ant 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 Washington.

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