Papers of John Adams, volume 7

To Edmé Jacques Genet, 14 February 1779 JA Genet, Edmé Jacques

1779-02-14

To Edmé Jacques Genet, 14 February 1779 Adams, John Genet, Edmé Jacques

To Edmé Jacques Genet

ca. 14 Feb. 1779 1

I have the Honour to transmit you, three Letters, received by the Marquiss de la Fayette. I send you the Letters from Mr. Adams and Mr. Lee that you may know their Sentiments. All that is said of ~~Mr.~~ me, in both these Letters I hope you will omit. They are only Compliments, and I fancy Mistakes. What is said also, of General Sullivan in 415Mr. Adams's Letter should also be omitted. And what is said in Mr. Lees Letter concerning our Currency, ought to be omitted also. With great Respect,

John Adams

You will be so good as to return these Letters, when you have made your Use of them.2

RC (Justin G. Turner, Los Angeles, 1958). The top edge of the MS, which probably contained the dateline and salutation, is fire damaged.

The date is derived from JA's letter to Samuel Adams of 14 Feb. (above), which mentions the visit by Lafayette to Passy on the previous day.

The three letters sent by JA were from Samuel Adams, 25 Oct. 1778; Richard Henry Lee, 29 Oct. 1778; and Samuel Cooper, 4 Jan. 1779 (all above). Genet translated and printed them, with the omissions requested by JA, in Affaires de l'Angleterre et de l'Amerique, “Lettres,” vol. 13, cahier 65, p. clxxii–clxxix. The letters were returned with an undated note (Adams Papers; now dated post 14 Feb. 1779, it was filmed under the date of July 1778, Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 349). In that note Genet mentioned the constitution of New York, which he had apparently received from JA, and informed him that it had already been printed in Affaires. No letter from JA to Genet enclosing that document has been found.

To Ferdinand Grand, 16 February 1779 JA Grand, Ferdinand

1779-02-16

To Ferdinand Grand, 16 February 1779 Adams, John Grand, Ferdinand

To Ferdinand Grand

Sir Passy February 16. 1779

As I Shall soon have an opportunity of rendering an Account of my Short Stewardship, I must beg the Favour of you, to let Some of your People, make out a list of those Sums of Money, which I have drawn for and received seperately—another of those which Dr. Franklin and I have drawn for jointly—and thirdly an Account of those sums, which all of Us have drawn for together. I dont know indeed but it will be best to draw out the whole Account, from my Arrival the 9th of April, to the Twelfth of February the Day of the Arrival of Dr. Franklins new Commission. It will be no doubt expected by Congress, that I should be provided with Such an Account, and you must be rewarded for the Trouble of making it out. I am, with much Esteem and Respect your Friend & humble servant1

LbC (Adams Papers); notation: “not sent.”

If JA did not send this letter, it was probably because he met Grand at Passy and made his request orally. Grand's letter of 17? Feb. 1779 (below) makes it clear that JA asked him for the required accounts.

To Gabriel de Sartine, 16 February 1779 JA Sartine, Antoine Raymond Jean Gualbert Gabriel de

1779-02-16

To Gabriel de Sartine, 16 February 1779 Adams, John Sartine, Antoine Raymond Jean Gualbert Gabriel de

To Gabriel de Sartine

Sir Passy Feb. 16. 1779

By the late Appointment of ~~Dr. Franklin to be~~ a Minister plenipotentiary at this Court, I am left at Liberty to return to my own Coun-416try, as it does not appear that Congress, have any further Service for me to do in Europe. I therefore wish to return, as Soon as possible. But the English have heard So much of me, in Times past that I should be very loth to be exposed to their Goodwill. If it is in your Excellencys Intention therefore to Send any Man of War to any Part of the united States, I would ask the Favour of a Passage for myself, my little son and a servant.1 I have the Honour to be, with the highest Consideration, &c

LbC (Adams Papers).

Because he did not know when a French vessel would be dispatched to an American port, Sartine recommended in his reply of 28 Feb. that JA take passage on the continental frigate Alliance, which had carried Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin's new commission to France and was under orders to prepare for an immediate return to the United States (Adams Papers; French text printed in JA, Works , 7:88–89).