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Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 8
Docno: ADMS-06-08-02-0015
Recipient: Adams, John
Date: 1779-03-28
From Jonathan Williams
[dateline] Nantes March 28. 1779
[salute] Dear Sir
I have not written to you since your Departure because I have not before had anything
to communicate, and now it is probable you will have already heard what I have to
say.
The last accounts from England inform us that Pondicherry and Chandanargor in the
East Indies are taken by the English, after above two months Seige.1 The Papers say also that a french Man of War and a Frigate are lost on the Cape of
Good Hope.2 Senegal is taken by the French,—the Garrison at Fort James was so weakened by Sickness
that it fell an easy prey.3
We have had besides the above a great many Bruits, but as they seem to have been calculated only pour faire du Bruit, I shall not trouble you with any account of them.4
I shall be exceeding happy to know if I may expect the pleasure of { 18 } seeing you here again being with great Respect Dear Sir Your most obed servant
[signed] Jon Williams J.
Remember me to Master Jack—est il content de la Comedie, <a Brest> aprés avoir vu la belle Salle de Nantes, celle de Brest ne doit pas lui plaire; tout le monde n'est pas de cet
avis, mais il faut souvenir que notre salle a eu le Merite d'etre consacrée aux cheveaux,
quoiqu'il n'y va aujourdhui que des ânes.5
RC (Adams Papers).
1. According to reports in the London Chronicle of 16–18 March, Pondicherry was taken by troops of the British East India Company
in Oct. 1778. Chandernagore, a French settlement near Calcutta, had been taken earlier.
2. The London Chronicle of 18–20 March contained a report that “the Phelizburg, a French man of war of 74
guns, and the Orleans frigate, were both lost near the Cape of Good Hope, the 27th
of Aug. last, in their passage from Toulon to Pondicherry.” No mention has been found,
however, of any French naval vessels with those names. See, for example, Dull, French Navy and Amer. Independence, apps. B, C, and D.
4. One example of such rumors was the report in the London Chronicle of 20–23 March that “Advice is reported to have been received from Paris, by some
respectable houses here [London], that one of the American Plenipotentiaries at the
Court of France, has been put under arrest for having carried on a correspondence
with the English Ministry.”
5. Translation: Is he content with the Comedy <at Brest>. After having seen the fine hall at Nantes, that of Brest cannot please him; everyone is not of this opinion, but
he should remember that our hall had the honor to be dedicated to horses, although
only asses go there now.
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, 2017.
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/