Abigail Adams to William Smith, 22 November 1799
Abigail Adams to William Smith
Philadelphia Nov’br the 22. 1799
dear sir
Least you should not see many of the curiosities produced in the Aurora; I shall now and then inclose You a choice morsal; in this,
which I now forward you you will find a Letter, said to have been written by a Mr Crammond of this city, to Mr Parish the former Consul at Hamburgh and printed in a Paris Paper. Mr Crammond is a respectable English Merchant of this city, but by no means a politician, not a creature any way acquainted with him suspects him of being the writer. He says that he has not written a Letter of any kind for three years past, to Mr Parish—and that the whole is a forgery—the impudent comments of Duane are also a pack of Lies. no misunderstanding has ever taken place between the President and the British Minister—it is even suspected by some whether the french paper it self is not the production of that the Aurora office; but if not, the Letter must have been forged by some of their Tools.1 I also inclose You a part of Browns paper which contains the true statement of Robbins’s case, about which the Democrats make such a clamour—if it has not been printed in Boston, the printers I think ought to do it.2
if our Northern Members are not all here, upon the Day when a clerk is to be Chosen, it is feard that Beckly will get in again, as a great struggle will be made for him.3 You will see also that the batteries are opening upon mr Sedwick.4 in short no people are so unwearied as the evil Doers— our goverment is such an uphill Machine that it requires no common force, to support it against all the underminers— so Many of its Friends have local and personal views and interests to serve, that they rather pass by, with a wish that it may stand, than lend their aid to strengthen it—
I pray you to remember me affectionatly to all our Friends and Relatives, and be assured that I am at all times / your Friend
A A
RC (MHi:Smith-Townsend Family Papers); endorsed: “Philaa. 22. Novr 99. / Mrs. Adams.”
1. The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 21 Nov., featured an item it claimed to be a reprint of a Paris publication of an intercepted letter from Philadelphia merchant William Cramond (ca. 1755–1843) to John Parish (1742–1829), who had served as U.S. consul at Hamburg from 1793 to 1796. The letter alleged that Timothy Pickering sought to impair relations between JA and the British minister to the United States, Sir Robert Liston. Aurora printer William Duane commented on the letter, claiming that a “serious and real” dispute between JA and Liston already existed. In the same issue, Duane printed a 20 Nov. 1799 letter from Cramond denying authorship and calling the letter a forgery. Duane reprinted the intercepted letter, an English translation, and a second letter from Cramond in the Aurora General Advertiser, 25 Nov. (Philadelphia North American, 26 Oct. 1843; , 16:589).
2. Andrew Brown Jr.’s Philadelphia Gazette, 21 Nov., summarized the Jonathan Robbins affair.
3. John Beckley of Virginia, who served as the clerk of the House of Representatives from 1789 to 1797, failed to unseat his successor, Jonathan W. Condy of Pennsylvania, who was reelected on 2 Dec. 1799 by a vote of 47 to 39. Beckley would reassume the post from 1801 to 1807 (Jeffery A. Jenkins and Charles Stewart III, Fighting for the Speakership: The House and the Rise of Party Government, Princeton, N.J., 2013, p. 370–371).
4. Federalists Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts and John Rutledge Jr. of South Carolina were under consideration as Speaker of the House. The Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 12 and 21 Nov. 1799, opposed Sedgwick’s election. Despite receiving moderate Federalist support, Rutledge conceded after three caucuses and encouraged his colleagues to vote for Sedgwick, who was elected on 2 Dec. (Patrick J. Furlong, “John Rutledge, Jr., and the Election of a Speaker of the House in 1799,” , 24:435 [July 1967]).