a man will do nBILITY of a very high order, an Lo sorvise ods

pitautic.

unsullied character, and important serevices during the progress of the Revolution, fully entitled Mr. Adams to the dignified office to which he was elected.

His first writings," says Governor Everett in his Eulogy, "were devoted to the cause of his country. He published in 1765, his Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law, which two years afterwards was republished in London, and was there pronounced one of the ablest performances which had crossed the Atlantic. It expresses the boldest and most elevated sentiment, in language most vigorous and animating; and might have taught in its tone, what it taught in its doctrine, that America must be unoppressed or must become independent."

"In 1774, and on the 17th of June, a day destined to be in every way illustrious, Mr. Adams was elected a member of the Continental Congress, of which body he was signalized,

166

ADAMS'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

from the first, as a distinguished leader. In the month of June in the following year, when a commander-in-chief was to be chosen for the American armies, and when that appointment seemed in course to belong to the commanding general of the brave army from Massachusetts and the neighbouring States, which had rushed to the field, Mr. Adams recommended George Washington to that all-important post, and was thus far the means of securing the blessing of his guidance to the American armies."

Mr. Adams was one of the most earnest and influential advocates of the declaration of independence. He had ever possessed the confidence of Washington; and his election to succeed the Father of his Country in its highest office, afforded a guarantee of continued approval on the part of the people towards the policy and principles upon which the government had hitherto been conducted.

In his inaugural speech, the President first rapidly glanced at the good conduct of the people in the revolutionary struggle. He continued, in reference to the formation of the new constitution, "that, employed as he was in the service of his country abroad, he first saw the constitution of the United States in a foreign country, and read it with great satisfaction, as a result of good heads, prompted by good hearts: as an experiment better adapted to the genius, character, situation, and relations of this nation and country, than any which had ever been proposed or suggested. Returning," said he, "to the bosom of my country, after a painful separation from it for ten years, I had the honour to be elected to a station under the new order of things, and I have repeatedly laid myself under the most serious obligations to support the constitution." He then referred in a delicate manner to his own views, principles, and purposes, and to the expressed wish of Congress that he would imitate the example of his predecessor, and concluded with an assurance that he would endeavour to carry the injunction of that body into effect, and a prayer that that Being, who is supreme over all, the patron of order, the fountain of justice, and the protector, in all ages of the

MR. PINCKNEY'S MISSION TO FRANCE.

167

world, of virtuous liberty, might continue his blessing upon this nation and its government, and give it all possible success and duration, consistent with the ends of his providence.

In the preceding year, General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney had been appointed minister plenipotentiary to the French republic. In his letter of credence, the object of his mission had been declared to be "to maintain that good understanding, which, from the commencement of the alliance, had subsisted between the two nations; and to efface unfavourable impressions, banish suspicions, and restore that cordiality which was, at once, the evidence and pledge of a friendly union." When his letter of credence was laid before the French Directory, that body announced to him their determination not to receive another minister plenipotentiary from the United States, until after the redress of grievances demanded of the American government, which the French republic had a right to expect from it.

A written mandate soon after obliged Mr. Pinckney to quit the territories of that republic, and the Directory evinced their determination to wage war with the United States, by authorizing the capture of American vessels, wherever found. The pretext for this violence was that they were without a document, with which the treaty of commerce had been universally understood to dispense.

The despatches with intelligence of this indignity were no sooner received by the President, than he issued a proclamation, requiring Congress to meet on the 15th of June. When that body was assembled, the President, in a firm and dignified speech, stated the great and unprovoked outrages of the French government. After alluding to a disposition indicated in the Executive Directory to separate the people from their government, he added, "such attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince France and all the world, that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless of national honour, character, and interest."