ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY President . Autograph letter signed in full as U.S. Minister to Russia, to P.P.F. DeGrand in Boston; St. Petersburg, 16 June 1812. 2 pages, 4to, integral address leaf with panel in Adams's hand, small seal hole in address leaf. Fine condition. EMBARGOES, ASSASSINATIONS AND AMERICA'S LICENTIOUS PRESS A good newsy letter, with fascinating comments on the ill effects of the fractious American press on candidates for high office. Adams has "received with much pleasure" DeGrand's recent letter "together with the file of Newspapers to the 14th. The Message of [Massachusetts] Govr. [Elbridge] Gerry concerning libels, and the Act of Incorporation of the State Bank. As I had scarcely seen any Boston Newspapers for several Months, these were highly acceptable...I have lately learnt that an Embargo for ninety days was laid in America shortly after the date of your letter, but I hope there will be no occasion for the renewal of it, and that after its expiration there will yet be time for writing....It was my wish to have returned to the United States this year, but I have now postponed this intention until the next Summer. "Your anecdote from Washington amused us all very much; especially as the alarm of assassination terminated only in the damage of a pistol-ball passing through two doors. In this quarter of the globe, Assassination appears more in the natural horror of its shape, and for several months past has become in England frequent, and fatal beyond all example. That of the British Prime-Minister Mr. Perceval, as he was entering the House of Commons has shocked all Europe, and will no doubt be not less affecting in America...." Adams comments on W.J.T. Gilman, who "from the Reputation he has always borne...will be again what he has been before, a very good Governor. Mr. Plumer is a particular friend of mine, and I have a high opinion both of his Judgement and of his Integrity. The unfortunate prevalance of Party spirit among us, and the licentiousness of the press, makes it almost impossible for any one to be, I do not say candid and charitable, but even just to the real characters of our Candidates for high Offices. The Attorney and Soliciter General in the pamphlet you sent me report nearly three hundred libels to have been published within six Months in the Newspapers of the single Town of Boston. If the faces of all the libellers were reddened and blackened, in Mr. Stackpole's manner, what a painted tribe they would exhibit!..."
ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY President . Autograph letter signed in full as U.S. Minister to Russia, to P.P.F. DeGrand in Boston; St. Petersburg, 16 June 1812. 2 pages, 4to, integral address leaf with panel in Adams's hand, small seal hole in address leaf. Fine condition. EMBARGOES, ASSASSINATIONS AND AMERICA'S LICENTIOUS PRESS A good newsy letter, with fascinating comments on the ill effects of the fractious American press on candidates for high office. Adams has "received with much pleasure" DeGrand's recent letter "together with the file of Newspapers to the 14th. The Message of [Massachusetts] Govr. [Elbridge] Gerry concerning libels, and the Act of Incorporation of the State Bank. As I had scarcely seen any Boston Newspapers for several Months, these were highly acceptable...I have lately learnt that an Embargo for ninety days was laid in America shortly after the date of your letter, but I hope there will be no occasion for the renewal of it, and that after its expiration there will yet be time for writing....It was my wish to have returned to the United States this year, but I have now postponed this intention until the next Summer. "Your anecdote from Washington amused us all very much; especially as the alarm of assassination terminated only in the damage of a pistol-ball passing through two doors. In this quarter of the globe, Assassination appears more in the natural horror of its shape, and for several months past has become in England frequent, and fatal beyond all example. That of the British Prime-Minister Mr. Perceval, as he was entering the House of Commons has shocked all Europe, and will no doubt be not less affecting in America...." Adams comments on W.J.T. Gilman, who "from the Reputation he has always borne...will be again what he has been before, a very good Governor. Mr. Plumer is a particular friend of mine, and I have a high opinion both of his Judgement and of his Integrity. The unfortunate prevalance of Party spirit among us, and the licentiousness of the press, makes it almost impossible for any one to be, I do not say candid and charitable, but even just to the real characters of our Candidates for high Offices. The Attorney and Soliciter General in the pamphlet you sent me report nearly three hundred libels to have been published within six Months in the Newspapers of the single Town of Boston. If the faces of all the libellers were reddened and blackened, in Mr. Stackpole's manner, what a painted tribe they would exhibit!..."
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
