Papers of John Adams, volume 16

Samuel Adams to John Adams, 2 December 1784 Adams, Samuel Adams, John

From Samuel Adams

My dear Sir Boston 2d Decr. 1784

I received several of your Letters with Pleasure, particularly that of May, which I will answer at a Time of more Leisure—1

Captn Dashwood of this Town is going to London, to sollicit Payment of the British Crown, for Goods taken from him when the Troops left the Town, not as forfeited, but under the Apprehension that they would be of Use to our Army, & with an Express Promise that they should be paid for. It appears to me to among the bona Fide Debts mention’d in the Treaty, and if there may be on the Part of the Crown itself a Failure of a Compliance with a possitive stipulated Article, it will be dificult for the Goverments in America to prevail with their Citizens to think it reasonable that they should pay the just Debts owing from them to British Subjects. Dashwood has my Promise to write to you again on the Subjects & I must fulfill it.2 It is with reluctance that I give you this repeated Trouble, especially as I know you must be press’d with Affairs of greater National Importance— You are best able to say whither you can afford him Aid or not. I have ventured to assure him, that if it be in your Power consistantly to interpose your Influence, you will undoubtedly be dispos’d to do it. what aggravates the Misfortune of this Citizen if he should not obtain Justice in England is that his British Crediter now demands the Payment of his Debt with Interest, & tho’ this Sum is very small in Comparison with the Value of the Goods taken from him, the Payment, as he says & I suppose truly, will compleatly ruin him.

your affectionate

S Adams

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excellency John Adams Esquire”; endorsed: “Mr S. Adams. / 2 Dec. 1784.”

Of 1 May, above.

Samuel Adams first wrote JA concerning Capt. Samuel Dashwood’s plight on 17 April, for which see Samuel Adams’ letter of 16 April, note 1, above. For JA’s opinion regarding the likelihood of Dashwood’s obtaining compensation, see JA’s letter to Samuel Adams of 25 June, above. With this letter in the Adams Papers is a brief, undated note from Dashwood indicating that he could be reached at 442 the “Neu Eland Coffehous” if JA was able to assist him. Since Dashwood likely carried Samuel Adams’ letter when he left for England, his note may have served as a covering letter when he sent it on to JA at Paris. The date of the note is unknown, but Dashwood was in London in June 1785 ( AFC , 6:192).

William Knox to John Adams, 7 December 1784 Knox, William Adams, John

From William Knox

Sir London 7. December 1784

Your politeness and Kind attention to me in Europe, together with the unequivocal regard I have for your character, induces me to make you a tender of my best services in the conveying any Commands or Letters you may wish to send to Boston for which place I have taken my Passage, and it is expected the Ship will sail in a fortnight or three Weeks, she is from Boston, and owned by Mr. James Swan, and Mr. John Merchant, and Commanded by Capt. Young father in Law to Mr. W. Tudor. Very ill Health has prevented my revising my Native Country at an earlier period & indeed for many Months deprived me of the pleasures of Society. I am happy to have so far recovered, as to undertake without reluctance a Winters voyage in order to join my good Brother and to me his enteresting Family, he and they are very well and live in Mrs: Jones’s House at Dorchester about five Miles from Boston.1

Your Kindness in communicating to me both at the Hague and in London information which you supposed might tend to enlarge my Ideas of Europian Politics, and wch. might one day or other by communications from me be of service to our dear Country, emboldens me, as I am on the point of returning, to beg information on some of the important subjects of Europe, as on my return interrogations will come from my various connections and Friends to whom I wish to convey valuable and well authenticated intelligence, these enquiries will not be few probably in Number, as it is my intention some time after my arrival to travel by Land from Boston to Charles-Town, from the same motives wch. have induced me to stay so long and to have made so many excursions thro’ the differentt parts of Europe. To make myself acquainted with the Mercantile interests of those Countries, wch. I have thought proper enough being myself a Man of Bassiness.2 I wish to confine my enquiries of your Opinion so far as can with propriety be communicated, to the more immediate State of the Emperor with the Dutch, Will the French or the King of Prussia assist the Dutch? if they will not who 443 will?— Whether you think the emperor has right as well as strength in his demands or is the right that might gives?— Whether you think there is a positive Combination among the great Catholic Powers of Europe to crush England and the Lesser Protestant ones? (this is an Idea of some very sensible people)— What is your Opinion of The present State of Ireland—and lastly whether the State of our Dear Country is as you wish it, on what amendments or improvements and in what particulars it stands most in need off?

I hear Sir Mrs. Adams is with you if So, pray make my very respectful Regards to her, and make my joint offers to her of service in taking her Commands. I am charmed with the Character of Mr. Jefferson who you have at Paris, had I ever seen him I should beg my Comps to him, such Characters give a Colour to the reputation of America, wch. the depraved state of Europe does not admit off. I pray God my dear Sir & I am sure you will not except to the ejaculation that Our Public Countrymen, may never adopt the wretched policy of intrigue and Mystery which pervades at present with scarcely an exception all the Courts of Europe, but prefer what I sincerely think is our national Character, (however great and numerous the deviations may be) plain Honesty, at the same time possessing such information, and Discerment as like the great Stairs formerly from the British Court as Minister to the Court of Verseilles, to be so superior to that unmanly system as to able even to counteract it in the most perfect manner.3 I hope you will excuse the trouble I mean to put you to, when you may easily see, and be assured of the propriety of my intentions on this subject. any other information you may think proper to communicate I shall gladly receive in the interim

I have the Honor to be with senti/ments of Respect, the most sincere / Sir, Your Mt. Obliged & Obt Servt

Wm. Knox

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excellency Mr. Adams—”; endorsed: “Mr W. Knox. / 7. Dec. Ansd. 15 / 1784”; notation: “To the Care of Lewis Teissier Esquire / No 22. Old Broad Street / London—”

William Knox, younger brother of Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, had been in Europe since 1781 to promote business and recover his health. He was returning to America aboard the Hero, Capt. John Young. Knox refers to William Tudor, JA’s former law clerk, who had married Delia Jarvis, daughter of Elias and Deliverance Atkins Jarvis, in 1778. Young became Tudor’s father-in-law by virtue of marrying Delia’s mother after her father’s early death (vol. 12:32; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 17:253, 254, 259; Deacon Tudor’s Diary, ed. William Tudor, Boston, 1896, p. 110). For JA’s acceptance of Knox’s offer to carry letters to America, see JA’s 15 Dec. 1784 letters to Knox and Cotton Tufts, both below.

This sentence was written in the left margin and marked for insertion at this point.

444 3.

From 1715 to 1720 John Dalrymple, 2d Earl of Stair (1673–1747), served at the French court as British minister plenipotentiary and then ambassador. Known for his extravagant expenditures and lifestyle, Stair’s most important and successful endeavor during his tenure was to keep the government in London informed of the activities of the pretender to the British throne, James Stuart, and then, after Stuart’s expulsion from France, those of his adherents ( DNB ).