Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Sarah Smith Adams, 20 December 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, Sarah Smith

My Dear Daughter
Quincy December 20th 1814

I was glad to learn through mr Johnson that you had an agreable journey home  Your visit here seems more like a vision, than a reality,—and you hurried away so soon, that I had not half time enough to become acquainted with mr Johnson, to whom it was really doing an injury, for the more he was known, the more estimable he appeard
I had not one half hours conversation with my Dear Abbe, by ourselves, which I consider as a loss. for old Age has less Security for Life, than youth, we know not what a day may bring forth. as the season proved; you might have defered your return an other week
And now you have got into winter Quarters to speak in the fashion of the Times. I should like to have you brush up your writing faculties, which you have permitted to slumber for a long time: and let me know how you are, and how Sister Ann is?
I see by the papers, that you are to have added, to the polite circle which Surrounds you, Many Gen’ll officers, & Some of their Ladies. one of the first in Rank, is the Lady of Gen’ll Dearbourne, and as she has been always a very good woman; and is from N.E here I wish you would visit her. you will find her very affable—when mrs Bowdoin we were acquainted, not long since at the , the President met with her, and introduced Susan to her; not long and Since at Church they met again; and mrs Dearborne renewed the acquaintance.
Jan’ry 2 1815
The above is the third attempt I have made to write to you; two of my Letters I have thrown by, grown Stale by Age, and Some interruption from company prevented my closing this—but at the commencement of a new year, I have determined to finish it, by presenting you, My best wishes for many happy returns of the Season, and that this year, may come fraught, with as many Blessings to you, and yours, and prove as auspicious to You as the last.
Altho our Country is in distress and the terror of invading fleets and Armies threaten us, we still have many personal and private Blessings to be gratefull for.
Let not the Year pass off unmindfull of them, nor neglect to offer our thanksgiving to that Being who has cast our Lots in pleasent places—and given us a goodly Heritage.
Be so good as to present me kindly to mr and Mrs Johnson, with whom I wish it was in my power to become acquainted
As to the young folks, I hope they will consider it their duty, and find it their inclination, once a year to visit their Aged Grandparents, which will give pleasure to their / and your affectionate / Parent
Abigail Adams


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 20 December 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 64.
My dear wife.
Ghent 20. December 1814.

Our interval of leisure still continues—The British Messenger who took our last Note to England has not yet returned, but may now be expected from day to day. The policy of protracting, and avoiding a conclusion of any kind cannot be much longer continued—If as we have too much reason to apprehend there has been no sincerity in the late advances from that government towards conciliation we must by the next Instructions to their Plenipotentiaries have it ascertained beyond a doubt—In the mean time, whether the leaky vessels are on their side or on ours, so much is known of the apparent state of the Negotiation that an opinion has become prevalent in England, France and Holland that Peace will be made—There is in the Times Newspaper of last Tuesday, the 13th: an Editorial Article as violent as usual against America, arguing plausibly at least that the British Ministry cannot possibly intend to conclude the Peace, but stating that the policies in the City had the day before been 30 guineas to return 100 if peace should be signed before the end of the year. Then follows a paragraph which I give you word for word from the paper. “It was even asserted, though without foundation, that the Preliminaries had been already digested, and received the signatures of the Commissioners on the 3d: instant. We have however, some reason to believe that the speculations on this subject are influenced, in some measure, by secret information, issued for the most unworthy purposes, from the hotel of the American Legation at Ghent. After what has been seen of the total want of principle in American statesmen of the Jeffersonian school, the world would not be much astonished to learn that one of the American negociators had turned his situation to a profitable account by speculating both at Paris and London on the result of the negociation. Certain it is that letters received yesterday from the French Capital, relative to the proceedings at Ghent, contain intimations like those which have been circulated here on American authority. Viz. that the new proposals of the British will be acceded to, on or before the beginning of the new year, provided that no better terms can ere then be obtained.”
It is impossible for me to pronounce against which of the American Negociators, this information is pointed; but I have no doubt it was Milligan’s return to London that gave rise to the paragraph, and after what has happened it is not uncharitable to suspect that he himself has again been spreading reports of the State of the Negotiation, and speculating upon them himself—I do not believe that his principal has debased himself by sharing in this shameful traffic, but the charge in the Times probably refers to him—Milligan’s movements have generally been noticed in the newspapers, and he has always passed under the denomination of Mr Bayard’s private Secretary.—I felt so indignant at Milligan’s first expedition to England, and his conduct there that I expressed my Sentiments about it, openly, and without reserve—Some of his friends thought I had suspected him unjustly; and after his return here assured me how deeply he was mortified at the surmises which had gone abroad concerning him—Before his second departure, (of which I was not informed until the day after he was gone,) he went to Mrs: Smith, and gave her to understand that he was going to be married to one of his Scotch Cousins, and if the Peace should be made, intended to settle in England—If not, he asked Mrs: Smith if she should have any objection to the company of another Lady passenger—I hope he will not shew his face here again; for if he does, I shall be strongly inclined to treat him according to his deserts—It is to be sure curious enough to see the Chevalier put down as a Statesman of the Jeffersonian School, but that is not more unjust than it is to charge upon the Jeffersonian School the baseness of allying private stock-jobbing with public-office—that is the vice of the Hamiltonian school; and the most devoted partizans of the British in the United States are those who have always been most deeply stained with that pollution.
The Penelope frigate sailed from Halifax 22. November, and has arrived in England—She brings Reports that General Drummond had defeated the Americans, but apparently nothing later from Montreal and Quebec than had previously been brought by the Liffey. There are also arrivals from Chesapeake Bay, from Bermuda and from Jamaica—They all indicate that Cochrane is gone with a powerful expedition against Florida and Louisiana—I expect to hear every hour of its result, and that it will destroy every possibility of peace for the present. The English Papers now say that Sir George Murray, who was Wellingtons Quarter-Master General, is to supersede Sir George Prevost in Canada; and that Commodore Owen is to have the command upon the Lakes instead of Yeo. If Prevost should be tried by a Court-martial I have no doubt it will bring forth some precious confessions.
Mr Gallatin has received a Letter from Count Grote the Prussian Minister at Hamburg, and the whole Mission have one from the Baron de Brockhausen the Prussian Envoy at the Hague, asking our efforts and influence to obtain restitution of a magnificent Monument in honour of the late Queen of Prussia, which has been taken by an American Privateer.—It had been executed by the king’s order, at Rome, and was shipped at Leghorn, on board of an English vessel bound to Hamburg—The privateer is said to have been from L’Orient in France, but what she did with her prize is not known. I regret exceedingly the king’s disappointment by this unfortunate accident, and shall be happy to contribute every thing in my power to have the monument restored. Of all the Sentiments of the human heart, there is none more truly virtuous and respectable than that of conjugal affection. And when that Sentiment has been dignified by the merit of the person for whom it was entertained, exalted by its residence in the bosom of a monarch, and sanctified, pure from earthly dross by the death of its object, there is not a good feeling in the soul but must sympathise with it.
When I told you we had an interval of leisure, I did not mean to say that it was from labour—There is such a multiplicity of papers to be copied, that notwithstanding the assistance I now receive from Mr Smith, I am still obliged to do much of this drudgery myself. Enclosed you have a letter from his wife. I am not surprized to learn the muse of his being drained, as he was when he arrived at Amsterdam—He never dealt fairly with me, on the subject of his debts at St. Petersburg—I hope he has cast the skin of his youth, and learnt something by experience—I urged him to go in the Neptune to Brest, but he determined to wait and go by Land; and now, who knows where the Neptune may be ordered next? In case of peace, the talk is of Liverpool—And how are they to get there?
I was last Evening at a Concert, where there was among the performances a Canon for four voices, found in a Music Book of Margaret of Austria Aunt of the Emperor Charles the 5th: composed about 1514. It was so ridiculous that the Audience made them repeat it. This Margaret was the same who wrote her own epitaph—
“Ci git Margot la gente demoiselle,
Qui eut trois Maris, et si mourut pucelle”!
Farewell, my best beloved—and give my love to Charles.
A.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 23 December 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Welsh, Harriet

Dear Harriet
Quincy December 23 1814

The black hair Ribbon is just what was wanted, I thank you for thinking of it. I Should like 8 yds I believe of the Banbest like the pattern inclosed; I like the colour better; tho the Cloth is not quite so fine—they are not any so good, as I had last winter in Black.
amongst the , is there not any Colevain Cotton Shirting like what I bought there winters ago, it was yd Wide at 8/9. I do not expect to get any so now, the pattern you sent was good for the price. Was it yd wide? and how many yd in the piece— Susan Said there was some furniture at a dollar pr yd; a yd and quarter wide, would it do for a sette cover. is it double the width of common furniture
I would not trouble you with so many queries and wants, If I could venture to town myself—but I feel fearfull of getting Cold and Sick; it is the time of year I was taken last year with a Lung fever; and I have not been very well for a week past.
as to the Subject you ask about, Cobbet in his Register says he is the only Man in England who is against the war. it is true he understands our country better than any of their Lordships or, Ambassadors. but if they are all for war, why should we expect peace? It lies wholy with England. our Administration would make peace at any hour, if G B did not insist upon terms to which we cannot, and we ought not to Submit yet tell your Brother, not to run any great Risk—if he Speeks keep nothing long upon hand—we stand upon such sandy gro ground, that it is easy to Slip.—
I have not heard from Caroline yet—come when most convenient to yourself at all times you will give pleasure to your / Friend
Abigail AdamsBe so good as to Send me pr Mr Marston a paper of Ink powder


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 23 December 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 65.
My dear wife.
Ghent 23. December 1814.

If in receiving two of your Letters at a time, I have some times mingled with the pleasure derived from them a thought of regret that one of the two had not reached me three or four days sooner, on Tuesday last it was with a very different Sentiment that I received your numbers 45 and 46 as I have marked them—one dated 22 November, and the other dated only of the Month, November, but which from its contents I infer to have been written on the 25th. As this last was written three days later, in good health and Spirits after the amusements of a pleasant Ball, and as it was kind and affectionate, it corresponded so entirely with the feelings which I cherish towards you that I attributed the other only to a momentary depression of Spirits from which you had already recovered—Had I received the first alone, the only pleasure I could have collected from it would have been the consideration that in writing it you had, as you say, indulged yourself; and that would certainly have been some alleviation to the pain it would have given me—But I know that in writing the last, you equally indulged yourself, and rejoice that your self indulgence then was indulgent also to your husband—To such Letters be sure you never can fail to receive a reply from me returning with ardor and sincerity love for love—But if in future it should ever again be a gratification to yourself to write me such a Letter as the other…indulge yourself, and write freely—only as in the present case, let the rose come with the thorn, and the sweetness of the flower will make me forget the sharpness of its companion.
The Englishman who so directly put the question to you at the Ball, whether we were likely to make Peace, must have had a small opinion of your discretion, or what is more probable a very small store of his own—Of such enquiries however, we have had many—some from total strangers, who came to our house merely to ask the question, and others from acquaintance, friends and even relations—One of the most amusing enquirers I have had, was a very good correspondent of mine, who on our first arrival here wrote me, offering all the important information that he could collect, and asking of me such information concerning the State of the Negotiation, as was not of a nature to be kept secret—Pointing out to me at the same time, a channel of conveyance by which it could be transmitted to him with the utmost possible dispatch—Reasonable as this request was, I gave my correspondent to understand that he must get his public news concerning this Negotiation from the public Journals, and must expect none from me. As he is a man of argument he argued the point in his reply, and intimated, though not in an offensive manner, that an affectation of mystery upon subjects which needed no mystery was no mark of diplomatic skill, and no part of diplomatic duty—I knew the observation to be just, understood its application, and was diverted with its ingenuity—But I was inflexible—I insisted upon having all the benefit of the correspondence on my side—that he should give me what information he pleased, and when he should think proper—with the full understanding that he should receive nothing respecting the negotiation from me in return—I have now on file a Letter from him, containing a number of questions and remarks, to which I shall at my leisure return an answer as mysterious as ever—He flattered me at one time with the prospect of seeing him here in person; but I wrote him, if he had any commercial speculation in view I should prefer seeing him at some other time and place. Notwithstanding this we may still be favoured with a visit from him—But I shall have as little difficulty with himself as I have had with his correspondence—The case is not precisely the same, with the inquisitiveness of a particular friend of ours now at Paris—He has assailed Smith and me with questions which neither of us can with propriety answer, and for purposes of his own, for which he ought not to have expected or asked any sort of communication from us—Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to render him any service in my power, consistent with my duty, but I am not pleased to find him have so little regard, or take so little heed of to the delicacy of my situation, and of to the duties of his own, and it is not without a struggle that I have forborne to express to him my full sense of his indiscretion.
The British Messenger returned yesterday Morning, and the Plenipotentiaries sent us their answer to our last Note—We are to have a Conference with them at our house this day at Noon, and the result of it will ascertain whether they must refer again to their Government, or whether we may at last discover a prospect of agreeing upon terms of Peace—I have told you candidly our situation, since the abandonment by the British Government of all the demands which we could have no hesitation in rejecting—They have made it impossible, (and therein consists all the skill they have shewn in this Negotiation) for us to give satisfaction to our Country, either by concluding the Peace, or by continuing the War—I have been since our last Note in a state of peculiar anxiety; for the difference between us and our opponents hinged upon a point on which I had determined not to sign the Treaty, even if it should be acceded to by my Colleagues—I am not without hopes that the difficulty will be removed this day; and if it is, that we may at least have the consolation of restoring to our Country the blessings of Peace.
We shall in this supposition, all sign the Treaty, and I believe it will be ratified, in America—But you must expect that we shall all be censured and reproached for it, and none with more bitterness than your nearest friend—We shall however have the conscious satisfaction of having surrendered no right of the Nation—of having secured every important interest: of having yielded nothing, which could possibly have been maintained, and of redeeming our Union from a situation of unparalleled danger and deep distress—I am also well assured that our Enemies, whom Peace will I fear not make sincerely our friends, will give as little satisfaction to their Nation by the Treaty, as we shall to ours.—When the terms to which they must at last subscribe are compared with their demands they will shew a falling off, which will leave them less to boast of than to excuse—Indeed neither party will have cause to exult in the issue, and after the Peace is made the sources of dissension will yet be so numerous that it will be hardly less difficult to preserve than it was to obtain.—Of the Event however, we must speak as still extremely doubtful—Mr: Bentzon has returned here again from London—He left Dover on the 20th. and there saw in the Newspapers a Proclamation offering a high bounty both for Soldiers and for Seamen—Every preparation for another campaign continues to be made in England, with as much activity as it could be if there was no Negotiation pending, and with such indications how is it possible to believe that the British Government sincerely intend to conclude the Peace?—My next Letter will I hope give you information upon which more reliance can be placed—In the mean time, give my love to Charles—The cold weather is at last setting in, and I have this morning been obliged to remove my table near the fire, to have the command of my fingers for writing—They are nevertheless benumbed—But the heart is warm, my beloved friend, and till it cease to beat will be warm for you.
A.


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 24 December 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

N. 67.
My dear and honoured mother.
Ghent 24. December 1814.

A Treaty of Peace between the United States and Great Britain has this day been signed by the British and American Plenipotentiaries at this place. It is to be dispatched to-morrow, by Mr Hughes the Secretary of the American Mission, who is to sail in the Transit from Bordeaux—I have not time to write a single private Letter excepting this, but I request you to inform my brother that I have received his Letter of 2. October, brought by Mr William Wyer to France. I was much disappointed in not receiving either by him, or by the Ajax, the second Dutch vessel arrived from Boston, any Letter from you—I have none later than that of 1. May.
You know doubtless that heretofore the President intended in case of Peace, to send me to England—If the Treaty should be ratified I am uncertain whether he will still retain the same intention or not—I have requested to be recalled at all Events from the Mission to Russia. I shall proceed from this place, in a few days, to Paris, to be there, in readiness to receive the President’s orders; and I shall write immediately to my wife, requesting her to come and join me there. If we go to England I beg you to send my Sons George and John there to me—After the Peace there can be no want of good opportunities for them to come, and I wish them to embark at the most favourable Season for a safe passage. If any other person should be sent to England, I intend to return as soon as possible to America, and shall hope before midsummer to see once more my beloved Parents.
Of the Peace which we have at length concluded, it is for our Government, our Country and the world to judge—It is not such, as under more propitious circumstances might have been expected, and to be fairly estimated must be compared not with our desires, but with what the situation of the parties and of the world at and during the Negotiation made attainable—We have abandoned no essential right, and if we have left every thing open for future controversy, we have at least secured to our Country the power, at her own option to extinguish the War.
With my duty to my dear father, I remain your ever affectionate Son.
John Quincy Adams.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 25 December 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, Charles Francis

my Dear Charles Francis
Quincy December 25th 1814

I have received two very pretty Letters from you, with which I have been much pleased, both with the composition, and the hand writing. I should long ago, have written to you if I had known how to have conveyd my Letter to you!
I think much about you, and your Mother, Since your Father left you, and more, Since your uncle and Aunt Smith; and your dear little Cousin have all come away
I think how lonely you must be without any of your Relations near you, in a foreign Land; and a dreadfull cold Country. I hope your dear Mother will find Friends who will be attentive to her, but I wish you were all Safe back in America.
I do not think you can remember me, or your Grandfather. the Gentlemen who have been in St Petersburgh Speak of you very handsomely. I hope you are good, and dutifull to your Mother. You must mind all She Says to you, in the absence of your Father.
Your Brother George, is grown up tall quite a young Man, but he does not write a better hand, than you do. he is very loth to write Letters. I have persuaded him to write one to you, which I now Send, and he has promissed to write to his Mother. John is an active, wrestless, gay frolicksome Boy, as you ever See. I cannot fix him long enough to write a Letter, tho he Says he can write a better hand, than you do; I challenge him to try.
you have Several cousins here whom you never Saw, and who would be very glad to hear you speak French, and German, as well as English. Your Brother George reads French well, but he wants the practise of Speaking it.
Give my Love to your Mother. tell her I take all the care I can of your Brothers, in her absence, but they both want your Father at home.
I am my Dear Charles / your affectionate / Grandmother
Abigail Adams


Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 26 December 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, John

My Dear Sir.
Ghent 26. December 1814.

Mr Hughes, the Secretary to the American Mission for negotiating Peace, was dispatched early this morning with one copy of the Treaty signed by the British and American Plenipotentiaries the Evening before last. It was executed in triplicate to provide against the accidents which might befall any single copy on the passage—Mr Clay’s private Secretary, Mr. Carroll is to go this day with another Copy to England, there to embark as speedily as possible—We shall send the third copy by a dispatch vessel which we have ready at Amsterdam, unless she should be locked in by the ice, as from the present severity of the weather we have some reason to apprehend—Mr Hughes goes to Bordeaux there to take passage in the Franset, the vessel in which Mr Boyd came to Europe—Mr Carroll may perhaps go in company with Mr Baker, the Secretary to the English Mission, who is to be the bearer of the Treaty with the English Ratification—In the hurry of dispatching Mr Hughes, I found it possible to write only one short private Letter to my dear Mother, and I shall probably have only time to write this one to send by Mr Carroll—I transmitted however by Mr Hughes a duplicate of my last Letter to you dated 27. October, which I still entreat you to answer, if I am destined to a longer continuance in Europe, and upon which I ask all the advice and information which it may be in your power to bestow. It relates principally to the subject of the greatest difficulty we have had in the Negotiation, and that which of all others is left in the state the most unsatisfactory to us, and particularly to me—It has been now for a full month ascertained that unless new pretensions on the part of Great-Britain were advanced, a Treaty of Peace would be signed; but it was not until last Thursday that I ceased to doubt whether it would receive my signature. The British Plenipotentiaries had declared to us, at the outset of the Negotiation, that it was not the intention of the British Government to grant to the People of the United States, in future, the liberties of fishing, and drying and curing fish, within the exclusive British Jurisdiction, without an equivalent. There is as you must remember, in the third Article of the Treaty of 1783 a diversity of expression, by which the general fisheries on the Banks are acknowledged as our Right, but these fishing privileges within British Jurisdiction are termed liberties—The British Government consider the latter as franchises forfeited, ipso facto by the War, and declared they would not grant them anew, without an equivalent. Aware that by this principle they too had forfeited their right to Navigate the Mississippi, recognized in the same Treaty of 1783, they now demanded a new provision to secure it to them again.
We were instructed not to suffer our right to the fisheries to be brought into discussion—We had no authority to admit any discrimination between the first and the last parts of the third Article of the Treaty of 1783—no power to agree to an equivalent either for the rights or the liberties. I considered both as standing on the same footing—Both as the continuance of franchises always enjoyed, and the difference in the expressions only as arising from the operation of our change from the condition of British Subjects to that of a Sovereign People, upon an object in one part of general, and in the other of special Jurisdiction—The special Jurisdiction had been that of our own Sovereign; by the Revolution and the Treaty of Peace it became a foreign, but still remained a special Jurisdiction. By the very same instrument in which we thus acknowledge it as a foreign Jurisdiction, we reserved to ourselves, with the full assent of its Sovereign, and without any limitation of time or of Events the franchise which we had always enjoyed while the Jurisdiction had been our own—It was termed a liberty, because it was a freedom to be enjoyed within a special foreign Jurisdiction—the fisheries on the Banks were termed Rights, because they were to be enjoyed, on the Ocean the common Jurisdiction of all Nations; but there was nothing in the terms themselves, and nothing in the Article or in the Treaty implying an intention or expectation of either of the contracting parties that one more than the other should be liable to forfeiture by a subsequent War. On the maturest deliberation I still hold this argument to be sound; and it is to my mind the only one, by which our claim to the fisheries within the British Jurisdiction can be maintained. But after the declaration made by the British Government, it was not to be expected that they would be converted to this opinion without much discussion, which was forbidden to us; and the result of which must have been very doubtful upon minds at all times, inclined, and at this time most peculiarly prone, rather to lean upon power, than to listen to reason.—We stated the general Principle, in one of our Notes to the British Plenipotentiaries, as the ground upon which our Government deemed no new stipulation necessary to secure the enjoyment of all our rights and liberties in the fisheries—They did not answer that part of our Note; but when they came to ask a stipulation for the right of British Subjects to navigate the Mississippi, we objected that by our construction of the Treaty of 1783. it was unnecessary—If we admitted their construction of that Treaty, so as to give them a new right to the navigation, they must give us an equivalent for it—We offered an Article recognizing the continuance of the rights on both sides; this offer met however with very great opposition among ourselves, for there were two of us against making it, and who thought the Navigation of the Mississippi incomparably more valuable than the contested part of the fisheries—Not so did the British Government think—for they, instead of accepting it, offered us an Article, stipulating to negotiate hereafter for an equivalent to be given by Great-Britain for the right of navigating the Mississippi, and by the United-States for the liberties of the fisheries within the British Jurisdiction.—This was merely to obtain from us the formal admission that both the rights were abrogated by the War—To that admission I was determined not to subscribe—The Article was withdrawn last Thursday by the British Plenipotentiaries, who accepted our proposal to say nothing in the Treaty about either, and to omit the Article by which they had agreed that our boundary West from the Lake of the Woods should be the 49th. parallel of North Latitude—They at the same time referred again to their original declaration that the fisheries within British Jurisdiction would not hereafter be granted without an equivalent.—It is evident that it must be the subject of a future Negotiation—the only thing possible to be done now was to reserve our whole claim unimpaired, and with that I consented to sign the Treaty.
We were also obliged to except from the immediate restitution of Territory taken during the War, the Islands in Passamaquoddy-Bay. The British claim them as having been before the Peace of 1783 within the limits of Nova-Scotia, and insisted upon holding them, not as taken during the War, but as of right belonging to them. At first they declared their right to be too clear even for discussion; but they finally agreed to refer to Commissioners and to a friendly Sovereign the title to them and even to the island of Grand-Menan in the Bay of Fundy, which has been since 1784. in their possession—We persisted in demanding that the Passamaquoddy Islands should be included in the general restoration, until they manifested a determination to break off rather than yield the point.—Their inflexibility upon two objects exclusively interesting to the State of Massachusetts, is a melancholy comment upon that policy by which Massachusetts has arrayed herself against the Government of the Union—Had Massachusetts been true to herself and to the Union, Great-Britain would not have dared to hinge the question of Peace or War upon Moose-Island, or upon the privileges of Massachusetts fishermen—As a Citizen of Massachusetts I felt it to be most peculiarly my duty not to abandon any one of her rights, and I would have refused to sign the Treaty, had any one of them been abandoned. But it was impossible to force a stipulation in favour of the fisheries, and for a temporary possession of Moose-Island, merely until it shall be ascertained whether it belongs to her or not, we could not think of continuing the War.
I expect to be detained here about ten days longer, and then to proceed to Paris, and wait there for the President’s orders. I shall write to my wife inviting her to join me there—If a new service should be assigned to me in Europe, it will be known to you, and I shall hope to hear from you as frequently and as much at large as will suit your convenience—If I go to England I wish my Sons George and John to be sent to me—My Colleagues propose to leave Europe about the first of April, in the Neptune which is waiting for them at Brest—I have great satisfaction in saying that our harmony has been as great and constant as perhaps ever existed between five persons employed together upon so important a trust—Upon all the important questions we have been unanimous.
            I am, Dear Sir, your ever affectionate Son.

John Quincy Adams.


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 27 December 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 66.
My dear wife.
Ghent 27. December 1814.

On Saturday last, the 24th: of December, the Emperor Alexander’s birth day a Treaty of Peace and Amity was signed by the British and American Plenipotentiaries in this City—I had written you the day before that there was to be a conference at 12 O’Clock—It lasted three hours, and the result of it was an agreement to meet the next day, at the Chartreux, the house where the British Plenipotentiaries reside, for the purpose of signing the Treaty. This was accordingly done at 6 O’Clock in the Evening—Mr Baker, the Secretary to the British Mission had a carriage in the yard ready to start for London the moment after the conclusion—He went at 7 O’Clock the same Evening for Ostend where there was a Vessel in readiness to sail the moment he should arrive there. We have reason to suppose he may have reached London, yesterday Morning, and that the news of the Peace may have been announced in the Courier of last Evening—In order to give Mr Baker the opportunity of carrying to his Government the first Intelligence of the Event, we agreed with the British Plenipotentiaries that it should not be divulged here until the next day at Noon—The Secret was kept I believe as faithfully as any such Secret can be, but it happened that Mr Bentzon who as I have written you had returned to this place a few days before, from London, happened accidentally to have been invited to dine with us—Our usual dining hour is four O’Clock, but it was near seven when we returned from the Conference, where he knew we had been—He was watchful of every word said at dinner, and loitered about our separate apartments until 10 O’Clock. I do not think he obtained positive knowledge of the fact, but he ascertained enough to satisfy himself, and he went off before Midnight—Baker had the start of him about four hours—The conclusion of the Treaty was officially communicated by the British Plenipotentiaries to the Intendant on Christmas day, the day of all the year most congenial to the proclamation of Peace on Earth—We received his Congratulations the same Evening at a large party assembled according to the usage of the Country, at his house, and an invitation to dine with him on Wednesday, to celebrate the Event—We had however already engaged the British Plenipotentiaries to dine with us on that day.
Mr Hughes left us at four O’Clock yesterday Morning, and Mr Carroll at ten last Evening. Three Copies of the Treaty were executed on each side, to guard against any accident which may befall any single copy on the passage—Mr Baker is to go out immediately to America, with the English Ratification—Mr Hughes goes to Bordeaux, there to embark in the Transit, and takes one Copy of the Treaty. Mr Carroll goes to England, to embark, if it should be agreeable to the British Government, in the same vessel with Mr Baker. If not, by any other opportunity that he can obtain—He has the second Copy of the Treaty—We intended to have sent the third Copy by the Herald, but as in all probability she is frozen up at Amsterdam, we shall be obliged to wait for some other occasion—My Colleagues all intend to visit Paris, and all excepting Mr Russell, London. Mr Gallatin proposes likewise to go to Geneva—The Neptune is to be ordered to Plymouth or Falmouth, and they expect to sail about the first of April, which may very possibly lengthen out to the first of May—In that interval there will be time to learn from the United States, whether the Treaty will be ratified, and whether our Government will confer any new appointment in Europe upon them or either of them—There will be at least the missions of London and St: Petersburg to be filled—In my letter to you of the 13th. of this Month, I hinted to you the course that I should take, in case the Peace should be made I have accordingly written to the Secretary of State, that I shall go to Paris, and there wait for the President’s orders. Whether he retains the intention of sending me to England or not, I have definitively requested to be recalled from the Russian Mission—If the Peace should not be ratified in America, we shall have I doubt not, ample time to return home in the Neptune—If ratified, and we do not go to England, there can be no scarcity of opportunities for our return to the United States either from France or England—I therefore now invite you, to break up altogether our establishment at St: Petersburg, to dispose of all the furniture which you do not incline to keep, to have all the rest packed up carefully, and left in the charge of Mr Harris to be sent next Summer either to London or to Boston, and to come with Charles to me at Paris, where I shall be impatiently waiting for you—I calculate upon your receiving this Letter, about the 20th: of January; and I suppose you will not be able to make all the necessary arrangements to leave St: Petersburg sooner than the middle of February. If the Season should still be too severe, I wish you to wait until it shall be milder—Take care to engage a good man, and woman servant to come with you—Mr Harris will procure for you an Order for Courier Horses, and you will travel at your leisure—You will find a very tolerable lodging for the Night, at any of the Post-houses, and Mr Gallatin and Mr Bayard from their own experience recommend most earnestly that you travel in no other Carriage than a Kibitka. Mr Harris will advise you in having one made with all the accommodations of which it is susceptible, and all possible precautions to preserve you from the cold—Perhaps by hastening or by delaying your journey a few days, you may have an opportunity of travelling in company with some other Lady or person of your acquaintance who may be coming the same way. As you will be moving all the way Southward, and as the Winter will at the same time be every day declining, I hope neither you nor Charles will suffer much on the road.—I hope to embrace you in Paris about the 20th: of March. The sooner, the happier for me. The furniture which you conclude to keep should be safely packed; but of that I am sure you will take care. All my books, except the Laws and State Papers of the United States, together with such Articles as you would choose to keep but not to send to England, may be packed in separate boxes, and addressed to the care of William Smith Shaw at Boston—With the intention to send them next Summer at all Events to America—The other packages may be left without direction at present; to be addressed hereafter for England or America according as our ultimate destination may be—The Russian Obligations which I left in your hands you may deposit in those of Mr Harris or of Messrs: Meyar and Brüxner as you think proper, taking a receipt for them, and leaving subject to my future directions for the disposal of them.—It will be proper to take lists of the Books and of all the furniture packed up, to be sent whether to England or America. I have written to my father and mother by Mr Hughes and Mr Carroll, requesting that if we go to England, our Sons George and John may be sent to us next Summer.
After receiving this Letter, address yours to me, under cover to Mr Crawford at Paris. I expect to leave this City about the 10th. of January and after passing perhaps a few days at Bruxelles, to reach Paris about the 20th:—I know not exactly what will be the arrangements of Mr and Mrs Smith—They have a Passport to go by the Neptune—If she goes to Plymouth or Falmouth their shortest way to join her would be to cross from Havre or Dieppe to Southampton, and thence by land.—I shall continue writing to you as long as I remain here, and until I have reason to suppose you will have left St: Petersburg. Love to Charles, and a happy meeting to us all!
Your ever affectionate husband.
A.


Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to John Quincy Adams, 27 December 1814
From: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson
To: Adams, John Quincy

My best Friend
St Petersburg December 27 1814

With what pleasure I read your last kind Letter you are capable of judging who are so well acquainted with the warmth of my feelings on most of the subjects which interest me, my hopes are so strongly raised even the news which our old friend Corbeau gave me yesterday could not destroy the flattering Visions which my sanguine imagination had created and I shall still hope that heaven will reward your toils and grant even more than you dare to wish.—
Your last did not arrive untill Friday Eveng. and I was so much occupied in preparations for the Birth Night Ball I had not time to write you even a few lines it was much as usual excepting that the luxury of dress exceeds anything you can form an idea of I wrote you in the Summer or to Mrs. Smith that things were very high I believe I said a Gown was 700 R. I went to procure myself something for this occasion and you may judge of my astonishment when I was inform’d that the price now was 1500 and that when the Emperor return’d they would be much higher as for me this was totally out of the I made out with what I had and a few additions to get dressed for 300—I only mention this circumstance to shew you what living here is becoming as every thing is growing in proportion—
Mr. Harris inform’d among a variety of other matter that he had just recieved accounts from England that Sir J. Yoe had been forced to make his retreat from Sackets Harbour and that Drummond was in a very critical position if not as many persons believed in England from the extreme care taken to conceal the news actually in our possession God send that this may be confirmed at least if it produces no other good it will at least give us another Winter and perhaps an opportunity to equallize our force though it is hardly possible to hope as much as this the continued possession of the Harbour is of itself too serious an advantage at such a critical moment not to produce very good consequences—
Ah Mon Ami my wrath is too great against Massachusetts not to feel deeply its humiliation they have yet time to retrieve a part of their disgrace, but I fear that Little will be done, as the evil seems to deeprooted to be easily eradicated—
As to what you say in your Letter about the manner in which you took my Letter the observations I ought perhaps to apologized I made concerning the Gentlemen I will only answer that could you have heard every thing that was said upon the Subject of remaining to recieve all the insults which our enemies chose to pour upon us you would not be surprized and nothing but the advantages we have gained in America has contributed to wear of the appearance of tameness and gentleness which America displayed during the Negociation. circumstances however produce sometimes a fortunate change in the opinions of Mankind and what in some cases would be stiled in others  are stiled dignified mildness or to use a more fashionable phrase Magnanimity.
I am to say Mr. Charles has been so troublesome while I have been writing that my Letter is scarcely legible he is not very well and your know that always makes him cross believe me ever truely yours
L— C— A.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 28 December 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, Thomas Boylston

28 Dec. 1814

Received Quincy December 28th., 1814 of Thomas B Adams Esqr., the sum of Twenty-one Dollars and seventy-five Cents, for one quarter’s interest due November 1st: on JQ Adams’s Note.
$21.75
Abigail Adams


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 30 December 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 67.
My dear wife.
Ghent 30. Decr. 1814.

Your Letter of 26. November was received by me last Sunday; but in writing to you on Tuesday, the account of the Peace and the arrangements consequent upon it, which I proposed to you for our meeting again, so absorbed my attention that I forgot to acknowledge the receipt of it—Yesterday  Morning yours of the 2d: instant reached me, and is on my file, number 48—The inconvenience of the house in which you now reside will I hope not trouble you much longer, but when I invited you to come to me as soon as you can, I meant you to take the time most agreeable to yourself—Perhaps it will depend in some measure upon the state of the Roads—It is probable that about the last of February or the beginning of March may be the best time for them; when the severity of the Winter will have abated, the days have much lengthened, and the snows have been beaten down to a solid consistency. If however you prefer to wait longer, even until April, my wish is that you take your own time—I suppose I shall receive in April the orders from the President which will direct our future movements, and they will be either to England or to America. In my Letter of the 13th: instant, I proposed on the contingency which has now happened, leaving it at your option to come to me by land or by water—There was then no probability that we should close our business here so soon—I should regret that our separation should be protracted so long as until the Navigation at Cronstadt will be open, but if you find there is any insuperable obstacle to your coming on by land, or prefer to wait for the Summer, and come by water, it is left entirely to your discretion.
The disposal of the furniture and Carriage will place you in funds, which I presume will be amply sufficient, with the balance left by me with Messrs: Meyer and Brüxner, subject to your orders, and the interest which you received last Summer, on the Obligations, to defray all the remaining expences at St: Petersburg, and all those of your Journey; but to guard against all possibility of a deficiency, I have written to Mr Harris, requesting him to furnish you with any money that you may require; and authorising him to draw on Amsterdam to the amount of 5000 florins, on my account for that purpose—I have only to ask you to keep a particular account of all your expenditures; and of all the monies you receive; whether from Messrs. Meyer and Brüxner, or from Mr: Harris, or from the sale of the furniture. I beg you also to continue writing to me as often as you shall find convenient, until you leave St: Petersburg; and afterwards on the road at Riga, Königsberg and Berlin if you come that way—You may address your Letters to me “Poste Restante”, at Paris; or to the care of Mr: Crawford; but not under cover to him as was mentioned in my last Letter; because a superfluous cover doubles the expence of Postage. I shall continue writing to you the whole of next Month; directing my Letters still to St: Petersburg; with the persuasion that you will not in any case be able to leave that City sooner than the 20th: of February.
The Peace will doubtless enable you to part with mutual looks and feelings of kindness, from our English friends and acquaintance—If there has been no sympathy during the War between their joys and sorrows and ours, there will it is hoped, henceforth be no opposition between them—Indeed although the Peace is not what I should have wished, and although it may acquire no credit in our Country to those who made it, I consider the day on which I signed it, as the happiest of my life; because it was the day on which I had my share in restoring Peace to the world. You know from my Letters, that during the last ten days previous to the last Note which we received from the British Plenipotentiaries, I had the painful prospect of a Treaty’s being concluded without my signature—A stipulation was proposed to us, to which I had determined not to subscribe—My Colleagues would ultimately have admitted it, rather than break off the Negotiation—It was at last withdrawn by the British Government, and although it left the subject open for a dangerous future controversy, that was impossible for me to prevent. The relief to my mind when the proposed Article was withdrawn was inexpressible—And now, though I am well aware that there are things in the Treaty which will give great dissatisfaction in America, and most particularly to my native State of Massachusetts, yet I have the comfort of reflecting that no one right of any sort has been abandoned; and that no reasonable man can hesitate a moment in saying that between such a Peace, and the continuance of the War for another year, it was impossible to make a question—The conditions of the Treaty will not be published in Europe, until its return from America, ratified or rejected; for our Government have it at their option to take or to refuse it, and notwithstanding all its faults I confidently expect it will be ratified. I have given to Mr: Harris a summary of its principal terms, and have authorised him to communicate them in confidence to the Russian Government—He is also at liberty to communicate them to you; and you may give him and others whom you please the information, that the hostilities are to cease as soon as possible after the Ratification in America. All captures at Sea, after certain dates according to the distances are to be restored—twelve days after the Ratifications, on the whole Coast of North-America, thirty days, in the British and Irish Channels; forty days in the North Seas and the Baltic, and one hundred and twenty days in the remotest parts of the world. We hope the American ratification will be given in February or the beginning of March—The American flag will therefore be one of the first welcomed at Cronstadt, and Archangel the ensuing Season, and our vessels that have been there War-bound for nearly three years, may sail again for their homes with the first favourable breezes and open waters of the approaching year.
We have not yet heard what has been the reception of the Treaty in England—Mr Baker, who left this City at 9 O’Clock last Saturday Evening with Mr Gambier, met with an accident on his way to Ostend—The wheel of his Carriage broke down and he was detained five or six hours—He arrived at 3 or 4. O’Clock Sunday afternoon, at Ostend, and sailed the same Evening with a fair wind. We suppose he arrived in London about Monday noon.
The British Plenipotentiaries dined with us on Wednesday; with the Hanoverian General Alten and his Aids, the English General Lyon, some English Ladies, and the Intendant and his Lady—Mrs Smith had unfortunately a sore throat, and could not come. (She is now much better). We had a much more cordial and social party than at any of our former dinners—a Volunteer Band of Music—Hail Columbia, and God Save the King—Complimentary toasts and so forth.
We have hearty congratulations from the Inhabitants of this City, of all Classes—Invitations to dinner for every day from to-morrow till next Thursday.—Mr Russell however goes to-morrow for Paris—Our Month at this house expires this day, and we break up our house keeping—Mr Gallatin, Mr Bayard and myself return to the Hotel des Pays-Bas—Mr Clay keeps his apartments in another house—The Americans are dropping off—Irving and Storrow went with Carroll. The two Philadelphia Smiths are going to Bruxelles—Forbes went on Tuesday for Hamburg. There is a Boston Smith, son of Barney, lately arrived to be private Secretary to Mr Russell, but he is going this day for England. Todd sent Cards P. P. C. all over the City last week; and threatens to go every hour—I expect to be here the last on the spot; and here, and every where am with love to Charles, your ever affectionate husband
A.


Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to John Quincy Adams, 30 December 1814
From: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson
To: Adams, John Quincy

My best Friend
St Petersburg Decbr. 30th. 1814

Your letter is this moment brought me and Mr Lewis has called at the same time to inform me that Drumond and all his Army are taken God send this may be true we have whispers of Chauncey having forced Sir James to retreat this however is not confirmed and I am in a state of anxiety to know if the letters of to day will say any thing about it
This news will I hope produce a good effect and terminate all the difficulties and even impediment so constantly thrown in your way and you will still have the satisfaction of signing not only an honorable but a glorious peace—
The Ball at Court was very brilliant I had a long conversation with Prince Saltikoff who as well as Mr. Narishkin and Count Maister desired me to recall them to your remembrance the first was very inquisitive about American affairs and much surprized at the effect produced by the publication of the Negociations both in E and A... during Supper we were favoured with the airs Henry 4 and God save the King. Count M’ asked for the Renz des Vache but the Band did not know how to play it and played a Tyrolien air instead The Empressed seeing Lord W. with a plate full of Grayfish told him she had obserdved that the Corps Diplomatic were generally fond of them but particularly the English. this observation gave rise to some good Jokes and our good old friend M. told him that no Nation better understood the use of the Claw. which was completely expressed by the Motion of his hand. I only observed that Diplomats possessed, at least of the advantage of creeping backwards and forwards at pleasure—
I am very glad to hear that you grow fat and not at all afraid of your becoming too much so as I Know that you make more of it than there is real cause for. added to which you know that I think at our time of life fat is very becoming—Mr Charles who is very well informed you that I lay the Cards out to see when you will return. pray tell me what fair Lady it is that takes up so much of your attention? as I understand that it is the fashion of the place and as I know how essential it is to a diplomatic reputation to form this sort of intrigue it is impossible for you to lose so fine an opportunity. do not fancy I am jealous as our amiable and Gallant Mr. G used to say, a woman of my age cannot be jealous, and it is pretty certain that we have no pretention to be so, against the temptations that the world throws in your way, which I am sure are strong and mighty. God Bless and speed you soon to the arms and heart of your faithful Wife
L C A.


Title: From William Stephens Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 31 December 1814
From: Smith, William Stephens
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

Dear Madam—
Washington Decr. 31st. 1814.

I received your letter enclosing one addressed to Mr. Adams, and presented it to the Secretary of State it will be forwarded with the public dispatches to Gent.
I do not admire Williams return at this moment, having recieved his Commission as Secretary of the Legation, I think he had better hold it, and remain abroad for the present—least he should be on his Way I stated to Mr. Monroe, as he did not receive the Commission untill his arrival at Ghent, and the inconvenience of their returning to St. Petersburgh during the winter, I hoped he would consent to his visiting his friends in america this winter in the flagg ship, and return to St. Petersburgh in the Spring in a flagg ship, he could then also take such dispatches to the minister as the Administration might wish to make—he Answerd he gave the permission cheerfully and should be happy to receive his Visit here, That The President would also be pleased to see him, and he might hold his Commission and return in the spring unless some more agreable situation could be obtained for him—you will smile at this stroke of Diplomacy, not with the same glow of cheek, as when you perused my last letter—Another Senator has passed to the other world as you will notice by the enclosed—The Typhus fever glows at the navy yard and the spotted fever in Alexandria—a distressing influenza is pretty preverlant—The Season is very mild and the roads dusty—I visited Mr. Helen yesterday he appears to me to be in a deep Consumption, I do not think he will survive the spring—I thank God I continue in my usual health—with most respectful regards to The President, I wish you and yours many happy returns of the Season / Yours with affection
W: S: Smith


Title: From John Adams to Alexander Bryan Johnson, 2 January 1815
From: Adams, John
To: Johnson, Alexander Bryan

Dear Sir
Quincy January 2nd 1815

I thank you for your work on value and for that on Expatriation. They are great subjects The first has employed the greatest heads, not only Adam Smith & Sir James Steuart, the Chevalier Pinto and Mr McKean, and French Economists have exhausted all their wits upon it; but the reasoning faculties of Locke, & the mathematical inspiration of Newton have been applied to it to great advantage.
Nevertheless it seems impossible, that nations or Legislatures, should ever comprehend the principles of this Science, and adhere to them. The english nation has now renounced them, and the Americans, have never had any regard to them. The cool Hollanders, have been the most faithful to them.
Without flattery Sir, I think you have connected together, a chain of reflections upon this subject, which prove a comprehensive mind, which I wish, may be employed, to banish all banks and paper Currency forever, except Banks, like that of Amsterdam.
I agree with you in the natural im inalienable right of Expatriation. But there are limitations and exceptions, which every head and heart Bien nee as the French express it, must see and feel. Coriolanus and Moreau, met the fate, that must always attend such conduct. I could not without the most excruciating agony of heart, even in the extremest case of ingratitude to myself take arms against my native Country. I wish Sir that I could have been acquainted with you 50 years ago. But now trembling hands, & weeping eyes, admonish me every moment, that I have eat my Colic.
My compliments to your father & mother, to your mother in Law, to Aunt Nancy, and my love to your lovely spouse; Spouse! says Abby, what a word is that for one at 16 years old. Never mind it Abby, you are now a wife, and I hope in two or three years will be a matron. and make me once more a Great Grand Father
John Adams.


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 3 January 1815
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 68.
Ghent—Hotel des Pays-Bas 3. January 1815.

A happy New-Year! and many, many happy years to my dearest wife, and to my beloved Son Charles, and his far distant brothers!—It begins under better and more promising auspices, than we have known for many years; and may it please almighty God, that its progress and termination, may correspond with so propitious a commencement! You perceive that I dwell with delight upon the contemplation of the Peace; not that the Treaty has been satisfactory to me, or that I flatter myself it will be satisfactory to my Country—For the justification of the American Negotiators, the present relative situation of the two Parties to War, and the state in which the European Pacification had left the world must be duly weighed—We have obtained nothing but Peace, and we have made great sacrifices to obtain it—But our honour remains unsullied—Our territory remains entire—The Peace, in word and in deed has been made upon terms of perfect reciprocity, and we have surrendered no one right, or pretension of our Country—This is the fair side of the Treaty—Its Darkest shade is that it has settled no one subject of dispute between the two Nations—It has left open, not only all the controversies which had produced the War; but others not less important which have arisen from the War itself—The Treaty would more properly be called an unlimited Armistice than a Peace, and the day we agreed to sign it, I told my Colleagues, that it would immortalize the Negotiators on both sides, as a master-piece of Diplomacy, by the address with which it avoided the adjustment of any one dispute that had ever existed between the Parties—Certain it is, that no other than such a Peace could have been made.
We have felt some curiosity to know how the Peace would be received in England. Mr Baker, arrived as we had expected, on Monday the 26th: about two in the afternoon, at London. But owing to the accident which had happened to him on the way between this place and Ostend, he was not the first to announce the news—The Stock-jobbers, (and probably Bentzon) were before him. There had been a Report on Saturday that the Peace was signed—But on Monday about Noon it was circulated as a certainty—The Courier of that Day in one paragraph mentions it, and adds that the business done upon the Stock Exchange was immense. The funds rose nearly one per Cent—But that the Government had no information of the Event—Then in a Second Edition dated 4 O’Clock is another paragraph stating by authority from Government that the Peace had been signed on Saturday the 24th: We have not yet seen any Courier of Chronicle of a later date, but Mr Goulburn was kind enough to bring me yesterday the Times down to Friday last the 30th: It has abated none of its virulence against America—In announcing on the 27th: the “fatal intelligence” of the Treaty, it calls upon the Nation to rise unanimously, and address the Regent against its Ratification—It continues every day to Friday pouring forth its lamentations, and its execrations—and when despairing of the perfidy that it had recommended, of a refusal to ratify, still resting upon a Savage hope that before the Ratification can take place in America, the British will take care to inflict some signal stroke of Vengeance to redeem their reputation—It states that after the first day of the Peace’s being known, there was a depression instead of a rise of the funds; and attributes it to an universal belief that the state of affairs at Vienna rendered the prospect of a new European War inevitable; as nothing else could possibly have induced the Cabinet to conclude such a Peace—This reasoning is probably not altogether unfounded.
Mr Carroll arrived in London on Thursday, and will be allowed to go in the same vessel which takes Mr Baker with the Ratification. The British Government have even determined to send out a duplicate of the Ratification itself—The news from America shews the tone which the public Sentiment had risen to in consequence of our dispatches by the John Adams—The double taxes had passed the House of Representatives by very large majorities. Mr Monroe had made a Report, proposing that the regular army should be increased to one hundred thousand Men, and it was expected the measure would pass—the Loan was filled, and if the War had continued another year, I am persuaded it would have terminated more disgracefully to the British than the last.—Whatever the motives of the British Cabinet in concluding the Peace may have been, they never adopted a wiser measure.
We broke up our establishment at the Hotel Lovendeghem, Rue des Champs, last Friday; Mr Bayard, Mr Gallatin and myself returned to this house—On Saturday, Mr Russell and Mr Todd left us for Paris—We dined at Mr Van Aken’s, with the British Legation, and a large party—Sunday was New-Year’s day—We paid and received a number of formal visits in person and many others by Cards—Dined with a numerous party at Mr Van Caneghem’s—Yesterday Lord Gambier and Doctor Adams left the City, for London. We dined with General Alten and a large party of English and Hanoverian Officers. In the Evening we went to the Concert and Redoute Parée—It was excessively crowded and the Music of the Concert was adapted to the celebration of the Peace—At one end of the Hall there was a transparent Inscription
HARMONIE
entre ALBION et COLUMBIA.
PAIX DE GAND.
Conclue XXIV. Decembre.
God Save the King, and Hail Columbia, were part of the performances. The Hall was extremely crowded with Company, and the Notes of Peace gave a double delight to the pleasures of the Song and the Dance. This day we are to dine with the Intendant, to-morrow with the Meulemeester’s, and on Thursday at an Entertainment given by the principal inhabitants of the City; at the Hotel de Ville, the Palace of Charles the fifth—with a Ball in the Evening—This I hope and trust will close the festivities; which consume much time, and might become tedious.
I received on Sunday yours of 6. December, and just now that of the 10th: numbers 49. and 50. The last particularly welcome because written in good Spirits—The anecdote about Decatur is excellent; but I am not sure that it was not too severe upon Larden—But the trick the English Actors, played upon us, and that I told you of, was a match for it—Taking our Money—Asking our Patronage, and then singing
“O Lord our God arise!
Scatter his Enemies—”before our faces.
I think I shall not get away from this place sooner than the 15th nor reach Paris sooner than the 25th:—I shall wait with much anxiety to learn when you determine to come on; for now, it will not be decamping—I presume you will be presented to the Empress Mother (and to the Empress if she returns) But let it only be for an  absence, to join me—Not a final leave, because I am not yet recalled—If you have an opportunity at the Audience, tell their Majesty’s that I expect to be recalled, and if I should be, how infinitely I shall regret not having it in my power to take leave of them in person, and how ineffaceable the remembrance I shall ever retain of their gracious condescencion to us, while at their Court.—
Ever affectionately yours
A.


Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to John Quincy Adams, 3 January 1815
From: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson
To: Adams, John Quincy

No 1
My beloved friend
St Petersburg Janry 3 1815

According to your desire I begin again to number my letters but I hope at least that our correspondence will not be prolong’d much longer and that you will soon return to cheer us again by your presence which I assure you, is much wanted
Your last appear’d to me to be written under a considerable depression of spirits and I was almost apprehensive that you were sick some disagreeable circumstance of no consequence however was I hope the only reason and these must occur so frequently it is not surprizing that you should occasionally suffer them to affect you and even deeply—
Mon Ami I find it very difficult to write as Charles is reading all the tragic Scenes in Dufief and really so well as to astonishment me he is reading at this moment Britanicus and he has just stopped to ask me if I dont think Racine writes beautiful things—
While I was writing Mr Shaw came in with Mr. Harris I expected he would have told me a great of news about you but he had nothing to say at all and I might as well of seen nobody I perfectly remember his having dined with us he was introduced to us by your Brother and went to the Theatre with him immediately after dinner this is all I know about him but he appears to be a great friend of Mr. H.—
Charles’s writing is in some measure owing to bad pens and his writing a variety of hands or styles and he writes now so much for his Masters that he is getting a habit of writing too fast he is now in such good health I think of sending him back to Mr: Fishwick though I do not at all like Mr Fishwicks Masters I am confident a German cannot teach good French and his reading was so entirely ruined I feel very much averse to placing him there at all he gets too wild for me at home—
Adieu my best beloved friend many sincere thanks for your kindness in sending me the Stockings tell Catherine how much I was gratified by her letters I will write by the next Post and if possible answer both letters assure yourself  and esteem of your affectionate Wife
L C A.


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 6 January 1815
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N: 69.
My beloved wife.
Ghent 6. January 1815.

There is a news boy’s new year’s address, in vulgar doggerel Flemish verse, circulating with many others, but which it seems some of the printers declined publishing. It alludes to the Bon-mot of the Prince de Ligne about the Congress at Vienna—“Le Congrés danse, mais il ne marche pas”—and then recommends to the Sovereigns and great Ministers assembled at the Austrian Capital to turn their eyes towards Ghent, and take a lesson from what has been doing here—That Lord Gambier and Gallatin were never seen to Valse—That Goulburn was never found in a Country-dance—That the British and American Ambassadors, dined at what hour they pleased—But they worked after dinner—and one morning when no body expected it—Lo, it was found they had made a Treaty, and all was settled—Whether the Congress at Vienna have wasted any of their time upon Carousels, and sledging parties, and boar hunting, I am not sufficiently informed to pronounce; but although we have been sober enough in our diversions, it is doing us too much honour to compliment us upon the dispatch with which we have executed our business. If it has taken us six Months to make a Treaty, merely putting an end to the War between Britain and America, without settling one point of dispute, ten years would by the rule of proportion be a short term for the Monarchs and Statesmen at Vienna to balance the future destinies of Europe, and after all it is probably from the thorns of their dissensions that we have plucked the rose of Peace.
Our festive moments have been in a great measure reserved for the period subsequent to the conclusion: and happening to fall just at Christmas time, the usual Season for gambols, they have not consumed much of the useful time of any body—Of mine however they have been absorbed during the week just elapsed more than I ought perhaps to have allowed, and I am satisfied that they are at length finished—On Tuesday the remnants of the two Legations dined at the Intendant’s, with the Hanoverian, Belgian, and English commanding Officers of the place—On Wednesday our party dined and spent the Evening at Mr: Meulemeester’s, with his numerous and respectable family connections—While we were at table, his daughter, a modest and pretty girl about twelve years old came in and sung the following verses, performing at the same time the Air, upon the Harp.
1.
D’une voix enfantine encore
Mais de bon coeur,
De la paix je chante l’aurore,
Et du bonheur.
O vous dont la présence inspire
Les sons touchans;
Si vous m’aiméz daigner sourire
A mes accens.
Oui, de bon coeur
Votre bonheur
Prête a mes chans } Bis.
Les doux accens
2.
De quel monde, de quelle terre
D’ou venéz vous?
De Colombia, dit ma mère......
Un nom si doux
Colombie—ce nom m’inspire
Des voeux touchans,
Si vous m’aiméz veuillez sourire
A mes accens
Ah de bon coeur
Vôtre bonheur
Prete a mes chants } Bis
Les doux accens.
3
Prospere heureuse Colombie
Tels sont nos voeux.
Aux Ambassadeurs, Retournez dans votre Patrie,
Soyéz heureux
Mais quelquefois en Amerique
Souvenez vous
De vos amis de la Belgique
Penséz a nous.
Soyez heureux
Et des nos voeux
Souvenez vous. } Bis
Penséz à nous
They were sung with a timidity, which without at all disconcerting her served to heighten their effect.—The tune was as simple as the words, and we shall have a copy of it—I regretted much that Mr Smith had sent an excuse for the dinner, though she came in the Evening. Yesterday Morning I wrote a Note to Madame Meulemeester, and sent her three small Volumes, containing a collection of Geographical descriptions, with coloured prints of the dresses of different Nations, requesting her to present them from me to her daughter, together with the following verses.
To Miss M. de Meulemeester
1.
Fair maid of Ghent! were mine the days,
Of Beauty and of Youth;
And mine the Bard’s ecstatic lays,
Inspir’d by Love and Truth,
My Harp, of all that Poets dream
The sweetest song should chuse;
Thy virgin charms should be my theme,
And thou shouldst be my Muse.
2.
E’en now, declining in the vale
Of melancholy years,
How charming, floated on the gale
Thy accents to my ears!
Yes, lovely Maid! beyond the tide
Of Ocean’s wild domain,
Columbia’s ecchoes shall, with pride
Repeat thy tender strain
3.
And when my wandering feet shall turn
Towards Columbia’s strand,
My heart, with Gratitude shall burn
To bless thy native Land.
And while the pulse of life shall bound,
Remembrance ne’er shall cease,
That here, Columbia’s Eagle found
The Olive branch of Peace.
4.
And here, shall Memory repeat,
The Land of Peace and Love,
A Maid I met, than Peace more sweet,
More spotless then her dove.
Thus, of the being of thy friend
Till consciousness shall flee,
The thoughts of Peace and Love shall blend
Fair Maid of Ghent! with thee.
Yesterday we had a great and formal banquet, at the Hotel de Ville, given by the principal Inhabitants of the City—There were about one hundred persons at table, and I think it probable the newspapers will give some account of it—The Hall was decorated with the American and British flags, intertwined harmoniously together, and the band of Music entertained us with God save the King and Hail Columbia till the repetition began to be tiresome to Mr Goulburn—He had remained here out of complaisance, to attend this fête, and starts for London to-morrow—Mr Bayard and Mr Clay move also to-morrow for Paris—Mr Gallatin stays a day or two longer, and I expect to be here at least until the 15th.—There were some french couplets written and printed to be sung yesterday at the feast—But they were omitted, and were hardly worth hearing after the artless song of my Muse.—Adieu my dearest friend—We have nothing new, and indeed all news just at this moment are insipid—Notwithstanding the Grand Duke Constantine’s proclamation to the Poles, my toast yesterday was “May the Gates of the temple of Janus shut at Ghent, not be opened again for a Century”!—Love to Charles—Adieu!
 A.


Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 6 January 1815
From: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

My Dear Sister,
Atkinson Jan. 6th. 1815

To day I received your Letter with its contents all safe, & thank you for your care & for your obliging me with the perusal of your Son’s excellent Letter—I consider every word as Truth—a just representation of the state of our affairs, of which we have little, I believe in our public papers—I have not time to say now what I wish—I shall inclose his letter, for dear you may want it, & the Character of our justly valued friend Madam Warren—In our estimation eulogium could scarcely be carried too high—I do not know her superior—scarcely her equal—Her Biographer can never do her more than justice unless he soars to the celestial Order—
I have had a very bad pain in my head, & back of my Eye Balls, that has affected my Eyes, & my face on one side has been greatly inflamed— I have applied a poltice, & it is better, but my Eyes are weak yet—I believe it is something of the old St. Antony’s fire, by its being so sudden, & impetuous—Three times this winter he has made me an unwelcome visit—But I desire to be thankful they have not as yet been long—
I am sorry that your lungs, & Eyes have suffered too by the tedious cold weather—The winter has begun early—we have had very fine sleying here for five, or six weeks—but I suppose none at Quincy—or round Boston—We live here in a cold region, but are surrounded with many Blessings, a good fire, & bread to eat—And I wish every one enjoyed as many comforts / as your affectionate Sister
E P—

Do not dear Sister, ever forget to present my respectful regards to the Presidents, who I hope, feels few of the infirmities of age—kindly distribute my love to all, with wishes that this new year may be fraught with Blessings to you, & yours—


Title: From Susanna Boylston Adams Clark Treadway to Alexander Bryan Johnson, 9 January 1815
From: Treadway, Susanna Boylston Adams Clark
To: Johnson, Alexander Bryan

Quincy January 9th 1815.

Thanks to my Dear Brother, for his letter, and affectionate remembrance, which I received, last evening. You observe “it gives you more pleasure, to receive, an account of the actions of your friends, than to know their thoughts.” to you then I will recount my actions, and if you will favour me, with advice, upon any subject, I shall always feel grateful for it. I have been reading with great interest, the life of Cicero, by Middleton. it is finely written, and I know not any species of reading, more calculated, to yeild instruction, and at the same time afford amusement, than the lives of virtuous, and eminent men who have made, a conspicuous figure in the world, and it is not possible, to excite an affection for Cicero, without instilling, at the same time, a love for every thing that is laudable. As an orator, and a Statesman, I beleive he stands unrivalled, in the pages of history, and as a man of virtuous principles, and unblemished character, his name, has been handed down to posterity. but how melancholy was the end of this great man, who after all the services, he had rendered the Republic, was basely murdered. With the dissolution, of Roman liberty, and the decline of Roman taste, the excellency, of the oratorical art fell into decay. I shall here take the liberty, of making a short extract, from one of my Uncle John’s orations. he observes “At the arrival of letters in modern Europe, Eloquence together with her sister muses, awoke, and shook the poppies from her brow; but their torpor, still tingled, in her veins. In the interval, her voice was gone; her favourite languages, were extinct; her organs, were no longer, attuned to harmony; and her hearers, could no longer understand her speech; The theatres of her former triumph, were deserted; or filled with the Cablers of Sophistry; She shrunk intuitively  from the forum, for the last object, she remembered to have seen there, was the head of her darling Cicero, planted upon the rostrum.” My Uncle was a perfect idolizer of this great man, and I think, in point of talents, resembles him not a little, if you, my Dear Brother, have never read his Lectures, you have a pleasure still to come, which I almost Envy.
But I have wandered from my first intentions, and have been giving you my ideas, and opinions, as freely, as though we had been corresponding for years; but I know you will pardon it, and hope, I shall not be deemed intrusive.
To my Dear Sister, I shall write tomorrow. she must not be affronted, with me, for not answering her letter first.
Beleive me with every wish for your happiness, / affectionately your Sister

S B Adams.


Title: From Charles Francis Adams to John Quincy Adams, 10 January 1815
From: Adams, Charles Francis
To: Adams, John Quincy

No. 9Dear Papa
St Petersburg Janry 10th 1814 1815

The last letter that you wrote to me was dated of the 16 of December I was very glad to get it as I am always when I receive Letters from you.
I wish you would tell Mrs: Smith to write to me she has promised to write to me but I do not receive any Letters from her.
I went to a Ball at Mrs: Krehmers and Danced eight Country Dances. I would have Danced ten Dances but I Missed out two of them.
I have been to Mrs: Benedict Cramers with Sophia Betsey and Julia a little girl who is come to live whith Mrs: Krehmer.
Mrs: Betancourt has taken away my Gun and has given me another, a smaller and a lighter Gun: but I hope to learn to handle my Gun in such a way as to be able to defend both my Country and the Ladies in case of need.
I wish I had seen this Rhinoceros, because I would have seen if I could shoot through him with my Gun.
You ask me why Blue Beard Wives had their heads cut off, it was because they enterred in the forbidden chamber, and the other is, She Fatima sees the Seven wives, and that makes her fall in-to a fit.
I would like very much to be with you or I would like very much that you should come here.
I am, / Dear Papa / your Dutiful and affectionate Son,

Charles Francis Adams


Title: From John Adams to John Peter De Windt, 11 January 1815
From: Adams, John
To: De Windt, John Peter

Dear Sir
Quincy Jan. 11. 1815

Thanks for your favour of the 2d. I rejoice in your health and that of all your connections; and am not a little pleased with your situation in New York with your Caroline and especially with your determination to compleat your studies in the Law and be called to the Bar. The Profession is the most liberal in society, let the Priests say what they will. A Man of Integrity Talents and Urbanity, well instructed in the science and practice at the Bar, is the most independent Man in Society. Nor Kings nor Princes, nor Nobles, nor Judges can be compared to him, nor Priests nor Physicians nor Merchants. Labour he must as industriously as any of them, but his reward is as certain, in his attainments in Litterature and Science; in his Knowledge of the World and the human heart, in his consciousness of protecting Innocence and promoting Justice, and if he pleases in acquiring Property.
The just Sentiments and patriotic dispositions in the State of New York of which you assure me are very Satisfactory. I wish I could say as much of New England. I would fain hope however that there is more appearance of Division than reality. But the Appearance as it damps the Ardor and parallizes the Efforts of the nation, at the Same time that it encourages the English to proceed to more extravagant excesses, is still very pernicious. Have you Seen the Result and Report from Hartford?
If there are any curious Novelties in Litterature, Law, Politcks or Manners, that turn up I will thank you for Some Notice of them. Compliments of the Season to all Friends from / your most obt
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Alexander Bryan Johnson, 11 January 1815
From: Adams, John
To: Johnson, Alexander Bryan

Dear Sir
Quincy January 11. 1815

For myself and all my Family, I reciprocate to you and yours, the Compliments of the Season. At my Age, one knows not what a year or a day may produce or destroy. To you and yours I wish health long life and every blessing.
I hope you will not keep a very Strict Account of Dr and Cr with me in the commerce of letters. I Should be obliged to you, for as large and as long Credit, without Interest, as you can afford.
Nothing will be wanting but a Poet to make your Utica as famous as Ithica the Kingdom of Ulysses. Homer could easily make out of Wilkinsons Dearbornes &c Agamemnons Achilles’s Ajaxes Nestors, or what he pleased. As the New Journal of Utica is likely to record Facts that hereafter may be the Materials of a new Illiad or Odyssey, I shall be much gratified with the Numbers you are So good as to give me hopes to receive. Who knows but Wilkinson who has Suffered as many persecutions as Cato, who has advertised Harper and John Randolph for Cowards may be reduced to Such a State of Indignation at the disgraces of his Country her Injustice and Ingratitude to him, as to fall upon his Sword and become as famous or notorious as Cato? Let no one See this but yourself. I can neither write nor Speak nor think about our public Affairs, any thing but Rhodomontade and Baggatelle.
Your Want of a Profession is a Serious Misfortune. If I had your Fortune and your head, I would Study Law Physick, or Divinity, or Merchandise or Land Jobbing, I will not Say or Stock jobbing; rather than be idle, and without an Object. “Il est plus difficile de S’amuser, que de S’enrichir.” You may depend upon it, he is the most unhappy Man in the World, who has nothing to do. Whether he be rich or poor, high or low, if he has no Plan, he is never easy on horseback or on foot, in his Carriage or his Walk in the Woods, in his Parlour or his Study, on his Sofa or in his bed, in his easy Chair or on his Couch. As the Mind and Body are made for Action, the most implacable and inexorable Ennemy of human Happiness is Ennui. I wish the English Language had a neat and well Sounding Word to express it.
Now Sir, I have a Serious private request to make. Madam Dearborne is at Utica. With this Ladys former Husband I had a long Acquaintance, with his Father and her Uncle, Governor Bowdoin a long and cordial Frienship, and with his Grandfather Erving an acquaintance as familiar as commonly happens between very old Men and very young ones. For the Lady herself I have a personal respect and regard. I there request that Mrs Adams Miss Nancy and Mrs Johnson would make a respectful Visit to that Lady and present to her and her General my respectful Regards and the Compliments of the Season
With much Esteem, your most obt Servant
John Adams


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 13 January 1815
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 71.
My dearest friend.
Ghent 13 January 1815.

Your two Letters of 15 and 16. December were delivered to me yesterday Morning, and are numbers 51. and 52—The day before, I had received two from Mr Harris of December 14 and 21.—Harris always forwards his Letters by the way of Amsterdam; by which means they sometimes come quicker, though on the other hand they are sometimes delayed longer than yours which are forwarded directly, and which come through Cologne and Wesel—All this will soon be of no consequence to us, as our epistolary Correspondence will I hope very shortly cease—The greatest regret I have had at the sluggishness with which our Letters have been forwarded, has been when there was good news to tell, and I have lost the opportunity of giving you the first intelligence of it. According to all probability you will learn the signature of the Treaty from the London Newspapers sooner than from my Letter—For as it was signed on Saturday and officially announced in the London Courier of Monday, that paper will have every chance of reaching St Petersburg before my Letter of Tuesday, the first Post-day after we signed—And when I wrote you on Friday, we had not even agreed to sign.
Mr Hughes and Mr Carroll will have a hard race to deliver the first Copy of the Treaty at Washington—I informed you that we had received a Letter from Bordeaux from Mr Hughes, written New Year’s day, and declaring that he should embark the next day in the Transit.—A Letter for Mr Clay has since been received from Mr Carroll; with the Post-mark of Salisbury 1. January, upon it—Salisbury is about half way between London and Plymouth—A Morning Chronicle of the 4th: or 5th: has a paragraph, stating that the Favourite actually sailed from Plymouth with a fair wind on Monday morning the 2d:—The Schooner, Boyd says, sails remarkably well—The Corvette we must suppose, being selected for such a Service is not dull. I am not without hopes that before the close of this Month of January, the tidings of the Peace will gladden our Country.—Hughes and Carroll, I learn, have both the project of solliciting the appointment of Secretary to the Legation  at London—I do not wish ill enough to Hughes to desire he should obtain it—He is not suited to the place, nor the place to him—To Carroll I should have no other objection than that I had already recommended another person, namely Everett, for the office—I mean, upon the supposition that I should be sent to England myself—I should think it a breach of delicacy to recommend a Secretary to any Legation, where I had reason to suppose the principal appointment would be assigned to any other person than myself—I did last Summer write to the Secretary of State requesting that Everett might be appointed Secretary to the Legation at St: Petersburg, if I should return there, and adding that if there had been the prospect of a mission to London, assigned to me, I should have wished him as the Secretary to that—In making this request, I was serving the Public quite as much, and I believe more than my friend—Carroll told me his secret, and asked my recommendation of him to the Secretary of State.—I informed him of the previous recommendation I had made, but assured him that if he should obtain the preference, and I should receive the principal appointment, I should be well satisfied at standing in that relation with him.
The Circumstance of the Department of State’s being kept vacant, and the news which you say Mr Harris told you he had received by The Fingal has made me doubtful more than ever, whether I shall be sent to England—I have many reasons for wishing not to go there—And nearly as many for wishing not to go home to be Secretary of State—My own wish, and my own interest would be to go home, but possibly two or three years more of residence in Europe, would be most advantageous for the education of our Children—
Mr Gallatin did not leave this City till yesterday Morning—He goes to spend a Month at Geneva, and then returns to Paris—His son James says that he would be pleased with the Mission to Russia, but, important as that is likely to be, I should be glad to see him in some place where he would render still more useful service to the public—Without disparagement to any other of my late or present Colleagues, I consider him as having contributed the largest and most important share to the conclusion of the Peace, and there has been a more constant concurrence of opinion between him and me, upon every point of our deliberations, than perhaps between any two other members of the Mission—There is some prospect that our joint labours are far from being terminated; for besides the full power for negotiating a Peace, we had another for making a Treaty of Commerce—We gave official notice of this fact, to the British Plenipotentiaries shortly before their departure—They answered that their Powers having expired by the conclusion of the Peace, they could only transmit our Note to their Government for Consideration—From the Government we have no further answer, but it is not improbable they will say that after the Ratification of the Peace they will receive any proposals we have to offer upon the subject of Commerce—If so we shall all have to repair to London, and that is perhaps the expectation of my Colleagues—If I am to go to London myself I should earnestly wish that this may be the course of Events; for the Negotiations with England after the Peace will be far more difficult and complicated than they have been for the Peace, and I should be glad to have the labour and responsibility of them divided with associates, rather than to be burthened with the whole of it myself.
I have just now received your’s of 20. December—N. 53—The newspaper paragraphs about the progress of our Negotiation were as wide from the truth as most of the tales fabricated all over Europe, about the Congress at Vienna—We never waited one hour for Instructions from our Government. We wanted no new Instructions to reject the proposals first held out to us by the British Plenipotentiaries; and we acted without Instructions, and as I have written you, contrary to Instructions, when it was necessary—The last was the case of greatest difficulty; but I believe it secured the Peace—The English Newspapers are now full of false accounts of the contents of the Treaty—There is however an abstract of it in the Morning Chronicle of 5 January, which is entirely correct—I know not whence it came, or how it got there, but it must have been from somebody who had read the Treaty, and knew what had been the subjects of the Negotiation, omitted in it—The source must, I think have been American.
I am gratified to learn that you have become acquainted with Princess Beloselsky; and when you take leave of her I beg you to present my respects to her, and thank her for the interest she has taken in our Cause—Madame de Stael has also distinguished herself by espousing our side with so much earnestness, that she has lost almost all her English admirers—When the Ladies had become our champions it was impossible that we should have been overcome.
I write by this day’s Post to Mr Harris, who will communicate to you the parts of the Letter particularly interesting to you—I wish you to leave the Obligations, in his hands—Give my love to Charles, whom I congratulate upon the loss of his teeth—The second set I hope will last him long—Your’s with unalterable affection.
A.


Title: Abigail Adams, receipt, 17 January 1815
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To:

Janry 17th 1815

            Bought for John Adams as pr Bill

            3 yds Satinet 11/65 751 yd Lining34 ct1 doz Buttons502 Skains Silk251 Skain Twist12/2paid Sampson making coat & mending Sundries50paid pray Soaling Boots50$7.96 1/2

Received in full
Abigail AdamsCash advanced by Mrs: A Adams—for GW & JA $7.96.