Adams Family Correspondence, volume 10
I have this moment recd your favour of 25. April.— If you want more Money before June borrow it of the General whom I will repay when I return. The freight of the furniture was in Mass. L. M.— The Farm goes on admirably well— I am well Satisfied with all you do.
The Weather is terribly hot and dry for the season. Yet the Country looks charmingly. I hope to be at home by the first of June. Thomas is upon the Circuit.
Mr Jay is to immortalize himself over again by keeping Peace—This will depend on the Valour of the french. I begin to rejoice in
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their Successes more than I did. The English have treated Us very ill.—
We must Send a new Minister to France and another to Holland.1 Mr Fauchet begins to grace our Democratic Societies with his Presence. This must not be carried very far. These Assemblies are very criminal.
Oh that I was with you!
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”
Gouverneur Morris, the U.S. minister to France, was replaced by James Monroe, at the time a senator from Virginia. Morris had angered the French revolutionary government with his support for a constitutional monarchy and his involvement in an attempt to help Louis XVI escape. His recall was also part of a quid pro quo for the French recall of Edmond Genet. William Short, minister to the Netherlands, was already in Spain as a joint commissioner with then U.S. chargé d’affaires William Carmichael, attempting to negotiate a commercial treaty. After Carmichael’s recall, Short became the minister resident to Spain, clearing the way for JQA’s appointment as minister resident to the Netherlands (
DAB
).
JA wrote another short letter to AA on this same date, reiterating that his presence in Philadelphia was still necessary: “Those whose Principles are the same with mine whose Views of Public good coincide with mine, Say that if We keep together We shall succeed to the End of the Session as we have hitherto, done, in keeping off all the most pernicious Projects.” He particularly noted the budget bills under discussion in the House of Representatives and their potential to “accumulate a perpetual Debt, and lead to future Revolutions” (Adams Papers).
th:1794.
In our Journey from West Chester to this place we lodged at Strasburg, a German Village 9 miles the other side of Lancaster; I had little opportunity of viewing the town, as we arrived at dusk & started at 5 oClock the next morning; the lands about it are valuable & well cultivated, the Houses are many of them built with logs, with a Cement of gravel mortar to fill up the chincks— the people appeared industrious and are said to be rich; we breakfasted on Sunday Morng at Lancaster; Judge Shippen who had lodged there was still in Bed, when we arrived;1 we stayed but a short time & then sat off for the Susquehannah; on every side the fields of grain met our eyes, and the extent of the Cultivation from the Road was a good indication of the richness of the soil. The river is said to be more than a mile in width, & is in many places so shallow that we were in danger of fixing on the Rocks we reached the other Shore however without difficulty; before I return, this River will be more familiar, as we cross it four times in the course of the Circuit. We dined
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upon fish, caught in the River called Carp, but the House was destitute of Liquor’s except York Beer, which for want of Better was made to answer our purpose The Landlady told us that since there was no market for Flour the waggons had ceased going to Philada:—& she could procure nothing of the drinkable kind for the accomodation of travelers— Here was the second instance I had met with of personal in convenience from the embargoe, in complaints of this kind— So far as I can understand, there is very little talk of Politicks in the Country— they appear perfectly tranquil, and as to war I have not heared a lisp of the kind— The Mail comes to this place but once a week & arrives on Sunday noon—so that no letter can reach me here as I shall be in Lancaster on Sunday next— if you should incline to favor me with a line or two, it had better be directed to me at Lancaster where I shall hope to find it.
I am / sir / your Son
th:
PS I shall be glad of Fenno’s latest papers one or two if convenient to send them me at Lancaster—
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The Vice President of the United States / Philadelphia”; internal address: “The Vice President—”; endorsed: “T. B. Adams / York Town / May 5. ansd / 10. 1794”; notation: “free.”
Probably Edward Shippen (1729–1806), originally from Lancaster, who was an associate justice of the Penn. Supreme Court from 1791 to 1799 (
DAB
).