Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams.

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Again, in October ensuing: "One of the peculiarities of the present time
is that the principal leaders of the political parties are travelling
about the country from state to state, and holding forth, like Methodist
preachers, to assembled multitudes, under the broad canopy of heaven.
Webster, Clay, W. C. Rives, Silas Wright, and James Buchanan, are among
the first and foremost in this canvassing oratory; while Andrew Jackson,
and Martin Van Buren, with his heads of departments, are harping on
another string of the political accordion, by writing controversial
electioneering letters. Besides the principal leaders of the parties,
numerous subaltern officers of the administration are summoned to the
same service, and, instead of attending to the duties of their offices,
roam, recite, and madden, round the land."

In a speech made on the 28th of December, 1840, Mr. Adams severely
denounced the policy pursued by the government in respect of the navy
pension fund; stating that it amounted to one million two hundred
thousand dollars; that, without any authority, it had been loaned to
different states, and vested in their stocks, which, for the most part,
were either depreciated in value, wholly lost, or unsalable. That fund,
he maintained, was a sacred trust, and proceeded to state fully and at
large the manner in which it had been violated without authority.

Mr. Adams then went on to state the proceedings of the Executive
relative to the Smithsonian fund. He said that about the 1st of
September, 1838, the sum of five hundred and nine thousand dollars had
been deposited in the Mint of Philadelphia in gold,--in mint-drops;--a
sacred trust, which the United States had accepted, on the pledge of
their faith to keep it whole, entire, for the purpose for which it had
been given by a foreigner. Within three days the five hundred thousand
dollars were on their way to Arkansas to make a bank. The members of the
Senate and of the House from Arkansas had a quick scent of these moneys
coming into the Treasury; and care had been taken to insert into a bill
for a very different object a provision authorizing the President and
Secretary of the Treasury to loan to the states that sum of money when
it should come into the Treasury. This was three months beforehand; and
three days after the money was received the plan was carried into
execution.

"Now, we had heard," said Mr. Adams, "of British gold carrying the
elections, which had resulted, not in favor of the present incumbent of
the presidential chair, but against him. There he could put his finger
upon five hundred and nine thousand dollars of British gold, which
contributed, so far as it could go, to the election of the present
executive magistrate; and he thought he had shown the means by which it
was done. Go to the State of Arkansas. The dollars are not there, but
they _were_ there, and they were sent there from the Mint of the United
States. Here was policy--profound policy--economy--democracy; and all
this accompanied with so great a horror at the idea of assuming state
debts, that the hair of the gentlemen stood on end at the mere mention
of the possibility of such a thing. Was not here a debt of the State of
Arkansas of half a million of dollars? Had not the general government
assumed that debt? Had they not employed trust-money? If Arkansas
should declare herself insolvent to-morrow, Congress must pay that
debt; they had assumed it."

About this time, Mr. Adams, in some of his writings, thus graphically
illustrates the political influences which have mainly shaped the
destinies of the United States: "A very curious philosophical history
of parties might be made by giving a _catalogue raisonne_ of the
candidates for the Presidency voted for in the electoral colleges since
the establishment of the constitution of the United States. It would
contain a history of the influences of the presidential office. Would
not the retrospect furnish practical principles concerning the
operation of the constitution?--1st. That the direct and infallible
path to the Presidency is military service, coupled with demagogue
policy. 2d. That, in the absence of military service, demagogue policy
is the first and most indispensable element of success, and the art of
party drilling the second. 3d. That the drill consists in combining
the Southern interest in domestic slavery with the Northern riotous
democracy. 4th. That this policy and drill, first organized by Thomas
Jefferson, accomplished his election, and established the Virginia
dynasty of twenty-four years;--a perpetual practical contradiction of
its own principles. 5th. That the same policy and drill, invigorated by
success and fortified by experience, has now placed Martin Van Buren in
the President's chair, and disclosed to the unprincipled ambition of
the North the art of rising upon the principles of the South. And 6th.
That it has exposed in broad day the overruling influence of the
institution of domestic slavery upon the history and policy of the
Union."

In the case of a contested election Mr. Adams remarked: "The conduct of
a majority of the House has, from beginning to end, been governed by
will, and not by judgment; and so I fear it will be always in every case
of contested elections."

"The speech of Horace Everett, of Vermont," (made on the 8th June, 1836,
on the Indian annuity bill,) said Mr. Adams, "gives a perfectly clear
and distinct exposition of the origin and causes of the Florida war, and
demonstrates, beyond all possibility of being gainsaid, that the wrong
of the war is on our side. It depresses the spirits, and humiliates the
soul, that this war is now running into its fifth year, has cost thirty
millions of dollars, has successively baffled and disgraced all our
chief military generals,--Gaines, Scott, Jesup, and Macomb,--and that
our last resources now are bloodhounds and no quarter. Sixteen millions
of Anglo-Saxons unable to subdue, in five years, by force and by fraud,
by secret treachery and by open war, sixteen hundred savage warriors!
There is a disregard of all appearance of right, in our transactions
with the Indians, which I feel as a cruel disparagement of the honor of
my country."

On the 1st of January, 1841, Mr. Adams, referring to the accounts he had
received that the attendance at the Presidential levees was much smaller
than usual, and that the visitors were chiefly from among the
President's old adversaries, the Whigs, remarked:

"'_Donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos Tempora si fuerint
nubila solus eris._'

There is, perhaps, no occasion in human affairs," he added, "which more
uniformly exemplifies this propensity of human nature than the exit of a
President of the United States from office."

On the 4th of February, 1841, there arose, incidentally, in the House
of Representatives, a debate upon the act to suppress duelling. Mr.
Wise, of Virginia, had said, in the course of a former debate: "The
anti-duelling law is producing its bitter fruits. It is making this
house a bear-garden. We have an example in the present instance. Here,
with permission of the chair and committee, and without a call to order
from anybody, we see and hear one member (Mr. Johnson) say to another
(Mr. Duncan) that he had been branded as a coward on this floor. The
other says back that 'he is a liar!' And, sir, there the matter will
stop. There will be no fight." Before proceeding to comment, Mr. Adams
called for the reading of this statement, as reported in the _National
Intelligencer_. On which Mr. Wise said publicly, in the house, "That is
a correct report."[1]

[1] See, for all the proceedings on this subject, the
_Congressional Globe_, vol. IX., pp. 320-322.

After this acknowledgment, Mr. Adams proceeded to remark with severity
on this statement and language, occasioning an excitement in the house,
particularly among the duellists, which belongs to the history of the
period. After stating that he understood that statement and language "as
maintaining that duelling, between members of this house, for matters
passing within this house, is a practice that ought not to be
suppressed," he continued: "I maintain the contrary; and I maintain it
for the independence of this house, for my own independence, for the
independence of those with whom I act, for the independence of the
members from the Northern section of this country, who not only abhor
duelling in theory, but in practice; in consequence of which members
from other sections are perpetually insulting them on this floor, under
the impression that the insult will not be resented."

Here Mr. Campbell, of South Carolina, as the reporter states, called Mr.
Adams to order. The chairman said something, of which not a word could
be heard, the house being in such a state of tempestuous uproar. When
the voice of Mr. Adams again caught the ear of the reporter, he was
proceeding as follows:

"Would you smother discussion on the duelling law? There is not a
point in the affairs of this nation more important than this very
practice of duelling,--considered as a point of honor in one part of
the Union, and a point of infamy in another,--with its consequences.
I say there is no more important subject that can go forth, North
and South, East and West; and I therefore take my issue upon it. I
have come here determined to do so between the different portions of
this house, in order to see whether this practice is to be
continued; whether the members from that section of the Union whose
principles are against duelling are to be insulted, upon every topic
of discussion, because it is supposed that the insult will not be
resented, and that 'there will be no fight.'"

Mr. Adams here called for the reading of "the act to suppress duelling;"
which the clerk having read, he proceeded:

"I was going on to say that the reason why I had brought this
subject into the discussion is because it is most intimately
connected with all the transactions in this house and this nation;
and because I think it time to settle this question between the
duellists and non-duellists, whoever they may be. I say that, in
consequence of my principles, and what I believe to be the
principles of a very large portion of the people in that part of the
country from which I came, I will not, as regards the approaching
administration, put myself under the lead of any man who considers
the duelling law in this district as having borne any bitter fruits
whatever. It may not, indeed, be sufficiently potent in its
operation to prevent the thirst for blood which follows offensive
words; but I believe it has prevented, and will prevent, any such
occurrences as we have witnessed here. But, as it bears upon the
affairs of the nation, I am not willing to sit any longer here, and
see other members from my own section of the country, or those who
may be my successors here, made subject to any such law as the law
of the duellist. I am unwilling that they should not have full
freedom of speech in this house on all occasions--as much so as the
primest duellist in the land. I do not want to hear perpetual
intimations, when a man from one part of the country means to insult
another coming from other parts of the country, as, 'I am ready to
answer here or elsewhere;' and 'The gentleman knows where I am to be
found;' saying, as the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. W. C. Johnson)
did just now, that he would call to account any person who dared
make allusion to what had taken place between him and another member
of this house. I do not intend to hear that any more, for myself or
others, if I can help it. Therefore I move to bring the matter up
for full discussion here, whether we are to be twitted and taunted
with remarks that a man is ready to meet us here or elsewhere. It
goes to the independence of this house; it goes to the independence
of every individual member of this house; it goes to the right of
speech and freedom of debate in this house; and I felt myself bound
to bear my testimony in the most decided manner against the practice
of duelling, or anything in the shape of even a virtual challenge
taking place in this house, now and forever. If the committee think
proper to put me down, after a debate of three weeks, involving
almost every topic under the sun, and in which not one man has been
called to order, I must submit. It shall go out to the country, and
I am willing that the sober sentiment of the whole nation shall be
my final judge on this subject."

Mr. Adams, after having recapitulated his course of proceedings on
various topics, and explained his motives and their relations on former
occasions, and his present general views on those subjects, closes his
remarks on duelling by declaring that what he had said had been from
motives of pure public spirit, with no disposition to offend any
gentleman, and least of all the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wise); but
that he had felt it his duty to say what he had said, because he
believed that the application of the principle of duelling, as regards
different portions of this house, is such that it must be discarded;
that duelling must be considered as a crime, and that it must not be
countenanced by professions of any necessity for its existence.

In January and March, 1841, Mr. Adams delivered his celebrated argument
before the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of the United
States, appellants, against Cinque and others, appellees. This was
afterwards published at length. In it he publicly arraigned before that
court and the civilized world the conduct of the then existing
administration, for having, in all their proceedings relating to these
unfortunate Africans, exhibited sympathy for one of the parties, and
antipathy for the other; sympathy for the white, antipathy to the black;
sympathy for the slaveholders, in place of protection for the
unfortunate and oppressed. It is impossible by any abstract or outline
to do justice to the laborious ability with which this argument is
sustained. The just severity with which he scrutinizes the proceedings
of the Executive and the demands of the Spanish Minister, the
completeness with which he vindicates for these Africans their right to
freedom,--the extensive research into the law of nations, and the broad
principles of eternal justice, on which he supports their claim to be
liberated, were probably not excelled by any public effort at that
period, whether of the bar or the senate. He concluded with the
following touching reminiscences of distinguished members of the bench
and the bar, with whom in former times he had been associated:

"May it please your honors: On the 7th of February, 1804, now more
than thirty-seven years past, my name was entered, and yet stands
recorded, on both the rolls, as one of the attorneys and counsellors
of this court. Five years later, in February and March, 1809, I
appeared for the last time before this court, in defence of the
cause of justice and of important rights, in which many of my
fellow-citizens had property to a large amount at stake. Very
shortly afterwards I was called to the discharge of other duties,
first in distant lands, and in later years within our own country,
but in different departments of her government. Little did I imagine
that I should ever again be required to claim the right of appearing
in the capacity of an officer of this court; yet such has been the
dictate of my destiny, and I appear again to plead the cause of
justice, and now of liberty and life, in behalf of many of my
fellow-men, before that same court which, in a former age, I had
addressed in support of rights of property. I stand again, I trust
for the last time, before the same court. '_Hic caestus, artemque
repono._' I stand before the same court, but not before the same
judges, nor aided by the same associates, nor resisted by the same
opponents. As I cast my eyes along those seats of honor and of
public trust now occupied by you, they seek in vain for one of those
honored and honorable persons whose indulgence listened then to my
voice. Marshall, Cushing, Chase, Washington, Johnson, Livingston,
Todd,--where are they? Where is that eloquent statesman and learned
lawyer who was my associate counsel in the management of that cause,
Robert Goodloe Harper? Where is that brilliant luminary, so long the
pride of Maryland and of the American bar, then my opposing counsel,
Luther Martin? Where is the excellent clerk of that day, whose name
has been inscribed on the shores of Africa as a monument of his
abhorrence of the African slave-trade, Elias B. Caldwell? Where is
the marshal--where are the criers of the court? Alas! where is one
of the very judges of the court, arbiter of life and death, before
whom I commenced this anxious argument, even now prematurely closed?
Where are they all? Gone--gone--all gone! Gone from the services
which in their day and generation they faithfully tendered to their
country. From the excellent characters which they sustained in life,
so far as I have had the means of knowing, I humbly hope, and fondly
trust, they have gone to receive the rewards of blessedness on high.

"In taking, then, my final leave of this bar, and of this honorable
court, I can only ejaculate a fervent petition to Heaven that every
member of it may go to his final account with as little of earthly
frailty to answer for as those illustrious dead; and that every one,
after the close of a long and virtuous career in this world, may be
received at the portals of the next with the approving sentence,
'Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of
thy Lord.'"

CHAPTER XII.

WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.--HIS DEATH.--
VICE-PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER SUCCEEDS.--REMARKS OF MR. ADAMS ON THE
OCCASION.--HIS SPEECH ON THE CASE OF ALEXANDER M'LEOD.--HIS VIEWS
CONCERNING COMMONPLACE BOOKS.--HIS LECTURE ON CHINA AND CHINESE
COMMERCE.--REMARKS ON THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY, AND HIS DUTY IN RELATION
TO IT.--HIS PRESENTATION OF A PETITION FOR THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION,
AND THE VOTE TO CENSURE HIM FOR DOING IT.--HIS THIRD REPORT ON MR.
SMITHSON'S BEQUEST.--HIS SPEECH ON THE MISSION TO MEXICO.

On the 4th of March, 1841, William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, was
inaugurated President of the United States, and John Tyler, of Virginia,
Vice-President; each of whom had two hundred and thirty-four out of two
hundred and ninety-four votes,--the whole number,--and Martin Van Buren,
the only other candidate for the Presidency, had sixty. Mr. Adams
remarked that this inauguration was celebrated with demonstrations of
popular feeling unexampled since that of Washington, in 1789, and at the
same time with so much order and tranquillity that not the slightest
symptom of conflicting passions occurred to disturb the enjoyments of
the day. Many thousands of people from the adjoining, and considerable
numbers from distant states, were assembled to witness the ceremony.

On the 4th of April, 1841,--precisely one calendar month after his
inauguration,--President Harrison died. On this occasion Mr. Adams thus
expressed himself:

"The first impression of this event here, where it occurred, is of
the frailty of all human enjoyments, and the awful vicissitudes
woven into the lot of mortal man. He had reached, but one short
month since, the pinnacle of honor and power in his own country. He
lies a lifeless corpse in the palace provided by his country for his
abode. He was amiable and benevolent. Sympathy for his suffering and
his fate is the prevailing sentiment of his fellow-citizens. The
bereavement and distress of his family are felt intensely, albeit
they are strangers here, and known scarcely to any one.

"The influence of this event upon the condition and history of the
country can scarcely be foreseen. It makes the Vice-President of the
United States, John Tyler, of Virginia, acting President of the
Union for four years, less one month.

"Tyler is a political sectarian, of the slave-driving, Virginian,
Jeffersonian school; principled against all improvement; with all
the interests and passions and vices of slavery rooted in his moral
and political constitution; with talents not above mediocrity, and a
spirit incapable of expansion to the dimensions of the station on
which he has been cast by the hand of Providence, unseen, through
the apparent agency of chance. To that benign and healing hand of
Providence I trust, in humble hope of the good which it always
brings forth out of evil. In upwards of half a century this is the
first instance of a Vice-President being called to act as President
of the United States, and brings to the test that provision of the
constitution which places in the executive chair a man never thought
of for it by anybody.

"Tyler deems himself qualified to perform the duties and exercise
the powers and office of President, on the death of President
Harrison, without any other oath than that which he has taken as
Vice-President; yet, as doubts might arise, and for greater caution,
he will take and subscribe the oath as President. May the blessing
of Heaven upon this nation attend and follow this providential
revolution in its government! For the present it is not joyous, but
grievous.

"The moral condition of this country is degenerating, and especially
through the effect of that part of its constitution which is
organized by the process of unceasing elections. The spirit of the
age and country is to accumulate power in the hands of the
multitude: to shorten terms of service in high public places; to
multiply elections, and diminish executive power; to weaken all
agencies protective of property, or repressive of crime; to abolish
capital punishments and imprisonment for debt. Slavery,
intemperance, land-jobbing, bankruptcy, and sundry controversies
with Great Britain, constitute the materials for the history of John
Tyler's administration. But the improvement of the condition of man
will form no part of his policy, and the improvement of his country
will be an object of his most inveterate and inflexible opposition."

In September, 1841, one Alexander McLeod was imprisoned at Lockport, in
the State of New York, under an indictment for murder. The following
circumstances were the occasion of these proceedings. A steamer, called
the Caroline, owned and fitted out at Buffalo, had been engaged in
aiding certain insurgents against the Canadian government with military
apparatus and provisions; and an expedition, sent by the British
authorities, had cut the Caroline out of the port of Buffalo, set her on
fire, and sent her floating over the Niagara Falls. In the fight which
occurred one of the men on board the Caroline was killed.

The excitement was general and excessive throughout the State of New
York. McLeod was the leader in this expedition, and having, after the
lapse of some time, visited that state, he was arrested, imprisoned,
indicted, and the popular voice was clamorous that he should be
_hanged_. Notwithstanding the British government had declared that he
had acted under their authority as a military man, simply obeying the
order of his superiors, a like state of feeling and purpose had
extended to Congress, and a resolution had been introduced requesting
the President to inform the House "whether any officer of the army, or
the Attorney-General, had been directed to visit the State of New York
for any purpose connected with the imprisonment or trial of Alexander
McLeod; or whether, by any executive measures, the British government
had been given to understand that McLeod would be released."

Fearing that the result of these proceedings might lead to a great and
most formidable issue of peace and war between the United States and
Great Britain, Mr. Adams took this occasion to express his views on the
subject.

"The first question which occurs to me is," he said, "what is the
object of this resolution, and for what purpose has the house been
agitated with it from the commencement of the session to this day?
The gentleman who offered it has disclaimed all party purposes; he
breathes in a lofty atmosphere, elevated high above that of party.
But what sort of comprehension had both the friends and the
opponents of the resolution put upon it? No party complexion! O, no!
No; it was patriotism--pure patriotism--patriotism pure and
undefiled! Well; I am disposed to give gentlemen on all sides of the
house credit for whatever patriotism they profess; but sure it is
that patriotism is a coat of many colors, and suited to very
different complexions; and, if it had not been for that unqualified
profession of patriotism and no party, which had rung through this
house, from every gentleman who had supported this resolution, I
should have felt bound to believe it the rankest party measure that
ever was introduced into this house.

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