nearly aL t ho oiui of I lie ycur IKCil ; 

 "]t niny Im my pivMlilcclion Ihnl. 

 biasses my judgment, but I think 

 I see in my father the only picture 

 of a fullgro\\'n statesman that the 

 history of the United States has 

 yet produced." And Henry Adams, 

 as secretary to his father, wrote 

 from London to his brother in the j 

 Union army in 1863: "The minister 

 was grand. I studied his attitude 

 with deep admiration. Not all the 

 applications of his friends could, 

 make him open his mouth to put 

 the public right on his letter or on 

 the gross falsehoods. . . . The 

 time had not come. Of course he 

 was cursed for his obstinacy, but he 

 ' is used to that." 



Meantime Charles Francis, the 

 younger, was helping to keep his 

 father and his brothers right about 

 the qualifications of Abraham Linr 

 coin. In London they had the no- 

 tion that the government was Se- 

 ward. The keenly perceptive cavalry 

 officer ^vT0te thus after the second 

 inaugural: 'The rail-splitting la\^Ter 

 is one of the wonders of the day. 

 Once at Gettysburg, and now again 

 on a greater occasion, he has shown 

 a capacity for rising to the demands 

 of the hour which we should not 

 expect from orators or men of the 

 schools. This inaugural strikes me 

 in its grand simplicity and direct- 

 ness as being for all time the his- 

 torical keynote of this war Not a 



prince or minister in all Europe 

 could have risen to such an equality 

 with the occasion." • 



Reading the correspondence and 

 the diaries of the several members 

 of tihis family is fascinating to all 

 who care for anything else than 

 the mere surface movements of 

 our national history. Almost every 

 member of the line seems to have 

 been an inveterate diarist and letter- 

 writer. While John Quincy Adams 

 Avas representing the young republic 

 abroad his father was at the head 

 of the government of the nation. 

 He addressed his father in the 

 formal manner of a diplomat re- 

 porting to his superior, as "My dear 

 Sir," and he devoted his paper to 

 the enlightenment of the senior for 

 his official guidance as to the course 

 of European politics. His father re- 

 , called him from Europe in 1801 lest 

 his incumbency cause embarrassment 

 to. the incoming President. Some 

 'years earlier the son had sent a 

 message to his father as the pros- 

 pective President In succession to 

 Washington which Is an excellent 

 ; illustration of the manner of this 

 I correspondence: 



' "Your indifference concerning the 

 event of a possible future competi- 

 ■ tion; the determination to be alto- 

 i gether passive, and the intrepidity 

 jwith which the prospects of either 

 j decision are contemplated, I readily 

 i believe; and rejoice in believing 

 Ithem, because I have no doubt but 

 Ithat the transaction will call for 

 Ithe exercise of all those qualities in 

 [an eminent degree. . .You are aware 

 iof the dangers to which the station 

 'at the helm will be exposed during 



