Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 6 September 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 33.
My dear wife.
Ghent 6 September 1814.

There are two very sufficient reasons to restrain me from laughing at the difference of complexion in the political intelligence communicated by your letter of 5. August, which I received on Saturday, from that which your preceding favour, of 2. Augt: had contained. One was that I had already seen both faces of the news, in Letters received on the same day, from the Chargé d’Affairs, one addressed to Mr Gallatin, and the other to myself—And the other, that my own Letters to you are quite as much at invariance with one another in the information which they convey to you—For this I have already apologized to you and assigned its true Cause—The different aspect of things at different times—Since my last Letter to you they have again taken, another shade—Yesterday we received the reply to our Note, but it does not, as I expected it would, terminate our business here—On the contrary, it may protract it a week or ten days longer—It presents even a possibility of further Negotiation, but in a Manner so ambiguous and equivocal, that I cannot foresee the result of our next Note to them—Nor can I indeed precisely judge what that will be, as it is not yet prepared.
In answer to my enquiries from Amsterdam, I am informed that there is a vessel there, taking in a Cargo, for St: Petersburg; to sail certainly between the 16th: and 30th: of this Month, and in which I may take passage if I think proper.—I had determined not to think of embarking later than the 20th: but it is now not certain that I can be at Amsterdam, by that day—Between the 20th: and 30th it is highly probably that I may—Mr Bourne is now here, and returns in a day or two—He has promised to see the Vessel and examine the Nature of the accommodations, which he will report to me—If they are tolerable, and Mr Smith should determine to return to Russia with his family, it may afford them an opportunity, and if I am released in time, I shall probably go with them—My present inclination however is, as I wrote you last week to go by Land.
I am still without a word of information from Mr Smith—The late English Papers announce the arrival of a convoy from the Baltic, and of that of a frigate from Cronstadt in thirteen days. I wrote to Mr Smith last Friday, under cover to Mr Beasley, intreating him to come here without an instant of delay—The chance by the Neptune is not yet lost, but I expect she will this day be ordered round to Brest, and that in three or four days she will sail from Antwerp.—But I have a sort of presentiment that she will Winter again in Europe.
Though I am well assured there is no necessity for a renewal of the injunction, let me again remind you of the request that you would disclose to no human being a word of what I write you concerning what is passing here—We are surrounded by so many commercial spies, and we are so many, that concealment of the general aspect of the Negotiation at any particular moment is impossible—Immediately after Dallas went away, Coll: Milligan, without Passport, must needs go to pay a visit to his Relations in Scotland—He went in Company with Mr Creighton, and after passing only a few hours in London, proceeded immediately for Liverpool—Precisely at the time of their passing through London, immense speculations were made in the Articles of Cotton and Tobacco, which from one day to the next rose ten per Cent in price—That Creighton was deep in these Speculations I think highly probable—That Milligan had any thing to do with them, I am unwilling to believe—But I thought, and still think it was very improper, both for him and Mr Carroll to go to England; they have already given rise to rumours in England that the American Commissioners are negotiating for something besides peace, and the good-nature of the English Public will not be much inclined to discriminate, or to acquit any one of us, of the charge.—I have had many Letters of sollicitation for information, and from almost every extremity of Europe; and we have all been closely enough besieged by inquisitive visitors here—I have declined giving information of any kind respecting the negotiation to any person in Europe, expecting yourself and Mr Crawford. I not only thought it a sacred duty to abstain from any speculation of private interest myself, founded upon the events of this Negotiation, but even from giving the means to any of my friends or Correspondents to make speculations upon any information, not generally public, and derived from me—I have not employed a clerk or copyist for a line that I have written since I left St: Petersburg—To Mr Crawford I have written officially, and to you in Confidence, because I knew that I could trust to your discretion, and that you would have no concern direct or indirect in any commericial or pecuniary speculation whatever—I could not, and still cannot withhold from you the prospects as they arise of the time when I expect to return; and those must depend upon the actual state of the Negotiation. But as the Commerce of all Europe will be profoundly affected by its issue, there are in every commercial City persons eager to seize upon its incidents for purposes of private speculation, and I have no doubt they will be as numerous in proportion at St: Petersburg as elsewhere—It is on this account that I heretofore made, and now renew the request that you would consider every thing that I write you upon this subject as intended exclusively for yourself.
It will serve you as a tolerable commentary upon what I have just written, that I was this moment called down to a Gentleman, who wrote us a Letter some days since offering us to ship Zinc, of which he, and his Company have a manufactory at Liege, for the United-States. As we receive a Multitude of letters of this kind, with which we have no imaginable concern, we have thought it the shortest and most convenient way of disposing of them to leave them unanswered—But this person after waiting three or four days for the answer, which he had requested, at last determined to come himself, and has just displayed before me a number of samples of his Zinc, accompanied by a Dissertation upon its properties and uses—Interspersing his Discourse with now and then a question, what was the prospect of Peace, and now and then a hint how much he wished it might be concluded—At last finding me dull of comprehension to indirect enquiries, just as he was taking leave, he came out point blank—“should we make peace or not”? As you may suppose, this gave me a fair chance to muffle myself up in mystery, and I recommended it to him to shew his samples of Zinc to Mr Gallatin.
Besides Mr Bourne, and his Son George, we have now here, Mr Tuckerman, of Boston, and, for the second time, Mr Bentzon. He came back last week from Paris; and is looking out for a passage to America—The Hannibal in which he came to Gothenburg has been sold—She is at Bremen, and I believe is going to America—But Mr Bentzon knows nothing about it.
We are about making application for another Cartel, for a Pilot-Boat Schooner, called the Herald; now at Amsterdam—And we shall ask Passports for several Americans, non-combatants, who have no other means of returning home—She will sail I suppose in about a month.
I am a little uneasy at having yet no Letter from you later than that of 5. August; but hope it is owing only to the caprices of the Post-Office—To give this Letter a different chance I think I shall send it by the way of Amsterdam. always give my Love to Charles, and always believe me most affectionately yours.
A.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 7 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, John Quincy

My dear Son
Sepbr 7th 1814

I wrote to you on the 26 of August, and sent my Letter to N york to go in a dispatch vessel. I did not at the time know of the Humiliating and disgracefull Catastrophy which had befallen the city of Washington!! nor have I language to describe my feelings at the Torpor which blinded the Government to a sense of their danger, and their defenceless situation
The Capitol is destroyed, but America is not conquerd, and I trust in God that it will not be. when private afflictions assail me by the immediate Hand of heaven I bow with submission to the sovereign will. and
But when calimities are brought upon us through want of foresight and energy to repell them—through incapacity of those, who Govern and direct the counsels of the Nation, we have reason to complain. The whole force of Great Britain liberated by the General pacification of Europe, is now leveld against America—and assails us upon every quarter where we are most vulnerable—upon our sea coast, to destroy our cities, and lay waste our Borders appears to be the object of the hostile fleets—to guard them all, so extensive as they are is impossible—and we shall suffer calamities similar to other Nations. you will no doubt receive the British account of the destruction of the Capitol of America with and high exultation, yet you who know this City, know that it is but a city in Name in embrio—a wilderness city, thinly inhabited, without a back country to supply a militia and inhabited by slaves, who were as much feard by the inhabitants, as the Enemy who attacked them—
We at this distance have not yet a regular and Authentic narative of the transaction. private property we have heard was Respected—but a general destruction of the public—I cannot enumerate—to the sons of the Fathers who fought & Bled to obtain independence it belongs to  inquire. have they fought & Bled in vain? will their ospring renounce their parentage? forbid it Heaven—
I will turn from these painfull scenes to acknowledge with an overflowing heart, the pleasure I received two days since by the receipt of your Letter of the 30th of June from Ghent to receive a Letter only two Months from its date was joy to me, who had not before one of a later date than 1 Feby; to learn that you were well, and left your Family in health, gave a new spring to my spirits—deprest by the calamities of my country and by Bodily Sickness. I will now state to you the Letters received, since I wrote you, No 45 April 7th No 46 May 1st June Letter missing No 48 July 19th August 23d No 49, Sepbr & October missing from the numbers I presume more than one was written in each Month, for the next number received is of Novbr 19th No 53. December 30th No 54 press coppy—Janry 17th No 55 Febry 1st No 56—from thence to No 60, dated June at Ghent all are missing, every line you write is so precious to me that  I can ill afford to lose any of your Letters and I do not despair that some of them will yet find there way to me, and now you are so much nearer to me, that I feel the influence in the warmth of the Atmosphere which surrounds me, and in the pulse atiteins pulsation of my Heart.—nor can I endure the thought that you should ever again return to the cold Regions of the north. as much as I esteem and respect the Character of its sovereign—I could wish it might not be necessary for you to return that you was releaved from that mission—that you could send for your Family, and return to your Native Country that I might once again behold you. I shall ask no questions of you respecting your mission—I know with what eagerness every syllable is watchd for and multiplyd—& missaplied, that you should be surrounded with curiosity from various motives is to be expected—it is indeed a time of anxious expectation for our Country—and every Breize that blows comes fraught with tydings which makes us all anxious that peace may again be restord to us—Newyork is all alive to and taking every measure for Defence. Boston is waking from its Lethargy and like the Sleeping Lyon, when chased will manifest its strength. I well know from my own feelings what yours must be, at a distance from your country when surrounded by dangers so thick and sanguinary Yet will they not submit to an Ignominious peace


Title: From John Quincy Adams to William Steuben Smith, 7 September 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Smith, William Steuben

Dear Sir,
Ghent 7. September 1814.

I am rejoiced at learning, at last, your safe arrival with your family at Amsterdam—I have twice written to you—once, by Mr. Dallas, a Letter which he left with Mr Hoogland the American Consular Agent at the Helder; and last week, a Letter addressed to you at Hull in England, for which place, Mrs. Adams wrote me you had embarked at Cronstadt.—I regret very much that you lost the opportunity of going by the John Adams, but the chance by the Neptune fortunately, still remains. I request you to come with your family as soon as possible, here—You will have the option of returning to Russia, if you choose, though I cannot recommend it to you.—Messrs. Willink will inform you that I have written to them enquiring if there was an opportunity of a Vessel at Amsterdam going to Cronstadt, in which a passage could be taken. They will mention to you the vessel. they have reported to me, and I will thank you, before you come, to go on board of her, examine the accommodations for passengers, and ascertain what would be the price of a passage, whether Yfor myself with a Servant, or for us all, if we should all finally return.
At all events I think it will be best for you all to come here—I presume I need not urge you to come in the least expensive manner you will find practicable. I enclose you an order for 500 Florins, an account of your Salary as Secretary of Legation, during the present quarter, for the whole of which I shall pay you, upon my own responsibility, and which I trust will relieve you from your embarrassments on the Article of finance—You will however be sensible of the indispensible necessity for you, of observing the most rigorous economy.
I advise you to alight here at the Hôtel des Pays Bas, and if you stay here any time to take private apartments which it will not be difficult to find.
With affectionate remembrance to Mrs. Smith, / I remain truly yours.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 7 September 1814 to 25 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, John Quincy

My Dear Son
Quincy Sep’br 7th 1814

upon the 26th of August; I wrote to you, and Sent my Letter to Newyork; to go in a dispatch vessel; I did not at that time know of the Humiliating, and disgracefull Catastrophy, which had befallen the City of Washington!! I have not language to describe my feelings, at the Torpor, which blinded the Government to a Sense of their danger, and their defenceless Situation.
The Capitol is destroyed! but America is not conquered, and I trust in God, that it will not be.
When private, and domestic afflictions have assailed me, by the immediate hand of Heaven, I bow with submission to the Sovereign will.
But When calamities are brought upon us, through a want of foresight, and Energy to repell them; through incapacity in those who direct the counsels of the Nation; or through the stupidity, and conceit of a Secretary at War; the Nation has cause to complain aloud.
The whole force of Great Britain, which has been Liberated by the general pacification of Europe, is now let loose upon us, to assail us upon every quarter, where we are most vulnerable, upon our extensive Sea coast, to destroy our cities, to lay waste our borders, appears to be the object of the Hostile fleets, and to guard them all, so extensive as they are; is beyond our ability, and we must suffer calamities Similar to those which other Nations have experienced.
You will no doubt receive the British account of the destruction of the Capital of the Nation. their high  exultation at the mighty feat of gothic vandalism in destroying the Presidents unprotected house, and the seat of the National Counsels, this as a Specimen of their contempt, and hatred towards America, is received, and felt as it ought to be, but as a proof of the Military prowess of the British Nation I leave those to judge, who know the City, that it was but a city in Name an Embrio city, a wilderness thinly inhabited, and without a back Country to supply a militia, the greater part of the population, Slaves;
we at this distance only, have not yet been able to collect a regular, and authentic, narrative of the transaction
we have heard, that private property was respected, but a general destruction of the public.
I cannot Enumerate many of our particular Friends are sufferers by the destruction of the Bridge.
To the Sons of the Fathers, who fought, and bled, who risked Life and property, to obtain Independence it belongs to inquire; have they fought, and bled in vain? will their offspring renounce their parentage? forbid it Heaven.
I will turn from these painful Scenes of which you will soon have sufficient to “know up your Soul” to acknowledge with an overflowing Heart; the pleasure I received two days since by the receipt of your Letters, of the 30 June from Ghent; to receive a Letter so fresh from your pen, only two months from its date, was joy indeed to me: who had not received one before, of a later date than the 1st of Feb’ry, to learn that you were well; and left your Family in health, gave a new spring to my spirits; deprest by the calamityes of my country and bodily indispositions
The Letters which I have received since I numberd them to you; are No 45 April 7th No 46 May 11th June missing No 48 july 19th No 49 August 23., Sep’br and october missing, the next No received, is of Nov’br 19 No 59 december. 30 No 54. a pass coppy 1813—
Janry 17th No 55—Febry 1st No 56. from thence to No 60 dated June 22 from Ghent, all are missing, every line you write, is so precious to me, that I can ill afford to lose any of your Letters. and I do not despair but that Some of them will yet find their way to me. and now you are much nearer to me, I feel the influence in the genial warmth of the Atmosphere which surrounds me, and in the quicker pulsation of my Heart. nor can I endure the thought that you should again return to the cold regions of the North, as much, as I admire, respect and esteem the Noble Character of its Sovereign I cannot but wish you was released from that Mission; that you could Tend for your Family; and return to your Native Country: that I might once more behold you.
 I ask not any questions of you respecting your negotiations, that you should be surrounded by curiosity from various motives is to be expected. it is indeed a time of anxious expectation for our Country: and every breize that blows comes fraught with tidings, which makes us anxious that peace should be again restored, from principles of humanity, & that the honors of war may cease.
In the mean time measures of defence are taking to secure our cities, our homes & our firesides. Newyork is all alive. Boston is waking from its trance and like the sleeping Lyon, when chaffed, will manifest its Strength.
Since I began this Letter, Alexandria has been laid under contribution, and Baltimore is threatened with invasion—
Sep’br 25th
Baltimore has been defended and the Enemy driven off. you will receive the  official documents—I well know from my own feelings what yours must be at a distance from your country, when surrounded by dangers, so thick and sanguinary, Yet it will they not Submit to an Ignominious peace.
Your sons are well. I cannot prevail upon them to write as I wish. Yet they are delighted to receive Letters from you.
adieu my dear Son. heaven Bless and preserve you—prays your affectionate Mother
AA


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 8 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Welsh, Harriet

dear Harriet
Saturday 8 Sep’ber 1814

I send you a Letter by mr Crufts this day received from Caroline. I had a few lines from her saying she was well, and longing to hear from us at Quincy. she had not then received my second Letter or Susans.
I thank you for the papers & for the Nutmegs; I send by mrs Cruft the money for them.
I hope for Letters by the J Adams and certainly shall have some, we must wait with patience for the communications which they bring; I am glad they have sealed the mouth of their messinger—you remember that mr A says in his  Letter, “never in my Life did I find myself surrounded with so much curiosity”—not a Lisp ought to escape untill the dispatches are delivered, I even beleive that our Letters may be kidnapd after they arrive, but if they are, they will not get any thing which might not be known—mr A is too well versed in diplomacy for that. what pleasure he will feel in reading the Letters of Madonough & Macomb & Brown, and in the Defence of Baltimore, it will dispell the gloom; tho not lessen the disgrace of the destruction of washington.
yours affectionately
A Adams


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 9 September 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 34
My dearest friend.
Ghent 9. September 1814

Mr Smith and his family have arrived at Amsterdam; I have received a Letter from him dated on the 5th: instt: and have written to him, requesting him to come with them, immediately here. They got into the Texel on the very day that the John Adams sailed, and by the account which he writes me, were entering at one passage, while she was going out at the other—He did not however go on shore at the Helder, nor receive the Letter I had written him, which was left with the Consular Agent, by Mr Dallas—Of course he came to Amsterdam, without knowing of his Commission as Secretary to the Legation in Russia
The best thing that could have happened for himself, and for us all, would have been that he should have arrived one day sooner, and proceeded immediately to America, but they may now go by the Neptune, if he chooses: in the mean time, while I remain here, I shall have a great abundance of employment for him, for I am absolutely overplied with writing, and have already a full volume to copy for which I have not an instant of time, from four in the Morning, when I rise, to four in the afternoon, when we dine—
We this day send on to the other party, our second Note, which places us precisely where we were at the first—If they hold to their original ground, they may dismiss themselves and us from all further official intercourse to-morrow Morning—My only reason for doubting whether they will do so now, is that they did not take that step before. We certainly not only considered the whole business at an end, then, but none of us had an idea of being here at this day—I wrote you that after what passed, what we had reason to expect from them was a Card P.PC instead of that, they sent us a note of sixteen folio-pages; still hammering upon the old anvil, and putting it upon us to take leave of them—as we are inclined not to be behind-hand with them either in civility or in prolixity we return them a Note of equal dimensions, and still leaving the “to be or not to be” at their option. If they choose to play this game of chicanery they may, I know not how long—But if they will take no, for an answer, we shall be released in two or three days or sooner.
We are still perfectly unanimous, and if we had not the run of luck so infernally against us, I should not despair of ultimate success;—as it is we shall unquestionably make a better case for the public, on both sides of the Atlantic than our adversaries—We are in the first place, severe judges upon one another, and setting aside your correspondent, every one of his four associates is to say the least a match for the brightest of our opponents—You wrote me at one time a current English Report, that there was to be but one Commissioner appointed to meet us—One British Negotiator, being fully competent to meet five Americans—I wished that the Report might be true, for whether the result was to be success or failure, the lower the rate at which the adversary estimated our talents, the greater advantage he would give us in the argument over himself—His contempt however was a mere bravado—Instead of one Commissioner he appointed three, and I believe in such cases as this, supposing the average of talents to be the same a Commission of three members will always be able to meet with at least equal advantage a Commission of five
They are certainly not mean men who have been opposed to us; but for extent and copiousness of information, for sagacity and shrewdness of comprehension, for vivacity of intellect, and fertility of resource there is certainly not among them a man equal to Mr Gallatin—I doubt whether there is among them a man of the powers of the Chevalier—In all our transactions hitherto we have been much indebted to the ability of both these Gentlemen, for the ascendancy in point of Argument which we have constantly maintained over our antagonists.
I received on Wednesday a Letter from Mr Harris dated 12 August, which came by the way of Amsterdam, and only last Evening, yours of the 7th: five days earlier—He had told me the distressing story of his disappointment, in missing the fête at Pavlofsky, and had at the same time given me some consolation by the intelligence that you had been there, and was much distinguished—I rejoyce to find this confirmed by your own Letter; but I really cannot imagine what the worthy Chargé d’Affaires meant by disapproving of your having gone—I should very much have regretted it if you had lost so splendid an Entertainment, and although in my eyes you have yet all the charms, both of youth and beauty, I have long enough had reason to confide in you, to entertain no apprehensions, if you do go to a courtly Ball or fete champêtre alone—I am very grateful to Lord Walpole, and to the General, whom you name, but with whom I have not the pleasure of being acquainted for their obliging attentions, and the assistance they gave you, and hope at some day to have the opportunity of expressing to them myself, my sense of the obligation.
The Prince of Orange, Sovereign of the Netherlands is to be here to-morrow, and as I learn is expected to pass several days here—Whether we shall have the honour of seeing him or not, I cannot now say—I suppose there will be something in the shape of a fête, and perhaps a Ball—If so, as fond as I am of such pleasures I would willingly give up my chance of a ticket, if I could have you here to transfer it to you—I believe I did not tell you, that at the famous dinner given us by the Intendant, the wives of all of us were included in the invitation—
I dare say you will see or hear of the English Newspapers, containing the whole story, and all the particulars about the rupture of the Negotiations at Ghent—The four expresses arrived there at liverpool in one Morning, and the Speculations in Cotton and Tobacco that arose from them. As  the rupture was not immediately afterwards officially confirmed, in a day or two it began to be doubted, and down went Cotton and Tobacco—To give them another start somebody had the wit to invent a tale about a great American Victory on Lake Ontario, Kingston taken, and the whole of General Rialls’ army prisoners of War—We have had these senseless rumours here, these two days, coming at once from Paris, London and Liverpool, without even the pretence of a source from which the infomation could come—Yet such is the Passion for credulity to what flatters our wishes, that I hardly dare to hoot this tale out of our Society—Its only effect will be to aggravate the real story when it comes.
Mr Bourne and his Son, and Mr Tuckerman are gone—Poor Bourne I believe had reason to wish he had not indulged his curiosity by coming here—Mr Bentzon remains—We have had this day to dine with us, Captain Jones, with a Mr Beck—Mr Irving, and Mr Howland—Our list of Americans now runs low.
We had here the other day a Mr. Van Havert, a Son in Law of Mr Stier, and brother in Law to Mrs Culvert of whom you have heard and whom you perhaps know—Mr Van Havert lived some years at Alexandria, and he told me that if he had met me in the street he should have known me, from my resemblance to my father—On the other hand the ex-Gardener of whom I wrote you the other day, said to me of our Sons “George, Sir, is a fine, tall, stout boy, but as for John, Sir,—he is the very picture of you.”
My Dear Louisa. give my love to Charles. God grant he may be well—
Ever affectionately your’s
A.


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 September 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

Ghent 10. September 1814.

When I wrote you my last Letter, a press copy of which, is enclosed, I had little or no expectation that I should at this day still be here. The John Adams sailed from the Texel, with Mr Dallas on board, the 28th: of August, and has, I hope, by this time half-performed her passage—It is one of those singular incidents, which occur occasionally in real life, and which would be thought too improbable for a fictitious narrative, that while she was going out by one passage, Mr Smith with his family, was entering, from Cronstadt by another—They are now at Amsterdam, and I have written to him to come with them here. They will be near the Neptune, now at Antwerp, and in which they must embark, if they return to America, which will in my opinion be the most advisable for them—We are still expecting every day, and indeed every hour the formal notice of the termination of our business here; but while we do remain, Mr Smith’s assistance will be most useful to me; for at the very moment of all my life when I most needed the service of a Secretary, I have been deprived of it, and since the British Plenipotentiaries have been here, my whole time has been altogether inadequate to the writing and copying which was and will be indispensible.—If Mr Smith concludes to go back to Russia, they must return as they came, by Water—There is a Vessel at Amsterdam, to sail between the 16th: and 30th: of this Month for Cronstadt, in which we may perhaps all embark—But it is already very late for a passage up the Baltic, and if we should be detained here three weeks longer it will be impossible.
It would appear that the failure of the Negotiation here will be unexpected to all parties in the United--States, and a disappointment particularly to the friends of the Government. But whoever imagined that it would be defeated by the appointment of Mr Clay and Mr Russell, mistook altogether the Views and Wishes of those Gentlemen. We have all been equally anxious for the success of the mission, and all equally determined to reject the bases proposed to us by the British Ministers—They have entirely changed the objects of the War, and began by requiring of us, as a preliminary to all discussion of what had been the points in controversy, concessions which with one voice and without hesitation we refused—On the course to be pursued by us, there has not been the slightest diversity of opinion between us, and as the unfortunate circumstances under which we were called to treat, have rendered it impossible that the Peace should be made, we have had the only satisfaction which could be found in missing the great object, that of having constantly harmonized among ourselves. Before the John Adams sailed, we had explicitly rejected, in writing, the proposal, without the admission of which, the British Ministers had declared that their Government was resolved not to conclude a Peace—We supposed therefore, that in reply they would have notified to us that the conferences, and the Negotiation were at an end. They chose however, after taking time to send a Messenger to London, to reply in a long Note, so ambiguous in its tenour, as to leave it doubtful whether they meant to abandon their indispensible preliminary, or to adhere to it, and attempting to put upon us, in this state of equivocation, the responsibility of breaking off the Conferences—We have answered this by a Note equally long, adhering to our rejection of their preliminary, but renewing the offer, and repeating the wish to negotiate upon all the differences which had existed between the two Countries before they had brought forward their new pretensions—This Note we sent them yesterday, and left them again to declare the Negotiation at an end—I should have expected this declaration in the course of this day had not their last Note evidently shewn that although determined not to conclude the Peace, they are not indifferent to the object of putting upon us the responsibility of the rupture—This being their policy, they may if they think proper protract the discussion some time longer. Their Government have been studiously procrastinating the whole Negotiation, with the view to avail themselves of the great successes which are to follow the operations of their reinforcements in America—It is already known that those destined for Canada have arrived—and they have been some time expecting news of the effect of their offensive operations—They may possibly reserve their dismission of us, for the first intelligence of a victory in America.
We have not only had the happiness of harmonizing together among ourselves, upon the objects of our public ministry, but we have lived together on the most friendly social footing. When we first assembled we all had lodgings at the same Hotel, and had a common Table, among ourselves—After we had been here a few weeks, we engaged by the Month a large house, in which we are all well accomodated with Apartments, and where we compose only one family. The Secretaries connected with the mission have apartments in our neighbourhood, and dine with us every day—We have a considerable acquaintance, and as much Society as we wish, with the principal Inhabitants of the City; and we have been visited by numbers of our Countrymen, attracted hither by purposes of interest or of curiosity. This last circumstance has been the occasion however of some inconvenience to us, and of rumours in England, which if they were well founded would not be to our advantage.
At the time when Mr Dallas was dispatched, some measures which it became necessary to some of my Colleagues to take preparatory to their return to America, indicated their expectation of an immediate departure—Coll: Milligan, who had been Mr Bayard’s private Secretary, took that moment to go to visit some Relations in Scotland, and was accompanied by one of our American visitors name Creighton, to London and Liverpool. On their arrival very large Speculations in Cotton and Tobacco were made; founded on reports that the Negotiation at Ghent was broken off, and many particulars with a mixture of truth and of mis-statement appeared in the English Newspapers of what had passed between the British and American Plenipotentiaries—The report which arose from all this in England  was that the American Ministers, were speculating for themselves on the event of the Negotiation. I hope that Milligan has not descended to such a despicable practice himself—I am fully convinced that not one of my Colleagues has sullied his fair fame, by participation in such a sordid transaction; but at all events I am sure you will need no protestation or denial from me to “shew there was one, who held it in disdain.”
I have this moment received Letters from my Wife, and from Charles, dated 15. August. Charles had been very unwell, but was better. I beg you to present my duty to my father, and my affection to my Sons, my brother, and all the family around you—And believe me ever devotedly your’s
A,


Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 September 1814
From: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

My Dear Sister,
Sep 10th. 1814

I am sorry you did not find time to write me a line—reports are so various, & calamitous that it keeps me in constant agitation of mind—I am distressed for my country, & for my dear Boston friends, who I hear are moving as fast as they can find an asylum—I wanted, & intended to have written to my dear Son, & Mrs Foster, but I have been obliged this week to go to Newbury, & have been to Exeter, upon business, & have not had a moments time—I will thank you to tell Mrs Foster, that if I can be of any service, by taking some of here Children, I shall be glad to do it—or any thing that is in my power to do for her in this time of alarm, & danger—I suppose my Son, trembles for his beloved Atheneum, as well as for other dear Objects
Do you my Sister, confides in the President, & yourself safe in your own Mansion?—pray let me hear soon from you—
Our Men are draughted this morning to go to Portsmouth—may Heaven preserve us from our own turbulent Passions, & unite us, not in criminating each other—but give us wisdom, & strength to extricate ourselves & Country from the calamities we are now suffering—
adieu—adieu dear Sister, may we live to meet, & see better days—the mail is coming— / ever Your affectionate

E P—


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 13 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw

Quincy Sepbr 13th 1814

True my dear Sister, “our Sweetest comforts have their alloy” my dear Caroline left me yesterday. no former separation from her equaled this. upon former occasions she was not the principle, and I looked forward to times, when she would be again with me as a resident; now I have relinquished her, and given her to an amiable Man, who will know her value; and strive I trust, to make her happy, but I cannot my dear sister Say how much I mourn how keanly I feel her departure; what a void is left in my Bosom; not a creature in the Family from her grandfather to the youngest domestic whose face wore not the marks traces of sorrow—and She dear girl felt her Heart ready to burst, whilst the modest, Silent and tender dewint, looked all tenderness and Sympathy, never was a child whose conduct was more Strongly marked with duty affection judgment prudence, modesty, affability, every virtue—I could almost Say she was faultless. She was the prize of my Age, my solace, my comfort, yet a fair and honorable prospect opend before her. it seemed as tho it was a fullfillment of her dying mothers confidence, “that She had not any  anxiety for her children. She knew they would be provided for.”—formed to win the Heart and conciliate affection, I have full confidence that she will find a Mother as well as Husband, Mrs dewint bears a most amiable Character, in a Letter to me in replie to one I wrote her apolog she thus expresses herself, “In me dear Madam be assured she shall always find the affectionate Mother, no endeavours of mine shall be wanting to fullfill the duties of a parent, to here, you no doubt will feel her absence, console yourself with the pleasing Idea that you resign your beloved child, to one who I am confident, and I hope you are satisfied, will make her happy”
Mr dewint arrived here last fryday. on saturday morning he asked for a conference with me, and surprizd me by proposing that day for his marriage—to that I gave a prompt and decided negative—he urged the necessity of his return and that of the Col Smith was obliged to sit out on Monday for Washington, my Son also for Taunton Court, I felt the full force of their his arguments and agreed to Sunday Evening. I was but just recovering from a serious sickness which had confined me a fortnight to my chamber, was still feeble, and could ill bear a hurry, but I rallied all my resolution and fortitude. I had taken the precaution to have my cake in readiness, and we soon aranged all other matters, and on Sunday Evening after the ceremony, sat down to a cold supper of Ham and chickings, pies puddings custards whips Cheescakes &c with Mellons and fruits, to the Number of 26 of our Friends. your son dr Welch and Lady with Harriot, were all we had from Boston Mr and Mrs Cruft were considered as Quincy Friends—mr Whitney as usual upon particular occasions, was inimitable—
yesterday morning they left me accompanied, by Col Smith and Servant. when mr deWint came before, he came in a pheaton and four, expecting to carry her home with him then, but we could not then consent, he now took the stage, and sent his two servants on Horse back, hired a carriage and four in Boston to take them on, which was much more comfortable for her than an open carriage: he has always kept a carriage and four. here it is considerd making a dash, and some persons have thought that he must be dissapated, far from this, there is not any thing in his manners the least ostentatious or concequential. his habits and taste, are quite the reverse, and very different from part of the stock from which she is descended, altho she has not a spice of it in her own composition
She desired me when I wrote to you, to present her duty to you, and Love to Abbe and pray that you would not forget her, but follow her with your Blessing—and now my dear Sister I have been so particular with my own affairs—I will quit them to share in those of others—by your manner of writing and not mentioning the recent loss of mrs Foster I think it was not known to you. about a fortnight since I went into Town with Louisa, and said to her, I will go first to your Sister Fosters I have not seen her for Some time, and mr Foster was gone to the Springs. we stoped at her door without knowing that any one was Sick; and upon entering her chamber found her Infant expireing. this was on tuesday it Sickned on the preceeding Saturday having had the hooping cough, it was much reduced, and the dysentery carried it off: much in the manner you describe Mrs Voses child—Mr Fosters absence renderd it more disturbing to her. he got home however about two hours, before the funeral
Mrs Foster behaves with becomeing resignation upon this repeated trial of her christians virtues. she came last week to see me and was full of anxiety at the apprehension of being driven from her home with such a Family of young Children. Louisa has been with mrs Greenleaf for the week past. She is very Slender having had the hooping cough to a great degree which has left her very weak. my Family has been so large and encumberd for these two months past having taken the Farm into our own hands again, that I could not offer to take her here untill now, Harriot welch has been with us the month past, and left us this morning. George and Johns vacation was up yesterday and they too; are gone, so that Seven have quitted us in two days—
I do my dear Sister most sensibly feel the disgrace brought upon our Country by the destruction of the Capital of the Nation. it was intended to disgrace us in the Eyes of all Nations, & posterity—yet when we ask, what was this capital.it was the Foster child of General washington intended to build up and perpetuate his Name, his Fame and his atchievements, and it has cost the Nation more than a million of Money. After Ages might have made it a city: but it was a wilderness called a city, aPpresidents Palace, a Superb capital, one Street paved and laid out in a Strait line, with houses thinly Scattered, a meager population of free inhabitants. Slaves who are not permitted to bear Arms, and whose masters were more in dread of them than of their British invaders—such was the capital invaded by “six thousand Regular troops and a large British squadron—a Giant to contend with a pigmy. yet such as it was, indelible disgrace attends the Nation in its destruction. I will however venture to say no other city in the Nation would fall so easy a prey to the invaders, but we have been a divided house against itself, and nothing but union and decision can save us from becoming the hewers of wood and drawers of water for our British task masters—at present I am not under apprehension that Boston will be attacked. if it Should be, I Should not consider myself safe and should remove accordingly—You may have seen an extract in the paper of a Letter from my son. it was to me & written at Ghent the 30 of June. he left his Family in St Petersburgh, not expect to go further than Gottenburgh, there are seven Letters from him which are missing, but non later than 30 of June—whilest a negotiation is pending we are to be laid waist by fire and sword
Mrs Greenleaf is in great anxiety, not knowing what to do with William and Richard Cranch She has not got a line from any of her Friends there, since the Surrender of Alexandra—nor Since the destruction of washington. the Bridge was destroyed in which mr Greenleaf was interested to the amount of half his property. Judge Cranch too, must have lost his—it is a period of universal distress and anxiety—we have Sinned and justly deserve the punishment inflicted—we have Spurned the Blessings of heaven—we have waxed fat and rebelled—may repentance and information Save us from further calamities.
When I sit down to write, I intended coppying my Letter, but I have spun it out to such a Length that you must take it with all its imperfections upon its head—and believe me dear Sister your affectionate
A Adams


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 13 September 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Charles Francis

N. 5.
My Dear Charles.
Ghent 13. September 1814

It was so long since I had received a Letter from you that I began to be quite impatient; and then your Mama, who loves you so dearly that she is always very anxious when you are not in perfect good health had written me that you was not well; so that I was quite distressed on your Account, when your Letter of 15 August came, last Saturday, and gave me great joy.
So you have had the opportunity of seeing the green leaves, and the yellow-blossoms, and the little cucumbers, growing in the Garden, one after the other; and then I suppose you have dined upon some of the Cucumbers—But I hope others have been left to come to their full growth; and then you will have seen them turn from green to Yellow, and if you take up one of them just about the time when you receive this Letter, and keep it over Winter, and cut it open next Spring you will find seeds in it, and by planting them in a Garden they will produce another crop of Cucumbers, for next Summer’s Sallad—But if you take out the seeds now and keep them dry, and we go home to America the next year, you can take them with you and plant them in a Garden there; and when the Cucumbers come, I hope we shall have your brothers George and John to share them with us.
I was very glad that your Mama was kind enough to take you with her to see the fête and the fire-works and illuminations at Pavloski, though I am afraid the fatigues of it were so great that they made both her and you ill, for two days after your return. I am very much obliged to the Duke de Serra-Capriola, and Count Maistre for their kind remembrance of me—when you receive this Letter I suppose the Duke will be gone to Vienna; but if you see the Count you must tell him that you performed the charge he had given you, and present my best respects to him in return.
I wish every day more and more that your Mama, and you were here with me; and particularly now that I expect your Aunt Smith and Cousin Caroline here; they arrived at Amsterdam, after a passage of five weeks from Cronstadt, and I wrote to ask them to come here—I expect they will go to America in the Neptune—Captain Jones is now in this City, and asked me yesterday very kindly how his friend Charles did.
The day I received your Letter, Mr Todd came into my chamber, and saw it laying on the Table—I gave it to him to read, and he said it diverted him very much. He particularly remarked the hand-writing; which he said was very good for a boy of your age; but I told him I hoped you would write a great deal better in six months more.
It has got to be so late in the Season, and the Night already comes on so soon, that I have almost given up my walks out of the City gates, and round the Ramparts. But we have a small and very pretty Garden to the house where we live, and my Bed-chamber looks directly upon it—I look out at my windows every Morning when the weather is clear; and see Venus as the Morning-Star—But I expect to go so soon that you need not answer this Letter. Before I could receive the answer, I shall if it please God, be more than half way on my return to St Petersburg.
In the mean time I remain your affectionate father. John Quincy Adams.


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 13 September 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 35.
My dear wife.
Ghent 13. September 1814

Your Letters of 13 and 15 August, which I received both together on Saturday last have fully ascertained that the Post directly between this place and St: Petersburg, passes from somewhere only once a week—By the manner also in which you receive my Letters, two at a time, though I have sent them regularly to the Post-Office here, every Tuesday and Friday, it is proved that those of the latter day only go through without any stoppage on the way and that you receive them the 22d: day from their date. I have never received any of your’s that came direct, sooner than the 26th: day. but of those that you sent by the way of Amsterdam, I got some on the 23d: day. I last week made a new attempt to give you de mes nouvelles, twice in the week, by enclosing the Tuesday’s Letter to Messrs: Willink at Amsterdam, and by sending the Friday’s Letter direct; and I shall repeat the same experiment the present week.
I cannot yet revoke the advice to you, not to direct any more Letters to me here; we are still in precisely the same predicament as when I wrote you last—We have no reply to the Note we sent on Friday, so I suppose they mean to give us another Dissertation of sixteen pages...and I am now not without suspicions that it will be like the last, giving up in one sentence what they adhere to in another; scolding like an old woman; (pardon me, dear Louisa, you know our bargain is that you will always be young, to me) insulting in one paragraph and complaisant in another, and as to every thing in the shape of argument “battant la campagne.”
Never was any thing more explicit than their conference with us, the day that Lord Castlereagh was here, and their Note dated on the same day—“Will you or will you not” was the word—Never was any thing more explicit than our answer “We will not,” and off we sent Mr Dallas—If there had been any thing in them like fair dealing, they ought to have dismissed us the next day—The second day after, Mr Goulburn told Mr Bayard that we should have their reply without delay, and they should have no occasion to consult their Government—Four days later they sent Mr Baker to tell us they had thought best upon Reflection, to send a Messenger to London—Eleven days after our Note had been sent, came their reply, such as I have described it, abandoning and at the same time adhering to the terms which we had rejected with disdain; with a conclusion asking if we choose to take it upon ourselves to break off. We have rejoined, that we do not wish to break off, but we say no, to their terms, without which they began by telling us that they would break off—As they have been five days deliberating upon what they shall now say, I conclude that they will finally give us the Ball back again, and still contrive to make delay—For we have no reason to hope they will retreat an inch from their ground, and we shall never concede one of Mr Hynam’s measures, the thirty-six thousand the part of an inch of it to them.
We have sent them an invitation to dinner next Thursday, which they have all accepted—We wished to shew this mark of attention particularly to Mrs Goulburn, who was not present at the former dinner we gave them; and we were also desirous of having them and the Intendant’s family together, as we have dined with them at the Intendant’s—We are likely however to be disappointed in the last part of our project, as we have learnt since the invitations were sent, that the Intendant’s family will be engaged that day at a wedding-party, among their Relations—Mr Goulburn has a brother lately arrived, who yesterday left his Card, as attached to the Mission—We immediately afterwards sent him an invitation. If they should send us their Note, closing the Negotiation, before the Thursday’s dinner, we shall feel on all sides a little awkward at it—That they as well as we expected to have been gone before this day, we have good reason to know. The delay since our first answer has been according to all appearances an after-thought of their Government, unexpected to themselves. I say all this to you, chiefly for the purpose of shewing you as precisely as it is seen by myself, the prospect, with regard to the time of my departure—If the British Government intend to make delay, it is in their power—By their proceedings for the last fortnight we are warranted in suspecting that they do intend delay—The next Note from their Ministers, must either terminate our business or more clearly disclose their views. In the meantime my chance of returning to St: Petersburg by Water, is becoming daily more doubtful.—I have indeed nearly abandoned the idea; but wait to hear what Mr Smith will say of the Vessel to sail from Amsterdam between the 16th: and 30th: of this Month—I expect Mr Smith and his family here this day or to-morrow.
The Prince of Orange spent the day in this City on Saturday; and left it very early Sunday Morning. He lodged at the Intendant’s, and the British Plenipotentiaries dined there with him by his invitation—They had been presented to him in the Morning—We made our application to be presented, at 2 O’Clock—He was then gone out, and did not return to dinner, untill near six—He then, upon being informed of our wish immediately received us all. But it was too late to include us in the invitation to dinner, even if by an earlier presentation we should have received it—He recollected our former acquaintance at Berlin, and enquired very graciously after you. The interval of fourteen or fifteen years since I had seen him, has produced a great change in his countenance—I should have taken him to be more than twenty years older.—I asked him after the Princess; he said she was well, and now residing at the House in the Wood, at the Hague—and his Mother at Haerlem—He was in the Evening at the Theatre, where to use an English phrase he was very much cheered.—The Orchestra played the National Dutch Air, and God Save the King—But the People thought he ought to have come in a little more State—He was accompanied I believe only by two Aid de Camps—Now, I like him the better for this simplicity; but I suspect you, would be of the opinion of the Ladies and Gentlemen here, qu’il faut auz Princess, un peu de Représentation.
Our recruiting service of Americans since Friday, stands—Mr Stillwell, Supercargo of the Chauncey, Captain Depeyster, master of the same vessel, which has arrived at Ostend, and a Captain Peters, also having some connection with her—finally, Mr Connell, just returned from Paris, to go in her as our bearer of Dispatches—I suppose you have heard the story of Captain Peters’s having been sent from the schooner upon her passage out, on board of an English brig off the Coast of Scotland, to buy some nails.—If not, ask our friend Lewis to tell it to you; for I am sure he has heard of it, and it is an excellent story to tell, about his friend Jacob Barker.
Jacob’s Captains and Supercargo have their projects now, and having got their Cartel, are much inclined to take their own time as to using it for their return—If they do not finish by laying the Government again under contribution to their owner it will not be their fault—If they do it will not be mine.
Adieu, my best friend—I will return to your last Letters, in my next—In the mean time, for yourself and Charles, I say with your charming Seal, may the all-seeing eye watch over those I Love!
A.


Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to John Quincy Adams, 13 September 1814
From: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson
To: Adams, John Quincy

No 30
My ever dear Friend
St. Petersburg Septbr. 13 1814

From your last Letter of the 19 I am led to believe that you are not likely to return home so soon as you expected, I shall therefore persevere in writing untill you positively forbid it. Our Old friend Mr. R. B. Forbes has just been to visit me he is come to Petersburg on his way to Ghent and expects to return to America he says Boston is become intolerable to live in, that his family are most of them high Essex Junto, and that it is hardly possible to walk in the streets without getting into quarrels; this is a delightful picture of our Town! There is a report in town said to be very late from America that the feds are all come round and are determined to support the Governtment I hope this is true our own internal discord must do us much more serious injury than a foreign War as it paralyses every effort of the Government.
As I am very little in the World I did know it would afford you any pleasure to hear of the deaths marriages and births of the great folks here. I have never heard of the marriage of Capt Guediz, but the death of the Princesse de Tarente is certainly true. Count Maistre informed me that 1205 stones were found in her bladder. General Ouvaroff is to be married shortly to Madame Koscul Dr. Wiley by the Emperors order to Miss Mitchel a great fortune and vulgar in proportion. I am told likewise that Mr. Harris is going to be married immediately but I have not heard to whom
I hope your next letter will announce the arrival of Mr. Smith. no that cannot be! they left Elsineur the 24 August and I hope they will yet be in time for the frigate should they chuse to go—
The Conservateur of to day announces the postponement of the departure of Lord Hill, and his Troops but expressly says, “not on account of any thing done at Ghent.”
The Emperor goes away in a couple of days for Vienna Marshal Soltiskoff is made a Prince to be hereditary in his family there are many promotions beside all published in the Conservateur. The Emperor a general pardon to every one of his subjects under punishment and to all debtors under two thousand Rubles this is the handsomest and most impartial fete he could have given and he continues by all his acts to make prove himself a very superior character.
Marie Antoinette is going to France, her husband accompanies her. Madame La Font follows him.—
All the French Actors ar gone and we are to have no French Theatre. the reason assigned is from the old song ‘If you will not when you may, when you will you shall have nay.’ If this is true it serves the capricious Nobless very right. I had always understood before it was given up from a Patriotic motive.
The Princess Michel eldest Daughter is married to an Italian Prince and the whole family are going to France and Italy I think it is probable Mr. G. may see her at Ghent. do pray get introduced, I am told she is a “petit Demon d’esprit.” and I am not afraid.
I have not yet quite settled the affair of a house and the one I have in view is only fit for me alone but if you should return with Mr. & Mrs. Smith we must depend upon Mr Harris—
I have bespoke some Wood sometime since at eleven R. I thought it would be most prudent as I could always sell it at the same price should you have no use for it.
My pens are so bad I do not know how to scrawl a letter to you, and I assure you I do not better them, in trying to mend them.
Strougatchosikoff has brought me in a bill of 130 R. for the Looking Glass, Broken Windows, Keys, and Chimney-place. I have been obliged to pay it much against my will.
Adieu. I do not flatter myself I shall see you soon; the very suspension you mention indicates a disinclination finally to break, and I think they will drag on till after the business at Vienna is settled.
Charles is well and desires his duty and I am ever yours
L. C. A.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 14 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Adams, Thomas Boylston

14 Sept. 1814

Received Quincy September 14th: 1814 of Thomas B Adams Esqr: Twenty-one Dollars and eighty seven Cents, for one quarter’s interest due on JQ Adams’s note due August 1st:—
$21.87

Abigail Adams


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 15 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Welsh, Harriet

dear Harriot
Quincy Sep’br 15 1814

What a Sad time our good Friends have for their journey. I think they will not travel in such weather, tomorrow I expect to learn something from them, I did not look for any thing on thursday. I feel rather more tranquil than when you left us, the not less solitary, and lonely, for Susan is gone to stay with her Aunt.
We have been cheered by the accounts shocking as it is to humanity, at the success of our fleet upon the Lake and the repulse of the Enemy at Platsburgh. we are anxious for particulars.I shall send your purse tomorrow as you desire by mr Thayer, it containd 2 half Eagles, a one dollar Bill and a quarter in silver. the Evening before you went away, I took it up from the Settee, you being absent, put it into my Basket, intending to give it you and wholy forgot it, in the morning: your scissars I have, and must ask permission to keep untill you buy me a pr and send me. Caroline must have taken mine, as her own, they being like, by the way, no person has inserted her Marriage in the paper, which I think ought to be done I inclose a form you may alter as you think proper.
mr Whitney went on monday to mr d Greenleafs, mr Greenleaf asked him if he had a pleasant evening he replied, yes very pleasant, and one of the most profitable of his whole Life, for mr. de wint gave him fifty dollars!—this was liberal indeed. I presume he would like such a weding once a month.
the Bill I gave mr Foster to get changed I wish you to take, and to get me a pr scissars, and a yd of cotton Cambrick, which I saw in  gazet might be had in Cornhill at Brown and Fainsworth, he advertized Mull Merle & Cambrick Russin, if mr Foster has not changed it, I would have you take it and pay the inclosed Bill, many shops advertize to take them for goods, and I believe that Bill as good as Boston—
The remainder you may inclose to me—If I get any thing by port tomorrow for you or for myself I will sent it you—
Let me know when you hear from mrs Baily, and whether she will return to Wiscasset this season. I think Boston as safe a place as any, nor do I believe the Enemy will attempt it—
They will seek winter quarters upon Long Island or Road Island—if in the united States
Not a word yet has mrs Greenleaf received from her Brother or any of the Family—
continue dear Harriot to let us hear from you, and to see you as often as you can think, this place (inade solitary to you) once more pleasant and agreable—as it will always give pleasure / to your affectionate Friend
Abigail Adams
Be so good as to Buy me a quire of pink and ditto white paper, the beginning of the week will do for all these things


Title: From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 16 September 1814
From: Adams, John Quincy
To: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson

N. 36.
My dear Wife.
Ghent 16. September 1814

The uneasiness I had felt at the general hints in some of your former Letters of your having done things that I should disapprove was perhaps a natural effect of their generality—The particulars into which you have now entered have removed it in a great measure. There are two principles, indispensible to all domestic economy; the first is to limit the expenditures within the extent of the means; and the second is the selection of the expenditures to be incurred, combined with the firmness of rejecting those of which the necessity is the least apparent—I certainly cannot find in my heart a motive for objecting to any of the expences which you have thought advisable since I left you, though their combined effect will probably stretch a little beyond the first of my two principles—You have no doubt kept an account of all your expences, and its amount when I return will shew you whether you have indulged any of your own wishes more than upon reflection you will yourself approve—In claiming of the Government an allowance for my expences on this mission, I have stated that those of my residence at St: Petersburg would not be diminished by my absence—We shall probably find that they have been increased—But if from the whole aggregate at the foot of your account you shall have acquired from your own experience the conviction how difficult and yet how necessary it is to repress the indulgence of temptation, within the limits of your powers. I shall certainly look forward with perfect composure to the day, when all your interest in this world, and perhaps those of your children, will repose solely upon your discretion; and I shall be no longer here, either to scruple or to approve.
From the manner in which we have lived here, my personal expences have been very moderate—By living all together, each of us has only one fifth of the household disbursements to provide for, and none of us has thought it necessary to keep a Carriage—I have only one Servant to whom I pay very high wages, but who is every thing to me—Valet de Chambre, foot-man, and even chamber-maid—I took him to Amsterdam, and like him even better than the good fellow who came with me from St: Petersburg to Gothenburg.—Our entertainments have been very handsome, but like the other domestic expenditures falling upon each of us only for one fifth have not proved a heavy charge—The largest half of my payments even here, will be for you and for my children: for I have not indulged myself so much as in the purchase of a book, and I have lost nothing at play but my old woman.
I expected Mr. and Mrs: Smith would have been here before this day. But by one of those accidents which seem to pursue every Letter that I commit to the Post-Office he did not receive my Letter inviting him to come here until three days after he ought to have had it—He wrote me on the 12th. that he should leave Amsterdam for this place the next day of the day after, and should come the greatest part of the way by Water—As the prospect is that the Neptune will sail within a fortnight, I hope he will conclude to go in her, and that Mrs: Smith will have a more comfortable passage than she would have had in the John Adams. At least the vessel has much better accommodations for Passengers—Captain Jones stayed here two days longer than he had intended, for the sake of seeing Mr Smith—But he was obliged to return yesterday to Antwerp—Perhaps they may see him there.
We gave yesterday our second dinner to the British Plenipotentiaries; with whom, and their family, we had invited the Intendants family, and the Meulemeesters—Yesterday morning, the Baron Van der Capellen the Minister Secretary of State to the Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands, with his Lady, and Mr Valck the Prince’s Secretary arrived here, and were at the Intendant’s House; we sent them, immediately upon being informed of it, an invitation to our dinner, which they accepted—The wedding did not deprive us of any part of our Company, and we sat down again thirty-one, at table.—We had the Band of Music, and the Garden illuminated in the Evening. The Baron and his Lady, with Mr Valck left us immediately after dinner, being obliged to return last Night to Bruxelles—The British party stayed till about 9 O’Clock, and the Intendant was again called away to read his Dispatches—All the rest of our Company passed the Evening with us and left us at Midnight.
Mrs: Goulburn improves upon acquaintance, both in person and manners—I now think her almost handsome—She is very young—at most one or two and twenty—modest without awkward bashfulness, and having conversation enough to inspire even my taciturnity—I was seated between her and Madame Van der Cappellen who is also a young and very pleasing woman—Mrs: Goulbourn spoke to me of Mr Powell, and said she had seen him at her fathers, before she was brought out.
Last Tuesday we all received Cards to dine with the British Plenipotentiaries, next Monday—This empressement, sufficiently shewed their own expectation that they had no time to lose in returning our civility—From their Conversation yesterday the same thing was collected with more certainty—Lord Gambier asked me, if I intended to return immediately to St: Petersburg—I said, “yes…that is, if you send us away”…He replied only, with assurances how much he lamented it; and concluded by saying, he hoped we should one day be friends; to which I of course replied by expressing a corresponding wish—
Mr Goulburn was still more explicit with Mr Clay—He told him, that they had sent our last Note to England, the same evening that they had received it, and expected the answer on Monday or Tuesday next, which he had no doubt would be that we must fight it out. Now, as they will not give us our dismission until they have given us their dinner, I calculate upon Tuesday as the day when we shall agree to part. I shall be detained here at least a week longer in making my arrangements for departure; and may possibly linger until the last of the Month—It will be too late to go by Water; and I have not yet concluded upon the road I shall take by Land.
It is remarkable that the British Plenipotentiaries, who in the case of our former Note, had first answered it, and then sent their answer to England for approbation, have now sent our Note itself, without undertaking to answer it themselves—If the British Government wish further delay, it is in their power to make it as they did before. In that case, their next Note will require another answer from us; and perhaps another Messenger to England before the conclusion—So that I cannot yet predict with perfect certainty the day of my departure.
There has been in the English ministerial and opposition Papers some sparring upon the question whether the Negotiation at Ghent was or was not broken off—The Times says that nobody knows, and nobody but the traders cares any thing about it—Our British friends appear to be a little nettled at certain hints in the Morning-Chronicle, that irritating language had been used at one of our Conferences, and that their former dinner to us was for the purpose of making it up—The last part of this statement is not correct, and there is a mistake of the day with regard to the first part—Irritating things, were one day said by them, and our Notes have undoubtedly contained expressions irritating to them—but ours were necessary and their’s were not—On neither side has there been or will there be any apology for them—Adieu! kiss my dear Charles and believe me ever yours.
A.
P.S.  Your’s of 22 Augt: has just come to hand.


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

N. 37.
My dear wife.
Ghent 20 September 1814.

As I was closing my last Friday’s Letter to you, I received yours of 23d: August, and acknowledged its receipt upon the margin.—By way of variety to the humours of the Post-Office, they brought me last Evening your’s of 19. August, and this morning that of the 25th. I know not how it happens that there is still so much irregularity in the transmission of your Letters to me, as it appears that since I have been here you have received mine regularly, though only once a week, and then always two letters at a time—I am afraid that for the first time since my arrival in Ghent, I shall not have this Letter ready to be dispatched for this the Tuesday Evening’s Post; which will be owing to two Causes—The first, is, that in the expectation of having only a few days to remain here, I have been more than usually burthened with Papers to be copied, which have absorbed the greatest part of this Morning; and the second, that we have this day received the third Note of our opposite party—On this I know not whether I ought to give you my opinion, for I have not had time nor has our consultation together given me the means of expressing it to you with Confidence—Perhaps it will be safest to refer you to what I have conjectured in my late Letters, might be the object of the Enemy—procrastination—and to what I have observed upon it; that if it should be so, we should not easily avoid it—to add that their present Note discloses beyond all question that it is their object, and convinces me, that it is their only object...and to acknowledge my doubts whether we shall disappoint them.
The result of all this, I think will be that we shall not quit Ghent before the close of the present month, and that I shall probably not be with you, before sometime in Novr. I regret this very sincerely, because I am perfectly convinced that we stay here to no purpose—Yet I am not prepared to say that under the Circumstances we ought to go.
Mr. and Mrs Smith, with their child, and Martha, arrived here on Saturday Evening from Amsterdam. She says the child had the Hives on board the vessel after they entered the harbour of the Vlie, below Amsterdam—He says it was the Gripes, and is most likely to be right—The child appears now to be in perfect health—fat as a Dutch Cupid; and has grown very pretty—They were twenty-one days on their passage from Cronstadt to Elsineur, where they changed their vessel.—They determine not to return to Russia, but to proceed to America in the Neptune.
Since I wrote you last we have Americans arrived from London, two Messrs: Giraud of New-York, Mr Lewis, and Mr Snow, and Mr Eli—These Gentlemen came for the purpose of taking passage in the Chauncey for America—But when the Chauncey will go nobody can tell, and so they, or some of them are going to take a trip in the mean time to Paris.
We had yesterday our Dinner at the house of the British Plenipotentiaries; we expected to have met the Intendant and his family but they were not there—No Ladies excepting Mrs Goulburn—But there were several British Officers, and among them a General Lion, who commands the English and Hanoverian troops now here—He asked me if I was acquainted with Bunker’s Hill—I said perfectly well—He said his father was killed there, some months before he was born.
I hope you have put a paper in at the leaf in the life of Cicero, where you thought the passage so applicable to our own situation at the present times—I was far from being inclined to laugh at learning that you had been reading that book; but the information gave me very great pleasure—He has so long been a sort of an idol to me, that I could not be displeased to find you inclined to worship him a little too. And in reading your characteristics of the Judgments of our two American friends upon political Events, it seemed to me you had caught something of the genius of the Roman Orator, in reading his life.
The only objection that I perceive to the house that you mention is, that supposing the 3500 Rubles which you mention as the Rent, to be separate from the fire-wood, it is an increase of 500 Rubles upon the Rent of our former house—I had hoped our Rent would be diminished rather than increased—With the addition too of the Country-House it makes an increase of expenditure not inconsiderable—Yet believing always that you have done the best you could, I shall certainly not incline to disapprove what you have done.
While I am writing two young Gentlemen, Americans, named Smith, and belonging to Philadelphia have come in—just from London; and to take passage in the Chauncey. They have brought me a Letter from Mr Beasley, enclosing back to me the one for Mr Smith that I had sent under cover to him to be forwarded to Hull.
One day last week, having been able to make a couple of hours of leisure, I went to see two Collections, one of Medals, and the other of Pictures—The Medals were merely those struck in France since the Commencement of the French Revolution—All in bronze with a very small mixture of silver—three–fourths of them are in honour of Napoleon, and were struck in the days of his glory—they are now only emblems of the Vanity of human greatness
As a counterpart to this Napoleonism, we went the Evening before the last to the Theatre, where we saw Richard Coeur de Lion, and a new piece called Les Heritiers Michau—ou le Meunier de Lieursain—Ou le retour des Bourbons— It is all about Henri quatre and his descendants—It was very much admired at Paris, while the allied armies were there. It finishes with couplets the refrain of which is
Prosperité, Tranquillité,
Tranquillité, franche gaieté,
La Paix, le bonheur, l’union
Tout ça vient avec un Bourbon.
I was proposing to some of our Gentlemen who are acquainted with the actress who sings the couplets, to make an addition of two Lines at the next Representation, to make it more applicable to the present time and place
Tout ça vient, ça n’est pas etrange,
Tout ça vient...avec un Orange!
I shall send this Letter, as I have those of the two last Tuesday’s, by the way of Amsterdam—If it should chance to get opened on the road, I hope it will be taken as containing decisive internal Evidence of my Patriotisme Hollandois—
The Avon a British Brig of 18 Guns, has been sunk in an action with an American armed vessel, which the English Newspapers say was the Wasp—They suppose, that she sunk too—for besides the Avon, she had another sloop of War, upon her, the Castilian, and was not taken—The Courier thinks this result very glorious to British naval prowess.
God bless you, my Louisa, and my dear Charles—
A.


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Harriet Welsh, 21 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: Welsh, Harriet

dear Harriot
Quincy Sepbr 21 1814

dissapointment after dissapointment—no Letter not a line from Dear Caroline. it cannot be that she has not written. She knows how anxious her Friends here must be to hear from her: I strive to imitate her even and quiet temper, when dissapointments of a Similar kind occured to her can you tell whether the carriage which took them on, is returnd may hap. the Man might have a Letter, and forget to deliver it in the turmoil of the world, since they left us—
do you know if the members from this State are gone on to Congress? Whether the vice president  gone? I received a Letter to day from mr Adams just one year old, having been written Sepbr 21 1813, and is numberd 50 my last which was from Ghent. you know was 60—I had received 49 before.
The Battle upon Lake Champlain and in plattsburgh is as glorious to our Arms as any, and more so than any other taken both together, Since the commencment of the war, I do think it my duty to rejoice and be glad; that our Enemy is beaten and discomfitted—we do not receive such accurate information from Baltimore as I could wish. I am not wholy at ease respecting them. the exertions made for the defense of Boston may put them at their ease for the present, they Enemy many quit the Southern states, join forces, and attack portsmouth”. but they know, I have no doubt all that is doing in and about Boston.
Thank you dear Harriot for  have done for me. thank your Father also. let what you have in charge remain untill I am in Town—
We will send the Book belonging to miss otis by mr Cruft. Susan has not received the Books you mention, you may send the articles belonging to me by mr Cruft on Saturday.
Be assured I will send you the first line I get from Caroline, if post day put it into the office for you—
My Love to mrs Bailey I hope she will not go away without passing an other week with us.
We are, or we feel lonely—I have been out, only once since you left us. mrs Cruft spent the yesterday with us, and to day Louisa Marston is with us.
on Sunday Evening we had our usual full room—I am glad to hear mrs Eaton is well you know I predicted a daughter. my Love to mrs otis and daughters. I wish they could spend a week with us all together It would give us great pleasure. I shall make a demand upon you, exerting, whether your Sister goes or stays
with Love to all of you / I am ever yours
A Adams


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

N. 38.
My dear Wife
Ghent 23. September 1814.

I did succeed in filling my four pages for you last Tuesday in time to dispatch them by that Evenings Post, under cover to Amsterdam. Before the British Plenipotiaries came, I bespoke your indulgence in case I should after their arrival remit in the frequency, or abridge the length of my subsequent Letters to you. Since they have been here, we have at different times had a great pressure of indispensable occupations upon us, on the days, when I wanted to devote no small portion of the time to you—But I know one Gentleman, who says, “as to the Note for the Plenipotentiaries, I can take that up, after I have been to the Play”—and I have heard of another who prepares himself for diplomatic musing, by six hours of relaxation at the Card Table; and there might in the reveries of Fancy be imagined a third, who adjourns from the Meeting of the Delegation, to be punctual to the Meeting with a fair Dalilah; and how can I forbear to make the trial whether leisure cannot be caught in the lapse even of a busy day, for the duty of writing to my dearest friend? The truth is that much more can be done with Time, when we really determine to make the most of it, than we suppose to be possible when we suffer it to slumber in the lap of Indolence—I have hither to been able to dispatch my two Letters to you every week, and hope I shall continue to do so as long as I am destined to remain here, without losing any of the time which I am bound to appropriate to the special objects of my business here—How long they will still detain me I am not yet enabled with certainty to pronounce—Since Tuesday we have been most assiduously engaged in preparing a reply to the last Note we have received, which I think will not be sent before next Monday—It is the opinion of Mr. Gallatin that this will be our last communication and I should expect so myself, if I had not been twice before disappointed in the same expectation—Hitherto, all the proceedings of the other party have been calculated to make delay; and to avoid the rupture of the Negotiation for the present. They first assumed the tone of dictating a preliminary which we immediately rejected—Then they sent us sixteen pages revoking their first proposal and at the same time insisting upon it—Now they have changed its form; absolutely departed from One portion of it, and expressly declared they will not depart from the other.—In every change of their position, we are obliged to change, that we may still front them.—We have yielded nothing, but every new attack we are obliged to meet with a new defence—From the first instant, we saw, (most of us at least) that there was nothing to be done; but I did not see that they might keep us here, as long as they pleased, and that they felt a wish to keep us here.—Although Mr Gallatin may therefore judge more correctly than I do, I incline to the belief that this will not be our last Note—But that when we send it, there will be another reference to England, and that at the end of ten days more we shall have another Note to answer.
There are Letters from England, saying that one of the Clerks in the British Department of foreign Affairs has been dismissed from Office, for having divulged some facts respecting the proposals made by the British Government, at the Ghent Negotiation—that it was further reported that the Note in answer to the first written Communication from the British to the American Ministers, was very different from what had been expected—that it was a very able and spirited State paper, and that the Privy Council had been assembled two successive days to deliberate upon its Contents—I give you this news as I received it, even with the mention of the able and spirited State-Paper; because so small a part of it was of my composition, that I can draw no Vanity for any credit to which it may be considered as entitled. I should in fact have presented a very different paper, and I am conscious with all due humility that the paper sent was much more able than the one that I had drawn; perhaps too it was more spirited, for it had not so much of the irritating language, which the Morning Chronicle pretends has been used on both sides, and for which it asserts we had a social meeting mutually to apologize
But we have more serious and important news from England than this—The beginning of that series of Disasters which I have been so long anticipating as inevitably reserved for us, has already occurred—On the 25th: of July a bloody battle was fought on the Niagara frontier, between the British Lieutenant General Brown Drummond and the American General Brown—The British official accounts claim a complete victory, though they acknowledge a loss in killed, wounded and prisoners of 875 men. Among the last of whom, is Mayor General Riall. The American official Account says we may claim the victory but in substance acknowledges the defeat—General Brown himself was very severely wounded. It is said that his whole army was two days after summoned to surrender at Fort Erie—though on the other side it is also said that he had received a reinforcement of one thousand men—The occasion of this defeat is said to have been that Chauncey was not out upon Lake Ontario; but suffered the British to send their reinforcements by Water—Oh! My prophetic Soul!—Look back my dear Friend to my Letters and see what I have said to you about Lake Ontario, and Chauncey!—The Papers now say that he was sick—Would to Heaven that he had been...well, and that Perry had been there to command in his stead. His last Summers campaign of playing hide and go seek, on Lake Ontario, went three quarters of the way to demolish all my expectations from any quarter where he should command—His Letters to the Secretary of War, always bragging about nothing disgusted me—I could not forgive him for suffering the opportunity to escape him of punishing Sir James Yeo, for charging him with cowardice, and what I heard of him from Captain Angus, completed his downfall in my opinion—Yet this man has had almost as much credit allowed him all over the United-States, as if he had taken the Guerriere or the Macedonian—God grant that if we get no other good from this War, it may teach us to discern between the true gold and the counterfeit.
I now despair of getting away from this place before we shall be overwhelmed with these humiliations—They may however determine the British Government to break us up a little sooner—Thus we really now stand—We may be dismissed in twenty-four hours after we send our next Note, and we may be kept here three Months longer—I cannot say amused, but insulted with one insolent and insidious proposal after another, without having it in our power to break off with the indignation which we feel—It is now three full weeks since I asked you not to answer any more of my Letters, and I am not in prospect so near going away as I was when I wrote you that request.— If we should eventually be detained here into the Winter, which is not impossible, I shall be deprived for weeks of the consolation of receiving letters from you, which is the greatest comfort I enjoy—I beg you therefore to answer this and my subsequent Letters until I renew the request to surcease writing—Address your Letters as heretofore directly to this place, and if I go, before they arrive, I will give directions to have them sent back to me—In the meantime, give my Love to Charles; and Love me, and pray for me, more earnestly than ever—Your affectionate husband
A.


Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 24 September 1814
From: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

My Dear Sister,
Atkinson Sep. 24th 1814—

Your very interesting Letter of last week in which you mention the departure of your dear Caroline, with so much affectionate regret, is a pleasing evidence of her intrinsick worth.—I hope she has comfortably reached her Home, & is seated by her worthy Partner in their own Mansion, kindly welcomed to the arms of a fond Mother, where she may safely repose without fear of molestation, or dread of an hostile Foe, & rapacious Plunderer—
Mr Peabody has been concerned for his Son, at Buckstown, to day he has received a long letter from him, giving a particular account as he could collect, of the conduct, & movments of the british naval, & land Forces—by which he, as well as others, have lost their property, I am thankful not quite their all—But the tender mercies of a victorious conquering Enemy, are indeed cruelty—
The shameful ravages made at Bangor, & Castine, must be an everlasting Blot upon the character of the british Officers—who did not prevent their wanton Destruction Poor Mr Combs Servants they beat unmercifully because, I suppose they hesitated obeying the Orders of their new Lords—Capt. Peabody was one of the commitee to go to Castine, to know what the Designs & feelings of the Commanding Officers were towards the Buckstown—He found they had just sent on there for provision to be made for the reception, & accommodation of their General Officers, &c—They tarried one Day & night, & returned—much pleased with penobscot river, & the very pleasant villages—They were so polite as to take only two merino Bucks, from Six, & destroyed but one of his small vessels!!!—But he says, no one that did not see, can conceive of the alarm & agitation into which  all were thrown—“Some of our Officers, & soldiers were cowards, & scroundels,”—just as they were at Washington—
We all feel more, than it is proper for us to express—& I am sorry I have written a word of this unpleasant Subject—for It is hard knowing where to stop, for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak”—
I hope Mrs Greenleaf has heard from her Brother, I pity the dear Lads, who I know must both be extremely anxious for their family, & fathers property, which I  fear is greatly impaired by the ravages of the Enemy—I was glad to hear from William Cranch, that he had obtained the desired Object, of being receivd a member of Cambridge University—I think he will a respectable member of Society—& so will Richard—but not eminent in the classicks—
Sep. 27th. I thank you my dear Sister, for your kind invitation, & if nothing prevents I hope to see you at Quincy some time next week—Mr Peabody would be glad to visit you, but he is so infirm in his Limbs that I believe Abby will stay at home, & take care of the family with him—I do not love to go without her because she is my Ears—I hate to ask any one to repeat—but I dare not repine, for I have many mercies— / are bestowed upon your affectionate Sister

E— PeabodyI would write more, but the Stage is come
Please to convey the enclosed
our vacation commenced this week—I have had enough to do, to get all the Boarders away whole, & clean—


Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 25 September 1814
From: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson
To: Adams, Abigail Smith

My Dear Mother
St: Petersburg Septbr: 25th. 1814

As this is probably the last opportunity I shall have to write you I sieze it with avidity, and hope notwithstanding the failure of our negociations, that some favorable circumstance may occur, which will render the communication more frequent, and more safe.
Our prospects are dreadful, and I see no end to our banishment, unless some miracle should release us from our present difficulties. I trust however that owing to the various reports we hear, we are apt to exaggerate the evils, and that our situation is not in reality so desperate, as they would wish to make it appear. I have just read our Old friend Mr. D-’s address. it is a singular piece I think, and leaves a large space for action in case of necessity. It is very difficult to take both sides of a question, and still more difficult in a Republic to steer an even course between two Parties. he has chosen his moment admirably, and if he should ever have the power of correcting our Governmental defects I wish him success, but I believe much will be said, I fear little will be done.
As you may suppose I am very impatient to see Mr. Adams who writes that he will now probably be at home in a few weeks, his health is much mended, and his spirits as good as we can possibly expect, considering the unpleasant termination of the affairs for which he went.
Yesterday I recieved a letter from Mrs. Smith mentioning her safe arrival in Holland, she had suffered considerably on the Voyage. Her Baby had likewise been very ill with the Hives: but had entirely recovered. Mr. Adams writes me they will probably be obliged to return to Russia for want of an opportunity to return home. the John Adams had sailed a few days before they landed. he has at least the satisfaction of keeping his place if he comes back. though I think he might find something more lucrative in America.
Mr Forbes an old acquaintance of yours, will do me the favour to take charge of my letter, he will tell you my dear Madam, that my health is much improved and that Charles is likewise better, though still much too delicate.
I wrote my Boys by Mrs. Smith but should I have time I will endeavour to write them by this occasion if possible. at all events assure them of my tenderest affection, and tell John, that though he cannot overtake his brother in growth, I hope he will in acquirements.
Present me most respectfully to the President and kindly to all the family, should our dear Caroline Smith be married, offer her my sincere congratulations, and  be assured of the sincere and respectful attachment of Your affectionate Daughter

L C Adams


Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Caroline Amelia Smith De Windt, 27 September 1814
From: Adams, Abigail Smith
To: De Windt, Caroline Amelia Smith

my dear caroline:
Quincy, September 27th, 1814.

This morning’s post brought me your letter of the 20th. We were all delighted; grandfather’s tears watered his cheek when he read the letter; Susan skipped with all her warmth and ardour, into every part of the scene.
“In joyous youth, what soul hath never known,
Thoughts, feelings, taste, harmonious to its own.”
S. walked her mile and a half to communicate the grateful tidings; every heart and eye participated with you.
I shall not say anything about the wonders of the world, for this reason, I know not what to say; yet I cannot help feeling pity, or commiseration for Buonaparte; to what part of the world can he flee? Some say America! I do not want him here, although I think he would be quite harmless,  deprived as he is, of all power, authority, and means.
By the help of one night’s refreshing sleep, I am enabled to write to you this morning, knowing not what the morrow may bring forth. Four score and ten is an age, when we can neither expect health, or much strength, when our strength is weakness. I cannot say that I have no pleasure in my days; I have abundant in this, my sickness. I have had kind, attentive friends, a skilful physician, and every human aid: is there not pleasure in all this? and unto the Great First Cause be the praise.
Dear, tempting child, how pleased I should be to make you the visit you so pathetically urge; but would it not be too hazardous for your grandfather, at his age, to undertake? True, we enjoy as much health, and as good spirits as can be expected, and more than we had reason to look for, considering the many scenes we have passed through; but we must finish our course in our own habitation, and not venture beyond a day’s journey. I might be hazardous enough to run the risk, but I would not have your grandfather, who yet may outlive me, through so many years older. So, dear girl, we thank you for your invitation, and feel at our hearts, the value of it, but must content ourselves with the hope, if we live, of seeing you and yours the next spring.
I have lately been reading Lady Morgan’s France; she is entertaining, and gives us many pleasant anecdotes. I do not like her affectation of new words; the reviewers may properly attack them—she is, however, an interesting traveller to me, although no favourite with the English.
To rise with dignity, and fall with ease, is a very desirable qualification; but such is the frailty of human nature; adversity is better calculated to call forth the virtues, than prosperity, which puffeth up, and is unseemly.
I have not yet thanked you for your letter from New–York. I entered into all your feelings so simply and pathetically described, while wandering through scenes which awakened recollections to “joys that were past, never to return.”
How much does the heart pant for the renewal of those affections, which once so cordially greeted an absent friend, when visiting the same spot; the unbidden tear starts, and memory sighs, all, all is changed—a new set “come tittering on, and push us off the stage.”
But while this heart beats, and this hand hath warmth, and reason retains its seat, my dear Caroline will be joyfully received and welcomed by her affectionate grandmother,
A. A.