Papers of John Adams, volume 20

404 To John Adams from William Cushing, 7 August 1790 Cushing, William Adams, John

From William Cushing

Dear Sir, Middletown Saturday Eveng 7th. Augst. 1790

I intended myself the pleasure of calling to pay my respects to you before leaving the city, & for that purpose had engaged a hack to carry me out Thursday Morning, but the hack failed & disappointed me & the packet I had bespoke a passage in, being soon ready to sail, I stepped aboard & reached the harbour of Newhaven that Evening; which saved much jolting over horseneck rocks.— So I hope you will excuse my neglect.—

Our Session was short, having not much to do, besides determining what rout we were to take respectively the next Circuit Court; & it being the general opinion that a rotation was not necessary in the Contemplation of law; the Chief Justice & I are to begin in october at Albany & circulate Eastward, Ending with Providence the beginning of December.1 Before our Circuit begins I hope to hope to have the pleasure of Seeing you Eastward if you make a visit that way. I present my respects to Mrs. Adams & am Sir your affectionate humble servant

Wm Cushing—

RC (Adams Papers).

The fall session of the eastern circuit opened in Albany, N.Y., on 4 October. Judges heard cases in Hartford, Conn.; Boston; and Exeter, N.H., before adjourning in Providence, R.I., on 7 Dec. ( Doc. Hist. Supreme Court , 2:536, 541, 542).

To John Adams from John Brown Cutting, 11 August 1790 Cutting, John Brown Adams, John

From John Brown Cutting

Dear Sir, London Aug. 11. 1790

If ever there was a time when the volunteer exertions of a citizen of America became a duty incumbent upon him in a foreign realm—that period has existed here.

For many weeks past I have not been absent a single day from the Admiralty—sundays only excepted. It is not for me to say how efficacious in resisting individual oppression or national mischief this un-intermitting attention has proved.

I have not yet leisure to transmit either to Yourself or to Mr Jefferson a full detail of facts. By the inclosed papers however You will obtain some information.1

The press notwithstanding pacific appearances in the newspapers 405 yet continues, throughout the british ports: but whether the british fleet is rendering thus formidable for warlike enterprize or only politic intimidation, the best informed people here can only conjecture.

The preliminary articles of a pacification between the courts of Berlin and Vienna are signed— By these it is said the house of austria must relinquish every fruit of their war with Turkey except the dismantlement or demolition of a few turkish fortresses.2 The reduction of the revolted Netherlands—is a measure that Leopold is resolved on.3 Nobody will pity a race of revolutioners so debased by bigotry as to pass contentedly from the imperial yoke to that of priestly and aristocratic fabrication.

The empress of Russia has signified her consent to the Emperor that is to be—of Germany—to make a seperate peace for himself—if his affairs require it. Firm and haughty she defies her foes and relies on her own resources for carrying on a war with Sweden & the Porte.4

Very respectfully Your affectionate and most obed sert

John Brown Cutting

RC (Adams Papers).

The enclosures have not been found, but for Cutting’s efforts on behalf of American sailors, see his 17 July letter to JA , and note 2, above. He documented the struggle in his Facts and Observations, Justifying the Claims of John Browne Cutting, Phila., 1795, Evans, No. 28522. Cutting claimed that he assisted more than 700 American seamen, spending nearly $7,000 of his own funds, and he asked Congress for reimbursement. He received a partial payment of $2,000 in 1792 (Jefferson, Papers , 23:105, 106).

Leopold II, emperor of Austria, agreed to a truce with the Ottoman Empire on 19 Sept. 1790 and signed the Treaty of Sistova on 4 Aug. 1791. Austria relinquished portions of Bosnia, Serbia, Moldavia, and Wallachia (Black, British Foreign Policy , p. 262, 263; Mehrdad Kia, The Ottoman Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2 vols., Santa Barbara, Calif., 2017, 1:49).

For the revolt in the Austrian Netherlands, see John Bondfield’s letter of 20 Nov. 1789, and note 2, above.

The Russo-Swedish War ended on 14 Aug. 1790 with the Treaty of Varala. The Russo-Turkish War continued until 1792, culminating in the Treaty of Jassy (vol. 19:42; from John Paul Jones, 20 Dec. 1789, and note 3, above).