The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-13
WHITE HOUSE WORRIES.
rhe Men Who Have Been There and
Were Glad to Get Away.

bite heat. it is profitable. if not pleasant, to
noe what the different occupants of that
bonse think of it after having resided in it.
Usshington's executive terms were of ma
,,,ra not to breed in him a sincere regret
that he occupied the position. He was so
nre-eminently the choice and love of the
United nation that no friction of a serious
sort occurred during his administration, yet
we know Washington would have been glad
conId he have retired to his Mount Yer
non home and spent his old age in his favor
lie occupation of farming.
Rut with Adams began the sharp party
clsneor; and from his time down no presi-
dent has had peace or rest; most of them
Rave lived in an atmosphere little milder
Than A tempest / do not care to recount
the story Of Adams trials and wrongs, as
,yal as faults and errors. But let us see
how he went out of office. He sat signing
.nnointments to office till his last admins
slrative hour waned. Then on the morning
of ,Jefferson's inauguration, instead of re-
naming to receive and honor his successor,
IA ordered his horses at daylight, and left
Washington. He had been mercilessly
tricked and bitterly opposed, so that he had
lost what he so much desired, "a second term
His administration had been loyal, strong
and successful: now he felt that he was
driven from Office disgraced. That was the
word he used He was retiring full of years,
INIT NOT full of honors He had been as
faithful and laborious patriot as Wash
ino+on. and his usefulness to his country
lad been second only to Washington. He
had saved his country from war. Had he not
a right to repine and feel bitter at the re-
yard allotted hima Certainly he had had
very hard luck; everything would have
cone so different with him but for one man. ."
Hamilton had secretly thwarted his efforts;
n and at last had written an open letter to the
y country antagoniZing his administration,
\ Men whom he had turned out of office as
4 unworthy had been used to damage him.
4 What was orse, Hamilton was protesting
4 10 lie his supporter. Adams felt that he
4 was dishonored and Inundated. He lacked
dirulty and reserve to conceal his feelings,
md so he spitefully drove off and left JEFF
ferson to take possession of Washington as
if he were a conquering enemy. In 1914
/ the old man wrote to Rufus King, Il am
1 left alone. Can there be any deeper dam
nation in this universe than to be condemned
+ 10 long life in danger, toll and anxiety
h and to die at seventy, leaving to an amiable
wife and nine amiable children nothing for
n an inheritance but contempt, hatred and
malice of the worldF' We must remember
that party rancor in those days was really
n far more bitter than now and mercileSsly
poaded any man it disliked. Besides,
Adams was of a temperament that pre-
h ferred, if it did not enjoy, grumbling He
spent a good deal of his retirement III writ
n ing series of the most rancorOus letters
about hfs--@ss.,onents aud contemporaries
that was ever penned. Evidently the
presidency was, in his case, not so satisfac-
try goal of ambition as it appears i'll the
distance to the average politician.
Jefferson in temperament was precisely
the opposite of Adams. They were equally
ambitious, and equally haters of tyranny.
In theology they agreed, but in nothing
else Adams liked form, Jefferson liked bet
ter the theatrical display of simplicity. He
Il had his two terms in the presidential chair;
4 but if we are to believe him he always
longed for the retirement and peace of his
farm. When it came to a third term, he
4 positively declined. He had had his fill
& Toward the close of his second term he
h wrote: Five weeks more will relieve me
from drudgery to which | am no longer
n equal" Those familiar with our history
need not be told what Jefferson meant. 1t
was time of great events. The president
n had not a moment of rest. He was chag-
Va rned, mortified, tortured again and again.
n He never spoke of his plantation without
regret. When, at one period Of life, he es-
capped from public duties, he wrote: 81 re-
turn to farming with an ardor which [
scarcely knew in my youth, and which has
got the better entirely of my love of study"
4 de refused to take newspapers, though it is
very evident he kept himself informed of
public events, and never lost personal inter
est in events, national and foreign. When
elected to the vice-presidency, he wrote to
Madison: The first wish of my heart was
that you should have been proposed for the
administration. On your declining it, |
wish any ody rather than myself and there
is nothing | so anxiously hope as that my
name may come out second or third.
protest before my God that | shall, from
the bottom of my heart, rejoice at escap-
Ing. | have no ambition to govern men.
Ny attachment is my home" There is no
reason for doubling his sincerity, although
he was, like all other men, proud of his IN
Huence. Out of Office at last, he became,
what he above all preferred to be, father
Of his country, loved and honored and con-
ferred with as philosopher and statesman.
II any American of the present day were
to select which one of the earlier administra-
tons he would have preferred as his own, it
would certainly not be that of Madison.
let am not sure but Madison, If now alive,
would select his own to be repeated; If by
himself. His abilities were of the sOhd not
brilliant, sort. He was sober, able, honest,
butnot OF an executive temperament. He
was not man of prejudice or violence, but
u was his lot to administered in a season OF
N4VIeI passion. new England JuTtdUoueu
secession. A ridiculous war was fought,
contrary to Madison's best judgment, and
men cried for joy when the folly was ended
oya treaty of peace. Probably he was not
'enously disturbed by the Vaccinations and
contus.ons OF his time. He was not SO Isl
i've to his own mistakes. 1t was natural
Tor him to compromise. Socially he was
braye; in ideas covering education, suffrage
aud science, he was peer of Jefferson Per
maps he would have rejoiced more over his
escape from official duties had he not lived
Wnen a man of his ability could never get
ria Of publicity. His retirement was far
from quiet leisure. He wrote: 81 have
rarely, during the period of my public life,
found my time less at my disposal than since
!! TOOK my leave of il, nor have | the consola-
eloa OF hnding that, as my powers OF appli-
Callon necessarily decline, the demands on
mem proportionaliy decrease"
N9nroes relation to the presidency was
peculiar. In some respects it recalls the adj
uuhlstration of Washington. Although be
made some enemies, he was reelected with
"a. one electoral vote against him; and that
'oVe was cast against him in 'order that nc
NE may be elected as unanimously as was
n%hlngton." Monr oe was man OF averages
aug intensely American. His special place
q history is in connection with the Monroe
..ycrlne, which asserts our right TO control
.lN continent MS against the interference OF
esuy European power Washington's doc
vine was, let the United States on no &C
, ,OunI NEEDLE in European affairs. Monroe
Al ~