244 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



MISCELLANEOUS 



JOHN ADAMS AND GEORGE III. 



The account that Mr Adams gave in a letter to 

 a friend, of liis introduction to George III. at the 

 Court of St. James, as the first Minister from the 

 rebel colonies, is very interesting. 



".'Ktonc o'clock on Wedncsda)-, the 1st of June, 

 1785, the Master of Ceremonies called at my house 

 and went witli me to the Secretary oi State's office, 

 in Cleveland row, where the Marquis of Carmar- 

 then received and introduced nie to Mr Frazier, his 

 undersecretary, who had been, as his lordship said, 

 uninterruptedly in that office through nil the chan. 

 ges in «duiinistration for thirty years. After a short 

 conversation. Lord Carmarthen invited me to go 

 with him in his coach to court. When we arrived 

 in the antechamber, the Master of Ceremonies in- 

 troduced him and attended me while the Secretary 

 of State went to take the commands of the King. 

 While I stood in this place, where it seems all min- 

 isters stand upon such occasions, always attended 

 by the Master of Ceremonies, the room was very 

 full of Ministers of State, Uishops, and all other 

 sorts of courtiers, as well as the next room, which 

 is the King's bedchamber. You may well suppose 

 1 was the focus of all eyes. 1 was relieved, how- 

 ever, from the embarrassment of it by the Swedisli 

 and Dutch Ministers, who cam^ to me and enter- 

 tained me with a very agreeable conversation du- 

 rii.g the whole time. Some other gentlemen whom 

 I had seen before, came to make their compliments 

 to me, until the Marquis of Carmarthen returned 

 .".nd desired me to go with him to his Majesty. I 

 went with his lordship through the levee lOom into 

 ihe King's closet. '1 ho door was shut, and I was 

 left with his iMnjesty and the SecretTry of State 

 alone. I made three reverences : one at the door, 

 another about half way, and another before the 

 presence, according to the usage established at this 

 and all the Nortliern Courts of Europe, ard then I 

 addressed myself to his Majesty in the following 

 Avords : 



"Sire: The United States have appointed nie 

 Minister Plenipotentiary to ymir Majesty and have 

 directed me to deliver to your Majesty thi.'j letter, 

 which contains the evidence of it. It is in obedi- 

 ence to their express commands that I have the 

 honor to assure your Majesty of their unanimous 

 disposition and desire to cultivate the most friendly 

 and liberal intercourse between your Majesty's sub. 

 jei'ts and their citizens, and their best wishes for 

 your Majesty's health and happiness, and for that of 

 your family. 



" Tlie appointment of a Minister from the United 

 States to your Majesty's Court will form an epoch 

 in till? history of England and America. I think 

 myself more fortunate than all my fellovT citizens in 

 having the distinguished honor to be the first to 

 stand in your Majesty's royal presence in a (.iplo- 

 matic character; and I shall esteem myself the 

 happiest of men if I can be instrumental in recom- 

 mending my country more and more to your royal 

 benevolence, and of restoring an entire esteem, 

 confidence, and afli'ection ; or, in other words, "the 

 old good nature and the good old humor," between 

 the people who, though separated by an ocean, and 

 under different governments, have the same lan- 

 guage, a similar religion and a kindred blood. I 

 beg your Majesty's permission to add, that although 

 I have sometimes been instructed by my country, 

 it was never in my whole life in a manner so agree- 

 able to myself." 



" The King listened to every word I said with 

 dignity it is true, but with ajjparent emotion. Wheth- 

 er it was my visible agitation, for I felt more than 

 I could express, that touched him, I cannot say; 

 hut he was much afi'ected, and answered me with 

 more tremor than I had spoken with, and said — 



"Sir: The circumstances of this audience are 

 so extraordinary, the language you have now held 

 is so extremely proper and the feelings you have 

 discovered so justly adapted to the occasion, that I 

 not only receive with pleasure the assurance of the 

 friendly disposition of the United States, but I am 

 glad the choice has fallen upon you to be their min- 

 ister. I wish you, sir, to believe that it may be 

 understood in America, that I have done n<ithing in 

 the late contest but what I thought myself indis- 

 pens-ibly bound to do, by the duty which I owed 

 my people. I will be frank with you. I was the 

 last to conform to the separation; but the separa- 

 tion having become inevitable, 1 have always said, 

 as I now say, that I would be the first to meet the 

 friendship of the United States as an independent 

 power. The moment I see such sentiments and 

 language as yours prevail, and a disposition io give 

 this country the preference, that moment I shall say, 

 let the circumstances of Innguage, religion, and 

 blood have their natural, full effect." 



•' I dare not say that these were the King's pre- 

 cise -words ; and it is even possible that in some 

 particulars I may have mistaken his meaning: for 

 although his pronunciation is as distinct as 1 ever 

 heard, he hesitated sometimes between members of 

 the same period. He was indeed much affected, 

 ind Iwas not less so, and therefore I cannot be so 

 certain that I was so attentive, heard so clearly, and 

 understood so perfectly, as to be confident of all 

 his words or sense. This I do say, that the forego- 

 inir is his .Majesty's meaning, as nearly as lean re- 

 collect it. 



" The King then asked me whether I came last 

 from France, and upon my answering in the affir- 

 mative, he put on an air of familiarity, and, smiling, 

 or rather laughing, said, ' 'i here is ar, opinion among 

 some people tliat you are not the most attached of 

 all your countrymen to the manners of France.' I 

 was surprised at this, because I thought it an indis- 

 cretion, and a descent from his dignity. I was a 

 little euibarrassed ; but, determined not to deny the 

 truth on the one hand, nor lead him to infer from it 

 my attachment to England on the other, I threw olf 

 as much gravity as I could, and assumed an air of 

 gaiety and a tone of decision, as !ar as was decent, 

 and said, 'That opinion, sire, is not mistaken: I 

 avow to your majesty I have no attachment but to 

 my own country.' The King replied as quick as 

 lightning, 'An honest man will have no other.' 



"The King then said' a word or two to the Sec- 

 retary of State, which, being between them I could 

 iiiit hear, and then turned round and bowed to me, 

 as is customary with all kings and princes when 

 they give the signal to retire. I retreated, stepping 

 backwards, as is the etiquette; and making my Kist 

 reverence at the door of the chamber, I went to my 

 carriage." — Hnyward's JV. E. Gazelccr. 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO LIE. 

 My nearest neighbor, when [ resided in Connec- 

 ticut, was a man moving in the ordinary walks of 

 life, and was a prudent, careful, honest, and indusr 

 trious husbandman. Being at a certain time qti 

 some occasion at his son-in-law's, (pne of the boys 

 of the family wished to go home with his grand- 

 father : it not being convenient at tliat time, the 

 grandfather told the boy that he could not very well 

 carry him at that time, but added, "Next time 

 grandpa comes he'll carry you home with him." — . 

 The boy was pacified. The old gentleman not 

 thinking any more, (as, alas ! many careless and 

 faulty parents do,) of what he had said to the boy, 

 waa several tiiries at the house without fuifilling 

 his engagement; and, perhaps, without once hav- 

 ing it come again into his mind. But the boy was 

 not so forgetful. He recollected well the promise 

 of his grandpa. In process of time the grandfather 

 took the boy behind him on his horse, nnd was con. 

 veying him to his paternal abode. On the way the 

 boy began to remonstrate with his grandfather on 

 the subject, by saying, " When grandpa was atom 

 house one time, he said the next time he came he> 

 would carry me home — and graifdpa did noty — 

 "Why," says the old gentleman, "you don't thinli 

 your grandpa would lie, do you ?" " I don't know,' 

 says the boy, " f^hal dots grandpa call it ?" Thii 

 confounded the old gentleman, and he knew no 

 what reply to make. This anecdote has convincec 

 me more than almost any thing I ever heard, o 

 the importance of regal ding strictly and conscien 

 tiously what we say to children. Especially it ha 

 shown me the evil of trifling with children, ani 

 making them unmeaning promises or declaration 

 which have attached to them no truth or significa 

 tion. And it is my deliberate and fixed opinioi 

 that ofttimes parents, by disregarding, forgetting 

 and neglecting to lullil what they declare unt 

 children in promises or threatenings, are charges 

 ble with the pernicious evil of teaching their clii 

 dren to lie ; and then perhaps inflicting punish 

 ment upon them for the crime. This is hard, — thi 

 is cruel, — this is an evil of a monstrous size, pre 

 valent and triumphant to an alarming degree, an 

 which ought speedily and effectually to be correct 

 ed. Watch then, and remember to make joo 

 what you say to children. Do not threaten thei 

 with what you have no business to execute,- 

 such as cutting off ears, taking off" skin, &c. I 

 this way you weaken your own hands; ri'uder th 

 truth doubtful, and train up your child for falseho 

 and crime. Whatever else you neglect, yet by n 

 means neglect to teach them by precept and exam 

 pie, an inviolable regard to the truth. — Youth 

 Jo urnal. 



" Milk is so dear," exclaimed a young widow t 

 her milkman, "I wish I could afford to keep a cc 

 of my own." "Woiild'nt it be cheaper, ma," re 

 plied her little daughter archly, " to keep a mil 

 man of our own." 



It is mentioned as an interesting fact by the 

 Lynn Puritan, that a person may now travel from 

 Lynn or Salem, to Bombay, in the East Indies, en- 

 tirely by steam ; and the time required to accom- 

 plish the journey is but six weeks. He can go to 

 the city of Jerusalem in one month. 



It is stated by the Mayor of Boston thst oi^^-fifl 

 of the taxation of the city goes to the public schools 



THE NEW EKOLAKD F-IUIIIEll 



Is piibushed every VVcdnc.-sday Eveniiii;, ,tI S3 per aniiu 

 payable at the end of the year— hut those who pay wall 

 silly days from llie timeol subscribing are enlilled to a r. 

 duclionof 5a cents. 



TJTTTLB, DE.>'NETT A.TD CHUHOLM, PRFNTFRt, 



17 seHouL STHi;i;T... .uoero.N 



