 | Letters of Mrs. Adams, |  |
TO JOHN ADAMS.
I closed a long letter to you only two days ago, but
as no opportunity is omitted by me, I embrace this,
as Colonel Fleury was kind enough to write me on
purpose, from Newport, to inform me of it, and to
promise a careful attention to it. Yet I feel doubtful
of its safety. The enemy seems to be collecting
upon the destruction of our allies. We are not a
little anxious for them, and cannot but wonder, that
they are not yet reinforced. Graves's fleet, Arbuthnot's,
and Rodney's, all here; with such a superiority,
can it be matter of surprise, if M. de Ternay should
fall a sacrifice? My own mind, I own, is full of
apprehension; yet I trust we shall not be delivered
over to the vengeance of a nation more wicked and
perverse than our own. We daily experience the
correcting and the defending arm. The enclosed
papers will give you the particulars of an infernal
plot, and the providential discovery of it. For, however
the belief of a particular Providence may be exploded
by the modern wits, and the infidelity of too
many of the rising generation deride the idea, yet the
virtuous mind will look up and acknowledge the great
First Cause, without whose notice not even a sparrow
falls to the ground.
I am anxious to hear from you. Your last letter,
which I have received, was dated June the 17th. I
have written you repeatedly, that my trunk was not
put on board the Alliance; that poor vessel was the
sport of more than winds and waves. The conduct
with regard to her is considered as very extraordinary.
She came to Boston, as you have no doubt heard.
Landais is suspended. The man must be new made
before he can be entitled to command. I hope Captain
Sampson arrived safe. He carried the resolve of
Congress, which you wanted.
You tell me to send you prices current. I will
per bushel. Flour from a hundred and forty
to a hundred and thirty per hundred. Beef, eight
dollars per pound; mutton, nine; lamb, six, seven,
and eight. Butter twelve dollars per pound; cheese,
ten. Sheep's wool thirty dollars per pound; flax,
twenty. West India articles;—sugar, from a hundred
and seventy to two hundred pounds per hundred;
molasses, forty-eight dollars per gallon; tea, ninety;
coffee, twelve; cotton wool, thirty per pound.
Exchange from seventy to seventy-five for hard money.
Bills at fifty. Money scarce; plenty of goods;
enormous taxes. Our State affairs are thus. Hancock
will be Governor, by a very great majority; the
Senate will have to choose the Lieutenant-Governor.
Our constitution is read with great admiration in New
York, and pronounced by the Royal Governor the
best republican form he ever saw, but with sincere
hopes that it might not be accepted. How will it be
administered? is now the important question.
The report of the day is, that three thousand troops
are arrived at New York from England.
| Letters of Mrs. Adams, | |