Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams. | Page 7

idea we shall ever obtain, by compact, a better
footing for our commerce with this country than that on which it now
stands; and therefore the shortness of time, limited for the operation of
this part of the compact, is, I think, beneficial to us."
After remaining fifteen days in London, Mr. Adams sailed, on the 30th
of October, for Holland, landed at Hellevoetsluis, and proceeded
without delay to the Hague.
His reception as the representative of the United States had scarcely
been acknowledged by the President of the States General, before
Holland was taken possession of by the French, under Pichegru. The
Stadtholder fled, the tree of liberty was planted, and the French national
flag displayed before the Stadthouse. The people were kept quiet by
seventy thousand French soldiers. The Stadtholder, the nobility, and the
regencies of the cities, were all abolished, a provincial municipality
appointed, and the country received as an ally of France, under the
name of the Batavian Republic; the streets being filled with tri-colored
cockades, and resounding with the Carmagnole, or the Marseilles
Hymn. Mr. Adams was visited by the representatives of the French
people, and recognized as the minister of a nation free like themselves,
with whom the most fraternal relations should be maintained. In
response, he assured them of the attachment of his fellow-citizens for
the French people, who felt grateful for the obligations they were under
to the French nation, and closed with demanding safety and protection
for all American persons and property in the country.
Popular societies in Holland were among the most efficient means of
the success of the revolution, as they had been in France. Mr. Adams,
being solicited to join one of them, declined, considering it improper in
a stranger to take part personally in the politics of the country. "It was,"
he wrote, "unnecessary for me to look out for motives to justify my
refusal. I have an aversion to political popular societies in general. To
destroy an established power, they are undoubtedly an efficacious
instrument, but in their nature they are fit for nothing else. The reign of
Robespierre has shown what use they make of power when they obtain
it."

The station of Mr. Adams at the Hague gave him opportunities to
acquaint himself with parties and persons, their motives and principles,
of which he availed himself with characteristic industry.
In October, 1795, he was directed by the Secretary of State to repair to
England, and arriving there in November ensuing, he found he was
appointed to exchange ratifications of Mr. Jay's treaty with the British
government. This mission was far from pleasant to him. In effect it was
merely ministerial, and so far as it might result in negotiation, he did
not anticipate any good. "I am convinced," he wrote, "that Mr. Jay did
everything that was to be done; that he did so much affords me a proof
of the wisdom with which he conducted the business, that grows
stronger the more I see. But circumstances will do more than any
negotiation. The pride of Britain itself must bend to the course of
events. The rigor of her system already begins to relax, and one year of
war to her and peace to us will be more favorable to our interests, and
to the final establishment of our principles, than could possibly be
effected by twenty years of negotiation or war."
While in England, the duties of his appointment brought him into
frequent intercourse with Lord Grenville and other leading British
statesmen of the period. After the objects of his mission had been
acceptably fulfilled, he received authority from his government to
return to his station, at the Hague, in May, 1796. His time was there
devoted to official duties, to the claims of general society, to an
extensive correspondence, the study of works on diplomacy, the
English and Latin classics, and the Dutch and Italian languages.
In August, 1796, he received from the Secretary of State an
appointment as minister plenipotentiary to the Court of Portugal, with
directions not to quit the Hague until he received further instructions.
These did not reach him until the arrival of Mr. Murray, his successor,
in July, 1797, when he took his departure for England. Truthfulness to
himself, not less than to the public, characterized Mr. Adams. Every
day had its assigned object, which every hour successively, as far as
possible, fulfilled. Daily he called himself to account for what he had
done or omitted. At the close of every month and year he submitted

himself to retrospection concerning fulfilled or neglected duties,
judging himself by a severe standard.
On arriving in London, he found his appointment to the Court of
Portugal superseded by another to the Court of Berlin, with directions
not to proceed on the mission