The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-02-19
JoHNoUINcY ADAMS.
The MostiNon- Com initial LIE tier of the Past


In last Fridays ARGUS, an interesting
letter appeared, Tin print for the hrst
time,) written by John Adams in
1896, and addressed to his son Thomas OF
whom hi storians have made but little men
ton, although at on. time he was consld-
cred young man of greater promise than
his subsequently more distinguished broth
err. John Quincy Adams. OF the latter,
his entire public career showed him to be
| possessed of even greater shire wdness and
caution than that of his father, the great
| Federalist who succeeded Washington the
chief magistracy 1t is not generally
known, however, that this caution led
him to at least one extreme-that of rare
| ~ addressing person by name or title In
| the beginning of his letters and of as rare
| " signing beyond yours" Last week
| our Rock Island antiquarian, whose col
| lection of rare historical autographs has
been heretofore referred to in the ARGUS,
| received from Mr.. Charles Francis Adams
Jr.. one of these characteristic autograph
letters from his grandfather and as the
demand for papers containing the John
Adams letter was beyond our ability to
fully supply, showing the
popular interest in matters of this
nature, we gladly reproduce the John
Quincy Adams letter, verbatim which bears
almost as old a date as that of his father:
July, 1899.
My last letter to you upon private af
fairs was of April %, since which | have
received none from you, until last evening,
4 to ~. March, from Quincy, and of l L.
May, from Baltimore, both came to hand
In the last, you mention having written me
at full length the week before by the way
of London; but this letter | have not re-
ceived.
Your account of the administration of
affairs by both my former agents, needs no
comment as you say excepting my thanks for
tie attention with which you went through
the very irksome task of collecting the in
formation-With your proceedings am
fully satisfied: and am much more deeply
afflicted with the account of my agent at
New York, than with the loss of all my
property.
Since | wrote you last, have receive d
a few lines from Doctor Welsh dated q.
Feb'y, in which he says he had delivered
all my papers to Doctor Tufts; in which,
however, he is mistaken, as | find by your
letter-He adds, that as to the balance
in cash, it will not be in his
power, Immediately to discharge it but
snail be obliged to give for il, note upon
interest. He does not even state how that
balance stood and | must therefore make
il out by guess-It must amount to 400
dollars and 81 cents, if all the assessments
upon the canal shares were paid, to the
30th inclusively, according to his last &C
count-But if, as / fear is the case he there
charged for payments which he had not
made, the balance will be larger.-The six
receipts for the share in the Boston Thea
ire, for 33s Cd, apiece, | delivered to DIR.
Welsh myself, and had paid them all up
In one of his accounts he has charged me
with another payment E42-so that l can
not be possibly bound to any further ex-
pence on that score.
Qn my letter of April 20, proposed to
sell our obligations in Holland, and invest |
the proceeds in our funds at home, and |
empowered you to draw 1000 dollars on |
the list: of September, November, and |
January upon the secretary of state for |
that purpose But l find upon enquiry |
that we could not sell the obligations under |
loss of less than ten per cent, and as |
The rate of exchange from this |
place upon Amsterdam is so |
low that it would occasion |
loss of as much more, / have concluded |
TO keep my obligations until the period of
their repayment which is now only four |
years Observation-Disclosures you may |
draw the 1000 dollars, if you please, from |
the secretary of state, on the 1st of Jan |
uary next, for your own obligations, and |
make them over to me
My books and your baggage. sailed from |
Lisbon on the Goth of April for Boston. |
where l hope they have ere this arrived |
am very glad that you subscribed for |
me to the loan and shall be perfectly |
satisfied, to have you place my property, as
you propose shall see if / can get the |
guns for you, as you desire.