301From 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...
302From 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...
303From 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...
304From 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...
305To 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...
306From 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,...
307From 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...
308From 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...
309To 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...
310From 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...
311From 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,...
312To 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...
313To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 17 August 1811 (Madison Papers)
The Event, anticipated in the letters which I had the honour of writing you on the 7. Jany: 8. Feby: and 3d: June, has happened at the time when it was expected. On Monday Evening last the 12th. instt: I had a daughter born, the first example I believe of an American, a native of Russia. As it would have been impossible for me to have accomplished since the Commencement of this year’s...
314From 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...
315From 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...
316From 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...
317From 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...
318From 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....
319To 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...
320From 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...
321From 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...
322To 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...
323From 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...
324To 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:...
325From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 20 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
The letters by Mr. Ewing have arrived—And among them I have to acknowledge the receipt of your numbers 1. 2. and 3. of the new series, dated 20. 22. and 31. Jany. together with your account to the close of last year—I have already acknowledged the receipt of your number 4/13 and I have within a very few days recd: your 5/14 dated 3. March. In one of my late letters I sent you an exact list of...
326From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 15 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
I have received your letter dated the sixth of February last, and was very much delighted to see it so well written; because I know that it was written by yourself.—I have marked it down, number one, and put it upon my file—When your next letter comes, and I hope that will be soon, I shall compare the hand-writing with that of number one, and shall see what progress you make in writing. I...
327From John Quincy Adams to Walter Hellen, 13 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
I received a few days since, your kind letter of 11. January, containing the distressful intelligence of the heavy misfortune which had them just befallen you, in the loss of your nearest and dearest friend. Sympathizing with you sincerely in this severe dispensation of Providence, my concern is much aggravated, by the account you give me of your own state of health, and the anticipations...
328From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 11 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
Your letter of 15. Feby: which was brought by Captain Brown, of the Washington, and which I received on the 23d: of last Month, gave me the first intelligence of those afflicting Events the Death of Mrs: Hellen and Mrs: Norton—I received it early in the morning, and was thereby enabled to communicate it to my wife and her Sister, with as much preparation as the nature of the case would...
329To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 3 June 1811 (Madison Papers)
I received on the 29th: of last Month, together with some other despatches from the Secretary of State, one, enclosing a Commission to me, as an associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; a new letter of leave to His Majesty the Emperor of Russia; a blank Commission for a Secretary of Legation, or Chargé d’Affaires, and an Instruction, in consequence of this new appointment...
330To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 30 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
I had the pleasure of writing you last, on the 9th of November, since which I had not enjoyed that of hearing directly from you, untill this day last week when your two favours of 11 and 14 Feby: came to hand—together with Mr. Quincy’s Louisiana speech—several other letters, and a number of Books and pamphlets, and newspapers, from which almost all my attention has hitherto been diverted, by...
331From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 27 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Washington, Capt. Brown, has at length arrived at cronstadt, and we have received the letters by her, which we had so earnestly expected, and for some time had abandoned the hope of receiving. Among them is your letter of 9. Feby.—numbered 13/4 which if accurate, leaves five still outstanding.—Three sets of my lectures came at the same time, and all in good condition. I have a letter from...
332From John Quincy Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 21 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
I received in September last, your favour of 11. July preceding, which was brought by Mr: Jones, together with the second part of the third Volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy; intended for the Imperial Academy of Sciences in this City; which has been duly presented to that body. Early in the course of the last Winter, I received from their Secretary the Volume last published of...
333From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 18 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
The late french Ambassador at this Court, the Duke de Vicence, has taken leave, and his succesor Count Lauriston has been received—He takes his departure this Evening or to-morrow for Paris, and I avail myself of the opportunity to enclose a line for you, under cover to Mr Russell our Chargé d’Affaires at that place—I have already sent several letters for you and for my brother to him to be...
334From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 13 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Austrian Minister, Count H. Julian, some time since, jokingly asked me if I had received any very late advices of the year before last from home—When I turn to the last letter that I have received from you, and find it dated 7. May 1810. the Count’s wit seems to have lost all its exaggeration. The longer we remain absent from our Country and our friends the more uneasy we feel under the...
335From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 13 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
There was one of the small English Poets, I think it was Dodsley, who on the reformation of the Calendar in England published a Poem upon the Tears of Old May-Day—As this is the only Country of Europe where Old May-Day is yet held in honour, it would not be expected that here too is precisely the spot where she sheds the most tears—If she sheds none upon the present visit which she is making...
336From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 10 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
I received only two or three days ago your letter dated the 24th: of September of the last year; and although it had been written so many months before it came to me, it gave me and your Mama very great pleasure, and I take the first opportunity to write you this in reply to it. I was glad to see that the greatest part of your letter was written with your own hand; and I hope very soon to...
337From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 2 May 1811 (Adams Papers)
The religious ceremony of which in my last Letter I gave you an account, began at Midnight and terminated between three and four in the morning.—It was accompanied by a Salute of 21. Guns fired from the Fortress, two or three times, at particular stages of the performance—This was conformable to the customary practice; which always ushers in Easter day at St: Petersburg with an expence of...
338From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 29 April 1811 (Adams Papers)
I am informed that a vessel belong to Mr: W. R. Gray, called the Washington, which sailed from Boston the 20th. or 28th: of February last has arrived at Baltic-Port, not more than two hundred miles distant from this place, and is expected at Cronstadt as soon as the Navigation of the gulph will be entirely clear—We had heard a week or ten days since the arrival of this vessel at Elseneur, and...
339From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 24 April 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Russian People pass their lives in a continual and alternate succession of feasting and fasting. Every individual whether of high or low degree celebrates two days in every year; one for his birth and the other for his baptism, which is called his name day, and is kept on the day marked in the Calendar, as devoted to the Saint of the same name; for it is a religious principle that every...
340To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 19 April 1811 (Madison Papers)
Since I had the honor of writing you last on the 8th February I have been informed that a commission has been sent to Count Pahlen for a temporary mission to the court of Brazil and that an optional authority is given him to go there immediately if he thinks proper. He is not however recalled from his mission to the United States and during his absence he is to leave Mr. Politico as chargé des...
341From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 10 April 1811 (Adams Papers)
You observe in your letter of 24 September last, that my Son George was losing much of his french conversation idiom, that is, precisely one of the things upon which I had most earnestly set my heart, in his education. Walter Shandy Esqr was of opinion that there was a great, and mysterious virtue in the name given to a child—He intended to call his son Trismegistus, and the name which above...
342From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 29 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
At length after an interval of five months and seven days, since that when your last preceding letter came to hand, I have this morning enjoyed the pleasure of receiving your’s of 24. September—It is more than six months old; but as it is dated two months later than any letter that I had yet received from Quincy, it was as welcome and almost as grateful as if it had come with the speed of a...
343From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 22 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
I dined yesterday at the French Ambassadors, at a diplomatic dinner of about sixty persons in the highest and most formal style.—I give you a description of this entertainment, which may amuse you as a specimen of the usages of the time and place, and give you an idea of what is understood to be the suitable style of entertainment by an Ambassador—The invitation was by printed Card, sent five...
344From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 19 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
In proportion as the time lengthens since the receipt of your last Letter, which is also the last that I have received from any of my friends at Quincy, I find not only my anxiety to hear directly from you increasing with it, but also my desire and determination if possible to relieve you and my other friends with you from a similar anxiety respecting us, which you would feel in the case of so...
345From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 17 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
You will recollect that some time in the year 1799—or 1800, while I was at Berlin, a Mr: Charles Engel sent you a power of Attorney, and a large claim upon a house of Mark and Company, which I believe some time before that, had failed at New-York. Very soon after my arrival here, I received from this Mr. Engel two letters, one of which had been written in January 1809, and sent to America,...
346From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 28 February 1811 (Adams Papers)
We assisted last week, at the public examination of the Institute of the order of St: Catherine, a boarding school, or College for the Education of young Ladies of noble families; under the Patronage of the Empress-Mother The young Ladies are divided into four Classes, and are two years in each class—They enter from six to ten years of age, and when their education is finished, they pass this...
347To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 8 February 1811 (Madison Papers)
I had the honour of writing you, on the 7th: of last Month, immediately after I received a letter from the Secretary of State of 15. October, with the letter of leave to His Majesty the Emperor of Russia; and of informing you that I should not deliver that letter, untill the receipt of further Instructions from you. It was not untill last Evening that I had the pleasure of receiving your very...
348From 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...
349From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 January 1811 (Adams Papers)
I wrote you on the last day of the old year, Old-Style, and sent my letter under cover to Mr: Russell our Chargé des Affairs at Paris—It went by a Courier of the French Ambassador, and I requested Mr: Russell to forward it by the earliest opportunity to America—I shall send the present by a Gentleman who is going to Copenhagen; and shall desire to have it forwarded from that place, or from any...
350From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 12 January 1811 (Adams Papers)
The year eighteen hundred and ten according to Russian reckoning still exists—But as its last hours are upon the wing; and as the New-Year has already made the progress of almost half a month with you, I can no longer delay the opportunity of wishing you, and my dear father, and my George and John, and all the family around you, not the compliments of the Season, but a truly joyful year to be...