Fourteen years after the May Flower anchored by Plymouth rock, another vessel, filled with no less distinguished adventurers, touched upon the New-England coast, near Boston. In the former came John Alden, one of the ancestors of John Quincy Adams; in the latter, Henry Adams, with a large family, the first of the name that came to this country. The Adamses settled at Mount Wollaston, which was, at first, annexed to Boston in 1634, for the special benefit of the new colonists, but afterwards in 1640 it became incorporated as a separate town, by the name of Braintree. Henry Adams, junior, was for several years town clerk, and the first of the family elected to a civil office in America. His youngest brother, Joseph, who resided in the same town, left ten children. One of them, bearing the paternal name, married the grand-daughter of John Alden, of the Plymouth colony. His second son was the father of John Adams, who succeeded Washington as President of the United States, and who was the father of the distinguished man whose name stands at the head of this page. John Quincy Adams was, therefore, a descendant in the fifth generation of Henry Adams, who was driven by persecution from Devonshire, England, in 1634, and among the earliest colonists of New-England. On his mother's side, as above shown, he was a descendant of John Alden of the May Flower. It would be difficult to conceive of events better suited to produce a great man, than conspired in the ancestry, birth and education of the subject of this brief sketch. Born in the summer of 1767, at Braintree, Massachusetts, of illustrious parents, and of ancestors alike venerable and distinguished for the common pursuit of freedom, at a period when liberty and bondage were each struggling for the mastery on the soil of New-England, he early imbibed that liberal and patriotic spirit, for which he was celebrated in mature age. Blessed as he was with a distinguished father, it was his good fortune also to enjoy the early instructions of a most accomplished mother. She was not only possessed of refined talents and generous dispositions, but added thereto a spirit thoroughly imbued with the principles of liberty, and was altogether worthy of being the wife of such a husband, or the mother of such a son. Such were the benign influences which guarded his childhood. He grew up, at home, in the enjoyment of every advantage that wealth could bestow, till at the age of eleven, he accompanied his father to France, who had been appointed joint commissioner with Franklin and Lee, to the French court. He remained there eighteen months, enjoying, at that early age, the advantages of a foreign court, together with the special favor and friendship of Doctor Franklin. Though at this time but a mere boy, he possessed an observing mind, and profited much by what he saw and heard. He returned home with his father in the summer of 1779. In November of the same year he again sailed for France with his father in the French frigate La Sensible, which, having sprung a leak, was obliged to put in to port at Ferrol, in Spain. Thence they journeyed by land, and reached Paris in February, 1780. He was there put to school for three or four months, and afterwards enjoyed the advantages of a public school at Amsterdam, and the University of Leyden. During this time he made great proficiency in the classics, besides acquiring a good knowledge of French and German. In the summer of 1781 he went as private secretary of Francis Dana, in his mission to the court of the Empress of Russia. After remaining there fourteen months, he set out on his return, unat tended, and journeyed through Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and Bremen, to Holland, where he arrived in April, 1783, and was in charge of Mr. Dumas, an agent of the United States, at the Hague, till the arrival of his father in July. From this time till the spring of 1785, he continued with his father, who was engaged in negotiating for his country, chiefly in England, Holland and France. On the appointment of his father as minister to the court of St. James, he asked permission to return to his native country, to enjoy a liberal course of study in Harvard college. He accordingly returned and entered the Junior class, where he graduated in July, 1787, with high reputation. His attention was now directed to a course of law. He studied with chief justice Parsons, at Newburyport. While there he had the honor of preparing an address, to be delivered by Mr. Parsons, expressive of the public sentiment, on a visit of General Washington to that place. Mr. Adams entered upon his professional duties in Boston, and meanwhile employed much of his leisure in writing upon the great political topics of the day. No man was better qualified to throw light upon difficult subjects, whether political, historical or literary. He had enriched his mind at foreign universities, studied the various workings of the human heart, both at home and abroad, and added to a collegiate course the fine discipline of a thorough acquaintance with the legal profession. His political essays accordingly soon attracted wide attention. They were alike distinguished for beauty of diction and strength of argument. The writings which brought him more specially into notice, and established him as a statesman and politician, were his essays upon neutrality on the part of the United States in respect to the war of 1793, between England and France. It was claimed by many that the treaty of alliance of 1778, obligated us to join in the wars of France. The French minister, Mr. Genet, occasioned great excitement in the public mind by his flaming appeals to our government for aid. Mr. Adams opposed this sentiment, and maintained that our policy should be strict neutrality in that war; that it was both the duty and for the interest of the United States, not to take part in it. These papers were read and admired by Washington, who, not knowing their author, as they appeared under a fictitious title, made special effort to ascertain his name. They were attributed by him to John Adams, his father, as they bore evidence of a maturity of mind beyond what is common to young men at the age of twenty-seven. The justice of his views were shortly sanctioned by a proclamation of neutrality by Washington. Soon after he was recommended to Washington, by Thomas Jefferson, as a fit person to engage in the public services of his country. Mr. Jefferson had seen him in France, while a boy, and formed a high opinion of his talents, both native and acquired. Being thus honorably introduced to Washington's notice, and having previously commended himself by his writings, he was shortly after appointed by him minister resident to the Netherlands. During his residence there he became of great public service, not only by a faithful discharge of the duties of his mission, but by a careful study of the leading events of other governments that came under his notice. His correspondence at that time with our government was of the highest importance. With what estimation he was regarded by Washington may be inferred from the following letter to his father, in reply to the inquiries of the latter, then President of the Union, respecting his opinion about promoting his son. It will be seen that it was considered by the father a delicate matter, as it well night be, to bestow important offices upon his son. The letter spoken of reads thus: "DEAR SIR: I thank you for giving me a perusal of the enclosed. The sentiments do honor to the head and heart of the writer; and if my wishes would be of any avail, they should go to you in a strong hope that you will not withhold merited promotion from John Q. Adams, because he is your son. For, without intending to compliment the father or mother, or to censure any others, I give it as my decided opinion, that Mr. Adams is the most valuable public character we have abroad; and that there remains no doubt in my mind that he will prove himself to be the ablest of all our diplomatic corps. If he was now to be brought into that line, or |