ADAMS, John (1732-1826). Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), to Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), Quincy, 8 January 1812. 4 full pages, 4to, nearly invisible mends to small tears at creases .
ADAMS, John (1732-1826). Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), to Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), Quincy, 8 January 1812. 4 full pages, 4to, nearly invisible mends to small tears at creases . "'GENERAL WASHINGTON WAS A HYPOCRITE!'" AND HE THOUGHT 'DR. RUSH A VILLAIN'..." FOR "MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS I HAVE LIVED IN AN ENEMIES COUNTRY." One of the most remarkable Adams letters to come to auction, as Adams mocks the "absurd and ridiculous stories" that constitute the history of his era. This lengthy, high-spirited letter from one of the great American epistolary exchanges is by turns satirical, comical, contemptuous, and sometimes bitter--the full gamut of Adams's emotions are on display--as he talks of the long pattern of lies and slander in American political life. For "more than fifty years," he says, "I have lived in an enemies country." He starts by disclaiming any knowledge of English writer (and one-time American pamphleteer) William Cobbett: "Now I assure you upon my honour and the faith of the friendship between us; that I never saw the face of that Cobbet; that I should not know him if I meet him in my Porridge Dish; that I never wrote one word in his paper and had no more connection with him than with Philip Freneau or with Mr. Wm. Duane....Another thing, Dr. Rush! You know it was circulated and believed throughout the City of Philadelphia, that I had set up and established John Fenno and his United States Gazette; to introduce Monarchy. I say you know it, because you told me so yourself at the Sanatorium said that Freneau's National Gazette was set to oppose the Vice President [i.e., Adams] and his United States Gazette. Now I disclose to you I never knew anything of Fenno till I found him established in New York and his paper established; that I never contributed a farthing to his establishment or support, and that I never wrote a line in his paper but the Discourses on Davila . You know too the time when there was not a Quaker or Proprietary Partisan in Pennsylvania who would not gladly have seen my neck in a halter and me kicking in the air...and merely because I was suspected of having Independence in view as a last resort." Nothing embittered Adams more than the political abuse printed against him in the Jeffersonian press by the likes of Freneau, Duane or Benjamin Franklin Bache. That vitriol had caused the decade-long breach in his friendship with Jefferson. Thinking of this puts him in a self-pitying frame of mind. "You know that I have lived in an enemies country in France and Holland and in England, as well as in Boston, Massachusetts and throughout the Union, and am so to this day. What of all this? Such are the Terms upon which an honest man and real friend to his country must live in times such as those we have been destined to witness. And what is worse than all we must leave those prejudices and enmities to our children as their inheritance. From the year 1761, now more than fifty years, I have constantly lived in an enemies country. And that without having one personal enemy in the world, that I know of. I do not consider little flirts and spats and miffs and piques forgotten by me in a moment as enmities tho others may have remembered them longer." One might call this letter part of the therapy Adams needed to be able to repair his friendship with Jefferson--something Rush avidly sought, and, indeed, was actively working to bring about at this time. A more forbearing side of Adams comes out when he turns next to an amusing and instructive story of a conversation with a gentleman who claimed to have solid proof that "General Washington was a hypocrite!" because he appointed Rush Treasurer of the Mint, even though "'he thought Dr. Rush a villain...It was Hypocrisy,'" said the man, "'to appoint him to such an office of trust.'" Adams had the great satisfaction of informing him that it was he , not Washington, who appointed Rush to that post. Not surprisingly the gentleman clung to his low opinion of
ADAMS, John (1732-1826). Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), to Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), Quincy, 8 January 1812. 4 full pages, 4to, nearly invisible mends to small tears at creases .
ADAMS, John (1732-1826). Autograph letter signed ("John Adams"), to Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), Quincy, 8 January 1812. 4 full pages, 4to, nearly invisible mends to small tears at creases . "'GENERAL WASHINGTON WAS A HYPOCRITE!'" AND HE THOUGHT 'DR. RUSH A VILLAIN'..." FOR "MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS I HAVE LIVED IN AN ENEMIES COUNTRY." One of the most remarkable Adams letters to come to auction, as Adams mocks the "absurd and ridiculous stories" that constitute the history of his era. This lengthy, high-spirited letter from one of the great American epistolary exchanges is by turns satirical, comical, contemptuous, and sometimes bitter--the full gamut of Adams's emotions are on display--as he talks of the long pattern of lies and slander in American political life. For "more than fifty years," he says, "I have lived in an enemies country." He starts by disclaiming any knowledge of English writer (and one-time American pamphleteer) William Cobbett: "Now I assure you upon my honour and the faith of the friendship between us; that I never saw the face of that Cobbet; that I should not know him if I meet him in my Porridge Dish; that I never wrote one word in his paper and had no more connection with him than with Philip Freneau or with Mr. Wm. Duane....Another thing, Dr. Rush! You know it was circulated and believed throughout the City of Philadelphia, that I had set up and established John Fenno and his United States Gazette; to introduce Monarchy. I say you know it, because you told me so yourself at the Sanatorium said that Freneau's National Gazette was set to oppose the Vice President [i.e., Adams] and his United States Gazette. Now I disclose to you I never knew anything of Fenno till I found him established in New York and his paper established; that I never contributed a farthing to his establishment or support, and that I never wrote a line in his paper but the Discourses on Davila . You know too the time when there was not a Quaker or Proprietary Partisan in Pennsylvania who would not gladly have seen my neck in a halter and me kicking in the air...and merely because I was suspected of having Independence in view as a last resort." Nothing embittered Adams more than the political abuse printed against him in the Jeffersonian press by the likes of Freneau, Duane or Benjamin Franklin Bache. That vitriol had caused the decade-long breach in his friendship with Jefferson. Thinking of this puts him in a self-pitying frame of mind. "You know that I have lived in an enemies country in France and Holland and in England, as well as in Boston, Massachusetts and throughout the Union, and am so to this day. What of all this? Such are the Terms upon which an honest man and real friend to his country must live in times such as those we have been destined to witness. And what is worse than all we must leave those prejudices and enmities to our children as their inheritance. From the year 1761, now more than fifty years, I have constantly lived in an enemies country. And that without having one personal enemy in the world, that I know of. I do not consider little flirts and spats and miffs and piques forgotten by me in a moment as enmities tho others may have remembered them longer." One might call this letter part of the therapy Adams needed to be able to repair his friendship with Jefferson--something Rush avidly sought, and, indeed, was actively working to bring about at this time. A more forbearing side of Adams comes out when he turns next to an amusing and instructive story of a conversation with a gentleman who claimed to have solid proof that "General Washington was a hypocrite!" because he appointed Rush Treasurer of the Mint, even though "'he thought Dr. Rush a villain...It was Hypocrisy,'" said the man, "'to appoint him to such an office of trust.'" Adams had the great satisfaction of informing him that it was he , not Washington, who appointed Rush to that post. Not surprisingly the gentleman clung to his low opinion of
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
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