r
Ingraham who had just received, and brought with him his
Commission as Consul at Plymouth. There was with him a Mr Hazard of Liverpool
whom he introduced to me; and Mr: Jabez Jackson, nephew of
our Chargé d’Affaires at Paris,
was likewise there.— They remained about half an hour, and were scarcely
gone when Mr
Connell came in— Soon afterwards, and while he was there a
woman; a native of England, but widow of an American Citizen, came for a
Passport to go to France with four children under age; which was given
to her— Mr
Tarbell brought me a Letter of Introduction from my brother— He is just arrived in
London with Mrs
Tarbell who is a relation of mine, a Granddaughter of the
late Doctor Tufts. As soon as
they were gone, I went into the City and stopped at Mr Swett’s
lodgings, N. 15. Bucklersbury. He came down to the Carriage— I left with
him two Packages for my father—one
containing Tucker’s Light of
Nature, and the other a piece of Cloth for my brother. And also a Letter
403to Mr W. Plumer
of Epping, New-Hampshire, with Chalmers’s political Annals of the Colonies, which at his
request I have procured for him. Mr Swett
promised that he would come out and dine with us on Thursday— I then
sent Richard to the Mansion
House, and ascertained that the dinner mentioned in the Lord Mayor’s Note, was to be there. I
proceeded to the Counting House of the Brothers Baring, and sent away the Carriage with orders
to come for me at Craven Street, again at half past five. At Mr
Baring’s I saw for a moment Mr
Labouchere, who told me that he now resided in the
Country; and Mr
Oliver of Baltimore, who has just returned from his tour
to Ireland— He gave me a slip from an American Newspaper, containing an
abstract of the Bill for a National Bank which has been brought in to
the House of Representatives of the United States— I enquired of Mr: Alexander Baring, whether they had any
advices from the Treasury Department since I had seen him— He said they
had none— He spoke of the Bill for establishing a Bank, and doubted
whether it would succeed. There was such great care taken of the Public
interest, in the Bill, that there was nothing left, as inducement to
Subscribers— There was too much controul over the Bank given to the
Government, and there was a special provision made for the manner in
which Specie payments might be suspended which had not a good
appearance. I mentioned to Mr Baring the
Orders which I had lately given to the Consuls, upon their House, to
defray the expence at London and Liverpool of relieving and sending home
destitute American Seamen; and told him of the drafts which I expected
to receive from Mr Harris at St:
Petersburg, and for which I should in that case be obliged to give
further orders upon them. He said their accounts with the Treasury to
the close of the year were not quite made up; as soon as they should be,
they would send them to me. We had some Conversation upon the topics now
in discussion in Parliament of which he is a member— I took instead of a
draft £500 in Bank Bills, and signed triplicate receipts for it,
chargeable upon the diplomatic fund— From Mr
Baring’s I walked back to Craven Street where I found Mr George
Joy. I had on coming into town in the Morning stopped at
Bish’s Lottery-Office, and
ascertained that Mrs A’s ticket had drawn a
Blank— Mr Joy kept me in Conversation, until
near six. He shewed me a Letter from Mr Eustis of the 23d. mentioning that Mr
Bourne the Consul at Amsterdam was so ill, that he would
probably not live many days longer, and offering in that case the
Consulate provisionally to Joy. I asked him if he meant to accept it— He
said probably he should; but he has not got over his hankerings for
secret Missions—to France, to Spain—to any where— He was going down into
the City, and I took him with me, as far, as opposite to the Mansion
House when he left me— But I see he means to try another siege, for he
enquired when I should be in town again— I told him Friday or Saturday.
I wished to have called at the Foreign Office to see Mr Cocke,
but found it impossible. At the Mansion House I found a large company
assembled; Ladies and Gentlemen— It was a dinner to the Company of
Fishmonger’s, of which the Lord Mayor is himself a member. As soon as I
went in I was accosted by the Duke of
Sussex, who recollected the old acquaintance we had at
Berlin— The Lord Mayor introduced me to the Duke
of Kent, the Marquis
of Lansdowne, Lord
Holland, and Lord
Erskine, Sir Edward
Hamilton, a naval Officer, the Prime Warden of the
Company, and other Gentlemen. Mr Sharp was likewise there.
The Company consisted of about fifty persons, nearly half of whom were
Ladies— I was the only foreign Minister, and I believe the only
foreigner present— Lord Holland apologized for not having returned my
visit, but I told him I resided out of town— He recollected having seen
me in 1800 at Dresden, which he said he supposed I had forgotten, though
I certainly had not— The Prime Warden told me that the Company of
Fishmongers would themselves give a dinner before long at their Hall, to
which they should invite me— The dinner this day, was much like that to
the Archdukes; though not quite so formal— The loving Cups,
and the Rosewater passed round in the same manner after dinner, and the
toasts were announced in the same manner.— The American Minister was
given next after the Duke’s of Kent and Sussex; and my own toast at the
former dinner was repeated verbatim, by the Duke of Kent— In thanking
the Lord Mayor for the honour done me by the toast, as well as by his
friendly invitation to this social meeting, I reminded him of the
observation made by a distinguished and ingenious traveller in the
United States; a foreigner. He had remarked that from the moment when an
Englishman landed in the United States, he still found himself at home;
while a foreigner of every other Nation, whatever length of time he
resided in America, still felt himself a stranger— It was my earnest
wish that the first part of this observation might ever prove to be
true, and I would add the hope that it might also prove reciprocal— I
would say therefore, may every Briton who sets his foot in America, and
every American who visits England, still find himself at home— This was
very well received; though not so remarkably well, as my former toast;
perhaps because according to the regular etiquette of these symposiacs
my toast this time ought to have been, the Lord Mayor, and the City of
London— The Duke of Kent when toasted gave the Lady Mayoress— The Duke of Sussex, Miss
Wood. The Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Holland, and Lord
Erskine, Sir Edward Hamilton, the Prime Warden, and the Company of
Fishmongers, were all toasted, and the Lords and Gentlemen, all returned
thanks with short Speeches. Mr Sharp told me
that he had not yet taken his seat in Parliament, because the Writ was
not returned. He also told me that my father had sent him a copy of my
Lectures. The Duke of 404Sussex was in fine Spirits,
and recollected many circumstances which had occurred while we were at
Berlin. He frequently mingled the Political topics of the day in his
Conversation, and pronounced his decided opposition to the continuance
of the property tax and to the proposed large military Establishment. He
offered himself to present any petition against the property tax to the
house of Peers, and almost canvassed to be made a member of the
Fishmongers Company— All the noblemen present are members (honorary) of
the company; and so are the Duke of
Gloucester, and Earl St: Vincents. both of whom had
been invited to the dinner, but sent excuses, the Duke having lost a
near Relation, and Lord St Vincent had met
with some accident— The Duke of Kent was more reserved than his brother
and talked no Politics at all. He told however some humorous anecdotes
about the Duke of Sussex, and said that he had been intended first for
the Navy, and afterwards for the Church. He was to have been Bishop of
Durham; but they set him to write a Sermon, to see what his disposition
for the Church was, and instead of a Sermon, he produced a composition
of a very different kind— The duke of Kent appealed to him to say
himself if it was not so— He answered that he had certainly no vocation
for the Church. He said to me that he prided himself especially upon the
stability of his Sentiments, and asked me, if I did not find him
precisely the same man, that I had known him at Berlin sixteen years
ago. I assured him that I was very confident his name would never appear
in the Dictionnaire des Girouettes— The Duke holds forth, a little too
much of his opposition; and he appears too much occupied with himself.
He said he heard they had been caricaturing him— He had not seen the
Caricature, but he was told they had represented him standing on the
tomb of Charles the first, singing
Psalms— The last part he had no particular predilection for; but he
broadly hinted that he did not disapprove the execution of Charles the
first.— One of his toasts was, may our family never forget the
principles which placed us in the Situation which we hold in this
Country; which of course was received with great applause— Lord Holland
was toasted, as the nephew of Charles
Fox, and Lord Erskine, with Trial by Jury— Lord Holland is
yet a popular champion, but Erskine has become a pliable Courtier; he
answered feebly the toast to him, and his answer was received with faint
applause. Lord Holland said that as the nephew of Mr Fox, there was no merit in him for
adhering to his principles—but it would make him doubly contemptible if
he should abandon them—which was received with high approbation— As soon
as the Duke of Sussex withdrew, I left the Mansion House; and after
calling at Craven Street, reached home about half past one in the
Morning.
John Quincy Adams Digital Diary
This is a beta site. To read and search all of the main diary entries, from 1779 to 1848, please visit our current website.