he Department
which is confided to my government; and may their Excellencies communicate
to their Governments the lively interest which those under me take in
their reconciliation." Mr. Adams and Lord Gambier both begged the
Intendant to certify to the city of Ghent the gratitude of the
Ministers, for the attention which the inhabitants had shown them during
their residence in their midst.

Having concluded their labors at Ghent by signing the treaty of peace,
Mr. Adams, together with Messrs. Albert Gallatin and Henry Clay, was
directed to proceed to London, for the purpose of entering into
negotiations for a treaty of commerce with Great Britain. Before leaving
the continent, Mr. Adams visited Paris, where he witnessed the return of
Napoleon from Elbe, and his meteoric career during the Hundred Days. Here
he was joined in March, 1815, by his family, after a long and perilous
journey from St. Petersburg.

On the 25th of May, Mr. Adams arrived in London and joined Messrs.
Gallatin and Clay, who had already entered upon the preliminaries of the
proposed commercial convention with Great Britain. In the mean time, Mr.
Adams had received official notice of his appointment as Minister to the
Court of St. James. On the 3d of July, 1815, the convention for regulating
the commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain was
concluded, and duly signed. It was afterwards ratified by both
Governments, and has formed the basis of commerce and trade between the
two countries, to the present time. At the conclusion of these
negotiations, Messrs. Gallatin and Clay returned to the United States, and
Mr. Adams remained in London, in his capacity as resident Minister.

Thus had the prediction of Washington been fulfilled. In "as short a time
as could well be expected," John Quincy Adams, as the well-merited reward
of faithful services, had attained to the head of the Diplomatic Corps of
the United States. His career had been singularly successful; and his
elevation to the highest foreign stations received the general approbation
of his countrymen. His simple habits, his plain appearance, his untiring
industry, his richly stored mind, his unbending integrity, his general
intercourse and correspondence with foreign courts and diplomatists of the
greatest distinction, all tended to elevate, in a high degree, the
American character, in the estimation of European nations.

The impression he made in the most eminent circles