Aug. 11th. Monday.

This morning Mr. Hartley1 the British Minister for making Peace, came to pay a visit to my Father, but as he was out he desired to see me. I had some Conversation with him. He says he hopes the Peace will be soon signed. In the afternoon I went with my Father to Passy, and saw there Dr. Franklin and Mr. and Mrs. Jay. I also renewed my acquaintance with young Mr. Bache.

We went at the same time to see the Abbés Chalut and Arnauld2 two gentlemen of letters, with whom my Father has been familiarly acquainted ever since his first arrival in Europe. We found with them the Abbé de Mably,3 famous for being the author of a work entitled Le Droit public de l’Europe; and of another entitled principes des Negociations, and the Abbé le Monnier4who has given to the world an elegant French Translation of Terence’s Comedies. As the general Turn of the Conversation was upon Politicks; there was nothing in it, necessary to be transcribed here.

1. David Hartley the younger (1732–1813), M.P. for Hull and opponent of the war with America, had been serving the Fox-North coalition since April as plenipotentiary to negotiate and sign the Definitive Treaty (DNB description begins Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885-1900; 63 vols, plus supplements. description ends ; JA, Diary and Autobiography description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 2:303; 3:112–113).

2. The Abbés Chalut and Arnoux taught JA French and advised him on book purchases (JA, Diary and Autobiography description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 2:317; 4:60).

3. Gabriel Bonnot, Abbé de Mably, French publicist, historian, and philosopher, with the Abbés Chalut and Arnoux, was a regular visitor to the Adamses. The two works to which JQA refers, Des principes des négociations, pour servir d’introduction au droit public de l’Europe, fondé sur les traités, The Hague, 1767, and Le droit public de l’Europe, fondé sur les traités conclus jusqu’en l’année 1740 . . ., Amsterdam, 1748, are among JA’s books (Catalogue of JA’s Library description begins Catalogue of the John Adams Library in the Public Library of the City of Boston, Boston, 1917. description ends ). For the significance of the JA-Mably friendship, see JA, Diary and Autobiography description begins Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. description ends , 2:315; 3:102, and the source cited there.

4. Guillaume Antoine Lemonnier’s three-volume Comédies de Térence was published in Paris in 1770.

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: Aug. 11th. Monday.
Author: Adams, John Quincy
Date: 11 August 1783

Reference

Cite as: “Aug. 11th. Monday.,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/03-01-02-0005-0009-0006. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary of John Quincy Adams, vol. 1, November 1779 – March 1786, ed. Robert J. Taylor and Marc Friedlaender. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981, p. 182.]