Adams Family Correspondence, volume 12
I last week had to inform you of the Sudden death of my much value’d Freind Mrs Quincy I Now have to acquaint you that last Sunday afternoon in the midst of his Sermon Doctor Clark was struck with an apoplexy & fell down— after he was got into the carriage to be carry’d home he came a little to but Soon seem’d to fall asleep & into a Suoun out of which he never wak’d & ceas’d to breath about 3 oclock the next Morning1 his Freinds the Society to which he belong’d & the community at large have met with a great loss. he was a very useful Minister to his People. & such a Friend in trouble & affliction as renderd him like a Brother— He was visiting at Mr Greenleafs this winter when I was there. & I observ’d to him that I thought he was growing too corporlent. he Say’d he found himself short-breath’d when he walk’d he look’d Strangely to me about his throat & under his chin. his voice was observ’d to fail a moment or two before he fell. how Strange my Sister that we Should place any dependance upon a thing So uncertain as life for in the midst of life there is death— Sucky warner Still lives but is gradually failing. She has not a wish to recover She has brought her mind to be resign’d & does not wish to again form any ties which she has found so hard to break
we have had a Strange rumour here for Several days. tis Said that mr Giles had Shot mr otis in a Dual I hope tis not true. we are disgrac’d enough already by the behavior of Some of the members of that house. tis greatly to be lament’d that Such unhappy divisions are to be found where uninimety & firmness is so necessary2
I have been reading Sipios Strictures upon mr munroes conduct. tis greatly to be regreted that we Should have had Such a minister abroad especially in France I wonder that he was not recall’d Sooner. there is no Saying how much mischief he might have prevented but it appears he did not try to prevent any. he ought to be Severely punish’d. Is he weak enough to suppose that what he has publish’d is a vindication of himself. I Should Suppose no person could possibly offer a better justifecation of the late presidents conduct in recalling him & leave no blame upon him except for suffering him to stay so long & what can the Ve. President Say for the part he has acted—3 oh dear! what a Nest of Vipers do we nourish—
we have had a Stormy week the Sun has not for four days till this afternoon. It is fast day4 I have been to meeting Mr whitman has given us two good Sermons. he is ingag’d for three months. mr whitney would not go down— he will get a better parish I beleive we have turbelant Spirits to engage tis well we are not all So waspish
the Painter comes next week it has been no time to paint exceep last week & then he could not attend The Doctor hir’d mr Soal & the day after he was taken with the billious cholick & has Scarcly been able to set up long inough to have his Bed made Since they got old mr Bass to attend to him night & day. he has been Sick a fortnight I have been to see him he has had great pain & much of a fever. he is better but can set up but little it has been a great addition to mrs Porters work. She has much to do with work people. & her other cares & She is not very Strong. If wine Should be want[ed] for mr Soal I know I may take it for him & Sh[ould] not wait for leave from you as you gave me […] [ge]neral orders
The Doctor sent me a letter to inclose [. . . .] I shall do it—5 If I ply you too close with Letters you must tell me So.
adieu my dear Sister most affectionately
Mr Cranch desire you to accept his Love & thanks for the last Pamphlet he has read it with pleasure & pain
cousen Betsy goes tomorrow
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Mrs / Abigail Adams / Philadelphia”; endorsed: “Mrs Cranch / April 3d / 1798.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
Rev. John Clarke collapsed in the pulpit of the First Congregational Church of Boston on Sunday, 1 April, and died the next day. In reporting his death, the Massachusetts Mercury, 3 April, praised his character: “The moral, social and political duties of life were the counter part of his publick labours, and like a double mirror shed a mutual strength and lustre on the Preacher and the Man.”
The Massachusetts Mercury, 23 March, reported the near “FRACAS” that erupted in the House of Representatives prompted by the verbal sparring between Harrison Gray Otis and William Branch Giles during the debates of 13 March, for which see
AA to Cranch, 14 March, and note 3, above. On the 27th the same newspaper printed the full debates, and from these reports apparently emerged the rumor of a duel between the two men, for the New York Journal, 18 April, noted, “It has been reported thro’ New England, that a Duel had been fought between Mr. Giles and Mr. Otis, in which the latter fell;—this we know to be untrue.”
The Scipio articles, for which see William Cranch to AA, 12 March, and note 4, above, commented that on the eve of the 1796 presidential election “the French Republic was intent on raising to the helm Mr. Jefferson, who … was justly deemed, hostile” to both the Constitution and the American political system (Scipio’s Reflections on Monroe’s View of the Conduct of the Executive on the Foreign Affairs of the United States, Boston, 1798, p. 132, Evans, No. 34676).
On 1 March 1798 Gov. Increase Sumner proclaimed that 5 April would be a fast day in Massachusetts, in order that among other things the state “may be Protected from
489
Internal Commotion and Foreign Invasion” and “that the overtures for adjusting differences in Europe may be successful, and Permanent Peace be established” (Boston Independent Chronicle, 15–19 March).
Probably Cotton Tufts’ 31 March letter to AA , above.
th1798
The senate on thursday voted to have the dispatches from our Envoys made publick, and orderd them Printed, but not the instructions.1 I hope however that those too, will be published; the People will then be convinced that every word Containd in the Presidents message of the 19 of march can be justified both by the instructions given, and by the dispatches received, and that what Jugartha said of Rome is literally applcable to France.2 when the Instructions were read in the House, the words of milton might have been applied to the Jaco’s
not one of the clan have dared to say, that they themselves would have been willing to have conceided more; or that more could have been granted “consistant with the maxims, for which our Country has contended at every hazard; and which constitutes the basis of our National Sovereignty”4 Some of those who have been voters, more than speakers, came forward and declared their intire satisfaction in the conduct of the President and their conviction of his sincere desire to preserve Peace,—their astonishment at the profligate Demands of France, and an abhorence of her conduct. these are Some of those who have been decived and declare so, but their is yet a Number of a different sort, those whom the French boast of as their Partizens who will not leave them, very wicked men, who tho now convicted will only shift their ground, retreat for a little while seeing the current without doors sits so strongly against them; but return to the Charge again, as soon as their plans are concerted and matured. it is however come to such a crissis, that they will be adjudged Traitors to their Country. I shall not be able to send you the Dispatches untill twesday next. in the mean time I inclose you Fennos paper which will give you a few of the out lines.5 If the communications should have the happy effect which present appearences 490 lead me to hope, that of uniting the people of our Country, I shall not regreet that they were call’d for. out of apprehension what might prove the result of such communications to our Envoys, if they still remain in Paris, the President forebore to communicate them and in his Message was as explicit as was necessary for those who reposed confidence in him, but such lies and falshoods were continually circulated, and base and incendary Letters sent to the house addrest to him, that I really have been allarmd for his Personal safety tho I have never before exprest it.6 with this temper in a city like this, materials for a Mob, might be brought together in 10 minuts. when the Language in Baches paper has been of the most insolent and abusive kind when Language in the House of Rep’s has corresponded with it, and anathamas have been thunderd out by members without doors, and a call upon the people to Humble themselves before their maker, treated with open contempt and Ridicule, had I not cause for allam? but that which was meant for evil, I hope may terminate in good.
I am not without many fears for our Envoys. the wretches may imprison them and since they avow Algiers for their pattern, oblige us to Ransome them at an enormus price; they are like the three Children in the Furnace—7 I wish they may have as safe a deliverence, but none of these fears should transpire. poor mrs Gerry with such a family as she has, may be very misirable with the apprehension if she should know that it is feard they will not be permitted to leave France.
Let mrs Black know that my Little Ward has quite recoverd from the Small pox— I expect it here tomorrow.
I have received cousins Letter and have answerd it by a little Box which is to be put on Board a vessel going to Boston committed to the care of mr smith & addrest to him. I shall say more to her when I write to her upon the subject.8
I know not when I shall see you, but I exhort the Members to dispatch business so as to rise in May. I hope their will subsist more harmony & union Peace and good will in the House than has appeard this Session. may the people be united now they have before them such proof of the base veiws and designs of France to Plunder us of all we hold dear & Valuable, our Religion our Liberty our Government and our Property—
My kind Regards to mr Cranch to Mrs Welch to sister smith, and all others who interest themselves in the happiness of your / Ever affectionate sister
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters).
On 5 April the Senate voted to publish the commissioners’ dispatches. Thomas Jefferson, in describing the closed vote, wrote, “The votes for & against publication have been not at all party votes, but a perfect jumble. all see something they like & something they do not like.” The House of Representatives similarly voted for publication on 6 April, and a number of Philadelphia newspapers, including the Gazette of the United States and the Philadelphia Gazette, dedicated their 9 April issues to printing the dispatches and the commissioners’ letters of credence and full powers (Jefferson, Papers
, 30:252;
Annals of Congress
, 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 536–537, 1380). The papers were also soon published as pamphlets; see, for example, Message of the President of the United States, to Both Houses of Congress. April 3d. 1798, [Phila., 1798], Evans, No. 34812.
Before Jugurtha, leader of Numidia, came to Rome to stand trial, he sent emissaries to bribe the Roman senate. After his acquittal, Jugurtha reportedly stated that Rome was a city for sale and could be purchased by a rich buyer (vol. 5:284, 285; Sallust, The Works of Sallust, Translated into English, London, [1744], p. 166, 172, 193–194).
Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV, lines 846–848.
AA was quoting from JA’s 19 March message to Congress.
A brief summary of the instructions to and dispatches from the envoys to France was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 6 April.
In a letter dated [April 1798], “A Friend to America & Truth” informed JA of a 9 May plot that “all good men will shudder at,” warning, “Do not sleep in fearless security: the hour of danger is near at hand. … Have an eye to the Frenchmen. Look to that grandest of all grand Villains— That traitor to his country—that infernal Scoundrel Jefferson— he has too much hand in the Conspiracy” (Adams Papers).
A reference to the plight of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were cast into the furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel, 3:12–21).
The letter from Elizabeth Smith has not been found, but the “square Box coverd with canvass” contained a dress “with the handkerchief Ruffels &c” valued at $30.00 and intended “for Betsys wedding dress.” Carried aboard the sloop Mary and Sally, Capt. Joshua Bradford, which sailed from Philadelphia on 11 April and arrived in Boston between the 18th and 21st, the box was not received by Cranch until 10 June, a fact that caused AA much anxiety (AA to Cranch, 4 June, MWA: Abigail Adams Letters; Cranch to AA, 10 June, Adams Papers; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 11 April;
Boston and Charlestown Ship Registers
, p. 128; Boston Columbian Centinel, 21 April).