61To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 25 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
The fortieth American vessel, which has arrived at Cronstadt, since the opening of this years navigation, was the John Adams, Captain Thomas Downing from Savannah; she arrived last Saturday the 22d: instt:—and the first which sailed for America was the Laurel, Captain Burnham, belonging to Mr: Gray; by whom I sent the letter to you of which the enclosed is a press-copy—She sailed the 10th:...
62From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
I have now to acknowledge the receipt of your number 6. dated 22. February, brought by the Henry Captain Harris; a vessel of which we had heard nearly a Month since, and which has at length arrived after a passage from Boston of 100 days.—The arrivals from America now crowd upon one another in multitudes which I am afraid will prove not very profitable to many of the adventurers.—From Quincy...
63To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 30 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
“The Massachusetts election appears to agitate the Americans in Europe almost exclusively; of all the other Elections going on at the same time in many parts of the Union. I see paragraphs in the Newspapers, but hear not a syllable from any other Quarter—But American Federalists in this City have received letters from their friends in London, and in Gottenburg in high exaltation, announcing...
64From John Quincy Adams to Elbridge Gerry, 30 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
“The Massachusetts election appears to agitate the Americans in Europe almost exclusively; of all the elections going on at the same time in many parts of the union, I see paragraphs in the newspapers, but hear not a syllable from any other quarter. But American federalists in this city, have received letters from their friends in London and in Gothenburg, in high exultation announcing the...
65From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 10 July 1811 (Adams Papers)
We are in the midst of the bustle of a removal—I wrote you some time since that we were in the predicament of having the house in which we live sold over our heads—afterwards I told you, as I was told by my land l ord that the bargain was broken off, and we should remain in the house—About ten days ago my Landlord came and informed me that it was sold, and that if I could go out on the first...
66To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 21 July 1811 (Adams Papers)
American vessels are now pouring upon us in floods—I wrote you less than a month since that there had then arrived at Cronstadt forty since the opening of the year’s Navigation; and already the number exceeds ninety, besides as many more at Archangel and the other Russian Ports—They have already glutted the markets untill they are forced to disgorge; but I hear that they are still coming by...
67From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 29 July 1811 (Adams Papers)
My last letter, of which a press-copy is enclosed, was sent by the Palafox, Captain William Welsh, since which I have received four letters from you, N. 9—dated 8. April—one of 24. April not numbered—one of 15. May, and one of 28 May—both numbered 11.—So that I have now nine of your letters since you began to number them The numbers missing are 3 and 4. between 26 Jany. and 15. Feby. and N. 8....
68From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 31 July 1811 (Adams Papers)
No more scolding about your accounts—No more petty complaints about trifles instead of hearty thanks for the faithful care, and trouble which you have taken in the management of my affairs—The hints about the state of your health, given in your letter of 7. April No 16/6 which I received the 22. of this month, have not only given me the heart-ache in themselves, but have brought me under my...
69From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 12 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
On the 10th: of August 1811. we received your favour of 22. September 1810 to my wife; not quite eleven months after it was written; and the next day we received that of 8 June 1811. which has performed its voyage in a little more than two. Whether the Passage has been short or long the letter always gives pleasure, and always contains some intelligence that is new. You have repeatedly...
70From John Quincy Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 12 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
It is but a few days since I received your favour of 1. March, though I had two months earlier learnt from Mr Hellen the heavy misfortune that had befallen him. I have deferred answering your letter untill this day, with the hope, which is that this moment realized, of announcing to you my Lousia’s deliverance— She has this day at seven in the Evening, after a severe labour of about twelve...
71From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 15 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
Some time since, your Mama and I received two letters from you at once—the first to your Mama was dated 18th. January, and the other to me 5th: February—I was glad to see that you had taken pains to write them as well as you could and that your hand-writing was improved.—I intreat you my Dear Son, to pay constant attention to your hand-writing—It is now more than four years since you first...
72To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 20 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
Part of the enclosed press-copy of my last Letter to you, is so faint, that unless you should have received the original, before it comes to hand, I am afraid you will be obliged to call for the assistance of younger eyes to make it out. Since it was written I have had the pleasure of receiving letters from my brother, and my wife has had one from my mother, but none from you—I remain however...
73From John Quincy Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 24 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
I wrote you the letter of which a copy is enclosed on the very day of my dear wife’s confinement.—I sent it under cover to the Secretary of State, by Mr. Richard Willing who sailed in the Bengal for Philadelphia.—He has been gone only two or three days, so that the copy may perhaps reach you sooner than the original I ought in it to have acknowledged the receipt of your favour of 1. April,...
74From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 27 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
Four days after I closed my last Letter to you, which was sent by the Iris, Captain Woodberry, I received your’s of 2. June, with all the tokens of the Doctor’s stuff upon it—I disliked the looks of this, I dare say as much as you did its taste—But as your letter was evidently written in so much better Spirits than the preceding number, as it assured me that you had recovered your health upon...
75To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 31 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
In a former letter I have thanked you, for the two pamphlet speeches of Mr: Quincy delivered at the last Session of Congress—on the admission of the Orleans Territory as a State into the Union, and on his proposed Amendment to Mr: Maçons proposed Amendment of the Constitution—But I have not yet given you the reflections which occurred to my mind upon the perusal of them. It was my opinion at...
76From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 1 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
In your letter of 18 January to your Mama, you mentioned that you read to your Aunt Cranch a chapter in the Bible, or a Section of Dr. Doddridges annotations every evening, this information gave me great pleasure, for so great is my veneration for the Bible & so strong my belief that when duly read & meditated upon, it is of all the books in the world, that which contributes most to make men...
77From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 8 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
In your letter of 18. January to your Mama, you mentioned that you read to your Aunt Cranch a Chapter in the Bible, or a Section of Dr: Doddridge’s annotations every Evening—This information gave me great pleasure, for so great is my veneration for the Bible, and so strong my belief that when duly read and meditated upon, it is of all the books in the world that which contributes most to make...
78From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
The first page of the enclosed Press-Copy of my last Letter is so faint that unless you should have received the original, before it comes to hand, I know not whether you will be able to read it—The second however is more plain, and contains the material information of the whole; the birth of my daughter—This information has since been repeated in letters to my father and my brother,...
79To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 14 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
Some time in the month of June last there was published in the Boston Patriot, a pretended State-Paper, purporting to be signed by the Duke of Cadore, addressed to His Excellency—as in extreme secrecy, and containing a common-place invective against the British Nation-Constitution, and Royal Family; mixed up with a panegyric upon the Duke of York, and the incendiary Jackson—a curse upon the...
80From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 15 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
The first point of view, in which I have invited you to consider the Bible, is in the light of a Divine Revelation . And what are we to understand by these terms?—I intend as much as possible to avoid the field of controversy, with which I am not well acquainted, and for which I have little respect, and still less inclination—My idea of the Bible as a Divine Revelation , is founded upon its...
81From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 22 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
My last letter contained the substance but not the form of an argument for considering the Bible as a divine Revelation. It explicitly stated the three points of belief which I deemed indispensable to the happiness the virtue and improvement of mankind.—1. The existence of one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe and particularly of mankind—2. The immortality of the Soul—3. A future...
82From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 25 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
The flood of our letters from America, as well as of vessels arriving from the United States has almost entirely subsided. From the last week in May to the first in August we received nearly thirty letters from Quincy, so that I began to think I had entered rather rashly into the engagement, among others of answering separately every individual letter—Nor have I yet since that time completely...
83From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 29 September 1811 (Adams Papers)
The second general point of view, in which I propose to you to consider the Bible, to the great end that it may “thoroughly furnish you unto all good works,” is in its historical character. To a man of liberal education the study of History is not only useful and important, but altogether indispensable; and with regard to the History contained in the Bible, the observation which Cicero makes...
84From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 2 October 1811 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of 21. June, without a number, was forwarded to me from Copenhagen by Mr. Erving, who recovered it from the Radius, which on her passage to this place, was taken by a french privateer, and is still detained in Denmark—Like almost all the letters which we have received this year it brought tidings of sickness and affliction among our friends—In the sorrow which they have so often...
85From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 6 October 1811 (Adams Papers)
We were considering the Bible in its historical character, and as the history of a Family—From the moment when the universal History finishes, that of Abraham begins, and thenceforward it is the history of a family of which Abraham is the first and Jesus Christ the last person. And from the first appearance of Abraham, the whole history appears to have been ordered from age to age expressly to...
86To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 14 October 1811 (Adams Papers)
I have no letter from you of a later date then 28. of April last—which I received nearly three months since—I continue to write you, at least once a month; but the season for Navigation is already closed, and henceforth I shall have only indirect occasions of Conveyance—This letter I expect will go from Gothenburg—The Navigation of the Baltic is indeed so much obstructed, even while the Summer...
87From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 21 October 1811 (Adams Papers)
The original of the enclosed did not go, as I had expected by the Cordelia; for she sailed on the very day that it was written, and before I could send it down to Cronstadt. But it was dispatched by the Hector, Captain Hetherington, which sailed, only three days later, for Providence—All the vessels which had arrived here during the regular season, are now gone—The last, or last but one that...
88From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 24 October 1811 (Adams Papers)
By every vessel that has arrived for several months from America, and which we should have expected to bring letters for us, we receive, instead of letters, apologies for not writing, because we were thought to be on our passage home—You only have foreseen the contingency which has actually happened, that we might be detained over the present Winter, and you only continue to give us some...
89To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 31 October 1811 (Adams Papers)
In the month of June last Myers Fisher junr: of Philadelphia, who is established here as a partner of a Commercial House, called upon me with a Gentleman who had just arrived with a Vessel and Cargo of which he was the owner, and whom he introduced to me by the name of Mr David of Philadelphia—I thought this Gentleman a total stranger to me, and was a little surprized when he said to me, Sir,...
90From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 6 November 1811 (Adams Papers)
Since I wrote you last (which the enclosed will shew you was very lately) though I have not have had the pleasure of hearing from you, I have at least enjoyed that of hearing of you—Mr: Ducoster, brought me a letter of 24. July from my Mother, and Mr Ingraham has brought us verbal information three days later—The thread of life, as somebody says in Shakespear is of a mingled yarn; our...
91From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 November 1811 (Adams Papers)
Although since I last wrote to my brother, on the 6th: instt: we have neither received a line from America, nor had an opportunity of transmitting a letter to any place from which it could be dispatched to you; yet remembering my engagement never to suffer a month to pass without writing at least once to you, and once to him, and perceiving that as it applies to you, I am within one day of a...
92To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 13 December 1811 (Adams Papers)
The extract contained in one of your last Winter’s letters to me from the Astronomics of Manilius, excited my attention to that writer, of whom I had previously known nothing more than the name—I have not been able to purchase it here, but General Pardo da Figueroa the Spanish Minister at this Court, one of the most learned classical scholars in Europe has had the goodness to lend me this...
93From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 22 December 1811 (Adams Papers)
After I had written the letter of which I now enclose a copy, intending to have it ready for Mr: Smith, an opportunity was presented me of sending it by another conveyance—and Mr Smith not being ready to go, I dispatched it; so that as he is now upon his departure I shall send by him two letters instead of one, for you—And as the Winter opportunities are so unfrequent, I write by him also to...
94From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 December 1811 (Adams Papers)
More than four months have again passed away, since I have received a line from you, and nearly seven since the date of your last Letter—I should feel this less severely, if that and your other most recent letters had not left a source of uneasiness upon my mind, which nothing but more agreeable information can remove—Although the communication direct from this Country to the United States was...
95From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 1 January 1812 (Adams Papers)
I will not suffer the first day of this new year to pass over, without renewing to my dear Mother the expression of my fervent prayers to God, that it may be a year of health enjoyment, and every blessing to her and to my father, as well as to my beloved children who are with you, and to all the family around you—And with the hope of auspicating it to us all, I join that of having once more...
96To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 13 January 1812 (Adams Papers)
On the New-Year’s day of our own Style, I wrote to my Mother, to testify my good-wishes and prayers, for the welfare of herself and you, and of all those dearest of my friends with you, and from whom we have been separated by so irksome, and now so long an absence—On the new year of the Russian Style, the same friends recurring, and always with the same tender and anxious affection to my...
97From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 24 January 1812 (Adams Papers)
It is probable that the opportunity by which I now write you, will be the last that I shall have of dispatching letters to America through Sweden before the return of the navigable Season here— It is the seventh occasion of which I have availed myself since the close of the last Season— But the Gentlemen who went from hence in October, November, and even the first part of December, for...
98From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 8 February 1812 (Adams Papers)
A long interval without the receipt of letters from you, I have always found too sure an indication that when they come they would bring sorrows with them—I had been upwards of three months without receiving a line from Quincy when, on the 29th: of last Month I received together with several other letters and dispatches from Washington, but no others from Quincy your afflicting, but most kind...
99From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 4 March 1812 (Adams Papers)
I have not forgotten the engagement which I voluntarily undertook, at the beginning of the last year, not to suffer any month to pass over without writing at least once to you, and once to my Mother, and I am sufficiently sensible that in regard to yourself I have failed in the fulfillment of this promise; inasmuch as my last Letter to you bears date the 25th: of January—the last opportunity...
100From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 March 1812 (Adams Papers)
As the Couriers between Paris and St: Petersburg have not yet ceased to be dispatched, by the arrival of one of them a few days ago, I had the pleasure of receiving your N. 1. of 5. January. which was not only like all your letters a balsam in itself; but was also precious by its contents, announcing your own health, that of my father, and of my children, brother and sister. I have no other...
101From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 28 April 1812 (Adams Papers)
The only notice of existence directly from yourself that I have received since your letter of 2. June 1811. is by a scrap of half a dozen lines dated 5. January last which I received together with a letter of the same date from my Mother, by the way of Paris— This scrap was also enclosed with three or four newspapers, and short as it was gave me great pleasure— The letter which it mentions as...
102From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 April 1812 (Adams Papers)
The enclosed is a copy of a letter, which was written near a Month, before an opportunity occurred of sending it, on its way to you—I am afraid that the delay will entirely defeat its object, and that it will be found impracticable to send out my two Sons to me the next Summer.—The river Neva is now again open, and I trust that in about six weeks or two Months opportunities for writing to you...
103From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 22 May 1812 (Adams Papers)
Your N 19/10 dated 10 Septr: 7. Decr: 1811. and 3. Jany: 1812 was forwarded to me from Gothenburg, and received by me the 8th: of this present Month—And this day I received from Captain Henry, a letter dated Paris 12. April, enclosing yours N. 22/13 of 29. Feby—Your N 20/11 it seems had fallen into the hands of the Halifax Admiralty-Court, and is not to be expected—18/9 and 21/12 are therefore...
104From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 28 May 1812 (Adams Papers)
I find in your letter of 5. Jany: last that you make mention of others which you had written in Septr: Octr: and Novr: preceding—Of those, when the original of the enclosed was written, I had received only the last—that of 17 Novr:—But on the twelfth of this Month I received your’s of September 24. 1811—and last Monday that of 17. Feby: 1812—N:2. Your letter of October is yet to come; unless...
105To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 12 June 1812 (Adams Papers)
Within a few days I have received your kind favours of 19. Feby: and 10. Decr: last; the first of which was forwarded to me by Mr Hall, from Gothenburg, and the last by Mr Russell from London—Mr Hall came from Boston to Gothenburg, and has since arrived here in the Minerva, a vessel belonging to Mr W. R. Gray—he brought your letter of 19 Feby. and although from thence he transmitted it by the...
106From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 14 June 1812 (Adams Papers)
I have not received from you any letter of later date than that of 29. Feby. but I learn from a Boston Newspaper of 12. March that your fears for you youngest child were unhappily too well founded—Most sincerely and deeply do I sympathize with you upon this afflicting bereavement; and I pray that it may be made instrumental to you, and to your partner, and to us all in the only way by which...
107From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 18 June 1812 (Adams Papers)
In the course of the last Autumn and Winter, I wrote you five Letters on a particular, but most interesting subject; one of which I perceive by yours of 18. December you had then received—Soon after writing the last of them I became engaged in occupations which stopp’d me in the progress of my plan to continue that Series of Letters, and afterwards during the remainder of the Winter, my own...
108From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 23 June 1812 (Adams Papers)
It is several months since your Mama and I have received a letter from you, or since I wrote one to you, but the last that we did receive was so handsomely written that we were much pleased to observe your progress in that part of your studies. We hope that you have been and will be not less attentive to all the others. I suppose that before this time you have begun to learn Latin and...
109From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 27 June 1812 (Adams Papers)
Mr Ingraham of Boston left this place a few days since, and I gave him a packet for Quincy, containing letters from me to my father and my brother, and to you from my wife and from Catherine— I had shortly before enclosed a letter for you, to a friend in London, to be forwarded, and I shall dispatch the present probably by the way of Archangel— Notwithstanding the numerous accidents which have...
110To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 29 June 1812 (Adams Papers)
I enclose you a press-copy of my last Letter, thought it is more than ever uncertain whether either the original or the Copy will be suffered to reach you—We have lived in eventful times, but in the course of my life I have no recollection of a moment so full of portent as the present.—We have accounts here from the United States to 9. May, by the way of England—They are more immediately...