CHAPTER XXVI. MR. ADAMS ON HIS LITTLE FARM-DECLINES TO WRITE AN M1 R. ADAMS'S own State had, to a great extent, remained true to him, and on his arrival at home, the Legislature received him with marked respect, and presented him an address abounding in the warmest expressions of confidence, esteem, and veneration; and in the following year, on his birthday, the people of Quincy also delivered to him an address, expressing, in the highest terms, the exalted position he occupied in their affections. But he now settled down to a quiet which he had not known since 1774, apparently deserted by his friends. He did not again resume the practice of his profession, but devoted himself to the care of his farm, an occupation in which he had always taken great delight. After the wounds of the bitter partisan conflict had mainly healed, and the kindly sentiments of his countrymen began again to cheer his feelings, he glided quietly along, and, with little exception, his life was never so peaceful. He took little interest in political matters, and that mainly by the appearance of his son, John Quincy, on the arena of politics. As he grew older his reflections were turned more to the past; a past great in great events, and in which his own name bore a conspicuous and honorable part. In the acts of his Presidency he had little grounds for regret, and for the dissolution of the Federal party he did not hold himself responsible. He had many reasons for being satisfied with the part he had taken in the long struggle which resulted in the permanent establishment and glory of the Republic. His especial delight was in contemplating the part he had taken in foreign lands in the negotiations which led to the peace and prosperity of his country. The assaults of Timothy Pickering and others led him often, in his retirement, to meditate the preparation of a defense of himself from the charges of Mr. Hamilton, which he was not able to do as President. He finally broke the long silence by publishing a reply to Mr. Pickering's attack on the policy of Mr. Jefferson toward England. In this matter Mr. Adams was entirely consistent, although throwing his weight on the side of his former political enemies. On this same point he had always opposed Mr. Pickering and his class of Federalists. The issues were changing, and the Federal party was in the last stages of disintegration. It had established the Government on sure foundations, a work which would have failed in other hands, and under a more conscientious and liberal management would doubtless long have continued to guide the destiny of the Nation. While Mr. Adams sided with Mr. Jefferson mainly as to the controverted points as to the seizure of American seamen by the British, and other causes of complaint against England, he differed from his suc cessor in many particulars. It had been one of his fondest desires to establish a navy with strength enough to force respect from England, as well as to defend the unprotected commerce of the United States. Mr. Jefferson neglected the whole matter, bringing the country into contempt, and suffering the American maritime trade to go comparatively helpless, or be driven from the seas. Massachusetts now raised her voice against Mr. Adams for siding in any respect with an Administration hateful to her, and at this stage the Hamilton charges were again brought forward. This determined him to make a reply, a thing which the unfortunate end of Mr. Hamilton had partly led him to pass over up to this time. His papers were accordingly published from time to time in the "Boston Patriot." He had finally come to think that it was due to the country and himself to make this defense. But this may be doubted, as the country knew the case pretty thoroughly, and the calumnies so long borne in silence. were fast dying away. The severity displayed in a part of this defense was not to his credit, and the whole performance could have been omitted to his advantage. He was partly led to this step by fearing that his Autobiography and any other part of his writings bearing upon his public career might be lost. It was a desire of Mr. Adams to make no concealments, to leave a full record of himself before the people. His private practices and life were of the most admirable character, and he felt that his public acts belonged to the country. With the election of Mr. Madison to the Presidency arose a better state of feelings in the country, and with the close of the second war with Great Britain and the inauguration of James Monroe, the greater part of the old political issues was lost sight of, or passed away. Under Mr. Monroe, John Quincy Adams was brought into the Executive Council, and to his father was now returning the former confidence and respect of the country. These were days of peace to Mr. Adams. His old correspondence was renewed, and thousands of friends sprang up over the land. He devoted much. of his time to reading, and especially in the way of religious history. The proceeds of the culture of his farm sustained him, and the cares of the world were now light upon him. During this period many of Mr. Adams's most interesting and valuable letters were written. A few of these have been selected as most admirably portraying his mind and life at this retired and comparatively forgotten stage of his history. At Quincy, May 1, 1807, he wrote to Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia:— "Now, Sir, to be serious, I do not curse the day when I engaged in public affairs. I do not say when I became a politician, for that I never was. I can not repent of any thing I ever did consciously and from a sense of duty. I never engaged in public affairs for my own interest, pleasure, envy, jealousy, avarice, or ambition, or even the desire of fame. If any of these had been my motive, my conduct would have been very different. In every considerable transaction of my public life, I have invariably acted according to my best judgment, and I can look up to God for the sincerity of my intentions. How, then, is it possible I can repent? Notwithstanding this, I have an immense load of errors, weaknesses, follies, and sins to mourn over and repent of, and these are the only afflictions of my present life." And on September 3, 1808, he again wrote to the same friend: "I have always called our Constitution a game at leap-frog. New England is again converted to Federalism. The Federal Administration lasted twelve years. The Republicans then leaped over their heads and shoulders, and have ruled eight years. They may possibly hold out four years more, and then probably the Federalists will leap again. But neither party will ever be strong while they adhere to their austere, exclusive maxims. Neither party will ever be able to pursue the true interest, honor, and dignity of the Nation. I lament the narrow, selfish spirit of the leaders of both parties, but can do nothing for either. They are incorrigible." In the fall of 1811, Dr. Rush wrote to Mr. Adams asking him to prepare a posthumous address to the people of the United States, teaching the great social, domestic, patriotic, and religious virtues by which alone a nation can be free, prosperous, great, and happy. To this proposition he answered in a long letter dated August 28, 1811. The following extracts show his feelings at the time. Long before his own death Dr. Rush had gone to the other world, and after the restoration of his old friendships, and the kind feelings of the Nation had returned to him, age began to make him less disposed to such a task, if he had not, indeed, wholly dismissed the thought in his answer to Dr. Rush. He wrote: "Your letter of the 20th, my dear friend, has filled my eyes with tears, and, indurated stoic as I am, my heart with sensations unutterable by tongue or pen; not the feelings of vanity, but the overwhelming sense of my own unworthiness of such a panegyric from such a friend. "Have I not been employed in mischief all my days? Did not the American Revolution produce the French Revolution? And has not the French Revolution produced all the calamities and desolations of the human race and the whole globe ever since? I meant well, however. My conscience was clear as a crystal glass, without a scruple or a doubt. I was borne along by an irresistible sense of duty. God prospered our labors; and, awful, |