Papers of John Adams, volume 21
I received, last Evening the Letter you did me the honour
to write me, the 30th of July, and am ready to
give you all the Information in my power1
Mitchel’s Map was the only one, which the Ministers
Plenipotentiary of The United States, and The Minister Plenipotentiary of
great Britain made use of in their Conferences and Discussions relative to
the Boundaries of the United States, in their Negotiation of the Peace of
1783 and of the Provisional Articles of the 30th
of November 1782. Upon that Map and that only were those Boundaries
delineated: and the River marked on that Map; with the Name of St. Croix,
was the River agreed upon as the Eastern Boundary of the state of
Massachusetts and of the United States, It was not intended by either Party
to give any new Boundary to the East Side of Massachusetts: but the real
Eastern Boundary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, according to the
Charter of William and Mary was intended to be the Eastern Boundary of the
United States, To the forgoing Facts I am ready to attest in any manner that
may be judged necessary: and if Mr Jay should transmit you an Affidavit I
shall be very willing to do the same. But I can scarsely think it necessary
because I cannot believe that any of these Facts will be denied or
questioned
The decease of Mr Oswald is
unfortunate because I am well assured he would have avowed all these Facts
with the utmost frankness and Candor. Mr
Whiteford the Secretary to his Commission I am confident will readily admit
them all2 Mr William Franklin The Secretary to the American
Commission knows them. Dr Franklin 495 before
his Death transmitted to the then Secretary of State Mr Jefferson as I was informed by him a full State of this affair
according to his Reccollection, a Document which probably Col, Pickering has
transmitted to you—if not it may be usefull for you to obtain it from his
office,3 Lord St
Helens4 formerly Mr Fitzherbert might or might not be informed by
Mr Oswald at the time. If he was I have
confidence enough in his Lordships Honour and Candour to believe that he
will confirm all that I have Said. Benjamin Vaughan Esq might or might not
be informed. if he was, either by Mr Oswald or
Mr Whiteford or any of the American
Ministers his Testimony cannot but corroborate the Account I have given.
Wishing you a pleasant Voyage and safe return / I have the Honour to be, sir, your most / obedient
FC in AA2’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Honourable / James sullivan Esq”; docketed by JA: “Answer to Judge Sulli / vans Letter of 2. of August.”
Sullivan wrote to JA on 30 July (Adams Papers), seeking an
affidavit on the use of John Mitchell’s map to determine the location of
the St. Croix River and mentioning that he sent a similar query to John
Jay (JA, Works
, 8:518–519).
The principal British peace negotiator, Richard
Oswald, died in 1784. JA suggested contacting Caleb
Whitefoord (1734–1810), an Edinburgh wine merchant who was Oswald’s
secretary (vol. 16:462;
DNB
).
Benjamin Franklin wrote to Thomas Jefferson on 8
April 1790, confirming the use of Mitchell’s map and enclosing a portion
of it “in loose sheets,” with the Passamaquoddy Bay boundary line
clearly marked ( Jefferson,
Papers
, 16:326). He
recommended asking JA for clarification, for which see vol.
20:323.
From this point, the remainder of this letter is in JA’s hand.
I received, with great Pleasure, your kind Letter of the
28th. of June, inclosing Mr Bordleys Notes, on the Outline of the 15th. Chapter of the proposed general Report from
The Board of Agriculture.1
Mr Bordleys Observations shew him to be a
Farmer of uncommon intelligence as well as Experience. If I should ever have
the Courage to send sir John Sinclair any Remarks on the Report I shall
certainly inclose these. Thirty years ago I should have been all alive to
such a Correspondence: but thirty Years taken from Agriculture and applied
to Law and Politicks diminish a Mans Ardour and destroy his activity.
You and I, and others like Us, if such there are who retire in Summer to Tranquillity and Sobriety (for that is the name of my Hill) without hearing a Dispute upon Politicks are the happiest Mortals alive, as long as We can keep out of our minds the thought of the necessity of returning to Cares and Perplexities in the Winter.
496I own I have another unpleasant Reflection which occurs
to me very often, vizt that We are no longer to
meet an Elsworth a King a Strong or a Cabot to share our toils and diminish
our Anxieties. We shall have good Men however
in their Places.
The Political Atmosphere has been more serene this summer than ever I knew it. After a storm generally comes a Calm—I have not heard a Gale nor a Breeze. Long may the quiet last: that you and I may have Leizure to pursue our favourite Amusements studies and Experiments.
I shall always be happy to hear of your Welfare and to share in your discoveries in Agriculture or in Politicks or any other science Literature or scæne of Life, being with great and / Sincere Esteem your Friend and / humble servant
RC (Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York); internal address: “Mr Rutherford.”
Originally from New York City, John Rutherfurd
(1760–1840), Princeton 1779, represented New Jersey in the Senate from
1791 to 1798. He wrote to JA on 28 June 1796 (Adams Papers) to share
agricultural news from Robert Somerville’s Outlines of the Fifteenth Chapter of the Proposed General Report
from the Board of Agriculture. On the Subject of Manures,
London, 1795. Maryland judge John Beale Bordley (1727–1804), of
Annapolis, founded the Agricultural Society of Philadelphia in 1785
(
Biog. Dir. Cong.
; JA, D&A
, 3:238; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Loan Exhibition of Historical Portraits Dec. 1,
1887 – Jan. 15, 1888, 2d edn., Phila., 1887, p. 17).