The two succeeding presidents have also already passed away politically, each of them with claims much urged, and much contested, to applause. From a long residence in the United States, and an inti mate observation of their principal men, manners and institutions, I hope I have collected the means for appreciating them justly, without imbibing the poison of their factions and personalities: And I shall endeavour to delineate them, as if they were no more, without bias or prejudice.

Périsse à jamais l'affreuse politique,

Qui prétend sur les cœurs un pouvoir déspotique.

The void left by Washington it was impossible to fill; and Mr. Adams, whose misfortune it was to succeed him, proximus, sed longo intervallo, never

for mer in preference to measures. Sallust, a warm admirer of popular governments, and certainly enlisted on the popular side, inquiring into the causes of Roman greatness, thus expresses his opinion: Mihi, multa agitanti, constabat paucorum civium egregiam virtutem cuncta patravisse; eoque factum uti divitias paupertas, multitudinem paucitas superaret. Sal. de Cat. s. 54. Il ne s'est presque jamais, says Voltaire, rien fait de grand dans le monde que par le génie et la fermeté d'un seul homme, qui lutte contre les préjugés de la multitude. Es. sur les Maurs. And the late Mr. Fox expresses a similar sentiment in still stronger terms. "How vain," says he, "how idle, how presumptuous is the opinion, that laws can do every thing! And how weak and pernicious the maxim. founded upon it, that measures, not men, are to be attended to." Hist. of James II. Introd. p. 14. So too the philosophi

entered the mind in comparison with his predecessor. At the commencement of the revolution, Mr. Adams stood forth a zealous, resolute and useful patriot; and though his services were confined to the civil departments, they were nevertheless steady, well directed and important. Being afterwards vice-president under Washington, of acknowledged abilities and irreproachable reputation, having had the honour of representing his country in Europe on several momentous missions, and being an individual of preponderating influence in the States of New-England, the presidency devolved upon him after Washington's retirement, as it were, rather as a matter of routine and reward, than on account of his superior fitness for the situation. No-man can be great, who is not greater than his fortune; nor does any weakness more deservedly incur contempt than the intoxication of success. Elated by his election, Mr. Adams lost the equanimity, which was, perhaps, the first requisite for his place. Wanting, besides, the personal weight that a president should possess, when the impulse that carried him into office subsided, as it soon did with the infatuation that followed, it became evident, that neither himself, his cabinet, nor the people, were under his government, and that his short-lived power was on the wane. A considerable section of his own party were his opponents; among whom the most conspicuous and influential was Ge

sing poet, dilating indeed the sentiment with a poet's license, exclaims,

Of forms of government let fools contest;

That which is best administered is best.

neral Hamilton, a man of splendid and versatile talents, of a romantic temper and noble sense of honour, but imprudent, and hating and despising the president. On the other hand, his antagonists were managed by a leader of consummate skill, in whom the whole opposition reposed implicit confidence, and who was every way superior to Mr. Adams in the arts of popularity. He suffered moreover from comparisons with Washington. Of a grand and graceful person, reserved, august and commanding, the latter knew how to be gracious without relaxing his native dignity, and to maintain an elevated official rank without the guards or glare of royalty. But Mr. Adams had none of these advantages. His His presence was neither graceful nor imposing; and his manners were sometimes abrupt and repulsive. Thus deficient in some of the qualifications for command, though he undoubtedly enjoyed many others, thwarted in his own party, and opposed by a skilful adversary, he proved unequal for the task, and was superseded on the expiration of the first term for which he was chosen. He had indeed to contend with no inconsiderable difficulties, and the tide of popular opinion was setting strong enough perhaps to have carried him off, without any demerits of his own.

But Mr. Adams can hardly be accounted a man of the first stamp. Integrity, industry, experience and extensive information, qualifications of the first impression for public places, he certainly possessed; and had he been content to move in a sphere for which he was fitted, elevated but not the most

elevated, he might have lived prosperously, and died with an enviable reputation. But seduced into regions where he was incapable of shining, he began to decline almost as soon as he trespassed on them. Toward the close of his period, when the manifestations of dissatisfaction began to be alarming, it was said he made unbecoming sacrifices to propitiate popularity, which served only to multiply his enemies, and hasten and confirm his fall. In the administration of governments there not unfrequently occurs a dilemma, where it is extremely perplexing to determine whether to advance or recede. But there probably never was an exigency of this sort, when a time-serving abandonment was not more hazardous than an independent perseverance in the unpopular measures.

In the relations of private life, Mr. Adams was always amiable and exemplary; affectionate in his family; steady and ingenuous in his friendships; punctilious in the observance of his engagements; of religious habits, and few, if any vices; incapable of intrigue, and deficient even in that address, which is often so necessary, and seldom amiss, in a person called to act a distinguished part. His love of country was ardent and high-toned. He had knowledge, but more of books than men. He had seen a great routine of public business; but his acquirements were not practical. Vanity was his predominant failing; and though his judgment was in general good, a sort of imbecility hung about it, like ivy round an oak, affecting all the measures of his administration.

As Madame de Sevigné says of one of her friends, his good and bad qualities were mixed up pell-mell together; and these never could answer their design without more or less thwarting from the others.

Yet his administration was more unfortunate for himself and his party, than for his country: not so ill advised, as unsteadily executed, ending as much too low as it began too high. As his career was unsuccessful, his annals are obscured; and indeed it may be doubted, whether his party, as such, will ever recover the defeat they sustained under his auspices. But he must always feel the consolation of having been governed by principles, the least worthy of which was nothing worse than ambition; a fault, which one of the most celebrated ancient writers and politicians designates as vitium propius virtuti, the vice nearest to virtue. If, as has been thought, the aggrandizement of his own family was his favourite object, he at least associated their exaltation with that of his country; and as a great poet has said,

When men aspire,

'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire.

It is supposed Mr. Adams is relieving his leisure by composing his own memoirs; a donation which all unfortunate statesmen, who survive their power, owe to themselves, and all such as are fortunate to their country.

The political demise of president Adams was succeeded by a crisis that threatened to prove fatal

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