s, he ought never to be trusted with a
place where, unrestrained, his errors might be fatal to the country."
Crawford complained of the difficulty he encountered in the cabinet of
softening the asperities which invariably predominated in the official
notes of the State Department while under Adams's direction, and said
that, had they been allowed to remain as originally drafted, the
government would have been "unembarrassed by diplomatic relations with
more than one power." But it must be remembered that there was no love
lost between Adams and Crawford--political rivals and not personal
friends.

The commercial negotiations, and the discussion of French pretensions
under the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty, opened with M.
Pasquier, were continued with the Vicomte de Montmorenci, who succeeded
him as minister of foreign affairs. In September, 1821, Mr. Gallatin had
communicated to Mr. Adams his intention of returning home in the spring;
but there appearing a chance of success in the negotiation of a treaty,
he wrote in February, 1822, to President Monroe that if no successor had
been appointed, he was desirous to remain some time longer. He was loath
to return without having succeeded in any one subject intrusted to his
care. Meanwhile Mr. Adams and M. de Neuville, the French minister, had
been busy in the United States. A commercial convention was signed at
Washington on June 24, 1822. Concerning this agreement Mr. Gallatin
wrote to Adams that the terms were much more favorable to France than he
had been led to presume would be acceded to, and more so than had been
hoped for by the French government. He nevertheless expressed the wish
that, as it had been signed, it should be ratified, in anticipation that
the superior activity of our ship-owners and seamen would enable America
to stand the competition.

In January, 1823, Montmorenci resigned and was succeeded by M. de
Chateaubriand. The change of ministers made no change in the French
persistence in connecting the discussion of the American claims with
that of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty, an arrangement to
which Mr. Gallatin would not consent. As a last resort he so informed M.
de Chateaubriand, but receiving an unsatisfactory answer he concluded
that there was at that time no disposition in France to do us justice;
and as his protracted stay could be of no service to the United States,
he determined to return home in the course of the spring. I