Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/281

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 229 some advantages, and Mr. Adams, for his share in it, was reviled by the London press in a tone which could not but be regarded as a compliment to his powers. After the conclusion of the treaty he visited Paris and witnessed the return of Napoleon from Elba and the exciting events that followed up to the eve of Waterloo. Here his wife and children joined him, after a tedious journey from St. Petersburg, not without distress and peril by the way. By this time Mr. Adams had been ap pointed commissioner, with Clay and Gallatin, to negotiate a new commercial treaty with England. This treaty was completed on July 13, 1815; but already, on May 26, when Mr. Adams arrived in London, he had received the news of his appoint ment as minister to England. The series of double coincidences in the Adams family between missions to England and treaties with that power is curious. First John Adams is minister, just after his share in the treaty that concluded the revolutionary war, then his son, just after the treaty that concluded the war of 1812- 15, and then the grandson is minister during the civil war and afterward takes part in the treaty that disposed of the Alabama question. After an absence of eight years, John Quincy Adams was called back to his native land to serve as secretary of state under President Monroe. A new era in American politics was dawning. The