John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

1622. V:45. I received this morning a Note from the President, asking for the papers received yesterday from General Jackson concerning judge Fromentin; and for other papers heretofore received from both— I answered that I had according to his directions sent those received yesterday to Mr Calhoun; and that the rest were at the Office which was closed; but that I would take measures to have them all sent to him in the course of the day, or early to-morrow Morning— Mr Dickenson called upon me; and I told him of the President’s determination, to take no part whatever in the election of the Speaker— He said that the majority of the New-York Delegation had now come to their determination— They would support Mr Rodney, and if they could not succeed with him they were to take up Mr M’Lean, both members from Delaware— This was in consequence of an interview between a deputation from the majority of the Delegation, and the Secretary of the Navy, who was exceedingly inveterate against Mr Taylor, and approved of the other nominations— But he said the Southern members were not for supporting Rodney, because they considered him as a Clayite— I went with Dr Thornton and George to the Bath-Room— Met Mr Calhoun on the way. He had the papers received yesterday from General Jackson with him, and promised to leave them at the President’s, as he passed— There was no preaching at the Bath-room, Mr Little being sick. The Doctor and George returned home. I went to the Presbyterian Church at the foot of the Capitol Hill and heard Mr Post, from Acts 10.1. and 2. “There was a certain man in Cesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band— A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.” The Sermon was an analysis of the character of Cornelius, with a comment upon the superiority of practical over mere theoretical religion, and an earnest exhortation to imitate the virtues of Cornelius. I met at the Church Mr M. L. Hill of Maine, Mr. Montgomery of Kentucky, and Mr Wood of New-York— I called on J. W. Taylor at his lodgings; and found him in his chamber; apparently under some agitation. After some conversation upon the Census, and the publication of the Secret Journals of the old Congress, and some accidents which have befallen some of the members of the New-York Delegation on their way, he asked me if I knew whether Mr Rodney had arrived— I did not—but perceiving the drift of the question, I told him, that I understood Rodney was to be his competitor to-morrow. He said he had just now for the first time been so informed: and that he understood Mr Rodney was the candidate favoured at Washington. I said that if by Washington he meant the Administration of the General Government, so far as I was personally concerned in it, Mr Rodney was not my favoured Candidate— As far as I had a right to any preference it had been in his favour; because he had been the Speaker before; and because a question of re-election was different from a question of election for the first time. I added that in consequence of our conversation when he had called upon me the other day, I had expressed these Sentiments to the President; but had been assured by him, that he had taken and should take no part whatever in the election— Considering it on principle improper, for the Executive to interfere in the choice of a Speaker of the house— He said he approved of the principle, but that the members who could be influenced by such motives would be told that Mr Rodney was the person, the choice of whom would be acceptable to the administration, while others would be excited against him, Taylor, on pretence that he was a Clintonian— I said I was apprehensive, that if there should be a strong opposition to him it would arise chiefly from his own State; and its delegation. He said they would be about equally divided. He had been called falsely a Clintonian— He had for the last three years had no personal intercourse with Mr Clinton— He had been no partizan because between the two divisions of the Republican party he had seen no difference of principle. He had until his last election been supported by all the Republicans of his District, without reference to State parties; last Spring there had been a buck-tail caucus in his District, who had agreed to nominate him 163together with an Assembly ticket of their own— But the Clintonians, being quicker than their adversaries, had a meeting and actually nominated him, with their Assembly ticket; upon which the other party got up an opponent to him; a Mr Van Schoonhoven, who had through the whole of the War, and until very lately had been a federalist, but had now become a republican— I said there had been an impression that in his appointment of Committees last year, he had manifested unfriendliness to the administration— I had no complaint of that sort to make, myself; but other Departments perhaps had. He declared he had never appointed a Committee or a Chairman with any such feeling— That the Committees of the second Session of every Congress were usually the same as those of the first Session— He had found them all, appointed by his Predecessor— The Chairman of the Naval Committee had indeed been changed— Mr Silsbee the former chairman could not be appointed, because he was not here at the commencement of the Session when the standing Committees were appointed— Mr Barbour, the chairman appointed in Silsbee’s stead, had indeed views in relation to the navy, which he Taylor did not approve, but he had not known them when he appointed him, and the whole Committee was so far from countenancing him, that Barbour had complained that he had given him a Committee with which he could do nothing— And in fact the Committee would not report Barbour’s project; but he was obliged to bring it forward in his own name— Of the military Committee he gave an account equally direct to disprove any hostile feeling on his part to the Administration; and he said he had been much surprized at the first intimation that such a Sentiment was entertained— As to his personal feelings towards Mr Monroe, they had been indicated in the year 1816. by the part in his favour which he had taken when the contest was between Mr Monroe and Mr Crawford— At that time certain Resolutions had been passed by the Republican members of the New-York Legislature at Albany, under the influence, and at the instigation of Mr Van Beuren; which he happened to have in his trunk, and would read to me; which he did— They were most earnest Resolutions against the election of another Virginian President, and a recommendation equally earnest of D. D. Tompkins for that high Office— Taylor said he had declined supporting these opinions, and had written in answer to the Resolutions that with all possible respect for Mr Tompkins’s character and services, it was impossible to present him as a Candidate for the Presidency with any chance of success— And he had been told that when this his answer had been made known to Mr Tompkins, he had said it was because Taylor himself did not wish for his success— He then repeated the account which he had given me last year of what he had understood as a promise from Mr Monroe of the appointment of District judge for the Northern District of New-York, and of his disappointment, when without any notice to him as had been promised, and a few days before the Session commenced, Mr Skinner had been appointed— He had been told that the Vice President, and the Secretary of the Navy had made interest against him— But General Van Ness had assured him that the President had told him there had been no opposition to Taylor through them. I said, I knew not what had been the President’s determining motive; other than as he had said to me it was because Skinner had been the District Attorney, and it was in the usual routine of promotion. Taylor said it was now past, and he thought no more about it— Taylor told me he doubted whether the Vice-President would be here this Winter— I said I thought he could not avoid coming— He said he had thought so too. But a friend of the Vice President’s had told him he thought he would not come— It would at first be said he would be here after the Holidays— Then he would be said to be in ill health, and perhaps as there was last year a certificate from Surgeons will be procured declaring that the state of his health, will not admit of his coming—this will last till about April, and then the 164Session being so near its close, for a very few days it will not be worth while to come— He says there is nothing for him to do here, and any other man may preside in the Senate as well as he— From Taylor’s I went and called upon Coll. Trimble a Senator from Ohio, at Mrs Peyton’s— Met Stokes, Senator from North-Carolina, on the Avenue—just arrived— Trimble is exceedingly ill, confined to his chamber, and looking as if he would not long survive— While I was with him, his namesake, Trimble of Kentucky came in— After returning home I went to the Office, having directed the Messenger, when he came with the daily mail to order the watchman to open the door, and I searched for the papers for which the President had sent this Morning, but found only one Letter of Fromentin’s— I wrote a Note, and sent it by the Messenger to Mr D. Brent, requesting him to send the papers to the President early to-morrow Morning— I took the Letter that I had found to the President, who requested me to meet with Mr Calhoun and Mr Thompson at his house at 11 to morrow Morning. While we were at dinner, Mr William Taylor came, requesting that his commission as Consular commercial Agent might be transferred from Carthagena to Vera Cruz. I promised to speak about it to the President to-morrow. Mr Brent called in the Evening, and told me that he had found at the Office, and taken to the President a part of the papers wanted by him; the other part were locked up in the desk of Mr R. Forrest who had them to copy, and he was not at home; but they would be sent to the President early to-morrow Morning— I received two Notes from Mr Canning; one, merely asking for an interview—the other a long one upon rolled and hammered iron.