From John Adams to John Lamb, 31 July 1786

To John Lamb

London july 31st 1786—

Sir—

Mr Randall who proposes to Sail in a few Days for N York, will deliver you this Letter.1 If, I have not Overlookd any Article in your Account you have drawn Bills upon me which have been accepted & paid to the amount of 32 hundred and 12 Pounds 12 shillings Sterling for the Expenditure of which you will Account with Congress and pay the Ballance into their Treasury after paying Mr Randall his Salery. The Articles of Extra Expence for Cloathing I think Should be allowed to Mr Randall exclusive of his Salary2

If it Should not be the intention of Congress to treat farther with the Algerines every Man of Humanity must feel for our unfortunate Countrymen in Captivity and at Least it ought to be publickly known whether Congress mean to make any provision for their Comfort in the Articles of Subsistance & Cloathing that their Relations and Friends may do the Best in their Power. You will do well to represent this matter to Government, that they may give Instructions to their Ministers what to do in it— I am fully of your opinion of the Policy of treating with the Barbary Powers: but if Congress Should determine against it, they will I presume prepare a Naval Force to give some Protection to their Commerce and Portugal at least will Cooperate with us perhaps Naples will do so too—

I am Sir yours &c &c—

LbC in AA2’s hand (Adams Papers description begins Manuscripts and other materials, 1639–1889, in the Adams Manuscript Trust collection given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1956 and enlarged by a few additions of family papers since then. Citations in the present edition are simply by date of the original document if the original is in the main chronological series of the Papers and therefore readily found in the microfilm edition of the Adams Papers (APM). description ends ); internal address: “Mr Lamb—”; APM Reel 113.

1. In both this letter and the one to John Jay of 31 July, above, JA assumed that Lamb would reach America before Paul R. Randall or shortly thereafter. But it was not until 5 Aug. 1787 that Lamb reached Boston, announcing his arrival in a letter to Jay of that date. Jay enclosed Lamb’s letter with his to Congress of 17 Aug. 1787, which Congress read on 20 Sept. (PCC, No. 91, f. 539–540; JCC description begins Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, ed. Worthington Chauncey Ford, Gaillard Hunt, John C. Fitzpatrick, Roscoe R. Hill, and others, Washington, D.C., 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 33:506).

2. For Randall’s salary, see JA’s 31 July 1786 letter to Jay, and note 2, above. With regard to Lamb’s accounts, he wrote to Jay on 10 April 1788 indicating that he had arrived in New York and was ready to resolve any issues remaining from his mission. Jay recommended to Congress that the letter be referred to the Board of Treasury, but nothing further has been found regarding it (JCC description begins Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, ed. Worthington Chauncey Ford, Gaillard Hunt, John C. Fitzpatrick, Roscoe R. Hill, and others, Washington, D.C., 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 34:129, 132).

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Source Project: Adams Papers
Title: From John Adams to John Lamb, 31 July 1786
Author: Adams, John
Recipient: Lamb, John
Date: 31 July 1786

Reference

Cite as: “From John Adams to John Lamb, 31 July 1786,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-18-02-0224. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 18, December 1785–January 1787, ed. Gregg L. Lint, Sara Martin, C. James Taylor, Sara Georgini, Hobson Woodward, Sara B. Sikes, Amanda M. Norton. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016, pp. 407–408.]