XIV. stances, they can be presumed to have had-and that CHAPTER Adams was quite accessible to such motives is not to be denied yet they prompted to no sacrifice of the coun- 1799. try's interest or honor; at the most, they only tended to confirm a resolution wise and good in itself. Making due allowance, then, for the natural infirmities of humanity—the more necessary in the case of a man like Adams, the ungovernable vehemence and incautiousness of whose temper, a most striking contrast to Jefferson's, made his weakness but too patent to the world. -and in spite of the somewhat misplaced sneers of Jefferson and others, who profited by his fall; in spite of what he himself felt infinitely more, the anger and obloquy of many of his former political supporters-an obloquy which clouded the long remainder of his life, souring his temper, embittering his heart, and making him, as to certain persons, excessively unjust-it is yet impossible to discover, in the institution of this second mission to France, any thing to conflict with that character for honesty and independence which Franklin and Jefferson, neither of them partial judges, had united to bestow upon Adams; and in which the general voice of his country, including even his political opponents, had, down to this moment, almost unanimously concurred. Nor will a due sense of historical justice allow us to stop here. Whatever, on this memorable occasion, might have been the mixture of personal motives in Adams's conduct, no reason appears to esteem it so great as materially to detract from the merits of an action of the highest and noblest class which it ever falls to the lot of statesmen to perform; that of boldly risking their own personal popularity to secure to their country an honorable peace. Adams seems, in fact, to have been right, when, long after (1809), in the freedom of confidential CHAPTER Correspondence, he asserted that this, the most questionXIV. ed of all his actions, was "the most disinterested, the 1799. most determined, prudent, and successful of his whole life." "I was obliged," he added, "to give peace and unexampled prosperity to my country for eight years— and if it is not of longer duration it is not my faultagainst the advice, entreaties, and intrigues of all my ministers, and all the leading Federalists in both houses of Congress." In the agony of present suffering, groaning like the chained Prometheus or the mountain-buried Titan under the "intolerable load of obloquy and insolence" heaped upon him by the "eternal reviling" of the Federal newspapers-revilings renewed at that moment in consequence of the political course adopted by his son -he despaired of and almost spurned at the justice of history. "Too many falsehoods are already transmitted to posterity that are irrevocable. Records themselves are often liars. No human being but myself can do me justice; and I shall not be believed. All I can say will be imputed to vanity and self-love." Yet, as the party mist which has hitherto enveloped our post-revolutionary history rises and lets in the clear light of truth, justice, there can be little doubt, he will ultimately obtain. None, at least, can deny to his conduct in renewing the negotiation a moral courage of which there are but few instances in our history. Washington's sustention of Jay's treaty furnishes one. Perhaps almost the only other is to be sought in the opposition of Dickinson to what he esteemed the premature declaration of independence-a reminiscence which can not but suggest a very curious and instructive parallel. Adams, in fact, now occupied, in relation to the more ardent Federalists, very much the same position which Dickinson had occupied a quarter of a century before in relation to himself. On that oc XIV. casion, in his youthful ardor, he had been ready to set CHAPTER at a like tremendous responsibility, there were not want- About the time of the departure of the envoys, the proceedings of the commissions sitting under Jay's treaty encountered a serious interruption. The commission at London, under the sixth article, of which John Trumbull was the umpire, had already made considerable progress; and damages to the amount of near half a million of dollars had already been awarded and paid for illegal captures of American vessels, for which the ordinary course of law furnished no remedy. The commission under the seventh article, sitting at Philadelphia, the appointment of the fifth commissioner or umpire having fallen by lot to the British, was by no means so harmonious. Claims of all sorts had been filed, including many by expatriated Tories, for the value of their confiscated property, to the amount, in the whole, of twentyfour millions of dollars; and the ground taken by the majority of the commission was such as threatened a very heavy burden to the United States. The American commissioners maintained that, as the United States XIV. CHAPTER were only responsible for those debts the recovery of which had been prevented by legal impediments, it rested on 1799. the claimant to show that due diligence had been used, and that the recovery of the debt had been prevented by actual legal obstacles, or by the debtor's becoming insolvent during the continuance of such obstacles. The majority of the commission were disposed to hold the United States responsible, in the first place, for all unpaid debts, and to throw upon them the burden of proving that, had due diligence been used, those debts might have been collected. There was also a difference both as to the allowance of interest while the war continued, and as to the classes of persons entitled to claim under the treaty. After much discussion, some of it very warm, and before any one claim had been definitively adjudicated, the American commissioners, with the approbation of their government, prevented any awards by withdrawing. When this became known in England, the British government withdrew their members from the board sitting there; and both commissions thus came to a full stop. But, notwithstanding this interruption, both governments expressed their anxiety to carry out the treaty in good faith, and Sitgreaves was soon after dispatched to England to co-operate with King in obtaining, if pos sible, some explanatory article on the subject of British debts. From a statement made by Wolcott preliminary to the meeting of Congress, it appeared that for the year ending the 30th of September, the internal duties, includ ing the Stamp Act, had produced $773,000—a considerable increase upon any former annual amount; but in the customs, the main source of revenue, there had been a falling off of near a million, occasioned in part by the interruptions to trade, the whole produce being $7,117,000. XIV. The preliminaries for the collection of the direct tax had CHAPTER been mostly arranged, but the collection itself was not yet begun. The total income of the year, including 1799. about four millions received on the eight per cent. loan, amounted to $12,770,000. The expenditures had been $10,356,000. This left a balance in the treasury (including that part of the five million loan outstanding) of near three millions and a half. But the existing establishments called for an expenditure exceeding the standing revenue by five millions annually, to provide for which, whether by loans or taxes, would be no easy matter. This was not a very agreeable state of affairs to lay before the sixth Congress, which came together, soon after, for its first session. In the Senate several new members appeared-Dexter, of Massachusetts, known to us already as a former member of the House, in place of Sedgwick, and William H. Willes, of Delaware, in place of Vining, whose terms had expired. Dayton, late speaker of the House, and Baldwin, so long a member of that body, appeared also among the new senators. From Virginia, in place of Tazewell, who had resigned, came Wilson C. Nicholas, the confidential friend of Jefferson, but inferior in ability to either of his two brothers. Charles Pinck ney, of South Carolina, appointed to fill a vacancy just at the close of the last Congress, was also a member of this. Just at the end of the session, Gouverneur Morris took his seat from New York, to fill a vacancy occasioned by Watson's resignation. Still more extensive changes had taken place in the House, where the Federalists were now, for the first time since 1793, a decided majority. Of former members, the most distinguished were Otis, Sewall, Thatcher, Varnum, and Sedgwick, of Massachusetts-the latter, on the ex |