to the presidency, in 1797. After his term of four years had expired, it was found, on the new election, that his adversary, Mr. Jefferson, had succeeded by the majority of one vote. On retiring to his farm in Quincy, Mr. Adams occupied himself with agriculture, obtaining amusement from the literature and politics of the day. The remaining years of his life were passed in almost uninterrupted tranquillity.

The account that Mr. Adams gives, in a letter to a friend, of his introduction to George III., at the court of St. James, as the first minister from the rebel colonies, is very interesting. The scene would form a noble picture, highly honorable both to his majesty and the republican minister. Here stood the stern monarch, who had expended more than six hundred millions of dollars, and the lives of two hundred thousand of his subjects, in a vain attempt to subjugate freemen; and by his side stood the man who, in the language of Jefferson, "was the great pillar of support to the declaration of independence, and its ablest advocate and champion on the floor of Congress." Mr. Adams says, "At one o'clock, on Wednesday, the first of June, 1785, the master of ceremonies called at my house, and went with me to the secretary of state's office, in Cleaveland Row, where the marquis of Caermarthen received and introduced me to Mr. Frazier, his under secretary, who had been, as his lordship said, uninterruptedly in that office through all the changes in administration for thirty years. After a short conversation, Lord Caermarthen invited me to go with him in his coach to court. When we arrived in the ante-chamber, the master of the ceremonies introduced him, and attended me, while the secretary of state went to take the commands of the king. While I stood in this place, where, it seems, all ministers stand upon such occasions, always attended by the master of ceremonies, the room was very full of ministers of state, bishops, and all other sorts of courtiers, as well as the next room, which is the king's bed-chamber. You may well suppose I was the focus of all eyes. I was relieved, however, from the embarrassment of it, by the Swedish and Dutch ministers, who came to me, and entertained me with a very agreeable conversation during the

whole time. Some other gentlemen, whom I had seen before, came to make their compliments to me, until the marquis of Caermarthen returned, and desired me to go with him to his majesty. I went with his lordship through the levee room into the king's closet. The door was shut, and I was left with his majesty and the secretary of state alone. I made the three reverences one at the door, another about half way, and another before the presence, according to the usage established at this and all the northern courts of Europe; and then I addressed myself to his majesty, in the following words:-'Sire: The United States have appointed me minister plenipotentiary to your majesty, and have directed me to deliver to your majesty this letter, which contains the evidence of it. It is in obedience to their express commands, that I have the honor to assure your majesty of their unanimous disposition and desire to cultivate the most friendly and liberal intercourse between your majesty's subjects and their citizens, and of their best wishes for your majesty's health and happiness, and for that of your family. The appointment of a minister from the United States to your majesty's court, will form an epoch in the history of England and America. I think myself more fortunate than all my fellow-citizens, in having the distinguished honor to be the first to stand in your majesty's royal presence in a diplomatic character; and I shall esteem myself the happiest of men, if I can be instrumental in recommending my country more and more to your majesty's royal benevolence, and of restoring an entire esteem, confidence, and affection; or, in better words, the old good nature and the good old humor, between people who, though separated by an ocean, and under different governments, have the same language, a similar religion, a kindred blood. I beg your majesty's permission to add, that, although I have sometimes before been instructed by my country, it was never, in my whole life, in a manner so agreeable to myself.'

"The king listened to every word I said, with dignity, it is true, but with apparent emotion. Whether it was my visible agitation for I felt more than I could express-that touched him, I cannot say ; but he was much affected, and answered me with more tremor than I had spoken with,

and said: 'Sir: The circumstances of this audience are so extraordinary, the language you have now held is so extremely proper, and the feelings you have discovered so justly adapted to the occasion, that I not only receive with pleasure the assurance of the friendly disposition of the United States, but I am glad the choice has fallen upon you to be their minister. I wish you, sir, to believe, and that it may be understood in America, that I have done nothing in the late contest but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do, by the duty which I owed my people. I will be frank with you. I was the last to conform to the separation; but the separation having become inevitable, I have always said, as I now say, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power. The moment I see such sentiments and language as yours prevail, and a disposition to give this country the preference, that moment I shall say, "Let the circumstances of language, religion, and blood, have their natural, full effect." I dare not say that these were the king's precise words; and it is even possible that I may have, in some particulars, mistaken his meaning; for, although his pronunciation is as distinct as I ever heard, he hesitated sometimes between members of the same period. He was, indeed, much affected, and I was ́not less so; and therefore I cannot be certain that I was so attentive, heard so clearly, and understood so perfectly, as to be confident of all his words, or sense. This I do say, that the foregoing is his majesty's meaning, as I then understood it, and his own words, as nearly as I can recollect them. The king then asked me whether I came last from France; and, upon my answering in the affirmative, he put on an air of familiarity, and smiling, or rather laughing, said, 'There is an opinion among some people that you are not the most attached of all your countrymen to the manners of France.' I was surprised at this, because I thought it an indiscretion, and a descent from his dignity. I was a little embarrassed; but, determined not to deny truth, on the one hand, nor lead him to infer from it any attachment to England, on the other, I threw off as much gravity as I could, and assumed an air of gayety, and a tone of decision, as far as was decent, and said, 'That opinion,

sir, is not mistaken; I must avow to your majesty, I have no attachment but to my own country.' The king replied, as quick as lightning, 'An honest man will never have any other.' The king then said a word or two to the secretary of state, which, being between them, I did not hear, and then turned round and bowed to me, as is customary with all kings and princes when they give the signal to retire. I retreated, stepping backwards, as is the etiquette; and making my last reverence at the door of the chamber, I went to my carriage." He died on the 4th of July, 1826, with the same words on his lips, which, fifty years before, on that glorious day, he had uttered on the floor of Congress Independence forever."- Mr. Adams is the author of an Essay on Canon and Feudal Law; a series of Letters, published under the signature of Novanglus; and Discourses on Davila.

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, the third president of the United States, was born at Shadwell Farm, near Monticello, April 2, 1743. It is a little remarkable that the date of his birth could never be accurately determined, till it was discovered after his death. He invariably resisted all attempts made by his enthusiastic friends to obtain knowledge of it, who wished that the anniversary of his birth might become a day of jubilee to our nation.

His youth was not squandered in pleasure which brings no return, but was faithfully and diligently devoted to the improvement of his mind. When he was yet quite young, he was one day present while Patrick Henry was pouring forth a flood of eloquence, carrying away the sentiments of all before it; Jefferson felt within himself the mighty struggles of a great spirit, which only demanded for its exhibition a theatre adequate to its powers. He re

flected seriously whether he should spend his time in the fashionable amusements of the young men of his age, or make the glory of Patrick Henry the pole-star of his thoughts and aspirations.

He decided on the latter course, and commenced the study of law, to which he assiduously devoted himself, and,

after admission to the bar, engaged for a time in the practice of it. But he was early called to take a seat in the council of his native state, where he advanced at once to the very front rank. He took his stand on the part of the people, and, through the whole course of his subsequent career, was faithful to the generous spirit of his youth.

Though himself a slaveholder, one of his first efforts at legislation was the introduction of a bill entitled “ permission for the emancipation of slaves," which was defeated by a large majority; yet it served to exhibit the uncompromising hostility of Jefferson to oppression in all its forms. It was while he was a member of the Virginia legislature, that the resolutions of the British parliament, directed against Massachusetts, were received, and, at the instance of Jefferson, were met by counter resolutions. For this offence, the legislature was dissolved by the royal governor. Jefferson, Wythe, the two Lees, and Carr, adjourned to a tavern, where they conceived and perfected the non-importation act, which, more than any other measure, crippled the commerce of England, and revealed to her, and to the colonies themselves, the importance of the colonial trade. At a subsequent meeting, they discussed and settled a plan of operations for the committees of correspondence in the different colonies, through whom every important act, that transpired in one, was immediately communicated to the sister colonies. Thus the slow and cautious step of tyranny in any colony was detected, and the whole policy of England unfolded to the

view of all.

But the public mind was still too sluggish for the impetuous feelings of Jefferson, and he had recourse to the press, and to private correspondence, to breathe into the people the breath of life. He even proposed, and caused to be proclaimed, a religious fast on the day appointed for the Boston Port Bill to go into operation. For this appointment, the legislature was dissolved by Lord Dunmore, the royal governor. At this time, as after the former dissolution of the assembly, Jefferson and his patriotic associates retired to a tavern, where they digested other schemes to excite the indignation of the colonies against