Papers of John Adams, volume 13

From Henry Grand, 31 May 1782 Grand, Henry JA

1782-05-31

From Henry Grand, 31 May 1782 Grand, Henry Adams, John

From Henry Grand

Paris May the 31st. 17821 Sir

Pursuant to Doctor Franklin's Approbation I have Settled your Account in the only way you could admit of, that is to Say I have given you credit for the sum you ordered to Mr. Dana's Account					£6857.	3
adding to that the Ballance I owed you on the 10th. of sept of					2557.	16
makes up a sum of					£ 9414.	19
from which there is to be deducted
1st. the £400. making with the charges	Bf 4045.2
at 53	£9158.	14.	3	}	9221.	18.	3
2dly. the two payments made to Chavann de la Giraudiere of 31.4 and 32	63.	4.		}	9221.	18.	3
I Stant your Debter of					£ 193.	.	9

which I request Messrs. Fizeaux Grand & ce. to pay you by Bf 86. 9. I shall be happy to hear you approve of all this.

The Wine is not yet all gone, but I hope very Shortly to be able to give you in an Account of what it cleared.

I forbear talking Politicks till fortune of War presents me with a fairer Opportunity, meantime I remain with great Respect sir Your most obt hble st.

Grand 91

RC (Adams Papers); notation: “6 June 1782 Recd this 86f. 9. of Mr Fizeaux &c for which I gave two Receipts to serve for one. J. Adams.”

With this letter Henry Grand closed the controversy over JA's account that had begun with Grand's letter of 29 Jan. 1781 (vol. 11:87–88). From JA's viewpoint it involved a straightforward transfer of funds to Francis Dana, but considerable confusion resulted when Grand and JA sought to reconcile JA's account. For the correspondence dealing with the matter see the indexes to volumes 11 and 12.

From Jean de Neufville & Fils, 31 May 1782 Neufville, Jean de, & Fils (business) JA

1782-05-31

From Jean de Neufville & Fils, 31 May 1782 Neufville, Jean de, & Fils (business) Adams, John

From Jean de Neufville & Fils

Amsterdam 31st. May 1782 Sir

We beg leave to reffer ourselves to the letter we wrotte your Excellcy. the 24th. Instt. and have now to enclose your Account Currt. Ballanced in our favour with the sum of f3937: 1: 8 Including the Accot. of Disbursements for the loan In 1781.1 We shall esteem your Excellcys. ordering our Reimbursement of said sum—and that you Will return us the papers desired by our former—and that you Will at the same time direct us, what we are to do with 500. obligations we still have of said loan. Interim we Remain with due respect Your Excellency's Most Obedt: Hble: Servts:

John de Neufville & Son

RC (Adams Papers).

The two accounts enclosed with this letter have not been found, but for the loan that JA undertook with the de Neufvilles in March 1781, see the indexes to vols. 11 and 12; for the reconciled account, see the de Neufvilles' letter of 14 June 1782, below.

To Edmund Jenings, 1 June 1782 JA Jenings, Edmund

1782-06-01

To Edmund Jenings, 1 June 1782 Adams, John Jenings, Edmund

To Edmund Jenings

Hague June 1. 1782 My dear sir

I have taken my Pen, Simply, to thank you for Several excellent Letters, for the Pamphlets by Mr Myers and the Memoires by Mr Ridley,1 and to tell you that I am Sick.2

I Sometimes think I shall die a Martyr to the Dutch alliance, and I declare to you, if it had been the only action of my Life, I should have thought it a Life well Spent, Such are my Ideas of its Importance to the Cause of our Country. The Influence of it, may not be soon percieved and may never appear in a Striking Light. But it will exist. I shall love the Dutch Nation, till I die, although most other Men, perhaps every Man of Spirit in my Circumstances would have cursed them and quitted them long ago. But where the holy Cause is at Stake, I am not a Man of Spirit, enough to do it an Injury.

Mr Ridley ever appeared to me a worthy Man. I have been honoured with but little of his Company, but hope for more of it, which will always give me Pleasure.

The great News, is not well received, at Petersbourg, but your Acquaintance, receives Visits and Congratulations upon the Occasion, from the Ministers of two Powers.3 This is not the Smallest of the advantages, which will result from it, that an american Minister, at any Court, when he is not recd will be able to See respectable Company. The French Ministers for want of Somebody to countenance them, have been heretofore rather Shy. The Spanish Min. and sec. are very obliging and Social with me, as private Gentn. They did me the Honour to dine with me, two or three days ago—with the Amb. de France and his Family and Some of the Members of this Govt.

RC (Adams Papers).

From Jenings, 29 May, and note 2, above.

JA identified his illness as influenza in a letter to AA, 16 June ( AFC , 4:324). An influenza pandemic had first been reported in Russia the previous winter, though it probably actually originated in Asia, and by this time had reached western Europe and was crossing the channel to England. The disease may also have been the cause of Lord Rockingham's death on 1 July. All told, it effected tens of millions of people—in some places up to 80 percent of the population—and killed hundreds of thousands (K. David Patterson, Pandemic Influenza 1700–1900: A Study in Historical Epidemiology, Totowa, N.J., 1986, pp. 20–24; Morris, Peacemakers , p. 280–281).

See Francis Dana's letter of 10 May, above.