Beschreibung:

ADAMS, JOHN, President . Autograph letter signed (John Adams") to his friend and fellow Signer DR. BENJAMIN RUSH of Philadelphia; Quincy, Mass., 3 February 1813. 2 pages, 4to, 250 x 199 mm. (9 7/8 x 7 13/16 in.), a tiny blank corner torn away, otherwise in very fine condition. A SUPERB LETTER COMMENTING ON HIS RECONCILIATION WITH THOMAS JEFFERSON AND ENUMERATING THE SURVIVING SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE A typically chiding letter to his old comrade Rush, who a year earlier had effected almost singlehandedly a reconciliation between Adams and Jefferson after almost a decade of bitter estrangement. In light of Rush's role in healing their breach, Adams's comments on Jefferson here are of great interest. First, Adams comments on national news: "I congratulate you, and your State and our Nation on the Acquisition of Such a Secretary of the Navy as you represent The Honourable William Jones to be. I shall certainly write him a letter, before long: for I am recommender General of Midshipmen and Pursors and Ensigns. I have not dared as yet to rise to a Lieutenant in Navy or Army. Talk not of Dignity. Nothing can be more ridiculous and contemptible than the Dignity of a President or a Governor, whom every Puppy in the Streets, and every profligaÿe scribbler in a prostituted Newspaper can call a Cheat a Lyar, a Scoundrel a Villain or Knave and an Imposter when he pleases with Impunity. "...I hope Pensilvania will no longer complain that they have not their Share of Power. You have the Secretary of the Treasury [Albert Gallatin]; the Secretary of War [John Armstrong], the Secretary of the Navy [Jones] and the Controuler of the Treasury and I presume will soon have The Surgeon and Physician General of the Army. And how many officers of the Navy and Army? Do you not see that Pensilvania is to be pitted against New York! And who can blame it? I know your prudence too well; not to know that you will not answer these questions: and I approve of that Prudence. Feathers and Straws Shew, which Way the Wind blowes. Such Beings as Jones and Barry Sett up Pretensions! And such Pretentions are abetted and trumpetted by State Pride! "I inclose you a Letter from Governor Langdon which you will be so good as to return to me, as you have those of Smith and Waterhouse by the next Post. Have you read Waterhouse's Botanist? His independent Whig? or any other of his Writings? How these Things all go by Nation, by Soil, by Climate, by Country, by State, by City, by Party? Let me illustrate, by familiar Example. Had you been born in Scotland, composed and published your medical works there, and all your other writings, mutatis mutandis , you would have been trumpeted, throughout all Europe and celebrated in all Languages as a greater Man than Sir John Sinclair or Walter Scott or Burns the other Poet; nay as a more usefull Author than Hume or Robertson. Had Waterhouse been born, educated, studied, wrote and published in Philadelphia, he would have been a Rival of Dr. Rush. "Six, of the remaining nine Subscribers of the declaration of Independence will soon take their flight after Clymer. Jefferson, Gerry and Rush, have yet probably a longer run. Jefferson is as tough as a lignum Vitae Knot. He rides Journeys on Horseback. I have, within a few days a Letter from him, a very obliging one, written with all the precision of his best years. Not one symptom of decay or decline can I discern in it..." George Clymer, a Signer from New York, had died on 24 January, and it may have been the news of Clymer's passing which provoked Adams to reflect upon how few of his 56 colleagues of 1776 survived. Ironically, his good friend Rush was to die only two months later, followed by Elbridge Gerry and Robert Treat Paine in 1814, by Thomas McKean in 1817, William Ellery in 1820 and William Floyd in 1821. Adams's prediction that Jefferson would live many years was accurate, and it is a well-known coincidence that both died on 4 July 1826. Adams last words