The Life of John Marshall (Volume 2 of 4)

1084

Annals, 6th Cong., 1st Sess., 395-96.

1085

Ib., 191.

1086

Ib., 247.

1087

Ib., 126; see law as passed, 1452-71.

1088

Sedgwick to King, May 11, 1800; King, iii, 236.

1089

The act requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to lay before Congress at each session a report of financial conditions with his recommendations. (Annals, 6th Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 1523.) The Speaker thought this law important because it "will give splendor to the officer [Secretary of the Treasury] and respectability to the Executive Department of the Govt." (Sedgwick to King, supra.) Yet the session passed several very important laws, among them the act accepting the cession of the Western Reserve (Annals, 6th Cong., 1st Sess., Appendix, 1495-98) and the act prohibiting American citizens "or other persons residing within the United States" to engage in the slave trade between foreign countries (ib., 1511-14.)

1090

Sedgwick to King, May 11, 1800; King, iii, 237.

1091

Adams to McHenry, May 5, 1800; Steiner, 453.

1092

McHenry to John McHenry, May 20, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 348.

1093

According to McHenry, Adams's complaints were that the Secretary of War had opposed the sending of the second mission to France, had not appointed as captain a North Carolina elector who had voted for Adams, had "eulogized General Washington … attempted to praise Hamilton," etc. (McHenry to John McHenry, May 20, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 348; and see Hamilton's "Public Conduct, etc., of John Adams"; Hamilton: Works: Lodge, vii, 347-49.)

1094

Gore to King, May 14, 1800; King, iii, 242-43; also Sedgwick to Hamilton, May 7, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 437-38.

1095

Adams to Pickering, May 10, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 53.

1096

Pickering to Adams, May 11, 1800; ib., 54.

1097

Pickering to Hamilton, May 15, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 443.

1098

Adams to Pickering, May 12, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 55.

1099

Sedgwick to Hamilton, May 13, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 442.

1100

Adams to Rush, March 4, 1809; Old Family Letters, 219.

1101

"There never was perhaps a greater contrast between two characters than between those of the present President & his predecessor… The one [Washington] cool, considerate, & cautious, the other [Adams] headlong & kindled into flame by every spark that lights on his passions; the one ever scrutinizing into the public opinion and ready to follow where he could not lead it; the other insulting it by the most adverse sentiments & pursuits; W. a hero in the field, yet overweighing every danger in the Cabinet – A. without a single pretension to the character of a soldier, a perfect Quixotte as a statesman." (Madison to Jefferson, Feb., 1798; Writings: Hunt, vi, 310.) And [Adams] "always an honest man, often a wise one, but sometimes wholly out of his senses." (Madison to Jefferson, June 10, 1798; ib., 325.)

1102

Adams to Rush, Aug. 23, 1805; Old Family Letters, 76.

1103

Cabot to King, April 26, 1799; King, iii, 8.

1104

Wolcott was as malicious as, but more cautious than, Pickering in his opposition to the President.

1105

"He [Adams] is liable to gusts of passion little short of frenzy… I speak of what I have seen." (Bayard to Hamilton, Aug. 18, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 457.) "He would speak in such a manner … as to persuade one that he was actually insane." (McHenry to John McHenry, May 20, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 347.) "Mr. Adams had conducted strangely and unaccountably." (Ames to Hamilton, Aug. 26, 1800; Works: Ames, i, 280.) These men were Adams's enemies; but the extreme irritability of the President at this time was noted by everybody. Undoubtedly this was increased by his distress over the illness of his wife.

1106

McHenry to John McHenry, May 20, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 347.

1107

See preceding chapter.

1108

Aurora, May 9, 1800; the Aurora had been attacking Pickering with all the animosity of partisanship.

1109

The French press had been quite as much under the control of the Revolutionary authorities as it was under that of Bonaparte as First Consul or even under his rule when he had become Napoleon I.

1110

Aurora, May 27, 1800.

1111

Ib., June 4, 1800; and June 17, 1800. The Aurora now made a systematic campaign against Pickering. It had "substantial and damning facts" which it threatened to publish if Adams did not subject Pickering to a "scrutiny" (ib., May 21, 1800). Pickering was a "disgrace to his station" (ib., May 23); several hundred thousand dollars were "unaccounted for" (ib., June 4, and 17).

The attack of the Republican newspaper was entirely political, every charge and innuendo being wholly false. Adams's dismissal of his Secretary of State was not because of these charges, but on account of the Secretary's personal and political disloyalty. Adams also declared, afterwards, that Pickering lacked ability to handle the grave questions then pending and likely to arise. (Cunningham Letters, nos. xii, xiii, and xiv.) But that was merely a pretense.

1112

Aurora, June 12, 1800.

1113

Pinckney to McHenry, June 10, 1800; Steiner, 460.

1114

Wolcott to Ames, Aug. 10, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 402.

1115

Cabot to Gore, Sept. 30, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 291.

1116

Wolcott to Ames, Aug. 10, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 401-02.

1117

Adams's correspondence shows that the shortest time for a letter to go from Washington to Quincy, Massachusetts, was seven days, although usually nine days were required. "Last night I received your favor of the 4th." (Adams at Quincy to Dexter at Washington, Aug. 13, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 76; and to Marshall, Aug. 14; ib., 77; and Aug. 26; ib., 78; and Aug. 30; ib., 80.)

1118

Washington at this time was forest, swamp, and morass, with only an occasional and incommodious house. Georgetown contained the only comfortable residences. For a description of Washington at this period, see chap. i, vol. iii, of this work.

1119

Marshall to Adams, Sept. 17, 1800; Adams MSS. This trip was to argue the case of Mayo vs. Bentley (4 Call, 528), before the Court of Appeals of Virginia. (See supra, chap. vi.)

1120

Randall, ii, 547. Although Randall includes Dexter, this tribute is really to Marshall who was the one dominating character in Adams's reconstructed Cabinet.

1121

Adams to Marshall, July 30, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 66; also Marshall to Adams, Aug. 1, Aug. 2, and July 29, 1800; Adams MSS.

Marshall to Adams, July 29, 1800; Adams MSS. This cost Adams the support of young Chase's powerful father. (McHenry to John McHenry, Aug. 24, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 408.)

1122

McMaster, ii, 448.

1123

Adams to Marshall, Aug. 7, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 72; and Marshall to Adams, Aug. 16, 1800; Adams MSS. Chief Justice Ellsworth presided at the trial of Williams, who was fairly convicted. (Wharton: State Trials, 652-58.) The Republicans, however, charged that it was another "political" conviction. It seems probable that Adams's habitual inclination to grant the request of any one who was his personal friend (Adams's closest friend, Governor Trumbull, had urged the pardon) caused the President to wish to extend clemency to Williams.

1124

Marshall to Adams, June 24, 1800; Adams MSS.

1125

Marshall to Adams, Aug. 2, 1800; ib.

1126

Marshall to Adams, July 26, 1800; ib.

1127

De Yrujo to Marshall, July 31, 1800; ib.

1128

Marshall does not state what these measures were.

1129

Marshall to Adams, Sept. 6, 1800; Adams MSS.

1130

Am. St. Prs., v, Indian Affairs, i, 184, 187, 246. For picturesque description of Bowles and his claim of British support see Craig's report, ib., 264; also, 305. Bowles was still active in 1801. (Ib., 651.)

1131

Adams to Marshall, July 31, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 67; Marshall to De Yrujo, Aug. 15, 1800; Adams MSS.

1132

Adams to Marshall, Aug. 11, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 73.

1133

Marshall to Adams, Aug. 12, 1800; Adams MSS.

1134

Ib.

1135

Liston to Marshall, Aug. 25, 1800; ib.

1136

Marshall to Adams, Sept. 6, 1800; ib.

1137

Marshall to Liston, Sept. 6, 1800; Adams MSS.

1138

Marshall to J. Q. Adams, July 24, 1800; MS. It is incredible that the Barbary corsairs held the whole of Europe and America under tribute for many years. Although our part in this general submission to these brigands of the seas was shameful, America was the first to move against them. One of Jefferson's earliest official letters after becoming President was to the Bey of Tripoli, whom Jefferson addressed as "Great and Respected Friend … Illustrious & honored … whom God preserve." Jefferson's letter ends with this fervent invocation: "I pray God, very great and respected friend, to have you always in his holy keeping." (Jefferson to Bey of Tripoli, May 21, 1801; Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 349.)

And see Jefferson to Bey of Tunis (Sept. 9, 1801; ib., 358), in which the American President addresses this sea robber and holder of Americans in slavery, as "Great and Good Friend" and apologizes for delay in sending our tribute. In Jefferson's time, no notice was taken of such expressions, which were recognized as mere forms. But ninety years later the use of this exact expression, "Great and Good Friend," addressed to the Queen of the Hawaiian Islands, was urged on the stump and in the press against President Cleveland in his campaign for re-election. For an accurate and entertaining account of our relations with the Barbary pirates see Allen: Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs.

1139

Marshall to Adams, Aug. 1, 1800; Adams MSS.

1140

Marshall to Adams, June 24, 1800; Adams MSS.

1141

Marshall to Adams, Aug. 16, 1800; July 24, 1800; Ib. and see Adams to Marshall, Aug. 2, and to Secretary of State, May 25; King, iii, 243-46. The jewels were part of our tribute to the Barbary pirates.

1142

King to Secretary of State, Oct. 11, 1799; note to Grenville; King, iii, 129.

1143

Secretary of State to King, Feb. 5, 1799; Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 383. Hildreth says that the total amount of claims filed was twenty-four million dollars. (Hildreth, v, 331; and see Marshall to King, infra.)

1144

Secretary of State to King, Sept. 4, 1799; Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 383.

1145

Troup to King, Sept. 2, 1799; King, iii, 91.

1146

Secretary of State to King, Dec. 31, 1799; Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 384-85.

1147

King to Secretary of State, April 7, 1800; King, iii, 215.

1148

Marshall to Adams, June 24, 1800; Adams MSS.

1149

King to Secretary of State, April 22, 1800; King, iii, 222.

1150

Marshall to Adams, July 21, 1800; Adams MSS.

1151

Adams to Marshall, Aug. 1, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 68-69.

1152

Marshall to Adams, Aug. 12, 1800; Adams MSS.

1153

Infra, 507 et seq.

1154

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 386.

1155

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 387.

1156

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 387.

1157

Marshall to Adams, Sept. 9, 1800; Adams MSS.

1158

Adams to Marshall, Sept. 18, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 84. After Jefferson became President and Madison Secretary of State, King settled the controversy according to these instructions of Marshall. But the Republicans, being then in power, claimed the credit.

1159

Secretary of State to King, Oct. 26, 1796; King, ii, 102.

1160

For a comprehensive though prejudiced review of British policy during this period see Tench Coxe: Examination of the Conduct of Great Britain Respecting Neutrals. Coxe declares that the purpose and policy of Great Britain were to "monopolize the commerce of the world… She denies the lawfulness of supplying and buying from her enemies, and, in the face of the world, enacts statutes to enable her own subjects to do these things. (Ib., 62.) … She now aims at the Monarchy of the ocean… Her trade is war… The spoils of neutrals fill her warehouses, while she incarcerates their bodies in her floating castles. She seizes their persons and property as the rich fruit of bloodless victories over her unarmed friends." (Ib., 72.)

This was the accepted American view at the time Marshall wrote his protest; and it continued to be such until the War of 1812. Coxe's book is packed closely with citations and statistics sustaining his position.

1161

Secretary of State to King, June 14, 1799; King, iii, 47; and see King to Secretary of State, July 15, 1799; ib., 58-59; and King to Grenville, Oct. 7, 1799; ib., 115-21.

1162

This complete paper is in Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 486-90.

1163

At one place the word "distinctly" is used and at another the word "directly," in the American State Papers (ii, 487 and 488). The word "directly" is correct, the word "distinctly" being a misprint. This is an example of the inaccuracies of these official volumes, which must be used with careful scrutiny.

1164

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 488.

1165

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 490.

1166

Infra, 524.

1167

While political parties, as such, did not appear until the close of Washington's first Administration, the Federalist Party of 1800 was made up, for the most part, of substantially the same men and interests that forced the adoption of the Constitution and originated all the policies and measures, foreign and domestic, of the first three Administrations.

1168

Wolcott to Ames, Aug. 10, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 404.

1169

During this period, the word "Democrat" was used by the Federalists as a term of extreme condemnation, even more opprobrious than the word "Jacobin." For many years most Republicans hotly resented the appellation of "Democrat."

1170

Marshall to Otis, Aug. 5, 1800; Otis MSS.

1171

For a vivid review of factional causes of the Federalists' decline see Sedgwick to King, Sept. 26, 1800; King, iii, 307-10; and Ames to King, Sept. 24, 1800; ib., 304.

1172

"The Public mind is puzzled and fretted. People don't know what to think of measures or men; they are mad because they are in the dark." (Goodrich to Wolcott, July 28, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 394.)

1173

Ames to Hamilton, Aug. 26, 1800; Works: Ames, i, 280.

1174

Hamilton to Sedgwick, May 4, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 371.

1175

Same to same, May 10, 1800; ib., 375.

1176

"In our untoward situation we should do as well with Jefferson for President and Mr. Pinckney Vice President as with anything we can now expect. Such an issue of the election, if fairly produced, is the only one that will keep the Federal Party together." (Cabot to Wolcott, Oct. 5, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 295.)

"If Mr. Adams should be reëlected, I fear our constitution would be more injured by his unruly passions, antipathies, & jealousy, than by the whimsies of Jefferson." (Carroll to McHenry, Nov. 4, 1800; Steiner, 473.)

"He [Adams] has palsied the sinews of the party, and" another four years of his administration "would give it its death wound." (Bayard to Hamilton, Aug. 18, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 457.)

1177

McHenry to John McHenry, May 20, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 347. According to the caucus custom, two candidates were named for President, one of whom was understood really to stand for Vice-President, the Constitution at that time not providing for a separate vote for the latter officer.

1178

"You may rely upon my co-operation in every reasonable measure for effecting the election of General Pinckney." (Wolcott to Hamilton, July 7, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 447-48.)

"The affairs of this government will not only be ruined but … the disgrace will attach to the federal party if they permit the re-election of Mr. Adams." (Ib.) "In Massachusetts almost all the leaders of the first class are dissatisfied with Mr. Adams and enter heartily into the policy of supporting General Pinckney." (Hamilton to Bayard, Aug. 6, ib., 452 (also in Works: Lodge, x, 384); and see Jefferson to Butler, Aug. 11, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 138.)

1179

Hamilton to Carroll, July 1, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 378; and see Hamilton to Bayard, Aug. 6, 1800; ib., 384.

1180

Sedgwick to Hamilton, May 7, 1800, quoting "our friend D.[ayton] who is not perfectly right" (Works: Hamilton, vi, 437; and see Cabot to Hamilton, Aug. 10, 1800; ib., 454; also Cabot to Wolcott, July 20, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 282.)

1181

Knox to Adams, March 5, 1799; Works: Adams, viii, 626-27. Knox had held higher rank than Hamilton in the Revolutionary War and Adams had tried to place him above Hamilton in the provisional army in 1798. But upon the demand of Washington Knox was given an inferior rank and indignantly declined to serve. (Hildreth, v, 242-44. And see Washington to Knox, July 16, 1798; Writings: Ford, xiv, 43-46.) Thereafter he became the enemy of Hamilton and the ardent supporter of Adams.

1182

Wolcott to Ames, Dec. 29, 1799; Gibbs, ii, 315.

1183

Hamilton to Adams, Aug. 1, 1800; Works: Lodge, x, 382, and see 390; Ames to Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 396; Wolcott to Ames, Dec. 29, 1799; ib., 315.

The public discussion of Adams's charge of a "British faction" against his party enemies began with the publication of a foolish letter he had written to Coxe, in May of 1792, insinuating that Pinckney's appointment to the British Court had been secured by "much British influence." (Adams to Coxe, May, 1792; Gibbs, ii, 424.) The President gave vitality to the gossip by talking of the Hamiltonian Federalists as a "British faction." He should have charged it publicly and formally or else kept perfectly silent. He did neither, and thus only enraged his foe within the party without getting the advantage of an open and aggressive attack. (See Steiner, footnote 3, to 468.)

1184

Phelps to Wolcott, July 15, 1800; relating Noah Webster's endorsement of Adams's opinions; Gibbs, ii, 380.

1185

Ames to Wolcott, Aug. 3, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 396.

1186

In the summer of 1800, Jefferson dined with the President. Adams was utterly unreserved to the Republican leader. After dinner, General Henry Lee, also a guest, remonstrated with the President, who responded that "he believed Mr. Jefferson never had the ambition, or desire to aspire to any higher distinction than to be his [Adams's] first Lieutenant." (Lee to Pickering, 1802; Pickering MSS., Mass. Hist. Soc.; also partly quoted in Gibbs, ii, 366; and see Ames to Wolcott, June 12, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 368; and to King, Sept. 24, 1800; King, iii, 304.)

1187

Ames to Pickering, Nov. 5, 1799; Works: Ames, i, 261.

1188

Ames to Gore, Nov. 10, 1799; ib., 265.

1189

Ames to Gore, Nov. 10, 1799; Ames, i, 268.

1190

Cabot to Wolcott, June 14, 1800; Lodge: Cabot, 274.

1191

Jefferson to Granger, Aug. 13, 1800; Works: Ford, ix, 138-41; and see Jefferson to Gerry, January 26, 1799; ib., 17-19.

1192

"The Jacobins and the half federalists are ripe for attacking the permanent force, as expensive, and unnecessary, and dangerous to liberty." (Ames to Pickering, Oct. 19, 1799; Works: Ames, i, 258.)

1193

"In my lengthy journey through this State [Pennsylvania] I have seen many, very many Irishmen and with very few exceptions, they are United Irishmen, Free Masons, and the most God-provoking Democrats on this side of Hell," who, "with the joy and ferocity of the damned, are enjoying the mortification of the few remaining honest men and Federalists, and exalting their own hopes of preferment, and that of their friends, in proportion as they dismiss the fears of the gallows… The Democrats are, without doubt, increasing." (Uriah Tracy to Wolcott, Aug. 7, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 399.)

1194

Huntington to Wolcott, Aug. 6, 1800; ib., 398.

1195

Ames to Wolcott, June 12, 1800; ib., 369.

1196

McHenry to Wolcott, July 22, 1800; Steiner, 462. "Your very wise political correspondents will tell you anything sooner than the truth. For not one of them will look for anything but profound reasons of state at the bottom of the odd superstructure of parties here. There is nothing of the kind at the bottom." (Ames to King, Aug. 19, 1800; King, iii, 294.)

1197

The Republicans were making much political capital out of the second mission. They had "saved the country from war," they said, by forcing Adams to send the envoys: "What a roaring and bellowing did this excite among all the hungry gang that panted for blood only to obtain pelf in every part of the country." (Aurora, March 4, 1800.)

1198

Goodrich to Wolcott, Aug. 26, 1800; Gibbs, ii, 412.

1199

Am. St. Prs., For. Rel., ii, 325.

1200

Republican success in the approaching election.

1201

Marshall to Adams, July 21, 1800; Adams MSS.

1202

Marshall to Hamilton, Aug. 23, 1800; Works: Hamilton, vi, 460.

1203

A Republican victory.

1204

Marshall to Adams, Aug. 25, 1800; Adams MSS.

1205

Adams to Marshall, Sept. 4 and 5, 1800; Works: Adams, ix, 80-82.