iplomatic corps. If he was now to be brought into that line, or into any
other public walk, I could not, upon the principle which has regulated my
own conduct, disapprove of the caution which is hinted at in the letter.
But he is already entered; the public, more and more, as he is known, are
appreciating his talents and worth; and his country would sustain a loss,
if these were to be checked by over delicacy on your part.

"With sincere esteem, and affectionate regard,
"I am ever yours,
"GEORGE WASHINGTON."

This letter is characteristic of the discernment and nobleness of
Washington. Appreciating at a glance the perplexed position of Mr. Adams,
and wisely discriminating between the bringing forward of his son for the
first time into public service, and the continuing him where he had
already been placed by others, and shown himself worthy of all trust and
confidence, he frankly advised him to overcome his scruples, and permit
his son to remain in a career so full of promise to himself and his
country. President Adams, in agreement with this counsel, determined to
allow his son to continue in Europe in the public capacity to which he had
been promoted by Washington.

Shortly previous to the close of Washington's administration, he
transferred the younger Adams from the Hague, by an appointment as
Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal, but before proceeding to Lisbon, his
father, in the meantime having become President, changed his destination
to Berlin. He arrived in that city in the autumn of 1797, and immediately
entered upon the discharge of his duties as Minister of the United States.
In 1798, while retaining his office at Berlin, he was commissioned to form
a commercial treaty with Sweden.

During his residence at Berlin, Mr. Adams, while attending with unsleeping
diligence to his public duties, did not forego the more congenial pursuits
of literature. He cultivated the acquaintance of many eminent German
scholars and poets, and manifested a friendly sympathy in their pursuits.
In a letter to the late Dr. Follen writes of that day as follows:--

"At this time, Wieland was there the most popular of the German poets.
And although there was in his genius neither the originality nor the deep
pathos of Goethe, Klopstock, or Schiller there was something in the
playfulness of his imagination, in the tenderness of his sensibility, in
the sunny cheerfulness o