When you see our good Friend Madam Winthrop, be pleased to make my regards to her; you will also remember me to your Neighbours at the foot of the Hill; and let me hear from you by every opportunity, as the correspondence of my Friends is the only compensation I can receive for the loss of their Society. Is Polly married? Happiness attend her and her partner if she is. to Mr. and Mrs. Otis, to one and all of my dear Friends be kind enough to remember me; the truth of one Maxim of Rochefoucault I experience "that absence heightens rather than diminishes those affections which are strong and Sincere." December 12th. You will see, my dear Madam, by the date of the above, that my Letter has lain by long, waiting a private conveyance. Mr. Tracy and Mr. Jackson, design to return to London this week and I shall request the favour of them to take charge of it. Since it was written there have been some changes in the political world, and the Emperor has recalled his Ambassador from the United Provinces. Every thing seems to wear an Hostile Appearance. the Dutch are not in the least intimidated but are determined at all events to refuse the opening of the Scheld to the Emperor. this Court is endeavouring to Mediate between the Emperor and the Dutch. when the affair was to be debated in the Kings Counsel, the Queen said to the Count de Vergennes, "M. le Comte, you must remember that the Emperor is my brother." "I certainly shall Madam,” replied the Count, "but your Majesty will remember that you are Queen of France." Thus much for Politicks. you ask about treaties of Commerce. Courts like Ladies, stand upon Punctilios and chuse to be address'd upon their own ground I am not at Liberty to say more. This is the 12th of December, and we have got an American Snow Storm. the climate is not so pleasant as I expected to find it; I love the cheerful Sun shine of America, and the Clear blue Sky. Adieu my dear Madam. I have so much writing to do, that I am, tho unwillingly obliged to close requesting my Son to copy for me: you will not fail writing soon to your Friend and humble Servant.1 ABIGAIL ADAMS I The body of the letter is in the writing of John Quincy Adams. A letter from John Adams to Mercy Warren, December 13, 1784, is in Writings of John Adams, 1x. 528. JAMES WARREN TO JOHN ADAMS ADAMS MSS. MY DEAR SIR, I Received your favour of the 27th August sometime ago, and Intended before this to have wrote to you; but want of direct conveyance and some other Circumstances have prevented. I am very Glad to find my Friends so agreeably situated at Auteuil. At the same time the preference given to the Hills of Penn and Neponsit give me an additional pleasure by affording a prospect of once more seeing them in their Neighbourhood. I always feel your Mortification when the reduction of your Salaries took place. the measure was unexpected and astonishing. I had never heard of a proposal of the kind and I considered it as a finess under the popular masque of œconomy to answer particular purposes, which general and good policy would not warrant. my Enquiries have Convinced me of the Justness of my own Sentiments. I suppose it originated from the then Premier, the King, or Grand Monarch of America,' and was designed to get rid of those Men who were Employed abroad, and could not be brought into a support of foreign Measures, and those of the Aristocracy here, which were closely united and made a Common Cause, in support of which the most refined Intrigue has been practised, and at Times and in some Instances deceived and duped some very good Men. I presume our Friend Gerry was in Opposition to this measure, because his Penetration and rectitude has always secured him against their Artifice. But this is Conjecture. I have never heard the Matter from him. But I hope this matter will be reconsidered and all honest men have Justice done them. Congress seems at present to be well disposed. they have got clear of that sink of Corrupt Influence which so long Contaminated some of their measures, and, God be thanked, have substituted a Board of Treasury in the stead of the super Intendant of Finnance, an Office which made rapid strides to Dominion, and if the cautious Wisdom of R. Island, by Negativing the proposed Impost, had not prevented, would soon have found a King for us. And this I Robert Morris. Board, too, is guarded by a rotation, that best, if not only security (in this stage of Manners more particularly) for public Liberty. Everything that relates to the Movement of Congress you will have more Compleately from the place of their residence than I can give you from here. In this place the System of Politics remains much as it has been; the same Imbecility, the same servility and the same Inattention still prevail and are likely to continue. Money is the only object attended to, and the only Acquisition that commands respect. Patriotism is ridiculed; Integrity and Ability are of little Consequence. Foreign Commerce has extended itself beyond its natural supports and, by its Extravagant Imports greatly Exceeding the Exports, drained off all the Money, embarrassed itself, and every other resource of the Country, while Luxury keeps pace with the manners of older and more affluent countries. some checks by the denial of Credit in Europe may give time to the rising Fisheries and other Staples of the Country to form a Ballance to the Evils we now suffer. The Bank here has not been of any service to us. it has rather facilitated the Exportation of Money and Increased the Exorbitancy of Interest, or rather of Usury, which had before reached such a Stage of Enormity as would have disgraced the Jewish Usurers in any Country of the world, and must in a short time put an End both to Trade and the Cultivation of Lands. I am always happy to receive your Letters and shall be obliged by any Information of what is passing on the great Theatre of Europe. I shall readily embrace any Opportunity to Inform you of anything you wish to know from here, and shall do it with the Fidelity of the Friendship I profess. . . J. WARREN 29th. Our first Magistrate1 has this day made a formal Resignation. When we shall get another without a new Election I can't tell. I Hancock. JOHN ADAMS TO JAMES WARREN AUTEUIL, near PARIS, April 26, 1785 DEAR SIR,I see by the publick Papers that Mr. Hancock has resigned, and I suppose you have just passed through the Bustle of a new Election. it is a question here among us Americans Who? General Warren, Mr Bowdoin, Mr Cushing and General Lincoln, are in nomination. But we cannot elect you know and therefore nobody says who he would vote for. We all agree that there is danger of less Unanimity than in the last. I know so well the Influence of Boston that I believe it will be a Boston Man, but which of the two I know not.1 But to something in which it is more proper for me to intermeddle. Temple,2 your Friend, is appointed Consul General, but whether he has yet imbarked for N. York where I suppose his Residence will be I know not. As much depends upon his Character and Conduct, both to Great Britain and America, it is a matter of Importance that he should be well advised, and I believe that no American has more regard for him than you have or more Influence with him. He is not without Knowledge in General and has had peculiar Opportunities for knowing the Commerce of America, and has numerous Acquaintances, some Friends and powerful Connections in America. I believe him to be in general a Well-meaning Man, and if his office depended upon a genteel Behaviour he would be very well qualified. But, he values himself much upon a Knowledge of Courts which he has not, and he looses himself too much in Ceremonies and Forms to be a great Master of Substance and Essence. He is not a prudent Man, and has the most confused Conceptions of the public opinion and of the Reasonings upon which it is founded, and of the real Springs and motives of Events of any Man of so much sense and experience I ever saw. Such a Character therefore in my Opinion, if his Friends do not advise him, will be in danger of doing much Mischief to the publick altho he may be sure of making his own Career very short. If I James Bowdoin was elected governor. 2 John Temple (1732-1798), married in 1767 Elizabeth, daughter of James Bowdoin. he goes on with those Airs of Mystery, and suffers his own Conduct to be equivocal or liable to two Interpretations, if he enters into personal Disputes without a manifest necessity, or brings on needless questions with Congress or its Members, or the States or Governors, with French or Dutch or other foreign Consulls or Ministers, or subjects or starts and presses too hastily, indiscreet Claims for his Master, he will soon destroy himself altho he may previously do great harm. He is now an Englishman, and a servant of his King. let him then make no Pretensions as an American, because they will not be admitted and will only expose him. He must proceed Slowly, Softly and smoothly. He must support the Rights of his Master and the English Nation, but he must allow the Rights of all others. He is now in the right Road. He was the servant of the King and should have always looked to him and him alone for Service, unless he had renounced his Service more decidedly and engaged more clearly than he did against him. My son will deliver you this. He has corresponded for sometime with yours at Lisbon and will give you the News of him. I have seen with Pleasure this Friendship forming, and hope there will be more formed in America between him and the sons of those Persons with whom I have passed my Life in Harmony, and acted in Concert for the Publick. It is long since I had a Letter from you, or Mrs. Warren to whom I pray you to present my best Regards. Mrs. Maccaulay and Mrs. Warren I suppose have compared Notes of the History of Liberty on both sides the Atlantic. By the last Letters from America, it appears probable that the Dr's Resignation will be accepted; an Event which will make a great Change in our foreign Affairs. No Man that I know would be likely to conduct them better here than his Successor Mr. Jefferson. yours, etc., J. ADAMS |