Adams, John Quincy

1 page ( 8 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.; 225 x 200 mm) on a leaf of wove paper (watermarked D Ames), Washington, 11 October 1822, to James Madison at Montpellier; lightly browned, two fold separations mended, tipped to a large sheet.

Parke-Bernet, 13 November 1968, lot 4 (undesignated consignor)

The Papers of James Madison, Retirement Series, ed. Mattern, et al, 2: 586–587

1 page ( 8 7/8 x 7 7/8 in.; 225 x 200 mm) on a leaf of wove paper (watermarked D Ames), Washington, 11 October 1822, to James Madison at Montpellier; lightly browned, two fold separations mended, tipped to a large sheet.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Expressing a warm and conciliatory sentiment, a future president sends a copy of a pamphlet he had recently published to a former president.

"In requesting your acceptance of the copy herewith transmitted of a Collection of Documents recently published by me, I think it necessary to ask of your indulgence to overlook that part of it which is personally controversial. The transactions to which it relates having occurred during your Administration and the discussion involving in some degree principles and measures sanctioned by you, I have thought they would not be without interest to you, on that account, as well as because they are of no inconsiderable moment to the permanent welfare of the Union. I have much satisfaction also in being thus offered the occasion of tendering anew the grateful sense I entertain of that public confidence with which you honour’d me at a time when, as now appears, there were not wanting efforts then unknown to me to shake it."

The "Collection of Documents" Adams refers to was The Duplicate Letters, the Fisheries and the Mississippi. Documents relating to Transactions at the Negotiation of Ghent (Washington, 1822; Shoemaker 7740). "This pamphlet was an answer to an attack on Adams by Jonathan Russell over proposals made during the Anglo-American negotiations at Ghent on the subject of the navigation of the Mississippi River. Adams’s rebuke was so overwhelmingly successful that thereafter to destroy someone’s reputation before the public was known as to "jonathanrussell' someone" (founders.archive.gov/documents/Madison/04-02-02-0506). Adams also sent a copy of this work to George Washington.