John Adams to Thomas Barclay, 12 May 1784
To Thomas Barclay
The Hague May 12. 1784
My dear Sir
I am Sorry to have given you, So much Trouble about the House, to no purpose: But I am weary of these perpetual Incertitudes in which We are kept, and I must put an End to them as far as they regard me, by planning my Affairs for myself, or they will soon put an End to me. I conclude therefore to remain here without farther Wandering, and not to go to Paris at all, at least not untill I know what Character I go in, what I go for, and how long I am to stay.
inclosed is a Letter from Messrs Hopes, which you wrote for, respecting the Bills upon Spain.1
I Should be glad to know, if Mr Ridley left my Trunk and the Key of it with you: and whether the Ratifications of the definitive Treaty are exchanged. and When and how Mr Jay goes.
And also if you know of any honest, faithfull Man who would undertake to bring my Trunk, Cloaths Books &c to the Hague. The Trunk ought to be well packed, and the Plate in it, well placed. I will pay Such a Man, what you shall agree with him for. if you dont readily find one, I will Send one from hence.— The Trunk ought never to be out of his Sight.2
Yours
LbC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Hon. Mr Barclay.”; APM Reel 107.
1. For the letter to Hope & Co., which Barclay enclosed with his letter of 26 April, see JA’s 4 May letter to Barclay, and note 2, both above.
2. JA also wrote to Wilhem & Jan Willink on 12 May, asking if they had a reliable man who could retrieve a trunk and some other things from Paris (LbC, APM Reel 107). The trunk, according to JA, contained “some Cloaths, some Plate, and some Papers & manuscript Books of great Importance. The Plate consists of Silver Spoons and Forks, of about Ninety or an hundred Pound sterling Value.” The Willinks replied on 14 May (Adams Papers) that they had “a man of unquestionable fidelity whom we should with all confidence entrust on the proposed errand,” but that his departure would be delayed about two weeks because of “Some domesticq affairs.”