treatise upon a subject which constituted the chief part of the intellectual education of the Greeks and Romans, these lectures, rapidly composed as they were delivered, and not revised by the author before publication, are not to be regarded in the light of a standard performance. But let any statesman or jurist, even of the present day, in America or Europewhose life, like Mr. Adams's, has been actively passed in professional and political engagements, at home and abroad-attempt, in the leisure of two or thee summers--his mind filled with all the great political topics of the day—to prepare a full course of lectures on any branch of literature, to be delivered to a difficult and scrutinizing, though in part a youthful audience, and then trust them to the ordeal of the press, and he will be prepared to estimate the task which was performed by Mr. Adams.”*

Mr. Adams's devotion to literary pursuits was destined to an early termination. On the 4th of March, 1809, Mr. Madison was inducted into the office of President of the United States. It was at that time far from being an enviable position. At home the country was rent into contending factions. Our foreign affairs were in a condition of the utmost perplexity, and evidently approaching a dangerous crisis. The murky clouds of war, which had for years overshadowed Europe, seemed rolling hitherward, filling the most sanguine and hope

* Edward Everett's Eulogy on the Life and Character of John Quincy Adams.

ful minds with deep apprehension. Russia, under its youthful Emperor Alexander, was rising to a prominent and influential position among the nations of Europe. Mr. Madison deemed it of great importance that the United States should be represented at that court by some individual eminent alike for talents, experience, and influence. John Quincy Adams was selected for the mission. In March, 1809, he was appointed Minister to Russia, and the summer following, sailed for St. Petersburgh.

In the meantime, our relations with Great Britain became every day more dubious. While striving, in every honorable manner, to come to terms of reconciliation, President Madison was making rapid preparations for war. The people of the United States, deprived by the non-intercourse act of the cheap productions of England, began to turn their attention and capital to domestic manufactures. At length the American Government demanded peremptorily, that the restrictions of Great Britain and France on our commerce should be abrogated; war being the alternative of a refusal. The French emperor gave satisfactory assurances that the Berlin decree should be withdrawn. The English government hesitated, equivocated, and showed evident disinclination to take any decided step.

"In this doubtful state of connexion between America and England, an accidental collision took place between vessels of the respective countries, tending

much to inflame and widen the existing differences. An English sloop-of-war, the Little Belt, commanded by Capt. Bingham, descried a ship off the American coast, and made sail to come up with it; but finding it a frigate, and dubious of its nation, he retired. The other, which proved to be American, the President, under Capt. Rogers, pursued in turn. Both captains hailed nearly together; and both, instead of replying, hailed again; and from words, as it were, came to blows, without explanation. Capt. Bingham lost upwards of thirty men, and his ship suffered severely. A Court of Inquiry was ordered on the conduct of Capt. Rogers, which decided that it had been satisfactorily proved to the court, that Capt. Rogers hailed the Little Belt first, that his hail was not satisfactorily answered, that the Little Belt fired the first gun, and that it was without previous provocation or justifiable cause."*

Several attempts were made after this, to preserve the peace of the two countries, but in vain. England, it is true, withdrew her obnoxious Orders in Council. It was, however, too late. Before intelligence of this repeal reached the shores of the United States, war was declared by Congress, on the 18th of June, 1812.

It was a popular war. Although strenuously opposed by portions of the Eastern States, as destructive to their commerce, yet with the mass of the people throughout the Union, it was deemed justifiable and

*Lives of the Presidents.

indispensible. A long series of insults and injuries on the part of Great Britain-the seizure and confiscation of our ships and cargoes; the impressing of our seamen, under circumstances of the most irritating description; and the adoption of numerous measures to the injury of our interests-had fully prepared the public mind in the United States, with the exception of a small minority, to enter upon this war with zeal and enthusiasm.

With occasional reverses, general success attended our arms in every direction. On land and on sea, the American eagle led to victory. The combatants were worthy of each other. Of the same original stock of the same stern, unyielding material-their contests were bloody and destructive in the extreme. But the younger nation, inspirited by a sense of wrongs endured, and of the justness of its cause, bore away the palm, and plucked from the brow of its more aged competitor many a laurel yet green from the ensanguined fields of Europe. In scores of hotly-contested battles, the British lion, unused as it was to cower before a foe, was compelled to "lick the dust" in defeat. At York, at Chippewa, at Fort Erie, at Lundy's Lane, at New Orleans, on Lake Champlain, on Lake Erie, on the broad ocean, Great Britain and the world were taught lessons of American valor, skill, and energy, which ages will not obliterate.

This war, though prosecuted at the expense of many valuable lives, and of a vast public debt, was,

unquestionably, highly beneficial to the United States. It convinced all doubters that our government was abundantly able to resent aggressions, and to maintain its rights against the assaults of any nation on earth. This reputation has been of great service in protecting our commerce, and commanding respect for our flag, throughout the world. But the chief benefit of the war was the development of our internal resources, which, after all, form the great fountain of the wealth, strength, and permanence of a nation. Deprived by the embargo, the non-intercourse act, and the ensuing hostilities, of all foreign importation of goods, the American people were compelled to supply themselves by their own industry and ingenuity, with those articles for which they had always before been dependent on their transatlantic neighbors. Thus was laid the foundation of that system of domestic manufactures which is destined to make the United States the greatest productive mart among men, and to bring into its lap the wealth of the world.