Papers of John Adams, volume 14
e.Mars 1783
Vous verrez par la Copie ci-jointe d’une Lettre que Mr. le Duc de la Vauguyon a eu la bonté, avec ses complimens pour V. E., de m’envoyer, que Mr. votre fils étoit parti le 3 de Coppenhague.1 Mr. D’Asp, de son côté, est venu me lire une Lettre du Bn. Sprengporten, Mine. de Suede à Coppenhague,2 qui lui marque l’avoir vu & entretenu le 25 fevr., & qu’il se disposoit alors à poursuivre Son voyage, pour se rendre ici selon vos desirs. Ainsi nous l’attendons tous les jours. Sa chambre est prête, & tous nos soins aussi pour son agrément & bien-être, soit ici, soit à Leide s’il en preferoit le séjour.
Je joins ici la Lettre en original, que Mr. d’Asp, qui vous présente ses respects, vient de m’écrire sur une affaire qui lui tient fort à coeur. J’en enverrai de mon côté une copie, que j’en ai tirée, à Mr. Livingston, pour que cela parvienne de ce côté ou du vôtre; avec priere de faire mettre quelque avertissement là-dessus dans les gazettes Américaines.3
Dans l’espoir de revoir ici V. Exce. dans le cours du mois prochain, j’ai trouvé l’expédient de pouvoir renvoyer jusquelà le reglement & remboursement des comptes du ménage ici, afin de ne point vous embarrasser, Monsieur, dans cet éloignement.
Voici seulement quelques comptes qui m’ont été présentés, sur lesquels j’ai dit que je demanderois vos ordres.
1o. Le compte d’un Boucher d’Amsterdam pour viande livrée du 1er. Avr. au 8 May de . . .
la viande de boeuf, qui j’y trouve marquée à 10s. d’holl. la lb est à un prix exorbitant, & apparem̃ent un dessous de carte que les domestiques font valoir quand ils peuvent.
2o. Le compte d’un Brasseur d’Amsterdam pour biere livrée du 18 May 1781 au 12e.
Avril 1782 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3 Le compte du Bureau de la poste ici pr. le London Courant, Morn. post, Morn. Chron. & genl. Advertiser, 8bre. 9bre. & xbre, 4 papiers à 36 fl. faisant . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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| Courier de l’Europe les 3 mois | 18.— |
4o. Le compte du relieur ici, pour relieures y compris les Gazettes holl. & le politique
holl. de . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Quant aux livres reliés, vous les trouverez Monsieur, dans la 325Bibliotheque, ou je les ai rangés à part.4 Et pour les papiers Angl. &c je les expédie toujours par les vaisseaux partants d’Amsterdam.
Je suis malade. Mais nos amis ont la charité de me visiter. Vous avez, Monsieur, les respects de ma famille avec ceux de, Monsieur / votre très humble & très / obéissant serviteur
Translation
You will see from the enclosed copy of a letter the Duc de La Vauguyon was kind enough to send me, with compliments to your excellency, that your son left Copenhagen on 3 March.1 For his part, Mr. Asp came to read me a letter from Baron Sprengtporten, Swedish minister at Copenhagen,2 indicating that he had seen and talked to him on 25 February and that he was making ready to continue on his journey to arrive here, as you wished. And so we are expecting him at any time. His room is ready, and we have made plans for his entertainment and well-being, either here or in Leyden, if he prefers to stay there.
I enclose the original of a letter that Mr. Asp, who sends you his respects, has just written me about a matter close to his heart. I shall send a copy I made of this to Mr. Livingston, so that it arrives either through him or through you, with a request to have some mention of this put in the American newspapers.3
In hopes of seeing your excellency here again some time next month, I have managed to put off settling our household accounts until then, so as not to bother you, sir, at such a distance.
Here are just a few of the bills that have been brought me. I told the creditors I would ask you for instructions.
1o. 1. Bill from a butcher in Amsterdam for meat delivered between 1 April and 8 May . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The beef, which I see is priced at 10 Dutch suivers per pound, is quite exorbitant, apparently some secret deal the servants exploit whenever they can.
2. Bill from an Amsterdam brewer for beer delivered between 18 May 1781 and 12 April 1782 . . . . . . .
3. Bill from the post office here for the London Courant, Morning Post, Morning Chronicle, and General Advertiser, October, November, and December; four papers at 36 florins, making . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Three months of Courier de l’Europe
|
18.— |
4. Bill from the bookbinder here for bindings, including the Dutch gazettes and Politique hollandais . . .
Regarding the books that were bound, you will find them here, sir, in the library, where I put them on a separate shelf.4 And as for the English papers, I always send them on ships leaving from Amsterdam.
326I am ill. But our friends have been charitable enough to visit me. You have, sir, the respects of my family with those of, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant
RC and enclosure (Adams Papers); internal address: “Paris à Son. Exce. Mr. Adams M. P.”; endorsed: “M. Dumas 11. March / ansd. 19.”
The enclosure was a copy of a 3 March letter from the Chevalier de Viviers, the French minister at Hamburg, to the Duc de La Vauguyon. In the letter De Viviers noted that he had written to Lübeck, Stralsund, Berlin, and Copenhagen for news of JQA and had just received a reply from the Baron de La Houze, the French minister to Denmark. It provided essentially the same information, although at greater length, as contained in Philippe Jean Joseph Lagau's letter of 3 March, above.
Baron Johan Vilhelm von Sprengtporten, Swedish envoy to Denmark since 1762 (
Repertorium
, 3:405).
Per Olof von Asp wrote to Dumas on 10 March in an effort to locate Nicolas Myrin, a Swedish teenager who had not been heard from since joining a loyalist military unit, the New Jersey Volunteers, in 1779. Dumas sent a copy of Asp's letter to Livingston on 11 March (PCC, No. 93, II, f. 283–290) and the original letter (not found) to JA. In his reply of 19 March, below, JA informed Dumas that he would inquire after Myrin. On the same day he sent the original letter to Benjamin Lincoln with a cover note (LbC, APM Reel 108). Lincoln placed an advertisement in the Philadelphia Freeman's Journal on 9 July seeking information on Myrin.
JA's library at MB includes thirteen bound volumes of Politique hollandais for the period from 12 Feb. 1781 to 10 Feb. 1783: one copy of vol. 1; four of vol. 2; five of vol. 3; and three of vol. 4 (
Catalogue of JA's Library
).
I have to apologize to you for having omitted to recollect to put up your two Volumes of Maps, which I beg permission to have the honor to present to you.1 If possible, they shall go by this opportunity.
I do not learn that we have yet fixed our ministry, which does not at all concern me, provided we could fix our principles. I am happy however to find, notwithstanding the factions in parliament, that the people of England are not at all averse to a proper footing with America, provided they could be assured of America's disposition to be reciprocal in the matter of advance. So far they are right, that no public overtures from thence have yet arrived at their knowledge; in which I think you gentlemen at Paris might nevertheless assist us.— Perhaps I may truly affirm that the boldness of my friend,2 has done more towards advancing manly opinions, than any thing I have yet experienced in this country. Happy I am to find notwithstanding this clamor, that he retains all his old American sentiments, and repents of nothing. Some of his friends only lament that he did not corrupt the votes of some, who never vote but by corruption; and in truth it 327would have secured the business. I have the honor to be, / Dear sir, / your very respectful / & most obedient humble se[rt.]
n:Vaughan
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed by John Thaxter: “Mr. Vaughan / 11. March 1783.” Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript.
See Vaughan's letter of 25 Feb., and note 2, above.
Probably Shelburne, for whom Vaughan had served as a confidential observer at the peace negotiations.