CHAPTER Conducting a political journal of wide circulation. XV. But under that experience which a change of position afford1800. ed, he passed somewhat rapidly from a most vehement Tory to a most vehement Radical; for to be moderate in any thing was not in his nature. His departure from the country was hardly less a relief to the Federalists than to the opposition. He had attacked Adams and the peace policy with great vehemence; and even the most ultra of the war party, much as they enjoyed his sharp hits, could not but feel that his pen did them more hurt than good. The opposition charged that Cobbett was hired by the British government. It is true that Liston, the English embassador, a sagacious Scotchman, far better adapted to the position than his predecessor, took care to flatter Cobbett's vanity by showing him some attentions. But he was of a spirit far too proud to be bought with money, or to enlist as a mercenary into the service of any government or any party. The result of the New York election removed a great part of the reasons which had thus far induced the president to temporize with his political enemies in the cabinet. That result, indeed, left him, as the only chance of his re-election, the securing of Southern votes-an object not likely to be accomplished by retaining as his political advisers a majority of ultra Federalists. Even apart from any views of that sort, now that the restraints of policy were removed, he had abundant reasons for desiring a change. It had been his custom, in which he had followed and somewhat exaggerated the example of Washington, to retire, shortly after the adjournment of Congress, to his own private residence at Braintree, leaving the routine of business to be conducted by the cabinet ministers, who, however, in more important cases, consulted him by letter. He could hardly wish to con XV. fide so confidential a trust to a cabinet of which the CHAPTER majority were his political, if not his personal enemies. Under the vexation which the recent news of the loss of 1800. New York might naturally inspire, he sent for M'Hen- May 5. ry, who, in the letter of Wolcott's already quoted, giving an account of the opening of the session, had been described as a man of honor and entirely trustworthy, also a man of sense, who delivered correct opinions when required; but at the head of a difficult and unpopular department, without being skilled in the details of executive business, which he exposed to delays by his diffi dence in himself, and in which he sometimes committed mistakes, which his enemies employed to impair his influence. Adams began, according to a letter of M'Henry's, written very shortly afterward, with some matter of business. That disposed of, he entered into a general criticism of M'Henry's conduct; charged him with personal hostility; "became indecorous, and, at times, outrageous;" and finally told him that he must resign, which he did the next morning. M'Henry succumbed like a willow before the blast-a blast, indeed, which he recollected for the rest of his life. Pickering was made of sterner stuff. When called upon to resign, he refused to do so, and Adams then dismissed him. Some eight May 12. years after (1808), the ex-president's anger being revived anew by Pickering's collisions at that time with John Quincy Adams, he drew, in a private letter, a sketch of that gentleman's character, not, perhaps, without likeness, but which certainly would have suited quite as well, if not better, either Adams, father or son. "He is, for any thing I know, a good son, husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and cousin. But he is a man in a mask, sometimes of silk, sometimes of iron, and sometimes of brass, and he can change them very sud CHAPTER denly, and with some dexterity." "He is extremely susXV. ceptible of violent and inveterate prejudices, and yet, 1800. such are the contradictions to be found in human characters, he is capable of very sudden and violent transitions from one extreme to an opposite. Under the simple appearance of a bald head and straight hair, and under professions of profound Republicanism, he conceals an ardent ambition, envious of every superior, and impatient of obscurity. He makes me think of a coal-pit covered over with red earth, glowing within, but unable to conceal the internal heat for the interstices which let out the smoke, and now and then a flash of flame." This, indeed, was not so much the character of an individual as of that whole class of athletic, energetic, passionate men, born for action, and hardly comfortable except in the midst of a tumult, to which John Adams and his son, M'Kean, Chase, and Pickering alike belonged. But surely Pickering's use of the mask, whether of silk, iron, or brass, and his facility of sudden and violent transitions, was far less than that of either of the others. Indeed, it was the want of sufficient flexibility, which was the greatest defect in Pickering's political character. John Adams and his son, as well as Chase and McKean, had also the advantage of him in a profound and varied learning, while Pickering had little to rely upon beyond his naturally vigorous intellect, and the multiplied experiences of a very active life. Yet the pieces which came from his pen during the controversy with France rank high in that collection of state papers which, with the series of political essays already referred to, constitute the only valuable and distinctive American literature during the half century from 1765 to 1815. Wolcott was not less decisive in his political opinions than either of the other secretaries. But he had pre XV. served toward the president great courtesy of manner; CHAPTER he was an excellent Secretary of the Treasury, whose place it might not be so easy to fill; and perhaps the 1800. president considered it politic to allow to the ultra section of the Federal party a representation, though not a majority in the cabinet. The places of the dismissed secretaries were very ably filled by Marshall as Secretary of State, and Dexter as Secretary of War. In desiring to make their position in the cabinet a vantage-ground from which to carry on an intrigue to defeat the president's re-election, and in considering themselves as suffering a political martyrdom in being removed, McHenry and Pickering by no means correctly appreciated the true and proper relation in which a cabinet officer ought to stand. The president, being solely responsible for the executive administration, has an unquestionable right to the unshackled selection of his political advisers and executive assistants; and after so well expounding the matter, as he formerly had done to Monroe, Pickering ought never to have put the president to the necessity of dismissing him. These dismissals increased the anxiety of the ultra Federalists to substitute Pinckney as president in the place of Adams. But this was a matter in which they could not move without the greatest risk of burying themselves as well as Adams in one common ruin. Should they openly attempt to deprive him of any Federal votes in order to give the majority to Pinckney, it could not be doubted that the same policy would be retorted upon Pinckney, so that the result might be to place them both behind the two opposition candidates. The mass of the Federalists remained ignorant of the bitter feud which had sprung up among the leaders. That feud was still a political secret into which few were in CHAPTER itiated, and but very slightly alluded to in the public XV. prints. The feeling against Adams was confined, in a 1800. great measure, to a few active politicians. The attempt to diffuse their feeling among the mass could only give rise to dissensions in a party whose united force was hardly able to withstand the external pressure against it. Yet there were some so embittered against Adams as to be ready to operate for his defeat, even at the risk of bringing in Jefferson. Such was the feeling of Wolcott, who seems to have been chief engineer for the dissatisfied. Other cooler heads perceived that by no means whatever could the Federal leaders opposed to Adams more effectually destroy themselves in the public estimation than by following out a plan of impotent resentment, and thus bringing about the election of a man whom they had so long combined to hold up as devoid of every good principle, religious or political. In what a ridiculous position would they place themselves, after lauding Adams for four years as the wisest and firmest of men, to turn about and denounce him as one whose weakness, caprices, selfishness, and vanity made him unfit to be the head of a party or a nation! The painful and almost helpless position of these inJuly 22. triguers is graphically portrayed in a letter from M'Henry to Wolcott. "Have our party shown that they possess the necessary skill and courage to deserve to be continued to govern ? What have they done? They did not (with a few exceptions), knowing the disease, the man, and his nature, meet it, when it first appeared, like wise and resolute politicians; they tampered with it, and thought of palliations down to the last day of the late session of Congress. Nay, their conduct even now, notwithstanding the consequences full in view, should the present chief be re-elected, in most, if not in all of the |