whose losses at times were said to reach sums which he could ill afford. A friendly foreign critic of our institutions, in referring to the social conditions which surrounded Secretary Clay, speaks of the "capital in the wilderness, with but little of general society to temper the roughness of the legislators and mitigate the violence of party conflicts. The presence of slavery was not conducive either to good manners or virtue. No wonder if politics at Washington were somewhat crude, if affrays and duels were not uncommon, if the dullness of senatorial boarding-houses were too often relieved by drinking and gambling, and their lack of domestic happiness by connections to which slavery everywhere opens the door." The glimpses we have of our earlier statesmen lead to the consoling suggestion that, however imperfect may be the present standard of political life and social morality, at least some progress has been made since the earlier years of the century.

1

Aside from the inaptness of the selection on account of "the corrupt bargain" charge, the choice of Mr. Adams of his Secretary of State appeared singular in view of the striking difference in their temperaments and of their past relations. I have already referred to the wrangles which occurred between them in the peace negotiations of 1814. During Mr. Adams's term as secretary, Mr. Clay had been conspicuous in Congress in attacking his conduct and policy and in harassing the administration. But the President entered upon his duties with a sense of patriotism high above personal or party considerations, and would have given

1 Goldwin Smith's Hist. U. S. 149.

places in his Cabinet to the other two presidential opponents, but they declined them, an example which was successfully followed by Mr. Lincoln in 1861. Besides, Mr. Clay had been an aspirant for the same position when Mr. Monroe became President, and was the most prominent leader of his party. It is greatly to the credit of both men and an evidence of their high statesmanship that their relations during the entire term were harmonious, and that they separated at its close with cordial esteem for each other.

Mr. Clay's incumbency of the department was marked by no foreign complications of a serious character. The most important feature was the Panama Congress of the American Republics, which will be treated hereafter in connection with the Monroe Doctrine. It was a busy term, in which more treaties were negotiated and signed than during the whole period since the adoption of the Constitution. The feature especially prominent in these treaties was the principle of commercial reciprocity which has controlled the conduct of the government ever since, to wit, that privileges granted by treaty for a valuable consideration could only be secured by a third nation for a similar consideration. His brilliant qualities and genial manners made Mr. Clay a great favorite in the diplomatic corps. But the confinement of the office work, so dissimilar to his long congressional life, and the worry of the "corrupt bargain" slander seriously affected his health, and he welcomed the end of his term of office, which enabled him to return to the more congenial sphere of debate and active politics. It is a temptation to digress

from the course I have marked out for this work, and follow the career of one of the most interesting and attractive of our public men, but it lies henceforth entirely beyond the sphere of diplomacy.

For twenty-eight years, through four succeeding administrations, from 1801 to 1829, the office of secretary of state had proved the stepping-stone to the presidency, but with the defeat of Mr. Clay by General Jackson in 1828 the line of succession was broken and has never been renewed. With the exit of Mr. Adams we mark the end of administration by statesmen whose services date back to the foundation of the government, and men of quite a different character and calibre now succeed to the presidency for a long series of years.

CHAPTER VIII

FROM JACKSON TO POLK

ANDREW JACKSON, who followed Adams, is a striking character in our political history, and inaugurated methods which had a marked, and in some respects an unfavorable, influence on the future of parties and the government; but in its foreign relations his administration maintained a dignified and creditable attitude.

His first Secretary of State, Martin Van Buren, a prominent politician of New York, was a loyal supporter of his methods and policy. His public services lie mainly in the domain of domestic politics; but in his short term of two years his name is connected with some diplomatic matters of more than ordinary interest. The commercial relations of Great Britain and its colonies with the United States, owing to the exclusive policy of the former, had, from the independence of this country, been of a very unsatisfactory character. Efforts had been made by successive administrations to place these relations upon a better footing, and notably by President Adams, but his advances had been coupled with such conditions as made them unacceptable to the British government, and as a consequence the British West Indies trade remained closed to us, much to the dissatisfaction of our commercial interests. Mr. Van Buren, soon after he took office, withdrew the unten

able conditions of his predecessor, and by means of legislative enactments of Congress1 and Parliament the ports of the British colonies and of the United States were opened upon a reciprocal basis, which has governed their commercial relations up to the present day. For this achievement the Jackson administration, and particularly the Secretary of State, received much credit, and deservedly so; but it will be seen that soon thereafter his relation to this negotiation was a source of serious embarrassment to him.2

A noted incident of the early days of General Jackson's first term ought hardly to be dignified by a notice in this diplomatic review, except for its effect upon the future fortunes of the Secretary of State. Peggy O'Neil, the daughter of a Washington tavern-keeper, and wife of Eaton, the Secretary of War, had been married under circumstances which gave rise to much scandal. The wives of Vice-President Calhoun and of the other members of the Cabinet refused to give her social recognition. The President, having convinced himself that a great injustice was being done Mrs. Eaton, declared with an oath that he would sink or swim with his Secretary of War, and he supported his oath by most severe measures. He followed up and sought to overwhelm all scandal-mongers. An instance is cited of two clergymen whom he had respected and whose stories regarding Mrs. Eaton's chastity reached his ears. The President summoned them to the Executive

1 Act of Congress, 4 Stat. at Large, 419; President's proclamation, Ib. 817.

2 1 Benton's Thirty Years' View, chap. 42.