mer. All our friends are well; the long winter has made us torpid; we shall, after a while, put on our sheep-skins and crawl about.

The President's absence excites no general attention, a few speak of it among themselves with regret. The internals of the cabinet appear less generally known than I had foreboded. The disposition of the state is to cling to the public acts of the government. Freemen's meeting has passed with less excitement than ever known. A few Jacobins will steal into the House-mere kittens, however.

The trade on the river begins to look up-our vessels quite successful--great deal of ship-building going forward. The scarcity of forage is a serious calamity, we have no other. As yet the direct tax has caused less noise than the state dog tax. The commissioners are viewing some parts of the state; they mean to execute the principles of equality.

You have got General Fries. A firm execution of the law, only, towards the ringleaders, will satisfy public justice and sentiment. Perhaps McPherson's manifesto is right; we are too far off to say. Is it enough dignified and determined? Government should not cringe. It has been regretted by everybody the troops did not march earlier.

Write when you have leisure. Give my best love to Mrs. Wolcott and the little girls. Mary Anne sends hers. Yours affectionately,

CHAUNCEY GOODRICH.

FROM THE PRESIDENT.

QUINCY, April 26, 1799.

Sir,

I return the two blank commissions signed, and am satisfied with the recommendations of Robert Chesley to succeed his father.

If a real reformation should take place in Northampton county, in consequence of a conscientious conviction of their error and crime, it would be happy; but a cessation of opposition from fear only, may last no longer than the terror. I am, sir, your most obedient,

JOHN ADAMS.

The inconsistency and want of purpose which, by a species of fatality, was destined to blast every act of this unfortunate administration, no where showed its effects more visibly than in what concerned the military affairs of the country. Mr. Adams' first step, as has been shown, produced warmth among the chief officers. His appointments among those of lower, but still important grades, and his general course as to the army, kept alive that

feeling. There was a fitfulness, an alternate precipitancy and unwillingness in his motions, which boded no good will to the service and certainly produced ill consequences. The bugbear of Hamilton, with his alleged ambition and dreaded popularity, was ever present to his mind. This fear, this jealousy is to be seen in every page of his writings; in the constant attempts to undervalue Hamilton's talents, to decry his patriotism, and to blacken his character. To the excited and nervous imagination of the President, the Ex-Secretary, and now Inspector-General, seemed to have possessed a malign ubiquity. He directed every motion, devised every plot, schemed, conspired, and intrigued. Looking upon the then Secretaries of State, of War, and of the Treasury, as the accomplices of this terrible personage, Mr. Adams feared in every recommendation, every suggestion, some covert design to further Hamilton's supposed interests at the expense of his own. He says in one place, "the heads of departments were exclusive patriots. I could not name a man who was not devoted to Hamilton without kindling a fire." The remark, untrue in itself, yet indicates truly the direction of his own mind. To this morbid condition is attributable much of the capriciousness of Mr. Adams' conduct. It was sufficient for him that a measure was supported by those he disliked, to render that measure odious.

Besides the causes which necessarily arrested the organization of the new levics, obstacles had been from time to time interposed by himself. The delay had during the winter caused serious remonstrances from Washington, who seems to have attributed it to want of energy on the part of the Secretary of War. In March he wrote urgently to Mr. McHenry to enquire what kept back the commissions and the recruiting service. Blame, he said,

Patriot Letters, p. 80.

6

Had

was in every mind, but none knew where to fix it. the recruiting and organization followed the law, when the public zeal was at its height, the best men could have been procured. The opportunity had passed. The officers were becoming disgusted. Himself and Generals Hamilton and Pinckney had spent five weeks at Philadelphia making selections for the appointments, and after all they had been disregarded. The reply of that officer in exculpating himself, showed the want of that coöperation on the part of the President, which alone could ensure efficiency. He says, in his letter of the 31st March, "When I spoke of the time we had lost, after all my proposals for augmenting the army had been rejected or procrastinated, what was the reply of the President on the 25th of October? He observed, as to the recruiting service, I wonder whether there has been any enthusiasm which could induce men of common sense to enlist for five dollars a month, who could have fifteen when they pleased by sea, or for common work on land? There has been no rational plan, that I have seen as yet, framed for the maintenance of the army. One thing I know, that regiments are costly articles every where, and more so in this country than in any other under the sun. If this nation sees a great army to maintain, without an enemy to fight, there may arise an enthusiasm that seems to be little foreseen.'" And this was from one who had "animated the nation to war;" who had urged measures of defence in his speeches to Congress; who had exhorted to all these preparations; whose countenance and vigorous support was necessary to their maintenance; whose lukewarmness was certain destruction. This speech was perhaps made under the influence of the resentment produced by the dispute on the relative rank of the generals, when his discomfiture was fresh upon his

Sparks' Writings of Washington, XI. 406.

mind, but the same aversion to give efficiency to the little army continued, and the motive discloses itself involuntarily in the charges that Hamilton designed to use that force for his own aggrandizement.

The appointment of a new mission to France, had in itself been a death blow to the successful creation of a military force. Besides rendering it at once unpopular in the country as an unnecessary measure, it tended to discourage enlistments or the accepting of offices by those who sought them from motives of patriotism or the hope of glory and honor. None would thenceforward seek an employment which was destined to be of short duration, and which promised no result. It was a declaration that further hostile measures were superseded by a more peaceful alternative.

Yet notwithstanding this, Mr. Adams, soon after the adjournment of Congress and his departure from the seat of government, suddenly resolved on commissioning officers for the provisional army, and that before any progress had been made in recruiting the additional regiments, or they were even completely officered. And what were the inducements to this new determination? Washington saw in it, as he supposed, the evidence "that stronger indications of hostility had been received than appeared when he went away."a None such had, however, arrived. The explanation is to be sought in another direction, unless, indeed it sprung from an impulse without motive. The selection of these officers was to be confided, not to the Commander-in-Chief, but to the Senators of each state. Did not Mr. Adams thus hope to secure the appointment of men, who, owing nothing to the recommendation of Hamilton, would feel no interest or attachment to him? Did he not expect to find here, in the provisional army, a counterpoise to the influence of the

a To James McHenry, May 13, 1799. Sparks, XI. 431.

Inspector General with the regular army? The measure itself, though irreconcilable with Mr. Adams' own previous declarations and acts, was indeed considered as eligible by Washington; but the method of executing it was as inconsistent with good government as well could be.

Wolcott, as is known, had from the first preferred that the measures of the government should be directed rather to the appointment of the officers, the preparations of munitions of war, and the creation of a navy, than to the immediate recruiting of the army. In this opinion he was consistent, though he expressed himself ready and willing to give every aid depending on his department.

The acts for the protection of commerce already manifested their good effects. The merchant vessels were generally armed for self defence, and the depredations upon them were proportionately diminished. The little navy of the United States too, had began to give an earnest of its future usefulness and gallantry, and the victory of Truxton over the "Insurgente" was of itself no inglorious achievement. In regard to this affair, Mr. Tucker says: "The exploit was differently received by the two parties; whilst it was regarded by the federalists as adding cause of party triumph to the honest exultation of patriotism, the republicans saw in it an accession of strength to those whom they believed already too strong for the interests of the country, and a further widening of the breach with the only power which could save that country from a close and fatal connexion with England. It is, however, always an unfortunate position, and commonly a culpable one, in which a citizen cannot rejoice at the victories of his country."

2 Tucker's Jefferson, II. 61.