of the Revolution. The influence of Mr. Adams did much towards securing the services of George Washington in that important station.

Mr. Adams, having once enlisted in the great contest, favored no half-way measures, but went boldly for independence. He aided in drafting the Declaration, and, "sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish," pledged his hand and his heart to the maintenance of its principles.

In alluding to its adoption by Congress, in a letter to his wife he thus expressed his feelings on that important occasion. "The day is passed. The 4th of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as a great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of the continent to the other. You will think me transported with enthusiasm; but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states; yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of future light and glory."

In December, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed commissioner to France; but the principal object of his mission having been accomplished by Dr. Franklin, he returned in the summer of 1779. He assisted in forming the first constitution of Massachusetts. He was appointed minister to England, and afterwards to Holland; and Congress at one time invested him with general plenipotentiary powers to half the European kingdoms,

He negotiated peace with Great Britain, and was the first American minister accredited at the English court. After an absence in Europe of eight years, he returned to the United States; and in 1788, was elected vice-president of the United States. He was again elected to the same office in 1792. He succeeded Washington as President, on the 4th of March, 1797, and remained one term in office. His administration was marked by some faults, which it would be useless to attempt to disguise. He was naturally jealous, and impatient under the scrutiny of the party opposed to him. The Alien and Sedition laws, the one arming him with power to banish at pleasure every foreigner who should land on our shores, the other empowering him to drag his fellow-citizens before. prejudiced and partisan courts, for a free expression of their opinions in relation to his acts,-were the natural results of these traits in his character, and of that inclination to strong and perhaps arbitrary forms of government, which always characterized more or less his opinions and his public acts, and which seemed to have been strengthened and confirmed by his protracted visit to Europe, and his association with the monarchical institutions and circles with which he was there brought in contact. Great as were his patriotic services during the war of the Revolution, and deep and lasting as is, and must ever be, the debt of gratitude due him from his countrymen for those services, it is probably no injustice to the memory of this great man to say, that before and during that war, he looked rather to independence than republicanism, and that the animating motive of his efforts was not so much a desire to establish a government essentially differing from that of England, for whose institutions he entertained during life a strong and increasing partiality, as

to obtain exemption from her arbitrary control, and a separate and independent national existence.

Upon the election of Jefferson, in 1801, he retired to his paternal seat in Quincy; and, with the exception of taking his seat and participating in the doings of the convention of 1820 to revise the constitution of his native state, he passed the remainder of his days in the ease and quiet of private life. He died on the 4th of July, 1826, just fifty years after the declaration of independence, in the ninety-second year of his age. On the morning of that day, though unable to rise from his bed, when asked to suggest a toast suited to its celebration, his mind glanced back to the time on which, just fifty years before, he had signed the Declaration of Independence, and arousing for a moment, he gave as a sentiment, "Independence forever!" That noble and characteristic sentiment had passed scarcely eight hours from his lips, when his spirit passed away forever. It was thus his singular fortune to close his earthly career on the fiftieth anniversary of an event to which his early efforts had so essentially contributed.

SPECIAL SESSION MESSAGE.

MAY 16, 1797.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate,

and House of Representatives:

The personal inconveniencies to the members of the Senate and of the House of Representatives, in leaving their families and private affairs at this season of the year, are so obvious, that I the more regret the extraordinary

VOL. II.

**

occasion which has rendered the convention of Congress indispensable.

It would have afforded me the highest satisfaction to have been able to congratulate you on a restoration of peace to the nations of Europe whose animosities have endangered our tranquillity. But we have still abundant cause of gratitude to the Supreme Dispenser of national blessings, for general health and promising seasons; for domestic and social happiness; for the rapid progress and ample acquisitions of industry through extensive territories; for civil, political, and religious liberty. While other states are desolated with foreign war, or convulsed with intestine divisions, the United States present the pleasing prospect of a nation governed by mild and equal laws, generally satisfied with the possession of their rights; neither envying the advantages, nor fearing the power, of other nations; solicitous only for the maintenance of order and justice, and the preservation of liberty; increasing daily in their attachment to a system of government in proportion to their experience of its utility; yielding a ready and general obedience to laws flowing from the reason, and resting on the only solid foundation, the affections of the people.

It is with extreme regret that I shall be obliged to turn your thoughts to other circumstances, which admonish us that some of these felicities may not be lasting. But, if the tide of our prosperity is full, and a reflux commencing, a vigilant circumspection becomes us, that we may meet our reverses with fortitude, and extricate ourselves from their consequences with all the skill we possess and all the efforts in our power.

In giving to Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommending to their consideration such measures as appear to me to be expedient or necessary, according to my constitutional duty, the causes and the object of the present extraordinary session will be explained.

After the President of the United States received information that the French government had expressed serious discontents at some proceedings of the government of these states, said to affect the interests of France, he

thought it expedient to send to that country a new minister, fully instructed to enter on such amicable discussions, and to give such candid explanations, as might happily remove the discontents and suspicions of the French government, and vindicate the conduct of the United States. For this purpose he selected, from among his fellow-citizens, a character whose integrity, talents, experience, and services had placed him in the rank of the most esteemed and respected in the nation. The direct object of his mission was expressed in his letter of credence to the French republic; being "to maintain that good understanding, which, from the commencement of the alliances, had subsisted between the two nations; and to efface unfavorable impressions, banish suspicions, and restore that cordiality which was at once the evidence and pledge of a friendly union." And his instructions were to the same effect," faithfully to represent the disposition of the government and people of the United States, their disposition being one, to remove jealousies and obviate complaints, by showing that they were groundless, to restore that mutual confidence which had been so unfortunately and injuriously impaired, and to explain the relative in terests of both countries, and the real sentiments of his own."

A minister thus specially commissioned, it was expected, would have proved the instrument of restoring mutual confidence between the two republics. The first step of the French government corresponded with that expectation. A few days before his arrival at Paris, the French minister of foreign relations informed the American mi nister, then resident at Paris, of the formalities to be observed by himself in taking leave, and by his successor preparatory to his reception. These formalities they observed, and on the ninth of December presented officially to the minister of foreign relations, the one a copy of his letters of recall, the other a copy of his letters of credence.

These were laid before the executive directory. Two days afterwards, the minister of foreign relations informed the recalled American minister, that the executive directory had determined not to receive another minister ple