Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
r.
r.10
th.1799
Majr. Penniman sometime
since mention’d to me, that upon further Consideration, He would take
£30. for his Salt Marsh & Island, that he had been offerd £27. and
refused it.1 For the sake
of Cash in hand I rather suppose He would take £27. If you are disposed
to purchase it, you will be pleased to let me know, and the highest Sum
you would give for it. We have had no heavy Storms since you left
Quincy, but little Sea Weed has been thrown upon the Shores &
Meadows this Season, what could be collected has been carted and spread
upon the Hill and in the Dung Yard.— The Stone Wall on Candlewood Hill
is compleated and the Bill for your part of it has been discharged—
By late Arrivals from Europe, We find that the belligerant Powers, like the eager Huntsman after his Prey, are busily employed in hunting, worrying and devouring each other, and with alternate Success. Accounts from Holland do not indicate a speedy Issue to the Contest there. Britain, it is probable, must expend much Blood & Treasure, before She will firmly reinstate the Stateholder in his Government.— And for what is all this Carnage & Destruction? and when & how is the horrid Scene to end?
Is all this for the Design of thinning the human Race? Is it that over grown States may be so weakned as to give the lesser States an Opportunity to grow or to enjoy Ease and Rest? or is it finally for the Purpose of the Humiliation & Amelioration of the human Character?— Here I must stop. I feel my Ignorance and must content myself in deploring the wretched State of my fellow Creatures and waiting for further Light, making however this One Reflection— That it is the highest Madness and Folly in a King or Ruler to wage War without thoroughly weighing the Consequences of it and that it never ought to be undertaken without the highest Reason, Justice & Necessity—
Since the above which lay by me unfinishd, I recd. yours of the 29th. Ulto. And in the first Place I
am to thank you for your kind 72
Enquiries relative to the State of my Health.2 I have the Happiness to inform
you that it is much firmer, than it was in the preceding part of this
year, and upon the whole, except now & then feeling some of my
pulmonic Complaints, I enjoy as much Health as I have done for several
years past—
The Fall has been pleasant, Health has in general
prevailed, some few Instances of bilious Fevers with us, at present
scarce any Complaint of Disease. Brother Cranch seems to be renewing his
Age— Our other Connections are well— Respecting your Domestic Affairs,
in addition to what has been already mentiond. The Rail & Stone Wall
Fence on Land bought of Mr. Cranch is
finishd— No great Progress has been made in that between you & Mr. Black— The Buildings have been compleated
agreably to your Directions, the Yards have been levelled. the House
bankd, Eight Barrells of late made Cyder purchased & put into Your
Cellar— The Indian Corn proved sound & good—100 Bushells lodgd in
the Crib. The Barley has been threshd cleansed & stored— The
Carpenters were dismissed sometime agone— Shipley the Beginning of this
Month, Balch only remains but will be dischargd next Week—3 Porter will be employed in
getting of Sea Weed and doing other Matters as opportunity presents—
The Presidents Speech to Congress, has met with
universal Approbation, as wise, temperate, firm & impartial— I hope
it will calm the intemperate Heat of the British (I do not say high
Federalists) and silence the Clamours of the French Party— Who is to
command as first Magistrate in Massachust
another Year, is very probematical; there is no one Person on whom the
the public Mind is at present fixed, a variety of Persons are mentiond.
Although there is no particular Fault charg’d to the Man now in Office,
yet there are great Numbers of the higher Class and some of them who are
fond of being esteemd Politicians of the first Magnitude, who will push
for some other Character; these would be greatly mortified, should Our General slip in—yet I suspect that will
be the Case if they do not unite with the Friends of the Lt. Governor in the Election. It is believed
that the Office would be agreable to Him and some have gone so far as to
say, that He has not been deficient in pursuing Measures to obtain it— A
propos— It is storied that at a Military Review which He attended this
Fall past—Having dind with the Officers, as soon as Dinner was ended, He
slipt out, paid off or orderd to be paid off the Reckoning, and returnd,
before the Toasts were given out—when the Compliment of Toasts had
ended. An officer who by some 73
Means had discoverd, what had been done—arose and gave the following “To
the independent Farmer, who does his Spring Work in the Fall” This
produced a hearty Laugh, in which the Indt.
Farmer bore his part with a good Grace.
If the Weather should prove close & confine me to
my House, I may possibly in a future Letter dabble a little more freely
in Politics, at present can only add that I feel much Pleasure in
hearing of your Health, for the continuance of which and every other
Blessing, You have my sincere Prayers, begging you also to Present mine
and Mrs. Tufts’s affectionate Regards to
Mrs. Adams and am / Your Affectionate
Friend
RC (Adams Papers); internal address:
“The President of the Und States—”
On 1 May 1801, Stephen Penniman sold to JA for $100 “a certain piece of salt marsh with a small Island lying in the town of Quincy in the broad meadow so called.” The three-acre parcel abutted another of seven acres purchased by JA of Penniman for £50 on 26 Aug. 1794 (vol. 10:95; Norfolk County Deeds, 2:145, 15:99).
Not found.
William (also known as James) Shipley was taxed in
Quincy from 1800 to 1802. Shipley married Adams servant Betsy Howard in
Jan. 1801, for which see
AA to Mary Smith Cranch, 15
Jan., and note 3, below. John Balch (1772–1849) was a farmer
who lived in Quincy between 1799 and 1810 before settling in Medfield,
Mass. (Sprague, Braintree Families
; Galusha B.
Balch, Genealogy of the Balch Families in
America, Salem, Mass., 1897, p. 85).
I received this week Your Letters of Novbr. 24th and 28th, and this morning Yours of decbr 3d, the contents of which gave me much
pleasure.1 it will be a
real subject of rejoicing to me, if we obtain mr Whitney for our pastor; it
will greatly add to the pleasure I anticipate upon my return to Quincy to
find that we are in possession of a Gentleman of mr Whitneys known and
acknowledged talents, so well adapted to the profession he has chosen. I
hope that no root of bitteness will spring up to injure his usefullness or
to impeed his settlement;—
The season continues remarkable mild, but the late rains have prevented my riding more than through the city to return visits, of which I have a more than ordinary share many persons visiting me now, who never did before. they think I suppose that as it is the last Season Congress will sit in this city, they will not be wanting in attention— I sometimes walk for excercise and make some visits in that way. I yesterday made one in this way to Mrs Morris, which to both of us was painfull. I had not seen her since the very great 74 reverse of her circumstances; She received me with all that Dignity of Manners for which she, more than any Lady I ever saw, is distinguished. I calld rather at an improper hour, (having been detaind from going sooner by visitors). she was in a small neat Room and at dinner with her Daughter & youngest Son who is with a Merchant, and on whose account she said, She always dinned at one oclock— but instead of refusing herself, she rose, and met Me at the door. her feelings were evidently strongly excited. she endeavourd to smile away the Melancholy which was evident upon her whole countanance, and enterd into conversation; When I left her, I requested her to come and take Tea with me; I took her by the Hand. she said she did not visit, but She would not refuse herself the pleasure of comeing some day when I was alone. She then turnd from me, and the tears burst forth— I most sincerely felt for her—2
I have sent to Mrs Black and suky Adams a model of the New fashiond cap— they are not such as you or I should wear. if I thought mrs Norten and Greenleaf would like them I would send each of them one; with the Hair drest as I have directed they look very pretty—
The politician have before this, got the speech which
Duane says, in his paper, was as anxiously expected, and Sought for, as a
speech is, from the tyrant of Britain. it has been received here, with more
applause & approbation, than any speech which the President has ever
before deliverd—and what is very surprizing and remarkable, the answer to it
by the House past unanimously without a motion for alterating but one
Sentance, which motion did not obtain. the answer was draughted by Mr
Marshall, and contains so full and unqualified an approbation of the
Measures of the President in his late Mission, as not only gives him sincere
pleasure, but the unanimnity with which it past The whole House, being the
first instance of the kind is a proof that the Measure meets the wishes of
the people at large the documents upon which the measure was founded, I
inclose to you in the paper:3
what would the people of this Country have said, if the President had
neglected to meet the advances of France, and have sufferd himself to have
been governd by a spirit of personal resentment because he had been ill
used, and abused by some of their Rulers. would such conduct have become the
Head of a Great Nation? Should France conduct dishonorably, we shall not be
to blame; and the President will have the Satisfaction of knowing; that he
has done every thing Encumbent upon him to preserve Peace and restore
harmony— the replie of the Senate cold and 75
Languid, fully discovers in what school they have imbibed their sentiments.
the committe chosen to draught the replie, were known to be some of the most
opposed to the Mission— there is a Man in the cabinet, whose Manners are
forbiding, whose temper is sour and whose resentments are implacable who
neverless would like to dictate every Measure— he has to deal with one, who knows full well their respective
departments—and who chuses to feel quite independant, and to act so too but
for this He is abused; but I am mistaken if this Dictator does not get
himself ensnared in his own toil. he would not now remain in office, if the
President possesst such kind of resentments as I hear from various quarters,
he permits himself to utter— from this fountain have flowed all the
unpopularity of the Mission to France, which Some of the federilists have
been so deluded as to swallow large draughts off—
Thomas keeps so constantly at his office that I see him only at meal times. he sends his Respects. as to william, we have rubd of so many of his peculiarities that he has scarcly one left for us to laugh at, he is a good creature— I heard yesterday from mr Cranch and Family they were all well. mr wainright has been there, and will see you as soon as he returns—4 Mrs smith sends her Love. My paper reminds me to close— I will write to Dr Tufts by the next Mail. Love &c Your affectionate
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters).
Cranch’s letter to AA of 3 Dec. has not been found.
That is, Mary White Morris and two of her children,
Maria Morris (1779–1852) and Henry Morris (1784–1842) (vol. 10:89; Morris, Papers
, 4:247). For Robert
Morris’ financial decline, see vol. 11:483.
William Duane, in the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 4 Dec., said of
JA’s 3 Dec. speech to Congress that Americans “look
with as much anxiety for the Presidential speech at the opening of
Congress as the British look for the ministerial lesson written for and
recited by their tyrant.” The Philadelphia
Gazette, 3 Dec., lauded the speech as “marked with
characteristic openness, dignity and patriotism.” John Marshall chaired
a committee to prepare the House response to JA’s speech.
Marshall presented a draft to the committee on 9 Dec., and approval was
delayed by an unsuccessful attempt by Democratic-Republican Andrew Gregg
of Pennsylvania to modify a sentence attributing Fries’ Rebellion to
people “seduced by the arts and misrepresentations of designing men.”
The House and Senate replied the same day. Both cited the importance of
maintaining U.S. defenses, and although the House affirmed
JA’s decision to pursue the second mission, the Senate
omitted any reference to it. In replies of 10 Dec., JA
stressed the importance of ensuring that the sovereignty of the United
States was not threatened by internal or external forces (Marshall, Papers
, 4:32;
Biog. Dir. Cong.
;
Annals of Congress
, 6th Cong.,
1st sess., p. 12–14, 194–195, 198).
The letter from William Cranch has not been found.
His visitor was possibly Henry Wainwright (ca. 1767–1827), a Boston
merchant who lived at 9 Winter Street (
Boston
Directory
, 1800, p. 111, Evans, No. 37024; Boston Intelligencer, 1 Sept. 1827).