That this prominent appointment was as flattering to Mr. Adams as it was unexpected, is naturally true.  It was the more to his credit in consideration of the fact, that in those days elevation to offices of this importance was the award of merit and talent, and not the result of importunity, or the payment of party services.  Mr. Adams was at this time in the twenty-seventh year of his age—­a younger man, undoubtedly, than has since ever been selected by our Government to fulfil a trust so important.  But the ability and discretion of the young diplomatist, and the success which attended his negotiations in Europe, so creditable to himself and his country, fully justified the wisdom of Washington in selecting him for this important 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.