Adams Family Correspondence, volume 15
rd.of March 1803.
It was my intention when I left Boston to have written to you as
soon as my spirits were in some measure composed for the death of my much loved Brother,
who, I little thought when we last met, had closed his eyes forever on this World, which
at once has blasted all those pleasing hopes & desires, of again seeing each other,
& of holding sweet converse together. It was the heighth of my ambition that he
should return with property, sufficient to pay off his debts, cent, for cent, & that
was his only motive in leaving his family, & Country. He was pleasing himself with
the idea of returning in the Spring, when on the 4th.
October he was siesed with a violent fever, which put an end to his existence here, on
the 14th., at Savannah in Georgia.1 This life will be dear to me as long as that of
my husband, & my own reason, & health are continued. At present I am blessed
with many near & dear connexions & valuable friends; You my dear Madam are the
first among the latter. I have great reason to speak of mercies, as well as judgments.
Mr Cushing was taken suddenly ill of a putrid billious
fever, on the 3rd. Feby, &
on the 8th. Dr May despaired of
his recovery, but in the morg of 9th., his fever broke, & did not rise so high afterwards.2 He was confined to his room for more than 30
days. We have experieced great attention from Judge Cranch & others, but he was the
only person that I admited in the room to sit one moment for ten days. We came here
20th. Jany Dined at the
Presidents 31st. He enquired after your health, but not one
word after our late & good President. How changed the Scene. The next day we went to
Alexandria to see Mr & Mrs
Charles Lee. She was very unwell, & still is so. They asked affectionately after you
& yours. The last three weeks have passed with more rapidity than I expected.
yesterday week was the first of Mr C’s riding out, we have
had several pleasant excursions since. The weather was delightful. I frequently had my
windows up, & no fire in the room. Vegatation is coming on rapidly. The Peach Trees
are in blossom. We intended to have been on the wing tomorrow with our faces to the
Eastward, but having a heavy rain last night, we shall defer it till 26th.. I think we shall leave the seat of Government with more
joy than ever. The Chief Justice requested me to present his best respects to you &
the President. He said that he always asked & heard with pleasure of 280 your welfare. Mr Tracey went to Baltimore last week, with
some idea of taking passage for Charleston S’ C, being fearful of our climate before
May. His health though better is still very critical, & he does not calculate upon
living but a short time.3 It is said
however that he does more business in the Senate, than any two. We hope to have the
pleasure of seeing you in May, on our way to Portsmouth. I took tea with Mrs Cranch 19th. & saw the
Constellation coming up the Ean. Branch, to join six of her
sister Frigates lying in the mud.4 His
Majesty is expected from Monticelli in April. Last week I accompanied Mrs Carroll & Mrs Fendal
(sister of Mr C Lee) to see the Presidents House5 I was much irritated at the impertinence of a
Frenchman who is left chargé des affairs. He affirmed that Mr Jefferson purchased every thing which did not come from Philadelphia, &
out of his own private pocket money too. There were several of the crimson damask chairs
in the oval room below, which he also cla[…]6 He can L like his Master. Mrs Law intends going to Boston this summer in company with
Secretary Smith & family. Mrs Lewis passed three weeks
here. She was in very ill health for some months after the death of Mrs Washington, but is now very hearty. She & Mr Lewis expressed a great desire to go to New England to
reside.7 Judge & Mrs Cranch Mr & Mrs Dalton & their families are well. Mr Cushing joins me in best respects to you & the President
wishing you health & happiness. Our kind rememberance to Mr & Mrs Cranch & Miss Smith.
RC (Adams
Papers); addressed: “John Adams late President / of the United States” and
“Mrs Adams”; internal address: “Mrs Adams”; docketed: “Mrs Cushing 1803.” Some loss
of text where the seal was removed.
Gen. George Phillips, for whom see vol. 14:184, was working as a merchant
in Savannah, Ga., when he died on 14 Oct. 1802 (Springfield, Mass., Federal Spy, 23 Nov.; Dexter, Yale Graduates
,
3:354).
Washington, D.C., physician Dr. Frederick May.
Sen. Uriah Tracy of Connecticut, who lived until 1807, arrived in
Charleston, S.C., on 15 April 1803 and traveled to New York on 1 July (
Biog. Dir.
Cong.
; Baltimore Federal Gazette, 2 May;
Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 6 July).
Since the initiation of the First Barbary War in 1801, for which
see
TBA to
JQA, 8 June 1801, and note 4, above, Thomas Jefferson had
pursued a naval blockade of Tripoli, which proved ineffective, while fielding domestic
criticism about the cost of the action. Jefferson changed course early in 1803,
recalling several vessels to the United States. As Cushing noted, the U.S. frigate Constellation arrived at Washington, D.C., on 15 March and
made its way to the Washington Navy Yard, joining the frigates Boston, Congress, General Greene, Philadelphia, President, and United States already at Washington and Philadelphia. On 21
May Jefferson removed the fleet commander, Como. Richard Valentine Morris, replacing
him with Como. Edward Preble. Preble took command in Boston, where the vessels were
moved to prepare for a return to the Mediterranean. The flotilla arrived at Gibraltar
on 12 Sept., initiating a more robust U.S. response to continued attacks on American
merchant vessels by 281 Barbary corsairs (Wood, Empire of Liberty
, p.
637;
ANB
; United States Office of Naval Records and Library, Naval Documents Related to the United States Wars with the
Barbary Powers, 6 vols., Washington, D.C., 1939–1944, 2:136–138, 411; United
States Office of Naval Records and Library, Register of
Officer Personnel United States Navy and Marine Corps and Ships’ Data,
Washington, D.C., 1945, p. 68–79; Georgetown, D.C., Olio,
18 March). See also
JQA
to TBA, 24 March 1804, and note 4, below.
Jefferson returned to Washington, D.C., from Monticello on 3
April 1803, having been away from the capital since 7 March. Anne Brent Carroll was a
friend of Anna Greenleaf Cranch, and Mary Lee Fendall (1764–1827) was the wife of
Alexandria, Va., merchant Philip Richard Fendall (vol. 14:215, 284;
Jefferson’s Memorandum Books
,
2:1094; Jefferson, Papers
, 40:147; Paul C. Nagel, The Lees of
Virginia, N.Y., 1990, p. xiv; Washington, Papers, Retirement Series
,
2:442).
Paris chef François Étienne Lemaire (d. 1817) was maître d’hôtel
of the President’s House from Sept. 1801 until the end of Jefferson’s presidency,
having previously worked for William Bingham in Philadelphia. Three dozen crimson
damask chairs were among the furnishings the Adamses shipped from Philadelphia to
Washington, D.C., in 1800 (vol. 14:381; Jefferson, Papers
, 37:441–442).
Cushing was referring to Elizabeth Parke Custis Law and Eleanor
Parke Custis Lewis, granddaughters of Martha Washington. Law may have intended to
travel to Boston with Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith and his wife, Margaret Smith
Smith. The naval secretary was overseeing the outfitting of the Mediterranean fleet at
Boston, for which see note 4, above. Lewis and her husband, Lawrence Lewis, did not
relocate to New England, instead residing at Woodlawn, an estate neighboring Mount
Vernon (vol. 13:37, 419; Hamilton, Papers
, 12:214; Jefferson, Papers
, 40:160, 305; 41:224; Frank E. Grizzard Jr., George Washington: A Biographical Companion, Santa Barbara,
Calif., 2002, p. 199).
I have not yet acknowledged the Receipt of yours of 25. feb. I
think you right in not noticing Paine, and in present Circumstances in not disputing
with Callender. I remarked the Port folio N 2. and was much pleased. I Suspected the
hand.— I have heard, that an Intrigue against Washington did exist in the latter end of
1777 and beginning of 1778, but know nothing of it.—1 I obtained leave of Congress in November 1777 to
visit my family and on the Eleventh of that month left York town in my Journey home.
within a few days or at least Weeks after, I was chosen to go to France as public
Minister with Franklin and Lee— As soon as I received my Credentials, I prepared to go
and Sailed in the Beginning of Feb. 1778 in the Frigate Boston Captain Tucker. From the
11. Nov. 1777 to April 1799 I never was in Congress: So that it was impossible I could
be concerned in any Intrigue against Washington in the latter End of 1777 and beginning
of 1778.—2 General Knox, hearing I was
appointed to go to France, came up to Quincy then Braintree and dined with me. in the
Course of Conversation he asked me what I thought of General Washington. I told him I
had a great Opinion of the goodness of his heart & the purity of his Intentions: and
as a Commander in Chief, 282 I considered him as
the Center of our Union,: and all things considered, incomparably the best Man for his
place that We could obtain. Well Says Knox, I Am glad to hear you Say so: for I find it
is become too fashionable with some to Speak Slightly of him. It is of importance that
his Character should be Supported in Europe where it is Supposed you are going. I
replied to Knox I was very Sensible of it and as far as depended on me, it would be
Supported both from Judgment and Inclination. Accordingly during the whole of my
Residence in Europe, I uniformly Spoke of General Washington in terms of Esteem and
friendship.3 In my Letters to Dr Kalkoen you will See, a Specimen of the Style in I constantly used concerning that excellent
Man.4 I have never been a flatterer of
him or any other Man. If the Friends of the General and the President require more
exalted Panegyricks, they never will have them from me. No Man that ever existed
contributed more than I have done to his first Rise and continual support, both as
General and President. I have no more to say.
I have heard there were factions in the Army against him. Lee Gates, Mifflin. and others have been Said to be bickering at times against Washington Green & Knox— I never knew much about it but by hearsay. And Lee Gates & Mifflin might have Confidents and Correspondents in Congress. But I can Say nothing of my own Knowledge. officers of an Army long Since I know intrigued with senators and Representatives as well as Ministers of State to distress a President and Commander in Chief and succeeded better than Lee Mifflin or Gates did. Jefferson will be an eternal Monument in memory of it.
Notes on the Characters of the Members of Congress in 1774, I have
none in Writing.— It is a delicate Thing to write from Memory. Indeed I could Say very
little worth reading. Dr Rush has an elaborate Collection of
Biographical Memoirs of those Men.5 To
record little Passions Envy, Jealousy, Rivalry, little Intrigues of great Men, would be
a disgusting a melancholly and a disgracefull Task: To transmit to Posterity great
Virtues, rich Talents, exalted Courage, inflexible firmness, would be a delightfull
Employment. History to be usefull must comprehend both. To me, the Undertaking would be
too painfull. I cannot bear to reflect upon the Scenes I have beheld. The Sincere have
been allways tortured by the sinister: and Sometimes even by the sincere. Such is the
Lot of humanity.
I keep no Copies of my Letters to you. Your discretion must be very exact. Those two Letters upon the Question whether society can exist without Government, you will keep to yourself.6 When I took my 283 second degree at Colledge, they gave me a Question An Imperium civile, Sit hominibus prorsus necessarium.7 As a respondent I had to maintain the Affirmative, and I have never had a doubt of it Since. I believe it So absolutely that no two human Beings can live together without it. There can be no society without it.— A Man cannot kiss a Woman without Government by force or consent.
I shall send you now and then a trifle like this Letter: but I am extreamly busy in procuring subsistance for my family.
I am affectionately yours
RC (Adams
Papers); internal address: “T. B. Adams”; endorsed: “John Adams Esqr: / 2d: April 1803 / 15th: Do: Recd:.”
In the fall of 1777 a loose group spearheaded by Irish-born U.S.
brigadier general Thomas Conway agitated for the removal of George Washington from the
command of the Continental Army, proposing as a replacement either Maj. Henry Lee or
Gen. Horatio Gates. Conway’s confidants included Thomas Mifflin and Benjamin Rush,
whose opposition to Washington may have stemmed from resentment of the influence that
Gen. Nathanael Greene and Gen. Henry Knox exerted over the commander in chief.
Washington retained his post and support in the Continental Congress despite the
workings of the so-called Conway Cabal (JA,
Papers
, 5:166, 315–316; Washington, Papers, Revolutionary War Series
, 9:278–279,
13:139–140; John E. Ferling, The First of Men: A Life of
George Washington, N.Y., 1988, p. 226, 227–228).
JA accurately recounts his activities, including
naming Capt. Samuel Tucker of the Continental frigate Boston, with the exception of misdating by a decade his April 1789 return to
Congress as president of the Senate (vol. 8:336; JA, D&A
, 2:267, 269, 270).
When JA composed the second part of his
autobiography in 1806 he included a nearly identical account of his 1777 dinner with
Knox and their discussion of Washington, for which see JA, D&A
, 4:5–6.
JA in the 6th of 26 letters written to Amsterdam
lawyer Hendrik Calkoen in Oct. 1780 wrote that Washington possessed “a character so
just, so humane, so fair, so open, honorable, and amiable” that he could not be
corrupted by a foreign enemy (JA, Twenty-Six
Letters, Upon Interesting Subjects, Respecting the Revolution of America,
London, 1786, p. 35; JA, Papers
, 10:219).
For Rush’s biographical sketches of JA and other
members of the Continental Congress, see
AA to Rush, [post
21 Sept. 1801], and note 4, above.
JA to TBA, 2 Feb., and [ante 25]
Feb. 1803, for which see the latter, and note 1, above.
JA was awarded a master of arts degree at the
Harvard College commencement of 19 July 1758 after arguing that civil government is an
essential element of human society (JA, D&A
, 1:45).