Late American Statesmen, No. II [pp. 95-119]

LA TE AMERICAN S TA TESMEN.
the controversy then raging between our government and that
of France showed that even at that time he was a diligent stu dent of international law. He was appointed by Washington
minister to the Hague; but his destination was changed, on his
father's accession, to Berlin, where he remained for three years
a close observer of the great diplomatic struggle of which Berlin
was one of the chief centres. Recalled by Mr. Jefferson, he was
elected to the Massachusetts legislature, and was subsequently
elected to the Senate of the United States. There he took a
conspicuous position. He opposed the annexation of Louisi ana, not because he doubted the expediency of the acquisition,
but because the only mode, as he conceived, of effecting the
end was by constitutional amendment. When, however, a war
with England seemed imminent, he placed himself at once in
confidential communication with the executive. A portion of
the federalists, so he told Mr. Jefferson, were negotiating with
England for a dissolution of the Union; and this position he
maintained in a bitter controversy in which he soon engaged
with his colleague, Mr. Pickering. His relations with the federalists were dissolved, and when, after a temporary defeat, the
federalists recovered their old ascendency in Massachusetts, his
re-election to the federal Senate was defeated. Mr. Madison
sent him as minister to Russia, where he remained until, at the
close of the war of I812, he was called to take part in the negotiations at Ghent. From Ghent, after a visit to Paris, where he
was detained during the Hundred Days, he was transferred to
London, where he was the first American minister after the war
of i812, as his father had been the first American minister after
the revolutionary war. When Mr. Monroe, on his election to
the presidency, was looking about for a secretary of state, his
eye was naturally turned to Mr. Adams. A conciliation of sections, if not of parties, would be thus achieved, and the most
eminent diplomatic ability the country possessed secured at a
time when diplomatic ability was peculiarly needed. In view of
their future relations it is an interesting circumstance that General Jackson should have written to Mr. Monroe that "Mr.
Adams was the fittest man for the office; a man who would
stand by the country in the hour of danger."
Mr. Adams's colleagues were: Mr. Crawford, as secretary of
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