more warmth of praise than he will find therein, and so do a more correct justice to an honest statesman and a gallant friend of the oppressed. Doing this, he will improve my book in the particular wherein I think that it chiefly needs improvement. JOHN T. MORSE, JR. July, 1898. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Page Youth and Diplomacy 1 CHAPTER II. Secretary of State and President 101 CHAPTER III. In the House of Representatives 225 Index 309 ILLUSTRATIONS John Quincy Adams Frontispiece From the original painting by John Singleton Copley, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston Public Library. The vignette of Mr. Adams's home in Quincy is from a photograph. Page William H. Crawford 107 From the painting by Henry Ulke, in the Treasury Department at Washington. Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston Public Library. Stratford Canning 149 After a drawing (1853) by George Richmond. Autograph from "Life of Stratford Canning." Henry A. Wise 291 From a photograph by Brady, in the Library of the State Department at Washington. Autograph from the Chamberlain collection, Boston Public Library. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (p. 001) CHAPTER I YOUTH AND DIPLOMACY On July 11, 1767, in the North Parish of Braintree, since set off as the town of Quincy, in Massachusetts, was born John Quincy Adams. Two streams of as good blood as flowed in the colony mingled in the veins of the infant. If heredity counts for anything he began life with an excellent chance of becoming famous--_non sine dis animosus infans_. He was called after his great-grandfather on the mother's side, John Quincy, a man of local note who had borne in his day a distinguished part in provincial affairs. Such a naming was a simple and natural occurrence enough, but Mr. Adams afterward moralized upon it in his characteristic way:--