Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
1785-03-20
My father went to Versailles in the morning to see the Count de Vergennes, upon the subject of a Treaty between the U. States, and the Powers of Barbary. The Emperor of Morocco has taken an American vessel belonging to Mr. Fitz Simmons of Philadelphia.1 He has made the Master and the crew prisoners; but has not suffered them to be made slaves. He has ordered his People not to take any more untill Congress may send a Consul to him: and he offers to treat with us, upon the same footing that he does with all the Powers of Europe. This matter gives the American Commissioners, a great deal of trouble at present. Mr. West, Mr. Norris, Mr. Waring and Mr. Boling dined with us. I promised Mr. West to introduce him to the Marquis de la 238Fayette, someday this week. Mr. Boling sets off for London tomorrow. The Foire St. Germain2 closed last evening.
For this incident and its significance for relations between the United States and
Mediterranean powers, see JA, Diary and Autobiography
, 3:173–174 and references there.
A Paris fair devoted more to amusements than to business and trade, which began on 3 Feb.
and ended on the Saturday before Palm Sunday; its popularity destroyed by the Galeries du
Palais Royal, it closed in 1786 (Jacques Antoine Dulaure, Histoire
civile, physique et moral de Paris, 10 vols., Paris, 1825, 8:197–199).
1785-03-23
Paris. Hotel de york, rue Jacob: for Mr. West. I went with him and presented him to the
Marquis de la Fayette, and afterwards to Mr. Jefferson. Walk'd after that, in the Palais
Royal. This place furnishes a vast fund of entertainment to an observer. It is the most
frequented walk in Paris. At every hour of the day, and of the night too, you will never
fail of finding company there, and it is very curious to see the different dresses and
appearances of the People you find there. Dined at the hotel de York with Mr. Rooker. In the
afternoon the Ladies went to Auteuil, and I went with Mr. West, to the Theâtre des Varietés, to see le sieur
Pinetti
1
professeur
de Physique, Mathématiques, &c. perform his Experiences. Le sieur Pinetti, is a very great quack, and his Experiences, are nothing but a parcel of jugglers tricks, which every mountebank of a
fair, performs as well for 12 sols, as he does for 6. livres. He had not much Company this
evening; I suppose on account of the promenade de Longchamps,
which began this day.
Doubtless, the conjurer Giuseppe Pinetti de Willedal, author of Amusemens physiques, et différentes expériences divertissantes, composées &
exécutées, tant à Paris que dans les diverses cours de l'Europe, Paris, 1784.
1785-03-24
Mr. Adams and the Ladies went to the church of St. Sulpice, and afterwards to Longchamps. This day the king washes the feet of 12 poor children in imitation of our Saviour's washing those of the apostles. The kings brothers serve those children at dinner, and they have some peculiar privileges; such as being pardoned twice for crimes for which any other persons would be hang'd &c. Some of the great noblemen, follow the example of the king; and the archbishop of Paris performs the same ceremony at the Church of Nôtre Dame.