billows three days, beating against a wintry gale; were driven to the Island of Goeree, and landed on a desolate shore; walked five miles over ice and snow to a wretched town; hired a farmer's cart, the only vehicle which could be obtained, without cushions or springs; rattled over the deep ruts of the frozen ground twelve miles, till they reached a ferry to cross over to the main land; found all the boats on the other side; waited at the ferry several days; hired, at a great price, an ice-boat to take them over; were rowed in the water till they came to the ice; then the sailors, eight in number, dragged the boat upon the ice, and pushed it along while the passengers walked. When they came to a spot where the ice was thin, and the boat broke through, they all jumped in again. Were all day, and until late at night, making the passage, embarking and disembarking many times. Wet, chilled, exhausted, reached the shore; could find no carriage; hired a peasant's wagon to take them to Brielle, and there obtained conveyance through intense cold to the Hague, where Mr. Adams succeeded in raising another loan, and saved the credit of his country. There is other heroism besides that which is exhibited on the bloody field, and there are other battles besides those which are fought with powder and bullets.

Mr. Adams writes in his journal, "I had ridden on horseback often to Congress, over roads and across ferries, of which the present generation have no idea; and once, in 1777, in the dead of winter, from Braintree to Baltimore, five hundred miles, on a trotting horse. I had been three days in the Gulf Stream, in 1778, in a furious hurricane, and a storm of thunder and lightning, which struck down our men upon deck, and cracked our mainmast; when the oldest officers and stoutest seamen stood aghast, at their last prayers, dreading every moment that a butt would start, and all perish. I had crossed the Atlantic, in 1779, in a leaky ship, with perhaps four hundred men on board, who were scarcely able, with two large pumps going all the twenty-four hours, to keep water from filling the hold; in hourly danger, for twenty days together, of foundering at sea. I had passed the mountains in Spain, in the winter, among ice and snow, partly on mule-back, and partly on foot. Yet I never suffered so much in any of these situations as in that jaunt from Bath to Amsterdam, in January, 1784. Nor did any of these adventures ever do such lasting injury to my health. I never got over it till my return home in 1788."

While in England, Mr. Adams had enjoyed the intense gratifica tion of hearing George III., from his throne, announce to Parliament that he had concluded a treaty of peace, in which he recognized the independence of the United States. While in Holland, Frederick II, of Prussia made overtures to Mr. Adams for a treaty of commerce. At the same time, Mr. Adams received a new commission, authorizing him to act, with Franklin and Jefferson, to negotiate treaties of commerce with any of the foreign powers. As it was evident that his residence abroad was to be extended, he wrote to Mrs. Adams to join him with the residue of their family. The happy re-union took place in the summer of 1784; and they selected for their residence a quiet retreat at Auteuil, near Paris. And now came probably the happiest period of Mr. Adams's life. His wife, his eldest son, John Quincy, then rising into a youth of great promise, and his daughter, whose beauty and accomplishments made her justly the pride of both father and mother, were with him.

Mrs. Adams, in her letters, gives a very graphic account of her life at Auteuil. The village was four miles from Paris. The house was very large, and coldly elegant, with mirrors and waxed floors, but destitute of comfort. It was situated near the celebrated park called the Woods of Boulogne, where Mr. Adams, whose health required that he should take much exercise, walked several hours every day. The walls were lined with magnificent mirrors; but there was not a carpet in the house, nor a table better than an oak board. A servant polished the floors each morning with a brush buckled to one of his feet. The expenses of housekeeping were found to be enormous. A heavy tax was imposed upon every thing. All articles of domestic use were about thirty per cent higher than in Boston. It was absolutely necessary to keep a coach; and the coachman and horses cost fifteen guineas a month. The social customs of the country rendered it indispensable that they should keep seven servants. Their expenses were so heavy, that it required all Mrs. Adams's remarkable financial skill to save them from pecuniary ruin. The humble style in which they were compelled to live, compared with the splendor in which all the other foreign ministers indulged, must have been no small trial. Mr. Jay was compelled to resign his office, as he found that he could not support himself upon his salary.

On the 24th of February, 1785, peace with England having been

proclaimed, Congress appointed Mr. Adams envoy to the court of St. James. He crossed the Channel to assume these new arduous and delicate responsibilities. He was now to meet, face to face, the King of England, who had so long regarded him as a traitor, and against whose despotic power he had assisted the nation so successfully to contend. Mr. Adams, in his despatch to Mr. Jay, then secretary of foreign affairs, has left an interesting account of his first public reception.

He rode to court, by invitation of Lord Carmarthen, in his coach. In the ante-chamber he found the room full of ministers of state, generals, bishops, and all sorts of courtiers, each waiting his turn for an audience. He was soon conducted into the king's closet, where he was left alone with the king and his secretary of state. Mr. Adams, according to the court etiquette, upon which he had carefully informed himself, made three low bows, one at the door, another when he made a couple of steps, and the third when he stood before the king. He then, in a voice tremulous with the emotion which the scene was calculated to inspire, addressed his Majesty in the following words:

"Sire, 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 friendly and liberal intercourse between your Majesty's subjects and their citizens, and of their best wishes for your Majesty's health and for that of the 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 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 the entire esteem, confidence, and affection, or, in better words, the old good nature and the old harmony, between people, who, though separated by an ocean and under different governments, have the same language, a similar religion, and kindred blood. I beg your Majesty's permission to

add, that, although I have sometimes before been intrusted by my country, it was never, in my whole life, in a manner so agreeable to myself."

The king listened to this address in evident emotion. He seemed not a little agitated; for to his proud spirit it was an hour of deep humiliation. With a voice even more tremulous than that with which Mr. Adams had spoken, he replied,

"Sir, the circumstances of this audience are so extraordinary, the language you have now held is so extremely proper, and the feelings you have discovered so justly adapted to the occasion, that I must say that I not only receive with pleasure the assurance of the friendly disposition of the people of the United States but that I am very glad that the choice has fallen upon you as their minister. But I wish you, sir, to believe, and that it may be understood in America, that I have done nothing in the late contest but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do by the duty which I owed to my people. I will be frank with you. I was the last to conform to the separation; but the separation having been made, and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power. The moment I see such sentiments and language as yours prevail, and a disposition to give this country the preference, that moment I shall say, Let the circumstances of language, religion, and blood, have their full effect."

This formality being over, the king asked Mr. Adams if he came last from France. Upon receiving an affirmative reply, he smiled, and, assuming an air of familiarity, said, "There is an opinion among some people that you are not the most attached, of all your countrymen, to the manners of France." This perhaps explains the reason why the king had said, "I am glad that the choice has fallen upon you," and throws light upon the suggestion he had ventured to throw out, that we should manifest "a disposition to give this country the preference." But for the aid of our ally, we should inevitably have been crushed by the British armies. Yet Mr. Adams, regarding those efforts as purely selfish, was not disposed to manifest the slightest gratitude. He was, however, a little embarrassed by the king's allusion to his want of attachment to France, and replied, "That opinion, sir, is not mistaken. I must avow to your Majesty, I have no attachment but to my own

country." The king instantly responded, "An honest man will never have any other."

Mr. Adams's situation in London was more painful even than in Paris. He was met there only with haughtiness and ill-will. Everywhere he encountered cold civility, supercilious indifference. His literary labors in London were of much service to his country, as he published "A Defence of the American Constitution," in three volumes, which displayed much ability, and exerted a powerful influAs Great Britain did not condescend to appoint a minister to the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he was accomplishing but little, he solicited permission to return to his own country, and reached his rural home in Braintree, from which he had so long been absent, in June of 1788.

ence.

When some persons accused Mr. Adams of being covertly in favor of monarchical institutions, Mr. Jefferson replied, "Gentlemen, you do not know that man. There is not upon this earth a more perfectly honest man than John Adams. It is not in his nature to meditate any thing which he would not publish to the world. I know him well; and I repeat, that a more honest man never issued from the hands of his Creator."

Five years after the accomplishment of our independence, it was found, to the very bitter disappointment of many, that there was not so much prosperity, neither was order so well established, as in colonial days, while matters were manifestly growing worse. There was no common principle harmonizing the action of the different States. We were not a nation. We had no national sense of honor. It was necessary to organize the Federal GovernThe success of the Revolution had afforded the United States, as Washington said, "the opportunity of becoming a respectable nation."

ment anew.

Fifty-five delegates were appointed by the various States of the Confederacy to frame a Constitution for the United States of America. They met in Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence had been signed. The Constitution which they drew up was accepted by the States, and we became a nation. George Washington was unanimously chosen President for four years; and John Adams, rendered illustrious by his signal services at home and abroad, was chosen Vice-President.

The first Congress under the Constitution met in New York