Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 2
1826-07-09
On Sunday, the 9th of July, my father and John left us for Boston. Not six hours after their departure news arrived of the death of my Grandfather John Adams, on the 4th of July. He and Jefferson died on the fourth of July, 1826.
There is nothing more to be said. With all the volumes of Eulogies that have been published on these men, and the remarks that have been studied upon this coincidence, nothing has been produced so eloquent as the simple fact. There are occurrences sometimes in the course of Human affairs, too great for words. The mind is already so exalted that any attempt to shackle it by expression destroys the flight, 66and lets it down again to common place. The wonder, the awe, the feeling of undefinable grandeur which comes over one though they might earnestly seek an outlet in language, would vanish in the attempt. The greatest of all eloquence in the known world is the eloquence of facts.
My grandfather was always personally kind to me. I revered his character. There was something in it calculated to strike a youthful mind. Bold, energetic, ardent, he was ignorant of the power of self restraint. This worked him evil for it made him sincere. Falling into the hands of artful adversaries and ambitious friends, he has been a martyr to their intrigues and this character, the boldest, the most enthusiastic, the most passionate in it’s support of liberty, of all those who figured in the history of the American revolution, has been handed to us with more of odium attached to it than any other. But the country will still do him justice, she has begun and I trust in God she will continue so to do. His posterity will only demand a hearing, his Son will redeem his fame. But should it so happen by the will of the Deity, that he should call to him this Son before he shall have fully prepared his vindication, the duty will fall on us, his grandchildren, those whom he looked upon with combined feelings of pride and high expectation. Should it so happen then, I trust that we shall not come unwillingly to the task and I hope at least so far as it lies with me, that not an act shall be done, not a sacrifice shall be avoided, till my utmost efforts have been made to restore him to the place which is his justly due.1
Despite several abortive beginnings, JQA never prepared a biography of his famous father. CFA, however, began copying the letters of his grandparents, fearing their loss, as early as the 1830’s and edited an interesting sampling of them in two separate volumes: AA, Letters, ed. CFA, 1840, and JA, Letters, ed. CFA. Later CFA prepared a ten-volume edition of the second President’s papers, prefacing it with a biography. See JA, Works
;
Adams Family Correspondence
, 1:xxxii–xxxviii; Duberman, CFA
, p. 25, 40, 65–66, 205, 431, note.
1826-07-10
Bath, Morning at home, resume my studies, Hume, Maltebrun,2 quiet with the family, reflections upon the past fortnight, dissipation, conclusion.
From D/CFA/1.
JQA’s copy of Conrad Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, or a Description of all the Parts of the World, 8 vols., Boston, 1824–1831, is in the Stone Library.
1826-07-11
My father’s birth day. Neither the news of the day before yesterday 67nor his absence did prevent us from celebrating it in a little family way. We drank Champagne and the ladies were very merry. My grandfather was so old that no one could seriously regret his death, but I suppose this little fete would have looked very dreadful to the prudish citizens who make it a business to censure others.
From D/CFA/5. CFA spent the morning reading Hume’s England, newspapers, and obituaries (D/CFA/1).