Adams Family Correspondence, volume 13

John Adams to William Stephens Smith, 19 December 1798 Adams, John Smith, William Stephens

John Adams to William Stephens Smith

Dear Sir Philadelphia Dec 19th [1798]

Before you receive this you will probably receive a letter from the Secy at war informing you that the general officers have proposed either you or Mr Hammond to be a Lt Col commandant.1 This event has embarassed me. I know not what to do. I know not whether the senate will not negative the nomination if I make it; nor whether you will accept the appointment if they should advise and consent to it.

Upon this occasion I must be explicit with you. Your pride and ostentation which I myself have seen with inexpressible grief for many years have excited among your neighbors so much envy & resentment that if they have to alledge against you any instance of dishonorable and dishonest conduct as it is pretended they have, you may depend upon it, it will never be forgiven or forgotten. He whose vanity has been indulged & displayed to the humiliation & mortification of others may depend on meeting their revenge when ever they shall find an opportunity for it. They are now takeing vengeance on you with a witness.2

If I were to nominate you to any thing more than a regiment according to reports & spirit that prevail, I have no doubt you would be again negatived by the Senate. If I nominate you to a regiment I still fear it will not pass.

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It is a great misfortune to the public that the office I hold should be disgraced by a nomination of my son in law, which the Senate of the U.S. think themselves obliged to negative. If the disgrace should be repeated it will be a serious thing to the public as well as to me & you & our children.

I pray you then to write me without loss of time whether you wish me to make the nomination & whether you will accept it if made & consented to.

My love to my daughter & Miss Caroline. I am dear Sir you affectionate father in law

John Adams3

LbC in William Smith Shaw’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Col W Smith”; APM Reel 117.

Abijah Hammond, for whom see vol. 10:464, was not nominated for an army position (Hamilton, Papers , 22:353–354).

JA was similarly critical of WSS’s character in a letter to CA of [ca. 20 Dec.], writing of WSS’s “want of Sagacity or want of something, has given him too little Veneration” for John Jay, which JA believed would be to WSS’s “Misfortune.” In contrast, JA praised the character of Samuel Bayard Malcom, for whom he had written a glowing letter of recommendation to the New York governor (MHi:Seymour Coll.).

WSS replied to JA on 20 Dec. (Adams Papers) expressing chagrin that he had “been the cause of anxiety” but assigning blame elsewhere: “the fault is in my stars not in me.” For WSS’s subsequent military nomination, see JA to AA, 31 Dec., and note i, below.

Benjamin Rush to Abigail Adams, 19 December 1798 Rush, Benjamin Adams, Abigail

Benjamin Rush to Abigail Adams

My dear Madam, Philadelphia December 19th. 1798.

I have just returned from spending an agreeable hour with your best Friend. In the Course of our Conversation, he informed me that you had lately in Addition to former complaints, been afflicted with an intermitting fever of a tertian type. This state of fever in our Climate of late years is often accompanied with inflammatory Symptoms, and instead of yielding to its usual remedy the Bark, is Often made worse by it. I have found the most effectual remedies for it at this Season to be the loss of a few Ounces of blood if the pulse be full or tense, the use of the fever powders (the recipe for which I gave you) and Blisters to the wrists. After the Use of all the Above remedies, the Bark is sometimes useful to subdue the remains of the fever. The Blisters will be useful Upon Other Accounts than merely assisting in curing your Intermittent. In habits in any degree affected by Gout, they serve to fix those morbid Actions in an external and safe part, which by rambling through the System are disposed to injure more vital parts.—

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It will be highly necessary to preserve a uniform warmth in your feet.

Should the weather become dry, as well as Cold, and the ground continue to be covered with Snow, a ride to Philadelphia in the course of the Winter may contribute to establish your health for many years to come. You shall have my Advice to leave Us, long before our Gutters, and Sewers exhale the matters of yellow fever.—

My dear Mrs Rush, and the Young folks of my family join in the most Affectionate remembrance of you with my dear madam your sincere friend / and most Obedt / Servant1

Benjn: Rush

RC (Adams Papers); docketed: “Dr Rush to A A.”

Benjamin and Julia Stockton Rush, for whom see vol. 2:60, had twelve children by this time, eight of whom survived infancy: John, for whom see Benjamin Rush to AA, 1 July 1799, and note 4, below; Anne Emily (1779–1850); Richard, for whom see CFA, Diary , 2:5; Mary (1784–1849); James (1786–1869); Benjamin (1791–1824); Julia (1792–1860); and Samuel (1795–1859) (The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush: His “Travels through Life” Together with His Commonplace Book for 1789–1813, ed. George W. Corner, Princeton, N.J., 1948, p. 369–372).