phia. In Maryland he gained a second, by the folly of one Plater, who balloted both for him and Mr. Jefferson, from an anxiety that Mr. Adams should be Vice-President. In Maryland he gained a third suffrage, in the Western district of that state, by a majority of four voices, owing to negligence on one side, and knavery on the other. The district consists of two counties, Alleghany and Washington. A separate poll was held in each of them. Washington is, of the two, by far the most populous....the census of 1790, gives it fifteen thousand eight hundred and twenty-two inhabitants, and Alleghany no more than four thousand eight hundred and nine. Washington is full of republicans, and Alleghany of their opponents....the republicans put an end to their poll as soon as they had a considerable superiority of the whole number of genuine voters that they knew to reside in the two counties, which form the district. The six per cent. agitators of Alleghany did not stop their's....they brought over a crowd from Pennsylvania and Virginia, and by this means made up a majority of four. Neither the constitution nor Congress itself had provided any check for the investigation of false votes, and the majority of four trampled on the rights of real citizens. Putting these facts together, it will appear that Mr. Jefferson and not Mr. Adams was the choice of America. The total number of electors was one hundred and thirty-eight....each of these voted either for Mr. Jefferson or Mr. Adams. But Plater voted for both. Hence instead of one hun

dred and thirty-eight, the suffrages came to one more....thus they mounted up to one hundred and thirty-nine. Of these, Mr. Adams had seventy-oneand Mr. Jefferson sixty-eight. Laying aside the Maryland vote of Plater, Mr. Adams will then have seventy and Mr. Jefferson sixty-seven....returning to Mr. Jefferson the Green county vote in Pennsylvania, and striking out the spurious vote in the Western district of Maryland, will make an odds of two votes....abstract these two from the majority of seventy, and then Mr. Adams has only sixty-eight. Then add these two to the sixty-seven for Mr. Jefferson, and he is President by a majority of one.

CHAPTER II.

Speech of Mr. Adams....Speech of Mr. Jefferson.... Remarks....British Piracy....Mr. Monroe's Em

bassy.

ON N Saturday the 6th of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, Mr. Adams, as President of the United States, attended in the chamber of the House of Representatives to take his oath of office, according to the direction of the constitution. On his entrance, as well as on the entrance of General Washington and Mr. Jefferson, loud and reiterated applause burst from the audience. Having taken his seat on the elevated

chair of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Vice-President, General Washington, and the Secretary of the Senate on his right, the Speaker and Clerk of the House of Representatives on his left, and the Chief-Justice of the United States and Associate Judges, at a table in the centre, he proceeded to deliver the following speech :

"When it was first perceived, in early times, that no middle course for America remained between unlimited submission to a foreign Legislature, and a total independence of its claims, men of reflection were less apprehensive of danger, from the formidable power of fleets and armies they must determine to resist, than from those contests and dissentions which would certainly arise concerning the forms of government to be instituted over the whole, and over the parts of this extensive country. Relying, however, on the purity of their intentions, the justice of their cause, and the integrity and intelligence of the people, under an overruling Providence, which had so signally protected this country from the first, the representatives of this nation, then consisting of little more than half its present numbers, not only broke to pieces the chains which were forging, and the rod of iron that was lifted up, but frankly cut asunder the ties which had bound them, and launched into an ocean of uncertainty.

"The zeal and ardor of the people during the revolutionary war, supplying the place of govern

ment, commanded a degree of order, sufficient at least, for the temporary preservation of society. The confederation, which was early felt to be necessary, was prepared from the models of the Batavian and Helvetic confederacies, the only examples which remain, with any detail and precision, in history; and certainly the only ones which the people at large had ever considered. But reflecting on the striking difference in so many particulars, between this country and those where a courier may go from the seat of government to the frontier in a single day, it was then certainly foreseen, by some who assisted in Congress at the formation of it, that it could not be durable.

"Negligence of its regulations, inattention to its recommendations, if not disobedience to its authority, not only in individuals but in States, soon appeared with their melancholy consequences....universal languor, jealousies and rivalries of States, decline of navigation and commerce, discouragement of necessary manufactures, universal fall in the value of lands and their produce, contempt of public and private faith, loss of consideration and credit with foreign nations, and, at length, in discontents, animosities, combinations, partial conventions and insurrection, threatening some great national calamity.

"In this dangerous crisis, the people of America were not abandoned by their usual good sense, presence of mind, resolution or integrity....measures were pursued, to concert a plan to form a more per

fect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty....The public disquisitions, discussions and deliberations, issued in the present happy constitution of government.

"Employed in the service of my country abroad, during the whole course of these transactions, I first saw the constitution of the United States in a foreign country. Irritated by no literary altercation, animated by no public debate, heated by no party animosity, I read it with great satisfaction, as a result of good heads, prompted by good hearts; as an experiment, better adapted to the genius, character, situation and relations of this nation and country, than any which had ever been proposed or suggested. In its general principles and great outlines, it was conformable to such a system of government, as I had ever most esteemed....and in some States, my own State in particular, had contributed to establish. Claiming a right of suffrage, in common with my fellow citizens, in the adoption or rejection of a constitution which was to rule me and my posterity, as well as them and theirs, I did not hesitate to express my approbation of it on all occasions, in public and private. It was not then, nor has been since, any objection to it in my mind, that the Executive and Senate were not more permanent, nor have I ever entertained a thought of promoting any alteration in it, but such as the people themselves, in the course of their experi

C