Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
Your Last Letter was dated in july No 45, near Six Months
since. the secretary of state has one, in sep’br
Since that period: a very long one to me, not a word have I heard from You I
learnt from your Brother Thomas that you had been sick of an intermitting
fever, that Letter was also in sep’br.1 I have myself been very deficient
in writing to you; My mind revolts at looking back to the period of my last
date. I hoped Your Brother would Supply all My deficiencies, but upon
inquiry of him; he too confesses that he has been tardy; but of one thing
You may be assured my dear son; that not a day passes in which You are not
many times the Subject of my Thoughts; you will See by the date of this,
that I am again in Philadelphia. I arrived here in Nov’br as soon as the
fever was sufficiently subdued to make it safe to return; My Health which
had been so greatly impared, has been gradually restored, and I have been as
90 well as I usually was in former
Winters. Your Father spent Six Months at Quincy in as much tranquility as
the public buisness of his Station would permit; that annually increases as
our connextions extend, and our Country increases. with the rural
occupations which his Farm affords, he recruits his spirits and his strength
for the six Months Severe duty which falls to him during the session of
Congress.— altho it is a Month Since Congress met, very little buisness has
been transacted; The afflicting, and unexpected stroke of Providence which
has taken Washington from us—has Made a whole Nation mourners. the Respect
paid to the Manes of this Great and Good Man has been sincere, affectionate
and Respectfull, all Party ceased and every description of persons have
united in expressions of Regreet for his Death; and in acknowledgment of his
worth.
e’en Envys self is Dumb.2 I inclose to you one Paper which contains the Resolutions of Congress, the orders of the President to the Army and Navy, the address of the Senate & House with the Presidents Replies—3 I shall be collecting Papers for You, which I will send to You by way of Hamburgh, I mean that this Letter shall go by the Packet. You will not expect any thing confidential. the speech of the President at the opening of Congress has been highly spoken of, and is said to have given universal satisfaction; there are however some, who do not approve the sending the Envoys to France. I think it a happy circumstance that the President was independent, and determined enough to send them when he did, at a period when the French were daily loosing ground; and when their Arms were unsuccessfull in almost every quarter. some persons here indulged themselves in the Idea; that before this Period, the stateholder would be reinstated in Holland, and Louis the Eighteenth upon the Throne of France: to these wild vagaries of some who have thought themselves statesmen; and who wisht the Envoys to be delay’d for this Event, the P. replied, You might as well make me believe that the sun Moon and stars would fall from their spheres as that concequences of this nature will speedily take place. a Writer in the Boston paper, who I know not, in remarking upon the speech Says, [“]It unfolds the reflections of a Mind superiour to the Sordid occurrences of Life, and which seems indeed to “come occasionally into our system to counsel and decide” unmoved by the fluctuations of opinions, on the one hand, unallured by flattering appearences, and on the other undismayed by difficulties he holds “on the 91 Majestic tenor of his way“ his Country’s good, his constant aim, the object of all his Labours—”4 You will see in the Replie of the House, a full and decided approbation of the late Embassy the result is, and Must remain for the present in the dark—
I presume you have learnt before this time, that the annals of this state can boast a McKean for its Govenour, and that virgina has rivald it, by a Munro for theirs5
Is not the Post of honor, a private station?
No Man says McKean [“]may hope for employment or office from me, who is not a friend to republicanism. I will not put a dagger into the hands of an assassin.” accordingly he has made a sweep of 22 at one stroke, assureing them that their commissions will not be renewed.6 his rashness and imprudence has made Enemies of many of his former Friends—
Every Day is producing Such astonishing Events, Such Scenes of carnage havock and devastation of the Humane species, upon the Theatre of the World, that we stand agast at the desolation, and think our “blindness to the future kindly given”7
May the thunders which rool around us, and the lightnings which flash, Still continue to pass over this part of the Globe, without kindling it into a Blaze: and whilst with a pittying Eye we behold at a distance, the horror which it spreads May we with gratefull hearts asscribe praise unto that Being who maketh us to differ from other Nations—who still permitteth us to enjoy in Peace the fruits of our Labour.—
Your sister and her little girl have been with me ever since I came here. the col is with his Regiments in the Jersies. Thomas lives with us this winter, and is a great comfort to us as you will readily believe— he has taken an office in this city, and I hope will get into buisness here.— o that I could Say to you what I wish, of those who bear a similar relation shall I receive Good, and shall I not receive evil?
William shaw is private Secretary; here, he is now gone to Mount Vernon, the bearer of Letters and the Resolutions of Congress which You will see in the papers. I have written to Mrs Johnson by him. I heard from the Family a few days since. they were all well.8 My Love to my dear Louissa whom I wish daily to know; I hope her Health as she grows older will become more firm
Remember me to mr Welch his Friends were all well last week—
Inclosed is a Letter for Tilly9 by the way, did You ever hear of a 92 runaway match of a Count Tilly with the youngest Daughter, of Mr Bingham— Tilly Made a good speculation, for mr Bingham gave him ten thousand dollors to relinquish all right and tittle to her paid down; ten thousand dollors Bills upon England; and 500 Guineys for Life to quit the Country, which the count complied with; the young Lady goes by the Name of Madam de Tilly.—
Thomas is writing to you: from him You will learn with more accuracy the state of public affairs
I am my dear son / Your ever / affectionate / &c &c—
Your Brother Says I had better omit sending papers by the packet on account of the postage. Tillys Letter Must go also to Hamburgh
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “My Mother
30. Decr: 1799. / 9. Feby: 1800 recd. /
18. do: Ansd:.”
For JQA’s letters of 3 July and 17 Sept. to AA and TBA, respectively, see vol. 13:501–505, 560. In his 5 Sept. letter to Timothy Pickering, JQA offered an assessment of the political situation in France and a detailed summary of developments in the ongoing European war (LbC, APM Reel 132).
Eliza Fowler Haywood, Memoirs
of a Certain Island Adjacent to the Kingdom of Utopia, 2 vols.,
London, 1725–1726, 1:279.
AA may have been referring to the
Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 25
Dec., which carried all the items she listed.
AA was quoting from commentary on
JA’s 3 Dec. speech to Congress that appeared in the
Boston Russell’s Gazette, 12 December. The
quotations originated in The London
Magazine, 42:640 [1773], in an article on the character of
William Pitt the elder, 1st Earl of Chatham; the piece was reprinted in
John Almon, ed., Anecdotes of the Life of the
Right Honourable William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, 4 vols.,
London, 1792, 4:265–267.
On 6 Dec. James Monroe was elected governor of Virginia by the state assembly, defeating three other candidates (A New Nation Votes).
Here, AA accurately quoted from a 20
Nov. letter from Gov. Thomas McKean to the citizens of York, Penn.,
published in the Philadelphia Aurora General
Advertiser, 26 November. McKean introduced wholesale political
patronage to Pennsylvania, replacing many Federalist officials with
Democratic-Republicans. On 17 Dec. he issued a proclamation that all
officeholders with commissions had to personally apply to him for a
renewal, and the next day he terminated 24 public officials. He repeated
the phrase quoted by AA in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, 10
Jan. 1801, adding, “I am only sorry that I did not displace ten or
eleven more“ (
Penna. Archives
, 9th ser.,
3:1574–1575, 1576–1577; Harry Marlin Tinkcom, The Republicans and Federalists in Pennsylvania 1790–1801,
Harrisburg, Penn., 1950, p. 263–264, 266, 268; Jefferson, Papers
, 32:435).
Alexander Pope, An Essay on
Man, Epistle I, line 85.
AA to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 27 Dec. 1799, for which see AA to William Cranch, 27 Dec., note 2, above. The letter from the Johnsons to AA has not been found.
Not found.
I received Your Letter of the 23d this morning1 I should be glad You would
inform me from time to time the state Mrs Mears is in. I have told mrs
Brisler that she was ill, but as she it cannot be of any 93
Service to Mrs Mears, I think best not to let her know of her relapse
tho I fear it will finally be fatal to Mrs Mears.—2 Mrs Brisler would so distress
herself as very probably to bring on her fits and render her wholy
useless in the Family—
I think every days experience must convince the
people of the propriety of sending the Envoys at the time they went.
after the President had received the Letter from Tallyrand containing
the assureances from the Directory which he required, he would not allow
it, to be made a question whether they should proceed tho he knew
certain persons Set their faces against it as far as they dared. Gen’ll Hamilton made no secreet of his opinion.
he made the P——t a visit at Trenton and was perfectly Sanguine in the
opinion that the stateholder would be reinstated before christmass and
Louis 18th upon the Throne of France—3 I should as soon expect
replied the P— that the Sun Moon & stars will fall from their
orbits, as events of that kind take place in any such period but suppose
such an event possible—can it be any injury to our Country to have
Envoys there. it will be only necessary for them to wait for new
commissions—and if France is disposed to accommodate our differences,
will she be less so under a Royall than a directorial Government? have
not the directory Humbled themselves to us more than to any Nation or
Power in contest with her? if she proves faithless, if she will not
receive our Envoys, does the Disgrace fall upon her, or upon us— we
shall not be worse off than at Present. the people of our own Country
will be satisfyed that every honorable method has been try’d to
accommodate our differences. at the period the envoys went, France was
loosing ground. she was defeated, and the combined powers appeard to be
carrying victory with them— if they had been detained untill now, how
mean and despicable should we have appeard? Reports have been circulated
that the British Minister remonstrated; however dissagreable the Measure
might be to him, he is too old a Minister, and understands the nature of
his Mission too well, to have ventured upon any such step— as an
independant Nation, no other has a Right to complain, or Dictate to us,
with whom we shall form connections, provided those connections are not
contrary to treaties already Made—
Last frydays drawing Room was the most crowded of any
I ever had. upwards of a hundred Ladies, and near as Many Gentlemen
attended, all in Mourning— the Ladies Grief did not deprive them of
taste in ornamenting their white dresses 2 yds of Black Mode, in length, of the narrow kind pleated upon
one Shoulder, crossd the 94
Back in the form of a Military Sash tyed at the side, crosd the Peticoat
& hung to the bottom of it, were worn by many. others wore black
Epilets of Black silk trimd with fring upon each shoulder, black Ribbon
in points, upon the Gown & coat Some plain Ribbon Some black snail
&c their caps were crape with black plumes or black flowers black
Gloves & fans the Gentlemen all in Black— the Ladies many of them
wanted me to fix the Time for wearing mourning, but I declined, and left
them to govern themselves by the periods prescribed by the Gentlemen—
the assembly Room is burnt down, and they have not any place to Display
their gay attire but the drawing Room and private parties, and as they
expect it will be the last winter they will have the opportunity, they
intended shining
Mr Shaw is gone to Mount Vernon the Bearer of Letters from the President & the Resolutions of congress, to mrs Washington. it was thought most respectfull to Send a special Messenger he sit out last saturday. I wrote to your son by him, and he will be able on his return to give a particuliar account of their health and welfare— I expect he will be absent 10 days—
We have a report here that the plague is in Boston,
brought by a ship from the Levant.4 I hope it is without
foundation, but let me know the Truth— the weather here has been so Mild
foggy and thawey that colds universally prevail Dr Rush says there is a
procession fever. I do not wonder at it, for the processions was an hour
and quarter from congress Hall to the church & an hour & half in
church; the Gentlemen say they walkd half over Shoes in Mud. I went at
Eleven & did not get home till 20 Minuts before four oclock. I then
had to dress and sit down to dinner with 30 Gentlemen & Ladies I
went to Bed the moment the company left me which was not till nine
oclock. I felt Sick enough, & expected to pay for my exertions, but
the next morning, I was quite smart, and went through the drawing Room
ceremonies in the Evening— you will
may be assured that my Health is much firmer than the last winter. I was
at the Theater last night to hear the Monody performd—5 I think sufficient has been
done to express the gratefull feelings of a people, towards the
Character of even a Washington the danger is—least the enthusiastic
disposition of some should proceed too far— Some things are requested of
the P—— Which really appear improper, and may tend to turn what is
designd as respect, into Ridicule— he 95
will withstand it if he can without giving umbrage to the Representives
of the People If the thing is done, You
will know what it is
I inclose the Border I promised—and am your affectionate / Sister
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters).
Not found.
Lucy Field Mears, sister of Esther Field Briesler, lived until 1817 (vol. 11:518).
In Oct. 1799 JA met with Alexander
Hamilton in Trenton, N.J., to discuss the second mission to France.
Opposed to the mission from its inception, Hamilton attempted
unsuccessfully to persuade JA to reconsider dispatching the
U.S. envoys. JA later remarked on the meeting, “I differed
with him in opinion on every point” (Hamilton, Papers
, 23:546–547; Boston
Patriot, 10 May 1809).
The Philadelphia
Gazette, 2 Jan. 1800, communicated reports that a vessel from the
Barbary States brought plague that “was making great ravages” in Boston but also questioned them, stating,
“Boston has never been more healthy.” The Massachusetts Mercury, 17 Jan., put the rumor to rest: “We can
assure the Philadelphians we have no disease in town of that denomination; and that it is unusually
healthy.”
On 30 Dec. 1799 JA and AA
attended a performance of an ode sung in commemoration of George
Washington at the New Theatre (Philadelphia
Gazette, 31 Dec.; Philadelphia American
Daily Advertiser, 25 Dec.).