John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 13 November 1798
John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
13th: November 1798.
My dear Brother.
I write a line in answer to your’s of the 9th: and to send you the enclosed for J. Hall, though the wind here is easterly since yesterday, and you may have improved it, to sail upon your voyage.1
There are no Russian troops marching towards Pomerania—2 There is a new Edict here against secret Societies, of which I shall immediately forward a translation, though probably not in time to reach you3
You know what the prevailing sentiments concerning the situation of Poland, have long been here— Two days ago, Prince Radziwill’s papers were put under seals, and his apartments shut up, by three Ministers of State.— The cause though not publicly known, is imputed to some suspicious correspondence.— It gives much concern to the Prince’s family and friends.—4 We were last evening at Bellevue, where the family kindly enquired after you as they always do.— Prince Ferdinand is again ill, and for the last fortnight and more has been confined to his room.
The accounts of the fever,5 from America, are deeply distressing.— I would fain hope that some part of the accounts are exaggerated by terror: but at best the disorder must have been this time extremely malignant— God grant, it may be the last of its appearance.
The great Nation continues to plunder our navigation wherever she can find it amidst her ardent professions of peace and friendship.— She resembles too much the Lady of whom Pope says, the only alternative was, to be
“Pox’d by her love, or libell’d by her hate.”6
Ever your’s
A.
RC (MHi:Adams Papers, All Generations); addressed: “T. B. Adams Esqr. / Hamburg.”; internal address: “Mr: T. B. Adams.”; endorsed: “J Q Adams Esqr: / 13 Novr: 1798. / 24 January 1799 Recd”; notation by ECA: “given to Mrs Cumings / April 7th 1895 / by E C Adams / Niece of J Q. A / & daughter of T Boylston / Adams—” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 133.
1. TBA’s letter to JQA of 9 Nov. has not been found. JQA’s 7 Nov. letter to Joseph Hall reported on Franco-British engagements in the Mediterranean and France’s failed invasion of Ireland. On the Battle of the Nile, JQA wrote: “To say that it is the most signal defeat that France has suffered during the whole course of the War would be far from doing it full justice.” He also reported the Ottoman Empire’s 5 Sept. declaration of war, the development of the Second Coalition, and the Directory’s introduction of conscription, known as loi Jourdan, on 5 Sept. (LbC, APM Reel 133).
2. British newspapers had recently reported that as many as 60,000 Russian soldiers had passed the Bug River in September, but such claims were soon refuted (London True Briton, 16, 24 Oct.; London Sun, 19 Oct.; London Observer, 21 Oct.).
3. On 20 Oct. Frederick William III issued a royal edict, prohibiting the meeting of all “secret companies and associations” that could affect “the general good” or be “prejudicial to the common tranquility, security and order.” Certain Masonic lodges remained legal but were subject to stipulations such as annual reporting of members and of affiliate lodges. Violations were punishable by revocation of lodge status, life imprisonment, or death (M/JQA/46, APM Reel 241; Günter Birtsch, “The Berlin Wednesday Society,” transl. Arthur Hirsh, in James Schmidt, ed., What Is Enlightenment? Eighteenth-Century Answers and Twentieth-Century Questions, Berkeley, Calif., 1996, p. 248).
4. On 11 Nov. Prince Anton Radziwill’s private papers were seized and his apartments were sealed at the behest of Frederick William III after the discovery of a letter Radziwill wrote in 1796. The letter, found among the papers of a Polish general and written prior to the confirmation of Poland’s 1797 partitioning, included details about a Prussian prince’s assuming control of Poland. Radziwill was subjected to a three-hour interrogation, but after demonstrating that Frederick William II had been privy to such a plan, he was released without charge and later received an apology from Frederick William III (vol. 10:408; D/JQA/24, 12 Nov. 1798, APM Reel 27; , p. 162–174).
5. Here, ECA underlined “fever” and above it inserted “(Yellow Fever).”
6. Alexander Pope, “The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace,” line 84.