No letter from you, since that of 10. September, which I received, this day week—The next Post-day was Saturday, when there came one from Mr Harris of 14 September; but none from you. I have some apprehension, that on receiving mine of 19. August, and the newspaper accounts from England which must have reached you about the same time, you ceased writing to me, on the persuasion that I should...
22From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 7 April 1813 (Adams Papers)
I know not whether it was generosity, or any other virtue, or merely a disposition to receive the postage, that induced the transmission of your favour of 30. December to Mr: Williams at London; for by him it was kindly forwarded to me, and on the first day of this Month, to my inexpressible joy came to hand—It was but so short a time before that I had received your letter of 29. July!—and...
23From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 19 March 1815 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday Morning I received the first information of the ratification, by the Government of the United States of the Treaty of Peace concluded at Ghent on the 24th: of last December—The Ratification was received at London last Monday Evening the 13th: instant, and the Communication of the Event by Lord Castlereagh to the Lord Mayor was made about eleven O’Clock that Night—It was brought by...
24To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 29 May 1816 (Adams Papers)
It was only three days since, that Mr Prescott called out here, and left your kind favour, of 2. and 11. September last, enclosing one, from Mr Richard Sears of Chatham, concerning the subject of the fisheries—I happened at the time when Mr Prescott came, to be in London, and have not yet had the pleasure of seeing him. The question relating to the fisheries has been largely discussed between...
25From 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...
26From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 6 June 1816 (Adams Papers)
Yesterday I went to London, to the anniversary dinner of the Society of Friends of foreigners in distress; of which Society our old friend Mr William Vaughan is Treasurer; and being in Town, I found at my Office, in Craven Street, three Letters Post-marked “Liverpool ship-Letter,” and superscribed to me, in one of the Quincy hand-writings; but on opening them I found myself accosted first as...
27From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 14 October 1810 (Adams Papers)
Captain Smith, who was the bearer of your kind letter of 7. May, has met with the same misfortune which has befallen so many others of our Countrymen—On his passage to Gottenburg he was taken by a Danish Privateer and carried into Norway—From Christiansand he enclosed his letters for me to our Consul at Copenhagen, and he forwarded them to me by Captain Bainbridge, who came with a furlough in...
After informing you by my last Letter of my arrival in this City, and of the Hotel where I had taken up my abode, I have suspended my Communications to you, under the expectation and the hope that you will have left St: Petersburg, before any further Letters from me could reach you there by the Post—Even that Letter may have to travel back after you as far as Riga, if you take your departure...
29To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 13 July 1812 (Adams Papers)
I was closing up a letter, which I wrote yesterday to my dear Mother when I received, from Archangel, your favour of 7. April—hers of 12. of the same Month, and that of my brother of 18. March—A former letter from him, had already excited our anxiety for his infant Child—A subsequent paragraph in a Boston Newspaper, had apprized me of its decease—My Heart bleeds again with his, at this Event;...
30From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 20 June 1814 (Adams Papers)
I received your second Letter, dated 23. May, just as I was coming on board the ship at Gothenburg, so that I had not then time to answer it.— The ship was called the John Adams, and I came in her from Gothenburg to this Country— I have written to your Mama, a particular account of the Voyage, and I dare say she will permit you to read it. I was very sorry for Mrs Severin that her house in the...
31From John Quincy Adams to Charles Francis Adams, 16 December 1814 (Adams Papers)
The last Letter that I wrote you was on the 6th: of this Month, by Mr Shaw—And on Tuesday last I received your Letter of 18 November, but it is not numbered—I have marked it number 8 as it should be; but if you keep copies of all the Letters that you write, I wonder how it comes to pass that you forget to number them. I was quite rejoiced to see this last Letter of your’s so much better...
32From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 23 July 1812 (Adams Papers)
I received a very few days ago, your kind favour of 1. March last, which gave me great pleasure as a token of your remembrance, and by assurance of your restoration to health.—It contains like almost every letter from America, that I have received the last eighteen Months, tidings of affliction; but we had before been informed our brother’s misfortune in the loss of his youngest child. Your...
33From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 16 December 1815 (Adams Papers)
Your Mama, and I, consent that you shall ask Doctor Nicholes’s permission to come home for the Holidays, on Tuesday; upon Condition that you will return to School after the Holidays, as cheerfully, as you now come from it. Your affectionate Father. MHi : Adams Papers.
34From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 7 May 1814 (Adams Papers)
On Thursday Morning Mr Rodda arrived here from St: Petersburg, which he had left on Monday Evening. He brought me a very kind letter from Mr Krehmer, enclosing two letters of Introduction, for Stockholm and Gothenburg, for which I am much obliged to him—I answer his letter by this Post, and beg you when you see him or Mrs Krehmer, to assure them how much I feel myself indebted to him for his...
Mr. William Willink (the father) of Amsterdam, with his Lady arrived here from England, the Evening before last—They have been upon a visit to one of their sons, who is settled at Liverpool, and after spending the Summer there, are now upon their return home—They dined with us yesterday, with Mr: and Mrs: Smith, and Mr: and Mrs: Meulemeester, and are to proceed this morning upon their journey....
36From John Quincy Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 9 May 1814 (Adams Papers)
Mr Rodde informs me that before he left St: Petersburg the twenty-five English Mails had arrived, from which I conclude that the Gulph of Bothnia has already been for some time passable—I now regret very much that I did not go by the way of Abo; for I should in all probability have been at this time in Stockholm; and here am I wind-bound, and ice-bound; and for ought I see likely to be so a...
Since you recommended writing to me, you have dropp’d the thread of the numbers of your Letters—That of 23. October, which I received as I was closing mine of last Tuesday, I have numbered 37. having left one number for that which I suppose to be waiting for me at the Post-Office of Dresden. It is the eighth day since we sent our last Note to the British Plenipotentiaries—Their reply to our...
38From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 28 July 1814 (Adams Papers)
I had the good fortune of sending a single letter from this place to England, in time to go by the Saratoga, a Cartel which sailed about the middle of this Month for New–York, and that letter was my last go to you. I hope it will reach you safely for it is the only opportunity by which I can expect that you will have heard from me, almost since the beginning of this Year—For the letters which...
Your two Letters of 15 and 16. December were delivered to me yesterday Morning, and are numbers 51. and 52—The day before, I had received two from Mr Harris of December 14 and 21.—Harris always forwards his Letters by the way of Amsterdam; by which means they sometimes come quicker, though on the other hand they are sometimes delayed longer than yours which are forwarded directly, and which...
I received yesterday Morning your’s of 27. December number 54—and readily excuse the omission of a Letter on the Birth-day in the satisfaction of reflecting that you were at that time partaking in the celebration of a day memorable in the annals of Russia, as it will henceforth be memorable in those of our Country, and particularly memorable in the days of my life—It is yet for my Country to...
41From 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...
42From 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...
We have at length got through the argument on the Cause for which I came here. It was finished yesterday after having taken up nearly four days—The opinion of the Court will probably be given in the course of the week, and my intention is to leave this place, to-morrow week, which will be the 13th:—I depend therefore upon the pleasure of seeing you again at latest in three weeks from this day....
First for the news from America. I had not closed my last Friday’s Letter to you, when the Times , of the 10th. and 11th. were brought to me. They had been sent to us by the British Plenipotentiaries, who receive the Newspapers by their special messengers, twice a week, sooner than they can come by the Post, and who very obligingly communicate them to us. The papers of which I now speak were...
45From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 2 February 1811 (Adams Papers)
By turning to my files I perceive, that the last Letter I have received from you, is dated the 7th: of May last, and that it was answered by me, on the 27th: October—I have since then written several times to my mother, and should have written as frequently to you, had the opportunities of writing occurred, or had a different subject for writing presented itself by the same opportunities.—But...
46To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 19 April 1813 (Adams Papers)
I intended in my last Letter to have mentioned to you the Circumstances which procured me somewhat unexpectedly the pleasure of an acquaintance with Sir Francis d’Ivernois, when the more singular incident which introduced me to that of Madame de Stael crossed my purpose, and engrossed the latter to itself—I now return to Sir Francis. Lord Cathcart, on his arrival here, sent me the usual Card...
47To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 12 October 1816 (Adams Papers)
I am still not only to answer, but to acknowledge the receipt of your kind Letters of 3. 10. 18. 24. and 26. July; and 4. August—all of which I had the pleasure of receiving at once by Messrs Thacher and Bigelow, who came fellow Passengers in the same vessel Mr Bigelow has been out here and dined with us—His father, the Speaker, was one year before me, at the University, where I had a...
48To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 5 November 1812 (Adams Papers)
Having not received directly from you, or from any of my friends at Quincy, a line later than the 10th: of April, it was with no small pleasure, that a few days since, I met in an English Newspaper, an extract of a letter from you to Mr E. Watson, dated the 6th: of July—It relates to the War, and expenses your opinion that this was both just and necessary—Although I am unable to maintain by...
49From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 23 October 1810 (Adams Papers)
It was a fortunate circumstance for us, that Mr. Jones had so prosperous and so expeditious a voyage and Journey—In sixty days after he went out to Quincy, to take my Mothers and your wifes letters for us, he delivered them into our hands—As they brought us the gratifying intelligence that all our friends were then well, it gave us not only the pleasure which such tidings must always bring...
50From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 27 October 1810 (Adams Papers)
On the principle of returning a separate answer or reply to every letter that I receive from you, I remain yet one in arrears to you, since in my last I acknowledged the receipt of two—dated 27. March and 7. May. With the last dated but first received of these came the number of the Anthology containing the most learned Critique upon my Lectures—It reminded me of a famous Speech of which I...