Title: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 10 November 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

						my dear sister
						Philadelphia Novbr 10 1800

					I arrived in this city last Evening & came to the old House, now occupied by Francis as an Hotel. tho the furniture and arrangment of the House is changed I feel more at home here than I should any where Else in the city, and when sitting with my son & other friends who call to see me, I can scarcly persuade myself, that tomorrow I Must quit it, for an unknown & an unseen abode— My Journey has hitherto been as Propitious as I could have expected at this season. hearing by Louissa & from my Worthy Brother Cranch that You & Yours were regaining Your Strength, & gradually advancing I hope to Health, has given a new spring to My spirits; and I shall go on My Way rejoicing Mercy & judgment are the mingled cup allotted me. Shall I receive good and not evil. at N york I found my poor unhappy Son, for so I Must still call him, laid upon a Bed of sickness destitute of a home, the kindness of a friend afforded him an assylum. a distressing cough, an affection of the liver and a Dropsy will soon terminate a Life, which might have been Ma[de] valuable to himself and others. you will easily suppose that this Scene was too powerfull and distressing to me: Sally was with him but his Physician Says, he is past recovery— I shall carry a Melancholy report to the President, who passing through new york without Stoping knew not his situation—
					I shall not say any thing to You upon political subjects, no not upon the little Gen’ll Letter but reserve it for a future Letter when I arrive at Washington and you have more health to laugh at the folly, and pitty the Weakness Vanity and ambitious views of, as very a sparrow as sterns commented upon, in his Sentimental journey, or More describes in his fables—

					with My best wishes for your perfect restoration to Health and that of your Family, I am My ever / dear sister your affectionate

						A Adams—

					thank Mr Cranch for his kind Letters & Mrs Black for her sisterly attention— heaven reward her, May She never know the want of a Friend


Title: Richard Cranch to Abigail Adams, 10 November 1800
From: Cranch, Richard
To: Adams, Abigail

						Dear Sister.
						Quincy Novr: 10th: 1800.

					I have the great Happiness of informing you that Mrs. Cranch remains better. Her Boyls, with which she was much troubled, are broke and have discharg’d matter that I hope will be salutary. She received your most kind and affectionate Letter from New Haven of the 2d Instt:  We are glad to hear you got so far safe, and hope our great Preserver will be with you still, and keep you from every Danger and Accident, and preserve your Life and Health as a Blessing to us and the World. As to the rest of our Family, we are all getting better

except Ruthy, who has a relaps and is very sick, but I hope a little better than she was two or three Days past. The young Woman that we hired in her place, is taken sick, and went home on Saturday last. I fear she has the Fever. Mrs. Miller, the Major’s Lady, is Dead. She died of this Fever last friday Morng. and is to be buried tomorrows. Your dear Sister Peabody returns from Boston this Day. she has not been here, as it was thought to be unsafe on acct. of the prevailing Sickness among us for her to come to Quincy. Your amiable and manly Grand Son William, came from Atkinson to Boston alone on last Saturday to wait upon his Aunt back to Atkinson. I was surprised at his venturing so far alone; he left his Bror: and Uncle Peabody & Family well. I wrote to the Honble: Mr. Nathan Read requesting his interest in favour of my Son, who wishes to procure the Office of Clerk of the House of Representatives in Congress, and received from him the inclosed very friendly and polite Letter, which I wish you to give to my Son when you have read it.
					The News of our Envoys having signed a Treaty of Friendship a Commerce with France, you will doubtless see in the Publick Papers before this comes to hand. It was signed at Paris on the Night between the last of Sepr. and the first of October. Mrs. Norton continues to gain Strength, and sits up twice a Day for a little while. Mr. Boylston Adams is got so well as to have taken a Ride to Bridgwater last Week, and was out to Meeting on Sunday. We think the Prospect Brightens with regard to the reelection of our honoured and dear Friend. Our Genl: Court meets tomorrow on that interesting Business. If the Treaty with France should be agreeable to the Americans at large, I think it will have a happy influence in favour of him whose Wisdom plan’d the Measure. I wrote you on the 3d Instt: inclosing a few lines to you from my dear Mrs. Cranch, being the first and utmost effort of her trembling hand. I sent it under Cover to your Son T: B Adams Esqr., and hope you have received it, as I know it will give you pleasure.
					Please to give our Parental Regards to our dear Children at Washington and Love to your Son T:B.A. I am, my dear Sister, with unfeigned thankfulness for your kindness to us in our Sickness, your ever affectionate & obliged Brother

						Richard Cranch.

					Please to present my best Wishes for the Health of my Hond: & dear Brother the President.


Title: Abigail Adams to John Adams, 11 November 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Adams, John

					my dearest Friend
					Philadelphia Nov’br 11th 1800

				I reachd this city, on Sunday Evening, and have Waited one day to rest Myself and Horses. My health is but feeble and a little over fatigue deprives Me of My rest— I shall sit off this morning, but cannot make More than 25 or 30 miles a day. I shall endeavour to reach Washington on saturday if the Weather will permit. it would be an ease to the horses if Curry could come half way to Baltimore and take Me in the Chariot. Thomas accompanies me— I received Your Letter when I arrived here which was the first line I have got

since you left me—tho I have regularly followd you in your stages & heard of your Health & good Spirits with pleasure— I have twice heard from Brother Cranch, who writes me that my dear sister and family are getting better, tho slowly. Still new cases arise in the neighbourhood.—
				I met upon my jouney at sax’s the polite Letter of the Gen’lls and had no reason to Make the exclamation of, “oh that mine Enemy had Written a Book” a Book it is as Wise and judicious as the former Precious confessions and will produce upon the public mind an effect exactly the reverse of what was intended—
				My Girls I hope arrived safe— You will not make a congress on Monday very few of our Eastern Members have yet come on— with the hopes of meeting you in health at the time named I am your ever affectionate

					A A


Title: John Adams to Abigail Adams, 15 November 1800
From: Adams, John
To: Adams, Abigail

					My dearest Friend
					Washington Nov. 15. 1800

				I recd last night your Letter of the 11th. Your Girls and Mr shipley arrived in good health and Spirits. I shall Send the Charriot this morning to meet you. It would be a great pleasure to me to go in it, but I am so engaged in indispensable business that I know not how to leave it and another thing of some importance is your Son may take a seat with you & Suzan in the Charriot and that will relieve the Burthen of the other Horses a good deal.
				The Ancients thought a great Book a great Evil. Mr H. will find a little Book an evil great enough for him: for although it will probably answer its and with regard to me it will not answer his end with Regard to another Gentleman: but will ensure the Choice of the Man whom he dreads or pretends to dread more than me. I am of

Opinion however that he would prefer Mr J. to me. And so would Some others. Some of these are desirous of Confusion, and a dissolution of the Confederacy. Some in hopes of getting a new Constitution more to their Minds, some I fear in hopes of dividing the Continent, and setting up two or three Confederacies—and some perhaps in hopes of making an Army necessary.
				The opposite Party too are divided into, many Sects, as the World will see, if they succeed in their Choice. Their Man will not be found to be the Man of all their People: No nor a Majority of them. He is not thorough going enough. He is not daring and desperate enough. In short one half the Nation has analyzed itself, within 18 months, past and the other will analyze itself in 18 months more. By that time this Nation if it has any Eyes, will see itself in a Glass. I hope it will not have reason to be too much disgusted with its own Countenance.
				But I wander. Yours with an Affection / that will never end or be diminished but / with the Life of

					J. A.


Title: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 21 November 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

					my dear sister
					Washington Nov’br 21. 1800

				I arrived in this city on Sunday the 16th ult— having lost my way in the woods on saturday in going from Baltimore we took the road to Frederick and got nine miles out of our road. You find nothing but a Forest & woods on the Way, for 16 and 18 miles not a Village, here and there a thatchd cottage without a single pane of glass— inhabited by Black’s— my intention was to have reachd Washington on saturday. last Winter there was a Gentleman and Lady in Philadelphia by the Name of Snowden whose hospitality I heard much of— they visited me and were invited to dine with us, but did not, as they left the city before the day for dinner. they belong to Maryland, and live on the road to this place 21 Miles Distant. I was advised at Baltimore to make their House My Stage for the night; the only Inn at which I could put up being 36 Miles ride from Baltimore. Judge

Chase who visited me, at Baltimore, gave mr T Adams a Letter to Major snowden—but I who have never been accustomed to quarter myself and servants upon private houses, could not think of it—particuliarly as I expected the chariot & 5 more Horses with two servants to meet me— I sit out early intending to make my 36 Miles if possible: no travelling however but by day light; we took a direction as we supposed right, but in the first turn, went wrong—and were wandering more than two hours in the woods in different paths, holding down & breaking bows of trees which we could not pass—untill we met a solitary black fellow with a horse and cart. we inquired of him our way, and he kindly offerd to conduct us—which he did two miles, and then gave us such a clue as led us out to the post road and the Inn where We got some dinner Soon after we left it, we met the chariot then 30 miles from Washington, and 20 from our destination. we road as fast as the roads would allow of, but the sun was near set when we came in sight of the Major’s I halted, but could not get courage to go to his House with ten Horses and nine persons— I therefore orderd the coach man to proceed, and we drove rapidly on. we had got about a Mile when we were stoped by the Major in full speed, who had learnt that I was comeing on; & had kept watch for me, with his Horse at the Door; as he was at a distance from the road— in the kindest, and politest Manner he urged my return to his House, represented the danger of the road, and the impossibility of my being accomodated at any Inn I could reach: a Mere hovel was all I should find— I plead My numbers, that was no objection he could accomodate double the number— there was no saying nay and I returned to a large Handsome Elegant House, where I was received with My Family, with what We Might term true English Hospitality Friendship without ostentation, and kindness without painfull ceremony Mrs Snowden is a charming Women of about 45. she has a lovely Daughter of 16 & one of 6 a son whom I had seen often in Philadelphia and who had several times dinned with us— I need not add that they are all true federal Characters— every attention possible was shown me and the next morning I took my departure, having shared in the common bounty of Major snowdens hospitality for which he is universally celebrated— I arrived about one oclock at this place known by the name of the city, and the Name is all that You can call so— as I expected to find it a new country, with Houses Scatterd over a space of ten miles, and trees & stumps in plenty with, a castle of a House—so I found it— the Presidents House is in a beautifull situation in front of which is the potomac

with a view of Alexandra— the country arround is romantic but a wild—a wilderness at present;
				I have been to George Town and felt all that mrs Cranch described when she was a resident there. it is the very dirtyest Hole I ever saw for a place of any trade, or respectability of inhabitants. it is only one mile from me but a quagmire after every rain. here we are obliged to send daily for Marketting; the capital is near two miles from us— as to roads we shall Make them by the frequent passing before winter but I am determined to be Satisfied and content, to say nothing of inconvenience &c that must be a worse place than even George Town, that I could not reside in for three Months—
				I found your dear Son here at the House to receive Me. he is well and grows much like his Father he dinned with us on sunday & yesterday, and yesterday I went to see Nancy and your Dear little modest Boys— Richard is a fine Boy, William is more bashfull, and Nancy is a fat little doe— they are all pretty children, and Mrs Cranch tho thin is handsomer than she was as a Girl—
				when I arrived here I found a Boston News paper, which containd the celebration of the Birth day at Quincy; it was truly gratifying to find in a world of calumny and falshood, that a Prophet could meet with honour in his own native soil— I hope the benidiction pronounced upon those who are reviled and persecuted falsly, may be his, who conscious of his own pure views and intentions; walks steadfastly on, tho the shafts and arrows of dissapointed ambition, are hurled at him from every quarter. the Letter of Hamilton which You have no doubt Seen, can never be answerd properly but by the person to whom it is addrest, because no one else knows all the circumstances, or can deny what he has published for facts; Many of which are as grose lies as Duane has told in the Aurora— Such a replie may one Day appear, when the Modern Man may appear still more odious than he now does.— I have heard from every quarter, but one voice. it is Hamilton has Done his own buisness— pray can You inform me, by whom those passages were selected from shakespear which composed the Quincy toasts. the President says if his Friends intended to flatter him, they have Succeeded, for he would not exchange the Quincy celebration, for any other that he has heard off—
				My dear sister the few lines in Your own hand writing were a cordial to my spirits. I pray Most Sincerely for Your perfect restoration to health and My Dear Mrs Norten— I have received all the kind Letters of My Brother Cranch and thank him for them if My

future peace & tranquility were all that I considered, a release from public life would be the most desirable event of it— I feel perfectly tranquil upon the subject, hoping and trusting that, the Being in whose Hands are the Hearts of all Men; will guide and direct our national counsels for the peace & prosperity of this great people—
				Remember me affectionatly to all my Friend, never omitting Mrs Black
				I have the pleasure to say we are all at present well, tho the news papers very kindly gave the President the Ague and fever— I am rejoiced that it was only in the paper that he had it—
				This Day the President meets the two Houses to deliver the speech. there has not been a House untill Yesterday— we have had some very cold weather and we feel it keenly— this House is twice as large as our Meeting House. I believe the great Hall is as Bigg— I am sure tis twice as long— cut your coat according to your Cloth— but this House is built for ages to come— the establishment necessary is a tax which cannot be born by the present sallery; no body can form an Idea of it but those who come into it— I had Much rather live in the house at Philadelphia— not one room or chamber is finished of the whole it is habitable by fires in every part, thirteen of which we are obliged to keep daily, or sleep in wet & damp places—
				yours as ever

					A A


Title: John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 25 November 1800
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, John

					My dear Sir.
					Berlin 25. November 1800.

				Many months have pass’d since I received a line from you, or from my dear mother. From my brother Thomas I have no letter of a later date than July, and from the department of State I have but one dated since last February.— Perhaps I am to impute the greater part of this seeming oblivion of my american correspondents to my own remissness during the last winter— For six months however I have scarcely suffered a week to pass without writing, and unless my letters should have been unfortunate beyond the common proportion of failures, many of them, must before this have reached the United States.— I have not written indeed directly to you since July, but I suppose most of my letters to my brother, written upon my tour into Silesia, have been perused by you, and have given you frequent information of our situation.
				I have therefore been obliged to depend upon the accounts from America, contained in the public newspapers, and the private intelligence of some Americans in Europe.— All these concur in representing the state of parties and the temper of the public mind in such a state, as to leave scarce a doubt but that a change will take place at the ensuing election, which will leave you at your own disposal, and furnish one more example to the world, how the most important services to the public, and a long, laborious life anxiously, and successfully devoted to their welfare, are rewarded in popular governments.

				As I know, that from the earliest period of your political life, you have always made up your account to meet sooner or later such treatment in return for every sacrifice, and every toil, I hope and confidently believe, that you will be prepar’d to bear this event with calmness and composure, if not with indifference— That you will not suffer it to prey upon your mind, or affect your health; nor even to think more hardly of your Country than she deserves— Her truest friends I am persuaded will more keenly feel your removal from the head of her administration than yourself.— Your long settled and favourite pursuits, of literature and of farming, will give you full employment and prevent that craving void of the mind which is so apt to afflict statesman out of place; which conjures up a spectre to haunt them, or embitters them against their own species in a degree that renders their own lives miserable.
				In your retirement, you will have not only the consolation of a consciousness that you have discharged all the duties of a virtuous citizen, but the genuine pleasure of reflecting, that by the wisdom and firmness of your administration, you left that very Country, in safe and honourable peace, which at the period of your entrance into office, was involved in dangerous and complicated disputes with more than one formidable foreign power.— That without the smallest sacrifice of national honour and dignity you have succeeded in settling a quarrel with France, which under any other system of conduct than that which you pursued, would at this moment have burst into a most ruinous and fatal war, or could only be pacified by disgraceful and burthensome humiliations.— The merit of this system too, is so entirely and exclusively your own, that we are told it was disapproved by almost all the principal leaders of the party friendly to the Constitution and the Union; the great supporters of your last election— Nay, the general opinion is, that to this defection of your friends, originating solely in your adherence to the system you had adopted against their opinions must be ascribed your removal from the chair at this time— Indeed, my dear Sir, if this be the case, it is not your fame or honour that will suffer by the result.— The common and vulgar herd of statesmen, and warriors, are so wont to promote on every occasion their private and personal interest at the expence of their Country, that it will be a great and glorious preeminence for you, to have exhibited an example of the contrary; of a statesman who made the sacrifice of his own interest and influence to the real, and unquestionable benefit of his Country.

				I am fully convinced that the Gentlemen who were so much dissatisfied with your determination to send the last mission to France acted from motives of pure patriotism at first, however they may have suffered wounded pride, and angry passions to influence their conduct since.— But in their aversion to the last embassy they certainly proceeded upon inaccurate information as to the general state of things in Europe, and upon judgments into which there entered more of temper than of consideration— Had the issue of the mission been eventually unsuccessful, it would still have been a measure grounded upon the soundest policy; but if ever the wisdom of a questionable plan was justified to the utmost by the event it has been so, on this occasion— The convention with France has not indeed given us every thing we could have wished, but it has secured us more than we ever could have obtained without it, and has entirely removed the danger of a War, which must probably have ended in a dissolution of our Union— And this arrangement will not even occasion a difference between us and England, since the british government have given a formal assurance that they see nothing in the Convention of which they have reason to complain.
				Probably the individual sufferers under the french depredations, and the party who declared themselves so strongly against the late negotiation, will think the want of a stipulation for complete indemnity, a sufficient stipulation objection against the conclusion of the Treaty— But those who know how impossible any stipulation of indemnity is to obtain where it cannot be compelled, or how illusive and nugatory it would be if made, will be convinced, as I think the people of the United States in general will be convinced that the convention taken altogether is highly advantageous to us.
				Let then a thinking and impartial man, compare the situation of the United States on the 4th: of March 1797, when you assumed the functions of their first Executive Magistrate, with their situation on the same day 1801, when I here suppose they will cease— Let him observe them at the first period, at the point of War, to every appearance inevitable, with France and Spain, yet at the same time having the highest reason to complain against the treatment of Great-Britain— At the last period in full, and as far as human foresight can judge, in safe and permanent peace with all these powers— And let him ask himself how much of this favourable change ought justly to be ascribed to you; the answer will flash with the light of demonstration: had you been the man of one great party which

divides the people of the United States, you might have purchased peace, by tribute under the name of loans, and bribes under that of presents; by sacrificing with pleasure, as one of the leaders of that party formally avowed his disposition to do, the rights of the Union, to the pleasure of France, by answering her injuries with submission and her insults with crouching: had you been the man of the other party, you would have lost the only favourable moment for negotiating peace to the best advantage, and at this moment would have seen the United States at open war, with an enemy in the highest exultation of victory, without an ally, and in the general opinion of the world, if not in real truth, little better than once more a colony of Great-Britain.— In resisting therefore with all the energy which your constitutional powers enabled you to exercise, and all, your personal influence could excite among your countrymen the violence of France you saved the honour of the American name from disgrace, and prepared the way for obtaining fair terms of reconciliation— By sending the late mission, you restored an honourable peace to the nation, without tribute, without bribes, without violating any previous engagement, without the abandonment of any claim of right, and without even exciting the resentment of the great enemy of France.— You have therefore given the most decisive proof that in your administration, you were the man, not of any party, but of the whole nation; and if the eyes of faction will shut themselves against the value of such a character, if even the legal and constitutional judgment of your country, as express’d by their suffrages at an election will be insensible to it, you can safely and confidently appeal from the voice of heated and unjust passions, to that of cool and equitable reason, from the prejudices of the present, to the sober decision of the future posterity.
				Whatever changes may take place in the political system of the new world, they cannot be more extraordinary than those which are happening from day to day in the old— The chain of important events which within these few years have multiplied so far beyond the common course of human affairs, appears to be spreading with accelerated rapidity in proportion as we draw nearer to the commencement of another century.— The spirit of Jacobinism, which has so largely contributed to the calamities which have long afflicted this quarter of the globe, would scarcely have imagined two years ago, to find in the Emperor of Russia its greatest aid and support, and in General Bonaparte its most formidable enemy. For as on the one hand, Paul affords a striking example of the ill consequences of

power in hereditary succession, Bonaparte on the other proves as forcibly the tendency of all the absurd and wicked theories of equality and fraternity, and representative democracy, to end in absolute and hereditary sway.
				You remember with what impetuous fury Paul began about eighteen months ago, an active War against France; and how he broke off all intercourse with Denmark and Prussia, because they declined joining him and the coalition— You have reason to remember it, as he express’d his willingness at that time to make a commercial Treaty with us, upon condition that we should not negotiate for Peace with France— Britain and Austria were then his dear allies, and the Emperor of Germany, the best friend (according to his own expression) he had in the world— All this tenderness of affection is blown away like the wind of yesterday— Denmark and Prussia have become his dearest friends and allies— He insults the Romish emperor, in his court Gazette, and refuses to receive embassies from him—Embargoes all English ships in his ports, sequesters all english property in his dominions, and proclaims the English Nation, to be not a race of human beings, but a vermine that infest the sea.— In the mean time he makes his Peace with France, and by indulging the violence of his resentments against Austria and England forgets entirely that he is throwing all his weight into a scale which already preponderates too much, and the load of which his own Nation will soon feel to its ruin.
				France will doubtless derive immense advantages from this temper, and from the vehemence with which he gratifies it— Whatever Austria’s sins against Russia were, (and they admit of no excuse; of no palliation) they have at least been dearly expiated— Even a vindictive spirit might be soothed into compassion, by the state to which Austria has been reduced; and to leave her at the mercy of an inexorable and triumphant enemy, is what Russia ought to be the last of European powers to do— Yet, not content with this, Russia, without any apparent motive, proceeds to press upon the only remaining power which can withstand in any degree the overbearing weight of France, and takes the present moment to press as hard upon England, as upon Austria— His proposal to the three other Northern powers, for the revival of the armed neutrality will be known to you before you receive this letter; and such have been in frequent instances of late the insolence and excesses of the british navy towards neutral powers, that if the Russian Emperor had only gone thus far, his conduct might have been justified by the principles of sound

policy, and must have had the approbation of other nations— But such is the violence with which he proceeds, that he will probably force England into a war with him before his plan of the armed neutrality can be accomplished, and without his aid and influence the system would hardly be strong enough to support itself
				It is so difficult to account for the excessive rancour and inveteracy of Paul, against his late allies, from any rational motive of interest or of policy, that many persons acquainted with the state of the court at St: Petersburg, ascribe them rather to the peculiar character and temper of the man, and to the influence of certain personages, such as are usually possess’d of the real dominion in almost all despotic governments— His ostensible ministers for foreign affairs the Counts Rostopsin and Panin, are supposed to be very far from suggesting, or approving the present system; but they have little or no influence, and he scarcely sees them from one month’s-end to another— His great favourite is a man who bears the name of Kutoizow, and sometimes of Ivan Paulowitz, because the Emperor, when Grand-Duke was his god-father at his baptism— He is by birth a Turk; and was taken, when quite a child, at the siege of Bender, and given by the Russian general who commanded there, to the Emperor, who had him educated at his own expence, and then took him into his service as his valet de chambre— From this menial office he has raised him to places of the highest rank in the empire, and loaded him with wealth and honours.— This turkish slave, travestied into a Russian nobleman, keeps a french opera-singer by the name of Chevalier, who was sent for, between two and three years ago, and went from Hamburg to St: Petersburg— For this woman it is said the Emperor himself indulged a transient fancy, and she has so well improved the moment of his kindness, and the subsidiary but more durable attachment of his favourite, that from a very threadbare subsistence, with which she entered Russia, she has already amassed a splendid fortune. Through this channel it is reported the first advances were made towards the negotiation which is still carried on between France and Russia; the present state of which I have mentioned in so recent a letter which I presume will be submitted to your perusal, that it would be superfluous for me to say any thing further about it here.
				Such is the government of a country, where arbitrary power is established in one person, by hereditary succession— In France, the scenes of a democratic revolution are approaching towards their

catastrophe.— The power of the first Consul, is little more limited than that of the Emperor of Russia; but his authority is new, and far from being firmly established— The jacobins can never forgive his desertion of their cause, and a very recent conspiracy has been detected, the object of which was to assassinate him. One of the principal persons concerned in this plot was an Italian sculptor, by the name of Ceracchi, who is well known in America, and whose conduct has for many years been that of a fanatic revolutionist— Among the rumours circulating in the european world, of which it is not easy to ascertain the authenticity, it is asserted that Bonaparte in consequence of this intended attempt upon his person became sensible of the necessity of designating his successor, in case any accident should befall him, and sent expressly for General Moreau, whom he thought best entitled to this distinction; that this measure gave extreme dissatisfaction to the Consul’s brother Lucian, and produced an altercation between them, the result of which was that Lucian was sent away upon a special mission abroad— This last circumstance at least is true, though it is not yet known where the Minister of the interior is gone— But there are men it seems in France who either desire or pretend to desire that the sovereign power should be given as an inheritance to the family of Bonaparte— Several pamphlets have within these few weeks been gratuitously distributed about Paris and in the departments, arguing from a great variety of considerations the expediency and even the necessity of adopting this system; and it is not positively certain whether the propagation of these sentiments is to be imputed to the real friends, or to the concealed enemies of the first Consul— I am for my own part most inclined to think them the insidious expedients of the royal party, or else of the Jacobins themselves, to excite an odium against the present possessor of the chief magistracy. Whatever the real fact may be, Bonaparte certainly feels the desire of giving duration and permanency to his authority— There is but one alternative for his ambition; that of settling down peaceably, as a brother to the other European monarchs, or of becoming at the head of his armies the conqueror of them all— It is alike uncertain which of these careers is most suitable to the Consul’s inclination; and which of them he would find most difficult in the execution.—
				One of his brothers, a young man of two or three and twenty has lately been here, attended by two officers, nearly of his own age— He is a colonel in the army, and travels to acquire military

knowledge. He was treated here universally with as much distinction as is shewn to a foreign prince, and is now gone upon a short tour through the Prussian provinces.
				It would be of little use to tell you the mere news of the day, which is of little importance, and which would be no longer news when my letter shall reach you. At this season of the year I can scarcely ever expect that you should receive a letter from me within four months of its date, though from England you get the public intelligence usually in the course of two— On the 22d: of this month the hostilities between the French and Austrians were to recommence, and unless Austria should consent to negotiate her peace, separately from England (for that is the point upon which they broke off) the french according to every probability will before the new year be in possession of Vienna.— The necessity of the case will therefore beyond all doubt eventually compel Austria to treat separately, and Great-Britain will of course be obliged to do the same thing.— Her distresses are so rapidly accumulating upon her that the consequences are highly menacing even to her internal tranquility, yet there is a large fund of stubbornness in the English character, which it seems to me will for some time longer prevent the conclusion of her peace with France.
				Ever devotedly your’s.

					A.


Title: Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, 28 November 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Tufts, Cotton

					Dear sir
					Columbia city of Washington Novbr 28 1800

				I feel as tho I was much further removed from all my Friends and connections in at the State of Massachusetts, than one hundred and 50 miles from Philadelphia could make me— We have indeed come into a new part of the world, and amongst a new Set of inhabitants; it is a city in name, and that in a Wilderness—a beautifull Spot, by nature—but it must be commerce; and the introduction of a more hardy and industerous race than its present inhabitants to build up and raise it to any degree of respectability: the effects of Slavery are visible every where;—and I have amused myself from day to day in looking at the labour of 12 negroes from my window, who are employd with four small Horse carts to remove Some dirt in front of the house the four carts are all loaded at the Same time, and whilst four carry this Rubish about half a mile, the remaining eight rest upon their Shovels. two of our hardy N England men Would do as much work in a day as the whole 12.— but it is true Republicanism that Drive the Slaves half fed, and destitute of cloathing, or fit for Rag faire, to labour, whilst the owner walks about Idle, tho his one slave is all the property he can boast. such is the case of many of the inhabitants of this place from the susquahannah to this City. the post road is through woods and that untill all at one You rise a huge Hill, and enter the city of Baltimore which is populas and appears

of about half the Size of Boston— but no sooner do we leave the city than We are again envoloped in woods, here and there a thatchd cottage without a Glass Window peeps out from under the Gloom, inhabited, by blacks, the children as nature sent them into the World. the lower class of whites, are a grade below the negroes in point of intelligence, and ten below them in point of civility. they look like the refuse of human nature— the universal Character of the inhabitants, is want of punctuality, fair promisses, but he who expects performance, will assuredly be disapointed— You will be surprized to learn that in a country thus abounding with wood, we are in distress for want of it— at no price can cutters and carters be procured to Supply the demands of the inhabitants— no provision was Made previous to the comeing of congress to supply them. Brisler has used his utmost exertions, & is out every day, and all day, to provide us a daily supply. he was taken in, like every other person, by promisses and assurences of supply in Season we are lawless— Six foot of wood is Sent one for a cord; and no redress to be had, and nine dollors for that. as to Provision we have had a good supply of that; by sending daily to George Town which is one Mile and a half the public offices have sent to Philadelphia for Waggons & wood cutters— there are very many articles I should have provided if I had known the state of things as I do now, but as My residence here may not be, but for a few Months, I shall bear and forbear, all but freezing. the weather here has already been as intencely cold as I ever knew it at the Same Season with us—
				as to politicks, I believe it best not to say any thing upon the Subject at present; I must leave them to a certain General who has so well understood the art of Warfare, as to miss his mark and wound himself instead of destroying his opponent—at least this is the universal voice as reported from every quarter where his Letter has circulated— grose falshoods he has told—as well as some truths the person he Meant to Serve, he has injured, and the one he designd to injure, he has Served—
				I have not heard from You since I left home I hope you will write and let me know how You do, as my friends Whom I left Sick. inclosed is a Bill out of which I will thank you to pay col Badlam for Mending and repairing My furniture I sent for the Bill before I left home twice, but did not get it the remainder of it, You will please to hold, untill I otherways dispose of it— Mr Smith procured some articles for me when they arrive I shall know what and how much. at present we are looking for the vessel with some anxiety. my Cloaths

are all on board as well as Mr dexters furniture. Boxes of Raisons fruit of all kinds is greatly wanted here. not a lime or Lemmon or Raison to be had nearer than Baltimore or Norfolk—
				I rejoice with all my Heart at the Success and Gallantry of capt Little; he does honour to our State & country—
				My affectionate Regards to mrs Tufts & Love to mrs Norten— I wish to hear from Your daughter. I hope she got well to Bed— Be so good as to tell mrs Porter that Betsy Marshall is very well & quite contented, that I have placed her in a small chamber next My own Bed room. all the rest of the Family of domesticks Sleep below— Brisler & Betsy Howard, in Rooms be sure as handsome and well furnishd as any of my Bed chambers at Quincy, but I did not like to have no person upon the Same floor with me, and for Many reasons I chose to have her under my own Eye
				affectionatly Yours

					A Adams


Title: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 1 December 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

					my Dear Sister
					Washington December 1st 1800

				I have written to You my Dear Sister twice since my arrival here. I know not but one of the Letters was in the lost mail I miss your pen which used to detail to me both public and private affairs I have reason to bless God, that Your Life is spared to your family, and Friends.— I hope You will not be induced by any Means to over exert yourself, or try Your strength beyond its bearing; a relapse being often more fatal than an original disease.— if you can recover Your strength and appetite, I hope Your Health will be benifitted. Poor Mrs Johnsons eldest unmarried Daughter has been sick ever since I came with the Same kind of fever.— She is Much reduced, and her complaints have been very Similar to those who have been sick with us. She has been twice bled. I am not however satisfied that it was the best practise; the fever has run to 21 days— We have hitherto been very well, untill last night Susan was threatned with the Quincy, which allarmd me very much as she went well to bed. I was Waked in the night by a strange noise. She sleeps in a little chamber near to Mine. I went in, and found her labouring with that Dreadfull hoars cough, and sound which indicated immediate medical aid— we sent for the Physician nearest to us, who gave her calomil put her feet in warm water, and Steamed her with Warm vinigar. she puked, and that seemd to relieve her. she has coughed all day—but not with So much hoarsness— I think she has woorms— I Saw mr Cranch on fryday he is well. little Nancy had a return of the Ague. Mr Cranch is going to remove to capitol Hill, which will bring him half a mile nearer to me, and is I believe a much healthier Spot—
				My dear sister I beg you would not trouble yourself about my Bacon this Year, only be so kind as to give the proper directions to Mr & Mrs Porter. I was rejoiced to learn by Your son in a Letter from his Father, that mrs Norten was on the recovery, and able to walk her Room. poor creature, what has she not Suffered?
				I have not got a line from My much honord and respected Friend Dr Tufts Since I left home. I hope bad health is not the cause pray tell him, I am only one hundred and 50 Miles, further off than formerly, tho the winter communication is 14 days instead of 7—
				as to politicks; they are at present such a mere turn penny, that I believe it is best to leave all calculations to those who daily occupy themselves with them, and say what from the Sincerity of My Heart

I do; that I hope the termination of the present contests will be Such as will be most productive of the Peace Liberty and happiness of our common Country, let who will be at the Head of the Government.—
				inclosed are some Letter which you will be so kind as to have deliverd—
				with the sincerest regard to all My Friends and my Dear sister in particuliar
				I am ever / yours

					A Adams


Title: John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 3 December 1800
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Thomas Boylston

						N: 18.

					17. Septr: 24.
					My dear Brother.
					Berlin 3. December 1800.

				I had been almost three months without receiving a line from you, or from any other of my correspondents in America; and although upon coolly considering circumstances I was sensible that this was the natural fruit of my own neglect of writing during the last Winter, yet as one’s feelings never make the allowances which sober reason requires, I began to think it strange to be so long without letters from you, when last evening, on returning from Prince Ferdinand’s, (where the princess had renewed my dolour by particularly enquiring when I had heard from you) I found a cover from Mr: Pitcairn, enclosing your most welcome favour of September 28–30.— This at least proves that my late letters have not all failed on their passage; though between those of 28. May and 24. July, which safely reached you, there were others of June 14 and of July 6. 11. 15. 16. and 22. which ought regularly to have come to your hands.— The most important of them relative to my private affairs was that of 15. July, which I sent by duplicates, and which I still hope you received soon after the date of yours to which I am now replying.— I mention all these dates, because from the frequency of failure in the conveyance of letters from Hamburg to the United States, Mr: Pitcairn has

strong suspicions of mal practices on the part of some Captains to whom they are entrusted.
				I am entirely satisfied with the account of your proceedings in my pecuniary concerns.— If the disastrous influence of New-York upon every thing in which our family are interested, were the only cause of my distrusting the solidity of Manhattan stock, I believe I should get over the scruples of mere fatality, and keep my shares; but besides my aversion to against trusting my property to any person of whose honesty I am not firmly convinced, the circumstance you mention, that by selling out you could not place the money elsewhere so profitably rather tends to strengthen suspicion than confidence— It proves, that the interest upon that stock, bears more than its proportional value to its capital.— It is an universal rule among prudent merchants to distrust the solidity of a house that pays extraordinary interest for money, and I am in this instance disposed to apply the principle— I approve therefore of your intention of selling out to the best advantage you can, even though by another use of the proceeds, the interest yielded will not be quite so good.
				You speak of it as a problematical point whether the federalists will divide at the new election; by all the other accounts from America it appears unquestionable that they will, and I consider already the result as perfectly ascertained— You are all so extremely discreet about the original cause of the difference which has ended in a scission of the friends to Government and good order, that I know not even to this day what it is imputable to— But if the last mission to France was the point, every real friend of the President, and of our Country will rejoyce that he adopted and persisted in that measure though it should be at the expence of his election.— There has been no one period since the commencement of our present national government, when the aspect of our affairs with relation to foreign states, has been so favourable as at the present moment. We have indeed suffered injustice from both the great warring powers, and in settling our controversies with them, have made our sacrifices for the benefit of preserving peace— But compare our losses and sufferings, I will not say with those of any nation which has been engaged in the war, but with those of any other neutral nation, and we shall have reason to esteem ourselves peculiarly fortunate— Whoever considers how essentially weak our government is, and with what a violent and powerful internal opposition it has had to contend, in carrying through every measure, with the immense importance to the future interests and welfare, of the United States, of

establishing as a precedent the system of neutrality, in all the wars of Europe in which they have no concern, will do ample justice to the wisdom and firmness of that policy which the first President of the Union adopted, and which his successor has so happily accomplished, that whatever the future events in Europe may be, we at least have a fair and rational hope of escaping the calamities of war.— With respect to our internal concerns, they still appear to have their dark and gloomy sides.— The spirit of faction reigns with unabated virulence, and even the sense of the indispensable necessity of the national union, for the welfare of all, seems rather to be weakening than gaining strength in the minds of the people.— Those absurd principles of unlimited democracy, which the people of our Southern States, by the most extraordinary of all infatuations have so much countenanced and encouraged, are producing their natural fruits, and if the planters have not discovered the inconsistency of holding in one hand the rights of man, and in the other a scourge for the back of slaves, their negroes have proved themselves better logicians than the masters.— I hope however that the dreadful catastrophe which befell the french islands of the West-Indies will yet be avoided in every part of our country, and above all that any insurrection of the blacks will, far from meeting any encouragement in the eastern States, have every exertion of their energy employ’d for its suppression.
				In my last letter I partly promis’d you a better account than I could then give of Leipzig; and I ought perhaps earlier than this have closed the series of my letters to you upon our summer’s tour, by informing you of our return to this town— But even at the date of my last I was afflicted with a severe pain in the breast, which I took at Breslau, which was followed by a bad cough, and a slight spitting of blood, and which was not entirely removed untill after we reached Berlin. During the five weeks we spent at Leipzig, I was confined almost the whole time to my chamber— My wife was yet more unwell than myself; so that we saw of that city absolutely nothing but its streets, its houses, and its fair, which resembles all the fairs of which you have seen so many in Holland; only that here it is upon a larger scale.— We left Leipzig on the 23d: of October, and arrived safely here the 25th:— Since our return both my wife’s health and my own have been much improved— At present I have only one complaint, from which I believe it is vain to expect relief, and which is very tedious though not dangerous. Louisa upon the whole is I think better than she has been at any time since our marriage.

				Our domestic life, since we came back has return’d to its usual course. We live still in the same house, as when you left us, but have made our arrangements for leaving it on the 1st: of April next.— As there is just at this time more cause why an American in public character should be kept at some one of the northern Courts, than there has been before since the Treaty here was finish’d, there is a possibility that it may not be deemed expedient to recall me as yet; but I shall keep myself as much as will be practicable, in a constant state of preparation to depart.
				I feel a sort of reluctance in entering upon political topics, because the subject is hardly susceptible of compression within the limits of a single sheet, and I have lately been obliged in other letters to enter into it— The armistice between France and Austria which follow’d the great battle of Marengo has been renewed once or twice at the expence of immense sacrifices on the part of the Austrians; but as they have hitherto persisted in the pretension that England must be admitted to the negotiation for a general peace, and as France has irrevocably resolved to treat only with each of the two powers separately, the armistice is already at an end, and the hostilities have recommenced. By our latest accounts from Paris and from Vienna, it appears that the Emperor of Germany, and the first Consul Buonaparte, have both determined to place themselves at the head of their respective armies— But it is universally considered that France has the game altogether in her own hands— Nobody expects that it will cost the french more than one battle, to get to Vienna, and nobody doubts but that if the battle be fought it will be won by them. It is however by no means improbable that this will be avoided by the Austrian Cabinet, as they did in the year 1797, and that a momentary peace will be patch’d up again, at the expence of some poor defenceless German and Italian princes, and Republics. Even at the moment when the hostilities were renewed, Count Cobentzel and Joseph Bonaparte both went to Luneville, and are ready to sign preliminaries in four and twenty hours when the case of urgency shall call for it.
				England will therefore very soon be left once more to carry on the war alone; as to her allies the Portuguese and the Turks they are rather to be considered as burdensome than advantageous to her.— But she will no longer have the sure neutrality, or the prospect of alliance with the northern powers in her favour. They have all been turned partly by her mismanagement, and partly by their own illjudg’d passions against her in heart and soul. The armed neutrality

is recalled from its ashes to withstand her naval supremacy— The Emperor of Russia is upon the point of formal war with her—Has embargoed all the English vessels in his ports, and sent into Siberia all the English sailors who were at St: Petersburg— Prussia holds indeed a more soothing language but has shewn the same disposition of resistance against English maritime law. This temper is the more perplexing to England at this moment, because it has stop’d the sources from which she expected a supply of grain, in the present distressing scarcity which she suffers. The exportation from Livonia, and even from Dantzig is expressly prohibited— If at these measures she ventures to show any resentment, her communication with all the north of Europe will be instantly cut off, and to effect it the more easily, the king of Prussia has taken possession of Cuxhaven and Ritzebuttel. Upon the whole I consider the situation of England, as having never been more critical than at present, and under these circumstances it is peculiarly fortunate for us to have made our arrangement with France— The English Government, and all their dependent newspaper writers declaimed against our negotiation at Paris, because they themselves under the influence of a little brief success, thought they should have it in their power to dictate for the whole world.— But the tables have been so completely turned upon them that they most heartily wish now, they had followed our example, and negotiated themselves when the offer was made to them last Winter— They are at least now so sensible that they have enemies enough to contend with, that they not only think it expedient to take in good part our new Convention with France, but have given a formal and positive assurance to that effect.
				The french have as usual in the course of the armistice taken care to enjoy almost every advantage, they could have had in a state of hostility— The three fortresses of Ulm, Ingolstadt and Philipsburg were put into their hands as a depôt, for continuing the armistice forty-five days.— Before the hostilities were renewed, they demolished all those fortifications, and have in consequence no strong place to arrest them in their progress to Vienna— In Italy they improved their time equally well, and overran all Tuscany, during the very period of the armistice— The Austrians complain that these proceedings were in both instances violations of good faith— That the fortresses were delivered as a trust, and that Tuscany was expressly included within the armistice— But what avail complaints against the power of the strongest? What argument has ever been found to resist the logic of victory?

				Among the most curious vicissitudes of human affairs and opinions, may be reckoned the indisputable fact that in no part of Europe the cause of Jacobinism is in a state of so much humiliation and disgrace as in France.— Bonaparte like Caesar, used their principles as the steps of his ladder for ascending to supreme power, and the moment he was mounted kicked the ladder away— They begin already to circulate in France pamphlets to prove the necessity of vesting the sovereignty in him and his family, as a hereditary right— This I think he will hardly accomplish, for although Fortune has hitherto treated him as one of her most darling favourites, she will hardly in a long course of time abandon for his sake the character of fickleness which essentially belongs to her nature— Every moment of his existence depends upon a perpetual miracle of her kindness to him, and the time must sooner or later come when that miracle will cease; the time when as one of his countrymen long ago said

					“Le masque tombe, l’homme reste
					Et le héros s’evanouit.”

				Adieu, my dear brother. I hope to hear from you soon again, and that the communication between the two continents will not be so much obstructed by the rigour of the season this winter, as it has been the two years past— There is hitherto no immediate prospect of an interruption in the navigation of the Elbe, and I shall not suffer again so long an intermission of my correspondence, as I had to answer for the last Spring— I am ever your’s

					A.


Title: Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 7 December 1800
From: Adams, Thomas Boylston
To: Shaw, William Smith

						Dear William
						Philadelphia 7th: December 1800

					I thank you for your favor of the 3d: instt: and the newspapers enclosed. I will endeavor to comply with your request, that I communicate with you more frequently, but I will be free to confess to you, that every year of my life, I grow more selfish & less disposed to write letters, merely of friendship. You will experience the same thing in a few years, & I believe you assigned the true cause of it when you attributed it to “commerce with the world.” I would not be understood, as subscribing to the force of your comparison & its application; for I do not find that the “concerns of life” have at all weakened my friendships, though they have destroyed that relish for epistolary correspondence, which youthful ardor generally feels. So long as professions of friendship will pass for common civility they may be made without risk, but a man should be very cautious in pledging himself upon paper, where the utmost confidence does not exist between the parties. It is better to be wanting in profession than in performance & sincerity. Our friend Mr: T Johnson will subscribe to this truth, which he was so fond of calling to my memory, I know not exactly why.
					I am as you conjectured, again seated in my Office, though not full of business—a small portion nevertheless falls to my share, and I look to time & perseverance for a moderate increase. Since my return I have spoken once in the Court of Oyer & terminer, by appointment of the Judges, in behalf of a man, who was indicted for high-way robbery, and had the good fortune to obtain a verdict of not guilty, directly against the charge from the bench. The Attorney Gen: & one of the Judges told me I had great luck, and I was much of their opinion.
					I was joined by Forbes & Sumner at Baltimore, and the latter came on with me hither, where he remained several days. Mr: Rogers told me he had seen you & the family a few days since.
					Your young male friends here are all well—several of them have within a few days assumed the dignity of professional advancement. Rush, Peters, Ewing & Bird, are of the number. Your friends of the other sex, are, I believe, likewise well.
					I enclose at the request of my friend Mrs: Rutter a sample of Cotton, which you will give to my Mother and request her to write

to New England, for two pounds, (or one pound, if she think there will be a difficulty in sending so much as two pounds) of Cotton, of the same quality and to direct that it be sent to me, by some private hand. It is a commission for a lady to whom I am greatly obligated for numerous acts of kindness, I shall therefore be the more anxious to have this performed to her satisfaction. My mother is my sole resort in such cases.
					I share your apprehensions on the score of Southern faith; if the failure of the federal ticket shall lie at the door of So Carolina, there will never be any future confidence on the part of N England in that State. I believe the elections of several of their City members is contested for no other purpose than to lessen, perhaps entirely take away the federal majority.
					We have no news from New York yet.— I am sorry to hear that my Mother had taken a severe cold— There must be Dutch stoves put up in the great Hall, or you will all be sick.
					Please to offer my congratulations to Miss Caroline Johnson upon her happy recovery. I hope she will have her health confirmed. present me kindly to all the family & to our own—to Mr: Cranch & his lady—
					Your’s sincerely

						T B Adams.

					I shall send you the Rush light, though a spurious one, I believe. Did Judge Washington write those strictures in the Augusta paper? If you write to Sturgiss he will inform you.


Title: Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 7 December 1800
From: Cranch, Mary Smith
To: Adams, Abigail

					My Dear Sister
					Quincy Dec. 7th 1800.

				I last week receiv’d your first Letter from the city of Washington. I began to grow impatient not to receive one Line neither from you nor My Son, but last thursdays mail brought yours & one from him to his Father. I had heard of your arrival by mr Brislers Letter to his wife. but I wanted to hear your own account of your journey. I receiv’d your two Letters Written upon the road & thank you for them all. I have not been able to Write till within a week. Such Trembling hands I never had they are far from steady now. but thank Heaven I am so well I have been to ride four times. Mr Black Mr Shaw & Mr Greenleaf are ready to galant me any where, so that I have only to speak & a carriage is at the door. I have spent a day with mrs Black & mrs Greenleaf, & have call’d upon mrs Shaw but

they had too much company to dine with them for me to stay as they had desir’d I would.— I am very Weak yet & tho I am about in My Family I find it hard work to drag myself up Stairs I was confin’d five weeks to my chair by Boils on my Leg I could only go from the fire to the Bed nor that without two People to help Me & was sadly afflicted with those upon My Back I had a very large one on My Shoulder which is not well yet one upon my Leg is not heal’d but it does not prevent My Walking about.
				I did not expect to see you again when you last left Me I saw by your countinance I should not but I could not trust Myself—with a last adieu. The care you took that I should want for nothing that your sisterly kindness could Supply Me with overcame me to such a degree that tears not words spoke my grateful heart, & untill you was gone I did not know one half your kindness mr Cranch I hope has thanked you for Many things o! what a Goose I had on our Table on the thanksgiving day & what an appetite I had for it— I came done for the first time that day—& What cause had I for thanksgiving? three of my Family are yet confin’d to their chamber Ruthys long weakness has been a great trouble to me as well as expence. as to the expence of our long Sickness, tis not to be told.— I dare not think of it I paid ten doll. to my nurse & have been oblig’d to hire two Girls ever since she Went away (one I had before) for I could not take care of the sick Ruthy was very much out of her head & would have run away if we had not watch’d her. Miss Katys nerves are Shook to peices & she is very weak & low & very cross at times Sickness has not better’d her in any way she has worried me More than all the Family beside. Mrs Greenleaf left me only the Week before last— mrs Perkins is gone to Board with her this winter. Mrs Greenleaf has grown so fat notwithstanding all her fatigue as to be oblig’d to let out her Gown sleves— our Nancys being taken sick was a great loss to us—as George was to his uncle— mr Cranch has been wonderfully Supported. he had all his harvisting to do without any assistance but for a few days & all the wood to cut for Six fires two of which were burning night & day. I expected every day he Would give out. but he is tough like Mrs Greenleaf— Mrs Norton dear Girl not one of us have seen her since you went away. but she has been growing well slowly. they brought her into the little room three weeks ago. I design to see her the first pleasant day
				My dear Sister how did your account of your unhappy Sons Situation distress me— I had not eat my Breakfast when Mr cranch handed Me the Letter— I was very weak— I thought I should have

fainted “Father thy will be done” was all I could Say, to pass from one distressing Scene to another as you did— my heart ack’d for you—
				This day I have read in the News paper that he is no more. Heaven Support My Freinds! To the mercy of God We must leave him—beging him to be a Father to the orphans & the Widows Friend
				Mr & Mrs Black have both look’d upon Me as their charge—& they have been faithful to it. no Brother & Sister could be kinder. her Nabby has watch’d with us four or five times. One night She told me what they had to dress for dinner the next day they were to have company. roast chickin was one thing I said I wish’d I had a Wing of one in my Mouth then I just began to have my appetite return & I Wanted every thing— I thought No more of the chicken but by Twelve aclock Porter came racing up the yard with a fine roast Chicken Smoking hot in a Tin Kettle I veryly believe she was told to find out what I wanted, just so it was with some custards I happend to say I thought She made very fine ones—in two hours after she returned I had four or five fine large custards sent me. they were warm when they came. She Made me at last affraid to say I loved any particular kind of Food— oh My Sister how many kind Friends have I found. tis true we have been a distress’d Family but we have had every alleviation that Friends could bestow & I may Say Neighbours for tho we were oblig’d for Several Weeks to have two watchers in a Night & So many People Sick in the Town, yet we never have been without one till a fortnight Since. Ruthys Second Fever was much worse than the first— I Shall dismiss one Maid this Week Nancy is able to run up & down Stairs & do a little in the chambers & two Girls at 4/a week is more than I can bear— I am forty dollars in debt—but we are all alive & I ought not to complain I Shall work out in time tis only doing without a few things it would have been very comfortable to have had— I say this only to lett you know how sensible I am what my Situation must have been had you not been the kind Sister you was. I have wanted for Nothing thank Heaven & you
				Major Millar has lost his wife—& there are Several People very dangerously ill now but no one else has dy’d
				I believe there have been forty new casses since you went from Quincy—
				Thomas is still at mr Blacks they will not let me have him yet he has not been out of their house since he left yours. he is Surprizingly Grown. my dear Sister how you clothed him & the little creature & he has out-grown every thing— Tell cousin Thomas he must

be the Heir to all his old clothes they will make him quite rich when he is large enough to put into a Boys dress
				Sister Peabody came to Boston the week after you left Quincy with a design to have seen you but when she found how Sick we were her Friends in Boston & I too thought she had better not come among us—
				If we had been well we Should have had a visitation from Jo Cranch & his wife & one of their adopted Daughters they wrote me they intended to spend the winter with me but mr Cranch had no mind they Should he Said they were as able to Support themselves as he was to give them their Board I knew Quincy at this time was no place for him just crawling up from a dreadful Fever & I had not a thought but the would have given us notice when they arriv’d in Boston but they did not and about eight a clock in the eve a fortnight since when Ruthy was as crazy as she could be in they came Bag & Baggage three of them with all theirs dirty Linnen to be wash’d & he to be nurs’d— Mr Cranch cannot disguise his feelings & did not meet his niece with all the rapture that she expected & indeed Meet him folding him in her arms & laying her head on his Bosom Lucy too, So much like her Father could not return hug for hug. so that by the time she got up Stairs to me She was as formal as if She had never seen Me before— mr cranch thought I could not possably Lodge them for one night & told them so. their backs were up in a moment & without Staying to take Tea they were hurring of to a Tavern I stop’d them & contriv’d a Bed for them in the upper room it was all I could do I was very Sorry. but I advis’d them to take a room in the Town or country & from that receive invetations to visit their Freinds as they could make it convenient to receive them. she toss’d her head & made a great many fatherlike Speeches too big for Me, returned in the Stage the next morning to seek a Room with mrs Eunice—& I have not heard a word from them Since. it hurt me to give them Such a recceptation but I could not help it I told her the State of the Family & it ought to have Satisfied her— She then said she would go to mr Nortons but I told her she could not be accomodated better than with me— I have written enough for the first time. I may Say. for what I Wrote to you before was done in a fit of enthusiasm & cost me dear I did not get over it for two days. I can do no work I have had Seven Sore Fingures & thumbs all done up at once I have three now & Shall lose Several nails & all my hair & my Skin too—

				Love to the President my Son & daughter cousins &C / from your ever affectionate & gratefull Sister

					M Cranch


Title: Abigail Adams to Sarah Smith, 8 December 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Smith, Sarah

						My Dear Daughter
						Washington December 8th 1800

					Whilst I feel as a Parent, I Sympathize with You as a wife, hopeing that all the frailties, and offences of My Dear departed son may be forgiven, and buried with his Mortal part
					I besought the throne of grace that he might find Mercy from his God, to the great judge of us all we must leave him, resigning our wills to the Sovereign of the universe—
					From My own thoughts and reflections I trace the Sorrow of your Soul, and feel every pang which peirces your Heart. would to God that I could administer to You; that comfort which [I] stand in need of Myself—
					upon Your part, you have the consolation of having performed Your duty. no remembrance of any unkindness, has detered Your fulfilling it, even to the last distressing Scene. may You be rewarded by a self approving conscience; untill fatal propensities took intire possession of this poor deluded Man: he was kind, and affectionate, beloved by all his acquaintance; an Enemy to no one, but a favorite where ever he went. in early Life no child was more tender and amiable; but neither his mind, or constitution could Survive the habits he but too fatally persued. in the midst of his days, his course is stoped, and his years numberd. May I be enabled in silence to bow

myself in Submission to my Maker:—whose attributes are Mercy, as well as judgments.
					The Children will be ever Dear to me: may they be trained up in the way in which they should go. I will supply to them as far as in My power, the Parent they have lost—
					The President sends his Love to You, and mourns with—as he has a long time for You—
					I am with a respectfull remembrance to Your Mother and Love to Nancy and Abbe— / my dear daughter / Your affectionate / Mother

						Abigail Adams—

					Susan is well except a cold— sends her duty—


Title: Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 13 [December] 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Adams, Thomas Boylston

					Washington Novbr [December] 13. 1800

				Well My dear son S Carolin has behaved as Your Father always Said She would. the concequence to us personally, is that We retire from public Life: for myself and family I have few regreets; at My

age and with my bodily infirmities I shall be happier at Quincy. neither my habits, or My Education or inclinations, have led Me to an expensive stile of living; So on that score I have little to mourn over; if I did not rise with Dignity, I can at least fall with ease; which is the more difficult task— I Wish Your Fathers circumstances were not So limited, and circumscribed as they must be, because he cannot indulge himself in those improvements upon his Farm which his inclination leads him too, and which would serve to amuse him, and contribute to his Health; I feel not any resentment against those who are comeing into power, and only wish the future administration of the Government may be as productive of the peace happiness and prosperity of the Nation as the two former ones have made it— I leave to time the unfolding of a drama. I leave to posterity to reflect upon the times past—and I leave them Characters to contemplate upon.— my own intention is to return to Quincy as soon as I conveniently can; I presume in the Month of Jan’ry the peice of linnen I orderd, need not be sent here. the other articles I wish to get, and you will oblige me by making an inquiry of Bringhurst or any other trusty coachmaker whether they have any well made new Coachee by them, or could get one ready in a few weeks. it must be strong well built Such a one as I have now, only they shape them different. Bringhurst once Made me an excellent one, that was close all round with a coachmans Box, but this I should not require. I would chuse to have it open as the one I have with Glass Windows let Me also know the price, with one Brass harness for a pr Horses—
				You must write Me immediatly upon this subject. You wrote to William shaw inclosing me Some cotton. You may obtain what you want much nearer than N England, by giving the sample to mrs Kirkham— she can get it at a shop very near to her own, where I have often bought it, three threaded which is the strongest and best will be about 2 dollors pr pound—
				Gov’r Davie arrived Yesterday with the treaty. judge Elsworth was landed in England for the benifit of his Health the public curiosity will be soon Satisfied. Peace with France, a Revenue increased beyond any former Years—our prospects brightning upon every side What must be the thoughts, and the reflections, of those who calling themselves federalists, have placed their country in a situation full of dangers and perils—who have wantonly thrown away the blessing heaven seemd to have in reserve for them? the Defection of N york has been the Source. that defection was produced by the

intrigues of two Man; one of them Sowed the Seeds of discontent & division amongst the federilist, and the other Seazd […] lucky Moment of mounting into power upon the shoulders of Jefferson— the triumphs of the Jacobins is immoderate, and the federilists deserve it— it is an old and a just proverb, never hallo untill You are out of the woods So compleatly have they gulled one an other, by their southern promisses—they which have no more faith, when made to nothern Men, than Lovers vows—
				I have not heard from N York Since I wrote You last
				I am My Dear Thomas Your ever / affectionate Mother

					A Adams


Title: Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, 15 December 1800
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Tufts, Cotton

					my dear sir
					Washington December 15 1800

				I wrote to you not long since, and inclosed a Bill of a hundred dollors which I hope you received. I inclose in this a Bill of ten Dollors—out of which You will please to pay two pounds 12 shillings to Zube Harman which will be due to her in Jan’ry for a quarters wages— I could wish my dear sir that every Bill due might be discharged as You have the Means; We shall then know What our income is, and I am very Sensible a great overturn and retrenchment must be made in our expences, so great that I know, on one hand we shall be stigintized as called narrow &c on the other it will be sometime before we can ourselves credit how near We Must calculate, to preserve that independance which I always hope to Mantain by living within our income. it will be urksome at first, but we can bring our minds to it— I wish however My best friend had an income Sufficient to improve his Farms, which now must be his favorite amusement, and Recreation. private troubles and public cares reconcile us to the thought of retirement; I hope the remainder of our days may not be disturbed by public commotions. what is before us God only knows— My sincere Wish and desire is, that the Country may enjoy an equal degree of prosperity and happiness under the new administration, as it has possesst under the two former; but if it should prove that the people have ungratefully, and Wantonly abused the blessing which they possesst, and have cast them from them; they only have been the instruments of their own overthrow— You will have learnt before this of the Death of My poor unhappy Charles—cut off in the Midst of his years, and in the prime of life a victim to ——— poor unhappy child. My Heart bleads at the retrospection; his Sickness was not long tho painfull and distressing a dropsy of the breast in about three Weeks terminated his days— You sir I know Sympathize with Your Friends under this afflicting providence, in the keenest Manner painfull to Parents, and relatives painfull living, and distressing in every view. I hope we may So humble ourselves, that the Sovereign of the universe who has seen fit to wound us, may also mercifully heal us—
				I propose to leave this city in Jan’ry and get on by slow degrees, to take such weather as shall be propitious. Such arrangments as may be necessary at Quincy previous to My getting home I will request

you to speak to Mrs Porter to make, by having the House opened and aired. I shall write to You again when I Sit out—
				Gov’r davie arrived with the treaty last week. it was Yesterday laid before the Senate I presume You will hear enough about it before long—
				I was very particuliar with mr Porter about the cider. I hope he has not omitted drawing it off before now—
				Present Me affectionatly to mrs Tufts Norten and family— I am My Dear sir / Your affectionate

					A Adams


Title: Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 15 December 1800
From: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw
To: Adams, Abigail

					December 15th. 1800. Atkinson

				Not one word have I heard from my Dear Sister, since I left Boston, nor have I had any intelligence from Washington excepting what we have gathered by the News Papers, & those we have read with a peculiar degree of anxiety. My mind as well as the publicks, has been long held in painful suspense, nor do we yet know but that he, who has been the stability of Our Times, may again preside, & guide the mommentous affairs of the Nation, that Truth, Peace, & Righteousness may still prevail. Heaven grant that we may not become a Prey to foreign Enemies, nor given up to intestine Broils, & that ever dreaded scourge a civil War.—
				Most sincerely do I sympathize with the President, & you my Sister, on the Death of your Son—my once dear Charles. In the

multitude of your thoughts upon this bereavement, may the consolations derived from the Christian religion have an happy effect upon your Minds, & infuse a balm peculiarly suited to the mournful occasion, healing to the wounds of a Parents Heart.
				I felt exceedingly hurt to return to Atkinson without seeing my Sister Cranch. If I had not been so lame, that I should have been an additional trouble rather than of service, I certainly should not have let the fear of catching the fever, prevented my visiting her, & affording all the assistance in my power, soothing her friendly, affectionate heart, by every Sisterly attention. But it was a great releif to me, to hear that they were all recovered, & recovering—
				Cousin William rode Mr Peabody’s horse to Boston on Saturday, we set our faces northward on monday & got home Tuesday Evening—& had the pleasure of finding all well. Leaving my family in the vacation, instead of setting it in Order, made I found a wide difference in its Œconomy, & the winter pressing hard at that time, required immediate attention, to lay up providently, like the Ant, for the ensuing season; thinking every day, tomorrow I should have more leisure to set down & write to my Sister— But that time seldom comes in such a family as mine, so I will seize the moments as they fly, & tell you, we have had a very sick house, but none very ill, but Mr Peabody, & Mr Brown Mr Peabody has had a large share of health, through life, which made me more alarmed at his Complaints The Dr. was afraid of a nervous fever, but at last it terminated in a sore, which broke, & ran out at his ear, through cloths several times doubled in a day. He was never before detained from meeting his People upon the Sabbath. He is much better now, though he yet looks very pale. Mr Brown was seized suddenly with a voilent shaking, which was succeeded by a distressing fever, that came on so rapid as to prevent his being carried home, though it was no further off than Chester. The third day he lost his reason, could sleep none & was really an Object truly humiliating to human Pride. So late a sweet blooming youth, now loathsome to his nearest connections. What a lesson for the young—the Gay! Through the goodness of heaven, his fever came to a crisis the seventh day, (or to an human eye, he must have burned up) & gave some pleasing hope, that an only Son, might be restored to the wishes of doating Parents & Sisters— One, or the other, have been with him through his sickness, which has releived my mind, and gave rest to my ancle. I am sorry to tell you that notwithstanding I applied to Dr. Warren &

Welsh when in Boston, yet I find no Cure & very little releif from any application— Every One says give it rest—give it rest, & I do as much as I can— I use cold water every morning, & a bandage of cold vinegar all day to prevent a callous. I suppose some sinew has wept by the injury, & I fear will form a bunch at the side of my ancle bone, such as you have seen upon wrists. But I am thankful it is not my arm, like Mrs Storer’s—for she cannot use hers even to dress & undress herself, for I have not like her, three good Daugters to whom I can look for every tender filial attention.
				I long to hear how you do, & my good Nephew William Cranch, & family. How delighted he must he be to have you so near him. Be so kind as to give my love to them all. How do you like your new abode? Have you things convenient? And can you purchase necessaries, without an exorbitant price? I have but a faint Idea of the place. But above all, does the President, You, my Son, & Louisa enjoy health. For without it, every circumstance of felicity, is but pain, & vanity is indelibly marked upon every Object—
				My Abbys Journey to Boston was of service, & she has enjoyed better health ever since. Cousin William & John are more fleshy this winter than I have known them. They are charming well, & I consider it as a great mercy, when especially their Parents are at such a distance from them. We have a flock of fine Children, & John asked Lydia the other day, if she did not think I was proud of them— he was sure he should be, to have so fine a flock of Children round him, to take the care of— John always takes heed care, & is Lydia friend, he likes to hold the plate, & take Lydia’s Cakes—
				I have written to you twice, to Mrs Smith, & my dear Son when in Boston, I hope you have reiceived them. I miss Sister Cranch’s narrative Pen—
				Mrs Greenleaf hates to write, & it seems as if all communications were ceased—
				Please to tell my Son, & mr Bartlet that all our Haverhill friends were well excepting Capt. Bartlet, who has a billious fever, & it is feared he will not recover. Mr Peabody presents his regards, Miss Palmer, & Abby respects, & with more love than I can express, I am your ever affectionate / Sister

					Elizabeth Peabody


Title: Susanna Lee to Abigail Adams, 16 December 1800
From: Lee, Susanna
To: Adams, Abigail

					Boston. December—16th: 1800

				With the most timid respect do I address Mrs: Adams on a subject so interesting to me that I tremble while I write from a doubt of the propriety of the step, however solicitude for an affectionate Husband and our young family outweighs my scuples and prompts me to the measure. I must therefore rely upon the noble generosity of a character I have known and revered from my infancy, to pardon any impropriety there may be in requesting she will honor me so much as to aid with her influence an application which Mr. Lee has made to the President of the United States for the Consulate of Bourdeaux. Letters of recommendation which have been deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State for upwards of two Years, will show he has some pretensions— they are testimonials from some a number of our worthiest Patriots which procured at the time they were lodged there such encouragement from Mr Pickering as induced Mr. Lee to wait the event of the pending negotiation with France. the prospect of the favorable termination of the Mission has brought forward other and new Candidates it is from the Apprehension that the length of time which has elapsed since Mr Lee’s application may have in a degree effaced the impression made in his favor by the recommendation of his friends, with a hint we have received that should he be thought of the Arts of the Hamiltonian faction (a Member of which has lately been elected Senator from this State) will be used to prevent his Nomination, in order to assist some favorites of their own; has induced me to endeavor to obtain by this Method that which has become of much importance to the

future comfort of our family, and has for two Years past been the sole Object of our pursuit.—
				Should our great and good President find it indispensible otherwise to dispose of the Consulate of Bourdeaux by the honour of Mrs. Adams patronage this fact will be so fully evinced as greatly to Mitigate the pain of the disappointment.
				Requesting Mrs. Adams will have the goodness to suffer me to plead a Mothers anxiety as an apology for thus intruding on her time—I have the honour to be with the most profound respect her most devoted Servant

					Susanna Lee


Title: John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 17 December 1800
From: Adams, John
To: Adams, Thomas Boylston

					My dear Son
					Washington Decr 17th 1800.

				I have recd this Evening yours of the 14th.— My little bark has been oversett in a Stor Squal of Thunder and Lightening and hail attended with a Strong Smell of Sulphur. Nothing remains for me, but to indulge that Vanity which I have found out lately is considered as the predominant feature in my Character, by Singing the Song of Horace

					Virtus repulsæ nescia Sordidæ
					Intaminatis fulget honoribus
					Nec Sumit nec aut ponit Secures
					Arbitrio popularis Auræ.

				The Soothing considerations Suggested by you, my dear Son for the consolation of your Father, endear you to me more than ever. Indeed every Letter I receive from you increases my Esteem for your Character, for Understanding Discretion and benevolence. Be not concerned for me. I feel my Shoulders relieved from a Burthen. The Short remainder of my days will be the happiest of my Life. For my Children I consider my Retirement as a favor. They will now have fair play. They never had an equal Chance with their Comrades and never would have had, if I had continued in office. This is my Solid opinion with regard to your Brother, yourself, and your Sister. I shall write you more respecting your Brother, hereafter.
				Pray Mr Ingersol to Suspend his Determination at least untill the third of March. The System will not be changed till then. I may possibly have Some Message to Send by you to that worthy Gentleman before March. The Law will be the Law under a new Administration as well as under the old, and the Professors of it, while they Adhere to that, will do well.
				Your Mother and Louisa are gone to Mount Vernon. They went off, to day, after Dinner, intending to rest this night at Alexandria. Will return the day after tomorrow.
				The melancholly decease of your Brother is an Affliction of a more serious nature to this Family than any other. Oh! that I had died for him if that would [have relieved him from his faults as well as his disease]
				I am, my dear Child your affectionate Father

					John Adams


Title: Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 20 December 1800
From: Adams, Thomas Boylston
To: Adams, Abigail

					Dear Mother
					Philadelphia 20th: December 1800.

				Our Supreme Court being in session, has occupied my time so much as to prevent answering your favors of the 10th: & 13th: instts:
				I have seen Mrs: Kirkham since I got your letter, and given her the fresh order; she will prepare the articles & I shall send them as soon as I can.

				I have applied to two Coachmakers to ascertain what you desired; neither of them have any ready made coachees on hand, but at my request, one of them furnished me with the enclosed estimate, of what a new one would cost; but if you want one so suddenly as you mention, there will not be time to complete it. I will make further search on Monday, and write again.
				Perhaps your intention of returning in January is a good one, so far as respects the practicability of traveling; but ought you not to calculate upon meeting with snow at that season, beyond New York, which may obstruct your journey & possibly render your carriage useless? A journey of between three & four hundred miles in the depth of winter is a formidable thing; I hope you may find strength to support it, but I cannot help looking at it with terror, and the only circumstance which reconciles me to it is, that if you do not sett out in January, you must in March, which is, if possible, yet worse.
				Yes dear Mother, you are about to retire from public life, after a faithful Service, on your part, as well as on that of my father, for a period of near forty years. The concurrence of circumstances, which has produced such a result in the great electioneering struggle, is little honorable to our character as a consistent people, and in my opinion, forebodes no good to the Country. That Commercial confidence has felt a severe shock at the happening of this event, is sufficiently evident from the sudden depression of the public funds, and that foreign powers will draw from it erroneous if not unfavorable opinions, is equally to be expected. We have never made this last an item in our account of national character; our boastings of Independence have made us neglect to enquire, what real pretentions we have to such preeminence. I forbear to enter more largely into an expression of my reflections on this topic; but as a citizen of the United States I will add, that I feel myself disgraced & degraded, by the change.
				Mr: Dallas, who has been indefatigable for ten years past in his endeavors to bring about this change, has always affected to speak in terms of high respect for the present chief Magistrate. “I could not have believed,” (said he to me a few days ago) “that New England would have behaved so shamefully towards your father, as to have given an equal support to any candidate for the Presidency. I am less surprized, at the conduct of New York, because it is well known that Mr: Burr’s reward for producing the change there, was to be nothing less than the Vice Presidency— His efforts therefore were

proportionably great, and the success of the Republican cause is entirely owing to them.” I made no reply, as indeed he expected none, but said I, now you have got the Government into your own hands, what do you intend to do with us?
				“I have done now, said he— I shall make my profession hereafter the sole object of my attention—” Most disinterested gentleman—I dare aver that I can point to the path-way of his ambition, by naming a foreign Embassy, or some such thing, not quite so much in the line of his profession—
				“Is not Mr: Jefferson a most fortunate man,” (said he at another time) “to come in to office, when our coffers are full—peace & a treaty made with France, by the present administration, which prevents the danger of any difference with England on that score—No Standing army— Upon my soul I cant help thinking that a good understanding must have subsisted between your father & Mr Jefferson, on these subjects.” You give excellent reasons said Mr: Ingersoll, who overheard Mr: Dallas, for turning Mr: Adams out— dont you think so?
				All this talk is in a good humored style—very amusing to himself I dare say, but not much so to me, though I can listen to it with composure—
				I dined in a small company yesterday at Mr: Binghams where was Mr: Swift, the late Secy of legation— From him I understood that chief Justice Ellsworth had sent home his resignation of his seat on the Bench, which leaves a vacancy to be filled. I presume that Mr: Patterson of New Jersey will be promoted to the highest seat, as Judge Cushing the senior judge is understood to have once declined it. Not knowing what considerations will govern the President in supplying the place at this time, I venture to suggest that some young or middle-aged man, for many obvious reasons would be, in my opinion, most eligible— I have thought of Mr: Dexter & Mr: Ingersoll or Mr: E— Tilghman, but whether either of these latter gentlemen would accept the office, if offered to them—I know not— It is thought Mr: Tilghman would, but I am pretty sure Mr: Ingersoll would not— Lewis I have sometimes thought, aspired to a seat, but I doubt the validity of his pretentions— If the old rule of locality is to have its weight, Connecticutt may perhaps be looked to for a character, but I think the President will obey the dictates of his own opinion in this instance, without regard to the narrow principle which has heretofore prevailed with respect to such appointments, & which

I know was never approved by him— Judge Cushing will not be likely to retain his place much longer, as his age & infirmities must bear him down and Mr: Dexter is the man I should wish to see, as the representative Judge of Massachusetts— But my opinions are worth very little on this subject and are only offered for their humble share of consideration—
				With true love & affection I am, dear Mother / Your Son

					T B Adams.


Title: Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 21 December 1800
From: Adams, Thomas Boylston
To: Shaw, William Smith

						Dear William
						Philadelphia 21st: Decr: 1800

					I have given an introductory letter for yourself and one for my father, to a young man by the name of Charles D Coxe; he will probably be at the federal City towards the last of this week. From himself I understand he intends making application for the

Consulship at the Isle of France, and his reason for applying during the present administration he avers to be, because he is a federalist & a friend to the government as hitherto administered. I know nothing to the contrary of this profession, but I have given him my opinion that the appointment he wants will not be immediately made, and farther that I believed there were competitors for the office already— This gentleman is a brother of Tench Coxe’s wife, but he is anxious to have it known that he thoroughly despises the political character of his brother in law, and wishes not to be involved in the disgrace which that fellows conduct has brought upon the name. I do not undertake to recommend him for the place he is about to seek, for I am too little acquainted with his character or qualifications to do it, and I have only given him letters of civility which he is not unworthy of receiving.
					I thank you for the papers you sent me, containing the frivolous debates about the shorthand-writers— I had already seen their contents in our papers—
					The other debate respecting the Mausoleum excited some indignant reflections in my bosom. I am angry that the legislature of the Union should spend days & weeks in debating on a subject of that nature, which cannot but revive painful thoughts in the mind of the surviving friends & relatives of Washington, and reflect neither honor or credit on themselves— I am in principle opposed to any thing like a monument & or Mausoleum, or Statue, commemorative of the life & services of that good man; not from any wish to detract from the merit of them, but because I think every device I have ever seen falls short of such a design— Moreover I think, enough has already been done to perpetuate the name, by calling the City which is to be the permanent seat of government, after him. This was no trifling tribute, and if you measure respect by the money it may cost, as some members of Congress seem to do, it will be found, that few monuments of that kind, ever cost so much. I did not like the motive which actuated Mr: Macon of N Carolina, in the speech he made on this occasion, but I was amused with it more than by anything uttered on the subject. Genl: Lee, instead of his recollection of Statues erected by European noblemen to the memory of their Mistresses, as a classic Scholar would have done more credit to himself & more dignified his Subject, had he remembered the remarkable instance of Demetrius Phalerous, who is said by his eloquence & the purity of his manners to have gained such an influence over the Athenians; that during the period in which he exercised the

office of decennial Archon, 360 brazen Statues were erected to his honor. This would have been an instance not unworthy to be cited, but for the other, I blushed at the sight of it.
					Can you tell what plan our wise legislators are going to pursue hereafter to keep the drooping head of federalism from total depression. To whom can we look for a clue to our conduct, unless to them? I expect little concert hereafter in our national concerns, but I feel as if I had less inter[est in] the reputation of our Country than heretofore—
					We are threatened here with rejoycing & exultation upon the 4th: of March. There is even a talk of illuminating the City. but I doubt whether any thing so rash will be attempted— Riot & bloodshed would be the inevitable result of such a measure—
					I take the liberty to enclose you a paragraph which I cut out of the Aurora a few days ago, expressly for your perusal— By it you will see the great power & consideration of your Asiatic namesake
					Adieu / Your’s

						T B Adams.

					By Mr: Mason I sent you some books which Dickens says you spoke for—