Papers of John Adams, volume 18

From John Adams to Elizabeth Brown, 10 December 1785 Adams, John Brown, Elizabeth
To Elizabeth Otis Brown
Madame Grosvenor Square Decemr 10th 1785

I have this moment received your favour of the 8th of this month, inclosed a Letter from your unkle Warren of the 30th of August which is returned to you here inclosed.1

I sent off your former Letter with my first dispatches to New York, there not being any Vessell at that time bound to Boston.—2 you ask my advice Madame, and I hold myself bound by every obligation to give it you according to the best of my judgment: and if there is any Way in which I can be of service to you I beg of you freely to command me— I owe every Civility and service in my power to the Daughter of a Gentleman whom I always Loved as one of my best Friends, esteemed as one of the best and admired as one of the greatest Men I ever knew. If it can consist with your Views to go to Boston, there is no doubt to be made, that it would be the surest Course you can take, to secure your Property in the most advantageous manner. you alone are the judge of this.

you ask my advice concerning a Lawyer. you have a Brother in Law Madame—Benjamin Lincoln Esqr, who although personally unknown to me has an undoubted Character as a Man of Honour & abilities in his Profession. But if his connections in the Family are an objection to him you will find either in the Honourable John Lowell Esqr or in William Tudor Esqr a Lawyer who will do your Business with all the Care and Fidelity you Can desire—3

If you go to America Madame—Mr Brown I presume will go with you— if you send a Letter of Attorney it must be executed by him as well as you—

The Failure of your Uncles is an Event as unexpected and unaccountable to me as any thing that could have happened, and the state of affairs in and about Boston is so precarious in Money matters, that if Mr Brown and you can go there, I should certainly advise it.— you may there secure your Interest and Principle in any manner you may find most agreeable to you,—but if you write, I will with pleasure inclose any Letters for you by the earliest opportunities I hear of— it would be well to send Duplicates & Triplicates that the Chances of a safe arrival may be multiplied

I am extreemly sensible Madame of your Politeness & Kindness in sending two Baskets of Game, yet I Confess to you they hert my feelings as I seemed to be accepting a reward for doing a very 25 inconsiderable service for a Lady whose Person and Family I hold in the highest estimation be so good as to present my Regards to Mr Brown—and / beleive me yrs &c—

LbC in AA2’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs Elisabth Brown—”; APM Reel 107.

1.

Elizabeth Otis Brown was James Otis Jr.’s eldest daughter and the niece of James and Mercy Otis Warren. She married British lieutenant Leonard Brown on 25 Feb. 1776, and the couple spent the war in England. Her father effectively disowned her, but her grandfather James Otis Sr. left her a legacy at his death in 1778 ( AFC , 7:199, 201; Tudor, James Otis , p. 19–20; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 11:284). Brown’s 8 Dec. 1785 letter (Adams Papers) with its enclosed letter from James Warren (not found) provided information on the £1,000 left her by her grandfather. A year earlier she had sent Warren a power of attorney to receive from the executors, Joseph and Samuel Allyne Otis, the interest which they would forward to her, but she received no acknowledgment until 7 Dec., when Warren’s letter arrived, presumably reporting the financial failure of the Otis brothers, for which see John J. Waters Jr., The Otis Family in Provincial and Revolutionary Massachusetts, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1968, p. 199–201.

2.

Brown had written JA twice before. On 8 Oct. she asked him to forward a letter to James Warren with his next dispatches to America, and then, after receiving no reply, she wrote again on 24 Nov., leaving the letter with the gift baskets acknowledged by JA in the final paragraph (both Adams Papers).

3.

Benjamin Lincoln Jr., the son of the American general, married Brown’s younger sister, Mary Otis (Tudor, James Otis , p. 20). John Lowell and William Tudor were both prominent Massachusetts attorneys and friends of JA’s, Tudor having been JA’s law clerk (vol. 2:105).

To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 10 December 1785 Jefferson, Thomas Adams, John
From Thomas Jefferson
Dear Sir Paris Dec. 10. 1785.

On the arrival of mr̃ Boylston I carried him to the Marquis de la Fayette, and received from him communications of his object.1 this was to get a remission of the duties on his cargo of oil, & he was willing to propose a future contract. I proposed however to the Marquis, when we were alone, that instead of wasting our efforts on individual applications, we had better take it up on general ground, and, whatever could be obtained, let it be common to all. he concurred with me. as the jealousy of office between ministers does not permit me to apply immediately to the one in whose department this was, the Marquis’s agency was used. the result was to put us on the footing of the Hanseatic towns, as to whale oil, & to reduce the duties to 11 lt — 5s for 520lb. French, which is very nearly two livres on the English hundredweight, or about a guinea & a half the ton. but the oil must be brought in American or French ships, & the indulgence is limited to one year. however as to this I expressed to Ct. de Vergennes my hopes that it would be continued, & should a doubt arise, I should propose at the proper time to claim it under the treaty 26 on the footing gentis amicissimi.2 after all, I beleive mr̃ Boylston has failed of selling to Sangrain, and, from what I learn, through a little too much hastiness of temper. perhaps they may yet come together or he may sell to somebody else.

When the general matter was thus arranged, a mr̃ Barrett arrived here from Boston with letters of recommendation from Govr. Bowdoin, Cushing & others.3 his errand was to get the whale business here put on a general bottom, instead of the particular one which had been settled you know the last year for a special company. we told him what was done. he thinks it will answer, and proposes to settle at L’Orient for conducting the sales of the oil & the returns. I hope therefore that this matter is tolerably well fixed as far as the consumption of this country goes. I know not as yet to what amount that is; but shall endeavor to find out how much they consume, and how much they furnish themselves. I propose to mr̃ Barrett that he should induce either his state or individuals to send us a sufficient number of boxes of the Spermaceti candle, to give one to every leading house in Paris, I mean to those who lead the ton: and at the same time to deposit a quantity for sale here & advertize them in the Petites affiches.4 I have written to mr̃ Carmichael to know on what footing the use & introduction of the whale oil is there, or can be placed.5

I have the honour to be with very sincere esteem Dear Sir / Your most obedient humb. servt.

Th: Jefferson

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr̃ Adams”; endorsed: “Mr Jefferson Decr. 10 / Ansd. 20. 1785.”; notation by CFA: “published in his Writings / Vol 1. p 371.” That is, Jefferson, Correspondence, ed. Randolph, 1:371–372. Note that this letter is written on a folio sheet folded in half, making four pages. Pages 1 and 2 contain this letter, while on page 3 is Jefferson’s 11 Dec. letter, for which see Jefferson, Papers , 9:91. That letter also appeared in Thomas Randolph’s edition, vol. 1:372–373.

1.

Thomas Boylston wrote to JA from Paris on 9 Nov. (vol. 17:579–581). There he described his progress to date and indicated his intention, with the assistance of Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette, to submit proposals to the French government. Finding it inconvenient or impolitic to present them to Charles Alexandre de Calonne, Jefferson sent Boylston’s proposals to Lafayette on 13 Nov. for him to present to the minister. Lafayette’s efforts were successful, and the reduction in duties indicated by Jefferson was obtained. On 30 Nov., the Comte de Vergennes informed Jefferson that the reduction would be in force until 1 Jan. 1787 (Jefferson, Papers , 9:26, 29–31, 72–73). For JA’s confusion over the exact amount of the reduction owing to information received from Lafayette, see his letters of 13 and 20 Dec. 1785 to the marquis and Jefferson, respectively, and that from Jefferson of the 27th (all below).

2.

That is, Jefferson would claim an extension based on the most favored nation clause in Art. 4 of the 1778 Franco-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce (Miller, Treaties , 2:6).

3.

Nathaniel Barrett reached Paris on or about 6 Dec. 1785, the same day that 27 Jefferson received Barrett’s letters of recommendation of 23 and 25 Oct. from James Bowdoin and Thomas Cushing, respectively, for which see Jefferson, Papers , 8:662–663, 670–671. For JA’s 2 Dec. letter recommending Barrett to Jefferson, see same, 9:73.

4.

Literally “small posters,” the product of a quasi-French bureaucratic agency publishing addresses and trade regulations.

5.

Presumably Jefferson’s letter to William Carmichael of 4 Nov. (same, 9:15).