Adams Papers

From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 16 February 1779

To Gabriel de Sartine

Passy Feb. 16. 1779

Sir

By the late Appointment of <Dr. Franklin to be> a Minister plenipotentiary at this Court, I am left at Liberty to return to my own Coun­try, as it does not appear that Congress, have any further Service for me to do in Europe. I therefore wish to return, as Soon as possible. But the English have heard So much of me, in Times past that I should be very loth to be exposed to their Goodwill. If it is in your Excellencys Intention therefore to Send any Man of War to any Part of the united States, I would ask the Favour of a Passage for myself, my little son and a servant.1 I have the Honour to be, with the highest Consideration, &c

LbC (Adams Papers).

1. Because he did not know when a French vessel would be dispatched to an American port, Sartine recommended in his reply of 28 Feb. that JA take passage on the continental frigate Alliance, which had carried Lafayette and Benjamin Franklin’s new commission to France and was under orders to prepare for an immediate return to the United States (Adams Papers; French text printed in JA, Works description begins The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, ed. Charles Francis Adams, Boston, 1850–1856; 10 vols. description ends , 7:88–89).

Index Entries

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    Source Project
    Adams Papers
    Title
    From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 16 February 1779
    Author
    Adams, John
    Recipient
    Sartine, Antoine Raymond Jean Gualbert Gabriel de
    Date
    16 February 1779

    Reference

    Cite as
    “From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 16 February 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-07-02-0271. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 7, September 1778 – February 1779, ed. Gregg L. Lint, Robert J. Taylor, Richard Alan Ryerson, Celeste Walker, and Joanna M. Revelas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989, pp. 415–416.]

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