MR. ADAMS TAKES HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS--HIS POSITION AND HABITS AS A
MEMBER--HIS INDEPENDENCE OF PARTY--HIS EULOGY ON THE DEATH OF EX-PRESIDENT
JAMES MADISON--HIS ADVOCACY OF THE RIGHT OF PETITION, AND OPPOSITION TO
SLAVERY--INSURRECTION IN TEXAS--MR. ADAMS MAKES KNOWN ITS ULTERIOR OBJECT.
Mr. Adams took his seat in the House of Representatives without
ostentation, in December, 1831. His appearance there produced a profound
sensation. It was the first time an ex-President had ever entered that
hall in the capacity of a member. He was received with the highest marks
of respect. It presented a singular spectacle to behold members of
Congress who, when Mr. Adams was President, had charged him with every
species of political corruption, and loaded his name with the most
opprobrious epithets, now vieing with one another in bestowing upon him
the highest marks of respect and confidence. That which they denied the
President, they freely yielded to the MAN. It was the true homage which
virtue and patriotism must ever receive--more honorable, and far more
grateful to its object, than all the servility and flattery which power
and patronage can so easily purchase.
The degree of confidence reposed in Mr. Adams was manifested by his being
placed at once at the head of the Committee on Manufactures. This is
always a responsible station; but it was peculiarly so at that time. The
whole Union was highly agitated on the subject of the tariff. The friends
of domestic manufactures at the North insisted upon high protective
duties, to sustain the mechanical and manufacturing interests of the
country against a ruinous foreign competition. The Southern States
resisted these measures as destructive to their interests, and
remonstrated with the utmost vehemence against them--in which they were
joined by a large portion of the Democratic party throughout the North.
Mr. Adams, with enlarged views of national unity and general prosperity,
counselled moderation to both parties. As Chairman of the Committee on
Manufactures, he strove to produce such a compromise between the
conflicting interests, as should yield each section a fair protection, and
restore harmony and fraternity among the people.
So important were Mr. Adams' services deemed in the Committee on
Manufactures, that, on proposing to resign his post as Chairman, to fulfil
other duties which claimed his attention, he was besought by all parties
to relinquish his purpose. Mr. Cambreleng, of N. Y., a political opponent
of Mr. Adams, said, "It was not a pleasant duty to oppose the request of
any member of the House, particularly one of his character. He did so with
infinite regret in the present instance; and he certainly would not take
such a course, but for the important consequences that might result from
assenting to the wishes of the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts.
He had reached the conclusion, not without infinite pain and reluctance,
that the harmony, if not the existence of our Confederacy, depends, at
this crisis, upon the arduous, prompt, and patriotic efforts of a few
eminent men. He believed that much might be done by the gentleman from
Massachusetts."
In the same tone of high compliment, Mr. Barbour, of Virginia, said,
"that to refuse anything that could be asked by the gentleman from
Massachusetts gave him pain, great pain. He said it was with unaffected
sincerity he declared, that the member from Massachusetts (with whom he
was associated in the committee) had not only fulfilled all his duties
with eminent ability, in the committee, but in a spirit and temper that
commanded his grateful acknowledgments, and excited his highest
admiration. Were it permitted him to make a personal appeal to the
gentleman, he would have done so in advance of this motion. He would have
appealed to him as a patriot, as a statesman, as a philanthropist, and
above all as an American, feeling the full force of all his duties, and
touched by all their incentives to lofty action--to forbear this request."
These complimentary appeals were well deserved by Mr. Adams, and show most
emphatically the high position he occupied in the esteem and confidence of
the entire House of Representatives, on becoming a member thereof. But,
with the modesty of true greatness, it was painful to him to hear these
encomiums uttered in his own presence. He arose, and begged the House, in
whatever further action it might take upon the subject, to refrain from
pursuing this strain. "I have been most deeply affected," he said, "by
what has already passed. I have felt, in the strongest manner, the
impropriety of my being in the House while such remarks were made; being
very conscious that sentiments of an opposite kind might have been uttered
with far more propriety, and have probably been withheld in consequence of
my presence."
Mr. Adams carried with him into Congress all his previous habits of
industry and close application to business. He was emphatically a hard
worker. Few men spent more hours in the twenty-four in assiduous labor. He
would take no active part in any matter--would engage in the discussion
of no topic--and would not commit himself on any question--until he had
sounded it to its nether depths, and explored all its ramifications, all
its bearings and influences, and had thoroughly become master of the
subject. To gain this information no toil was too great, no application
too severe. It was in this manner that he was enabled to overwhelm with
surprise his cotemporaries in Congress, by the profundity of his
knowledge. No subject could be started, no question discussed, on which he
was not perfectly at home. Without hesitation or mistake, he could pour
forth a stream of facts, dates, names, places, accompanied with
narrations, anecdotes, reflections and arguments, until the matter was
thoroughly sifted and laid bare in all its parts and properties, to the
understanding of the most casual observer. The tenacity and correctness of
his memory was proverbial. Alas, for the man who questioned the
correctness of his statements, his facts, or dates. Sure discomfiture
awaited him. His mind was a perfect calendar, a store-house, a mine of
knowledge, in relation to all past events connected with the history of
his country and his age.
In connection with his other exemplary virtues, Mr. Adams was prompt,
faithful, unwearied, in the discharge of all his public duties. The oldest
member of the House, he was at the same time the most punctual--the first
at his post; the last to retire from the labors of the day. His practice
in these respects could well put younger members to the blush. While many
others might be negligent in their attendance, sauntering in idleness,
engaged in frivolous amusements, or even in dissipation, he was always at
his post. No call of the House was necessary--no Sergeant-at-arms need be
despatched--to bring him within the Hall of Representatives. He was the
last to move an adjournment, or to adopt any device to consume time or
neglect the public business for personal convenience or gratification. In
every respect he was a model legislator. His example can be most
profitably imitated by those who would arise to eminence in the councils
of the nation.
"My seat was, for two years, by his side, and it would have scarcely more
surprised me to miss one of the marble columns of the Hall from its
pedestal than to see his chair empty. * * * I shall, perhaps, be pardoned
for introducing here a slight personal recollection, which serves, in some
degree, to illustrate his habits. The sessions of the last two days of (I
think) the twenty-third Congress, were prolonged, the one for nineteen,
and the other for seventeen hours. At the close of the last day's session,
he remained in the hall of the House the last seated member of the body.
One after another, the members had gone home; many of them for hours. The
hall--brilliantly lighted up, and gaily attended, as was, and perhaps is
still, the custom at the beginning the last evening of a session--had
become cold, dark, and cheerless. Of the members who remained, to prevent
the public business from dying for want of a quorum, most but himself were
sinking from exhaustion, although they had probably taken their meals at
the usual hours, in the course of the day. After the adjournment, I went
up to Mr. Adams' seat, to join company with him, homeward; and as I knew
he came to the House at eight o'clock in the morning, and it was then past
midnight, I expressed a hope that he had taken some refreshment in the
course of the day, He said he had not left his seat; but holding up a bit
of hard bread in his fingers, gave me to understand in what way he had
sustained nature." [Footnote: Edward Everett.]
The following reminiscence will further illustrate Mr. Adams' habits of
industry and endurance at a later day, as well as show his views in regard
to the famous "Expunging Resolution."
"On a cold and dreary morning, in the month of January, 1837, I went to
the capitol of the United States, at a very early hour, to write out a
very long speech I had reported for an honorable gentleman, who wished to
look well in print; and on entering the hall of the House of
Representatives, I found Mr. Adams, as early as the hour was, in his seat,
busily engaged in writing. He and myself were the only persons present;
even the industrious Mr. Follansbee, the then doorkeeper, had not made
his appearance, with his assistants and pages, to distribute copies of the
journal and the usual documents.
"As I made it a rule never to speak to Mr. Adams, unless he spoke first, I
said nothing; but took my seat in the reporters' gallery, and went to
work. I had written about half an hour, when the venerable statesman
appeared at my desk, and was pleased to say that I was a very industrious
man. I thanked him for the compliment, and, in return, remarked, that, as
industrious as I might be, I could not keep pace with him, 'for,' said I,
'I found you here, sir, when I came in.'
"'I believe I was a little early, sir,' he replied; 'but, as there is to
be a closing debate to-day, in the Senate, on the expunging resolution,
which I feel inclined to hear, I thought I would come down at an unusual
hour, this morning, and dispatch a little writing before the Senate was
called to order.'
"'Do you think the expunging resolution will be disposed of today?' I
inquired.
"'I understand it will,' he rejoined. 'I hope so, at least,' he added,
'for I think the country has already become weary of it, and is impatient
for a decision. It has already absorbed more time than should have been
devoted to it.'
"'It will pass, I suppose, sir?'
"'Oh, certainly; and by a very decided majority. The administration is
too strong for the opposition; and the affair will call up a strict party
vote. Of course Mr. Clay's resolution will be expunged, and the journal
will not be violated.'
"I was somewhat surprised at the remark, and, in return, observed that I
had always understood that it was on the constitutional ground, that the
expunging process could not be effected without destroying the journal,
that the opponents of the measure had based themselves.
"'It is true, sir, that that has been the grave and somewhat tenable
argument in the Senate; but it is a fallacy, after all,' he replied. 'The
constitution, sir, it is true, renders it imperative on both Houses to
keep a correct journal of its proceedings; and all this can be done, and
any portion of it may be expunged, without violating that instrument. For
instance, sir, a resolution is adopted to-day, is entered on the journal,
and to-morrow is expunged--and still the journal remains correct, and the
constitution is not violated. For the act by which the expungation is
effected is recorded on the journal; the expunged resolution becomes a
matter of record, and thus everything stands fair and correct. The
constitution is a sacred document, and should not be violated; but how
often is it strictly adhered to, to the very letter? There are, sir, some
men in the world who make great parade about their devotion to the "dear
constitution,"--men, sir, who make its sacred character a hobby, and who,
nevertheless, are perfectly reckless of its violation, if the ends of
party are to be accomplished by its abjuration.'
"There was a degree of sarcasm blended with his enunciation of the 'dear
constitution,' which induced me to think it possible that he intended some
personal allusion when he repeated the words. In this I might, and might
not, have erred.
"'In what way, Mr. Adams,' I inquired, 'is this expunging process to be
accomplished? Is the objectionable resolution to be erased from the
journal with a pen; or is the leaf that contains it to be cut out?'
"'Neither process is to be resorted to, as I understand it,' he replied.
'The resolution will remain in the book; black lines will be drawn around
it, and across it from right angles, and the word "expunged," will be
written on the face of it. It will, to all intents and purposes, still
stand on the face of the book. There are precedents in parliamentary
journalism for the guidance of the Senate, and I suppose they will be
adopted.'
"He then proceeded to give me a very graphic and interesting description
of an expunging process that took place in the British Parliament in the
reign of James the First, of England, which would repeat, if time and
space allowed. He detained me a long time, in narrating precedents, and
commenting on them; and then abruptly bringing the subject to a close,
left me to pursue my labors.
"Soon after the House had been called to order, immediately after the
chaplain had said his prayers--for that was a ceremonial that Mr. Adams
always observed--I saw him leave his seat, and proceed, as I supposed, to
the Senate chamber. After an hour or two had elapsed, I went into the
Senate, and there found him, standing outside of the bar, listening, with
all imaginable attention, to Mr. Felix Grundy, who was delivering himself
of some brief remarks he had to utter on the subject.
"At nine o'clock in the evening, as I fumbled my way through the
badly-lighted rotunda, having just escaped from a caucus that had been
holding 'a secret session,' in the room of the committee on public lands,
I descried a light issuing from the vestibule of the Senate chamber, which
apprized me that 'the most dignified body on earth' was still in session.
Impelled by a natural curiosity, I proceeded towards the council chamber
of the right reverend signors; and, just as I reached the door, Mr. Adams
stepped out. I inquired if the resolution had been disposed of.
"'No, sir,' he replied; 'nor is it probable that it will be to-night! A
Senator from North Carolina is yet on the floor; and, as it does not
appear likely that he will yield it very soon, and as I am somewhat faint
and weary, I think I shall go home.'
"The night was very stormy. Snow was falling fast; the moon, which had
'--not yet fill'd her horns,'
had receded beneath the western horizon; and, as the capitol was but sadly
lighted, I offered my services to the venerable sage of Quincy, and at the
same time asked leave to conduct him to his dwelling.
"'Sir,' said he, 'I am indebted to you for your proffered kindness; but I
need not the service of anyone. I am somewhat advanced in life, but not
yet, by the blessing of God, infirm; or what Doctor Johnson would call
"superfluous;" and you may recollect what old Adam says in the play of "As
you like it:"
"For in my youth I never did apply
Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood.'"
"For the first time in my life, I found Mr. Adams a little inclined to be
facetious; and I was glad of it--for it was to me a kind of assurance that
my presence was not absolutely unwelcome.
"The salutation being over, and Mr. Adams having consented that I should
see him down the steps of the capitol, I proceeded onward, and soon found
myself, with my revered convoy, in the vicinity of the western gate of the
capitol grounds 'The wind whistled a dismal tale,' as we trudged onward,
looking in vain for a cab; and the snow and sleet, which, early in the
day, had mantled the earth, was now some twelve inches deep on
Pennsylvania avenue. I insisted on going onward; but Mr. Adams objected,
and bidding me good night somewhat unceremoniously, told me, almost in as
many words, that my farther attendance was unwelcome.
"As I left him, he drew his 'Boston wrapper' still closer around him,
hitched up his mittens, and with elastic step breasted a wintry storm that
might have repelled even the more elastic movement of juvenility, and
wended up the avenue. Although I cannot irreverently say that he
'Whistled as he went, for want of thought,'
I fancy that his mind was so deeply imbued with the contemplation of
affairs of state, and especially in contemplating the expunging
resolution, that he arrived at his home long before he was aware that he
had threaded the distance between the capitol and the Presidential
square." [Footnote: Reminiscences of the late John Quincy Adams, by an Old
Colony Man.--New York Atlas.]
Although elected to the House of Representatives as a Whig, and usually
acting with that party, yet Mr. Adams would never acknowledge that fealty
to party could justify a departure from the conscientious discharge of
duty. He went with his party as far as he believed his party was right and
its proceedings calculated to promote the welfare of the country. But no
party claims, no smiles nor frowns, could induce him to sanction any
measure which he believed prejudicial to the interest of the people.
Hence, during his congressional career, the Whigs occasionally found him a
decided opposer of their policy and measures, on questions where he
deemed they had mistaken the true course. In this he was but true to his
principles, character, and whole past history. It was not that he loved
his political party or friends less, but that he loved what he viewed as
conducive to the welfare of the nation, more.
The same principle of action governed him in reference to his political
opponents. In general he threw his influence against the administration of
Gen. Jackson, under a sincere conviction that its policy was injurious to
the welfare of our common country. But to every measure which he could
sanction, he did not hesitate to yield the support of all his energies.
An instance of this description occurred in relation to the treaty of
indemnity with France. For nearly forty years, negotiations had been
pending in vain with the French Government, to procure an indemnity for
spoliations of American commerce, during the French Revolution and
Republic. On the 4th of July, 1831, Mr. Rives, the American Minister to
France, succeeded in concluding a treaty with that country, securing to
American merchants an indemnity of five millions of dollars. But although
the treaty was duly ratified by both Governments, the French Chamber of
Deputies obstinately refused, for several years, to vote an appropriation
of money to fulfil its stipulations. In 1835, Gen. Jackson determined on
strong measures to bring the French Government to the discharge of its
obligations. He accordingly sent a message to Congress, recommending, in
the event of further delay on the part of France, that letters of marque
and reprisal be issued against the commerce of France, and at the same
time instructed Mr. Edward Livingston, our Minister at that day at the
Court of St. Cloud, to demand his passports, and retire to London. In all
these steps, which resulted in bringing France to a speedy fulfillment of
the treaty, Mr. Adams yielded his unreserved support to the
administration. He believed Gen. Jackson, in resorting to compulsory
measures, was pursuing a course called for alike by the honor and the
interest of the country, and he did not hesitate to give him a cordial
support, notwithstanding he was a political opponent. In a speech made by
Mr. Adams on the subject, in the House of Representatives, he said:--
"Sir, if we do not unite with the President of the United States in an
effort to compel the French Chamber of Deputies to carry out the
provisions of this treaty, we shall become the scorn, the contempt, the
derision and the reproach of all mankind! Sir, this treaty has been
ratified on both sides of the ocean; it has received the sign manual of
the sovereign of France, through His Imperial Majesty's principal Minister
of State; it has been ratified by the Senate of this Republic; it has been
sanctioned by Almighty God; and still we are told, in a voice potential,
in the other wing of this capitol, that the arrogance of France,--nay,
sir, not of France, but of her Chamber of Deputies--the insolence of the
French Chambers, must be submitted to, and we must come down to the lower
degradation of re-opening negotiations to attain that which has already
been acknowledged to be our due! Sir, is this a specimen of your boasted
chivalry? Is this an evidence of the existence of that heroic valor which
has so often led our arms on to glory and immortality? Re-open
negotiation, sir, with France? Do it, and soon you will find your flag
insulted, dishonored, and trodden in the dust by the pigmy States of Asia
and Africa--by the very banditti of the earth. Sir, the only
negotiations, says the President of the United States, that he would
encounter, should be at the cannon's mouth!"
The effect produced by this speech was tremendous on all sides; and, for a
while, the House was lost in the excitement it afforded. The venerable
orator took his seat; and, as he sank into it, the very walls shook with
the thundering applause he had awakened.
On the 28th of June, 1836, the venerable ex-President JAMES MADISON,
departed life at Montpelier, Va., in the eighty-sixth year of his age. He
had filled a prominent place in the history of our Government, from its
first organization. As a statesman, he was unsurpassed in critical acumen,
in profundity of knowledge, in an understanding of constitutional
Government, and its adaptation to the rights and interests of the people.
His writings are an invaluable legacy to his countrymen, and will be
studied and quoted for ages to come. "His public acts were a noble
commentary upon his political principles--his private life an illustration
of the purest virtues of the heart."
When a message from the President, announcing the death of Mr. Madison,
was received in the House of Representatives, Mr. Adams arose and said:--
"By the general sense of the House, it is with perfect propriety that the
delegation from the commonwealth of Virginia have taken the lead in the
melancholy duty of proposing the measures suitable to be adopted as
testimonials of the veneration due, from the Legislature of the Union, to
the memory of the departed patriot and sage, the native of their soil, and
the citizen of their community.
"It is not without some hesitation, and some diffidence, that I have risen
to offer in my own behalf, and in that of my colleagues upon this floor,
and of our common constituents, to join our voice, at once of mourning and
exultation, at the event announced to both Houses of Congress, by the
message from the President of the United States--of mourning at the
bereavement which has befallen our common country, by the decease of one
of her most illustrious sons--of exultation at the spectacle afforded to
the observation of the civilized world, and for the emulation of after
times, by the close of a life of usefulness and of glory, after forty
years of service in trusts of the highest dignity and splendor that a
confiding country could bestow, succeeded by twenty years of retirement
and private life, not inferior, in the estimation of the virtuous and the
wise, to the honors of the highest station that ambition can ever attain.
"Of the public life of James Madison what could I say that is not deeply
impressed upon the memory and upon the heart of every one within the sound
of my voice? Of his private life, what but must meet an echoing shout of
applause from every voice within this hall? Is it not in a pre-eminent
degree by emanation from his mind, that we are assembled here as the
representatives of the people and the States of this Union? Is it not
transcendently by his exertions that we all address each other here by the
endearing appellation of countrymen and fellow-citizens? Of that band of
benefactors of the human race, the founders of the Constitution of the
United States, James Madison is the last who has gone to his reward. Their
glorious work has survived them all. They have transmitted the precious
bond of union to us, now entirely a succeeding generation to them. May it
never cease to be a voice of admonition to us, of our duty to transmit the
inheritance unimpaired to our children of the rising age.
"Of the personal relations of this great man, which gave rise to the long
career of public service in which twenty years of my own life has been
engaged, it becomes me not to speak. The fulness of the heart must be
silent, even to the suppression of the overflowings of gratitude and
affection." To the year 1835, the career of Mr. Adams in Congress had been
marked by no signal display of characteristics peculiar to himself, other
than such as the world had long been familiar with in his previous
history. He had succeeded in maintaining his reputation for patriotism,
devotion to principle, political sagacity and wisdom, and his fame as a
public debater and eloquent speaker. But no new development of qualities
unrecognized before had been made. From that year forward, however, he
placed himself in a new attitude before the country, and entered upon a
career which eclipsed all his former services, and added a lustre to his
fame which will glow in unrivalled splendor as long as human freedom is
prized on earth. It can hardly be necessary to state that allusion is here
made to his advocacy of the Right of Petition, and his determined
hostility to slavery. At an age when most men would leave the stormy field
of public life, and retire to the quiet seclusion of domestic comfort,
these great topics inspirited Mr. Adams with a renewed vigor. With all the
ardor and zeal of youth, he placed himself in the front rank of the battle
which ensued, plunged into the very midst of the melee, and, with a
dauntless courage, that won the plaudits of the world, held aloft the
banner of freedom in the Halls of Congress, when other hearts quailed and
fell back! He led "the forlorn hope" to the assault of the bulwarks of
slavery, when the most sanguine believed his almost superhuman labors
would be all in vain. In these contests a spirit blazed out from his noble
soul which electrified the nation with admiration. In his intrepid bearing
amid these scenes he fully personified the couplet quoted in one of his
orations:--
"Thy spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart and eagle eye!
Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare,
Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky."
The first act in the career of Mr. Adams as a Member of Congress, was in
relation to slavery. On the 12th of December, 1831, it being the second
week of the first session of the twenty-second Congress, he presented
fifteen petitions, all numerously signed, from sundry inhabitants of
Pennsylvania, praying for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in
the District of Columbia. In presenting these petitions, Mr. Adams
remarked, that although the petitioners were not of his immediate
constituents, yet he did not deem himself at liberty to decline presenting
their petitions, the transmission of which to him manifested a confidence
in him for which he was bound to be grateful. From a letter which had
accompanied the petitions, he inferred that they came from members of the
Society of Friends or Quakers; a body of men, he declared, than whom there
was no more respectable and worthy class of citizens--none who more
strictly made their lives a commentary on their professions; a body of men
comprising, in his firm opinion, as much of human virtue, and as little of
human infirmity, as any other equal number of men, of any denomination,
upon the face of the globe.
The petitions for the abolition of the slave trade in the District of
Columbia, Mr. Adams considered relating to a proper subject for the
legislation of Congress. But he did not give his countenance to those
which prayed for the abolition of slavery in that District. Not that he
would approbate the system of slavery; for he was, and in fact had been
through life, its most determined foe. But he believed the time had not
then arrived for the discussion of that subject in Congress. It was his
settled conviction that a premature agitation of slavery in the national
councils would greatly retard, rather than facilitate, the abolition of
that giant evil--"as the most salutary medicines," he declared in
illustration, "unduly administered, were the most deadly of poisons."
The position taken by Mr. Adams, in presenting these petitions, was
evidently misunderstood by many, and especially by Abolitionists. They
construed it into a disposition on his part to sanction, or at least to
succumb unresistingly, to the inhumanity and enormity of the slave
institution. In this conclusion they signally erred. Mr. Adams, by birth,
education, all the associations of his life, and the fixed principles of
his moral and political character, was an opposer of slavery in every
form. No man felt more keenly the wretched absurdity of professing to base
our Government on the "self-evident truth, that all men are created equal,
and endowed by their Creator with an unalienable right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness"--of proclaiming our Union the abode of
liberty, the "home of the free," the asylum of the oppressed--while
holding in our midst millions of fellow-beings manacled in hopeless
bondage! No man was more anxious to correct this disgraceful misnomer, and
wipe away its dark stain from our national escutcheon at the earliest
practicable moment. But he was a statesman of profound knowledge and
far-reaching sagacity. He possessed the rare quality of being able to
"bide his time" in all enterprizes. Great as he felt the enormity of
American slavery to be, he would not, in seeking to remove it, select a
time so unseasonable, and adopt measures so unwise, as would result,
Samson-like, in removing the pillars of our great political fabric, and
crushing the glorious Union, formed by the wisdom and cemented by the
blood of our Revolutionary Fathers, into a mass of ruins.
Believing there was a time to withhold and a time to strike, he would
patiently wait until the sentiment of the American people became
sufficiently ripened, under the increasing light and liberality of the
age, to permit slavery to be lawfully and peaceably removed, while the
Union should remain unweakened and untouched--the pride of our hearts,
the admiration of the world. Hence, in his early career, he saw no
propitious moment for such a work. While discharging the duties of U. S.
Senator, Secretary of State, and President, an attempt in that direction
would have resulted in an aggravation of the evils of slavery, and a
strengthening of the institution. Nor on first entering Congress did he
conceive the time to be fully come to engage in that agitation of the
momentous subject, which, when once commenced in earnest, would never
cease until either slavery would be abolished, as far as Congress
possessed constitutional power, or the Union become rent in twain! But he
evidently saw that time was at hand--even at the door--and he prepared
himself for the contest.
In 1835, the people of Texas took up arms in open rebellion against the
Government of Mexico. That Province had been settled chiefly by emigrants
from the Southern and Southwestern States. Many of them had taken their
slaves with them. But the Mexican Government, to their enduring honor be
it said, abolished slavery throughout that Republic. The ostensible object
of the Texian insurrection was to resist certain schemes of usurpation
alleged against Santa Anna, at that time President of Mexico. At the
present day, however, after having witnessed the entire progress and
consummation of the scheme, it is abundantly evident, that from the
beginning there was a deliberate and well-digested plan to re-establish
slavery in Texas--annex that province to the United States--and thus
immensely increase the slave territory and influence in the Union.
At the first blast of the Texian bugle, thousands of volunteers from the
slaveholding States rushed to the standard of "the lone star." Agents were
sent to the United States to create an interest in behalf of Texas--the
most inflammatory appeals were made to the people of the Union--and armed
bodies of American citizens were openly formed in the South, and
transported without concealment to the seat of the insurrection. President
Jackson reminded the inhabitants of the United States of their obligations
to observe neutrality in the contest between Mexico and its rebellious
province. At the same time, Gen. Gaines, with a body of U. S. troops, was
ordered to take up a position within the borders of Texas. The avowed
object of this movement was to protect the people of the Southwestern
frontiers from the incursions of Indian tribes in the employment of
Mexico. But the presence of such a body of troops could not but exert an
influence favorable to the measures and objects of Texas; and besides, it
afterwards appeared the Indians had no disposition to take sides with
Mexico, or to make any depredations on the territories of the United
States. A call was made on Congress for an appropriation of a million of
dollars to carry on these military operations, the entire tendency of
which was to encourage Texas in its attempt to throw off the Mexican
allegiance and re-establish slavery.
The source from whence the authorities of Texas were confidently looking
for assistance, and the ulterior object at which they were aiming in their
insurrection--viz.: annexation to the United States, and thus adding
territory and strength to the institution of slavery,--are clearly
revealed in the following extracts from a letter addressed by Gen.
Houston, commander of the Texian forces, to Gen. Dunlap, of Nashville,
Tenn:--
"Near Sabine, July, 2, 1836.
"To GEN. DUNLAP:
SIR:--Your favor of the 1st of June reached me last evening. I regret so
much delay will necessarily result before you can reach us. We will need
your aid, and that speedily. The enemy, in large numbers, are reported to
be in Texas. * * * * * The army with which they first entered Texas is
broken up and dispersed by desertion and other causes. If they get another
army of the extent proposed, it must be composed of new recruits, and men
pressed into service. They will not possess the mechanical efficiency of
discipline which gives the Mexican troops the only advantage they have.
They will easily be routed by a very inferior force. For a portion of that
force, we shall be obliged to look to the United States! It cannot reach
us too soon. There is but one feeling in Texas, in my opinion, and that
is, to establish the independence of Texas, and TO BE ATTACHED TO THE
UNITED STATES! * * * * * March as speedily as possible, with all the aid
you can bring, and I doubt not but you will be gratified with your
reception and situation."
The whole plan succeeded beyond the anticipation of its most sanguine
projectors. Aided by men and means from the United States, Texas
established its independence--organized a government--incorporated
slavery into its constitution so thoroughly as to guard against the
remotest attempt ever to remove it--and by a process unsurpassed in the
annals of political intrigue, in due time became annexed to the North
American Union. In this accession of a territory from which several large
States will eventually be carved out, the slave power of the United States
obtained a signal advantage, of which it will not be backward to avail
itself in the time of its need. A faithful history of this entire movement
is yet to be written.
Mr. Adams, with his well-known and long-tried sagacity, saw at a glance
the whole design of the originators of the Texas insurrection. While most
people were averse to the belief that a project was seriously on foot to
sever a large and free province from the Mexican Republic and annex it to
the Union as slave territory, he read the design in legible characters
from the beginning. In a speech made in the House of Representatives, in
May, 1836, in reference to the call for a million of dollars, for purposes
already stated, Mr. Adams unriddled the Texian project with the vision
of a prophet.
"Have we not seen American citizens," said Mr. Adams, "going from all
parts of the country to carry on the war of this province against the
united Government of Mexico? Who were those who fell at Alamo? Who are now
fighting under the command of the hero [Footnote: General Houston.] of
Texian fame? And have we not been called upon in this House, to recognize
Texian independence? It seems that Gen. Gaines considers this a war in
defence of 'our Texians.'"
Mr. Cambreleng explained that the word "neighbors," had been accidentally
omitted in Gen. Gaines' dispatch.
Mr. Adams continued:--"Was this an intention to conquer Texas, to
re-establish that slavery which had been abolished by the United Mexican
States? If that was the case, and we were to be drawn into an
acknowledgment of their independence, and then, by that preliminary act,
by that acknowledgment, if we were upon their application to admit Texas
to become a part of the United States, then the House ought to be informed
of it. I shall be for no such war, nor for making any such addition to our
territory. * * * * * * I hope Congress will take care to go into no war
for the re-establishment of slavery where it has been abolished--that they
will go into no war in behalf of 'our Texians,' or 'our Texian
neighbors' and that they will go into no war with a foreign power, without
other cause than the acquisition of territory."
In a speech delivered a few days subsequent to the above, Mr. Adams used
the following language:--
"It is said that one of the earliest acts of this administration was a
proposal, made at a time when there was already much ill-humor in Mexico
against the United States, that she should cede to the United States a
very large portion of her territory--large enough to constitute nine
States equal in extent to Kentucky. It must be confessed that a device
better calculated to produce jealousy, suspicion, ill-will and hatred,
could not have been contrived. It is further affirmed that this overture,
offensive in itself, was made precisely at the time when a swarm of
colonists from these United States, were covering the Mexican border with
land-jobbing, and with slaves, introduced in defiance of Mexican laws, by
which slavery had been abolished throughout the Republic. The war now
raging in Texas is a Mexican civil war, and a war for the reestablishment
of slavery where it was abolished. It is not a servile war, but a war
between slavery and emancipation, and every possible effort has been made
to drive us into the war on the side of slavery."
"When, in the year 1836, resolutions to recognize the independence of
Texas came up in the House of Representatives, Mr. Adams opposed them with
great energy and eloquence, and provoked a most ardent and violent debate.
Mr. Waddy Thompson, then a Representative in Congress, and subsequently
Minister to Mexico, advocated the passage of the resolutions; and, in
doing so, said that Mr. Adams, in negotiating the Florida treaty, actually
ceded to Mexico the whole of Texas, a province that was part and parcel of
this Union.
"Mr. Adams immediately arrested the speech of Mr. Thompson, and denied the
impeachment. Mr. Thompson rejoined, and, to strengthen his position,
quoted some remarks Gen. Jackson had made on the subject, confirmatory of
the charge of having sacrificed the national domain, in the Florida
negotiation.
"Mr. Adams replied with great warmth; and went into a minute and
interesting narrative of the whole transaction. Among other things, he
said that, before the Florida treaty was signed, he took it to Gen.
Jackson, to obtain his opinion of it; and that it was unconditionally
approved by him.
"Mr. Thompson was surprised at the announcement of this fact. It weakened
his position very materially; and he resumed his seat a defeated
antagonist. So said the House of Representatives, with scarcely the
exception of a member.
"Mr. Adams continued his defence. 'At that time,' said he, 'General
Jackson was in this city, on exciting business connected with the Seminole
war; and, after the treaty had been concluded, and only wanted the
signatures of the contracting parties, the then President of the United
States directed me to call on General Jackson, in my official capacity as
Secretary of State, and obtain his opinion in reference to boundaries. I
did call. General Jackson, sir, was at that time holding his quarters in
the hotel at the other end of the avenue, now kept by Mr. Azariah Fuller,
but then under the management of Jonathan McCarty. The day was
exceedingly warm, and, on entering General Jackson's parlor, I found him
much exhausted by excitement, and the intensity of the weather. I made
known to him the object of my visit; when he replied that I would greatly
oblige him if I would excuse him from looking into the matter then. "Leave
the papers with me, sir, till to-morrow, or the next day, and I will
examine them." I did leave them sir; and the next day called for the
hero's opinion and decision. Sir, I recollect the occurrence perfectly
well; General Jackson was still unwell; and the papers, with an
accompanying map, were spread before him. With his cane, sir, he pointed
to the boundaries, as they had been agreed upon by the parties; and, sir,
with a very emphatic expression, which I need not repeat, he affirmed
them.'
"This debate, whilst yet warm from the hands of the reporters, reached
General Jackson; and was at once pressed upon his attention. Its
contradiction and refutation were deemed matters of paramount importance.
The old soldier did not hesitate long to act in the matter, and speedily
there appeared in the Globe newspaper a letter, signed Andrew Jackson,
denying, in unqualified and unconditional terms, everything that Mr. Adams
had uttered. He denied having been in Washington at the time Mr. Adams
designated; but afterwards, being convinced that he was in error, in this
fact only he corrected himself, but denied most positively that he had
seen the Florida treaty, or Mr. Adams, at the time of its negotiation, or
that he had had the remotest agency or connection with the transaction.
"Mr. Adams responded, and appealed to his diary, where everything was set
forth with the utmost precision and accuracy. The year, day of the month,
and of the week, and the very hour of the day, all were faithfully
recorded.
"The affair produced much sensation at Washington; and even the most
determined advocates of General Jackson believed that he, and not Mr.
Adams, was in error, No one would, or could for a moment, believe that Mr.
Adams' had made a false report.'
"Whilst this controversy was pending, I called at the Presidential
mansion, one afternoon, when General Jackson, strange to say, happened to
be alone. He said that he was very glad to see me, because he would like
to hear, from one who had an opportunity of seeing more of the press than
he saw, what was the exact state of public opinion, in regard to the
controversy.
"'As far as I am capable of judging, Mr. President,' I replied, 'the
people appear to be unanimous in the opinion that there is a
misunderstanding, a misapprehension, between you and Mr. Adams; for no one
imagines, for a moment, that either of you would misrepresent facts! Mr.
Adams is a man of infinite method; he is generally accurate, and, in this
instance, it appears that he is sustained by his diary.'
"'His diary! don't tell' me anything more about his diary! Sir, that diary
comes up on all occasions--one would think that its pages were as
immutable as the laws of the Medes and Persians! Sir, that diary will be
the death of me! I wonder if James Monroe kept a diary! If he did, it is
to be hoped that it will be looked to, to see if it contains anything
about this Adams and Dan Onis treaty. Sir, I did not see it; I was not
consulted about it.'
"The old hero was exceedingly vehement, and was proceeding to descant with
especial violence, when he was interrupted by the entrance of Mr.
Secretary Woodbury, and I never heard another word about the matter. A
question of veracity between the parties was raised, and was never
adjudicated. Both went down to the grave before any definite light was
cast on the subject; but the world had decided that General Jackson was in
error." [Footnote: Reminiscences of the late John Quincy Adams, by an Old
Colony Man.]