summer of 1780, when General Greene resigned the office of quarter master general. Very unexpectedly, that office was proposed to me, and by Roger Sherman, then a member of Congress; a man whose name, in the annals of his country, will descend to posterity among the names of her eminent patriots and statesmen. Having taken a little time to consider the proposition, I informed him that I would accept the office, should it please Congress to confer it. It was an arduous undertaking, and the more embarrassing because continental paper money was so depreciated as to be hardly worth counting; and Congress had no other funds. Having accepted the office, I addressed a letter to Congress, proposing the expedient of authorizing me to value all services and supplies, in the department, as if to be paid for in specie, and to give certificates therefor, bearing an interest of six per cent. This measure was adopted; and with the aid of these certificates the business of the department, which under the new regulations extended to all the states, was carried on, until that eminent citizen, Robert Morris, appointed superintendent of finance, by his personal credit, furnished, in his own promissory notes, (which foreign loans enabled him to redeem) a medium which passed as cash. I continued in the office of quarter master general to the end of the war.

In the year 1791, President Washington appointed me postmaster general. At the close of the year 1794, General Knox resigned the office of secretary of war, and Washington appointed me his successor. In August 1795, on the resignation of Edmund Randolph, secretary of state, Washington charged me with the business of that department. Some time before the meeting of Congress, which was in December following, the President tendered to me the office of secretary of state: at the same time he frankly told me the names of three highly distinguished citizens, to whom he had offered, but who declined accepting, the office. General Washington knew me well, and that I had not enough of vanity or ambition to be wounded or hum

bled at the preference given to those gentlemen; they, were entitled to it: I only regretted that they declined the office. For myself, I objected, that the duties of the department of state were foreign to my former pur suits in life; and I thought myself unequal to the proper discharge of them. He desired me to take the matter into consideration. When he again spoke to me on the subject, I observed, that although the gentlemen he had named to me had declined the office, yet by a little delay he might find some other candidate to fill it. The session of Congress was approaching. By inquiry among the members he might obtain information of a fit character not then occurring to him; and I requested him to postpone the matter until the meeting of Congress. The President acquiesced. But as soon as Congress assembled-without speaking to me again-he nominated me to be secretary of state; and the Senate approved the nomination.

Now all these important offices, in the general government, were voluntarily conferred upon me; the last, and highest, attended by the singular circumstances I have just stated; and all of them unasked for, in any form whatever. Yet Mr. Adams says, Pickering was ambitious! Had I solicited these offices-had I made an interest through my friends, or intrigued with my enemies, to obtain them-had I swelled with vanity on their acquisition-I might have been pronounced ambitious. The following are Mr. Adams's words :"Under the simple appearance of a bald head_and straight hair, and under professions of profound republicanism, he conceals an ardent ambition, envious "of every superior, and impatient of obscurity !"*

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My "bald head and straight hair" are what nature has given me; and I have been content with her arrangements: they are not a fit subject for reproach. Mr. Adams's friend Cunningham reminds him, that it was rather unfortunate for him to attempt to degrade Hamilton, by calling him "the little man ;" seeing, though with less flesh, he surpassed in stature both him and * Letter XVII, p. 56.

his son. Of all men living, those who best know me will say, that I am one of the last to whom a disposition in any manner to disguise his sentiments, should be imputed.

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Having seen, throughout the "Correspondence," a series of misrepresentations of comparatively recent events, it cannot surprise one that Mr. Adams should misstate an occurrence fifty or sixty years old. He says, that he was engaged in a cause in which my father was a witness: that "while under examination, though treated with the utmost respect and civility, he "broke out, without the smallest provocation, into a "rude personal attack upon him," Mr. Adams.-I know my father's character too well to give any credit to the latter part of this tale. He was a farmer; yet, bred in the town, his manners were not coarse and rude. It is true that he thought all men were born free and equal; and though indisposed to any act of humiliation to a proud barrister, he would treat his poor neighbour with kindness and civility. The story admits of an easy solution. It was, I presume, a cross-examination; and that my father's testimony bore hard upon the cause of Mr. Adams's client. Then, as it not unfrequently happens, (and I have often thought with too much indulgence from the court) the lawyer brow-beat the witness, with the hope to confound him, in order, amidst his confusion, to produce some change in his language that might lessen or destroy the weight of his testimony. Such, probably, was Mr. Adams's conduct towards my father; who had discernment enough to perceive the insult, and spirit enough not to let it pass unnoticed.-In commenting upon the testimony, in his argument to the jury, Mr. Adams says he raised a general laugh at my father's expense. He supposes that I was present; and says "I have never forgiven him."-Now, whether this miserable tale be true in whole, or in part, or wholly destitute of truth, it is, as to the conclusion, altogether immaterial: for I never heard of it before; nor do I remember a single instance in which my fa ther was examined as a witness in any court. There

was, consequently, no object on account of which, in regard to Mr. Adams, I could impart or withhold forgiveness. My father, at the age of 75, died almost six and forty years ago.

I have mentioned one cause of Mr. Adams's virulent reproaches in giving an account of Mr. Jefferson's embargo. I shall now mention another. His friend Cunningham desires to be informed by Mr. Adams of the causes of his dismissing me from office.* eagerly seized the occasion to vent his resentments, while he gratified the extreme curiosity of his friend.

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He

In his first answer,† Mr. Adams says-" Cæsar's "wife must not be suspected-was all the reason he gave for repudiating her." [On this reason I make but a single remark, that the familiarity of this same delicate Cæsar, with the other sex, was so notorious, that he was stigmatised as the husband of every woman in Rome.] Mr. Adams proceeds" Reasons of "state are not always to be submitted to newspaper "discussions. It is sufficient for me to say, that I had "reasons enough, not only to satisfy me, but to make "it my indispensable duty. Reasons which, upon the "coolest deliberation, I still approve. I was not so "ignorant of Mr. Pickering, his family relations, his political, military and local connexions, as not to be "well aware of the consequences to myself. I said at "the time, to a few confidential friends, that I signed my own dismission when I signed his, and that he "would rise again, but I should fall forever." [This, I doubt not (the reader will pardon the apparent solecism) was a prediction after the event; Mr. Adams, when he wrote this letter, forgot the date of his prophecy.] "His removal was one of the most delibe"rate, virtuous and disinterested actions of my life."

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On this part of the answer, I must pray the reader to pause for a moment. That there were, in his own views, "reasons of state," I am ready to admit: what they were will by-and-by appear. But his prediction, that for "one of the most deliberate, virtuous and

*Letter XI, dated Oct. 5, 1808. + Letter XII, Oct. 15, 1808.

"disinterested actions of his life," "he should fall for"ever"—while I, the subject of that act, "should rise "again"—appears, among intelligent and virtuous people, really enigmatical. Incapable, as he represents me, on what ground could Mr. Adams predict that I should rise again ?-Never in my life did I court popularity, the usual road to honours and employments. Yet I have had many excellent friends, whose approbation has infinitely more than countervailed all the obloquy of which I have been the subject.

Mr. Adams proceeds-"If any future historian should have access to the letter books of the Secretaries of "State, and compare Mr. Pickering's negotiations with England, with those of Mr. Marshall, he will see rea"sons enough for the exchange of ministers."

Be it so but the actual comparison was out of the question when I was removed; my letters only being on the books; and Mr. Adams saw very few of them; as he usually passed half the year, enjoying otium cum dignitate, at Quincy; and during the sessions of Congress he never called for a letter book to read one of them. However, he might very well calculate on the superiority to which he refers; as Mr. Marshall's distinguished talents were well known; and perhaps no one entertains a higher opinion of them than I do. Since we were personally known to each other, I have been happy in receiving uniform testimonies of his friendship and esteem. His elevated and generous mind will derive no pleasure from this contrast.

Mr. Adams again. "In consequence of Mr. Picker"ing's removal, I was enabled to negotiate and complete a peace with France, and an amicable settle"ment with England."

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I do not know what settlement with England he refers to. The difficult question about impressment of seamen was not then adjusted; nor in the two next succeeding administrations; though in the latter of them it was one of the professed objects of a three years' war, vastly expensive in money and in human lives: nor is it settled to this day. There was another