LXII

 

  1. Acquit of evil intention

  2. or inclination to perseverance in error
  3. to correct it with cheerfulness
  4. particularly as to the motives of actions
  5. of the great nations of Europe.’
  6. for the planting
  7. and ruling and ordering of New England
  8. from latitude 40° to 48°
  9. TO THE GOVERNOR AND THE COMPANIE

  10. whereon Thomas Adams
  11. 19th March 1628
  12. 18th assistant whereof the said Thomas Adams
  13. (abbreviated)
  14. Merry Mount become Braintree, a plantation near Weston’s
  15. Capn Wollanston’s became Merrymount.
  16. ten head 40 acres at 3/ (shillings) per acre
  17. who lasted 6 years, brewing commenced by the first Henry
  18. continued by Joseph Adams, his son
  19. at decease left a malting establishment.
  20. Born 1735; 19th Oct. old style; 30th new style John Adams
  21. its emolument gave but a bare scanty subsistence.
  22. ‘Passion of orthodoxy in fear, Calvinism has no other agent
  23. study of theology
  24. wd/ involve me in endless altercation
  25. to no purpose, of no design and do no good to
  26. any man whatsoever ...
  27. not less of order than liberty ...
  28. Burke, Gibbon, beautifiers of figures ...
  29. middle path, resource of second-rate statesmen ...
  30. produced not in Britain:
  31. tchatcha

  32. tax falls on the colonists.

  33. Lord North, purblind to the rights of a
  34. continent, eye on a few London merchants ...
  35. no longer saw redcoat
  36. as brother or as a protector
  37. (Boston about the size of Rapallo)
  38. scarce 16,000,
  39. habits of freedom now formed
  40. even among those who scarcely got so far as analysis
  41. so about 9 o’c in the morning Lard Narf wuz bein’ impassible
  42. was a light fall of snow in Bastun, in King St.
  43. and the 29th Styschire in Brattle St
  44. Murray’s barracks, and in this case was a
  45. barber’s boy ragging the sentinel
  46. so Capn Preston etc/
  47. lower order with billets of wood and ‘just roving’
  48. force in fact of a right sez Chawles Fwancis
  49. at same time, and in Louses of Parleymoot ...
  50. so fatal a precision of aim,
  51. sojers aiming??
  52. Gent standing in his doorway got 2 balls in the arm
  53. and five deaders ‘never Cadmus ...’ etc
  54. was more pregnant
  55. patriots need legal advisor
  56. measures involvin’ pro-fessional knowl-edge
  57. BE IT ENACTED / guv-nor council an’ house of assembly
  58. (Blaydon objectin’ to form ov these doggymints)
  59. Encourage arts commerce an’ farmin’
  60. not suggest anything on my own
  61. if ever abandoned by administration of England
  62. and outrage of the soldiery
  63. the bonds of affection be broken
  64. till then let us try cases by law IF by
  65. snowballs oystershells cinders
  66. was provocation
  67. reply was then manslaughter only
  68. in consideration of endocrine human emotions
  69. unuprootable, that is, human emotions—
  70. merely manslaughter
  71. brand ’em in hand
  72. but not hang ’em being mere human blighters
  73. common men like the rest of us
  74. subjekk to
  75. passions
  76. law not bent to wanton imagination
  77. and temper of individuals
  78. mens sine affectu
  79. that law rules
  80. that it be
  81. since affectu in 1770, Bastun.
  82. Bad law is the worst sort of tyranny. Burke
  83. disputed right to seize lands of the heathen
  84. and give it to any king, If we be feudatory
  85. parliament has no control over us
  86. We are merely
  87. under the monarch
  88. allegiance is to the king’s natural person ‘The Spensers
  89. said Coke, hatched treason denying this
  90. allegiance follows natural, not politic person
  91. are we mere slaves of some other people?
  92. Mercantile temper of Britain
  93. constitution ... without appeal to higher powers unwritten
  94. VOTED 92 to 8 against Oliver
  95. i.e. against king’s pay for the judges instead of
  96. having the wigs paid by the colony
  97. no jurors wd/ serve
  98. These are the stones of foundation
  99. J. A.’s reply to the Governor
  100. Impeachment of Oliver
  101. These stones we built on
  102. I don’t receive a shilling a month, wrote Mr Adams to Abigail
  103. in seventeen 74
  104. June 7th. approve of committee from the several colonies
  105. Bowdoin, Cushing, Sam Adams, John A. and Paine (Robert)
  106. ‘mope, I muse, I ruminate’ le
  107. personnel manque we have not men for the times
  108. Cut the overhead my dear wife and keep yr/ eye on the dairy
  109. non importation, non eating, non export, all bugwash
  110. but until they have proved it
  111. in experiment
  112. no use in telling ’em.
  113. Local legislation / that is basic /
  114. we wd. consent in matters of empire trade, It is
  115. by no means essential to trade with foreign nations at all
  116. as sez Chas Francis, China and Japan have proved it
  117. weekly in Boston Gazette from ‘74 until Lexington
  118. wrote Novanglus, then shooting started
  119. allus them as putts off taking a side
  120. and lastly in superintending the preparation of
  121. bills of credit, to serve as dollars durin’ the struggle
  122. then moved for a navee
  123. which he got, after some ridicule
  124. Guided pubk mind in formation of state constitutions
  125. e.g. N. York and N. Carolina
  126. retain what experience has found good,
  127. central authority, war, trade, and disputes between states
  128. republican jealousy which seeks to cut off all power
  129. from fear of of abuses does
  130. quite as much harm as a despotism
  131. 9th Feb to end of that year probably very laborious
  132. Birth of a Nation
  133. privateers not independence, what is?
  134. sovereign state
  135. acknowledged of nations and all that
  136. sovreign state and all that
  137. by other nations acknowledged
  138. when his Brit. majesty lords commons have excluded from
  139. crown protection
  140. May 12th, ‘as 12 months ago shd/ have been’
  141. regards independency being moved and accepted June 7th
  142. spies and persons counterfeiting—or abetting in same—
  143. our continental bills of credit
  144. or knowingly passing the same to be punished
  145. no word, orationem, probably not elegantissimam
  146. Routledge was elegant
  147. ‘said nothing not hackneyed six months before’
  148. wrote J. A. to his wife
  149. I said nothing etc/ letter to Chase from John Adams
  150. the people are addicted, as well as the great, to corruption
  151. Providence in which, unfashionable as the faith is, I believe
  152. Schicksal, sagt der Führer
  153. with pomp bells bonfires on the 2nd day of July
  154. than any social community has ever yet carried out
  155. reasonable act only by its geography
  156. INadequate concession by England,
  157. always too late (sero)
  158. Britain never in season, reciprocation by trade
  159. Cavalier, sentiment rather than principle
  160. TO serve liberty at a higher rate than tyrants wd/ pay ’em
  161. you shd/ have numbered yr/ regiments, you never send me
  162. accounts e.g. of guns, numbers, their weight of metal
  163. I never know of what size (frigates etc/)
  164. Impassible moderation of Washington
  165. saved us by stoppin’ catfights between officers
  166. For proportional representation—
  167. Clearest head in the Congress
  168. (John’s was)
  169. THUMON
  170. we want one man of integrity in that embassy
  171. Bordeaux, and passed on to Paris
  172. the ethics, so called, of Franklin
  173. IF moral analysis
  174. be not the purpose of historical writing ...
  175. Leyden Gazette, Magazine Politique Hollandais, Calkoen,
  176. Amsterdam bankers, directed to Mr A. by Gen. Washington
  177. (Cornwallis’ surrender)
  178. De Ruyter still cherished memories of Dutch freedom
  179. doivent tousjours crier la Liberté,—amis de la France shd/
  180. remarked Flassans
  181. and especially the consonance of Van Capellen
  182. personal visits to deputies at der Haag
  183. Leyden, Harlem, Zwol were petitions
  184. Zeland, Overyssel, Gronye, Utrecht and Guilderland
  185. so on the 19th of April
  186. John got his answer and recognition, categoric
  187. Mr Adams has demanded a categorical answer
  188. for the U.S.N.A. letters of credence / we say that he is to be now
  189. admitted as envoy 1782 Birth of a Nation
  190. corps diplomatique
  191. His literary connections sans which was no opening
  192. a stranger to language and manners so in his correspondence with
  193. Dumas, without money, friends, against intrigue
  194. to pecuniary advances
  195. in fact from Willink, van Staphorst and Fynje
  196. 5,000,000 guilders to maintain our overstrained credit
  197. till 1788 relations
  198. His relations with bankers in Amsterdam
  199. in October a treaty of commerce, by no arts or disguises
  200. no flatteries, no corruptions
  201. who to the age of 40 years
  202. had scarce crossed the edge of his province
  203. transferred to Adam Street in the Adelphi
  204. suspecting the post boy of humour in taking him there
  205. Magazines, daily pamphlets in hands of men of no character
  206. in fact one bookseller said to me: can get ’em at a guinea a day
  207. to write pro or con anything. Hired!
  208. Found archery still being practiced
  209. Credit till I returned to America
  210. Ice, broken ice, icy water
  211. 500 miles on a trotting horse in dead winter
  212. but never as on that journey to Holland
  213. (England to Holland)
  214. Struck down our men, shattered our mainmast
  215. never as on that going to Amsterdam,
  216. fundamentals in critical moments
  217. literature and philosophy are the rage in even
  218. fashionable circles
  219. and Frederick’s treaty of commerce
  220. toward mitigation of maritime law
  221. considerably in advance of world standards
  222. philanthropy not wholly free from suspicion that
  223. the new states cd/ profit
  224. The Duke said that John wd/ be stared at,
  225. to make gain out of neighbor’s troubles
  226. secondary misfortune of Britain.
  227. AS of a demonstration in Euclid:
  228. system of government
  229. Immediacy: in order to be of any effect
  230. perceive taste and elegance are the cry
  231. which I have not
  232. Libertatem Amicitiam Fidem

  233. a new power arose, that of fund holders
  234. fond of rotation so that to remove
  235. their abuse from me to the President (Washington)
  236. TO be punctual, to be confined to my seat
  237. (over the Senate)
  238. to see nothing done (by the senate)
  239. to hear nothing said, to say and DO nothing
  240. borrow for trading very unmercantile
  241. by thought, word, never encourage a war ...
  242. horror they are in lest peace shd/ continue
  243. will accumulate perpetual DEBT
  244. leading to yet more revolutions
  245. He (Adet) announced to the President the entire
  246. annihilation of factions in France (18 June ’95)
  247. He (Jay) returned yesterday to N. York
  248. very sociable and in fine spirits
  249. no Chief Justice yet named to succeed him
  250. happily he is elected before the
  251. treaty was published
  252. as factions
  253. against him wd/ have quarrelled whether right or the contrary
  254. to colour their opposition
  255. elegance of J. Q. A.’s style is admired
  256. properties of serenity in OBservation
  257. but where shall be found (1795) good men and true to fill offices
  258. Washington’s cabinet posts go a-begging
  259. to four senators, and to more whom I do not know nominatim
  260. King, Henry, Cotsworth (?) and Pinckney
  261. all have refused it (similarly for the War Office)
  262. expenses here so far beyond salaries
  263. Integrity rewarded with obloquy
  264. I believe the President will retire
  265. Dangerous that President and V.P. be in opposite boxes
  266. persons highest class of ability enlisted
  267. habitually in elaborate discussions
  268. assiduously read by the people
  269. I hate to live in Philadelphy in the summer
  270. hate speeches messages addresses levees and drawingrooms
  271. been 30 years among these rocks whistling
  272. (Amphion) and none wd/ ever move without money.
  273. Had I eloquence humour or irony, if Mr Jefferson be elected I
  274. believe I must put up for the House
  275. believe I
  276. might be of some use in that body, retirement
  277. (Washington’s) removed all check upon
  278. parties
  279. Mr Jefferson, Mr Hamilton
  280. the latter not enjoying the confidence of the people at large
  281. to oppose Ham to Jeff wd/ be futile
  282. whereon Ham set to undercut Adams
  283. ’96 till 1854 no president chosen against Pennsylvania
  284. the old man will make a good president’ remarked Mr Giles
  285. ‘but we shall have to check him occasion’lly’
  286. ‘manoeuvres that wd/ surprise you’ wrote John to Abigail
  287. a love of science and letters
  288. a desire to encourage schools and academies
  289. as only means to preserve our Constitution.
  290. Elleswood administered the oath with great energy.
  291. Napoleon’s conquest of Italy
  292. created a paradise for army contractors.
  293. whereon Senor Miranda
  294. was for making great conquests and Hamilton ...
  295. Talleyrand ... Mr A. not caught asleep his cabinet
  296. so that on the 18th of Feb. the senate recd/ the nomination of Murray
  297. and a communication of Talleyrand’s document
  298. assuming no risk in trusting
  299. the professions of Talleyrand.

  300. Not vindictive that I can remember
  301. though I have often been wroth
  302. at any rate staved off a war
  303. roused the land to be ready
  304. a pardon for all offenders
  305. (i.e. poor dutch Fries and companions)
  306. formed own view of Hamilton’s game (and his friends’)
  307. which wd/ certainly have tangled with Europe
  308. wont to give to his conversation
  309. full impetus of vehement will,
  310. charged course of Ham and his satellites
  311. to disappointment that they hadn’t
  312. got us entangled with Britain
  313. defensive and offensive
  314. Snot, Bott, Cott left over from
  315. Washington’s cabinet
  316. and as for Hamilton
  317. we may take it (my authority, ego scriptor cantilenae)
  318. that he was the Prime snot in ALL American history
  319. (11th Jan. 1938, from Rapallo)
  320. But for the clearest head in the congress
  321. 1774 and thereafter
  322. pater patriae
  323. the man who at certain points
  324. made us
  325. at certain points
  326. saved us
  327. by fairness, honesty and straight moving
  328. ARRIBA ADAMS