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216 As was to be expected, neither she nor her husband were exempt from annoyances growing out of the late controversy. She writes to Mrs. Warren : "Whoever in Europe is known to have adopted republican principles must expect to have all the engines of war of every court and courtier in the world displayed against him."

Yet, notwithstanding the drawbacks that sometimes troubled her, her residence in London seems to have been a most agreeable one, and, with the unaffected republican simplicity and exquisite union of frankness and refinement in her manners, she seems to have won her way even in the proud circles of the English aristocracy.

Her letters are a faithful transcript of her feelings, and there is a surprisingly modern note and almost prophetic suggestion in the following observation from one of her letters to her sister: "When I reflect on the advantages which people in America possess over the most polished of other nations, the ease with which property is obtained, the plenty which is so equally distributed, their personal liberty and security of life and property, I feel grateful to Heaven, who marked out my lot in that happy land; at the same time I deprecate that restless spirit and that baleful ambition and thirst for power which will finally make us as wretched as our neighbors." When Mr. Adams, after having returned to the United States with his family, became Vice-President, his wife appeared, as in other situations, the pure-hearted patriot, the accomplished woman, the worthy partner of his cares and honors.

He was called to the Presidency, and the widest field opened for the exercise of her talents. Her letter written on the day that decided the people's choice shows a sense of the solemn responsibility they had assumed, with a truly touching reliance upon Divine guidance and forgetfulness of all thoughts of pride in higher sentiments.