e
together to the Capitol, escorted by the District uniformed militia
and by a cavalcade of citizens marshaled by Daniel Carroll, of
Duddington, General John Mason, General Walter Smith, and General
Walter Jones, four prominent residents. On reaching the Capitol
the President-elect was received with military honors by a battalion
of the Marine Corps. He was then escorted by a committee of Senators
to the Senate Chamber, where the oath of office was administered
to the Vice-President-elect, John C. Calhoun. The dignitaries
present then moved in procession to the hall of the House of
Representatives, on the floor of which were the Senators and
Representatives, the Supreme Court, the diplomatic corps, officers
of the army and navy, and many prominent officials, while the
galleries were filled with handsomely dressed ladies and gentlemen.
Mr. Adams read his inaugural address from the Speaker's desk, after
which the oath of office was administered to him by Chief Justice
Marshall. Salutes were fired from the Navy Yard and the Arsenal,
and the new President was escorted to his house, on F Street, where
he that evening received his friends, for whom generous supplies
of punch and wines were hospitably provided.

President Adams, although at heart instigated by a Puritan intolerance
of those who had failed to conform with himself, was a true patriot,
and as a public man was moved by the highest moral motives. He
was a great statesman in so far as the comprehension of the principles
of government and a mastery of a wide field of information were
concerned, but he could not practically apply his knowledge.
Instead of harmonizing the personal feuds between the friends of
those who had been candidates with him, he antagonized each one
with his Administration at the earliest possible moment, and before
the expiration of his first year in the White House he had wrecked
the Republican party left by Monroe, as completely as his father
had wrecked the Federal party established by Washington.

The President, when in London, had married Miss Louisa Catherine
Johnson. Her father was an American by birth, but just before the
Revolution he went to England, where he resided until after the
independence of the Colonies had been recognized. Mrs. Adams was
well educated, highly accomplished, and well qualified to preside
over the domestic affairs at the White House. She had four children
--three sons and one daughter--of whom one only