Abigail Adams to William Smith, 19 November 1799
Abigail Adams to William Smith
Philadelphia Novbr 19th 1799
Dear Sir
I have been from Quincy more than five weeks, and have received only one Letter from any Friend Since I left them; I find however that you have not been unmindfull of us. the fish arrived safe and we regaled ourself with it, Mr & Mrs otis joining in the commemoration of the good things of New England—
Poultry we have here, both cheeper and in better order than our markets produce it, but tho President does not long for the onions and garlic of New England, he does for the cider and potatoes, and much regreets that he had not orderd some here. if a vessel should sail soon for this port, and you could procure half a Dozen Barrels of cider, and 20 Bushels of the white potato, we should esteem it a kindness if you would Ship them for us—
I had a very pleasent journey. Roads very good, provisions plentifull, and what enhanced the pleasure of both, was, that I found my Health better by the journey. we have had, a mild Nov’br the city I think as smoaky as the city of London at this Season. this day we have a clear sky and a fine Air—
the political sky of pensilvana is however more dark and gloomy than the natural Horizen. they will have to weep their unbounded reception of foreigners in tears of Blood if this state, does not give the Government much trouble. I Shall rejoice in being a false prophetise. the Jacobins having carried so triumphantly as they say, their Election, consider it as an auspicious omen of their future successes— and Americans have at this period to contend against English democratic Madness, and monarchial hatred of Republicanism as well as French anarchy and disorganization; American Ambition, delusion and frenzy— If New England does not keep their its sober senses, the ship will founder upon the Rock
I inclose to you a paper which contains a very candid report of Dupont former consul at Charlestown SC; I know not, whether you have seen it. your vessel capt Brooks is mentiond in it, as being one of those cases in which the papers were all clear, and in order—1 You will preserve the paper—we have not an other. I also inclose You an Aurora of this morning in which you will see how little our Country is like to be benifitted by becomeing an assylum for the turbulent and discontented spirits of other nations. Cooper has here come forth with all his mad Democracy and Impudence—2 Jonathan Robbins about whom the Jacobins make such a Noise calling him a Native American by the testimony of the select men of Danvers which You have no doubt seen; it appears that no such person was a Native there; so that his oath Must have been false, and from sir Hyde Parkers Letter, at his Excecution Robbins declared himself an Irishman— yet after all this, with the utmost daring impudence he is call’d an American.3
I will thank you to give the paper to mr Gardner after you have read it—
My best Love to mrs smith and family, to cousin Betsy also—
I am Dear sir / affectionatly / Yours
A A
RC (MHi:Smith-Townsend Family Papers); endorsed: “Philaa. 19. Novr 99— / Mrs. Adams—” and “answd 3 Decr”; notation: “Cooper / Robbins.”
1. AA likely enclosed the Philadelphia American Daily Advertiser, 15 Oct., which printed a translation of a 9 Jan. (An. VII, 20 nivôse) letter from Victor Marie Dupont to Comte André Joseph Abrial, a high-ranking judicial officer in the French Court of Cassation. Dupont determined to “throw some light upon the papers of American vessels” that he legalized as French consul at Charleston, S.C., and noted that Smith’s vessel, the American Eagle, Capt. Samuel Brooks, had been aquitted on two occasions and was awaiting “another tribunal” (). For the 1798 capture of the American Eagle, see vol. 13:138.
2. The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 19 Nov. 1799, extracted an article from the Reading Weekly Advertiser, 26 Oct., which responded to attacks on JA by Dr. Thomas Cooper, for which see vol. 13:550. Cooper’s attacks were labeled “the offspring of disappointment and revenge” and alleged to have stemmed from JA’s failure to respond to an 11 Aug. 1797 letter from Joseph Priestley (Adams Papers) seeking a patronage appointment for Cooper. Cooper answered the Reading Weekly Advertiser piece with an essay in the Sunbury and Northumberland Gazette, 2 Nov. 1799, admitting that Priestley sought an appointment on his behalf but also castigating JA as a pro-British president who sought to involve the United States in an unnecessary war with France. The essay led to Cooper’s trial and conviction for sedition, for which see AA to JQA, 27 April 1800, and note 4, below (Philadelphia Universal Gazette, 28 Nov. 1799; Wil Verhoeven, Americomania and the French Revolution Debate in Britain, 1789–1802, N.Y., 2013, p. 300–302).
3. Jonathan Robbins (b. 1772), also known as Thomas Nash, was an Irish sailor who was arrested in Charleston, S.C., in Feb. 1799 at the behest of British consul Benjamin Moodie. Robbins was identified by Moodie as a participant in the 22 Sept. 1797 mutiny on the frigate Hermione, Capt. Hugh Pigot, which was under the command of Vice Adm. Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807). The British requested Robbins’ extradition under Art. 27 of the Jay Treaty, to which JA consented on 21 May 1799. Robbins challenged the order, claiming he was a U.S. citizen from Danbury, Conn., who was impressed into service on the Hermione. He was nevertheless extradited to Jamaica and after a short trial executed there on 19 August. On 16 Sept., the Danbury selectmen denied Robbins’ claim in a statement that was reprinted in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 15 November. The same issue of the newspaper extracted a letter from Parker in which he claimed that Robbins acknowledged himself to be an Irishman just before his execution (Ruth Wedgwood, “The Revolutionary Martyrdom of Jonathan Robbins,” Yale Law Journal, 100:235–237, 304 [Nov. 1990]; A. Roger Ekirch, American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution, N.Y., 2017, p. 92, 93; ). For the subsequent attempt to censure JA for his actions, see AA to Smith, 3 March 1800, and note 5, below.