From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 1 February 1796
From John Quincy Adams
London February 1. 1796.
My Dear Sir.
Mr: Pinckney has returned, and of course my business here ceases. I am yet waiting however for orders enabling me to return to the Hague.1 I expect them with a little impatience, having many reasons to wish myself away from hence.
The newspapers sent herewith contain intelligence of two important Events. The armistice concluded between the french and Austrian armies on the Rhine; and the return into Port of the famous West India expedition.2 It remains as yet uncertain whether the former is a presage of speedy pacification, or a mere agreement to take a breathing spell during the extremity of the Season. As a neutral Nation deeply interested in the fate of the West Indies, we I think may consider the failure of the formidable apparatus of this Country, as a favourable Event. While Britain weakens by War, and America strengthens by Peace, every true American must feel a double satisfaction.
I am with the most grateful affection, your Son.
J. Q. Adams.
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Vice-President.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 130.
1. JQA went to London to exchange ratifications of the Jay Treaty while Thomas Pinckney, the U.S. minister to Great Britain, was in Spain. JQA stepped into final negotiations with the British ministry on the same topics that JA dealt with during his diplomatic tenure there: namely, the British impressment of American sailors and the evacuation of the frontier posts. Like his father, JQA made little headway, and he wrapped up his talks on Pinckney’s return. JQA remained in London, making visits and courting LCA, until his instructions to return to The Hague arrived on 26 April; he departed on 28 May (, 11:33).
2. A wintertime armistice, signed by France and Austria on 15 Dec. 1795, paused hostilities until May 1796 when fighting resumed in the Rhine Valley. On another front, by late 1795 the European war had spread to the West Indies, where the French Navy still held Guadeloupe. After a protracted delay caused by severe storms, the British Navy launched a successful campaign in early 1796, capturing St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Grenada (, 11:xxxiii, 57; Alexander Mikaberidze, The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History, N.Y., 2020, p. 60).