Adams Family Correspondence, volume 12
th1798
I have thought day after day, that another should not pass
without writing to my much loved Sister; that tomorrow I
should have time, & would devote it, to the effusions
of Sisterly affection, but I find each day fraught with its cares, & now more
peculiarly so by my dear Betsy Quincy’s being sick with a lung fever, in consequence
(I suppose) of a sudden cold. She was voilently seized with a pain in her right-side,
& in all her limbs, attended with a distressing stricture upon her Breast, & a
constant desire to fetch a long breath— It is three weeks since she has been confined,
but not to the bed one day, & has had no regular turn of the fever, but is greatly
relieved as to pain, & breathing. I always feel an anxiety when my Friends have
pulmonick complaints, & slow intermiting fevers, they often undermine the
constitution, & like a worm in the bud destroy unseen— May heaven preserve both
her, & me, from so severe a trial, & restore her to health, & usefulness,
for at this Juncture she is wanted in the Family more particularly— William at home,
& her Sister Mary making silent demands for her assistance, I do everything in my
power to get her well, & to comfort them both— We cannot chuse a time to be sick, & we must be patient— though it greviously
retards our buisness, & impedes our pursuits—1 But when I received a Letter from Mrs Smith,
accompanied by one line from you, I was determined to break through hymeneal
preparations, & every obstacle, to beg you would not make my frequent writing a criterion of my Love, no,—my Sister,
rather let me be judged by the thoughts of my Heart, could you discern this, you would
here see love, & gratitude ever rising, like an overflowing stream—
I have the pleasure to tell you, your grandsons behave exceeding well, & are become quite the favourites of the Family. Mr Vose says 366 William recites, & parsses nicely, rather better than John, he, little dear is seting in one of his Cousins Laps, or curling round Mr Peabody’s Legs half his time, & his Uncle & cousins say he is as “good hearted a Child as ever lived, not a spark of guile in his breast”— They are in fine health, & their Cheeks would vye, with the rose, to the lilly, boys should not have a claim, though I think ours would scarcely be thought too presuming—should they make some pretensions—
The circumstances of our Family, & its intended connection
are peculiar, & were Betsy Quincy well, would afford a fertile subject for her
wonted raillery. Sick as she is, it will break out, remarking to her Sister, that even friendship was punctual
to the alloted time, but Love, was rapid in its course,
had a thousand wings, crying, “O lash thy Steeds, post time away, & haste about my
bridal Day”2 that nothing but fear could detain the Swain, & a dread of the matrimonial
Noose—courage—courage my Lad—“all is well, that ends well”—
The truth is, I really suppose he has by business been
necessarily prevented coming the last of November as he designed, & now has
written to Mr Peabody that as the season is so far advanced, he hopes to complete his
plans by One Journey, instead of two, as he expected when
he left us the last of October—
However, I find to day that Hymens berated has proclaimed at the
house of publick worship, Mr & Misses intentions of marriage— I desired to know of
Mr Vose whether all, was to be transacted by proxy, like
other great Folks, & if he was deputized to stand sponsor? if so, I was glad they
had the superior priviledge of seeing each before, that Mr Webster should have no
occasion to swear as Henry the 8th did, when Anne of
Cleves was presented to this royal Glutton—3
I am sorry that you have been troubled with the Rheumatism, I was in hopes the warmer Climate would prevented it— But changing your dress frequently, & the ceremonies of your Station expose your health, equally with our northern air—
My William has been with me this vacation, he would have kept
School at Lanchester if he had not felt rheumatic complaints, & in his right arm,
so that he did not dare to undertake it— I gave him some Salts, & he has been
quite free since he has been here, & of the head ake— I presume if he would use
stated exercise, & be careful, he would enjoy good health— I find he is enveloped
in politicks, & History— The latter is an excellent corner stone, upon which to
build the Man, nobly, upon a large Scale, but the former
is more 367 contracted, & moulds only in one shape,
designed for a statesman— & as his profession must be determined upon, by
circumstances, I cannot but feel concerned to see his eagerness after a newspaper—
& his attention engrossed by politicks— I tell him the publick weal will be quite
safe without his troubling himself—& this should be an after affair—
I have not time at present to write to Mrs Smith, if you please to let her know from this Letter how the Children do, you will oblige her, who is at all times, your obliged, & affectionate Sister
PS— Mr Peabody, presents his respects to the president, & you— William, Betsy, & Abby their duty—
Mr Peabody received gratefully the attention you shewed him, by sending on the Bills specified in your letter, & likewise your
I thank you for so kndly remembering William— He says he acknowledged the favour last week.
RC (Adams
Papers); addressed: “Mrs Abigail Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Shaw /
28 Janry / 1798.”
Elizabeth Quincy Shaw remained ill for the next several months
and died on 4 Sept. (Peabody to AA, 22 Aug., Adams Papers; Boston Columbian
Centinel, 15 Sept.; Joseph B. Felt, Memorials of
William Smith Shaw, Boston, 1852, p. 30).
Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Shepherd,
Song XI, lines 23–24.
Stephen Webster (d. 1841), Harvard 1792, who had his name legally
changed to Stephen Peabody Webster in 1795, was a clerk of courts for Grafton County
and a state politician in New Hampshire. He also taught at Atkinson Academy (William
C. Todd, “Atkinson Academy,”
NEHGR
, 26:124 [April 1872]; Laws of New Hampshire Including Public and Private Acts, Resolves, Votes,
Etc., 10 vols., Concord, N.H., 1904–1922, 6:269–270).
1] Feb
ry17981
your kind Letter of Jan’ry 14th I received last week.2 I Shall not be dissatisfied with mr Whitney if
the people are disposed to give him a call, but far otherways, I shall rejoice in the
prospect of having so Virtuous and sensible a Gentleman Setled with us, to whom I doubt
not, years will teach more knowledge of the world
I can understand you well tho you do not speak plain. I know you think that there may be allowd a greater latitude of thought and action at the Bar than in the pulpit. I allow it, and yet each Character be perfectly honourable & virtuous.—
368You ask me, what has Cox done that he is dismist. I answer a Man of
his Character ought not to have been employd where he was. at the Time the British were
in possesion this State, mr Cox then a Young Man,
went from this city and joind them, and as a Guide led them into this city with a
chaplet of ever Greens round his Head; when this Government was about to be establisht,
he turnd about, and possessing some talants became a warm advocate for the Federal
Government. he possess specious talants. he got col Hamilton to appoint him first Clerk
in His office whilst he was secretary of the treasury. in this office he continued till
it is said Hamilton found him very troublesome to him, and not wanting to have him an
Enemy, he contrived to get the office of commissoner of the Revenue created, and Cox
appointed to it. when Hamilton resignd, Cox expected to be appointed in his Room but
finding mr Wolcot prefered befor him, he was much mortified, and at the late Election
for President, he became a Writer in the papers and in Pamphlets against the
administration of washington and a Partizen for Jefferson, but no sooner was the
Election determined, than Sycophant like he was worshiping the rising sun outwardly
whilst secretly he was opposing and thwarting every measure recommended by the President
for the defence of the Government Country. but this
was not all, he was constantly opposing and obstructing the secretary of the Treasury in
his department, a Man of no sincerity of views or conduct, a Changling as the Wind
blow’d a Jacobin in Heart.3 You will see
by the papers I send you the Debate continued by Congress for 15 days and yet
undetermined, upon the foreign intercourse Bill. those debates will be a clue to unfold
to you the full system of the Minority, which is to usurp the Executive Authority into
their own Hands.4 You will see much Said
about the Patronage of the President and his determination to appoint none to office as
they say, who do not think exactly with him. this is not true in its full extent. Lamb
the collector was not dismist from office, for his Jacobin sentiments, but for his
Peculation. Jarvis for Peculation.5 Cox
for opposing the Government in its opperations. the P—— has said and he still says, he
will appoint to office merrit Virtue & Talents, and when Jacobins possess these,
they will stand a chance, but it will ever be an additional recommendation that they are
Friends to order and Government. President Washington had reason to Rue the Day that he
departed from this Rule, but at the commencement of the Government, when parties were
not so high, and the Country not in Danger from foreign factions; it was thought 369 it would tend to cement the government, but the
Ethiopen could not Change his skin, and the spots of the Leopard have been constantly
visible, tho sometimes shaded. I cannot think Virgina declamation will make many
converts for how stupid would that man be thought in private Life who should put the
care and oversight of his affairs into the Hands of such persons as he knew would
counteract all his instruction and destroy all his property?
Vague and contradictory accounts are in circulation respecting our Envoys. one thing is certain no official communication has been received from them, from whence I judge they do not think it safe to make any. Bache is in tribulation. he publishd last saturday an attack upon the secretary of State for receiving as he said 5 dollors for a pasport which should have been deliverd Gratis. one dr Reynolds appears to have been at the bottom of the buisness. an Irish scape Gallous who fled here from the justice of his country charged as he was with treason against it, and a reward of a hundred Guineys was offerd for him by the British Government. a person wholy unknown to the secretary but one of Baches slanderers and employd by him as it is said to write libels— I hope the Rascals will be persued, to the extent of the Law—6
It is time to leave politicks for my paper is already full
We had a very heavy storm last week and it looks more like winter now than since I have been here
Mr Greenleaf has been sick, but I believe he is quite recoverd. I hear of him frequently and I am told that no comfort or convenience is wanting but that of Liberty, that unfortunately there is but too much company, for I have been Credibly informd that as many as two Hundred Heads of Families and persons formerly in good circumstances are now in confinement. mr Greenleaf expects soon to be liberated by a Law of this state which is now before the Legislature7
I had Letters from mrs smith last week.8 the col was not returnd, nor do I much believe that he will. I believe I mentiond to you to get sister smith to knit me some stockings, but I wholy forget whether I sent any money either to buy cotton or pay her.
I wish you would mention to mrs Black to make a cap for the Baby and inclose it to me. it will have a good Effect I know in fixing in the mind of the Nurse a Certainty that it has Relations who attend to it. I inquired of the Nurse, if it was well provided fir she said it had sufficient for the present, and she always brings it clean and well enough drest—
370I know it will give you pleasure to learn that mr & Mrs Adams
had arrived safe at Hamburgh in october & left it for Berlin on the 2d of Nov’br we learn this from mr
Murry by a Letter of Novbr 7th—
9 We have not received any
letters of a later date than sep’br—
10 we are all at present in the enjoyment of
Health. Mrs Cushing came in last Evening in the sisterly manner & past the Evening
with me. with mrs otis and her I could fancy myself at Quincy
I bear my Drawing Rooms, Sometimes crowded, better than I expected, tho I always feel the Effects of the lights the next day—11
My affectionate Regards to all Friends young or old from your / sister
P s pray let me hear from Polly. I am very uneasy about her
Just as I had written the last sentance yours of 20th was brought, me. alass poor Polly my Heart acks for her.
I shall dread to hear again. if she wants Wine pray send from my cellar as much as she
may have need of. they cannot buy such. if she lives do get see her again I wish I
could do her any good. I really Lovd her— the post will be gone. Yours
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters).
The dating of this letter is based on Cranch’s reply of 18 Feb., below.
See Cranch to AA, 20 Jan., note 2, above.
Tench Coxe served as assistant secretary of the treasury from
Sept. 1789 to May 1792 and as commissioner of the revenue from June 1792 until Dec.
1797. Initially a loyalist during the Revolution, he switched allegiance after being
arrested and paroled. During the Washington administration, he penned four articles as
“Juriscola” protesting the Jay Treaty, and during the 1796 presidential election he
wrote ten articles under the pseudonym “A Federalist” in support of Thomas Jefferson.
On 2 Dec. 1797 Coxe wrote to JA (Adams Papers) regarding a series of letters from Oliver Wolcott Jr. alleging
Coxe’s “deliberate misconduct in office.” JA presented the matter to
Timothy Pickering, James McHenry, and Charles Lee, who responded on 18 Dec. (Adams Papers): “We are of opinion that there
is sufficient reason for Mr. Coxe’s dismission from
office; and we think the public good requires it” (vol. 9:296;
Biog. Dir. Cong.
; Jacob E.
Cooke, Tench Coxe and the Early Republic, Chapel Hill,
N.C., 1978, p. 276–277, 286, 303; Philadelphia Gazette,
31 July, 4, 8, 12 Aug. 1795; Philadelphia Gazette of the
United States, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 24, 25, 29, 30 Nov. 1796).
On 18 Jan. 1798 Robert Goodloe Harper presented a “bill providing
the means of intercourse between the United States and foreign nations,” which sought
to repeal previous foreign intercourse acts and provide appropriations for the U.S.
diplomatic and consular service. That same day John Nicholas of Virginia introduced an
amendment to limit the salaries of ministers plenipotentiary to London, Paris, and
Madrid to $9,000, and to reduce all other foreign diplomats to ministers resident at
the salary of $4,500. Nicholas questioned the necessity of American diplomats in
general and particularly challenged the need for one at Berlin, with which the United
States “had little or no commercial intercourse.” He also challenged executive
authority by suggesting that JA’s power to bestow diplomatic appointments
could sway citizens “to sacrifice all independent political opinions and bend at the
shrine of Executive wisdom” in order to obtain positions. Debate continued
intermittently until 5 March, when the Nicholas amendment was defeated by a vote of 52
to 48. The foreign intercourse bill was passed by the House 371 the following day and by the Senate on 13 March
(
Annals of
Congress
, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 521, 848–852, 856, 866–867, 920–930,
1234).
For John Lamb, see JA to CA, 13 April 1797, and note 1; for Leonard Jarvis, see Charles Storer to AA, 15 July, and note 1, both above.
The Philadelphia Aurora General
Advertiser, 24 Jan. 1798, reported that on 12 Nov. 1796 Thomas Wotherspoon, a
Philadelphia merchant and native of Scotland, had obtained a passport “signed with the
hand writing of Timothy Pickering.” When Wotherspoon had asked about the fee, he was
told, “there is no particular sum charged, it is left to
people’s own generosity,” to which he “laid down five dollars (in silver).” The article commented that the “transaction seems such a shameful
breach of the laws which declare that passports … should be given gratis that it would be injustice to the public to
conceal it.” The Aurora, 26 Jan. 1798, then published a
letter from Pickering, along with an affidavit from Wotherspoon, which “proves that as
it respects” the secretary of state “the charge is utterly false, and as malicious as it is false.” Wotherspoon’s affidavit clarified that it was Jacob
Blackwell, a clerk in the secretary of state’s office, who had supplied his passport
and accepted his money, not Pickering. The source of the story in the Aurora was Dr. James Reynolds, who lodged at the same
boardinghouse as Wotherspoon and had asked him about the passport. Reynolds (d. 1808)
was an Irish physician who immigrated to Philadelphia in 1794 and became a prominent
Democratic-Republican (Maldwyn A. Jones, “Ulster Immigration, 1783–1815,” in E. R. R.
Green, ed., Essays in Scotch-Irish History, Belfast,
1992, p. 64–65).
On 4 April 1798 the Pennsylvania legislature passed an act
declaring that a debtor who turned over “his estate for the
benefit of his creditors” would not be subject to imprisonment “unless he hath been guilty of fraud or embezzlement.” An
imprisoned debtor would be released upon exhibiting “a just and true account of his
debts” and after executing a deed “for all his property, debts, rights and claims” to
be administered by court-appointed trustees. James Greenleaf was discharged from the
Prune Street prison on 30 Aug. (Acts of the General Assembly
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Passed at a Session, Which Was Begun … the
Fifth Day of December, in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-Seven,
Phila., 1798, p. 269–276, Evans, No.
34323; Clark, Greenleaf and Law
, p. 171).
Not found.
It was William Vans Murray’s 14 Nov. 1797 letter to
JA that reported, “Mr. Adams left Hamburgh,
for Berlin, on the 31. Octr., & is I hope safely
arrived there— I have not heard from him since the 26th
Octr., when he had just landed at Hamburgh” (Adams Papers).
TBA’s letter to AA of 10 Sept. is above.
JQA wrote JA three letters in September, one dated the
11th, for which see
AA
to William Cranch, 15 Nov., note 2, above; one dated the 21st, for which see
AA
to Mary Smith Cranch, 6 Feb. 1798, note 5, below; and a letter dated 19 Sept.
1797, summarizing Edmund Burke’s Three Memorials on French
Affairs, which had been published posthumously (Adams Papers).
AA’s drawing room may have been lit by Argand lamps,
which were relatively economical to operate and consumed their own smoke. The
drawback, however, was that the lamps were too bright, often bothering the eyes of
those accustomed to the dim light of candles (Marshall B. Davidson, “Early American
Lighting,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 3:37
[Summer 1944]).