Title: John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, 2 June 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Johnson, Louisa Catherine

            The Hague June 2. 1796.

          You remember I was ordered peremptorily to be at Gravesend on Saturday morning by ten or eleven o’clock at the latest, though it was impossible for me to procure the necessary order to embark, and of course impossible for me to leave London before twelve. To reconcile the two circumstances was not within my competency, and indeed I think it might be given as no easy task to an abler man. I had besides left so many things undone by the common spirit of procrastination that upon the short notice I received, it would have required not simply the alertness but even the magical powers of an Harlequin to have expedited one quarter part of them so as to be perfectly punctual to the moment of my summons.— As I had however one very good reason to believe my Dutch Skipper would not willingly come away and leave me behind, I set myself about performing my indispensables in the morning so as to step into a Chaise the instant that my order from the Duke of Portland’s office should be delivered me. Among my indispensables I will own to you, was about an hour devoted to a last sitting to Mr: Hull. He has I think as good a likeness as has yet been taken of that original, and you I think will like it better than the large portrait because it is not so much flattered. As soon as it is finished, he will send or carry it to your Pappa, who will doubtless know that it is destined for you. Accept it as a token of an affection which will cease only with the last pulse of the heart of him whose image it is, and may it often meet your eye, with one half the delight which at this instant he derives from a look at the precious corresponding pledge of your regard, which now lies on the table before him.
          Upon a second call at the Duke’s Office, the order for permission to embark was ready, and within ten minutes after, I entered the Post Chaise, half anxious to arrive at Gravesend in time for my opportunity, and half fretting, at the consciousness of an involuntary wish that I might be too late. On arriving at Gravesend at four o’clock I found the vessel, after waiting for me three or four hours had just sailed, but as she was not far advanced, I took a boat immediately, and overtook her about seven miles below.— Our passage was boisterous but not unpleasant and on Tuesday at a similar hour to that on which I had embarked, I landed at Rotterdam.

          In this Country you know, one of the common modes of travelling is in boats drawn by horses upon the canals. These boats follow one another regularly every hour or two from each town to the next. I felt impatient on my arrival, to meet my brother as soon as possible, and therefore immediately took a place in the boat that was coming from Rotterdam.— I had been seated in it but a few minutes, when I was joined by Mr: Bourne, who was just returning from Paris, as I was returning from London, and who was quite surprized to meet me there, the circumstance being equally unexpected to me.
          On the same evening we reached this place, and one of my first enquiries was whether there was any vessel going soon to England. I found there was one waiting only for a wind, and I take advantage of the opportunity to give you this history of my voyage.— You will perhaps think I might have spared myself the trouble, but if I can draw from my own feelings any inference of yours it will not be altogether devoid of interest. I am indeed desirous to hear from you, and I am sure a detail of the minutest and most trivial circumstances in which you have any concern would give me pleasure. Six days have elapsed since I last enjoyed the happiness of seeing you, and in every hour of the time there have been many days.— My Philosophy—I have called that very often to my aid, but it sometimes refuses to come at my call. The tediousness of absence in spite of every consolation will sometimes be irksome, but independent of that sensation, there is something pleasing and grateful in the remembrance of a distant friend.— On my return here I find myself in the midst of business enough, but it will take me some time before I shall be able to bend myself properly to it. My imagination cannot help flying from the flat realities around me to the scenes which have been recently familiar to me, which however highly prized while they were enjoyed, are still more valued now that they are past. I see you sitting on the Sopha with the table before you, working at a Vandyke, and Caroline at the other end with her silken network pinn’d before her, while Nancy calls the very soul of harmony from the forte-piano. I place myself between you, I run a file of spangles upon a needle; I urge you, though without success to produce the long-expected Harp, or to give the graces of your voice to the shepherds charming “pipe upon the mountain.” From thence we pass to the opposite room, where the humorous additions to the Dictionary from one Sister, and the unfill’d outlines of imprecation from another, delight and charm though they cannot inspire the

inflexible dulness of gravity, at your Mamma’s left hand; and at length when the hour of midnight sounded from the unrelenting monitor of the moments past, in spite of reluctance commands my departure, then is the moment for the illusion to vanish, and leave me to that solitude which the pencil of Fancy herself can no longer colour.
          Since my return, I find myself confirmed in the determination to make the remainder of my stay here as short as possible, for I am more firmly convinced that my residence here in my present situation will become insupportable, and the change which alone could reconcile me to it, is still impracticable consistent with the prudential principles which however unpalatable, I must not abandon. I shall take the earliest opportunity of writing to my friends in America, and if I can procure any prospect that will enable me to indulge the wishes of my heart, I shall cheerfully resign a career of public life which can offer nothing satisfactory to Ambition, and which forbids the possession of that private happiness, the first object of my hopes and which you only can confer.
          Remember me with respect and gratitude to your Mamma, and with kind attachment to all your lovely sisters. Tell Nancy that the Rosary and the new Sonatas yet vibrate upon the ears of Mr: Quiz, and Caroline, that he would with rapture hear once more her deep ton’d execrations for the sake of making up all again by a shake of her hand. To yourself, Louisa, say in his behalf every thing that can give you the most pleasing and unmingled gratification, and be assured that however warm and eloquent the language may be it will fall far, far short of the feelings which fill the breast of your ever faithful and affectionate friend

            John Q. Adams


Title: Charles Adams to John Adams, 4 June 1796
From: Adams, Charles
To: Adams, John

            My dear Sir
            New York June 4th 1796

          The canvass of the votes for Senators for this district and for Members of Assembly to Represent the City of New York was finished yesterday by the Statement I send you herewith you will perceive that the politics of this State have begun to run in a vigorous stream in the proper channel. Mr Burr is by this time pretty well convinced that his popularity is much less than he had fondly imagined. All is well. Those who are most acquainted with the sentiments of the people at large predict a federal Representation in both houses of six to one. We already see the benefit of our last census.—
          I met Mr King yesterday he informs me that my brother was nominated by the President as Minister Plenipotentiary to Portugal. There is a report in circulation in this City that Genet is again appointed Minister from France to The United States and that he has instructions to demand ten thousand men to aid the French in the West Indies. such is the report a few days will determine the truth or falshood of it.
          If true we are again plunged into a dilemma. The Minister cannot be received unless we chuse to be a mark for the finger of scorn to point at. There is at present no necessity to comment upon a circumstance as yet unveiled. You friends here are all in good health Mrs Adams joins me in the sentiments of respectful affection to my mother and your self with which I am your son

            Charles Adams.


Title: John Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 9 June 1796
From: Adams, John
To: Adams, Thomas Boylston

            My dear Thomas
            Quincy June 9th. 1796

          It was no longer ago than Yesterday that I received your kind Letter of the 14. of December last, which arrived, after a long Passage, I Suppose, at Baltimore, and came from thence by the Post which carried them to Cape Cod and then returned them to Quincy. We have been anxious on your Account as We had recd no Letter except your Letter of Introduction to Mr De Persyn, and We heard you had been Sick, by a return of your Rhumatism.
          Your Conduct in your new Situation will I doubt not do you honour. I have read Some of your Dispatches with Pleasure and have Reason to believe they have given Satisfaction at Head Quarters. If there is any Thing in which your Brothers Dispatches and yours have been deficient it is in not writting often enough to The Secretary of The Treasury on the Subject of the Loans of Money. This is the most important Branch of your Duties at the Hague, at present as many of the operations of Government may depend upon it.
          Your Brother has had a long Residence in England, but We suppose is returned before this. His Conduct in England has been prudent and cautious, and has given no Uneasiness as I believe to his Employers. He has not been very miserable in London I Suspect: but I hope he has been wise.
          The Treaty with G. B. has exhibited a Phænomenon—It has shewn an Example of Democratical Negotiation with foreign Nations. It has shewn that you may as well commit to Safety, Peace and Prosperity of a Nation to the Winds as to Town Meeting and Newspaper Negotiation, or in other Words to what is called the Public Voice and the public opinion. The Public Voice at last, however, having the President and Senate to guide it has decidedly declared in their favour and the mighty Nothing is no longer talked of.

          I agree with you, in all the Sentiments in your Letter, which discovers a degree of Information and a maturity of Judgment, as well as an Accuracy and Elegance of Style, which comforts a Fathers Heart and cherishes his most flattering Hopes. Even the Hand Writing is a kind of Model.
          I thank you for the Pamphlet, which however is but a mercenary Production of some Rascal bribed to abuse Washington and America.
          Mr De Persyn could not be persuaded to Stay but a day or two in Philadelphia. He had engaged to go into the Interiour of the State of N. York I suppose to look out for a Scæne of Action.
          The Friendship of Professor Luzac, who is one of the most learned and ingenious of Men, as well as amiable virtuous and friendly in private Life, richly deserves your assiduous Cultivation.
          I rejoice with Mr Dumas with all my Heart in his Tryumph. His Learning, Experience and Readiness in Languages may be Useful to you on many Occasions. But you will of Course be upon your Guard against his Prejudices. His Attachments to France and His Hatred to the Stadtholder and his friends are too ardent, to be always implicitly confided in by American Ministers.
          Your Brother and You, I hope are not loosing your Time: but your Letters to me, published in our Newspapers in the form of Speeches in Congress or in a state Legislature would give you more fame than all your Diplomatic Labours. Foreign Embassies, however honourable, have a tendency to alienate a Man from his Country and his Country from him. Mr Otis and Mr Cooper have come forward in Elections, and have got the Start of your Brother who certainly stood before them in the public Opinion. However I believe either of them would be glad to change Places with him.
          I am not acquainted with your Views, Prospects or Designs and cannot venture to advise you. But unless you can make some Advantage for yourself, by your Residence in Europe I cannot advise you to prolong it many Years. All I can Say with confidence is, that whenever you shall find it for your Interest or Convenience to return, you will be received with / Kindness and Joy by your affectionate Father

            John Adams

            Cujacius is arrived at N. York: but I have not seen it.


Title: John Quincy Adams to Charles Adams, 9 June 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Charles

            My dear Brother
            The Hague June 9. 1796.

          I returned here ten days ago from England and have this day received your letter of April 24.th: brought by Mr: Rutgers. He is at Amsterdam, and when he comes this way it will give me much pleasure to see him.
          It gives me the most heartfelt satisfaction to be informed of the prosperous situation in which you are placed; of your present happiness, and future pleasing prospects, and you will not doubt of having my warmest wishes, that your fairest hopes may be realized and exceeded. The pointed contrast in which you have so forcibly and so justly stated my present situation, is felt with peculiar poignancy, at a moment when I have very recently been compelled to make a painful sacrifice of my personal wishes and feelings to the duties of my station and its indigence. I wish not to dwell upon this subject, for as long as it is within my option, to quit the office that I hold, I have no right to complain of any hardships or inconveniences annexed to its possession, I shall probably before long take my determination accordingly. My patriotism is not very deeply concerned in the case. The station of Minister Resident at the Hague may be held, and its functions performed by hundreds of others as well as by me, and in remaining here at the expence of my domestic comforts I have not even the consolation to think that my Country will reap any benefit from my privations. But as a Minister Resident and at the same time a married man, I cannot possibly support expences of absolute necessity upon my present allowance. I have therefore postponed an event, which I most anxiously wish, until I can get fairly rid of the burden of official rank.— In the course of another year I hope to make such arrangements, as will enable me to return home and follow your good example.
          In retiring from the service of the public, I shall of course abandon the subsistence it affords, and must determine upon some particular exertion of my Industry to procure a substitute for it; and the object requires the greater attention as my views will not be confined simply to my own support, but must be extended to that of a family. I shall return in all probability to my old profession, and endeavor to wear off as soon as possible the rust of disuse. But whether I shall again fix myself at Boston or attempt a settlement in a Southern State, remains for my future consideration. I have some

reason for inclining at present towards the latter of these purposes, but as the occasion does not require precipitation, I shall come to my final conclusion at my liesure.
          You have complimented me in very high terms upon the opinion entertained of my official correspondence, and I need not say that it gives me sincere pleasure to hear that it has met with approbation. In my opinion it is entitled to little more than the merit of good intentions, and my own conscience has invariably borne me ample testimony of them.
          The apparent determination of the House of Representatives in Congress to refuse the execution of the British treaty, was known in England before my departure. It produced the effect intended by those who carried it through, that is, alienation, disgust and resentment among those people in England, who are the least unfriendly to us. It will produce doubtless another effect intended, and for which I believe the particular time was chosen for the Resolutions; I mean it will prevent the delivery of the forts. I am much mistaken if the measures that had taken place, just before the date of your letter, were not concerted expressly to answer this purpose.
          That a dissolution of the Union would be the consequence of a war with Britain, I think is very probable, but the dissolution of the union is perhaps rather a subject of hope than of fear to those who are hurrying the Nation to its disgrace and calamity. If there be a frenchman who governs and conducts the party that now commands a majority, you may rest assured that neither he, nor those from whom he receives his impulse, have dispositions at all favourable to the American Union.
          My sentiments I confess are widely different. All my hopes of national felicity and glory, have invariably been founded upon the continuance of the Union. I have cherished these hopes with so much fondness, they have so long been incorporated into my ideas of public concern, that I cannot abandon them without a pang, as keen as that of a dissolving soul and body. Much as I must disapprove of the general tenor of Southern politics, I would rather even yield to their unreasonable pretensions and suffer much for their wrongs, than break the chain that binds us alltogether. For there is no one article of my political creed more clearly demonstrated to my mind than this; that we shall proceed with gigantic strides to honour and consideration and National greatness, if the union is preserved, but that if it is once broken, we shall soon divide into a parcel of petty tribes at perpetual war with one another, swayed by rival European

powers, whose policy will agree perfectly in the system of keeping us at variance with one another, and who will at the same time govern and despise the party they may respectively protect.
          The state of American politics is far from being pleasant, but in comparison with those of Europe they are still promising. The french have indeed performed an uncommonly splendid campaign in Italy, whose princes throughout its whole extent are prostrate at the feet of the Republican Directory. Never was success more complete and unqualified than has hitherto attended them, and the Armies on the Rhine it is said are impatient to imitate their example. The armistice, which has subsisted these five months terminated on the first of this month. The hostilities have already been renewed and some slight actions have occurred already, which may be considered as the prelude of more important struggles. The french are said to be in great force upon the Rhine, and the Austrians have lately been obliged to weaken themselves to recruit the shattered remains of the Imperial force in Italy.
          The commanders in chief of the last campaign on both sides have been removed, and the future Battles will be fought by Generals, who have yet a reputation to make.
          In this Country the people are waiting with as much patience as the National character can bestow, to see how they are eventually to be disposed of by the contending parties. A National Assembly has been in session these three months, the principal object of which is the formation of a new Constitution for the Batavian people. They will if I conjecture right produce a very close imitation of the French example. Federalism is very much out of favour with them; nothing but one and indivisible can suit them.
          In England the new parliament is to assemble in July. The Minister will have as large majorities to sanction his measures as he has had hitherto. He will probably not make peace even if the Emperor should. Proud in the sentiment of his superior naval force, he will set France at defiance, and contend the remainder of the day with her alone. The french on their part will point all their vengeance against Great Britain, and although far from being so terrible to an Island as to the powers on the continent acessible to the March of an Army, they will certainly be formidable foes even upon the Sea. The appearance of a speedy peace between the two Nations is far from being so probable as it was four months ago, though secret negotiations for the purpose may still be on foot.
          A conspiracy against the french Government and Constitution

with the famous Drouet, at its head, has been discovered and defeated within these few weeks. The fluctuation between Jacobins and royalists still continues, and all that can very distinctly be ascertained is, that the present Government will not be much longer lived than its predecessors.
          With my affectionate regards to Mrs: Adams, and our Sister Smith, I remain your brother.

            P. S. I shall at any time be ready for your bill authorized by my letter of Novr. 4 last. I suppose that before this the course of exchange has risen above par. It is no wonder that bills were so low, for nearly 300,000 £ sterling have lately been protested in London, drawn by one company, upon a single speculation. When will our Countrymen learn to grasp at less, and embrace more?
            I enclose you a short extract, which I think very curious from the uncommon force of its application to our own public affairs, at the present moment. I wish our political leaders would condescend to learn a little wisdom from the experience of others.


Title: Abigail Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 10 June 1796
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Adams, Thomas Boylston

            my Dear Thomas
            Quincy June 10 1796

          A Neighbour of ours Captain Richard Beal is going this week to sail for England, and I do not know a more direct conveyance to you. the Communication between America and Holland is not half so frequent, as with England.
          The last Letter which I had the pleasure to receive from you, was dated the 1 of December. Your Father has received two from you of a latter Date, but none Since December. From England I have had Letters to the 30 of March one in which your Brother informs me, that you had been exorcised with a Rhumatick complaint. I hope it did not amount to so severe and painfull a sickness as you experienced in Philadelphia. What a pang does it give to the Heart of an affectionate Mother, who knows too, by frequent experience how distressing the disorder is, to think of a Dear child labouring with pain & Sickness in a foreign Country, destitute of that fostering care and Maternal Solisitute, which would strive to raise the Drooping Head, and lift the pained Limb, and by every kind attention alleviate the languid hour. I hope you found Friends, kind and tender Friends, and that you did not experience what I have felt for you. I hope You will have Some less painfull inheritance than this to recollect your Parentage by, for I sufferd much previous to your Birth from this complaint, communicated it to you, and that without being myself relieved from it. it will always remain with us. you must obtain the best advise, and Gaurd yourself as well as you can, by care and precaution.

          Our Friends here are all well. Quincy dinned with me on Sunday last, and kindly inquired after you. You will learn soon that mr King of the Senate is appointed Minister Plenipo to Saint James col Humphries to Spain, and mr C Gore of Boston commissoner on the part of the united states to adjust the claims on their part with Great Britain agreable to the Treaty. Mr Gore and Lady Saild a fortnight Since. mr Tudor is gone with them, in order to travell, an object he has long had at Heart. his curiosity will Doubtless lead him to visit Holland. if he should I am Sure both your Brother and you, will be disposed to shew him every attention not only as a Countryman, but from his own merrit, from Friendship and affection. I have ever entertaind a regard and attachment towards all those Gentlemen, who once formd a part of my Family, and who received their Education to the Law, from Your Father, but for none, who are now living, more than for mr Tudor.
          The New Appointments will do honour to our Country, and what they lose in one Department they will gain in an other. these Gentleman are all personally known to you, but more so to your Brother. he will receive much pleasure and satisfaction from a free communication with them, and will find them bringing with them Sentiments more according with his own, and juster Ideas of Men & measures, than Some others of his Countrymen.
          The Great Question respecting appropriations to carry the Treaty with Great Britain into Effect has finally been determined, after exciting the feelings and passions of the Nation, untill the people were about to rise “on Mass” quietly however, and constitutionally by petitioning their Representitives to make the appropriations, that the Faith and honour of their Country might not be stained. they were going from all parts of the union, not however from any partial Love or Affection for G Britain, but for our National honour
          The Debates in Congress were long and the Majority whilst it continued so, discoverd a Rancour, and very unbecomeing bitterness. for a long time they flatterd themselves that the people were with them. You never have on any occasion seen so general an anxiety, during this warmth of the publick Mind. two Days before the vote was taken, Mr Ames whose Health has been so much on the Decline, as to oblige him to Silence During the whole session was finally compeld by the importance of the Subject, to hazard his Life: in a Manly Eloquent speach, which did honour both to his Head and his Heart, it was Heard with Silent attention, by a most crouded Audience. it flowed like a stream fed by an abundent

spring, and produced the effect which Lord Bolingbrooke says true Eloquence Does. it gives a Nobler superiority than power which every Dunce may use, or fraud that every Knave may employ. it contrasted with peculiar advantage with some of the Sophistical Harangues which Spouted forth like frothy water on some Gaudy Day, from some of the prateing Members of the opposition. Ames, like Lord Chatham in his last speach, by his particular situation interested all Hearts in his favour. they lookt upon him, as a Man Sacrificeing his last Breath, in support of the honour Faith and dignity of his Country. So great was the power of his plain and Manly eloquence & Pathos, that he melted his audience into Tears, and no American can read the speach without feeling the passions it was designd to move, and the Spirit it was designd to raise. “even Giles confessd, that whilst he was listning to it he forgot the Side he had espoused & the cause he had advocated”
          I presume your Brother has returnd to the Hague. it is the Station he has appeard to be best pleasd with. I wish he may not have Staid too long in England, for the Peac of his Mind and the tranquility of his Heart. from some hints in his last Letters, Cupid has now bent his Bow, nor misd his aim.

            But who is free from Love?
            All space he actuates like Almighty Jove!
            He haunts us waking, haunts us in our dreams
            With vigorous flight bursts through the cottage window
            If we seek Shelter from his persecution
            in the remotest corner of a Forest
            We there elude not his persuit, for there
            “With Eagle wing he overtakes his Prey”

          I hope however my Dear Thomas you will be proof against his Shafts untill you return to your Native Land, and then chuse a wife whose habits tastes & sentiments are calculated for the Meridian of your own Country. may your choice be productive of happiness to yourself, and then it cannot fail to give pleasure to your ever affectionate / Mother

            A. Adams


Title: John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, 17 June 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Johnson, Louisa Catherine

            The Hague June 17. 1796.

          I have just received from my good friend Hall, a Letter of the 8th: instt: which is precious to me not only as it comes from him, but because it gives me the information that you were well. He delights in giving pleasure to his friends, and he knows very well how to do it; for his letter speaks of you, as you deserve, and that could not fail of giving the highest gratification to me.
          The violent storm that blew two days after that of my departure from London, had occasioned as he mentions some anxiety on my account. You had your share of it I readily believe, but I hope and trust you exercised and discovered the species of Fortitude, of which we have often conversed: not precisely what you mean by Philosophy, but a certain strength of mind, which improves and adorns even female sensibility without diminishing its force.
          I know not to what philosophy I can reconcile, what I certainly cannot deny, an involuntary satisfaction which I felt upon being informed that my friends were anxious on my account. As I know that anxiety is an uneasy sentiment I ought to wish that it had not been felt by those I love, and especially that I had not been the cause; but it is a proof of regard, and a selfish feeling is gratified with the proof, without perhaps weighing sufficiently the uneasiness. I am

willing to believe too that the pleasure anticipated from the news of my safety, and the idea of your anxiety being relieved by it had a great share in forming my pleasant sensations, and I am sure that the greatest part of my pleasure arose from hearing that you, and all the family were so recently well.
          I had in fact just got into a harbour where the vessel could lay safely at Anchor when that little hurricane came on; and although I could not get on shore, I could with the same degree of security hear the winds whistle and the tempests roar, as if I had been on the firmest ground. The rage of the winds had therefore no other operation upon me, than to keep me one day longer upon my voyage, and I hope that before this time you have received my letter announcing my arrival here three days after I left London.
          Mr: Hull told me that he would deliver the miniature, in a fortnight at latest after the time when I came away. If he has been as good as his word you have it ere now. I have a curiosity to know whether it meets your approbation. The likeness cannot I think be mistaken. Mr: Hull in his Execution wants a little assistance from the Graces, but in this instance, that deficiency, became a capital qualification.
          I am at this moment looking at Mr: Birch’s young lady, and using all my little eloquence to sollicit a smile from her countenance. It has indeed become one of my favourite occupations. Hitherto she continues inexorable, and seems to tell me, that she knows her power and is sure to please me let her look how she will. So I shall resign the hope of a perpetual smile from the image, and comfort myself with the hope of an occasional one from the original.
          Farewell. Remember me with respect and affection to your Pappa and Mamma, and to your Sisters.— I live yet in hope of hearing soon from you directly, and remain ever faithfully your’s

            J. Q. Adams.


Title: Thomas Boylston Adams to John Adams, 24 June 1796
From: Adams, Thomas Boylston
To: Adams, John

            My dear Sir.
            The Hague 24 June 1796.

          Upon my file of unacknowledged letters, I find three from you, the last of which is of the 7th: April and came to hand on the 21st: instt. The other two are of the 19 September and 13 December of the past year; and were received at a time when the state of my health rendered both mental and bodily exertion almost impossible to me. From the beginning of the last winter until very late in the Spring this painful situation continued, and excepting an intermission of two or three weeks, which proved to be only a transition from one violent disorder to another, I was rendered incapable of paying attention to every sort of business. My public correspondence was dropped and the casual business incident to my station was necessarily postponed, so that when I began to recover my health and to examine the calls upon my immediate attention, they were found too multiplied even to admit a thought of answering my private correspondents.
          I had completed only a part of my labor, when the return of my Brother from England relieved me from my post. His dexterity in the dispatch of business has already made up my deficiency, and enables me to renew my private intercourse with my friends, from whom I fear so long negligence has too much estranged me.
          It is to you Sir, and my Mother that I owe an apology, not dictated by formality but inspired by the most lively regret, that my calamity should be increased by the reflection, that the cause of my inattention towards you might bear an interpretation very different from the reality. I trust however that parental indulgence, however it may have been put to the test, will be satisfied with the assurance that my apparent apostacy from filial love and attachment, did not arise from voluntary omission.
          Having paid this tribute to my feelings, with which my mind has labored for some time past, I shall only add a promise to repair by frequent communications in future the breach which so reproachingly stares me in the face.
          I have accounted to the Secretary of State for the interruption of my correspondence with his Department. I know not that the public service has suffered in consequence of it, but the interesting period in this Country’s affairs, which occurred during my illness, made

me anxious to transmit the earliest intelligence of events preparatory and subsequent to the change of Government which was effecting here. To that point I bent my efforts, and my two letters towards the last of february, were written with a hand nearly unnerved by the Rheumatism, and very soon after I was obliged to cease writing altogether. I was able nevertheless to assist at the ceremony of the dissolution of the States General and the organization of the National Assembly. It was a spectacle in which I must confess I took no small share of interest, and the manner in which it was conducted gave me a very favorable opinion of Dutch decorum. The enthusiastic fervor, which has been so remarkable, for producing movements of violence & tumult, in french popular assemblies, is not an appendage of the Batavian character, and though on this occasion, a little excentricity might have been excusable, the consecration of the National Assembly was conducted with a solemnity equal to that which prevails in a new England Meeting house at the ordination of a Minister. A few sallies of applause, which were indulged by the attendant spectators, were checked at once by an open appeal to order, which has never since been infringed.
          Your letter of April 7th: observes that you had read my dispatches as Chargé d’affaires, with much satisfaction. I appreciate this commendation, or as my Brother styles it, approval, at its true value, but without affectation I may be permitted to add a wish, that they had been more worthy of your perusal and of the Officer to whom they were addressed. If they have justified the opinion, which induced the Government to leave the charge of the affairs of the United States here, in my hands, during the absence of my brother, it is all that I can hope, and more than I had permitted myself to anticipate from them.
          Previous to my illness, I had written only two letters to the Treasury Department; the vessels on board of which they were sent were delayed, nearly three months after their intended departure, by accidents, which happened to them after having put to Sea, & which obliged their return into port. The arrival of one of them is however announced in the American papers, but I presume it must have been after the date of your letter.
          The affairs of that Department were in such a train at the date of my last letter, as not to demand very frequent communications. I should nevertheless have continued to write, if I had been able, but I hope what I did write, will exculpate me from the charge of absolute neglect.

          Vessels going from this Country to the United States are so frequently captured by the British, that letters meet unusual delay in reaching their destination, if they are not actually retained as lawful prize. The contraband information however, contained in mine, will be found comparatively small. The Island itself furnishes the largest supply of materials for the manufacture of that article; and if I mistake not, no small portion of it has been thence exported.
          Several of your last letters remind me, that the period of my absence, as originally fixed before my departure from America, is nearly expired. This circumstance has not escaped my attention, and an explanation of my future views would have been given you at an earlier day, had my resolution been finally taken upon the subject of my return: It is only since the return of my Brother from England, that I have come to a determination in this respect, and I shall communicate it to you with more confidence, as it has the sanction of his counsel and approbation.
          While my brother was yet in London, and waiting for permission to return to this place, it occurred to me, that the delay which those orders experienced in reaching him, could not be altogether attributable to accident; Mr: Pinckney had arrived at London in January, and his return of course left my Brother without a further object for his stay; but as he did not feel himself at liberty to depart thence unless specially authorised to that effect, it was not an unnatural conclusion at the expiration of three months suspense, that the intention of the Government with respect to him was not to direct his return to the Hague. Some other path might also have been marked out for the employment of his services, in which case another person would have probably been appointed to the station he held here. In the interval, I might have been continued as Chargé d’affaires, to be released upon the arrival of a new Minister.
          Under the impression that some such arrangement as this was in comtemplation, I wrote to my brother towards the last of April, and exposed to him fully the conduct, which I had resolved to pursue in case of its being realized. I could not but consider my appointment as Chargé d’affaires during his absence, as having been altogether fortuitous, and however flattering to myself the confidence, which conferred it upon me, I was persuaded that a proper regard to the public service would not suffer the Office of Minister to be long vacant; if however my brother had not returned, nor any person had been appointed in his stead, my resolution was already formed to ask my dismission as soon as possible, both upon motives of a

personal and private nature, as also upon a conviction, that I should thereby best acquit myself of a public responsibility, which I felt to be much above my powers.
          The necessity of making this request is now done away by my brother’s return, and it may be unnecessary to add, that should he again be removed, within the term which I purpose to remain in Europe, that circumstances will of course determine me to abridge it. As I embarked with him upon his mission here, I shall consider the event which terminates that, as an effectual discharge of every obligation to continue here, and my inclination will certainly not frustrate my intention to return home.
          It appears to be the design of my Brother to remain here one year longer, & then to adopt any course which he shall deem most expedient for his future pursuit. He thinks that this period may be profitably employed both by himself and me in our relative situations, and though the business of a Secretary is somewhat of a drudgery, it may not be altogether without its use. In this sentiment I concur, and having familiarized myself with its functions, it has become less irksome to me than it was at the commencement. The benefit of my Brother’s Society is not among the least to be derived from a continuance with him, and though in other respects there are very few inducements for residing here, I am willing to suspend my departure for some months longer, not however exceeding the space of another year.
          Professional pursuits have necessisarily undergone an interruption, since my absence, greater than I could have wished, and of course it will take some time to renew my acquaintance after my return, so as to resume a station at the Bar. My purpose of doing this, has encountered no obstacles to its execution from any prospects that have hitherto presented themselves to my mind in Europe; indeed it has rather been confirmed by a conviction, that the chance of an improvement of that condition is not to be looked for here. When nearly half of the people of this Country are looking towards ours as a contemplated refuge from the oppression under which they are groaning, and the term of whose continuance is not readily foreseen, it may be well imagined that a native American is not in a situation to form projects of advantageous intercourse with any people so well as his own Countrymen. I shall return with this impression, not a littled strengthened, from having seen Europe at this time.
          The critical period in American politics is not yet past, although

some of the means which our enemies, external & internal have employed to disturb our tranquility have proved hitherto unsuccessful. “A bloody and shameless democracy” is still at work among us, and its champions are wonderfully dextrous at expedient. I fear that their opponents in general have not sufficient foresight to contend successfully with them. It is some consolation to me that I have not been obliged to hear the roaring of the storm during its greatest violence; before my return I hope it will have in a degree subsided.
          I am with unalterable respect & attachment, Dear Sir, / your Son

            Thomas B Adams


Title: Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams, 4 July 1796
From: Johnson, Louisa Catherine
To: Adams, John Quincy

            London July 4th 1796

          So totally incapacitated do I feel myself for writing were it not through fear of giving you pain I certainly shou’d indulge my avowed aversion to it and decline the task but judging of your feelings by my own think it incumbent on me to avail myself of every opportunity of testifying my affectionate esteem for you I yesterday received yours of the 17 instant in which you desire my opinion of your Picture I approve the likeness tho’ the complexion is much too dark and the figure altogether too large I have lately been introduced to a Mr. & Mrs: Gore of Boston who say they shou’d never have known it but I cannot allow them to be such competent judges as myself who finds the original too deeply engraven on my heart to admit of a mistake in the likeness Oh Philosophy where art thou

now without thy aid my present sensations will carry me beyond myself and far exceed the limits of my Paper. I will therefore quit this subject.— I am told it is very probable your Father will be the next President shou’d that be the case I shall with sincere pleasure offer you my congratulations. You know my friend I am not ambitious of any thing but your affection and in that my wishes are unbounded
          Mama and Sisters unite in best wishes for your health and happiness for my own I leave you to imagine—

            Louisa Catherine Johnson


Title: Joshua Johnson to John Quincy Adams, 5 July 1796
From: Johnson, Joshua
To: Adams, John Quincy

            Dear Sir
            London 5 July 1796.

          Your favor of the 2d of last Month never came to hand until the 27th. in course I could not but entertain fears that some accident had befallen you or that something was the cause of your silence, the receit of this removed those fears & give us much pleasure in finding you were safe & well— Since you left us Mr. Gore one of the Commissionrs for the adjustment of Captured property has arrived, from him I understand that the conduct of the Majority of Congress is highly approved by the People at large & that all opposition is now likely to dwindle away, altho I am not an advocate for giving the Executive two much Power yet a sufficiency should be placed in their hands to compel the refractory to adhear to the Laws of the Country— It is said here with confidence that the President retires in March, his successor is not determined on tho the choice will fall either on your Father or Mr. Jefferson— I have recved several Letters from Mr. Bourne since his return from Paris in which he expresses his doubts whether he shall be able to leave Europe this Year or not, if he finds so many difficulties in winding up his affairs what must mine be, it is true that I have bent my attention to that end for some Years back & thought that I had nearly accomplished my wishes, but do what I will their is eternally something or other turning up which prevents my departure,—
          I will with pleasure inform Mr. Hall of all direct opportunities offering to Holland, he Supped with us last Night & I informed him of this & requested his Packetts in time

          I have taken a lodgeing at Clapham & the greater part of the Family is their, indeed I have only Mrs. Johnson, Nancy & Carolina at home, they were all very well last Night & Joined with those at home in Affections Compliments to you— Under cover you will find Seven letters for yourself & one for your Brother to whom you will deliver it with my Compliments— I am still tormentd with my Indian Chief she goes down I hope this Day, after She is away I shall have more leasure & you shall hear frequently from my. Dear Sir / Your assurd Friend

            Joshua Johnson


Title: John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, 9 July 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Johnson, Louisa Catherine

            The Hague July 9. 1796.

          I have just received your letter of the 28th: of last month, and though I have not yet read it more than ten or fifteen times, I take the very first moment I have, to reply. I judge of your sentiments from my own, and conclude, that I shall run no risk of writing too often.— Perhaps in this I am mistaken. Perhaps with your aversion to writing, and the ILL-NATURE that the very thought of it inspires, the trouble of answering a letter is more than sufficient to counterbalance the pleasure of receiving it.— But the aversion, and the ill-nature are both things that deserve so little indulgence, that I shall not consult them at-all. On the contrary I shall continue to write as often as possible, and as out of mere civility you cannot avoid writing a particular answer to every letter, I hope you will soon totally conquer the aversion, forget altogether the ill nature, and on the contrary take a pleasure in writing to your friend, corresponding if not equal to that which he feels in writing to you.— It is possible indeed that for some time you will claim the privilege of making your letters short, and I shall have to comfort myself with the reflection that a little is better than none. But the disposition will not last

long, and when the habit of writing is once formed you will find it impossible to sit down and write without giving me at least the sheet-full. Instead of being compelled to write you will take a delight in it: instead of being dissatisfied with yourself and every body, you will find your spirits cheering at every line you commit to the paper, and after it is full, the strings of the Harp, will yield a softer sound, a clearer tone and nicer taste will warble from the voice, and every body around you will share a smile more than usually kind and cheerful.— If you think this description promises too much, only try the experiment with a determination to succeed, and I will warrant its final success.
          I speak with the more confidence, because I am now more convinced than ever that your aversion is unreasonable.— Indeed aversion is not its proper name. The real cause is unquestionably … no. I will not say what it is. The mildest appellation that can be given to it would contain a censure, which my heart refuses to believe, and my pen to write. The only fault I can find with your letter is its shortness. Instead of wishing you had not answered me, I only wish you had answered three times as much; but even for what you did write I thank you over and over again. It is not destitute of elegance, but it has what is a thousand times more precious to me, the assurance of your constant affection.
          You were afraid of looking at my picture, lest you should meet with a frown.— As I was obliged to leave it unfinished, I can hardly tell how it looks, but Mr: Hull promised me that it should be very pleasant; which I strongly recommended. If it partakes of the feelings of its original, I am sure it will be ashamed to frown upon you, or upon your sister Nancy. If it were to undertake to express my affection for you, or my regard for her, I readily believe indeed that in that case, it would find the sentiments altogether unspeakable. They are beyond the reach of any expression that can be given to the pencil the pen or the tongue.
          The unpleasantness of my situation gives you satisfaction.— After having told you in my last Letter, that I had been pleased to hear that you had suffered anxiety on my account, I cannot with a good grace complain that there is more selfishness than kindness in your wishes that I may find it intolerable. It would be far from that if it did not necessarily separate me from you; and as long as this necessity continues, no situation whatever can be agreeable to me. No stimulus will be necessary to hasten our meeting, further than that of my own impatience, and as I can never be happy far from you, it

is a consolation to have the assurance that you partake the same sentiment.
          You will not suppose that after the Society that I enjoyed while in London, I could take much delight in any that I could find here, even if it were more extensive and more brilliant than it is. I see very little of it accordingly. But I feel no other tediousness than that of being absent from you. I endeavour to make up in application to my proper business and the studies to which my situation directs me, for the pleasures of which I am deprived.— I have indeed, I speak it to my shame and confusion degenerated again to my old barbarism in the Article of dress.— I believe the taylor and the dancing-master must give me up, as a man of whom nothing can be made.
          While I was writing this last sentence, a packet was brought me, containing your letter of the 4th: instt:—your aversion to writing again!—but I will say no more on that subject.— This second letter is even more charming than the former one … I am sure if you will only have the resolution to practice a little, you will form a really elegant style. I am no friend to hereditary honours, but am a great partizan for hereditary virtues and talents. With such an example of epistolary writing as you have in your Mamma, it would be unpardonable altogether, in you not to write with elegance; and with your understanding, it would be entirely owing to yourself if you should not.
          I am happy to hear you have been introduced to Mr: & Mrs: Gore, for whom I entertain a great friendship and respect.— Perhaps the reason of their not discovering a likeness in the Picture may be attributed to an alteration in my looks since they saw me. I believe your judgment on this article may be deemed rather more accurate than theirs.
          You tell me you are not ambitious, but will offer me your congratulations, if my father should be placed at the head of the American Government. Indeed my friend that is an high station, but I have no Ambition to see him placed in it. For like all other high stations it is planted with thorns and surrounded with dangers. Besides, the more conspicuous he becomes in the world, the more incumbent it will be upon me to prove myself not unworthy to be his son: I have already an heavy burthen on that account to bear, and do not wish to see it encreased. For myself I am not ambitious of rank, but it is impossible to be indifferent on the point of reputation.
          I must not be unworthy of my father or of my Country. That Country is not esteemed at its true value by the English People. But even there the qualities which are destined to make the American

Nation one of the first upon Earth, will produce their effect in time. I will never lose any of the character which will distinguish the Nation, and as far as may ever be in my power I will strive to promote it. I speak to you with entire confidence because whatever my conduct or my fate may be your interests, are now united to mine, to be separated only by Death.
          I received under the same cover with your letter, one from my mother dated May 20th: from which the following is an extract. “The Cloaks came safe to hand. Mr: Gardner paid particular attention to them. I am much pleased with mine, and so is Louisa with hers. The young Lady who undertook the commission, shews that she inherits the taste of Elegance which her Mamma is conspicuous for. Present my compliments to both, and thank them for me, and tell them that Mr: T. B. Johnson was very well last week, when I received a very polite card from him, in reply to an invitation which I had sent him to dine with me on a particular day.”
          You have no aversion to reading letters, I know, but perhaps the length of this will put your Patience to the test. I will only add my affectionate remembrance to your Mamma and Sisters, with every Sentiment of the tenderest attachment to yourself, from your ever faithful friend

            John Q. Adams.


Title: Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 11 July 1796
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Adams, John Quincy

            My Dear Son
            July 11 1796.

          This is the Aniversary of the Birth which of that Day when as the poet expresses it,

            [“]To Me a Son was given
            Such as in fondness, Parents ask of Heaven.”

          We have in commemoration of it Drank the Health of the American Minister at the Hague nor did we forget to Breathe a fervent petition to Heaven for a perfect restoration of the Health of his equally beloved Brother. I am Maternal Heart of is pained &

distresst to hear of the repeated Sickness of my Dear Thomas. I long yet almost fear to receive a Letter. the climate I apprehend is unfavourable to his constitution. he must return Home. When You take to yourself this Lady, whom you still leave in the clouds to me You will not have occasion for your Brothers Society as you have Done you give Me Hints only. Yes you plainly tell Me in your Last letter May 12, that you are bethrothd, but you leave me to the wide Feild of conjecture, where to fix.
          My own imagination has carried Me to the Family of Mr Johnson. as I have before related to You, I approve of the Young Ladys discretition in sending You to the Hague without her. you should learn to accumulate some solid property before You take upon you the charge of a Family. You are certainly old enough. Your Father was marrid nine Days Younger than you now are, but the Scene before him was a very different one from that which presents itself to you. the Drama opend an arduous strugle at the Bar for the Support of a Family were all his expectations. as he rose soon to Eminence in that profession, I have not a Doubt that if he had continued it for half the term of years which Since have been solely devoted to the publick service, his Property would have been three times what it now is; but the commencement of the Revolution call’d him to the counsels of his Country. the drama opend, and the important parts in which he has been calld to act, are all known to You, but to no other Man of your Age. Military Services make a greater eclat in the world, but no citizen has deserved better of his Country than he to whom— She has given him her confidence she has given him her Honours, but she has not given him wealth believing perhaps with Petrarch, that [“]Virtue has not a greater Enemy than Wealth.” the inheritance of his Children must be his virtues of Much greater estimation to them than the mines of Mexico or peru without them.
          You all My Dear Sons are placed in a conspicuous view, with minds and faculties capable of rising to Eminence. Virtuously Educated, well Principald, you must endeavour


Title: Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Adams, 23 July 1796
From: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw
To: Adams, Abigail

            My Dear Sister—
            Atkinson July 23d 1796

          Your kind invitations would have induced Mr Peabody to have visited you at Quincy had it not now been in the midst of making hay, & the expectation he has of finding his Son in Boston, & taking him home with him in the Chaise— He thinks it will be making a toil of what he should esteem a pleasure, for he could not get back with any comfort a commencement week— If I am well we hope to make you a visit in the Fall, our Boarders term will then be out, & several of them will leave us— It is not convenient, nor expedient to leave a very large Family you well know, I did not intend to have had one again—but they are so solicitous to come into this family that it is hard denying them— Mr Peabody is so much the patron of this accademy, that he will take boarders I fear to his prejudice— He has no house, nor maid extraordinary to hire, if he had he could not board them so low— When I feel tired of the work, I compose myself, with thinking we must all do something for a living, that we were not born for ourselves, that the accademy is of real utillity, & that my Family had all rather toil, than spin—though I think Betsy had better learn, & to cook, & do all kinds of business— Our knowledge of house hold affairs never injured us— I know it is pleasanter to set & sew, than to bustle in the cares of a family—but what would become of yours if you were not to rise out of your chair only at meal times—or what would become of our Children if they did not have our constant care, & attention—
          We have got two very pretty young Ladies—from Exeter, Judge Peabody’s & Mr Deans daughter—they are company for Betsy Quincy, They go to the accademy, & to dancing— William I fear will not be able to reap much advantage from a dancing master— He must endeavour to derive all he can from observation of those who are esteemed the easiest, & most polite in their manners— I have written to him respecting his hand writing. I think he is too careless It is a very necessary & useful accomplishment.— Youth should always covet the best gifts, & strive to excell—
          I hope William will behave well—there are so many temptations to lead the thoughtless & unwary astray, that I tremble for him—many a lovely youth has been ruined— But all are not safe at maturer years— His Cousin J. S. conduct is too attrocious to admit of an

excuse. I do not wonder that milton says, when Sin was introduced, into the world, that all nature gave a groan— What havock does it make—

            “O! Virtue peace is all thy own”

          I intended to have written to Sister Cranch & Cousin Betsy but I have not time— We have no boy, & I am obliged to keep about house. Lydia is not very strong & Miss Polly is gone a great deal, & Betsy must go to School, for I do not mean to cheat her of her learning— It discourages them if they are absent—
          Betsy desires her uncle, & you would accept of her duty & most grateful acknowledgments for all your kindness— Full of the same sentiments of gratitude, I subscribe myself your affectionate / Sister

            Elizabeth Peabody.


Title: Louisa Catherine Johnson to John Quincy Adams, 24 July 1796
From: Johnson, Louisa Catherine
To: Adams, John Quincy

            London July 24th 1796

          How shall I express my impatient anxiety at not hearing from you, five tedious weeks have elapsed without a line to say you are well or that I still retain a place in your remembrance— I learn continually the arrival of the Mails, consiquently am alarmed at your silence— Absence I have often heard is dangerous, were I to judge solely from

my own feelings I should say that little was to be feared, conscious that it strengthens rather than weakens real affection. Alas at this moment I feel an aching void which only a letter from you can remove— You have frequently endeavoured to teach me fortitude, I knew not then how much I should need it and find though I listened to the Teacher I lost the lessons— Would you were here now I think I should be more attentive, yet I sincerely hope never to see you again with a probability of parting I could now say much but must suppress my thoughts—
          Pray let me hear from you as often as possible, in the interim and during life Believe me / Yours Affectionately

            Louisa Catherine Johnson


Title: John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams Smith, 31 July 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Smith, Abigail Adams

            My dear Sister.
            The Hague July 31st: 1796.

          I received a few days ago your letter of April 27th: which was forwarded to me from London. My stay there was much longer than I had expected when I went from this place. I returned here about two months ago.
          The time when you wrote was indeed a critical moment in the state of our political affairs. I was before I came from England witness to the effect produced there by the resolutions past in the House of Representatives in Congress, and which led to an expectation that a resolve to violate the treaty by a refusal to provide for its execution would soon follow; nor am I at all surprised that the general opinion in America was that such a resolve would have produced a war between the two Countries. I have no doubt myself but it would; not perhaps an immediate declaration; but the western posts would have been kept, no indemnity for past depredations would have been procured, and much greater and more extensive ones would have ensued; in the irritated state of the public mind in America, there is no doubt but that such circumstances would very soon have

produced a war, in which our commerce must have shared the fate experienced now by that of France and Holland, and in which we should not have had like France an opportunity to console ourselves for the total ruin and annihilation of our trade by the splendor of victory and conquest by land. We should have lost the blessings of peace, without being compensated by the trophies of war.
          But soon after you wrote, the resolve of the house to make the necessary appropriations made a total alteration in the aspect of our affairs. It restored that confidence in the good faith of the United States, which had been very much suspended for a number of months past; it induced a general expectation that we should preserve our Neutral policy through the whole war, and revived the credit, which had in some degree been affected by the previous occurrences since the last summer.
          I am very sorry to learn that Coll: Smith has suffered so much in his property as you mention by the depredations of the British. Their conduct has indeed been such in many instances as makes it difficult to restrain our resentment within the bounds of discretion. When we suffer injustice we can seldom prevail upon ourselves to reflect that the misfortune proceeded from the inevitable nature of things, and those who enjoy the benefits of Neutrality in a time of Maritime war, cannot be indemnified for the particular and individual losses, either by the general prosperity of the Country or by the consideration that partial depredations have universally been inseparable, from a state of things, which while it encreases and extends the pacific trade of neutrality, necessarily subjects it to the examination of the armed vessels of both parties.—I sincerely hope however, that you will have no vicissitude of fortune to regret; though I do not imagine that in your opinion the happiness of our lives depends upon splendid wealth, yet I am fully sensible that it is painful to reduce the scale of enjoyments to which we have been accustomed.
          I had the pleasure of seeing frequently while I was in England your friend Mrs: Copley and her family. Her son has I suppose already returned or soon will from America. The whole family of Mr: Johnson always speak of you in the most friendly and affectionate terms. They have been these two or three years preparing to go to America, but have not yet been able to get away from England, they still expect to go this Summer or the next, but I am still doubtful whether they will not wait yet another year. The ladies are not so good sailors as you are.

          Our brother Thomas is well, though while I was absent, he had a very severe seasoning to the climate of this Country.
          Remember me kindly to the Coll: and your children, and believe me to be with the sincerest affection your brother.


Title: John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, 6 August 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Johnson, Louisa Catherine

            The Hague August 6. 1796.

          I have just received my lovely friend, your letters of the 24th: and 25th: of last month. I perceive by the former that my long letter of the 9th: had not reached you. I have hitherto written by vessels going directly from this Country to England, supposing that would be the shortest conveyance; but I believe after all the packet from Hamburg is the safest. I will in future write you by that way too. I readily believe your impatience to hear from me, for I have felt all the force of the same sentiment myself.— But never suffer an idea for a moment to enter your mind, that it is possible absence can erase your remembrance from my heart or weaken the affection it feels for you—No, my best friend; to you it is devoted; from you all its hopes of domestic happiness in this life are derived, and while it laments the absence to which we are at this moment condemned, it hopes it will not continue long, and rejoyces in the flattering anticipation that you will soon partake of all its pleasures, and alleviate all its cares.
          I am persuaded it will give you pleasure to know, that your letter of the 25th: was the first to announce me the new appointment with which I am honoured by the Government of the United States. Among many which came together, from my father, from my mother, from the American Secretary of State, from several other friends, In short from all whom I most love and revere on Earth, yours was of course the first to draw my attention and perusal, so that the official Letter itself giving me notice of the appointment, only confirmed the information which your’s had given me already.
          I have just received my lovely friend, your letters of the 24th: and 25th: of last month. I perceive by the former that my long letter of the 9th: had not reached you. I have hitherto written by vessels going directly from this Country to England, supposing that would be the shortest conveyance; but I believe after all the packet from Hamburg is the safest. I will in future write you by that way too. I readily believe your impatience to hear from me, for I have felt all the force of the same sentiment myself.— But never suffer an idea for a moment to enter your mind, that it is possible absence can erase your remembrance from my heart or weaken the affection it feels for you— No, my best friend; to you it is devoted; from you all its hopes of domestic happiness in this life are derived, and while it laments the absence to which we are at this moment condemned, it hopes it will not continue long, and rejoyces in the flattering anticipation that you will soon partake of all its pleasures, and alleviate all its cares.
          I am persuaded it will give you pleasure to know, that your letter of the 25th: was the first to announce me the new appointment with which I am honoured by the Government of the United States. Among many which came together, from my father, from my mother, from the American Secretary of State, from several other friends, in short from all whom I most love and revere on Earth, yours was of course the first to draw my attention and perusal, so that the official Letter itself giving me notice of the appointment, only confirmed the information which your’s had given me already.
          I shall write you soon again, but in order to ensure the conveyance by which I send this letter, I have only time to tell you now, that with the notice of my new destination, I am ordered to remain here in my present character, untill I shall receive further advices.

Certain circumstances make it probable that I shall not be directed to proceed on the new mission for several months to come, and I know not what my orders may be as to the course I am to take. At present I know not of any thing that will prevent me from taking London in my way; and as little as I like that place, I shall anxiously wish to see it once more for the sake of taking you as the companion for the remainder of the Journey or Voyage, and of my life.— I shall inform you as soon as possible, if my Instructions permit me to come to you, as I most ardently hope, and am inclined to believe they will, though it is probable as I observed before that I shall be still detained here untill the Winter or perhaps the Spring ensuing.
          I mention these circumstances to you in the most perfect and exclusive confidence.— Some People say the Ladies cannot keep secrets; but I am convinced the observation does not apply to you.— You will be sensible that when I communicate to you particulars of orders from my Government, I am justified only by the full conviction that it is for you alone that the information can be intended.
          Farewell my ever dear and amiable friend. I shall soon write you more at length: in the mean time remember me affectionately to your Pappa and Mamma, and Sisters, and be assured of the unceasing and unabating attachment of your friend.

            A.


Title: Charles Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 August 1796
From: Adams, Charles
To: Adams, Abigail

            My dear Mother
            New York Augt 8 1796

          This morning about one o’clock My Sally presented me with a charming daughter They are both remarkably well I must insist on your naming the Child which will perhaps be christened at Quincy
          Yours with the sincerest affection

            Chas. Adams

            NB. My Respects to my father—


Title: Abigail Adams to John Quincy Adams, 10 August 1796
From: Adams, Abigail
To: Adams, John Quincy

            My Dear son
            Quincy August 10th 1796

          Since the date of my last July 11th I have received an Authentic account of Your appointment as Minister Plenipo. to the Court of Portugal. it was the last nomination which the President made, before the rising of Congress, and took place after your Father came home, without its ever being hinted to him. the appointment was agreed to as mr otis informs me, unanimously by the Senate. this is an additional proof of the confidence which Your Country reposes in You; and of the approbation of the President, who has thus honourd, and promoted You.
          You will feel it a new incentive to discharge with fidelity the important trusts committed to You and to continue to deserve well of Your Country. I suppose mr King carried out Your commission and instructions.
          The engagements You made in London will lead You no Doubt to go theither, on Your Way to Portugal this new appointment my Dear Son has filld my Mind with a thousand anxieties on Your account. Will the Parents of the Young Lady think it adviseable for their Daughter, at so early an Age, without any knowledge or experience of the World, to be introduced into the Manners Luxeries dissapations and amusements of a foreign Court,? placed in an elevated Station, with examples before her Eyes of a Stile of living altogether incompatable with her future views and prospects in America? She has no Doubt been reard and Fosterd under the Eyes of kind and indulgent Parents, who have given her a Virtuous Education, taught her to Love the Domestic virtues, and at the Same time accomplishd her in Musick Dancing French &c I conceive the Young Lady to be accomplishd both in Mind and person not unfit to grace a Court, but the Question is thus accomplishd: is there not great Danger of her contracting such inclinations, and habits as to endanger her Youth and inexperience, as to unfit her for the discharge

of those Domestic Duties, which cement the union of Hearts, and give it its Sweetest pleasures.
          You know upon what an unstable foundation all the honours and promotion, in our Country rests. You know how inaddequate the allowence to an American Minister is, when compared with those of other Countries, of the same Rank, and You know, what Your prospects are when you return to America. if you were to bring Me Home a Daughter, she would be comeing to the Land of her Fathers Nativity, and would probably form no higher expectations than you might find the means of gratifying. She would assimilate herself to our Manners to our customs and our habits, which she would find so similar to those in which it is probable she has been Educated, that the Change might not be painfull to her. but who can answer for her after having been introduced into the dissipations of a foreign Court?
          You have seen sufficient of the world to think soberly of these things, and to say with Ulysses

            In pomps or Joys, the palace or the Grot
            My Countrys Image never was forgot

          and o may you add

            “My absent Parents rose before my sight
            And distant lay Contentment and delight”

          What the Changes may be in this Country at the approaching Election is more than I am able say one thing I can say with certainty, that you can neither hope or expect to find at the Head of the Government any Man who will do so much to promote you, as the President of the United States has Done. I sometimes think that your early promotion is in Some measure oweing to that Idea, as well as a desire to reward those abilities which have distinguishd Your late Mission—
          our Country appears all tranquility. Providence is loading the Earth with Bounties a more plentifull Season was never known. may our Hearts be filled with Gratitude. we have Health in our borders, and peace in our dwellings.
          I inclose You a scrip of the last weeks Paper that you may see, the Treaty is like to be complied with by the British so far as respects the Evacuation of the Forts.
          I heard from N York a fortnight Since. they were all well. Charles expected Dayly to be a Father

          Not a line of a later Date from my Dear Thomas than 1 of last December. my Heart sinks like a stone when I think of him, poor Dear soul, so sick, so far from Home. your last letter of May 12 informd me that you heard from him 28 April. this was a consolation to your anxious and ever affectionate / Mother

            A Adams


Title: John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson, 13 August 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Johnson, Louisa Catherine

            The Hague August 13. 1796.

          I hope my amiable friend has before this received my letters of the 9th: of last month, and of the 6th of the present; and that all her doubts, if doubts she really had, whether she still retained all her Empire over my affections have vanished into thin air. Though there was a letter which must have reached her very shortly after the impatient anxiety which she expresses in her letter of July 24th: it is possible that I might have indulged yet more frequently than I have, the inclination which I always feel to converse with her, but for the repeated hints of her aversion to writing contained in her preceding letters.— Yes! let me freely own, that I have more than once sat myself down to my table, and taken up the pen to give you my sentiments “warm from the soul and faithful to its fires.” But the reflection has occurred, that you hated writing, and that even the assurance of my constant attachment might lose its charm in the painful sensation of an obligation to return an answer. So that I was consulting your pleasure even when I sacrificed that of writing to you. But indeed for my satisfaction the oftener we write the better for nothing can exceed the delight that a letter from you gives me, so long as we are absent from each other, and if it were really a painful task for me to write to others it would be an enjoyment to write to you.
          I have mentioned to you in my last Letter that I expect to remain

here some months longer; perhaps till the next spring; but of all the sorts of gratification that I can derive from my new destination the most delicious is, that it gives me the hope of terminating sooner than I could otherwise have expected the vile embarassments which made our separation absolutely necessary.— It is the promise of decent support and Independence for us both that I value, and if you find it necessary to suppress some of the little attachments to splendor that lurk at your heart, perhaps imperceptibly to yourself, at least we can both console ourselves with the reflection that the deductions from present pomp will all be added to the securities of future comfort.
          My orders to remove may possibly come suddenly, and earlier than I now expect them. I shall have no other inducement to take the way of England, but that of meeting you. I shall hope therefore that it will not require a long time for your preparations to bear me company. I must not stay an hour longer than will be necessary.
          Let me again my dear friend recommend to you to fortify your mind for circumstances inevitably attached to our connection. The hardships of traveling, by sea or by land are formidable to you, in the delicate life to which you have always been accustomed. Yet you must be prepared to undergo them.— The modes of life, the manners and customs of the people where you may have occasion to reside, will be entirely different from those which you have been used to: perhaps many of them will appear unpleasant to you. For your own happiness, endeavour to acquire the faculty not merely of acquiescence, in unavoidable inconveniences, but even of a cheerful conformity to things which must be endured, and above all establish as an invariable rule for your conversation, to express no general or national reflections.— You will forgive me for this intimation. I have often experienced, and in many different countries that nothing is more natural, and nothing more offensive than reflections applying to nations or numerous classes of people; and I know your heart is so good that I would not have the misconception of any thing said by you ever give dissatisfaction to any one.
          I understand that you have been during part of the Summer at Clapham, and I am persuaded, you have employed your time to advantage. It would give me pleasure to have from you a detail of every thing interesting to yourself in your situation.— Write to me with perfect confidence, as I have given you the example. Your progress upon the Harp I am persuaded is great, and as you are in the habit of reflecting, I have no doubt you will not be inattentive to the

qualities, the exercise of which will be necessary or useful in the prospects, which I ardently hope will soon be realized.
          Do not think I am sitting myself up for a Mentor, but give me your advice and opinions with equal freedom in return. Remember me affectionately to all the family, and be assured of the invariable and inexpressible attachment of your friend.

            A.


Title: John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams, 16 August 1796
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Abigail

            My dear Mother:
            The Hague August 16. 1796.

          I have still to thank you for a very few lines addressed to myself, and for about half of a long Letter to my brother dated June 10.— The quotation expressive of the universal power of Love was pleasant, and the recommendation to my brother to fix his choice upon a person of manners habits and sentiments such as are likely to be found only in our own Country is judicious.— I have already given you my sentiments and explained to you my conduct on this score. If upon the whole I have done wrong, I shall be the principal sufferer.— But I must say, that if I had accepted the designation of any judgment upon Earth, or of any Sentiment but my own, I am sure I should have been unhappy; and if I had waited until all the requisites, I will not say of my father’s, but even of my own opinion, could have been combined, I should have been certainly doomed to perpetual celibacy.— The matrimonial union you know is always professedly for better for worse, and to expect or require that the principle of making it altogether for better should be pursued inflexibly, would be not only to discover some deficiency of knowledge of human nature, but to mistake the essential character of the institution.— Prudence is a sorry match-maker.— She has been so rigorous in her councils to me, that I became quite weary of them, and would not allow even her claim of exercising a negative.— In discussing the question with me, she owned that upon the important articles of the person, the manners, the mind, and as far as she could discern, the heart, she had not a word of objection to make.— She muttered some question about the fortune, which I told her I

was unable to answer, and would not take the trouble to enquire.— But at the Country and the habits of life necessarily formed by it, she made her great stand.— The first was irremediable; but I had many things to say in mitigation of the second.— Prudence would not hear me, and I returned the compliment.— But the essential point being settled, she returned immediately and presided at the deliberation upon the point of time. She prescribed a temporary separation and was obeyed: she forbad even any express limitation of the time during which it was to continue, but said its termination must depend upon her alone.— We sighed, but we paid unqualified submission and parted.— Since then an Event has occurred upon which Prudence has suggested to me, that she proposes soon to remove her prohibition, and rather to recommend at once, what she could not prevent
          To be poetical is a privilege of Lovers, and to be allegorical a privilege of Poetry. When the sordid iron of oeconomical arrangements, is mingled with the pure gold of a lover’s passion, the meanness of the mixture needs to be disguised in description by some ornament of language or of Fancy. You will understand what I mean to say, and I hope you will not disapprove my intentions.
          Your letter observes that all was calm and tranquil at the time of its date. I very much doubt whether the case will be the same, when you shall receive this.

            “Oh! place and greatness, millions of false eyes
            Are fix’d upon thee! volumes of report
            Run with their false and most contrarious quests
            Upon thy doings! thousand ’scapes of wit
            Make thee the father of their idle dream,
            And rack thee in their fancies.”—

          But that is not all. In my opinion a time of severe trial is again approaching for our Country, and every example which even the American People have given within these few years of indulging their momentary Passions has led me to consider them as more and more dangerous to their permanent welfare. To be in the centre of the stream when the tornado rises in its greatest fury, may gratify some sensations; but to unambitious minds like mine, it is very far from being desirable.
          In my father’s last Letter he observes that the fame of my friends Otis and Cooper, will spread faster than mine. That a Mission abroad is but an ostracism; but that I may enjoy it if I like it.— I do

rather imagine, though I speak it with proper deference, that when this was written, my father was altogether unacquainted, with a new destination, to which I was however then designated, and which has been notified to me in terms which it would not become me to repeat, but which have made a deep impression upon my heart and mind. The destination, I have accepted, and shall therefore be still continued some time longer in the diplomatic career.— My fame will not spread upon the bold and rapid wing on which my fathers inclination would guide its flight— The Ostracism will still discard my person and my reputation from the centre of all my Ambition, which is my Country; but it will not discard my services, which I may be permitted to hope will be [use]ful services.— “There is room enough in the world for both of us”— I was taught [this max]im, very early in life, and hope that I shall never abandon it either in my conduct [or in my feelin]gs.— But if the spreading fame of any man on Earth could give me a pang, which I think it cannot, it would assuredly not be that of my friends Cooper and Otis, whose weight and influence will contribute to the promotion of a good cause, and whom I am much more disposed to consider as fellow-labourers than as rivals. I suppose my father knows well the natural indolence of my disposition, and the unaspiring character of my temper. He thinks there is danger of its degenerating into absolute sloth and negligence, and proposes perhaps to stimulate my Industry, by instigating my emulation. I am ever grateful for these as for all the innumerable other proofs of his kindness and affection; if I have in my composition a spark of any valuable quality, I am indebted to his care for the breath that has kept it alive, and I hope to make such an use of it, as shall prove that it was not bestowed in vain; but I may express to you the sincere opinion that a career of fame, and yet more a career of ambition may commence with a progress too rapid in a Country where the latter has constitutional boundaries, which I never can be desirous to overpass or to see removed, and where the former is subject to so many variations and revolutions of popular opinion.
          I have observed to you that from the internal evidence of my father’s last Letter, I conclude that he did not even suspect the new appointment which was already conferred upon me. You will not attribute it to any thing like filial ingratitude if I add that this idea gives me singular pleasure. I can support very well the thought of being indebted much for my advancement to his merits, but I could not bear that of attributing it to his agency.— Louis the 14th: was one

day expressing his astonishment, at the stupidity of a certain Ambassador at his Court—“Depend upon it, Sire,” said the Count de Grammont to him, “he must be the relation of some Minister.”— I have no desire to be the object of application for a similar reflection.
          Our friend Mr: Luzac, who I am sorry to say is no longer Professor Luzac, is publishing a collection consisting of the Orations which he delivered on entering upon the functions of his Professorship, and on the expiration of his administration as Rector Magnificus, or Principal of the University at Leyden, together with some curious and scientific dissertations. He has dedicated the whole to my father in an elegant Latin Epistle which is to appear at the head of [the wor]k. This is the public mark of his respect which he has intimated in a lett[er to my father]. He has desired me to forward a copy of the book for my father and one for the American Academy, as soon as the collection shall be completed, which I shall accordingly do.
          The news of the day may be comprized in the general information that the french armies in Italy and in Germany are universally triumphant and that a Peace between France and all Germany, unless perhaps it be the Emperor as head of the house of Austria, may be very soon expected.— They denounce nothing less than Death and Destruction against G. Britain, and are making tremendous preparations for a deadly conflict with her alone. All this apparatus however may be followed by something to be called Peace, before the next Summer. You will see in the papers there has been an attempt to dispatch the french pretender by assassination.— Who now would wish to be one of the Bourbons?
          My brother is well, and will doubtless write you soon himself.— Whitcomb is recovering from his fever and ague.— Love and duty to all friends, especially to my honoured Grand-Mother.— Continue to write me under cover to Mr: Johnson at London, or directly here.—
          Your dutiful Son

            J. Q. A.


Title: Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, 27 August 1796
From: Adams, Thomas Boylston
To: Adams, Abigail

            My dear Mother.
            The Hague 27. August 1796.

          In discharge of my promise to write you a letter, which has been given you in two covers enclosing letters from my brother, I commence before the expiration of a second month since the date of my last, by an acknowledgment of your favor of June 10th: which came to hand on the 6th: currt: together with several other’s for JQA.
          If to the countless instances of your affection and tenderness, another had been wanting to complete the measure of my gratitude, that other may be found in the more than sympathetic style with which you notice the report which had reached you of my illness. If any thing is calculated to stamp an indelible impression upon the memory and the heart, it is preeminently those services we receive from the hand of a parent a more remote relation or a friend, upon the bed of sickness. It has been my lot in life successively to appreciate the value of all these characters by the most painful experiments to myself, and the kind offices which are thus recorded in the tablets of my memory, were as honorable to the bestowers as they were grateful to the receiver. The infirmities which were ingrafted with my system previous to my birth, can never be reproached to the authors of my existence, and in the recollection of my parentage, if I can justly appropriate to myself the inheritance of but a small portion of their merit and their virtues, I shall esteem myself more than compensated by the possession of the latter, for all the painful hours which I have hitherto suffered or may hereafter experience from the former. From my last visitation I have perfectly recovered, and at this moment I am worth more in weight than I ever was at any former period; I am even growing corpulent, and am seriously threatened with the necessity of wearing a straight waistcoat, which would be a very heinous offence against fashion; but as in this climate I cannot count upon a permanence of my present habit, I shall save myself the expence & my taylor the mortification

of altering old cloaths, for the sake of more fashionable disproportions, out of all reasonable shape. Holland is a most convenient place, for getting rid of an old wardrobe. So says Tilly.
          I am indebted to you my dear Mother, for several sketches of our domestic affairs which have given me alternate pleasure and pain; but which in my returns to you I have not particularly noticed. What a striking illustration of the absurd instability of popular opinion is exhibited in the progress of the six months opposition to the British Treaty, and the six weeks repentance by way of atonement for it! Can it be the love of contention for its own sake, which induces men to espouse a quarrel which is directed against the success of an object, that they really wish may succeed? Or is it a kind of torpid listlesness which makes men dumb as advocates of a good cause and inactive spectators of such as seek to ruin it; suffering opposition to assume a consistency & a shape which nearly baffles all attempts to defeat it when it has reached the very borders of success? Such in several instances has been the operation of momentous concerns, in which individuals and the public were alike interested. To what hair-breadth escapes, the existing peace, honor and prosperity of our Country, must be attributed! A majority in our Representative council well disposed to put them all at stake for the paltry pretext of an alledged usurpation of prerogative in the other branches of the Government. In the list of yea’s & nays upon the question of appropriations, I remark a strange inversion of names, in the two columns. For example, when I find the name of Gregg, a member of the Pennsylvania seat, upon the yea-side, my astonishment is great; but, that courage and independence enough should be found among the Virginia Representation, to produce one affirmative vote, exceeds all the extravagant examples that have ever been recorded as the effects of credulity. On the other hand, when the names of three Massachusetts men strike my eye on the Nayside, I lament their apostacy, at the same time that I sincerely rejoyce at the public record of their shameful subserviency. At a future day I believe it will be a useful instrument in the hands of a less dependent rival, and will operate as a positive pretention to the confidence of their Constituents. A Varnum in exchange for a Dexter!— I fain would hope that this rape upon public judgment will not be durable.
          The call for papers relative to the Negotiation, which was made by the house of Representatives, previous to the appropriation law, and the fact of the Presidents refusal to answer the call by a

compliance, were first communicated to me by Mr: Marshal the husband of my old flame Miss M——. Without waiting like a cautious politician, or a reserved Diplomate to sound the opinion of my informer, I very aristocratically exclaimed, perhaps presumptuously, “the President has done right.” “Let the House refuse the supplies if they please, the responsibility rests with them, for all consequences that may result from witholding them. I doubt whether they will have the courage to meet them.” The abruptness of this declaration, would hardly admit a subsequent recantation, even had I been disposed to make any. But I must own that for some time after, when the numbers were compared, of pro’s & cons, my conjectures as to the issue of that struggle for prerogative wavered between hope and apprehension. Happily victory has declared herself in favor of Constitutional privilege, as I pray she may always do, from whatever quarter the invasion may arise.
          We have the Newyork Herald as late as the 25th: of June, and have searched them all over to find some account of the evacuation of the Posts, but scarcely a word is said upon the subject. This obstinate silence upon an event so considerable as that, is construed by us into favorable symptoms; it is at least productive of a negative confidence that no real obstruction has been thrown in the way of a seasonable delivery. The publication of several authentic letters, which we find in these papers, has served to elucidate many plots in the french system as it respects our Country, which before were but dimly seen, and that only through the fallacious and often erroneous medium of combining facts and occurrences which have no apparent affinity or connection. We perceive, that the share, which the Western Insurrection had in the vast plan of intrigue, hatched in the Committee of public safety at Paris in the days of Brissot, and exported in the vessel of which Genet was supercargo, landed in the southernmost extremity of our Continent, and there hawked about to obtain champions for an expedition against Florida under a french Commission, is at this day no mystery in the U. S.
          We peceive that the negotiation for exchanging with Spain that portion of the Island of St Domingo, which was ceded by that power as the price of a peace with France, for Florida, is well known among you, and should that negotiation be successful, it is not difficult to discover what use will be made of a footing upon our territory. That there are secret agents and abettors of this scheme in different parts of Europe, who call themselves American citizens, there can be no doubt. Col Fulton lately came over from the seat of

Government with voluminous dispatches for the Minister of the United States at Paris, from private correspondents. For a result of all these things we must look to time.
          The french order to their Commanders of armed vessels, to capture neutral, alias, american vessels charged with enemy’s property, was issued it seems in the West Indies, long e’er it was made public in Europe. Why, if it be not expressly pointed against American navigation, was it first divulged in the West Indies, where all our commerce must pass & repass? I long to hear in what light the orders are viewed by our people.
          In my last letter, I gave you some intimation of my intentions respecting my return home, and placed the probability of my remaining here, another year, upon the contingency of my Brothers permanence at this place. A destination more honorable to himself, better proportioned to his talents, if not more useful to the public service, is since assigned him. He is ordered however to hold his present station until further notice, and when the period of his removal shall be ascertained, we shall probably take leave of the Hague together, though in opposite directions. If my present plan meet no obstacles of a prudential or other nature, to its execution, I shall make a short excursion by way of winding up my European tour, and embark in one of the first Spring vessels for my native land, where I hope once more to embrace with ardor, proportioned to the affection I feel, all my friends, and first and foremost my beloved parents, whom I entreat to believe me with love and duty, their son.

            Thomas B Adams.