JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. AUTOGRAPH LETTER AS MINISTER TO PRUSSIA, 5 NOVEMBER 1798, TO THOMAS BOYLSTON ADAMS

One page (9 1/8 x 7 5/8 in.; 232 x 194 mm) on a bifolium, [Berlin], 5 November 1798, integral address leaf; seal tear affecting a portion of the address leaf.

Sotheby's New York, 21 June 2007, lot 9 (undesignated consignor)

War watching. When his father became President, John Quincy was appointed minister to Prussia and posted to Berlin. His brother Thomas served as his secretary. In the first paragraph of this letter John Quincy still doubts the report that Admiral Lord Warren had, during the Battle of Tory Island on 12 October 1798, intercepted and dispersed an entire French fleet bringing reinforcements to the expedition that had been sent to aid the rebellion in County Mayo. "Without an extraordinary portion of incredulity I might still dispute the full confirmation of your news, as the whole of the Brest Squadron was not taken by Sir J. B. Warren, and we are yet quite uncertain here what part of it really fell into his hands" (the French flagship Hoche was captured in this battle and named Donegal). John Quincy then discusses the outcome of Napoleon's disastrous Egyptian campaign and alludes to the Battle of the Nile, which took place on 1--2 August and cost the French an estimated 1,700 men (including Vice-Admiral Brueys) and 3,000 captured. "[T]heir naval power has suffered in their late defeats a loss which it will not easily repair. The loss of its most valuable officers — The campaign has been the most glorious, and unquestionably the most advantageous to England, of any during the War. Ireland may be now considered as out of danger. Whether the conquest of Egypt will indemnify France for all this Time must discover."