Charles Francis Adams, 'An Arbitrator'

Plate No. 205 from the Statesmen series presents Charles Francis Adams — diplomat, son of John Quincy Adams, and U.S. minister to Britain during the Civil War — rendered in the magazine's signature chromolithograph style. Adams stands three-quarter length in a double-breasted frock coat, arms folded, holding a top hat at his side; his oversized bald head, framed by thick white mutton-chop whiskers, is treated with the exaggerated cranial volume typical of the series. The caption, 'An Arbitrator', is pointed: Adams had just represented the United States in the Alabama Claims arbitration at Geneva (1872), winning $15.5 million in damages from Britain for Confederate raiders built in British yards. The image carries an air of implacable Yankee stubbornness — hardly unflattering given the diplomatic triumph it commemorates.