AMERICAN HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS AND LETTERS
The Collection of
MR. & MRS. HARRY SPIRO
ADAMS, JOHN, President. Autograph letter signed in full as United States minister to Great Britain, TO SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN JAY ("His Excellency John Jay Esqr. Secretary of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs"), marked "Duplicate" by Adams, Westminster [London], 2 June 1785. 8 pages, 4to, each recto with a thin brown strip of paper adhering from an old mount, not affecting legibility, the text marked off into short segments with brackets to be sent by diplomatic cipher.
Details
ADAMS, JOHN, President. Autograph letter signed in full as United States minister to Great Britain, TO SECRETARY OF STATE JOHN JAY ("His Excellency John Jay Esqr. Secretary of State for the Department of Foreign Affairs"), marked "Duplicate" by Adams, Westminster [London], 2 June 1785. 8 pages, 4to, each recto with a thin brown strip of paper adhering from an old mount, not affecting legibility, the text marked off into short segments with brackets to be sent by diplomatic cipher.
ADAMS' FIRST AUDIENCE WITH KING GEORGE III: AN EXCEPTIONAL DIPLOMATIC LETTER
One of the longest extant letters of the second President (only parts of which may be quoted here), constituting Adams's first report to John Jay, the day after formally presenting his diplomatic credentials as envoy to George III. In this remarkable dispatch, Adams recounts in minute detail his conversation with the King who had so recently and so strenuously opposed American independence. Adams reports that it was suggested to him that because of his "singular situation...it was indispensable that I should make a speech" at his first audience with the King. "All this was parallel to the advice given by the Comte de Vergennes to Mr. Jefferson," but Adams confesses that "my first Thought and Inclination had been to deliver my Credentials silently and retire." The complex protocol had been set in motion, however. On Wednesday, June 1, Adams was summoned to St. James palace, which was "very full of Ministers of State, Bishops and all other sorts of Courtiers...You may well suppose that I was the Focus of all Eyes." Soon the Marquis of Carmathen led the nervous envoy into the King's presence: "the door was shut and I was left with His Majesty and the Secretary of State alone. I made the three reverences [bows]...according to the usage, and then addressed myself to his Majesty.... 'The United States of America, have appointed me their Minister Plenipotentiary....I have the honour to assure your Majesty of their Unanimous Disposition and desire, to cultivate the most friendly and liberal Intercourse between your Majesty's Subjects and their [the United States'] Citizens....'" His appointment, he continued, "'will form an Epoch, in the History of England and of America'" and he is honored to be the first American to hold this post and "'stand in your Majesty's Royal Presence in a Diplomatic Character."' He would be "'the happiest of Men,'" if he were able to "'be instrumental in recommending my Country, more and more to your Majesty's Royal Benevolence,'" and restore "'an entire Esteem, confidence and affection'" between two peoples who "'have the same Language, a Similar Religion and Kindred Blood.'"
"The King listened...with dignity, it is true, but with an apparent emotion. Whether it was the nature of the Interview, or whether it was my visible agitation...that touched him, I cannot say, but he was much affected...." The King responded with a tremor in his voice: "'The Circumstances of the Audience are so Extraordinary, the language you have held so extremely proper and the Feelings you have discovered, so justly adapted to the Occasion, that I must say, that I not only receive with Pleasure, the Assurances....but that I am very glad the choice has fallen upon you to be their Minister.'" George then refers to the Revolution, assuring Adams that "I have done nothing in the late Contest, but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do by the Duty I owed my People. I will be very frank with you. I was the last to consent to the Separation; but the Separation having been made...I would be the first to meet the Friendship of the United States as an independant Power....'
The King then questioned Adams whether he had come via France. When Adams replied that he had, "the King put on an Air of Familiarity, and smiling or rather laughing said, 'There is an opinion, among some People, that you are not the most Attracted of all your Countrymen, to the Manners of France.' I was surprised at this, because I thought it an Indiscretion and a descent from his Dignity. I was a little embarrassed, but determined not to deny the Truth, nor leave him to infer from it, any Attachment to England on the other, I threw off as much Gravity as I could and assumed an Air of Gaiety, and a Tone of Derision, as far as was decent, and said 'That Opinion Sir, is not mistaken...., I have no Attachments but to my own Country.' The King replied, quick as lightning 'An Honest Man will never have any other.'" Adams soon afterwards took his leave.
Adams comments that he believes he has recorded the conversation accurately, but had some difficulty in understanding the King, who, he explains, "hisses sometimes between his Periods." He believes "that all which he said to me, should be kept Secret in America," although Congress should be informed. He comments that in spite of his encouraging first interview, "we can infer nothing from all this concerning the success of my mission." Finally, he observes that at the Court "the Essence of Things is lost in Ceremony," but that "we must submit to what we cannot alter. Patience is the only Remedy...."
Provenance:
Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 3 June 1980, lot 867).
ADAMS' FIRST AUDIENCE WITH KING GEORGE III: AN EXCEPTIONAL DIPLOMATIC LETTER
One of the longest extant letters of the second President (only parts of which may be quoted here), constituting Adams's first report to John Jay, the day after formally presenting his diplomatic credentials as envoy to George III. In this remarkable dispatch, Adams recounts in minute detail his conversation with the King who had so recently and so strenuously opposed American independence. Adams reports that it was suggested to him that because of his "singular situation...it was indispensable that I should make a speech" at his first audience with the King. "All this was parallel to the advice given by the Comte de Vergennes to Mr. Jefferson," but Adams confesses that "my first Thought and Inclination had been to deliver my Credentials silently and retire." The complex protocol had been set in motion, however. On Wednesday, June 1, Adams was summoned to St. James palace, which was "very full of Ministers of State, Bishops and all other sorts of Courtiers...You may well suppose that I was the Focus of all Eyes." Soon the Marquis of Carmathen led the nervous envoy into the King's presence: "the door was shut and I was left with His Majesty and the Secretary of State alone. I made the three reverences [bows]...according to the usage, and then addressed myself to his Majesty.... 'The United States of America, have appointed me their Minister Plenipotentiary....I have the honour to assure your Majesty of their Unanimous Disposition and desire, to cultivate the most friendly and liberal Intercourse between your Majesty's Subjects and their [the United States'] Citizens....'" His appointment, he continued, "'will form an Epoch, in the History of England and of America'" and he is honored to be the first American to hold this post and "'stand in your Majesty's Royal Presence in a Diplomatic Character."' He would be "'the happiest of Men,'" if he were able to "'be instrumental in recommending my Country, more and more to your Majesty's Royal Benevolence,'" and restore "'an entire Esteem, confidence and affection'" between two peoples who "'have the same Language, a Similar Religion and Kindred Blood.'"
"The King listened...with dignity, it is true, but with an apparent emotion. Whether it was the nature of the Interview, or whether it was my visible agitation...that touched him, I cannot say, but he was much affected...." The King responded with a tremor in his voice: "'The Circumstances of the Audience are so Extraordinary, the language you have held so extremely proper and the Feelings you have discovered, so justly adapted to the Occasion, that I must say, that I not only receive with Pleasure, the Assurances....but that I am very glad the choice has fallen upon you to be their Minister.'" George then refers to the Revolution, assuring Adams that "I have done nothing in the late Contest, but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do by the Duty I owed my People. I will be very frank with you. I was the last to consent to the Separation; but the Separation having been made...I would be the first to meet the Friendship of the United States as an independant Power....'
The King then questioned Adams whether he had come via France. When Adams replied that he had, "the King put on an Air of Familiarity, and smiling or rather laughing said, 'There is an opinion, among some People, that you are not the most Attracted of all your Countrymen, to the Manners of France.' I was surprised at this, because I thought it an Indiscretion and a descent from his Dignity. I was a little embarrassed, but determined not to deny the Truth, nor leave him to infer from it, any Attachment to England on the other, I threw off as much Gravity as I could and assumed an Air of Gaiety, and a Tone of Derision, as far as was decent, and said 'That Opinion Sir, is not mistaken...., I have no Attachments but to my own Country.' The King replied, quick as lightning 'An Honest Man will never have any other.'" Adams soon afterwards took his leave.
Adams comments that he believes he has recorded the conversation accurately, but had some difficulty in understanding the King, who, he explains, "hisses sometimes between his Periods." He believes "that all which he said to me, should be kept Secret in America," although Congress should be informed. He comments that in spite of his encouraging first interview, "we can infer nothing from all this concerning the success of my mission." Finally, he observes that at the Court "the Essence of Things is lost in Ceremony," but that "we must submit to what we cannot alter. Patience is the only Remedy...."
Provenance:
Elsie O. and Philip D. Sang Foundation (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 3 June 1980, lot 867).