Papers of John Adams, volume 17
th:1785
I am obliged to you for your favor of the 25th. Octr. last & for the intelligence it contained relative to the line between this State & Nova Scotia.1 I have lately at the request of the General Court forwarded to our Delegates at Congress the report of the Agents that were sent last fall to the Eastern parts of this State to make enquiry whether any encroachments had been made upon this State by the British; & also a number of other Papers relative to the boundary Line above referr’d to, I suppose you will soon hear from Congress upon this subject—2 I congratulate you upon your being appointed a Minister at the Court of Great Britain & hope the appointment will be agreeable to you, I sincerely wish you success in all your negociations & hope you will be able to do essential service to the United States by making a treaty of Commerce with that Nation that may be mutually beneficial. Our People begin to be very restless & uneasy under the restrictions & embarrassments our Trade labors under at the English Ports & will not any longer rest satisfied unless this Government or Congress retaliate—
Colo. Norton, who will deliver you this Letter, is employed as an Agent from the County of Dukes County to apply to the British Government for Compensation for the Stock taken from the Inhabitants of said County in the year 1778, he has had the permission of this Commonwealth for this purpose several times during the War—3
If your Excellency can render him any service, it will be to the advantage of the Commonwealth at large, as the money that may be obtained for these People will be principally, if not wholly, applied to the payment of their Taxes for which they now stand indebted—
With great Respect & Esteem, / I have the honor to be, / Dear Sir, / Your most Obedt. hble Servt.
RC (Adams Papers); internal addresses: “His Excellency John Adams Esqr:” and “His Excellency John Adams Esqr.”
Vol. 16:347–348.
On 7 July 1784 the Mass. General Court appointed Benjamin Lincoln, Henry Knox, and George Partridge commissioners to investigate British incursions along the Massachusetts– Nova Scotia border. Lincoln and Knox presented the commission’s report on 20 Oct., but not until 17 March 1785, and then at Rufus King’s behest, did the General Court resolve to send the report and supporting documents to the commonwealth’s congressional delegation in New York in order to elicit from Congress such instructions “to their Minister at the Court of London, as shall be thought most effectual to prevent any further disputes concerning the said eastern boundary, and cause the encroachments aforesaid to be removed” (vol. 16:300, 301; Smith, Letters of Delegates
, 22:218; Mass., Acts and Laws
, 1784–1785, p. 265, 397–398). The documents submitted by Massachusetts in March and others sent in September resulted in reports by John Jay of 21 April and 22 Sept. and, on 13 Oct., a congressional resolution that JA be instructed to make representations to the British government on the subject (
JCC
, 28:287–290; 29:753–754, 828–829). For additional information on JA’s instructions, his representations to the British government, and the documents sent him to support his case, see Jay’s second letter of 1 Nov., and notes 1 and 2, below.
Beriah Norton, colonel in the militia and Dukes County senator, first went to England as AA’s fellow passenger on the Active in 1784. He was returning in the spring of 1785 to renew his campaign to obtain redress for losses suffered by the inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard in a 1778 British raid (
AFC
, 5:359–360, 383; 7:9, 11). Norton also carried William Gordon’s letter of 8 April 1785, above, Francis Dana’s of the 10th, below, and Cotton Tufts’ to AA of the 11th (
AFC
, 6:81–82).
th.1785
A short time before the receipt of your letter of the 4th. of Novr: I had written to you & enclosed an account of the cash I had advanced for your Son; and acquainted you that I shoud not draw upon you without your express direction: being unwilling to put you to the least inconvenience in the payment of it. In the letter abovementioned you have desired me to draw upon you for it, unless I cou’d persuade Congress to allow it to me: This letter I have lately answered by one directed to you at Auteuil, in which I told you I shou’d apply to Congress for such an allowance.1 This I have done, thro’ our friend Gerry, informing him of the proper circumstances. But as he has lately returned home, I doubt whether my letter 10reached him before he left Congress, or at least in season for him to effect that business. The application shall certainly be made, and if they think fit to allow the charge, it shall inure to your benefit.2
Since my last I have accepted a seat upon the bench of the supreme judicial Court, and shall enter upon the Western Circuit this week. ’Tis my intention to make a trial whether I can hold the office without breaking in upon my private income. If I cannot I shall resign at the end of the year, for in such a case it wou’d be the height of folly to continue in it.3
Colo: Norton the bearer of this letter has requested me to introduce him to your acquaintance & to ask your friendly assistance in the business which carries him a second time to England, as far as you can consistently afford him any. This Gentleman is a member of our Senate, & whose reputation stands well. I feel myself under some obligations to him for his aid in a business I have had to negotiate with our General Assembly for Mrs: Western, Mr: Bollan’s daughter & heir.4 I need say no more to induce you to give him your’s in his business with the British Ministry— I will deliver to Colo: Norton some journals of Congress which I have taken out for you, but have not found any good opportunity to forward to you before. We suppose he will find you at the British Court, where you will have a new occasion again to exert your abilities & patriotism in promoting the best interests of our Country. This honourable Mission is considered as a just acknowledgment of your merits & services.
I am too much pressed for time to enter upon political subjects, and must take my leave of you now after begging you to present Mrs: Dana’s & my most affectionate regards to Mrs: Adams & your Daughter, you will be pleased to accept of the same for yourself & to distribute a due portion to the young Minister.
Your friend & humble Servant
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excellency Jno Adams—”; endorsed: “Mr Dana. Ap. 10. / 1785.”
Dana received JA’s 4 Nov. 1784 letter on 28 Jan. 1785. He wrote to JA on 12 Dec. 1784 and again on 30 Jan. 1785 (vol. 16:366–367, 457–459, 500–505).
In an undated letter, probably written in early February, Dana asked Elbridge Gerry to lay before Congress his appeal to be reimbursed for expenses beyond his salary, including money spent to cover JQA’s expenses as Dana’s private secretary in Russia (MHi:Elbridge Gerry Papers). When the Board of Treasury reported on 2 June, it recommended that Dana be reimbursed for his expenses but did not address the charge for a secretary (PCC, No. 41, II, f. 541–547). On 22 July, when Congress took up and approved the board’s recommendations, Gerry introduced a motion that remedied the omission (Smith, Letters of Delegates
, 22:xxi, 525; Dana to Gerry, 31 July, MHi:Elbridge Gerry Papers; 11
JCC
, 29:569–570). The actual payment to Dana for JQA’s expenses was not, however, authorized until Oct. 1787 (vol. 16:505).
For Dana’s decision to resign as a Massachusetts member of Congress and his subsequent appointment to the Supreme Judicial Court by John Hancock, see his 30 Jan. 1785 letter (vol. 16:500–501, 504, 505).
On 14 June the Mass. General Court granted £2,000 to Frances Shirley Bollan Western, daughter, heir, and executor of William Bollan, as final payment for her father’s service as agent of the colony from 1745 to 1762 and of the provincial council from 1769 to his death in 1782 (Mass., Acts and Laws
, 1784–1785, p. 637–638;
ANB
).