Adams Papers
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To John Adams from James Lovell, 12 April 1789

From James Lovell

Boston April 12th. 1789

Advised and even pressed, by Friends near me and at a Distance, “to go on to New York;—to be in the Way of soliciting, counteracting” and such kind of Measures respecting the Collectorship here, I am sure I need only say to you that my Duty lays in this County; and that the very Circumstance of quitting & neglecting it for the Purposes mentioned would be a very ill Proof of that Degree of Industry & Fidelity in my Branch of Employment which I make one of the surest Grounds of my Expectations from the New Government of being preferred, in any Case.1 But, Sir, I must not, on my own Account, and more, on account of our worthy Friend Lincoln, conceal from you, that I have received a Letter, from a Senator who ought to be and probably is my real Well-wisher, which savours too much of the Jobbing Plotting Cutting & Carving of the Candidates themselves, that there may be an Union-of Force on their Part.— The letter shall speak for itself.—2 It accompanies This—and may be left at Brain-tree. For, I am told Portia is to remain there for a Time.

The Debt alluded to in the letter is paid by Doct: Craigie, it was due from D Parker to me, and from Me to the Continent, because I had advanced the Money irregularly to furnish the Army.3

I had written to Mr. M. warmly in Regard to Lincoln— I have not a Line in answer to that Part, but a Postscript which in Spirit is totally against that as well as against my own Feelings in my own Case.

Since I wrote to Mr. M or conversed with you, Infatuation has continued her Progress so far as to put Lincoln more plainly a Candidate before the Eyes of his Friends at a Distance. I have happily been a Witness to private Sentiments and public Acts of Friendship & Honor between You and Him mutually, while each has, at the Time, not known the others Doings.

But, Sir, neither in his Case or my own do I, with you, expect private Friendship to opperate without full Coincidence of public Utility. It is this Sentiment which has made me write, with Confidence, to the President to our two Senators, and to some others, By those 3 Letters particularly I hope to be made known to the Gentlemen of the Senate who are Strangers to me.4

But, Sir, in Regard to Genl Lincoln, there is one Point of higher Importance than all others, which is that the President should not so far lessen his own Power in Nominations to Office, as to propose to the Senators a Cull of Numbers. He should nominate and they disapprove upon the Strength of their official Reputation.

I could not, when writing upon my own Case, suggest this Idea to the President himself; but it is very important to Him, because it is very important to the Executive Supreme of our Constitution; and he should be very cautious how he lets his personal Modesty & Moderation impair that Fort: It is far from being too strong in its first Rearing.

My Levities Gravities Ambiguities5 or whatever Else they may be termed are all under your Controul. You can forbid me to trouble you any more with them, in your exalted Station, and leave me humbly to esteem you in Silence as your devoted Friend.

James Lovell

Copy P.S. of Mr. Morris’s Letter

“I think you and Mr. Gorham might, by conversing together, fix Mattars so as to draw together instead of being opposed to each other.”6

RC (Adams Papers).

1Lovell, a former Boston schoolmaster who served as naval officer for the port of Boston from 1784 to 1787, carried on a long correspondence with the Adamses, and he last wrote to JA on 18 June 1788 (Adams Papers) to welcome him back to Massachusetts. On 12 April 1789 Lovell also wrote to AA in hopes of earning JA’s patronage, seeking reinstatement to that post after he was replaced by Nathaniel Barber. AA supported Lovell’s quest for a public appointment, writing to JA on 22 April: “I was sure you would interest yourself for his continuance in office whatever the System might be.” Lovell regained the post, by the state’s appointment, in August (AFC description begins Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, Sara Martin, and others, Cambridge, 1963– . description ends , 3:xxxiv; 8:332, 334; Morris, Papers description begins The Papers of Robert Morris, 17811784, ed. E. James Ferguson, John Catanzariti, Elizabeth M. Nuxoll, Mary A. Gallagher, and others, Pittsburgh, 1973–1999; 9 vols. description ends , 9:611).

2The enclosed letter from Pennsylvania senator Robert Morris, regarding Gen. Benjamin Lincoln’s political future, has not been found.

3Lovell, acting as Massachusetts revenue collector during the Revolutionary War, entrusted to Daniel Parker, a Continental Army contractor, $4,000, half of which was drawn from public funds. Parker, who fled to Europe to escape creditors and designated Dr. Andrew Craigie to handle his American affairs, eventually repaid half the sum (vol. 3:349; AFC description begins Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, Sara Martin, and others, Cambridge, 1963– . description ends , 7:221; Robert A. East, Business Enterprise in the American Revolutionary Era, Gloucester, Mass., 1964, p. 122; Morris, Papers description begins The Papers of Robert Morris, 17811784, ed. E. James Ferguson, John Catanzariti, Elizabeth M. Nuxoll, Mary A. Gallagher, and others, Pittsburgh, 1973–1999; 9 vols. description ends , 9:610–611).

4Lovell also wrote to George Washington in pursuit of the post of collector of customs for the port of Boston and Charlestown. On 3 Aug. Washington nominated Lovell’s rival, Lincoln, who was confirmed by the Senate on the same day (Washington, Papers, Presidential Series description begins The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Jack D. Warren, Mark A. Mastromarino, Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, John C. Pinheiro, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987– . description ends , 3:94–98; U.S. Senate, Exec. Jour. description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America, Washington, D.C., 1789– . description ends , 1st Cong., 1st sess., p. 9, 13).

5At this point, Lovell wrote the remainder of the letter vertically in the margins.

6Charlestown, Mass., merchant Nathaniel Gorham (1738–1796), president of the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1787, had supported Lincoln’s appointment for the collectorship (Biog. Dir. Cong. description begins Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 17742005, Washington, D.C., 2005; rev. edn., bioguide.congress.gov. description ends ; Washington, Papers, Presidential Series description begins The Papers of George Washington: Presidential Series, ed. W. W. Abbot, Dorothy Twohig, Jack D. Warren, Mark A. Mastromarino, Robert F. Haggard, Christine S. Patrick, John C. Pinheiro, David R. Hoth, and others, Charlottesville, Va., 1987– . description ends , 3:95–96).

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