The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-08-25
l5aiscellamcnrts.
OLD-TIME POLITICS.

; and had an earlier and longer experienC
in the Diplomatic service Of his Countr
! than any other of Ire statesmen Of tn
past or of the pr, sent generation. Will
yet almost youth he was appointed b
Gen. Washington Minister of the Unite
States to Holland. Subsequently he wa
appointed Minister to Russia, and fror
Russia transferred to Client, as one Q
the Ministers to negotiate the treat
of peace with Great Britain, which wa
signed by the Joint Commission OF
Christmas Day, 1914. He was afterwarC
Senator in Congress, was selected b,
Mr.. Monroe as Secretary of State, and a
the "time of safe precedents," as it wa
called, became President in March, 1926
AS writer he had but few equals, par
ticularly in his diplomatic career, fol
then he wrote as a Minister under the
direction Of the Secretary of State and al
Secretary Of State under the direction o.
the President. Give him a subject Ia
attack or measure to defend, and his
vast knowledge Of the law Of nations
made him an opponent almost impossi-
bic to refute. Like a well.trained law.
yer, give him the facts Of case and he
was always equal to the occasion. His
defense of the invasion of Florida, in
answer to the complaints of Spain, was,
perhaps, as able, if not the ablest docu.
ment ever issued for the State DeTart-
ment, once filled by Jefferson, Madison,
Monroe, Marshall and others of the lead.
ing minds of the country. But let Mr..
Adams be free TO select his own subject,
and to support it by arguments, he was
not always success. He was apt to run
into the ridiculous, as was the case when,
in his first message as President to Con.
gress, he spoke in grave state paper of
lighthouses in the sky" as he was
pleased to call National Observatories,"
the establishment of which he was ad-
vocating.
Like RiChelieu, the great Minister
who ruled France to her great glory, and
somewhat by his tyranny, to her shame,
and who had, before he became Cardi-
nal, acquired great fame as a soldier, and
who thought his great forte was as a wri.
ter Of tragedy, Mr.. Adams thought to en-.
hsnCe his fame as a writer of poetry.
Cardinal RiChelieu had 80 great an Itch
ing for fame as tragic writer, that the
surest passport to his favor was to wit
ness the acting of one of his tragedies
and to applaud it. Mr.. Adams fanCied
himself poet, and he had a monopoly
of the fancy, for no one else thought 80
Having published several fugitive pieces
about equal in merit to that OF the scraps
called poetry, published semi occasion.
ally in the country newspapers, which
were praised by his fatterers, he deter.
mined to write an epic poem, which he
did, calling it "Dermot McMonough, or
the Conquest of Ireland" expecting it to
watt him to the highest niche of fame
1t was a magnificent failure. Many COP.
les we're sold, it is true, because it came
from the pen of John Quincy Adams,
and curiosity made it sell, but in pity to
the author the book was not reviewed,
and, indeed, was scarcely noticed in the
reviews and notices ofthe press.
Mr.. Adams was subse quently elected
to Congress as one of the Representa-.
tives from Massachusetts, where, claim
ing "Charter large as any mind to blow
on whom he pleased = he became a most
a common sCold. Many of hi speeches
in that body were excel 1nt; theirs, es.
peCialy if troubled with ysp psa, par
too more Of the ill.nat red sCol than
of the cultured orator. One day Judge
Kennon of Ohio, who scarce ever made
speeches in Congress, had pet measure |
pending, on which he made a short |
speech. Something in the measure pen.
ding, or in Judge Kennon's speech, excl.
ted the ire of the "old man eloquent" as
Mr.. Adams was called, and he attacked
it and the advocate with personal bit.
terness. Judge Kennon rose to reply.
After briefly answering the argument of
Mr.. Adams, Il quote from memory, he
said: "If, Mr.. Spt aker, had any unkind
feelings toward the gentleman from Mas
saChusetts, 1 might exclaim, as Job did
in the olden time, '0h, that might enc
my might write bookW If l felt ma
lignant, might add that the book be
poem, and that poem called "Dermot
MCMonoughp" The sen3stion produ.
ced by this speech was a marked one
the boldest held their breath for time,
all eyes we're turned to Mr. Adams, but
he sat with downcast face, immovsble.
A member got the floor and denounced
Judge Kernon for his disrespect to Mr..
Adams, his age and his service. True,
while all felt sorrow for the old gentle
man, there were none but in their secret
heart felt that he had drawn the terrible
reLrtbution upon himself, while the more
declared that Kennon served
him right. 1t is thought Mr.. Adams
never attempted jingling rhymes after
Kennon's allusion to his effort in writing
\ book in doggerel verse, and calling it
an epic poem.
The uncertainty of Ohio politics is
we'll illustrated in the history Of the state
IN 1858 81 3d. about the time the old
Wing party gave up the ghost. At the
election in 1858 there we're
hree candidates in the field-Wm. Me-
ill, Democrat; Nelson Barrere, Whig
md Samuel Lewis, Free Soil. The ma
ority for Medill over the Whig nominee
vab 81, ,8O6-over both the Whig and the
Free Soil candidates, 11462. Atthe Con.
,ressional election, the same year, sltho'
Tohn Scott Harrison was elected in the
eCond district of Hamilton county, the
Democracy elected eleven out of the
wenty-One members of Congress.
Before the next fall election the Abo.
itionists and Know Nothings combined,
n consequence of the excitement over
he passage Of the Kansas Nebraska bill
n Congress repeating the Missouri COM
PROMISE, and in the fall Of 1854, on Su-
,reme Judge,the combined forces against
he Democracy swept Ohio by a majority
# over $1,000, electihg county officers in