June, 1778.
My dear Son,--'T is almost four months since you left your native land,
and embarked upon the mighty waters, in quest of a foreign country.
Although I have not particularly written to you since, yet you may be
assured you have constantly been upon my heart and mind.
It is a very difficult task, my dear son, for a tender parent to bring
her mind to part with a child of your years, going to a distant land;
nor could I have acquiesced in such a separation under any other care
than that of the most excellent parent and guardian who accompanied you.
You have arrived at years capable of improving under the advantages you
will be likely to have, if you do but properly attend to them. They are
talents put into your hands, of which an account will be required of you
hereafter; and being possessed of one, two, or four, see to it that you
double your numbers.
The most amiable and most useful disposition in a young mind is
diffidence of itself; and this should lead you to seek advice and
instruction from him who is your natural guardian and will always
counsel and direct you in the best manner, both for your present and
future happiness. You are in possession of a natural good understanding,
and of spirits unbroken by adversity and untamed with care. Improve your
understanding by acquiring useful knowledge and virtue, such as will
render you an ornament to society, an honor to your country, and a
blessing to your parents. Great learning and superior abilities, should
you ever possess them, will be of little value and small estimation,
unless virtue, honor, truth, and integrity are added to them. Adhere to
those religious sentiments and principles which were early instilled
into your mind, and remember that you are accountable to your Maker for
all your words and actions.
Let me enjoin it upon you to attend constantly and steadfastly to the
precepts and instructions of your father, as you value the happiness of
your mother and your own welfare. His care and attention to you render
many things unnecessary for me to write, which I might otherwise do; but
the inadvertency and heedlessness of youth require line upon line and
precept upon precept, and, when enforced by the joint efforts of both
parents, these will, I hope, have a due influence upon your conduct;
for, dear as you are to me, I would much rather you should have found
your grave in the ocean you have crossed, or that any untimely death
should crop you in your infant years, than see you an immoral,
profligate, or graceless child.
You have entered early in life upon the great theatre of the world,
which is full of temptations and vice of every kind. You are not wholly
unacquainted with history, in which you have read of crimes which your
inexperienced mind could scarcely believe credible. You have been taught
to think of them with horror, and to view vice as
"a monster of so frightful mien
That, to be hated, needs but to be seen."
Yet you must keep a strict guard upon yourself, or the odious monster
will soon lose its terror by becoming familiar to you. The modern
history of our own times furnishes as black a list of crimes as can be
paralleled in ancient times, even if we go back to Nero, Caligula, or
Caesar Borgia. Young as you are, the cruel war into which we have been
compelled by the haughty tyrant of Britain and the bloody emissaries of
his vengeance may stamp upon your mind this certain truth, that the
welfare and prosperity of all countries, communities, and, I may add,
individuals, depend upon their morals. That nation to which we were once
united, as it has departed from justice, eluded and subverted the wise
laws which formerly governed it, and suffered the worst of crimes to go
unpunished, has lost its valor, wisdom, and humanity, and, from being
the dread and terror of Europe, has sunk into derision and infamy.
But, to quit political subjects, I have been greatly anxious for your
safety, having never heard of the frigate since she sailed, till, about
a week ago, a New York paper informed that she was taken and carried
into Plymouth. I did not fully credit this report, though it gave me
much uneasiness. I yesterday heard that a French vessel was arrived at
Portsmouth, which brought news of the safe arrival of the _Boston_; but
this wants confirmation. I hope it will not be long before I shall be
assured of your safety. You must write me an account of your voyage, of
your situation, and of everything entertaining you can recollect.
Be assured I am most affectionately yours,----.