James Madison Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/04-04-02-0698

To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 29 February 1828

From John Quincy Adams

Washington 29 February 1828.

Dear Sir

The enclosed small packet, addressed to your lady, has just been received from Mr Hughes, our Charge d’Affaires to the Netherlands.1 To account for its present appearance, I have to remark that it was by Mr Hughes transmitted to me open, with permission, of which I have availed myself to peruse its contents. To this indulgence of Mr Hughes I am indebted not only for the knowledge of the interesting incident related by him,2 but for the opportunity which it affords me of requesting you to make acceptable to Mrs. Madison, the assurance of my highest respect, as well as of renewing to yourself that of my constant and grateful attachment.

Letterbook copy (MHi: Adams Papers).

1Christopher Hughes to Dolley Madison, 8 Nov. 1827 (DLC). Hughes (1786–1849) had been secretary to the American delegation at the treaty negotiations at Ghent, where he became friends with John Payne Todd. Hughes carried home one of the copies of the treaty. He later served as secretary to the American legation and charge d’affaires in Sweden, 1816–25 and 1830–42, and charge d’affaires in the Netherlands, 1826–30 and 1842–45 (Cathal J. Nolan, ed., Notable U.S. Ambassadors since 1775: A Biographical Dictionary [Westport, Conn., 1997], 176–82).

2Hughes’s letter is incomplete; the “interesting incident” is not evident in the surviving portion.

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