Adams Family Correspondence, volume 14
br26 1800
I received Yours of Sep’br
18th.1 I have Melancholy intelligence to
communicate to you respecting poor B Adams. last week of an Evening he had
put a Horse into a Waggon for the purpose of conveying three quarters of
Beaf to a Neighbours. the Horse was restiff, and he gave him a whip upon
which he started, threw him down, and the wheel went over one Side of his
face so as to break the jaw bone, and across the neck So as to deprive him
of his senses; he was taken up in that state and tho immediate assistance
was had, he remains delirious and very little hopes remain to his Friend’s
that he will Survive the [sh]ock— his poor Father is inconsolable. all of us
are greatly distrest he was a Most Worthy Young Man, and the support and
comfort of his Father, a kind and affectionate Brother. I have every reason
to fear that my next Letter must inform you of his Death— Mrs Foster lost
her Baby last week, a little more than a year old, by the Dysentery2 I never knew Quincy so
sickly as it has been for the summer past. more than 30 persons have been
down with a slow Billious fever—some have lain six and seven weeks— it has
not proved mortal in any instance. it originated in the Neighbourhood of
Newcombs & Baxters Slaughter Houses, and has been generally confined
there—
Your Father will leave me for the federal city in the course of ten days. Brisler sits out on Wednesday next— he will call upon you as he passes—3 I inclose to You the money paid by you for the wine.4 present your Bill to mr shaw for further Charges when he passes—
Decius has closed with a farewell to his Enemies and
Friend’s— His last Number is a sausy insolent overbearing, dictatorial 406 usurpation upon the understanding of
his readers—5 he is followd
by a Massasoit, and by Junius Americanus—in a stile and Manner, which will
make the little frog Swell to an ox—not with Vanity, but Ire.—6 as the Gazzett of the united
states has published Decius, “and no Jealous Rival,” it would be but
consistant to with his avowed
impartiality to publish Junius— but your printers are all soulless, and
nerveless, since the Death of poor Fenno—whose asshes Would not rest in
Peace, did he know what a Varlet his Boy is— this Chap You recollect
undertook to abuse the Marine society of Boston last winter—a society
composed of many respectable Merchants as well as literary Characters, a
society who had raised from their own purses a thousand Dollors for the
benifit of Mr Fennos Family upon the Death of his Father— Mr Charles
Sigourney, a kind and benificent Friend to the family, sent on to J W Fenno
a list of the names of the Gentleman who had been the benefactors to the
Family and the sums Subscribed by them, after he read the Wanton abuse of
the Marine Society. Yet did not the insolent Boy Blush—or make the least
acknowledgment.7 these
are facts and May be depended upon. mr sigourney related them to your
Father—
I have not heard from N york Since I wrote you last—
Remember me kindly to all inquiring Friends—
William will send the papers
your ever / affectionate
RC (Adams Papers); endorsed: “Mrs: A Adams / 26 Septr: 1800 / 3 Octr: Recd: / Do Answd:.” Some loss of text where the seal was
removed.
Not found.
Charles F. Foster, the first child of Elizabeth Smith and James Hiller Foster, died on 19 Sept. (vol. 13:562).
JA departed Quincy on 13 Oct. for
Washington, D.C. After stopping in Philadelphia to visit
TBA, he arrived in the federal city on 1 Nov. (Boston
Columbian Centinel, 15 Oct.;
Philadelphia Gazette of the United States,
27 Oct.; Washington, D.C., National
Intelligencer, 3 Nov.).
See TBA to AA, 1 June, above.
The final installment of Decius’ “Jeffersoniad”
appeared in the Boston Columbian Centinel,
20 September. In a section directed to his enemies, he claimed that “no
political writer ever experienced abuse in nature and degree, more
violent, more contradictory, or more unremitted” and labeled his
published critics “the blind herd of Jefferson’s followers.” To his friends he urged that they take
up his cause, proclaiming, “This is a duty which you owe to
yourselves—to your children—to your country, and to your God!”
Massasoit published a second essay in the Boston Russell’s Gazette, 22 Sept., which
criticized the “Jeffersoniad” essays and commented on the split in the
Federalist Party between supporters of JA and Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney. Junius Americanus’ final essay in the Boston Russell’s Gazette, 25 Sept., also
criticized Decius’ essays, claiming their goal was “to run Mr. Adams fairly out of office.” AA was
referring to Aesop’s fable “The Frog and the Ox,” the moral of which is,
“Men are ruined by attempting a greatness to which they have no
claim.”
The Boston Marine Society was established in 1754 to
improve sailors’ safety and provide assistance to ships’ captains and
their families. Charles Sigourney (1748–1806) was a Boston merchant and
sometime partner in 407
the Amsterdam mercantile firm of Sigourney, Ingraham & Bromfield
(William A. Baker, A History of the Boston
Marine Society 1742– 1967, Boston, 1968, p. 5, 11; Henry H. W.
Sigourney, Genealogy of the Sigourney
Family, Boston, 1857, p. 10; JQA, Diary
,
1:76).