Papers of John Adams, volume 21
Are you acquainted with the natural History of Mother Careys Chickens?
1 I know not the Latin Name of these
chattering Birds, having never consulted the Dictionaire D’Histoire
naturelle, nor Buffon nor Tournefort for information concerning this
important Subject: but as a Mariner I have had frequent occasion to curse
the rascally Species of Mischief makers. In the calmest Moments at Sea, they
Surround the Ship, and fill the Ears of the Sailors with a mixed Sound so
ambiguous that you can Scarcely know whether 166 they are laughing or Scolding. The
Superstitious foremast Men are so affected with their Gibberish, that they
are filled with gloomy Presages of Storms and shipwreck and every Species of
bad luck: and such is the contagious nature of these Passions that the old
Seamen and most experienced officers seem in some degree infected with the
general Terror.
There is a little contemptible flock of these disastrous animals about our foederal Ship at this Moment, Mathew and John are here— James is at Richmond. James wrote Henrico to himself.— John, writes Cincinnatus Mirabeau and most of the other vile abuses in the national Gazette.2 a sett of despicable Fugitives from Justice in Ireland whether in Case of Debt or Crime it seems are able to disgrace the American Nation in its own Eyes as well as in the sight of Europe. But the most abominable part of the whole Story is that these People are perpetually about a Jefferson, a Madison and a Beckley.
I do not write this of my own certain Knowledge but I
have heard it, and have no reason to disbelieve it.— It may be a curious
Clue to you but you will not compromise me, nor make any other Use of it,
than to suggest further Inquiry and more certain Evidence. I have read
Several of the Ecchos and the 2d. & 3d American.3 an infernal faction have deserved
it all.
your sincere friend
RC (NjP:Andre De Coppet Coll.); addressed: “John
Trumbull Esqr / Councillor at Law / Hartford”; endorsed: “Honble: John Adams V.P. / Jany. 31st. 1793.”;
notation by JA: “Free / John Adams.”
This was the circle of writers nurtured by
Dublin-born printer Mathew Carey (1760–1839), who immigrated to
Philadelphia and published the American
Museum (
AFC
, 9:287).
An anonymous author known as “Mirabeau” addressed a
letter to “Fellow Citizen” Thomas Jefferson in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 7 Jan., pleading with him
to remain at his post and counter perceived monarchical elements in the
federal government. Another writer, “Cincinnatus,” lashed out at George
Washington, Congress, and French Army officers in the pages of the
Philadelphia General Advertiser on 8, 11,
14, and 21 Jan., seeking long-deferred compensation for Revolutionary
War veterans (
AFC
, 9:395).
Connecticut Wit Richard Alsop’s satirical poem The Echo was published in the Hartford American Mercury, 14 January. Trumbull had
recently published several short commentaries on domestic and foreign
affairs under the pseudonym “An American”; see, for example,
Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 12
Dec. 1792; New York Morning Chronicle, 18
Dec.; Philadelphia Federal Gazette, 27
Dec.; Portland, Maine, Eastern Herald, 3
Jan. 1793; Boston Argus, 15 Jan.; and New-York Journal, 16 January.