Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
1782-11-23
After having passed the whole night in the street, at last, we found a publick house at the Swedish arms, said to be the best in the city; but if it is the best is not good for much. This forenoon Mr. Brandenburg came here and gave me a letter from Mr. D.1 After dinner we went into a bookseller's shop to buy some books. We found there a gentleman whose name is Watström; he is director of the mines.2 As soon as he found we were strangers without knowing us, he offered to show us every thing that is to be seen in town; and could not have been more polite if we had been strongly recommended to him: indeed I have found from our first entrance into Sweden; that strangers are treated with a great deal of Politeness and civility all over the country.3
Probably Dana to JQA, 21 Oct. (Adams Papers), in which Dana gave JQA directions for the delivery of letters to JA, who would probably be in Paris when JQA reached The Hague, and instructions to have the ciphers intended for America thrown overboard in case of capture.
Observations on
the Slave Trade, and a Description of Some Part of the Coast of Guinea . . ., as well
as subsequent works of a similar nature. Later, while minister resident to the Netherlands,
JQA renewed his friendship with Wadström by correspondence (Helen Maria
Williams, “Memoirs of the Life of Charles Berns [Bernard] Wadström,” The Annual Register . . . For the Year 1799, new edn., London,
1813, p. 326–330; Wadström to JQA, 5 Dec. 1795, and JQA to
Wadström, 5 July 1797, LbC, Adams
Papers).
JQA spent the next five weeks (24 Nov.–31 Dec. 1782) in Stockholm, but
little is known about his activities there. His seventh Diary, which was written on the
blank pages in a Swedish almanac, contains numerous markings by the names of various
Swedish officials, presumably those he met while staying in Stockholm. In addition,
JQA makes mention, in the few extant letters he wrote during his stay in the
country, of Swedish merchants he met in Stockholm, as well as other towns and villages, who
were interested in beginning trade with the United States (JQA to
JA, 1 Feb. 1783, Adams Papers; JQA to AA,
23 July 1783,
Writings
, 1:8).