From Thomas Brand Hollis to John Adams, 26 August 1794
From Thomas Brand Hollis
The Hide Aug 26. 1794
Dear Sir
I am desired by Mr J Cartwright, whom I beleive you know by his writings, a firm honest & inflexible man in the cause of Freedom & a sincere friend to the true interests of America, by him I am requested to introduce two young men to some persons in America it occurred to me that your disposition & situation in life might be of service to them. Mark & Robert Denison. Their Father “Mr Denison is concerned in a large cotton manufactury at Nottingham: a large cotton mill of his has been infamously attempted to have been destroyed this event & I beleive the general complexion of things in this country have determin’d Mr Denison to remove his whole family to America whither his two eldest sons, Mark & Robert are now about to embark on board a ship from London: They proceed to Philadelphia & thence in the spring to Baltimore New york & Boston. in order to look out for an eligible situation for their future establishment.”1
major Cartwright assures me it is a family among whom he knows not an individual but is worthy of esteem & affection they are persons of considerable property & the circumstance of their fleeing from this country to take refuge in America is a practical comment on the two governments which he saies [“]places them in a just light.”
“Mr Denison carries on the hosiery trade at Nottingham to a large extent as manufacturer & merchant & his two eldest sons have been with him ever since they completed their education. they are a very valuable & virtuous family amongst whom as much affection & concord is to be observed as perhaps in any family in this Island. The mother is a most sensible & amiable woman but suffers extremely from ill health”
you will observe the account of this deserving family is from Mr Cartwright & he is to be depended on therefore from their worth I wish your protection & encouragement which I shall esteem a favor & obligation. I need not remind you that America is the only Asylum but it is to be hoped it will not long stand alone profit therefore of the times.
I cannot write more at present being streigthend as this must be sent directly away.
hoping you are well in health & that my amiable friend mrs Adams has recover’d hers
I remain Dear Sir / with great regard / yours very sincerely
T Brand Hollis.2
Robertspierre is taken of & the Nation is Quiet & active.3
RC (Adams Papers).
1. John Cartwright (1740–1824) was a political reformer from Marnham, England. JA was familiar with his major work, The People’s Barrier against Undue Influence and Corruption, London, 1780. The eldest sons of Robert Denison Sr. (1745–1826), Robert Jr. and Mark, were en route to visit the United States (vol. 9:399; ; John F. Sutton, The Date-Book of Remarkable and Memorable Events Connected with Nottingham and Its Neighbourhood, 1750–1850, London, 1852, p. 211).
2. This is Hollis’ last extant letter to the Adamses. The British antiquarian died in 1804. Three years later, his heir Rev. John Disney contacted JA regarding publication of their correspondence, and JA replied: “Had not the French Revolution prevented; you would have found a more numerous Collection of Letters from me to Mr. Hollis.— That terrible event and the furious spirit of Party which it diffused through, rendered all Correspondence useless and in my situation dangerous both to me and my Friend” (vol. 19:251; from Disney, 24 Aug. 1807, Adams Papers; to Disney, 9 Nov., LbC, APM Reel 118).
3. On 27–28 July 1794 (An. II, 9–10 thermidor) French Jacobin leaders, including Maximilien Robespierre, were violently overthrown by the National Convention. Robespierre’s manipulation of the Terror, which targeted former allies within the Paris Commune, led the Jacobins to sacrifice the small amount of power they had wielded in the National Convention. Along with 82 other Jacobin leaders, Robespierre was arrested and guillotined, ushering in the Thermidorian regime (, 10:xiv–xv; , p. xxi, 202, 203).