Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 7
1837-09-11
A very sultry day with the wind at the South and altogether disagreeable. I remained at home and divided my time between the operations that were going on in sodding the banks about my house, and reading.
The accounts from Washington are that Messrs. Blair and Rives have lost the printing of the House, and that Mr. Allen has got it through the accession of the Whigs, despairing to carry the point for Gales and Seaton.1 This is a severe blow upon the Administration and the debate which incidentally arose manifests a good deal of temper on the part of the seceders. But we shall see. The report of Mr. Woodbury is like all his work.2
I read a hundred lines of Homer’s seventh book and a good deal of Malthus, so that on the whole I felt as if I had committed less waste of time than usual. Wrote to Mr. Johnson.3 Afternoon somewhat wasted. Read Humboldt a little. Miss Smith passed the day with us. There was high wind but little rain. In the evening Loto with the children, after which conversation, and a little reading but I was drowsy.
The choice by the House of Thomas Allen of the Madisonian over Gales & Seaton of the National Intelligencer to replace Blair & Rives of the
Congressional Globe
as printer of House debates represented a loss to the Democrats, but only a partial victory for the whigs (Daily Advertiser, 11 Sept., p. 2, col. 4; 12 Sept., p. 2, col. 1).
The Report on the Finances by Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury was printed in the Daily Advertiser on 11 Sept., p. 2, cols. 1–3; 12 Sept., p. 1, cols. 3–6; 13 Sept., p. 2, cols. 1–4; 14 Sept., p. 1, cols. 5–6. The thrust of CFA’s comment is uncertain. He was in thorough disagreement with Woodbury on the Bank question, but his allusions to Woodbury elsewhere suggest that he was not without respect for Woodbury’s views and abilities.
Letter missing.