Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 7
1837-02-28
Morning cloudy but it cleared with sharp cold. The Newspapers within a day or two have been filled with accounts of severe shipwrecks, one of which had occurred in our bay.
I received a letter from A. H. Everett, in which he mentions the new Cabinet, Poinsett and Dallas to fill the two Cabinet places.1 This must be meant against the Antimasons, for no two men more obnoxious to them could have been picked out.
Office. Writing my Diary which will get into Arrears. Mr. Walsh talks some time every morning. Walk with him. Afternoon, Burnet and Forster.
Mr. Brooks came in to take tea. He spoke of my Pamphlet, but not so fully as I had wished. I do not know how it is, but I cannot, I think be very fortunate in my style. Nevertheless, I had no cause to be dissatisfied with his opinion of it. Evening, Lamartine, and a letter to my Mother.2
Everett’s letter is missing; the information imparted in it proved inexact. Joel R. Poinsett was named secretary of war, but George M. Dallas was made minister to Russia. A retained copy of CFA’s reply, 28 Feb., is in the Adams Papers.
To LCA, 27 Feb., Adams Papers. The letter was a reply to LCA’s letters of 10 (postmarked 15), 20, and 23 Feb., all in Adams Papers. The exchange, along with political gossip, bore principally on JQA’s struggles in the House, on the difficulties of Thomas Baker Johnson, and on the family’s housing problems in Washington.