gennes was not free from suspicion that they might make such an attempt. When the result of the conference was first reported to him, he expressed his approval, and complimented the commissioners upon the skill and tact which had brought their labors to so happy an issue. Later, however, when Jay offered him the opportunity to send dispatches to America, in the vessel which was to bear the announcement of their own success, he appeared much discontented, and taxed them with being in great haste to communicate the result of their own work, without taking any pains to ascertain the condition of the French negotiation, so that their preliminary treaty might, in fact, have the same weight and effect as if it were definitive. He, however, accepted the offer of their vessel, and sent serious complaints regarding the conduct of the commissioners, particularly as related to the independent negotiation. This action on his part would have had much greater effect, had it been taken earlier. Coming with the news of the preliminary treaty, it lost half its force. It drew, however, from Livingston, secretary of Congress, a rebuke and admonition, which were ill-timed and undeserved. This action excited much indignation among the members of the commission, and was answered in an elaborate official statement of facts and arguments.

In spite of all misunderstandings and mistrust, delays, cavillings, and insincerity, France, Spain, and England at last settled upon terms of peace, and the definitive treaty, which formally admitted America to the family of nations, was signed on the 3d of September, 1783. With this act, Mr. Adams regarded his mission in Europe as completed. He had accomplished all he had sought, the alliance with Holland, the loan which released America from desperate straits, and the peace. Hence he applied for permission to return home. Congress and the people were, however, too well satisfied with what he had done in Europe, to consent to give up his services. He had, in certain private letters, expressed regret that the revocation of his former commission had left no one in Europe with power to negotiate a commercial treaty with England. This suggestion reached Congress, and, instead of his wished for permission to return to his home, he received notice of his appointment, in connection with Messrs. Franklin and Jay, for that service.

A

CHAPTER X.

FURTHER FOREIGN SERVICE-THE VICE-PRESIDENCY.

DAMS was not at once permitted to assume his duties upon the new commission for negotiation with Great Britain. The arduous labors of several successive years, and his long exposure to the miasmatic poison of the low countries, had combined to undermine his health; already he had passed through an attack of fever at the Hague, and now, having barely completed his peace mission in Paris, he was again prostrated. His illness was long and serious; in its course it was deemed necessary to remove him from his hotel, in the heart of Paris, to the quiet home of a friend, in the suburbs. There he gradually improved, until he reached convalescence; long rides and drives in the Bois de Boulogne, and the pleasant by-ways of Auteuil, brought slowly back a measure of his strength. Still he did not gain as fast as he should, and, under advice of his physicians, he sailed for England in October, 1783, made the journey with comfort, and was ensconced at the Adelphi hotel, in London. Through the intervention of his great and honored countryman, Benjamin West, he obtained access to Buckingham and Windsor palaces, and, by a strange coincidence, stood in the house of lords when the poor, weak old king made his address, presenting to the house the Prince of Wales, that day attained majority, and at the same time confessing that 'he war which he had provoked, had brought only defeat, disaster, and humiliation.

Though the change of air and scene had proven beneficial to Mr. Adams, it was found that he still required something more, and he was recommended to try the effect of the waters at Bath. Hence, he left London and was just becoming domesticated in the gay English watering place, when came word that the American loan, negotiated with Holland, had been exhausted; that the drafts of the American treasury upon the Barings had been protested for non-acceptance, and were in danger of being protested for non-payment. At the same time he received urgent directions to

repair to the Hague and negotiate an additional loan. Weak and frail in health, he could scarcely but regard such an expedition, in the depth of a severe winter, with the primitive means of travel then existing, as attempted, if at all, almost necessarily at the price of his life. Yet he determined to make the effort, that he might save to America the results of his former efforts. To reach the Hague a dangerous and difficult voyage was necessary, and this was undertaken by Mr. Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, who had been his constant companion throughout his journeys and labor in Europe. The vessel was detained by unfavorable winds and finally landed its passengers upon the island of Goree, whence it was necessary to cross the half frozen arm of the sea to the island of Over Flackee, traverse its length, then make another perilous crossing to the main land. All this was done at a cost of hardship such as Mr. Adams had never before suffered, and he reached the Hague and opened the not too hopeful negotiation, which he carried to a successful issue, providing sufficient means for all the needs of government, until it became self-sustaining under the Constitution. This was done, however, upon less favorable terms than formerly, by reason of the extravagance and bad business methods of the government, which had somewhat alarmed the methodical Dutchmen.

Pending the negotiation of this important loan, came overtures from Frederick II. of Prussia, for the making of a commercial treaty with the United States. Franklin had just concluded such a treaty with Sweden, and Mr. Adams submitted a copy of it to the king, as a basis for preliminary discussion. Then followed a long and interesting consideration of the subject, involving a correspondence between Mr. Adams and the Prussian minister of state, which was the source of great satisfaction to the former. Finally, when every point had been carefully discussed, and every suggestion of the king elaborated and embodied in the form of a proposed treaty, the whole was sent to the United States for the consideration of Congress. Before it was received, Congress had commissioned John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson with general powers for the negotiation of commercial treaties with all European powers. This commission came in the early portion of the year 1784, and not far from this time Mrs. Adams and her daughter arrived in Europe and the reunited family settled in Paris. Then ensued a few months of keen and uninterrupted enjoyment, which years of almost constant separation and arduous labor had well earned. The official character of Mr. Adams, added to the recognition which his personality had won, opened the most jealous doors of the gay French capital. Mrs. Adams was well capable of worthily sustaining her husband's position, and thus, in the society of the most cultivated and interesting persons of the official, fashionable, and literary world, the days and weeks passed very smoothly.

The first meeting of the new commission was held at Paris, on the 30th

day of August, 1784, and notification sent to every maritime power in Europe, of its existence and the scope of its authority. There was no manifestation of eagerness on the part of the powers to meet the commission, and conclude treaties with the new and half-trusted nation beyond the Atlantic. Frederick, of Prussia, was a notable exception; the unfinished negotiation, begun with Mr. Adams, was carried forward under the new commission, and resulted in the adoption of a treaty which, for liberality and humanity, was far in advance of any that had ever been sealed between nations. The privileges of trade, the guaranties of personal immunity, and the general unreserved reciprocity, did infinite credit alike to the king and to Mr. Adams, and were well worthy of a more general recognition and imitation than they have received even in a later century. The labors of the commission were not engrossing, and the happy life at Paris continued until the month of February, 1785, when came to Adams notice of his appointment as envoy to St. James, -a tardy recognition of the folly of the revocation of his former commission. It was with reluctance that the recipient of this appointment left Paris for London, to take up his new and important duties as the first envoy of the victorious colonies, to the court of the defeated king. It was, indeed, a delicate charge which he had to assume. The confederation of the North American States, had only survived the war by the force of public emergency, and, with the withdrawal of this external pressure, it was falling to pieces like the timbers of a stranded ship. The British government had deserted the pacific and liberal policy of the Shelburne ministry, which, had it been adopted, would have united the two nations by ties of common interest more permanent and valuable than those which had been dissolved by war. In its place had been proposed a policy of rigorous exclusion of the United States from all the benefits of the British colonial trade. It can, in fact, scarcely be regarded as a policy, for it was the least politic course which could have been pursued, and was dictated purely by resentment. Though opposed by the wisest statesmen, it pleased the thoughtless ones, it pleased the king, and it flattered the wounded pride of the people. Then, too, the American confederation failed to live up to its treaty agreements; not only was there a conspicuous lack of zeal in opening the way for the collection of debts held by British citizens, but some states actually went so far as to declare such obligations void, repudiating the act of Congress and its commission. There was much cause for the mortification of the friends and the exultation of the enemies of America throughout Europe, and especially in Great Britain. The latter power needed only a pretext for retaliation, and refused to abandon the frontier forts as stipulated in the treaty.

This being the condition of affairs, the mission of Adams was foredoomed to failure. Upon arriving at London, in May, he was formally presented to the king, and was received with icy civility. No people in the

world, sooner detects or is more strictly ruled by the humor of royalty, than is the British. What was bare civility in the king, became coldness in the ministry, superciliousness in the court, rudeness in the people. When Jefferson was summoned from Paris, to give counsel in the matter, he went with Adams before the king, and the monarch, after a few formal words, placed the royal orb in eclipse, by turning his back upon the representative rebels. Failure was everywhere predicted for the American experiment, and there seemed little reason for a better hope. There were not lacking wise men in England, who expected to see America begging for pardon, protection, and a place in the colonial family. Under such circumstances the negotiation of a treaty of commerce was entirely impracticable. Jefferson returned to Paris within a few weeks, and, although Adams remained in London for nearly three years, his mission calls for no further attention.

The opinions of Europe were at that time very unsettled. The political leaven which resulted in the French revolution, was even then at work, and not alone in Paris or in France. Every capital in Europe had its imitators and disciples of Rousseau, Voltaire-even of the hideous fanatic, Marat. Political discussion was the only discussion, and the word liberty was upon every tongue. As was inevitable under the circumstances, the American experiment was much discussed and freely condemned, though with no great enlightenment. Among its assailants was M. Turgot, a French publicist, and, upon reading his production, Mr. Adams determined to devote his time to elaborating his own theory of American system, for the enlightenment of Europe, as well as the clarification of American ideas upon the subject. With infinite labor he prepared and published his work entitled, A Defense of the Constitution of the United States from the Attack of M. Turgot, which ultimately extended to three volumes, and was published and read throughout Europe and America. The work was not a remarkable one from a literary standpoint, and its significance has long since passed, but it vindicated its raison d'etre at the time, placing before the world the first elaborate and well considered discussion of the subject. The first volume came to Massachusetts just at the time when the fate of the newly framed federal Constitution hung in the balance. The state was divided, the commercial element favoring the Constitution; the agricultural class opposing it. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were inclined to take part with the opposition. They read John Adams' volume; he had learned lessons by the failure of the confederation, and the burthen of his argument was in favor of a federation, with adequate central authority, in the hands of an elective executive, a legislature composed of two branches, and a judiciary which should check the legislative. This was a modification of the British system to meet the needs of America, and it did not sufficiently differ from that embodied in the proposed constitution of America, to weaken the effect of its arguments in favor of that instrument, and, as a