Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams by William H. Seward (easy books to read txt) 📕

were adopted by the new States. The younger Adams having returned to America with his father, had thus the advantage of seeing republican theories brought into successful, practical application.

About this time Congress resolved on sending a Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain, to negotiate, if possible, a treaty of peace. John Adams and John Jay received each an equal number of votes. The result was the appointment of M. Jay as Minster to Spain, and of John Adams as Minister to the Court of St. James. He was instructed to insist on the independence of the United States.

The younger Adams again attended the Diplomatist. They embarked in the French frigate La Sensible, on the 17th of November, 1779.

The frigate sprang a leak, and was obliged to put into the port nearest at hand, which proved to be Ferrol in Spain. They disembarked on the 11th of December, and traversed the intervening distance to Paris over land, a journey of a thousand miles. This journey was performed through the mountains on mules. Spain, as well as France, was then in alliance with America, and the minister was everywhere received with respect and kindness. The French officers at Ferrol wore cockades in honor of the Triple Alliance, combining a white ribbon for the French, a red one for the Spanish, and a black one for the Americans.

The United Powers proposed demands which were ominous of disappointment to the Minister. - On the 12th of December he wrote: - "It is said that England is as reluctant to acknowledge the independence of America, as to cede Gibraltar, the last of which is insisted upon, as well as the first."

The travellers reached Paris about the middle of February, 1780. John Adams mentioned a singular coincidence in his letter announcing their arrival. "I have the honor to be lodged here with no less a personage than the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, who is here upon a visit. We occupy different apartments in the same house, and have no intercourse with each other, to be sure; but some wags are of opinion, that if I were authorised to open a negotiation with him, I might obtain from him as many troops to fight on our side of the question, as he has already hired to the English against us!"

The American Revolution has wrought wonderful changes since that day. No German Prince could now send a man, or a musket, to war against its principles.

John Adams soon discovered that there was no prospect of success for his mission to England. He remained at Paris until August, 1780, and during the interval his son was kept at an academy in that city.

At the expiration of that period the Minister repaired to Holland, and there received instructions to negotiate a loan, and then a treaty of amity and commerce with the states of that country. The younger Adams while in Holland was placed at school, first at Amsterdam, and afterwards in the University of Leyden.

A letter of the father, dated at Amsterdam, 18th December, 1780, gives us a glimpse of the system of instruction approved by him, and a pleasant view of the principles which he deemed it important to be inculcated.

"I have this morning sent Mr. Thaxter with my two sons to Leyden, there to take up their residence for some time, and there to pursue their studies of Latin and Greek under the excellent masters, and there to attend lectures of the celebrated professors in that University. It is much cheaper there than here. The air is infinitely purer, and the company and conversation are better. It is perhaps as learned a University as any in Europe.

"I should not wish to have children educated in the common schools of this country, where a littleness of soul is notorious. The masters are mean spirited wretches, pinching, kicking, and boxing the children upon every turn. There is, besides, a general littleness, arising from the incessant contemplation of stivers and doits, which pervades the whole people.

"Frugality and industry are virtues everywhere, but avarice and stinginess are not frugality. The Dutch say, that without a habit of thinking of every doit before you spend it, no man can be a good merchant, or conduct trade with success.

"This, I believe, is a just maxim in general; but I would never wish to see a son of mine govern himself by it. It is the sure and certain way for an industrious man to be rich. It is the only possible way for a merchant to become the first merchant, or the richest man in the place. But this is an object that I hope none of my children will ever aim at. It is indeed true everywhere, that those who attend to small expenses are always rich.

"I would have my children attend to doits and farthings as devoutly as the merest Dutchman upon earth, if such attention was necessary to support their independence. A man who discovers a disposition and a design to be independent, seldom succeeds. A jealousy arises against him. The tyrants are alarmed on the one side, lest he should oppose them: the slaves are alarmed on the other, lest he should expose their servility. The cry from all quarters is, 'He is the proudest man in the world: He cannot bear to be under obligation.'

"I never in my life observed anyone endeavoring to lay me under particular obligation to him, but I suspected he had a design to make me his dependent, and to have claims upon my gratitude. This I should have no objection to, because gratitude is always in one's power. But the danger is, that men will expect and require more of us than honor, and innocence, and rectitude will permit us to perform.

"In our country, however, any man, with common industry and prudence, may be independent."

One cannot turn over a page of the domestic history of John Adams, without finding a precept or example, the influence of which is manifested in the character of his illustrious son. Thus he writes to Mrs. Adams, touching certain calumnies which had been propagated against him: -

LIFE OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 39

"Do n't distress yourself about any malicious attempts to injure me in the estimation of my countrymen. Let them take their course, and go the length of their tether. They will never hurt your husband, whose character is fortified with a shield of innocence and honor, ten thousand-fold stronger than brass or iron. The contemptible essays, made by you know whom, will only tend to their own confusion. My letters have shown them their own ignorance, a sight they could not bear. Say as little about it as I do. I laugh, and will laugh before all posterity, at their impotent rage and envy."

In July, 1781, Francis Dana, who had attended John Adams as Secretary of Legation, was appointed Minister to Russia. John Quincy Adams, then fourteen years old, was appointed Private Secretary of this mission. He remained at that post fourteen months, performing its duties with entire satisfaction to the minister. The singular ripeness of the youthful secretary was shown in his travelling alone, on his return from St. Petersburgh, by a journey leisurely made, and filled with observations of Sweden, Denmark, Hamburgh, and Bremen. On arriving in Holland, he resumed his studies at the Hague.

John Adams, having completed his mission in Holland, was soon charged, together with Dr. Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, with the duty of negotiating a definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain. The treaty was executed at Paris on the 30th of November, 1783, and was ratified January 14th, 1784. The younger Adams enjoyed the satisfaction of being present at the conclusion of the treaty; and while it was under process of negotiation, he was constantly favored with opportunities of listening to the instructive conversation of Franklin and Jefferson.

The negotiation of the treaty was dilatory in the extreme. It was embarrassed with French intrigues, great carelessness at home, and greater reluctance on the part of England. The wearied Minister wrote to Mrs. Adams on the 30th of May, 1783: "Our son is at the Hague, pursuing his studies with great ardor. They give him a good character wherever he has been, and I hope he will make a good man." On the 9th of June he wrote in these homely, but manly words: "I am weary, worn, and disgusted to death. I had rather chop wood, dig ditches, and make fence upon my poor little farm. Alas, poor farm! and poorer family! what have you lost that your country might be free! and that others might catch fish and hunt deer and bears at their ease!

"There will be as few of the tears of gratitude, or the smiles of admiration, or the sighs of pity for us, as for the army. But all this should not hinder me from going over the same scenes again, upon the same occasions - scenes which I would not encounter for all the wealth, pomp, and power of the world. Boys! if you ever say one word, or utter one complaint, I will disinherit you. Work! you rogues, and be free. You will never have so hard work to do as papa has had. Daughter! get you an honest man for a husband, and keep him honest. No matter whether he is rich, provided he be independent. Regard the honor and the moral character of the man, more than all circumstances. Think of no other greatness but that of the soul, no other riches but those of the heart."

After concluding the treaty of peace, John Adams, together with Franklin and Jay, was charged with the duty of negotiating a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, and John Adams, taking his son John Quincy with him, proceeded to London, and took up his residence at the British Court. Mrs. Adams embarked in June, 1781, to join her husband.

John Adams was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the same Court in 1785, and thus he, who ten years before, when a subject, in the province of Massachusetts, had said, "I know that Great Britain has determined upon her system, and that very determination determines me on mine," - was the first Representative of his independent country admitted to an audience by the discomfited majesty of the Imperial States. The occasion was adapted to excite profound emotions, though of different kinds, in each party. John Adams addressed the King thus: -

"The United States of America have appointed me their Minister Plenipotentiary to your Majesty, and have directed me to deliver to your Majesty this letter, which contains the evidence of it. It is in obedience to their express commands, that I have the honor to assure your Majesty of their unanimous disposition and desire to cultivate the most liberal and friendly intercourse between your Majesty's subjects and their citizens; and of their best wishes for your Majesty's health and happiness, and for that of your royal family.

"The appointment of a Minister from the United States to your Majesty's Court, will form an epoch in the history of England and of America. I think myself more fortunate than all my fellow citizens, in having the distinguished honor to be the first to stand in your Majesty's royal presence, in a diplomatic character; and I shall esteem myself the happiest of men, if I can be instrumental in recommending my Country more and more, to your Majesty's royal benevolence, and of restoring an entire esteem, confidence and affection, or in better words, 'the old good nature, and the old good harmony,' between people, who, though separated by an ocean, and under different governments,