Adams Family Correspondence, volume 8
We are lodged in our old Chamber at Amsterdam, and Sleep as soundly as if there were
not a dozen houses plundered every night. The two nights before the last were very
Seditious. last night was quiet, and the Precautions which Secured the Peace then, will
be continued, so t[hat] all will be still.— dont be anxious for Us, nor believe half the
Reports that will be circulated. Such Events are often exaggerated at first. Mr Cutting and myself are very Safe. The Party for the Prince,
appears to be so feeble in Amsterdam, that every thing will be quieted, very soon.1
I cannot Say when We shall return, but I believe We Shall recross from Helvoet to Harwick, by next Wednesdays Packet, so that you may expect Us by Friday or Saturday. Yet We may be detained a Week longer.
I have accomplished the Business I came upon, and have this Day signed the Contract for
a Million of Guilders at five Per Cent. so that Congress will be at ease for another
year.2 My Love to Mrs Smith, and a Kiss for my Grand Boy.
My Libel is much applauded here. They call it “The Breviary of Liberty, Safety and good order” a Compliment more flattering to me, than all the Ingenuity of my own Self Love & Vanity, could have invented. I am forever yours
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “England / Madame / Madame Adams
/ chez Le Ministre des / Etats Unis De L'Amerique / Grosvenor Square / London”;
internal address: “Portia.”; endorsed: “Mr Adams june / 1 1787—”; docketed by
WSS: “JA— to Mrs. A / June
1st 1787.” Some loss of text where the seal was
removed.
On 21 April throngs of Patriots occupied Amsterdam's Dam Square and ousted regents
who supported Stadholder William V. After supporters of the expelled officials 74challenged the validity of these actions, Patriots
rampaged on the night of 29 May. The deliberate destruction of bridges to the center
of the city made it difficult for troops loyal to the stadholder to reach the affected
area, leaving Patriots free to ransack the homes and businesses of their opponents
over several days. When a semblance of order was restored through military force, many
of Amsterdam's wealthy families fled the city (Schama, Patriots and
Liberators
, p. 115–117).
JA signed a
contract with the Amsterdam banking firms of Nicolaas & Jacob van Staphorst and
Wilhem & Jan Willink for a loan to the United States of one million guilders, to
be paid back over fifteen years at 5 percent interest. This was the third loan
JA negotiated on behalf of the United States, the first two of which
included the firm of De la Lande & Fynje along with the Staphorsts and Willinks.
An initial borrowing of five million guilders was made in 1782, and a second loan of
two million guilders was taken out in 1784. JA would negotiate a fourth
loan in March 1788, on the eve of the Adamses' departure from Europe, of one million
guilders, also with the Staphorsts and Willinks (Winter, Amer. Finance and Dutch
Investment
, 2:1086–1089;
JA to AA, 14 March 1788, below). For
more on JA's first loan from the Dutch, see JA, Papers
, 13:passim.