After a long period of deep concern, and anxiety, on account of your health, I feel myself in some measure relieved by the receipt of your kind letter of 2nd Decr:, which I received the day before yesterday; that which you mention as having written me on the 15th of November, has not yet come to hand.

At the same time, I received from Mr Pitcairn at Hamburg a line, mentioning, that the vessel in which my brother sailed, arrived at New York about the middle of January.1 I began to feel very anxious also to hear from him and this intelligence therefore was highly agreable, though my satisfaction would have been more complete, if I could have had the account of my brother’s arrival under his own hand, which however I shall now wait for with as much patience as possible.

Your long illness has not only been a source of distress to my affection, but by interrupting your correspondence, has very much limited the extent and frequency of my information from America. For many months I have not seen an American newspaper, and excepting what Mr King has been good enough to write me from England, I have heard only two or three times from home since my brother left me.2

I am greatly obliged to you for the information respecting the property, which I had placed in my brother Charles’s hands. I have now committed all my affairs in America, to my brother Thomas, who I believe will manage them with discretion. I hope you will favour him with your good counsel in this respect, & I hope that Charles will find the security, which he was persuaded to take, such as not to leave the burden of account upon himself

You cannot first hear from me, of the great transactions, which during the winter, have occurred in Europe. The kings of Naples & Sardinia, have successively fallen, the latter without any resistance at all, the former, with less even than was expected before the arts & arms of France. In all Italy there now remains to be subdued only the Grand Duke of Tuscany, whose destiny will be the same at the first moment of decisive War between France & Austria.3 These Events are mere details—Single Scenes of the great Tragedy, the 437 catastrophe of which, will be the subversion of all the antient Institutions of Europe. The tendency to this result has been clearly foreseen, & generally understood, more than seven years, & not one year has passed during that period without making great & rapid strides towards the issue— What seven years ago was probable may now be considered as inevitable— The political & moral state of Europe undergoes a total change. The soul of the great body will certainly transmigrate— That which it has hitherto inhabited was human; with the common appendages of humanity, numberless infirmities, & many vices— But that which it next will animate there is every reason to apprehend will be an unnatural & portentous monster, or at best a savage & ravenous wild beast.

During the short struggle, which the king of Naples maintained, the Emperor though so nearly related by kindred, & so closely allied by compact, to him, did not interfere to save him— The Directory protested, that they meant to observe sacredly all their Treaties with other sovereigns, & the Austrian Cabinet had some hopes that they thought as they said— In the mean time the french troops were closely blockading the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein, the strongest bulwark of the German Empire upon the Rhine, although they4 had expressly stipulated a suspension of hostilities during the continuance of the negotiation at Rastadt. The king of Naples thus abandoned by his friends & surrounded by every species of treachery among his own troops, was soon obliged to seek a precarious refuge in Sicily. Ehrenbreitstein was reduced by famine & surrendered— Since then the french Government has shewn a determination to begin the war again with Austria— Their troops have taken possession of Manheim, & are besieging Philipsburg. The cabinet of Vienna are still grasping at expedients to put off the evil day, but it is now doubtful whether any will serve them. The possibility of still preserving Peace has not yet entirely disappeared, but it is now very slight indeed, & if the war should seriously begin, a single campaign will perhaps be sufficient to give its fatal blow to the House of Austria.5 Many of the french writers in pamphlets & newspapers, now give out that the design of the Directory is to convert all the South of Europe into Republics, & to leave the North under the dominion of monarchs—6 It is possible that a system of this kind may have its patrons among the french Statesmen, though such a balance could not be so established as to stand for any length of time.— There is no doubt but the plan once executed will only serve as a scaffolding 438 to the more extensive one of spreading the Republic all over Europe, but at present it has apparently many partizans. As far as respects Italy, the business is very nearly completed, & there now remains little but to revolutionize Spain & Portugal, for the execution of the primary plan. This they would immediately do, if their powers were not engrossed by a new war with Austria. The Directory have renewed their demand upon the Spanish Government for the passage of 36,000 men to attack Portugal, & unless they should get too much engaged elsewhere will certainly insist upon it untill Spain shall be forced to comply; and from that moment may be dated the downfal both of the Spanish & Portuguese monarchies.

While it appears inevitable that the war must be renewed between France & Austria, there is every appearance that Prussia will again observe & maintain a system of neutrality. Mr Grenville, a brother of the English Secretary of State, is here upon a mission from England; & is to proceed from this place to Vienna. The object was to unite the two German Courts in a common system favorable to the views of Great Britain, an object utterly impracticable, & which no conceivable course of Events can render possible.7 The Russian & Turkish empires indeed appear very seriously engaged in opposition to France, but the distance of the former, & the weakness of the latter leave little expectation of any very powerful exertions on their part— Something will perhaps be attempted on the side of Egypt, where the french army has maintained itself hitherto, & from which the General is expected to make an attack upon Syria. The Barbary powers, have declared War against France—8

In this Country, the Winter, which has just ended has been remarkable for an unusual degree of festivity & dissipation. We have shared in it as little as we could consistently with the obligations of our situation, yet much more than our inclinations would have dictated.— My wife has enjoyed her health remarkably well the last eight months, & continues as lovely as ever. She is neither dazzled by the Splendor nor captivated by the gaiety of the Scene in which she finds herself placed. She presents her dutiful affection to you, & hopes you will not in future as in your last Letter, call her “Mrs Adams”— I make the less scruple in mentioning this observation to you, because, I recollect you once lessoned my brother Thomas, & me through him, for beginning our letters to you with “Dear Madam.”— There is a delicacy of sensibility, which it is the peculiar privilege of female minds to possess— I might have written to this day, & 439 addressed you with the same unfeeling formality, but for your gentle admonition, reminding me how much more grateful to a maternal ear is the appellation of mother, than the settled title of respect due to every stranger or slight acquaintance; & I might have found my wife called Mrs Adams in twenty letters from you without notice, had not she herself remarked how much more delighted she would be to find herself called your or my Louisa, your daughter or my wife— We had already heard by letters from her family, that Mr Cranch had removed to George Town, & taken Mr Cook’s office, & of the intimacy between his family, & that of Mr Johnson, which gives us much pleasure, & we hope that it will prove as useful to both parties, as it is agreable.9 We both beg to be affectionately remembered to my Uncle & Aunt Cranch.

I am your ever affectionate Son

Since I invited you to a correspondence, and you have not declined it, I should think repentance in the very threshold of the undertaking an unfair desertion from a cause in which I embarked as a volunteer. The offer to contribute by some occasional communications to the supply of the farmers Museum was rather an evidence of my zeal for its success, than of any ability to afford the nourishment requisite for its vigorous support.1 Distance is one, and the principal obstacle to a frequent communication; avocations of business and the want of materials at hand are others—yet I do not despair of sending you from time to time, something original or borrowed from some European periodical works, worthy a corner in your journal. As to politics, I will none of it. It is, next to “wishing” the worst of all employments. My situation has compelled me to mingle with & hear more in this line than in any other. I am not therefore enamoured of it. My prospects lead me to a settlement in Philadelphia, as a limb of the Law, and unless the pestilence should overtake me or compel my flight, I shall endeavor at a permanent establishment in the State of Pennsylvania. I venerate the spot of my nativity, but having once been transplanted it would not be easy for me to take root afresh in the same soil.

I have noticed your occasional addresses to the public, extorted by the indifference or apathy of our Countrymen to works of genius and publications for the promotion of literature & Science. The reproach is just in my opinion, but it is not destitute of a palliative, namely our infancy our very childhood in literary acquirements. We do not want for taste in this Country, but we want scientific curiosity. For this we must wait until time & the regular progress of society among us, bring with them a just respect & encouragement for literature. I perceive in the Massachusetts Mercury of the 15th: (yesterday) which has come to hand this moment, a sort of attack upon the Editor of the farmers weekly Museum, for “his remarks on the 441 literature of our Country” &ca: The writer undertakes to say that “Every American who peruses such sentiments as these, (unless he be a Jacobin) will resent the insult offered to himself as a member of the community thus wantonly stigmatized.” &ca:

I do not think myself to be “a Jacobin,” and yet I have not felt insulted by the Editors remarks & complaints on the score of our literary character as a nation. Mortified & degraded I have felt, that so much unpleasant truth could be advanced on this topic. Whether “reform is to be expected” from what A.B. calls “abuse,” I know not, but I have often observed a soreness in this spot, especially among our Clergy, who have pretentions more than any other class of our fellow citizens, to the cultivation of literature.2 They feel themselves, a greater share of the reproach on this account, and their means of encouragement towards public undertakings on scientific ground are usually less than those of their bretheren in other professions.

I was, not long since present, in Boston, at the table of a great officer in the State Government, where allusion was accidentally made in conversation, to the review which lately issued from “the shop of Messers: Colon & Spondee.” A young Lawyer compared something to the “abridgments of Geography, newly abridged,” advertized in the review. A Judge, (all the Supreme Court bench being present) remarked thereupon; “That paper, (the Museum,) was once taken in my family, but the Editor has grown so intolerably abusive and saucy of late, that I would not have it any longer in my house.” A Country Parson who sat next me at table seemed disposed to join in this opinion & to enlarge upon it. I listened to what he said and then asked him, if he thought there was no foundation for the complaints & strictures of that Editor. “Perhaps there is,[”] replied he, & then proceeded with some remarks bearing much resemblance to those of A.B. in the Mercury. “We have all of us, continued he, to work & labor for a living in this Country. The Lawyer must attend the Courts; a physician his patients, a Minister must write Sermons, and the Merchant must Ship off & receive cargo’s.— All these necessary occupations interfere with an attention to and patronage of learning & learned men—our Country is not yet ripe for them.” All very just, said I, but it is this truth, that is complained of and which will starve the man of letters, or at least keep him lean all the days of his life. The conversation stopped here, and I have only detailed it to you, because you were implicated in it.3

I am directed to ask you for your account against the President of 442 the U.S. for the Museum, during the period it has hitherto been supplied. Two setts have constantly been sent, and it is wished they may be continued. It is not known precisely at what period they were first received; your account accompanied with directions to whom it may be paid in Boston, will receive due honor. As I shall not be many days longer in this part of the Country, you had better enclose the Account to “Mrs: Abigail Adams, Quincy, near Boston.”

With many good wishes for your welfare & prosperity I am / Dear Sir / Your very obedt: Servant