John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

18. VI: I had this morning uninterrupted, and employed as much of it in writing as I can usually rescue from the waste of reading newspapers— At noon I walked to the Navy-Yard wharf, and had a glance again at the line of Battle ship Columbus; returning by the way of Greenleaf’s point and over the Tiber. The weather was sultry and I heard distant Thunder to the South. On returning from my walk, after reading the Letters by the Mail which were few, I resumed writing till the hour of dinner, and thus provided a substitute for the Evening task. Mrs. W. S. Smith dined with us; and Smith and Mr Bailey spent part of the Evening here. The President of the Bank of the United States, Langdon Cheves arrived in the City the Evening before last, and this day left it upon his return to Philadelphia. His appearance here has given rise to various rumours and surmizes. Its real cause is the tottering situation of the Bank, which will very shortly be reduced to the alternative of calling in all its Notes and trading on those of other Banks, or of stopping payment.