Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

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1MEMOIRS OF JOHN ADAMS DIX.

themselves. No obligation, which any member or members of the Federal party have conferred on the country, can counteract the evils of
these precedents; and how stands the account, when we follow out their
principles to the consequences in which they terminated-to a long and
vindictive struggle against the supremacy of the people, to a factious
opposition when the necessities of the country demanded their aid and
sympathy, and to a treacherous indifference to the public interests when
all was finally put at hazard by an appeal to arms? This is a fearful
balance, which we are sure no friendly hand will attempt to strike!
"We repeat, the only refilge for the Federal party is in oblivion; and
he who seeks to palliate its errors inflicts upon it the greatest of injuries; he excites recollections which might not have been disturbed, and
calls forth expositions alike ungrateful to the feelings of their authors,
and reproachful to the character of those whose conduct and actions
furnish the occasion for them."
The Federalists received their death-blow, as a political organization, in the year 1815. The instability of temporal affairs, however, generally forbids a long enjoyment of prosperity. Scarcely were Republicans victorious, when they began
to disintegrate. Murmurs were heard, from time to time,
against the "Virginia Dynasty," and lines were drawn between North and South. There were symptoms of trouble
long before that day. The Presidents of the United States
had, for twenty-four years out of twenty-eight, been taken
from Virginia: George Washington for his two terms,
Thomas Jefferson for as many more; Madison for eight more
years. Adams, of Massachusetts, had served but one term.
The Madison administration now nominated another Virginian, James Monroe, for the succession. The movement displeased many at the North; and dissensions and divisions followed which ultimately had the effect of breaking up the Republicans. Mr. Monroe's election did not heal the breach, but
merely postponed the inevitable catastrophe: Governor Tomp}ins went into office with him as Vice-President.
4 At this time there rose to power one of the most remarkable men that New York ever produced. De Witt Clinton,
nephew of the first Governor of this State, was for many