a href="#page140">140-145</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Otis</span>, Harrison Gray, accused by Adams of trying to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Paine, Thomas</span>, his "Rights of Man" attacked by Adams, +<a href="#page018">18</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Panama</span> Congress, recommendation of Adams to send commissioners to, +<a href="#page189">189</a>;<br> + question debated in Congress, +<a href="#page189">189</a>, +<a href="#page190">190</a>;<br> + reasons why South objected, +<a href="#page191">191</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Parsons</span>, Theophilus, studies of J. Q. Adams in his law office, +<a href="#page017">17</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Patton</span>, John Mercer, urges Southern members to be cautious in matter +of censuring Adams, +<a href="#page272">272</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Petitions</span>, anti-slavery, presented in House by Adams, +<a href="#page243">243</a>, +<a href="#page248">248</a>, +<a href="#page249">249</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>, +<a href="#page256">256-258</a>, +<a href="#page260">260</a>, +<a href="#page288">288</a>;<br> + others presented, +<a href="#page267">267</a>, +<a href="#page269">269</a>;<br> + for dissolution of Union, +<a href="#page281">281</a>, +<a href="#page288">288</a> (see "Gag" rule).<br> + +<span class="index-5">Pichegru</span>, Charles, French General, conquers Netherlands, +<a href="#page020">20</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Pickering</span>, Timothy, defeated by J. Q. Adams for Senator, +<a href="#page030">30</a>;<br> + his relations with Adams in Senate, +<a href="#page032">32</a>;<br> + votes against Adams's appointment as Minister to Russia, +<a href="#page069">69</a>, +<a href="#page070">70</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Pickering</span>, John, Adams's view of his impeachment, +<a href="#page036">36</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Pinckney</span>, Thomas, Minister to England, +<a href="#page022">22</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Pinckney</span>, Henry Laurens, reports on powers of Congress with regard to slavery, +<a href="#page249">249</a>;<br> + attacks Adams for presenting petition from slaves, +<a href="#page274">274</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Plumer</span>, William, supports Adams in Senate, +<a href="#page068">68</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Porter</span>, Peter B., appointed Secretary of War at desire of Cabinet, +<a href="#page205">205</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Portugal</span>, proposed mission of Adams to, +<a href="#page023">23</a>, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + proposes an alliance with United States, +<a href="#page133">133</a>, +<a href="#page134">134</a>;<br> + agrees to suppress slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Preston</span>, William C., threatens to hang abolitionists, +<a href="#page258">258</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Privateers</span> in Monroe's administration, +<a href="#page108">108</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Prussia</span>, mission of Adams to, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + treaty of commerce with, +<a href="#page024">24</a>;<br> + rejects English plan for suppression of slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">"Publicola"</span> papers, +<a href="#page018">18</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Puritan</span> traits in Adams, +<a href="#page007">7</a>, +<a href="#page030">30</a>;<br> + in Adams's constituents, +<a href="#page247">247</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Quincy, John</span>, great-grandfather of Adams, anecdote as to how +Adams was named after him, +<a href="#page001">1</a>, +<a href="#page002">2</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Quincy</span>, Josiah, refusal of Adams to run against for Congress, +<a href="#page066">66</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Randolph, John</span>, his enmity compared by Adams to that of Clay, +<a href="#page153">153</a>;<br> + teller in election of 1824, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br> + on "Blifil and Black George," +<a href="#page183">183</a>;<br> + duel with Clay, +<a href="#page183">183</a>;<br> + hatred of Adams for, +<a href="#page210">210</a>, +<a href="#page211">211</a>;<br> + his abuse of Adams, +<a href="#page211">211</a>, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Republican</span> party, elects Jefferson, +<a href="#page025">25</a>;<br> + fair-minded proposal of Adams concerning its representation on +council in Massachusetts, +<a href="#page029">29</a>;<br> + thought by Adams to be planning attack on judiciary, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + favors France, +<a href="#page038">38</a>;<br> + anticipates Federalists of Boston in condemning Chesapeake affair, +<a href="#page051">51</a>;<br> + endeavors to win over Adams, +<a href="#page065">65</a>, +<a href="#page068">68</a>;<br> + wishes to send him to Congress, +<a href="#page066">66</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Rhett</span>, Robert Barnwell, offers resolution that Williams be chairman, substitutes +name of Adams, +<a href="#page293">293</a>;<br> + conducts him to chair, +<a href="#page293">293</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Robertson</span>, John, opposes resolutions of censure, but condemns Adams, +<a href="#page276">276</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Romanzoff</span>, Count, his friendliness with Adams, +<a href="#page071">71</a>;<br> + suggests Russian mediation in war of 1812, +<a href="#page074">74</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Rose</span>, G. H., his fruitless mission to America after Chesapeake affair, +<a href="#page045">45</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Rush</span>, Dr. Benjamin, approaches Adams on subject of foreign mission, +<a href="#page068">68</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Rush</span>, Richard, appointed Secretary of Treasury, +<a href="#page177">177</a>;<br> + wishes appointment as minister to England, +<a href="#page205">205</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Russell</span>, Jonathan, on peace commission, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + criticises Adams's drafts of documents, +<a href="#page082">82</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>;<br> + attitude of Adams toward, +<a href="#page297">297</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Russia</span>, mission of Dana to, +<a href="#page013">13</a>;<br> + mission of Adams to, +<a href="#page070">70-74</a>;<br> + life in, +<a href="#page071">71</a>, +<a href="#page073">73</a>, +<a href="#page074">74</a>;<br> + its friendship for United States, +<a href="#page072">72</a>;<br> + war with France, +<a href="#page074">74</a>;<br> + offers to mediate between England and United States, +<a href="#page074">74</a>;<br> + its offer declined, +<a href="#page075">75</a>;<br> + dispute with, over Alaska, +<a href="#page130">130</a>;<br> + statement of Adams to, on Monroe doctrine, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br> + rejects English plan for suppression of slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Sectionalism</span>, in Louisiana purchase, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + in connection with embargo, +<a href="#page052">52</a>, +<a href="#page053">53</a>;<br> + in connection with Missouri question, +<a href="#page122">122</a>, +<a href="#page123">123</a>;<br> + appears in parties during Adams's administration, +<a href="#page188">188</a>, +<a href="#page189">189</a>;<br> + growth of, during debate over Texas annexation, +<a href="#page243">243</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Senate</span> of the United States, election of Adams to, +<a href="#page030">30</a>;<br> + unpopularity of Adams in, +<a href="#page031">31-33</a>;<br> + rejects all his proposals, +<a href="#page031">31</a>, +<a href="#page032">32</a>;<br> + debates acquisition of Louisiana, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + impeaches Chase, +<a href="#page036">36</a>;<br> + increased influence of Adams in, +<a href="#page036">36</a>, +<a href="#page037">37</a>;<br> + adopts Adams's resolutions demanding indemnity for British seizures, +<a href="#page039">39</a>;<br> + his career in, reviewed by Adams, +<a href="#page066">66-68</a>;<br> + refuses, then accepts, Adams's nomination as Minister to Russia, +<a href="#page069">69</a>, +<a href="#page070">70</a>;<br> + rejects Gallatin's nomination as peace commissioner, +<a href="#page075">75</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Seward</span>, W. H., on John Adams's recall of J. Q. Adams before end of term, +<a href="#page025">25</a>;<br> + on Adams's dissatisfaction with election of 1824, +<a href="#page174">174</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Shakespeare</span>, Adams's opinion of, +<a href="#page222">222</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Slaveholders</span> in Congress, their hatred of Adams, +<a href="#page229">229</a>, +<a href="#page246">246</a>;<br> + attacked by Adams, +<a href="#page258">258</a>, +<a href="#page259">259</a>;<br> + outwitted by Adams, +<a href="#page261">261</a>, +<a href="#page273">273</a>;<br> + condemn Adams for arguing possibility of abolition under war power, +<a href="#page262">262</a>, +<a href="#page264">264</a>;<br> + enraged at Adams's having a petition from slaves, +<a href="#page269">269</a>, +<a href="#page270">270</a>;<br> + move to censure him, +<a href="#page271">271</a>;<br> + discomfited by discovery of nature of petition, +<a href="#page273">273</a>;<br> + renew attempt to censure, +<a href="#page274">274</a>, +<a href="#page275">275</a>;<br> + abandon it, +<a href="#page276">276</a>, +<a href="#page279">279</a>;<br> + bitterly attacked by Adams in his defense, +<a href="#page277">277-279</a>;<br> + try to censure Adams for presenting disunion petition, +<a href="#page281">281-283</a>;<br> + defied by Adams, +<a href="#page283">283-285</a>;<br> + threaten Adams with assassination, +<a href="#page286">286</a>, +<a href="#page287">287</a>;<br> + abandon attempt, +<a href="#page287">287</a>, +<a href="#page288">288</a>;<br> + refuse to serve on committee with Adams, +<a href="#page289">289</a>;<br> + respect his courage, +<a href="#page290">290</a>;<br> + applaud his energy in carrying out organization of House, +<a href="#page293">293</a>, +<a href="#page294">294</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Slavery</span>, strengthened by Louisiana purchase, +<a href="#page035">35</a>;<br> + made a political issue by Missouri question, +<a href="#page119">119</a>;<br> + opinions of Adams concerning, +<a href="#page119">119-121</a>;<br> + extension of, opposed by Adams, +<a href="#page121">121</a>;<br> + formation of a party devoted to, +<a href="#page188">188-192</a>;<br> + attack upon, hastened by Texas question, +<a href="#page243">243</a>;<br> + Adams's part in war against, +<a href="#page244">244-248</a>;<br> + right of Congress to abolish, under war power, +<a href="#page250">250</a>, +<a href="#page261">261-265</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Slaves</span>, English seizures of, during war of 1812, negotiations concerning, +<a href="#page099">99</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Slave</span> trade, refusal of Adams to submit United States to mixed tribunals +for its repression, +<a href="#page135">135-137</a>;<br> + English proposal for combined effort, +<a href="#page137">137</a>, +<a href="#page138">138</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Smith</span>, William, accuses Adams of monomania, +<a href="#page280">280</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Smithsonian</span> bequest, connection of Adams with, +<a href="#page303">303</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">South</span>, the, Calhoun its leader in 1824, +<a href="#page149">149</a>;<br> + does not support Adams for President, +<a href="#page169">169</a>, +<a href="#page188">188</a>;<br> + begins to form a new slavery party in Adams's administration, +<a href="#page188">188</a>, +<a href="#page189">189</a>;<br> + opposes Panama Congress because of Hayti's share in it, +<a href="#page191">191</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Southard</span>, Samuel L., reappointed Secretary of Navy, +<a href="#page177">177</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">South</span> Carolina, refusal of Adams to placate, in 1828, +<a href="#page201">201</a>;<br> + protests against tariff, +<a href="#page233">233</a>;<br> + its punishment for nullification desired by Adams, +<a href="#page234">234-237</a>;<br> + Jackson's vacillation toward, condemned by Adams, +<a href="#page234">234-236</a>;<br> + gains its point from Clay, +<a href="#page236">236</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Spain</span>, danger of war with, in Monroe's administration, +<a href="#page108">108</a>;<br> + question of revolted colonies, +<a href="#page108">108</a>, +<a href="#page109">109</a>;<br> + disputes over Louisiana boundary and Florida, +<a href="#page109">109</a>, +<a href="#page110">110</a>;<br> + sends Onis to negotiate, +<a href="#page111">111</a>;<br> + its policy hampers Onis, +<a href="#page111">111</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>;<br> + negotiations, +<a href="#page113">113-116</a>;<br> + repudiates Onis's treaty, +<a href="#page117">117</a>;<br> + accepts original treaty, +<a href="#page124">124</a>;<br> + agrees to suppress slave trade, +<a href="#page138">138</a>;<br> + angered at Jackson's excesses in Florida, +<a href="#page161">161</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Spanish-American</span> republics, wish aid from United States, +<a href="#page108">108</a>;<br> + frowned down by European countries, +<a href="#page108">108</a>;<br> + sympathy for, in United States, +<a href="#page108">108</a>, +<a href="#page109">109</a>;<br> + recognition urged by Clay, +<a href="#page109">109</a>, +<a href="#page152">152</a>;<br> + recognized gradually, +<a href="#page132">132</a>;<br> + danger of attempt to reconquer by Holy Alliance, +<a href="#page132">132</a>, +<a href="#page133">133</a>;<br> + protected by Monroe doctrine, +<a href="#page131">131-134</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Sterret</span>, ——, his removal urged by Clay for planning +an insult to Adams, +<a href="#page179">179</a>;<br> + not removed by Adams, +<a href="#page180">180</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Tariff</span>, Adams's views upon, +<a href="#page234">234</a>;<br> + compromise tariff of 1833, considered by Adams a surrender, +<a href="#page235">235</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Tennessee</span>, renominates Jackson for President, +<a href="#page181">181</a>;<br> + repeats bargain story, +<a href="#page183">183</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Texas</span>, proposal to annex, arouses Northern opposition to slavery, +<a href="#page243">243</a>;<br> + indignation of Adams at, +<a href="#page265">265</a>, +<a href="#page266">266</a>;<br> + held by Adams to be unconstitutional, +<a href="#page266">266</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Thaxter</span>, ——, teacher of Adams, +<a href="#page003">3</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Thompson</span>, Waddy, sarcastic remark of, +<a href="#page259">259</a>;<br> + neglects to present petition for Adams's expulsion, +<a href="#page268">268</a>;<br> + introduces resolution of censure upon Adams, +<a href="#page271">271</a>;<br> + threatens Adams with criminal proceedings, +<a href="#page271">271</a>;<br> + presents new resolutions, +<a href="#page274">274</a>;<br> + scored by Adams, +<a href="#page277">277</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Tompkins</span>, Daniel D., candidate for President in 1824, +<a href="#page149">149</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Times</span>, London, condemns treaty of Ghent, +<a href="#page097">97</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Tracy</span>, Uriah, supports Adams in Senate, +<a href="#page068">68</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Treaty</span> of Ghent, meeting of commissioners, +<a href="#page076">76</a>;<br> + irritation during negotiations, +<a href="#page077">77</a>;<br> + preliminary conflict as to place of meeting, +<a href="#page077">77</a>, +<a href="#page078">78</a>;<br> + large demands of England for cession of territory and other advantages, +<a href="#page078">78</a>, +<a href="#page079">79</a>;<br> + discussion over proposed belt of neutral Indian territory, +<a href="#page079">79</a>;<br> + and of demand for Mississippi navigation, +<a href="#page080">80</a>;<br> + complaints by Americans of manners of English, +<a href="#page080">80-82</a>;<br> + bickerings among Americans, +<a href="#page081">81-84</a>;<br> + difficulties in drafting documents, +<a href="#page082">82</a>, +<a href="#page083">83</a>;<br> + social intercourse between commissioners, +<a href="#page085">85</a>, +<a href="#page092">92</a>;<br> + expected failure of negotiations, +<a href="#page086">86</a>;<br> + <i>status ante bellum</i> proposed by Adams, +<a href="#page087">87</a>;<br> + sanctioned by United States, +<a href="#page087">87</a>;<br> + dissensions among commissioners over Mississippi navigation and fisheries, +<a href="#page088">88-90</a>;<br> + over Moose Island, +<a href="#page091">91</a>;<br> + English offer to omit fisheries and Mississippi, +<a href="#page092">92</a>;<br> + abandonment of impressment article by Americans, +<a href="#page092">92</a>;<br> + peculiarities of negotiation, +<a href="#page093">93</a>;<br> + alteration of English policy, +<a href="#page093">93</a>;<br> + terms of treaty, +<a href="#page094">94</a>;<br> + a success for Americans, +<a href="#page095">95</a>, +<a href="#page096">96</a>;<br> + rejoicings over, in America, +<a href="#page096">96</a>;<br> + condemned in England, +<a href="#page097">97</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Trimble</span>, Cary A., of Ohio, opposes Spanish treaty, +<a href="#page124">124</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Tuyl</span>, Baron, discussion of Adams with, concerning Alaska, +<a href="#page131">131</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">Van Buren, Martin</span>, becomes manager of Jackson's followers, +<a href="#page192">192</a>;<br> + compared by Adams to Burr, +<a href="#page193">193</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Vanderpoel</span>, Aaron, tries to prevent Adams from replying to resolutions of censure +by previous question, +<a href="#page270">270</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Virginia</span>, refusal of Adams to placate, in election of 1828, +<a href="#page201">201</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Vivês</span>, General, supplants Onis, +<a href="#page123">123</a>;<br> + Adams's stubborn attitude toward, +<a href="#page123">123</a>, +<a href="#page124">124</a>;<br> + forced to yield, +<a href="#page124">124</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Von Holst</span>, H. C., calls Adams last of the statesmen to be President, +<a href="#page213">213</a>.<br> +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +<span class="index-5 smcap">War of 1812</span>, a defeat for United States, +<a href="#page076">76</a>, +<a href="#page086">86</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">War</span> power of Congress, held by Adams to justify emancipation of slaves, +<a href="#page261">261-265</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Washington</span>, George, appoints Adams Minister to Holland, +<a href="#page019">19</a>;<br> + urges him to remain in diplomacy, +<a href="#page021">21</a>;<br> + transfers him to Portugal, +<a href="#page023">23</a>;<br> + urges John Adams not to hesitate to promote him, +<a href="#page023">23</a>, +<a href="#page024">24</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Washington</span> city, absence of church in, +<a href="#page030">30</a>;<br> + described in 1815, +<a href="#page101">101</a>, +<a href="#page102">102</a>;<br> + society in, +<a href="#page102">102</a>, +<a href="#page103">103</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Webster</span>, Daniel, describes intriguing in presidential election of 1824, +<a href="#page165">165</a>;<br> + teller in election of 1824, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br> + supports Adams in matter of Panama Congress, +<a href="#page190">190</a>;<br> + desires appointment as Minister to England, +<a href="#page205">205</a>;<br> + Adams said to have bargained for his support, +<a href="#page209">209</a>;<br> + accused by Adams of plotting to injure him, +<a href="#page296">296</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Webster</span>, Ezekiel, ascribes Adams's defeat to unpopularity of his manners, +<a href="#page204">204</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Weights</span> and measures, report of Adams upon, +<a href="#page126">126</a>, +<a href="#page127">127</a>;<br> + its character and ability, +<a href="#page126">126</a>, +<a href="#page127">127</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Wellesley</span>, Marquis of, on superiority of American diplomacy in treaty of Ghent, +<a href="#page096">96</a>, +<a href="#page098">98</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Whig</span> party, begins in defense of Adams's administration, +<a href="#page193">193</a>;<br> + lacks personal interest in him, +<a href="#page199">199</a>;<br> + chilled by Adams's manner, +<a href="#page202">202-204</a>;<br> + Adams a member of, +<a href="#page232">232</a>, +<a href="#page233">233</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Williams</span>, Joseph L., of Tennessee, opposes Spanish treaty, +<a href="#page124">124</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Williams</span>, Lewis, proposes Adams for chairman of House, +<a href="#page293">293</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Wise</span>, Henry A., objects to reception of anti-slavery petitions, +<a href="#page258">258</a>;<br> + attacks Adams for holding that Congress may interfere with slavery in the States, +<a href="#page263">263</a>;<br> + again attacks him, +<a href="#page283">283</a>;<br> + expresses his loathing, +<a href="#page284">284</a>;<br> + taunted with murder by Adams, his bitter reply, +<a href="#page285">285</a>;<br> + compliments Adams on organizing House, +<a href="#page294">294</a>;<br> + later, when reprimanded for fighting, insults Adams, +<a href="#page294">294</a>;<br> + castigated by Adams for dueling and Southern views, +<a href="#page297">297</a>, +<a href="#page300">300</a>.<br> + +<span class="index-5">Wirt</span>, William, reappointed Attorney-General, +<a href="#page177">177</a>.<br> +</p> +</div> + +<h6>The Riverside Press</h6> + +<h6>CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A.<br> +ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY<br> +H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO.</h6> + + +<p><a id="footnote1" name="footnote1"></a> +<b>Footnote 1:</b> Mr. John Lowell.<a href="#footnotetag1">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote2" name="footnote2"></a> +<b>Footnote 2:</b> An interesting sketch of his household and its expenses +is to be found in ii. Diary, 193.<a href="#footnotetag2">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote3" name="footnote3"></a> +<b>Footnote 3:</b> Then Mr. Bagot.<a href="#footnotetag3">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote4" name="footnote4"></a> +<b>Footnote 4:</b> For a deliberate estimate of Clay's character see Mr. +Adams's Diary, v. 325.<a href="#footnotetag4">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote5" name="footnote5"></a> +<b>Footnote 5:</b> Senator Mills says of this grand ball: "Eight large rooms +were open and literally filled to overflowing. There must have been at +least a thousand people there; and so far as Mr. Adams was concerned +it certainly evinced a great deal of taste, elegance, and good +sense.... Many stayed till twelve and one.... It is the universal +opinion that nothing has ever equalled this party here either in +brilliancy of preparation or elegance of the +company."<a href="#footnotetag5">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote6" name="footnote6"></a> +<b>Footnote 6:</b> April 8, 1826.<a href="#footnotetag6">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote7" name="footnote7"></a> +<b>Footnote 7:</b> Mr. Mills, in writing of Mr. Adams's inauguration, +expressed well what many felt. "This same President of ours is a man +that I can never court nor be on very familiar terms with. There is a +cold, repulsive atmosphere about him that is too chilling for my +respiration, and I shall certainly keep at a distance from its +influence. I wish him God-speed in his Administration, and am heartily +disposed to lend him my feeble aid whenever he may need it in a +correct course; but he cannot expect me to become his warm and devoted +partisan." A like sentiment was expressed also much more vigorously by +Ezekiel Webster to Daniel Webster, in a letter of February 15, 1829. +The writer there attributes the defeat of Mr. Adams to personal +dislike to him. People, he said, "always supported his cause from a +cold sense of duty," and "we soon satisfy ourselves that we have +discharged our duty to the cause of any man when we do not entertain +for him one personal kind feeling, nor cannot unless we disembowel +ourselves like a trussed turkey of all that is human nature within +us." With a candidate "of popular character, like Mr. Clay," the +result would have been different. "The measures of his [Adams's] +Administration were just and wise and every honest man should have +supported them, but many honest men did not for the reason I have +mentioned."—<i>Webster's Private Correspondence</i>, vol. i. +p. 469.<a href="#footnotetag7">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote8" name="footnote8"></a> +<b>Footnote 8:</b> It is with great reluctance that these comments are made, +since some persons may think that they come with ill grace from one +whose grandfather was one of the thirteen and was supposed to have +drafted one or both of their letters. But in spite of the prejudice +naturally growing out of this fact, a thorough study of the whole +subject has convinced me that Mr. Adams was unquestionably and +completely right, and I have no escape from saying so. His adversaries +had the excuse of honesty in political error—an excuse which the +greatest and wisest men must often fall back upon in times of hot +party warfare.<a href="#footnotetag8">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote9" name="footnote9"></a> +<b>Footnote 9:</b> In an address to his constituents in September, 1842, Mr. +Adams spoke of his course concerning Texas. Having mentioned Mr. Van +Buren's reply, declining the formal proposition made in 1837 by the +Republic of Texas for annexation to the United States, he continued: +"But the slave-breeding passion for the annexation was not to be so +disconcerted. At the ensuing session of Congress numerous petitions +and memorials for and against the annexation were presented to the +House, ... and were referred to the Committee of Foreign Affairs, who, +without ever taking them into consideration, towards the close of the +session asked to be discharged from the consideration of them all. It +was on this report that the debate arose, in which I disclosed the +whole system of duplicity and perfidy towards Mexico, which had marked +the Jackson Administration from its commencement to its close. It +silenced the clamors for the annexation of Texas to this Union for +three years till the catastrophe of the Van Buren Administration. The +people of the free States were lulled into the belief that the whole +project was abandoned, and that they should hear no more of +slave-trade cravings for the annexation of Texas. Had Harrison lived +they would have heard no more of them to this day, but no sooner was +John Tyler installed in the President's House than nullification and +Texas and war with Mexico rose again upon the surface, with eye +steadily fixed upon the Polar Star of Southern slave-dealing supremacy +in the government of the Union."<a href="#footnotetag9">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote10" name="footnote10"></a> +<b>Footnote 10:</b> Mr. Adams afterward said: "I believed the petition +signed by female names to be genuine.... I had suspicions that the +other, purporting to be from slaves, came really from the hand of a +master who had prevailed on his slaves to sign it, that they might +have the appearance of imploring the members from the North to cease +offering petitions for their emancipation, which could have no other +tendency than to aggravate their servitude, and of being so impatient +under the operation of petitions in their favor as to pray that the +Northern members who should persist in presenting them should be +expelled." It was a part of the prayer of the petition that Mr. Adams +should be expelled if he should continue to present abolition +petitions.<a href="#footnotetag10">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote11" name="footnote11"></a> +<b>Footnote 11:</b> Henry A. Wise.<a href="#footnotetag11">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote12" name="footnote12"></a> +<b>Footnote 12:</b> Horace Everett, of Vermont.<a href="#footnotetag12">(back)</a></p> + +<p><a id="footnote13" name="footnote13"></a> +<b>Footnote 13:</b> Not quite two years later, pending a motion to reprimand +Mr. Wise for fighting with a member on the floor of the House, that +gentleman took pains insultingly to say, "that there was but one man +in the House whose judgment he was unwilling to abide by," and that +man was Mr. Adams.<a href="#footnotetag13">(back)</a></p> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of John Quincy Adams, by John. T. Morse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN QUINCY ADAMS *** + +***** This file should be named 20183-h.htm or 20183-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/1/8/20183/ + +Produced by Christine P. 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