Papers of John Adams, volume 16
We are favoured with your esteemed letter of 30th: June, we had wrote upon the same Subject to our Mr. Van Berckel, and he has been so obliging as to send us directly a letter for our minister in Bruxelles,1 to whom we Send the same, with your letter, in order to make the required use of the Same, so we hope may Soon be released and return hither, the advice we receive we shall not fail to communicate to your Excellency. in the meanwhile we have the honour to remain most Respectfully. / Sir / Your most Humb Servants
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “To his Excellency John Adams / Esqr L’ Hage.”
Presumably the Willinks had written to Engelbert François van Berckel, pensionary of Amsterdam, who in turn had written to Hendrik van Hop, Dutch minister to the Austrian Netherlands (
Repertorium
, 3:266).