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Browsing: Diary of John Adams, Volume 2
Ap. 26. Monday.
Docno: DJA02d454
Date: 1779-04-26
Spent the Morning in translating with my Son the Carmen Seculare, and the Notes.
There is a Feebleness and a Languor in my Nature. My Mind and Body both partake of this Weakness. By my Physical Constitution, I am but an ordinary Man. The Times alone have destined me to Fame —and even these have not been able to give me, much. When I look in the Glass, my Eye, my Forehead, my Brow, my Cheeks, my Lips,
{p. 363}
all betray this Relaxation. Yet some great Events, some cutting Expressions, some mean <Scandals> Hypocrisies, have at Times, thrown this Assemblage of Sloth, Sleep, and littleness into Rage a little like a Lion. Yet it is not like the Lion—there is Extravagance and Distraction in it, that still betrays the same Weakness.
1779 Ap. 28. Wednesday.1
Docno: DJA02d455
Date: 1779-04-28
Went up to Nantes from Minden2 or St. Nazare, before Wind and Tide in 4 Hours. This Morning by C[aptain] Landais who came on board I received a Letter from Dr. F. inclosing one from M. de Sartine, both expressing a Desire, that the Alliance might not sail for some Time, and that I would take my Passage home, with M. Le Chevalier de la Luzerne, the new Ambassador, in one of the Kings Frigates.3
This is a cruel Disappointment.—To exchange May for July, and the Alliance for another Frigate, is too much.
Lodged at the Hotel de St. Julien, where I find the Accommodations better than at L'hotel de la Comedie....4
Dined at the Hotel, with a Number of Navy Officers, several with the Cross of St. Louis. Drank Tea, at Mrs. Johnsons. Had much Conversation with him about Consuls, Agents. He thinks one Consul enough for the Kingdom with Power of Deputation. This [also,] that a Duty of so much per Ton [should be levied] on all Ships, entering a french Port, for the Relief of unfortunate Americans, Prisoners, Shipwrecked Persons, &c.5 That no Man should be discharged from a Ship but by the Consul. That six, ten, or twelve Merchants should be appointed to inspect the Consuls accounts, once in 3 Months, &c.
1. From this point on, through 31 July 1779, the entries are in D/JA/29.
2. Pointe du Mindin, where the Alliance lay at anchor, is across from Saint Nazaire at the mouth of the Loire.
3. Sartine's letter, dated 20 April 1779, was addressed to Franklin; it requested on behalf of the King that the Alliance be ordered to Lorient (Adams Papers). The Alliance was soon afterward joined to John Paul Jones' squadron. Franklin's letter, 24 April, enclosing Sartine's, pointed out for JA's consolation that he would be traveling more safely and would have the company of the Chevalier de La Luzerne, “who appears to me a most amiable Man and of very sensible and pleasing Conversation” and “who is to set off in a few Days” (Adams Papers; JA, Works
, 7:93–94). On the contrary La Luzerne and his party did not arrive at Lorient until 11 June; see entry of 12 June, below. There is a careful study, based mainly on records in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, by William E. O'Donnell of The Chevalier de La Luzerne, French Minister to the United States, 1779–1784, Bruges and Louvain, 1938.
4. Suspension points in MS.
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007.
http://www.masshist.org/ff/
http://www.masshist.org/ff/