Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, 8 June 1798
Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch
June 8th 1798 Philadelphia
My dear Sister
I received yours of June the first.1 I am quite delighted at the account you give of the season, and the appearence of vegetation. I was out yesterday at A Farm of Judge Peters call’d, Belmont. it is in all its Glory; I have been twice there, when I lived at Bush Hill, but he has improved both the House and Gardens Since— after being six Months in a City, you can hardly conceive the delight one feels at Entering a Wilderness of sweets. the Grass the Grain, the profusion of Beautifull flowers Jassamine Hyacinths & Roses, all in full Blum, climing arond the windows & Piazzas and Porticos of the neat building, formd such a pleasing contrast to the bare brick Building and the throng of Conechigo Waggons, which are ranged in rows through our Street, that it appeard a mere Paridice to me. the House is an ancient building with a Hall through it, like Jeffries at Milton which opens into the Garden.2 in front is a lawn and from the House theres is a view of the Noble Hudson, and at the foot of the Hill much neareer flows the Schuylkil
after walking in the Garden we returnd and found the table spread with 6 or 8 quarts of the large Hudson strawberry, gatherd fresh from the vines with a proportionable quantity of cream wine & Sugar. our taste and smell were both regaled, whilst ease Sociabitily and good humour enhanced the pleasure of the repast. The Judge is an old Friend and acquaintance of the President from the first Congress & served with him as one of the Board of war. Mrs Peters has all that ease and affibility; united to good Sense and fine spirits, which render her manner truly pleasing. they have a number of children, 2 Grown son & a daughter with 3 younger— they reside in the City during the Winter—3
You will learn with pleasure that the Bill for cutting of all intercourse with France past the Senate by 18 to 4. there are 10 Members absent most of whom I believe all, would have joind the Majority—4 Mr Fosters Resolutions will be taken up this day, the amount of which will be to declare our Treaty with France no longer binding. you will see them in Your papers—5
addresses increase untill the President can find Scarcly any thing new to say he has howevr in answer to the old Colony—6
His old Friend W——n did not sign it, his son has— I received a kind of an apology in a Letter from her, “he addresses none but the Supreem Being,” but he wishes well to the Government and the Administrator of it. his Letter was that of an old Friend—7
we have just got a Pamphlet from France, abusive as Thom. Paines against Washington, part Prose & part Poetry. the very language of their Party here the very words of Bache & Volney in some parts of it, but the time is past for their currency here. When I read, it I said to Louissa, this is the production of that unhangd Rascal Church.8 You must know that there were such complaints made from Portugal of him, & his conduct had been so base & enimical to his Country, that one of the first acts of the Presidents, was to displace him. this you may be sure excites all his vengance, tho he disguises it. Genll W—n used some times to give a man an office of whom he was affraid. this was the case with Goveneer Morris & Church, but it has ended as all the appointments have, which were made with a Concilatory view9 neither Love or fear will prompt the Present Commander in Chief to give an office to an undeserving Character knowingly. some no doubt will prove unworthy of their trust People are not sufficiently on their gaurd with respect to recommendations, and by them alone can the President judge of a very great proportion of those whom he appoints to office it was Gen’ll W—n wish to make Friend’s of foes, and he aimd at converting over those who were lukewarm— You did not hear at that day so much Noise of Executive Patronage. the Reason is evident. Lambs Services Munroes Randolph Church & Morris with many others of similar sentiments Shared the loaves and fishes— A different conduct is now observed and wisdom taught by experience.
Mr Johnson went from Cambridge in the Vacancy to visit his parents, and they have concluded that he should finish his Education at Annopolis college it is not well judged I think, and I have ventured to express Such a sentiment. I have not heard since I wrote you from mrs Johnson or your Son—
Mrs Otis desires to bee kindly rememberd to you— she is distresst for Mrs Welch & Family— she knows how to Sympathize, and really does—
You must let me know how things go on. take particular care of the Letter inclosed for Dr Tufts—10 I have just sent a trunk on Board, a vessel for Boston and hope it will not be long before I Shall follow;11 the Rumour of yesterday ends in vapour but tho not true, I hope I hope it will be soon. Church as I conjectured, is said to be the Writer of this base libel it is an abuse upon the President for his Speeches to Congress—of which you see Tallyrand says the Directory complain. poor Wretchs, I suppose they want him to cringe, but he is made of the oak instead of the willow he may be torn up by the Roots, or break—but he will never bend
Yours
A Adams
RC (MWA:Abigail Adams Letters); endorsed by Richard Cranch: “Letter from Mrs A. Adams / (Pha:) June 8–1798.”
1. In Cranch’s letter of 1 June, she expressed her appreciation of the Johnson family’s attention to her son and his family and commented on the improved spirit of the country. She also provided an update on the Welsh family (Adams Papers).
2. Patrick Jeffrey, for whom see vol. 9:244, lived on the Milton, Mass., estate that was owned by Gov. Thomas Hutchinson prior to the Revolutionary War and by James Warren during the 1780s (vol. 4:ix–x, 78; A. K. Teele, ed., The History of Milton, Mass., 1640–1887, Boston, 1887, p. 137, 138).
3. Judge Richard Peters, for whom see vol. 7:46, inherited in May 1786 his family’s Belmont estate from his father, William, who had purchased it in 1742. Over 220 acres, the property sat on the west bank of the Schuylkill River and was particularly known for the beauty of the grounds and gardens. Peters and his wife, Sarah Robinson Peters (1753–1804), had at least five living children in 1798: Ralph (1777–1842), Richard (1779–1848), Maria Wilhelmina (b. 1781), Sarah Robinson (1785–1850), and Thomas (b. 1787). They also maintained a residence in Philadelphia, at 85 Walnut Street (Thompson Westcott, The Historic Mansions and Buildings of Philadelphia, Phila., 1895, p. 381–384; , 4:711; John W. Jordan, ed., Colonial Families of Philadelphia, 2 vols., N.Y., 1911, 2:1113; , 1799, p. 145, No. 36238).
4. “An act to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States and France, and the dependencies thereof,” prohibiting American ships from French ports and French ships from U.S. ports, was passed by the Senate in an 18 to 4 vote on 7 June. Of the ten senators absent, seven were Federalists: Ray Greene, James Gunn, John Eager Howard, James Lloyd, James Ross, John Rutherfurd, and Theodore Sedgwick (, 1:565–566; , 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 502; ).
5. On 6 June Dwight Foster (1757–1823), Brown 1774, a Massachusetts congressman since 1793, proposed three resolutions in response to French aggression against neutral shipping. The first declared the treaties between France and the United States void; the second authorized the president to grant letters of marque and reprisal against all French ships; and the third designated a bounty for the capture of armed vessels until such time as France revoked its laws authorizing the capture of American ships. After a lengthy debate on 8 June 1798 that hinged on the prudence of such resolutions and the power of the House to annul treaties under the Constitution generally, further consideration of the resolutions was postponed for two weeks. However, the House did not take them up again; instead, a Senate bill declaring the treaties void was passed and sent to the House for its concurrence, for which see AA to William Smith, 29 June, and note 5, below. The House took no action regarding the letters of marque and reprisal or bounties for the remainder of the session (; , 5th Cong., 2d sess., p. 1870–1871, 1878–1892). Foster’s resolutions were printed in the Boston press from 13 June; see, for example, the Boston Columbian Centinel, 13 June, and the Massachusetts Mercury, 15 June.
6. The inhabitants of Plymouth and Kingston, Mass., in their [ante 8 June] address to JA noted that the aggression of the French government toward neutral powers had led them to regard France “as the determined foes of religious order and social security.” Appalled by the French demand for money, they promised that like their “venerable ancestors,” they would “repel with indignant scorn, the insolent aggressions of all the nations on the earth.” JA’s 8 June reply thanked the “ancient Settlement” but went further regarding the consequences of the French loan. Submitting would not only compromise American neutrality, JA maintained, it would also “debase our Minds, corrupt our Souls, and make our own Government, in a few Years as profligate as theirs” (both Adams Papers).
7. Henry Warren, son of James and Mercy Otis Warren, signed the Plymouth address. In a letter to AA of 26 May, Mercy Warren relayed a message to JA that her husband “bids me tell him, that he may be assure’d of his aid and countenance to every step that may support this prominent object of his heart: of which he can never loose sight— that the Goverment of the united states has his best wishes—that he respects the constituted authorities—but that he addresses no being below the supreme. to him he daily bows, and implores a benediction on his Country, and the upright magistrate who aims to defend its peace Virtue liberty and happiness” (Adams Papers).
8. It was Joel Barlow, not Edward Church, who authored The Second Warning; or, Strictures on the Speech Delivered by John Adams … at the Opening of the Congress of Said States in November Last, Paris, 1798, to attack JA for promoting the interests of William Pitt and the British government over those of the United States in his dealings with France. He accused JA, in whom he saw monarchical ambitions, and the Federalists of essentially declaring war on France, the “party FIRST injured” (p. 10), rather than negotiating in good faith. For JA’s 23 Nov. 1797 speech at the opening of the 2d session of the 5th Congress, see vol. 12:309.
9. For the recall of Gouverneur Morris as minister to France, see vol. 10:165, and for the animosity between the Adamses and Church, as well as Church’s service as consul at Lisbon, see vol. 8:403–404, 405, and , 18:103.
10. Likely AA to Cotton Tufts, 8 June 1798, below.
11. AA possibly sent the trunk on the sloop Herald, Capt. Brewer, which departed Philadelphia on 12 June and arrived in Boston by 28 June (New London, Conn., Weekly Oracle, 27 Aug.; Philadelphia Gazette, 12 June; Boston Independent Chronicle, 25–28 June).