Mr. Adams convened Congress, by proclamation, on the 15th of June, 1797, and in his message laid before that body a lucid statement of the aggressions of the French Directory.  Congress made advances, with a view to a reconciliation with France.  But failing in this attempt, immediate and vigorous measures were adopted to place the country in a condition for war.  A small standing army was authorized.  The command was tendered to Gen. Washington, who accepted of it with alacrity, sanctioning as he did these defensive measures of the government.  Steps were taken for a naval armament, and the capture of French vessels authorized.  These energetic demonstrations produced their desired effect.  The war proceeded no farther than a few collisions at sea.  The French Directory became alarmed, and made overtures of peace.

Washington did not survive to witness the restoration of amicable relations with France.  On the 14th of December, 1799, after a brief illness, he departed this life, at Mount Vernon, aged sixty-eight years.  On receiving this mournful intelligence, Congress, then in session at Philadelphia, passed the following resolution:—­

“Resolved, That the Speaker’s chair should be shrouded in black; that the members should wear black during the session, and that a joint committee, from the Senate and the House, be appointed to devise the most suitable manner of paying honor to the memory of the Man, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

Testimonials of sorrow were exhibited, and funeral orations and eulogies were delivered, throughout the United States.  The Father of his Country slept in death, and an entire people mourned his departure!

On assuming the duties of the Presidency, the elder Adams found the finances of the country in a condition of the most deplorable prostration.  To sustain the government in this department, it was deemed indispensable to establish a system of direct taxation, by internal duties.  This produced great dissatisfaction throughout the Union.  An “alien law” was passed, which empowered the President to banish from the United States, any foreigner whom he should consider dangerous to the peace and safety of the country.  And a “sedition law,” imposing fine and imprisonment for “any false, scandalous, and malicious writing against the government of the United States, or either house of Congress, or the President.”

These measures are not justly chargeable to John Adams.  They were not recommended nor desired by him; but were brought forward and urged by Gen. Hamilton and his friends.  Nevertheless upon Mr. Adams was heaped the odium they excited.  The leading measures of his administration—­the demonstration against France; the standing army; the direct taxation; the alien and sedition laws—­all tended to injure his popularity with the mass of the people, and to destroy his prospects of a re-election to the presidency.  The perplexities he was compelled to encounter during his administration, may be conceived on perusal of his language in a letter dated March 17, 1797:—­