The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-06-19

ter in the history of American politics. Mr.
Adams had the habit, which in some public
men is an advantage, in others misfortune,
Of keeping an elaborate diary of the events OF
his life, with his comments upon his time and
the men who surrounded him. There was
nothing in the drift of Mr.. Adams mind to
give his notations the value we attribute TO
Pepys or Evelyn or Greville or Walpole
lie was not scandal monger. He was not
man Of absolute prejudices. His intellect was
cold, unsympathetic, and, except when under
the influence of apparent injustice or am
bition, of a judicial quality. He was a
sincerely honest and extremely able man,
and perhaps, taking him all in all, the
most accomplished of our Presidents. His
life was rich in opportunity and service.
He entered upon diplomatic functions when
scarcely through his teens. He died in
extreme old age on the floor of the House
of Representatives, in the active fulflment Of
his duties as q representative of the people.
Fifty years have passed since this diary was
written. Scarcely one of the figures who
move through its pages are now alive. We
have glimpse of John A. Dix as bustling
young politician, serving the interest of
Dewitt Clinton and John G. Calhoun,
and of Reverdy Johnson as q man too
young to be appointed District Attorney in
Baltimore. John A. Dix and Reverdy john
son still live, illustrious and venerated, long
past the period assigned by the Psalmist as
the limit of human life. But with these two
exceptions there is scarcely one of long
array of distinguished and gifted men who
form part of Mr.. Adams diary who have
not passed to their final rest.
Therefore Mr.. Adams diary has all the
merit of history. Its publication can do no
harm to the feelings of any one now living.
It's value to us is in the lessons it teaches us.
We have on inside glimpse OF that sunny,
golden period of American history which we
call ''the era of good feeling and which tinges
with romance the earlier years of our Repub-
lie. The "era of good feeling as we under
stand it, is that all men were just; that all
politicians were pure /; that public life had no
rancor that ambition was dormant in the
presence of the countrys need and that the
great men of those days-the Jeffersons and
Madisons and Monroes, the Adamses the
Rufus Kings, the Calhouns, the Jacksons and
Clays and Websters and Bentons-all stood
hand in hand around the altar of their
country, animated by but one hope and
one feeling-that of patriotic sacrifice
and devotion to the interests of the
Republic. In "the era of good feeling" as we
understand it, there was no corruption in
public life, there was no straining for Office,
the simplicity of the republican institutions
had not yet been deadened by luxury and the
influence of European habits. We were
within the influence of the Revolution, under
the spell of Washington, with Carroll and
Adams and jefferson still living, the monu-
ments of o monumental past to warn and
admonsh and instruct us. And there is
scarcely an orator Of our time who, when he
reviews the political situation, does not
go back to this enviable time and pray for O
return Of that spirit to our people and our
leaders which made the administration of
Monroe the golden age Of the Republic,
and which now seem to have been the end of
that simple, pastoral ingenious era which
marked our earlier days.
behind the scenes we find it is the old story
after all; that ''the era of good feeling" is as
much romance as the enchanted tales of the
Arabian Nights or the romantic valley of the
Rasselas. We see that the great men of those
days were very much Like the men Of our own
day; that there was the same plague of defa-
nation in the atmosphere, the same averment
OF corruption in public life, the same restless,
unholy, sordid ambition; the same license of
the press, the same absence of high control
ling character in public life. There is scarcely
o public man Of the time of whom Mr.. Adams
speaks without some criticism that would, if
uttered now of our living statesmen, be re-
garded as q censure. Rufus King was the
'.wisest and the best" of men, according to his
estimate yet Rufus King was not above a
morbid hunger for the Presidency. John G.
Calhoun, who was at one time Mr.. Adams
ideal statesman, the ono man of the Repub-
lie TO whom he looked forward with more
pride and hope than all others, rapidly be-
came scheming politician, controlling the
War Department for its patronage and en-
deavoring to force his friends into Office to
make himself President. Henry Clay falls
from the ideality which surrounded him into
about the same measure Of a man as an
irritable, shallow, desperate adventurer.
Daniel Webster is not above intriguing with
one party and with another. looking only to
his own advantage, while the imperious spirit
Of Jackson is shown as covering a subtle,
restless and not always scrupulous political
character Even Mr.. Adams himself, who has
gradually become one Of the gods in our po-
litical temple, is shown to have been peevish
man and to have been as much under the con-
troll Of ambition as any Of his rivals, and,
while endeavoring in his efforts to serve the
country in whichever position it placed him,
as keen in the race Of political distinction, as
wiling to enter into an alliance and combina-