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 EDITED BY 
 
 JOHN T. MORSE, JR. 
 

SEmmtan J>tatcsfmm 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 J3A 
 
 JOHN T.^ MORSE, JR. 
 
 »i 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
 
 New York: 11 East Seventeenth Street 
 
 STJe Eiijersilie prcgg, CambriUffe 
 
 1892 
 
 »A 
 
^•^ 
 
 ^>' 
 
 Copyright, 1882, 
 By JOHN T. MORSE, Jit 
 
 AU rights reserved. 
 
 
 » * 
 » • « 
 
 2%e Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A 
 Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company. 
 
r 
 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PASS 
 
 Youth and Diplomacy 1 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 Secretary of State and President , . . 102 
 
 CHAPTER IIL 
 In the House op Representatives .... 226 
 
 tLS'S'S. 
 
JOHN QUIFOY ADAMS. 
 
 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 pro- 
 vincial affairs. Such a naming was a simple 
 and natural occurrence enough, but Mr. Adams 
 afterward moralized upon it in his character- 
 istic 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 grand- 
 mother, present at my birth, requested that I might 
 receive his name. The fact, recorded by my father 
 
 1 
 
2 JORN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 at the time, has connected with that portion of my 
 name a charm of mingled sensibility and devotion. 
 It was filial tenderness that gave the name. It was 
 the name of one passing from earth to immortality. 
 These have been among the strongest links of my 
 attachment to the name of Quincy, and have been to 
 me through life a perpetual admonition to do nothmg 
 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 train- 
 ing 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 
 ipon the same spot during the siege and bom- 
 bardment 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 Adama 
 says, — it is to be hoped with a little exaggerai 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 3 
 
 fcion of the barbarity of British troops toward 
 women and babes, — " liable every hour of the 
 day and of the night to be butchered in cold 
 blood, or taken and carried into Boston as hos- 
 tages, by any foraging or marauding detach- 
 ment." Later, when the British had evacu- 
 ated 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 follow- 
 ing 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 
 \ust 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 3ourt and I Cannot 
 pursue my other Studies. T have Set myself a Stent 
 and determine to read the 3d volume Half out. If 
 { can but keep my resolution I will write again at the 
 
i JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 pro- 
 portion 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 grow- 
 ing better. Yours. 
 
 P. S. Sir, if you will be so good as to favor me 
 with a Blank book, I will transcribe the most re- 
 markable occurrences I mett 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 
 bis 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 
 Betting foot upon American shores the two 
 travellers were again on their stormy way back 
 across the Atlantic in a leaky ship, which had tc 
 land them at the nearest port in Spain. On# 
 
JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 5 
 
 more quotation must be given from a letter writ 
 ken just after the first arrival in France : — 
 
 Passt, September the 27th, 1778 
 Honored Mamma, — My Pappa enjoins it u] on 
 me to keep a Journal, or a L^ary 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 let- 
 ter Book of a Lad of Eleven yeax-s 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 improve- 
 ment to myself, and enable me to be more 
 
6 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 entertaining to you." What gratification must 
 this letter from one who was quite justified ir 
 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. Con- 
 tinued with astonishing persistency and faith- 
 fulness until within a few days of the writer's 
 ileath, the latest entry is of the 4th of January, 
 1848. Mr. Adams achieved many successes 
 during his life as the result of conscious effort, 
 lut the greatest success of all he achieved al- 
 iC^ether unconsciously. He left a portrait ol 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 7 
 
 himself more full, correct, vivid, and picturesque 
 than has ever been bequeathed to posterity by 
 Rny other personage of the past ages. Any 
 mistakes which may be made in estimating his 
 mental or moral attributes must be charored to 
 the dullness 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 
 \\(Ait for seeinsj them accuratelv. If a lad of 
 seven, nine, or eleven years of age should write 
 Buch solemn little effusions amid the surround- 
 ings and influences of the present day, he would 
 probably be set down justly enough as either 
 an offensive young prig or a prematurely de- 
 veloped hypocrite. But the precocious Adams 
 had only a little of the prig and nothing of 
 the hypocrite in his nature. Being the out- 
 come of many generations of simple, devout, 
 intelligent Puritan ancestors, living in a com- 
 munitv which loved virtue and souMit knowl- 
 edge, all inherited and all present influences 
 combined to make him, as it may be put in a 
 iingle word, sensible. He had inevitably a 
 nental boyhood and youth, but morally he \?a8 
 
8 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 infin- 
 itely 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 unquestion- 
 ably 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 ditferent from that in which they march 
 along the stately pages of the historian, and we 
 shall find many side-lights, by no means color- 
 less, thrown upon the persons and events of the 
 procession. The persistence, fulness, and faith- 
 fulness with which it was kept throughout so 
 busy a life, are marvellous, but are also highly 
 characteristic of the most persevering and in 
 diistrious of men. That it has been preserved 
 is cause not only f Dr thankfulness but for some 
 lurprise also. For if its contents bad bee» 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 9 
 
 fimown, it is certain that all tlie 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. Aa 
 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 univei'sal atmosphere 
 of sadness far more depressing than the mel- 
 ancholy 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 himselQ- For it would be altogether too 
 discouraging to think that so wide an experi- 
 ence of men as Mr. Adams enjoyed through his 
 long varied and active life, must lead to such an 
 unpleasant array of human faces as those which 
 are scattered along these twelve big octavos. 
 Fortunately at present we have to do with only 
 
10 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 one of these likenesses, and tliat 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 wer< 
 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 serv 
 ices 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 hon- 
 esty 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 m 
 support of a despised or unpopular opinion 
 seemed his natural function and almost exclu- 
 sive calling; he was thoroughly conscientious 
 fcnd never knowingly did wrong, nor evea 
 
jonN uuJNcr adams. 11 
 
 Bouglit to persuade himself that wi-ong was 
 right ; well read in literature and of wide and 
 v^aried 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 indom- 
 itable will, unconquerable persistence, and in- 
 6nite laboriousness. Such were the qualities 
 which made him a great statesman ; but un- 
 fortunately we must behold a hardly less strik- 
 ing 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 
 
 fe and just })ur poses have fewer friends or 
 hiore 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 
 ivould have insured him a bHlliant and pro- 
 
 onged success ; but, for a man of his calibre 
 ind influence, we shall see him as one of the 
 
12 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 most lonely and desolate of the great men ol 
 history ; histinct 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 unchar- 
 itable in his judgment of them ; and thus hav- 
 ing really a low opinion of so many of them 
 he could indulge his vindictive rancor without 
 stint ; his invective, always powerful, will some- 
 times 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 im- 
 possible. All that can be attempted is to pre- 
 sent a sketch of the man with a few of his more 
 X)rominent 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 than an historical biography a 
 the "ustomnry elaborate order. 
 
 / 
 y 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. !» 
 
 During his second visit to Europe, our mature 
 J^oungster — if the word may be used of Mr. 
 Adams even in his earhest years — began to 
 Bee 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 Mas- 
 jachusetts, 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 re- 
 turn he spent six months in travel and then he 
 rejoined his father in Paris, where that gentle- 
 man was engaged witli FrankHn and Jefferson 
 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, bringing a letter from 
 
14 JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 
 
 Mr. Gerry containing news of the appointment 
 of John Adams as Minister to St. James's. This 
 unforeseen occarrence 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 un- 
 worthy of such confidence ! The glimpses which 
 we get of him during this stay abroad, show hira 
 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, bu/ 
 from the earliest moment when he began the 
 
JOHN QUJNCr ADAMS. 15 
 
 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 pros- 
 pect 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 tlie meagre shores and small society of 
 iVew 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 him- 
 BCif gives us his characteristic and suflBcient 
 reasons : — 
 
 " Were I now to go with my father probably my 
 immediate satisfaction might be greater than it will 
 be in returning to America. After having been 
 iravelling for those seven years almost and all ovei 
 
16 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 ob- 
 ject 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 <^he 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 ia 
 reduced to by adopting a different line of conduct, 
 and I am determined not to fall into the same error.'' 
 
 It ia needless to comment upon such spiri* 
 
JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. 17 
 
 and sense, or upon such just appreciation of 
 what was feasible, wise, and right for him, as 
 a New Englander whose surroundings and pros- 
 pects were widely different from those of the 
 society about him. He must have been strongly 
 imbued by nature with the instincts of his birth 
 place to have formed, after a seven years' ab- 
 sence at his impressible age, so correct a judg- 
 ment 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 tho 
 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 practise. Immediately 
 afterward he established himself in Boston, 
 where for a time he felt strangely solitary. 
 Clients of course iid not oesiege his doors in 
 the first year, and he appears tc have waited 
 rather stubbornly than cheerfully for more act- 
 ive days. These came in good time, and during 
 
 2 
 
18 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 the 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 bant- 
 ling before the people of the United States, 
 Adams's indignation was fired, and he pub- 
 lished anonymously a series of refuting pa- 
 pers 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 sub- 
 sequent 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 thia 
 country in European wars. These were fol- 
 lowed by more, over the signature of Colum- 
 bus, and afterward by still more in the name of 
 Barnevelt, all strongly reprobating the course 
 :>f the crazy-headed foreigner. The writer was 
 not permitted to remain long unknown. It if 
 
JOHN ilUlNCY ADAMS 19 
 
 not certain, but it is highly probable, that to 
 these articles was due the nomination which 
 Mr. Adams received shortly afterward from 
 President Washington, as Minister Resident at 
 the Hague. This nomination was sent in to the 
 Senate, May 29, 1794, and was unanimously 
 confirmed on the following day. It may be 
 imagined that the change from the moderate 
 practice of his Boston law office to a European 
 court, of which he so well knew the charms, 
 was not distasteful to him. There are pas- 
 sHg(^s in his Diary which indicate that he bad 
 been chafing with irrepressible impatience " in 
 tlmt state of useless and disgraceful insignifi 
 eancy," to which, as it seemed to him, he was rel- 
 egated, so tliat 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 contempo- 
 raries, ... I still find myself as obscure, as un- 
 known to the world, as the most indolent or the 
 most stupid of human beings." Entertaining 
 Buch 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 
 "►y a blundering captain. He was a young dip- 
 lomat, indeed ; it was on his twenty-seventh 
 Sirthday that he received his commission. 
 
2U JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 The minister made his advent upon a ta* 
 multooiis scene. All Europe was getting under 
 arms in the long and desperate struggle with 
 France. Scarcely had he presented his cre- 
 dentials to the Stadtholder ere tnat dignitary 
 was obliged to flee before the conquering stand- 
 ards of the French. Pichegru marched into 
 the capital city of the Low Countries, hung out 
 tlie tri-color and established the " Batavian 
 Republic " as the ally of France. The diplo- 
 matic 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 
 \n an unpleasant position by the new condition 
 of affairs, but on the contrary he was very cor- 
 dially 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 
 givir.g offence he yet kept clear of entangle- 
 ments, 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 therefore was 
 considering the propriety of returning, when ad 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMti. 21 
 
 7ices from home induced him to stay. Wash- 
 ington 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, there- 
 fore, 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 acquaint- 
 ances, acquiring familiarity with foreign lan- 
 guages, 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 im- 
 provement. 
 
 An episode in his life at the Hague was hia 
 visit to England, where he was directed to ex- 
 change ratifications of the treaty lately nego- 
 tiated by Mr. Jay. But a series of vexatioua 
 delays, apparently maliciously contrived, de- 
 tained him so long that upon his arrival he 
 found this specific task already accomplished 
 b}'^ Mr. Deas. He was probably not disap- 
 pointed that his name thus escaped connection 
 with engagements so odious to a large part of 
 bhe nation. H3 had, however, some further 
 business of an informal chai'acter to transact 
 n^ith Lord Grenville, and in endeavoring to 
 
22 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 conduct it found himself rather awkwardly 
 placed. He was not minister to the Court oi 
 St. James, having been only vaguely authorized 
 to discuss certain arrangements in a tentative 
 way, without the power to enter into any de 
 finitive agreement. But the English Cabinet 
 strongly disliking Mr. Deas, who in the ab 
 sence 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 mod- 
 erate temper, however, carried him successfully 
 ilirough 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 the United 
 >tates. To this lady he became engaged; ana 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 23 
 
 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 de- 
 gree 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 any- 
 thing, he justly said, and he was pained that 
 his mother should not know him better than to 
 entertain any apprehension of his feeling other- 
 wise. It was a perplexing position in which 
 the two were placed. It would be a great hard- 
 ihip to cut short the son's career because of the 
 success of the father, yet the reproach of nepo- 
 tism could not be lightly encountered, even with 
 the backing of clear consciences. Washington 
 lame kindly to the aid of his doubting suc- 
 :essor, and in a letter highly complimentary to 
 Mr. John Quincy Adams strongly urged that 
 well-merited promotion ought not to be kept 
 h-om him, foretelling for him a distinguished 
 
24 JOHN QUIIvvi ADAMS. 
 
 future ill the diplomatic service. These repre- 
 sentations prevailed ; and the President's only 
 action as concerned his son consisted in chang- 
 ing his destination from Portugal to Prussia, 
 both missions being at that time of the same 
 grade, though that to Prussia was then estab- 
 lished for the first time by the making and con- 
 firming 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." Overcom- 
 ing this unusual obstacle to a ministerial ad- 
 vent, and succeeding, after many months, in get- 
 ting through all the introductory formalities, he 
 found not much more to be done at Berlin thaa 
 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 be- 
 tween 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 
 Been. His recall was one of the last acts of his 
 Eathei s administration, made, says Mr. Seward 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. "Zb 
 
 * that Mr. Jefferson might have no embarrass- 
 ment in that direction," but quite as probably 
 dictated by a vindictive desire to show how wide 
 was the gulf of animosity which had opened be- 
 tween the family of the disappointed ex-Presi- 
 dent 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 Eu- 
 rope to a law ojSice in Boston, with the neces- 
 sity 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 prom- 
 ise which he was able to discern in the political 
 outlook could not fail to disappoint him, since 
 liis native predilections were unquestionably and 
 strongly in favor of a public career. During 
 his absence party animosities had been develop- 
 ing rapidly. The first great party victory since 
 the organization of the government had just 
 been won, after a very bitter struggle, by the Re- 
 publicans or Democrats, as they were then in- 
 diiferently called, whos*^ exuoerant delight found 
 its full counterpart in the angry despondency 
 of the Federalists. That irascible old gentle- 
 uan, the elder Adams, having experienced a 
 rery Waterloo defeat in the contest for the Prea 
 
26 JOHN aUlNCY ADAMS. 
 
 Idency, had ridden away from the capital, actu- 
 ally 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 Presi- 
 dency, 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. Cer- 
 tainly 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 in- 
 finite 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, tc 
 originate any important measure without first 
 consulting a lawyer quietly engasjed in th« 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 21 
 
 practice of his profession in New York; that, 
 In sliort, 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 Hamil- 
 ton rather than toward John Adams. These 
 Ilamiltonians by no means relished the French 
 mission, so that from this time forth a schism of 
 intense bitterness kept the Federal party asun • 
 der, and John Adams hated Alexander Hamil- 
 ton 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 presi- 
 dential campaign ; and the defeated candidate 
 always preferred to charge his failure to Ham- 
 ilton'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 com- 
 pelled to bear no part in the embroilments of 
 the past, and his sagacity must have led him, 
 while listening with filial sympathy to the inter- 
 pretations placed upon events by his incensed 
 parent, yet to make liberal allowance for the dis- 
 torting effects of *Am old gentleman's rage. Still 
 "t was in the main only ratural for him to re- 
 
28 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 gard himself as a Federalist of the Adams fac* 
 tioii. 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 gentle- 
 men in the State, who in those times bore an ac- 
 tive 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 po 
 sition 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 Jefferson- 
 ian 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 up- 
 ward on the political ladder for one who had 
 I'epresented the nation in foreign parts for eight 
 vears, vet Mr. Adams was well content to ao 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 2V» 
 
 cept it. At least it reopened the door of p/> 
 litical life, and moreover one of his steadfa*/ 
 maxims was never to refuse any function whir ft 
 the people sought to impose upon him. It is 
 worth noting, for its bearing upon controver- 
 sies 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 unsuc- 
 t?essful, and perhaps it forfeited whatever con- 
 fidence 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 of him, that he regarded 
 «very public measure which came up as he 
 
BO JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 
 
 would a proposition in Euclid, abstracted from 
 any party considerations. Tliese frequent dere- 
 lictions 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 tliis forbear- 
 ance that when in February, 1803, the legis- 
 lature 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 an ti- Adams men in the party, 
 because the place was eagerly sought by Tim- 
 othy Pickering, an old man who had strong 
 claims growing out of an almost life-long and 
 verv ejB&cient service in their ranks, and who 
 was moreover a most staunch adherent of Gen- 
 eral Hamilton. 
 
 So in October, 1803, we find Mr. Adams on 
 his way to Washington, the raw and unattract- 
 ive 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 relig- 
 iously disposed were obliged to attend services 
 " usually performed on Sundays at the Treasury 
 Ofiice and at the Capitol." With what antici- 
 Rations Mr. Adams's mind was filled during hi« 
 murney to this embryotic city his Diary doei 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 81 
 
 not tell ; but if they were in any degree cheer- 
 ful or sanguine they were destined to cruel 
 disappointment. He was now probably to ap- 
 preciate 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 
 Bhowed 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 work- 
 ing niMJority 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 ; 
 anv motion which ne m^ide was sure to be voted 
 down, though not unfrr'quently substantially 
 the same matter being afterward moved by 
 lomebody else would be readily carried. That 
 
32 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 cordiality, assistance, and sense of fellowshij 
 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 
 senatorsLip, 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 un- 
 popular 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 
 Been enough to ascertain that no amendments 
 of my proposing will obtain in the Senate aa 
 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 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 33 
 
 and obloquy for this measure ; " a day or two 
 later he speaks of certain persons " who hate 
 me rather more than they love any prhiciple ; '* 
 when he expressed an opinion in favor of ratify- 
 ing a treaty with the Creeks, he remarks quite 
 philosophically, that he believes it "surprised 
 almost every member of the Senate, and dis- 
 satisfied almost all ; " when he wanted a com- 
 mittee 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 any- 
 thing." Writing once of some resolutions which 
 he intended to propose, he says that they are 
 "another feather again j 
 perate and fearful canse 
 barked, but I 
 either a coward o| 
 find a committee, 
 making its report 
 notified of its meeting. 
 
 It would be idle to suppose that any man 
 could be sufficiently callous not to feel keenly 
 Buch 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 
 Jinger which must have recoiled upon himself. 
 In him warm feelings were found in singular 
 
 3 
 
34 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 combination with a cool head. An unyielding 
 temper and an obstinate courage, an invincible 
 confidence in his own judgment, and a stern 
 conscienticmsness carried him through these 
 earlier years of severe trial as they had after- 
 wards to carry him through many more. " Tjie 
 qualities of mind most peculiarly called for,'* 
 he reflects in the Diary, " are firmness, per- 
 severance, 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 
 Bkill 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 fa- 
 ther, it was also largely attributable not only 
 to his unconciliatory manners but to more sub- 
 stantial habits of mind and character. It ia 
 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 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. .^5 
 
 Mr. Adams labored to a remarkable degree. 
 Since parties were first organized in tiiis Re- 
 public no American statesman has ever ap- 
 proached 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 polit- 
 ical fellowship. Towards the close of his sen- 
 atorial term he recorded, in reminiscence, that 
 he had more often voted with the administra- 
 tion than with the opposition. 
 
 The first matter of importance concerning 
 which he was obliged to act, was the acquisi- 
 tion of Louisiana and its admission as a state 
 of the Union. The Federalists were bitterly op- 
 posed 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 
 tills business Mr. Adams was in favor of the 
 purchitse, but denied with much emphasis the 
 
36 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 constitutionality of the process by which the 
 purchased territory was brought into the fel 
 lowship of States. This imperfect allegiance 
 to the party gave more offence than satisfac' 
 tion, and he found himself soundly berated in 
 leading Federalist newspapers in New Eng- 
 land, and angrily threatened with expulsion 
 from the party. But in the famous impeach- 
 ment of Judge Chase, which aroused very 
 Btrong 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 Presi- 
 dent for degrading the national judiciary and 
 rendering it subservient to the legislative 
 branch of the government. So many, how- 
 ever, even of Mr. Jefferson's staunch adherents 
 revolted against his requisitions on this occa- 
 sion, and he himself so far lost heart before 
 the final vote was taken, that several Repub- 
 licans voted with the Federalists, and Mr. Ad- 
 ams 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 se- 
 cure respect, and great ability for him ever to 
 achieve influence. In time, however, Mr. Ad- 
 ams saw gratifying indications that he was acv 
 quiring both, and in February, 1806, we fina 
 kim writing : — 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 37 
 
 " This is the third session I have sat in Congress. 
 I came in as a member of a very small minority, and 
 during the two former sessions almost uniformly 
 avoided to take a lead ; any other course would have 
 been dishonest or ridiculous. On the very few and 
 unimportant objects which I did undertake, I met 
 at first with universal opposition. The last session 
 my influence rose a little, at the present it has hith- 
 erto been apparently rising." 
 
 He was so far a cool and clear-headed judge, 
 even in his own case, that this encouraging es- 
 timate may be accepted as correct upon his 
 sole authority witliout other evidence. But the 
 fair prospect was overcast almost in its dawn- 
 ing, and a period of supreme trial and of ap- 
 parently irretrievable ruin was at hand. 
 
 Topics were coming forward for discussion 
 concerning which no American could be indif- 
 ferent, 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 piofoiind feelings and opened 
 Buch 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 
 ind England were permitted fcr so many years 
 
S8 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 fco play in our national politics, when our par- 
 ties were not divided upon American questions, 
 but wholly by their sympathies with one or 
 other of these contending European powers. 
 Under Washington the English party had, with 
 infinite difficulty, been able to prevent their ad- 
 versaries 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 admin- 
 istration, the French party having won the as- 
 cendant, the new phase of the same long strug- 
 gle 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 impossi- 
 ble to recall the provocations which were in- 
 flicted 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 
 :entury after the acts were done. 
 
 Mr. Adams took his position early and boldly 
 In February, 1806, he introduced into the Sen 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 39 
 
 ate certain resolutions strongly condemnatory of 
 the right, claimed and vigorously exercised by 
 the British, of seizing neutral vessels employed 
 in conducting with the enemies of Great Brit- 
 ain any trade which had been customarily pro- 
 hibited 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 un- 
 provoked aggression upon the property of the 
 citizens of these United States, a violation of 
 *^their neutral rights, and an encvoachment upon 
 their national independence." By his second 
 resolution, the President was requested to de- 
 mand and insist upon the restoration of proj> 
 erty seized under this pretext, and upon indem- 
 nification 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 in- 
 sist." But they were carried, of course, by Re- 
 publican 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 supDorters were engaged 
 
40 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 in the very commerce which Great Britain 
 aimed to suppress and destroy, seemed not to 
 be so much incensed against her as against 
 their own government. The theory of the 
 party was, substantially, that England had been 
 driven into these measures by the friendly tone 
 of our government towards France, and by her 
 own stringent and overruling necessities. The 
 cure was not to be sought in resistance, not 
 even in indignation and remonstrance addressed 
 to that power, but rather in cementing an alli- 
 ance with her, and even, if need should be, in 
 taking active part in her holy cause. The feel- 
 ing seemed to be that we merited the chastise- 
 ment because we had not allied ourselves with 
 the chastiser. These singular notions of the 
 Federalists, however, were by no means the no- 
 tions of Mr. John Quincy Adams, as we shall 
 Boon see. 
 
 On April 18, 1806, the Non -importation Act 
 received the approval of the President. It was 
 the first measure indicative of resentment or re- 
 taliation 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 
 »f neutrals, which phrase, as commerce the* 
 
JOHN QUINCr ADAMS. 41 
 
 was, signified little else than Americans. A 
 proclamation was issued declaring the whole 
 coast of the European continent, from Brest to 
 the mouth of the Elbe, to be under blockade. 
 In fact, of course, the coast was not blockaded, 
 and the proclamation was a falsehood, an un- 
 justifiable effort to make words do the work of 
 war-ships. The doctrine which it was thus en- 
 deavored to establish had never been admitted 
 into international law, has ever since been re- 
 pudiated 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 dis- 
 trict. On November 21, next following, Napo- 
 leon 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, declarmg neutral vessels and cargoes 
 
42 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 bound to any port or colony of any country 
 with which England was then at war, and 
 which was closed to English ships, to be liable 
 to capture and confiscation. A few days later 
 November 25, 1807, another Order established 
 a rate of duties to be paid in England upon all 
 neutral merchandise which should be permitted 
 to be carried in neutral bottoms to countries 
 at war with that power. December 17, 1807, 
 Napoleon retorted by the Milan decree, which 
 declared denationalized and subject to capture 
 and condemnation every vessel, to whatsoever 
 nation belonging, which should have submitted 
 to search by an English ship, or should be on a 
 voyage to England, or should have paid any tax 
 to the English government. All these regula- 
 tions, though purporting to be aimed at neutrals 
 generally, in fact bore almost exclusively upon 
 the United States, who alone were undertak- 
 ing to conduct any neutral commerce worthy of 
 mention. As Mr. Adams afterwards remarked, 
 the effect of these illegal proclamations and un- 
 justifiable novel doctrines "placed the com- 
 merce 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 Statea 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 43 
 
 The merchants of this country might as well 
 have burned their ships as have submitted to 
 these deci'ees. 
 
 All this while the impressment of American 
 seamen by British ships of war was being vigor- 
 ously prosecuted. This is one of those outrages 
 80 long ago laid away among the mouldering 
 tombs in the historical grave-yard that few per- 
 sons 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 unfortu- 
 nate victims, of whom a large proportion might 
 be of unascertained nationality. It was an or- 
 ganized 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, 
 
44 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 "like the advertisement for a runaway negro 
 slave." Nor was even this protection by any 
 means sure to be always efficient. The num- 
 ber 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 sea- 
 men 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 im- 
 mense. When after the lapse of a long time 
 and of infinite negotiation the American citi- 
 zenship 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, 
 cill 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 b^ 
 Groat Britain ; nor were any pains taken tc 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 46 
 
 sloak their character ; on the contrary, they 
 were done with more than British insolence 
 and offensiveness, and were accompanied with 
 insults which alone constituted sufficient prov- 
 ocation 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 ves- 
 sel, an American frigate, commanded by Com- 
 modore Barron, sailed on June 22, 1807, from 
 Hampton Roads. Tlie 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 Americ^ms. Barron refused 
 the demand, though his sliip was wholly unpre- 
 pared 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 deser- 
 tion : one of them was hanged ; one died in con- 
 finement, and five years elapsed before the other 
 two were returned to the Chesapeake in Boston 
 harbor. This wound was sufficiently deep td 
 arouse a real spirit of resentment and revenge, 
 and England went so fat as to dispatch Mr 
 Rose to this country upon a pretended mission 
 
46 JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 
 
 of peace, though the fraudulent character of hia 
 errand was sufficiently indicated by the fact 
 that within a few hours after his departure the 
 first of the above named Orders in Council wag 
 issued but had not been communicated to him. 
 As Mr. Adams indignantly said, " tlie same pen- 
 ful of ink which signed his instructions might 
 have been used also to sign these illegal orders." 
 Admiral Berkeley, the commander of the Leop- 
 ard, 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 be- 
 havior 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 dif- 
 ference 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 lat- 
 ter 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 a? 
 to\^ards us very great. It was the outrages in 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 47 
 
 flicted by her which brought the merchants of 
 the United States face to face with ruin ; they 
 suffered not very greatly at the hands of Na- 
 poleon. Neither could the villainous process 
 of impressment be conducted by Frenchmen. 
 France gave us cause for war, but England 
 seemed resolved to drive us into it. 
 
 As British aggressions grew steadily and rap- 
 idly more intolerable, Mr. Adams found himself 
 straining farther and farther away from those 
 Federalist moorings at which, it must be con- 
 fessed, he had long swung very precariously. 
 The constituency which lie represented w'as in- 
 deed in a quandary so embarrassing as hardly to 
 be capable of maintaining any consistent policy. 
 Tlie 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 Fed- 
 eralists in their political sympathies. Now they 
 found themselves suffering utterly ruinous treat- 
 ment 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 
 law their business annihilated, their property 
 Beized, and yet could not give utterance to re- 
 leiitment, or counsel resistance, without such a 
 
18 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 « 
 
 humiliating devouring of all their own princi- 
 ples and sentiments as they could by no possi- 
 bility bring themselves to endure. There was 
 but one road open to them, and that was the 
 ignoble one of casting themselves wholly into 
 the arms of England, of rewarding her blows 
 with caresses, of submitting to be fairly scourged 
 into a servile alliance with her. It is not sur- 
 prising 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 en- 
 ergy. 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, aris- 
 ing 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 un- 
 bounded submission to lawless injury. 
 
 On November 17, 1807, Mr. Adams, whc 
 oever in his life allowed fear to become a mo- 
 tive, wrote, with obvious contempt and indig 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 49 
 
 nation: ''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 require, to pre- 
 serve peace, under a thin external show of dig- 
 nity and bravery." This tame and vacillating 
 spirit roused his ire, and as it was chiefly mani- 
 fested by his own party it alienated him from 
 them farther tlian ever. Yet his wrath was so 
 far held in reasonable check by his discretion 
 that he would still have liked to avoid the peril- 
 ous conclusion of arms, and tliough 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 resent- 
 ment, and the most vigorous acts short of wai 
 which the government could be induced to un- 
 dertake. On thid sentiment were based his in- 
 troduction of the aforementioned resohitions, 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 in- 
 dependent temper which led him thus to feel so 
 differently from other members cf his party. In 
 ilurope he had had opportunities of formmg a 
 ^udgment more accurate than was possible for 
 >aost Americans concerning the sentiments and 
 
60 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 the British minister of foreign affairs. 
 From all that he had thus seen and heard he 
 had reached the conviction, unquestionably cor- 
 rect, 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 in- 
 dignation when illiberal measures were suc- 
 ceeded by insults, by substantial wrongs in di- 
 rect 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, h« 
 heard the transaction " openly justified at noon 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 51 
 
 day," by a prominent Federalist,^ '' 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 and forever from the councils of 
 the Federal party." When the new^s 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 pro- 
 moting a strong and clear expression of the 
 sentiments of the people, and in an open and 
 free-hearted manner, setting aside all party feel- 
 ings, 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 fool- 
 ishly 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 enter- 
 taining beneath such provocation. It was the 
 Jefferson ians, 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 coopera- 
 tion " in any measures, however serious," which 
 he government might deem necessary and a 
 
 ^ Mr. Johu Lowell 
 
52 JOHN QUINCY AD AM is. 
 
 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 Fanueil 
 Hall a few days later. This also Mr. Adams 
 attended, and again was put on the committee 
 to draft resolutious, which were only a little less 
 strong than those of the earlier assemblage. 
 But though many of the Federalists thus tar- 
 dily 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 communit}^ 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 ter- 
 rors for him ; and he would have lost as many 
 heads as ever grew on Hydra, ere he would 
 hfwe yielded on a point of principle. 
 y 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, 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 53 
 
 fcnd its proposal created a howl of rage and 
 ansruish from the commercial states, who saw 
 in it only their utter ruin. Ah^eady a strong 
 sectional feeling had been developed between 
 the planters of the South and the merchants of 
 the North and East, and the latter now united 
 in tlie cry that their quarter was to be ruined 
 by the ignorant policy of this Virginian Pres- 
 ident. Terrible then was tlieir wrath, when t\\Qj 
 actually saw a Massachusetts Senator boldly give 
 his vote for wliat they deemed the most odious 
 and wicked bill which had ever been present- 
 ed in the halls of Congress. Nay, more, they 
 learned with horror that Mr. Adams had even 
 been a member of tlie committee whicli reported 
 the bill, and that he had joined in the report. 
 Henceforth tlie Federal party W'as to be like a 
 hive of enraged hornets about the devoted ren- 
 egade. No abuse whicli 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, 
 ri traitor, an apostate, that he had run away 
 trom a failing cause, that he had sold himself. 
 The language of contumely was exhausted in 
 vain efforts to describe his baseness. Not even 
 *^et has the echo of the hard names which he 
 ;vas called quite died away in the land ; and 
 here are still families in New England with 
 
54 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 tvhom his dishonest tergiversation remains a 
 traditional belief. 
 
 Never was any man more unjustly aspersed. 
 It is impossible to view all the evidence dis- 
 passionately without not only acquitting Mr. 
 Adams but greatly admiring his courage, hia 
 constancy, his independence. Whether the em- 
 bargo was a wise and efficient or a futile and 
 useless measure, has little to do with the ques- 
 tion 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 be- 
 neath her lashes into political and commercial 
 servitude. Mr. Jefferson thought the embargo 
 would do, that it would aid him in his negotia- 
 tions 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 un- 
 dertake, 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 partj 
 of weakness ; it was right to strengthen rathe? 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 55 
 
 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 than to exhibit a 
 tame and friendly feeling towards her. It was 
 for these reasons, which liad already controlled 
 his action concerning the non-importation bill, 
 that Mr. Adams joined in reporting the em- 
 bargo bill and voted for it. He never pre- 
 tended 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 
 Bome 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 mer- 
 chandise, 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 liad been achieved, without 
 awaiting further and altogether impossible ben- 
 efits to accrue from it as an offensive measure, 
 ^ might perhaps have left a better memory be- 
 hind it. Unfortunately no one can deny that it 
 Iras continued much too long. Mr. Adams saw 
 
56 * JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 khis error and dreaded the consequences. Aftei 
 he had left Congress and had gone back to pri- 
 vate Hfe, 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 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 threaten- 
 ing if not of actually belligerent measures. He 
 expressed his belief that " our internal re- 
 sources [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 suflBcient 
 to induce a retreat from hostilities, and to deter 
 from a renewal of them by either of the war- 
 ring 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 en- 
 couragement." He found that it was the em- 
 bargo or nothing, and he thought the embargo 
 was a little better than nothing, as probably it 
 was. 
 
 All the arguments which Mr. Adams ad- 
 Vvxnced were far from satisfying his constituents 
 in those days of wild political excitement, and 
 ^hey quickly found the means of intimating theii 
 
JOHN QUI NOT ADAMS. 57 
 
 nnappeasable 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 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 re- 
 buke could not have been devised. At the same 
 time, in further expression of disapprobation, 
 resolutions strongly condemnatory of the em- 
 bargo 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 bal- 
 ance 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 
 Boon to see, he received a foreign appointment 
 (rem the Republican President Madison, and 
 
58 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 was confirmed by a Republican Senate. Many 
 t)f 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 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 descend- 
 ants still cherish the ancestral prejudice ; and 
 it may yet be a long while before the last mut- 
 terings 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 dis- 
 interested. 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 enor- 
 mous majority throughout the whole country 
 Even in Massachusetts, the intrenched cam) 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 59 
 
 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 those more prominent 
 in politics as tergiversation and apostasy. 
 
 It may be admitted tbat 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 sacred ness 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 
 Q^^js^ues, the later Federalist creed to quite 
 ^nother set ; the earlier creed was sound and 
 deserving of support ; the later creed was not 
 BO. 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 as- 
 Buming an erroneous attitude towards some 
 lubsequent matter wnich becomes in turi;i of 
 
60 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 mis- 
 sion was to establish the Constitution of the 
 United States as a vigorous, efficient, and prac- 
 tical system of government, to prove its sound- 
 ness, safety, and efficacy, and to defend it from 
 the undermining assaults of those who dis- 
 trusted it and would have reduced it to imbe- 
 cility. 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 in 
 volved the organizing and domestic instinct 
 against the disorganizing and meddlesome ; the 
 strengthening against the enfeebling process ; 
 practical thinking against fanciful theories. For- 
 tunately 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 genera* 
 fcions of Americans have been reaping the ben- 
 efit of their labors. But by the time that John 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 61 
 
 Adams had concluded his administration the 
 great Federalist work had been sufficiently done. 
 Those who still believe that there is an over- 
 ruling Providence in the affairs of men and na- 
 tions, may well point to the history of this 
 period in support of their tlieory. Republican- 
 ism 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 
 inclosed in the great popular instinct. It was 
 not patent, when Mr. Jefferson succeeded Mr. 
 Adams, tliat Federalism was soon to become 
 an unsound political creed — unsound, not be- 
 cause 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 im- 
 port arose. But they were not far distant, and 
 Boon were presented by the British aggres- 
 sions. A grave crisis was created by this sys- 
 tem of organized destruction of property and 
 wholesale stealing of citizens, now suddenly 
 
52 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 
 
 practised with such terrible energy. What waa 
 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 w^ere allowed now 
 to govern their present action. Excusably An- 
 glican in the by-gone 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 intol- 
 erable. 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 po- 
 litical affections. When he was abroad he es- 
 tablished 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 thl3 characteristic 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 63 
 
 ihould 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 lias been since 
 repeated, that he was allured by the loaves and 
 fishes which the Republicans could distribute, 
 while the Federalists could cast to him only 
 meagre and uncertain crusts. Circumstances 
 gave to the accusation such a superficial plau- 
 sibility that it was believed by many honest 
 men under the influence of political preju- 
 dice. But such a charge, alleged concerning 
 a single act in a long public career, is to be 
 scanned with suspicion. Disproof by demon- 
 stration is impossible ; but it is fair to seek for 
 the character of the act in a study of the char- 
 acter 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 seri- 
 ously to question the purity of his motives — 
 I )r the story of his intrigue with Mr. Clay to 
 Becure the Presidency was never really be- 
 lieved by any one except General Jackson, and 
 Ibe beliefs of General Jackson are of little con- 
 i^quence. From the earliest "^o the latest day 
 
54 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 of his public life, he was never a party man. 
 lie 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 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 tergiversa- 
 tion, 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 pres- 
 ent 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 alien- 
 ate himself from the rich, the cultivated, the 
 influential gentlemen of his neighborhood, his 
 comrades, who would almost universally con- 
 demn his conduct. He was to lose his position 
 as Senator, and probably to destroy all hopes of 
 •^urther political success so far as it depended 
 apon the good-will of the people of his own 
 State. In this he was at least giving up a cer 
 
JOHN QUINCE ADAMS. 65 
 
 tainty 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 siorns of the views which he was likelv to 
 hold, that contemptible but influential Republi- 
 can, 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 bar- 
 gain, or even establisli a tacit understanding for 
 his own benefit, he held them far aloof, and sim- 
 ply 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 them- 
 selves 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 destro}'- 
 ing his political j^rospects, and that in so do- 
 ing he taxed his moral courage severely. The 
 whole tone of the Diary, apart from, those few 
 
i6 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 pages, yet he could hardly have done 
 BO at this early day. Among certain general 
 reflections at the close of the year 1808, he 
 writes : '' On most of the great national ques- 
 tions now under discussion, my sense of duty 
 leads me to support the Administration, and I 
 find myself, of course, in opposition to the Fed- 
 eralists in general. But I have no communica- 
 tion 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 sufiiciently prepared." 
 
 In July, 1808, the Republicans of the Con- 
 gressional District wished to send him to the 
 House of Representatives, but to the gentle- 
 man who waited upon him with this proposal 
 he returned a decided negative. Other consid- 
 erations apart, he would not interfere with the 
 reelection of his friend, Mr. Quincy. 
 
 Certain remarks, written when his senatoria 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 67 
 
 Lerm was far advanced, when he had lost the 
 confidence of the Federalists without obtaming 
 that of the Republicans, may be of interest at 
 this point. He wrote, October 30, 1807 : " I 
 employed the whole evening in looking over 
 the Journal of the Senate, since I have been 
 one of its members. Of the very little business 
 which I have commenced during the four ses- 
 sions, at least three fourths has failed, with cir- 
 cumstances of peculiar mortification. The very 
 few instances in which I have succeeded, have 
 been always after an opposition of great obsti- 
 nacy, 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, witliout tlie 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 in- 
 creasing through the four sessions, but always 
 as a subordinate member. The merely latori- 
 ous duties have been readily assigned to me, and 
 '<is readily undertaken and discharged. My suc- 
 cess has been more frequent in opposition than 
 in carrying any proposition of my own, and I 
 hope I have been instrumental in arresting many 
 
58 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 unadvised purposes and projects. Though as 
 fco the general policy of the country I have 
 been uniformly in a small, aud constantly de- 
 creasing minority; my opinions aud votes have 
 been much oftener in unison with the Adminis- 
 tration than with their opponents ; I have met 
 vt^ith at least as much oppositiou from my party 
 friends as from their adversaries, — I believe 
 more. I know not that I have made any per- 
 sonal enemies now in Senate, nor can I flat- 
 ter 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 alli- 
 ances, or selfish considerations. 
 
 As early as November, 1805, Mr. Adams, 
 being still what may be described as an in- 
 dependent Federalist, was approached by Di 
 Rush with tentative suggestions concerning * 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 69 
 
 foreign mission. Mr. Madison, then Secretary 
 of State, and even President Jefferson, were 
 apparently not disinclined to give him such em- 
 ployment, provided he would be willing tu ac- 
 cept it at their hands. Mr. Adams simply re- 
 plied, 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 be- 
 cause of the unconciliatorv coolness of this re- 
 Bponse, or perhaps for some better reason, the 
 nomination did not folloAv at that time. No 
 sooner, however, had Mr. Madison fairly taken 
 the oath of office as President than he be- 
 thought him of Mr. Adams, now no longer a 
 Federalist, but, concerning the present issues, 
 of the Republican persuasion. On March 6, 
 1809, Mr. Adams Avas notified by the President 
 personally of the intention to nominate him as 
 Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia. It was a 
 jiew 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 
 ihe courteous request. Mr. Adams's name was 
 «,ccordingly at once sent to the Senate. But 
 on the following day, Marcn 7, that body re- 
 lolved that "it is inexoedient at this tinje to 
 
rO JOHN QUINCY A DAM a. 
 
 appoint a minister from the United Slates to 
 tlie Court of Russia." The vote was seven- 
 teen to fifteen, and among the seventeen was 
 Mr. Adams's old colleague, Timothy Picker- 
 ing, who probably never in his life cast a vote 
 which gave him so much pleasure. Mr. Mad- 
 ison, 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 nom- 
 inate 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 Boyl- 
 ston and Nassau streets, in Boston," again to 
 make the tedious and uncomfortable voyage 
 across the Atlantic. A miserable and a dan- 
 gerous 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 du- 
 ties were of the simplest character, amounting 
 to little more than rendering occasional assist- 
 ance to American shipmasters suffering beneatK 
 lie severities so often illegally inflicted by the 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 71 
 
 contesting powers of Europe. But apart frous 
 the slender practical service to be done, the 
 period must have been interesting and agree- 
 able for him personally, for he was received and 
 treated throughout his stay by the Emperor 
 and his courtiers with distinguished kindness. 
 The Emperor, who often met him walking, 
 used to stop and chat with him, while Count 
 Romanzotf, the minister of foreign affairs, was 
 cordial beyond the ordinary civility of diplo- 
 macy. The Diary records a series of court pre- 
 sentations, balls, fetes, dinners, diplomatic and 
 other, launches, displays of fireworks, birthday 
 festivities, parades, baptisms, plays, state fu- 
 nerals, illuminations, and Te Deums for victo- 
 ries ; 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 liis de- 
 tractors, that he was an admirable representa- 
 tive of the United States abroad. Having al- 
 ready seen much of the distinguished society of 
 European courts, but retaining a republican 
 idmplicity, which was wholly genuine and a 
 natural part of his character and therefore 
 was never affected or offensive in its manifesta- 
 tions, he really represented the best element in 
 the politics and society of the United States. 
 Winning respect for himself he won it also foi 
 
f2 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 the country which he represented. Thus he 
 was able to render an indirect but essential 
 Bervice in cementing the kindly feeling which 
 the Russian Empire entertained for the Amer- 
 ican Republic. Russia could then do us little 
 good and almost no harm, yet the friendship 
 of a great European power had a certain moral 
 value in those days of our national infancy. 
 That friendship, so cordially offered, Mr. Ad- 
 ams 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 coun- 
 trymen than by the Russians. The paltry am- 
 bition of a certain class of Americans for intro- 
 duction 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 him- 
 self happily combined extensive acquirements 
 3xcellent ability, diplomatic and courtly experi 
 ence, and natural independence of character 
 without ill-bred self-assertion, and never faileJ 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 73 
 
 Jo create a good impression in the many circles 
 Into which his foreign career introduced him. 
 
 The ambassadors and ministers from Euro- 
 pean powers at St. Petersburg were constantly 
 wrangling about precedence and like petty mat- 
 ters of court etiquette. " In all these contro- 
 versies," writes Mr. Adams, " 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 eti- 
 quette. 
 
 He always made it a point to live within the 
 Lieagre 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 con- 
 versation, " asked me whether I intended to 
 take a house in the country this summer. I said, 
 No. . . . 'And whv so?' said he. I was hes- 
 itating upon an answer when he relieved me 
 from embarrassment oy saying, ' Peutetre pont- 
 es des considerations de finance ? ' As he said it 
 mt\\ perfect good humor and with a smile, I 
 
74 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS, 
 
 replied in the same manner : * Mais Sire, elles 
 y sont pour une bonne part.' " ^ 
 
 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 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 de- 
 fendant 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. Peters- 
 burg witnessed first the alarm and then the ex- 
 ultation of the court and the people as the 
 rumors now of defeat, anon of victory, were 
 brought by the couriers at tantalizing intervals; 
 Rnd he saw the rejoicings and illuminationa 
 which rendered the Russian capital so brilliant 
 and glorious during the last portion of his res- 
 
 1 An interesting sketch of his household and its expense! 
 • to be found in ii. Diary, 193. 
 
JOUN QUINCY ADAMS. 75 
 
 idence. It was an experience well worth hav* 
 ing, and which is pleasantly depicted in the 
 Diary. 
 
 In September, 1812, Count Romanzoff sug- 
 gested to Mr. Adams the readiness of the Em- 
 peror to act as mediator in bringmg about peace 
 between the United States and England. The 
 suggestion was promptly acted upon, but with 
 no directly fortunate results. The American 
 government acceded at once to the proposi 
 tion, 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 con- 
 sidered as attaching unless England should ac- 
 cept 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 
 Dart of the United States. Further, Mr. Gal- 
 latin's nomination was rejected by the Senate 
 after his departure, on the ground that his re- 
 tention of the post of Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury was incompatible, under the Constitution, 
 ivith this diplomatic function. So the United 
 States appeared in a very annoying attitude , 
 
76 JOHN QUINCY AD AM 8. 
 
 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 
 reached at which both parties, were quite ready 
 to desist. The United States, though triumph- 
 ing 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 impos- 
 sible to ignore that the outlook did not promise 
 better fortunes in the future than had been en- 
 countered in the past. On the other hand, 
 England had nothing substantial to expect from 
 a continuance of the struggle, except heavy ad- 
 ditional expenditure which it was not then the 
 fashion to compel the worsted party to recoup. 
 She accordingly intimated her readiness to send 
 Commissioners to Gottingen, for which place 
 Ghent was afterwards substituted, to meet 
 American Commissioners and settle terms ot 
 " pacification. The United States renewed the 
 v)owors of Messrs. Adams, Bayard, and Galla^ 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 77 
 
 tin, a new Secretary of the Treasury having in 
 the mean time been appointed, and added Jon- 
 athan Russell, then Minister to Sweden, and 
 Henry Clay. England deputed Lord Gambier, 
 an admiral, Dr. Adams, a publicist, and Mr. 
 Goulbourn, a member of Parliament and Under 
 Secretary of State. These eight gentlemen ac- 
 cordingly met in Ghent on August 7, 1814. 
 
 It was upwards of four months before an 
 agreement was reached. During this period 
 Mr. Adams kept his Diary with much more 
 even than his wonted faithfulness, and it un- 
 doubtedly presents the most vivid picture in 
 existence of the labors of treaty-making diplo- 
 matists. The eight were certainly an odd as- 
 semblage of peacemakers. The ill-blood and 
 wranglings between the opposing Commissions 
 were bad enough, yet hardly equalled the in- 
 testine dissensions between the American Com- 
 missioners themselves. That the spirit of peace 
 should ever have emanated from such an uni- 
 versal embroilment, is almost sufficiently sur- 
 prising 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 fall powers, at the 
 lodgings of the Englishmen. The Americana 
 Wok fire at this " offensive pretension to supe- 
 
78 JOHX QUIXCJ JJDAiJS. 
 
 riority" which was "the usage from Ambassa- 
 dors 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, agree- 
 incr 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 frac- 
 tious colleagues, as well as betwixt them and the 
 Englishmen, substituted the milder phrase, '• at 
 anv place which may be mutually agreed upon." 
 The first meeting accordingly took place at the 
 Hotel des Pays Bas, where it was arrancred that 
 the subsequent conferences should be held al- 
 ternately at the quarters of the two Commis- 
 Bions. Then followed expressions, conyentional 
 and proper but wholly untrue, of mutual sen- 
 timents of esteem and good-will. 
 
 No sooner did the gentlemen begin to get 
 Beriouslv at the work before them, than the 
 most discouraging prospects were developed. 
 The British fii-st presented their demands, as 
 follows: 1. That the United States should con- 
 clude 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 no 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 79 
 
 wliere conterminous, npon which belt or bar- 
 rier neither power should be permitted to en- 
 croach 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 main- 
 tain 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 lakes ; while no corre- 
 sponding restriction was imposed upon Great 
 Britain, because she was stated to have no pro- 
 jects 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 stipula- 
 tion of the treaty of 1783, conferring on Eng- 
 lisli subjects the right of navigating the Mis- 
 sissippi, 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 al- 
 ready busied in negotiating a treaty with the 
 tribes as independent powers. The establish- 
 ment of the ne'itral Indian belt was manifestly 
 contrary to the established policy and obvious 
 destiny of the nation. Neither wa? the answer 
 
so JOHN UUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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, Il- 
 linois, 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 hikes and along the frontier was, by 
 the understanding of all nations, such an humil- 
 iation as is inflicted only on a crushed adversary. 
 No return was offered for the road between Hal- 
 ifax 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 appurte- 
 nant 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 thf 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 81 
 
 privilege given to the United States ; ignoring 
 the fact that the recent acquisition of Loui- 
 siana, making the Mississippi wholly Ameri 
 can, materially altered the propriety of a Brit 
 ish 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 civil- 
 ities had counted with the American Commis- 
 Bioners for more tlian they were worth, and had 
 induced them, in preparing a long dispatch to 
 the home government, to insert "a paragraph 
 complimentary to the personal deportment" of 
 the British. But before they sent off the doc- 
 ument 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 over- 
 bearing, than at the former conferences." A 
 little farther on he remarks that " the Brit- 
 ish note is overbearinsj; and insultinor in its 
 tone, like the two former ones." Again he 
 Bays : — 
 
 " The tone of all t je British notes is arrofrant, 
 overbearing, and offensive. The tone of ours is 
 Aeither so bold nor so spin:ed as I think it should 
 t>e. It is too much on the defensi'^e, and too exces- 
 
H2 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 f 
 / 
 
 sive in the caution to say nothing irritating. I have 
 Beldom 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 confer- 
 ences are recited which amply bear out these 
 remarks as regards both parties. Perhaps, 
 however, it should be admitted that the Amer- 
 icans made up for the self-restraint which they 
 practised in conference, by the disagreements 
 and bickerings in which they indulged when 
 consulting among themselves. Mr. Gallatin's 
 serene temper and cool head were hardly taxed 
 to keep the peace among his excited colleagues. 
 Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay were especially prone 
 to suspicions and to outbursts of anger. Mr. 
 Adams often and candidly admits as much of 
 himself, apparently not without good reason. 
 At first the onerous task of drafting the nu- 
 merous 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 ere long he altogether relin- 
 quished this function, which was thereafte? 
 performed chiefly by Mr. Gallatin. As early 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 83 
 
 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 par- 
 agraph." Mr. Gallatin would strike out every- 
 thing 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 writing all over again in his 
 own languao^e. All this nettled Mr. Adams ex- 
 ceedingly. 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, 
 ymost everything written by any of the rest 
 is rejected, or agreed to with very little criti- 
 /sm, verbal or substantial. But every line 
 that I write passes a gauntlet of objections by 
 '/ / every one of my colleagues, v^hich finally is 
 '"^ sues, for the most part, in the rejection of it 
 all." He reflects, with a somewhat forced ait 
 of self-discipline, that this must indicate some 
 laultiness in his composition which he must try 
 
84 JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 
 
 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 in- 
 formed 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 in discussion, and often 
 pretty hotly. Instead of coming nearer to- 
 gether, 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 ano 
 diligently, allowing himself little leisure fo' 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 85 
 
 pleasure ; but Mr. Clay, without actually neg- 
 lecting his duties, yet managed to find ample 
 time for enj(\yment. More than once Mr. Ad- 
 ams notes tliiit, 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 niglit long. In these little 
 touches one sees the distinctive characters of 
 the men well portrayed. 
 
 The very extravagance of the British de- 
 mands at least saved the Americans from per- 
 plexity. Mr. Clay, indeed, cherished an " in- 
 conceivable idea" that the Englishmen would 
 " finish by receding from the groimd they had 
 taken;" but meantime there could be no differ- 
 ence 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 in- 
 terests 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 nim in this audacious policy, 
 the humor of which is delicious. It would have 
 been infinitely droL to see how the B?'itish Com- 
 missioners would have haixed such a proposition, 
 by way of appropriate termination of a contiict 
 
86 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 in which the forces of their nation had cap- 
 tured 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 be- 
 fore 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 per- 
 haps occasionally warmth of discussion. So sure 
 were the Americans that they were about to 
 break off the negotiations that Mr. Adams be- 
 gan to consider by what route he should return 
 to St. Petersburg ; and they declined to renew 
 the tenvire of their quarters for more than a few 
 days longer. Like alarms were of frequent oc- 
 currence, even almost to the very day of agree- 
 ment. On September 15, at a dinner given by 
 the American Commissioners, Lord Gambiei 
 asked Mr. Adams whether he would return im- 
 mediately 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 " terminat« 
 'he business," and that they " must fight it out.' 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 87 
 
 Fighting it out was a much less painful prospect 
 tor 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 dis- 
 appointment," 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 concessions not permitted by their instruc- 
 tions, because, as he said ; — 
 
 '' I felt so sure that [the home government] would 
 now gladly take the state before the war as the gen- 
 eral 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. 1 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 
 ^ellows you, to think of getting out of the war 
 as well as you got into it." This was not con- 
 soling for the representatives of that side which 
 
88 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 
 f<tatus ante helium^ Three days afterwards, on 
 November 27, three and a half months after 
 the vexatious haggling had been begun, we en- 
 counter in the Diary the first real gleam of hope 
 of a successful termination: "All the difficul- 
 ties to the conclusion of a peace appear to be 
 now so nearly removed, that my colleagues all 
 consider it as certain. I myself think it prob- 
 able." 
 
 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 ap- 
 proached. The differences between the Amer- 
 ican 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 Missis- 
 sippi, then a re -affirmance of the American 
 tights in the Northeastern fisheries was equally 
 aecessary. This the English Commissioners de 
 
JOEN QUINCY ADAMS. 89 
 
 nied. Mr. Adams said it was only an exchange 
 of privileges presumably equivalent. i\Ir. Clay, 
 however, was firmly resolved to prevent all stip- 
 ulations 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 con- 
 ceded 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 
 BO. " Mr. Clay lost his temper," writes Mr. 
 Adams a day or two Liter, '' as he generally 
 does whenever this right of the British to nav- 
 igate the Mississippi is discussed. He was ut- 
 terly 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 
 Enfrhmder — the son of the man whose exertions 
 had been chiefly instrumental in originally ob- 
 
90 JOHN QUINCY AD AMU. 
 
 taining the grant of the Northeastern fishery 
 privileges, — naturally went to the other ex- 
 treme. He thought " the British right of nav 
 ijxating the Mississippi to be as nothing, consid- 
 ered as agrantfi-om 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 Brit- 
 ish 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 government could not make a peace 
 which would abandon it." The fisheries, how- 
 ever, 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 
 
 V, 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 91 
 
 and making all tbeir otlier 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 hrag'" with the English- 
 men. His colleagues, more complaisant or hav- 
 ing less confidence in their own skill in that 
 game, found it difficult to placate him ; he 
 " stalked to and fro across the chamber, repeat- 
 ing five or six times, ' I will never sign a treaty 
 upon the status ante helium with the Indian 
 article. So help me God ! ' " The next day there 
 was an angry controversy with the English- 
 men. The British troops had taken and held 
 Moose Island in Passamaquoddy Bay, the right- 
 ful ownership of wliich was in dispute. The title 
 was to be settled by arbitrators. But the ques- 
 tion, whether the British should restore posses- 
 sion 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 A rage), said Goul- 
 
92 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 burn, ' 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 informa* 
 tion 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 sub- 
 ject, 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 
 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 re- 
 served." It was certainly forcing the spirit of 
 good fellowship. The next day Mr. Clay noti- 
 fied 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 fish- 
 ery point," in which case he also could not sign 
 whe treaty. On the following day, however, the 
 Amei'cans were surprised by receiving a note 
 from the British Commissioners, wherein they 
 Qiade the substantial concession of omitting 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 93 
 
 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 impress- 
 ment ; but upon this point he found none of his 
 colleagues ready to back him, and he was com- 
 pelled perforce to yield. Agreement was there- 
 fore now substantially reached; a few minor 
 matters were settled, and on December 24, 1814, 
 the treaty was signed by all the eight nego- 
 tiators. 
 
 It was an astonishing as well as a happy 
 result. Never, probably, in the history of di- 
 plomacy has concord been produced from such 
 discordant elements as had been brought to- 
 gether in Ghent. Dissension seemed to have 
 become the mother of amity ; and antipathies 
 were mere preliminaries to a good understand- 
 ing; 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 Cab- 
 met. At the outset Lord Casfiereagh had been 
 very unwilling to conclude peace, and his dis 
 
94 JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 
 
 position had found expression in the original 
 intolerable terms prepared by the British Com 
 missioners. 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 nego- 
 tiations Lord Castlereagh went on a diplomatic 
 errand to Vienna, and there fell into such threat- 
 ening discussions with the Emperor of Russia 
 and the King of Prussia, that he thought it 
 prudent to have done with the American war, 
 and wrote home pacific advices. Hence, at last, 
 came such concessions as satisfied the Amer- 
 icans. 
 
 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 ques- 
 tions of boundary by sundry boards of commis- 
 Bioners ; each party was to make peace with 
 the Indian allies of the other. Such were, in 
 substance, the only points touched upon by thii 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 95 
 
 document. Of the many subjects mootea be- 
 tween the negotiators scarcely any had sur- 
 vived 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 noth- 
 ing of the Northeastern fisheries, which they re- 
 garded 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 English. The 
 Americans were content to have nothing said 
 about impressment ; nor was any one of the 
 many illegal rights exercised by England for- 
 mally abandoned. The Americans satisfied 
 themselves with the reflection that circum- 
 stances had rendered these points now only mat- 
 ters of abstract principle, since the pacification 
 of Europe had removed all opportunities and 
 temptations for England to persist in her pre- 
 vious 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 will- 
 mg to conduct a serious war. There was, how- 
 ever, no provision for indemnification. 
 
 Upon a fair consideration, it must be ad* 
 
96 JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 
 
 mitted 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 Com- 
 missioners had done themselves ample credit. 
 They had succeeded in agreeing with each 
 other ; they had avoided any fracture of a ne- 
 gotiation which, up to the very end, seemed 
 almost daily on the verge of being broken off 
 in anger; they had managed really to lose noth- 
 ing, in spite of the fact that their side had had 
 decidedly the worst of the struggle. They had 
 negotiated much more successfully than the 
 armies of their countrymen had fought. The 
 Marquis of Wellesley said, in the House of 
 Lords, that " in his opinion the American 
 Commissioners had shown a most astonishing 
 superiority over the British during the whole 
 of the correspondence." One cannot help wish- 
 ing 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 no* 
 
JOBN QUINCY ADAMS. 97 
 
 fought until a few days after the eight Coiiimis- 
 liouers had signed their coaipact. It is an in- 
 teresting illustration of the slowness of commu- 
 nication which our forefatliers had to endure, 
 that tlie treaty crossed the Atlantic in a sail- 
 ing ship in time to travel through much of the 
 country simultaneously w^ith 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 para- 
 graph : " Who would not be an American ? 
 Long live the Republic ! All hail ! last asylum 
 of oppressed humanity ! Peace is signed in the 
 arms of victory ! " It was natural that most 
 of the ecstasy should be manifested concerning 
 the military triumph, and that the mass of the 
 people should find more pleasure in glorifying 
 General Jackson than in exalting the Commis- 
 sioners. The value of their work, however, was 
 well proved by the voice of Great Britain. In 
 "he London Times of December 80 appeared 
 II most angry tirade against the treaty, with 
 bitter sneers at those who called the peace an 
 'Uionorable " one. England, it was said, "had 
 attempted to force her principles on America, 
 and had failea." Foreign powers would sav 
 that the English '' had retired from the combat 
 with the stripes yet bleeding on their backs, 
 
98 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 — with the recent defeats at Plattsburgh and 
 on Lake Champlain unavenged." The most 
 gloomy prognostications of further wars with 
 America when her naval power sliould have 
 ;vaxed much greater were indulged. The loss 
 of prestige in Europe, " the probable loss of our 
 trans-Atlantic provinces," were among the re- 
 sults to be anticipated from this treaty into 
 which the English Commissioners had been be- 
 guiled by the Americans. These latter were re- 
 viled with an abuse which was really the high- 
 est compliment. The family name of Mr. 
 Adams gained no small access of distinction in 
 England from this business. 
 
 After the conclusion of the treaty Mr. Adams 
 went to Paris, and remained there until the mid- 
 dle 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 Minis- 
 ter 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 negotia 
 tions at Ghent had been conducted, of whose 
 abilitifs the government appeared to entertain 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 99 
 
 H better opinion than the Marquis of Welles- 
 ley had expressed. This negotiation had been 
 brought so far towards conclusion by his col- 
 leagues 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's. 
 Thus he fulfilled Washington's prophecy, by 
 reaching the highest rank in the American dip- 
 lomatic service. 
 
 Of his stay in Great Britain little need be 
 said. He had few duties of importance to per- 
 form. The fisheries, the right of impressment, 
 and the taking away and selling of slaves by 
 British naval officers during the late wai, 
 formed the subjects of many interviews be- 
 tween him and Lord Castlereagh, without, how- 
 ever, any definite results being reached. But 
 he succeeded in obtaining, towards the close of 
 his stay, some slight remission of the severe re- 
 strictions 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 Eng- 
 lishman to insult. He leniarks of Castlerea-gh, 
 ifter one of his first interviews with that noble- 
 
100 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 man : " His deportment is sufficiently grace- 
 ful, and his person is handsome. His manner 
 was cold, but not absolutely repulsive." Be« 
 fore 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. 
 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 repub- 
 Vtcan simplicity, not to say poverty, forced upon 
 American representatives abroad, was a very 
 different matter in the censorious and un 
 Iriendly society of London from what it had 
 iicen at the kindly disposed Court of St. Peters 
 ^>irg. The relationship between the mothei 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 101 
 
 country and the quondam colonies, especially 
 at that juncture, was such as to render social 
 life intolerably trying to an under-paid Ameri- 
 can minister. 
 
 Mr. Adams remained in England until June 
 15, 1817, when he sailed from Cowes, closing 
 forever his long and honorable diplomatic ca- 
 reer, 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. 
 
 •• SECRETARY OF STATE AND PRESIDENT. 
 
 From the capitals of Russia and Great Biit- 
 lin 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 gen- 
 tlemen's drawing-rooms, and a carriage, bring- 
 ing 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, ia 
 pathetic in its unutterable horror : — 
 
 " It is impossible," he writes, " for me to describe 
 to you my feelings on entering this miserable desert, 
 -his scene of desolation and horror. . . . My antic* 
 oations were almost infinitely short of the reality, an</ 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 103 
 
 i can truly say that the first appearance of this seat 
 of the national government has produced in me noth- 
 ing 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 some- 
 times 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 to- 
 gether. There were simple tea-drinkings, stu- 
 pid weekly dinners at the President's, infre- 
 quent 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 pud- 
 dings in the form of fowls, fresh cod disguised 
 like a salad, and celery like oysters ; " further, 
 he scandalized some and demoralized others by 
 Tiaving dancing on Saturday evenings, which 
 
104 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 fche New England ladles had been " educated to 
 consider as holy time." Mi*, and Mrs. Adams 
 used to give weekly parties on Tuesday even- 
 ings, 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 
 fche 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 conver- 
 sation 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 f 8,000, an amount so considerable 
 for him as to weigh upon his mind to the man- 
 ifest 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 bet- 
 ting at the card-table, and stirred the dullness 
 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* 
 
JOHN QUIACT ADAMS. lOa 
 
 was only six paces. Mason was killed ; his 
 cousin was wounded, and only by a lucky ac- 
 cident escaped with his life. Mr. Adams had 
 little time and less taste for either the amuse- 
 ments 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 assid- 
 uously the livelong day. His favorite exercise 
 was swimming in the Potomac, where he ac- 
 complished feats which would have been ex- 
 traordinary for a young and athletic man. 
 
 The most important, perplexing, and time- 
 consuming duties then called for by the condi- 
 tion of public affairs, happened to fall within 
 Mr. Adams's department. Monroe's adminis- 
 tration 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 
 f>i hardly more importance than were the Jac« 
 •bites in England after their last hopes had 
 
106 JOHN QuINCY ADAMS, 
 
 been quenched by the failure of the Rebellion 
 of '45. The Federalist faith, like Jacobitism, 
 lingered in a few neighborhoods, and was main- 
 tained by a few old families, who managed to 
 associate it with a sense of their own pride and 
 lignity; but as an effective opposition or in- 
 fluential party organization, it was effete, and 
 no successor was rising out of its ruins. In a 
 broad way, therefore, there was political har- 
 mony to a very remarkable degree. 
 
 But among individuals there was by no 
 means a prevailing good feeling. Not held to- 
 gether by the pressure exerted by the antago- 
 nism of a strong hostile force, the prominent 
 men of the Cabinet and in Congress were 
 busily employed in promoting their own indi- 
 vidual interests. Having no gi-eat 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 prece- 
 dents Mr. Adams, as Secretary of State, ap- 
 peared most prominent as a candidate for the 
 succession to the Presidency. But Mr. Craw- 
 lord, in the Treasury Department, had beer 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 107 
 
 very near obtaining the nomination instead of 
 Monroe, and he was firmly resolved to secure 
 it so soon as Mr. Monroe's eight years should 
 have elapsed. He, therefore, finding much 
 leisure left upon his hands by the not very 
 exacting: business of his office, devoted his in- 
 genuity 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 as- 
 siduously to oppose and thwart the Administra- 
 tion, and to make it unsuccessful and unpopu- 
 lar. 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 qual- 
 ities into action, and his course was largely in- 
 fluenced by selfish considerations. It was not 
 long before Mr. Calhoun also entered the lists, 
 though in a manner less discreditable to him- 
 self, personally, than were the resources of 
 Crawford and Clay. The daily narrations and 
 3omments of Mr. Adams display and explain 
 m a manner highly instructive, if not altogether 
 
108 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 agreeable, the ambitions 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 temporu 
 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 per- 
 sonal friends and adherents for carrying on con- 
 tests 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 ma- 
 chinery, liut 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 dis- 
 honesty 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. 
 As has been said, it so happened that in Mr 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 109 
 
 Monroe's administration the heaviest burden of 
 labor and responsibility rested upon Mr. Adams; 
 the most important and most perplexing ques- 
 tions fell within his department. Domestic 
 breaches had been healed, but foreign breaches 
 gaped with threatening jaws. War with Spain 
 seemed imminent. Her South American col- 
 onies were then waging their contest for inde- 
 pendence, and naturally looked to the late suc- 
 cessful 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 Depart- 
 ment 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 
 " Neutralitv Act," w^iich 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 
 flistaste for rebellion by coionists. and also be- 
 lieving that Spain would in time prevail over 
 <he insurgents, turned a deaf ear to South Araer- 
 
110 JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. 
 
 lean agents. But in the United States it waa 
 different. Here it was anticipated that the re- 
 volted 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 estab- 
 lished government are like plaintiffs in litiga- 
 tion; the burden of proof is upon them, and 
 the neutral nations who are a sort of quasi- 
 jurors must not commit themselves to a deci- 
 sion prematurely. The gi-ave 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 re- 
 joiced in such a topic for his luxuriant oratory, 
 and he lauded freedom and abased the Admin- 
 istration with a force of expression far from 
 gratifying to the responsible heads of govern- 
 ment in their troublesome task. 
 
 Apart from these matters the United States 
 bad direct disputes of a threatening charactei 
 
JOUN QUINC7 ADAMS. Ill 
 
 pending with Spain concerning the boundariea 
 of Louisiana. Naturally enough boundary lines 
 in the half explored wilderness of this vast con- 
 tinent were not then marked with that indis- 
 putable 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, seiz- 
 ing towns and hanging people after his lawless, 
 ignorant, energetic fashion. Mr. Adams's chief 
 labor, therefore, was by no means of a promis- 
 ing 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 onlj beyond expectation but beyond 
 hope 
 
 Many and various also were the incidental 
 \.tbstacle3 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 America^i tbns 
 de'icribed : — 
 
112 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 " Cold, 'calculating, wily, always commanding hi» 
 own temper, proud because he is a Spaniard, but sup- 
 ple and cunning, accommodating the tone of his pre- 
 tensions 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 at- 
 tentive 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 de- 
 clmed with the declina 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 ques- 
 tion of boundary, "he insisted much upon the 
 uifinite pains he had taken to prevail upon lua 
 government to come to terms of accommoda 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 113 
 
 tion," and pathetically declared that " the 
 King's Council was composed of such ignorant 
 and stupid nigauds, grandees of Spain, and 
 priests," that Mr. Adams "could have no con- 
 ception of their obstinacy and imbecility." 
 
 Other difficulties in Mr. Adams's way were 
 Buch as ought not to have been encountered. 
 The only substantial concession which he was 
 willing to make was in accepting the Sabine in- 
 stead 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 in- 
 sidious 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 es- 
 sential feature odious to the people. 
 
 "That all his conduct," wrote Mr. Adams, "is 
 governed by his views to the Presidency, as the ulti- 
 mate 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 .ntrigue. 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 iu- 
 8 
 
114 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 fluence, and their failure would lead to the disgrace 
 of the Secretary of State, Crawford's personal views 
 centre in the ill-success of the Administration in its 
 foreign relations ; and, perhaps unconscious of his 
 own motives, he will always be impelled to throw 
 obstacles in its way, and to bring upon the Depart- 
 ment of State especially any feeling of public dissat- 
 isfaction 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 Administra- 
 tion 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 insistance 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 
 Buccess or failure upon his own shoulders, show- 
 ing indeed a high and admirable courage and 
 constancy amid such grave perplexities, in which 
 '.t seemed that all his future political fortunes 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 115 
 
 frere involved. He caused the proffered niedia- 
 kion of Great Britain to be rejected. He availed 
 himself of no aid save only the services of 
 Mons. de Neuville, the French minister, who 
 took a warm interest in the negotiation, ex- 
 postulated and argued constantly with Don 
 Onis and sometimes with Mr. Adams, served as 
 a channel of communication and carried mes- 
 Bages, propositions, and denials, which could 
 better come filtered through a neutral go-be- 
 tween than pass direct from principal to prin- 
 cipal. 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 mea* 
 ured the precise line to which the severe pres 
 sure 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 rehic- 
 tantly approach toward him at one ])oint or an- 
 other, solemnly protesting that he could not 
 make another move, by argument and entj-eaty 
 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 
 
116 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Baying to the courtly Spaniard that he " was 
 BO weai'ied 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 nevel* 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 cit- 
 izens 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 es- 
 tablished 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 negotiator! 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 117 
 
 ligned and sealed tlie counterparts of tlie treaty. 
 Mr. Adams notes tliat it is " perhaps tlie 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 con- 
 cession, 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 con- 
 firmed by an unanimous vote of the Senate. 
 
 It was not long, however, before the pleasure 
 justly derivable frooi ths 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 
 treat}'-, so that the territory covered by them 
 would become the public property of the United 
 States, bore date earlier than had been under- 
 istood, 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 pos- 
 sible to set it right wer*^ promptl}^ taken. Mr. 
 Adams appealed to Don Onis to state in writing 
 that he himself had understood that these grants 
 were to be annulled, and "^iiat such had been the 
 uitention of the treaty The Spaniard replied 
 
118 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 in a shape imperfectly satisfactory. He shuf- 
 fled, 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 impres- 
 sion 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 fourherie de ScapinJ' "" Be- 
 fore 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 dis- 
 credit by reason of this unfortunate oversight. 
 
 What might have been the result had the 
 treaty been ratified by Spain can only be sur- 
 mised. But it so befell — happily enough for 
 the United States and for Mr. Adams, as it aft- 
 erwards turned out — that the Spanish govern- 
 .aent refused to ratify. The news was, how- 
 ever, that they would forthwith dispatch a new 
 minister to explain this refusal and to renew 
 negotiations. 
 
 For liis own private part Mr. Adams strove 
 
JOHN aUlNCY ADAMS. 119 
 
 bo endure this buffet of unkindly fortune with 
 that unflinching and stubborn temper, slightly 
 dashed with bitterness, which stood him in good 
 stead in many a political trial during his hard- 
 fighting career. But in his official capacity he 
 had also to consider and advise what it be- 
 hooved the Administration to do under the cir- 
 cumstances. 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 meetino^s durlnor the 
 negotiation the Secretary of State, who was al- 
 ways 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 upc%i 
 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 
 lome undisputed Spanish territory also. But 
 Mr. Monroe and the rest of the Cabinet pre- 
 ferred a milder course ; and France and Great 
 Britain ventured to express to this country a 
 hope that no violent action would be precipi- 
 tately taken. So the matter laj' by for a while, 
 awaiting the coming Df the promised envoy 
 ti'om Spain. 
 
120 JOHN QUINCY ADAMii. 
 
 At this time the great question of the admis* 
 sion of Missouri into the Union of States be- 
 gan to agitate Congress and the nation. Mr, 
 Adams, deeply absorbed in the perplexing af- 
 fairs 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 irrepres- 
 sible 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 a'mply suffi- 
 cient to control the successive emergencies, the 
 underlying moral force of the anti-slavery move- 
 ment 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 foresee- 
 ing accuracy. He discerned in passing events 
 the " title-page to a great tragic volume ; " and 
 he predicted that the more or less distant bul 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 121 
 
 Bure end must be an attempt to disyolve the 
 Union. His own position was distinctly defined 
 from the outset, and his strong feelings were 
 vigorously expressed. He beheld with profound 
 regret the superiority of the slave-holding party 
 in ability ; he remarked sadly how greatly they 
 excelled in debating power their lukewarm op- 
 ponents ; he was filled with indignation against 
 the Northern men of Southern principles. " Sla- 
 very," 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 practica- 
 ble." " 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 sen- 
 timents 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 
 commnnicating those eternal truths that belong 
 to this question, to lay bare in all its nakedness 
 that outrage upon the goodness of God, human 
 
122 JOUN QUINCr ADAMS. 
 
 slavery ; now is the time and this is the occa- 
 Bion, 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 pre- 
 scient than Mr. Adams, declared that he did 
 not think that the slavery question '' would pro- 
 duce 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 ques- 
 tion 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 dis- 
 solution, after which he trusted that the course 
 of events would in time surely lead to reorgan 
 Ization upon the basis of universal freedom fo? 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 123 
 
 nil. He was not a disunionist in any sense, yet 
 it is evident that his strong tendency and in- 
 clination were to regard emancipation as a 
 weight in the scales heavier than union, if it 
 should ever come to the point of an option be- 
 tween the two. 
 
 Strangely enough the notion of a forcible re- 
 tention of the slave States within the Union 
 does not seem to have been at this time a sub- 
 stantial 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 oi 
 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 shivery 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 
 jinxious to lay hands upon the Floridas and upon 
 as far-reaching an area as possible in the direc- 
 tion 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 
 
124 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 the Union upon its southern side. Sectional in- 
 terests were getting to be more considered than 
 national. Mr. Adams could not but recognize 
 that in the great race for the Presidency, in 
 which he could hardly help being a competitor, 
 the chief advantage which he seemed to have 
 won when the Senate unanimously ratified the 
 Spanish treaty, had almost wholly vanished 
 since that treaty had been repudiated by Spain 
 and was now no longer desired by a large pro- 
 portion of his own countrymen. 
 
 Matters stood thus when the new Spanish 
 envo}^ 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 improba- 
 bility 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. Per- 
 haps 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 u 
 decisive bluntness, not altogether consonant to 
 the habits of diplomacy, and manifested an un 
 changeable stubbornness which left no room foi 
 
 J 
 
JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 125 
 
 discussion. His position was simply that Spain 
 might make such a treaty as the United States 
 demanded, or might take the consequences of 
 her refusah His doo-ored will wore out the 
 Spaniard's pride, and after a fruitless delay the 
 King and Cortes ratified the treaty in its orig- 
 inal shape, with the important addition of an 
 explicit annulment of tlie 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 unpop- 
 ular," 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 
 BO me 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 ar- 
 dently longed for, once apparently gained, and 
 anon so cruelly thwarted. But the triumph was 
 rather enhanced than diminished by all this dif- 
 ficulty and delay. A long and checkered his- 
 tory, wherein appeared infinite labor, many a 
 severe trial of temper and hard test of moral 
 
126 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 courage, bitter disappointment, ignoble artiliceg 
 of opponents, ungenerous opposition growing 
 out of unworthy personal motives at home, was 
 now at last closed by a chapter which appeared 
 only the more gratifying by contrast with what 
 had gone before. Mr. Adams recorded, with 
 less of exultation than might have been pardon- 
 able, the utter discomfiture of " all the calcula- 
 tors 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 de- 
 serts. Many years afterwards, in changed cir- 
 cumstances, 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 
 bad then upon consultation expressed a deliber 
 jite and special approval. 
 
 The same day, February 22, 1821, closed 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 12T 
 
 Bays Mr. Adams, " two of the most memorable 
 transactions of my life." That he should speak 
 thus of the exchange of ratifications of the 
 Spanish treaty is natural ; but the other so 
 •'memorable transaction" may not appear of 
 equal magnitude. It was the sending in to Con- 
 gress 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 in- 
 genuity 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 uncongen- 
 ial difiiculties 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 
 'ound this report a solid and magnificent mon- 
 ;ment of research and reflection, which has not 
 even yet been superseded by later treatises. Mr. 
 Adams was honest in labor as in everything, 
 fcnd was never careless at points where inac 
 
128 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 curacy or lack of thoroughness might be ex- 
 pected to escape detection. Hence his success 
 in a task upon which it is difficult to imagine 
 other statesmen of that day — Clay, Webster, 
 or Calhoun, for example — so much as making 
 an effort. The topic is not one concerning 
 which readers would tolerate much lingering. 
 Suffice it then to say that the document illus- 
 trated 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 uni- 
 formly 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 na- 
 tive pride which enabled him to support in the 
 most effective manner the dignity of the people 
 for whom he spoke. For example, in treaties be- 
 tween the United States and European powers 
 the latter were for a time wont to name them- 
 selves first throughout the instruments, conti-arj 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 129 
 
 to the custom of alternation practised in trea- 
 ties between themselves. With some difficulty, 
 partly interposed, it must be confessed, by liis 
 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 sym- 
 bolize 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 undiscovera- 
 ble, 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 Englauvi 
 jind France regarded tlie people of the United 
 States as ambitious and encroaching; where- 
 fore he advised a moderate policy in order to 
 vemove this impression. Mr. Adams on tiie 
 oth'^.r side declared that ae was Jiot in favoi 
 
 9 
 
130 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 of our giving ourselves any concern whatever 
 about the opinions of any foreign povi^er. " 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 composi- 
 tion." 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 At- 
 lantic, 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 bant- 
 ling 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 the- 
 ory first expressed by Monroe and now included 
 in the modern doctrine as a part in the whole 
 but a principle more fully identical with th« 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 13l 
 
 imperial one of to-day had been conceived and 
 shaped by Mr. Adams before the delivery of 
 Monroe's famous message. As has just been 
 remarked, he looked forward to the possession 
 of the whole North American continent by the 
 United States as a sure destiny, and for his own 
 part, whenever opportunity offered, he was 
 never backward to promote this glorious ulti- 
 mate 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 comforta- 
 ble 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 min- 
 ister at Madrid the sic^nificant 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 
 t -emed distasteful to him, and he was always 
 forward to stretch a point in order to advo- 
 cate or defend a seizure of disputed North 
 American territory, as in the cases of Amelia 
 
132 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Island, Pensacola, and Galveston. When dia 
 cussion arose with Russia concerning her posses- 
 sions on the northwest coast of this continent, 
 Mr. Adams audaciously told the Russian min- 
 ister. Baron Tuyl, July 17, 1823, "that we 
 should contest the rights of Russia to any terri- 
 torial 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 
 foot-note 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 mes- 
 sage 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 in- 
 volved, 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 immi 
 jent, which fortunately never called for a deter 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 138 
 
 mination by action, tut wbicli in this latter 
 part of 1823 threatened to do so at any moment. 
 Cautious and moderate as the United States 
 had been, under Mr. Adams's guidance, in recog- 
 nizing the freedom and. autonomy of the South 
 American states, yet in time the recognition 
 was made of one after another, and the emanci- 
 pation of South America had come, while Mr. 
 Adams was yet Secretary, to be regarded as an 
 established fact. But now, in 1823-2-1:, came 
 mutteriuiis from across the Atlantic indiiating 
 a strong probability that the members of the 
 Holy Alliance would interfere in behalf of mo- 
 narchical and anti-revolutionary principles, and 
 would assist in tlie re-subjugation of the suc- 
 cessful insurgents. Tliat each one of the pow- 
 ers 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 corre- 
 Bpond exactly " with the sentiments of Mr. 
 Monroe's message, in which he appears to have 
 laken a very high and defiant position. These 
 documents, coming before th^ Cabinet for con- 
 lideration, caused some flutter among his asso- 
 
134 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 ciates. In the possible event of the Holy Alli 
 ance actually intermeddling in South American 
 affairs, it was said, the principles enunciated by 
 the Secretary of State would involve this coun- 
 try in war with a very formidable confedera- 
 tion. Mr. Adams acknowledged this, but cour- 
 ageously 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 dic- 
 tates of a wise prudence, though fortunately 
 the course of events never brought this ques- 
 tion to trial ; and it is at least gratifying to 
 contemplate such a manifestation of daring tem- 
 per. 
 
 But though so bold and independent, Mr. 
 Adams was not habitually reckless nor prone 
 to excite animosity by needless arrogance in ac- 
 Mon or extravagance in principle. In any less 
 perilous extremity than Avas presented by this 
 menaced intrusion of combined Europe he fol- 
 lowed 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 Por- 
 tugal. Once he was made the recipient of a 
 v^ery amusing proposition from the Portuguese 
 
JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. 135 
 
 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 of this notion 
 was of a kind that Mr. Adams could appreci- 
 ate, 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 
 Bystem, we have it ; we constitute the whole of 
 it ; there is no communit}'^ 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 Rus- 
 sia 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 slight 
 est and most indirect manner. When the cause 
 of Greek liberty aroused the usual throng of 
 noisy advocates for active interference, he con- 
 tented himself vnth expressions of cordial sym- 
 pathy, accompanied by perfectly distinct and 
 explicit statements that under no circumstances 
 
136 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Bould any aid in the way of money oi auxiliary 
 forces be expected from this comitry. Neiitrala 
 we were and would remain in any and all 
 European quarrels. When Stratford Canning 
 urged, with the uttermost meastire of persis' 
 tence of which even he was capable, that for 
 the suppression of the slave trade some such ar- 
 rangement might be made as that of mixed tri- 
 bunals for the trial of slave-trading vessels, and 
 alleged that divers European powers were unit- 
 ing for this purpose, Mr. Adams suggested, as 
 an insuperable obstacle, '' the general extra-Eu- 
 ropean policy of the United States — a pol- 
 icy which they had always pursued as best 
 suited to then- own interests, and best adapted 
 to harmonize with those of Europe. This pol- 
 icy had also been that of Europe, which had 
 never considered the United States as belong- 
 ing 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 suppres- 
 sion of the slave trade. He added, that he did 
 t}ot wish his language to be construed as im 
 
JOHN QUJNCr ADAMS. 137 
 
 porting " an unsocial and sulky spirit on the 
 part of the United States ; " for no such tem- 
 per existed ; it had simply been the policy of 
 Europe to consider this country as standing 
 aloof from all European federations, and in this 
 treatment " we had acquiesced, because it fell 
 in with our own policy." 
 
 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 incor- 
 rect, 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 princi- 
 ple was simply that the United States would 
 take no part whatsoever in foreign politics, not 
 even in those of South America, save in the ex- 
 treme event, eliminated from among things pos- 
 sible 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 in-prove upon the principles 
 which Mr. Adams worked out for us. 
 
 Mr. Adams had some pretty stormy times 
 
138 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 vdth Mr. Stratford Canning — the same gentle- 
 man wlio in his later life is familiar to the read- 
 ers of Kinglake's History of the Crimean War 
 as Lord Stratford de Redclyffe, or Eltchi. That 
 minister's overbearing and dictatorial deport- 
 ment was afterwards not out of place when he 
 was representirg 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 beard- 
 ing one who was at least his equal in pride and 
 temper. The na'ive surprise which he man- 
 ifested on making this discovery is very amus- 
 ing, 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 Eng- 
 lish propositions for joint efforts to suppress 
 the slave trade. Great Britain had engaged 
 mt\\ much vigor and certainly with an admir 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 139 
 
 able humanity in this cause. Her scheme waa 
 that each power should keep armed cruisers on 
 the coast of Africa, that the war-ships of either 
 nation might search the merchant vessels of the 
 other, and that mixed courts of joint commis- 
 sioners should try all cases of capture. This 
 plan had been urged upon the several Euro- 
 pean nations, but with imperfect success. Por- 
 tugal, 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 Par- 
 liament " that they were obliged to make a 
 parade of zeal. VVliether this suspicion was 
 correct or not, it is certain tliat Mr. Stratford 
 Canning was very persistent in the presenta- 
 tion of his demands, and could not be persuaded 
 to take No for an answer. Had it been pos- 
 sible 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 *' ex- 
 tra-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 tc 
 
140 JOHN QUINCr ADAMS. 
 
 search our ships for English-born seamen in 
 time of war, utterly precluded the possibility 
 of admitting any rights of search whatsoever 
 upon her part even in time of peace for any 
 purpose or in any shape. In vain did the Eng- 
 lishman 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 sub- 
 ject of search that no description of right of 
 that kind could ever be tolerated. " All con- 
 cession of principle," he said, " tended to en- 
 courage 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 sub- 
 stantial results. This discussion, however, was 
 generally harmonious. Once only, in its earlier 
 Btages, Mr. Adams notes a remark of Mr. Can 
 ning, repeated for the second time, and not alto 
 gether gratifying. He said, writes Mc Adams 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 141 
 
 ' that he should always receive any observa* 
 ions that I may make to him with a just defer- 
 3nce to my advance of years — over him. This 
 is one of those equivocal compliments which, 
 according to Sterne, a Frenchman always re- 
 turns with a bow." 
 
 It was when they got upon the matter of the 
 American settlement at the mouth of the Co- 
 lumbia River, that the two struck fire. Posses- 
 Bion of this disputed spot had been taken by 
 the Americans, but was broken up by the Brit- 
 ish during the war of 1812. After the declara- 
 tion of peace upon the status ante helium^ a 
 British government vessel had been dispatched 
 upon the special errand of making formal re- 
 turn of the port to the Americans. In January, 
 1821, certain remarks made in debate in the 
 House of Representatives, followed soon after- 
 ward by publication in the National Intelli- 
 gencer of a paper signed by Senator Eaton, led 
 Mr. Canning to think that the Government en- 
 tertained the design of establishing a substan- 
 tial settlement at the mouth of the river. On 
 January 26 he called upon Mr. Adams and 
 inquired the intentions of the Administration 
 ►n regard to this. Mr. Adam3 replied that an 
 increase of the present settlement was not im- 
 Drobable. Thereupon Mr. Canning dropping 
 the air of " easy familiarity *' which had previ- 
 
142 JOHN QU1^CY ADAMS. 
 
 Dusly marked the intercourse between the two, 
 and "assuming a tone more peremptory " than 
 Mr. Adams '•'• was disposed to endure," ex- 
 pressed his great surprise. Mr. Adams " with 
 a corresponding change of tone " expressed 
 equal surprise, " both at the form and sub- 
 stance of his address." Mr. Canning said that 
 "he conceived such a settlement w^ould 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, " Novr, sir, 
 if you have any charge to make against the 
 American Government for a violation of this 
 article, you will please to make the communica- 
 tion 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 re- 
 ceive 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 re» 
 fused henceforth any conference with you upon th« 
 fiuryect of my mission ? ' ' Not at all, sir,' said I 
 
JOHI^ QUINCY ADAMS. 143 
 
 my request is, that if you have anything further to 
 lay to me upon this subject, you would say it in writ- 
 ing. And my motive is to avoid what, both from tlio 
 nature of the subject and from the manner in which 
 you 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 un- 
 derstand that you refuse any further conference with 
 me on this subject?' I said, 'No. But you will un- 
 derstand 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 
 chiim to the territory in question. Mr. Can- 
 ning rejoined, and referred to the sending out 
 of the American ship of war Ontario, in 1817, 
 without any notice to the British minister^ at 
 Washington, — 
 
 " speaking in a very emphatic manner and as if 
 
 here had been an intended secret expedition . . 
 
 ivhich 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 ; 
 
 1 Then Mr. Bagot. 
 
144 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 but I certainly did not think him serious, and we had 
 a good-humored laughing conversation on the occa- 
 sion.' 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.' T 
 replied, ' This is the first intimation I have ever re- 
 ceived 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 urban- 
 ity and liberality of my conduct and the personal kind- 
 ness which he had uniformly received from me. But 
 I could not finish the sentence. Mr. Canning, in a par- 
 oxysm 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 sub- 
 stance of the short conversation between Mr. Bagot 
 and me at that time ; and it was this — ' ' No doubt, 
 eir,' said Canning, interrupting me again, ' no doubt, 
 sir, Mr. Bagot answered you like a man of good 
 breeding and good humor.' 
 
 > >> 
 
 Mr. Adams began again and succeeded in 
 making, without further interruption, a carefu 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 145 
 
 recital of his talk with Mr. Bagot. While he 
 was speaking Mr. Canning grew cooler, and ex- 
 pressed 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 some of the "cau 
 tious reserve " which might have been "strictly 
 regular" between them, and that 
 
 " ' so long as his (Canning's) professions had beep 
 Bupported 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 j\Ir. 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 him- 
 self 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 
 
 tliat purpose ? ' I said, ' Now, if he pleased. . . . 
 
 But as he appeared to be under some excitement, 
 
 perhaps he might prefer some otner time, in which 
 
 case I would readily receive him to-morrow at one 
 
 o'clock ; ' upon which he rose and took leave, saying 
 
 be would come at that time." 
 10 
 
146 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 The next day, accordingly, this genial pair 
 Bgain encountered. Mr. Adams noted at first 
 in Mr. Canning's manner " an effort at coohiess, 
 but no appearance of cheerfuhiess or good 
 humor. I saw there was no relaxation of the 
 tone he had yesterday assumed, and felt that 
 none would on my part be suitable." They 
 went over quietly enough some of the ground 
 traversed the day before, Mr. Adams again ex- 
 plaining the impropriety of Mr. Canning ques- 
 tioning him concerning remarks made in de- 
 bate in Congress. It was, he said, as if Mr. 
 Rush, hearing in the House of Commons some- 
 thing said about sending troops to the Shet- 
 land 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 
 blow,' replied he, ' that we have a claim ? ' ' I do not 
 know,'' said I, ' wliat 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 exoiu 
 sively any part of the moon ; but there is not a spot 
 on this habitable globe that I could affirm you do no* 
 claim ! ' " 
 
 The conversation continued with alternations of 
 lull and storm, Mr. Canning at times becoming 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 147 
 
 ivarm and incensed and interrupting Mr. Ad- 
 ams, who retorted with a dogged asperity which 
 must have been extremely irritating. Mr. Ad- 
 ams said that he did " not expect to be plied 
 with captious questions " to obtain indirectly 
 that which had been directly denied. Mr. Can- 
 ning, '' 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. Canninsr in makino; 
 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 emo- 
 tion, who that minister was. I answered, ' INIr. Jack- 
 son.' ' 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 sa-Tie words, always in the same tone, was with 
 oauses of a few seconds between each of them, as if 
 lor a reply. I said : ' Sir, my reference to the pre- 
 
148 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 tension 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 intimi- 
 dated from the performance of my duty you will find 
 yourself greatly mistaken.' 'I had not, sir,' said T, 
 ' 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 exaspera- 
 tion, — ' 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 bad already 
 said. Mr. Canning then made a formal speech, 
 mentioning bis desire " to cultivate harmony 
 and smooth down all remnants of asperity be- 
 tween the two countries," again gracefully re- 
 ferred 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 hinr 
 iO the American Government.^^ Mr. Adama 
 bowed in silence and the stormy interview 
 ended. A day or two afterward the disputants 
 met by accident, and Mr. Canning showed sucb 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 149 
 
 ligns of resentment that there passed between 
 them a *' bare salutation." 
 
 In the condition of our relations with Great 
 Britain at the time of these interviews any 
 needless ill-feeling was strongly to be depre- 
 cated. But Mr. Adams's temperament was 
 Buch that he always saw the greater chance of 
 success in strong and spirited conduct ; nor 
 could he endure that the dignity of the Repub- 
 lic, any more than its safety, should take detri- 
 ment in his hands. Moreover he understood 
 Englishmen better perhaps than they have 
 ever been understood by any other of the pub- 
 lic men of the United States, and he handled 
 and subdued them with a temper and skill 
 highly agreeable to contemplate. The Pres- 
 ident supported him fully throughout the mat- 
 ter, 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 
 Buccession 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. 
 Tlere were, however, four whose anticipations 
 
150 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 rested upon a substantial basis. William H 
 Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury, had been 
 tlie rival of Monroe for nomination by the Con- 
 gressional caucus, and had then developed suf- 
 ficient strength to make him justly sanguine 
 that he might stand next to Monroe in the suc- 
 cession as he apparently did in the esteem of 
 their common party. Mr. Clay, Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives, had such expecta- 
 tions as might fairly grow out of his brilliant 
 reputation, poAverful 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 al- 
 ready become the great chief of the South ; but 
 this cause of his strength was likewise his weak- 
 ness, since it was felt that the North was fairly 
 entitled to present the next candidate. Tha 
 others, who at one time and another had aspi 
 tationo, like De Witt Clinton and Tompkina 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 151 
 
 were never reall}^ formidable, and may be dis- 
 regarded as insignificant threads in the complex 
 political snarl which must be unravelled. 
 
 As a study of the dark side of political 
 Bociety during this period Mr. Adams's Diary 
 is profoundly interesting. He writes with a 
 charming absence of reserve. If he thinks 
 there is rascality at work, he sets down the 
 names of the knaves and expounds their various 
 villainies of act and motive with delightfully 
 outspoken frankness. All his life he was some- 
 what 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 witli immorality, he found a sort 
 of compensation for the restraints and discom- 
 forts 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 thf 
 toore cruel by the beliefs constantly borne in 
 
152 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 apon him that his rivals did not accept for theii 
 own govfrnance 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 necessary, there- 
 fore, to be somewhat upon our guard in accept- 
 ing his estimates of men and acts at this period ; 
 though the broad general impression to be gath- 
 ered from his treatment of his rivals, even in 
 these confidentipJ pages, is favorable at least to 
 his justice of disposition and honesty of inten- 
 tion. 
 
 At the outset Mr. Clay excited Mr. Adams's 
 most lively resentment. The policy which 
 Beemed most promising to that gentleman lay in 
 antagonism to the Administration, whereas, in 
 the absence of substantial party issues, there 
 Beemed, at least to members of that Administra- 
 tion, to be no proper grounds for such antago- 
 nism. When, therefore, Mr. Clay found or de- 
 vised such grounds, the. President and his 
 Cabinet, vexed and harassed by the opposition 
 of so influential a man, not unnaturally attrib- 
 uted 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 nego 
 Kator. Probably the charge was true, and M» 
 
\ 
 
 JOE.N QUINCY ADAMS. 153 
 
 \ ■ 
 
 Clay's honesty in;) apposing an admirable treaty 
 can only be vindicated at the expense of his un- 
 derstanding, — an 6- :planation certainly not to 
 be accepted. But wl.en Mr. Adams attributed 
 to the same motive of embarrassing the Admin- 
 istration 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 in- 
 dependence of rebels. Mr. Adams was the re- 
 Bponsible minister, and liad to hold the reins; 
 Mr. Clay, outside the officiiil 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 ad"v oca^.ing his vari- 
 ous motions looking to the appohitment of min- 
 isters to the new states and io other acts of 
 recognition, he felt his eloquence rather fiied 
 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 piobably true. 
 His ardent temper was stirred- by this strug- 
 gle for independence, and his rhetoi'ical nature 
 tould not resist the opportunities for fervid and 
 
154 -fOEN aulNCY AD J MS. 
 
 Drilliant oratory presented by this struggle for 
 freedom against mediaeval despotism. Real con- 
 victions were sometimes diluted with rodomon- 
 tade, and a true feeling was to some extent stim- 
 ulated by the desire to embarrass a rival. 
 ' Entire freedom from prejudice would have 
 been too nmch to expec* 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 con 
 trol or overthrow the Executive by swaying the 
 House of Representiitives." Again he says that 
 " Clay is as rancGrously benevolent as John 
 Randolph." The stiug of these remarks lay 
 rather in the comparison with Randolph than 
 in their direct a^llegations. In January, 1819, 
 Adams notes tliat Clay has " redoubled his ran- 
 cor against me,/" and gives himself " free swing 
 to assault me i. . . 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 intrigides, and there is great danger that 
 the whole JGoVernment will degenerate into h 
 struggle oi cabals." He was rather inclined to 
 Ruch pesshmistic vaticinations ; but it must be 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 155 
 
 confessed that lie spoke with too much reason 
 on this occasion. In the absence of a suflBcient 
 supply of important public questions to absorb 
 the energies of the men in public life, the petty 
 game of personal politics was playing with un- 
 usual zeal. As time went on, however, and the 
 South American questions were removed from 
 the arena, Adams's ill-feeling towards Clay be- 
 came 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 en^ 
 tente cordiale was established as could be rea- 
 sonably expected to exist between competitors 
 very unlike both in moral and mental consti- 
 tution.^ 
 
 Mr. Adams's unbounded indignation and pro- 
 found contempt were reserved for Mr. Craw- 
 ford, partly, it may be . suspected by the cynic- 
 ally 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 de- 
 
 1 For a deliberate estimate )f Tlay's character ^ee Mr 
 Idams's Diary, ^ 325. 
 
156 JOHN QUINCr ADAMS. 
 
 grees that Adams began to suspect the under 
 hand methods and malicious practices of Craw- 
 ford ; but as conviction was gradually brought 
 home to him his native tendency towards sus- 
 picion was enhanced to an extreme degree. He 
 then came to recognize in Crawford a wholly 
 selfish and scheming politician, who had the 
 baseness to retain his seat in Mr. Monroe's Cab- 
 inet 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 insidijus 
 intent to lead the Administration, and especially 
 the Department of State, into difficulty, failure, 
 and disrepute. He notes, evidently with per- 
 fect 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 prin- 
 tiple to his ambition." Because Calhoun would 
 
JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 157 
 
 not support him for the Presidency, Crawford 
 stimulated a series of attacks upon the War De- 
 partment. He was the " instigator and animat- 
 ing spirit of the whole movement both in Con- 
 gress and at Richmond against Jackson and the 
 Administration." He was ''a worm preying 
 upon the vitals of the Administration in its own 
 body." He " solemnly deposed in a court of 
 justice that which is not true," for the purpose 
 of bringing discredit upon the testimony given 
 by Mr. Adams in the same cause. But Mr. 
 Adams says of this that he cannot bring him- 
 self 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 diffi- 
 cult 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 un- 
 pleasantly sketched is difficult. For nearly eight 
 years Mr. Adams was brought into close and 
 constant relations w^ith 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 
 
158 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 abundantly suflBcient to ruin a more vigoroua 
 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 
 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 ser- 
 vices so slender, and so thoroughly corrupt, who 
 had contrived to make himself a candidate for 
 the Presidency." Nor was this a solitary ex- 
 pression of the feelings of the distinguished 
 South Carolinian. 
 
 Mr. E. H. Mills, Senator from Massachusetts, 
 and a dispassionate observer, speaks of Craw- 
 ford with scant favor as " coarse, rough, uned- 
 ucated, of a pretty strong mind, a great in- 
 triguer, and determined to make himself Pres- 
 ident." 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 
 aot have missed it had not his health broken 
 down a few months too soon, but he had a largi 
 
JOHN QVINCY ADAMS. 159 
 
 following, strong friends, and an extensive in- 
 fluence. 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 much. One faculty, however, not 
 of the best, but serviceable, he had in a rare de- 
 gree ; he thoroughly understood all the artifices 
 of politics ; he knew how to interest and organ- 
 ize 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 manifesta- 
 tions 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 convic- 
 tion, 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 
 A Euch strong official backing, and in an hour of 
 'loixtreme need Adams aloue in the Cabinet of 
 
160 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Monroe lent an assistance which Jackson after- 
 wards too readily forgot. Seldom has a govern- 
 ment been brought by the undue ;eal of its ser- 
 vants into a quandary more perplexing than that 
 into which the reckless military hero brought the 
 Administration of President Monroe. Turned 
 loose in the regions of Florida, checked only by 
 an uncertain and disputed boundary line running 
 through half-explored forests, confronted by a 
 hated foe whose strength he could well afford 
 to despise, General Jackson, in a war properly 
 waged only against Indians, ran a wild and 
 lawless, but very vigorous and effective, career 
 in Spanish possessions. He hung a couple of 
 British subjects with as scant trial and meagre 
 shrift as if he had been a mediaeval free-lance ; 
 he marched upon Spanish towns and peremp- 
 torily forced the blue-blooded commanders to 
 capitulate in the most humiliating manner ; 
 afterwards, when the Spanish territory had be- 
 come American, in his civil capacity as Gov- 
 ernor, he flung the Spanish Commissioner into 
 jail. He treated instructions, laws, and estab- 
 lished usages as teasing cobwebs which any 
 spirited public servant was in duty bound to 
 break ; then he quietly stated his willingness to 
 iet the country take the benefit of his irregular 
 proceedings and make him the scapegoat or 
 martyr if such should be needed. How to treal 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 161 
 
 this too successful chieftain was no simple prob- 
 lem. He had done what he ought not to have 
 done, yet everybody in the country was heartily 
 glad that he bad done it. He ought not to have 
 hung Arbutlinot and Ambrister, nor to have 
 Beized Peusacola, nor later on to have imprisoned 
 Callava; yet the general efficiency of his pro- 
 cedure fully accorded with the secret disposition 
 of the country. It was, however, not easy to 
 estabUsh the propriety of his trenchant doings 
 upon any acknowledged principles of law, and 
 during the long period through which these dis- 
 turbing feats extended, Jackson was left in 
 painful solitude by those who felt obliged to 
 judge his actions by rule rather than by sym- 
 pathy. The President was concerned lest his 
 Administration should be brought into indefen- 
 sible embarrassment ; Calhoun was personally 
 dis[)leased because the instructions issued from 
 his department had been exceeded ; Crawford 
 eagerly sought to make the most of such admir- 
 able 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 gal- 
 antly by the man who had dared to take vigor- 
 .lus measures upon his own sole responsibility. 
 His career touched a kindred chord in Adams'fl 
 
162 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 own independent and courageous character, ana 
 perhaps for the only time in his life the Secre- 
 tary of State became almost sophistical in the 
 arguments by which he endeavored to sustain 
 the impetuous warrior against an adverse Cab- 
 inet. The authority given to Jackson to cross 
 the Spanish frontier in pursuit of the Indian en- 
 emy was justified as being only defensive war- 
 fare ; 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 ex- 
 ample and of evil consequences. There is in- 
 justice to the ofl&cer in disavowing him, when in 
 principle he is strictly justifiable." This be- 
 havior 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 negotia- 
 fcioi with Spain upon which Mr. Adams had sc 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 163 
 
 nmcli at stake. But few civilians have had a 
 Btronger dash of the fighting element than had 
 Mr. Adams, and this impelled him irresistibly 
 to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jackson in 
 Buch an emergency, regardless of possible con- 
 sequences to himself. He preferred to insist 
 that the hanging: of Arbuthnot and Ambrister 
 was according to the laws of war and to main- 
 tain 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 staunch 
 advocate in Adams, who, having made an argu- 
 ment 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 de- 
 serving universal approbation." Later still, on 
 January 8, 1824, being the anniversary of the 
 ♦victory of New Orleans, as if to make a con- 
 spicuous declaration of his opinions in favor of 
 Jackson, Mr. Adams gave a great ball in his 
 honor, '* at which about cne thousand persons 
 attended." ^ 
 
 1 Senator Mills says of thi3 g"-and ball: "Eight large 
 woois were oi)en and literally filled to overflowing. There 
 
164 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 He was in favor of offering to the General 
 the position of minister to Mexico ; and before 
 Jackson had developed into a rival of himself 
 for the Presidency, he exerted himself to secure 
 the Vice-Presidency for him. Thus by argu- 
 ment 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 note- 
 worthy and indeed the only powerful friend of 
 General Jackson. Nor up to the last moment, 
 and when Jackson had become his most danger- 
 ous 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 rival ship for this, 
 as has been said, was based not upon conflict- 
 ing theories concerning public affairs, but solely 
 upon individual preference for one or another 
 
 must have been at least a thousand people there ; and so far 
 SIS Mr. Adams was concerned it certainly evinced a great deal 
 of tasie, elegance, and good sense. . . . Many stayed till twelve 
 and one. ... It i'^ the universa' opinion that nothing has evei 
 equalled this party here either in brilliancy of preparation oj 
 elegance of the company." 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 165 
 
 df 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 mali- 
 cious tale-bearing be greater than when votes 
 were to be gained or lost solely by personal pre- 
 dilection. 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. Ev- 
 erett whether he was " determined to do noth- 
 ing 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 abso- 
 lutely nothing." To this resolution he sturdily 
 adhered. Not a breach of it was ever brought 
 home to him, or indeed — save in one instance 
 Boon 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 'iagrant misdoing certainly 
 sould not be expected ; but in a record kept 
 \\i\\ the fulness and frankness of this Diary we 
 
166 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 should read between the lines and detect as it 
 were in its general flavor, any taint of disingen- 
 uousness or concealment ; we should discern 
 moral unwholesomeness in its atmosphere. A 
 thoughtless sentence would slip from the pen, 
 a sophistical argument would be formulated 
 for self -comfort, some acquaintance, interview, 
 or arrangement would slide upon some un- 
 guarded 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 Con- 
 gress, 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 act- 
 ually 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 rep- 
 resentative would vote from the way in which 
 he put on his hat, when of course stories of 
 intrigue and corruption poisoned the honest 
 oreeze, and when the streets seemed traversed 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 167 
 
 Dnly by the busy tread of the go-betweens, the 
 influential friends, the wire-pullers of the vari- 
 ous contestants, — still amid all this noisy ex- 
 citement 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 repellent; he sometimes al- 
 lowed himself to answer questions courteously, 
 and for a brief period held in check his strong 
 natural propensity to give offence and make en- 
 emies. This was the uttermost length that he 
 could go towards political corruption. He be- 
 came for a few weeks tolerably civil of speech, 
 which after all was much for him to do and 
 doubtless cost liim no insignificant effort. Since 
 the days of Washington he alone presents the 
 singular spectacle of a candidate for the Pres- 
 idency deliberately taking the position, and in 
 a long canipaign 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 
 \f there should be a manifestation of popular 
 disfavor. Before the popular election he stated 
 chat if it should go against him he should con- 
 itrue it as the verdict of the people that they 
 
168 JOHN QUINCY ADAM8. 
 
 were dissatisfied with liis services as a public 
 man, and be should then retire to private life, 
 no longer expecting or accepting public func- 
 tions. He did not regard politics as a struggle 
 in which, if he should now be beaten in one en- 
 counter, 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 tlie people in electing or not 
 electing him to the Presidency would be an in- 
 dication that they were satisfied or dissatisfied 
 with him. In the latter event he had nothing 
 more to seek. Politics did not constitute a pro- 
 fession 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 cir- 
 cumstances 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 af- 
 fairs. He construed the question before the 
 people simjDly as concerning their opinion of 
 him. He was much too proud to solicit and 
 much too honest to scheme for a favorable ex- 
 pression. It was a singular and a lofty attitude 
 even if a trifle egotistical and not altogether 
 
JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 169 
 
 animpeachable by argument. It conld not di- 
 minish but rather it intensified liis interest in a 
 contest whicli he chose to regard not simply as 
 a struggle for a glittering prize but as a judg- 
 ment 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 painfulh% in the Diary. Any at- 
 tempt 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 pre- 
 dicting it; indeed, he photographs his wliole ex- 
 istence 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 w^as 
 vot until December, 1824, that it became ever}^- 
 wrhere known that there had been no election of 
 I President by the people. When the electoral 
 
170 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 college met the result of tlieir ballots was as 
 
 follows: — 
 
 General Jackson led with . . 99 votes. 
 
 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 disappoint- 
 ment. They had expected for him a fair sup- 
 port 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 stim- 
 ulated than diminished by the definitenesa 
 which became possible for it. Mr. Clay, who 
 could not come before the House, found him- 
 self 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 aspiran 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 171 
 
 whom he should favor. Apparently his predi- 
 lections were at least possibly in favor of Craw- 
 ford; but 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, 
 BO 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 
 nimself, 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 rep- 
 utation 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 
 ^he same proposition had been made to Mr. 
 .Vdams, who was found less scrupulous and had 
 promptly formed the ''unholy coalition." This 
 <vretched publication, made a fsw days before 
 
172 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 the election in the House, was traced to a 
 dull-witted Pennsylvania Representative by the 
 name of Kremer, who had obviously been used 
 as a tool by cleverer men. It met, however, the 
 fate which seems happily always to attend such 
 ignoble devices, and failed utterly of any more 
 important effect than the utter annihilation of 
 Kremer. In truth, General Jackson's fate had 
 been sealed from the instant when it had fallen 
 into Mr. Clay's hands. Clay had long since ex- 
 pressed his unfavorable opinion of the " military 
 hero," in terms too decisive to admit of expla- 
 nation or retraction. Without much real liking 
 for Adams, Clay at least disliked him much less 
 than he did Jackson, and certainly his hones 
 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 ad- 
 vanced 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 there- 
 fore he ouijht to be also the choice of the House 
 Df Representatives. It would be against the 
 jpirit of the Constitution and a thwarting of 
 the popular will, they said, to prefer either di 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS VI 6 
 
 his competitors. The fallacy of this retisoniiagj 
 if reasoning it could be called, was glaring. iJt 
 the spirit of the Constitution required thts 
 House of Representatives not to elect from 
 three candidates before it, but only to i'lduct 
 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 substan- 
 tially that the Constitution established an elec- 
 tion without an option ; that the electors were 
 to vote for a person predestined by an earlier 
 occurrence to receive their ballots. But it was 
 not alone the Jacksonian logic which was at 
 fault. The allegations of fact to which that 
 logic was applied were almost certainly untrue. 
 It was said that Jackson was the choice of a 
 plurality of the people because he had received 
 the largest electoral vote. But the figures of 
 the popular election showed that Mr. Adams 
 was a choice of the plurality of the people be- 
 cause the Adams electors had received more 
 v^otes than the Jackson electors throughout the 
 
174 JOH^ QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 country at large. Mr. Adams had had enor- 
 mous majorities in New England : Genera' 
 Jackson had narrowly carried the South ; the 
 South also had the benefit of the artificial es- 
 timafe based on its slave population. If polit- 
 ical boundary lines were disregarded and the 
 counting were simply of the number of persons 
 throughout the country who had voted for Ad- 
 ams electors and the number who had voted for 
 Jackson electors, the preponderance of individ- 
 ual voters was handsomely on Mr. Adams's 
 Bide. This alone vindicated the constitutional 
 provision, which left the House free to select 
 and electa without preference, among the three 
 names before it. Otherwise, indeed, what oc- 
 casion was there for resorting to the House at 
 all ? The candidate with the largest, electoral 
 vote might as well have been declared to be 
 chosen by the electors in the first instance. 
 Plainly there was nothing in all this to perplex 
 an intelligent man. 
 
 The election took place in the House on Feb- 
 ruary 9, 1825. Daniel Webster and John Ran- 
 dolph were tellers, and they reported that there 
 were " for John Quincy Adams, of Massachu- 
 setts, thirteen votes ; for Andrew Jackson, of 
 Tennessee, seven votes; for William H. Craw 
 tord, of Georgia, four votes." Thereupon the 
 ipeaker announced Mr. Adams to have beec 
 elected President of the United States. 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 175 
 
 This end of an unusually exciting contest 
 thus left Mr. Adams in possession of the field, 
 Mr. Crawford the victim of an irretrievable de- 
 feat, Mr. Clay still hopeful and aspiring for a 
 future which had only disappointment in store 
 for him, General Jackson enraged and revenge- 
 ful. Not even Mr. Adams was fully satisfied. 
 When the committee waited upon him to in- 
 form him of the election, he referred in his re- 
 ply to the peculiar state of things and said, 
 " could my refusal to accept the trust thus del- 
 egated 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 de- 
 cision." That this singular and striking state- 
 ment was made in good faith is highly probable. 
 William H. Seward says that it was "unques- 
 tionably uttered with great sincerity of heart." 
 The test of action of course could not be ap 
 plied, 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 
 [lis argument would have been clear ; the fact 
 ihat such action involved an enormous sacrifice 
 would have been to his mina strong evidence 
 
176 JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 
 
 that it was a duty ; and the temptation to per- 
 form a duty, always strong with him, became 
 ungovernable if the duty was exceptionally dis* 
 agreeable. Under the circumstances, however, 
 the only logical conclusion lay in the inaugura- 
 tion, 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 man- 
 ufacture. Prominent among those who after 
 the ceremony hastened to greet him and to 
 shake hands with him appeared General Jack- 
 son. 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 
 life : he was nearly sixty years old, and, as he 
 iaid. he now for the first time had an oppor 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 177 
 
 tiinity to find out in what esteem the people of 
 the country lield him. What he wished was 
 that tlie 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 se- 
 lected bv so intellierent 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 in- 
 dorsement 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 
 hat have passed over my head, inasmuch as it has 
 vitnessed 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 evei 
 come into office so entirely free from any man- 
 ner of personal obligations or partisan entangle- 
 ments, express or implied, as did Mr. Adams. 
 Throughout the campaign he had not himself, 
 12 
 
178 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 or by any agent, held out any manner of tacit 
 inducement to any person whomsoever, con- 
 tingent 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, Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury ; James Barbour, Secre- 
 tary of War ; Samuel L. Southard, Secretary 
 of the Navy ; William Wirt, Attorney-General. 
 The last two were renominations of the incum- 
 bents under Monroe. The entire absence of 
 chicanery or the use of influence in the distri- 
 bution of ofiices is well illustrated by the fol- 
 lowing incident. On the afternoon following 
 the day of inauguration President Adams called 
 upon Rufus King, whose term of service as sen- 
 ator from New York had just expired, and who 
 was preparing to leave Washington on the next 
 day. In the course of a conversation concern- 
 ing 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 
 Baid that his determination to retire from the public 
 service had been made up, and that this proposal waa 
 utterly unexpected to him. Of this I was aware ; bu 
 \ urged upon him a variety of considerations to i» 
 
JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 11 \^ 
 
 duce his acceptance of it. ... I dwelt with earnest- 
 ness upon all these motives, and apparently not with- 
 out effect. He admitted the force of them, and finally 
 promised fully to consider of the proposal before giv- 
 ing me a deUnite answer." 
 
 The result was an acceptance by Mr. King, 
 his nomination by the President, and confirma- 
 tion by the Senate. He was an old Federalist, 
 to whom Mr. Adams owed no favors. With 
 Buch directness and simplicity were the affairs 
 of the Republic conducted. It is a quaint and 
 pleasing scene from the period of our fore- 
 fathers: 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 
 bouse, surprises him with the offer, and find- 
 ing him reluctant urgently presses upon him 
 arguments to induce his acceptance. But the 
 whole business of office-seeking and office-dis- 
 tributing, now so overshadowing, had no place 
 under Mr. Adams. On March 5 he sent in sev- 
 eral nominations which were nearly all of pre- 
 vious incumbents. " Efforts had been made," 
 he writes, " by some of the senators to obtain 
 different nominations, and to introduce a prin- 
 ciple of change or rotation in office at the ex- 
 oiration of these commissions, which would 
 
180 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 make tlie Government a perpetual and unin- 
 termitting scramble for office. A more perni- 
 cious expedient could scarcely have been de- 
 vised. ... 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, plausi- 
 bly 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 po- 
 litical persecution, and on the other any appear- 
 ance 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 consum- 
 mated, 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 
 ivhere was it possible to draw the line ? Of the cus 
 kom-house officers throughout the Union, four fifths ii 
 pJl probability were opposed to my election. C'raw 
 
JOHN aUlNCY ADAMS. 181 
 
 ford, Secretary of the Treasury, had distributed these 
 positions among his own supporters. I had been 
 urged very earnestly and from various quarters to 
 Bweep 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 consis- 
 tency 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 mis- 
 represent the feelings of men whose places may be- 
 come the prize of slander upon them." 
 
 Mr. Clay was silenced, and Sterret retained 
 his position, constituting thereafter only a some- 
 what striking instance among many to show 
 that nothing Avas to be lost by political oppo- 
 sition 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 pre- 
 cisely this nature. When before the election the 
 ignoble George Kremer anonymously charged 
 that 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 
 
J.82 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 and liorses ;" 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 after- 
 ward actually refused to appear or testify before 
 a Committee of the House instructed to inves- 
 tigate the matter, it was supposed by all reason- 
 able 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 dis- 
 proved, 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 Tennes- 
 see Legislature, as a candidate for the next 
 Presidential term, the accusation was too plaus- 
 ible and too tempting to be allowed to fall for- 
 ever into dusty death ; rather it was speedily 
 exhumed from its shallow burial and galvanized 
 into new life. The partisans of Genei'al Jack 
 Bon sent it to and fro throughout the land. No 
 denial, no argument, could kill it. It began tc 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 183 
 
 gain that sort of half belief which is certain to 
 result from constant repetition ; since many 
 minds are so constituted that trutn may be act- 
 ually, as it were, manufactured for them by 
 ceaseless iteration of statement, the many hear- 
 ings gaining the character of evidence. 
 
 It is long since all students of American his- 
 tory, no matter what are their prejudices, or in 
 whose interest their researches are prosecuted, 
 bave 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 cal- 
 umny in support of which not a particle of evi- 
 dence had ever been adduced. In a preamble 
 to certain resolutions passed by this body upon 
 this subject in 1827, it was recited that : " Mr. 
 Adams desired the office of President; he went 
 
184 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 slan- 
 der. 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 
 Randolpli 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 ^ and exchanged shots without re- 
 sult. 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. 
 
 By way of revenge a duel may be effective if 
 the wrong man does not happen to get shot ; 
 but as evidence for intelligent men a bloodier 
 ending than this would have been inconclusive 
 
 1 Aprils, 18?.6 
 
JOHN QUINCI ADAMS. 185 
 
 ft SO happened, however, that Jackson, altoi 
 gether contrary to his own purpose, brought 
 conclusive aid to President Adams and Secre- 
 tary Clay. Whetlier 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 die. 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 whicli his friends and biog- 
 raphers have exhausted much ingenuity with- 
 out 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 Bev- 
 erly, one of those who heard it made in the 
 presence of several guests at the Hermitage. 
 The name of Mr. Beverly, at first concealed, 
 Boon became known, and he was of course 
 lompelled to vouch in his principal. General 
 lackson never deserted his adherents, whether 
 
186 JOHN QUINC Y ADAMS. 
 
 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 " mem- 
 ber of Congress of high respectability," who 
 had told him of "a great intrigue going on " 
 of which he ought to be informed. This gen- 
 tleman had then proceeded to explain that Mr. 
 Clay's friends were afraid that if General Jack- 
 son should be elected President, " Mr. Adams 
 would be continued Secretary of State (innu- 
 endo, there would be no room for Kentucky) ; 
 that if I would say, or permit any of my con- 
 fidential 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 repu- 
 diated indignantly. Clay at once publicly chal- 
 lenged Jackson to produce some evidence — to 
 name the "respectable" member of Congress 
 who appeared in the very unrespectable light 
 of advising a candidate for the Presidency to 
 emulate the alleged baseness of his opponents. 
 Jackson thereupon uncovered James Buchanaj 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 187 
 
 of Pennsylvania. Mr. Buchanan was a friend 
 of tlie 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 in- 
 ference. 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. Mark- 
 ley, who, however, never became more than a 
 dumb fio-ure in the drama in which Buchanan 
 was obliged to remain as the last important 
 character. With obvious reluctance this gen- 
 tleman 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 evi- 
 dent enough — what he, Mr. Buchanan, had 
 said. Indeed, that Jackson could have sup- 
 posed him to entertain the sentiments imputed 
 to him made Mr. Buchanan, as he said, '^ ex- 
 ceedingly 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 aU a mistake. 
 General Jackson was left \.o be defended from 
 the accusation of deliberate falseb^od only by 
 
188 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 the charitable suggestion that he had been un- 
 able to understand a perfectly simple conver- 
 sation. 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 re- 
 traction and apology which he was with diflfi- 
 culty 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 liis 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 of this 
 unpleasant suspicion would not, however, be an 
 excusable episode in this short volume. The 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 189 
 
 reader who is curious to pursue the matter fur- 
 ther will find all the documentary evidence col- 
 lected 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 
 Bectional 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 illus- 
 tration; and the skilled eye of the President 
 noted " the rallying of the South and of South- 
 ern interests and prejudices to the men of tlie 
 
190 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 South." It is possible now to see plainly tliat 
 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 ap- 
 prehended it, perhaps before even any Southern 
 statesman had distinctly formulated it. This 
 new development in the politics of the country 
 soon received farther 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 commis- 
 sion 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 al- 
 -eady seen in the two nominations of Mr. Ad 
 ims himself to the Court of Russia in the Pres- 
 idency of Mr. Madison. But now vehement 
 assaults were made upon the President, alikf 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. ^ 191 
 
 ji the Senate and in the House, on the utterly 
 absurd ground that be bad transcended bis 
 powers. Incredible, too, as it may seem at this 
 day it was actually maintained tbat tbere was 
 no occasion wbatsoever 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 wbich there so obviously ought 
 to have been instant assent if considered solely 
 upon its intrinsic merits, but upon wbich never- 
 theless the discussion actually overshadowed 
 all other questions which arose during the ses- 
 sion. 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 
 Bo rancorous that it could make such a pro- 
 longed and desperate resistance with only the 
 faintest pretext of right as a basis for its action. 
 Yet a great and fundamental cause of the feel- 
 ing manifested lay hidden away beneath the 
 surface in the instinctive antipathy of the slave- 
 holders to ]\Ir. Adams and all his thoughts, 
 \iis ways, and his doings. For izzto this ques- 
 tion of countenancing the Panama Congress, 
 ♦lavery and " the South " entered and imported 
 into a portion of the opposition a certain ele- 
 
192 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 ment of reasonableness and propriety in a po- 
 litical sense. When we see tlie Southern states- 
 men banded against President Adams in these 
 debates, as we know the future which was hid- 
 den from them, it almost makes us believe that 
 their vindictiveness was justified by an instinct- 
 ive forecasting of his character and his mission 
 in life, and that without knowing it they al- 
 ready felt the influence of the acts which he was 
 yet to do against them. For the South, with- 
 out present dread of an abolition movement, 
 yet hated this Panama Congress with a con- 
 temptuous 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 offi- 
 cial equality with the revolted blacks of Hayti, 
 fired the Southern heart with rage inexpres- 
 sible. The proposition was a further infusion 
 of cement to aid in the Southern consolidation 
 go rapidly going forward, and was substantially 
 the beginning of the sense of personal aliena- 
 tion henceforth to grow steadily more bitter on 
 the part of the slaveholders towards Mr. Ad 
 ftms. Without designing it he had struck thi 
 
JOHN UUINCY ADAMS. 193 
 
 first blow in a fight wMcli was to absorb hia 
 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 Represen- 
 tatives, but a decided majority of both Houses 
 of Congress was arrayed against the Adminis- 
 tration — "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 Ad- 
 ministration members. With more exciting 
 issues this relationship of the executive and leg- 
 islative departments might have resulted in 
 dangerous collisions ; but in this season of po- 
 litical quietude it only made the position of the 
 President extremely uncomfortable. Mr. Van 
 Buren soon became recognized as the formid- 
 able 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 own. But since on the contrary he had only 
 to meet straightforward simplicity it was soon 
 
 13 
 
194 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 apparent that he would have everything hia 
 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 blun- 
 ders. From the beginning they declined to 
 meet with his own weapons a man whom they 
 BO 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, 
 »nly 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 
 Df tranquillity, in wliich the nation advanced 
 rapidly in prosperity. For many years dulness 
 had reigned in business, but returning activity 
 was encouraged by the policy of the new Gov 
 3rnment, and upon all sides various industriei 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 195 
 
 oecame active and thriving. So far as the rule 
 of Mr. Adams was marked by any distinguish- 
 ing characteristic, it was by a care for the ma- 
 terial welfare of the people. More commercial 
 treaties were negotiated during his Administra- 
 tion than in the thirty-six years preceding his 
 inaugruration. He was a strenuous advocate of 
 internal improvements, and happily the condi- 
 tion of the national finances enabled the Gov- 
 ernment to embark in enterprises of this kind. 
 He suggested many more than were under- 
 taken, but not perhaps more than it would have 
 been quite possible to carry out. He was al- 
 ways 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 neg- 
 lected." But the opening of the Chesapeake 
 ind Ohio Canal was an event sufficiently mo- 
 mentous and national in its character to justify 
 the President's attendance. He was requested 
 
196 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 in the presence of a great concourse of people 
 ^o 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 en- 
 countered 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 
 Buch readiness was hailed with loud applause 
 and pleased the great crowd who saw it. But 
 in Mr. Adams's career it was an exceptional oc- 
 currence that enabled him to conciliate a mo- 
 mentary popularity ; it was seldom that he en- 
 joyed 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 de- 
 serves rather to be called an immoral., and cer- 
 tainly furnishes unwelcome support to those 
 persons who believe that conscientiousness is 
 out of place in politics. It has been said that 
 :iO sooner was General Jackson fairly defeated 
 t:ian he was again before the people as a can- 
 didate for the next election. An opposition to 
 the new Administration was in process of for- 
 mation actually before there had been time for 
 chat Administration to declare, much less tc 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 197 
 
 Barry 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 op- 
 position, 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 po- 
 sitions. The sole ground upon which these op- 
 ponents stood was, that they would ratlier have 
 General Jackson at the head of affairs than Mr. 
 Adams. The issue was purely personal ; it was 
 BO when the opposition first developed, and it 
 remained so until that opposition triumphed. 
 
 Under no circumstances can it be more ex- 
 cusable for an elective magistrate to seek per- 
 sonal good-wdll 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 di- 
 viding 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 thoucrht risjlit and to await the outcome at 
 least with constancy. But the only real ques- 
 don raised was this : will Mr. Adams or Gen- 
 eral Jackson — two individuals representing as 
 
198 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 yet no antagonistic policies — be preferred by 
 the greater number of voters in 1829 ? If, how- 
 ever, there v^as no great apparent issue open be- 
 tween these two men, at least there was a very 
 wide difference between their characters, a point 
 of some consequence in a wholly personal com- 
 petition. It is easy enough now to see how this 
 gaping difference displayed itself from the be- 
 ginning, 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 sim- 
 ply to secure the largest following and most 
 efficient support possible. The arts by which 
 these objects were to be attained were not ob- 
 scure 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 con- 
 ciliate 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 him- 
 self? His neglect to create such a corps of 
 staunch supporters cannot be explained on the 
 ground that so plain a scheme of perpetuating 
 power had not then been devised in the Repub 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 199 
 
 lie. Mr. Jefferson bad practised it, to an extent 
 which now seems moderate, but which had been 
 Bufficiently 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 svstem with a thorough ness 
 that has never been surpassed, and with a suc- 
 cess in achieving results so great that almost 
 no politician has since failed to have recourse 
 to the same practice. Suggestions and temp- 
 tations, 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 incum- 
 bent or an aspirant. Scarcely any removals 
 were made during his Administration, and every 
 Vne 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, 
 out an undeniable fact at which friends grum 
 bled bitterly, and upon which foes counted often 
 
200 JOHN aUlNCY ADAMS. 
 
 with an ungenerous but always with an implicit 
 reliance. It was well known, for example, thai 
 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 ; multi- 
 tudes became cool and indifferent concerning 
 him ; the great number of those whose political 
 faith was so weak as to be at the ready com- 
 mand 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 inde- 
 pendent personal conviction in behalf of Mr. Ad- 
 ams found the slightest inducement to belong to 
 his party. It did not require much political sa- 
 gacity 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 ia 
 true that in fact there was opening an issue aa 
 great as has ever been presented to the Ameri- 
 ean people — an issue between government con 
 
JOHN QUJNCY ADAMS. 201 
 
 ducted with a sole view to efficiency and honesty, 
 and government conducted very largely, if not 
 exclusively, with a view to individual and party 
 ascendancy. The new system afterward inaug- 
 urated 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 prin- 
 ciples 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 un- 
 fortunately the voters only beheld two individ- 
 uals pitted against each other for the popular 
 Buffrage, 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 patron- 
 Rge that Mr. Adams's rigid conscientiousness 
 ihowed itself. He was equally obstinate in de- 
 slining ever to stretch a point however slightly 
 »n order to win the favor ot any body of the 
 
202 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 people whether large or small. He was warned 
 that his extensive schemes for internal improve- 
 ment would alienate especially the important 
 State of Virginia. He coald not of course be 
 expected to change his policy out of respect 
 to Virginian prejudices; but he was advised to 
 mitigate liis 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 per- 
 secution for righteousness' sake, arid 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 Caro- 
 lina." But there stood upon the statute books 
 of South Carolina an unconstitutional law which 
 had greatly embarrassed the national govern- 
 ment, and which that rebellious little State with 
 characteristic contumaciousness would not re- 
 peal. Under such circumstances, said Mr. Ad- 
 ams, I have no " soothing " words for South 
 Carolina. 
 
 It was not alone by what he did and by what 
 ae would not do that Mr. Adams toiled to in 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 203 
 
 Bure the election of General Jackson far more 
 Bedulously 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 un- 
 compromising temper put on an ungracious as- 
 pect. His conscientiousness wore the appear- 
 ance 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 repudiat- 
 ing attractive vices the Puritans had rejected 
 also those amenities which might have decently 
 concealed or even mildly decorated the forbid- 
 ding angularities of a naked Virtue which cer- 
 tainly did not imitate the form of any goddess 
 who had ever before attracted followers. Mr. 
 Adams was a complete and thoi'Dugh Puritan, 
 wonderfully little modified by times and circum- 
 stances. The ordinary arts of propitiation 
 Hrould have appeared to him only a feeble and 
 iiluted form of dishonesty ; while suavity and 
 
204 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 graciousness of demeanor would have seemed a& 
 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 disap- 
 pointment, or attract calculating selfishness. He 
 was an adept in alienation, a novice in concilia- 
 tion. His magnetism was negative. He made 
 few friends ; and had no interested following 
 whatsoever. No one was enthusiastic on his be- 
 half ; no band worked for him with the ardor of 
 personal devotion. His party was composed of 
 those who had sufficient intelligence to appre- 
 ciate his integrity and sufficient honesty to ad- 
 mire it. These persons respected him, and when 
 election day came they would vote for him ; but 
 they did not canvas zealously in his behalf, nor 
 do such service for him as a verv different kind 
 
 ft/ 
 
 of feeling induced the Jackson men to do for 
 their candidate.^ The fervid laborers in pol- 
 itics left Mr. Adams alone in his chilling re- 
 
 1 Mr. Mills, in writing of Mr. Adams's inauguration, ex- 
 pressed well what many felt, " This same President of onra 
 is a man that I cail never court nor be on very familiar terms 
 with. There is a cold, repulsive atmosphere about him that ia 
 too chilling for my respiration, and I shall certainly keep at a 
 distance from its influence. I wish him God-speed in his Ad 
 miuiritration, and am heartily disposed to lend him my feebli 
 fc! I w'lenever he may need it in a correct course ; but he can 
 
JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 205 
 
 spectability, and went over to a camp where ali 
 scruples were consumed in tlie glowing heat of 
 a campaign conducted upon the single and sim- 
 ple principle of securing victory. 
 
 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 def- 
 erence towards them perhaps somewhat greater 
 than might have been expected from him, some- 
 times even carried to the point of yielding his 
 opinion in matters of consequence. It was his 
 
 not 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 di.sHke to him. People, he said, "always sup- 
 ported his cause from a cold sense of duty," and "we soon sat- 
 isfy 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 
 ehoild have supported them, but many nonest men did not foi 
 »he reason I have mentioned ' — Webster's Private Corre 
 tpondence, vol. i. p. 469. 
 
206 JOUN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 wish that the unity of the body should remain 
 unbroken during his four years of office, and 
 the wish was very nearly realized. Unfortu- 
 nately, however, in his last year it became neces- 
 sary for him to fill the mission to EngUmd, and 
 Governor Barbour was extremely anxious for 
 the place. It was already apparent that the 
 coming election was likely to result in the suc- 
 cession of Jackson, and Mr. Adams notes that 
 Barbour's extreme desire to receive the appoint- 
 ment 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 " termi- 
 nate 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 pres 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 207 
 
 Bure was hronght to bear on tlie President to 
 remove Lira. Mr. Adams, however, refused to 
 do so, and McLean had the satisfaction of step- 
 ping from his post under Mr. Adams into a 
 judgeship conferred by General Jackson, hav- 
 ing 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 vis- 
 itors gives him little opportunity for hard or 
 continuous labor. Such work he was compelled 
 to do chiefly in the evening ; and he did not al- 
 ways make up for early hours of rising by a 
 correspondingly early bed-time ; thougli some- 
 times in the summer we find him going to bed 
 between eight and nine o'clock, an hour which 
 Drobably few Presidents have keot since then. 
 He strove to care for his health by daiVy exer- 
 ijise. In the morning he swam in the Potomac, 
 •ften for a long time ; and more than once he 
 
208 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 
 
 encountered no small risk in this pastime. Dur 
 ing 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 relax- 
 ation 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 hab- 
 its too severe, and actually toward the close of 
 his term he spoke of his trying dail}^ routine as 
 constituting a very agreeable life. He usually 
 began the day by reading "two or three chap- 
 ters in the Bible with Scott's and Hewlett's Com- 
 mentaries," 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 
 be went through the affair showed that his 
 physical courage was as imperturbable as hia 
 moral. The risk was protracted throughout s 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 209 
 
 Considerable period, but he never let it disturb 
 the even tenor of his daily behavior or warp 
 his actions in the slightest degree, save only 
 that when he was twice or thrice brought face 
 to face with the intending assassin he treated 
 the fellow with somewhat more curt brusque- 
 ness 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 in- 
 tensely 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 up- 
 right and noble ambition. Mr. Adams bore such 
 assaults ranging from the charge of having cor- 
 ruptly 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 
 ed to a strong feeling throughout the country 
 
 against Freemasonry, and the Jackson men at 
 u 
 
210 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 once proclaimed abroad tliat Adams was one of 
 tlie 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 hia 
 denial would probably at once be met by a com- 
 plete set of forged records of a fictitious lodge, 
 and the people would not know whom to be- 
 lieve. Next he was said to have bargained for 
 the support of Daniel Webster, by promising 
 to distribute offices to Federalists. This accusa- 
 tion 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 possibil- 
 ity 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 th« 
 passions of the Emperor Alexander and swaj 
 him to political purposes." 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADA.\f8. 211 
 
 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 
 Buch treatment, and though he made the most 
 stern and persistent effort to endure an inev- 
 itable 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. Occa- 
 sionally 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 misrep- 
 esentations which " the skunks of party slander 
 . have been . . . squirting round the House 
 vt Representatives, thence to issue and perfume 
 the atmosphere of the Union." His most in- 
 tense hatred and vehement denunciation were 
 reserved for John Randolpn, whom he thought 
 an abomination too odious and despicable to be 
 described in words, " the image and superscrip- 
 tion of a great man stamped upon base metal, ' 
 
212 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 *' The besotted violence " of Randolph, he said, 
 has deprived him of " all right to personal 
 sivility from me ; " and certainly this excom- 
 munication 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 lonsf 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 Ran- 
 dolph'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 fhip] 
 envy and hatred of me, and the hope of effect- 
 ing my downfall, are [his] chief remaining 
 sources of vitality. The issue of the Presiden- 
 tial 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 torrenta 
 upon every reputable man, from Washington 
 downwards, who had been prominent in public 
 affairs since the adoption of the Constitution 
 BO that Giles's memory is now preserved fro» 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 2iB 
 
 dblivion solely by the connection which he es- 
 tablished with the great and honorable states- 
 men of the Republic by a course of ceaseless 
 attacks upon tbem. Some of the foregoing ex- 
 pressions of Mr. Adams may be open to objec- 
 tion on the score of good taste ; but the provo- 
 cation 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 unques- 
 tionable fact, of which the credit to Mr. Adams 
 can hardly be exaggerated, that he never in 
 any single instance found an excuse for an un- 
 worthy act on his own part in the fact that com- 
 petitors or adversaries were resorting to such ex- 
 pedients. 
 
 The election of 1828 gave 178 votes for Jack- 
 son and only 83 for Adams. Calhoun was con- 
 tinued as Vice-President by 171 votes, showing 
 plainly enough that even yet there wei^ 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 iile for him to seek to 
 i'onceal his disappointment that an Administra- 
 tion which he hal conducted with his best abil- 
 ity and with thorough oonsuientiousness should 
 
214 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 riot have seemed to the people worthy of con- 
 tinuance for another term. Little suspecting 
 what the future had in store for bim, 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 satisfac- 
 torily. 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, hon- 
 orable men, pure patriots, and, with perhaps one 
 exception, all of the first order of ability in pub 
 lie affairs. It is necessary to come far down to- 
 wards this day before a worthy successor of those 
 great men is met with in the list. Dr. Von Hoist, 
 by far the ablest writer who lias yet dealt with 
 American history, says: "In the person of Ad- 
 ams the last statesman who was to occupy it 
 tor a long time left the White House." Gen- 
 iral Jackson, the candidate of the populace, an(? 
 fche representative hero of the ignorant masses, 
 instituted a new system of administering th# 
 
JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 21 5 
 
 Grovernment in which personal interests became 
 the most important element, and that organiza- 
 tion and strategy weie developed which have 
 since become known and infamous under the 
 name of the " political machine." 
 
 While Mr. Adams bore his defeat like a phil- 
 osopher, he felt secretly very depressed and un- 
 happy by reason of it. He speaks of it as leav- 
 ing 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 clays more and I shall be restored to pri- 
 vate life, and left to an old age of retirement though 
 certainly not of repose. I go into it with a combina- 
 tion 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 termed and is now 
 nulting in triumph over me, for the devotion of mj 
 
216 JOHN QUINCY ADAyfS. 
 
 life and of all the faculties of my soul to the Union, 
 and to the improvement, physical, moral, and intel- 
 lectual of my country." 
 
 Mt-lancholv words these to be written bv an 
 old man who bad worked so hard and been so 
 honest, and whose ambition had been of the 
 kind that ennobles him who feels it I 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, thev far less often send bricrht ravs in ad- 
 "vance. So he now resolved '-to go into the 
 deepest retirement and withdraw from all con- 
 nection 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 occupa- 
 tion, encracrincr so much of his thoughts and feel- 
 ings that his mind may not be left to corrode 
 itself." 
 
 His return to Quincy held out the less prom- 
 ise of comfort, because the old chasm between 
 him and the Federalist gentlemen of Boston had 
 been lately reopened. Certain malicious new* 
 paper paragraphs, born of the mischievous spiri; 
 
JunX QUINCT ADAMS. 217 
 
 Df the wretched Giles, had recently set afloat 
 some stories designed seriously to injure ]\Ir. Ad- 
 ams. These were, substantially, that in 1808—9 
 he had been convinced that some amonc: the 
 leaders of the Federalist party in Xew Eng- 
 land 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 in- 
 evitably be compelled into some sort of alliance 
 with Great Britain, that he suspected negotia- 
 tions to this end to have been alreadv set on 
 foot, that he thereupon gave privately some 
 more or less distinct intimations of these no- 
 tions of his to sundry prominent Republicans, 
 and even to President Jefferson. These tales, 
 much distorted from the truth and exacrcrerated 
 as usual, led to the publication of an open letter, 
 in November, 1828, addressed by thirteen Fed- 
 eralists of note in Massachusetts to John Quincy 
 Adams, demanding names and specitieations and 
 the production of evidence. Mr. Adams replied 
 briefly, with dicjnitv, and, considerini:: the cir- 
 ^umstances, with good temper, stating fairly the 
 substantial import of what he had really said, 
 aeclaring that he had never mentioned names, 
 and refusiui?, for sro^d reasons friven, either to 
 do so now or to publish the grounds of such 
 opinions as he had entertained. It was sutli- 
 
218 JOHN QUINCr ADAMS. 
 
 ciently clear that he had said nothing secretly 
 which he had reason to regret; and that if he 
 Bought to shun the discussion opened by his ad- 
 versaries, he was influenced by wise forbearance, 
 ftnd not at all by any fear of the consequences 
 to himself. A dispassionate observer could 
 have seen that behind this moderate, rather de- 
 precatory letter there was an abundant reserve 
 of controversial material held for the moment 
 in check. But his adversaries were not dispas- 
 sionate ; on the contrary they were greatly ex- 
 cited 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 deal- 
 ings, influential and respected, men whom it was 
 impossible in New England to treat with neg- 
 lect or indifference. For this reason.it was onlv 
 the harder to remain silent beneath their pub- 
 lished reproach when a refutation was possible. 
 Hating Mr. Adams with an animosity not dimin- 
 ished 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 ac- 
 rimony to Mr. Adams's unsatisfactory letter. 
 Thus persistently challenged and assailed, at a 
 time when his recent crushing political defeat 
 
 \ 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 219 
 
 made an attack upon him seem a little ungen- 
 erous, 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, 
 v^hich, 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 state- 
 ment, concise in style, conclusive in facts, un- 
 answerable in argument, unrelentingly severe 
 in dealing with opponents, it is as fine a speci- 
 men of political controversy as exists in the 
 language. Its historical value cannot be ex- 
 aggerated, but apart from this as a mere liter- 
 ary 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 sus- 
 pecting how great was their obligation to Mr 
 Adams for having granted them that privilege. 
 One would think that they might have writhed 
 
220 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 beneath their moss-grown headstones on the day 
 when his last word at length found public ut- 
 terance, albeit that the controversy had then 
 become one of the dusty tales of history. ^ 
 
 But this task of writing a demolishing pam- 
 phlet 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 dis- 
 aster to social enmities could not but be painful; 
 and Mr. Adams was probably never more un- 
 Lappy than at this period of his life. The re- 
 vard which virtue was tendering to him seemed 
 ^nmixed bitterness. 
 
 Thus at the age of sixty-two years, Mr. Ad- 
 ams 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 bough, no further 
 
 i 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 
 Hupposed 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 mfe that 
 Mr. Adams was unquestionably and completely right, and I 
 have no escape from saying so. His adversaries had the ex 
 luse of honesty in political error — an excuse which the great" 
 est and wisest men must often fall back upon in times of ho 
 j>arty Tvarfare. 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 221 
 
 process of development being reasonably prob- 
 able for it. Yet Mr. Adams had by no means 
 reached this measure of ripeness ; he still en- 
 joyed abundant vigor of mind and body, and to 
 lapse into dignified decrepitude was not agree- 
 able, 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 unremuner- 
 ative tastes. In March, 1828, he had been ad- 
 vised 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 mort- 
 gaged for the payment of my debts ; the income of 
 ray whole private estate is less than $6,000 a year, 
 and I am payicg at least two thousand of that for in- 
 terest on my debt. Finally, upon going out of office 
 .n oue year from this time, destitute of all means of 
 fccquiring property, it will only be by the sacrifice of 
 
222 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 that which I now possess that I shall be able to sup 
 port my family." 
 
 At first he plunged desperately into the Latin 
 classics. He had a strong taste for such read- 
 ing, and he made a firm resolve to compel thia 
 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 con- 
 quer 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 
 .nemoir of his father, and had also plans for 
 writing a history of the United States. Liter- 
 ature 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 tur- 
 gid — faults which marked nearly all the writ- 
 ing done in this country in those days. The 
 world has probably not lost much by reason o 
 the non-completion of the contemplated vol 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 223 
 
 ames. He could have made no other contribu- 
 tion to the history of the country at all approach- 
 ing in value or interest to the J)iary, 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 constitu- 
 tion of the diarist. Tales of enchantment, he 
 Bays, pleased his boyhood, but " the humors of 
 Falstaff hardly affected me at all. Bardolph and 
 Pistol and Nym were personages quite unintel- 
 ligible to me ; and the lesson of Sir Hugh Evans 
 to the boy Williams was quite too serious an af- 
 fair." In truth, no man can ever have been 
 more utterly void of a sense of humor or an ap- 
 preciation of wit than was Mr. Adams. Not a 
 single instance of an approach to either is to be 
 found throuGfhout the twelve volumes of his 
 Diarv. 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 
 T^hich bore the stamp of well-established ap- 
 proval, the acknowledged classics of the Eng- 
 lish, Latin, and French languages he read with 
 X mingled sense of duty and of pleasure, and 
 jvidently with cultivated appreciation, though 
 «rhether he would have made an original dis- 
 
224 JOHN QUTNCT ADAMS. 
 
 covery of their merits may be doubted. Oc- 
 casionally be failed to admire even those vol- 
 umes 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 had left the great 
 est office of the Government, and during a pe 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 225 
 
 riod 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 CoDgreaa 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 In September, 1830, Mr. Adams notes in hi 
 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. Ad- 
 ams 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 accomplislied by a flattering vote, 
 the poll showing for him 1817 votes out of 2565, 
 with only 373 for the next candidate. He con- 
 tinued thenceforth to represent this district un- 
 til his death, a period of about sixteen years. 
 During this time he was occasionally suggested 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 227 
 
 as a candidate for the governorship of the State, 
 but was always reluctant to stand. The feeling 
 between the Freemasons and the anti-Masons 
 ran very liigh for several years, and once he was 
 prevailed upon to allow his name to be used by 
 tlie 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 onl}^ to pur- 
 sue 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 expla- 
 nation of the politics of tlie 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 ^.raits standing forth in bolder relief than 
 ever before. In his place on ^-he floor of the 
 House of Representatives b.e was destined to 
 appear a more impreo«ive figure than in any 
 
228 JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 
 
 of the higher positions which he had previously 
 filled. There he was to do his greatest work 
 and to win a peculiar and distinctive glory 
 which takes him out of the general throng even 
 of famous statesmen and entitles his name to 
 be remembered with an especial reverence. Ad- 
 equately 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 wav he was faithful and 
 industrious to a rare degree. He was never ab- 
 sent and seldom late ; he bore unflinchingly the 
 burden of severe committee work, and shirked 
 no toil on the plea of age or infirmity. He at- 
 tended 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 al- 
 legiance 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 exoeptionalh 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 229 
 
 lacking in all these qualities. He was short, 
 rotund, and bald ; about the time when he en- 
 tered 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, pi.^rcing enough to make itself heard, 
 but not agreeable. This hardly seems the pict- 
 ure of an orator; nor was it to any charm of el- 
 ocution 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 en- 
 tered Congress he had been for much more than 
 a third of a century zealously gathering knowl- 
 edge in public affairs, and during his career in 
 that body evei-y yt^ar 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 list- 
 ened to it. He was by nature a hard fighter, 
 and by the circumstances of his course in Con- 
 gress this quality was stimulated to such a de- 
 gree tbiit Parliamentary history does not sho\\ 
 
230 JOHN QUINCY ADAM a. 
 
 his equal as a gladiator. His power of invective 
 was extraordinary, and he was untiring and 
 merciless in his use of it. Theoretically he 
 disapproved of sarcasm, but practically he could 
 not refrain from it. Men winced and cowered 
 before his milder attacks, became sometimes 
 dumb, sometimes furious with mad rage before 
 his fiercer assaults. Such struggles evidently 
 gave him pleasure, and there was scarce a back 
 in Congress that did not at one time or another 
 feel the score of his cutting lash ; though it was 
 the Southerners and the Northern allies of 
 Southerners whom chiellv he sini>;led 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 prin- 
 cipal concern was to keep it in control. His 
 enemies often referred to it and twitted him 
 with it. Of alliances he was careless, and friend- 
 ships 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. P'rom 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 wag 
 bandying hot words with slave-holders and th^ 
 
JOHN QU2NCY ADAMS. 231 
 
 Northern supporters of slave-holders. When 
 fche air of the House was thick with crimination 
 and abuse he seemed to suck in fresh vigor and 
 spirit from the hate-laden atmosj^here. When in- 
 vective fell around him in showers, he screamed 
 back his retaliation with untiring rapidity and 
 marvellous dexterity of aim. No odds could 
 appal 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 ex- 
 tremest 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 mas- 
 tery 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 oj^ponent into wild blind fury 
 with snch speed and certainty as he could ; and 
 he does not conceal the malicious gratification 
 which snch feats brought to him. A leader of 
 Buch 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 
 
232 JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 
 
 of eyen a small band of devoted followers. But 
 Mr. Adams never had and apparently never 
 wanted followers. Other prominent public men 
 were brou2;ht not onlv into collision but into 
 comparison witli their contemporaries. But Mr. 
 Adams's individuality was so stronor that he can 
 be compared with no one. It WdS not an indi- 
 vi luality 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. ]\Ien touch 
 eacn otlier for purposes of attachment thrvvugh 
 their characters much more than through their 
 minds. But few men. even in agi't'einor with Mr. 
 Adams, felt themselves in sympathy with liim. 
 Occasionally conscience, or invincible lomc, or 
 even policy and self-interest, might compel one 
 or another politician to stand beside him in de- 
 bate or in votins: : 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 pui])Ose of 
 winning immediate successes this was of course 
 a most unfortunate condition of relati'tnships. 
 Vet it had some compensations : it left such 
 mfluence as Mr. Adams could exert by stead 
 
JOHN QUI AC Y AD A Ma. 2'dZ 
 
 fastness and argument entirely unweakened by 
 Buspicion of hidden motives or personal ends. 
 He bad the weight and enjoyed the respect 
 which a sincerity beyond distrust must always 
 command in the long run. Of this we shall see 
 Bome striking instances. 
 
 One important limitation, however, belongs tc 
 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 h'.m 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 be was the 
 leader in a cause wliich engaged the sound sense 
 and the best feeling of the intelligent people of 
 the country, and which wjis 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 need- 
 ful to him ; he could go without it in Congress, 
 but li» '^ould not have gone without it alto- 
 gether. 
 
 Mr. Adams took his seat in the House as a 
 member of the twenty-second Congress in De- 
 lember, 1831. He had been elected by the Na- 
 
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236 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Dut in his famous proclamation to meet the nul 
 lification ordinance, he spoke in tones more 
 pleasing to Mr. Adams. But the ultimate com- 
 promise which disposed of the temporary dis- 
 sension without permanently settling the funda- 
 mental 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 mo- 
 tion 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 cen- 
 sured the policy of the Administration. He was 
 for meeting, fighting out, and determining at 
 this crisis the whole doctrine of state rights and 
 Becession. '^ One particle of compromise," he 
 said, with what truth events have since shown 
 cleai'ly enough, would "directly lead to the 
 tinal and irretrievable dissolution of the Union. 
 
JOHN QUJNCr ADAMS. 237 
 
 Tn his usual strong and thorough-going fashion 
 he was for persisting in the vigorous and spirited 
 measures, the mere brief declaration of which, 
 though so quickly receded from, won for Jack- 
 son a measure of credit greater than he de- 
 served. 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 con- 
 cessions, 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 man- 
 ner 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 
 
238 JOHN aUlNCY ADAMS. 
 
 still been in the White House, the matter would 
 have had a very different ending, bloodier, it 
 may be, and more painful, but much more con- 
 clusive. 
 
 For the most part Mr. Adams found himself 
 in opposition to President Jackson's Adminis- 
 tration. 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 nulli- 
 fication matter, his opposition to internal im- 
 provements, 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 transac- 
 tion of the removal of the deposits so disreputa- 
 ble and injurious in all its details, the importa- 
 tion 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 adher 
 ence, the formation from base ingredients of the 
 igno]>le "Kitchen Cabinet," — all these doings 
 
JOHN QUINCr ADAMS. 239 
 
 together with much more of the like sort, con- 
 stituted a career whicli could only seem blunder- 
 ing, undignified, and dishonorable in the eyes of 
 A man like Mr. Adams, who regarded states- 
 manship with the reverence due to the noblest 
 of human callings. 
 
 Right as Mr. Adams was generally in his op- 
 position 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 mes- 
 sage 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 Living- 
 ston, minister at Paris, to demand his pass- 
 ports and cross over to London. These emi- 
 nently 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 support- 
 ers. 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 
 
240 JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 
 
 again lie came under a heavy debt of gratitude 
 to the same champion. Mr. Adams stood by 
 him with generous gallantry, and by a telling 
 Bpeech in the House probably saved him from 
 serious humiliation and even disaster. The 
 President's style of dealing had roused Mr. Ad- 
 ams's spirit, and lie spoke with a fire and vehe- 
 mence which accomplished the unusual feat of 
 changing the predisposed minds of men too fa- 
 miliar with speech- making to be often much in- 
 fluenced 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 parti- 
 sans at any cost to his own conscience or the 
 public welfare ; but the exceptional aid, ten- 
 dered not from a sense of personal fealty to him- 
 self, 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 
 Hving man ever did, and though 1 supported his Ad- 
 ministration at the hazard of my own political de 
 Btruction, and effected for him at a moment when hii 
 Dwu friends were deserting him what no other mem 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 241 
 
 ber of Congress ever accomplished for him — an 
 ananimous vote of the House of Representatives to 
 support him in his quarrel with France ; though I 
 supported him in other very critical periods of his Ad- 
 ministration, my return from him was insult, indig- 
 nity, 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 calcula- 
 tion in his motives, if in fact he was cognizant 
 of Johnson's approaches, as there was of any 
 real desi."> to reestablish the bygone relation of 
 honorable friendship. To the advances thus 
 made Mr. Adams replied a little coldly, not 
 quite repellentl y, that Jackson, having been re- 
 sponsible for the suspension of personal inter- 
 course, must now be undisguisedly the active 
 party in renewing it. At the same time he pro- 
 fessed himself " willing to receive in a spirit of 
 conciliation any advance which in that spirit 
 General Jackson might make." But nothing 
 
 16 
 
242 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 came of this intrinsically liopeless attempt. On 
 the contrary the two drew rapidly and more 
 widely apart, and entertained concerning each 
 other opinions which grew steadily more im 
 favorable, and upon Adams's part more con- 
 temptuous, 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 admit- 
 ted by all. But the argument in its favor waa 
 based upon the established usage of the College 
 as towards all other Presidents, so that its omis- 
 sion in this case might seem a personal slight. 
 Mr. Adams, being at the time a member of the 
 Board of Overseers, strongly opposed the prop- 
 osition, 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 d^^gree, giv- 
 ing as the minor reason for his absence, that he 
 could hold no friendly intercourse with the Pres- 
 ident, but for the major reason that " independ- 
 ent of that, as myself an affectionate child of 
 our Alma Mater, I would not be present to wit- 
 ness lier disgrace in conferring her highest lit- 
 erajy honors upon a barbarian who could not 
 write a sentence of grammar and hardly could 
 spell his own name.'* " A Doctorate of Laws,' 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 243 
 
 he said, " for which an apology was necessary, 
 was a cheap honoi and ... a sycophantic com- 
 pliment." After the deed was done, he used to 
 amuse himself by speaking of '' Doctor Andrew 
 Jackson." This same eastern tour of Jackson's 
 called forth many other expressions of bitter 
 sarcasm from Adams. The President was ill 
 and unable to carry out the programme of en- 
 tertainment 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, lias been doing the same 
 thing. . . . He is now ahernately giving out his 
 chronic diarrhoea and making Warren bleed him for a 
 pleurisy, and posting to Cambridge for a doctorate of 
 laws ; mounting tlie monument of Bunker's Hill to 
 hear a fulsome address and receive two cannon balls 
 from Edward Everett," etc. " Four fifths of his sick- 
 ness is trickery, and the other filth 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 
 )f Representatives. It was not by bearing hia 
 ihare in the ordinary work of that body, im 
 },oitant or exciting as that might at one time or 
 
844 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 another happen to be, that Mr. Adams was to 
 win in Congress that reputation which hag 
 been already described as far overshadowing all 
 bis previous career. A special task and a pe- 
 culiar 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 
 tlie District. The time had not yet come when 
 the South felt much anxiety at such manifesta- 
 tions, and these first stones were dropped into 
 the pool without stirring a ripple on the sur- 
 face. 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, 
 Rnd 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 
 %s a class, is suflSciently indicated by manj 
 
JOHN QUINCr ADAMS. 245 
 
 chance remarks scattered througb liis Diary 
 from early years. Now that a great question, 
 vitally affecting the slave power, divided the 
 country into parties and inaugurated the strug- 
 gle which never again slept until it was settled 
 forever bv the result of the civil war, Mr. Ad- 
 ams at once assumed the function of leader. 
 His position should be clearly understood ; for 
 in the vast labor wbich lay before the abolition 
 part}' 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. Tlie task which accident or 
 destiny allotted to liim, was neither to preach 
 among the people a crusade against slavery, nor 
 to devise and keep in action the thousand re- 
 sources 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 ac- 
 fomplishment of that which the present circum- 
 stances and development of the movement al 
 
246 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 iow to be accomplished. It fell to Mr. Adams 
 jO direct the assault against the outworks which 
 were then vulnerable, and to see that the force 
 then possessed by the movement was put to 
 Buch uses as would insure definite results in 
 stead 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 na- 
 tional 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 acrimoni 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 241 
 
 ^.us temper but checked by a sound judgment, 
 his merciless power of invective, his indepen- 
 dence and carelessness of applause or vilification, 
 friendship or enmity, constituted him an oppo- 
 aent 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 over- 
 awe 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 to- 
 wards him sentiments of personal dislike and 
 even vindictiveness. This stratum of the com- 
 munity, having a natural distaste for disquieting 
 Bgitation 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. For- 
 
248 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 tunately, liowever, Mr. Adams was returned by 
 a coQiitry district where the old Puritan in- 
 stincts 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 Ptymouth 
 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 gentle- 
 men of Boston was after all of trifling conse- 
 quence 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 ex- 
 ponent 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 sus- 
 tained by many a token of sympathy and admi- 
 ration 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 «^as, as 
 is usually the case with it in the annals of the 
 Anglo-Saxon race, quite in the wrong and pre- 
 destined to well-merited defeat. It adds to the 
 honor due to Mr. Adams that his sense of right 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 249 
 
 iras true enough, and that his vision was clear 
 enough to lead him out of that strong thraldom 
 which class feelings, 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, select- 
 ing a few of the more s^-riking incidents, — tell 
 the tale of bis Congressional life. 
 
 On February 14, 1835, IVIr. Adams again pre- 
 sented 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 en- 
 dured longer with indifference by the impatient 
 Southerners. At the next session of Congress 
 they concluded to try to stop it, and their in- 
 genious scheme was to make Congress shot- 
 proof, so to speak, against such missiles. On 
 January 4, 1836, Mr. Adams presented an abo- 
 lition 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. Glas- 
 cock, 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 
 
260 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 
 
 the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
 lumbia. This resolution was supported on the 
 ground that Congress bad no constitutional 
 power in tlie premises. Some days later, Jan- 
 uary 18, 1836, before any final action had been 
 reached upon this proposition, Mr. Adams pre- 
 sented some more abolition petitions, one of 
 them signed by " one hundred and forty-eight 
 ladies, citizens of the Commonwealth of Massa- 
 chusetts ; for, I said, I had not yet brought my- 
 self 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 immedi- 
 ately 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, resolu- 
 tions or papers, relating in any way or to any 
 extent whatsoever to the subject of slavery or 
 the abolition of slavery, shall, without being 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 25 1 
 
 either printed or referred, be laid upon the 
 table, and that no further action whatever shall 
 be had thereon." When it came to taking a 
 vote upon this report a division of the question 
 was called for, and the yeas and nays ^ere 
 ordered. The first resolution was then read, 
 whereupon Mr. Adams at once rose and pledged 
 himself, if the House would allow him five min- 
 utes 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 constit- 
 uents." He was interrupted by shrieks of 
 "order" resounding on e^ery side; but he only 
 Bpoke the louder and obstinately finished his 
 sentence before resuming his seat. The resolu- 
 tion was of course agreed to, the vote standing 
 117 to 68. Such was the beginning of the fa- 
 mous "gag" which became and long remained 
 — afterward in a worse shape — a standing 
 rule of the House. Regularly in each new Con- 
 fess when the adoption of rules lame up, Mr. 
 
252 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Adams moved to rescind the " gag ; " but foi 
 mari}^ years his motions continued to be voted 
 down, as a matter of course. Its imposition was 
 clearly a mistake on the part of the slave-hold- 
 ing party ; f lee debate would almost surely have 
 hurt them less than this interference with the 
 freedom of petition. They had assumed an un- 
 tenable 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 free- 
 dom of speech as a member of this House.' '* 
 Afterward, in reading over the names of mem- 
 bers who had voted, the clerk omitted that of 
 Mr. Adams, this utterance of his not bavins 
 constituted a vote. Mr. Adams called attention 
 to the omission. The clerk, by direction of th« 
 
JOHN QCINCY ADAMS. 253 
 
 Speaker, thereupon called his name. His only 
 reply was by a motion that his answer as al- 
 ready made should be entered on the Journal. 
 The Speaker said that this motion was not in 
 order. Mr. Adams, resolute to get upon the rec- 
 ord, requested that his motion with the Speak 
 er's decision that it was not in order might be 
 entered on the Journal. The next da}^, 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 resolu- 
 tion upon the Journal because he was resolved 
 that his opponents '' 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- 
 elavery petiticms, quickly found that great num- 
 bers of people were ready to keep him busy in 
 this trying task. For a long while it was al- 
 most as much as he could accomplish to receive, 
 lort, schedule, and present the mfinite number 
 
254 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 of petitions and memorials which came to Mm 
 praying for the abolition of slavery and of the 
 slave-trade in the District of Cokimbia, and op- 
 posing the annexation of Texas. It was an oc- 
 cupation not altogether devoid even of physical 
 danger, and calling for an amount of moral 
 courage greater than it is now easy to appre- 
 ciate. It is the incipient stage of such a con- 
 flict 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 in- 
 flexible 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 in- 
 tense 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 
 Bingle hearty and daring friend, he labored only 
 ihe more earnestly. The severe pressure agains^ 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 255 
 
 him begat only the more severe counter pres- 
 sure upon his part. 
 
 Besides these natural and legitimate difficul- 
 ties, Mr. Adams was further in the embarrass- 
 ing position of one who has to fear as much 
 from the imprudence of allies as from open hos- 
 tility of antagonists, and he was often compelled 
 to guard against a peculiar risk coming from 
 his very coadjutors in the great cause. The ex- 
 tremists who had cast aside all regard for what 
 was practicable, and who utterly scorned to con- 
 sider the feasibility or the consequences of meas- 
 ures which seemed to them to be correct as ab- 
 stract 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 tliat essential por- 
 tion of the labor which could be conducted by 
 no one else. " The abolitionists genernlly," he 
 Baid, "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 
 Jill connection with these dangerous partisans. 
 * Between these adverse impulses," he writes, 
 
256 
 
 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 " my mind is agitated almost to distraction . . 
 I walk on the edge of a precipice almost e\^ei*y 
 Btep tliat I take." In the midst of all this 2inx- 
 iety, however, he was fortunately supported by 
 the strong commendation of nis constituents 
 which they once loyally declared by formal and 
 unanimous votes in a convention summoned for 
 the express purpose of manifesting their sup- 
 port. 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 
 Bcarcely 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 
 Btep further and I hazard my own standing and in- 
 fluence 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 on- 
 ward in the world and in this country, I would with- 
 draw 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 beeis 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 257 
 
 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 anti-slavery petitions, which 
 flow upon me in torrents." The next day he 
 presented the singular petition of one Sberlock 
 S. Gregory, who had conceived the eccentric 
 notion of asking Congress to declare him " an 
 alien or stranger in tlie land so long as slavery 
 exists and the wrongs of the Indians are unre- 
 quited and unrepented of." September 28 he 
 presented a batch of bis 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, 
 _e made a hard but fruitless effort to have the 
 Texan remonstrances and petitions sent to a 
 select committee instead of to that on foreign af- 
 fairs which was constituted in the Southern in- 
 terest. 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 
 
 17 
 
258 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 void, he should " submit to it only as to physical 
 force." January 3, 1838, he presented "about 
 a hundred petitions, memorials, and remon- 
 strances, — all laid on the table." January 15 
 he presented fifty more. January 28 he re- 
 ceived 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 Indepen- 
 dence ' — Here a loud cry of ' order ! order ! ' burst 
 forth, in which the S|)eaker yelled the loudest. I 
 waited till it subsided, and then resumed, ' that if thev 
 could catch him they would hang him ! ' I said thia 
 BO as to be distinctly heard throughout the hall, the 
 renewed deafening shout of ' order ! order ! ' notwith 
 standing. The Speaker then said, ' The gentlemar 
 (rom Massachusetts will take his seat ; ' which I did 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 259 
 
 »nd immediately rose again and presented another 
 petition. He did not dare tell me that I could not 
 proceed without permission of the House, and I pro- 
 ceeded. The threat to hang Northern abolitionists 
 was uttered bj 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-slav« 
 ery character, one of them for '' expunging the 
 Declaration of Independence from the Jour- 
 nals." 
 
 On December 14, 1838, Mr. Wise, of Vir 
 ginia, objected to the reception of certain anti- 
 slavery petitions. The Speaker ruled his ob- 
 jection out of order, and from this ruling Wise 
 appealed. The question ou the appeal was 
 taken by yeas and nays. When Mr. Adams's 
 name was called, he relates : — 
 
 " I rose and said, ' IMr. 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 dis- 
 tinctly these words, the Speaker and about two thirds 
 of the House cried. ' order ! order ! order ! * till it be- 
 came a perfect yell. I paused a moment for it to 
 
260 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 cease and then said, ' a direct violation of the Consti« 
 tutiou of the United States.' While speaking these 
 words with lond, distinct, and slow articulation, the 
 bawl of ' order ! order ! ' resounded again from two 
 thiids 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 re- 
 sumed my seat. Waddy Thompson, of South Caro- 
 lina, 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 
 enarled 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 
 Blav^ery petitions, among which were three pray- 
 ing for the recognition of the Republic of Hayti. 
 Petitions of this latter kind he strenuously in- 
 sisted 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 ForeiOT 
 A-ffairs Committee, and had found it a limba 
 from which they never again emerged, and the 
 3hairman had said that this would continue to 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 261 
 
 be the case. The chairman, sitting two rows 
 behind Mr. Adams, said, " that insinuation 
 should not be made against a gentleman ! " "I 
 shall make," retorted Mr. Adams, ''what insin- 
 uation I please. This is not an insinuation, but 
 a direct, positive assertion." 
 
 January 7, 1839, he cheerfully records that 
 he presented ninet3'^-five petitions, bearing " di- 
 rectly or indirectly u})on the slavery topics,'* 
 and some of them very exasperating in tlieir 
 lanfTuasce. 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 re- 
 fusing so much as a reception to abolition pe- 
 titions. April 13, 1840, he presented a peti- 
 tion 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 amuse- 
 ment in puzzling his Southern adversaries by 
 presenting some petitions in which, besides the 
 usual anti-slavery prayers, there was a prayer 
 ♦■o refuse to admit to the Union any new State 
 vliose constitution should tolerate slavery. The 
 Speaker said that only the latter prayer could 
 
262 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 be received under the " gag " rule. Connor, oi 
 North Carolina, moved to lay on the table so 
 much of the petition as could be received. Mr. 
 Adams tauntingly suggested that in order to do 
 this it would be necessary to mutilate the doc- 
 ument 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 subse- 
 quent course of events, concerning Mr. Adams's 
 relation with the slavery question, seems hith- 
 erto 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 diSicult to make strictly chronological. Ap- 
 parently he was the first to declare the doc- 
 trine, that the abolition of slavery could be law- 
 fully accomplished by the exercise of the war 
 powers of the Government. The earliest ex- 
 pression 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 
 mid : — 
 
 " From the instant that your slave-holding Statei 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 263 
 
 decome the theatre of war, civil, servile, or foreign, 
 from that instant the war powers of the Constitution 
 extend to interference with the institution of slavery 
 in every way in which it can be interfered with, from 
 R 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 whicii 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 conclud- 
 ing a war. 
 
 These views were of course mere abstract ex- 
 pressions of opinion as to the constitutionality 
 of measures the real occurrence of which was 
 anticipated by nobody. But, as the first sug- 
 gestions of a doctrine in itself most obnoxious 
 to the Southern theory and fundamentally de- 
 structive of the great Southern *' institution " 
 under perfectly possible circumstances, this enun- 
 ciation by Mr. Adams gave rise to much indig- 
 nation. Instead of allowing the imperfectly 
 formulated principle to lose its danger in obliv- 
 ion, 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 
 
264 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 to everlasting infamy. The only result was that 
 they induced him to consider tlie matter more 
 fully, and to express his belief more deliber- 
 ately. In January, 1842, Mr. Wise attacked 
 him upon this ground, and a month later Mar- 
 shall followed in the same strain. These as- 
 saults were perhaps the direct incentive to what 
 was said soon after by Mr. Adams, on April 
 14, 1842, in a speech concerning war with Eng- 
 land and with Mexico, of whicli 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 Ameri- 
 can history, and continued : — 
 
 *' Whether the war be servile, civil, or foreign, I lay 
 this down as the law of nations. I say that the mil- 
 iary authority takes for the time the place of all mu- 
 nicipal institutions, slavery among the rest. Under 
 that state of things, so far from its being tiue that the 
 States where slavery exists have the exclusive hjh i 
 Egement of the subject, not only the President of tbd 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 265 
 
 CFnited States but the commander of the army has 
 power to order 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. Ad- 
 ams, 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 govern- 
 ment of the United States were brought face 
 fco 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 pur- 
 suance of the doctrine to which he thus gave 
 the first utterance that slavery was forever abol- 
 ished in the United States. Extracts from the 
 last-quoted speech long stood as the motto of 
 the '' Liberator ;" and at the time of the Eman- 
 npation Proclamation Mr. Adams was regarded 
 as the chief and sufficient authority for an act 
 BO 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 
 
266 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 he wrote from Washington April 4, 1836, to 
 Hon. Solomon Lincoln, of Hingham, a friend 
 and 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, aod for the suppression 
 of which the freemen of Plymouth and Norfolk coun- 
 ;ies, Massachusetts, should be called by Acts of Con- 
 gress 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 
 \he 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 indigna* 
 ti;m. It is, he said, ''a question of far deepei 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 267 
 
 root and more overshadowing branches than 
 any or all others that now agitate this country 
 ... I had opened it by ray speech ... on 
 the 25th May, 1836 — by far the most noted 
 speech that I ever made." He based his oppo- 
 sition 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 re- 
 ceive 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 in- 
 terwoven with his general antagonism to slav- 
 ery, that there is little occasion for treating 
 them separately.^ 
 
 ^ In an address to his cong'-itu ?uts in Sentember, .842, Mr 
 A.dams spoke of his course concerning Texas. Having men 
 lioned Mr. Van Buren's rej)ly,nerlining ti*3 formal proposition 
 
268 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Pecjple sometimes took advantage of hia 
 avowed principles concerning freedom of peti- 
 tion to put him in positions which they thought 
 would embarrass him or render him ridiculous. 
 Not much success, however, attended these fool- 
 ish 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. 
 
 made in 1837 by the Republic of Texas for auBexation to the 
 United States, he continued : " But the slave-breeding passion 
 for the annexation was not to be so disconcerted. At the en- 
 suing 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 consider- 
 ation 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 Administra- 
 tion from its commencement to its close. It silenced the 
 clamors for the annexation of Texas to this Union for three 
 vears 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 
 Mexicv* rose again upon the surface, with eye steadily fixed 
 Upon the Polar Star of Southern slave-dealing supremacy ig 
 the government of the Union." 
 
JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 269 
 
 He simply stated as he handed in the sheet that 
 nothing could be more abhorrent to him than 
 this prayer, and that his respect for the right of 
 petition was his only motive for presenting this. 
 It was suspended under the ''gag" rule, and 
 its promoters, unless very easily amused, must 
 have been sadly disappointed with the fate and 
 effect of their joke. On March 5, 1838, he 
 received from Rocky Mount in Virginia a letter 
 and petition praying that the House would ar- 
 raign 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'a 
 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 gentle- 
 man from Massachusetts wished to give it an- 
 other direction." Mr. Adams said that *' the 
 gentleman from Massachusetts cared very lit- 
 
270 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 tie about it," and it found the limbo of the 
 »* table." 
 
 To this same period belongs the memorable 
 tale of Mr. Adams's attempt to present a peti- 
 tion from slaves. On February 6, 1837, he 
 brought in some two hundred abolition peti- 
 tions. He closed with one against the slave- 
 trade in the District of Cohimbia 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 pre- 
 sent his petitions, that some among them were 
 BO peculiar that he was in doubt as to their 
 genuineness, and this fell within the descrip- 
 tion. 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 pre- 
 Benting 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 
 eould not answer the question until he kneTf 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 271 
 
 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 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 ex- 
 citement 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 Southern- 
 ers was equal to the unforeseen emergency. 
 Mr. Haynes moved the rejection of the peti- 
 tion. Mr. Lewis deprecated this motion, being 
 of opinion that the House must inflict punish- 
 ment 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 
 
 eady to second a motion to punish Mr. Adams, 
 tijd Mr. Lewis said that if punishment should 
 not be meted out it would " oe better for tha 
 ••epresentatives from the siave-holding States 
 
 •^o go home at once." Mr. Alford said that so 
 
272 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Boon 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 into shape as follows : — 
 
 " That the Hon. John Quincy Adams, by the at* 
 tempt just made by him to introduce a petition pur- 
 porting 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 vio- 
 lation of the rules of the House and an insult 
 to its members. He even threatened criminal 
 proceedings before the grand jury of the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, saying that if that body had 
 the " proper intelligence and spirit " people 
 might " yet see an incendiary brought to con- 
 dign 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 accord- 
 ingly." Then there ensued a little more ex- 
 cited speech-making and another resolution, that 
 Mr. Adams, 
 
 " by his attempt to introduce into this House fl 
 petition from slaves for the abolition of slavery ijf 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 273 
 
 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 of this 
 House ; and, by extending to slaves a privilege only 
 belonging to freemen, directly incites the slave pop- 
 ulation 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 ^Ir. 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. 
 Pat ton, 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 misde- 
 meanors" and calling him to the bar of the 
 House to answer for the same, he had thought 
 t proper to remain silent until the House should 
 
 18 
 
274 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 pre- 
 vious 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 ap- 
 peal 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 con- 
 tents 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 spec- 
 tacle shown off every petition day by the hon 
 :)rable member from Massachusetts in present. 
 Jig the abolition petitions of his infatuated 
 
JOHN Q.UINCY ADAMS. 275 
 
 friends and constituents , " charged Mr. Adams 
 with running counter to the sense of the whole 
 country with a " violence paralleled only b} 
 the revolutionary madness of desperation," and 
 twitted him with his political friendlessness, 
 with his age, and with the insinuation of wan- 
 ing 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 bet- 
 ter 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 sucli 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 Quincv Adams receive the 
 i-ensure of the House for his conduct referred to in 
 the preceding resolutions." 
 
 Mr. Pinckney said thaf the avowal by Mr. 
 Adams that he had in his possession the peti- 
 tion of slaves was an admission of communi 
 
276 JOHN QUTNC7 ADAMS, 
 
 cation with slaves, and so was evidence of col- 
 lusion with them; and that Mr. Adams had 
 thus rendered himself indictable foi- aiding and 
 abetting insurrection. A fortiori^ then, was 
 he not amenable to the censure of the House ? 
 Mr. Haynes, of Georgia, forgetting that the pe- 
 tition had not been presented, announced his 
 intention of moving that it sliould 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 sobei* 
 hours was regarded as the best parliamentarian 
 in the Southern part}^ These were, that Mr. 
 Adams 
 
 " by stating in his place that he had in his posses- 
 ion a paper purporting to be a petition from slaves, 
 dud inquiring if it came within the meaning of a res- 
 olution 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 Qnincy Adams receive a 
 censure from the Speaker in the presence of tht 
 House of Representatives." 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 277 
 
 Mr. Alford, in advocating these resolutions, 
 talked about '' tliis awful crisis of our beloved 
 country." Mr. Robertson, though opposing 
 the resolutious, took pains '' strongly to con- 
 demn . . . the contUu't of the gentleman from 
 Massachusetts." Mr. Adams's colleague, Mr. 
 Lincoln, spoke in his behalf, so also did Mr. 
 Evans, of Maine; and Caleb Cusliing made a 
 powerful speech upon his side. Otherwise than 
 tins Mr. Adams was left to carr^*^ on the con- 
 test single-handed ngainst the numerous array 
 of assailants, all incensed and many fairly sav- 
 age. Yet it is a striking proof of the dread 
 in which even the united body of hot-blooded 
 Southerners stood of this liard ligliter 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 elabo- 
 rate speech of defence they suddenly and op- 
 portunely became ready to content themselves 
 with a mild resolution, which condemned gen- 
 erally the presentation of petitions from slaves, 
 and, for the disposal of this particular case, 
 recited that Mr. Adams had ''solemnly dis- 
 claimed all design of doing anything disrespect- 
 ful to the House," and had " avowed his inten- 
 tion not to offer to present " to the House the 
 petition of tliis kind held by him that ' there, 
 fore all further proceedings in regard to his 
 
278 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 conduct do now cease." A sneaking effort bj 
 Mr. Vanderpoel to close Mr. Adams's mouth 
 by moving the previous question involved too 
 much cowardice to be carried ; and so on Febru- 
 ary 9 the sorely bated man was at last able to 
 begin his final speech. He conducted his de- 
 fence 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 hovv 
 much more, he asked, was the Speaker deserv- 
 ing 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 
 Uberty," excoriating them until they actually 
 irose and tried to explain away their own lan- 
 guage. He cast infinite ridicule upon the un- 
 happy expression of Dromgoole, " giving coloi 
 to an idea." Referring to the difficulty which 
 he encountered by reason of the variety anc*, 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 279 
 
 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 dove,'" — there was an exquisite 
 Barcasm 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 aojainst 
 this new crime of giving color to ideas? " As 
 for trifling with the House by presenting a 
 petition which in the course of debate bad be- 
 come pretty well known and acknowledged to 
 be a hoax designed to lead Mr. Adams into a 
 position of embarrassment and danger, he dis- 
 claimed 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.^ 
 
 1 Mr. Adams afterward said : " I believed the petition signed 
 by female names to be genuine. ... I had suspicions that the 
 w.ther, 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 emancipa- 
 tion, 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 mem 
 bers who should persist in presenting them should be ex- 
 oelled." It was a part of the prayer of the petition that Mr. 
 Adams should be expelled if he should continue tc present 
 abolition petitions. 
 
280 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Bui while denying all intention of trifling with 
 the House, he rejected the mercy extended to 
 him !n the last of the long series of resolutions 
 before that body. " I disclaim not," he said, 
 " any particle of what I have done, not a sin- 
 gle word of what I have said do I imsay ; nay, 
 1 am ready to do and to sa}^ the same to-mor- 
 row." He had no notion of aiding in making 
 a loophole through which his bkmdering en- 
 emies 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 am- 
 bitious 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 vrith 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 
 dhape 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. 
 
 In the winter of 1842-3 the questions arising 
 out of the affair of the Creole rendered the 
 position then held by Mr. Adams at the head o' 
 the House Committee on Foreign Affairs ex 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 281 
 
 ceedingly distasteful to the slave-holders. On 
 January 21, 1842, a somewhat singular mani- 
 festation of this feeling was made when Mr. 
 Adams himself presented a petition from Geor- 
 gia praying for his removal from this Chair- 
 manship. 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 peti- 
 tion 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 'Mnfamous 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 peti- 
 tion of forty-five citizens of Haverhill, Massa- 
 chusetts, praying the House "immediately to 
 adopt measures peaceably to dissolve the union 
 
282 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 
 
 of these States," for the alleged cause of the 
 incompatibility 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 rea- 
 sons why the prayer of it ought not to be 
 granted." 
 
 In a moment the House was aflame with ex- 
 citement. The numerous members who hated 
 Mr. Adams thought that at last he was experi- 
 encing the divinely sent madness which fore- 
 runs destruction. Those who sought his polit- 
 ical 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. Ad- 
 ams said that he hoped that it would be re- 
 ceived and debated and that an opportunity 
 would be given him to speak in his own de- 
 fence ; " especially as the gentleman from Vir- 
 ginia had thought proper to play second fiddle 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 283 
 
 fco his colleague ^ from Accomac." Mr. Gilmer 
 
 retorted that he *' played second fiddle to no 
 
 man. He was no fiddler, but 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 rosGj 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 Ken- 
 tucky, offered a substitute for Gilmer's resolu- 
 tion. This new fulmination had been prepared 
 in a caucus of forty members of the slave-hold- 
 ing party, and was long and carefully framed. 
 Its preamble recited, in substance, that a pe- 
 tition 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 propo- 
 sition to the Legislature and each member of 
 it to commit perjury, and involving necessarily 
 in its execution and its consequences the de- 
 struction of our country and the crime of higli 
 treason : " wherefore it was to be resolved that 
 Mr. Adams, in presenting a petition for dissolu- 
 tion, had "offered the deepest iniignitv to the 
 
 ^ Henry A. Wise. 
 
284 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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 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 coun- 
 cils ; " 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 indig- 
 nation of all true American citizens." 
 
 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^ gave some little assistance to Mr. Ad- 
 ams, and the House again adjourned. The fol- 
 lowing day Wise continued his speech, very 
 lilaborately. When he closed, Mr. Adams, who 
 had '' determined not to interrupt him till h« 
 had discharged his full cargo of filthy invec- 
 tire,'' rose to "make a preliminary point." H# 
 
 I ITnrace Everett of Vermont. 
 
JOHN QUIXCT ADAMS. 285 
 
 questioned the right of the House to entertaiu 
 Marshall's resolutions since the preamble as- 
 sumed him to be guilty of the crimes of subor- 
 nation of perjury and treason, and the resolu- 
 tions 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 broufrht to 
 trial upon them he asserted his right to have 
 the proceedings conducted before a jurv 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 sittinix 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 consid- 
 erations, he said, ought to prevent many gen- 
 tlemen from voting, as Mr. Wise had avowed 
 that they would prevent him. Here Wise in- 
 terrupted to disavow that he was influenced by 
 ?iny such reasons, but rather, he said, by the 
 "personal loathing, dread, and contempt I feel 
 for the man." Mr. A dams, continuing after this 
 pleasant interjection, admitted that he was in 
 •he j)ower of the majority, who might try him 
 
286 JOHN QVINCY ADAM 8. 
 
 ftgainst law and condemn Mm against right ii 
 they would. 
 
 " If they say they will try me, they must try me. 
 If they say they will punish me, they must punish 
 me. But if they say tiiat 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 cer- 
 tain 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 writ- 
 ing, — his own request to the like effect in an- 
 other 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 fa vol 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 287 
 
 ^hicli he had repeatedly denied to me." When 
 Mr. Wise was speaking, "I interrupted him oc- 
 casionally," says Mr. Adams, "sometimes to 
 provoke him into absurdity." As usual he was 
 left to fight out his desperate battle substan- 
 tially single-handed. Only Mr. Everett occa- 
 sionally helped him a very little ; while one or 
 two others who spoke against the resolutions 
 were careful to explain that they felt no per- 
 sonal 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 col- 
 leagues from Massachusetts. This support aided 
 and cheered him somewhat, but could not pre- 
 vent 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 Washing- 
 ton — the Globe and the National Intelligencer 
 — which reported the debates, daily filled their 
 columns with all the abuse and invective which 
 was poured foi th against him, while they gave 
 the most meagre statements, or none at all, of 
 what he said in his own defence Among other 
 
288 JOHN QUIN'Cr adams. 
 
 amenities he received from North Carolina an 
 anonymous letter threatening him with assas- 
 Bination, having also an engraved portrait of 
 him with the mark of a rifle-ball in the fore- 
 head, 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 execu- 
 tion of the barbarous threat. 
 
 The prolonged struggle cost him deep anx- 
 iety 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 prop- 
 ositions failing, he began his speech and soon 
 was making such headway that even his adver 
 Baries were constrained to see that the opportu 
 aity which they had conceived to be within theii 
 
JOHN QnJNCY ADAMS. 289 
 
 g^'asp was eluding them, as had so often hap- 
 pened before. Accordingly on February 7 the 
 motion to "lay the whole subject on the table 
 forever " was renewed and carried by one hun- 
 dred and six votes to ninetv- three. The House 
 then took up the original petition and lefused 
 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 w^ith 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 vic- 
 tor. On Februarv 26 he writes : " D. D. Bar- 
 nard told me he had received a petition from 
 his District, signed by a small number of very 
 respectable persons, praying for a dissolution ot 
 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 
 ip his mind "what to do with it." He pre- 
 jented it, with a motion that it be referred to a 
 select committee with instructions to report ad- 
 versely 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 impost d 
 
 19 
 
290 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. I 
 
 upon Mr. Adams by this effort to censure azid 
 disgrace bim, tbe scbeme, already referred to, 
 for displacing bim from the chairmanship of the 
 Committee on Foreign Affairs bad been actively 
 prosecuted. He was notified that tbe Southern 
 members had formed a cabal for removing him 
 and putting Caleb Cushing in bis place. The 
 plan was, however, temporarily checked, and so 
 soon as Mr. Adams had triumphed in tbe House 
 the four Southern members of the committee 
 sent to the House a paper begging to be ex- 
 cused from further services on the committee, 
 " because from recent occurrences it was doubt- 
 ful whether the House would remove the chair- 
 man, and they were unwilling to serve with one 
 in whom they had no confidence." The fugi- 
 tives 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, nomi- 
 nated 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 pub- 
 lished, but Mr. Adams, after some hesitation, 
 determined not to give them the importance 
 
JOHN QUINCT ADAMS. 291 
 
 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 enter- 
 tained towards Mr. Adams, there yet lurked 
 a degree of respect for his courage, honesty, 
 and ability which showed itself upon occasion, 
 doubtless not a little to the surprise of the 
 members themselyes who were hardly conscious 
 that they entertained such sentiments until 
 startled into a manifestation of them. An em- 
 inent 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 dve gentlemen from New Jer- 
 sey, who brought with them the regular guber- 
 natorial 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 
 ind proceed with the roll till the Hjuse should 
 
292 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 be formed, when the question could be de 
 cided. Plausible as appeared this abstentioL 
 from an exercise of authority in so grave a dis- 
 pute, it was nevertheless really an assumption 
 and not a deprecation of power, and as such 
 was altogether unjustifiable. The clerk's sole 
 business was to call the names of those persons 
 Mio 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, con- 
 ducted, 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 ex- 
 clusion of these four members in the first in- 
 stance would determine the po itical complexion 
 of the body. The members holding the certifi- 
 cates were Whigs ; if the clerk could keep them 
 out until the organization o^ the House should 
 be completed, then the Democrats would con- 
 trol that organization, would elect their Speaker, 
 and through him would make up the commit- 
 tees. 
 
 Naturally enough this arrogation of power 
 by the clerk, the motives and consequences of 
 which were abundantly obvious, raised a ter 
 rible storm. The debate continued till four 
 j'clock in the afternoon, when a motion wai 
 
JOUN QUINCY ADAMS. 293 
 
 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 tiiat the 
 clerk's '' two decisions form together an insur- 
 mountable 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 adjourn- 
 ment. Some called out " a count ! a count ! " 
 while most rushed out of the hall, and Wise 
 cried loudl}^ " Now we are a mob ! " The next 
 day there was moie violent debating, but no 
 progress towards a decision. Various party 
 leaders offered resolutions, none of which ac- 
 complished anything. The condition was ridic- 
 ulous, disgraceful, and not without serious pos* 
 sibilities of danger. Neither did any light of 
 Bncouragement break la any quarter. In the 
 crisis there seemed, by suiden consent of all, to 
 ^ a turning towards Mi" Adams. Prominent 
 
294 JOHN aUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 men of botli 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 liim. 
 Accordingly on December 5 he rose to addresa 
 the House. He was greeted as a Deua ex 
 machina. Not speaking to the clerk, but turn- 
 ing directly to the assembled members, he be- 
 gan : " Fellow-citizens ! Members elect of the 
 twenty-sixth Congress ! " He could not resist 
 the temptation of administering a brief but se- 
 vere and righteous castigatlon to Garland ; and 
 then, ignoring that functionary altogether, pro- 
 ceeded 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 al- 
 ready 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 emer- 
 gency. A tumult of applause resounded upon 
 all sides. Rhett, of South Carolina, sprang up 
 and offered a resolution, that Williams, of NortK 
 arolina, the oldest member of the House, b^ 
 
 r^ 
 
 'U 
 
JOHN QDINCY ADAMS. 295 
 
 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 
 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 in- 
 scribe 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.^ It must, however, be acknowl- 
 edged that the impetuous Southerners behaved 
 very handsomely by their arch foe on this oc- 
 casion, and were for once as chivalrous in fact 
 as they always were in profession. 
 
 Smooth water had by no means been reached 
 when Mr. Adams was placed at the helm ; on 
 the contrary, the buffetting became only the 
 more severe when the members were no longer 
 
 1 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 rnsuJtingly to say, "that 
 there was but one man in the House whose judgment he w»l 
 mwilling to abide by," and that man was Mr. Adams. 
 
296 JORi'< QUINCY AD AM 8. 
 
 restrained by a lurking dread of grave disastei 
 if not of utter shipwreck. Between two bit- 
 terly incensed and evenly divided parties en- 
 gaged in a struggle for an important prize, Mr. 
 Adams, having no strictly lawful authority per- 
 taining to his singular and anomalous position, 
 was hard taxed to perform his functions. It ia 
 impossible to follow the intricate and acrimo- 
 nious quarrels of the eleven days which suc- 
 ceeded 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 
 Bome talk of moving a vote of thanks, but he 
 entreated that it should not be done. " In the 
 rancorous and bitter temper of the Adminis- 
 tration party, exasperated by their disappoint- 
 ment 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 episode? 
 in a life which had many distinctions. 
 
 A few incidents indicative of respect must 
 have been welcome enough in th(i solitary fight 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 297 
 
 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 nngracious demeanor, so uncompromising 
 with friend and foe, yet he was a man of deep 
 and strong feelings, and in a way even very sen- 
 sitive 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 cheer- 
 fully, 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 con- 
 sidered himself " ill-treated by every public man 
 whom circumstances had brought into competi- 
 tion 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 : — 
 
 " AmoDg 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 sor^y pictures of the 
 heart of man. . . . H. G. Otis, Theophilus Parsons, 
 Timothy Pickering, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay 
 
298 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 Jonathan Russell, William H. Crawford, John C 
 Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, Daniel Webster, and John 
 Davis, W. B. Giles, and John Randolph, have used 
 ap 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 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 habit- 
 ually irritating. He himself says that to nearly 
 all these men — Russell alone specifically ex- 
 cepted — 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 mis- 
 take my own motives. The best actions of my 
 dfe make me nothing but enemies." In Feb- 
 ruary, 1841, he made a powerful speech in cas- 
 tigation of Henry A. Wise, who had been up- 
 holding in Southern fashion slavery, duelling, 
 Rnd nullification. He received afterward some 
 messages of praise and sympathy, but notec 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 299 
 
 with pain that his colleagues thought it one of 
 his " eccentric, wild, extravagant freaks of pas- 
 sion ; " 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 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 in- 
 sane 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, IS'IO, he writes that he has been 
 twelve years submitting in silence to the " foul- 
 ,est 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 pos- 
 terity 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 con- 
 vincing shape in that Diary, which so discom- 
 fited and enraged General Jackson. There is 
 plain enough speaking in its pages, which were 
 a safety valve whereby much wrath escaped. 
 xMr. Adams had the faculty of fi.rcible expres- 
 «on when he chose to employ i"-, as maybe seen 
 
800 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 from a few specimen sentences. On March 28, 
 1840, lie remarks that Atherton " this day emit- 
 ted 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. Duncan, of Cincin- 
 nati, mentioned as " delivering a dose of balder- 
 dash," is described as " the prime bully of the 
 Kinderhook Democracy," without " perception 
 of any moral distinction between truth and 
 falsehood, ... a thorough-going hack-dema- 
 gogue, 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 porten- 
 tous. 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 exec- 
 utive, by lawless assemblao;es 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 ob- 
 lerves that " the remarkable phenomenon that 
 they present is the level of iniellect and o^ 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 301 
 
 morals upon wbicli they stand ; and this uni- 
 versal mediocrity is the basis upon which the 
 liberties of this nation repose." In July, 1840, 
 he thinks that 
 
 " parties are falling into profligate factions. 1 
 have seen this before ; but the worst symptom now is 
 the change in the manners of the people. The con- 
 tinuance 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 disburse- 
 ment 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 grunt- 
 ing 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 
 Tuly, 1841, we again hear of Atherton as a 
 " cross-grained numskull . . snarling against 
 the loan bill." With such peppery passages 
 .11 great abundance the Diary is thickly and 
 
B02 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 piquantly besprinkled. They are not always 
 pleasant, perhaps not even always amusing, but 
 they display the marked element of censorious- 
 ness in Mr. Adams's character, which it is nec- 
 essary to appreciate in order to understand some 
 parts of his career. 
 
 If Mr. Adams never had the cheerfid sup- 
 port of popularity, so neither did he often have 
 the encouragement of success. He said that 
 he was paying in his declining years for the 
 good luck wliich had attended the earlier por- 
 tion of his life. On December 14, 1833, he 
 calculates that he has three fourths of the peo- 
 ple of Massaclnisetts against him, and by es- 
 tranging the anti-Masons he is about to become 
 obnoxious to the whole. " My public life will 
 terminate by the alienation from me of all man- 
 kind. ... 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 acknowleds^es that 
 he is unable to '' abstract himself from tlie 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, 
 1885, he gives as his reason for not accepting 
 an invitation to deliver a discourse, that " in 
 stead of having any beneficial influence upor 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 803 
 
 the public mind, it would be turned as an in- 
 Btrument 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 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 disap- 
 pointment 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 phys- 
 ique and of extraordinary powers of endur- 
 ance, often surpassing those of yomig and vigor- 
 ous men, is evident. For example, one day in 
 March, 1840, he notes incidentaHv : ''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 " ir 
 
804 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 retrievable ; " he gets but five hours a night oi 
 " disturbed unquiet sleep — full of tossings." 
 February 17, 1834, his " voice was so hoarse and 
 feeble that it broke repeatedly, and he could 
 Bcarcely articulate. It is gone forever," he very 
 mistakenly but despondingly adds, "and it ip 
 in vain for me to contend against the decay of 
 time and nature." His enemies found littla 
 truth in this foreboding for many sessions there- 
 after. Only a year after he had performed his 
 feat of fasting for twenty-eight hours of busi- 
 ness, he received a letter from a stranger advis- 
 ing hira 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 oi 
 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. H« 
 was not only an incessant studt nt in history 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 305 
 
 politics, and literature, but he also constantly 
 invaded the domain of science. He was Chair- 
 man 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 hoped to make it subservient to apian 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 pur- 
 suit of composing poetry ; he delivered an enor- 
 mous number of addresses and speeches upon 
 all sorts of occasions ; he conducted an exten- 
 sive correspondence ; he was a ver}^ 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 Congrressional 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 be- 
 fore the Supreme Court. Such were the labors 
 of his declining age. To men of ordinary cali- 
 bre the multiplicity of his acquirements and 
 achievements is confounding and incredible. 
 He worked his brain and his body as unspar- 
 ingly as if they had been machines insensible to 
 the pleasure or nec^essity of rest. Surprisingly 
 
 90 
 
306 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 did they submit to his exacting treatment, last* 
 ing 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 heats of Washington, he 
 had some symptoms which he thought premon- 
 itory, and he speaks of the next session of Con- 
 gress 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 morn- 
 ing 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 la* 
 bor. 
 
 But he had one great joy and distinguished 
 triumph still in store for him. From the time 
 when the "gag" rule bad 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 tlie 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 yeaj 
 
JOHN aUINCY ADAM8. 307 
 
 after year he renewed it with invincible per- 
 Beverance. The majorities against him began 
 to dwindle till they became almost impercep- 
 tible ; in 1842 it was a majority of four; in 
 1843, of three ; in 1844 the struggle was pro- 
 tracted for weeks, and Mr. Adams all but car- 
 ried the day. It was evident that victory was 
 not far off, and a kind fate had destined him to 
 live not only to see but himself to win it. On 
 December 3, 1844, he made his usual motion 
 and called for the yeas and nays ; a motion was 
 made to lay his motion on the table, and upon 
 that also the question was taken by yeas and 
 nays — eighty-one yeas, one hundred and four 
 nays, and his motion was 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 aft- 
 erwards some anti-slavery petitions were re- 
 ceived and actually referred to the Committee 
 on the District of Columbia. This glorious con- 
 summation having been achieved, this advanced 
 stage in the long conflict having been reached, 
 Mr. Adams could not hope for life to see an- 
 other goal passed. His work was nearly done ; 
 
308 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 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, on November 19, 1846, 
 he was struck by paralysis in the street in Bos- 
 ton. 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 inci- 
 dent : all the members rose together ; business 
 was for the moment suspended ; his old accus- 
 tomed 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 ! 
 Slop ! — Mr. Adams ! " Some gentlemen near 
 Mr. Adams had thought that he was striving 
 to rise to address the Speaker, when in an in 
 Btant he fell over insensible. The members 
 thronged around him in great confusion. Tha 
 
JOHN QUINC7 ADAMS. 301 
 
 House hastily adjourned. He was placed on g 
 Bofa and removed first to the hall of the ro- 
 tunda and then to the Speaker's room. Medi- 
 cal men were in attendance but could be of nc 
 service in the presence of death. The stern 
 old fighter lay dying almost on the very field o1 
 BO many battles and in the very tracks in 
 which he had so often stood erect and uncon- 
 querable, taking and dealing so many mighty 
 blows. Late in the afternoon some inarticu- 
 late mutterings were construed into the words, 
 " Thank the ofiicers of the House." Soon again 
 he said intelligibly, " This is the last of earth ! 
 I am content I " 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 Quiney " beside his wife, who sur- 
 vived 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 appropi-iately applied tc 
 any man than to John Quiney Adams, hardly 
 ttbused and cruelly misappreciated in his own 
 day but whom subsequent generations already 
 begin to honor as one of the greatest of Amer- 
 ican statesmen, not only preeminent in ability 
 and acquirements, but even more to be honored 
 for profound, immutable honesty of purpose 
 ind broad, noble humanity of aims. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Idajis, Dr , EDgiisli Commissioner 
 to treat for peace, 77. 
 
 idams, John, Minister to Paris, 4 ; 
 Minister to St. James's, 14 ; be- 
 comes President, 23 ; nominates 
 his son Minister to Prussia, 24 ; 
 and recalls him, 24 ; leares W'ash- 
 ngton, 25 ; breaks the Federal 
 3arty, 26. 
 
 J »ams John Quincy, birth, 1 ; nam- 
 ing, i ; childhood during Revolu- 
 tion, 2 ; letter to his father, 3 ; 
 goes to Paris, 4; letter to his 
 mother, 5 ; begins his diary, 6 ; 
 depicted therein, 10 et se(/. ; life 
 abroad, in Russia and at Paris, 13, 
 14 ; returns home and goes to 
 IlarvarJ College, 15-17 ; studies 
 law and begins practice, 17 ; pub- 
 lishes political papers of " Pubii- 
 cola,'' " Marcellus,'" " Colum- 
 bus," and " Barnevelt," 18 ; .Min- 
 ister to the Hague. 19-21 ; diplo- 
 matic en'and"i7rT5nglaiid, 21 ; en- 
 gagement and marriage, 22, 23 ; 
 transferred to court of Portugal, 
 23 ; Minister to Prussia, 24 ; re- 
 called, 24 ; returns to the law, 
 24 ; political prospects and con- 
 nections, 25, 27 ; ill-treated by 
 Jefferson, 28 ; elected to St^xte 
 Senate, 28 ; offends the Federal- 
 ists by his independence, 29 ; 
 elected to United States Senate, 
 ?0 ; goes to Washington, 30 ; 
 hardly treated there by Federal- 
 ists, 31 : unpopular in the Senate, 
 32 ft seq. ; relationship with Pick- 
 ei-ing, 32 ; action concerning ad- 
 mission of Louisiana, 35 ; con- 
 terning impeachment of Judge 
 Chase, 36 ; improvement of his 
 position in the Senate, 36 ; posi- 
 tion concerning leiations of 
 Lai ted States with England, 38 
 H $eq. ; ^isagreemeut with Feder- 
 
 alists, 40, 50; supports non-!a« 
 portation act, 40, and see 49 ; on 
 the decrees and orders of Franc* 
 and England, 42, 47 et seq. ; behaT- 
 ior concerning affair of Chesa- 
 peake and Leopard, 51 ; expelled 
 from Federal party, 52, 56 et seq. , 
 supports the embargo, 52 ; resigns 
 his Senatorship, 57 ; his course 
 considered, 57 et seq. ; justified in 
 leaving the Federal party, 61 et 
 seq,; effects of his doing so, 64 ; 
 relationship with Republican 
 party, 65, 66 ; his own reflections 
 at this time, 66, 67 ; nominated 
 Minister to Russia, 69, 70 ; life 
 and services in Russia, 71-75; ap- 
 pointed Commissioner to treat for 
 peace with Great Britain, 75 et 
 seq. ; his share in the ensuing ne- 
 gotiation, 77-93; relationship 
 with Clay, 84 ; habits, 85; opin- 
 ion as to the Mississippi and the 
 fisheries, 88-90 ; appointed Minis- 
 ter to England, 98; his stay and 
 services there, 99-101 : relations 
 with Canning and Castlereagh, 
 99, 100 ; appointed Secretary of 
 State by President Monroe, 101 ; 
 in \Vashington society, lu4 ; can- 
 didate for Presidency, 106 ; pol- 
 icy towards revolted Spanish col- 
 onies, 110 ; his negotiations with 
 Don Onis, the Spanish Minister, 
 112 et seq. ; concludes the treaty., 
 116 ; but at once encounters mis- 
 understandings, 117, lis ; and 
 thereupon advises vigorous meas- 
 ures 119 ; reopens negotiations 
 with Vives, 124 ; finally concludes 
 treaty, 125, 126 ; feeling about 
 slavery at time of Missouri Com 
 promise, 120-124 ; sends in h 
 report on weights and measures 
 127 ; dignified behaTior in foreign 
 relations, 128 et seq. / originat«i 
 
312 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 the Monroe Doctrine, 131, 132, 
 137 views concerniLgac(^uisition 
 of territory by United States, 
 131 ; opposition to " Holy Alli- 
 ance," 133 ; receives droll propo- 
 sition from Portugal, 135; holds 
 United States aloof from Euro- 
 pean entanglements, 135-137 ; in- 
 terviews with Stratford Canning 
 as to slave-trade, 136, 138-140 ; 
 angry discnssion with Stratford 
 Canning, 141-149 ; feelings to- 
 wards Mr. Clay during Presiden- 
 tial campaign, 152-155 ; hatred of 
 Randolph, 154 ; and of Crawford, 
 155-157 ; behavior towards Gen- 
 eral Jackson, 159-164 ; rules of 
 conduct during Presidential cam- 
 paign, 164-167 ; feelings concern- 
 ing the campaign, 167-169 ; elec- 
 toral vote for, 170 : elected by in- 
 fluence of Clay, 170-174 ; f_eelings 
 concerning his election, 175-177 ; 
 his inauguration, 176; enmity 
 with Jackson, 176 ; nominates 
 his Cabinet, 178 ; makes Rufus 
 King Minister to England, 178 ; 
 principle as to distribution of 
 offices, 179-181 ; charged with 
 having bargained with Clay tor 
 his election, 181-189; political 
 prospects of his administration, 
 
 189 et seq.; relations towards the 
 South and political parties, 189- 
 193 ; Jacksonian opposition to his 
 administration, 193 ; nominates 
 emissaries to Panama Congress, 
 
 190 ; internal policy of his admin- 
 istration, 194-196 ; at the Chesa- 
 peake and Ohio Canal, 195 ; true 
 issue between him and Jackson, 
 196-201 ; refuses to propitiate 
 support, 201-205 ; relations with 
 his Cabinet, 205-207 ; routino of 
 daily life as President, 207 ; 
 threatened with assassination, 
 205 ; political charges against, 
 209, 210 ; pungent passages from 
 lis diary, 211-213; beaten in 
 
 Presidential campaign of 1827, 
 213 ; opinion of Von Hoist con- 
 cerning, 214 ; feelings concerning 
 his defeat, 215 : quarrel with the 
 thirteen Federalists, 216-220 his 
 finances, 221 ; his literary hahits, 
 222-224 ; election to Congress, 226, 
 233; ae an orator, 22,■^; in Congress, 
 230-234 ; position with regard to 
 the tariff, South Carolina, and 
 President Jackson, 235-2;J5 , gen 
 
 erally in opposition to Jackson' 
 administration, 239 ; but aids him 
 in affair with France, 239, 240 ; 
 personal relations with Jackson, 
 240-243 ; his relations towards 
 abolicion and slavery in Congress, 
 244 et seq. ; his function in the 
 anti-slavery contest, 245, 246 ; 
 consequent unpopularity, 247; 
 but supported by some, 248 ; pre- 
 sents anti-slavery petitions, 249- 
 252, 254, 257-262; opposes the 
 "gag" rule, 251, 252, 257, 259, 
 261 ; relations with abolitionists, 
 255 et seq ; supported by his con- 
 stituents, 256 ; presents petition 
 of Sherloch S. Gregory, 257 ; ef- 
 forts concerning Texan petitions, 
 etc., 257 ; concerning petitions re- 
 lating to llayti, 260; declares the 
 war powers of the Government 
 to include abolition of slavery, 
 262-266 ; opposes annexation of 
 Texas, 266, 267 ; presents petition 
 for his own expulsion, 268, 269 : 
 presents petition from slaves, 270 
 et seq ; attempt to remove him 
 from Chairmanship of Foreign 
 Affairs Committee, 280, 290 ; pre- 
 sents petition for dissolution of 
 the Union, 281 et seq. ; services of, 
 at organization of twenty -sixth 
 Congress, in the dispute over the 
 New Jersey members, 291 et seq.; 
 hib rettections concerning his un- 
 popularity, 297-299 ; physical con- 
 dition in old age, 303, 304, 306; 
 multiplicity of labors, 305; suc- 
 ceeds in effecting abolition of the 
 "gag " rule, 306-308; paralysis, 
 308 ; death, 308, 309._^^ 
 
 Bagot, Mr., British Minister, refer 
 
 ence to by Mr. Canning, 143, 144. 
 Barnard, D. D., presents petition for 
 
 dissolution of the Union, 289. 
 " Barnevelt," papers of, 18. 
 Barron, Commodore, commander of 
 
 the Chesapeake, 45. 
 Bayard, appointed Commissioner to 
 
 treat for peace with Great Britain 
 
 75, 76. 
 Berlin decree, issued, 41. 
 
 Calhoun, John C, candidate foT 
 Presidency, 107,150; remark con- 
 cerning Southern allia,nce with 
 England, 122 ; opinion of Craw- 
 fo-d, 158. 
 
 (fanning Stratford, interviews wHt 
 
INDEX. 
 
 313 
 
 Mr. Adams as to slave trade, 136, 
 138-140 ; angry discussion of Mr. 
 Adams with, 141-149. 
 
 Castlereagh, Lord, position towards 
 the United States in 1814, 93, 94 ; 
 relations of Mr. Adams with, 99, 
 100. 
 
 Chase, Judge, impeachment of, 36. 
 
 Chesapeake, affair of the, 45, 50 ; 
 public meeting, 51. 
 
 Chesapeake and Ohio Canal opened, 
 195. 
 
 Clay, Henry, appointed Commis- 
 sioner to treat for peace with 
 England, 77 ; relations with Mr. 
 Adams, 84, 152-155 ; feelings 
 about the Mississippi and the 
 Fisheries, 88-90 ; Commissioner at 
 London, 98; losses at cards, 104 ; 
 relations with Monroe's adminis- 
 tration, 107, 152,155; concerning 
 South American states, 110, 15-^, 
 154 ; opposes Spanish treaty, 113, 
 117, 125 ; candidate for Presi- 
 dency, 150 ; controls Presidential 
 election in 1825, 170-174 : made 
 Secretary of State, 178; votes at 
 his confirmation, 189; charged 
 with having made a coiTupt bar- 
 gain with Mr. Adams, 181-189 ; 
 duel with Randolph, 184. 
 
 Columbia River, discussion between 
 Mr. Adams and Canning as to set- 
 tlement upon, 141-149. 
 
 ' Columbus,"' papers of, 18. 
 
 Congi'ess, troubles at organization 
 of twenty-si.xth, 291 et seq. 
 
 Crawford, William II., in the Treas- 
 ury, 1U6 ; candidate for Presi- 
 dency, 106, 107, 150 ; behavior of, 
 concerning Spanish treaty, 113; 
 hated by Mr. Adams, 155-157; 
 Calhoun's opinion of, 158. 
 
 Dana, Francis, Minister to Russia, 
 13. 
 
 Jeas, Mr., at London, 21, 22. 
 
 De Neuville, French Minister, ser- 
 vices to Mr. Adams concerning 
 Spanish treaty, 115. 
 
 Diary, beginning of, 6; remarks 
 concerning, 8 et seq.; during 
 Pi-esidential campaign, 151, 165, 
 169 ; during Presidency, 211-213 ; 
 some extracts from, 300 et seq. 
 
 Embargo, supported by Mr. Adams, 
 
 52 et seq. 
 Sngliind, relations of United States 
 
 with, in 1806, 1807, 87, 38 ; viola- 
 
 tions of international law by, 39, 
 41 ; impressment of American 
 seamen by, 43 et seq. ; harm done 
 by, to United States, 46 ; appoints 
 Commissioners to treat for peace 
 with United States, 77 ; sugges- 
 tion of Southern alliance with 
 122. 
 
 Federalists, controversv of the 
 thirteen, with Adams, 216-220. 
 
 Federal party, schism in the, 26, 
 27 ; condition of, in Massachu- 
 setts, 28; relations of, with J. 
 Q. Adams, 28 ; elects him to State 
 Senate, 28 ; to United States Sen- 
 ate, 30 ; treats Mr. Adams se- 
 vei'ely in the Senate, 31 ; behavioi 
 towards England in 1806, 40, 47 • 
 in affair of the Chesapeake, 52 
 expels Mr. Adams, 52 ; further an 
 tipathy to him, in matter of em 
 bargo, 53 ; criticised, 59-61 ; de- 
 cay of, 105. 
 
 Florida ceded to United States, 116 
 125. 
 
 " Gag " rule, so called, established, 
 251, 252, 261 ; petitions partially 
 receivable under, 262 ; rescinded, 
 306-308. 
 
 Gallatin, Commissioner to treat for 
 peace with Great Britain, 75, 76 ; 
 Commissioner at London, 98. 
 
 Gambler, Lord, Commissioner to 
 treat for peace, 77. 
 
 Garland, clerk, behavior of at or- 
 ganization of twenty sixth Con- 
 gress, 291 et srq. 
 
 Ghent, negotiations at. See Treaty. 
 
 Goulburn, Commissioner to treat 
 for peace, 77. 
 
 Greece, affairs of, 135. 
 
 Grenville, Lord, negotiations of Mr 
 Adams with, 21, 22. 
 
 Hayti, petitions relating to, 260. 
 
 Impressment of American seamea 
 by England, 43 et seq. 
 
 .Iay's treaty ratified, 21, 22. 
 
 Jackson, General AndreK, and the 
 Spanish treaty, 126 ; candidate for 
 Presidency, l50; Adams's treat- 
 ment of, 159-164 ; loses the Presi- 
 dential election, 170-174 ; his con- 
 nection with the charge of a 
 corrupt understanding between 
 Adams and Clay, 185-189; hij 
 
614 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 party led by Van Buren, 193 ; 
 
 the question at issue between 
 him and Adams, 196-201 ; elected 
 President, 213; his message of 
 December 4, 1832, 235 ; behavior 
 towards France concerning her 
 indebtedness, 239; made Doctor 
 of Laws by Harvard College, 242 ; 
 personal relations with J. Q. Ad- 
 ams, 240-243. 
 
 Jackson, Mr., British Minister, ref- 
 erence to, by Mr. Canning, 147, 
 148. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, ill-treats J. Q. 
 Adams, 28. 
 
 Johnson, Joshua, father-in-law of 
 Mr. Adams, 22. 
 
 King. Rufus, Minister to England, 
 
 178. 
 
 Leopard, the, attacks the Chdsa- 
 peake, 45, 50 ; public meeting con- 
 cerning the attack, 51. 
 
 Lloyd, James N., chosen to United 
 States Senate in place of Mr. Ad- 
 ams, 57. 
 
 Louisiana, admission of, 35 ; dis- 
 putes as to boundary of, 111, 
 113. 
 
 'Marcellus," papers of, 18. 
 
 McLean, double-dealing of, 206, 
 207. 
 
 Milan decree issued, 42. 
 
 Mills, Hon. E. IL, sketch of Wash- 
 ington by, 102 ; remarks about 
 Mr. Adams, 104; about Crawford, 
 158. 
 
 Mississippi, navigation of the, 88- 
 90, 95. 
 
 Missouri, admission of, into Union, 
 120 ; bearing of this upon Spanish 
 treaty, 124, 125. 
 
 *lonroe Doctrine, originated by Mr. 
 Adams, 130, 132, 137. 
 
 Monroe, President, nominates Mr. 
 Adams Secretary of State, 101 ; in 
 society at Washington, 103; his 
 administration, 102, 106, 108 ; op- 
 posed by Clay, 1G7, 110 ; anxious 
 for treaty with Spain, 114 ; his 
 relationship to the Monroe Doc- 
 trine, 130-137. 
 
 Moose Island, in treaty of 1814, 91. 
 
 N'edtralitt Act passed, 109. 
 
 Xew England, position of, concern- 
 ing British aggressions in 1806, 
 47 
 
 New Jersey, dispute orer seats of 
 Representatives from, 291 et seq. 
 
 Non-importation act, passed, 40. 
 
 Northeastern fisheries, in treaty of 
 1814, 88-90, 92, 95. 
 
 Onis, Don, Spanish Minister, 111 ; 
 character of, 112 ; his part in ne* 
 gotiating treaty between Spain 
 and United States, 112 et seq. ; ap 
 pealed to concerning misunder- 
 standings under the treaty, 117 
 118. 
 
 Panama, Congress of, 190. 
 Parsons, Theophilus, instrur*.8 
 
 Adams in law, 17. 
 Pickering, Timothy, candidate for 
 
 United States Senate, 30 ; elected, 
 
 32 ; relationship with Mr. Adams, 
 
 32 ; votes against Mr. Adams aa 
 
 Minister to Russia, 70. 
 Porter, General Peter B., a member 
 
 of the Cabinet, 206. 
 Portugal, Mr. Adams appointed 
 
 BIinisterto,23 ; proposal to United 
 
 States to establish an " American 
 
 System," 135. 
 Prussia, Mr. Adams goes as Minis 
 
 ter to, 24. 
 *' Publicola," papers of, 18. 
 
 Randolph, John, hated by Mr 
 Adams, 154, 211, 212 ; duel with 
 Clay, 184. 
 
 Report on weights and measures, 
 127. 
 
 Republican party, Adams's rela 
 tions with, in 1806-7, 65, 66. 
 
 Romanzoff, Count, offers mediation 
 of Russia between United Statea 
 and England, 75. 
 
 Russell, Jonathan, appointed Com 
 missioner to treat for peace with 
 England, 77. 
 
 Russia, Mr. Adams appointed Min- 
 ister to, 70 ; life in, 71 75. 
 
 Sectionalism as a basis of political 
 parties, 189-193. 
 
 Slavery, petitions for abolition of, 
 presented by Mr. Adams, 249-252, 
 254 ; efforts to stop reception of 
 these petitions, 249-252 ; may ba 
 abolished by virtue of war pow- 
 ers of United States Government, 
 262-266 ; petitions for abolishing, 
 referred to Committee on District 
 of Columbia, 307 ; and se« chap 
 ter iii., passim. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 315 
 
 6 
 
 Blaves, presentation of petition of, 
 270 et seq. 
 
 Blave-trade, propositions for its sup- 
 pression, 136, 138-140. 
 
 Bouth, a party of the, first organ- 
 ized, 189-193. 
 
 Bouth America, States of, anxious 
 for recognition by United States, 
 109 ; proposed interference in af- 
 fairs of, by Holy Alliance, 133 ; 
 Mr. Clay's course concerning, 110, 
 153, 154. 
 
 t'pain, dilQcultles with, 110, 111 ; 
 treaty with, concluded, 116 ; re- 
 fuses ratification, 118 
 
 Texas, petitions concerning, 257 ; 
 annexation of, opposed by Mr. 
 Adams, 266. 267. 
 
 Treaty of peace with England in 
 1814, negotiations concerning, 
 77-93 ; terms of, 94, 96 ; opinions 
 concerning in England, 96. 97, 
 98; in the United States, 97; of 
 1783, 80; concluded with Spain, 
 
 116 ; but misunderstandings arir« 
 concerning, 117; not rat&ed by 
 Spain, 118 ; finally ratified, 125. 
 
 United States, relations of, wfib 
 England in 1806, 378. 
 
 Van Buren, leads opposition to lir 
 Adams's administration, 193. 
 
 Vives, Spanish Minister, arriTK, 
 124 ; concludes treaty, 125. 
 
 Von Hoist, opinion of Mr. Adrms. 
 214 
 
 V^AR power of United States Gov- 
 ernment to abolish slavery, 262- 
 266. 
 
 Washington, in 1803, 80; in 1817, 
 102-104. 
 
 Washington, George, treatment of 
 Mr. Adams, 23. 
 
 Weights and measures, report on, 
 127 
 
 Wise, Henry A., treatment of Mr. 
 AdamB,296 
 
9lmertcan Statesmen. 
 
 A Series of Biographies of Men famous in the 
 
 Political History of the United States. Edited by 
 
 John T. Morse, Jr. Each volume, i6mo, 
 
 gilt top, $1.25; half morocco, $2.50. 
 
 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, By John T. Morse, Jr. 
 
 ALEXANDER HAMILTON. By Henry Cabot Lodge, 
 
 JOHN C. CALHOUN, By Dr. H. Von Hoist. 
 
 ANDREW JACKSON. By W. G. Sumner. 
 
 JOHN RANDOLPH. By Henry Adams. 
 
 JAMES MONROE. By D. C. Gilman. 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. By John T. Morse, Jr. 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER. By Henry Cabot Lodge. 
 
 ALBERT GALEA TIN By John Austin Stevens. 
 
 JAMES MADISON. By Sydney Howard Gay. 
 
 JOHN ADAMS. By John T. Morse, Jr. 
 
 JOHN MARSHALL. By Allan B. Magruder. 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS. By James K. Hosmer. 
 
 THOMAS H. BENTON. By Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 HENRY CLA Y. By Carl Schurz. 2 vols. 
 
 PATRICK HENRY. By Moses Coit Tyler. 
 
 GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. By Theodore Roosevelt. 
 
 MARTIN VAN BUREN By Edward M. Shepard. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON By Henry Cabot Lodge. 
 2 vols. 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By John T. Morse, Jr. 
 
 JOHN J A Y. By George Pellew. 
 
 LEWIS CASS. By Andrew C. McLaughlin. 
 
 Others to be announced hereafter. 
 
CRITICAL NOTICES, 
 
 yOHN QUINCY ADAMS, ^hat Mr. Morse's con- 
 -^ ^ elusions will in the mam 
 
 be those of posterity we have very little doubt, and he has set an 
 admirable example to his coadjutors in respect of interesting 
 narrative, just proportion, and judicial candor. — New York 
 Eveniitg Post. 
 
 HAMILTON '^^^^ biography of Mr. Lodge is calm and 
 
 dignified throughout. He has the virtue 
 — rare indeed among biographers — of impartiality. He has 
 done his work with conscientious care, and the biography of 
 Hamilton is a book which cannot have too many readers. It is 
 more than a biography ; it is a study in the science of govern- 
 ment. — St. Paul Pioneer-Press. 
 
 CATHOUN Nothing can exceed the skill with which the 
 
 political career of the great South Carolinian 
 is portrayed in these pages. The work is superior to any other 
 number of the series thus far, and we do not think it can be sur- 
 passed by any of those that are to come. The whole discussion 
 in relation to Calhoun's position is eminently philosophical and 
 just. — The Dial (Chicago). 
 
 '^ACK^ONf ■ Professor Sumner has ... all in all, made 
 •^ ' the justest long estimate of Jackson that has 
 
 had itself put between the covers of a book. — New York 
 Times. 
 
 7? J pjTin T pfT The book has been to me intensely inter- 
 esting. . . It is rich in new facts and side 
 lights, and is worthy of its place in the already brilliant series 
 of monographs on American Statesmen. — Prof. Moses Coit 
 Tyler. 
 
 MONROE ^"^ clearness of style, and in all points of liter- 
 ary workmanship, from cover to cover, the 
 volume is well-nigh perfect. There are also a calmness of judg- 
 ment, a correctness of taste, and an absence of partisanship 
 which are too frequently wanting in biographies, and especially 
 in political biographies. — Ajtierican Literary Churehman (Bal- 
 timore). 
 
 TEEEERSON '^^^ book is exceedingly interesting and 
 "^ ' readable. The attention of the reader is 
 
 strongly seized at once, and he is carried along in spite of him- 
 self, sometimes protesting, sometimes doubting, yet unable to 
 lay the book down. — Chicago Standard. 
 
 lYEB STER ^^ ^'^ ^^ ^^^*"^ ^y students of history ; it will 
 
 be invaluable as a work of reference ; it 
 will be an authority as regards matters of fact and criticism; it 
 hits the keynote of Webster's durable and ever-growing fame; 
 it is adequate, calm, impartial ; it is admirable. — Philadelphia 
 Press. 
 
C ALLATIN It is one of the most carefully prepared of 
 
 these very valuable volumes, . . . abound- 
 ing in information not so readily accessible as is that pertaining 
 to men more often treated by the biographer, . . . The whole 
 work covers a ground which the political student cannot afford 
 to neglect. — Bostoji Correspondetit Hartford Cotirant. 
 
 i[/f A Ji T '^ Q AT The execution of the work deserves the high- 
 est praise. It is very readable, in a bright 
 and vigorous style, and is marked by unity and consecutiveness 
 of plan. — The Natio?t (New York). 
 
 'YOmV ADAMS ^ good piece of literary work. ... It 
 •^ * covers the ground thoroughly, and 
 
 gives just the sort of simple and succinct account that is wanted. 
 — Evening Post (New York). 
 
 Afj I? ^ffATT Well done, with simplicity, clearness, pre- 
 cision, and judgment, and in a spirit of 
 moderation and equity. A valuable addition to the series. — 
 New York Tribune. 
 
 SAMUEL ADAMS. Thoroughly appreciative and sym- 
 
 pathetic, yet fair and critical. . . . 
 This biography is a piece of good work — a clear and simple 
 presentation of a noble man and pure patriot ; it is written in a 
 spirit of candor and humanity. — Worcester Spy. 
 
 J^RAfTON "^^ interesting addition to our political liter- 
 ature, and will be of great service if it spread 
 an admiration for that austere public morality which was one of 
 the marked characteristics of its chief figure. — The Epoch 
 (New York). 
 
 CTA Y. We have in this life of Henry Clay a biography of 
 one of the most distinguished of American states- 
 men, and a political history of the United States for the first 
 half of the nineteenth century. In each of these important and 
 difficult undertakings, Mr. Schurzhas been eminently successful. 
 Indeed, it is not too much to say that, for the period covered, 
 we have no other book which equals or begins to equal this life 
 of Henry Clay as an introduction to the study of American pol- 
 itics. — Political Science Quarterly (New York). 
 
 ffp'pjj? Y Professor Tyler has not only made one of the 
 best and most readable of American biographies ; 
 he may fairly be said to have reconstructed the life of Patrick 
 Henry, and to have vindicated the memory of that great man 
 from the unappreciative and injurious estimate which has been 
 placed upon it. — JVew York Evening Post. 
 
 MORRIS ^^* Roosevelt has produced an animated and 
 intensely interesting biographical volume. . . . 
 ivir. Roosevelt never loses sight of the picturesque background 
 of politics, war -governments, and diplomacy. — Magazine of 
 American History (New York). 
 
yjAT 'BUREN ^° more generous, appreciative, or just 
 
 biography, and no more interesting or 
 philosophical piece of political history has appeared in this valu- 
 able series . . . than this absorbing book. . . . To give any ad- 
 equate idea of the personal interest of the book, or its intimate 
 bearing on nearly the whole course of our political history would 
 be equivalent to quoting the larger part of it. — Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 WASHINGTOJV ^^* Lodge has written an admirable 
 
 biography, and one which cannot but 
 confirm the American people in the prevailing estimate concern- 
 ing the Father of his Country ; but its deepest and most impor- 
 tant significance appears to us to consist in its testimony to the 
 exaltation and the uniqueness of a character whose like comes 
 seldom to the world, and only in periods of great stress and cri- 
 sis. — New York Tribune. 
 
 FRANKLIN ^^ ^^^ managed to condense the whole 
 
 mass of matter gleaned from all sources 
 into his volume without losing in a single sentence the freedom 
 or lightness of his style or giving his book in any part the 
 crowded look of an epitome. He has plenty of time and plenty 
 of room for all he wishes to say, and says it in the very best and 
 most interesting manner. — The Independent (New York). 
 
 *jit* For sale by all Booksellers. Sent, post-paid, on receipt of 
 price by the Publishers, 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, 
 4 Park St., Boston; ii East 17TH St., New York. 
 


 
 
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