Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13
th1799
I received with much pleasure your Letters of August 1st and 12th, for which accept my thanks.1 I read the papers as usual, and find the
Ethiope washed white by the Necromancing powers of dallas & co—but I was not a
little surprizd by the information which mr H G otis assured me, he received from a
correspondent in Philadelphia, viz that our Friend Dr Rush and Mr Hartley of York Town
were making interest for the Judge.2 as
to col Hartly, I do not know how he can reconcile it to sober federilism, but dr Rush! can it be possible? is not intemperance in one
Man as criminal as in an other? is not a determined opposition to Government as
criminal in a Judge as a Govenour? is not, but I forbear. by what system of Phissian
or Metaphysicks, he can reconcile his former Sentiments with his present conduct,
(admitting for truth, the report), I am at a loss to divine. indeed I must have
further evidence, before I can credit such inconsistancy of conduct. very much depends
upon the casting of the die, nothing less than the Character of the state.
I was amused with your History of the Aurorains. I wonder if they know what I do, and what in time you will. I dare
say they have it all in full Budget from Talleyrand—which gives them such raptures
that they were near disclosing the whole secreet, and that might not answer their
purpose; if it should not be communicated to congress as soon as they wish; then they
can tell tales to the good people—provided directory and all do not go to the d——l
before that time, which I think as matters are working, not an improbable event.
Barlow poor wretch, has been writing Letter to his dear fellow citizens which you will
soon see, tho not perhaps the private Letter which accompanied it, in which he says
that John Adams is mad for war, and the directory know it, and are determined to
dissapoint him; by this it seems that the Jaco’s here and in France do not agree in
judgment. “He had better think of making Peace then sending ministers to all corners
541 of the Earth, hunting up the Enemies of France to
make Treaties with them”—3 Joel seems
very wroth, very angry that we are like to have a Navy—but Joel is not so bad in his
Letter, as that vile English democrat, Cooper who should not breath, one more sweet
gale of American air (if I were Autocratess,) which he
has endeavoured to poison and contaminate by his frenchified principles—and the Philosopher should follow after—for it is an old adage,
the receiver is as bad as the Thief— no waters but troubled ones do they delight
in—4
th—
I designd to have had my Letter finished before this day but was interrupted, and have mist two posts. william desires me to ask you if you received T Pains oration accompanied with a long Letter. you have not acknowledgd either—5
I was pleasd with the poetical effusions of Sarah, but think you are wise, in not courting the Muses— A poor attempt would be worse than none in prose, you are elegant—
I inclose to you a paper which was drawn from Talbot after he sent back his commission, which commission placed him below Truxton, tho he stood in the original Nomminations the third upon the List, and certainly had not done any thing to forfeit his Rank— the certificate which he mentions, he left at N York, and Saild before he could procure it, but it stands I think upon the Journals of congress. his late services at Gaudalope in procuring from the British vessels our seamen, is recent in the memory of all who are attentive to public affairs— I think a short statement from these documents might be drawn to refresh the minds of some, and to Enlighten others, which would silence all those who think Truxton has been hardly dealt by.6 dale was before Truxton and would not serve under him. Truxtons services ought to be properly estimated, but I believe he was never in publick Service untill his late appointment.7 return this paper by the next post under cover to William—
I see by the paper the death of Mrs G Willing, said to be of a lingering illness—8 I have heard she had her infirmities, but did not suppose they had risen to such a height as to put a period to her Life—
adieu affectionatly yours
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 17th: August 1799 / 26th: Recd / 26th: Ansd.”
AA was probably referring to TBA’s letter of 8 Aug., above, which is endorsed 1 August.
Col. Thomas Hartley of York, Penn., for whom see vol. 10:178, was not a vocal supporter
of Thomas McKean, but his son Charles W. Hartley (d. 1807) delivered a 4 542 July oration in support of the
Democratic-Republican candidate. Soon after McKean was elected governor he appointed
the younger Hartley to three concurrent clerical posts in the York County court system
and commissioned the elder as a major general in the Pennsylvania militia (Carlisle Gazette, 31 July, 21 Aug.; Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 16 May 1807; W. C. Carter and A.
J. Glossbrenner, History of York County, York, Penn.,
1834, p. 135–136, appendix p. 5). For the report that Benjamin Rush was electioneering
on McKean’s behalf, see TBA to AA of
16 Sept., below.
AA quoted from Joel Barlow’s 12 April letter to Dr.
Lemuel Hopkins (MHi:Pickering Papers),
asking that Hopkins undertake the U.S. publication of his pamphlet, Joel Barlow to His Fellow Citizens, of the United States of
America: Letter I, Paris, 1799. The pamphlet called for the United States to
mend “the present deplorable rupture with France” (p. 29) and sought to soften the
impact of Barlow’s 4 March 1798 letter to Abraham Baldwin, for which see Descriptive List of Illustrations,
No. 4, above. Barlow’s letter to Hopkins, which had been obtained by Stephen Higginson
in Boston, declared: “I shall say nothing of French politics, except that peace &
reconciliation with France on terms advantageous & honorable to the U.S. are
completely in the power and of the option of John Adams, & have been so for 18
months, and he has always known it. His taking French frigates, sending to every
corner of the earth to hunt up their enemies, in order to make treaties with them,
produces very little sensation here. The Directors see through his whole strategem.
They know he is mad for war, & that his object is to provoke them to declare it,
but they are determined to disappoint” (“Letters of Stephen Higginson, 1783–1804,”
Amer. Hist. Assoc., Ann. Rpt. for 1896
, 1:830–833).
“The Philosopher” was Joseph Priestly. For the prosecution of newspaper editor Dr. Thomas Cooper under the Sedition Act, see AA to TBA, 4 Sept. 1799, and note 1, below.
William Smith Shaw’s letter to TBA, dated 30 July,
has not been found. In his reply of 16 Aug., TBA panned the recent
oration by Boston printer Thomas Paine: “It has great merit as an hasty production,
but the style is stiff and seems to labor in several places.” TBA also
recommended JA’s Discourses on Davila and
commented on Pennsylvania politics (MWA:Adams Family Letters).
In a letter to JA of 13 July (Adams Papers), Capt. Silas Talbot enclosed a
summary of his naval service during the American Revolution in order to support his
contention that with the renewal of his naval commission he deserved to rank above
Capt. Thomas Truxtun. Talbot reported to JA that he was attempting to
locate a 17 July 1783 certificate written on his behalf by Gen. Horatio Gates, in
which Gates called him an “intrepid and enterprising officer” whose naval service had
“greatly assisted in driving the enemy from our coast.” The certificate could not be
located, but Talbot’s son George informed JA on 29 July 1799 that
Alexander Hamilton promised to forward a transcription (Henry T. Tuckerman, The Life of Silas Talbot, a Commodore in the Navy of the United
States, N.Y., 1850, p. 85–87; George W. Talbot to JA, 29 July, Adams Papers).
Capt. Richard Dale suffered a reduction of rank along with Talbot
when their suspended naval commissions were renewed. Dale tendered his resignation
rather than be ranked below Truxtun. Instead, he was granted a leave of absence and
embarked on a trade voyage to China before returning to active naval service in 1801
(
Naval
Documents of the Quasi-War
, 1:510, 4:35;
ANB
).
The 10 Aug. 1799 death of Maria Benezet Willing was reported in
the Philadelphia Gazette of the same date.
d:August 1799
I received your agreeable birth day tribute the day following the date of my last; since then the deadly pestilence has burst forth again with ten fold violence & every part of the City is more or less infected.1 The inhabitants are flying in every direction & not a room 543 is left unoccupied at Germantown. I go there but seldom. The Banks & other public Offices are soon expected. New York, we understand, is equally afflicted & alarmed. Another mournful Autumn menaces on all sides, & yet the weather seems favorable to an high degree of health in the Country. I shall not expose myself to fever infection, so, be of no concern for me;2
I had heard nothing of the pamphlet you mention, but am desirous of seeing it, wicked & abandoned as it is— Barloe is deep in the mysteries of modern philosophy— He is not only a deliberate plodding villain, but of slender intellect— His mind was never capable of a manly thought on subjects of government— Poets in general are the worst of politicians— they are by trade & occupation worshipers of ideal images, dealers in fiction, builders of air born castles & master workmen only in the edifices of Parnassus’ sumit. These things belong not in any manner to the Science of Government. In France indeed, under the mockery of Republicanism, the Chénier’s the Beaumarchais’s have prostituted their muses to the vile purpose of blasphemy & Atheism—3 In Republican france, Poets may be legislators, for the Republic originated in fraud, has been maintained by violence & yet exists only in imagination. All these things appertain to Poetry. Ergo a poetical form of Government is the most arbitrary, absurd & monstrous that ever prevailed among mankind. Who but a frenchman would have endured a rhyming race of governors & legislators?
The above is about on a level with the reasoning of Tom Paine in “Age of Reason part 2d:”
wherein he levels aims all the shafts of his
railery & gibes at the Bible— He dwells much on a conceit which he thinks original,
in both parts of this work, viz— That prophet, originally meant nothing more nor less
than poet, and that the prophesies are only poems in the Eastern style, which deals much
in allegory fable & parable, so that to sanctify these poems by calling them
prophesies & respecting them as authentic traditions of the word of God; is solemn
mockery.4 Well, I have proved that the
french nation have in latter days pay’d more respect than any other to these sort of
folks called poets, by admiting them to give laws to their Country, & therefore
france is incontestably more culpable in retaining a reverence for impostors than all
the world besides.
I hope Dr: Hopkins is not ranked among
the fraternity, though he is rather a visionary than otherwise in some of his opinions.
His professional reputation at Hartford is very good.5
I got a letter from JQA. dated 29 April, a day or two since— It was
544 brought by a vessel that was carried in &
detained a month in England, but was finally liberated, being freighted with a cargo for
Government.
6 The subject of this letter is business merely, on the details of which I shall write
shortly to my Mother— I have no letter from her later than the 4th: currt:.
Truxton insinuates that he has been coaxed to go out after another
Monsieur friggate— I dont believe this would have been done if the S of N— had felt
himself unconscious of promising more than he had a right to do on the subject of rank.
He is resolved to persist in his resignation. He has a right so to do, but he is
preparing chagrin discontent & torment for himself during his life, by the obstinate
exercise of it. Discipline must be established at the outset, for the vices & errors
of infancy are hard to correct in maturer age. Our Navy is the most hopeful &
promising of our Country’s offspring & I hope it will be trained up in the nurture
of due subordination to its parent authority. A really good & valua[ble o]fficer or
servant, is he that unites courage, capacity, humanity & humility, but how rare is the association complete! I wish Truxton well, but
older & abler must not be overlooked, however they may have been eclipsed by a
fortunate & well timed adventure.
Dear William you write a very slovenly hand and you spell shockingly ill— Truth is sometimes disagreeable, but ought not therefore to be disguised— She is, you know, the only female that wants no fig leaf to cover her nakedness.
I am dear William sincerely / Your’s
PS. If the Post Office does not remove it will be difficult to get letters very soon from town or to it—you must make due allowance therefore for irregularity.
RC (MWA:Adams Family Letters); addressed: “W S Shaw / Quincy”; internal address:
“W S Shaw”; endorsed: “Germantown 23 Aug / T B Adams / rec 30th / Ansd 6th Sept”;
docketed: “1799 Aug / 23.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
Shaw’s letter to TBA has not been found.
After sporadic reports of yellow fever in Philadelphia and New
York City in early summer, the Philadelphia American Daily
Advertiser, 23 Aug., reported that fever was widespread in the city and printed
a letter from New York that said cases there had prompted an exodus to the country. By
the time the epidemic was over in late October, 1,000 had died in Philadelphia and 76
in New York (Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 5
July; New-York Gazette, 2 Aug.; New York Mercantile Advertiser, 25 Oct.; Albert H. Buck and Thomas
L. Stedman, eds., A Reference Handbook of the Medical
Sciences, rev. edn., 9 vols., N.Y., 1900–1908, 9:719).
Marie Joseph de Chénier (1764–1811), who served on the Council of
Five Hundred, embraced the perception that his tragedy Charles
IX and other works helped inspire the French Revolution. Pierre Augustin Caron
de Beaumarchais’ Le mariage de Figaro, for which see vol.
6:52–53, 224, was interpreted by French revolutionaries
as a call for 545 radical change, though Beaumarchais was a
moderate who narrowly escaped execution. He died on 19 May (Hoefer, Nouv. biog.
générale
).
Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason: Being an
Investigation of True and of Fabulous Theology, Part II, Paris, 1796, was a
continuation of the deist philosophy espoused by Paine in the first part of the work,
for which see vol. 10:229,
230.
Dr. Lemuel Hopkins as one of the Connecticut Wits was accused of
advocating an unorthodox religious philosophy before positioning himself as a firm
Calvinist. He specialized in the treatment of tuberculosis in his Hartford medical
practice (
DAB
).
The ship Prosper, Capt. Williams,
was bound for New York from Hamburg with German muskets purchased by the United States
when it was detained on 7 May by the British frigate Latona. After a month in Yarmouth, England, the vessel was cleared by the
Board of Admiralty and sailed on 15 June, arriving in New York on 20 Aug. (Philadelphia Gazette, 20, 21 Aug.). For Joseph Pitcairn’s
role in the purchase of the muskets, see TBA to Pitcairn, 17 Sept. 1798, and note 3,
above.