for him.

The question he maintained was one which lawyers alone were competent
to understand, and he also maintained that the majority of the House
ought to accept their views. "The question" said he "is _sui generis."_

I was opposed to the bill. At that time Richard Fletcher, then
recently a member of Congress, had been engaged in a controversy with
the Boston _Atlas,_ a leading organ of the Whig Party. A question of
veracity was raised and to the disadvantage of Fletcher. Thereupon he
resigned his seat in the House and returned to Massachusetts.

Mr. Frank B. Crowninshield was opposed to the bill, and anxious to
secure its defeat, but he was unwilling to take the responsibility of
contributing openly to that result. Privately he informed me that the
purpose was to make a place for Fletcher. In the course of my remarks,
in reply to Lunt I said that if the object of the managers was to
provide a place for a man who had fallen into discredit, in another
branch of the public service, then as far as I knew, the bill was _sui
generis._

Several members, among them General William Schouler, disclaimed all
knowledge of any arrangement such as I had referred to. These
assertions of ignorance were not troublesome, but Otis P. Lord, of
Salem, rose and after many personal compliments said "I call upon the
member from Groton to give his authority for the suggestion he makes in
regard to the purpose of this bill." At that moment my mind reverted
to the controversy between Adams and the Federalists.

In 1825 or 1826 Mr. Jefferson wrote a letter that was printed in the
_National Intelligencer,_ in which he gave his version of statements
made by Mr. Adams. Among others he said that Mr. Adams had told him
that he had evidence of the purpose of the Federalists during the War
of 1812 to secure a dissolution of the Union, and the organization of
an eastern confederacy.

Mr. Adams wrote a letter in which he explained some of Mr. Jefferson's
statements, but of this he took no notice. Its accuracy, therefore,
was admitted. Thereupon the Federalists of Boston, wrote to President
Adams, demanding his authority for the statement. That authority he
refused to give. Alluding to the many names appended to the letter of
the Federalists, he said: "No array of numbers or of talent shall
induce me to make the disclosure sooner than my sense of duty requires,
and when that time arrives, no array of numbers or talent shall deter
m