The arrival of your esteemed sons, and of your honored letter from 11 September which they delivered to me, was a most delightful appearance to me, who am nearly moldered with age and solitude.1 My friendship is a given for them by virtue of their dear parents and their own merits. I would like to be able to give them proof of it as often as possible, but you know how black I am to certain eyes, to which I shall never wish to appear white. I firmly believe that providence will ultimately render the strife of our moral world “for the best,” as she renders the volcanoes and earthquakes of the natural world for the best. In the meantime, by bearing witness to the Americans’ happiness, you make me as happy as one can be where I am. May God bless them ever more through the most representative democracy possible.

I congratulate you, sir, for being delivered of that pesky fever for which you had cause for complaint. May you, together with Mrs. Adams, to whom 343 I present my best respects, enjoy, among your flourishing progeny, all of the blessings that may precede immortality. My family, touched by your gratifying attention, shares in my wishes and the respect with which I am, sir, your most humble and most obedient servant