Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
br19
th1799
I have been from Quincy more than five weeks, and have received only one Letter from any Friend Since I left them; I find however 52 that you have not been unmindfull of us. the fish arrived safe and we regaled ourself with it, Mr & Mrs otis joining in the commemoration of the good things of New England—
Poultry we have here, both cheeper and in better order than our markets produce it, but tho President does not long for the onions and garlic of New England, he does for the cider and potatoes, and much regreets that he had not orderd some here. if a vessel should sail soon for this port, and you could procure half a Dozen Barrels of cider, and 20 Bushels of the white potato, we should esteem it a kindness if you would Ship them for us—
I had a very pleasent journey. Roads very good,
provisions plentifull, and what enhanced the pleasure of both, was, that I
found my Health better by the journey. we have had, a mild Nov’br the city I think as smoaky as the city of
London at this Season. this day we have a clear sky and a fine Air—
the political sky of pensilvana is however more dark and
gloomy than the natural Horizen. they will have to weep their unbounded
reception of foreigners in tears of Blood if this state, does not give the
Government much trouble. I Shall rejoice in being a false prophetise. the
Jacobins having carried so triumphantly as they say, their Election,
consider it as an auspicious omen of their future successes— and Americans
have at this period to contend against English democratic Madness, and
monarchial hatred of Republicanism as well as French anarchy and
disorganization; American Ambition, delusion and frenzy— If New England does
not keep their its sober senses, the
ship will founder upon the Rock
I inclose to you a paper which contains a very candid report of Dupont former consul at Charlestown SC; I know not, whether you have seen it. your vessel capt Brooks is mentiond in it, as being one of those cases in which the papers were all clear, and in order—1 You will preserve the paper—we have not an other. I also inclose You an Aurora of this morning in which you will see how little our Country is like to be benifitted by becomeing an assylum for the turbulent and discontented spirits of other nations. Cooper has here come forth with all his mad Democracy and Impudence—2 Jonathan Robbins about whom the Jacobins make such a Noise calling him a Native American by the testimony of the select men of Danvers which You have no doubt seen; it appears that no such person was a Native there; so that his oath Must have been false, and from sir Hyde Parkers Letter, at his Excecution Robbins declared himself an 53 Irishman— yet after all this, with the utmost daring impudence he is call’d an American.3
I will thank you to give the paper to mr Gardner after you have read it—
My best Love to mrs smith and family, to cousin Betsy also—
I am Dear sir / affectionatly / Yours
RC (MHi:Smith-Townsend Family Papers); endorsed:
“Philaa. 19. Novr 99— / Mrs. Adams—” and “answd 3 Decr”;
notation: “Cooper / Robbins.”
AA likely enclosed the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 15 Oct., which
printed a translation of a 9 Jan. (An. VII, 20 nivôse) letter from
Victor Marie Dupont to Comte André Joseph Abrial, a high-ranking
judicial officer in the French Court of Cassation. Dupont determined to
“throw some light upon the papers of American vessels” that he legalized
as French consul at Charleston, S.C., and noted that Smith’s vessel, the
American Eagle, Capt. Samuel Brooks,
had been aquitted on two occasions and was awaiting “another tribunal”
(Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale
). For the
1798 capture of the American Eagle, see
vol. 13:138.
The Philadelphia Aurora
General Advertiser, 19 Nov. 1799, extracted an article from the
Reading Weekly Advertiser, 26 Oct.,
which responded to attacks on JA by Dr. Thomas Cooper, for
which see vol. 13:550. Cooper’s attacks were labeled “the offspring of
disappointment and revenge” and alleged to have stemmed from
JA’s failure to respond to an 11 Aug. 1797 letter from
Joseph Priestley (Adams
Papers) seeking a patronage appointment for Cooper. Cooper
answered the Reading Weekly Advertiser
piece with an essay in the Sunbury and
Northumberland Gazette, 2 Nov. 1799, admitting that Priestley
sought an appointment on his behalf but also castigating JA
as a pro-British president who sought to involve the United States in an
unnecessary war with France. The essay led to Cooper’s trial and
conviction for sedition, for which see
AA to JQA, 27
April 1800, and note 4, below (Philadelphia Universal Gazette, 28 Nov. 1799; Wil
Verhoeven, Americomania and the French
Revolution Debate in Britain, 1789–1802, N.Y., 2013, p.
300–302).
Jonathan Robbins (b. 1772), also known as Thomas
Nash, was an Irish sailor who was arrested in Charleston, S.C., in Feb.
1799 at the behest of British consul Benjamin Moodie. Robbins was
identified by Moodie as a participant in the 22 Sept. 1797 mutiny on the
frigate Hermione, Capt. Hugh Pigot, which
was under the command of Vice Adm. Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807). The
British requested Robbins’ extradition under Art. 27 of the Jay Treaty,
to which JA consented on 21 May 1799. Robbins challenged
the order, claiming he was a U.S. citizen from Danbury, Conn., who was
impressed into service on the Hermione. He
was nevertheless extradited to Jamaica and after a short trial executed
there on 19 August. On 16 Sept., the Danbury selectmen denied Robbins’
claim in a statement that was reprinted in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 15 November.
The same issue of the newspaper extracted a letter from Parker in which
he claimed that Robbins acknowledged himself to be an Irishman just
before his execution (Ruth Wedgwood, “The Revolutionary Martyrdom of
Jonathan Robbins,” Yale Law Journal,
100:235–237, 304 [Nov. 1990]; A. Roger Ekirch, American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the
Age of Revolution, N.Y., 2017, p. 92, 93;
DNB
). For the subsequent attempt
to censure JA for his actions, see
AA to Smith, 3 March
1800, and note 5, below.