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ADAMS, John Quincy (1767-1848), President. Autograph letter signed ("John Q. Adams") to his brother Thomas Boylston Adams, London, 10 April 1796. 2 pages, 4to, integral blank, very fine.
AN EARLY ADAMS LETTER FROM HIS FIRST POLITICAL APPOINTMENT. In 1794, Adams had been appointed Minister to the Netherlands by President Washington, but, in late 1795, he had been ordered to London in place of minister Thomas Pinckney to London to officially exchange the ratification of Jay's Treaty with the British Government. Here, Adams writes to his brother, who served as his secretary in Holland whom he had left in charge of ministerial affairs. After discussing matters surrounding the recent departure of French Minister François-Joseph Noël from his post in Holland, Adams describes the current financial conditions in England: "There are great complaints here of distress among the merchants for want of money. I suppose there will soon be some great failures. The Stocks are falling. So is the price of grain & flour. As to these last articles either the present abundance or the late scarcity, must be artificial."
Adams's stay in London was extended several months beyond the ratification ceremony. Predictably unhappy holding a post for another, Adams avoided all public affairs and discussions of diplomatic matters. He explains his situation: "I am still pinioned; but as you know I am never inclined to be peevish or fretful, I bear my detention with all my customary philosophical indifference." While in London, Adams began to court his future wife Louisa Johnson, and he informs Thomas "I spend my time pleasantly enough certainly with a more extensive sociality than I should at the Hague" but complains "my studies! my beliefs! my brother! they are susceptible of no substitutes; and the idea of your illness, alone in the midst of strangers sharpens my impatience to vexation."
AN EARLY ADAMS LETTER FROM HIS FIRST POLITICAL APPOINTMENT. In 1794, Adams had been appointed Minister to the Netherlands by President Washington, but, in late 1795, he had been ordered to London in place of minister Thomas Pinckney to London to officially exchange the ratification of Jay's Treaty with the British Government. Here, Adams writes to his brother, who served as his secretary in Holland whom he had left in charge of ministerial affairs. After discussing matters surrounding the recent departure of French Minister François-Joseph Noël from his post in Holland, Adams describes the current financial conditions in England: "There are great complaints here of distress among the merchants for want of money. I suppose there will soon be some great failures. The Stocks are falling. So is the price of grain & flour. As to these last articles either the present abundance or the late scarcity, must be artificial."
Adams's stay in London was extended several months beyond the ratification ceremony. Predictably unhappy holding a post for another, Adams avoided all public affairs and discussions of diplomatic matters. He explains his situation: "I am still pinioned; but as you know I am never inclined to be peevish or fretful, I bear my detention with all my customary philosophical indifference." While in London, Adams began to court his future wife Louisa Johnson, and he informs Thomas "I spend my time pleasantly enough certainly with a more extensive sociality than I should at the Hague" but complains "my studies! my beliefs! my brother! they are susceptible of no substitutes; and the idea of your illness, alone in the midst of strangers sharpens my impatience to vexation."