Life and Public Services of John Quincy Adams Part 3

It taxed the wisdom and skill of Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, to counteract the influence of the French Minister, and prevent citizens of the United States from committing overt acts against the Allied Sovereigns, and embroiling the Union in a foreign war. In this endeavor he was greatly a.s.sisted by the pen of Mr. J. Q. Adams. This gentleman wrote a series of essays for the public prints, under the signature of "Columbus,"

reviewing the course of Mr. Genet. In these articles, he pointed out, with great clearness, the principles of the law of nations applicable to the situation of the country in the neutral line of policy which had been wisely adopted.

In reference to this topic, John Adams writes his wife, as follows, under date of Dec. 19, 1793:--

"The President has considered the conduct of Genet very nearly in the same light with 'Columbus,' and has given him a bolt of thunder. We shall see how this is supported by the two Houses. There are who gnash their teeth with rage which they dare not own as yet. We shall soon see whether we have any government or not in this country."

The political writings of the younger Adams had now brought him prominently before the public. They attracted the especial attention of Mr. Jefferson, who saw in them a vastness of comprehension, a maturity of judgment and critical discrimination, which gave large promise of future usefulness and eminence. Before his retirement from the State Department, he commended the youthful statesman to the favorable regard of President Was.h.i.+ngton, as one pre-eminently fitted for public service.

General Was.h.i.+ngton, although a soldier by profession, was a lover of peace. His policy during his administration of the government, was pre-eminently pacific. Convinced that, in the infant state of the Union, war with a foreign nation could result only in evil and ruin, he was anxious to cultivate the most friendly relations with foreign governments, and to carry out, both in letter and spirit, the strict neutrality he had proclaimed. To declare and maintain these principles abroad, and to form political and commercial relations with European powers, Was.h.i.+ngton looked anxiously around for one fitted for a mission so important. His attention soon became fixed on John Quincy Adams. He saw in him qualities not only of deep political sagacity, and views of policy at unity with his own, but a familiarity with the languages and customs of foreign courts, which marked him as one every way calculated to represent our government with credit in the old world. He accordingly, in May, 1794, appointed Mr. Adams Minister of the United States at the Hague.

That this prominent appointment was as flattering to Mr. Adams as it was unexpected, is naturally true. It was the more to his credit in consideration of the fact, that in those days elevation to offices of this importance was the award of merit and talent, and not the result of importunity, or the payment of party services. Mr. Adams was at this time in the twenty-seventh year of his age--a younger man, undoubtedly, than has since ever been selected by our Government to fulfil a trust so important. But the ability and discretion of the young diplomatist, and the success which attended his negotiations in Europe, so creditable to himself and his country, fully justified the wisdom of Was.h.i.+ngton in selecting him for this important duty.

Although the father of Mr. Adams was then Vice President of the United States, yet it is well known his appointment on a foreign mission was obtained without the influence or even the request of his parent. It is not strictly correct, however, as stated by several biographers, that he was selected for the mission to Holland without any previous intimation of the President's intentions to his father. This is made evident by the following extract of a letter from John Adams to his wife, dated Philadelphia, 27th May, 1794, conveying intelligence which must have made a mother's heart swell with honest pride and satisfaction:--

"It is proper that I should apprize you, that the President has it in contemplation to send your son to Holland, that you may recollect yourself and prepare for the event. I make this communication to you in confidence, at the desire of the President, communicated to me yesterday by the Secretary of State. You must keep it an entire secret until it shall be announced to the public in the journal of the Senate. But our son must hold himself in readiness to come to Philadelphia, to converse with the President, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, &c., and receive his commissions and instructions, without loss of time. He will go to Providence in the stage, and thence to New York by water, and thence to Philadelphia in the stage. He will not set out, however, until he is informed of his appointment."

"Your son!" is the phrase by which the father meant to convey his own sense of how large a part the mother had in training that son; and to enhance the compliment, it is communicated to her at the desire of President Was.h.i.+ngton.

CHAPTER III.

MR. ADAMS TRANSFERRED TO BERLIN--HIS MARRIAGE--LITERARY PURSUITS--TRAVELS IN SILESIA--NEGOTIATES TREATIES WITH SWEDEN AND PRUSSIA--RECALLED TO THE UNITED STATES.

Mr. Adams presented himself at the Hague, as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, in the summer or fall of 1794. Ten years before, he was there with his father--a lad, attending school--at which time the father wrote: "They give him a good character wherever he has been, and I hope he will make a good man." How abundantly that hope was likely to be fulfilled, the elevated and responsible position occupied by the son at the expiration of the first ten years after it was expressed, gave a promising and true indication.

On his arrival in Holland, Mr. Adams found the affairs of that country in great confusion, in consequence of the French invasion. So difficult was it to prosecute any permanent measures for the benefit of the United States, owing to the existing wars and the unsettled state of things in Europe, that after a few months he thought seriously of returning home. A report of this nature having reached President Was.h.i.+ngton, drew from him a letter to Vice President John Adams, dated Aug. 20, 1795, in which the following language occurs:--

"Your son must not think of retiring from the path he is now in. His prospects, if he pursues it, are fair; and I shall be much mistaken if, in as short a time as can well be expected, he is not found at the head of the Diplomatic Corps, be the government administered by whomsoever the people may choose."

This approbation of his proceedings thus far, and encouragement as to future success, from so high a source, undoubtedly induced the younger Adams to forego his inclination to withdraw from the field of diplomacy.

He continued in Holland until near the close of Was.h.i.+ngton's administration. That he was not an inattentive observer of the momentous events then transpiring in Europe, but was watchful and faithful in all that pertained to the welfare of his country, is abundantly proved by his official correspondence with the government at home. His communications were esteemed by Was.h.i.+ngton, as of the highest value, affording him, as they did, a luminous description of the movement of continental affairs, upon which he could place the most implicit reliance.

The following extract of a letter from John Adams, will show the interest he naturally took in the welfare of his son while abroad, and also afford a brief glance at the political movements of that day. It is dated Philadelphia, Jan. 23, 1796:--

"We have been very unfortunate in the delays which have attended the dispatches of our amba.s.sadors. Very lucky, Mr. John Quincy Adams, that you are not liable to criticism on this occasion! This demurrage would have been charged doubly, both to your account and that of your father. It would have been a scheme, a trick, a design, a contrivance, from hatred to France, attachment to England, monarchical manoeuvres, and aristocratical cunning! Oh! how eloquent they would have been!

"The southern gentry are playing, at present, a very artful game, which I may develope to you in confidence hereafter, under the seal of secrecy.

Both in conversation and in letters, they are representing the Vice-President [John Adams,] as a man of moderation. Although rather inclined to limited monarchy, and somewhat attached to the English, he is much less so than Jay or Hamilton. For their part, for the sake of conciliation, they should be very willing he should be continued as Vice-President, provided the northern gentlemen would consent that Jefferson should be President. I most humbly thank you for your kind condescension, Messieurs Transchesapeakes.

"Witness my hand, "JOHN ADAMS."

Another allusion to his son while abroad, is made by the elder Adams, in a letter dated Philadelphia, March 25,1796.

"The President told me he had that day received three or four letters from his new Minister in London, one of them as late as the 29th of December.

Mr. Pickering informs me that Mr. Adams [Footnote: John Quincy Adams]

modestly declined a presentation at court, but it was insisted on by Lord Grenville; and, accordingly, he was presented to the King, and I think the Queen, and made his harangues and received his answers. By the papers I find that Mr. Pinckney appeared at court on the 28th of January, after which, I presume, Mr. Adams had nothing to do but return to Holland."

During his residence as Minister at the Hague, Mr. Adams had occasion to visit London, to exchange the ratifications of the treaty recently formed with Great Britain, and to take measures for carrying its provisions into effect. (Alluded to in the above letter from John Adams.) It was at this time that he formed an acquaintance with Miss Louisa Catharine Johnson, daughter of Joshua Johnson, Esq., of Maryland, Consular Agent of the United States at London, and niece of Governor Johnson of Maryland, a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The friends.h.i.+p they formed for each other, soon ripened into a mutual attachment and an engagement. They were married on the 26th of July, 1797. It was a happy union. For more than half a century they shared each other's joys and sorrows. The venerable matron who for this long period accompanied him in all the vicissitudes of his eventful life, still survives, to deplore the loss of him who had ever proved a faithful protector and the kindest of husbands.

In the meantime, the elder Adams had been elected President of the United States, in 1796. The curious reader may have a desire to know something of the views, feelings and antic.i.p.ations of those elevated to places of the highest distinction, and of the amount of enjoyment they reap from the honors conferred upon them. A glance behind the scenes is furnished in the following correspondence between John Adams and his wife, which took place at his election to the Presidency. [Footnote: Letters of John Adams, v.

ii. pp. 242,243. Mrs. Adams' Letters, p. 373.]

MR. ADAMS TO HIS WIFE.

"Philadelphia, 4th of Feb., 1797.

"My Dearest Friend,

"I hope you will not communicate to anybody the hints I give you about our prospects; but they appear every day worse and worse. House rent at twenty-seven hundred dollars a year, fifteen hundred dollars for a carriage, one thousand for one pair of horses, all the gla.s.ses, ornaments, kitchen furniture, the best chairs, settees, plateaus, &c., all to purchase; all the china, delph or wedgewood, gla.s.s and crockery of every sort to purchase, and not a farthing probably will the House of Representatives allow, though the Senate have voted a small addition. All the linen besides. I shall not pretend to keep more than one pair of horses for a carriage, and one for a saddle. Secretaries, servants, wood, charities, which are demanded as rights, and the million dittoes, present such a prospect as is enough to disgust anyone. Yet not one word must we say. We cannot go back. We must stand our ground as long as we can.

Dispose of our places with the help of our friend Dr. Tufts, as well as you can. We are impatient for news, but that is always so at this season.

I am tenderly your J. A."

THE SAME TO THE SAME.

"Philadelphia, 9th Feb., 1797.

"My Dearest Friend,

"The die is cast,[Footnote: Mr. Adams had, the day previous, been announced President elect of the United States.] and you must prepare yourself for honorable trials. I must wait to know whether Congress will do anything or not to furnish my house. If they do not, I will have no house before next fall, and then a very moderate one, with very moderate furniture. The prisoners from Algiers [Footnote: American citizens who had long been in captivity among the Algerines.] arrived yesterday in this City, in good health, and looking very well. Captain Stevens is among them. One woman rushed into the crowd and picked out her husband, whom she had not seen for fourteen years.

"I am, and ever shall be, yours, and no other's, J. A."

MRS. JOHN ADAMS TO HER HUSBAND.

"Quincy, 8th Feb., 1797.

"'The sun is dressed in brightest beams, To give thy honors to the day.'

"And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each ensuing season. You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. 'And now, O Lord, my G.o.d, thou hast made thy servant ruler over the people. Give unto him an understanding heart, that he may know how to go out and come in before this great people; that he may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this thy so great a people?' were the words of a royal sovereign; and not less applicable to him who is invested with the Chief Magistracy of a nation, though he wear not a crown, nor the robes of royalty.

"My thoughts and my meditations are with you, though personally absent; and my pet.i.tions to Heaven are, that 'the things which make for peace may not be hidden from your eyes.' My feelings are not those of pride or ostentation, upon the occasion. They are solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the important trusts, and numerous duties connected with it.

That, you may be enabled to discharge them with honor to yourself, with justice and impartiality to your country, and with satisfaction to this great people, shall be the daily prayer of your A. A."

MR. ADAMS TO HIS WIFE.

"Philadelphia, 5th March, 1797.

"My Dearest Friend,

"Your dearest friend never had a more trying day than yesterday.[Footnote: The day of his inauguration as President.] A solemn scene it was indeed; and it was made more affecting to me by the presence of the General, [Was.h.i.+ngton,] whose countenance was as serene and unclouded as the day. He seemed to me to enjoy a triumph over me. Methought I heard him say, 'Ay!

I am fairly out, and you fairly in! See which of us will be happiest.'

When the ceremony was over, he came and made me a visit, and cordially congratulated me, and wished my administration might be happy, successful, and honorable.

"It is now settled that I am to go into his house. It is whispered that he intends to take French leave to-morrow. I shall write you as fast as we proceed. My chariot is finished, and I made my first appearance in it yesterday. It is simple, but elegant enough. My horses are young, but clever.

"In the chamber of the House of Representatives, was a mult.i.tude as great as the s.p.a.ce could contain, and I believe scarcely a dry eye but Was.h.i.+ngton's. The sight of the sun setting full orbed, and another rising, though less splendid, was a novelty. Chief Justice Ellsworth administered the oath, and with great energy. Judges Cus.h.i.+ng, Wilson, and Iredell, were present. Many ladies. I had not slept well the night before, and did not sleep well the night after. I was unwell, and did not know whether I should get through or not. I did, however. How the business was received, I know not; only I have been told that Mason, the treaty publisher, said we should lose nothing by the change, for he never heard such a speech in public in his life.

"All agree that, taken altogether, it was the sublimest thing ever exhibited in America.

"I am, my dearest friend, most affectionately and kindly yours, "JOHN ADAMS."