Thomas Boylston Adams to Abigail Adams, May 2, 1801

Philadelphia 2 d: May 1801.

Dear Mother

Your favor of the 22 d: ult o: has been a few days in hand. I thank you kindly for “the
word intended for my private ear,” and shall avail myself freely of the offer, when
occasion may require. Since, I wrote you last, I concluded that it was hardly worth
while to Insure the Carriage, and therefore if fortune has proved adverse, your loss
will be total as to the body of the Coach only, unless the vessel should have been cast away; the wheels & carriage were put between Decks & could not
be washed overboard. As the Captain assured me, that his Schooner was a good sea-boat
& he seemed a careful man, I have hopes that you may yet receive your property
unhurt & undiminished.

I have observed, like you, the silence, which is so studiously
maintained with regard to the late administration. Now & then, the Aurora has
attempted to Stigmatize it by a comparison between it & the present, but the federal
prints are sullenly reserved on the subject, or if they come out at all, it is to bestow
either languid praise or covert censure. 1 I have remarked however nearly the same thing of almost every public character in our
Country, upon his retiring from Office; he ceases to be the subject of conversation; no
body seems interested about him, as he is no longer a spoke in the ladder of preferment,
and this concurrence of facts is very apt to be construed into neglect, when perhaps the
number of real participants in his welfare is equal if not superior to any period of his
public career.

I noticed the extract from M r: King’s
dispatches, and was pleased to find an appearance of a regard to justice &
moderation, testified by the English government. The remonstrances, which are said to
have been made under the authority of our government, with respect to the proceedings of
the British Vice Admiralty Courts, ought to have been productive of a reform, as they
seem to have been, but the merit of effecting this object will be ascribed to any body,
rather than to those who deserve it. 2 The
Jeffersonians already assume all the credit of it to themselves.

I have this day received a letter from my Brother, dated the 7 th: of February; he regrets the loss of some of your letters,
& says he receives none from any body but me. My letter of December 6 th: informed him of Charles’s death, though M r: Murray, from the Hague, had first apprised him of it. At
the same time he learnt from the English papers, the story of my father’s having been
ill of a fever, at Washington, which distressed him very much, and from the pressure of
both these incidents, he affirms that he could scarcely bear up, against them. 3 There is little intelligence in the letter, but
perhaps it will gratify you to read it, so I enclose it, with my best love & duty
& remain / your Son

T B Adams—

PS. Monday 4 th: May. Please return me
the letter enclosed— Remember me kindly to all friends— I heard from my Sister last
week, that she was well— 4