nullification matter, his opposition to internal
improvements, his policy of sacrificing the public lands to individual
speculators, his warfare against the Bank of the United States
conducted by methods the most unjustifiable, the transaction of the
removal of the deposits so disreputable and injurious in all its
details, the importation of Mrs. Eaton's visiting-list into the
politics and government of the country, the dismissal of the oldest
and best public servants as a part of the nefarious system of using
public offices as rewards for political aid and personal adherence,
the formation from base ingredients of the ignoble "Kitchen
Cabinet,"--all these doings, together with much more of the like (p. 238)
sort, constituted a career which could only seem blundering,
undignified, and dishonorable in the eyes of a man like Mr. Adams, who
regarded statesmanship with the reverence due to the noblest of human
callings.

Right as Mr. Adams was generally in his opposition to Jackson, yet
once he deserves credit for the contrary course. This was in the
matter of our relations with France. The treaty of 1831 secured to
this country an indemnity of $5,000,000, which, however, it had never
been possible to collect. This procrastination raised Jackson's ever
ready ire, and casting to the winds any further dunning, he resolved
either to have the money or to fight for it. He sent a message to
Congress, recommending that if France should not promptly settle the
account, letters of marque and reprisal against her commerce should be
issued. He ordered Edward Livingston, minister at Paris, to demand his
passports and cross over to London. These eminently proper and
ultimately effectual measures alarmed the large party of the timid;
and the General found himself in danger of extensive desertions even
on the part of his usual supporters. But as once before in a season of
his dire extremity his courage and vigor had brought the potent aid of
Mr. Adams to his side, so now again he came under a heavy debt of (p. 239)
gratitude to the same champion. Mr. Adams stood by him with generous
gallantry, and by a telling speech in the House probably saved him
from serious humiliation and even disaster. The President's style of
dealing had roused Mr. Adams's spirit, and he spoke with a fire and
vehemence which accomplished the unusual feat of changing the
predisposed minds of men too familiar with speech-making to be often
much influenced by it