gh Germany to St. Petersburg. Having satisfactorily discharged
his official duties, and pursued his Latin, German, and French studies,
with a general course of English history, until September, 1782, he
left St. Petersburg for Stockholm, where he passed the winter. In the
ensuing spring, after travelling through the interior of Sweden, and
visiting Copenhagen and Hamburg, he joined his father at the Hague,
and accompanied him to Paris. They travelled leisurely, forming an
acquaintance with eminent men on their route, and examining architectural
remains, the paintings of the great Flemish masters, and all the
treasures of the fine arts, in the countries through which they passed.
In Paris, young Adams was present at the signing of the treaty of peace
in 1783, and was admitted into the society of Franklin, Jefferson, Jay,
Barclay, Hartley, the Abbe Mably, and many other eminent statesmen and
literary men. After passing a few months in England, with his father,
he returned to Paris, and resumed his studies, which he continued until
May, 1785, when he embarked for the United States. This return to his
own country caused a mental struggle, in which his judgment controlled
his inclination. His father had just been appointed minister at the
Court of Great Britain, and, as one of his family, it would have been
to him a high gratification to reside in England. His feelings and
views on the occasion he thus expressed:

"I have been seven years travelling in Europe, seeing the world, and in
its society. If I return to the United States, I must be subject, one
or two years, to the rules of a college, pass three more in the tedious
study of the law, before I can hope to bring myself into professional
notice. The prospect is discouraging. If I accompany my father to
London, my satisfaction would possibly be greater than by returning to
the United States; but I shall loiter away my precious time, and not
go home until I am forced to it. My father has been all his lifetime
occupied by the interests of the public. His own fortune has suffered.
His children must provide for themselves. I am determined to get my own
living, and to be dependent upon no one. With a tolerable share of
common sense, I hope, in America, to be independent and free. Rather
than live otherwise, I would wish to die before my time."

In this spirit the tempting prospects in Europe were abandoned, and he
returned to the United States, to submit to the rules, and to