Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13
ry1799
I give you joy of the safe arrival of our dear Thomas; whom you will have cordially received before this reaches you; I shall be happy to see him as early as will be convenient for him; but if it is thought best that he should remain a while with you; I shall acquiese, now I have reason to believe him in safety. I hope his Health has not sufferd from his winters Voyage I shall the more readily consent to his remaining a while with you, as his company, and conversation may tend to solace not, your leisure; but your anxious hours.
Pray has our General the newly dub’d
Marquis of Granby, Sent you his Memoirs? our Criticks make sad work with them; they are
said to be a strange medly, and the Hero is not like, to acquire more fame, from his pen
than from his Sword.1
I have lately read in the papers, the answer to the address from the Legislature of Maryland, which has excited a desire to see the address. be so good as to tell William to Coppy & send it me.
You observe in it, that you are [“]not fond of mixing Religion with politicks” that is the Idea. I know not, (as the paper is lent,) whether I have the exact words—2 I think however when Religion has been equally attack’d with the Liberty and Government of the Country, it 366 is proper to manifest a due Respect for that upon which both the other Rest. I have been assured from respectable Authority that the opportunity which the Chief Majestrate has embraced of bearing publick testimony to Religion, in his replies to many of the addresses presented him, and his pointed dissapprobation of infidelity, has done more to stop the progress of it, and to bring into disrepute French Principles than all the Sermons Preachd by the Clergy of our Country. I have endeavourd twice to procure you a set of the addresses but have not yet succeeded. I am told that they are very incompleat and inaccurate, but such as they are I will send them.3
I was pleasd with a little anecdote which I learnt from a Gentleman
upon the replie of the House to the Gov’r speech. the answer
calls the French [“]Perfidious and unprincipeld” a Jacobin Member from Hopkinton rose,
and objected to it. he said, he likd the Gov’r speech very
well but the answer went further. He thought it was not treating the Rulers of that
Nation with proper Civility, to use such harsh terms. a Member from the Chronical Town of Malborough rose, and requested that the
Epithets might remain. he fully assented to them. Nay mr speeker, if there is a word in
the Hebrew Greek or Lattin Languages, which will express the sense in stronger or more
impressive terms, I would move for adopting them. there were only three dissenting
votes.4
The orders to the comanders of our Navy are much approved, and admired; they have Heart of Oak in them.5
our stocks are high. there have not been any at Market untill lately, no defer’d stock to be had at all Six pr ct at seveteen. I have observed that it has been the same at Philadelphia. the nominal price current has been given; but added no sellers— dr Tufts has made the disposition you directed, as soon as it was in his power—
a solomon Thayer has offerd two acres of Salt meddow & 6 of
ceadar swamp for sale. the meddow lies near what is calld Rye Island. 50 dollors pr acre
the ceadar swamp at 20doll I give you information least I
should incur blame for delinquincy as heretofore. beside I always observe your
inclination to abate for Land, in proportion as I bring it forward before you. I have no
passion for any thing but wood Land, and I believe the greatest Saving of that article
may be made by Rumfording our Chimney’s, which I shall be for trying. I am persuaded
half the expence of fuel may be saved, and Rooms kept equally warm—6
French says that the Farm he occupies will not answer any persons hiring, if those peices of Land are taken off which you spoke 367 of. some of the salt meddow he would willingly relinquish and would be glad to hire the Farm for several years, but that there are but three peices of ground which answer manure for more than one year, the peice upon the Hill which was Savils the Quincy meddow and the Belcher Land. the other is only fit for tillage & pasturage— if he hired, he should like to take it for three, or more years, that he might bend his strength to Manure.
thus much for domestick Matters I have no Groans or complaints to make, but that of being seperated from you.— every day however shortens the period—
I am as ever your
RC (Adams Papers); addressed by Louisa Catharine Smith: “The President of the
United / States— / Philadelphia—”; endorsed: “Mrs A. Jan. 20 / ansd 28. 1799.”
In late Dec. 1798 Gen. William Heath advertised the recent
publication of his Memoirs of Major-General Heath, Containing
Anecdotes, Details of Skirmishes, Battles, and Other Military Events, During the
American War, Boston, 1798, Evans, No. 33865, with an endorsement of the project by George Washington.
Heath opened his memoirs with a reference to John Manners, Marquis of Granby
(1721–1770), noting that his physical appearance led French officers during the
Revolutionary War to compare him to Granby, a similarity also recorded in François
Jean, Marquis de Chastellux’s Travels in North-America, in the
Years 1780, 1781, and 1782, 2 vols., London, 1787, 1:79. A five-part review of
Heath’s memoirs signed “Agawam Critic” and later attributed to John Gardner appeared
in the Boston Columbian Centinel, 9, 16, 19, 26, 30 Jan.
1799, savaging the work “as close packed a collection of filth, rags, and folly, as
were ever compressed, into a heap of the same size, since the creation of the
Universe” (Boston Columbian Centinel, 26 Dec. 1798;
DNB
).
The Md. General Assembly submitted an address to JA
dated 14 Dec. (Adams Papers) that
criticized France’s “destruction of religion, and encouragement of loose principles”
and applauded the measures of JA’s administration, both “the protective
measures … as well as the late regulations for internal quiet.” It also claimed that
JA’s “steady patriotism and well tried integrity, constitutes an ample
pledge for the future rectitude of your conduct.” In his 23 Dec. reply, which
AA likely read in the Philadelphia Gazette of
the United States, 10 Jan. 1799, JA declared his belief in the
necessity of religion as “the sacred foundations of morality, government and society”
but added, “I am not fond of introducing this sacred topic into political
disquisitions.” He also noted that while the situation was hazardous, “the
affectionate and ardent support which I have received from my fellow-citizens, has
appeared much earlier, and more unanimous, than my most sanguine hopes had ever
anticipated.”
On 1 Feb. AA wrote to JA (Adams Papers), “I have at length
procured the addresses and find them better collected and arranged than I expected,
tho there are many not yet published.” AA was referring to the
publication of
Patriotic Addresses
, the collection of 107
addresses to and 90 replies from JA that was compiled by William Austin
and printed in Boston by John W. Folsom. The book was dedicated to the French
Directory: “Like fire in a flint, this volume had still been
latent in the American bosom, had not your inimitable art extracted it.” Subscriptions for the volume were offered in
the Massachusetts Mercury, 9 Nov. 1798, and the book was
advertised for sale by several city booksellers on 23 Nov. (Jefferson, Papers
,
32:201–202; Evans, No. 33345,
p. iii).
On 16 Jan. 1799, the Mass. house of representatives presented its
answer to Gov. Increase Sumner’s 11 Jan. address to the Mass. General Court. The
answer praised the policy of neutrality and blamed French aggression for precipitating
the current crisis. The house noted its belief that while Sumner and JA
could not be construed as wishing for war, armed conflict was preferable to loss of
national honor. While AA suggested that it 368 was Walter McFarland of Hopkinton who objected to
the phrase “perfidious and unprincipled,” the Boston Independent Chronicle, 17–21 Jan., reported that Dr. Aaron Hill of Cambridge
moved that the phrase be struck. Edward Barnes of Marlborough responded to the motion
as AA described (Boston Columbian Centinel,
19 Jan.; Mass., Acts and Laws
, 1798–1799, p. 224–227).
AA was referring to the orders JA sent
to naval captains in the wake of the sloop Baltimore
incident, for which see AA to William
Smith Shaw, 14 Jan., and note 3, above.
Rumford fireplaces were designed with a narrow throat to more
efficiently move smoke up the chimney without losing the warm air in the room (
OED
).
ry20th 1799
I Congratulate you my dear son, upon your safe arrival in your Native Country; and myself that I have the prospect of seeing you again, a prospect which for many Months I had no hopes of realizing, as your Father can inform you, and to the very low state of my Health, it is oweing that I cannot so soon as I wish enjoy the pleasure of Welcomeing you Home; and meeting you at Philadelphia, where otherways I should have been, if my Health would have permitted.
I am however much recoverd since your Father left me. I have been in an anxious state of mind for your Safety ever since I learnt that you would have a winters Voyage, and it was no small releif to me when the paper announced the Arrival of the Alexander Hamilton, and “mr T B Adams, the third son of our Beloved President” the Printer was so obliging as to add.1
I hope in the course of the week to receive a confirmation from your own Hand. your duty and your inclination must carry you first to Philadelphia, and if I can be assured of your safety and of your Health, I shall wait Patiently for your return here, as will best correspond with your views, and your convenience requiring however as early intelligence from you; and from your Brother & Sister, as you can transmit to me.
your Friends here all rejoice with me, and congratulate me upon your arrival.
I am my dear son / your ever affectionate / Mother
RC (InU-Li:Lafayette’s MSS Coll).
AA was likely quoting from the report of
TBA’s arrival in the Boston Columbian
Centinel, 19 January.