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diff --git a/20183.txt b/20183.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..456698d --- /dev/null +++ b/20183.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8762 @@ +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: ASCII + +*** 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.) + + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. +The original spelling has been retained. +Missing page numbers correspond to blank pages. +Page numbers for illustration have been changed in the index to match +the content of this file.] + + +[Illustration: John Quincy Adams] + + + + + American Statesmen + + STANDARD LIBRARY EDITION + + +[Illustration: The Home of John Quincy Adams] + + + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + + + + + American Statesmen + + + JOHN QUINCY ADAMS + + + BY + + + JOHN T. MORSE, JR. + + + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + + + + + Copyright, 1882 and 1898, + By JOHN T. MORSE, JR. + + Copyright, 1898, + By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + + _All rights reserved._ + + + + +PREFACE (p. v) + + +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 death in (p. vi) +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. + +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, (p. vii) +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 which Aristides the Just found himself. But neither (p. viii) +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. + JOHN T. MORSE, JR. + July, 1898. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER I. + Page + Youth and Diplomacy 1 + +CHAPTER II. + + Secretary of State and President 101 + +CHAPTER III. + + In the House of Representatives 225 + +Index 309 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +John Quincy Adams Frontispiece + + From the original painting by John Singleton + Copley, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. + + Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, + Boston Public Library. + + The vignette of Mr. Adams's home in Quincy + is from a photograph. + Page +William H. Crawford 107 + + From the painting by Henry Ulke, in the + Treasury Department at Washington. + + Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, + Boston Public Library. + +Stratford Canning 149 + + After a drawing (1853) by George Richmond. + Autograph from "Life of Stratford Canning." + +Henry A. Wise 291 + + From a photograph by Brady, in the Library + of the State Department at Washington. + + Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, + Boston Public Library. + + + + +JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (p. 001) + + + + +CHAPTER I + +YOUTH AND DIPLOMACY + + +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--_non sine dis animosus infans_. +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:-- + + "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 his name. The fact, recorded by my father at (p. 002) + 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." + +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 +is to be hoped with a little exaggeration of the barbarity of (p. 003) +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. + +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:-- + + BRAINTREE, _June the 2d, 1777_. + + DEAR SIR,--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 can but (p. 004) + 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.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. + +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 land them at the nearest port in Spain. One (p. 005) +more quotation must be given from a letter written just after the +first arrival in France:-- + + PASSY, _September the 27th, 1778_. + + HONORED MAMMA,--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. + +He continues with resolutions "to be more thoughtful and industrious +for the future," and reflects with pleasure upon the prospect that +his scheme "will be a sure means of improvement to myself, and (p. 006) +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 + + A JOURNAL BY J. Q. A., + + _From America to Spain._ + + Vol. I. + + Begun Friday, 12 of November, 1779. + +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 his life as the result of conscious effort, but (p. 007) +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 to make him, as it may be put (p. 008) +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. + +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 men. (p. 009) +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 human faces (p. 010) +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; he was thoroughly conscientious and never knowingly did (p. 011) +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 his calibre (p. 012) +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. + +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 (p. 013) +than an historical biography of the customary elaborate order. + +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." + +On April 26, 1785, arrived the packet-ship Le Courier de L'Orient, (p. 014) +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 intent only of immediate gain, (p. 015) +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:-- + + "Were I now to go with my father probably my immediate + satisfaction might be greater than it will be in returning (p. 016) + 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 + + 'Oh! how wretched + Is that poor man, that hangs on Princes' favors,' + + 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 _independent_ and _free_; 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." + +It is needless to comment upon such spirit and sense, or upon (p. 017) +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. + +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 in good time, and during the (p. 018) +second, third, and fourth years, his business grew apace to encouraging +dimensions. + +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 to remain long unknown. It is not certain, but it (p. 019) +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; it was on his twenty-seventh (p. 020) +birthday that he received his commission. + +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 condition of affairs, and (p. 021) +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. + +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 of an informal character to transact with Lord Grenville, (p. 022) +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. + +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 bench of the Supreme Court of (p. 023) +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. + +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 promotion ought not to be kept from him, (p. 024) +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. + +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. His recall was one of the (p. 025) +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. + +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 elder Adams, having experienced a (p. 026) +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 +any important measure without first consulting a lawyer quietly (p. 027) +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. + +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 effects (p. 028) +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. + +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 the nation in foreign parts for eight years, yet (p. 029) +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 Senate once said (p. 030) +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. + +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 this embryotic (p. 031) +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 readily carried. That cordiality, (p. 032) +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 _vice versa_. 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 obloquy for this measure;" a day or two later he speaks of (p. 033) +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. + +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 with a cool head. An unyielding (p. 034) +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. + +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 labored to a remarkable degree. Since parties (p. 035) +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. + +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 territory was brought into the (p. 036) +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. + +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:-- + + "This is the third session I have sat in Congress. I came in (p. 037) + 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." + +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. + +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 not divided upon American (p. 038) +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. + +Mr. Adams took his position early and boldly. In February, 1806, he +introduced into the Senate certain resolutions strongly condemnatory +of the right, claimed and vigorously exercised by the British, (p. 039) +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 aimed to suppress and destroy, seemed not to be so much (p. 040) +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. + +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 was issued declaring the whole (p. 041) +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 which (p. 042) +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 burned their ships as have submitted to these decrees. (p. 043) + +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 sure to be always (p. 044) +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 with insults which alone (p. 045) +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 of the above named Orders in Council was issued but had not (p. 046) +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. + +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 impressment be conducted by Frenchmen. (p. 047) +France gave us cause for war, but England seemed resolved to drive us +into it. + +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 one of casting themselves wholly (p. 048) +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. + +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 all that Great Britain may (p. 049) +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 personal discussion of commercial questions with (p. 050) +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,[1] "in a public insurance office +upon the exchange at Boston," his temper rose. "This," he afterward +wrote, "this was the cause ... which alienated me from that day (p. 051) +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 cooeperation "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 a few days later. This also (p. 052) +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. + + [Footnote 1: Mr. John Lowell.] + +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 planters (p. 053) +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. + +Never was any man more unjustly aspersed. It is impossible to view all +the evidence dispassionately without not only acquitting Mr. (p. 054) +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 to Great Britain, rather (p. 055) +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 +secure its repeal and the substitution of the Non-intercourse (p. 056) +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. + +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 months the customary time for filling (p. 057) +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. + +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 been so harshly assailed as for this (p. 058) +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 in (p. 059) +those more prominent in politics as tergiversation and apostasy. + +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 to establish the Constitution of the United States as a (p. 060) +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 well point to the history of this period in support (p. 061) +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. + +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 were allowed (p. 062) +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. + +At that time it was said, and it has been since repeated, that he (p. 063) +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 bonds of (p. 064) +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. + +But in fact it is now evident that there was not upon his part even an +expectation. At the first signs of the views which he was likely (p. 065) +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. + +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 (p. 066) +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." + +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 reelection +of his friend, Mr. Quincy. + +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 the whole evening in looking over (p. 067) +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 much oftener in unison with the Administration than with (p. 068) +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. + +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 at their hands. Mr. Adams simply replied, (p. 069) +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 cast a vote which gave him so much (p. 070) +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. + +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 his courtiers with distinguished kindness. The Emperor, who (p. 071) +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, fetes, 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 and almost no harm, yet the (p. 072) +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. + +The ambassadors and ministers from European powers at St. Petersburg +were constantly wrangling about precedence and like petty matters of +court etiquette. "In all these controversies," writes Mr. Adams, (p. 073) +"I have endeavored to consider it as an affair in which I, as an +_American_ 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. + +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-etre 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.'"[2] + + [Footnote 2: An interesting sketch of his household + and its expenses is to be found in ii. Diary, 193.] + +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 +society. Few travellers write anything nearly so vivid, so (p. 074) +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. + +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 directly fortunate results. The American (p. 075) +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. + +But by the time when all hopes of peace through the friendly offices +of Russia were at an end, that stage of the conflict had been (p. 076) +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 Goettingen, 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. + +It was upwards of four months before an agreement was reached. (p. 077) +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, as well as (p. 078) +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 Hotel 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. + +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 shore of the (p. 079) +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. + +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 +frontier was, by the understanding of all nations, such an (p. 080) +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. + +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 more than they were worth, and had (p. 081) +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:-- + + "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." + +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 among (p. 082) +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 finally Mr. Bayard would insist upon (p. 083) +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 not to have exasperated him; Mr. Clay and he were constantly (p. 084) +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. + +The very extravagance of the British demands at least saved the (p. 085) +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! + +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 off the negotiations that Mr. Adams began to consider by (p. 086) +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 10 we find Mr. Adams proposing to make (p. 087) +concessions not permitted by their instructions, because, as he said:-- + + "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." + +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 _status ante bellum_." 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 so nearly removed, that my colleagues all (p. 088) +consider it as certain. I myself think it probable." + +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 a day or two later, (p. 089) +"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 national pride and honor were interested in it; the (p. 090) +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. + +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." + +On December 11 we find Mr. Clay ready "for a war three years longer," +and anxious "to begin to play at _brag_" 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 _status ante bellum_ with the Indian article. +So help me God!'" The next day there was an angry controversy (p. 091) +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 in the midst of such scenes as these the (p. 092) +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 substantially (p. 093) +reached; a few minor matters were settled, and on December 24, 1814, +the treaty was signed by all the eight negotiators. + +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 to have done with the American (p. 094) +war, and wrote home pacific advices. Hence, at last, came such +concessions as satisfied the Americans. + +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, were yielded by the (p. 095) +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. + +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 decidedly the worst of the struggle. (p. 096) +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 live the Republic! All hail! last asylum (p. 097) +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 gained no small access of distinction in (p. 098) +England from this business. + +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. + +Of his stay in Great Britain little need be said. He had few duties of +importance to perform. The fisheries, the right of impressment, (p. 099) +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 was greatly bored by these solemn and pompous feedings. (p. 100) +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER II (p. 101) + +SECRETARY OF STATE AND PRESIDENT + + +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:-- + + "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 almost (p. 102) + 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." + +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 dancing on (p. 103) +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 used were muskets, and the distance was only six paces. (p. 104) +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. + +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 England after their last hopes had (p. 105) +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. + +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 been very near obtaining the nomination instead (p. 106) +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, the ambitions (p. 107) +and the manoeuvres, 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 _laudatores temporis acti_ 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. + +[Illustration: Wm. H. Crawford.] + +As has been said, it so happened that in Mr. Monroe's (p. 108) +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. + +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. Here it was anticipated that the (p. 109) +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. + +Apart from these matters the United States had direct disputes of a +threatening character pending with Spain concerning the boundaries of +Louisiana. Naturally enough boundary lines in the half explored (p. 110) +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. + +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:-- + + "Cold, calculating, wily, always commanding his own temper, (p. 111) + 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." + +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 declared that "the King's Council was composed (p. 112) +of such ignorant and stupid _nigauds_, grandees of Spain, and priests," +that Mr. Adams "could have no conception of their obstinacy and +imbecility." + +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. + + "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 their failure would lead to (p. 113) + 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." + +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. + +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 involved. He caused the proffered mediation of (p. 114) +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 manoeuvres, +and actually once saying to the courtly Spaniard that he "was so (p. 115) +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. + +On February 22, 1819, the two negotiators signed and sealed the (p. 116) +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. + +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 a shape imperfectly (p. 117) +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 '_une fourberie +de Scapin_.'" 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. + +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. + +For his own private part Mr. Adams strove to endure this buffet (p. 118) +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. + +At this time the great question of the admission of Missouri into (p. 119) +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 end must be an attempt to dissolve the Union. His own (p. 120) +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; (p. 121) +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." + +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 (p. 122) +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. + +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. + +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 getting to (p. 123) +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. + +Matters stood thus when the new Spanish envoy, Vives, 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 Vives 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 +make such a treaty as the United States demanded, or might take (p. 124) +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 opponents, ungenerous (p. 125) +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. + +The same day, February 22, 1821, closed, says Mr. Adams, "two of the +most memorable transactions of my life." That he should speak thus (p. 126) +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 Vives, 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 escape detection. (p. 127) +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. + +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 themselves. With some (p. 128) +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. + +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 the opinions of any (p. 129) +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." + +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 by Mr. Adams before the delivery of (p. 130) +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 (p. 131) +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 _any_ 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." + +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 and moderate as the (p. 132) +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, it was (p. 133) +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. + +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 concert together a grand American system. The drollery pf (p. 134) +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. + +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 were and would remain in any and all (p. 135) +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; it had simply been the policy of Europe to consider (p. 136) +this country as standing aloof from all European federations, and in +this treatment "we had acquiesced, because it fell in with our own +policy." + +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. + +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 (p. 137) +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 naive 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. + +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 coast of Africa, that the (p. 138) +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 admitting any rights of search whatsoever upon her (p. 139) +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 my advance of years--over him. This is one of (p. 140) +those equivocal compliments which, according to Sterne, a Frenchman +always returns with a bow." + +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 _status ante bellum_, 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 great (p. 141) +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:-- + + "'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 _upon this subject_, 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 (p. 142) + 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.'" + +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[3] at +Washington,-- + + "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 + know what his feelings concerning it were.' I replied, (p. 143) + '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.'" + + [Footnote 3: Then Mr. Bagot.] + +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 he had thrown off (p. 144) +some of the "cautious reserve" which might have been "strictly +regular" between them, and that + + "'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!'" + +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 + + "'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." + +The next day, accordingly, this genial pair again encountered. Mr. +Adams noted at first in Mr. Canning's manner "an effort at coolness, +but no appearance of cheerfulness or good humor. I saw there was (p. 145) +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. + + "'Have you,' said Mr. Canning, 'any claim to the Shetland + Islands?' 'Have you any _claim_,' said I, 'to the mouth of + Columbia River?' 'Why, do you not _know_,' replied he, 'that we + have a claim?' 'I do not _know_,' 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 _this_ habitable globe that I + could affirm you do not claim!'" + +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 that he did "not expect to be (p. 146) +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 + + "'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 the performance of my (p. 147) + 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 _exceedingly offensive_.' 'I do not + know,' said I, 'whether I shall be able to finish what I intended + to say, under such continual interruptions.'" + +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 _to the American Government_." 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." + +In the condition of our relations with Great Britain at the time (p. 148) +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. + +As the years allotted to Monroe passed on, the manoeuvring 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, and had then developed sufficient strength (p. 149) +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. + +[Illustration: Stratford Canning] + +As a study of the dark side of political society during this (p. 150) +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 +enhanced suspicion, and suspicion in turn pricked jealousy. It is (p. 151) +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. + +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 same motive of embarrassing the (p. 152) +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 preeminently 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 mediaeval despotism. Real convictions were +sometimes diluted with rodomontade, and a true feeling was to some +extent stimulated by the desire to embarrass a rival. + +Entire freedom from prejudice would have been too much to expect (p. 153) +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. As time went on, however, and the South American questions (p. 154) +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 _entente +cordiale_ was established as could be reasonably expected to exist +between competitors very unlike both in moral and mental +constitution.[4] + + [Footnote 4: For a deliberate estimate of Clay's + character see Mr. Adams's Diary, v. 325.] + +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 came to recognize in Crawford a wholly selfish (p. 155) +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." He was "a worm preying upon the vitals of the (p. 156) +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." + +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 he remarked that Crawford was "a very (p. 157) +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. + +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." + +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 achieved (p. 158) +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 _avant courier_ of a +bad system, of which the first crude manifestations were received with +well-merited disrelish by the worthier among his contemporaries. + +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 of President Monroe. Turned loose (p. 159) +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 mediaeval 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 (p. 160) +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 authority given to Jackson to (p. 161) +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 himself. He preferred to insist that the hanging (p. 162) +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."[5] + + [Footnote 5: 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."] + +He was in favor of offering to the General the position of (p. 163) +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. + +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 (p. 164) +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 sophistical argument would be (p. 165) +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 of his rigid integrity. His proud honesty was only not quite (p. 166) +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." + +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 which, if he should now (p. 167) +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 struggle for a glittering (p. 168) +prize but as a judgment upon the services which he had been for a +lifetime rendering to his countrymen. + +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. + +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:-- + + General Jackson led with 99 votes. (p. 169) + Adams followed with 84 " + Crawford had 41 " + Clay had 37 " + --- + Total 261 votes. + +Mr. Calhoun was elected Vice-President by the handsome number of 182 +votes. + +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. + +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 (p. 170) +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 of Kremer, who had (p. 171) +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 spirit of the Constitution (p. 172) +required the House of Representatives not to _elect_ 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 _popular will_ 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 (p. 173) +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. + +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 Georgia, four votes." Thereupon the speaker announced Mr. Adams (p. 174) +to have been elected President of the United States. + +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 argument would (p. 175) +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. + +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 during substantially his whole active (p. 176) +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:-- + + "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." + +No President since Washington had ever come into office so entirely +free from any manner of personal obligations or partisan (p. 177) +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 + + "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 had been (p. 178) + 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." + +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 nominations, and to introduce a principle of change or (p. 179) +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 _intention_ never carried into effect +would scarcely justify removal. + + "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 was it possible to draw the line? (p. 180) + 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." + +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. + +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 (p. 181) +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 new life. The partisans of (p. 182) +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. + +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 certain resolutions passed by this (p. 183) +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[6] 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. + + [Footnote 6: April 8, 1826.] + +By way of revenge a duel may be effective if the wrong man does (p. 184) +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 became known, and he was of course compelled to (p. 185) +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 (p. 186) +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 it and said that it was all a mistake. General (p. 187) +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. + +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 General Jackson. The discussion (p. 188) +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. + +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 the skilled eye of the (p. 189) +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 himself to the Court of Russia in the Presidency of Mr. (p. 190) +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 (p. 191) +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 to grow steadily more bitter on (p. 192) +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. + +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 he been encountered by tactics similar to his (p. 193) +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. + +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 reigned in business, but returning activity was encouraged by (p. 194) +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 sufficiently momentous and national in its character to (p. 195) +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. + +At least one moral to be drawn from the story of Mr. Adams's +Presidency perhaps deserves rather to be called an _immoral_, 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 declare, much less (p. 196) +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. + +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 individuals representing as yet no (p. 197) +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 had not then (p. 198) +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, and upon which (p. 199) +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 issue between government conducted with a (p. 200) +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. + +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 order to (p. 201) +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. + +It was not alone by what he did and by what he would not do that (p. 202) +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 form of dishonesty; while suavity and graciousness of (p. 203) +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.[7] The +fervid laborers in politics left Mr. Adams alone in his chilling (p. 204) +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. + + [Footnote 7: 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."--_Webster's Private Correspondence_, + vol. i. p. 469.] + + * * * * * + +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 in (p. 205) +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 perfidy was not undetected, and great pressure was (p. 206) +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. + +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 for a long (p. 207) +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. + +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. The risk was protracted throughout a considerable (p. 208) +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. + + * * * * * + +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 Freemasonry, and (p. 209) +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 of the Emperor Alexander (p. 210) +and sway him to political purposes." + +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 +in words, "the image and superscription of a great man stamped (p. 211) +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 since the adoption of the Constitution, so that (p. 212) +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. + + * * * * * + +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 he (p. 213) +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 (p. 214) +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." + +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:-- + + "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 + against me has been formed and is now exulting in triumph (p. 215) + 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." + +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." + +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 +lately reopened. Certain malicious newspaper paragraphs, born of (p. 216) +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 so now (p. 217) +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 persistently challenged and (p. 218) +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 for having granted them that privilege. One would think (p. 219) +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.[8] + + [Footnote 8: 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.] + +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. + + * * * * * + +Thus at the age of sixty-two years, Mr. Adams found himself that +melancholy product of the American governmental system--an ex-President. +At this stage it would seem that the fruit ought to drop from the (p. 220) +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 reelection. He refused at once, upon principle; but +further set forth "candidly, the state of his affairs:"-- + + "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 one year from this time, destitute of all means of (p. 221) + acquiring property, it will only be by the sacrifice of that + which I now possess that I shall be able to support my family." + +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 has (p. 222) +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 with cultivated appreciation, (p. 223) +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. + +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 of his fame after he (p. 224) +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. + + + + +CHAPTER III (p. 225) + +IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES + + +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 a candidate for the (p. 226) +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. + +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 the higher positions which he had previously (p. 227) +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. + + * * * * * + +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 in all these (p. 228) +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 equal as a gladiator. (p. 229) +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 supporters of slave-holders. When (p. 230) +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 (p. 231) +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 (p. 232) +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. + +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. + +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 Whig party, but one of (p. 233) +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. + +The nullification chapter of our history cannot here be entered (p. 234) +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 in his famous proclamation to meet the (p. 235) +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 his usual strong and thorough-going fashion he was for (p. 236) +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 been in the White House, the matter would have had a (p. 237) +very different ending, bloodier, it may be, and more painful, but +much more conclusive. + +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 of the like (p. 238) +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. + +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 (p. 239) +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:-- + + "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 vote of the House of (p. 240) + 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." + +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 reestablish +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 contrary the two drew rapidly and more widely apart, and (p. 241) +entertained concerning each other opinions which grew steadily more +unfavorable, and upon Adams's part more contemptuous, as time went on. + +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 +a cheap honor and ... a sycophantic compliment." After the deed (p. 242) +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:-- + + "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 + diarrhoea 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." + +This sounds, it must be confessed, a trifle rancorous; but Adams had +great excuse for nourishing rancor towards Jackson. + +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 in Congress that reputation which has been (p. 243) +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 early years. Now that a great question, vitally (p. 244) +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 the (p. 245) +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 power of invective, his independence (p. 246) +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 old Puritan instincts (p. 247) +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 class feelings, (p. 248) +traditions, and comradeship are wont to exercise. + +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. + +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 that (p. 249) +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. + +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 had (p. 250) +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, as a (p. 251) +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. + +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 should be entered (p. 252) +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. + +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 in the District of Columbia, and opposing (p. 253) +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. + +Besides these natural and legitimate difficulties, Mr. Adams was (p. 254) +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 that I take." In the midst of all this anxiety, (p. 255) +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:-- + + "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." + +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 +remonstrances against the annexation of Texas, and other (p. 256) +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. + +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 a hundred petitions, (p. 257) +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 + + "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 without (p. 258) + permission of the House, and I proceeded. The threat to hang + Northern abolitionists was uttered by Preston of the Senate + within the last fortnight." + +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." + +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:-- + + "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 with loud, distinct, and slow (p. 259) + 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." + +So that little skirmish ended, much more cheerfully than was often the +case. + +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 Mr. Adams, said, "that insinuation should not be (p. 260) +made against a gentleman!" "I shall make," retorted Mr. Adams, "what +insinuation I please. This is not an insinuation, but a direct, +positive assertion." + +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 _received_ under the "gag" rule. Connor, of North Carolina, (p. 261) +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. + +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:-- + + "From the instant that your slave-holding States become the + theatre of war, civil, servile, or foreign, from that instant (p. 262) + 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." + +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. + +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 induced him to consider the matter more (p. 263) +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 + + "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." + +He cited some precedents from South American history, and continued:-- + + "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 to order (p. 264) + the universal emancipation of the slaves." + +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. Solomon Lincoln, of Hingham, a friend and (p. 265) +constituent. After touching upon other topics he says:-- + + "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 _property_, HEREDITARY 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." + +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 and more overshadowing branches than (p. 266) +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.[9] + + [Footnote 9: 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."] + +People sometimes took advantage of his avowed principles (p. 267) +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 could be more abhorrent to him than this (p. 268) +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." + +To this same period belongs the memorable tale of Mr. Adams's (p. 269) +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 had occurred to his mind as not being what (p. 270) +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 and burned." At last Mr. Thompson got a resolution (p. 271) +into shape as follows:-- + + "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." + +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, + + "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; a flagrant contempt on the dignity (p. 272) + 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." + +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, he should be "struck mute by the (p. 273) +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 +_not_ 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." + +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 with a "violence paralleled only (p. 274) +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:-- + + "1. That the Hon. John Quincy Adams, by an effort to present a + petition from slaves, has committed a gross contempt of this + House. + + "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. + + "3. That the Hon. John Quincy Adams receive the censure of the + House for his conduct referred to in the preceding resolutions." + +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 rendered himself indictable for aiding and abetting (p. 275) +insurrection. A _fortiori_, 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. + +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 + + "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. + + "That the aforesaid John Quincy Adams receive a censure from the + Speaker in the presence of the House of Representatives." + +Mr. Alford, in advocating these resolutions, talked about "this awful +crisis of our beloved country." Mr. Robertson, though opposing (p. 276) +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 moving the (p. 277) +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 pounced down upon him like so many eagles upon a (p. 278) +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.[10] But while denying all intention of trifling with the +House, he rejected the mercy extended to him in the last of the (p. 279) +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. + + [Footnote 10: 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.] + +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 21, 1842, a somewhat singular (p. 280) +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 (p. 281) +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." + +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[11] from Accomac." Mr. Gilmer retorted +that he "played second fiddle to no man. He was no fiddler, but (p. 282) +was endeavoring to prevent the music of him who, + + 'In the space of one revolving moon, + Was statesman, poet, fiddler, and buffoon.'" + +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 would have "disgraced his country ... in the (p. 283) +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." + + [Footnote 11: Henry A. Wise.] + +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[12] 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 to be guilty of the crimes of subornation of perjury and (p. 284) +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. + + [Footnote 12: Horace Everett, of Vermont.] + + "If they say they will try me, they must try me. If they (p. 285) + 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." + +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 Mr. Adams, "sometimes to (p. 286) +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 also an engraved portrait of him with the (p. 287) +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. + +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 to "lay the whole subject on the table forever" was (p. 288) +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." + +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. + +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 displacing him from the chairmanship of the Committee on (p. 289) +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. + +Amid all the animosity and rancor entertained towards Mr. Adams, (p. 290) +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 nevertheless really an assumption and (p. 291) +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. + +[Illustration: Henry A. Wise] + +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. Mr. Adams went home and wrote in his Diary that (p. 292) +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. +Accordingly on December 5 he rose to address the House. He was (p. 293) +greeted as a _Deus ex machina_. 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 _organize itself_. 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 the old man to the chair. It was a (p. 294) +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.[13] 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. + + [Footnote 13: 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.] + +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 (p. 295) +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. + +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 friend and foe, (p. 296) +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:-- + + "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." + + +Truly a long and exhaustive list of enmities! One can but suspect (p. 297) +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 my reason can scarcely (p. 298) +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. + +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?" + +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 him accordingly. (p. 299) +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 + + "parties are falling into profligate factions. I have seen this + before; but the worst symptom now is the change in the (p. 300) + 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?" + +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. + +If Mr. Adams never had the cheerful support of popularity, so (p. 301) +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 aid then lately brought (p. 302) +by him to Jackson in the dispute with France; "so it will be to the +end of my political life." + +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 vain for me to contend against (p. 303) +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." + +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 (p. 304) +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. + +In August, 1842, while he was still tarrying in the unwholesome (p. 305) +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. + +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 far off, and a kind fate (p. 306) +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 _not_ 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. + +His mental powers were not less than at any time in the past when, (p. 307) +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 tracks in which he had (p. 308) +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. + +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 +Saeculo,"--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 preeminent in +ability and acquirements, but even more to be honored for profound, +immutable honesty of purpose and broad, noble humanity of aims. + + + + +INDEX (p. 311) + + +ABOLITIONISTS, their part in anti-slavery movement, 244, 245; + urge Adams to extreme actions, 254. + +Adams, Abigail, shows battle of Bunker Hill to her son, 2; + life near Boston during siege, 2, 3; + letter of J. Q. Adams to, on keeping journal, 5; + warns him against asking office from his father as President, 23; + his spirited reply, 23. + +Adams, C. F., on beginning of Adams's diary, 6; + on Adams's statement of Monroe doctrine, 131. + +Adams, John, influence of his career in Revolution upon his son, 2; + leaves family near Boston while attending Continental Congress, 2, 3; + letter of his son to, on reading, 3; + first mission to France, 4; + second one, 4; + advises his son to keep a diary and copies of letters, 5; + makes treaty of peace, 13; + appointed Minister to England, 14; + elected President, 23; + at Washington's suggestion, appoints J. Q. Adams Minister to Prussia, 24; + recalls him, 25; + his rage at defeat by Jefferson, 25, 26; + disrupts Federalist party by French mission, 26; + his rivalry with and hatred for Hamilton, 26, 27; + charges defeat to Hamilton, 27; + qualified sympathy of J. Q. Adams with, 27, 28; + his enemies and adherents in Massachusetts, 28; + his unpopularity hampers J. Q. Adams in Senate, 31, 34. + +Adams, John Quincy, birth, 1; + ancestry, 1; + named for his great-grandfather, 1; + describes incident connected with his naming, 1, 2; + early involved in outbreak of Revolution, 2; + life near Boston during the siege, 2, 3; + scanty schooling, 3; + describes his reading in letter to John Adams, 3, 4; + accompanies his father to France in 1778, 4; + and again to Spain, 4, 5; + tells his mother of intention to keep diary while abroad, 5, 6; + begins it in 1779, its subsequent success, 6; + its revelation of his character, 7, 10; + unchangeableness of his traits, 7, 8; + describes contemporaries bitterly in diary, 9, 10; + shows his own high character, 10; + also his disagreeable traits, 11, 12; + difficulty of condensing his career, 12; + his schooling in Europe, 13; + at fourteen acts as private secretary to Dana on mission to Russia, 13; + assists father in peace negotiations, 13; + his early gravity, maturity, and coolness, 14, 15; + decides not to accompany father to England, but return home, 15; + gives his reason for decision, 15, 16; + studies at Harvard, 17; + studies law with Parsons at Newburyport, 17; + begins practice in Boston in 1790, 17; + writes Publicola papers against Paine's "Rights of Man," 18; + writes in papers against Genet, 18; + his restlessness and ambition, 19. + + _Foreign Minister._ Appointed Minister to the Hague, 19; + his voyage, 19; + in Holland at time of its capture by French, 20; + cordially received by French, 20; + his skill in avoiding entanglement, 20; + persuaded by Washington to remain, although without occupation, 21; + prevented from participating in Jay's negotiations over the treaty, 21; + has dealings with Grenville, 22; + marriage with Miss Johnson, 22, 23; + transferred to Portugal, 23; + question as to propriety of remaining minister after his father's + election, 23; + persuaded by Washington to remain, 23, 24; + appointed minister to Prussia, 24; + ratifies treaty of commerce, 24; + travels in Europe, 24; + recalled by his father, 25; + resumes practice of law, 25; + not involved in Federalist quarrels, 27, 28; + removed by Jefferson from commissionership in bankruptcy, 28; + elected to State Senate, 28; + irritates Federalists by proposing to allow Democrats a place in + council, 29; + his entire independence, 29, 30; + elected to United States Senate over Pickering, 30. + + _United States Senator._ His journey to Washington, 30, 31; + unfriendly greeting from his father's enemies, 31; + isolation in the Senate, 32, 33; + unfriendly relations with Pickering, 32; + refuses to yield to unpopularity, 33, 34; + estranges Federalists by his absence of partisanship, 34, 35; + votes in favor of Louisiana purchase, although calling it + unconstitutional, 35, 36; + condemned by New England, 36; + votes for acquittal of Chase, 36; + realizes that he is conquering respect, 36, 37; + introduces resolutions condemning British seizures of neutrals, 38, 39; + and requesting President to insist on reparation, 39; + his measure carried by Democrats, 39; + comments on Orders in Council and Napoleon's decrees, 42, 46; + refuses to follow New England Federalists in advocating + submission, 47, 48; + disgusted at Jefferson's peace policy, 48; + but supports Non-importation Act, 49; + believes in hostile purpose of England, 49, 50; + urges Boston Federalists to promise support to government during + Chesapeake affair, 51; + attends Democratic and Federalist meetings to this effect, 51, 52; + read out of party by Federalists, 52; + votes for and supports embargo, 53; + execrated in New England, 53; + his patriotic conduct, 53-55; + his opinion of embargo, 55; + regrets its too long continuance, 55, 56; + advocates in vain military and naval preparations, 56; + refused reelection by Massachusetts legislature, 56, 57; + resigns before expiration of term, 57; + harshly criticised then and since for leaving Federalists, 57, 58; + propriety and justice of his action, 58, 59; + led to do so by his American feeling, 61, 62; + absurdity of charge of office-seeking, 63; + disproved by his whole character and career, 63, 64; + his courage tested by necessity of abandoning friends, 64; + repels advances from Giles, 65; + statement of his feelings in his diary, 65, 66; + refuses election to Congress from Democrats, 66; + sums up barrenness of his career in Senate, 66-68; + approached by Madison in 1805 with suggestion of foreign mission, 68; + his cool reply, 69; + nominated Minister to Russia by Madison, 69; + appointment refused, then confirmed, 69, 70. + + _Minister to Russia._ Peace of Ghent. His voyage, 70; + his life at St. Petersburg, 70, 71; + his success as foreign representative, 71, 72; + disgusted by snobbery of American travelers, 72; + declines to take part in squabbles for precedence, 72, 73; + hampered by meagre salary, 73; + describes Russia during Napoleonic wars, 74; + nominated to act as peace commissioner with England, 75, 76; + describes negotiations in his diary, 77; + suggests refusing to meet British commissioners at their lodgings, 77; + remarks on arrogance of British, 81; + vents irritation upon colleagues, 82, 83; + begins drafting communications, but abandons duty to Gallatin, 82; + nettled at criticisms of colleagues on his drafts, 82, 83; + quarrels with all but Gallatin, 84; + incompatible with Clay, 84; + urges strong counter-claims, 85; + thinks negotiations certain to fail, 86; + obliged to work for peace as defeated party, 86, 87; + willing to return to status quo, 87; + disagrees with Clay over fisheries and Mississippi navigation, 88; + determined to insist on fisheries, 89, 90, 92; + suspects British intend to prevent peace, 90; + controverts Goulburn, 91; + signs treaty, 93; + at Paris during Napoleon's "hundred days," 98; + appointed Minister to England, 98; + with Clay and Gallatin, makes treaty of commerce with England, 98; + his slight duties as minister, 98, 99; + bored by English dinners, 99, 100; + sensitive to small income, 100. + + _Secretary of State._ Appointed, 100; + describes dullness of Washington in diary, 102; + as host, 103; + his habits of life, 104; + prominent candidate for succession to Monroe, 105; + intrigued against by Crawford, 106; + and by Clay and Calhoun, 106, 107; + expects Spanish colonies to gain independence, 109; + but maintains cautious public attitude, 109; + describes Spanish ambassador, 111; + negotiates concerning boundaries of Louisiana, 111, 112; + his position, 112; + fears opposition from Clay and Crawford, 112; + urged by Monroe not to claim too much, 113; + rejects English mediation, 114; + uses French Minister as go-between, 114; + succeeds in reaching a conclusion, 114, 115; + a triumph for his diplomacy, 115; + chagrined at discovery of Spanish land grants, 116, 117; + and at refusal of Spanish government to ratify treaty, 118; + urges the seizure of disputed territory, 118; + at first indifferent to Missouri question, 119; + soon appreciates the slavery issue, 119; + predicts an attempt to dissolve the Union, 119, 120; + sharp comments on slavery, slaveholders, and Northern weakness, 120; + notes Calhoun's threat of alliance of slave States with England, 121; + thinks abolition impossible without disunion, 121, 122; + maintains power of Congress over slavery in Territories, 122; + realizes that failure of treaty damages his chance for presidency, 123; + refuses to reopen question with new Spanish envoy, 123; + forces ratification of treaty with annulment of land grants, 124; + his satisfaction with outcome of negotiations, 125, 126; + prepares report on weights and measures, 126; + its thoroughness, 127; + his pride of country without boastfulness in negotiations, 127, 128; + declines to consider what European courts may think, 128, 129; + considers it destiny of United States to occupy North America, 129; + considers annexation of Cuba probable, 130; + always willing to encroach within America, 130, 131; + tells Russia American continents are no longer open for colonies, 131; + fears possibility of European attack on Spain's colonies, 132; + willing to go to war against such an attack, 133; + but, in default of any, advocates non-interference, 133, 134; + refuses to interfere in European politics, 134; + unwilling to enter league to suppress slave trade, 135; + the real author of Monroe doctrine, 136; + dealings with Stratford Canning, 136; + his reasons for refusing to join international league to put down + slave trade, 138, 139; + discusses with him the Astoria question, 140-148; + insists on Canning's making communications on question in writing, 141; + stormy interviews with him, 142-147; + refuses to discuss remarks uttered in debate in Congress, 142, 145; + angry breach of Canning with, 147, 148; + success of his treatment of Canning, 148; + description in his diary of presidential intrigues, 150 ff.; + his censorious frankness, 150; + his judgments of men not to be followed too closely, 151; + accuses Clay of selfishness in opposition to Florida treaty, and in + urging recognition of Spanish colonies, 151, 152; + compares him to John Randolph, 153; + later becomes on better terms, 154; + his deep contempt for Crawford, 154; + gradually suspects him of malicious practices, 154, 155; + and of sacrificing everything to his ambition, 155, 156; + sustained by Calhoun in this estimate, 157; + supports Jackson in Cabinet, 158, 160; + strains his conscience to uphold Jackson's actions, 160, 161; + defends him against Canning, 162; + gives a ball in his honor, 162; + wishes to offer him position of Minister to Mexico, 163; + favors Jackson for Vice-President, 163; + determines to do nothing in his own behalf as candidate, 164; + no trace of any self-seeking in his diary, 164, 165; + holds aloof at all stages, 165; + manages to be polite to all, 166; + yet prepares to be keenly hurt at failure, 166; + considers election a test of his career, 167; + and of his personal character in the eyes of the people, 167; + picture of his anxiety in his diary, 168; + receives second largest number of electoral votes, 169; + preferred by Clay to Jackson, 171; + elected by the House of Representatives, 173; + dissatisfied with the result, 174; + would have preferred a new election if possible, 174; + congratulated by Jackson at his inauguration, 175; + wishes office as a token of popular approval, 175; + realizes that this election does not signify that, 176. + + _President._ Freedom from political indebtedness, 177; + his cabinet, 177; + asks Rufus King to accept English mission, 177, 178; + renominates officials, 178; + refuses to consider any rotation in office, 179; + refuses to punish officials for opposing his election, 179, 180; + charged with bargaining for Clay's support, 181-183; + unable to disprove it, 183; + story spread by Jackson, 184; + after disproof of story, continues to be accused by Jackson, 187; + meets strong opposition in Congress, 188; + notes combination of Southern members against him, 189; + sends message concerning Panama Congress, 189; + accused in Senate and House of having transcended his powers, 160; + aided by Webster, 190; + reasons for Southern opposition to, 191; + confronted by a hostile majority in both Houses, 192; + lack of events in his administration, 193; + advocates internal improvements, 194; + declines to make a show before people, 194; + his digging at opening of Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 194, 195; + formation of personal opposition to his reelection by Jackson, + 195, 196; + his only chance of success to secure a personal following, 197; + refuses to remove officials for political reasons, 198; + fails to induce any one except independent men to desire his + reelection, 199; + his position as representative of good government not understood, 200; + refuses to modify utterances on internal improvements, to appease + Virginia, 201; + refuses to "soothe" South Carolina, 201; + alienates people by personal stiffness and Puritanism, 202, 203; + fails to secure personal friends, 203; + friendly relations with Cabinet, 204, 205; + nominates Barbour Minister to England, 205; + fills vacancy with P. B. Porter at Cabinet's suggestion, 205; + refuses to remove McLean for double-dealing, 206; + his laboriousness, 206; + daily exercise, 206, 207; + threatened with assassination, 207, 208; + stoicism under slanders, 208; + refuses to deny accusation of being a Mason, 209; + accused of trying to buy support of Webster, 209; + other slanders, 209; + shows his wrath in his diary, 210; + hatred of Randolph, 210, 211; + of Giles, 211; + defeated in election of 1828, 212; + feels disgraced, 213, 214; + significance of his retirement, 213; + the last statesman in presidency, 213; + his depression, 214, 215; + looks forward gloomily to retirement, 215. + + _In Retirement._ Returns to Quincy, 216; + followed by slanders of Giles, 216; + declines to enter into controversy with Federalists over disunion + movement of 1808, 216, 217; + attacked by the Federalists for his refusal, 217, 218; + prepares a crushing reply which he does not publish, 218; + dreads idleness, 220; + unable to resume law practice, 220; + his slight property, 221; + reads Latin classics, 221; + plans biographical and historical work, 221; + writes in diary concerning his reading, 222; + does not appreciate humor, 222; + has difficulty in reading Paradise Lost, 223; + learns to like Milton and tobacco, 223; + asked if willing to be elected to Congress, 225; + replies that he is ready to accept the office, 225; + elected in 1830, 225; + as candidate for governor, withdraws name in case of choice by + legislature, 226. + + _Member of House of Representatives._ + His principal task the struggle with Southern slaveholders, 226; + gains greater honor in this way than hitherto, 226, 227; + his diligence and independent action in the House, 227; + called "old man eloquent," 227; + not in reality a pleasing or impressive speaker, 227, 228; + but effective and well-informed, 228; + his excessive pugnacity, 229; + his enemies, 229, 230; + success as debater, 230; + absence of friends or followers, 231; + supported by people in New England, 232; + declares intention to be independent, 233; + greeted with respect, 233; + on Committee on Manufactures, 233; + willing to reduce duties to please South, 234; + condemns apparent surrender of Jackson to South Carolina, 234; + pleased with Jackson's nullification proclamation, 235; + wishes to coerce South Carolina before making concessions, 235; + insists on a decision of question of nullification, 235; + dissatisfied with Jackson's failure to push matters, 236; + in opposition to Jackson, 237, 238; + supports proposal of Jackson to take determined attitude toward + France, 239; + wins no gratitude from Jackson, 240; + receives attempt at reconciliation coolly, 240; + opposes granting of Doctorate of Laws to Jackson by Harvard, 241, 242; + considers Jackson's illness a sham, 242; + presents abolition petitions from beginning of term, 243; + does not favor abolition in District of Columbia, 243; + always disliked slavery and slaveholders, 243; + not an agitator or reformer, 244; + his qualifications to oppose slave power in Congress, 245, 246; + hostility in Congress and coldness in Boston, 246; + his support in his district, 247; + and among people of North, 247; + continues to present petitions, 248; + presents one signed by women, 249; + opposes assertion that Congress has no power to interfere with + slavery in a State, 250; + opposes gag rule, 250; + advocates right of petition, 251; + tries to get his protest entered on journal, 251, 252; + savage reply to an assailant, 252; + receives and presents floods of petitions, 252, 253; + single-handed in task, 253; + urged to rash movements by abolitionists, 254; + his conduct approved by constituents, 255; + resolves to continue, although alone, 255; + description in his diary of presentation of petitions, 255-261; + continues to protest against "gag" rule as unconstitutional, 256; + scores Preston for threatening to hang abolitionists, 257, 258; + defies the House and says his say, 258, 259; + wishes petitions referred to a select committee, 259; + passage at arms with chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee, 259, 260; + taunts Connor with folly of "gag" rule, 261; + holds that Congress, under war power, may abolish slavery, 261-263; + attacked by Southerners, 262, 263; + cites precedents, 263; + his theory followed by Lincoln, 264; + refers to the theory in letter, 265; + opposes annexation of Texas, 265, 266; + his reasons, 266 n.; + presents absurd petitions, 266; + presents petitions asking for his own expulsion, 268; + allows matter to drop, 268; + presents petition from slaves and asks opinion of speaker, 269; + fury of slaveholders against, 270; + resolutions of censure against, 271; + disconcerts opponents by his cool reply, 272, 273; + but receives new attacks and resolutions of censure, 274, 275; + defended by a few New Englanders, 276; + reluctance of Southerners to allow him to reply, 276; + his speech, 277-279; + sarcasms upon his enemies, 277, 278; + presents petition asking for his own removal from chairmanship of + Committee on Foreign Affairs, 280; + prevented from defending himself, 280; + presents petition for dissolution of Union while disapproving it, + 280, 281; + resolutions of censure against, 281, 282; + attacked by Marshall and Wise, 283; + objects to injustice of preamble, 284; + defies his enemies and scorns mercy, 285; + bitter remarks on his opponents, 285; + helped by Everett, 286; + slight outside sympathy for, 286; + abused in newspapers, 286; + threatened with assassination, 286, 287; + willing to have matter laid on table, 287; + his triumph in the affair, 288; + attempt to drive him from Foreign Affairs Committee, 289; + refusal of Southerners to serve with, 289; + refuses to notice them, 289; + retains respect of House for his honesty, 290; + appealed to, to help organize House in 1839, 292; + his bold and successful action, 293-295; + praised by Wise, 294; + succeeds in presiding eleven days until organization, 294, 295; + deprecates a resolution of thanks, 295; + his occasional despondency and loneliness, 295, 296; + describes his enemies, 296; + tries to act justly to all of them, 297; + castigates Wise for dueling, 297; + called insane, 297, 298; + his bitter language on opponents in the Diary, 298-300; + low opinion of Congress, 299; + on partisanship, 299, 300; + describes his unpopularity, 301; + describes all his acts as turned to his discredit, 301; + his ill-health, 302, 303, 305; + chairman of committee on Smithsonian bequest, 303; + his religious and social activity, 304; + in Amistad case, 304; + continues attack upon gag rule, 305; + his final victory and exultation, 306; + struck by paralysis, 307; + greeted on return to House, 307; + his death in Capitol, 307, 308; + estimate of character and services, 308. + + _Characteristics._ General view, 10-12, 308; + ambition, 16, 19, 25, 164-167; + censoriousness, 9, 12, 112, 150, 242; + conscientiousness, 66, 200, 277, 296; + coldness, 11, 34, 37, 165, 230, 240; + courage, 10, 15, 33, 54, 58, 64, 113, 208, 252, 253, 293; + dignity, 71, 99, 127, 213, 216; + diplomatic ability, 20, 22, 72, 114, 123, 137-148; + exercise, love of, 206, 207; + honor, 10, 22, 58, 63, 166; + ill-health, 302, 305; + independence, 10, 16, 29, 30, 48, 59, 127, 133, 246; + industry, 8, 11, 126, 206, 227; + invective, 12, 229, 230, 246, 252, 277-279, 281, 283-285, 298-300; + irritability, 83, 154, 210, 211, 302; + knowledge of politics, 11, 91, 228, 245; + legal ability, 18; + literary interests, 221-223; + melancholy, 214; + observation, power of, 74, 77, 111; + oratorical ability, 227, 228; + patriotism, 62, 127, 148; + persistence, 11, 25, 34, 114, 123, 143, 245; + personal appearance, 228; + pessimism, 19, 33, 67, 153, 272, 296, 299; + precocity, 17; + pride, 166, 167, 201; + prolixity, 82, 277; + pugnacity, 49, 50, 52, 81, 133, 141, 160, 228-236, 245, 246, 285; + Puritanism, 7, 30, 66, 150, 164, 202; + religious views, 30, 207, 304; + sensitiveness, 33, 83, 208, 298; + sobriety, 8, 14, 118; + social habits, 103, 202, 203; + suspiciousness, 82, 112, 138, 151, 296; + unpopularity, 195, 202-204, 231, 246, 253, 295, 301, 307. + + _Political Opinions._ Appointments to office, 178-180, 197-200, 206; + cabinet relations with, 204, 205; + candidate, attitude of, 164-167, 197-206; + Chase, impeachment of, 36; + Chesapeake affair, 51; + Congress, powers over slavery, 122, 250, 261-265; + court etiquette, 73; + Cuba, annexation of, 130; + disunion, 119, 122, 281; + election of 1824, 174-176; + emancipation, 121; + embargo, 53, 56; + England, 47, 50, 51, 90, 145, 148; + English society, 100; + Federalist party, 28, 48, 50, 57, 61; + fisheries, 88, 90; + Florida, 115, 118, 123, 130; + France, policy towards, 239; + "gag" rule, 250, 251, 256, 257, 305, 306; + Genet, 118; + gunboat scheme, 48; + internal improvements, 194, 201; + Jackson's administration, 237; + Jackson's Florida career, 160, 163; + Louisiana, 35, 130; + Louisiana boundary, 112, 115; + manifest destiny, 130, 160; + Mississippi navigation, 88, 89; + Missouri Compromise, 121; + Monroe doctrine, 130, 131, 134-136; + non-importation, 40, 49, 55; + nullification, 234, 235; + Oregon, 140-143; + Panama Congress, 189; + party fidelity, 29, 30, 54, 59, 62, 233; + Republican party, 36, 65; + right of search, 38, 139; + slaveholders, 243, 257, 260; + slavery, 120, 121, 243, 255, 304; + slave trade, 135, 138; + Smithsonian bequest, 303; + Spanish-American republics, 109, 131-133; + Texas, annexation of, 265, 266; + treaty of Ghent, 77-98; + weights and measures, 126, 127. + +Adams, Dr. William, on English peace commission, 76; + suggests abandonment by United States of its citizens in proposed + Indian Territory, 79; + irritated at proposal that English restore possession of Moose Island + pending arbitration, 91; + negotiates treaty of commerce, 98. + +Alexander, Emperor of Russia, desires to exchange ministers with United + States, 69; + his courtesy to Adams, 70, 71; + anecdote of Adams's conversation with, 73; + attempts to mediate between England and United States, 74, 75; + discussions with Castlereagh, 93; + slander concerning relations with Adams, 209, 210. + +Alford, Julius C., wishes to burn Adams's petition from slaves, 270; + threatens war, 272, 275. + +Ambrister. See Arbuthnot. + +Amistad case, share of Adams in, 304. + +Anti-Mason movement, used by Jacksonians against Adams, 208, 209; + connection of Adams within Massachusetts, 226, 301. + +Arbuthnot and Ambrister, hanged by Jackson, 160; + execution of, defended by Adams, 162. + +Atherton, Charles G., bitter remarks of Adams on, 298, 300. + +Austria, rejects England's plan for suppression of slave trade, 138. + + +Bagot, Sir Charles, question of his opinion on Oregon question, discussed + by Canning and Adams, 142, 143. + +Bank, Jackson's attack on, 240. + +Barbour, James, appointed Secretary of War, 177; + desires mission to England, 205. + +Barings, give Adams his commission, 98. + +Barnard, D. D., by Adams's advice, presents petition for dissolution of + Union, 288. + +Barrou, James, commands Chesapeake when attacked by Leopard, 45. + +Bayard, James A., appointed peace commissioner, 75, 76; + resents proposal to meet at lodgings of English commissioners, 77; + criticises Adams's drafts of documents, 83; + enrages Goulburn, 91; + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, 296. + +Benton, T. H., on unfavorable beginning to Adams's administration, 188. + +Berkeley, Admiral G. C., commands Leopard, and is promoted for attacking + Chesapeake, 46. + +Berlin decree, 41. + +Beverly, Carter, reports that Jackson has proof of Clay and Adams + bargain, 184; + upheld by Jackson, 185; + apologizes to Clay, 187. + +Black, Edward J., of Georgia, comment of Adams on, 300. + +Bonaparte, Napoleon, issues Berlin and Milan decrees, 41, 42; + seen during "hundred days" by Adams, 98. + +Brown, James, votes against Spanish treaty through Clay's influence, 124. + +Buchanan, James, refuses to substantiate Jackson's story of corrupt offer + from Clay in election of 1824, 186, 187. + +Burr, Aaron, compared by Adams to Van Buren, 193. + + +Cabinet, relations of Adams to, 204, 205; + treachery of McLean, 205, 206. + +Calhoun, J. C., candidate for succession to Monroe, 106; + on Southern alliance with England in case of dissolution of Union, 121; + candidacy damaged by Southern origin, 149; + his opinion of Crawford, 156; + displeased at Jackson's disregard of instructions, 160; + elected Vice-President, 169; + irritation of Adams at his failure to suppress Randolph, 211; + reelected Vice-President, 212; + accused by Adams of plotting to injure him, 296. + +Canada, desire of Adams for annexation of, 85, 130. + +Canning, George, seeks acquaintance with Adams, 99. + +Canning, Stratford, urges American submission to mixed tribunals to + suppress slave trade, 135; + his arrogance met by Adams, 136, 137; + discusses with Adams the suppression of slave trade, 137-139; + on Adams's superior years, 139; + high words with Adams over question of an American settlement at mouth + of Columbia, 140-147; + loses temper at request to put objections in writing, 141; + and at persistence of Adams in repeating words of previous English + minister, 142, 143; + his offer to forget subject declined by Adams, 144; + complains of Adams's language, 145, 146; + resents reference to Jackson's recall, 146, 147; + his anger shown later, 147; + this does not affect relations between countries, 148. + +Castlereagh, Lord, unwilling at first to conclude peace, 93; + influenced by attitude of Prussia and Russia, advises concessions, 94; + dealings with Adams, 99; + described by Adams, 99. + +Cavalla, ----, imprisoned by Jackson, 159, 160; + seizure defended by Adams, 162. + +Chase, Judge Samuel, his acquittal voted for by J. Q. Adams, 36. + +Chesapeake attacked by Leopard, 45; + effect upon Adams and Federalists, 50, 51. + +Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, incident of Adams's opening of, 195. + +Choate, Rufus, sympathizes with Adams when attacked by resolutions of + censure, 286. + +Civil service, appointments to, under Adams, 178-180, 196, 198, 199, + 206, 209; + under Jackson, 198. + +Clay, Henry, on peace commission, 76; + his irascibility, 82, 84; + criticises Adams's figurative style in documents, 82; + irritates Adams, 84; + his conviviality, 84; + thinks English will recede, 85; + then thinks English will refuse to accept _status ante bellum_, 87; + willing to sacrifice fisheries to prevent English Mississippi + navigation, 88, 89; + thinks fisheries of little value, 89; + willing to meet English with defiance, 90; + threatens not to sign treaty, 90, 92; + abandoned by colleagues on point of impressment, 92; + negotiates treaty of commerce, 98; + his gambling habits, 103; + jealous of Adams's appointment as Secretary of State, 106; + leads opposition to administration, 108; + wishes to recognize independence of Spanish colonies, 109; + threatens to oppose treaty accepting Sabine as Louisiana boundary, 112; + opposes treaty with Spain, 116; + fails to prevent ratification, 124; + ambitious for presidency, 149; + low motives for opposition to administration as signed by Adams, 151; + his honesty in advocating recognition of South American republics, 152; + compared by Adams to Randolph, 153; + becomes reconciled with Adams before election, 154; + denounces Jackson, 160; + vote for, in 1824, 169; + able to decide choice of President by influence in Congress, 169; + at first prefers Crawford, 169, 170; + charged with having offered to support either Jackson or Adams, 170; + his preference for Adams over Jackson, 171; + appointed Secretary of State, 177; + urges removal of Sterret for proposing an insult to Adams, 179; + calls author of bargain slander a liar, 181; + charge against, repeated by Tennessee legislature, 183; + duel with Randolph, 183; + challenges Jackson to produce evidence, 185; + exonerated by Buchanan, 187; + and by Kremer and Beverly, 187; + actually receives advances from Jackson's friends, 187, 188; + opposition to his nomination as Secretary of State, 188; + abused by Randolph, 211; + engineers compromise with South Carolina, 236; + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, 296. + +Clifford, Nathan, of Maine, contemptuously described by Adams, 300. + +Clinton, De Witt, his candidacy for President in 1824, 149. + +Congress, in election of 1824, 165, 169-172; + influence of Clay in, 169; + elects Adams President, 172, 173; + investigates bargain story, 181; + opposition in, to Adams, from the beginning, 188; + attacks Adams's intention to send delegates to Panama Congress, 190; + opposes Adams throughout administration, 192; + resolutions denying its power to interfere with slavery debated in + House, 249, 250; + position of Adams with regard to its power to abolish slavery in the + States, 250, 261-265; + its degeneracy lamented by Adams, 299. + +Connor, John C., taunted by Adams in Congress, 261. + +Constitution of United States, in relation to Louisiana purchase, 35; + prohibits submission of United States to mixed foreign tribunals + for suppressing slave trade, 138; + in connection with election of 1824, 172; + held by Adams to forbid "gag" rule, 250, 256, 258; + held by Adams to justify abolition of slavery under war power, 261-265; + in relation to Texas annexation, 266. + +Crawford, W. H., his ambitions for the presidency, 105, 106, 148; + intrigues against Adams, 106, 154; + his action described by Adams, 112, 113; + advises moderate policy to remove foreign prejudices against United + States, 128; + contempt of Adams for, 154; + accused by Adams of all kinds of falsity and ambition, 155, 156, 296; + his real character, 156, 157; + Calhoun's opinion of, 156; + described by Mills, 157; + a party politician, 158; + eager to ruin Jackson, 160; + vote for, in 1824, 169; + his illness causes abandonment by Clay. 170; + receives four votes in House of Representatives, 173; + fills custom-houses with supporters, 180. + +Creeks, treaty with, discussed in Senate, 33. + +Creole affair, 279. + +Cuba, its annexation expected by Adams, 130. + +Cushing, Caleb, defends Adams against resolutions of censure, 276; + movement to put him in Adams's place on Committee on Foreign Affairs, + 289. + + +Dana, Francis, takes Adams as private secretary to Russia, 13. + +Davis, John, accused by Adams of trying to injure him, 296. + +Deas, Mr., exchanges ratifications of Jay treaty, 21; + disliked by English cabinet, 22. + +Democratic party, organized as opposition to Adams, 192; + managed by Van Buren, 192, 193, 195; + not based on principle, but on personal feeling, 196; + its attacks upon Adams, 208-210; + its methods condemned by Adams, 237. + +Diary, suggested by John Adams, 5; + begun, 6; + its nature and content, 7, 8; + its bitterness, 9, 10; + picture of the author, 10, 11; + quotations from, in Boston, 19; + during career in Senate, 32, 34; + on damaging party, 66; + during peace negotiations, 77, 82, 83, 89, 90; + during election of 1824, 150, 151, 164, 168; + in election of 1828, 201, 210, 211; + during anti-slavery career, 255, 292, 296, 298-300; + in last years, 301-303, 305, 306. + +Diplomatic history, mission of Dana to Russia, 13; + mission of Adams to Holland, 19-21; + to Prussia, 24; + Rose's mission to United States, 45, 46; + mission of Adams to Russia, 70-74; + offer of Russia to mediate in war of 1812, 74, 75; + refusal by England, 75; + peace negotiations, 76-98 (see treaty of Ghent); + commercial negotiations with England, 98; + mission of Adams to England, 98-100; + negotiations of Adams with Spain, 110-118, 123-125; + question of Sabine River boundary, 112, 116; + final agreement, details of treaty, acquisition of Florida, 115; + and Western outlet to Pacific, 115; + dispute over Spanish land grants, 116, 117; + rejection of treaty by Spain, 117; + renewed mission of Vives, 123; + ratification of treaty, 124; + independent attitude of United States under Adams, 127, 128; + Monroe doctrine, 129-136; + dealings with Russia over Alaska, 130, 131; + proposal of Portugal for an alliance, 133; + dealings of Adams with Greek revolt, 134; + dealings of Adams with Stratford Canning over slave trade, 135, 137; + high words over Columbia River settlement, 140-147; + refusal of Adams to explain words uttered in Congress, 142, 145-147; + commercial treaties in Adams's administration, 194. + +"Doughfaces," attacks of Adams upon, 120, 229. + +Dromgoole, George C., remark on petition to expel Adams, 268; + introduces resolutions of censure on Adams, 275; + ridiculed by Adams, 277, 278. + +Duncan, Alexander, bitterly described by Adams, 299. + + +Eaton, Senator J. H., leads Canning to suspect American plan to colonize + Oregon, 140. + +Eaton, Mrs., her influence in Jackson's administration, 237. + +Election of 1824, candidates, 148, 149; + Adams's opinion of them, 151-163; + choice simply between persons, not principles, 163; + Adams refuses to canvass for himself, 164, 165; + electoral college votes for four candidates, 168, 169; + influence of Clay in House proves decisive factor, 169, 170; + Crawford discarded, 170; + the Clay-Adams bargain story started, 170; + claims of Jackson men, 171; + difficulty of discovering popular vote, 172, 173; + choice of Adams, 173, 174; + subsequent history of bargain story, 180-188. + +Election of 1828, question of principle veiled by personality of + candidates, 196, 197, 200; + choice of Jackson, 212; + its significance, 213, 214. + +Embargo, proposed by Jefferson, 52; + supported by Adams, 53; + opposed by Federalists, 53; + preferred by Adams to submission, 54, 55; + its effects, 55; + its repeal urged by Adams, 55, 56. + +England, ratifies Jay treaty, 21; + tries to induce Adams to negotiate instead of Deas, 22; + its commercial policy toward United States, 37, 38; + its right of search protested against by Adams, 39; + Non-importation Act adopted against, 40; + proclaims blockade, 41; + issues Orders in Council, 41, 42; + its policy of impressment, 43, 44; + refuses compensation for Chesapeake affair and promotes Berkeley, 45; + its policy understood by Adams, 49, 50; + embargo against, 51-55; + refuses Russia's offer to mediate in war of 1812, 75; + wins victories, 76; + willing to treat directly, 76; + appoints commissioners, 76; + demands great concessions, 78, 79; + ready, if necessary, to continue war, 86; + alters policy and concludes treaty, 93, 94; + dissatisfied with treaty, 97; + commercial treaty with, 98; + mission of Adams to, 98-100; + social life of Adams in, 99, 100; + its offer to mediate between United States and Spain rejected, 114; + hopes no violent action will be taken against Spain, 118; + endeavors to induce United States to join in suppressing slave + trade, 135, 137; + its sincerity suspected by Adams, 138; + its claim to right of search causes refusal of request, 138, 139; + its claims to Oregon discussed by Canning and Adams, 140, 142, 143, 145; + Adams's opinion of its territorial claims, 145. + +Era of good feeling, 104; + characterized by personal rivalries, 105; + question of presidential succession, 105, 106; + intrigues, 106, 107, 148. + +Evans, George, defends Adams from resolutions of censure, 270. + +Everett, Edward, his address to Jackson condemned as fulsome by Adams, 242. + +Everett, Horace, defends Adams against resolutions of censure, 283, 286. + +Everett, Mr., told by Adams of determination to do nothing to secure + election, 164. + + +Federalist party, defeated by Jefferson, 25, 26; + dissensions in, between John Adams and Hamilton, 26, 27; + J. Q. Adams a member of, 28; + elects Adams to State Senate, 28; + irritated by his independence, 29; + elects him United States senator, 30; + antipathy of, in Senate, toward son of John Adams, 31; + opposes Louisiana purchase, 35; + condemns Adams for favoring Louisiana, 36; + supports English policy, 38; + angered against Jefferson for not submitting to English aggression, + 39, 40, 53; + opposes Non-importation Act, 40; + urged by Adams to resent Chesapeake affair, 51; + does so, but condemns Adams for participating in Republican meeting, 52; + its outburst of fury at Adams for supporting embargo, 53, 54; + refuses to reelect him, 57; + discussion of its part in United States history, 59-62; + its success in organization, 59, 60; + supported by Adams as long as it remains sound, 61; + takes false position after 1807, 62; + disappears, 104, 105; + thirteen members demand evidence of Adams's statement concerning plans + for disunion, 216; + their rejoinder to his reply, 217, 218; + proved to have planned disunion by Adams's unpublished pamphlet, 218, + 219. + +Fisheries, intention of English to ignore, in treaty of Ghent, 80, 88; + disputes over, between Adams and Clay, 88-90; + finally omitted from treaty, 92, 94; + later negotiations over, 99. + +Florida, question of its acquisition, 110, 111; + acquired by treaty, 115; + its seizure advocated by Adams against Monroe, 118, 123; + treaty concerning, opposed by Clay, 151; + illegal actions of Jackson in, 159. + +Foreign Affairs, Committee on, petition for Adams's removal from, 280; + refusal of Southern members to serve on, with Adams, 289. + +France, conquers Holland, 20; + attitude of John Adams toward, 26; + replies to English blockade by Berlin and Milan decrees, 41, 42; + unable to damage American shipping as much as England, 46, 47; + war with Russia, 74; + hopes no violent action will be taken against Spain, 118; + rejects England's plan for suppression of slave trade, 138; + its slowness in paying debt causes Jackson to break off diplomatic + relations, 238. + +Franklin, Benjamin, negotiates treaty of peace, 13. + + +"Gag" rule, adopted over Adams's protest, 250, 251; + effort of Adams to get his protest on journal, 251, 252; + further protests of Adams against, 256, 258, 305; + difficulties in enforcing, 260; + dwindling majorities for, 305; + repealed on Adams's motion, 306. + +Gallatin, Albert, appointed peace commissioner, 75; + his appointment rejected by Senate, 75; + reappointed, 76; + moderates resentment of colleagues at English pretensions, 77, 82; + acts as peacemaker in conference, 82; + supplants Adams in drafting documents, 82; + on good terms with Adams, 84; + negotiates treaty of commerce, 98. + +Gambier, Lord, on English peace commission, 76; + laments Adams's intention to return to St. Petersburg, 86; + interposes to calm a quarrel, 91; + negotiates treaty of commerce, 98. + +Garland, Hugh A., attempts to secure organization of House of + Representatives without taking in contested seats, 290; + intends to give House to Democrats, 291; + refuses to put any question until House is organized, 291, 292; + prevents organization, 292; + pushed aside by Adams, 293. + +Garrison, William Lloyd, adopts Adams's theory of power of Congress over + slavery, 264. + +Genet, E. C., his course attacked by Adams in papers, 18. + +Gerry, Elbridge, notifies John Adams of appointment as Minister to + England, 14. + +Giddings, Joshua R., his position on power of Congress over slavery not + indorsed by Adams, 263. + +Giles, W. B., attempts to win Adams to support Jefferson, 65; + abuses Adams, 211, 296; + his memory preserved solely by his slanders, 212; + circulates slanders in New England against Adams, 216. + +Gilmer, Thomas W., offers resolution of censure on Adams for presenting + petition to dissolve the Union, 281; + denies Adams's charge of imitating Wise, 281, 282. + +Glascock, Thomas, moves that anti-slavery petition be not received, 248. + +Goulburn, Henry, on English peace commission, 76; + thinks war must continue, 86; + loses temper with Bayard and Adams, 91; + negotiates treaty of commerce, 98. + +Grantland, Seaton, wishes to punish Adams for presenting petition from + slaves, 270. + +Greece, revolt of, refusal of Adams to commit United States to + interference, 134. + +Gregory, Sherlock S., his eccentric anti-slavery petition, 256. + +Grenville, Lord, dealings of Adams with, in 1795, 22. + +Gunboat scheme, despised by Adams, 48. + + +Habersham, Richard W., alleges petition for removal of Adams to be a + hoax, 280. + +Hamilton, Alexander, real leader of Federalist party during John Adams's + administration, 27; + his feud with Adams, 27; + his influence in Massachusetts, 28, 30. + +Harvard College, studies of John Quincy Adams in, 17; + its proposal to confer degree upon Jackson opposed by Adams, 241; + confers the degree, 241, 242. + +Haynes, Charles E., moves rejection of Adams's petition from slaves, + 270, 275; + moves to make censure of Adams severe, 271. + +Hayti, its possible representation at Panama Congress causes South to + advocate refusal to send delegates, 191; + petitions for recognition of, 259. + +Holland, mission of Adams to, 20; + conquered by France, 20; + made into "Batavian Republic," 20; + agrees to suppress slave trade, 138. + +Holy Alliance, fear of its attempting to reconquer Spanish colonies, + 132, 134, 136. + +House of Representatives, Adams's career in, 225-308; + election of Adams to, 225; + his labors in committee and other work of, 227; + solitariness of Adams in, 231; + his position in, with regard to tariff of 1833, 235; + debate in, over Jackson's policy to France, 239; + anti-slavery petitions presented in, at first without remark, 243, 248; + debates plans to prevent their reception, 248-250; + adopts "gag" rule against Adams's protest, 251; + attempts of Adams to infringe its rule, 257, 258; + debates power to abolish slavery, 262; + debates proposed censure of Adams for presenting a petition from + slaves, 269-279; + resolves that slaves do not possess right of petition, 279; + Adams's speech in reply, 277-279; + attempts to censure Adams for presenting petition for dissolution of + Union, 280-288; + lays subject on table, 288; + does not resent a second disunion petition, 288; + refusal of Garland to organize according to custom, in 1839, 290-292; + appeals to Adams, 292; organized by his leadership, 293-295; + pays compliment to Adams on his return after illness, 307; + death of Adams in, 307, 308. + +Hubbard, David, comment of Adams on, 300. + +Hunter, R. M. T., elected Speaker of House, 295. + + +Impressment, description of its exercise by England and effects upon + United States, 43-45; + difficulty of reclaiming impressed Americans, 44, 45; + the Chesapeake affair, 45, 46; + not mentioned in treaty of Ghent, 92, 95; + later negotiations over, 99. + +Indians, propositions concerning, in peace negotiations, 78; + dissensions over, between American commissioners, 90; + article concerning, 94. + +Internal improvements, Adams's advocacy of, 194, 201. + + +Jackson, Andrew, his view of Adams's office-seeking, 63; + wins battle of New Orleans, 96, 97; + his outrages in Spanish territory, 110; + enrages Spain, 111; + approves Adams's Spanish treaty, later condemns it, 125; + becomes candidate for presidency in 1824, 149; + his Indian wars in Florida, 158, 159; + hangs Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 159; + captures Pensacola, 159; + difficulty of praising or blaming him, 159, 160; + condemned by President and Cabinet, 160; + and by Clay, 160; + defended by Adams, 160-162; + ball in his honor given by Adams, 162; + supported for Minister to Mexico and for Vice-President by Adams. 163; + on good terms with Adams up to election, 163; + receives largest electoral vote in 1824, 169; + said to have refused offer of Clay to bargain for support, 170; + impossibility of Clay's supporting him, 171; + popular argument for his choice, 171, 172; + absurdity of claim of popular will in favor of, 172, 173; + vote for, in House of Representatives, 174; + enraged at defeat, 174; + yet greets Adams at inauguration, 175; + nominated for President by Tennessee legislature, 181; + spreads tale of Clay and Adams's bargain, 184; + declares he has proof, 184, 185; + tells story of offer from Clay, 185; + calls upon Buchanan for testimony, 186; + his statements disavowed by Buchanan, 186, 187; + continues to repeat story, 187; + his candidacy for 1828 purely on personal grounds, 195-197, 200; + advantages all on his side, 197; + originator of spoils system, 198; + his position as advocate of unsound government not understood in 1828, + 200; + secretly aided by McLean, 205, 206; + rewards him by a judgeship, 206; + elected President in 1828, 212; + begins a new era, 213, 214; + his message of 1832 condemned by Adams, 234; + his proclamation against nullification upheld by Adams, 235; + ultimately yields to South Carolina, 236; + his administration condemned by Adams, 237; + its character, 237; + recommends vigorous action against France, 238; + supported by Adams in House, 239; + continues to hate Adams, 239, 240; + futile attempt of Johnson to reconcile him with Adams, 240, 241; + granted degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard, 241, 242; + suspected by Adams of feigning illness for effect, 242. + +Jackson, F. J., his recall referred to in conversation between Canning + and Adams, 146. + +Jarvis, Leonard, introduces resolution that House will not entertain + abolition petitions, 248. + +Jay treaty, ratified, 21. + +Jefferson, Thomas, negotiates treaties of commerce, 13; + republishes Paine's "Rights of Man," 18; + his inauguration avoided by John Adams, 26; + removes J. Q. Adams from position of commissioner in bankruptcy, 28; + attempts to explain apparent malice, 28; + Adams's view of his attacks on Pickering and Chase, 36; + approves Non-importation Act, 40; + inefficient in war-time, 48, 54; + advocates embargo, 54; + not reconciled with J. Q. Adams in spite of latter's support, 65; + unconciliatory reply of Adams to, when offered a mission, 69; + his desire to make Louisiana a State opposed by Adams, 130; + begins political use of offices to secure reelection, 198; + said to have been warned by Adams of Federalist disunion plots, 216. + +Johnson, Joshua, father-in-law of Adams, 22. + +Johnson, Louisa Catherine, marries Adams, 22, 23; + in Washington society, 103. + +Johnson, Richard M., led by Clay to oppose Spanish treaty, 124; + endeavors to reconcile Adams and Jackson, 240; + his probable motives, 240. + +Johnson, Thomas, Governor, connected by marriage with Adams, 22. + + +King, Rufus, description of Adams's offer of English mission to, 177, 178. + +Kremer, George, originates bargain slander against Clay and Adams, + 171, 180; + refuses to testify before House Committee, 181; + writes a retraction and apology, 187. + + +Leopard. See Chesapeake. + +Lewis, Dixon H., urges punishing Adams for offering petition from + slaves, 270; + wishes Southern members to go home, 272. + +Lincoln, Solomon, letter of Adams to, on power of Congress over + slavery, 265. + +Lincoln, Levi, defends Adams against resolution of censure, 276. + +Liverpool, Lord, his anxiety to conclude peace, 93. + +Livingston, Edward, ordered by Jackson to demand passports from + France, 238. + +Lloyd, James, Jr., chosen Senator in Adams's place, 57. + +Louisiana, acquisition opposed by Federalist party, 35; + supported by Adams, although, in his eyes, unconstitutional, 35; + negotiations with Spain concerning its boundary, 110, 112, 114-116; + proposed boundary at Sabine opposed by Clay, 112, 116; + boundaries agreed upon in treaty, 115; + dispute over Spanish land grants in, 116, 117, 124; + the boundary later attacked, but, at the time of treaty, approved, 125. + +Lowell, John, justifies action of Leopard in attacking Chesapeake, 50. + + +McLean, J. T., professes devotion to Adams and aids Jackson, 205, 206; + rewarded by Jackson with a judgeship, 206. + +Madison, James, as Secretary of State, favors giving Adams a foreign + mission, 68; + as President, appoints him Minister to Russia, 69, 70. + +Manifest destiny, upheld by Adams, 130. + +Mann, Abijah, Jr., of New York, attacks Adams in Congress, 273, 274. + +"Marcellus" papers, 18. + +Manufactures, Committee on, Adams a member of, 233. + +Marshall, Thomas F., attacks Adams for advocating power of Congress + over slavery, 263; + offers resolution of censure on Adams for presenting disunion + petition, 282, 283. + +Markley, Philip S., mentioned by Buchanan in Clay-Adams bargain story, 186. + +Mason, S. T., killed in a duel, 103, 104. + +Massachusetts, upper classes in, belong to Federalist party, 28; + legislature of, sends Adams to United States Senate, 30; + refuses to reelect him, 56, 57; + condemns embargo, 57; + lasting bitterness in, against Adams, for his change of party, + 58, 216-218; + anti-Mason movement in, 226, 301; + educated society in, disapproves of Adams's anti-slavery position, 246; + farmers support him, 247, 255. + +Milan decree issued, 42. + +Mills, E. H., describes Washington city, 101; + describes Mr. and Mrs. Adams, 103; + describes Crawford, 157; + describes Adams's ball in honor of Jackson, 162; + on reasons for Adams's personal unpopularity, 203 n. + +Milton, Adams's opinion of, 223. + +Mississippi navigation, demand of English for, in treaty of Ghent, 80, 88; + disputes over, between Clay and Adams, 88; + finally omitted from treaty, 92, 94. + +Missouri, admission of, 119. + +Monroe, James, appoints Adams Secretary of State, 100; + social life of, 102; + character of his administration, 104, 133; + enmity of Clay toward, 106; + anxious for treaty with Spain, dreads Adams's obstinacy, 113; + refuses to seize Florida, 118; + his connection with "Monroe doctrine," 129, 131; + anticipated by Adams, 131; + not the originator of modern idea of non-interference, 136; + alarmed at Jackson's conduct in Florida, 160. + +Monroe doctrine, enlarged by modern interpretation, 129; + outlined by Adams in reply to Russia, 131; + stated by Monroe, 131; + its principles followed out by Adams, 132-148. + +Morgan, William, his alleged assassination by Masons, 208. + + +Neutrality Act, passed to prevent privateering against Spain, 108. + +Neuville, Hyde de, social doings of, in Washington, 102, 103; + aids Adams in Spanish treaty, 114; + remark of Adams to, on Onis's policy, 117. + +New England, policy of merchants of, in advocating submission to + England, 47, 48; + condemns embargo, 52; + supports Adams for President in 1824, 169; + applauds his anti-slavery course, 232. + +New Jersey, disputed election in, prevents organization of House of + Representatives, 290-292. + +New Orleans, battle of, 96; + celebrations over, 96, 97. + +New York, supports Adams in 1824, 169; + chooses electors by legislature, 173. + +Niles's "Weekly Register," celebrates battle of New Orleans, 96, 97. + +Non-importation, act for, passed, 40; + opposed by Federalists, supported by Adams, 40, 49; + its substitution for embargo urged by Adams, 56. + +Nullification, opinion of Adams on, 235, 236. + + +Observatory, National, desire of Adams to found, 304. + +Onis, Don, Spanish Minister, his character described by Adams, 111; + complains to Adams of folly of home government, 111, 112; + expostulations of De Neuville with, 114; + forced to yield to Adams's terms, 114, 115; + tries to evade explanation of royal land grants, 116, 117; + angered at Jackson's doings, 161. + +Orders in Council, 41, 42. + +Oregon question, debated between Adams and Canning, 140-145. + +Otis, Harrison Gray, accused by Adams of trying to injure him, 296. + + +Paine, Thomas, his "Rights of Man" attacked by Adams, 18. + +Panama Congress, recommendation of Adams to send commissioners to, 189; + question debated in Congress, 189, 190; + reasons why South objected, 191. + +Parsons, Theophilus, studies of J. Q. Adams in his law office, 17; + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, 296. + +Patton, John Mercer, urges Southern members to be cautious in matter of + censuring Adams, 272. + +Petitions, anti-slavery, presented in House by Adams, 243, 248, 249, + 252, 256-258, 260, 288; + others presented, 267, 269; + for dissolution of Union, 281, 288 (see "Gag" rule). + +Pichegru, Charles, French General, conquers Netherlands, 20. + +Pickering, Timothy, defeated by J. Q. Adams for Senator, 30; + his relations with Adams in Senate, 32; + votes against Adams's appointment as Minister to Russia, 69, 70; + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, 296. + +Pickering, John, Adams's view of his impeachment, 36. + +Pinckney, Thomas, Minister to England, 22. + +Pinckney, Henry Laurens, reports on powers of Congress with regard to + slavery, 249; + attacks Adams for presenting petition from slaves, 274. + +Plumer, William, supports Adams in Senate, 68. + +Porter, Peter B., appointed Secretary of War at desire of Cabinet, 205. + +Portugal, proposed mission of Adams to, 23, 24; + proposes an alliance with United States, 133, 134; + agrees to suppress slave trade, 138. + +Preston, William C., threatens to hang abolitionists, 258. + +Privateers in Monroe's administration, 108. + +Prussia, mission of Adams to, 24; + treaty of commerce with, 24; + rejects English plan for suppression of slave trade, 138. + +"Publicola" papers, 18. + +Puritan traits in Adams, 7, 30; + in Adams's constituents, 247. + + +Quincy, John, great-grandfather of Adams, anecdote as to how Adams was + named after him, 1, 2. + +Quincy, Josiah, refusal of Adams to run against for Congress, 66. + + +Randolph, John, his enmity compared by Adams to that of Clay, 153; + teller in election of 1824, 173; + on "Blifil and Black George," 183; + duel with Clay, 183; + hatred of Adams for, 210, 211; + his abuse of Adams, 211, 296. + +Republican party, elects Jefferson, 25; + fair-minded proposal of Adams concerning its representation on council + in Massachusetts, 29; + thought by Adams to be planning attack on judiciary, 36; + favors France, 38; + anticipates Federalists of Boston in condemning Chesapeake affair, 51; + endeavors to win over Adams, 65, 68; + wishes to send him to Congress, 66. + +Rhett, Robert Barnwell, offers resolution that Williams be chairman, + substitutes name of Adams, 293; + conducts him to chair, 293. + +Robertson, John, opposes resolutions of censure, but condemns Adams, 276. + +Romanzoff, Count, his friendliness with Adams, 71; + suggests Russian mediation in war of 1812, 74. + +Rose, G. H., his fruitless mission to America after Chesapeake affair, 45. + +Rush, Dr. Benjamin, approaches Adams on subject of foreign mission, 68. + +Rush, Richard, appointed Secretary of Treasury, 177; + wishes appointment as minister to England, 205. + +Russell, Jonathan, on peace commission, 76; + criticises Adams's drafts of documents, 82; + accused by Adams of trying to injure him, 296; + attitude of Adams toward, 297. + +Russia, mission of Dana to, 13; + mission of Adams to, 70-74; + life in, 71, 73, 74; + its friendship for United States, 72; + war with France, 74; + offers to mediate between England and United States, 74; + its offer declined, 75; + dispute with, over Alaska, 130; + statement of Adams to, on Monroe doctrine, 131; + rejects English plan for suppression of slave trade, 138. + + +Sectionalism, in Louisiana purchase, 35; + in connection with embargo, 52, 53; + in connection with Missouri question, 122, 123; + appears in parties during Adams's administration, 188, 189; + growth of, during debate over Texas annexation, 243. + +Senate of the United States, election of Adams to, 30; + unpopularity of Adams in, 31-33; + rejects all his proposals, 31, 32; + debates acquisition of Louisiana, 35; + impeaches Chase, 36; + increased influence of Adams in, 36, 37; + adopts Adams's resolutions demanding indemnity for British seizures, 39; + his career in, reviewed by Adams, 66-68; + refuses, then accepts, Adams's nomination as Minister to Russia, 69, 70; + rejects Gallatin's nomination as peace commissioner, 75. + +Seward, W. H., on John Adams's recall of J. Q. Adams before end of + term, 25; + on Adams's dissatisfaction with election of 1824, 174. + +Shakespeare, Adams's opinion of, 222. + +Slaveholders in Congress, their hatred of Adams, 229, 246; + attacked by Adams, 258, 259; + outwitted by Adams, 261, 273; + condemn Adams for arguing possibility of abolition under war power, + 262, 264; + enraged at Adams's having a petition from slaves, 269, 270; + move to censure him, 271; + discomfited by discovery of nature of petition, 273; + renew attempt to censure, 274, 275; + abandon it, 276, 279; + bitterly attacked by Adams in his defense, 277-279; + try to censure Adams for presenting disunion petition, 281-283; + defied by Adams, 283-285; + threaten Adams with assassination, 286, 287; + abandon attempt, 287, 288; + refuse to serve on committee with Adams, 289; + respect his courage, 290; + applaud his energy in carrying out organization of House, 293, 294. + +Slavery, strengthened by Louisiana purchase, 35; + made a political issue by Missouri question, 119; + opinions of Adams concerning, 119-121; + extension of, opposed by Adams, 121; + formation of a party devoted to, 188-192; + attack upon, hastened by Texas question, 243; + Adams's part in war against, 244-248; + right of Congress to abolish, under war power, 250, 261-265. + +Slaves, English seizures of, during war of 1812, negotiations + concerning, 99. + +Slave trade, refusal of Adams to submit United States to mixed tribunals + for its repression, 135-137; + English proposal for combined effort, 137, 138. + +Smith, William, accuses Adams of monomania, 280. + +Smithsonian bequest, connection of Adams with, 303. + +South, the, Calhoun its leader in 1824, 149; + does not support Adams for President, 169, 188; + begins to form a new slavery party in Adams's administration, 188, 189; + opposes Panama Congress because of Hayti's share in it, 191. + +Southard, Samuel L., reappointed Secretary of Navy, 177. + +South Carolina, refusal of Adams to placate, in 1828, 201; + protests against tariff, 233; + its punishment for nullification desired by Adams, 234-237; + Jackson's vacillation toward, condemned by Adams, 234-236; + gains its point from Clay, 236. + +Spain, danger of war with, in Monroe's administration, 108; + question of revolted colonies, 108, 109; + disputes over Louisiana boundary and Florida, 109, 110; + sends Onis to negotiate, 111; + its policy hampers Onis, 111, 112; + negotiations, 113-116; + repudiates Onis's treaty, 117; + accepts original treaty, 124; + agrees to suppress slave trade, 138; + angered at Jackson's excesses in Florida, 161. + +Spanish-American republics, wish aid from United States, 108; + frowned down by European countries, 108; + sympathy for, in United States, 108, 109; + recognition urged by Clay, 109, 152; + recognized gradually, 132; + danger of attempt to reconquer by Holy Alliance, 132, 133; + protected by Monroe doctrine, 131-134. + +Sterret, ----, his removal urged by Clay for planning an insult to + Adams, 179; + not removed by Adams, 180. + + +Tariff, Adams's views upon, 234; + compromise tariff of 1833, considered by Adams a surrender, 235. + +Tennessee, renominates Jackson for President, 181; + repeats bargain story, 183. + +Texas, proposal to annex, arouses Northern opposition to slavery, 243; + indignation of Adams at, 265, 266; + held by Adams to be unconstitutional, 266. + +Thaxter, ----, teacher of Adams, 3. + +Thompson, Waddy, sarcastic remark of, 259; + neglects to present petition for Adams's expulsion, 268; + introduces resolution of censure upon Adams, 271; + threatens Adams with criminal proceedings, 271; + presents new resolutions, 274; + scored by Adams, 277. + +Tompkins, Daniel D., candidate for President in 1824, 149. + +Times, London, condemns treaty of Ghent, 97. + +Tracy, Uriah, supports Adams in Senate, 68. + +Treaty of Ghent, meeting of commissioners, 76; + irritation during negotiations, 77; + preliminary conflict as to place of meeting, 77, 78; + large demands of England for cession of territory and other + advantages, 78, 79; + discussion over proposed belt of neutral Indian territory, 79; + and of demand for Mississippi navigation, 80; + complaints by Americans of manners of English, 80-82; + bickerings among Americans, 81-84; + difficulties in drafting documents, 82, 83; + social intercourse between commissioners, 85, 92; + expected failure of negotiations, 86; + _status ante bellum_ proposed by Adams, 87; + sanctioned by United States, 87; + dissensions among commissioners over Mississippi navigation and + fisheries, 88-90; + over Moose Island, 91; + English offer to omit fisheries and Mississippi, 92; + abandonment of impressment article by Americans, 92; + peculiarities of negotiation, 93; + alteration of English policy, 93; + terms of treaty, 94; + a success for Americans, 95, 96; + rejoicings over, in America, 96; + condemned in England, 97. + +Trimble, Cary A., of Ohio, opposes Spanish treaty, 124. + +Tuyl, Baron, discussion of Adams with, concerning Alaska, 131. + + +Van Buren, Martin, becomes manager of Jackson's followers, 192; + compared by Adams to Burr, 193. + +Vanderpoel, Aaron, tries to prevent Adams from replying to resolutions + of censure by previous question, 270. + +Virginia, refusal of Adams to placate, in election of 1828, 201. + +Vives, General, supplants Onis, 123; + Adams's stubborn attitude toward, 123, 124; + forced to yield, 124. + +Von Holst, H. C., calls Adams last of the statesmen to be President, 213. + + +War of 1812, a defeat for United States, 76, 86. + +War power of Congress, held by Adams to justify emancipation of + slaves, 261-265. + +Washington, George, appoints Adams Minister to Holland, 19; + urges him to remain in diplomacy, 21; + transfers him to Portugal, 23; + urges John Adams not to hesitate to promote him, 23, 24. + +Washington city, absence of church in, 30; + described in 1815, 101, 102; + society in, 102, 103. + +Webster, Daniel, describes intriguing in presidential election of 1824, + 165; + teller in election of 1824, 173; + supports Adams in matter of Panama Congress, 190; + desires appointment as Minister to England, 205; + Adams said to have bargained for his support, 209; + accused by Adams of plotting to injure him, 296. + +Webster, Ezekiel, ascribes Adams's defeat to unpopularity of his manners, + 204. + +Weights and measures, report of Adams upon, 126, 127; + its character and ability, 126, 127. + +Wellesley, Marquis of, on superiority of American diplomacy in treaty of + Ghent, 96, 98. + +Whig party, begins in defense of Adams's administration, 193; + lacks personal interest in him, 199; + chilled by Adams's manner, 202-204; + Adams a member of, 232, 233. + +Williams, Joseph L., of Tennessee, opposes Spanish treaty, 124. + +Williams, Lewis, proposes Adams for chairman of House, 293. + +Wise, Henry A., objects to reception of anti-slavery petitions, 258; + attacks Adams for holding that Congress may interfere with slavery + in the States, 263; + again attacks him, 283; + expresses his loathing, 284; + taunted with murder by Adams, his bitter reply, 285; + compliments Adams on organizing House, 294; + later, when reprimanded for fighting, insults Adams, 294; + castigated by Adams for dueling and Southern views, 297, 300. + +Wirt, William, reappointed Attorney-General, 177. + + + + +The Riverside Press + +CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A. +ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY +H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO. + + + + + +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.txt or 20183.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. 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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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