Papers of John Adams, volume 14
Translation
I very much hoped, sir, to have the honor of seeing you before I left Paris and called on you with this in mind, but in vain. Hoping to find you at home, I intended to deliver the letters Sir James Jay entrusted to me and 189which I hasten to enclose.1 Please accept my regrets at being unable to request your commissions2 for The Hague, and to assure you of the inviolable sentiments and most distinguished consideration with which I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant