Adams Family Correspondence, volume 12
I inclose to you a National song composed by this same mr Hopkinson. French Tunes have for a long time usurped an uncontrould sway. since the Change in the publick opinion respecting France, the people began to lose the relish for them, and What had been harmony, now becomes discord. accordingly their had been for several Evenings at the Theatre something like disorder, one party crying out for The Presidents march, and yankee Doodle, whilst Ci era, was vociferated from the other it was hisst off repeatedly. the managers were blamed. their excuse was that they had not any words to the Presidents march— Mr Hopkinson accordinly composed these to the tune. Last Eve’ng they were sung for the first time. I had a Great curiosity to see for myself the Effect. I got mr otis to take a Box, and silently went off with mr & mrs otis mr & mrs Breck to the play, where I had only once been this winter. I meant now to be perfectly in cogg, so did not sit in what is calld the Presidents Box—
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after the Principle Peice was perford, mr Fox came upon the stage to sing the song he was welcomed by applause.1 the House was very full, and at every Choruss the most unbounded applause ensued. in short it was enough to stund one. they had the song repeated— after this Rossina was acted.2 when Fox came upon the state after the curtain dropt, to announce the Peice for fryday, they calld again for the song, and made him repeat it to the fourth time and the last time. the whole Gallery Audience broke forth in the Chorus whist the thunder from their Hands was incessant, and at the close they rose gave 3 Huzzas, that you might have heard a mile— My Head acks in concequence of it. the managers have requested the President to attend the Theater, and twesday next he goes. a number of the inhabitants have made the same request, and now is the proper time to gratify them.3 their have been six differents addresses presented from this city alone; all expressive of the Approbation of the measures of the Executive. yet dairingly do the vile incendaries keep up in Baches paper the most wicked and base, voilent & caluminiating abuse—4 it was formely considerd as leveld against the Government, but now it is contrarry to their declared sentiments daily manifested, so that it insults the Majesty of the sovereign People. but nothing will have an Effect untill congress pass a sedition Bill, which I presume they will do before they rise— not a paper from Bache press issues nor from Adams Chronical, but what might have been prossecuted as libels upon the President and Congress. for a long time they seem as if they were now desperate— the wrath of the public ought to fall upon their devoted Heads5
I shall send a paper or two because your Boston papers cannot take in one half of what these contain. mr otis’s Letter is a very judicious sensible patriotic composition, and does him great honour—
You may rely upon it from me, that not a single line from our Envoys have been received but what has been communicated, and nothing has been received from them Since the last communication.
I received your Letter of the 20 this day. I am very sorry the closet should be omitted because it wanted painting very much and does not easily dry. I wrote to the dr and proposed having the out side of the house new painted, and the Garden fence also which never was more than primed, but I would not put too many Irons at once in the fire
if you have got cousin Betsys Box or she has, as I see the vessel is arrived, you will then find what a Drapery dress is, and the young Lady will teach how it is to be put on. a Cap for You should be made 532 as you usually wear yours, and as I wear mine, of handsome Muslin, with a pleated border or a lace— I wear no other but upon publick Evenings when I wear a Crape dress cap—
I do not wear the drapery dress myself as I consider it too youthfull for me. I have both Sides alike, but they both come forward upon the top & then fall away and are worn with a coat or the Apron lose—
will you desire mr Porter to get some slips of the Quince Tree and sit out in the lower garden
adieu my dear sister. my pen I think is scarcly ever dry. yours in Love affection
P S Since writing the above the song is printed. Bache says this morning among other impudence that the excellent Lady of the Excellent President, was present, and shed Tears of sensibility upon the occasion.6 that was a lie, however I should not have been asshamed if it had been so. I laughd at one scene which was playd, be sure untill the tears ran down I believe but the song & the manner in which it is received, is death to their Party. the House was really crouded, and by the most respectable people in the city—
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); addressed: “Mrs Mary Cranch / Quincy.”
Gilbert Fox (1776–1807) emigrated from Britain to the United States in 1795. An engraver by training, he became a singer with the New Theatre in Philadelphia in 1798 (Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary, 3d ed., 2 vols., St. Clair Shores, Mich., 1999).
Rosina was a comic opera by William Shield and Frances Brooke (
DNB
).
For the song written to the President’s March and AA’s attendance at its initial performance, see Descriptive List of Illustrations, No. 11, above. JA, AA, and several members of the government attended the New Theatre on 1 May. As JA entered his box, “the whole audience rose, and expressed their affection for him in enthusiastic acclamations that did honour to their hearts,” and the new song was “repeatedly sung” (Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 2 May).
The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser printed several articles condemning recent memorials in support of JA. On 17 April one squib warned residents that Federalists were “misrepresenting the contents” of the memorials. On 21 April the newspaper cautioned that “the merchants, traders and underwriters have presented an address to the President, highly commendatory of his war measures” and that “should the voice of these men now be listened to, ruin to the farmer, manufacturer, mechanic and labourer must be the inevitable consequence.” On the 24th the signatories of the grand jury memorial were labeled “the tories of 1798,” and the article noted that “it is the extravagance of folly to attempt to bully freemen into a coincidence of sentiment, particularly by a set of men, whose partiality for Britain is evident in all their words and actions.”
By late April there was widespread discussion of a bill to punish seditious speech against the federal government. Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison on 26 April: “One of the war-party. in a fit of unguarded passion declared some time ago they would pass a citizen bill, an alien bill, & a sedition bill. … there is now only wanting, to accomplish the whole declaration beforementioned, a sedition bill which we shall certainly soon see proposed. the object of that is the suppression of the whig presses. Bache’s has been particularly named. that paper & also Cary’s totter for want of subscriptions. we should really exert ourselves to procure them,
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for if these papers fall, republicanism will be entirely brow-beaten.” The Senate introduced a bill to “define and punish the crime of sedition” on 26 June; on 14 July JA signed the bill into law (Jefferson, Papers
, 30:299–300; U.S. Senate, Jour.
5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 518; U.S. House, Jour.
, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 392).
The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 27 April, described the debut of “The President’s March”: “The rapture of the moment was as great, as if Louis the 18th had actually been seated on the throne of France, or John Adams had been proclaimed king of America, and the loyalty was so impressive, that even the excellent lady of his excellency (who was present) shed tears of sensibility and delight.”
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it was with the most heart felt anguish I heard from Mrs Adams of your late severe & dangerous illness. Oh my Louisa What does your Father & myself feel at not having A Line from you to Convince us of your Recovery, the Anxiety we labour under for your Preservation, the Solicitude we have ever Shewn the Principles we have endeavour’d to inculcute taught us to believe; that you wou’d have embraced every opportunity in your Power to Assure us of undiminished affection indeed in the Present instance the Condescention of A Line from Mr Adams might (Could he have been A Witness) have Repaid him the Sacrifice by the Gratitude of the Reception but alass human nature ever Ready to Contribute to its Own unhappiness fills us with the most alarming apprehensions for your Safety the Prayers we Continually Offer to the throne of Mercy will I trust be heard & the Reestablishment of your health and every other Comfort be Compleat—
You will perhaps expect me to write you A great deal of News, indeed my Beloved Child I am in A Place where visiting only is the order of the day, Commerce is entirely at A stand Speculation in the Federal City has absorbed not only the money of individuals, but the Enterprize & Spirit also, your Father is much disappointed & knows not how to act— Philadelphia & Baltimore are at this moment very little better, every thing begins to wear the appearance of War and every one dreads the approach— the Opposition have Committed themselves in asking for the Communications to the Envoys at Paris— they immagin’d they were widening, the Pit for the President which has Swallow’d them all up, be it so, those who wish to Subvert, the Laws or the Constitution deserve no better fate—
I have been extreemly ill since Christmas but am now much Recoverd I am not very Strong Change of Climate I expect will try me— your Sisters are all Pretty well at Present, Nancy is to be
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married very Shortly to your Cousin Walter—1 I sincerely hope she will be happy, but their dispositions are not so Similar as I think Essential in the married State, however Reason will soon teach her accommodation to her husbands temper, is the best Criterion to Guide her and the only Basis on Which we women ought to Build Carolina has not yet got A Profest Lover, altho many admirers, Kitty grows A very fine Girl she is Wonderfully improv’d since her arrival, the little ones much the same Harriet is grown Considerable and as great A Hoyden as ever,2 I wou’d give you A description of some of the Ladies but you Know so few it will not be very entertaining Colonel Forrest & his Lady are Remarkable Friendly she is A most Charming woman as is her Sister Mrs Key altho not so animated yet Equally Facinating Mrs Mason is great favorite of mine which in A great degree originates from the Resemblance I think She bears to you Need I after that say, she is Pretty Elegant & that the Propriety of her Conduct Renders her truly amiable3
General Washington has been to Pay us A Visit, Personally he told me, to invite me, & your Sisters to Mount Vernon4 Miss Nelly Custis Came very Shortly after to Second the General invitation, which I shall most assuredly accept, she is A very Pretty woman but not so handsome I think as many others I have seen Mrs Law & Mrs Peter not Esteem’d so Pretty but very agreeable, Miss Carrol has been to see us She is very much improved5 you will Laugh when I tell you Mr Charles Wallace is to be married this Evening he is but 72 to day—6
the Death of your Cousin James Cook which happen’d very suddenly from the Breaking a Blood Vessel has Shaken your Father, a good deal, he had taken up a great Prejudice in his favor, of Which he was very deserving, he was A very Rising Character in the Law & had more Business than any 3 men in the County,7 your Father, had put all his hands for he is obliged to Sue every man to Realize one Shilling Such is the honor & honesty, of this part of the World, your father has in Consequence of the above event Perswaded Mr Cranch to take your Cousins office, & has put all his papers into his hands Which has induced many People to follow his Example and I sincerely hope it will be the means of enabling Mr C to provide for his familly who have been very much deranged by the failure, of Mr Greenleaf8 Poor Mr Morris is in gaol and I am afraid will ever Remain, Mrs Marshal Passed through Frederick Last Week while I was there I did not know any thing of it, till she was gone or
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I Certainly Shou’d have waited on her and offer’d her any assistance in my Power, neither Allegations or appearances will ever prevent me from giving every Consolation; Misfortune Requires
from Mrs Adams who is so kind as to give me every information Concerning you I learnt Mr Tom Adams had been very ill, I flatter myself he is now Perfectly Recover’d, if his happiness & Prosperity, in this Life, depended on the wishes of his Coopers Row friends,9 his Success wou’d be no Longer doubtful make my affectionate Love to him, Mr Adams Letter of the 11th October, Came safe to hand, but not till the begining of February, it was then to soon, the Letter that accompanied it & the motive, I think, to A generous Mind, Woud have Stampt its own infamy, you know your Fathers heart, & will not I trust be easily led, to believe that he is Villain, I will however drop the Subject, & leave it to time, the developer of all things to discover, but was Mr A here he woud be taught to know, that neither Exalted Worth or Exalted Station, are Sufficient to Protect any man from Slander & Calumniations10 I wrote you in January by the Peggy11 Mrs Adams will forward this with her own Letters, My best Respects to Mr Adams, and believe me my Dear Child your affectionate Mother
Let me know if Epps is with you12
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs: Louisa C Adams / Berlin”; docketed by JQA: “Louisa Catherine.”
That is, Walter Hellen, a tobacco merchant in Washington, D.C. The couple’s marriage license was issued on 18 Oct. (LCA, D&A
, 1:36, 196; J. Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland. Being a History of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties from the Earliest Period to the Present Day, 2 vols., Phila., 1882, 1:662).
Harriet (1781–1850) and Catherine Maria Frances Johnson (1786–1869), for whom see LCA, D&A
, 2:774.
Uriah Forrest (1756–1805), for whom see vol. 7:27, was married to Rebecca Plater (1765–1843), the daughter of Gov. George Plater of Maryland; they were two of the earliest residents of the District of Columbia. Rebecca’s sister Ann (ca. 1774–1834) was the wife of Washington, D.C., lawyer Philip Barton Key. Anna Maria Murray (d. 1857) had married in 1796 John Mason, a Georgetown, D.C., banker and wharf owner (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
; Kate Kearney Henry, “Richard Forrest and His Times, 1795–1830,” Columbia Hist. Soc., Records
, 5:88, 89 [1902]; Edward C. Papenfuse, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635–1789, 2 vols., Baltimore, 1979–1985, 2:651; Baltimore Sun, 7 Sept. 1843; Pittsfield, Mass., Sun, 10 Dec. 1857; Mary E. Curry, “Theodore Roosevelt Island: A Broken Link to Early Washington, D.C. History,” Columbia Hist. Soc., Records
, 71/72:20 [1971/1972]).
George Washington visited Georgetown and Washington, D.C., between 7 and 9 Feb. 1798 to attend a meeting of the shareholders of the Potomac Company. Catherine Nuth and Joshua Johnson would visit Mount Vernon in May 1799, accompanied by Thomas Baker Johnson and TBA (Washington, Diaries
, 6:280, 281, 349).
That is, Catherine (Kitty) Carroll, whom LCA had met in England (LCA, D&A
, 1:25).
On 26 April 1798 Charles Wallace, for
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whom see LCA, D&A
, 1:3, married his second wife, Mary Bull Ranken, who was approximately fifty years old (The Diary of William Faris: The Daily Life of an Annapolis Silversmith, ed. Mark B. Letzer and Jean B. Russo, Baltimore, 2003, p. 104, 287).
James Cook (b. 1772), a lawyer in the District of Columbia, died on 16 April. He was the son of George and Elizabeth Johnson Cook, Joshua Johnson’s sister (Baltimore Federal Gazette, 25 April; Williams and McKinsey, Hist. of Frederick County
, 1:111).
In a letter to AA of 8 May, William Cranch recounted Joshua Johnson’s offer to place his own legal affairs in Cranch’s hands on the condition that Cranch assume the law office of James Cook. Cranch also reported that he had purchased Cook’s law library and office furniture and would soon move his family to Georgetown to be closer to the new office (Adams Papers).
From 1783 to 1797 the Johnson family lived in Cooper’s Row on Great Tower Hill, London (LCA, D&A
, 1:7).
See JQA to Joshua Johnson, 11 Oct. 1797, above.
The letter has not been found but was likely carried by the bark Peggy, Capt. Robert Gore, which sailed from Alexandria, Va., on 22 Jan. 1798 (Alexandria Times, 22 Jan.; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 30 Aug.).
Elizabeth Epps (1781–1823) of Canterbury, England, served as LCA’s maid before marrying Tilly Whitcomb in March 1802 (A. C. Thompson, Eliot Memorial Sketches Historical and Biographical of the Eliot Church and Society, Boston, Boston, 1900, p. 437; D/JQA/34, 26 Aug. 1823, APM Reel 37; LCA, D&A
, 1:84, 121, 165, 166).