New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-03-22
John Quincy Adams Portrayed
by Himself.

THE WRITINGS OF JOHN QUINCY
ADAMS Edited by Worthington I.
Ford Vol. /. 1895. s vo., PIP. xiv,
sos With portrait. The Macmillan
Company.
In his tenth year John Quincy Adams
wrote to his father. whom he then adj
dressed as Dear Sir" that he loved to
receive letters much better than to
write them, adding, II make but poor
figure at composition" How bravery
he soon got over this feeling is strongly
suggested by the present volume. With
his monumental Diary, begun at the
age of eleven, the world is already
familiar But here are JOS octave
pages. containing more than hundred
letters-not counting letters and essays
written for publication in newspapers
composed by him and written to vari-
Gus persons between the years 1II9 and
1896, or from his twelfth to his twenty
ninth year And these are only few
CLEANED from a great mass. The editor
of the volume says that it was his pur-
pose TO include whatever in Adams's
writings was of permanent historical
value and whatever was essential to
comprehension of the man in all his
public and private relations. Most in
teresting of all for the present purpose
are the letters which have 10 do with
his private relationships. as reveal
ton of character OF one Of the most
noteworthy figures in American history
for by general consent Adams must be
esteemed as among the half dozen VINO
at the beginning of the last century
most strongly Influenced the destinies
of this nation. He was one of the most
unpopular statesmen, and one OF the
most lonely and desolate. that America
ever produced. He was also one of the
most Independent in action. most Tree
in thought and most fearless In all
things More than almost any other
he was an incarnate intellect and con-
science. with mind approxiWatlng
Huxlev's ideal of a clear. cold logic
engine with all its parts of equai
strength and in smooth working order.
At the age of twenty-five Adams WAS
elected a member of committee OF
tWentv-one citizens of Boston chosen
by the town meeting TO report med5-
ures for the necessary reform of tie
Police Department. Al that time the
government of Boston. in its corporate
capacity was a pure democracy, al
the affairs of the town being trans
acted by the inhabitants assembled IN
town meeting or by committees APP
pointed by them. excepting certain
minor powers which were vested in the
selectmen. Adams seems TO have ~een
chosen to this committee largely for
his fathers sake. He quickly took a
keen interest in public affairs. though
he did not at once make himself con-
spicuous. He conceived a strong 2ai-
mostly toward one Benjamin Austin,
who appears alone to have dissented
from the otherwise unanimous judg-
ment of the committee. and thus wrote
to his brother Thomas:
His speeches were such farragO Of
nonsense and folly that it was hardly pos
sible to imagine they could have any Ell
feet at all Yet upon the final question
seven hundred men, who looked as if they
had been collected from all the jails on
the continent with Ben Austin, like an
other Jack Cade, at their head, out
voted by their numbers all the combined
weight and influence of wealth and abili-
ties and of integrity of the whole town.
From the whole event | have derived
some instruction, and above all, con
firmation of my adherence and contempt
of simple democracy as a government,
but / took no part in the debate. II was,
indeed, very good opportunity that was
offered me of opening a political career,
but for a variety of reasons / chose al
least to postpone 10 some future period
my appearance as speaker in town