Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/300

246 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS member on the board of the Geneva Arbitration, provided for in the Treat}- of Washington. Largely through his attitude and action the arbi tration proved a success, the "Alabama Claims," so- called, being satisfactorily settled, and the rela tions between Great Britain and the United States thus placed upon a greatly improved and more friendly basis. He had already edited (1844) the familiar letters of his grandmother, Abigail Adams, and later those of John Adams during the War of Independence. The first of these publica tions contained a memoir of Mrs. Adams. Subse quently, in 1876, these letters, so far as they re lated to the Revolutionary period, were republished together, in a single volume. They take their place by the side of the most valuable contemporary rec ords relating to the struggle for American Inde pendence. In 1850-53 Mr. Adams published the writings, and wrote the life, of his grandfather, President John Adams, in ten octavo volumes. After his return from Geneva (1872) he published the memoirs of his father, John Quincy Adams, in twelve octavo volumes. During his life, Mr. Adams delivered, and published, a number of ad dresses, orations, and other papers, both critical and political. (See Life of Mr. Adams, "American Statesmen Series," by his son Charles Francis Adams.)