it appeared to be conducted with extraordinary moderation. It need scarcely be remarked that the result has been so far very different from what was then anticipated. Of events in that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much intercourse and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested spectators. The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparations for our defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective governments: and to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it therefore to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or dependencies of any power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintained was hung from a gallows forty feet high, just a few days before Monroe sent his message (November 7, 1823).

2 The Holy Alliance was concluded between the sovereigns of Austria, Prussia, and Russia in 1815 for the alleged purpose of ruling the peoples whom they were " delegated by Providence to govern❞ according to the "principles which the Divine Savior has taught to mankind.” Three years later, however, these sovereigns embarked on the policy of armed intervention in the other states of Europe for the sake of quelling rebellions and supporting "legitimate" thrones. The fear that they would extend their operations to restore the authority of Spain in the American republics called forth the Monroe Doctrine.

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it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United States. . . .

Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers; to consider the government de facto as the legitimate government for us; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none....

CHAPTER IX

SECTIONAL INTERESTS

THE FAVORITE SONS

The following extracts from the diary of John Quincy 64. JockeyAdams show how incessant were the combinations, in- ing for the presidential trigues, and deals between the political factions to win race, 1824 the presidential election of 1824.

Jan. 30th [1824]. Colonel R. M. Johnson, Mr. R. King, and Mr. Fuller had long conversations with me concerning the movements of the parties here for the Presidential succession. Johnson says that Calhoun proposed to him an arrangement by which I should be supported as President, General Jackson as Vice-President, Clay to be Secretary of State, and he himself Secretary of the Treasury; not as a bargain or coalition, but by the common understanding of our mutual friends. I made no remark upon this, but it discloses the forlorn hope of Calhoun, which is to secure a step of advancement to himself, and the total exclusion of Crawford, even from his present office at the head of the Treasury. . . .

Feb'y 4th. I attended in the evening the drawing-room at the President's. On returning home I found J. W. Taylor at my house, and had a long conversation with him. He told me that Jesse B. Thomas, a Senator from Illinois, had strongly urged upon him the expediency of my acquiescing in the nomination as Vice-President, with Mr. Crawford for the Presidency. He said that Mr. Crawford would certainly be elected . . . that from the state of Mr. Crawford's health it was highly probable the duties of the Presidency would devolve upon the VicePresident . . . that a compliance with the views of Mr. Crawford's friends on this occasion would be rendering them a

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service which would recommend me to their future favor, and would doubtless secure my election hereafter to the Presidency....

Feb'y 5th. At the office, Mr. Bradley of Vermont called, and told me that he had information from an undoubted source that there was a coalition between Clay and Calhoun. How far the friends of Jackson had entered into it he did not know, but the project for the Harrisburg Convention on the 4th of March was to make up a ticket which would ultimately decide for Jackson, Clay, or Calhoun, according to circumstances, but excluding Crawford and me.

March 19. Johnson says Mr. Crawford's friends, particularly Governor Barbour, are very sanguine of his election, and entirely sure of the vote of New York. They consider all prospect of my being supported as having vanished, and that all New England will abandon me and vote for Crawford. I believe Mr. Crawford's prospects and mine equally unpromising. . . . Whether all New England will support me is yet problematical, and the rest is yet more uncertain. The issue must be where it ought to be, and my duty is cheerful acquiescence in the event. . . .

March 23". The mining and countermining upon this Presidential election is an admirable study of human nature. The mist into which Calhoun's bubble broke settles upon Jackson, who is now taking the fragments of Clinton's party. Those of Clay will also fall chiefly to him and his sect, and Crawford's are now working for mine. They both consider my prospects as desperate, and are scrambling for my spoils. I can do no more than satisfy them that I have no purchasable interest. My friends will go over to whomsoever they may prefer. . . .

April 17. At the office, Albert H. Tracy came, and had a conversation with me of nearly two hours, chiefly on the prospects of the Presidential election. He said there was a great and powerful party getting up for General Jackson as President in New York; that it could not possibly succeed, but that its probable effect would be to secure the electoral vote of the State to Mr. Crawford. . . .

May 15, W. Plumer, a member from New Hampshire, was here this morning. I told him that there was no

person who could be substituted for Jackson to fill the

Vice-Presidency. . . . He would be satisfied [!], and so would substantially his friends, to be Vice-President.... I said the Vice-Presidency was a station in which the General could hang no one, and in which he would need to quarrel with no one. His name and character would serve to restore the forgotten dignity of the place, and it would afford an easy and dignified retirement to his old age. . . .

When the choice of presidential electors in November failed to give a majority to any of the four principal candidates, the election of a president was thrown into the House of Representatives, and the electioneering was redoubled for capturing the votes of the states in the House.

Jan'y 9th [1825]. Mr. Clay came at six and spent the evening with me.... He said that the time was drawing near when the choice must be made in the House of Representatives of a President from the three candidates presented by the electoral colleges; that he had been much urged and solicited with regard to the part in that transaction that he should take.... He wished me, as far as I might think proper, to satisfy him with regard to some principles of great public importance, but without any personal considerations for himself. In the question to come before the House between General Jackson, Mr. Crawford, and myself, he had no hesitation in saying that his preference would be for me.

...

Jan'y 29th.. [Mr. Clay's] own situation is critical and difficult. He is attacked with fury in the newspapers for having come out for me, and threats of violence have been largely thrown out by the partisans of General Jackson, particularly those of the Calhoun interest. Richard M. Johnson told me at the drawing-room last Wednesday that it had been seriously proposed to him, in the event of the failure of Jackson's election, to erect his standard; and I received this morning an anonymous letter from Philadelphia threatening organized opposition and civil war if Jackson is not chosen. This blustering has an air of desperation. But we must meet it. . . .