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for "any false, scandalous, and malicious writing against the government of the United States, or either house of Congress, or the President."

These measures are not justly chargeable to John Adams. They were not recommended nor desired by him; but were brought forward and urged by Gen. Hamilton and his friends. Nevertheless upon Mr. Adams was heaped the odium they excited. The leading measures of his administration-the demonstration against France; the standing army; the direct taxation; the alien and sedition laws-all tended to injure his popularity with the mass of the people, and to destroy his prospects of a re-election to the presidency. The perplexities he was compelled to encounter during his administration, may be conceived on perusal of his language in a letter dated March 17, 1797:

"From the situation where I now am, I see a scene of ambition beyond all my former suspicions or imaginations; an emulation which will turn our government topsy-turvy. Jealousies and rivalries have been my theme, and checks and balances as their antidotes, till I am ashamed to repeat the words; but they never stared me in the face in such horrid forms as at present. I see how the thing is going. At the next election England will set up Jay or Hamilton, and France Jefferson, and all the corruption of Poland will be introduced; unless the American spirit should rise and say, we will have neither John Bull nor Louis Baboon."

In 1800, the seat of government was removed to Washington. In taking possession of the President's house, Mr. Adams bestowed a benediction on it, which must ever meet with a response from all American

hearts-"Before I end my letter, I pray heaven to bestow the best of blessings on this house, and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof!" A description of the house and the city, at that time, is furnished in a letter from Mrs. Adams to her daughter, written in November, 1800:

"I arrived here on Sunday last, and without meeting any accident worth noticing, except losing ourselves when we left Baltimore, and going eight or nine miles on the Frederick road, by which means we were obliged to go the other eight through the woods, where we wandered two hours without finding a guide or the path. Fortunately, a straggling black came up with us, and we engaged him as a guide to extricate us out of our difficulty; but woods are all you see, from Baltimore, until you reach the city, which is only so in name. Here and there is a small cot, without a glass window, interspersed among the forests, through which you travel miles without seeing any human being. ********* The house is made habitable, but there is not a single apartment finished, and all withinside, except the plastering, has been done since Briesler came. We have not the least fence, yard, or other convenience without, and the great unfinished audience-room I make a drying-room of, to hang up the clothes in. The principal stairs are not up, and will not be this winter. Six chambers are made comfortable; two are occupied by the President and Mr. Shaw; two lower rooms, one for a common parlor, and one for a levee room. Up stairs there is the oval room, which is designed for the drawing-room, and has the crimson furniture in it. It is a very handsome room now; but when completed, it will be beautiful."

The presidential contest in 1800, was urged with a warmth and bitterness, by both parties, which has not been equalled in any election since that period. It was the first time two candidates ever presented themselves to the people as rival aspirants for the highest

honor in their gift. Both were good men and trueboth were worthy of the confidence of the country. But Mr. Adams, weighed down by the unpopularity of acts adopted during his administration, and suffering under the charge of being an enemy to revolutionary France, and a friend of monarchical England, was dis tanced and defeated by his competitor. Mr. Jefferson was elected the third President of the Republic, and was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1801. One of the last acts of John Adams, before retiring from the Presidency, was to recall his son from Berlin, that Mr. Jefferson might have no embarrassment in that direction.

CHAPTER IV.

MR. ADAMS' RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES-ELECTED TO THE MASSACHUSETTS SENATE-APPOINTED U. S. SENATOR-SUP

PORTS MR.

JEFFERSON-PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND

BELLES LETTRES-APPOINTED MINISTER TO RUSSIA.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS returned to the United States from his first foreign embassy, in 1801. During the stormy period of his father's administration, and the ensuing presidential canvass, he was fortunately absent from the country. Had he been at home, his situation would have been one of great delicacy. It can hardly be supposed he would have opposed his father's measures, or his reëlection. Yet to have thrown his influence in their behalf, would have subjected him to the imputation of being moved by filial attachment rather than the convictions of duty. From this painful dilemma, he was saved by his foreign residence. He came home uncommitted to party measures, untrammelled by party tactics or predilections; and thus stood before the people, as he could wish to stand, perfectly unshackled, and ready to act as duty and conscience should direct.

Arriving in the United States with distinguished honors gained by successful foreign diplomacy, Mr

Adams was not allowed to remain long in inactivity. In 1802, he was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts, from the Boston district. During his services in that body, he gave an indication of that independence, as a politician, which characterized him through life, by his opposition to a powerful combination of banking interests, which was effected among his immediate constituents. Although his opposition was unavailing, yet it clearly showed that the integrity of the man was superior to the policy of the mere politician. But higher honors awaited him.

In 1803, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, by the Legislature of Massachusetts. Thus at the early age of thirty-six years, he had attained to the highest legislative body of the Union. Young in years, but mature in talent and experience, he took his seat amid the conscript fathers of the country, to act a part which soon drew upon him the eyes of the nation, both in admiration and in censure.

The period of Mr. Adams' service in the United States Senate, was one in which the position and the interests of the country were surrounded by embarrassments and perils of the most threatening character. The party which had supported his father had become divided and defeated. Mr. Jefferson, elevated to the Presidency after a heated and angry contest, was an object of the dislike and suspicion of the Federalists. The conflicts of the belligerent nations in Europe, and the measures of foreign policy they severally adopted,

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