John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

28. V:15. Thursday.

My wife was almost the whole of this day extremely and alarmingly ill, and I was, as more than once has happened in the course of my life, distracted with a multitude of company and at the same time in the deepest distress for her— The agony of my mind, which at such times I endure is indescribable— The suffering that must be suppressed, the cheerfulness that must be assumed, the indifference or gaiety which surround me, the various calls of sympathy with those whom business or pleasure brings in society with me, form altogether a sort of convulsive state of existence, which sometimes seems as if it would burst every ligament of self controul— Mr Gurley, a member of the House of Representatives enquired for a copy of my Correspondence with the Spanish Minister Onis concerning the boundary of Louisiana Eastward of the Mississippi— I referred him to the twelfth volume of Waits’ State papers in which it is contained. Mr Hassler, in behalf of Professor Renwick of New-York, enquired for a pamphlet on Weights and Measures by George Skene Keith, which was lent to me by General Swift, when I was occupied upon that subject— I could not immediately find it; but promised to have it looked up— Hassler told me he had concluded to stay here a day or two longer to advise with the Secretary of the Navy upon a project revived in Congress for the Survey of the Coast— A project which at this time will certainly come to nothing— Mr Garnsey came to enquire if the Senate had advised the ratification of a Treaty between the Seneca Nation, and certain individuals of New-York which was sent to the Senate by me at their last Session— They have not acted upon it; but some of them are struggling to spin out of it a great Constitutional question— Coll. Little, member from Baltimore County introduced to me two of his Constituents—brothers by the name of Poultney: Mr Taliaferro from Virginia came with two of his—one, a brother of the Speaker, Stevenson—the name of the other, I could not retain— Mr Pearce member from Rhode-Island, called to recommend Allen Wardwell for the appointment of Surveyor at the Port of Bristol, lately vacated— He also spoke of W. H. Harrison, a member of the Senate from Ohio, as a very suitable person to be appointed Major General of the Army— To this I have strong objections—but there are propositions before both Houses of Congress for abolishing the Office of Major General; which it is highly probable will succeed— Mr Clay was here, and said he had prepared a Report on a Resolution of the Senate, calling for information concerning the disturbances on the Madawaska and Arestook Settlements on the North-eastern Boundary— I had been reading the Documents reported by Mr Barrell, and found among them a Letter from Mr C. Bagot to the Lieutenant Governor of New-Brunswick of 8 December 1818, in which it appears he had drawn a very unwarranted inference, from a Conversation with me. On recurring to my Diary of 7. December 1818 I found an account of the same conversation, which will enable me to rectify the misapprehension of Mr Bagot— Mr Clay had just received and read to me the Note from Mr Vaughan in answer to one from him, demanding the release of Baker from prison, and indemnity for his detention— I desired Mr Clay to reply to that answer, and at his desire promised to draw up a paragraph, referring to that Letter of Mr Bagot— I had also much conversation with Mr Clay, concerning his answer to the Letter from Mr Hamilton, the Chairman of the Retrenchment Committee, upon the expenditures of the contingent fund of foreign Intercourse— There was much matter which I suggested to him additional to that 451in his draft—and of which he said he would avail himself— I observed that to the comparative view of the Appropriations for the years 1823. 4 and 5. with those of the years 1826. 7. and 8. there should be added similar views of the expenditures of the years 1822. 3. and 4. with those of 1825. 6. and 7. I remarked to him the reduction of all the South-American Missions, from Ministers Plenipotentiary to the Chargés d’Affaires, and referred him to the Report of the Committee on the Expenditures of the Department of State in 1822. observing that as to this Department any comparative view of expenditures must refer to one and the same responsibility—my own—under Mr Monroe’s administration as Secretary of State; and now as President— A young man whom I did not know came and introduced Messrs. Levy and Appleton of Philadelphia—and Mr Fendall presented a Mr Thornton of Virginia— Governor Barbour proposed to issue an order to Generals Scott and Gaines, to make all their Reports for the present, and till further Order directly to the War Department, to which I assented— Mr Southard requested the perusal of General Macomb’s Letter, setting forth his pretensions to the appointment of Major General, which I gave him— While I was thus engaged in business and with visitors, I was called several times to the sick bed of my wife, who after a day of most severe illness was somewhat relieved towards the Evening. Doctor Huntt was with her three times in the day— Her Sister Smith was with her the whole days, and remains with her this Night. A multitude of other visitors called on the new-married couple of our family— And Columbus and Frances Monroe, William Watkins, Thomas J. Hellen, George Ramsay, and Matilda Pleasonton, the bridemaids and groomsmen of the wedding dined with us— My time was broken up, and my occupations much discomposed.