1To John Adams from William Cunningham, 30 July 1798 (Adams Papers)
Recllecting in my youthfull days to have freequently smoak’d what was than Call’d a thanksgiving pipe with you, and beleving at this time that you have some remenbrance of me. I am Enclined to address you. The people in this Town & Vicinity from various Causes, have been warmly attachd to the french. The publication of the memorial of our Envoy Extraordinary to geather with the requisition for...
2To John Adams from David Payson, 15 October 1798 (Adams Papers)
Although possibly the last to declare, yet be assured, that we the Second Regiment, in first Brigade & eighth Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, & the Companies of Cavalry & Artilery Commanded by Silas Lee & David Silvester, will not be the last, to prove our attachment to our Country, & happy Government : if to Strengthen the hands of the hand of the Supreme Executive, by declaring our...
3To John Adams from William Cunningham, 23 May 1799 (Adams Papers)
Mrs. Cunningham is very much troubled on account of a certain paper she address’d to you some time ago. She is apprehensive something very tradgical will happen to her, or some of her connections, from the Arm of power in concequence thairof, in the course of the past winter she has had many restless nights on Account of this paper—we had concluded to do our selves the pleasure of waiting on...
4To John Adams from William Cunningham, 10 August 1802 (Adams Papers)
It is intended with the leave of Providence to settle a Gospel Minister in this Town, the solemnity to be performd on Wednesday the 6th. of October next, at which time it will be highly gratifying to Willm. and Abigail Cunningham to be honoured with a visit from your Excellency and Lady. the pleasant season for travelling, the high and well ventilated situation here, whch is favourable to...
5To John Adams from William Cunningham, 21 November 1803 (Adams Papers)
I sent you, from Dedham, a copy of my Oration. Since my return home I have made diligent but fruitless enquiries for Mr Adams’s Sermon. Among a number of his sermons in the hands of two of his children it could not be found. It is strongly impressed upon me that I have seen it either in manuscript or print; and I have not quit the hopes of finding it, as soon as I can find it I shall certainly...
6To John Adams from William Cunningham, 2 December 1803 (Adams Papers)
I duly received your esteemed favor of the 28 ult. More valuably as I know your time is employed, yet I cannot restrain the wish that you would have "Patience and leisure to make the friendly remarks" which arose on the perusal of my performance. I am sufficiently sensible of inaccuracies to be admonished, for the future, against too much confidence in my own information—a friendly eye to...
7To John Adams from William Cunningham, 10 January 1804 (Adams Papers)
I have ascertained that Mr. Adams’s Sermon at the Dudleian Lecture was not published; a copy was deposited in the archives of the University agreeably to the wish of Judge Dudley. I am informed, in a Letter from the Rev. Mr. Cushing of Ashburnham, that it was a laboured Discourse on the Validity of Presbyterian Ordination, and for which the Author was much complimented. I have, for sometime,...
8To John Adams from William Cunningham, 15 February 1804 (Adams Papers)
I duly received your esteemed favor of the 16th Ult. I assure you, without reserve, that I shall not misuse nor abuse the confidence you may be pleased to repose in me. By the first opportunity I had after the receipt of your Letter, I sent to Mr Russell of Boston for a paper contained the outline that you have so flatteringly expressed a wish to see. Expecting, post after post, to receive the...
9To John Adams from William Cunningham, 9 March 1804 (Adams Papers)
The unusual obstructions to travelling prevented my receiving your esteemed favor of the 24th. ult. till a day or two ago. I am sensible to that discernment which has discovered in the " con Amore " of the Italians, the real temper in which I wrote the Outline. I wish it had been more just to you, and that I could find encouragement, now that the Public attention is engaged in designating a...
10To John Adams from William Cunningham, 27 March 1804 (Adams Papers)
I indulged in this pleasure the 9th Inst., in reply to your esteemed favor of the 24th of February. I observe, in the Centinel, the offer of a place in Germantown on Lease by a Mr Stewart. If I could think a residence in the vicinity of Boston within my means, I would immediately make particular enquiries concerning Mr Stewart’s, for I am very desirous of placing myself more in the way of...
11To John Adams from William Cunningham, 19 September 1808 (Adams Papers)
In a Letter which I had the pleasure, some time since, to receive from you, you expressed some reproof of the inactivity of the Federalists—Their conduct, at present, is not liable to such a censure; perhaps it may deserve the reproach of intemperate ardour. The zeal of party has certainly attempted to overbear the freedom of private opinion, and totally to overthrow the character of him who...
12To John Adams from William Cunningham, 5 October 1808 (Adams Papers)
The papers, to which you have obligingly ask’d a more particular reference, were published in the Palladium, with the signature of Chatham. I deem’d their composition in a higher strain than my principles suggested, to be necessary to arrert the public attention—in moments of peculiar excitement, the ruling passion is frequently the only avenue through which sober reflections can be conveyed...
13To John Adams from William Cunningham, 22 October 1808 (Adams Papers)
Anxious as I am for the due appreciation by the publick of the merits of Mr. J.Q.A. the invaluable testimonial of President Washington, contained in your Letter of the 15. inst. could scarcely have been more gratifying to yourself than it is pleasing to me. I perceive, with much satisfaction, that the most essential parts of it may go into circulation without the least hazard to your repose—to...
14To John Adams from William Cunningham, 12 November 1808 (Adams Papers)
To my letter of the 22d. ult. I have not been favoured with an answer; indeed my expectations of an answer were not confident, for in case of your disinclination to a farther disclosure concerning Mr. Pickering, the most delicate and intelligible intimation of it could be given in silence, and from that, too, I might infer your assent to another proposition in my letter, which you would not...
15To John Adams from William Cunningham, 16 November 1808 (Adams Papers)
The person who carried to the office my the letter which I had the pleasure to write to you the 12th. inst. brought me yours of the 9th. You may depend, most assuredly, that your disclosures concerning the ci devant Secretary, shall not be divulged while you live, and may the day be distant which shall discharge me to my discretion in the use of the important matter you have deposited in my...
16To John Adams from William Cunningham, 3 December 1808 (Adams Papers)
Your favour of the 25th. ult. came duly to hand. What you have already confided to me concerning Mr. P. and what more you may have the goodness to disclose, I shall not impart to any one. I repeat this assurance to relieve the solicitude which I perceive you cherish to have me sensibly impressed with the delicacy and importance of the communications, with which you have honoured me. I hope,...
17To John Adams from William Cunningham, 10 December 1808 (Adams Papers)
I had the pleasure to write you the 3d. inst. I follow it with this to make the explanation of the concluding part of that letter which subsequent discoveries have made necessary. I mentioned a particular object as my inducement to a public notice of Mr. J. Q. A., in the thirteenth number of certain speculations, but it appears that the occasion I intended to influence has gone by in advance...
18To John Adams from William Cunningham, 17 December 1808 (Adams Papers)
Since I enjoyed the pleasure of addressing you on the 10th. inst. I have seen two numbers of the Palladium and found them both silent respecting Mr. J. Q. A. Doubtful whether the Editors would publish my encomium on him I retained a copy, which is subjoined, and which shall release your patience from any farther tax on that subject. “The causes of the Embargo originating unperceived, and...
19To John Adams from William Cunningham, 21 December 1808 (Adams Papers)
I have received your favour of the 13th. inst. and give you my thanks for the offer of the 2d. & 3d. volumes of the Defence. If you would be at the trouble of putting them under a blank cover, superscribed with my address and cause them to be left at Wheelock’s, at the sign of the Indian Queen in Marlborough-Street, they will be brought to me by the driver of the Leominster stage— I shall be...
20To John Adams from William Cunningham, 31 December 1808 (Adams Papers)
Enclosed is a News-paper containing, under the Worcester head, a copy of some remarks made at a Meeting of this Town. The author is so plainly indicated by the style of his address, and by his initial, that it is unnecessary, and might appear ostentatious, to be more particular. With affection and gratitude, / I am, Dear Sir, / Your Friend & Servt. MHi : Adams Papers.
21To John Adams from William Cunningham, 11 January 1809 (Adams Papers)
The last letter, which I had the honour to receive from you, dated January 3d, I have before acknowledged. Permit me to remind you, that I have in expectation something farther from you, concerning the misnamed Aristides. I am perfectly ashamed to speak to you again of my Chathams, but it is unavoidable. The three concluding numbers, the printers refuse to publish. In two of them I had...
22To John Adams from William Cunningham, 14 January 1809 (Adams Papers)
I received, on the last day of December, the 2d. and 3d. volumes of the Defence, for which I renew my thanks. You have truly characterized this work in the comparison you have made of it, in your Letter of the 3d. inst. to a Boudoir. Many of the evils which you have described as incident to an unbalanced government, we have found by experience to have been insufficiently guarded against by our...
23To John Adams from William Cunningham, 11 February 1809 (Adams Papers)
The last Letter which I had the honour to receive from you, dated Jan. 3d. I have before acknowledged. Permit me to remind you, that, I have in expectation something farther from you concerning the misnamed Aristides. I am perfectly ashamed to speak to you again of my Chathams, but it is unavoidable. The three concluding numbers the printers refuse to publish. In two of them, I embodied the...
24To John Adams from William Cunningham, 20 February 1809 (Adams Papers)
Your favours of the 11th. and 14th. inst. came both to hand to-day. I have only time, by this mail, to make this acknowledgment, and to request of you the goodness to send me what you have written on a point controverted between yourself and the person whose pertinacity you have found so unmanageable. The engagements, on my part, which you have proposed as conditional to its reception, I most...
25To John Adams from William Cunningham, 23 February 1809 (Adams Papers)
I wrote to you under the date of the 20th. inst. and sent it to the post office, but arriving there a few minutes too late to be forwarded by the mail it was returned. I now forward it under cover with this. There is a sentence in your favour of the 11th. demanding my particular attention:—“When you told me,” you observe, “that my Letter had been a topick at Boston, and given rise to free...
26To John Adams from William Cunningham, 11 March 1809 (Adams Papers)
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...
27To John Adams from William Cunningham, 14 March 1809 (Adams Papers)
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...
28To John Adams from William Cunningham, 31 March 1809 (Adams Papers)
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...
29To John Adams from William Cunningham, 6 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
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...
30To John Adams from William Cunningham, 14 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
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...