which I can only offer you my congratulations and ask your blessings and prayers. Your affectionate and dutiful son, "JOHN QUINCY ADAMS."

And this is the answer which in due time came back::

QUINCY, 18th February, 1825. "I have received your letter of the 9th. Never did I feel so much solemnity as upon this occasion. The multitude of my thoughts and the intensity of my feelings are too much for a mind like mine, in its ninetieth year. May the blessing of God Almighty continue to protect you to the end of your life, as it has heretofore protected you in so remarkable a manner from your cradle.

"I offer the same prayer for your lady and your family, and am your affectionate father, JOHN ADAMS."

No trace of political bitterness can be found here. Age had obliterated this, and time was lifting the old man's tottering steps gently down the once thorny way.

Mr. Adams's next act was to prepare his reply for the committee of the House, appointed to inform him of his election. On the 10th, this committee, consisting of Daniel Webster, Joseph Vance, of Ohio, and Wm. S. Archer, of Virginia, delivered the message from the House, and Mr. Adams read to them and then gave them his reply, which, he said, had but one precedent, that of Mr. Jefferson, and on that occasion Mr. Jefferson had made a written reply. Mr. Adams had a passion for fixing precedents. Before the delivery of this acceptance, Mr. Adams had submitted it to Mr. Southard, who had visited him earlier in the day, and who had then been offered and accepted the position he then held in Mr. Monroe's Cabinet.

This is Mr. Adams's reply:

"GENTLEMEN,-In receiving this testimonial from the representatives of the people and States of this Union, I am deeply

sensible of the circumstances under which it has been given. All my predecessors have been honored with majorities of the electoral voices, in the primary colleges. It has been my fortune to be placed, by the divisions of sentiment prevailing among our countrymen, on this occasion, in competition, friendly and honorable, with three of my fellow-citizens, all justly enjoying, in eminent degrees, the public favor; and of whose worth, talents and services no one entertains a higher and more respectful sense than myself. The names of two of them were, in the fulfillment of the provisions of the Constitution, presented to the selection of the House of Representatives in concurrence with my own— names closely associated with the glory of the Nation, and one. of them farther recommended by a larger majority of the primary electoral suffrages than mine.

"In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the trust thus delegated to me give an opportunity to the people to form, and to express, with a nearer approach to unanimity, the object of their preference, I should not hesitate to decline the acceptance of this eminent charge, and to submit the decision of this momentous question again to their determination. But the Constitution itself has not so disposed of the contingency which would arise in the event of my refusal. I shall, therefore, repair to the post assigned me by the call of my country, signified through her constitutional organs; oppressed with the magnitude of the task before me, but cheered with the hope of that generous support from my fellow-citizens, which, in the vicissitudes of a life devoted to their service, has never failed to sustain me; confident in the trust, that the wisdom of the legislative councils will guide and direct me in the path of my official duty; and relying, above all, upon the superintending providence of that Being in whose hands our breath is, and whose are all our ways.'

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'Gentlemen, I pray you to make acceptable to the House, the assurance of my profound gratitude for their confidence, and to accept yourselves my thanks for the friendly terms in which you have communicated to me their decision."

On the same day Mr. Adams wrote to Mr. Crawford, and desired him to remain at the head of the Treasury, but this Mr. Crawford kindly declined to do.

According to Mr. Adams's own language, still

careful about precedents, this is the way he closed the first day after his election: "Attended, with Mrs. Adams, the military ball at Carusi's Rooms. The President, General Lafayette, and Mr. Calhoun were there."

CHAPTER XV.

"SCAN. MAG."-THE STORY OF THE IMPUTED BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION-OLD HICKORY NEVER RELENTS.

IT

T would be folly, indeed, for any attempt to be made at this day to prove that General Jackson could bear any kind of defeat like an intelligent Christian. A man who stood in his way, no matter how he came to be there, was an enemy. And so deep and blind were his feelings and passions that he never could forgive and forget, no matter how foundationless were his prejudices and enmity. The mere fact of opposition to him was sufficient to kindle these passions, and lead him to countenance mischievous schemes which had no other virtue than a purpose to benefit himself. How far he was personally responsible for the origin and start of the charge of bribery and corruption in the election of Mr. Adams over him in 1825, may, at least, remain a matter of doubt. But that he was more instrumental than any or all other men in perpetuating the most nefarious political slander in our history, there can be no doubt. When other men had crawled out, or apologized, or contritely recanted; when even his original witnesses had acknowledged their errors; when the whole country, friends and foes, saw the villainy of the charge, and would have been glad to see it buried with the evils of the past, he still believed, or pretended to believe,

in its justness and fitness, and did what he could to keep it alive while he lived himself.

On the 28th of January, 1825, the following letter appeared in the "Columbian Observer," a newspaper published in Philadelphia :

“Washington, January 25, 1825.

"DEAR SIR,—I take up my pen to inform you of one of the most disgraceful transactions that ever covered with infamy the Republican ranks. Would you believe that men, professing democracy, could be found base enough to lay the ax at the very root of the tree of liberty? Yet, strange as it is, it is not less true. To give you a full history of this transaction would far exceed the limits of a letter. I shall, therefore, at once proceed to give you a brief account of such a bargain as can only be equaled by the famous Burr conspiracy of 1801. For some time past the friends of Clay have hinted that they, like the Swiss, would fight for those who pay best. Overtures were said to have been made by the friends of Adams to the friends of Clay, offering him the appointment of Secretary of State for his aid to elect Adams. And the friends of Clay gave the information to the friends of Jackson, and hinted that if the friends of Jackson would offer the same price, they would close with them. But none of the friends of Jackson would descend to such mean barter and sale. It was not believed, by any of the friends of Jackson, that this contract would be ratified by the members from the States which had voted for Clay. I was of opinion, when I first heard of this transaction, that men professing any honorable principles could not, nor would not, be transferred like the planter does his negroes or the farmer does his team of horses. No alarm was excited. We believed the Republic was safe. The Nation having delivered Jackson into the hands of Congress, backed by a large majority of their votes, there was on my mind no doubt that Congress would respond to the will of the Nation by electing the individual they had declared to be their choice. Contrary to this expectation it is now ascertained, to a certainty, that Henry Clay has transferred his interest to John Quincy Adams. As a consideration for this abandonment of duty to his constituents, it is said and believed, should this unholy coalition prevail, Clay is to be appointed Secretary of State. I have no