sentences:  In London, Birkbeck met US president James Madison's private secretary Edward Coles, who had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Europe.Coles had recently travelled into the newly formed Illinois Territory, and extolled its virtues to Birkbeck, as well as proclaimed his intent to move there.In early 1817, with a party consisting chiefly of his children and wards, Birkbeck emigrated to the United States.