Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 21 December 1800
Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw
Philadelphia 21st: Decr: 1800
Dear William
I have given an introductory letter for yourself and one for my father, to a young man by the name of Charles D Coxe; he will probably be at the federal City towards the last of this week. From himself I understand he intends making application for the Consulship at the Isle of France, and his reason for applying during the present administration he avers to be, because he is a federalist & a friend to the government as hitherto administered. I know nothing to the contrary of this profession, but I have given him my opinion that the appointment he wants will not be immediately made, and farther that I believed there were competitors for the office already— This gentleman is a brother of Tench Coxe’s wife, but he is anxious to have it known that he thoroughly despises the political character of his brother in law, and wishes not to be involved in the disgrace which that fellows conduct has brought upon the name.1 I do not undertake to recommend him for the place he is about to seek, for I am too little acquainted with his character or qualifications to do it, and I have only given him letters of civility which he is not unworthy of receiving.
I thank you for the papers you sent me, containing the frivolous debates about the shorthand-writers— I had already seen their contents in our papers—2
The other debate respecting the Mausoleum excited some indignant reflections in my bosom. I am angry that the legislature of the Union should spend days & weeks in debating on a subject of that nature, which cannot but revive painful thoughts in the mind of the surviving friends & relatives of Washington, and reflect neither honor or credit on themselves— I am in principle opposed to any thing like a monument & or Mausoleum, or Statue, commemorative of the life & services of that good man; not from any wish to detract from the merit of them, but because I think every device I have ever seen falls short of such a design— Moreover I think, enough has already been done to perpetuate the name, by calling the City which is to be the permanent seat of government, after him. This was no trifling tribute, and if you measure respect by the money it may cost, as some members of Congress seem to do, it will be found, that few monuments of that kind, ever cost so much. I did not like the motive which actuated Mr: Macon of N Carolina, in the speech he made on this occasion, but I was amused with it more than by anything uttered on the subject. Genl: Lee, instead of his recollection of Statues erected by European noblemen to the memory of their Mistresses, as a classic Scholar would have done more credit to himself & more dignified his Subject, had he remembered the remarkable instance of Demetrius Phalerous, who is said by his eloquence & the purity of his manners to have gained such an influence over the Athenians; that during the period in which he exercised the
office of decennial Archon, 360 brazen Statues were erected to his honor. This would have been an instance not unworthy to be cited, but for the other, I blushed at the sight of it.3
Can you tell what plan our wise legislators are going to pursue hereafter to keep the drooping head of federalism from total depression. To whom can we look for a clue to our conduct, unless to them? I expect little concert hereafter in our national concerns, but I feel as if I had less inter[est in] the reputation of our Country than heretofore—
We are threatened here with rejoycing & exultation upon the 4th: of March. There is even a talk of illuminating the City. but I doubt whether any thing so rash will be attempted—4 Riot & bloodshed would be the inevitable result of such a measure—
I take the liberty to enclose you a paragraph which I cut out of the Aurora a few days ago, expressly for your perusal— By it you will see the great power & consideration of your Asiatic namesake5
Adieu / Your’s
T B Adams.
By Mr: Mason I sent you some books which Dickens says you spoke for—6
RC (MWA:Adams Family Letters); addressed: “W S Shaw / Washington”; internal address: “W S Shaw”; endorsed: “Phila Dec 21st / T. B Adams Esq / rec 24 / Ans 8 Jan”; docketed: “1800 / Decr.” Some loss of text where the seal was removed.
1. TBA’s letter to JA has not been found. His letter to Shaw of 18 Dec. (MHi:Misc. Bound Coll.) introduced Charles Davenport Coxe (d. ca. 1831) of Sidney, N.J. Coxe’s sister Rebecca Coxe (d. 1806) was Tench Coxe’s second wife, the couple having married in 1782. Charles Coxe was not successful in securing a nomination by JA; however, Thomas Jefferson appointed him U.S. commercial agent at Dunkerque on 16 Oct. 1801, a temporary commission that was reissued on 26 Jan. 1802 after Senate confirmation (, 35:65–66; Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 14 Feb. 1806; , entry on Tench Coxe).
2. On 4 Dec. 1800, Samuel Harrison Smith of the Washington, D.C., National Intelligencer submitted a memorial to the House of Representatives requesting the use of a desk on the floor during debates in order to compile more accurate notes for reporting on House business. During lengthy debate Speaker Theodore Sedgwick argued that reporters would inconvenience House members, and he ultimately cast a tie-breaking vote to reject the request. The National Intelligencer, 5, 10, 12 Dec., and the Philadelphia Gazette, 9, 15, 16 Dec., reported on the debates. Smith made a similar request to the Senate in 1802 that was granted (; , 6th Cong., 2d sess., p. 797–799, 806–817; , 2:206).
3. On 5 Dec. 1800 a bill to erect a mausoleum in honor of George Washington was reintroduced in the House of Representatives after being tabled by the Senate in the previous session. Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina opposed the plan because of the cost while Gen. Henry Lee of Virginia spoke in favor, offering the justification recounted by TBA. On 1 Jan. 1801 the House passed a revised bill appropriating $200,000 to build the mausoleum, but on 3 March the Senate again tabled the bill. In his discussion of Lee’s speech, TBA referred to the Athenian governor Demetrius of Phalerus (r. 317–307 B.C.). TBA also alluded to a 1791 decision by the commissioners of the capital city to name it Washington (, 6th Cong., 1st sess., p. 181, 711–712; same, 6th Cong., 2d sess., p. 758, 799, 801–803, 858, 874–875; Diogenes Laërtius, The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book V, sect. 2; ; , 8:506, 508).
4. Democratic-Republican leaders met in Philadelphia on 19 Dec. 1800 and voted to convene a general meeting at the State House on 22 Dec. to discuss “arrangements for a Public Festival” following the election of Thomas Jefferson (Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 20 Dec.).
5. The enclosure, which has not been found, was probably an article from the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 17 Dec., describing the territorial possessions of Shah Zaman, ruler of the Durrani Empire of Afghanistan (William Dalrymple, Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839–42, London, 2013, p. xiv).
6. The postscript was written upside down on the fourth manuscript page. The books ordered from Asbury Dickins were likely carried by Jonathan Mason, en route from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C.