Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1

Thursday 27th. JQA Thursday 27th. Adams, John Quincy

Thursday 27th.

Stevens went to the lewtenants of the Police for a passport to go out of the kingdom. He could not get it till 10 o clock. At twelve o clock we dined. Mr. Austin,1 Mr. Appleton,2 Mr. Dana, 36Mr. Thaxter Mr. Fox3 Captn. Robinson and Dr. Foulk4 took leave of us and at about 1 o clock we sot out. We passed over the boulevards and out of the porte St. Martin and left Paris. We had very good roads passed over some land very well cultivated and at about ten o clock at night we arrived at Compiègne which is a small city and a very old one. We came 9 Posts and a half which is 57 Miles to day.

Jonathan Loring Austin, one-time secret agent for Franklin in England and secretary for JA at Passy, had come back to Europe in a vain endeavor to secure a loan for Massachusetts from Dutch, French, and Spanish authorities (Sibley-Shipton, Harvard Graduates, 16:303–308; Adams Family Correspondence, 3:262–263).

John Appleton, son of Nathaniel Appleton, the commissioner of the Continental Loan Office and Boston merchant, was in Paris on mercantile business and later followed the Adams' party to Holland, carrying letters for JA (Francis Dana to JA, 31 July, Adams Papers; Adams Family Correspondence, 3:390, where the date of Dana's letter is incorrectly given as 31 Aug.).

George Fox, an American traveler in Europe, portrayed as a man of “fortune and genius,” sympathetic to the promotion of agriculture, natural history, and the arts in America (Anne H. Cresson, “Biographical Sketch of Joseph Fox, Esq., of Philadelphia,” PMHB , 32:196 [April 1908]; Cal. Franklin Papers, A.P.S., 2:243).

Dr. John Foulke, described in Benjamin Rush's letter of introduction for him to JA as “a young gentleman of a respectable Quaker family who goes to France to finish his Studies in Medicine” (Benjamin Rush to JA, 28 April, Adams Papers).

Friday 28th of July 1780. JQA Friday 28th of July 1780. Adams, John Quincy

Friday 28th of July 1780.

This morning we got up at about 5 o clock. We breakfasted upon tea and the Horses being come at about 6 o clock we sot away from Compiegne. We had very good roads. We dined in the carriage and went as far as Valenciennes. At a small city call'd Cambray we were stopped to be search'd but by the means of a half a crown conducted into their hands we passed along. At Valenciennes we were stopped again for the same thing twice but by the foresaid Manner we passed along. We Shall lodge at the sign of the swan; we got in at about half after nine o clock. This is the last city in France. The whole country which we have passed over to day is cultivated, we saw wheat, rye, Barley, oats, flax, and all sorts of grain. What difference there is from this part of the country than from going from Paris to Nantes!

Saturday 29th 1780. JQA Saturday 29th 1780. Adams, John Quincy

Saturday 29th 1780.

This Morning we got up at about 7 o clock and at about half after seven we set away from VALENCIENNES. We were stopped a going out of the city by the excisemen but by the way 37of yesterday passed along. When we had got almost at the end of our post we were stopped again, but the same way and we passed along. But at the end of the post we were stopped and by the excisemen who belong to her Majesty the Empress Queen;1 we were searched and our trunk was plumbed. Her Majesty's arms were stamped on a bit of Lead and put on to our trunk, which hinders our being stopped any more. We passed by MONS which is a city and a very pretty one. The Meadows all around it, the sheperds flocks, cattle feeding, the green orchards, made a beautiful prospect. In fine, I never saw a more beautiful one in my life; at about half after five we arrived at Bruxelles. Pappa went out to find Mr. Jennings2 but he was not at home. My pappa met Mrs. Izard3 in the street. At about eight o clock Mr. Jennings came to our lodgings (we lodge at L'hotel de L'lmperatrice) and stay'd some time after which he went away.

Maria Theresa (1717–1780), Archduchess of Austria and Empress of the Hapsburg dominions which included the Austrian Netherlands (Larousse, Grand dictionnaire universel ).

Edmund Jenings, Maryland-born, English-educated lawyer and commercial agent who moved from England to Brussels, where he proved helpful to JA in placing pro-American articles in the British press. For a more thorough account of Jenings' connection with JA and his other activities and subsequent disappointments, see JA, Diary and Autobiography , 2:355–356.

Mrs. Alice Izard, a De Lancey from New York, was the wife of Ralph, a wealthy South Carolina plantation owner and U.S. commissioner to the court of Tuscany in 1777. He was just returning to America, recalled by the congress. The government of Tuscany had never received Izard as commissioner. Consequently, he had remained in France, where he and Franklin quarreled bitterly over his prerogatives (Correspondence of Mr. Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, from the Year 1774 to 1804; with a Short Memoir. Volume I., ed. Anne Izard Deas, N.Y., 1844, p. v–vi). The Izards' numerous offspring, several of whom JQA mentions in the following day's entry, cannot be specifically identified, but they are listed in Langdon Cheves, “Izard of South Carolina,” S.C. Hist, and Geneal. Mag., 2:205–240 (July 1901).