uelty. "Bitter
complaints," says Hildreth, "were made of Commodore Barney, then in the
West Indies with his two frigates. He was accused of treating with
contemptuous indifference and neglect his fellow-citizens brought in as
prisoners by the French privateers, and even of having shown his
contempt for his country by hoisting the American ensign union down.
Yet, when he arrived in the Chesapeake for the purpose of learning and
carrying to France the result of the presidential election, though he
boasted of having in his pocket the orders of the French Directory to
capture all American vessels, and declared that if Jefferson was not
chosen president war would be declared by France within three months, he
was not the less, on that account, honored and feasted by infatuated
politicians who read the _Aurora_, and believed Washington to be a
traitor!"[111]

The votes of the electoral college for president of the United States
were opened and counted in the senate on the eighth of February. The
result showed a very close balance of political parties. The whole
number of votes was one hundred and thirty-eight, making seventy
necessary to a choice. Of these, John Adams, the incumbent
vice-president, received seventy-one, and Thomas Jefferson sixty-nine
votes. Thomas Pinckney, late minister to Great Britain, received
fifty-nine votes, Aaron Burr thirty, Samuel Adams fifteen, Oliver
Ellsworth eleven, George Clinton seven, John Jay five, James Iredell
three, George Washington two, John King two, Samuel Johnson two, and
Charles C. Pinckney, then in France, one. At that time the person who
received the highest number of the electoral votes was declared to be
president, and the person who had the next highest number was declared
to be vice-president.

After reading the result, Mr. Adams sat down for a moment, and then
rising, said:--

"John Adams is elected president of the United States for four
years, to commence with the fourth day of March next; and Thomas
Jefferson is elected vice-president of the United States for four
years, to commence with the fourth day of March next. And may the
Sovereign of the Universe, the Ordainer of civil government on
earth, for the preservation of liberty, justice, and peace, among
men, enable both to discharge the duties of these offices
conformably to the constitution of the United States, with
conscientious diligence, punctuality, and perseverance.