Title: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 5 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

            My dear sister
            Philadelphia June 5th 1798

          I write you this Morning just to say that there are dispatches from our Envoys up to April by which it appears that they have had several conferences with Tallyrand, the subject of which was obtaining Money— they are just decupherd and will be communicated. no Reception from the directory, nor like to be any— I cannot but say to you, what will strike every one, that every hour they remain in France, degrades their Country, and embarrasses our counsels beyond conception—
          yours &c

            A Adams


Title: John Quincy Adams to William Cranch, 6 June 1798
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Cranch, William

            My dear friend
            Berlin 6. June 1798.

          I received a few days ago with great pleasure your favour of 5 March. the perusal of which affected me with various sensations, some pleasing and others less so, but all, cordially participating in the circumstances affecting your welfare and happiness, mentioned in it. Neither the length of time nor the distance at which I have been from my Country, nor yet, any change in my own situation has effected any alteration in the sentiments of attachment to my

friends, with which I parted from them, and consequently I could not but share with full soul, the feelings, which the occurrences of your life, whether fortunate or adverse occasion to you. Some of the most precious comforts I know how to value, because I myself now enjoy the same in an eminent degree; others I can estimate also for the contrary reason, because I have been disappointed in the hope of possessing them.— The blessings of wedded love have been mine, almost a year, but I have not the happiness of being a parent.— The partner of my life, like your’s adds every day to the ties of affection which united us, and but for a misfortune of which you will have heard before this time, I might have now completed all the immediate relations of domestic life and participated in all the sources of domestic felicity.
          I had heard with much concern of Mr: Greenleaf’s misfortunes, and I have been sincerely grieved upon finding in your letter, that they have in some measure extended to you. I hope that a more favourable turn of fortune, may relieve you from all embarassment, and should feel happy if it were in my power to contribute to it.
          At a time when the appearance of peace is returning to Europe, every symptom announces that our own Country will be involved in unavoidable war. If any thing could have prevented it before, it is now made impossible for us to escape it, by the publication of the documents containing the negotiation of our Commissioners at Paris. They unfold indeed a scene of corruption & venality, which Americans could scarcely believe, but which is universally known in France, and frequently complained of, but which cannot be remedied, because the most depraved men, are at the same time those who hold unlimited power in their hands. They have an absolute controul even over the press, and not a newspaper in France has dared to intimate the proposals, which our commissioners rejected, of offering money to the members of the Directory. These facts however, cannot be thoroughly concealed from the rest of Europe and they will carry the resentment of the Directory to its utmost pitch of rage. Our Country must expect the worst that they can inflict upon it, and I hope will be properly prepared for its own defence. I said the appearance of peace was returning to Europe, but it is nothing more; a real and permanent peace is yet very distant. It is impossible that France should for years to come, either be at peace herself or leave her neighbours so.
          Hitherto there has been little done this season, besides making preparations. An immense armament has been gathering in France

these eight months, said to be destined for the invasion of England. A large force, forming part of it has embarked and probably sailed from Toulon, but as this is not a place from which an attack upon England can be directly made, there have been numerous conjectures as to the point of its direction. It is commanded by Buonaparte.
          The English on their side have attempted a small expedition against Ostend and destroyed a sluice, which affords an internal communication between that place and Dunkirks, but it has cost them 1500 men, who were taken before they could again go on board their ships.
          I am, with the warmest wishes for your prosperity and happiness, ever affectionately your friend.


Title: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

            My dear Sister
            June 8th 1798 Philadelphia

          I received yours of June the first. I am quite delighted at the account you give of the season, and the appearence of vegetation. I was out yesterday at A Farm of Judge Peters call’d, Belmont. it is in all its Glory; I have been twice there, when I lived at Bush Hill, but he has improved both the House and Gardens Since— after being six Months in a City, you can hardly conceive the delight one feels at Entering a Wilderness of sweets. the Grass the Grain, the profusion of Beautifull flowers Jassamine Hyacinths & Roses, all in full Blum, climing arond the windows & Piazzas and Porticos of the neat building, formd such a pleasing contrast to the bare brick Building and the throng of Conechigo Waggons, which are ranged in rows through our Street, that it appeard a mere Paridice to me. the House is an ancient building with a Hall through it, like Jeffries at Milton which opens into the Garden. in front is a lawn and from the House theres is a view of the Noble Hudson, and at the foot of the Hill much neareer flows the Schuylkil

          after walking in the Garden we returnd and found the table spread with 6 or 8 quarts of the large Hudson strawberry, gatherd fresh from the vines with a proportionable quantity of cream wine & Sugar. our taste and smell were both regaled, whilst ease Sociabitily and good humour enhanced the pleasure of the repast. The Judge is an old Friend and acquaintance of the President from the first Congress & served with him as one of the Board of war. Mrs Peters has all that ease and affibility; united to good Sense and fine spirits, which render her manner truly pleasing. they have a number of children, 2 Grown son & a daughter with 3 younger— they reside in the City during the Winter—
          You will learn with pleasure that the Bill for cutting of all intercourse with France past the Senate by 18 to 4. there are 10 Members absent most of whom I believe all, would have joind the Majority— Mr Fosters Resolutions will be taken up this day, the amount of which will be to declare our Treaty with France no longer binding. you will see them in Your papers—
          addresses increase untill the President can find Scarcly any thing new to say he has howevr in answer to the old Colony—
          His old Friend W——n did not sign it, his son has— I received a kind of an apology in a Letter from her, “he addresses none but the Supreem Being,” but he wishes well to the Government and the Administrator of it. his Letter was that of an old Friend—
          we have just got a Pamphlet from France, abusive as Thom. Paines against Washington, part Prose & part Poetry. the very language of their Party here the very words of Bache & Volney in some parts of it, but the time is past for their currency here. When I read, it I said to Louissa, this is the production of that unhangd Rascal Church. You must know that there were such complaints made from Portugal of him, & his conduct had been so base & enimical to his Country, that one of the first acts of the Presidents, was to displace him. this you may be sure excites all his vengance, tho he disguises it. Genll W—n used some times to give a man an office of whom he was affraid. this was the case with Goveneer Morris & Church, but it has ended as all the appointments have, which were made with a Concilatory view neither Love or fear will prompt the Present Commander in Chief to give an office to an undeserving Character knowingly. some no doubt will prove unworthy of their trust People are not sufficiently on their gaurd with respect to recommendations, and by them alone can the President judge of a very great

proportion of those whom he appoints to office it was Gen’ll W—n wish to make Friend’s of foes, and he aimd at converting over those who were lukewarm— You did not hear at that day so much Noise of Executive Patronage. the Reason is evident. Lambs Services Munroes Randolph Church & Morris with many others of similar sentiments Shared the loaves and fishes— A different conduct is now observed and wisdom taught by experience.
          Mr Johnson went from Cambridge in the Vacancy to visit his parents, and they have concluded that he should finish his Education at Annopolis college it is not well judged I think, and I have ventured to express Such a sentiment. I have not heard since I wrote you from mrs Johnson or your Son—
          Mrs Otis desires to bee kindly rememberd to you— she is distresst for Mrs Welch & Family— she knows how to Sympathize, and really does—
          You must let me know how things go on. take particular care of the Letter inclosed for Dr Tufts— I have just sent a trunk on Board, a vessel for Boston and hope it will not be long before I Shall follow; the Rumour of yesterday ends in vapour but tho not true, I hope I hope it will be soon. Church as I conjectured, is said to be the Writer of this base libel it is an abuse upon the President for his Speeches to Congress—of which you see Tallyrand says the Directory complain. poor Wretchs, I suppose they want him to cringe, but he is made of the oak instead of the willow he may be torn up by the Roots, or break—but he will never bend
          Yours

            A Adams


Title: Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, 8 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Tufts, Cotton

            My dear sir
            June 8th Philadelphia 1798

          I received Yesterday Yours of May 28th  I inclose you the account of Money sent you, including what is now in this Letter. if I should not remit you any more untill I come; I will then Settle the remainder. I do not expect to leave here untill the first of July. I shall rejoice if it may be then. I have wanted the P——t to get you to draw for 2000 dollors which I think might be spaird, and to get you to vest it in stock but he says he believes he must Build a Barn & Stables with it. I am sure he will be glad when he finds the accommodations which have been made. I am anxious to have his Room a large & pleasent one, sufficient to take in his Books, and to do Buisness in; we had not one in the house which could be spaired. if Porters Family could get Soon enough out to have the Kitchin floor painted a plain yellow, it would save much Labour— I am rejoicd to hear the season is favourable. we have lately had very plentifull Rains. the dry weather here, was more hurtfull than with you, both to Grain & Grass, because much forwarder. we made a little excursion of 5 miles yesterday afternoon, to a Beautifull Farm of Judge Peters’s I was so delighted with, the Profusion of Grass, Grain, flowers & strawberries, and the kind Hospitality of its owners, whom we have long beene in habits of Intimacy with, that it was with reluctance I returnd again to the city I sustain the heat of the weather, and am not oppressd with the weight of care and buisness, and incessant application which weighs down my Friend. He is grown quite thin. this may not be any injury, as his application is so incessent, but he is pale and looks languid, & cannot get time to excercise. I dare not say to him how really unwell he look’s, yet I never knew him regularly in better spirits, and his Appetite is good. he sleeps in general tolerably well, but it is relief from buisness & care which he wants to recruit him. his Farm would be highly enjoyd by him the building up a Navy, officering an Army, & Navy, is with all its Patronage, one of the most Responsible & painfull tasks which falls to the lot of the Executive. I send you; I hope it will be, the last dispatch from our Lamb like Envoys— I fear they will find wolves to devour them. How could they stay? how could they bear to hold converse with that depraved and venal wretch Tallyrand? my son Thomas, tho absent from his Country four years has estimated the feelings, and sentiments, of his Countrymen upon the conduct of France &

particuliarly the late decree agains the Nutral powers, with much more judgement and accuracy. you will probably see an extract of a Letter in some Boston paper as late as of 4th March. I fear sir, and have reason for it, that the very great desire of one of the Envoys to do something; will lead him, to do—more than he ought. he will do more than he ought, if he remains a moment after his colleagues quit, and he will be a sacrifice to his credulity. I hope the orders for their immediate return, will have reachd them before this time, as their was no delay, after the first arrival of dispatches from them yesterday sir the Bill for cutting of further intercouse with France past the senate 18 to four. If it was not for that specious subtle Spair Cassius, that imported Foreigner, the House of Reps would proceed with energy—and act with decision, but he is continually throwing down Balls to them; & tho not golden ones, they obstruct their course, & prevent their reaching the Goal. Mr Foster of Massachesuts brought forward some Resolutions, which were orderd to be printed; and which you will see in the News paper inclosed; as well as the fate of Switzerland. that unhappy Country is such an instructive lesson & warning to us—that we shall be hardned and stupified not to profit by it—
          I rejoice My dear sir to hear that your Health is better. I pray that your Life may be many Years continued as a blessing to your Country & Friends. we have to mourn the loss of many valuable Citizens. dr Clark was eminently one of that number.
          I was not at a loss to conjecture whom you intended when you gave me a Hint, but that was the first intimation or Idea I had of any embarresment.— I most sincerly commisirate the Family—
          You will paint the back part of the house Red again tho I do not like the coulour— I am dear sir with sentiments of affection / and Love your / obliged

            A Adams

            P S— My Love to mrs Tufts & thanks for her excellent Letter


Title: Abigail Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 9 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Johnson, Catherine Nuth

            my dear Madam
            Philadelphia June 9 1798

          I received on Saturday the 7th your Letter of June 4th, inclosing those from, our Children, and I was more gratified to find you had at Length received Letters, than if they had been for me. Mrs Adams’s account of herself, was more full and satisfactory than any which I had previously received I think she cannot be again; even in that Country so dissagreably Situated as she was.
          I am gratified my dear Madam, to see that her affections, like the dove to the Ark, retun with a longing desire to find their resting place in the Bosom of her Family. young as She is, I hope she will never be allured by the Splendours of a Court, or tempted by the dissipations which prevail in them, from that attachment to domestick Life so essential to the happiness of a good wife & Mother. The sentiments she expresses, are a sure pledge that she who is calculated to adorn a court, would be an agreable companion in a cottage. my greatest anxiety has been, least the Life she must unavoidably lead, in conformity to the Etiquet which her situation obliges her too, might have so powerfull an influence upon the imagination and fancy; as to render the change which she must experience in a few years; and her residence in this Country painfull & urksome to her. The publick service of our Country my dear Madam, is a service of Labour, but not of profit, as my best Friend has for 35 years experienced, and every other Gentleman who has been engaged in it, and done his Duty;—
          I hope the Liberty I took in expressing my sentiments with regard to young Mr Johnson’s leaving College did not give you any uneasiness. what I wrote was from a real regard to him, and the Family. mr Cranch writes me that it will not be that Injury to him in Maryland, as it would in our state & that a much longer time, is required for a student to read Law there than with us. this may make a difference, and his uncle must be the best Judge. Mr otis has received one Letter since he told me that he had not heard from him. both mr and Mrs otis who, are here, request me to present their compliments to you, and the Family.
          In return for your obliging communications, I inclose to you two Letters, nearly the same dates with yours. The President has one from Thomas as late as the 4th March, & the secretary of state one

of the 10th from mr Adams the Family were all well when Thomas wrote.
          You are too late for the June packet. you will please to bear in mind that the packets always sails the 1st wednsday in every month— your Letters should reach me the week before, as I send them to Nyork— Opportunities are frequent here for Hamburgh any Letters forwarded will be carefully attended to by me, and Sent with my own—
          I hope the young Ladies write to their Sister. a frequent recurrence to the pen, conquers the aversion to it.
          I am sorry to learn that you have such frequent returns of ill Health. is it not a critical period of Life with you? You might derive service from being bled, if it is.— I have sufferd too severely from similar complaints, not to sympathize with you.
          I have a very dear sister who feels gratefull both to mr Johnson, and yourself for the kindness shewn to her Son. She requests me to make mention of it to you— mrs Cranch is diffident; but you will find her an amiable woman
          Present my compliments to mr Johnson and accept the assurences of Friendship / with which I am Your / Friend & Humble servant

            Abigail Adams


Title: Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 10 June 1798
From: Cranch, Mary Smith
To: Adams, Abigail

            Dear Sister
            Quincy June 10th 1798

          I have at last heard from atkinson I had just Sent a long Letter to sister when I receiv’d one from her & another from Cousin Betsy— Sister is full of anxiety about her Daughter & well she may be—for by both the letters I think her in a fix’d consumtion— her cough is better but her Fever runs high & She has night Sweats & is So weak she can ride but a few miles in a day. Cousin Betsy Says She sent me a long Letter the week before, but I have not got it yet. Sister Says She feels so agitated She cannot bear to take her pen to write— her mind has been keept in Such painful Suspence for five months past that life has had but few injoyments. She wants her sisters by her to comfort & Support her— my heart is rent for her. She possesses a great Share of fortitude but tho her Spirits Sustains the load of woes & cares, perplexities & aprehentions which providence has Seen fit to exercise her. yet her Body bows under it & I some times fear She will not be able to stand many more Shocks. Should she lose the dear Girl as I much fear She will, it will be the Severest Stroke She has yet met with— She has just arriv’d at the age to become the companion & confidant of her Mother & her charming Spirits have been a cordial in a gloomy hour.— how apt we are to look forward & please ourselves with plans of fancy’d happiness tho we have often had to experince the breaking of the bubble before it had been Swell’d to half its propos’d Size— If we would tast any real

happiness we must injoy the good of the present moment & leave to the great arbiter of events whatever is in the womb of Futurety— I fear my Sister you will indeed miss many of your Friends & acquaintince when you return. Mrs Welsh tells mer her Sister Allen is thought to be going fast into a consumtion also— to be the last of a Family is a Gloomy thought— These are things I know you are anxious about—but I hate to write them to you.— I am Sure they will depress your Spirits, & they are full low enough already. our publick prospects are dark & distressing our vices make them much more so— they robs us of our confedence. but for them, I should fear nothing that our enemies could design for we are verily innocent towards them—
          when Cousin Betsy will return I know not her aunt wants her much never more, & I think it will be impossible for her to deny comfort & assistance to one who has been a parent to her from infancy dear Girl She goes from house to house doing good— by your Sending the wedding Garments I should Suppose you expected her to be married Soon there is no appearence of it that I have seen— however we have at last got the Box. I have not yet open’d it, as we have just receiv’d it. I wish I could get the caps out without for tis a wonder if they do not loose half their value if they Should be view’d by vulgar eyes before the proper time I Shall be careful not to rob them of any of there importance & Shall nail up the Box again
          I was in Boston on Saturday mr Smith was absent mrs Smith mention to me what you had written to him about Tom welsh & Said he had not yet given his opinion. she supposed he was considering. I wish’d to have seen him— I was at the Doc: but did not see him She is much more composed & better in health & has no Idea how bad the Doc: affairs are Toms Bills are So behind hand at college that Mr Isaac Smith told Mrs Greenleaf, he would not have his degree [. . .] they were Settled & I do not believe his Father ca[. . . .] it
          I hope your house will be done, but they do not get along So fast as I want them to mr Newcomb is very Slow about his part & we have had So much wet weather that it has prevented Some of the works being done So Soon as it ought to be you may tell the President his Farm looks delightfully, & I hear People Say he has a Noble Piece of Barley. there never was a more growing Season
          your Brother adams Family are all Well mrs Black has wean’d her baby & the nurse is return’d

          I long to hear the contents of the despatches which went on last week. I hope the Gentlemen can give a good reason for their delay to return after they had been so insolantly dispos’d & insulted, but I mean to hear before I censure— extend the Same charity if you do not receive a letter every week— / to your ever affectionate Sister

            Mary Cranch


Title: Abigail Adams to Jeremy Belknap, 11 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Belknap, Jeremy

            Dear sir
            Philadelphia June 11th 1798

          I return you, with thank’s the Letter You was so good as to communicate, and the Specimin’s of Poetry, which do great honour to the memory of the unfortunate youth; who is the subject of them. at the same time they bear a pleasing testimony to the Talants and abilities of the Authoressess. The Eligy of the Lady of Seventy, I think bears away the palm.
          I have a Mischievious inclination to procure, if I can, the Aliens, a poem, as the Author call’d it, and send you; it is written by a senator of the United states, but as I am sure the specimin would not entitle him to a rank in your Biography, either as an Author, or a poet, I have some scruples whether it would be right, to circulate his disgrace, especially, as after having obtaind the copy right, he has stopd the sale, alledging that his Friends have assured him; that the poem is capable of improvement.—
          The President was gratified, in reading the expressions of Friendship, and Kindness, Liberally bestowed, by the Friend and companion of his youthfull years. The School and the College are the sources of the dearest Friendships. The Heart is then open to strong and deep attachments, and where it meets with Congenial Sentiments; forms union’s which death itself does not dissolve. I have Seen these attachments transfered to the Children, and this is one, among many other advantages derived from a publick Education. The President joins his Friend; in the sentiment exprest by Him, that Kings and Princes, have not an equal chance with their subjects, from the responsibility of their station’s, their knowledge and talants are often unjustly estimated they are frequently obliged to

hear, with the Ears of those, most interested to deceive them; and to see with Eyes, before which a veil is drawn—
          The President directs me to assure dr Belknap, that he has no intention of becomeing an Imitator of Palinures, by falling asleep, and loosing the Helm knaping, tho he will willingly resign it, to a more watchfull and skillfull Pilot.
          Dupont, the Consul who was to succeed de Letomb, is the son, as I have been informd of dupont de Nemours, but he is not received by the president, nor will he be under existing Circumstances.
          The Book I sent, was designd for your use sir, unless you had been previously supplied.
          I am happy to learn from you, what I had every reason to expect, that the Infant orphan, which I had some share in protecting; has found in the Parental Bosom of an uncle, and Aunt, that tenderness and sympathy which its helpless situation demanded, and that Heaven in depriving it, of its Natural Parents, under circumstances peculiarly distressing, has given to it, others so well disposed to supply their place.
          accept sir my sincere and cordial wishes for your Life Health and usefullness; and a kind remembrance to mrs Belknap, whose Health, I hope is perfectly restored, / and believe me your obliged / Friend and humble servant

            Abigail Adams


Title: Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 12 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Adams, John Quincy

              my dear son
              Philadelphia June 12th 1798

            The June packet is to sail tomorrow. as I know you must be anxious for constant intelligence, at this critical & important period, I will not let her sail without writing to you, tho it is a hazard whether she will go safe, for our very coasts are infested with French Privateers, who insult us in our own Waters.
            every exertion is making to get our Frigates to sea. we have some 20 Gun vessels out. Newburryport has sit an example, by voteing & raising money to Build a 20 Gun ship and loaning it to Government. Newyork have voted 2 & this City 2; the Sea ports will all follow the example, and we shall have a Navy Spring up like the Gourd of Jonah; I hope however that it will not wither, as soon. The eageness with which the Youth of Family fortune & Education enter the Navy, and Army, is a surety for our Country, that the spirit of the Fathers, live in their son’s—
            I cannot send you a hundred part of the addresses which have been, and still, are pouring in from every state Town & Village. No sovereign, ever had more voluntary Lives, and fortunes tendered to him, in proportion to his dominions, than have been offerd to the Chief Majestrate of United America, in defence of the Liberty and Independance of the Country.
            This city, which was formerly torpid with indolence, and fettered with Quakerism; has become one Military School, and every morning, the sound of the drum and fife, lead forth “A Band of Brothers joind” the Martial spirit resounds from one end of the Country, to the other.
            An age of Peace, would not have, informd and enlightned our Countrymen, with respects to their Rights, & the just value of a free and equitable Government, as the unprovoked and unjust conduct of France towards us.

            I inclose to you a Boston paper, in which you will read, a wise & judicious speach of Gov’r Sumner a song written by mr T Pain, and the Last Dispatch. Heaven Grant that it may be the last, dispatch from our Lamb like envoys! there pulse beats, not like my dear Thomas’es, who tho absent near four years, has not forgotten that he is An American. by his last Letter to his Father of March the 4th, he judges better of the feelings of his Countrymen, than to belive them capable of crouching to the terms of the haughty Gauls. Let them know; “that united we stand, and defy the foul Fiends.”
            I have just received a Letter from mrs Johnson dated the 4th of June, in which she informs me, that she had at length received Letters from you & her dear Louissa. she meant to write by the packet, but will be too late. the Family were all well. mrs Johnson is frequently troubled with Billious complaints. she must have a seasoning. she appears better contented by her last Letters than she was. we write often to each other, and keep up a friendly intercourse. Tell mrs Adams, that she must keep a Journal. it will become pleasent to her by habit, and greatly facilitate her writing, which is only urksome by disuse. She will find it a source of amusement to her, and her Friends, hereafter.
            Your Brother Charles and Family and sister smith were well last week— whilst I am writing, I have lide down my pen, to read a Letter brought me from your Aunt Peabody. her Letters were always a treasure, and she knows as well as ever shakspear did, every avenue to the Heart. I can never get through a Letter of hers; without wetting it with my tears.— She is very anxious now for her daughter Betsy, who had a fever in the winter which has left her with many allaming symptoms of a consumptive nature, and tho in her person she is not her Mother, she is otherways every way Lovely and desirable, and to lose her would be a stroke, which her Mother would not know how to support. she writes me pleasing accounts of my Grandsons. it will be the making of them. the Fathers misfortunes will prove the salvation of the Children, has their Grandfather some times observed to me. Your Aunt desires to be rememberd in the most affectionate terms to you & to your Brother, whom next to her own Children she loves— she participates in your pleasures; and She has sympathized in the suffering of your dear Louissa, Whom she says you must instruct to Love her.
            I know it will give you pleasure to learn, that mr Cranch has removed to George Town, at the request of mr Johnson who has patronized him, and put his buisness into his Hand.

            I have to communicate to you the painfull event of dr Welchs failure in Property. the inclosed Billet will state the particulars. I fear you are a sufferer. I have written to Charles to stop his making any remittance to him on your account, even tho you had orderd it, and requested to be informd by him of the state of your Property in his Hands tho a week has elapsed, I have not an answer. I wish I knew of a certainty that it was safe. Indeed my dear son, I am not with out my fears, that you will lose all you have been so prudently and carefully saving.— I will do for your security what I can. the 25 Guineys are still in my hands which I owe, you and which I will pay into mr smiths or dr Tufts Hands when I know which of them you will commit your interest to—
            I am distrest for the dr and Family and do not know but that I shall send Thomas Welch to you to take your Brothers place—
            God Bless and preserve you / and yours, and all who are / dear to your truly affectionate

              Mother A Adams

            your Father send you his Blessing. You know he cannot write—any thing but answers to the addresses—

          ENCLOSURE
          I am sorry to announce, an event that must afflict you, as it has, every friend & connection of the family.— Dr. W. for sometime past has been much embarrassd. The last Week he clos’d his Doors— judge what Mrs. W. situation must be, not to have the least suspicion ’till the moment it took place— she is in the greatest distress. What has become of his property is a mystery to all his Friends. The demands against him are more than double to all his property he ever possest. all his nearest Friends will suffer severely by him. I have secur’d all the property that I know of & yet it will not be sufficient for my demand. The Dr. holds a Power, from Mr J.Q.A. to take charge of his business— if you think proper you may recommend his assigning it to me—


Title: Louisa Catherine Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 June 1798
From: Adams, Louisa Catherine
To: Adams, Abigail

            My Dear Madam
            Berlin June 12th 1798

          After having so long delayed to answer your very affectionate letter I feel perfectly ashamed of making any excuse as I am consious it is not in my power to make a proper one I must therefore rely upon your known indulgence and in future be more careful— Our jouney from Hamburg was extremely unpleasant the roads were very bad and I was in constant dread of our being overset but fortunately we arrived very safe and I flattered myself that I should feel no ill effects from the fatigue. hoever it proved otherwise and I suffered a dreadful illness from which I thank God I am entirely recovered—
          The people in this Country have been extremely polite and kind to me which has made my residence in Berlin much more agreeable than I expected it is very gay, as there are several Princesses many of them have parties every day The Queen is very young and very Handsome of a lively disposition and fond of company it is therefore supposed that the next winter will be remarkably brilliant but I rather doubt it as the King though very young is a very domestic man and dislikes the ceremony which must always attend a Court I have been presented both to the King and Queen and the Princesses have been very kind to me but I seldom go out as I do not like large parties. The coronation in Berlin is fixed for the sixth of next Month there would have been some splendid entertainments made for the Queen but she expects so soon to be confined that it would be too fatiguing particularly after the long journey she has taken and from which she is not yet returned—
          You will see by this letter My Dear Mother what a very bad correspondent you have but I am sure you will have the goodness to

excuse my inability to write any thing amusing and reflect that though I may not succeed I endeavor to do my best—
          Adieu my Dear Mother offer my affectionate duty to my Father and love believe me your dutiful and affectionate Daughter

            Louisa C. Adams


Title: Abigail Adams to Hannah Adams, 13 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Adams, Hannah

            my dear Madam
            June 13 1798

          I should sooner have acknowledgd your obliging favour & replied to your inquiries if I could have obtaind any thing upon the subject which would have been usefull to you The President desires me to tell you that he does not possess any minutes or details of the debate or speech upon the occasion you allude to. Dr Ramsey must have his from some lose memmorandan or other. with respect to the Federal Constitution, the President was in England when it was form’d. you will recollect that there was a meeting previous to the Gen’ll one which broke up without doing any thing. hearing of this the President turnd his thought upon the subject of Government and commenced writing that work which he entitle a defence of the Constitution of America he compleated his first volm and it arrived here just when the convention were sitting, and was read by the members & has been said by some gentlemen to have united them in sentiment; the Constitution of his own state he had a large and active share in making the original draught of it & reporting it to a committe. it underwent some alterations not as some persons have since thought for the better; one alteration was that of giving the choice of Military officers to the People, and the Annual Election of Goveneur. he holds
          I wish you success in Your Work and request you to put my Name upon your list as a subscriber to it. I believe you already have the Presidents you may add if you Please the Name of my son J Q Adams Minister at Berlin Charls Adams Esqur counsellor at Law New York—and Thomas Boylstone Adams Philadelphia, where I hope he will soon return from Berlin. he is my youngest son, and studied Law in this city, each a copy— I recollect with pleasure the week you past with me at Quincy and should be happy to see you there again whenever I shall consider myself as stationary there
          I am with respects to your Father / your Friend / and Humble / Servant

            A Adams—


Title: Cotton Tufts to John Adams, 14 June 1798
From: Tufts, Cotton
To: Adams, John

            Dear Sr.
            Weymouth June 14. 1798

          From the 6th. of May to the 23d. We had hot dry Weather with scarce any Rain, Our Pastures & mowing Lands began to suffer, Barley & other Grain which before lookd promising began to wither, from the 23d of May to the 9th. Instant the Rains were great, not more than Two or Three fair Days— At present Your Grass Lands Wear a fine Appearance, Pastures also, Your Barns will be too small for Your Crop of Hay— Your Meadow on the Back of the House is well moistned, I fear some of the Corn in it will rot, a few Days of hot & fair Weather will however with drains discharge the abundant Moisture— I have viewd the Farm lott of Mr Cranch, & find that the Barn wants shingling, and think it would be best to shingle it as soon as may be more especially the Back Part of it, as the Hay cut upon that Place must be deposited there till wanted, there being Room no where else— this Week went with Mr. Porter to purgatory Pasture where we have the Cattle, proposed to be fatted— I find it to be a good Pasture, but much overrun with Bushes, it will be necessary to cut them down in August.
          Soule who was hird in the Beginning of the Spring fell sick and was unable to do Business for 6 Weeks or more, a Brother of his supplied his Place during that Time, finding him to be an industrious sober Man have hird him for 6 Months @ 10 Dollr. pr Month— I could wish that the Farms improvd by French & Burrell were in as good a Train as Your Homestead— I am not fully pleased with the Management of them and wish for some alterations, which I shall hereafter submit to You, if my Health & Leisure will permit me fully to digest them, as the old Oxen will be taken from those Farms and fatted, they will each want a pair of Younger to supply their Place; if possible I should wish to avoid purchasing any, but I fear it will be necessary— Porter has got a pretty good Stock of Manure in the Dung Yard and will add to it as Leisure permits— The wet Season in April did not allow us to sow the Barley so early as was wishd for— I do not expect a luxuriant Crop especially in the Land bought of Mr. Cranch, which has a sickly appearance, the Drought which came on after it sprung up has so stunted it, that the Produce will be but small— Our Apple Trees are in general well loaded, if no Misfortune befalls them we shall a plenty of Fruit—

          I am much pleased with the Unanimity that appears to pervade the United States in Support of their all, I do not however expect that we shall be in any Degree of Quiet, unless Congress takes effectual Measures for preventing seditious Practices or the several Legislatures in the United States— The Return of our Envoys is much wishd for, indeed it would produce great Joy—
          Before I close, I must take the Liberty to recommend to You a Nephew of Mine. Viz, Mr. Turell Tufts, a Son of my Brother Dr. Tufts decd. Mr. T. T. was bred in the Mercantile Line, has pursued Business at Hartford in Connecticut for 4 or 5 Years past, like others He speculated in the Georgia Lands, Losses from this quarter & from French Depredations has thrown him out of Business, He is well qualified for a Consul, Commercial Agent or first Clerk in any office, Having spent a Day with him last Week, I found him a person of much Information and very considerable political Knowledge— He informed me that Mr. Goodrich a Member of Congress from Hartford knew him and could give his Character— His Genius may in some Measure be discoverd from Medford Address, which my Friends at Medford informd me was his Draught— It would be a Relief to him to ingage in any of the Employments above mentiond, as he is an exceeding good Penman and has been in much Company & travelld conversant with the World, should there be an Appointment of any New Minister to a foreign Court, I think he would not disgrace a Minister as his Secretary— Should there be an Opening for him He would come on to Philadelphia and present Such Addresses as are usual— This is a Subject that gives me Pain to trouble You with for I know You have enough to tire You, and exhaust Your Strength & Patience, but as this is a begging Day (& I fear will be much more so) I hope for Your Indulgence
          Our excessive Prosperity proved fatal to Thousands and the greater Part of People became intoxicated, even many whose Steadiness and good Sense it might have been thought would have secured them from the general Distemper, have been infected—and involved themselves in Ruin— amongst others I pity the Family of Dr. Welch, the Drs. Conduct I fear will not admit of any Apology, Time however will throw light upon it—and fix the real Character. I more & more see the Wisdom & Propriety of Agurs Prayer and think it best to jog on in a State of Mediocrity and as far as possible to keep Possession of one’s self—
          Be pleased to remember me with affection to Mrs. Adams and

May Heaven indulge You with Health of Body & Mind and crown Your public Labours with Success—
          Your Affectionate Friend & H Servt

            Cotton Tufts


Title: Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 15 June 1798
From: Cranch, Mary Smith
To: Adams, Abigail

              Dear Sister
              Quincy [15] June 1798

            I have been at hard work this morning & my hands tremble So, I can Scarcly hold my Pen, but if I do not write now I may be hindred as I was last post day & So not finish my letter to send till too late
            I was in the chaise for Boston Yesterday at 5. a clock. I found my Friends well, & Doctors Welsh’s Family gratified by your attention to Thomas. mr Smith Was bound for the payment of Tomas’ College Bills when he enter’d & now finds himself oblig’d to pay them, So he will have his Degree. I saw the Doctor—he looks very pale. my own Sensations were bad enough. I long’d to have the first time over I am Sure I should not feel half So bad cloth’d in rags & my Scanty meal before me the earnings of my daily labour—as I know he does to see his Friends to whom he ows thousands of dollars which he will never be able to pay. he has fail’d I am told for 20 30 Thousand dollars. can you conceive what is become of the money? what can have Swallow’d it up!— Daughters had better be educated in Such Strickt oconemy as our dear & venirable mother taught us— even to the importance of Saving an apple pearing than never to know a want but of their own creating— to this habit of accomidating your expences to your circumstances in early life is now to be ascrib’d the elegance with which you Support your exalted Station feed the hungry—clothe the naked—take under your Maternal care so many children of distress & even prevent the wishes of your Friends with less than half the real Sum that left your Pred—er in debt— your children will have many reasons to rise up & call their

Parent’s blessed—& may they be Strict immitators of their virtues— econimy I do think is the most important part of a womans education I am Sure without, it is very imperfect
            Turrel Tufts a nephew of Doctor Tufts was the writer of the medford address I have not seen it I am told he is a Smart Youth & has acquir’d Much Political information
            Mr Nath. Appleton the Loan officer is dangerously Sick with a billious fever if alive he was So ill yesterday that it is not probable he liv’d the night out he will be an irraparable loss to his Family— but the plan is the result of infinite wisdom—
            I hope Mr Adams will not be a looser by Docr welshs failing but I fear I think we are lucky to have receiv’d what he ow’d us up to about Seventy dollars but that is more to us than to many others to whom he owes large debts. he sent his mother back to us. I do not believe her therds will pay her board— Mr Smith had a Deed of all his land—but when he sent to harvard to have the Deed of one peice regersterd, he found it already done by Some other person who had a Deed of it before him— I am Sorry he had not the whole
            Mrs welsh is greatly oblig’d to you for the Ribbon, & sends her respects. you could not have notic’d her in a better time. her Spirits were greatly depress’d but her real wants not many & no woman makes less
            Tis Said our Envoys have left Paris I hope tis true their remaining there So long must destress the Goverment & their Families also—
            we have just open’d the Box. I had forgot the Passenger & She quite Surpris’d me She is arriv’d in perfect health & in good order She is very genteelly dress’d & tho her passage was long She was so well receiv’d that She had nothing to pay. Cousens dress is beautiful & by your having it made now I Should think, She had been more communecative to you than to any of her other connections If it was her desegn to be married Soon [. . .] She left me I think Betsy Shaws sickness if it [. . .] not prevent it at present it will cast a gloom upon her mind which will ill suit with wedding garments She had not done the least thing in the world that I know of to prepair for house-keeping & it did not use to be the custom to begin with wedding clothes She must make hast or they will be out of Fashion tho always I think pretty— I Shall deliver the caps & not let the others be seen by any one—
            Your Grandsons were well, but want new clothing I hope caroline is better & that Mrs Smith will make us a visit when you return

            your Building will all be done the workmen dismis’d in a little time before you return. your kitchen Floor must wait another Season for paint Mrs Porter cannot move out Soon enough to have it dry for there must be a New Floor. every thing else I think will be done. the clover before your house would make the Presidents heart glad & regale his Senses
            I hope my dear Sister it will not be long before you both will inhale its Sweets with your / ever affectionate Sister

              Mary Cranch

            Nabby Hunt lives with Mrs Porter So you see she has no thought of living but in your Family in some place or other mrs Porter says she does better for her than any other person she c[an] get. She has not found So good living as she expected I believe at home


Title: Abigail Adams to George Cabot, 17 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cabot, George

            Dear sir
            June 17 1798

          I received yesterday your favour of June the 9 with its inclousure, as well as a former Letter, which I felt too much dissapointed to replie to. I have read the sermon with much pleasure and satisfaction. the Paralell drawn between the Jewish Nation, previous to & during the administration of Nehemiah is striking indeed and our own situation at this time as portraid by the ingenious pen of mr Porter, whose discources have always given me pleasure. I am indebted to the Clergy and some other Friends for having sent me a valuable collection of sermons deliverd on the day, mr Porters being the Eleventh, all of them breathing exhibiting a Spirit of pure Religion and true Patriotism, tho deliverd by different Religious Sects. I shall

    preserve them in a vol’m as a specimin to futurity of the Liberal candid, firm and independant spirit which has distinguishd animateed the Clergy of America during the Revolution in which they bore a conspicuous part, and are not less distinguishd in the Present contest.
          whilst on that day, sit apart for National Humiliation & Suplication, the Heart of every true American was lifted up to the Great Ruler of Kingdoms & Nations, for the safety and protection of his Country. the more Enlightned mr Giles of Virgina, celebrated it as a festival by Barbacuing one of his excellent fellow Creatures and inviting his Friends to share the Feast.
          Mr Stoddard is arrived, and is to dine with us this day. he must possess much skill and industery, as well as a thousand many amiable qualities to fill the office with satisfaction to the public after they had fixd their minds upon one, whose abilities every one considerd as fully competant to the duties of it, except himself—
          Mr stodard is said by those who know him to be an amiable Man, and for a southern Man, A Man of activity & industery— he will have one advantage over a Northern Man that he will not be scarified and dissected anatomized & parilized, by his Southern Brethren, as a Bold active son of the North Would.
          I know not when Congress will rise. the President received yesterday a private Letter from Mr Gerry of the 24 March—in which are these words, we shall all leave Paris in a few days, unless it should be agreed upon that I should remain to wait for dispatches from our Government. in that case I shall consider myself as a mere cypher, without any power to act. tho I cannot think it to have been the duty of our Envoys to drink any deeper of the cup of humiliation, by one of them remaining to this hour. I am glad to be able to say from mr Gerry himself, that he shall not take upon himself any responsibility.
          Present my best Regards to mrs Cabot, and tell her, I know not how to forgive her Husband for declining a Station, which he was thought fully adequate to. the compensation I know is very inedequate to the services required, but we must serve our Country for Nought, fully repaid say our fellow citizens by the honour of it— in such times as the present, every man should lend his Aid, but in our days of prosperous tranquility, the Laburoer is worthy of his hire. Merit ought to be rewarded and talants secured to the publick by a Generous support.

          The President, would envy you Your retirement and tranquility, if he did not esteem you as a very deserving Man. he therefore with no small reluctance leaves You to the enjoyment of your shades, for the Present—and joins in the same assurences of Regard with I subscribe your Friend

            AA


Title: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 19 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

            my dear sister
            Quincy 19 June 1798

          I expected to have heard from you on Saturday, but no Letter came and on Wedensday but still no Letter. I was dissapointed, but knowing your many avocations I concluded it must arise from thence. I hope not from Sickness tho you wrote me you was not well. I who have more leisure, and no care of Family affairs but my order can and do devote almost every morning in writing to some Friend or other.
          You will hear before this reaches you of the arrival of mr Marshall at Nyork. mr Pinckney is gone to the South of France, with a permit, for the Health of a daughter suposed in a consumption. mr Gerry stays untill he hears from our Government which as appears to me, is a very wrong step. The Government you will be informd received last week an other dispatch of a Letter from Talleyrand, and a very lengthy reply by our Envoys—which being in a press copy & part cypher, two copies being to be prepared of it, could not be got ready in one or two days— in the mean time Talleyrand had sent out to Bache his Letter, for to be publishd here, & without, the replie of our Envoys. this he exaltingly gave to the publick on saturday. it really appears a very fortunate circumstance that, our Government, should have received tho by an other conveyance the dispatches about the same time and so soon be able to counteract the villany intended by Talleyrand. it has an other good effect, that of convincing the most unbelieving—of the close connection between the Infernals of France & those in our own Bosoms, and in any other Country Bache & all his papers would have been seazd and ought to

be here, but congress are dilly dallying about passing a Bill enabling the President to seize suspisious persons—and their papers— we shall be favourd soon I suppose with the pamphlet written by the Clerk in Talleyrands office— all this however works for good, and will tend to work out our Salvation I hope. I will send the papers as soon as publishd. in the mean time I send you some pamphlets to be distributed for the publick Benifit, and Send one in my Name to mrs Webb with my compliments—
          We are all well but a servant who has been voilently attackd with an inflamitory Soar Throat, & very dangerously sick for several days. We hope he has past the worst.
          the Season has not yet been uncommonly Hot. I am weary of conjectures, so shall say nothing of when it is probable Congress will rise. I believe they will decarle War against the French first.
          Mr Marshalls arrival will hasten the buisness— o mr Gerry! mr Gerry, that You had but been wise enough, & resolute enough to have come too.
          mrs Malony got home yesterday morning, in six days— I have not seen her, I have only heard that She is come— with a kind remembrance to all Friend yours

            A A


Title: Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 22 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw

            my dear sister
            Philadelphia June 22 1798

          I received last week your very excellent Letter whatever you write is always precious to me. No one better knows how to touch every feeling of the humane Heart. I can allow for your long silence, tho I

wish it were not imposed upon you, by your numerous cares; and unavoidable avocations. the anxiety which you feel for the Health of a Beloved child, whom I pray God to restore to Health, and preserve to you, is I well know more exhausting to the spirits, and wearisome to the Body—than labour— my Heart sympathizes with you. what ever scenes you may be call’d to pass through, may you be sustaind and supported by that Being in whom we trust, satisfied that however greivious his dispensations, they are wise and just, and we will strive to adore the Hand that “strikes our comforts dead.”
          I am anxious to hear frequently tho it be only by a few lines. cousin Betsy must write to her Sister
          Our Country my dear sister is in Jeopardy I see no prospect of remaining at Peace— I hope if the sword must be drawn, that we shall have union amongst ourselves— Mr Gerrys remaining in France embarresses our Government. I believe he acts from the purest motives, and have not the Least fear that his integrity will be brought into Question, but his judgment in Staying was wrong, very wrong.
          Mr Marshal whose arrival you will have learnt, says that the directory have been deceived with respect to the People of this Country. not from any regard to our Rights and Liberties would they have restraind their Hands but from Interest. as they want our trade, they would have acted a different part, but swolen with Pride at their victories, imperious haughty, and vindictive, they hold us in too much contempt to retraet from a single demand which they have made, or receed a single step. the pomp expence and parade which the directory assume and exact, is much greater than that, of any Crownd Head—and more oppressive to the people ten fold than the Court of Verssails ever was.
          This is there Republick, this there Liberty and Equality! a military despotism— the New Members are all of the Party call’d Terrorist—. What has America to expect, but to weild her own Arms and prepare to defend herself—
          The President you may easily Suppose has a very arduous task, nor is it probable that it will be lighter he has had an accumulation of Buisness in replying to the numerous addresses which have kept him at his pen three Hours in a day, upon an average for 5 or 6 weeks past. he has more than 30 at this moment unanswerd. tho a gratefull and pleasing employment as it assures him of the approbation confidence and satisfaction of the people in his conduct and administration, it has been a weight of Buisness added to 6 hours more which is every day devoted to other investigations, and

attentions which the publick calls for— he is really worn down. I never saw him so thin. Yet his Spirits are good, and his courage fortitude unshaken— he frequently breaths out a sigh for the purer air of Braintree, and the tranquil shades of Quincy It has become oppressively Hot, and this Evening is to be my last drawing Room for the season. You were misinformd. the President was not insulted on the Fast-day it was in the state House Gardens the Mobility met, and there they had their contest which terminated by sending half a dozen to Prison. there had been some incendary Letters, and some threats, which allarmd the Citizens and put them on their Gaurd. the light Horse were held in readiness and turnd out. they placed a Gaurd before our door where some hundreds of citizens assembled, but not for assault, but protection. I was not allarmd, but at Eleven went to Bed and slept quite easy, when the whole city appeard quiet, tho I believe few went into their Beds—
          I know not my dear sister when I Shall be at Quincy. my Boys will suffer for want of summer cloathing. I inclose to you 20 dollors, relying upon you to have what is necessary made for them. I see no charge for washing in your Bill. I insist that you receive pay for it
          I hear Mrs Allen is in a decline. it may only be a change of Life. she should be bled— alass what Changes since I left Quincy not quite Nine Months? I number with the dead, the Aged, the Friends and Companions of my own standing [. . .] as well as youth and childhood. the Change of circumstances too, which has involved those I loved, and esteemed most tenderly in distress and difficultys, is not the least painfull reflection I have upon the vissitudes of human Life—
          How often do those Words occur to me, “this Lifes a dream, an empty show.” tell cousin Betsy I will write to her soon. you can scarcly believe how much writing I have to do—
          I hope mr Blodget deliverd my Letter to you and the Books for the Children. I had a Letter from mrs smith this week she was well. Caroline better. she longs to see her children I have this moment received a Letter from William, your son— may he as he promisses, live to be a comfert to you— my kind Love to my dear B Q s— tell her to keep up her spirits. to cousin Betsy my abbe William & John the affection / of their and your

            A Adams.


Title: John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams, 22 June 1798
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Abigail

            22. June 1798.

          Since the date of my last I have received your favour of 8. April, with the pamphlets mentioned in it.— The communications of the American Commissioners have resounded through every part of Europe, and produced a very sensible impression in the public opinion with regard to the characters exposed in them.— An attempt at defence has been made, by a publication in the official newspaper of the Directory, but which as far as I have heard has only corroborated and confirmed the suspicions which naturally resulted from the proceedings developed in the dispatches of the Commissioners.
          The paper of which I speak is not signed but has every other appearance of proceeding from the hand of Talleyrand himself, and is accompanied by several letters between him and Mr: Gerry, and one to him from Hauteval acknowledging that he is the person designated by the letter Z.— As this paper will doubtless be public in America before the arrival of this letter, I shall only mention a few remarks which it suggested to me and which I doubt not will occur to others and be properly unfolded to the American public.
          It is throughout in a very angry style of crimination against the American Government, against the President, against all the three Commissioners, but intermixed with compliments and flattery for Mr: Gerry; under the bitterness of its invective it seems as if it expected to pass imperceptibly over the real point of its own defence,

for it does not deny one fact alledged in the reports of the Commissioners.
          It charges them with having kept themselves distant from the Government to which they were sent, and listened, at the same time, to foreign intriguers who only wished to dupe them.— As if they had not been denied reception— As if they had not for a long time been informed from Talleyrand that he could not see them at all.
          As to the proposal relative to the purchase of Batavian inscriptions, he freely acknowledges it; as well as the demand that the President’s speech of 16. May should be retracted and explained.
          It appears to be very much disconcerted at the prospect that the publication of these papers will weaken the effect which Talleyrand meant to produce by his official communications to the Envoys, where all the diplomatic skill of France was employed to throw the blame of aggression upon the American Government, and to improve the dispositions of the french party in America, for the benefit of the Directory.— It abuses the American Government for not publishing these Official documents, while it was so anxious to display the others.— The Bishop-Noble-Emigrant-Citizen Minister, knew very well that on the 3d: of April when the published dispatches were communicated to Congress, his skilful official Letters, could not possibly have been received in America, and of course could not be published with the rest; but through his whole publication he appears to think a confusion of dates is a very easy mode of passing impositions upon the public.
          He demands very formally, who W, X, Y, and Z. are of Mr: Gerry, who finally gives him the names of X and Y, but answers that he knows of W. only by hearsay, and Z, names himself. But in truth the only person whom it could be necessary for Talleyrand to know for his defence upon the imputation of corruptibility was Y. and why should he ask, Mr: Gerry to name him? The papers themselves designated to Talleyrand, who Mr: Y. was, as well as Mr: Gerry could do, since they detailed a conversation between these two Ministers at which Y. is stated to have been present, and in which Talleyrand told Mr: Gerry, “that the information Y. had given him was just and might always be relied on.”— This fact proves that Y. was at that time and for that purpose an agent of Talleyrand, and as the latter could not but recollect the interview related in the dispatch, he could have no occasion to enquire of Mr: Gerry, who Y. was.
          But it is to be remembered that the American Commissioners had

promised X. and Y. that their names should not be published.— This promise was not obligatory to Talleyrand, whom it would be natural to expect Y’s conduct if unauthorized had greatly injured and offended, and whom one would suppose anxious to proclaim him by name in the face of the world, as a cheat and imposter.— The circumstances indeed seemed to call for such an exposure.— For after Talleyrand had expressly told Mr: Gerry, that he might rely upon Y’s information, and after numerous other demonstrations that Y. had acted in this business under authority from Talleyrand, such corrupt proposals as Y. made if without authority were more offensive and injurious to Talleyrand and the Directory, than to the American Envoys and Government. Their tendency was only to plunder the latter, but to disgrace the former—to steal from these, only their purse, but to filch from those, their good name.
          By calling upon Mr: Gerry for the names, Mr: Talleyrand probably expected that he would give those of X and Y, only upon condition that they should not be made public; a condition which would have been readily complied with and might have relieved the french Minister from some embarrassment, by furnishing him with an apology for keeping them secret.— Mr: Gerry was aware of this and therefore in his answer besides intimating to Talleyrand that he knew as well as himself who Y. was, he only stipulates that the names shall not be published as coming from him; and thereby leaves Talleyrand at full liberty to publish them, from his own knowledge.
          This however he has not done; he tells the world that they are foreigners, and have quitted the territories of the Republic. That X had no acquaintance with him, and that Y. had been recommended to him but never had his confidence—and he intimates the necessary condition of every Minister holding his department, which obliges him to see and listen to many persons with whom he has no connection.
          In reply to this, it is not necessary to enquire how Y. became acquainted with all the proposals which Talleyrand intended officially to make to the Commissioners, and was the first to announce them; or how he became possessed of copies of his official letters, before they were sent— More direct proof renders presumptive evidence needless. In the interview between Talleyrand, Mr: Gerry, and Y. on the 17th: of December, Mr: Gerry tells us that “he observed to Mr: Talleyrand, in English; slowly, that M. Y. had stated to him that morning some propositions as coming from Mr Talleyrand

respecting which Mr: Gerry could give no opinion.”— It is in answer to this that Mr: Talleyrand tells Mr: Gerry that “Y’s information was just and might always be relied on.”
          Mr: Gerry certifies indeed that X and Y never produced any authority for negotiating, and that fact was already clearly and unequivocally established by the dispatches themselves— Yet Talleyrand lays as much stress upon this admission, as if the imputation he was called upon to repel had really been a charge of official proposals for corruption.— This extreme anxiety to disprove what was never asserted, leaves the real ground of suspicion undisputed, and adds a strong presumption that it was not susceptible of refutation.
          Indeed the extreme caution in keeping the appearances of official purity, is apparent through all the transactions, and is peculiarly evident in an incident related in the account of the above-mentioned interview on the 17th: of December— Mr: Gerry told Talleyrand that upon his propositions made through M. Y, that morning, he could give no opinion.— Now one of these propositions not only regarded the £50,000 gratuity, but even suggested a mode whereby they might be raised.— Talleyrand answers that Y’s information then and always might be relied upon as just: “but that he would reduce to writing his propositions; which he accordingly did.”— In this writing, not a syllable was said about the £50,000. but the other proposition made that morning by Y was formally made in it.— This writing Talleyrand shewed to Mr: Gerry and then immediately burnt it.— The object in writing it therefore is easily devined. Mr: Talleyrand wished Mr Gerry, to give full credit to Y’s propositions, and therefore verbally confirmed them generally. But at the same time the possible necessity of a future disavowal might occur, especially as Mr: Gerry said he could give no opinion upon the proposals— The writing therefore contained only that which might officially be maintained, and all the appearances of official decorum were preserved against the effects which might proceed from the general confirmation verbally made of Y’s proposals.
          The demand for £50,000, gratuity was very often repeated, and once stated by Y, as coming from Talleyrand himself; and Talleyrand had told Mr: Gerry that the difficulty with regard to the President’s speech, might be removed by the offer of money; but that if it should, an application for a loan would nevertheless be made.
          It is certainly possible that Y. had no authority from Talleyrand to make the proposals to pay money for purposes of corruption; but if this were the case, would Talleyrand now pretend in contradiction

to his own words, in contradiction to a long series of irresistible proofs, that Y. had none of his confidence, that he was merely an intriguing foreigner with whom he had scarcely any acquaintance, and that the American Envoys, in listening to him at all, had only shewn tokens of their deplorable credulity?— Would he now accuse the American Commissioners of keeping themselves distant from a Government, which had refused to receive them? would he shrink from the investigation of the real suspicions rising against him, and endeavour to drown them in a flood of invective against the Commissioners, against the American Government, against the President, against the british Government?— Would he have taken refuge in odious insinuations, or have hoped to find a shield in calumniating speculative opinions?— No! he would have boldly named the man whose conduct had disgraced and betrayed his confidence. He would have acknowledged the authority and agency that he did really give him to confer with the American Commissioners informally, and denied ever having hinted to him any thing like the proposals for private hush-money.
          There is no evidence that the corrupt propositions were known to any member of the Directory.— But it is somewhat surprizing that they should have deemed such a defence as Talleyrand has published a sufficient justification, so as to continue him in the Department of foreign affairs.
          It may further be remarked, that the mode of proceeding with regard to the American Envoys, was extraordinary, and must be supposed to be founded upon some motive.— The Directory had previously refused to receive one of them, and ordered him to quit the territories of the Republic. The reason then alledged by their writers was that his powers were not sufficiently extensive.— They now permitted the Commissioners to come to Paris and furnished them with cards of hospitality. But they would not receive them, and for a long time the Minister of foreign relations refused to have any direct intercourse with them.— Their consent to the several payments of money, was made a preliminary to their reception.— What other motive could occasion this conduct than the desire of extorting money from the personal considerations of the Commissioners?— Two of them very decidedly declared themselves against this demand of tribute— The third appeared more disposed to comply with it, and he of course has been treated with less indignity than the others— He was permitted to remain unacknowledged while the others were ordered to depart.

          The demand that the United States should purchase the 16 millions (florins) of Batavian Rescriptions is now openly avowed, and one of the reproaches to our Commissioners made by Talleyrand is, that they had not the will to comply with it— “France lent money to the United States— Why should not they in return lend money to France”— This he says would have been repeated to the Envoys, from one end of France to the other— The answer to this argument made by the Commissioners he does not notice— That when France lent money, the act was perfectly voluntary, an option of her own, which she was at liberty to refuse, and that her demand now is made as an indispensible preliminary to negotiation and made in the midst of accumulating hostilities and depredations upon those from whom she would thus borrow— The Envoys might have added that when France lent money, it was during a War in which she and the United States were making a common cause. That she was under no obligations of neutrality forbidding the loan, as the United States are now— That the loan was made upon fair and equal conditions, upon a well founded expectation that she would be repaid— That she had the obligation of the United States for repayment, and knew by her own superiority of force that she should possess if necessary the means of compelling it.— That the consideration was equal and reciprocal as she gave no more than she would receive with good interest— But in selling the Batavian Rescriptions, she contracted no obligation for their payment— She insisted upon their purchase at par, when they were confessedly depreciated to half their nominal value— So That under the name of a loan she exacted a real gift of one half its amount and meant to be under no sort of obligation for the repayment of the remainder.— That the whole amount of the sums lent by France (not more, I think than half a million sterling) was to a Nation of her wealth and population, an object scarcely perceptible, while the sums she now demanded, if granted would bear upon the United States as a burthen altogether intolerable— That with twenty-five millions of people and thirty millions sterling of revenue she had lent us about half a million, and now asked of us, with one fifth of those numbers, and less than one fifteenth of that revenue, to lend her nearly three times as much, and in truth to give her more than the whole of what she had ever loaned.
          The Citizen Talleyrand says that the publication of the dispatches from the Commissioners was a deplorable provocation, on the part of the American Government.— I hope indeed the time will come

when the People of the United States will be thoroughly convinced that their Executive Government ought to be fully entrusted with all their foreign negotiations, and that such publications, must necessarily be extremely dangerous to their interests— But as long as the Legislature of the Union will insist upon knowing every thing, and the spirit of the People supports them in this pretension, there is no remedy; the evil is inevitable— The publication is a necessary consequence of the communication— We saw, three years ago, that an injunction of secrecy was ineffectual even in so small a body as the Senate, when its members are divided in their political opinions and inflamed by the Spirit of party— How much more certainly must this occur, when the secret is divulged to yet another body three or four times as numerous.
          In the present instance there was certainly no provocation on the part of the President, for he gave a caution against the publication at the time when he sent the papers— Yet the french Minister, with all the diplomatic skill of his Country vents his resentment against the President, by slanderous insinuations and false assertions calculated to foment the prejudices, and inflame the jealousies of the American People against their chief-magistrate.— In doing this he is very careful to pursue the track of the party in the United States supposed to be devoted to France, and opposed to the measures of the President.— His performance in this part is almost a repetition of a speech made last Winter by a member of the house of representatives upon the foreign intercourse bill; which speech was the only one upon that occasion that has appeared translated in the Paris Newspapers.
          I am ever faithfully your’s.
          At the close of this sort of Manifesto, full as it is of the most determined though insidious hostility against the American Government and its President; there is a declaration that the french Directory ardently and sincerely desires to be at Peace with America— But there is also evidence contained in it, that they begin to perceive that in case of a War, America would not be so impotent and despicable an enemy as they have long affected to consider her— They appear sensible how dependent their Colonies are upon the United States, and are willing to debase themselves to a calculation of the consequences which a war would produce to France, at this time— Nothing can more forcibly prove that if they saw firmness and Union on the part of America, they would shrink from their extravagant

demands, and cease at least some part of their excessive and unjust depredations. All their efforts therefore are, while they continue their hostilities, to weaken and divide us. They pursued this game (my heart bleeds to acknowledge it) but too successfully with the Commissioners one of whom will I fear never justify to his Country his abandonment of his Colleagues, under an impression of terror and under a menace of rupture, which he could have no reasonable hope of preventing— The same artifice is eminently conspicuous through the whole of the publication of which I now speak.— Its weakness of argument; its disregard or inaccuracy of fact, has been amply exposed above— As a defence of Talleyrand against strong presumptive evidence of corruptibility, it is nothing—less than nothing.— But as an artful and insidious declamation, provoking War amidst professions of Peace, courting every Passion, enlisting every prejudice to set the Americans at opposition with their own Government, and at enmity among themselves, it is written with great ability— It is no less than might be expected from the bosom friend of, Mirabeau, one of the ablest and most corrupt of men.
          You wish to live at Peace with America— And in answer to her complaints of violence and rapine, after rejecting her Ministers of Peace, you tell the Americans that the men in their highest offices, are the blind and servile tools of Great Britain— That they wish to make them adopt the British Constitution, and are rushing into War to force it upon the People— Is this language pacific? is it friendly towards the American Government?— Could inveteracy tho most deadly say more?— But your friendship is for the People,—not, for the Government— Have not all your injuries, all your depredations been committed upon the People? Have the Government even complained of any personal injury done to them however great their occasion? Have the long series of executive arretés and legislative decrees contrary to the solemn stipulations of your Treaties; contrary to the universally recognized laws of Nations; contrary to the common principles of humanity, have the numberless depredations committed without any arrêté or decree, but under colour of your authority, and to a representation of which you refuse to listen, have not all these been acts of hostility to the People— Are you now more ready to redress these wrongs? have you repealed those arrêtés or decrees? have you even ceased to execute them?— If on the contrary they are all continued and increasing, what is your declaration of peace and friendship, but a smile upon the face while you plunge the stiletto to the heart?

          Such it appears to me would be the natural and just reply of every true American— If however the Directory really feel any disposition of peace or friendship towards us, I most ardently desire that every such disposition may be met with a similar spirit of conciliation—not by base and degrading submission to injustice unrepaired, and un-removed;—not by humiliating and oppressive contributions under the name of loans— Not by bribes through channels formal or informal, through native frenchmen or foreign intriguers, but by an unaltered and unalterable system of truth and Justice, and an honest determination even after all that has happened to do for the friendship of France, every thing consistent with the duties of a neutral, and the rights and honour of a free and independent Nation.
          I remain ever faithfully your’s.


Title: George Cabot to Abigail Adams, 22 June 1798
From: Cabot, George
To: Adams, Abigail

            Dear Madam.—
            Brookline June 22d. 1798.—

          I did not indulge the expectation that I Shoud wholly escape reproach when I had the honor to write you on the 11th of last month— your condescention (not to say partiality) had placed me in a dilemma from which even your own goodness cou’d not entirely extricate me— I resolved however to merit the continuance of your Esteem & therefore at once discarded all private considerations & listened to those only which you must approve, but these resulted in an unavoidable conclusion which your mind had not then admitted.—
          I rejoice at the intelligence you give concerning Mr. Gerry & shall be happy to hear that he has left the region of infernal & all-destroying spirits.— Mr. Gerry is undoubtedly actuated by honest motives but his stay at Paris is unpropitious to our affairs inasmuch as it furnishes a false hope to the weak & a pretext to the wicked part of our Society.— indeed if this circumstance had occurred before the President had roused the Country from its apathy & dispelled its delusions it must have encreased the public danger extremely; at this period however the mischief is less for the People have finally learnt that the love of France is no less terrible than her hatred.—
          My Son having arrived at New York proceeded from thence to Philadelphia without giving me time to Send him a letter— he doubted the propriety of presenting himself at your house at that time, but has exceedingly regretted it ever since.—
          although the expression of the public sentiments in Resolutions & Addresses is almost universal & absolutely unequivocal yet I may be permitted to assure you that in private circles where Sincerity reigns I have found uniformly & without exception the warmest approbation of the President’s measures.— Sensible men see plainly that we have been in a course of public instruction for Several weeks in which the People have been effectually led to think justly & feel rightly, & the hope is now entertained that if put to the test they will act worthily.—
          Mrs. Cabot unites with me in requesting that our earnest wishes for your happiness & that of the President may be always acceptable.—

          I am Dear Madam / with the highest esteem & respect / your obedient & much obliged Servt

            George Cabot.


Title: Mary Smith Cranch to Abigail Adams, 22 June 1798
From: Cranch, Mary Smith
To: Adams, Abigail

              My dear Sister
              Quincy June 22d 1798

            I have had the House full of company for a week & have not been able to Steal a moments to write to you or to my dear children at Washington.—
            I have receiv’d yours of the 8th & 13th of June together with one from my Son to you & one for Doctor Tufts which I deliver’d immediately into his hands as he was present when I receiv’d it. He is at your House two or three times a week & always finds enough business to be attended to. the Building is in a manner compleated. the rooms & Floors are all painted of the chambers & as soon as they are dry enough to move the Books that will be done & the old Library painted also— the old Barn looks worse than ever Standing front of every thing— Tis the general custome to place the worst building in the back ground of the Picture—however as the edifices were not erected by the President tis right to take care of Himself & domesticks first. I should not wish to have it Said that my Horses & Cattle were better lodg’d than myself— your Garden never look’d So well—but the winter kill’d & much injur’d your Strawberrys & all your balm roots & mine, & indeed every bodys. a little of Yours went to seed last year & Scatter’d So that you have a few Young Roots but we have not one Sprigg & you know what a fine Bed I used to have— we have had a little dry weather lately which made it necessary to mow down all your fine clover—but to day we have had a very fine rain— We have had Pease from our Garden. the Rose Bugs are not half So thick as they were last Season but there are enough to hurt the fruit not a little.
            I think I told you that Nabby Hunt was with Mrs Porter I Shall see that your linnin is put out I gave three dollars for Mrs Porters Bonnet She is very much pleas’d with it—& is very careful of your

things will not wrong you of any thing, nor will let any one else if she can prevent it—
            Mrs Blacks Baby has been very unwell with its Teeth has had a very bad Sore Mouth & gums but tis better— Turner the Stocking weaver is dead—& no one mourns— he had been Sick five months & confin’d to his bed by a dessorder he took in a very dissorderly manner—
            You must have been prepair’d to hear the death of Mr Nath. Appleton: he yesterday made for—himself I trust a happy change—but my Sister his Spirit, Soar’d not alone: He who was about to publish the lives of others, has had his own days number’d—& the future publisher of the work will fill the blank page design’d for another, with the Birth, Life & death of Doctor Belnap: who was Seizz’d the night before last with an apoplexey & expir’d yesterday morning Surely we may cry out help Lord! for the faithful fail from among the children of Men
            Like Doctor Clark he was an able Supporter of the christian Religion & a Firm & Steady Friend to his Country & its Goverment: Doctor clarks death broke his Heart, & affected his spirits more than was generally known— he expected to follow him Soon & in the Same manner he did: the bad behavior of his sons & the crazy indisposition of his wife & Daughter broke his constitution Mr Appleton was not a man of So publick a character but he was a worthy good character & much respected I mourn with the Families their departed Friends the loss is very heavey indeed to them. Mrs Appletons State of health made every attention of her Husband necessary to her, & his Sons the Doctors children wanted his paternal care. he was very kind & truly a Father to mrs Appleton & her children— that woman Shines brightest in afflictions hour.—
            The quotations from your Sons & Daughters Letters gave me great pleasure She appears to be just Such a woman as you would have wish’d for your Son Such characters will meet respect & attention wherever they go— I do not know what absence from his Family may do for Tom. welsh but I think him just the reverse of your Son whose place he is to supply. I may be mistaken but I think he wants manners feeling & information—but yet he has not half the oddities of willm Shaw. willm has the best heart in the world but will never be broke of his peculiarities & they will injure him in the Beaumond, at least & I am Sure they would as a publick speakers there is need of very Shining talents to conterballance or they will subject him to ridecule—

            mr Cranch is better, but he has had a very ill turn it was so violent tho short that it reduc’d him surprizingly I believe it was a billious complant. it was frightful to see him faint So often. he is still very pale & his Bowels are not right yet tho his appetite is good I think he did but just escape a Billious Fever a dessorder very prevalent in this neighbourhood— I am affraid you will stay too long for your healths in that city. your matters here will be ready come as soon as you will Now Docr. Tufts has just told me he is going to the House—
            willm Shaw has been with me a week he goes to atkinson tomorrow I have told him to return as soon as he can I Shall want his help to get the Library in order I mean to have it handsomely adorn’d if you will let me know certainly the day you mean to arive I shall wish you to come into town earley enough in the afternoon to take a View of the Rooms before night. If we should all be in health & Spirits I mean to assemble Some of your Friends & Neighbours to welcome & take Coffee with you, but in this revolutionary State I promise myself nothing beyond the present moment
            I am really Sorry tis not in my power to prove to mr & mrs Johnson by our attention to their Son the grateful Sense we have of their Friendship & kindness to our children— will you tell her so—& that I hope they will always conduct in a manner which will be honorary to themselves & pleasing to those who as she kindly express it have taken them by the Hand—
            I cannot believe mr G can be so blinded to his own as well as his Countrys interest as to Stay an hour longer among the wolves of France than he can help after he receives his recall or that he will Stay to receive propositions which must disgrace his country to have offer’d it against the advise of his coleagues— I am distrest for the President however but he ought not to have infalibility demanded of him. he is remarkable for develluping characters I hope he will not find himself deceav’d now. I think I dont like stuborn characters. tis but seldom that man is always wise—& many who are convincd have not greatness of mind enough to acknowledge an error
            adieu—my dear sister affecy. yr.

              M C

            I know you will give me leave to take a Bottle of Medara from your cellar for mr Cranch the Doctor Says he wants it & I cannot get Such. I shall therefore thankfully accept it


Title: Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 23 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

            my dear sister
            Philadelphia June 23d 1798

          The weather has been so oppressively Hot for this week—and the streets of the City so nausious that I expect the concequences which must follow. they already begin—complaints of the Bowels are frequent & an inflamitory soar throat. Frederick has got below after 5 bleedings Blistering &c Becky is now sick with it. hers is less upon her throat, more in her Bowels, not much fever— I hope hers will not prove very Bad. Several of the rest of us have had a touch. it comes with a stifness & pain in the neck & back part of the Head. in some parts of the city the old fever is making its appearence. Congress are anxious to rise, but will not sooner than they did last year I fear— O how much precious time did they waste this winter, in that dirty affair of Lyons, and disputing whether mr smith & JQA should be ministers Resident, or Plenipos: With which they had no buisness—any more than who should be of the directory in France.
          I have put under cover to mr Cranch a Letter for William Shaw, supposing he might be at Quincy & the papers and handkerchiefs are for him. you will send them if he is gone home. you will find in them what mr Marshal brings and the state in which things are in France.
          I received your Letters of the 10 & 15th. the President is delighted with your account of the Clover and Barley Fields— he most sincerely pines after them—but he is tied to his table 9 Hours of the day— some of the addressers complain that his answers are too

short. they do not consider nor know how numerous they are, or what other buisness there is to attend to. some fore noons, he is calld from his Room 20 times in the course of it, to different persons, besides the hours devoted to the Ministers of the different departments, the investigations necessary to be made of those persons who apply for offices or are recommended, the weighing the merrits, and pretentions of different Canditates for the same office &C &C &C His Eyes which you know used to be very troublesome to him, are quite well, and he is enabled to read and write with ease to himself which is a great favour.—
          I am glad you have got the Box. Betsy did not say to me that she was going to be married directly, but she wrote what I took to be her determination soon. Poor dear Betsy Shaw, must she too follow our dear Mary, Charles and Suky Warner? my heart aches for our sister. I know not how she will Sustain the shock— I think our Physicians are too fearfull of Bleeding in early complaints of the Lungs—
          I shall be Satisfied with the kitchen floor as it is. I hope all will be done by the beginning of July—for I shall want all the Room I can find and, more than all. I do expect mrs smith will come with me to make her Children a visit. as I have sent the papers I need say nothing about politicks. our Legislature have done nobly in Massa— What Life & vigor does a good Patriot give to a whole state when placed at the Head of it— I wish our Legislature would set the example & make a sedition act, to hold in order the base Newspaper calumniators. in this state, you could not get a verdict, if a prossecution was to be commenced
          My pen is bad I know not whether you can read it, and the damp air spoils the paper.—
          I am in haste. the post will leave me before I assure you of what my sister knows and believes, that I am allways her affectionate / Sister

            A Adams


Title: Francis Dana to Abigail Adams, 23 June 1798
From: Dana, Francis
To: Adams, Abigail

            Madam
            Ipswich June 23d: 1798—

          While on the circuit here, I have received the enclosed letter from my friend Mr: Stedman of Lancaster, brother in law to Mrs: Dana— Finding that the Gentleman mentioned in it, is personally known to the President & yourself, and has been likewise recommended by Judge Cranch, it is altogether needless for me to trouble you further than by laying that letter before you— Indeed I am loth to do even that much, a business of the sort not being consonant to my disposition.
          I most heartily congratulate the President & yourself, on the return of Genl: Marshal, which must relieve him from much anxiety, as he will now be able to obtain a most perfect knowledge respecting that mission— This event, I trust in God, will prepare Congress to go all lengths in the indispensable defense of our Country, & to begin by immediately annulling our Treaty & consular Convention with France— The people are prepared for all this, & more, at the present moment. They seem to demand it of Congress, & in my opinion, our salvation depends upon it. Delay is political death to us. We must instantaneously rid our Country of all Frenchmen, & suppress all opposition to governmental measures essential to our preservation. This must be considered as sedition & treason, and wherever lurking be feretted out. To attempt to reason it down is vain.
          This much I had written when Talleyrands communication to our Commissioners came to hand. The French Directory have “smoothed the way to discussion” by declaring themselves “disposed to treat with that one of the three Commissioners, whose opinions, preformed to be more impartial, promise, in the course of events explanations, a greater share of that mutual confidence which is indispensably required.” Good God! Is such our lot? Here, Madam, my reflections shall end on this head.
          But all will be safe, for Mr: Thatcher has moved in Congress that 2000, & Mr: Harper that 5000 copies of our Commissioners reply, shou’d be printed: And the latter Gentleman has declared that “within a few days past, he was induced to believe, that a conspiracy hostile to the Government of the United States actually existed; & pledged himself as soon as possible to develop its nature, & bring its

Agents to condign punishment, having hold of certain threads which he trusted wou’d finally lead to its discovery.”
          Thus the net is sprung before the Game is secured; but untill his Threads are wrought into halters, & actual Traitors are seized instead of being denounced, there can be no safety for our Country To talk or to reason about it, is to trifle with our very existence. The fate of Switzerland stares us in the face. “Oh save my Country Heaven shall be my last.” Had Switzerland hearkened to the sage & solemn Council of their Countryman Vattel, she might still have preserved her Independence “If any one, says he, wou’d ravage from a Nation, an essential right, or a right without which it cou’d not hope to subsist; if an ambitious neighbour threatens the liberty of a Republic; if he resolves to subdue it, & bring it into subjection, that Republic will take council only from its courage. It will not even attempt to wait the method of conferences on so odious a pretension; it will bring into this quarrel all its efforts, its last resources, & all the best blood it is capable of shedding. It is risking every thing, only to listen to the least proposition: then they might truly say Una salus—nullam sperare salutem. And if fortune is not favorable, a free people will prefer death to servitude. What wou’d have become of Rome, had she listened to timid councils, when Hannibal was encamped before her Walls. The Swiss, always so ready to embrace pacific measures, or to submit to those that are reasonable, in disputes less essential, constantly reject every idea of composition with those who have a design on their Liberties. &c.”
          I remain dear Madam / with much respect & esteem / Your most obedient humble Servant

            FRA DANA


Title: Abigail Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 26 June 1798
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Johnson, Catherine Nuth

              my dear Madam
              Philadelphia June 26 1798

            I received your Letter of June 20th with one for mrs Adams which I shall forward in a few day’s. I am Sorry to learn that your Health & spirits are depressed. I know well that want of Health mars every other enjoyment. You must Call Reason & Philosophy to your Aid, nor let the untoward occurrences of Life too much depress you. “Man wants but little here below, nor want that little long” are sentiments of Goldsmith in his Ballad, but they are such as tend to make us submit with Patience & resignation. if we can have the comforts of Life, we will not repine if fortune or misfortune deprive us of the Luxeries— it is very hard however, after a labourious Life spent in acquiring a Competancy, and having lived and Educated a family in the enjoyment & expectation of it, to be deprived of it, at a time when we most need repose and quiet; the unsettled State of the world, and the rapid Changes which have taken place, has renderd Property less Secure than in any former times—
            we have very warm weather here and the City becomes very oppressive. the fever is not here as yet, at least not publickly known to be so, tho I know it is sickly, and every day will render it more so—
            I hope in a fortnight Congress will rise— I have spoken to mr Otis— he says he will write to Thomas I am rejoiced that you are going to make an excursion from home. Gen’ll Forest I have known for many years. he is a very amiable Man, & I have been informd has a fine woman for his wife— I wish you could take a journey to the Northward I want to make one to your part of the Country, but the time when Congress will rise, will not more than permit us, just to look at our own affairs & return again—
            My kind Regards to the Young Ladies— when I write to Thomas I will deliver your kind message. if he has not lately expresst his regard, in many former Letters, he has spoken with much gratitude for your kind attention towards him

            I send the last dispatches from our Envoys to mr Johnson. the President joins me in / the Esteem and Regard / with which I am dear / Madam Yours

              A Adams

            the flies torment me so that it is next to impossible to write without both hands flying at the same time