CHAPTER XIV. The only proceedings of the Senate at this session which excited much public attention were those connect1800. ed with an alleged breach of their privileges by Duane of the Aurora. In relation to a bill before the Senate, introduced by Ross, prescribing the mode of deciding disputed elections of president and vice-president, of which the principal feature was the appointment by ballot of a joint committee of both houses, with power to decide absolutely on the validity of any objections to any of the Feb. 19. electoral votes, Duane stated in the Aurora, and that in very abusive terms, that it was got up with the design to deprive Pennsylvania of her vote at the ensuing presidential election by a secret caucus of Federal senators, who controlled all the proceedings of that body. How the bill might have had that operation will presentMarch 20. ly appear. The Senate, upon the report of a committee of privileges, to whom this publication had been referred, resolved that it contained "assertions and pretended information respecting the Senate and their proceedings" "false, defamatory, scandalous, and malicious, tending to defame the Senate, and to bring them into contempt and disrepute, and to excite against them the hatred of the good people of the United States, and that the said publication was a high breach of the privileges of the March 24. Senate." Having appeared at the bar in obedience to a summons, Duane asked and obtained permission to be assisted by counsel, with this limitation, that they should only be heard as to such questions of fact as might arise, or in excuse or extenuation of his offense. Instead of March 26. appearing at the time appointed, Duane sent copies of a correspondence between himself and his intended counsel, Dallas and Thomas Cooper, the latter of whom we shall soon find defending a libel case of his own. In somewhat insolent terms toward the Senate, these two XIV. opposition lawyers declined to act, since they were not CHAPTER to be allowed to dispute the constitutionality of the proceeding; to which Duane himself added, that, being de- 1800. prived, under the restrictions which the Senate had seen. fit to adopt, of all professional assistance, he thought himself"bound by the most sacred duties to decline any further voluntary attendance upon that body, and to leave them to pursue such measures in this case as in their wisdom they may deem meet" the word wisdom, by way of sneer, being underscored. The Senate thereupon voted him guilty of a contempt March 27 in refusing to appear, and a warrant, signed by his friend the vice-president, was issued, directing the sergeant-atarms to arrest him, and to hold him in custody till further orders. Duane evaded an arrest, and meanwhile two or three petitions were got up by his friends in Philadelphia, praying the Senate to reconsider their resolutions. But instead of doing so, they adopted a resolution May 14. on the last day of the session requesting the president to instruct the proper law officers to commence a prosecution against Duane for a libel on the Senate. The bill out of which these proceedings grew was greatly modified in the House by depriving the proposed joint committee of the right of final decision, and otherwise; and, in the end, it was lost by disagreement between the two houses. The dissatisfaction which the president had given to a portion of the Federal party, first by the proposal of a new embassy to France, and next by persisting in sending the envoys, had continued to grow and increase during the session. Though, for the first time since the divisions of party became marked, there was now a decided Federal majority in both houses, yet, as Jefferson exultingly wrote, they had not been able to carry a single May 12. CHAPTER strong measure in the Lower House. Not only was there XIV. a faltering in Congress, but out of doors, also, a visible 1800. abatement appeared of the zeal and ardor lately evinced in support of the administration. All this was ascribed by the ultra Federalists to the conduct of Adams, who was said to have thrown cold water on the public feeling by the renewal of negotiations with France, and in thus playing into the hands of the opposition, to have seriously deranged, if not ruined, the Federal party. Nothing could be more unreasonable or unjust than these complaints. The moderation of the new Southern Federal members had not been infused into them by Adams. It did but indicate the highest pitch to which the feeling of resistance to French aggressions had risen in the South-a disposition to repel insults, but still to avoid war by all tolerable means; and undoubtedly this was the disposition, also, of the great body of the Federal party throughout the Union, however a few might have thought and felt otherwise. The more ardent Federal leaders, who had seen in the prospect of a war with France the complete prostration of Jefferson and his party, were disposed, in their disappointment, to ascribe to Adams's conduct that ebb of zeal which always takes place after every sudden excitement, and which the appointment of the new mission to France tended rather, perhaps, to delay and to moderate than to hasten or augment. But, whatever might be thought of the policy of Adams, his course of proceeding had made one thing evident. He could not be depended upon as the instrument of a party. As president, he was determined to exercise his own judgment. Of course, such a man could not be satisfactory to those who, as heads and leaders of the Federal party, claimed to dictate, or at least substantial-. XIV. ly to control, an administration raised to power through CHAPTER their influence. It was natural enough for such men, conscious of their own integrity and confident in their 1800. own wisdom, to conjecture that the different views of policy taken by Adams must have originated in certain by-ends and selfish objects of his own; in jealousy of Hamilton and a disposition to secure his own re-election, no matter at what sacrifice of principle or at what risk to the Federal party. Already a scheme was on foot, in which Pickering, Wolcott, and M'Henry took a leading part, to contrive some means for getting rid of Adams at the close of his present term of office, and of substituting in his place a more reliable party man. Such, however, was the weight of Adams's personal character, and the respect and confidence with which he was regarded by the Federalists generally, and especially in New England, that to have attacked him openly would have risked the triumph of the opposition even in that stronghold of Federal influence. On the other hand, Adams, though well aware of the intrigue going on against him, and not a little embittered against its authors, did not dare, by any open breach with them, to risk the loss to the Federalists of those exceedingly doubtful Middle States, which had all along been the great battle-field of the two parties, and upon whose votes the final result of the presidential election must depend. Indeed, by a very current calculation, that result was made to rest upon the vote of New York alone, and even upon the choice of members of Assembly to be made by the city of New York at the spring election. The votes of Maryland and North Carolina, in which latter state the Federal party had greatly increased of late, and in both of which the electors were chosen by districts, being supposed to be equal XIV. CHAPTER ly divided, New England and the states south of Pennsylvania, according to this calculation, would balance 1800. each other. The result, then, would depend upon New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. But it was doubtful whether Pennsylvania would vote at all, or, if she did, her vote might be equally divided. The old law of that state for a choice of electors by general ticket had expired, and the Federalists who controlled the Senate would not agree to renew it. Should a choice by districts be agreed upon, each party might safely calculate on about half the electors. It was whispered, indeed, that Governor M'Kean meant to order an election under the expired law; or should the opposition, at the approaching election for members of Assembly, obtain a sufficient majority, to call the Legislature together for a choice by joint ballot. But the Senate might still refuse to concur in this proceeding; and it was to counteract any irregular projects of this sort that Ross's bill for canvassing the electoral votes-the occasion of the proceedings against Duane had been introduced into the Senate. Supposing Pennsylvania not to vote or to be pretty equally divided, the electors of New Jersey, a state exceedingly doubtful, would not be numerous enough to be of any use to either side without New York. In that state the choice of electors was to be by the Assembly in joint ballot; and such was the known strength of parties in the rest of the counties, that the majority in joint ballot was sure to depend upon the result in the city of New York, where twelve members were to be chosen on a single ticket. While so much depended on the state, and even the city of New York, the latter the focus of Hamilton's influence, policy would not allow, by the rupture of the cabinet, the betrayal to the public of any internal dissensions. |