John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 30 October 1798
John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams
Berlin 30. October 1798.
My dear Brother.
I have received your’s of the 26th: enclosing one for Mr: Welsh—1 I now forward those Letters for America, with which I threatened you in my last.—2 Of all the news which you believed or expected to believe, the only parts likely to be confirmed, are the capture of the Leander, with Captain Berry, on board, and of the two french frigates by the Colossus.—3 The burning of the transports in the Nile, has no further voucher, and is not even mentioned in Letters from the English Minister at Constantinople of 25. September.—4 If the other account, from the Irish Coast were true, it would be one more very capital stroke; but it surpasses even the faith of a Jew, to believe it.
À propos, speaking of Jews, your lottery ticket still remains in the bosom of the wheel, and shall be renewed in due time, for the last and decisive class.5 Your horse is yet unsold, and affords pleasant relaxation to Mr: Whitcomb, from his toils— Mr: Cornet Brown, (who returned yesterday, with his father, and who regrets very much not having seen you at Hamburg) has him this day upon trial, and if he does not take him, it is not improbable, that I may keep him for my own use6
The English Prince Augustus is here; but much out of health, with the Asthma.— I have not seen him— He has two very agreeable & clever gentlemen with him—Mr: Livingston & Mr: Arbuthnot—the latter is much like Pitcairn.7
The Turkish Ambassador died yesterday.— He has passed his time here in writing a romance, which he was just about to publish.8
Adieu9
RC (private owner, 2007); internal address: “Mr T. B. Adams.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 133.
1. Not found.
2. On 3 Oct. JQA recorded in his Diary that he was “busy in writing to send by my brother” (D/JQA/24, APM Reel 27), and in a letter to TBA of 22 Oct. he wrote, “I shall send you some more letters before you go; at present I have none prepared” (LbC, APM Reel 133).
3. The London Times, 19 Oct., carried a report that the British ship Colossus had captured the French frigates Diane and Justice, a report that would be reprinted in the Salem Gazette, 29 December. For the taking of the Diane and Justice in 1800 and 1801, see TBA to JA, 27 Oct. 1798, and note 2, above.
4. John Spencer Smith (1769–1845) had served as Great Britain’s chargé d’affaires in Constantinople since 1795 (R. G. Thorne, ed., The House of Commons, 1790–1820, 5 vols., London, 1986).
5. Lotteries based on the Genoa lotto system were instituted in many European nations in the eighteenth century. Prussia ran a lottery in Berlin from 1763 to 1810. Ticket buyers chose five numbers and were awarded prizes for matching one or more numbers drawn. A feature of the lottery was consolation prizes given to participants who did not win after five draws (D. R. Bellhouse, “Euler and Lotteries,” in Robert E. Bradley and C. Edward Sandifer, eds., Leonhard Euler: Life, Work and Legacy [Studies in the History and Philosophy of Mathematics, vol. 5], Boston, 2007, p. 385–393).
6. JQA reported to TBA on 9 July 1799 that he had sold his horse for the equivalent of $85. Food and care had cost $94, he said, but leasing the horse had brought in $62, leaving TBA with a credit of $53 (Adams Papers).
7. For Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, and Robert Arbuthnot, see , 1:93–94, 135. Edward Livingston was a Scot who specialized in escorting young British aristocrats on grand tours of the Continent. King George III appointed Livingston to accompany the prince and monitor his activities and finances. He was described by LCA as “a fine old Gentleman, a bonnie Scot, attached to the suite of the Prince” (same, 1:93; Mollie Gillen, Royal Duke: Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773–1843), London, 1976, p. 97–98).
8. Ali Aziz Efendi (ca. 1749–1798) was a tax official and public property manager who served as the Ottoman ambassador to Prussia from June 1797 until his death on 29 Oct. 1798. Efendi’s story collection Muhayyelat-i ledun-i ilahi (Fantasies of divine consciousness) was published in Turkish in 1852. A portion of the work first appeared in English as Ali Aziz Efendi, The Story of Jewād: A Romance, transl. E. J. W. Gibb, Glasgow, 1884 (, 3:459; Marc Gaborieau and others, eds., Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3d edn., Boston, 2007– , www.brillonline.com).
9. JQA wrote again to TBA on 5 Nov. 1798 discussing the state of the French Navy following recent defeats in Egypt and in the Battle of Donegal, believing, “Ireland may be now considered as out of danger.— Whether the conquest of Egypt will indemnify France for all this, Time must discover” (private owner, 2007).