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On the first of the month I received your favour of the 22d. ult. with a copy of a speech of a ci-divant Minister to the Six Nations. Having been ill of the prevailing influenza, and expecting, mail after mail, to receive your answer to my letters of the 20th. and 23d. of Feb. I have delayed this acknowledgment. I hope that this evening will relieve my impatience to see the speculations you...
When a young man I read Sidney upon government. In one of his Chapters, he agitates the following question—“Whether A civil War, or slavery be the greatest evil” and decides in favor of the Latter. In ing and revolving that Subject in my mind, I have been led to suppose there are evils more afflicting and injurious to a Country than a foreign War. The principal evil of War is death. Now Vice I...
My solicitude to see your strictures upon Mr. Pickering’s Letter was satisfied by the last mail. I acquit myself, by the enclosure of the sheets, of one of the stipulations upon which you transmitted them to me—the other has not been violated. Nothing on the Impressment of our Seamen, has yet appeared which unfolds the subject so lucidly and satisfactorily either as to law or expediency. I am...
The slight personal acquaintance I have had with you would not entitle me to the honour of addressing to you a letter, which might take off your attention from more interesting employments. But, as I have had the opportunity of obtaining a Handbill, said to be printed yesterday in Northampton & put into rapid circulation in this neighbourhood, in which your name & influence are to be employed...
Inclosed is a Letter which I have this morning received from a particular Friend of mine, who is a Representative from the Town of Northhampton & Son in Law to the late Judge Henshaw, Mr. Bates who feels for you the highest respects. Knowing the great weight which your opinions justly greatly have in the Community, & the evils which our Country has suffered from a misquotation of them; I...
Seeing a letter this morning in the Chronicle (a paper which has universally been calumniateing your Carecter both public and private) with your signature too it disapproveing of what is called Mr Gores War report and as the Chronicle says disapproveing of Mr Gore in toto, I avail my self of the preveledge of one of your Children and an infant too and one who since he has been able to list has...
being a perticuler Friend of yours, Take the liberty to inclose this Letter, and ask the indulgence of an answer respecting its being a fabrication as is thoughts by some of your old substanciel Friends I want an answer for my own Sattisfaction and will not make any use of it then the answer shall Dictate, Should I be indulged. I am with the Highest / Consideration your / Excelences Very Huml....
I recd. your letter of the 9th. inst—(nearly a fortnight after its date) accompanying Dr. Trumbull’s M S. Hist. “with more delight than it would be prudent in me to express.” Your approbation of this History, is more praise to it its author, than would be the praise of any other man living, because I believe no other man is so well acquainted with the history of this country, & at the same...
I know not when my sensibilities have been more exquisitely touched than they were by the perusal of your favour of the 20th. inst. and by the concluding sentence of your Letter to Messrs. Wright and Lyman, which I read at the same time. Thoroughly sensible as I am of the wrong which has been done you, I am yet persuaded that the natural effect of your own reflections upon it is to its...
It would be well, if legislators were taught before they begin to legislate, that there are certain things which elude the power of government as certainly as a stone when thrown into the Air falls to the ground. In addition to those Subjects which have been mentioned in our letters I will add—“the dictates of Conscience, religious & philosophical opinions—the current prices of goods, and...
A continued headache has compelled me, to delaÿ an answer to your favour of the 16th of Febr. from daÿ to daÿ; tho I receive no higher gratifications than from these. It is indeed far beyond, what I could reasonably have flattered me with, that, in your far advanced age, you So often would have condescended, in taking notice of mÿ letters, and bestowing So manÿ marked proofs of your...
A few days since, I saw a letter written by his Excellency John Adams. For years I have seen nothing of a political nature, that gave such pleasing, tender, and grateful emotions to my very soul. I have been well acquainted with the names of John Adams , Samuel Adams , John Hancock , and James Bowdoin , ever since I left Cambridge Colege, in the year 1763. Oh, sir, the scenes that these...
I have long felt an inclination to write to you, two circumstances forbid me, want of matter, & having no personal weight to supply its place. Love and venerration, to Gentlemen, as well as to Ladies, sometimes prompt to a familiarity bordering on rudeness. Thus in time past I feared I might be led into an error in addressing you. The strong existence of those sensations, is the only apology I...
I received your pleasant and most obliging Letter of the 3d of March last, it answered my Request; I find you have amidst the Turmoils of State pre d your eligant Classic Tale, and your Observations in Respect of the Views, and Conduct of the honble J Q. Adams, so perfectly coinside with my Sentiments, that I can not refrain to break again on your Patience, and solicit your attention. I must...
Permit me to inclose to your address the Portsmouth bill of Mortality for 1809, and at the same time to assure you that my best wishes accompany you, through life. I am Sir / Your most Obt / Servt. MHi ; MBAt : Adams Papers.
During some time past my time has been devoted to writing the History of Mr. Jefferson’s administration with an historical sketch of the affairs of the Union from the period of the adoption of the Federal Constitution: as the sale of the work in Massachusetts will be considerably enhanced by the Sanction of your name—I have intruded upon your politeness to ask permission to place it at the...
these from your friend and cusen Joseph Adams that went from Braintree to Uxbridge in the year 1755 in february— to Mr John Adams Esq and former president of the united States Sir these lines may inform you that I am as well as can be expected for an old man in the 79th yare of my age through the goodness of god I am contineued to this day hoping these Lines will find you and your family well...
Your Letter of 29 January Last Came duly to For which be pleased to Except my moste respectful thanks Particularly as it Contained a few strokes of your pollitical oppinion in these Turbulent Times. I find Sir, My Last Letter to you, wants Explenation—As to what I observed of your Son I Wanted Him in the Senate one Season more That He Might have had an opportunity of Displaying His Superior...
I have the honour at this time to address you for the purpose of requesting your acceptance of the Report of the Examination before the House of Commons into the Conduct of the Duke of York late Commander in chief, which is herewith transmitted by the Messenger of the United States Reed, in the Pacific via New York. I trust it will not prove uninteresting, and that you will pardon the liberty...
An individual, obscure, & to yourself unknown, begs leave to address you. May I be permitted, Sir, to suggest, that a love for that Country, of which I, with millions of my fellow citizens, consider you the Father, is my only apology for this intrusion. I have long viewed, with grief, the unhappy division which has rent the United States into two great political parties, & well nigh armed them...
I am much pleased with the Specimen you have given of the Use of your Wings upon a certain Subject in your last letter. Your publications in the newspapers show still further how important to the public, to posterity, and to your family honor are the words you have preserved of your political life. Your defence of the rights of our Seamen is much admired. It discovers with the Experience &...
I was duly favoured with yours of the 24th. ult. The species of sensibility excited by your Letters in March, are defined by the interest I take in whatever affects your repose, your happiness, and your just claims on the affection, confidence and gratitude of a Country reared under your paternal care. If it can be necessary to be more particular—they were the various and refined emotions...
A Dispute existing at New–Orleans involving property to an immense amount and also very interesting questions of a legal and Constitutional nature; I thought it would probably gratify your Curiosity, to know precisely the circumstances of a Case of which you might have received an indistinct Report I therefore have taken the Liberty to send you two Pamphlets lately printed upon the subject...
Your Letter of the 15th April I have had the honor to receive; and have read it over and over again with great pleasure. I cannot let go the pleasing hope, that future historians may record with truth & impartiality, the glorious deeds of our revolutionary Patriots, whose preeminent merit in founding our Nation, and framing our System of Government, entitles them to the gratitude and is a...
The sight of your Venerable and Respectable Name in the papers on a subject so interesting to every one as a proof of the purity and penetration of your political principles has induced me to take the liberty of mentioning to you a Matter in which I am personally interested—I was indebted to you in paris during you Mission there in 1783 for many Acts of Kindness and Hospitality—I had a Claim...
As you felt So Sensiblÿ for mÿ Sorrows, it is highly becoming, that you Should be among the first, to whom I Should communicate mÿ happier prospects. Mÿ Eldest Son John at Philadelphia did ask me, two days past, for my consent in his marriage with a Miss Julia Taylor, of a respectable familÿ and connections, with a moderate fortune, adequate to his wishes. His former prudent conduct made me...
WITH a view to collect and preserve the Military Science, which must still exist among the Veterans of our revolutionary contest, and those of our Fellow-Citizens, who may have gathered scientific fruits in the course of their travels, the Corps of Engineers have, under the auspices of the President of the United States , commenced an Institution for the purpose of establishing and...
Your Letter of April, 18th. 1809, came safe to my Hand. It was soon read by our Lawyer in Gray. He was so Pleased with it, that he quickly publised it, in the Portland Gazette. I have seen your Letter and mine, Published in the Boston Patriot. Both are published (as I Understand) in Amherst Paper in the State of New-Hampshire. No writings, that appear in our public Papers, are in General read,...
I am favoured with yours of the 7th. inst. After telling me that the employment of your thoughts upon your public essays precludes your attention, for the present, to my letters, I should be bereft of apology for filling again a whole sheet, if you had not also said that you are in no apprehension of being inundated. Amidst the heaviest outpouring which may be supposed to be congregating in...
My son Richard who has been a customer for the Aurora ever since he lived at the Jersey College, after reading your last letter, brought the enclosed papers from his office, and requested me to forward them to you. I have lately met with an account of the brain of Voltaire being preserved by a Lady in a France, and showed to her friends as an object of affection and adoration. The author of...
“Oh Shame, Shame! where is thy blush” that thou shouldst thus dare prophane the manes of the immortal Hamilton “a Spirit pure as the unsullied light of Heaven & incorruptible as Heaven itself—” Why weak old fool wage war with the dead? A cannibal could not more—Why not publish those impious falsehoods during his existence? Oh, how lost how degraded view’d with digust by one party, & pitiful...
Your letter of the 6th Inst. I had the honor to receive the next day, just before I commenced a journey; I read it repeatedly and with great attention—and feel the importance of all your remarks. I wish every mind was duly impressed with the sentiments. The longer I live the more I am convinced that truth makes slow progress in the world; and to reform public errors is an arduous task. But...
I received, by the last mail, your esteemed favour of the 22d. inst. The united testimony of your most amiable Family, in repulsion of the calumny which was said to have originated with Mr. Whitney, has not disappointed me. Should it become again a topick at your social board, I pray that my affectionate respects may go along with it to the company. The gentleman who gave me the information I...
Allwise Providence has most ierally decreed, That there should be born for the Benefit of Mankind, Patrons & Lovers of Friendship; Under this auspicious & benevolent order of Things has eventuated rare & singular Blessings To mankind, but from no Persons or Characters have the sweet Dropings of pure Benevolence been poured, with more Judicious Gratuity, than from your fostering hand: To...
Mrs: Bradford & myself arrived here on friday Evening last—among the principal Objects we had in View in this long Journey, the honor of waiting on Mrs. Adams & your self was one. As the distance is so considerable, and the disappointment would be great, should you be from home, will you be so kind as to drop one a line by the Post, to let us know if you will be at home, the begining of the...
Elihu Phinney was ever an admirer of your Unshaken patriotism, your eminent talents, your Steadfast Integrity, and your universal knowledge. I felt the loss of your election in 1801, deeply; altho the latter part of your administration occasioned some unpleasant reflections, you have more than healed them, by your late letters—They have restored a fund of knowledge, the lack of which had...
To my letter of the 30th. ult. I have not been favoured with an answer. I feel an uncertainty, from which I wish to be relieved, whether that letter got to your hands. When I gave you the name of my informer, that your Family were in opposition to your making public any elucidations, I thought it incumbent on me to apprise him of it; accordingly, in a day or two after the date of my last. I...
I enclose you three numbers of Duane’s papers that you may see in what manner the late news from St James’s has operated upon one Class of our Citizens. Your Communications Continue to excite Attention. A general wish prevails among those who read them, that they may be preserved & perpetuated in the form of a pamphlet, or of a larger Work. My Wife and youngest daughter left me on the 8th of...
“salus, honor et bonus Appetitus.” to use the Words of Molière— from Dear sir ever / Yrs MHi : Adams Papers.
I duly received your favour of the 31st. ult. The separation from you of your Son, would be, I knew, as painful to you both, as was the parting of Paris and Priam, when the son took leave of the Father for Lacedemon; but I was equally sensible, that I should have dishonoured the noble sacrifices you have made in the service of your country, had I have suggested a motive to induce your...
Have I mistaken your political principles or have I rightly understood them as being truly federal upon the Basis of our Constitution and the government of our own choice. The People of the United States at the time of choseing their Convention-men for the formation of the Federal Constitution upon which government as been Administered must have had all the zeal of Freemen emancipated from the...
I send you herewith some more of Col Duane’s papers. You will perceive in One of them proposals for republishing you letters in a pamphflet. It was from a Conviction that you saw things with Other eyes than most of the persons that cooperated with you in establishing the Independance of the United states, and that your Opinions and Conduct would bear the Scrutiny of posterity at that eventful...
The last mail brought me your favour of the 8th of July, with a postscript of the 13th. inst. Whether you had received my letter of the 9th. inst. does not appear by you favour. You request the return of the Letter to yourself uncopied—you will find it enclosed, but if you have no particular reasons to the contrary, you would oblige me by entrusting it to my possession. It contains many things...
It is related of Augustus Caesar, that being upon his death-bed, he turned just before he expired to the friends who were standing around, and asked them what they thought of the part which he had acted on the scene of human life—They express’d their admiration as their feelings or their prudence inspired—Then said he “Plaudite”. In the article of Death, Augustus was what he had been...
Most respectable Patriot I take the liberty at sending to you by the mail an oration which I delivered on the fourth of July; a liberty which I presumed wants not be received a miss if well intended. Vanity in the author with respect to the merits of the work is not my object, but real information. When I penned the oration it was from the best information I then could obtain. A summary view...
I took the liberty some time back, (I cannot say how long, as I did not kn date the copy of that letter wherein I honestly explained my meaning of the word dormant, and thought you would have been pleased, and satisfied with my explanation—but I have not been honoured with a line from you since yours of reprimand of dormant. To my great satisfaction and pleasure your dormant powers have lately...
I enclose you four numbers of Duane’s paper. They contain a good deal of matter relative to the dispute between our Country & great Britain. I have not read a column of it, but it excites general attention in our city, and of course is probably worth the notice of a Man who has not, like myself, outlived his patriotism. My wife, Uncle Mr Boudinot and his daughter it is said, have lately paid a...
Although for many years past I have read nothing, but books upon medicine on week days, & upon Religion on Sundays, and have expected to continue to do so as long as I lived, yet you have almost persuaded me to read Fox’s history of James the Second. Your praise of it is enough for me, for I know how much your habits of reading and thinking qualify you to judge of the merit of books that...
On our way home from Quincy, we were detained by the kindnesses of friends till the last evening. Of the pleasant events of our excursion, none are recollected with more delight than the attentions we received at your house. Nor have I to express my obligations to any but yourself, for any part of the secret history you orally communicated. Your Letter of the 22d. ult. I received, with the...
I have to make my grateful acknowledgements for your favour of the 31 Ult. I read, it as I do every thing that falls from your pen, with great attention. Every letter in the Patriot, under your Signature, I have read with equal attention pleasure & profit. I wish most sincerely they might be read by all men. There never was a time when the propagation of sound principles was more necessary....