orded to any other American youth. Among
the earliest acts of the American Congress, was the appointment of
Benjamin Franklin, Silas Dean, and Arthur Lee, as Commissioners to France;
they were charged to solicit aid from France, and to negotiate a treaty,
by which the Independence of the United States should be acknowledged by
Louis Sixteenth, then at the height of his popularity. Silas Dean was
recalled in 1776, and John Adams was appointed to fill his place. He
embarked on this mission the 13th of February, 1778, in the frigate
Boston, commanded by Captain Tucker. John Adams had gone down to Quincy,
and the frigate called there to receive him on board. On the eve of
embarkation he wrote the following simple and touching letter to Mrs.
Adams:

"Uncle Quincy's,--half after 11 o'clock, 13 February, 1778.
"DEAREST OF FRIENDS,
"I had not been twenty minutes in this house, before I had the happiness
to see Captain Tucker and a midshipman coming for me. We will be soon on
board, and may God prosper our voyage in every stage of it as much as at
the beginning, and send to you, my dear children, and all my friends, the
choicest blessings!

"So wishes and prays yours, with an ardor that neither absence, nor any
other event can abate,
"JOHN ADAMS.
"P. S. Johnny sends his duty to his mamma, and his love to his sisters and
brothers. He behaves like a man."

"He behaves like a man!"--Words which gave presage of the future character
of John Quincy Adams. His education had now commenced: an education in the
principles of heroic action, by John Adams, the colossus of the American
Revolution. How devoted he was to this important charge, and with what
true philosophy he conducted it, may be seen by the following letter
written about that time by him, to Mrs. Adams:

"Human nature, with all its infirmities and depravation, is still capable
of great things. It is capable of attaining to degrees of wisdom and of
goodness which we have reason to believe appear respectable in the
estimation of superior intelligences. Education makes a greater
difference between man and man, than nature has made between man and
brute. The virtues and powers to which men may be trained, by early
education and constant discipline, are truly sublime and astonishing.

"Newton and Locke are examples of the deep sagacity which may be acquired
by long habits of thinking and study. Nay, your c