Adams Family Correspondence, volume 12
March 1798]1
The President received your Letter this morning dated 5 Feb’ry.2 the Rule of the former President not to answer Letters of this
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nature, he has abided by. his Rule is to place all Canditates for office upon a Book kept for that purpose, and to appoint to office such persons as come best recommended for abilities integrity and industery. in your case he would be particuliarly delicate, for as he has never removed a Man from office, but such as have betrayd their trust by becomeing publick defaulters, or otherways misconducting themselves, So would he be peculiarly cautious not to appoint to office any one who does not produce very respectable Recommendations he therefore desires you to procure such and forward to him. Mr Grove of the House is well known to you. you had better write to him—and if you are at all acquainted with mr Bloodworth or Govr Martin who are Senators from that state, an application to them might not be amiss either from yourself or some Gentlemen who knows them, for tho Born & Educated in N England, I do not know whether you are known to a single Gentleman now in senate from that State.3 All Nominations you well know go from the President to the Senate, whose duty it is, before they advise & consent to the same, to inquire who the Gentleman is & what is his Character?
altho the President has not made it a rule as his predecessor did never to appoint a Relation to office, Yet you must be sensible a more than ordinary delicacy is necessary for him to observe on such occasions, and a faithfull discharge of the trust will be expected and required on no other terms would he continue in office the nearest and dearest Friend he has upon Earth—
Your sister Louissa is well she heard both from your mother and sister last week who were both well.
My Love kind Regards to your Brother whose life I hope as well as yours may be prolonged to serve Your Country, and to be a comfort to your Relatives. The death both of your sister & Brother who have been cut of in the morning of their days, has been a very melancholy event to me Who loved and esteemed them highly. they were both deserving. Let not the Warning be in vain to you my young Friends
”]That Life is long which answers lifes great End—
I close my Letter rather seriously, but not more so than I hope a subject of such concequence will be considerd buy you for there is no sure and certain dependance to be placed upon any Man, however high and dignified his office, who has not solid principles of 424 Religion and Virtue for their basis— my affection and Regard both for your Brother and you will be a sufficient appoligy I trust for the freedom with which I have written. I am / Your affectionate / Aunt
Dft (Adams Papers).
The dating of this letter is based on the endorsement, “Recd. March 2. 1798,” that JA wrote on Smith’s 5 Feb. letter, for which see note 2, below.
In his letter to JA of 5 Feb., Smith requested an appointment as the next revenue inspector for the first survey of North Carolina in the place of Thomas Overton, who intended to resign (Adams Papers).
William Barry Grove (1764–1818), a North Carolina lawyer, served as a Federalist in the House of Representatives from 1791 until 1803. Alexander Martin (1740–1807), the former governor of North Carolina, served in the Senate from 1793 to 1799 (
Biog. Dir. Cong.
). There is no evidence that Grove, Martin, or Timothy Bloodworth wrote Smith a recommendation, and he did not receive a nomination under JA.
AA combined two lines from Edward Young, The Complaint; or, Night Thoughts, Night V, line 773, and Night II, line 650.
Smith replied to AA [post 2 March 1798], thanking her and JA for their kindness and patronage thus far. He also assured his aunt that he would be able to demonstrate his merit (Adams Papers).
r.
d.1798.
I have enclosed a Letter to Mr. Webster in Answer to his which you forwarded to me, I have left it open, when you have read it, please to seal & forward it. If I have faild in any of the striking Features of the Epidemic of 1761, as you was with Your Father who died with that Distemper, your Memory will perhaps enable you to supply the Defects.1
Mr. Cranch has several Cows, which He wishes you to purchase in April; the Addition of his Farm to yours will call for more Stock— unless you should think best to improve the Pasture for fatting Cattle— There are Three yoke of oxen on the several Farms that must be fatted or sold— they are too old to keep any longer— Soule who liv’d with you for some Time and was well approv’d of, will as I am inform’d apply to me to be hir’d, at least one Man more than Porter & Billings will be wanted for the coming Season—and should I not receive your Instructions seasonably, I shall feel myself rather at a Loss how to conduct, more especially as I have not received your Plan of operations for the Home Farm— I do not apprehend that you will hire Billings any longer than the Farm He is engaged for—2 the Spring Work may be done with Three Hands, in the Summer you will probably want more.
We have had some very good Sledding in February, & considerable Snow still remains on the Ground— Hay is become an Article of considerable Importance it fetches from 8s/ to 9d/ in Boston—
What must be the Fate of a Nation, what its Character? when the Seat of its Legislature becomes a Theatre on which Envy, Malice, Rage & Passion are let loose and vulgar Arts of Revenge are practised. Oh Wretched. Adieu—
I am with great Respect & Affection / Your H Servt.
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “The [. . . .]”; internal address: “The President of the United States.” Dft (Adams Papers). Some loss of text due to a cut manuscript.
On 13 Jan. Noah Webster wrote to JA asking about the presence of influenza in Boston at the time of Deacon John Adams’ death (Adams Papers). In his 16 Jan. reply, JA confirmed that in 1761 his father and several others in Braintree “died of a Fever occasioned by an endemial Cold, so much like the Influenza that I Suppose it to have been the same” (NN:John Adams Letters and Documents). He suggested that Tufts might be able to supply additional information and then forwarded Webster’s letter to Tufts. The letter Tufts enclosed here was sent by JA to Webster on 13 March 1798 and is the source of information printed in Webster’s A Brief History of the Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases, 2 vols., Hartford, Conn., 1799, 1:250, Evans, No. 36687 (Tufts to JA, 20 Feb., Adams Papers; JA to Webster, 13 March, NN: John Adams Letters and Documents). A Dft of Tufts’ letter to Webster, dated [ante 2 March], is in the Adams Papers.
In the Dft of the letter printed here, Tufts wrote in more detail about the Adams farmhand: “I have not much Expectation from Billings, he has made several Excursions since you left Quincy—Every one of which has evidently wrecked his Constitution—”