Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 4
1831-09-23
Morning cloudy and dark but it did not rain until night. I went to Boston today. Called at my Office but could not get in. I left my Key at Mr. Elliot’s,1 and he went to Salem where he left his. So that both of us were in fine condition. Had Mr. Peabody come at the same moment his plight would not have been one bit better. It was lucky for me that I had other occupation. My father had requested me to call upon Mr. A. H. Everett and give him the MS about the Federalists.2 After going to my House and making the arrangements which I proposed, I went to his. And though I had intended remaining for fifteen minutes Mr. Buckingham the Editor of the Courier came in, and I immediately retired. Perhaps it might be a curious question to know how this alliance has been forming.3 But I meddle not with such secrets. I then went to see Mrs. Frothingham, then to the Athenaeum, then to see Mr. Brooks, then on various Commissions, then to see Edmund Quincy and so the morning was consumed. I returned to Quincy to dine.
Afternoon, finished the ninth book of the letters to Atticus still de-144scribing his distress, his shame, his fear and his knowledge of the right with his indisposition to pursue it. Bacon’s Essay on Prophecies.
Evening heavy showers. Sat with the Ladies. Music. Afterwards, Affairs of 1830 and the Spectator.
William Elliot Jr., an attorney, occupied the office in the 23 Court Street building formerly rented by D. A. Simmons (M/CFA/3).
On 16 Sept. A. H. Everett in a letter to JQA (Adams Papers) had reminded him of his promise to lend Everett “your last letter to the Boston Gentlemen on the Hartford Convention.” JQA had replied (see above, entry for 19 Sept., note) saying that he would send the MS according to promise but that “it would not be fit for public inspection without severe revisal”; asking Everett to mark those passages “of which you would advise the omission” and to make comments to accompany the MS on its return (The letter is printed in
AHR
, 11:340–343 [1906]). In December, after a “little fillip” from JQA, Everett returned the MS to CFA (JQA to CFA, 13 Dec; CFA to JQA, 31 Dec., LbC; both in Adams Papers). Because JQA and Harrison Gray Oris were moved by political developments toward a reconciliation in 1832, JQA then abandoned any thought of publication; see below, entry for 17 Dec. 1832, note. On the later history of the MS, see vol. 3:63.
CFA’s and JQA’s subsequent mistrust of A. H. Everett’s political stance may, in part, reflect this incident.