John Adams to Abigail Adams, 12 February 1780
John Adams to Abigail Adams
Paris February 12. 1780
My dearest Friend
On Wednesday, the 9th. of this Month, We all arrived in tolerable Health at the Hotel De Valois, in Paris where We now are.1 On Thursday the 10th We waited on Dr. F[ranklin] and dined with him at Passy. On Fryday the 11, the Dr. accompanied Us to Versailles, where We waited on Mr. De Vergennes, Mr. De Sartine and Comte Maurepas, from all of whom We had a polite Reception.2 To day We stay at home.
I put my three Children to Mr. Pichini’s Accademy the next day after my Arrival, where they are all well pleased.3
We had a tedious Journey by Land, from Ferrol in Spain, of not much short of four hundred Leagues. My dear Charles bears travelling by Land and Sea as well as his Brother. He is much beloved wherever he goes.
Since my Arrival here I had the Joy to find a Letter from you which came by your Unkles ship to Cadiz.4 It gives me more Pain than I can express to see your Anxiety, but I hope your fears will be happily disappointed.
I wrote you, from Cape Anne, from the Banks of Newfoundland, from Corrunna and from Bilbao, from whence I ordered you some Things by a Vessell to Mr. Corbet [Cabot] of Beverly, and another to Mr. Tracy of Newbury Port. These are a few necessaries for the Family. I will send Mr. W. and Mr. S. Things and my Brothers and Dr. T.s and his Sons, by the first Safe Conveyance that I can hear of.5
Yours, Yours, Yours, ever, ever, ever yours.
RC (Adams Papers).
1. The Adams party had remained in Bilbao until 20 Jan., when they left and proceeded to Bayonne in France, arriving on the 23d. From there JA addressed a letter of thanks to the Messrs. Gardoqui, remarking on the improved roads and tavern accommodations in Biscay and Guipuzcoa and adding that “We discovered two or three fine Chimneys besides that which you mentioned to Us, which contributed not a little to our Health and Comfort” (24 Jan., LbC, Adams Papers). At Bayonne, JA later recalled, “We paid off our Spanish Guide with all his Train of Horses, Calashes, Waggon, Mules, and Servants,” and “purchased a Post Chaise and hired some others” for the journey to Paris (, 4:238). They were on the road from Bayonne to Bordeaux from 25 to 29 Jan., paused at the latter until 2 Feb., and spent a week on frozen roads before arriving in Paris on the afternoon of the 9th (same, 2:433–434; 4:239–241). They followed the same route that JA and JQA had traveled in the preceding April, namely through Coué, Angoulême, Poitiers, Châtellerault, Tours, Orléans, and Toury. Much the most detailed record of this last part of the long journey that had begun in December is in Francis Dana’s Journal, or what he called his “Memo, made While in Spain” (MHi:Dana Papers). JA’s Accounts as printed in his , 2:435 ff., furnish glimpses of his personal and domestic activity during his early weeks in Paris.
2. Jean Frédéric Phélypeaux, Comte de Maurepas (1701–1781), French minister of state, is elsewhere described by JA as “the Prime Minister or the Kings Mentor,” which appears to be something of an overestimation of his powers and role (, 4:48; see ). Antoine Raymond Jean Gualbert Gabriel de Sartine, Comte d’Alby (1729–1801), was currently minister of marine (, 2:295 and passim; ).
On this day JA addressed a letter to Vergennes, as suggested by Vergennes during their meeting at Versailles, asking whether JA should assume “any Public Character” or whether he should remain for the present “upon the Reserve.” This letter and Vergennes’ reply of 15 Feb., which JA found irritating and humiliating, are given in full in , 4:243–245.
3. The “three Children” were of course JQA, CA, and Samuel Cooper Johonnot. Pechigny and his wife conducted a pension academy in Passy favored by Americans who had children in France. It was sometimes called the Pension or Ecole de Mathématiques. Apparently JQA had attended this school at least briefly during his first stay in Europe. See , 2:434, 439–440, 442; , 5:55, 75, 88, 507; several letters under date of 16 and 17 March, below; and JA to Pechigny, 16 May, also below.
4. AA to JA, 10 Dec. 1779, above.
5. The initials in this sentence stand for Rev. Anthony Wibird, the Adamses’ minister at Braintree; Rev. Daniel Shute, minister at Hingham; and Dr. Cotton Tufts, AA’s uncle. On 22 Feb. JA wrote to James Moylan at Lorient:
“As the Alliance is bound to America, and probably will go to Boston, I wish to avail myself of the opportunity to send a few Necessaries to my Family, and a black Coat or two to a few Parsons in my Neighbourhood, whose Salaries are so reduced by the Depreciation of our Paper Currency that they cannot afford to buy a black Coat nor a Band at home. . . . I should be glad if you could distinguish the Parcels—for Mr. Wibirt—for Mr. Shute—and for Mr. P. B. Adams, for Mr. Cranch and for me. Let each be separated from the other but all packed up in one Chest or Box, and I suppose a very small one will contain the whole” (LbC, Adams Papers; see also Moylan’s reply, 28 Feb., Adams Papers).