Adams, John | In the midst of the XYZ Affair and at the height of the Quasi-War with France, President Adams finds himself "without news from Europe"

Property of a New York Collector

Adams, John

Autograph letter signed ("John Adams") as second President, to his son Thomas Boylston Adams, seeking news from Europe as the nation prepares for war with France

2 1/2 pages (252 x 205 mm) on a bifolium (watermarked Curteis & Sons), Philadelphia, 1 March 1798, reception docket on verso of second leaf ("My Father | 1 March 1798 | 17 May Rec'd | 15 June Acknd"); a few very light stains, trace of album-mounting remnants on verso of second leaf.

"We are all in suspense … without news from Europe. We learn that General Buonaparte has been at Paris and is gone to the Congress. But we know no more. …" In the midst of the XYZ Affair and at the height of the Quasi-War with France, John Adams writes to his youngest son, Thomas, then accompanying Adams’s oldest son, John Quincy, who had just been commissioned Minister to Prussia, a neutral power in the ongoing war between France and Britain.

Adams begins by congratulating Thomas on his safe arrival in Hamburg on the way to the Prussian capital at Berlin. While curious to learn his son's impressions of the new country, Adams warns that their correspondence must be discreet given the tense nature of European diplomacy and the ongoing, if undeclared, naval war between the United States and France:

"Pray how does that country please you? I am almost afraid to ask you any questions about the Religion, the Government the Policy or the Morals or Manners of that or any other Country at present, least in your answers you should indulge in Speculations which might, if your Letters should be intercepted, give offence. But the Architecture, Painting Statuary in short the fine arts and the belles Lettres surely may be discanted on with Safety. The agriculture too will be pleasing, the roads, the internal commerce &c."

Like many a father, the president urges his son to take advantage of his position in Berlin: "You will now make yourself master of the German language and literature, which I hope will one day be useful to you. Mr Regal represented your situation as very desireable. Alass! That worthy Man is no more. He has left in the minds of all his acquaintance, as pleasing Impressions as any gentleman from any part of Europe ever did in America." (Very little is known about Mr. Regal. His death is mentioned by Abigail Adams in a letter to John Quincy, 10 February 1798, and she describes him as "a Man of extensive learning and science … I think a German and an officer under the Duke of Bavaria.") But despite his warning to Thomas about indulging in speculation, he asks again for political intelligence: "We are all in Suspence. We are without news from Europe. We learn that General Buonaparte has been at Paris and is gone to the Congress. But we know no more."

Adams then returns to domestic matters, telling Thomas that "If nothing happens, of a very serious nature to prevent it, I shall go to Quincy as soon as Congress rises, which will be, in June I suppose, and stay till the Fall.—You may write however to any part of America and your Letters will come to me by the post."

The president is eager to have Thomas return home, but not until a suitable replacement can be found to assist John Quincy. "I long for your Company but have not yet been able to find a Secretary for your Brother. Our Friends are all well and not so gloomy or low Spirited as you may imagine."

Adams's letter evidently crossed with one from Thomas written from Berlin on 4 March. In that letter, Thomas wrote candidly and at great length about the political situation across Europe, particularly the ill-treatment by the Directory and French foreign minister Tallyrand of the diplomatic commissioners—Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry—sent by President Adams to ease tensions with France. Thomas also announced that he had "made up my mind to leave my brother in the course of the present year, and return home." Although Thomas's "acknowledgment" letter of the present missive from his father is not cited in the Adams Family Correspondence, a letter of his of 27 October (when he was in Hamburg awaiting passage to New York aboard the Alexander Hamilton) does at last provide some information about Napoleon Bonaparte: "Nearly all the dispatches from & to Buonaparte since his taking possession of Alexandria & Cairo have been intercepted, and the only official details yet published are in the enclosed newspaper. His situation is thought to be desperate though he may yet maintain a long struggle against the natives of that Country, being in possession of their chief cities and commanding the neighborhood." (Thomas Boyston Adams letters are from Adams Family Correspondence, ed. Martin, et. al, 12:427–434, 13:261–263.)

REFERENCE:

Neither John Adams's letter to Thomas of 1 March 1798 nor Thomas's reply of 15 June 1798 are currently published in The Adams Papers Correspondence; the present letter will be included in the omitted document list in the appendix of the Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 16 (forthcoming). For Abigail Adams's letter to John Quincy, see The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, ed. Martin, et al., 12:388–391.

PROVENANCE:

Christie's New York, 3 December 2007, lot 96 (The Property of a Gentleman)