Hamilton.

Adams, in his attempt to reopen diplomatic intercourse with France, was
accused of seeking to reconcile his political opponents of the
Republican party, and thus secure by unworthy and impolitic concessions,
his own re-election as president. The opposition to Van Murray's
nomination prevailed so far that he received two colleagues, Ellsworth
of Connecticut and Davies of North Carolina; but the president would not
authorize the departure of Ellsworth or Davies until he had received
explicit assurances from Talleyrand that they would be duly received as
ministers. On arriving in France they found the Directory superseded by
Napoleon Bonaparte who was first counsel, with whom they managed to
arrange the difficulty.

But, however beneficial to the country, this mission proved very
disastrous to Adams personally, and to the political party to which he
belonged. He justified its appointment on the ground of assurances
conveyed to him through a variety of channels that France desired peace,
and he excused himself for his not having consulted his cabinet by the
fact that he knew their mind without asking it--to be decidedly hostile,
that is, to any such attempt as he had decided to make.

The masses of the federalists, fully confident of Adams' patriotism,
were well enough disposed to acquiesce in his judgment; but many of the
leaders were implacable. The quarrel was further aggravated by Adams'
dismissal of his cabinet officers and the construction of a new cabinet.

The pardon of Fries, who had been convicted of treason for armed
resistance to the levy of certain direct taxes in Pennsylvania, was
regarded by many at that time as a piece of misplaced lenity on the part
of Adams, dictated, it was said, by a mean desire of popularity in a
case where the severest example was needed. But Adams can hardly suffer
with posterity from his unwillingness to be the first president to sign
a death warrant for treason, especially as there was room for grave
doubts whether the doings of this person amounted to treason as defined
by the constitution of the United States.

In this divided condition of the Federal party the presidential election
came on. Adams was still too popular with the mass of the party to think
of dropping him altogether, and the malcontents reduced to the old
expedient of attempting, by secret understanding and arrangements, to
reduce his vote in the electoral college below that of C. C. Pickney,
the ot