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MY DEAREST FRIEND,
I DARE say there is not a lady in America treated with a more curious dish of politics than is contained in the enclosed papers. You may show them to dis creet friends, but by no means let them go out of your hands or be copied. Preserve them in safety against accidents.
I am afraid we shall have another campaign ; but do not. despair, however, of a peace this winter. America has nothing to do but to be temperate, patient, and faithful to her ally. This is as clearly her duty as it is her interest. She could not trust England if her honor was not engaged to France, which it is most certainly ; and when this is said, all is said. Whether there should be peace or war, I shall come home in the summer. As soon as I shall receive from Congress their acceptance of the resignation of all my employments, which I have transmitted many ways, I shall embark, and you may depend upon a good domestic husband for the remainder of my life, if it is the will of heaven that I should once more meet you. My promises are not lightly made with any body. I have never broken one made to you, and I will not begin at this time of life.
My children, I hope, will once at length discover that they have a father, who is not unmindful of their welfare. They have had too much reason to think themselves forgotten, although I know that an anxiety for their happiness has corroded me every day of my life.
With a tenderness which words cannot express, I am theirs and yours forever,
- John Adams
- Source:
- Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife. Edited by His Grandson, Charles Francis Adams, Volume II, 1841
