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REVIEW

OF THE

CORRESPONDENCE

BETWEEN THE

HON. JOHN ADAMS,

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

AND THE LATE

WM. CUNNINGHAM, ESQ.

BEGINNING IN 1803, AND ENDING IN 1812.

BY TIMOTHY PICKERING.

SALEM:

PUBLISHED BY CUSHING AND APPLETON.

JOSHUA & JOHN D. CUSHING, PRINTERS,

BE

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT:
District Clerk's Office.

E IT REMEMBERED, That on the seventh day of May, A. D. 1824, and in the 48th year of the Independence of the United States of America, Cushing & Appleton, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:

"A Review of the Correspondence between the Hon. John Adams, late President of the United States, and the late William Cunningham, Esq. beginning in 1803 and ending in 1812. By Timothy Pickering."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act, entitled, "An Act, supplementary to an act, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching historical and other prints." JOHN W. DAVIS,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

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The Causes, pretended and real, for removing T. Pickering from office-The Mission to France in 1799-The Pardon of Fries.

SECTION IV.

Elbridge Gerry-Mr. Adams's Minister to the French Republic; and a further account of the Mission instituted in 1799.

SECTION V.

Lieut. Col. William Stephens Smith, son-in-law of Mr.

Adams.

41

63

110

143

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1. Extracts from Callender's pamphlet entitled "The Prospect Before Us;" referred to in page 13.

183

2. Letter from Mr. Jefferson to Lieut. Governor Barry, of
Kentucky, on the Judiciary; referred to in page 16.
3. Note B, referred to in page 24. Concerning Mr. Jeffer-
son's literary works.

184

185

INTRODUCTION.

A PAMPHLET of more than two hundred

pages has appeared, under the title of "CORRESPONDENCE between "the Hon. John Adams, late President of the United States, and the late William Cunningham, Esq. beginning in 1803, and ending in 1812."

66

A family connexion appears to have had some influence to induce Mr. Adams to unbosom himself to Mr. Cunningham. In one of his letters he tells us, that Cunningham's grandmother was the beloved sister of his mother. Two objects were obtained by Mr. Adams's disclosures: He gratified the keen appetite of his friend for secret history, and eased his own mind, by giving vent to his spleen against some public men whom he hated.

Mr. Adams, roused at length by his subject, and stimulated by the constant flatteries of his friend, resolves to write his own history; because, says he, "no human "being but myself can do me justice; and I shall not "be believed. All I can say will be imputed to vanity "and self love." In the progress of this Review, the reader will find these prophetic anticipations verified. He will see, from the numerous aberrations of Mr. Adams, that his statements are not entitled to belief; while every page is characterized by his vanity and self-love.

In performing the task which Mr. Adams has imposed on me, I shall be obliged to take a pretty extensive view of his character; and present some features in the characters of others whom he has introduced in

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