Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 8
1839-07-04
Showery but warm. At home. Evening call at the Mansion. The sunrise was announced by cannon from the City and many of 259the surrounding towns. I arose and observed the scene with interest from one of the chamber windows. I could hear the ringing of the bells very plain, and see the smoke of the guns. The scene of early morning is always beautiful.
My time mainly taken up in writing. Finished the third of my comments upon the Carolina Report and determined to send them off to the Press.1 There is in the Post of this morning a complimentary notice of my Article upon Burr. It ascribes the Authorship to the Editor, and hence there is no reason to suspect any motive towards or against me, nor yet is a purchased puff to spread the sale of the work.2 It is astonishing how much this trifling incident encouraged me. It shows that I can do pretty well in somebody else’s opinion but my own. Texier, Tacitus and Le Comte.
Nobody came in the evening as expected. We had a slight thunder shower and the air was so damp that the fireworks did not appear so well as last year. Mr. Beale and his daughter Caroline were here for an hour after our return from the Mansion. On the whole I have rarely passed a more quiet day of our Anniversary.
The articles on “The Southern Commercial Conventions” appeared, unsigned, in the Boston Courier on 6 (p. 2, cols. 2–3), 9, 11, and 18 July, p. 2, cols. 1–2. They were written to make New England readers aware of important movements in other sections, especially in South Carolina, that seemed designed “to alienate the southern and southwestern States from the rest of the Union.” The thesis of the articles is that the reports of the annual meetings or conventions of southern merchants reveal that present dangers to the Union do exist. Further that the loss of foreign trade by the South, the basis of their discontent, is, contrary to their view, not chargeable to the policies of the federal government but rather to the “developement of the western country,” which has made agriculture in the South “an exceedingly difficult and precarious occupation.”
The Boston Morning Post, in its review article (4 July, p. 1, col. 5) on “The North American Review for July,” said, “The review of Davis’s Memoirs and Journal of Burr, which we believe to be from the pen of the editor
1839-07-05
Fogs and mist. To Boston. Company at dinner. Evening at the Mansion.
I went to the City in the morning and was occupied most of my time in Accounts. Finished drawing up those belonging to my father and 260the rest of my time in trying to get my balance Right but failed, so I brought my books out with me to continue to work upon them.
Found upon my return, I. Hull Adams and Mr. Campbell with Elizabeth C. Adams and my father, who all dined with us. The Afternoon was therefore devoted to them and the Evening too. An hour of which was passed at the house below.