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Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 5
Docno: ADMS-06-05-02-0232
Recipient: Adams, John
Date: 1778-01-09
From Samuel and Robert Purviance
[dateline] Baltimore 9th Janry. 1778
[salute] Dear Sir
A Schooner belonging to Us by which our friend Mr. McCreery went to France, being
returnd a few days ago, We inclosed you a Letter received by her from Mr. McCreery.1 And by this Opportunity of our Neighbour Mr. Dugan We have sent you a small Bundle
received from Captn. Martin.2 We presume Mr. McCreery has furnished you with the same Political Advices as he has
written us, which therefore may be unnecessary to repeat.
{ 383 } Our Bay still continues blocked up by the Enemy who have generally had from 5 to 7
Frigates about our Capes since Fall. This renders it allmost impossible to get out
any Vessels of Burthen: But in Spite of all their Vigilance We are able to get in
some Supplies thro the Inlets on the Sea Board. Our People are running so fast on
Salt Making, that there can be no doubt they will against next Summer be able to supply
the whole Wants of that essential Article of Life. This day a Sloop with 2500 Bushels
arrived here from Curassoa, and is a most Seasonable Relief, the Price being Current
at £15 per Bushel. We are with great Respect Sir, Your mo: hbl. Servts
[signed] Saml & Robt Purviance
Docno: ADMS-06-05-02-0233
Recipient: Adams, John
Date: 1778-01-13
From James Lovell
[dateline] Janry. 13th. 1778
[salute] Dear Sir
First and foremost, become a reconciling advocate for me with your dear lovely Portia,
who, from the most rational tender attachment to you, is as angry with me as her judiciously
patriotic Spirit will allow, upon a foundation which I hope you have been acquainted
with, long e'er this day.
This hint must pass for an acknowledgement of the receipt of her letter of Decr. 19th.1 and for all the answer which I have courage to make.
Mr. Thaxter must supply for my only mentioning that your favour of the 9th. Ultimo
is in my pocket.2
By consulting my Scrawls to Mr. Hancock and to Mr. S. Adams, you will see why I seem
so stingy of ink just now, who have appeared a prodigal in your eye not long since;
when you have seen me spoiling whole quires of virgin paper with that black and mischievous
Liquour.
As a Supplement to what I have sketched to Mr. S. A.—I give you a Specimen of the
agitating Genius of the Men of Leisure on the Banks of Schuylkill. They have offered 13 quarto pages of hints and observations
to Genl. W— for his concurrence and conveyance to Congress.3 The spirit of those pages is contained in the following Analisis made by Secretary Thompson
who has kept very near the Letter. You will percieve a roguish sneer in the Preface and Conclusion, but it is what
no whig Farmer could avoid.
{ 384 } For an honest Clue take the word recommend instead of make Lt. Generals &c. &c.
A short and easy method of promoting the interest of America, of increasing her internal
strength and her reputation with foreign powers.
1. Let all colonial distinctions be done away.
2. Let each state send to head quarters a proportional number of men to compose an
army of 60,000 foot, 6,000 Artillery and 8,000 horse, besides artifficers &c.
3. Let the Commander in chief and 6 Officers whom he shall be pleased to make Lt. Generals model and officer this army as they please; and, that those whom they dislike may not be much disgusted by being turned out of service, let them have lands
assigned, by Congress; and, if the Chief and his 6 Lieutt Genls: think proper to give
them a letter of recommendation, let them have a pension for life equal to one half
of their present pay.
4. To attach officers to the service let them hold their commissions for life, with
liberty to sell out, when the commander in chief pleases, and let them have half pay,
if the army is reduced.
5. To establish a due subordination let none be promoted out of turn but such as the
Chief and his 6 Lt. Generals please.
6. Let all above the rank of Coll: be dignified with and after the war have pensions
suitable to their rank.
This done, Order and Regularity and Discipline will immediately take place. Every
soldier will be clean and neatly dressed, his head combed and powdered; Sloth Desertion
and Disease will be banished the Camp of the American army; nay, what is more, they
will be well fed and their meat will be boiled instead of fried or broiled.
I have a private letter from Docr. Franklin of Octr. 7th by which I find he and I
are fully together in sentiment as to Applications of foreign Officers for employ
here; so that my labours will be diminished in future.
Our Commissions and Instructions to W–L– and R–I– got to hand the beginning of Octr.4 You will know the rest from Mr. Hancock as I have not time to tell the roguish Story
to all my Colleagues. The public papers were stolen either in France or in America—or
sold by the bearer.5
Genl. W — informs me that the Journals are found, upon my Directions, near the Gulph
and shall be forwarded directly; The 3d. Vol: will immediately be set on foot after
finishing the 2d. by printing the Month of Decr. 1776.6
{ 385 } [salute] I shall only say on this half Sheet that I am Your most affectionate humble Servant,
[signed] Js Lovell
I mistake I must go further or break a much more important promise. I must apologize
to you and to the other Gentlemen thro' you for our Brother Geary's seeming Negligence
of Friendship, by telling you that it is not in his power to write without neglecting
to answer public Letters received as a Committee Chairman.
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “Honble John Adams Esqr. Braintree or Boston”; docketed: “Mr Lovell”;
in CFA's hand: “Jany 13th 1778.”
1. For AA's protest to Lovell for having a part in sending JA off on another long absence, see her draft letter dated [ca. 15 Dec. 1777] (Adams Family Correspondence, 2:370–372).
3. The army had gone into winter quarters at Valley Forge on the banks of the Schuylkill,
thus the satiric reference to the men of leisure. Lovell was one of those who thought
that a winter campaign ought to be attempted. The particular men of leisure in this
instance were eight field officers who had presented their ideas to Washington, only
to have them dismissed with some incisive comments. The signers were Cols. Theodorick
Bland, Mordecai Gist, Josias Carvell Hall, Thomas Hartley, and Robert Lawson; Lt.
Col. James Innis; and Majs. John Taylor and Henry Miller (Lovell to JA, 28 Nov. 1777, above; Washington, Writings, ed. Fitzpatrick, 10:125 and note).
4. The commissions and instructions to William Lee, Commissioner to the courts of Vienna
and Berlin, and to Ralph Izard, Commissioner to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, were approved
by the congress on 1 July 1777 and printed in full in JCC, 8:518–521. Izard and Lee acknowledged their receipt in early October (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev., 2:403, 406).
5. Capt. John Folger, a passenger on the sloop Benjamin, Capt. Ricot, was employed by the American Commissioners to deliver dispatches to
the congress. He landed in Wilmington, N.C., in late Dec. 1777, ostensibly bearing
the first news from the Commissioners to get through to America since the preceding
May. When the packet was opened, however, it contained, apart from some private letters,
nothing but blank papers. This discovery prompted a lengthy investigation by the congress
and the imprisonment for some months of Folger, who was suspected of complicity despite
his vehement denials, but who eventually was released for lack of evidence. The Committee
for Foreign Affairs warned the Commissioners to be more careful in their choice of
couriers, for Folger had been at the least very indiscreet, as depositions from North
Carolina, where he first landed, made plain (same, 2:468–469; PCC, No. 59, I, f. 81–110). The means by which blank paper was substituted for the dispatches
is recounted in Lewis Einstein, Divided Loyalties, Boston, 1933, ch. 2.
6. Washington had dispatched a person to locate the Journals, which with Howe's advance
had been sent out of Philadelphia. On their being found, the general ordered them
sent to York under military escort. The location of presses and type, which had also
been moved to a secure place on congressional order, was not known, however, to the
person caring for the Journals (Washington to Lovell, 9 Jan., Writings, ed. Fitzpatrick, 10:288; JCC, 8:754).
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/