Adams Family Correspondence, volume 12
I have received my kind friend’s letters of 3d, 16th: and 19th: of
May, and am impatiently waiting to hear from you and your father again.1 I am going this day on a tour to Amsterdam,
where I shall make the arrangements for my immediate departure; so that I shall probably
not remain here long enough to receive your reply to this Letter.2 There are many difficulties in the way of any
arrangement that I can take.— The situation of the Country to which I am going is not
the least of them.— It is extremely precarious, as Portugal [ha]s every prospect of
becoming the seat of War.
My brother has returned from Paris after passing a month there,
very agreeably. I have been in the mean time very much engaged, and am so still. It is a
poor apology to you for writing you so shortly but it is the best, and the only one I
have.— You make frequent use of the appellation “my
Adams”.— I do not like it.— It is a stile of address that looks too much like that
of novels. A bare proper Name does not sound or look well for a Man, in real life.— I
have endeavoured to habituate myself to it, because you appear fond of using it; but it
looks to me more and more uncouth and aukward.
Remember me kindly to all the family, and believe me ever affectionately / yours
RC (Adams Papers). Some loss of text due to placement of the seal.
For a summary of LCA to JQA, 16 May, see her letter of 3 May, note 3, above.
JQA remained in Amsterdam until 14 June. In addition to making travel arrangements, JQA also met with the Dutch bankers regarding the Dutch-American loan. He returned to The Hague on 15 June (D/JQA/24, 2, 6, 7, 14, 15 June, APM Reel 27).
d1797—
Your Brother is appointed to Berlin, but you I presume will soon return to America; perhaps you may be upon your passage, and this Letter may not reach you, before You Sail1
I long to see you, but yet I am Very sensible it must be a cruel separation to your Brother— Who he can obtain for a Secretary I know not.2
The family is all here, and are as happy as the absence of all our Children, and the critical situation of public affairs will permit—
The Intelligence we obtain from the Fratrum dulce par,3 continues to be the most ample, copious and systematic of any that is sent us
Mr: Quincy has favored us with the
perusal of your Letter in February, which does you great honor; there is a delicacy in
the Stile which is much admired—4
I have selected Two Characters as respectable as I could find, and
as impartial as any in the Union, and United them with Mr:
Pinkney, to make one trial more at accomodation with France, which I heartily desire;
whether they will be received or not, time must discover; If they are not the French
will never have another overture in my time; There are no abler men, than Dana and
Marshall.5
I think upon the whole it will be more for your advantage, to come home, and become acquainted with all the principal 136 characters; Live and ride with me, be my Secretary when you can or will, and keep your office, and attend the courts; it will certainly be most for my comfort, and that of your Mother; But I dont mean to controul you—
I am with a tender affection / your Father
LbC in Samuel Bayard Malcom’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Thomas B Adams”; APM Reel 117.
JA nominated JQA to be minister
plenipotentiary to Prussia on 20 May. The Senate confirmed the nomination on 31 May.
The following day Timothy Pickering wrote to JQA that his commission
would be sent by the first conveyance, and on 15 July Pickering sent JQA
instructions for renewing the Prussian-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, noting
that JA’s “principal design” in appointing JQA to Prussia
“was to place at Berlin a Minister of your abilities and knowledge in diplomatic
affairs, from whom in the existing situation of Europe correct intelligence and
information highly interesting to the United States might be derived” (both Adams Papers). JA had similarly
written to JQA on 2 June, explaining his decision to change the mission
from Portugal to Prussia and noting the strategic importance of northern Europe and
the renewal of the Prussian treaty. He also asked JQA to describe the
roles the king of Prussia and the emperors of Russia and Germany planned to take
during and after the European war (Adams
Papers). JQA learned of the appointment on 7 July, prior to
receiving these letters, and he received the commission and instructions on 22 Sept.
(U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour.
, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 240, 242; William Vans Murray to
JQA, [6 July], first letter, Adams Papers; JQA to Murray, 7
July, LbC, APM Reel 130). An
original and a Dupl of JQA’s commission, dated 1 June and
signed by JA and Pickering, are in the Adams Papers. For the Senate debate over JQA’s
nomination, see
CA to JQA, 8 June, note 4, below.
Thomas Welsh Jr. would replace TBA as
JQA’s secretary in Sept. 1798 (D/JQA/24, 28
Sept. 1798, APM Reel 27). For more on
Welsh, see vol. 3:189 and LCA, D&A
, 1:89–90.
Charming pair of brothers.
See AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 3 June 1797, and note 8, below.
On 31 May JA nominated Francis Dana and John
Marshall, along with Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, to serve as envoys extraordinary and
ministers plenipotentiary to France. On 5 June the Senate voted 23 to 4 to approve
Pinckney’s appointment, and 22 to 6 to approve both Dana’s and Marshall’s appointments
(U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour.
, 5th Cong., 1st sess., p. 241, 243–244).