1800. May 12. CHAPTER ing the session. Though there was now for the first XIV. time since the divisions of party became marked, a decided Federal majority in both houses, yet, as Jefferson exultingly wrote, they had not been able to carry a single strong measure in the Lower House. Not only was there a faltering in Congress, but out of doors a visible abatement also appeared of the zeal and ardor lately evinced in support of the administration. All this was ascribed by the more ardent Federalists to the conduct of Adams, who was said to have thrown cold water on the public feeling by the renewal of negotiations with France, and in thus playing into the hands of the opposition, to have seriously damaged, if not ruined, the Federal party. Nothing could be more unreasonable or unjust than these complaints. Those who had seen in a war with France the prospect of the complete prostration of Jefferson and his party, were disposed, in their disappointment, quite to lay out of account that ebb of zeal which always takes place after every sudden excitement, an ebb which the appointment of the new mission to France tended rather, perhaps, to delay and to lessen than to hasten or augment. The moderation of the new Southern Federal members had not been infused into them by Adams. It did but indicate the highest pitch to which the feeling of resistance to French aggressions had risen in the South-a disposition to repel insults, but still to avoid war by all tolerable means; and undoubtedly this was the disposition, also, of the great body of the Federal party throughout the Union, however a few might have thought and felt otherwise. But, whatever opinion might be formed of the policy of Adams, his course of proceeding had made one thing evident. He could not be depended upon as the instrument of a party. As president, he was determined to exercise XIV. his own judgment, and of course such a president could CHAPTER not be satisfactory to those who, as heads and leaders of the Federal party, claimed to dictate, or at least sub- 1800. stantially to control, an administration raised to power through their influence. With such men, conscious of their own integrity and confident in their own wisdom, the conjecture was natural enough that the different views of policy taken by Adams must have originated in certain by-ends and selfish objects of his own; in jealousy of Hamilton and a disposition to secure his own re-election, no matter at what sacrifice of principle or at what risk to the party which had originally raised him to office. Already a scheme was on foot, in which Pickering, Wolcott, and M'Henry took a leading part, to contrive some means for getting rid of Adams at the close of his present term of office, and for substituting in his place a more reliable party man. Such, however, was the weight of Adams's personal character, and the respect and confidence with which he was regarded by the Federalists generally, and especially in New England, that to have attacked him openly would have risked the triumph of the opposition even in that stronghold of Federal influ ence. On the other hand, Adams, though well aware of the intrigue going on against him, and not a little embittered against its authors, did not dare, by any open breach with them, to risk the loss to the Federalists of those exceedingly doubtful Middle States, which had all along been the great battle-field of the two parties, and upon whose votes the final result of the presidential election must depend. Indeed, by a very current calculation, that result was made to rest upon the vote of New York alone, and even upon the choice of members of Assembly to be made by the city of New York at CHAPTER the spring election. Supposing the votes of Maryland XIV. and North Carolina-in which latter state the Federal 1800. party had greatly increased of late, and in both of which the electors were chosen by districts to be equally divided, New England and the states south of Pennsyl vania, according to this calculation, would balance each other. The result would depend then upon New York New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The old law of Penn. sylvania for a choice of electors by general ticket had expired, and the Federalists who controlled the state Senate refused to revive it. Should a choice by districts. be agreed upon, each party might safely calculate on about half the electors. It was whispered, indeed, that Governor M'Kean meant to order an election under the expired law; or should the Republicans, at the approaching election for members of Assembly, obtain a sufficient majority, to call the Legislature together for a choice by joint ballot. But the state Senate might still refuse to concur in this proceeding; and it was to counteract any irregular projects of this sort that Ross's bill for canvass ing the electoral votes-the occasion of the proceedings against Duane-had been introduced into the United States' Senate. Supposing Pennsylvania not to vote or to be pretty equally divided, the electors of New Jersey, a state exceedingly doubtful, would not be numerous enough to decide the question either way against the state of New York, with which the decision would thus ultimately rest. In that state the choice of electors was to be by the Assembly in joint ballot; and such was the known strength of parties in the rest of the counties, that the majority in the Assembly was sure to be decided by the result in the city of New York, where twelve members were to be chosen on a single ticket. While so much depended on the state, and even upon the XIV. city of New York, the very focus of Hamilton's influ CHAPTER ence, policy would not allow, by the rupture of the cabinet, the betrayal to the public of any internal dissen- 1800. sions. The same motives which operated with Adams to prevent the dismissal of his now hostile secretaries, had operated also with them to prevent their resignation. The success of their plans, as well as of Adams's, required a Federal majority in the electoral colleges; and the greatest caution was necessary lest any blow aimed at Adams personally might result in the defeat of the Federal party. The man upon whom the ultra Federalists had fixed their eyes as on the whole their most reliable and available candidate, was Charles C. Pinckney, the late envoy to France, whose conduct in that mission, at once spirited and discreet, and whose patriotic behavior respecting military rank, had brought him conspicuously before the public, while his Southern citizenship might, perhaps, secure votes not attainable by any Northern man. The method, as the Constitution then stood, of voting for two candidates, without distinction as to the office for which they were intended, the one receiving the highest number of votes to be president, furnished peculiar facilities for quietly displacing Adams without seeming to make any open attack upon him; and even without the necessity that more than a limited number of influential politicians should be in the secret. The names of Adams and Pinckney being brought forward in a private caucus of the Federal members of Congress, held for the purpose of agreeing upon candidates to be supported by the party, it was recommended, pretty unanimously, that both should be voted for equally; but the opponents of Adams secretly hoped that means might be found to secure for Pinckney the larger vote. CHAPTER XIV. A similar caucus of the opposition members selected as their candidates Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, 1800. with the distinct understanding, however, that Jefferson was the choice of the party for president. Both these caucuses were held with profound secrecy, this sort of dictation being not yet recognized as a part of the institutions of the country. Their proceedings, instead of being formally reported and published in the newspapers, according to our present usage, were only diffused among the local leaders by personal communication and private correspondence. News having been received, toward the end of the session, of the arrival of the new envoys in Europe, and of May 10. the prospect of a favorable result, an act was passed for the discharge, with three months' extra pay, of all the officers of the additional regiments, and of the men so far as they had been enlisted. But, though warlike prepa rations by land were thus abandoned, the commercial non-intercourse, and the arming of merchant vessels, were still adhered to, and acts were passed for their continuance. The navy afloat, increased to nine frigates and twenty-five smaller vessels, still kept the seas in two principal squadrons, one on the St. Domingo station, the other, under Truxtun, off Guadaloupe; but, from the necessities of the service, the vessels were generally scattered. Truxtun, in the Constellation, while cruising alone Feb. 1. off Guadaloupe, discovered a large vessel, to which he gave chase. It was the French frigate La Vengeance, of fifty guns, with from four to five hundred men, bound for France, with a large quantity of specie and of other valuable goods on board, which made her lay very deep in the water. The Frenchman attempted to escape, but after a two days' chase, Truxtun succeeded, about eight o'clock in the evening, in bringing on an action. The |