Adams Family Correspondence, volume 8
mr Blodget is going passenger in Captain Callihan and has offerd to take a Letter to you, who are his great favorite. he will be able to tell you that he has seen my little Grandson who was, not the first, but the 2d of April Born. we had him brought down on purpose that mr Blodget might report to you, that he is a fine Boy. His Mamma is as well as persons usually are she dinned below the day 3 weeks from her confinement, rather for the pleasure of dinning with mr Smith, who was to set of for portugal the next day, than because she was more than usually robust, for I think that she is so good a Nurse, that it keeps her rather feeble than otherways. She sends her duty to you, and little master would send his to his great Aunt if he knew her. you may put up with the term, since your sister is obliged to; with that of Gandmamma I have spirits my dear sister, but my 38Health is very feeble. I have been labouring with Billious disorders, and a slow intermitting fever near two months. I hope however that it is leaving me
your kind Letter of Febry 8th came safe to hand.1 As to our publick affairs, they make me sick, having weatherd the storms of War, I had hoped peace would have confirmed to us the Blessings we had dearly Earned, but this rather proves the wish of Benevolence, than an investigation into the Character of Humane Nature—an unprincipald mob is the worst of all Tyrannies. Wisdom to our Rulers and uninimity to our patriots, and virtue to all our fellow citizens, will remedy the present Tumults, and to their Honour, no small share of these qualities have already shewn themselves most sincerely can I join in the prayer of the Churchmen. Give us peace in our day good Lord. I shall form my judgment of the sentiments of the people by their Elections. one of the best symptoms will be the Reelection of the Governour, and such senators, and members as have taken the most open and decided part in favour of government, and the quelling that spirit of sedition against the Bar & Bench, which first fomented, and Countananced this Rebellion. Shays has not been a greater incendary than Honestus. Shame to our citizens that they should wish to curtail the sallery of their Governour. do they want to make him a man of straw?2 it is impossible whilst humane Nature is such as we find it that the people should venerate a man unless he is supported according to his Rank and station. they are the first to despise & laugh at him and to contemn his power and Authority—
You will see by the Defence of the American Constitutions, what the Sentiments of my Friend are. the Book has met with a favourable reception here, and the critical Reviewers of last month, who are mostly Scotchmen, and concequently unfriendly to America, have treated it with great civility, nay they have said as many Handsome things of it, as could have been expected.3
it was really the work of 3 months only. the subject is still persueing with more leisure in a 2d volm
I am very glad to find my Friend Mrs Allen like to increase her family. I have kept my word & send the Christning suit by mr Blodget to your care, pray deliver it with my Love to her and best wishes for her safety. the suit cost one pound sixteen & six pence sterling. I mention this only to you that in case any Bodys curiosity should be excited, they might be satisfied and not to enhance the value of my present. in the same Box you will find a sash for my little Neice, sent not for the Beauty of it in my Eye, but to shew you 39how various a dame Fashion is, wastcoats Bonnets ribbons, all in the plad figure & coulours. I expect we shall have silks & calicoes in the same manner.
I hope my Neice received the Books I sent her & my dear sister the silk.4 it is a great pleasure to me to find Tommy so well situated. it would be strange indeed if a visit to your House, was not like going Home. can there be a more agreeable sensation than that of being joyfully received by Friends who Love us? a pleasure of which I have been deprived for near 3 years, but which in the course of an other, I hope to experience. adieu my dear sister. The sun breaks out, and I must go and ride in quest of Health. present me affectionately to mr Shaw mr Thaxter & all inquiring Friends and believe me / your ever affectionate / Sister
May 6th
PS—mrs Smith has had a large Boil gather upon one of her Breast which tho not so bad as a broken Breast, has made her very sick & brought her quite low it broke to day, & she is much better— accept my dear sister a bit of muslin for a slip for my Neice I think if you make the skirt a yd long & wealt it, there will be enough for 2 waists—
RC (DLC:Shaw Family Papers); addressed by John Brown Cutting: “Mrs Elisabeth Shaw / Haverhill”; endorsed: “May 2d 1787”; notation by AA: “favourd pr mr / Blodget.” Dft (Adams Papers), filmed at 29 April.
Vol. 7:459–462.
On 10 March, Gov. James Bowdoin vetoed the General Court's attempt to reduce the governor's salary from £1100 to £800. The veto added to Bowdoin's growing unpopularity and contributed to John Hancock's victory in the spring elections (
DAB
; Mass., Acts and Laws
, 1786–1787, p. 976–978).
The April issue of the London Critical Review praised JA's
Defence of the Const.
, saying, “Dr. Adams examines different plans with care; objects to those parts which are deficient; supports his objections, and defends the American constitutions with sound argument. . . . We need not repeat our commendations of this work; or seek for little faults, when the whole is, in general, so well executed” (63:248–253). For more on reviews of the Defence, see vol. 7:365–366, note 14, and C. Bradley Thompson, “John Adams and the Science of Politics,” John Adams and the Founding of the Republic, ed. Richard Alan Ryerson, Boston, 2001, p. 258–259.
On 20 Jan., AA had sent books to her nephew William and silk to her niece Elizabeth Quincy Shaw (vol. 7:453). More recently, on 10 March, above, AA had sent silk to Elizabeth Smith Shaw but made no mention of books for Betsy Quincy.
I would not omit writing you by captain Callihan, as your sister is unable to perform that office herself.
40I know you will be anxious to hear from us, and in particular from her. Learn then my dear son that you became an uncle on the 2d day of April & that your Nephew is as fine a Boy for a month old as ever I saw. he has the Brow of his Grandpappa & the Shape & form of his Father. This will be no bad assemblage when Years mature the one & time strengthings & enlarges the other.
your sister has been very well, till within a few days, when from the badness of the weather she took cold and is again confined to her Chamber by a feverish disposition, but I hope it will prove only slight, and leave her in a few days
I have been sick myself with an intermitting fever, which has been an irregular companion for two months, by a proper Regimin and excercise I hope to rid myself of it, I am much better than I was.
Col Smith set of for Lisbon as I wrote you he would; as soon as he thought it safe to leave your sister, after her confinement, but we feel his absence not a little. he was not only the sensible rational companion, but the enlivener of all our scenes; & the soul of our little parties. mr Shipping & cutting are our domesticated acquaintance.— Mr & Mrs de Valney are here from France & have spent sometime in England;1 What think you of French politicks? The Death of Count de Vergennes the Disgrace of de Callone, & the meeting of the Notables, together with the objects presented to their discussion, will form a grand Epocha in the Reign of Louis the 16th
2 it is said that the King of Spain is going to call an assembly of the Nobles of his kingdom.3 in Holland, Amsterdam & Roterdam have had a singular triumph lately, over the orange party, but of this the paper inclosed will inform you.4 in short there seems to be a universal commotion in the political World.
I wish most sincerely that the meeting of our Convention which is to take place this month, may reform abuses, Reconcile parties, give energy to Government & stability to the States, but I sometimes fear we Must experience new Revollutions, before we shall set under our vines in peace.
I hope you have received all my Letters & particularly, that by way of Newyork
I send you a performance of Your Friend murrys5 I have also sent to mr Cranch, the critical Review, in which the defence of the American Constitutions are Spoken as highly of as so hasty a performance as it really was could expect to be treated, but you know 41the subject has been long contemplated, and was in that respect no sudden work—the 2d Volm is in no small readiness—
adieu I shall write your Brothers if I have time, if I have not give my Love to them and be / assured of the affectionate / tenderness of your Mother
RC (Adams Papers).
For Eunice Quincy and Joseph de Valnais, the former French consul in Boston, see vol. 5:430.
The Assembly of the Notables began on 22 Feb. at Versailles. Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the comptroller general of finances, addressed France's financial crisis, blaming it on the fiscal policy of the former French minister of finance, Jacques Necker, while justifying his own. Calonne's speech was published as a pamphlet, and Necker refuted Calonne's charges with a pamphlet of his own. Calonne was soon implicated in suspect real estate transactions and other financial scandals involving public monies and was dismissed on 8 April. The Comte de Vergennes had died on 13 Feb., depriving Louis XVI of a crucial advisor and Calonne of an influential defender at a key point in the political crisis (Schama, Citizens
, p. 227–247). See also Objets proposés a l'Assemblée des notables, Paris, 1787; The Speech of Mr. de Calonne, Comptroller-General of the Finances, Delivered by the Order and in the Presence of the King, London, 1787; and Mr. Necker's Answer to Mr. de Calonne's Charge against Him in the Assembly of Notables, London, 1787. For a newspaper report of the pamphlet war, see London Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 25 April.
Although the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser reported on 30 April that Charles III of Spain had called for a cortes, or national assembly, to meet in Madrid in the summer, no assembly was held until after his death in 1788. While the cortes was a powerful branch of the Spanish government in the seventeenth century, the Bourbon kings had vastly reduced its role, and it met only three times during the eighteenth century (John Lynch, Bourbon Spain 1700–1808, Cambridge, 1989, p. 106–107, 298; W. N. Hargreaves-Mawdsley, Eighteenth-Century Spain 1700–1788: A Political, Diplomatic and Institutional History, London, 1979, p. 11–12).
Dutch society in the 1780s was rife with revolutionary political struggle. In April 1787, the Council of the Regency in Amsterdam and Rotterdam voted to dismiss members who were not adherents to the Patriot party cause. The Patriots' political attacks on the pro-British Orange party turned to armed conflict in May 1787 when rioting broke out on the streets. News of the unrest received extensive coverage in the London press throughout the conflict and, in the early stages of the fighting, the Patriot party gained considerable ground (Schama, Citizens
, p. 248–252). For press coverage see, for example, Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, 3 May; London Daily Universal Register, 17 April and 17 May; and London Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser, 30 May. See also JA to AA, 1, 2, June, both below.
William Vans Murray, Political Sketches, Inscribed to His Excellency John Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States to the Court of Great Britain, London, 1787. Murray (1760–1803) was a friend of JQA and an ardent political disciple of JA. In Political Sketches, Murray responds to Abbé de Mably's Remarks Concerning the Government and the Laws of the United States of America: In Four Letters, Addressed to Mr. Adams, London, 1784. Mably's belief in state control of the press and church, his contention that luxury was incompatible with democracy, and his belief that the American system of government was doomed to failure all came under vigorous attack in Murray's work (Alexander DeConde, “William Vans Murray's Political Sketches: A Defense of the American Experiment,”
MVHR
, 41:631–634 [March 1955]).