261To John Adams from Caesar Augustus Rodney, 6 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
The perusal of your letter to Judge Tudor, published in a late number, of that valuable work, Nile’s Register, has given me great pleasure & satisfaction. You have done justice to departed worth, by rescuing form oblivion, the conduct & character of one of the earliest & ablest defenders of American rights & liberties. The memory of the illustrious James Otis, too long neglected, will be thus...
262From John Adams to William Tudor, Jr., 9 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
The Charters were quoted or alluded to by Mr Otis frequently in the whole Course of his Argument: but he made them also a more destinct and more Solemn head of his discourse. And here, these Charters ought to be Copied Verbatim.—But an immense Verbiage renders it impossible. Bishop Butler some where Complains of this enormous Abuse of Words in publick Transactions, and John Reed and Theophilus...
263To John Adams from William Tudor, Jr., 9 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
I write to return my thanks for your kind answer to my letter respecting the biography of James Otis—which I did not receive in course being absent from town, but it was forwarded to me by my Father. I am here with Mr Baldwin making some surveys of the ground for the Canal; and shall not lose the opportunity of inquiring among the gentlemen of this County for anecdotes of the great Patriots...
264From John Adams to Caesar Augustus Rodney, 13 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
You cannot imagine how much You have obliged me by your kind Letter of the 6th. I was intimately acquainted with your Uncle Cesar Rodney who under the constant pressure of ill health, preserved a clear Under Staing and a firmness a stediness, and inflexibility of heart, equal to any Statesman I have known. He was pleased to be very Social and familiar with me; and there was no Topick on which...
265From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 13 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
It is some consolation to find in the Paragraph of the Charter, next following the Court of Admiralty, that Nothing in it, “Shall in any manner enure, or be taken to a bridge, bar, or hinder any of our loving Subjects Whatsoever, to Use and exercise the Trade of Fishing upon the Coasts of New England, but that they and every of them Shall have full and free Power and Liberty to continue and...
266To John Adams from George G. Barrell, 16 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
The liberty I now possess of addressing you, without going thro’ the medium of a second person, originates in a great degree from the noble, bold and enlightened stand you took in the defence of our common country forty three years since; and if, in offering to one of the most exalted characters mine or any other country has ever produced, the tribute of my respect in soliciting your...
267From John Adams to Virginia Patiot, 17 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
I thank you for the copy of Decius’s letters &c. And I pray you, accept a Sermon of Dr Mayhew in 1749—50, and to present another to Decius, whoever that Gentleman may be, with the compliments of one who agrees with him in the Aphorism “Omnes deteriores sumus Licentia” and who is his and your well wisher / and humble Servant MHi : Adams Family Papers, Letterbooks.
268From John Adams to William Tudor, Sr., 18 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
The English doctrine of Allegiance, is so mysterious, fabulous, & enigmatical, that it is difficult to decompose the Elements Of which it is compounded. The Priests under the Hebrew Economy, especially the Sovereign Pontiff were anointed with consecrated Oil, which was poured upon their heads in such profusion, that it ran down their beards, & they were thence called “The Lords Anointed” When...
269To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 18 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
Unexpectedly I was favoured with your kind Letter of Aug. 22—and, what was more gratifying, it Sheweth, that you enjoy’d health and chearfulness—be these continued to you—till the last moments. I too gradually Seem to recover mÿ Strenght: ere long the necessity of working in the garden Shall cease—and then I must return to the Records—which nevertheless—during the first weeks—Shall not amuse...
270To John Adams from Hezekiah Niles, 19 September 1818 (Adams Papers)
My time has latterly been so severely occupied that I fear I have been remiss in sending to you the different numbers of the Register enriched by your communications. But the 13th vol. was duly sent to Mr. Ballard, & the 14th, only completed on the 1st inst—after which the index for it was to be done, is now on its way to you by water—together with a Copy of the General Index for the first...