Publisher's Synopsis
Some two centuries ago, during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, New England's merchants and traders found themselves frozen out of their traditional markets in Europe and the Caribbean. Desperate for new business for their idled ships and crews, they asked President Andrew Jackson to explore opportunities for them on the other side of the globe. Prompted by the secretary of the navy, Jackson sent Edmund Roberts--an unemployed ship owner from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with no diplomatic experience--on an "embassy" (mission) to the potentates of Oman, Siam, Cochin China, and Japan, to negotiate pioneering trade treaties.
