Memoir of the Life of John Quincy Adams. | Page 3

burning Charlestown. During the siege of Boston
he often climbed the same eminence alone, to watch the shells and
rockets thrown by the American army.
With a mind prematurely developed and cultivated by the influence of
the characters of his parents and the stirring events of that period, he
embarked, at the age of eleven years, in February, 1778, from the shore
of his native town, with his father, in a small boat, which conveyed
them to a ship in Nantasket Roads, bound for Europe. John Adams had
been associated in a commission with Benjamin Franklin and Arthur
Lee, as plenipotentiary to the Court of France. After residing in Paris
until June, 1779, he returned to America, accompanied by his son.
Being immediately appointed, by Congress, minister plenipotentiary to
negotiate a treaty of peace and commerce with Great Britain, they both
returned together to France in November, taking passage in a French
frigate. On this his second voyage to Europe, young Adams began a
diary, which, with few intermissions, he continued through life. While
in Paris he resumed the study of the ancient and modern languages,
which had been interrupted by his return to America.
In July, 1780, John Adams having been appointed ambassador to the
Netherlands, his son was removed from the schools of Paris to those of
Amsterdam, and subsequently to the University of Leyden. There he
pursued his studies until July, 1781, when, in his fourteenth year, he
was selected by Francis Dana, minister plenipotentiary from the United
States to the Russian court, as his private secretary, and accompanied
him through 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 Abbé 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 join, with a
submissive temper, the comparatively uninteresting associations, of
college life. After reviewing his studies under an instructor, he entered,
in March, 1786, the junior class of Harvard University. Diligence and
punctual fulfilment of every prescribed duty, the advantages he had
previously enjoyed, and his exemplary compliance with the rules of the
seminary, secured to him a high standing in his class, which none were
disposed to controvert. Here his active and thoughtful mind was
prepared for those scenes in future life in which he could not but feel he
was destined to take part. Entering into all the literary and social circles

of the college, he became popular among his classmates. By