verbal or substantial. But every line that
I write passes a gauntlet of objections by every one of my colleagues,
which finally issues, for the most part, in the rejection of it all."
He reflects, with a somewhat forced air of self-discipline, that this
must indicate some faultiness in his composition which he must try to
correct; but in fact it is sufficiently evident that he was seldom
persuaded that his papers were improved. Amid all this we see in the
Diary many exhibitions of vexation. One day he acknowledges, "I cannot
always restrain the irritability of my temper;" another day he
informed his colleagues, "with too much warmth, that they might be
assured I was as determined as they were;" again he reflects, "I, too,
must not forget to keep a constant guard upon my temper, for the time
is evidently approaching when it will be wanted." Mr. Gallatin alone
seems not to have exasperated him; Mr. Clay and he were constantly (p. 084)
in discussion, and often pretty hotly. Instead of coming nearer
together, as time went on, these two fell farther apart. What Mr. Clay
thought of Mr. Adams may probably be inferred from what we know that
Mr. Adams thought of Mr. Clay. "Mr. Clay is losing his temper, and
growing peevish and fractious," he writes on October 31; and constantly
he repeats the like complaint. The truth is, that the precise New
Englander and the impetuous Westerner were kept asunder not only by
local interests but by habits and modes of thought utterly dissimilar.
Some amusing glimpses of their private life illustrate this
difference. Mr. Adams worked hard and diligently, allowing himself
little leisure for pleasure; but Mr. Clay, without actually neglecting
his duties, yet managed to find ample time for enjoyment. More than
once Mr. Adams notes that, as he rose about five o'clock in the
morning to light his own fire and begin the labors of the day by
candle-light, he heard the parties breaking up and leaving Mr. Clay's
rooms across the entry, where they had been playing cards all night
long. In these little touches one sees the distinctive characters of
the men well portrayed.

The very extravagance of the British demands at least saved the (p. 085)
Americans from perplexity. Mr. Clay, indeed, cherished an "inconceivable
idea" that the Englishmen would "finish by receding from the ground
they had taken;" but meantime there could be no difference of opinion
concerning the impossibility of meeting them upon that