Browsing: Diary of Charles Francis Adams, Volume 1

1. Ostensibly because the National Intelligencer had failed to print all the documents relating to the slave trade convention the Monroe administration had negotiated with Great Britain but instead had published only a selection of the papers hostile to that treaty, JQA had authorized the publication of official papers from the State Department in the rival National Journal. The fact that the Intelligencer was neutral on the presidential question, while the Journal was devotedly promoting JQA’s chances, doubtless influenced the Secretary’s decision. When the editors of the Intelligencer objected, JQA tartly defended his action and announced: “The Secretary of State asks neither the favor or the friendship of the Editors of the Intelligencer.” See his unsigned article in the National Journal, 10 July 1824, as reprinted in the Daily National Intelligencer, 12 July 1824. For further developments in this controversy, see entries for 17 and 20 July, below.