Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 17 December 1810
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

N. 11 Mrs. A. Adams-Quincy
My dear Mother.
St: Petersburg 5/17 Decr: 1810

Since I wrote you last, I have not had the pleasure of receiving a line from you, but as you are the most constant and most frequent correspondent that I have beyond the seas, besides the rule which I have followed of answering every  letter by one in return, I shall add that of writing to you by every opportunity that occurs during the Winter—I now write by a namesake of ours a Mr: Adams, from New-York, who brought me letters from my friend Dr: Mitchell, and who is now going to Gothenburg to embark upon his return home.
If there was any regular intercourse allowed between this Country and England, I could enclose letters to Mr: Pinkney at London, who must now have very often the opportunity of forwarding them to the United States—Hitherto there has been such an intercourse through Gothenburg where English Packets have been permitted to land their Passengers—In future this will be much more obstructed if not altogether prevented; for Sweden, as the first fruit of her choice to have a French General as the Successor to her king, has been compelled to declare War against England. She has also prohibited both the importation and exportation of all Colonial Articles under any flag whatsoever—And I suppose the next step will be the exclusion of all American vessels from her Ports—
We have had two or three straggling newspapers of July and August, from America; but no file, later than the middle of June—They cannot indeed be sent otherwise than by direst conveyances to Cronstadt, for they are too bulky for traveling Gentlemen to bring in their trunks, and the Postage of them from any other part of Europe, when they are imprudently over land, comes almost to their weight in gold—Few of our newspapers are worth that.
Your letter by Captain William Welsh is the latest that I have from America.—Mr: Woodward arrived here about a fortnight ago—He came in a vessel of Mr: Gray’s, but was first destined to Tonning—there he found that Americans were excluded and he went to Gothenburg—from whence he was coming here—But it was so late in the Season that he could not come up the gulph further than Revel—There are between twenty and thirty American vessels in the same situation—One of them the Africa from Philadelphia with a Cargo worth 200,000 dollars has been lost in a passage of about 20 miles between one out port and another. It is not certain that any of these vessels will be allowed to sell their Cargoes here; because it is said they came with an English convoy from Gothenburg.
Mr: Woodward left Boston the 5th: or 6th: of August, and says that his father was at Quincy three or four days before he sailed when you were all well—This is the last we have heard from you and that is nearly five months old—He says you had then justly received letters from us—And from that time untill this reaches you, I think you will at least hear from us often—At least we have scarcely suffered a fortnight to pass without writing.
At the time when the Emperor Napoleon conditionally repealed the decrees of Berlin and Milan, he was inclined to Peace, and if the British Ministers had been wise they would have taken step for step. They chose to set up a cry of Victory, and to return a fair advance of liberality, with an evasion, as it regarded America, and an insult to France—This threw him into a new rage, and he has returned with aggravated rigour to his Continental System—Whether he will eventually injure England by it is yet very doubtful; but he will ruin great multitudes of People by it upon this Continent, and he will as he has done prey upon the American Commerce wherever he can lay his hand upon it
Just as I am writing I receive a visit from Nelson, the black man servant whom I brought with me from America—He left us about four months since to enter the service of His Imperial Majesty, who has about a dozen menial attendants of that colour, and who when vacancies happen in the number by death (there are as you will readily suppose none by resignation) finds it not altogether easy to supply the places—I had not been here long before Nelson found out, that it would be possible for him to obtain that situation if he could have my consent, for His Majesty’s Grand Marshal refused to take him upon any other terms, and obligingly assured me that he should be taken only in case it was perfectly agreeable to me; and not at all if I chose to keep him. However, as it was making him a Fortune for his life, and as I had neither the inclination, nor in my own mind the right to keep him against his own will, as soon as I could conveniently provide myself with a man in his stead, I gave him his discharge, and a recommendation to the Grand Marshal who immediately engaged him as an attendant at the Imperial table. He comes now and then to see us in his splendid Moorish dress, and is highly satisfied with his new service of which he finds nothing irksome, but the various masters of genteel accomplishments which have been given him to complete his education. I have since accidentally met with another man of the same complexion who I hope will leave me no occasion to regret the loss of him.
I have no letter from my brother of a later date than May. I am anxious to hear again from him, and from my dear sons George and John I hope that they both continue to improve in their learning, and that George will be taught to controul his disposition to be over positive—Mr. Burke says that obstinacy is a vice nearly allied to great virtues: and as I well know that a determined will, is one of those things without which no man can be good for much in this world, I consider the temper of a child inclining to that excess, as one of those which require to be managed with the greatest delicacy and address. I am very sure that where George now is, his temper will not be broken down by severity, and as he has a natural fund of good-nature and of generosity, I flatter myself that they will furnish the motives by which he will be led to discover the distinction between the occasions when his duties may require him to soften into docility or to brace his spirit into inflexible resolution.
With dutiful affection to my ever honoured father, I remain in duty and affection ever your’s
A.


Title: From le Commandeur de Maisonneuve to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 23 December 1810
From: Maisonneuve, le Commandeur de
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

Le Commandeur de Maisonneuve a l’honneur d’annoncer à Madame Adams qu’Elle est invitée ainsi que Mademoiselle Johnson sa soeur, au bal qui aura lieu, Demain Lundi 12. chéz Sa Majesté L’Impératrice Mère, à sept heures et demi du soir.


Title: From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 29 December 1810
From: Cushing, Hannah Phillips
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

Scituate December 29th. 1810.

I ought to have written ere this to you, my valluable Friend, to have expressed the heart felt gratification I have derived from reading your sympathetic letters. They have proved a balm to my wounded bosom. But many calls & duties devoled up-on me of late unknown before, & I have hetherto written only on business. Your claims are first on the list of friendship, yes my Friend every tribute paid to my departed Husban is a cordial to me, & I ever shall venerate Judge Davis for his, as well as in account of the high esteem my Friend had for him.
I desire not to open my lips by way of complaining, but to confess that surely the loving kindness of the Lord hath followed me all my days, from the dawn of my existence to this moment. In first granting me such blessed Parents. Our dear Mother was one of the most tender & affectionate Parents that children could have, It is true She was taken from us in our youthfull days, I being the elder sister, & only fourteen years old, just at an age when Girls stand most in need of counsill, & instruction, But her excellent precepts, & example remained, & also our good Father, who endeavoured to supply her loss, whose valuable life was preserved to us for two years after I had a Friend who supplied the place of every relative. That blessed Friend was continued to me as long as a residence on earth could be desirable to him, as the remainder of his days must have been labour & sorrow; & although my tears some times drop on my pillow, yet they are not repining ones, & I find such a void whereever I am, as no human being can supply. I am not permitted to be sorrowful upon revisiting any place for the first time, without that Friend who was always with me, for the consoling thought always comes to my aid that he is much happier than he ever was when on earth, & my only desire now is to live such a life as to be Judged fit society for him & other blessed Friends when I am called out of time. The links in chain which bind me to earth are greatly diminished, & the most powerful one has recently been broken, but they all serve as  a stimulation for Heaven; & as my temporal comforts decreas, I must lean more firmly on the rock of ages for support. There is the sure anchor of hope to rest upon for safety.
31st. Since writing the above I have heard of the departure of my much loved friend Mrs Sumner. The low state I left her in, & the frequent information since left but little hope for me to build upon for her recovery, & I had endeavoured to prepare my mind for this last afflictive stroke. When I reflect upon the many weeks we have passed pleasantly together, on the Circuits, in this State, as well as the many sabbath days we spent of pure enjoyment at Roxbury, when her best Friend, & mine, were associated on the Bench’ I think my affection for her is almost as strong as it is for you my early friend. Those delightful scenes have passed away & you & I my Friend are passing away also. Such reflections admonish me to scrutinize my past life, in so doing my conscience does not accuse me of one base action, but I have ever been prone to many foibles, & imperfections to this moment, which require the mantle of love to be drawn over them, & I am sure it has always been done by you my Friend I fervantly beseech The Almighty searcher of all hearts to purify me in the atonement of our blessed Redeemer, & so render me a fit companion for your society, together with other saints, & angles in his Heavenly kingdom, when time shall be no more with us.
Mrs Emily Phillips, left us four weeks since for Boston, Mr Aylwin came for her, & the weather proved so unfavorable, they were obliged to ride with despatch which deprived her of the pleasure of seeing you. Martha Phillips went there a fortnight ago to pass a week, & has not returned. Her Mother is with us, so that I have the happiness of having three dear Sisters with me; & may I be very grateful.
Jany 4th. 1811.
You will be surprised my dear Friend to find this letter closed in Boston. The great desire, I have to be with my young afflicted Friends, induced me to return with my Nephew Charles Aylwin, who visited us after an absence of five years.
I have not yet seen the dear Girls, but am going immediately to pass some days with them. Mary Cushing, & Emily Phillips, have been there day & night. When I shall return I know not, but hope to have the satisfaction of spending a little time with you & yours when I do. We have been much gratified with Mr Adams Lectures, & our thanks are due for them. Be so good as to present my best regards to him, & Mrs Adams, when you write.
With affectionate regards to each member of the Family, I / conclude your Afflicted

H Cushing


Title: 1810-1812 Abigail Adams, Rules for Disposing of the Day, 1810 to 1812
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To:

ca. 1810–1812

Rules for disposing of the Day
Rise by Six. if any time before Breakfast to walk out a little way into the garden after Breakfast.. to read a chapture in the Bible. then to sit down to Sew or knit for three hours. at 12 to quit work, and read write or amuse themselves as they please. at three oclock to apply again to the needle untill Six when the remainder of the time may be applied as they please. this for a Slated course there may occasionally occur domestic avocations which may Supply the place of the needle. and sometimes a Ride or walk may be indulged as a reward for steady application, but this course ought to be addopted as a General Rule—


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Anonymous, 7 January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Anonymous

Quincy Janry 7th 1811

Sure my dear Friend there is a secret Sympathy in Souls whose minds are congenial to each other which draw them to communion. the Night before I received your palsied Letter, in its Silent watches my mind was employed about you and I was reflecting upon your lonely Situation for to you I knew it must be so, however Surrounded by kind tender and affectionate Friends, and I contemplated writing to you, not to accuse you of inattention towards me for I felt it not, but to inquire after your health, and to unite my tears with yours over the departed Friend we had just lost we may duly say in the words of Dr Young, “our dying Friends come, over us like a cloud”
after you left me, I frequently inquired respecting the situation of our much valued Friend. once only I was encouraged to hear that She was better, and to hope that She might be restord to her children and family—but the all wise disposer of Life and Death has orderd it otherways, and it becomes his dependent creatures to Submit. I most tenderly sympathize with the afflicted family. My own Mother was of the Same Age when I lost her. I have not forgotten the pangs her death cost me, or how much I felt myself bereved of Friend and counsellor, upon whose affection and Maternal care I had hung, and to whose advise I could at all times resort, as my guide, directress and counseller—I do most Sensibly enter into the grief of the Bereved Son & Daughters of our deceased Friend. the loss to them is no common one. deprived at an earlier Age of their Exelent Father. She had Supplied to them the Double Relation of Father and Mother, but let this be their consolation. when Father and Mother forsake me them then the Lord taketh me them up. the example of their parents is before them, and may her advise and counsel live with them—How blessing Brighten as they take their flight? I regret now it is too late that I had not cultivated a more intimate acquaintance & intercourse, but my frequent infirmities former  absence from my native State and the frequent Sickness & ill health to which I have of late years been Subject, has obliged me to decline that Society in which I Should otherways have delighted—
I am rejoiced that you can be with them who know so well how to pour the balm of comfort into the wounded heart bosom, and whose tender sympathy may in Some measure heal the broken heart. to do good and communicate is the happy province of my Friend pray assure them that I feel no common sorrow for a loss which the hand of Time and the consolations of religion may asswage—but never can efface—
I did not read your Friendly Epistle without watering it with my Tears it was all good like your own heart, full of the mercies and blessings you have received, without once repineing at the Severe affliction You have been called to endure—patient Submission and resignation to the dispensations of providence is a duty at all times encumbent upon us—and what we ought to strive for & cultivate, yet the example of our blessed Redeemer taught us not only to feel, but to weep over the graves of our departed Friends—I have in the course of the last week been calld to Sympathize with my Neice Mrs Foster  Suddenly deprived of her infant Son, more particularly Endeared to me from bearing the Name of a dear absent Son—Louisa is in turn with her sister, and will I know if she can call upon the Miss Sumners before she leaves it—as I shall make a point of doing when I come to Town. the President regreted that the weather & his health would not permit him to pay the last honour to her by attending the funeral—
When ever you return I pray you to pass a few days with me—My regard attend the Mrs Philips Your Neices, and the Sympathy and for yourself / affection of Your Friend

A Adams


Title: From Walter Hellen to John Quincy Adams, 11 January 1811
From: Hellen, Walter
To: Adams, John Quincy

My dear Sir
Washington 11th: January 1811

However melancholy the occasion, my dear friend, yet I cannot refrain from imparting to you the Heart breaking circumstance, which it has been the Divine Will to cause to take place—Oh my dear Sir, I cannot find words to convey to you what my sufferings & feelings on this trying occasion are: You who are so completely competent to judge, can best tell when you are apprized it, has been the Will of the Almighty God to take from me my beloved Wife—Oh yes my dear Sir, that dear Woman, with whom I had so long & so happily lived is no more—This melancholy & very afflicting event took place on the 30th: Ulto.—It proceeded I incline to believe from a premature confinement—She was taken on the Wednesday night, & was not deliver’d till the Sunday following of a still born infant, & She poor dear Soul, never spoke afterwards—From my own ill state of Health, I cannot expect long to survive; but then my dear friend, what is to become of my poor dear little Children: I hope & I beg & entreat my dear Sir, that they may find a friend in You, and I flatter myself, that your both your dear wife & Kitty will be kind to them—they are fine promissing Children; John eleven years of age, next month, is a very fine Boy; my little Daughter Mary a little turn’d four years, is one of the sweetest little Angels you almost ever saw—& Thomas my youngest just turn’d two years, is an uncommonly fine Boy. Poor dear Babes, it my makes my very heart bleed when I see them—I however feel a great consolation in the reflection that you, & yours will be kind to them—As this will mostly likely convey you the first intelligence of this woful event, you will no doubt prepare your dear wife & Kitty for the shock will which it cannot do otherwise than occasion.—
I receiv’d the night before last your very friendly & highly esteemed favor of the 12/24 Oct. & also the copy of your letter of the 7th. August—and altho’ Mr Roberts the Gentleman by whom the original was entrusted, has been arrived for these two Months, yet I have not recd it, nor have I had a word from him concerning it—I wrote last night to Mr Buchanan, to make enquiry at Baltimore for it. I cannot my dear Sir, express to you how grateful I feel, for the Interest you have shewn, in my concerns—Mr Kettle I am sorry did not proceed to St. Petersbg. as was the original intention—He has disposed of most of the Property I entrusted in his care, & remitted the proceeds to Mr Murdoch of London; the balance he has left in the hands of Messr. Hotterman & Sons, of Gothenburgh—& has himself just return’d to Newbury Port—My other Adventures to Tonningen. I have not yet recd returns for the Property was safely Landed there, but under the present state of things, I fear it will turn out a very destructive business. As for future prospects or business, I have, as you may suppose thought but little of it for some time past; Shou’d my health hereafter permit (which I cannot expect) and it should be in my power to make another attempt, to try the Russian Market. I shall certainly avail myself of the House you have so friendly recommended.
Rumour says that you are to return to this Country next Summer; whether it is so or not, I cannot tell; I wish however if it is your desire, it may be so; it will give all your friends great pleasure to have you amongst  them, & none more so than myself—In a Political point of view, I think you ought by all means to be here next Fall, when the Election for President & vice President will, it is said certainly be fixed—you have been spoken of, to fill the vacancy occasion’d by the Death of Judge Cushion—Mr Lincoln, the formerly Atty Genl. is however appointed—Some of your friends say, that the intention was to have appointed you, in order, that you might not be in the way at the Fall Election—others of your friends wish you to be entirely disengaged should you return—whilst another story is, that, Mr Lincoln is to hold the Judgship until your return, when it is to be offered to you—these are the reports I hear circulated, and as they relate to you. I have thought it but right to communicate them—This is intended by Mr Ervin who is appointed Minister & Emb to Denmark & embarks immediately for Copenhagen—you no doubt will receive Dispatches from the Government by him—which will apprize you of every thing going on here.
We are thank Heaven all, as well as usual—I beg you will present my affectionate remembrance, to your Lady & Kitty, and I am my dear Sir / Your afflicted but ever faithful Servt.
Walter Hellen


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 12 January 1811
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

No. 12
My Beloved Mother.
St: Petersburg 12. January 1811.

The year eighteen hundred and ten according to Russian reckoning still exists—But as its last hours are upon the wing; and as the New-Year has already made the progress of almost half a month with you, I can no longer delay the opportunity of wishing you, and my dear father, and my George and John, and all the family around you, not the compliments of the Season, but a truly joyful year to be followed by many more.
The new-year’s day is always kept in this Country with great solemnity and festivity—Visits in person or by cards must be paid to the whole Circle of one’s acquaintance; and by the foreign Ministers to all the persons of distinction who frequent the Imperial Court—At Noon the mass is celebrated in the Imperial Chapel, after which there is a levee or as it is called here a Diplomatic Circle held by the Emperor at which the two Empresses attend. In the Evening there is a masked Ball at the Palace, for which from twelve to fifteen thousand tickets are issued, and to which of course all classes of the People are admitted—Although styled a masked Ball there are no Masks—The Court company go in dominos and Venetian dresses, and the people in all the various dresses of the different Provinces of the Empire—After the Ball, in which there is no dancing, there is a supper at the Hermitage to which a select party of two or three hundred persons receive special invitations.
Since I wrote you last which was on the 5/17 December I have had no letters from you or from any of my friends at Boston or Quincy—We have heard indirectly that Captain Beckford had arrived at Boston, but I have not yet received the acknowledgment of the receipt of any letters sent by him—From the time of his arrival until this letter reaches you, if you do not receive very frequent advices from us, it will not be our fault—We have written not only directly, but indirectly by the way of Archangel, of Riga, of Sweden and of England—and I now send this by the way of France.
I have received despatches from the Secretary of State, dated about the middle of October; and my wife has a letter from her mother, of 3. November—They were brought by the Essex frigate, which had a passage of only 23. days from Norfolk to L’Orient; and then by a Russian Courier who came in seventeen days from Paris.
The President’s Proclamation of 2. November, came by this opportunity; and according to present appearances I shall no longer have the means of writing to you by the way of England.—For the English Government still adhere to their orders in Council and instead of meeting the advances which France certainly made towards at least a less rancorous War, if not towards a Peace, have exasperated the Emperor Napoleon not only to persist in the Berlin and Milan decrees; but to extort a Declaration of War against Great-Britain by Sweden; to issue a new decree for burning all the English Merchandise which had been introduced by Contraband upon the Continent, and to annex the Hanseatic Cities as well as Holland to the French Empire.—The infatuation of the English Government about their Orders of Council continues in all its force; and France uses it as an argument to justify all her encroachments upon her neighbours—In all this England plays the losing game, though France has not succeeded yet in injuring essentially her Commerce. The king of England has had a new attack of his unhappy malady, and by the latest Accounts that we have there was a prospect that a Regency would become necessary—This might produce a revocation of the Orders of Council, and perhaps even a Negotiation for Peace.
We are all in as good health, as a family so numerous as ours can generally be expected to be—Within the last three weeks we have lost three of our most frequent and intimate associates—Mr: Harris, our consul—Mr: J.S. Smith and Mr: Jones—the two latter of those Gentlemen are pursuing their travels, and although they took different roads, expect to meet each other against Vienna in February—Mr: Harris is gone upon a tour for a couple of months to Archangel and Moscow. I had for some time thoughts of going with him; but concluded that I would not be advisable for both of us to be absent from this Capital at the same time.
Mrs: Johnson mentions in her letter to my wife, that she had lately heard from you that our boys were well—But the last letter that I have from you is dated 25. July, and the last from my brother is of 7. May.—We have received no regular file of Boston papers later than March; but now and then a few straggling, and for the most part federal papers—They generally deserve the application to them of a very excellent toast given at the Faneuil Hall dinner the last 4th: of July, in honour of the federal brethren at New-York—The prayer that they might “Shine, brighter and brighter unto the perfect day” was not less ingenious than it was pious, and if it could avail as much as the prayer of the righteous is authorized to expect, would be as profitable to the federalists at the Head-Quarters of good-principles as to their brethren of the Manhadoes.—They would all be the better for a little furbishing of intellect.
If we remain here the next Summer, I must request you to forward your letters, among other ways by that of France whenever a good opportunity may happen.—You can enclose them under cover to Mr: Jonathan Russell. Chargé des Affairs of the United States at Paris—There are Courier’s frequently passing between Paris and this City, by whom single letters can be sent; but not large packets. I say if we remain here the next Summer, because I am uncertain whether we shall or not—Mrs: Johnson writes that the American newspapers have announced that we shall return home—It is not at present my intention, but in the vicissitudes of human life we know not from one day to another what may befall us; or where we may be called—Wherever we may be, at lease one thing will be unchangeable, as long as the pulse of life shall beat at my heart—it is the dutiful affection of your Son—
A.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 15 January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

my dear daughter
Quincy Janry 15th 1811

It is a long time since I addresed a Letter to You, and a much longer since I received a Letter from you. altho there are so many natural impediments, and artificial obstruction in the way of a free communication, I will not wholy relinquish the hope I have: that some of the many Letters I have written may find there way to you.
vessels arrive from the North, but do not bring any tydings of you, and vessels go, of which we know not, for Commerce is so bepuzzeld, that it has not any Regular Channel
I have the pleasure to say to you, that your sons are well, that they grow in Stature, and increase in Knowledge. The absence of their Father will undoubtedly deprive them of many Sources of knowledge which he would open to their youthfull minds, but the watchfull attention of their Aunt Cranch to preserve their Morals pure, and to instill virtuous principles into their minds is a great compensation to them for the absence of some other advantages which they might obtain at a public school.
George is with me, and is reading Walter Scotts works, with the Lady of the lake he is highly delighted, and with Miss Porters Scottish Chiefs, which is a work of pre Eminent worth—I know not when I have met with any thing of the kind so interesting, so nobly patriotic, so pure in sentiment, walace might truly be stiled, the Christian Hero.
In the spring I wrote you that mr James Foster had a son who was Christned John Quincy Adams. It was a fine child, blooming, sprightly and Lovely, but suddenly snatchd from them by that fatal disease the Croup—well to day, and a Corpse the next, at the age of seven Months. I felt for it a stronger attachment from the name it bore— Mr Whitney has had a severe sickness in his family. he had himself a fever calld here the Typhus his daughter Harriot was Seizd with the same and dyed. Simon Frazer and william & mr Whitneys son George all lay dangerously Sick at the same time. Simon Frazer dyed. the others have recoverd, but it broke up the School for near two Months. not any person took the fever who attended, nor has it broken out in any other family—
we have great cause of thankfullness that no other breach has been made upon our immediate connexions but from my list of Friends, several links have been broken off. Judge Cushing was a Death daily to be expected, and desirable to himself but our Friend Mrs Sumner is taken away in no very advanced Age She sickned about six weeks ago, and last week paid the great debt of nature; to the distress and great Grief of her son and daughters—and the her Friend’s.
I hear frequently from you Mother, who I presume will not let this opportunity slip by our Minister mr Erving to the court of denmark—of writing to you—he is to sail from Nyork and there our Letters must go, as he was a long time at Washington I think your Friends must have embraced the opportunity of writing by him. I received a Letter from your Mother in high spirits. Your Brother was arrived there from New Orleans, and Mrs Pope was returnd with her Husband, so that she had double joy. they were all in good health, mr Hellen excepted. she however wrote more favorably respecting him. your Mamma wrote me that she expected quite a crop of little ones this winter, no less than four. May they live and prosper—the Russian climate is too cold to produce an American. I have lately been reading the Edinburgh Review & some extracts of a dr Clarks travels in Russia. If he is not as fabulous as those foreigners who have written their travels in America, I do more than ever commisirate your situation, and crawl whilst I shrug my shoulder in writing. I dare not tarnish my paper with any extract from him
I know from the experience I have had of very cold weather here, that a cold Country must be a dirty one and in a climate which requires so much fun, to keep one from freezing, it is not to be wonderd at, that other than humane Beings take shelter under them.
I hope the time is not far distant when you may return to America. in the present convulsed State of the world, I know not a Country the inhabitents of which have so great cause for gratitude and thankfullness to Heaven for the peace, plenty, and tranquility they enjoy.
I shall write to my son if I have time before the post goes. the latest Letters from you are dated in Sep’br— My Love to your Sister, and to William not forgetting my dear Grandson George—
Leiut govenour Lincoln is appointed judge in the Room of Judge Cushing—
If william welch should not Sail for America before this reaches, I request two peices of sheeting to be sent me by him and one day table cloth 6/2 yd 3 half long & 6:2 two yds—any commission I can execute for you I shall do it with pleasure—pray my son to send a Bill of them that I may pay to his Brother the amount—
ever affectionatly your Mother
Abigail Adams


Title: From John Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 15 January 1811
From: Adams, John
To: Quincy, Josiah, III

Dear Sir:—
Quincy, January 15, 1811.

I thank you for two presents, the Message and the documents. Mr. Madison follows the example of Mr. Jefferson in this instance; but is the difference between a speech and a message of much importance? Does the aversion to speeches and the partiality for messages arise or proceed from the spirit of democracy or aristocracy?
The glorious uncertainty of the law is a proverbial expression; and why may we not speak of the glorious uncertainty of politics? It gives you great legislators, philosophers, and orators ample scope for all your genius, experience, sagacity, and eloquence. What can be more glorious for the notables of all parties?
An old man, however, in his sixteenth lustre, would not willingly exchange for all your glories such a morning as this, when, unencumbered with the least responsibility for anything, he sees the sun rising in an atmosphere as clear as crystal, after an imprisonment of a fortnight or three weeks by bad weather.
We have now the third flight of beautiful snow and fine sleighing. The two former were dissipated in two or three days. This I hope will last till you come home. The blustering and bullying of France and England disturb me much less than the freezing and thawing of this winter. I know, with submission, that all their power and all their policy can do no more finally than compel Hercules to feel his strength and show his wit.
I am, sir, as ever, your friend and humble servant,
J. Adams.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 19 January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Johnson, Catherine Nuth

Quincy. Janry. 19 1811—

If the Sympathizing Tear’s of Friendship could assuage the agonizeing Bosom of my Friend; freely could I pour them there.
I cannot Say how much I was shockd the last Evening at receiving a Letter from Louissa from Boston, informing me of the Sudden Death of your dear daughter Hellen
O! my Friend this is indeed a trial. what can I Say, or how administer comfort?
The circumstances attendent upon a childbed death have ever appeared to me one of the most awful dispensations of providence—I know how deservedly Dear Mrs Hellen was to all her family; and in what high estimation my Son held her. her loss to them is no common one, and the Situation of her three Sisters must render her Death allarming to them in a greater degree—
Religion my Friend, does not forbid us to weep, and to mourn for our Departed Friend’s, but it teaches us to cast our Sorrows upon that Being in whose hands, and at whose disposal we are, and who can heal the wounded Bosom, and bind up the broken heart
unto that Being I commit you all, my dear afflicted Friend’s, from whom I pray, that you may receive that Support, and consolation, which it is not in human power to bestow.
I was just going to take my pen, when these Sad tydings reached me, to congratulate you upon Letters recently received from our Children, bearing date 25 &27 october, with agreable accounts of their health—I presume you have received Letters by Similar conveyance, extracts from them would ill Suit your present feeling’s—I will only Say Shall we receive good and not evil?
If must be a Source of pleasing recollection when the hand of time has wiped the tears from the Eyes of your son & mrs Pope, that they were enabled to See their Sister, a consolation denied to her other Sisters; to whom I know not how to communicate the agonizing event.
As Soon as you can obtain Sufficient composure to write to me, let me know the particular circumstances which deprived you of a daughter, her partner of the wife of his Bosom, and her children of a tender and affectionate Mother. To all of whom present; as a Sincere Mourner, and Sympathizer in their affliction / your Friend
Abigail Adams—


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 20 January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, John Quincy

No 1
My dear Son
Quincy Janry 20th. 1811.

As I had made up my mind to Submit to the unpleasent circumstances attendent upon distance, and the frozen Region which not only excludes light, but seals up all communication with each other. I was the more delighted to receive your Letter of October 25th
A day auspicious to me, altho in your Letter you do not notice it. The Aniversary of the day, which united me to your Father, and the 47th of our union—when I look back, and contemplate upon the various scenes through which I have passed, and the many painfull seperations I have been call’d to endure, in times perilous to our Country, when I enumerate the times which your Father, and other Branches of my Family have traversed the mighty ocean, and been preserved through many dangers, and that we have escaped them, I am ready to say, it is of the Lords doings, and it is marvelous in my Eyes—I would fain believe, what has long been impressed upon my mind. That you are destined to Serve your Country in her most essential, and important Interests, for years yet to come
While the Spirit of party rages, Kept alive by the two great Belligerent powers, each of which is struggling to embrace us, we must not expect that justice or gratitude from our Country which is due to those who sacrifice themselves to secure her independence and existance, that their good will be evil spoken of all History Shows.
In a late Review of a Life of Barry I met with a Letter of mr Burk’s to him. as you love every thing from the pen of Burk—you may consider the extract, as applicable to yourself
“That you have just subjects of indignation always and of Anger often, I do no ways doubt, who can live in the World without some trials of his patience? but believe me, the Arms with which the ill disposition of the world are to be combatted, and the qualities by which it is to be reconciled to us,—are moderation, gentleness a little indulgence to others and a great deal of distrust of ourselves, which are not qualities of a mean Spirit, as some may possibly think them, but virtues of a great and noble Mind, and Such as dignify our nature as much as they contribute to our repose”
your Letter of the 25. october: fully explains what was not before doubted by me, that the hugh and cry raised against you was for your detection of counterfeits, and Striping them of their false covering
“If you corruption’s hand expose”
“You make corrupted Man your foes”
“What then? you hate the paltry tribe”
“be virtue yours;—be theirs the bribe”
Mr Forbes the consul was attacked with more virulence than you have been; he addrest a long Letter to his Friend in Philadelphia which was published, and which exposed the villany not only of van Sander, but disclosed some secrets respecting some of our Boston Merchants. Mr Forbes does not Scruple to say that he had been offerd bribes, and such as if he had been base enough to have accepted, would have placed him in circumstances in which he would not have wanted the consulship for a support. he writes with the warmth and ardour of a Man who is conscious that he has acted uprightly—and feels himself injured by base aspersions and calumny. Since the publication of his Letter, I have not heard any more reflections cast upon the Russian Minister for medling or any think further said respecting the useless Mission—
The Merchants are very glad to get a Special Minister to Denmark, and no comments upon a Frigates being Sent to convey him; Mr G Erving is appointed, and by him I hope to convey this and other Letters to you; I was rejoiced to learn that my stragglers had reached you. there are some of your Letters, Still missing.
your Brother is writing by this opportunity. I hope we shall be in time—as to our State politicks we enjoy a perfect calm. Govr Gerry has experienced the most tranquil administration as yet of any Govr for a long time. our Legislature will be in session in a few days. we may then Stir up a Breize, but I think it will not shake mr Gerry.
Congress have had closed doors the greater part of the Session—I know not of what use it can be, if Marplots are allowed to disclose what is confidentially communicated to them, as Mason did the British Treaty, and Col Pickering has lately done, by reading in the Senate a Letter confidentially communicated by the President respecting the Florides—for which a vote of censure was past upon him, and a motion made to expell him. If this had been done when Mason betrayed his trust, it would have been an example, and then with a better face they could have punished Pickering—you will see by the Papers, that our writers are as eager as ever to censure the President for taking possession of the Florides, or rather that part which belongs to us, and are for assisting the British Government to lay claim to it in behalf of Spain. This and the renewal of the Bank Charter, and the Non Intercourse against Great Britain are the Great Subjects before Congress—and will require more time than this Short Session—
Leiut Govenour Lincoln is appointed judge of the Supreem National Legislature Judiciary in the place of Judge Cushing the Newspapers Say he accepted only to keep the place warm for J Q Adams when ever he returns—altho I know there were many who wished you might have been here to have filled it, & the late judge himself wished you to have been his Successor I think you have exprest yourself of a different opinion—this is however out of the question—
Since I wrote last to you, we have lost our Neighbour mr Black, and major Barret—mr Black was a Friendly benevolent Man, and a good Neighbour. I Shall miss him, and mrs Black thinks of removeing to Boston which will be a great breach in our friendly circle—
you Parents yet remain to you but at their advanced Age, you should prepare your mind for an event which must take place ‘eer long. If it is the will of heaven I could wish that it might be protracted untill they might embrace their Son again in his, and their Native Land
“Whether this blessing be denied or given” / Is wisely hidden from / your truly affectionate / Mother
Abigail AdamsI must not close this Letter without Saying to you that your Sons are well. John Stands by and desire that his duty may be presented to his dear Father and Mother & his Love to his Brother—as this is the first Letter I have written to you Since the year commenced I Shall Number it, and continue to do so


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 21 January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

No 1
my Dear Daughter
Quincy Jan’ry. 21 1811

The season was so far advanced, and several vessels had arrived from the North without Letters, that I had given up the Idea of hearing again from you, untill Spring—your Letter was therefore doubly acceptable to me. I wrote to you a few days previous to the receipt of your Letter of 23d of october, and Sent it on, to Newyork to go by our Special Minister to Denmark— Altho I regret that you are destined to remain in a climate so harsh, and so dismall as I should esteem it, for to me the genial influence of the Sun is so necessary, both, to my health and Spirits; that I deplore his absence, if only hidden from me for a few days; and I feel anxious not only for your health but for that of my son; who is as Sincere a Lover of the great Luminary as I am. when I was in England, I used frequently to Boast to  mr Brand Hollis of, our fine clear skye, and bright Sun Shine, over his foggy Island. he replied to me, that he should not like to be dazzeld with so much blew and Gold. every Country is, and ought to be dear to the Natives of it, and I dare Say the Russian prizes his, as much as the Good Lady did her barren Rock of Gibralter.—who after visiting England, and Seeing the fertility of its Soil, and tasteing the various Luxeries which it offers, was questioned how She liked the Country? replied very well, but it was nothing at all to Gib—
Scott in his Lay of the last Minstrel, has a fine passage in print, after having recited with great Skill the wars between the Borderes and the Southerns, he is asked, “why he, who touched the harp so well
“Should thus, with ill-rewarded toil,
wander a poor and thankless Soil?
when the more generous Southern land
would well requite his skilful hand.”
To which with great feeling and warmth he replies,
“Breathes there the Man with Soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath Said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath never within him burned,
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign Strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his Name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim
Despite those titles power and pelf;
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprang,
Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung.”
The sentiments are so just & so happily exprest, that I could not refrain from transcribing the whole of it.
The Country and climate where you now reside will still more endear to you, even your adopted Country, and you must reflect with pleasure upon the benifit mr Adams is obtaining for it, in a commercial and I have no doubt, in a political view, also as time will show.
I respect the Emperor Alexander for his possessing a mind Superiour to exterior Show and Splendor, that he knows how to appreciate merrit, and honour integrity, ungilt and unvarnished—I am well satisfied that our Country would derive much greater advantages from a more liberal appointments to their Foreign Ministers. I know by Experience that they are Subjected to many mortifications of which their Country know not of. If mr Adams has perseverence, and fortitude, sufficient to bear him through the period you mention, I trust you will do all in your power to Soften the rigor of it, & make it as agreable as circumstances will admit. The Subject which preys upon your mind, and which You have repeatedly mentiond, is surely no fault of yours. It was well known to mr Adams before he was connected with you and can never, be a complaint against you. nor was you ever reminded of it by any of his connections, nor can it, by any means lessen your influence with him. his honour and his Reputation, must be as dear to you, as tho you had possessd ever So large a fortune, and I should esteem it a misfortune for You to have carried him a fortune, unless he had possesst Sufficient to have balenced it— believe me my dear, altho you might have felt more independent, you would not have been happier—
I think you are intirely mistaken with respect to your opinion of the professorship, and you must permit me to rejoice, that you did not Succeed. if as you say, you endeavourd to influence him against accepting it. politicks had very little influence in determining that point it was not that, which raised the Scorn of the junto against him. opposition to the Boston Bank was one of the first of his political offences. the part he took in the Senate of the United States, and the Report in Smiths case in which Col Burr was implacated, was the second. a greater Still was his meeting the Cacus in favour of the Election of mr Madison. the opposition which he made to the encroachment of Great Britain, and her unjust claims upon his country together with voteing for the Embargo; and more than all the rest, the talents which he discoverd when ever he was calld to act, or Speak raised a spirit of envy and of Jealousy. the party knew that he was not a Man to be bought, or bribed, to be terrified, or dismayed—how then must he be assaultd by lies, by calumny, by crushing him if possible—
The professorship will never again be fill’d with equal tallents, and I am not alone in this opinion. I consider Mr Adams Lectures as one of the most durable monuments of his literary fame, and reputation. that they have, and will continue to benifit the Youth of our Country, beyond the present period, I will venture to affirm—For the honour of the Family, I would not exchange those Lectures for as many diamonds. they would only reflect an outward Lusture, but these will endure and Shine brighter, and reflect greater Lusture upon his name in years yet unborn. my only regret is, that he was obliged to relinquish the object, before he had compleated his plan, and to publish without a revision
you will not complain that I do not write often enough to you; your Friends at Washington keep you informed from that quarter, and can give you more news of the fashionable world from which I have long since retired.—
I request you to present me kindly to your Sister, and to William Smith mr Grey and my little Grandson who I hope to live to See, return to their Native land again.
I am my dear Daughter / Your affectionate Mother Abigail Adams
I suppose I should not be forgiven if I did not Say the Boys were well and both dinned with me to day as usual on Sundays—


Title: From Mary Smith Cranch to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 21 January 1811
From: Cranch, Mary Smith
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

Quincy Jany 21d 1811

I feel asham’d My Dear Neice when I think how few Letters I have written to you since you left us. I should be inexcusable indeed if I had not known your other Friends had not kept you inform’d of the welfair of your dear Boys under our care. I have receiv’d three Letters from you, for which I sincerely thank you, the last august 27th considering the difficulties attending the conveyence of them tis a great favour so many of yours Should have reach’d your Friends here.
I am sorry your situation is not more agreable to you the many sacrifices you have made & are still making will never be appretiated or rewarded as they ought: but by him who knows the purity of the intentions & the integrity with which your invaluable Friend executes the Mission which he has accepted. From that Being who knows the Secrets of all Hearts he will receive a rich recompence in a better World.
When I look upon your lovely children & think how much they lose by your absence I feel a wish that I was better quallified to pour instruction into their tender & prolifac minds—but be assur’d we omit no opportunity to fix Principles which may lay a solid foundation for their Parents to build upon in some future time—They certainly posses uncommon powers of Mind. John will Make as good a reader as his Brother & is quick at arithmatic this I teach him, & he is very fond of the Study, he commits to memory very quick every thing that is requir’d of him him His writing you will judge off yourself as he will send a Letter. his health is much better than it used to be he has not needed a Physician but once since you left him he was threaten’d last october with a putrid sore Throat & was confin’d to his Chamber a week. he had a Fever & a very bad throat & Tongue, but by constant attention & the blessing of Heaven he soon recover’d & has been very well Since he has lost but one Tooth with us. I will take all the care I can to make them both keep them clean
Of George I cannot say enough—his Capacious Mind is ever craving knowledge—& his quickness of apprehension renders it a pleasing Task to afford him all the assistance in our power. History is his favourite Study he reads it almost every evening to Me & sometimes Suprises me by his judicious observations. Mr Cranch converses with him often upon such Subjects & he forgets nothing that is told him. when hearing his attitude is attention itself. there are many things in his Manner: & Temper which yet want to be corrected, but I think we gain upon him in both. there is no one can make more good resolutions than he does, as his reason ripens they will I doubt not be executed. one evening when reading the chapiter in the Bible from which he has quoted a verse in his Letter to you, he sprung up & said, “That is just like me aunt” I told him if he thought so he now had a subject to write to you upon as you had said he must mend of all his faults. the Ideas in his Lettes are all his own. I only help’d him to arrange them a little better than he had done he did not like to send it unless I would—he was detain’d from School a Month by a Sickness in mr Whitneys Family—it was a dreadful Fever which he had first himself but lightly. his youngest Daughter was soon after taken with it & dy’d. then his Son & two of his west India Scholars one of which dy’d & no one expected for a long time the life of his son, but he has recoverd & the Family are now all well. in the midst of the sickness mrs Whitney was put to Bed with a Daughter. they had a most distress’d Family for many weeks—
our children are all well. mrs greenleaf has another Son—we have just receiv’d mr Adams Lectures for which we sincerely thank him. the good effects of them are very visible at Cambridge they will be a Treasure in any Library. George is reading them, when he will get thro I know not. for his Notes are longer than his Fathers Text. will you present him my most respecful & affectionate regards within, & accept for yourself Sistir & mr Smith little charles included, the best wishes of both mr Cranch & your / affectionate Aunt
Mary Cranch


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to William Smith Shaw, 23 January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Shaw, William Smith

my dear William
Quincy Janry 23. 1811

I desired Louissa to call and See you, and to tell you that I would Send for you to Quincy if you was able to come out. She writes me that your buisness is such that you think you cannot come. a Sick Man Should lay asside all buisness if possible. you had better do so for Louissa Says you was too Sick to remove at present but as Soon as your dr will permit you to come, I have a chamber and fire at your Service and a Number of Nurses who will attend you, and one who knows from sad experience how to Sympathize with you. Mrs Dexter too will be ready to do you any Service—I fear you cannot be So well accommodated at a Boarding house. I wish I was near you. Mr J Adams is confined with the Same Complaint—
I am dear William your affectionate
Aunt Abigail Adams


Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 25 January 1811
From: Adams, John
To: Adams, John Quincy

N. 2
My dear Son
Quincy January 25. 1811

Mr Erving, our Minister destined to Copenhagen, has already a Letter for you from me and others from your Mother and politely offers to transmit this as he may have opportunity, and expresses a desire to manifest his high Respect for Us and for you, upon greater Occasions.
I am ashamed to Number my past Letters to you, they have been so few, but this is the Second at least Since this year came in.
Our Massachusetts orator Mr Quincy is displaying his Eloquence and Zeal in the great Counsel of the Nation: and although our Friends Fame and Popularity with his Constituents will be promoted, it is doubted whether The Public Good will be So much advanced. There are So many Seeds and Elements of division, that it is unnecessary to multiply them by premature Threats which will not intimidate and which may perhaps be soon reciprocated. Quincy is very clever: but I cannot read a Word without regret that glances, at a dismemberment of the Union though ever So remotely or obscurely. The dangers to American Liberty will be increased beyond all Mr. Ames’s Imaginations and the Independence of both Parts of the Division would be totally lost, by a Sepearation.
Our Legislature met on Wednesday. Mr Story is Speaker, instead of the Attorney Gen. Mr Morton: and I know not that We have had a more accomplished Speaker, Since the Revolution. Mr Lincoln is Judge in place of my much lamented Friend Cushing, and I know not that We could have had a better unless you had been at home.
Called down to Mrs Cushing, and Mr Sumner, who are going to Situate, Sumner produced me the Palladium, Repertory and Chronicle. The two first have learned the Art of Panegyrick from you and Trumpett away the Praises of Quincy’s Speech, beyond Huperbole. “The most wonderful Speech that ever was delivered in any Assembly” &c The Chronicle abuses it and him. Says it was made and sent him from Boston, &c Quincys Ambition like all other Ambition is boundless, and he has Talents and Advantages that will raise him to Fame if his Constitution Should not fail him. He takes some of your Ground in the Louissiana Question, but not all of it.
The Terror of “Offence to Spain, France and England” is introduced upon this Question as upon all others: but I believe We must claim our own, let any or all of the three like Us or not.
This Subject and the Bank and the Non Intercourse with England are Setting Us all on fire. We Shall have amusement enough, and that We may have it from the Fountain I have Subscribed for the National Intelligencer. The first Number of it, brought me the debate upon Mr Pickerings Conduct. It is well to inforce the Observance of their Injunctions of Secrecy: but I cannot See any Thing very heinous in Pickerings Conduct in this instance. They Should have begun with Stevens Thompson Mason.
While I have been writing this Letter the affecting and afflicting News has been brought me of the Sudden Death in a pulmonary Fever of our Cozen Mrs Norton, leaving Eight Children to deplore the Loss of her tender affections and her Excellent Instructions in their Education. The Family and all ours will be greatly distressed by this melancholly Event. I dread the Effect of it upon your Uncle and Aunt Cranch: and your Mother takes So deep an Interest in all Such distresses of her Friends that I am not without Apprehensions for her.
Our Friends and Acquaintance fall around Us like the Leaves, and my turn is not yet come! Whenever it may arrive, and whatever deprivations I may be called to endure, I pray God to bless you and yours to whom I Send my Love as well as my Blessing. George and John are delighted with their Letters from their Parents and their Brother.
I am your affectionate Father
John Adams.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 26 January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, John Quincy

No 2—
My dear Son
Quincy Jan’ry 26 1811

I have already written to you twice by this opportunity. I had not intended to have taken my pen the third time, but having received intelligence from Washington which I wish’d might be communicated to mrs Adams, and her Sister with that prudence and tenderness which so distressing an event calls for I thought it best to communicate to you the Sudden death of Mrs Hellen, who was at Church on Christmas day; and burried on the New year. She died in Child bed. I have not yet any Letters from the family. I wrote immediatly to mrs Johnson, who I know must be overwhelmed with Grief as well as the whole Family, with whom as well, as with my dear daughter & her sister I do most tenderly Sympathize. “My dyeing Friend’s come o’er me like a cloud” for these three Months past, the Aged, the Middle Aged, and youth & Infancy have followed in quick succession—I had scarcly wiped the tears from my Eyes, feeling as I have done the distress of my Friends in Washington, when a stroke nearer home cloaths me in mourning
The death of Mrs Norten is almost as sudden as that of Mrs Hellen, not 48 hours from the time she was first attackd, before her blessed spirit winged its way to Realms of Bliss; then why Should I mourn for her? here she had little health much care, anxiety, and more labour, than her poor Frame could Sustain. To her family she is indeed a loss; her prudence her Eoconomy, sustaind them in credit. her counsel & example trained them up in the way in which they should go.
“what tho’ short thy her date,
“virtue, not rolling Sun’s the mind matures.
“That life is long, which answers life’s great end”
your uncle and Aunt, feel keenly this distressing event, but as Christians, they say the will of the Lord be done.
Say to your wife, that I enter into her grief, and most tenderly sympathize with her, and Kitty;
However we may live there is not any Religion by which we can dye die, but the Christian which gives us the glorious prospect of Life eternal. If Says the Apostle if “in this Life only, we have hope; we are of all men the most misirable.
Religion! Providence! an after-State!
“Here is firm footing; here is solid Rock
“This can support us;
“His hand the good man fastens on the Skies,
“And bids Earth, roll, nor feels her idle whirl”
I have no hope of hearing again from you for many Months. what other changes await us in that period is known only to that Being, “whom from all Creatures hides the Book of fate” Whilst we are directed so to number our days, as to apply our hearts into Wisdom and may this Salutary admonition, be duly impress’d upon the mind and heart of / your affectionate / Mother
Abigail Adams


Title: To John Adams from Josiah, III Quincy, 29 January 1811
From: Quincy, Josiah, III
To: Adams, John

Dear Sir.
Washington. 29th. Jany. 1811.

I have the very great pleasure to acknowledge your favour of the 15th. Inst. Be assured, Sir, that I appreciate the honour of your correspondence; and that it will be a precious reward to cultivate and deserve your esteem and confidence. “The uncertainty of politics” is, indeed, as obvious, as it is lamentable. I cannot, however, unite with you, in applying to it the epithet “glorious.” It is to me, a most humiliating and depressing fact.—Since there are no guides, which are infallible, whom shall we follow? Since there are no principles, which seem, absolutely, settled, what foothold has reason, on which it may tread with firmness? All the lights of reflection fail, all those of history are extinguished, at the breath, and the bidding, of the spirit of party. The wisdom, which our fathers taught us, is despised. And the liberty, with which you, and they made us free, is little else than a cloak for licentiousness. Temporary projects supersede all the prospective duties, resulting from permanent relations. And the pride and patronage expected from an extensive territory are taking place of that consolidating and masculine course of policy, which distinguished the two first administrations. I know not what fates await us. And, in the mysterious course pursuing, I can see no other way than to cast anchor upon long established principles and trust my own, and my country’s fortune, so far as any agency of mine has an influence upon it, to their firmness.
You will easily perceive, and I shall not conceal, that the course of my reflections has, in some degree, been shaped by the very responsible stand I have taken against the admission of New Orleans, as a state, into the union. My remarks, on that subject will, probably, have reached you, through the papers, previously, to this letter. I should have had the honour of transmitting them to you, personally, and I shall soon, but I have been waiting for a copy from Baltimore, where I am told they are publishing, in a better type than that of our ordinary newspapers.
Everything of this kind, now-a-days, takes a party lurch, and is attributed to party projects. Yet the truth is that the ground broken by me was as little anticipated by any one of my own, as by any of the opposite. Whether right, or whether wrong, I was irresistibly driven to it, by a sense of duty to my country. This I have followed instinctively, and shall, let it lead me where it will, and let me it run me foul of whom, or what it will. If the consequences I have there drawn be not true. If the anticipations be not real and reasonable, I confess, that the guides of my mind are deceptive, and that the lights, heaven has set up in it, afford no distinct vision of things. I have not expected, nor do I expect, that the ground there defended will speedily be popular. The evils are distant, at least, twice the length of the nose, and that is half as far again as the majority of those, who call themselves politicians deign to examine. The expressions, at which exception was taken were selected, and the event, not altogether unanticipated. My determination was to mark the opposition to the bill, distinctly, in the public mind; and oblige it to be attentive to the subject. I have thus far attained my end. As to the rest I am indifferent.
The opportunity your letter gave me has drawn me into this explanation. But it is without any design to attract a reply from you on the topick. You may not incline either to censure, or approve. This, however, was a case, in which my own sense of duty was so clear and so imperious, that, let whatever be the event, I can have no regret. I write to you, with the more frankness, because, Sir, I confess, there has always been towards you, and yours, something of the filial and fraternal, in my feelings; and whatever casual differences may arise , should any, ever, exist, they can never affect the pride I feel, in my sense of your friendship or the very great respect with which I can never cease to be your obed. and very hble St.

Josiah QuincyPlease to present me very respectfully to your lady & family.


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 January 1811
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

N. 13
St: Petersburg 18./30. January 1811.

I wrote you on the last day of the old year, Old-Style, and sent my letter under cover to Mr: Russell our Chargé des Affairs at Paris—It went by a Courier of the French Ambassador, and I requested Mr: Russell to forward it by the earliest opportunity to America—I shall send the present by a Gentleman who is going to Copenhagen; and shall desire to have it forwarded from that place, or from any other whence a good opportunity may happen to present itself.
I begin with the best news that ever can be given to distant friends; by the information that we are all well—My wife was much indisposed for two days at the close of the last week, but is now thank Heaven, recovered—Charles grows like a mushroom, and chatters a compound dialect of French, German and English, which I hope will save him one of these days the trouble of beating either of these languages into his head with the grammatical hammer—
We have gone through all the days of troublesome Ceremony for this Winter—The New-Year’s day Court, and Evening Mascarade—The benediction of the Neva-Waters, on the 6th: and the Empress’s Birth-day on the 13/25—They have been this year less troublesome than usual having been abridged of one tedious Ball.
The new year commenced by the burning down of the principal theatre in this City—The fire broke out about 2. O’Clock in the Morning, and in two hours time the whole interior part of the building was demolished. French and Russian plays were performed at this house alternately two Evenings in succession—
We have had hitherto no weather severely cold this winter—But for the last two months we have scarcely had sight of the Sun—The only fair weather they have at this Season of the year is that of extreme cold—That is generally attended with sun-shine, and without wind
There is not much prospect of Peace between the Russians and Turks; but they are in winter-quarters and do not fight—Whether they fight much in Spain and Portugal, you probably hear more fully and sooner than we do here. As the French who are the allies of Russia are very much detested by them, we have about twice a week reports that Massena has been totally defeated—By the time one such Report cools down into a Fable, there is always another ready to take its place—On the other hand the french official gazettes which we receive here fresh and fresh, are continually boasting of their successes against bands of Banditti, in all the provinces of Spain; and one of the latest accounts I have seen was to tell how Marshall MacDonald, a Duke and a Commander in chief of a French Army, succeeded in covering a convoy of Cattle from Girona to Barcelona, to supply that place with provisions—Which shews pretty clearly what sort of a conquest of Spain the French have to boast of.
It is a vulgar french proverb, that appetite comes by eating,—the Great Napoleon had scarcely swallowed Holland before he found his stomach craving for more—He then took a part of Switzerland, because he says he made a road through the Country, and the People have not paid for it; but he tells his Senate that when he gave a Constitution to the Swiss he foresaw that France would soon want that part of the Country, and so seperated it from the Confederation, that it might always be ready to be incorporated at a minutes warning. Last of all he has annexed the Hanseatic Cities and a great part of his brother Jerom’s kingdom of Westphalia to France, which his Counsellors of State say is indispensably necessary, because England refuses to revoke her orders in Council.—One of them makes no hesitation of saying in the face of the world, that “the Will of Napoleon will always be a decree of Fate”—There is but one step from this to the horns of Jupiter Ammon.
When we turn back our recollections merely to the years from 1790 to 1795, and observe what is now passing, on the Continent of Europe, it is hardly possible even for those who saw how much of error, and of imposture there was in the first days of the french Revolution, not to behold with some surprize the machine of the present day managed by the same identical men who were then the loudest proclaimers of liberty, equality and the rights of the People—The mire of the streets is not so vile as the People, and whatever belongs to the People, in the estimation of their present masters—But the fashion of anarchy and mob-government never lasts long—The dominion of military despotism, once established may last for thousands of years—
As there is nothing like civil or political liberty left upon the Continent of Europe, it does not seem to be of much consequence to whom the People belong—But the great misfortune is that as the system of future Government which is organizing for them rests upon nothing but military power, its tendencies are not only to rivet the most oppressive kind of slavery upon mankind, but to open before them an endless prospect of inevitable War.—If all the Conquests of France could be accomplished like those of Rome and Holland and the Hanseatic Cities, by the mere drawing up of a Senatus-Consult, it would no more be worthy of a rational man’s consideration than it was of the Republicans of Amsterdam, whether they were to have a king Louis or an Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, Duke of Plaisance, to administer their affairs.
Although we have letters from Washington to the 3d: of November, and have heard indirectly to the last of October from Boston we have nothing from you, or from any part of the family of a more recent date than the first week in August, and my latest date from my brother is still in May. We are now deprived of the Intelligence which in the summer Season we get from the Newspapers—As to American Politics since the 4th: of July we have heard no-more of thm than of the Politics of China. I wish to learn how the Elections for the next House of Representatives in Congress have turned out.
I beg you to present my dutiful remembrance to my father, and to give my blessing and their mother’s to my dear Sons George and John—I am in daily expectation of receiving a letter from George of his own writing; and by this time I hope John is beginning to learn to write too—I long to see them and you, but fear I shall not yet enjoy that pleasure the present year—Whether absent or with you, I am and shall be, ever your’s
A.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

my dear sister
January 1811

Mr Lincoln our Carpenter came this morning from Weymouth he saw mrs Humphries who watchd last night with Mrs Norten. She Said that mrs Norten was a little revived this morning I hope with trembling—may we be enabled to say Gods will be done for herself we need feel no anxiety. She will be relieved from her Earthly duties which Seem too great for her feeble Frame  frame but for her Friends and relatives we have reason to mourn—
Yours everA A

Nancy Howard will watch to night. I will Send her to you She has been much with the Sick with mrs Field and mrs Adams


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

my dear sister
January 1811

It is a great grief to me my dear sister that I can do So little for you in your trouble when I owe So much to you. beside being much of an invalid myself Jackson is very Sick keeps his Bed—and a thousand cares devolve upon me in concequence of the Sudden determination very reluctantly enterd into from a sense at this late period, without any previous arrangment. but all this is Small in comparison to leaving mrs Norten and you Sick—Becky will watch with you to night—I Send some wine for mrs Norten, and pray you to Send me your demijohn
Mrs Smith and Betsy Howard are gone to Town to day I have to prepare ten of us to go away—a new coach man to Seek—I did not design you should have had any intelligence about it, but mrs Smith Says She told you on Saturday. pray let me aid you with any thing I have that you want—


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, January 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Cranch, Mary Smith

my dear Sister
January 1811

How are you to day? have you heard from weymouth? I send you a Barrel of pears and a Barrel of Russet Apples. if you have them put under your corn House untill the weather freezes they will keep better I also ask your acceptance of a Barrel of Rye flower—I hope I Shall be able to See you tomorrow: I am taking calomil to day—I Send the Linnen and my two Trunks which you have always been So kind as to take care of
Your truly affectionate
A A


Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 4 February 1811
From: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

St Petersburg Febry. 4th 1811

After so long a silence my dear mother I scarcely know how to address you without troubling you with complaints of your not writing.  since July I have not received a line from you our solicitude and anxiety to hear from you adds terribly to the tediousness of our banishment and render my residence here almost insupportable—
It is here confidently reported that Mr Adams is shortly to be removed to France I however put no faith in it and it is far from my wish as it universally said to be the most unpleasant and expensive residence for a Foreign minister in Europe in addition to which having become reconciled to the manner of living here and being comfortably established and recieving the highest distinctions at Court I should prefer remaining here untill I return home but you know my dear mother in these arrangements I am perferfectly neutral and shall always cheerfully acquiesce in such plans as Mr A. deems most advantageous—
Permit me my dear Mother to repeat my thanks for the obligations you are continually laying me under for your kind care of my darling Children as also to all the family to whom I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude Offer my most affectionate respects to the President, and all our dear friends with repeated Kisses and every good wish to our darling Children Charles sends his love to them and says he wants to see them very much in which he is most heartily joined by their most affectionate mother and your grateful daughter
L C A—


Title: From John Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 9 February 1811
From: Adams, John
To: Quincy, Josiah, III

Dear Sir
Quincy February 9th 1811

I have received with much pleasure your favor of the 29th of January. Before I proceed, let me premise a few preliminaries.
1. I disdain all pretentions and Thoughts of Authority, Superiority or Influence arising from Age, Experience or any thing else: and expect and desire and insist that you give no more attention or respect to any opinion of mine than if it were the opinion of the celebrated Sexton of our Church, Caleb Hayden.
2. That difference of opinion make no unnecessary Alteration in private Friendship. In the course of my Life I have differed in sentiments in Religion and Politicks from my Master Putnam and my Master Gridly and fifty others of my Friends without any diminutions of Esteem or regard. I have differed for many years in Political Sentiments from your Grandfather, your Uncle Samuel, your Cousin Jonathan Sewall, Daniel Leonard and some others the most intimate Friends I ever enjoyed, without the smallest personal Altercation, and I am bold to say without a diminution of Esteem on either side. I might enumerate a long Catalogue of others in Subsequent Periods; but you will think you already have enough of my gossiping Garrulity.
Now for your letter. When I applied the Epithet “Glorious” to the uncertainty of Politicks, I meant it ironically, as We say the Glorious uncertainty of the Law Those who smarted under the Lash of the Law probably applied it sarcastically to the Lawyers, as the Frogs said to the Boys who pelted them It is sport to you, but death to us.
I ought not to object to your Reverence for your Fathers as you call them, meaning I presume the Government and those concerned in the Direction of public affairs, much less can I be displeased at your numbring me among them. But to tell you a very great secret, as far as I am capable of comparing the Merit of the different Periods, I have no reason to believe that We were better than you are. We had as many poor Creatures and selfish Beings, in proportion among us as you have among you: nor were there then more enlightened Men, or in greater Number in proportion than there are now.
“Heaven from all creatures hides the Book of Fate” “Le grand Rouleau in haut” cannot be read by our Telegraphick Telescopes.
Should I let loose my Imagination into futurity, I could imagine that I foresee Changes and Revolutions, such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard: Changes in forms of Government; Changes in Religion; Changes in ecclesiastical Establishments; Changes in Armies and Navies; Changes in Alliences & foreign Relations; Changes in Commerce &c &c &c without end.
I cannot see any better Principal at present, than to make as little Innovation as possible: keep Things a going as well as we can in the present train.
The union appears to me to be the rock of our salvation and every reasonable measure for its preservation is expedient. Upon this principle I own, I was pleased With the purchase of Louisiana: because Without it we could never have secured and commanded the Navigation of the Missippi, and Without the Navigation of the Missisippi, the Western Country Would infallibly have revolted from the Union. Those states would have united with England or Spain or France, or set up an independence, or done any Thing else, to obtain the free use of that River.
I wish the constitution had been more explicit, or that the states had been consulted: but it seems Congress have not entertained any doubts of their Authority; and I cannot say that they are destitute of plausible Arguments to support their opinion.
Your Eloquence and oratory upon this question are worthy of your Father, you Grandfather, and your Great Grandfather. you spoke your own sentiments, I doubt not, with Integrity, & the sense of a Majority of your immediate Constituents, and will not only increase your Popularity with them, but extend your fame as a statesman and an orator. But will not influence at present the great Body of the people in the nation.
Prophecies of Division have been familiar in my Ears for Six and Thirty years. They have been incessant but have had no other effect, than to increase the attachment of the People to the union. However lightly we may think of the voice of the People, sometimes, they not unfrequently see further than you or I, in many great fundamental questions. And you may depend upon it they see, in a Partition of the union, more dangers to American Liberty than poor Ames’s distempered imagination conceived, and a total loss of Independence for both Fragments, or all the fragments of the union.
But I was about saying a word upon the constitution. You appear to be fully convinced that the convention had it not in contemplation to admit any state or states into our Confederation, than situated without the limits of the thirteen states. In this point I am not so clear. The Constitution it is true must speak for itself and be interpreted by its own phraseology: yet the History and state of things at the time may be consulted to elucidate the meaning of Words and determine the bona fide intention of the Convention. Suppose we should admit for argument sake, that no member of the Convention foresaw the purchase of Louisiana: it will not follow that many of them did not foresee the necissity of conquering sometime or other the Floridas and New Orleans and other Territories on this side the Missisippi. The state of things between this Country and spain 1787 was such as to render the Apprehensions of a War with that Power by no means improbable. The Boundaries were not settled, the Navigation of the River was threatened; and spain was known to be tampering and England too
You think it impossible the convention could have a Thought of a War with Great Britain and the conquest of Canada In this point I differ from you very widely. The conduct of Great Britain and the conduct of our states too was such as to keep up very serious Apprehensions between the two Powers. The Treaty of Peace Was not fulfilled on either side. The English had carry’d away the Negro’s in direct violation of a most express stipulation. They held Possesion by strong Garrisons of a long chain of posts Within our Territory commanding many nations of Indians among whom they excited dispositions hostile to us, the limits were not settled against Nova Scotia, & many Turbulences between the inhabitants arose. On the other side the old debts were not Paid and positive laws existed in many if not most of the states against their recovery. I therefore think it highly probable that the convention meant to authorize Congress in future to admit Canada and Nova Scotia into the union in case We should have a War and be obliged to conquer them by kindness or force.
As I love a Freedom and boldness in debate, I was sorry to see the Personalities against you and your constituents: yet I think Mr: Poindexter and others have offered arguments in answer to you of great Weight.
The Precedent in the admission of Vermont I have not seen answered.
With Thanks for the Documents you sent me and with one petition for a favour I Will conclude: The favour is that you would be so good as to advance five dollars for me to the Editor of The National Intelligencer, as I am a subscriber for his paper and I Will repay you the moment I see you or send it to your Lady as you please.
I am / Sir your obliged Friend

John Adams.


Title: From Count Romanzoff to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 10 February 1811
From: Romanzoff, Count
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

10 Feb. 1811  o.s.
Le Comte de Romanzoff, Chancelier de l’Empire, prie Madame d’Adams de lui faire l’honneur de venir souper chez lui, le Vendredi 10 Fevrier à 10 heures.
R. S. L. P.


Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 13 February 1811
From: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

My Dear Sister,
Atkinson February 13th. 1811.

The Time since I have written to you, I acknowledge is too long for One, whose Heart is deeply interested for all her dear Relatives, whose Memory loves to dwell, & delights to linger, where walk the smiling Virtues, in their most dignified, attractive, & lovely Form.—For several weeks past, I have been examining myself, to know from what Cause I kept Silence.—Though many Pleas were brought forward, to satisfy my Conduct—alledging that I had been sick, had many Cares—was surrounded by some vexatious Scholars, whose noisy Tongues were Rebels to all Thought, & calm Reflection—& those who were good, required much of my Time, & attention—that it was cold weather, & had not any convenient place for Writing.—Yet, all these Attestations, however true, did not satisfy Conscience—So poor Pilgrim, was arraigned at her awful Bar—And could you believe it—She brought in her ever righteous Judgment—& declared it was Pride—Erring Pride—Fear, Shame, & Procrastination were found to be its powerful Accomplices—which had opposed my Duty, & had prevented my writing to my dear Sisters—Whose Partiality, & Affection had led them too highly to appreciate the Ebulitions of my Pen, & the arrangement of a few Thoughts, the seeds of which were sown by my earliest Friends, by whose genial warmth, & fostering Hand, the “young Ideas were taught to shoot”—But since, have been so choaked by the rubbish, anxieties, Sorrows, & Cares of Life, that I can only here, & there, collect sometimes a few straggling Flowers, which Fancy throws in my way, & in there humblest, simplest Garb, present them, as Emblems of my Gratitude, that the Soil is not yet wholly impaired—
I confess my Vanity was flattered by the good opinion my Sisters had expressed for me, so far as made me fear to write, lest I should sink in their Estimation. Ashamed to give cause—I delayed—Not considering that the Indulgence of One Error, was the Introduction to many—& that our feeble, imperfect Endeavours to perform our Duty, shewed a better Heart, & must be more acceptable, than a total neglect—
Thus, was I communing with myself, & reasoning on, when the News-paper was presented to me, announcing the Death, & time of burial of our beloved Niece.—All Pride, & Vanity, was in a moment hushed—Affected by the solemn Tidings, I felt no disposition, but that of Compasion, & Tenderness for the bereaved Family, & an ardent desire to do all in my power to pour the balm of consolation into the wounded Hearts of my dear venerable Brother & Sister Cranch, by calling into view, the many Virtues of their deceased Child.—Her bright Example, never to be forgotten, of early Piety—how soothing—Her devotedness to God, which evidently shone through every period of her useful Life, must serve to assuage their Grief, calm, & ameliorate their Sorrow—They cannot mourn as those without Hope—Hope, that She is safely lodged above these rolling Spheres—in realms of Joy, & Peace.—There, I can contemplate upon her with Delight—
“There thy bright Train, immortal Friendship, soar,
No more to part, to mingle Tears no more!”—
And I humbly hope, that through the merits of a Redeemer, & the sanctifying Influences of the blessed Spirit, we may be prepared for an heavenly Inheritance & join her blest Society, with “Saints made perfect”—Yes!—this is a consoling Thought, a pleasure pure in which no Evil lurks—& for which no earthly Treasure could compensate.—
Our Duty now, points to the living—to soothe the afflicted Husband—to comfort, to advise, & aid the bereaved Children.—While a gracious Providence is pleased to continue the lives of their Grandparents, they will scarcely feel their Loss—They have always done much to lighten their Daughters Burthen, but now there must be such an increase of Care, as I fear will be too heavy for their advanced age to Support—As necessity calls, may their Strength be proportionate, & their precious lives be protracted as a blessing to all—I wish it was in my power to take one of the little Girls, & for the present, give our dear Sister, some relief—most gladly would I do it—I wish I did not live so far off—
To lose such a Sister, as you describe Mrs Hellen, to have been, is a most melancholly Circumstance to an Orphan Family—Though we should endeavour to acquiesce in the rectitude of the divine Government, & be sensible that we are surrounded with innumerable unmerited Favours, yet, “Sighs, might sooner cease, than Cause to Sigh. for, Man is born to Trouble, as the Sparks fly upward”—
We have had here a long Storm, but not extreme cold—Had it come one week sooner, how must it have added to the distress of our Weymouth Friends—An unusual quantity of Snow, is now upon the Ground, Though I find myself feeble, & trembling, yet I desire to be thankful, that we enjoy, all of the family, a comfortable Share of Health—or I know not what we should have done though our people were out with Drags, & eighteen Yoke of Oxen, to clear the Post Road, but still it is dreadful Travelling—May the choicest of Heaven’s blessings be the portion of my revered Brother, & Sister, prays, your
E— Peabody


Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 14 February 1811
From: Adams, John
To: Adams, John Quincy

My dear Son
Quincy. February 14th. 1811

At the Request of Mr Quincy, I inclose to you, his Speech on the Admission of States into the Union which are Situated beyond the Limits of the 13 original Confederates. You will want none of my Comments upon it. Your Authority is quoted in it, in Support of its Principle. The Prophecies of Quincy’s imagination are not altogether chimerical; tho I hope the fulfillment of them is far, very far remote in futurity.
The Career of this Congress is almost at an End. They will leave Us, in as much Uncertainty as ever. They will find in time that a Man without a Fist or an Arm is not a Match at Pugilism for a Man who has two.
As you probably sometimes want Amusement from Ennui and Comfort against Calumnies; and as Public Affairs are above my Comprehension, I will Send you an Extract of a Letter to me from Philadelphia of 27. Jan. which can Surely excite no War in Europe, nor interfere with any mercantile Speculation
“I have finished Reading in Course, the last of the Lectures upon Rhetoric and oratory. The just and often original Reflections which they contain; their Stores of well arranged Learning; above all, the high moral tone upon which they are Set: make them, I think, the best present, which has yet been given; to American Litterature. The youth of Pensilvania, as well as those of Massachusetts, will, I hope Study them as Models of Schollarship and taste; while the incidental Praise which they bestow upon our own Institutions, will Serve as well to engender Patriotism: as the classical Spirit which marks them, through out; cannot fail to awaken, wherever they are read Studied a relish for Letters. I cannot, Sir, adopt the Sentiment, that the Author is too much of a Poet for a Statesman. The Poets are the finest Writers. They are the bet Philosophers too; for theirs is the Philosophy of Nature and the Mind. Their very Art, is Eloquence. If they are not practical Statesmen, they at least know how by their Precepts to form them. I believe it is Johnson who says that the Iliad, is the first Production of the human Mind; and We may ask where is the prose Composition that has lived So long, or in all Ages ranked So high. But Sir, to prove that the two Characters are compatible, I will not longer forbear to Seize the most apposite illustration by taking the Instance before me; where my only hesitation is, whether to place the Schollar before the Statesman, or the Statesman before the Schollar”
“If any Thing could draw together more closely the Cords of our Union it ought to be the Sentiments expressed under this head in the Review of Ames’s Works.
How Sweet is such Praise? It is from The Attorney General of Pensilvania.
If I were a Lover of Snow I would not exchange Climates with you at this time. There is more Snow on the ground than I ever Saw at one time Since the Year forty one or two 47 in the last Century.
The Misfortune of Mr Hilliard has embarrassed the Sale of the Lectures Somewhat
The Loss of your Sister Hellen and your Cousin Norton will affect you very Sensibly. I condole with your Lady and her Sister, with you, I know of no better Reflections upon Such occasions than to remember that Such Bereavements must be Supported because they are inevitable; that they are ordered by a Wisdom Superiour to ours; and that they are intended for our good as well as that of others. Let Us do all in our Power to make them Subservient to our Improvement.
your Sons are well. My Love to W. Smith and my dear little Charles.
your new House in Court Street looks very respectably and has the most commodious offices in Town.
Our Gen. Court have Shewn Moderation as well as The Grvr & Lt Govr. But the House has Sent Home the Glouster half dozen Reps. for Causes which you will See in the Papers. Some Noise will be made; but I cannot think the practice can be tolerated or connived at; that of Bonds conditiond to choose Party Men.
A


Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 February 1811
From: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

Atkinson February 16th. 1811

My Dear Sisters, interesting Letters conveyed by the Mail, were gratefully received by their obliged & sympathizing Sister—As I had not written to you for many weeks, I considered your letters as adding Obligations upon me, not to be remiss for the future,—But you  knew it was not from want of affection, & though you might not suspect the Truth, yet your Candor, always puts the best construction, when no designed Error is evident. Therefore kindly gave me immediate Intelligence of my dear Niece’s Death, & a particular account of the Order, Performances, & Interrment; which must have been peculiarly painful for our dear Sister to have particularized—She, pious Woman, has written to me a most excellent Letter, & exemplified all those Christian Virtues in her Husband & herself, for which they have been so long justly admired, beloved, & revered—
I pray Heaven, their Trials, may not be more, than they are enabled to bear—They were ever fond Parents, & had cause to delight in their Children—In one view it is harder for such to part—But “the Lord gave,” & resumes, when Infinite wisdom sees best—
I am grieved too, to hear of our parental Dr Tuft’s Lethargy—I thought of Him, & knew his benevolent Soul, would wish to afford Mr Norton all the kind assistance in his power, in his time of distress, when Friends are known, & even a small act of kindness sinks deep—
Poor Edward too, was I presume, was worn down with Grief, anxiety, & Cold, which made him so sick—The attending, and standing at the Grave, when a Friend, has been Interred, has often proved the Cause of another’s Death—Mr Nortons Care must be great, & I rejoice that he has a Sister, to be with him, & assist him in his Family—A good Aunt, comes the nearest to a Mother of any one—
And you my ever dear Sister, was brought upon the bed of Sickness, I presume, by your Exertions, to do good Offices to all—I am thankful, you were not long confined—
Your ever maternal Bosom, always devising liberal Things, led you to Boston—O! how kind, & good it was in the President & you, my loved Sister to go & invite my dear sick Son, to your House, to nurse, & place him where he might if possible, find some repose to his distressed Limbs—It is very unfortunate for him, to be deprived of Health—I think he is subject to bad coughs I hope the Rheumatism will not seize upon his Lungs—May is please Heaven, to restore him Soon—It is a painful circumstance that I am not with him, or my Son, here with me—I have written to him last Saturday, & told him, to let me know, if he was worse, & I would come, or his Sister, & she would make him an attentive charming Nurse—She has been so much herself Sick, that she knows how to apply the assuasive balm of kind assiduities—Her health has been better this winter, than in former cold weather—She has had but little pain across her breast this winter—though this long Confinement affects us both—
Through you, my Sister, is the only way, that I can hear from my Son—you will not fail to write me a line as often as you are able—I fear he has not flannel enough—If he would but enclose four or five Dollars in a letter, I would purchase flannel at Haverhill, make him Waistcoats, & Drawers, with pleasure—I wish Mr Peabodys Salary was larger—Then our power of doing kind offices, would not be so circumscribed, as now is / that of your affectionate / Sister—
E—PeabodyPray give my love where due, & write if it is only six lines if you know how my Son does—


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 18 February 1811
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

My dear daughter
Quincy Febry 18 1811

I hope the afflicting intelligence which you must receive from your Friends at Washington, will not be too suddenly burst upon you, but that your best Friend may have been intrusted with it, that he may prepare your mind for the heavey tydings.
I know that mrs Hellen was a dear and favorite sister to you all, and well deserving of your attachment. The circumstances which deprived you of her, were the same which attended the death, of Clopstocks sainted wife.
Whilst I mingle my tears with yours over the Remains of your much loved sister,—I would lead your mind to the only Source of consolation, from whence you can draw comfort tion to sooth and calm your agitated Bosom. To that resignation which teaches submission to the will of heaven, and that confidence in the Supreem Being, which assures us that all his ways are just, and Right, however hidden in mazes, and perplexed to us, short sighted Mortals—it becomes us to say
“Teach us the hand of Love divine
“In Evils to discern
“Tis the first lesson which we need
“The latest which we learn”
I have before written you two Letters by mr Erving our Minister to Denmark. he is so long detaind that they will be old before he leaves here. he has been waiting a month for the ship to come to Newport for him— the weather has been against him for we have had a specimin of a Russian winter, such loads of snow as to break down the fruit trees—and banks which have measured 21 foot. the weather has not been remarkable cold—I commit this Letter to chance. mr Gray will find a conveyance for it
The death of mrs Norten has come very near my dear Brother and Sister Cranch, who never lost a child before. She has left Eight Children. the three youngest daughters—poor Babes they know not their loss—unto heaven I commit them, who has promissed to be the Father of the orphan—
I congratulate you upon the safety of mrs Pope who got to bed of a daughter, the week after the death of your sister, and who with her Babe, whom they call Florida are well—
your sons are also well, and have written to you by mr Erving—
Mrs T Adams Louisa Susan and  all desire to be kindly rememberd to you—sSo does your sympathizing / Mother
Abigail Adams