Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/111

JOHN ADAMS 81 ously followed up. A Dutch loan of $2,000,000 was soon negotiated, and on October 7 a treaty of amity and commerce, the second which was rati fied with the United States as an independent nation, was signed at The Hague. This work in Holland was the fourth signal event in John Adams s career, and, in view of the many obstacles overcome, he was himself in the habit of referring to it as the greatest triumph of his life. "One thing, thank God! is certain," he wrote; "I have planted the American standard at The Hague. There let it wave and fly in triumph over Sir Joseph Yorke and British pride. I shall look down upon the flag-staff with pleasure from the other world." Mr. Adams had hardly time to finish this work when his presence was required in Paris. Negotia tions for peace with Great Britain had begun some time before in conversations between Franklin and Richard Oswald, a gentleman whom Lord Shel- burne had sent to Paris for the purpose. One British ministry had already been wrecked through these negotiations, and affairs had dragged along slowly amid endless difficulties.. The situation was one of the most complicated in the history of diplomacy. France was in alliance at once with Spain and with the United States, and her treaty obligations to the one were in some respects incon sistent with her treaty obligations to the other.