Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13
Your last Letter, which I have recd was
dated the 10th.— I have one from Mr Thomas at Brookfield of the 8th.—1 I hope your ill turn was soon over and that your
health is reestablished.
What the ultimate determination of our son will be I cannot conjecture.— I would not overpersuade him. Phyladelphia is on many Accounts, a good place. My Inclination as well as yours is for Quincy: his for Phyladelphia. Let him determine.— If We were to live in Phyladelphia for many Years I should have less Objection to his fixing here. We should enjoy his Conversation, some times. But this is impossible.— I have no Idea that I shall be chosen P. a second time— tho this is not to be talked of. The Business of the office is so oppressive that I shall hardly Support it two years longer.
To night I must go to the Ball: where I Suppose I shall get a cold, and have to eat Gruel for Breakfast for a Week afterwards.2 This will be no Punishment.—
Since my nomination of Murray I have been advised by Some to name
my son John and Mr King, with Mr
Murray. But I answer that the nomination of either Mr King
or Mr Adams would probably defeat the whole measure.3 Rivalries have been irritated to madness
and Federalists have merited the sedition Law and Cobbet the Alien Bill— But I will not
take Revenge.4 I dont remember that I was
ever vindictive in my Life. though I have often been very wroth. I am not very angry
now, nor much vexed or fretted. The Mission came across the Views of many and stirred
the Passions of more. This I knew was unavoidable. The Reasons which determined me are
too long to be written
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mrs A.”;
docketed: “J A to A A Feb 22nd / 1799.”
Not found.
On the evening of 22 Feb. a ball in honor of George Washington
was held at Ricketts’ Circus in Philadelphia, preceded by an artillery salute at the
arsenal and a parade of military volunteers. The following day JA
reported to AA (Adams
Papers) his attendance, despite frigid weather, which he staved off by
drinking three glasses of madeira at dinner and two more on arriving home (Philadelphia Gazette, 21, 23 Feb.).
After French overtures to William Vans Murray and Joel Barlow,
JA on 18 Feb. nominated Murray to serve as minister plenipotentiary on
a second peace mission to France. Many Federalists were shocked by JA’s
decision, in part because he did not consult with anyone about it, including the
members of his cabinet. Timothy Pickering described Federalists as being
“thunderstruck” about the decision, and James McHenry later called the nomination
“either doubted or condemned by most if not all of the federal members of Congress.”
McHenry also alleged that JA’s decision to act without the knowledge of
his cabinet broke with “established practice,” a view shared by both Alexander
Hamilton and Theodore Sedgwick when they also voiced opposition to the move. Boston
Federalist George Cabot branded its supporters “Federal hypocrites with Jacobin
hearts.” However, not all Federalists opposed the nomination, including John Jay,
Henry Knox, John Marshall, and Washington, all of whom felt that JA’s
timely measure would avert war with France. The press response was also mixed. William
Cobbett’s Philadelphia Porcupine’s Gazette, 20 Feb.,
satirized the nomination, labeling it “a most atrocious falshood.” The Philadelphia
Aurora General Advertiser, 20 Feb., supported
JA’s decision, and so too did the Boston Independent Chronicle, 25–28 Feb., Boston Columbian
Centinel, 27 Feb., and Massachusetts Mercury, 1
March. After members of Congress expressed a preference for a delegation over a single
envoy, JA on 25 Feb. nominated Patrick Henry and Oliver Ellsworth to join
Murray. The Senate confirmed the appointments on 27 Feb., and—after Henry declined and
was replaced by William R. Davie on 1 June—the envoys departed for France on 3 Nov.
(U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour.
, 5th Cong., 3d sess., p. 313–314,
317–319; Hamilton, Papers
, 22:487–490, 493, 500, 503–504; 24:24;
25:212–215, 220; Henry Cabot Lodge, Life and Letters of George
Cabot, Boston, 1878, p. 224; Washington, Papers, Retirement Series
,
3:389–390, 4:397; DeConde, The Quasi-War
, p. 183; Elkins and McKitrick, Age of
Federalism
, p. 617–620).
After the Porcupine’s Gazette
expressed vociferous opposition to JA’s proposed second mission to
France, the New York Mercantile Advertiser, 27 Feb.,
suggested that Cobbett would be deported under the Alien Act. Cobbett responded in Porcupine’s Gazette, 28 Feb., that despite such rumors he
was confident that no deportation order was forthcoming because JA would
not use the Alien Act “as the means of gratifying his own
private revenge.” Cobbett was not prosecuted, but he later alleged that
JA did indeed contemplate such an order: “I was afterwards informed, by
those who knew the fact, that the Old Man really thought of sending me off, but was
opposed in his project by the Attorney General” (William Cobbett, Porcupine’s Works; Containing Various Writings and Selections,
Exhibiting a Faithful Picture of the United States of America, 12 vols.,
London, 1801, 10:153).
AA replied to this letter on 3 March, reporting that the news of Murray’s appointment had “universally Electrified the public,” because “it came so sudden Was a measure so unexpected, that the whole community were like a flock of frightned pigions; nobody had their Story ready: some call’d it a hasty measure; others condemnd it as an inconsistant one; some swore some cursd.” Observers marveled that JA had made the nomination without consulting advisers, AA said, and she congratulated him on his self-reliance: “The true Americans whose confidence is firm, and unshaken; believe & say, that the President acts an independant part, pinning his faith upon no Mans sleave.” Wagers were being made as to whether the Senate would confirm the nomination, she added, noting that she had discussed her views on the subject only with TBA. AA also expressed outrage at Cobbett’s “impudence” (Adams Papers).