But
I am convinced that they mean to hold the frontier posts and refuse all
indemnity for the slaves taken away. And as for the commercial
treaty--this country is too powerful just now to be willing to give us
fair terms. We could make but a poor bargain with her now, one which we
would probably soon regret, and so I shall write the President."
Affairs eventuated exactly as Mr. Morris had predicted, and, although he
conducted the embassy with the greatest possible address, shrewdness,
and persistence, this failure was made much of in America, and used as
an argument against his later appointment as minister to France.
One of the greatest pleasures of Mr. Calvert's stay in London was the
unexpected presence there of Mr. Gilbert Stuart. The Queen, wishing to
have a portrait of the King, and fearing lest another attack of that
dreadful malady from which the poor gentleman had temporarily recovered,
should assail him, had commanded Mr. Stuart's presence from Dublin,
where he was by invitation of the Duke of Rutland. The royal commission
having been executed, Mr. Stuart was passing a few weeks in London with
his friend and former patron, Benjamin West, when he met Calvert at a
dinner at the house of General and Mrs.
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