intance with Charles Francis Adams.
I have known his son, Charles Francis Adams, President of
the Massachusetts Historical Society, pretty well. He inherits
a great deal of the ability and independence which belongs
to his race. He would undoubtedly have taken a very high
place in the public and official life of his generation if
he had found himself in accord with either of the great political
parties.

I do not think anybody, except the very intimate friends
of Charles Francis Adams, was aware of his great abilities
until he manifested them amid the difficulties of the English
Mission. They were known, however, to a few men who were
intimate with him. I was quite astonished one day when I
called on Dr. Palfrey, at his house in Cambridge in 1852,
and he told me Mr. Adams was entirely competent for the office
of President of the United States.

Mr. Adams was rather dull as a public speaker. He was apt
to announce commonplaces slowly and deliberately, as if they
were something he thought his audience was listening to for
the first time. But the influence of his historic name was
very great. His marvellous resemblance to his father and
grandfather made a great impression. When he said at Worcester
on the 28th of June, 1848: "I say, in words to which I have
a hereditary right, 'Sink or Swim, Live or Die, Survive or
Perish, I give my hand and my heart to this movement,'" it
seemed to the audience as if old John Adams had stepped down
from Trumbull's picture of the Signing of the Declaration
of Independence to give his benediction.*

[Footnote]
* I like very much the epitaph which his sons placed over him in
the burial place at Quincy. Every word of it is true.

THIS STONE
MARKS THE GRAVE OF
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS
SON OF JOHN QUINCY
AND LOUISA CATHERINE (JOHNSON)
ADAMS
BORN 18 AUGUST 1807
Trained from his youth in politics and letters
His manhood strengthened by the convictions
Which had inspired his fathers
He was among the first to serve
And among the most steadfast to support
That new revolution
Which restored the principles of liberty
To public law
And secured to his country
The freedom of its soil
During seven troubled and anxious years
Minister of the United States in England
afterward arbitrator at the tribunal of Geneva
He failed in no task which his Government imposed
Yet won the respect and confidence
of two great nations
Dying 21 November 1886
He l