John Quincy Adams at St Petersburg: the lines of No. 88 that Ford left out

This page was split on 14 October 2026 from a combined page (legation.html) that also held George W. Erving’s Madrid letter of 1807, which is in Pinckney’s legation code, a different cipher with its own page: Erving to Madison, 24 March 1807.

01 The premise checked

The starting point was a note the Madison editors attach to Armstrong’s letters (Founders Madison/02-10-02-0369 and 02-12-02-0197): the code was “also used by John Quincy Adams at St. Petersburg and by Jacob Lewis at Saint-Domingue; key not found but substantially reconstructed by the editors”. On Adams to Madison, 7 January 1811 (03-03-02-0121), the editors speak of “a code provided by the State Department to John Armstrong in France and to both William Short and Adams”, citing Ford 3:328. If that held, the 580-group Armstrong table already rebuilt on this site (Armstrong’s postscript) would decrypt Adams’s coded despatches. It does not.

• What Ford’s own text says. Secretary Smith’s instructions of 1809 (Ford 3:327–28) say that “the cypher with which you are furnished” is “the same with that of our minister at London” (William Pinkney), and tell Adams to “obtain at Paris, a copy of General Armstrong’s cypher also, for the like purpose”, that is, to correspond with Armstrong. In 1810 Adams acknowledges “the copy of General Armstrong’s cypher” (Ford 3:370). He held both. The despatches to Washington use the other one.
• What the microfilm shows. Every coded despatch checked on M35 reel 3 (1811 and 1812) uses a code in which 1385 = the, 1576 = of, 1384 = that, 668 = and, 1401 = I. In Armstrong’s code the is 972 and of is 1354. Run through the Armstrong table (592 entries as it now stands), these pages come out as noise. Reel 2 frame 0155, of 1810, is in the same Adams code.

So the table already held cannot decrypt Adams’s despatches. The editors’ note on the 7 January 1811 letter concerns a private letter to Madison, not a despatch, and was not checked against its manuscript, which is in the Forbes collection and not online; it may be right for that letter.

02 Adams’s code rebuilt

The method is the one used for Armstrong on M34 roll 13, with a second source added. On M35 reel 3 the Department clerk wrote the decode above the groups of several despatches; every pair on frames 0047, 0048 (1811), 0182 (No. 80, 29 February 1812), 0183, 0184, 0185, 0189, 0190, 0194, 0198, 0206 (No. 88), 0210–0211 and 0247 was recorded with frame, page side and line. For most pages there is no interlinear decode, but Ford printed the Department’s decipherments. Coded blocks were transcribed from the film and aligned with Ford’s plaintext, group against syllable, and checked by eye: 39 blocks of 1811, and then eight despatches of October 1811 to September 1812, No. 95 against the Department’s own clear copy on frames 0230–0232. All the pairs, 3,127 from the clerk (with the earlier pair list) and 2,785 from Ford, were merged into one table of 1,166 numbers, each with a grade:

The code is a numbered syllabary of about 1,600 numbers: syllables, word-parts and common words, with 1–100 mostly whole words (13 observation, 16 Emperor, 29 United States, 44 negotiation, 78 President). An earlier version of this page described it as alphabetical blocks of fifty; the larger table does not bear that out. Values climb alphabetically only inside short runs, such as 1384 that, 1385 the, 1387 them, 1388 then, 1391 there, 1392 these, 1393 they, 1394 think, 1399 this, or 1592 on, 1594 one, 1595 ong, 1597 only, and then the run breaks (1304 tain and 1312 form sit among 1305 Bal, 1310 be, 1317 been). The alphabetical slot therefore brackets a value only where the neighbours on both sides are in order, and inference from it is kept to grade I. A superscript o after a group adds -s; a mark under a group changes it (a doubled letter, -ed, or another word: 1107 paper, 1107 with the mark well; 1457 last, with the mark ll; 1535 al, with the mark all). A few groups carry two values in the sources (508 rect and ear; 1570 of and occurr; 1173 when and would).

In this hand 5 and 6, 7 and 9, and 0, 6 and 8 are easily confused. Re-transcribing No. 88 from zoomed crops corrected seven groups over two passes (168, not 158; 1426, not 1425; 302, not 502; 792, not 492; 1061, not 1081; 588, not 888; 1384, not 1385), showed that two groups of the last line are digits Adams himself overwrote (1383 than and 1097 sho, each with its last digit written over another), and showed that the underlined 1102 at the foot of the left page of frame 0206 is a catchword repeating the first group of the next page, not a group of the text. The table, its sources and the conflicts are in the repository (targets/jqa/code_table.tsv, targets/jqa/consolidate.py, targets/jqa/code_conflicts.txt, targets/jqa/overrides.tsv, where every hand decision carries its reason).

03 No. 88, 25 June 1812: the nine lines

No. 88 was written at St Petersburg on 25 June 1812, the day after the Grande Armée crossed the Niemen, when that news had not yet reached the capital. Ford prints it at 4:355–58, addressed to James Monroe. After Adams’s account of Prince Kurakin’s passports and the French ambassador’s demand for his, the paragraph ends: “On the other side I have reported to you what Count Romanzoff said to me the day before his departure for Wilna. Certainly negotiation then was his wish and expectation. [Nine lines of this paragraph not decyphered.]” The microfilm has the triplicate (M35 reel 3, frame 0206), and on it the clerk’s pencil stops exactly where Ford’s gap begins.

The block runs from the last four decoded groups to the end of the paragraph: 133 groups, 129 of them in Ford’s gap, with the clear words scarcely (twice), undoubtedly and In the German Gazettes written in the line. The rebuilt table gives every group a value (python render.py gap88.txt), and all 133 give sense in the running text (python measure.py): 106 on clerk-attested values, 10 on Ford-fixed, 13 on uncertain and 4 on inferred ones; without the inferred values, 129 (0.970). In the decryption below, words in square brackets rest on grade-I values; groups in braces have a value that does not make sense in the sentence. The opening words in brackets are the clerk-decoded close of the sentence that Ford prints.

[Certainly negotiation then was his wish] and ex-pect-ation. But the [journ-ey] it-self of the Emperor Alex-an-der to Wil-na was in opposition to the Chan-ce-ll-or and adv-ice, and if his ac-tive in-flu-ence had not been im-pa-ir-ed before it, it can scarcely fa-il to have been af-fect-ed by his ill-ness im-medi-ate-ly after his ar-[riv]-al [thither], which was undoubtedly an a-po-ple-ct-ic str-oke. Since then he has had a second and a more sever-e one. In the German Gazettes even his de-a-[th] has been an-no-un-ced; but that was a mis-take. At all events it is scarcely pos-sible that he should rem-ain much long-er in the depart-ment of foreign affairs.

im-pa-ir-ed: the groups on the page are 1424, then the catchword 1102 at the foot of the left leaf, then 1112 1433 520 at the top of the right leaf. The catchword is the group Adams meant to begin the page with, 1102 pa (Ford-fixed nine times), and in No. 83 (frame 0190) he codes un-im-pa-ir-ed as 1477 1424 1102 1435 520 (1435 ir, Ford-fixed three times). The 1112 1433 on the new page are his own copying slips, one digit each, for 1102 1435: taken as he intended, impaired. Chan-ce-ll-or is 1385 1025 1016 1457 908 with the doubling mark under 1457, the same five groups Adams wrote for “the Chancellor” in No. 73 (frame 0165, Ford 4:256). The group before his illness is 792 by: the earlier transcription 492 use took an open hook for this hand’s looped 4.

Most of what the first pass of 18 September inferred is now attested: itself (1081 self, clerk 0184, 0185, 0190), advice (1575 adv, Ford 0132; 1405 ice, Ford 0036 and clerk 0190), apoplectic (1141 ple; 1060 ct, clerk 0182), stroke (1586 oke), second (1077), severe (1091 sever), remain much longer (743 rem, 162 much, 888 long), mistake (134 mis, clerk 0182), announced (479 un), At all events (283 event, clerk 0048), foreign affairs (68, 1517), and 1186 is attested as will and Wil- (clerk 0182, 0184). Opposition (83), the key word of the first sentence, is now grade C from No. 73. Five groups of the passage remain inferred: 1434 journ and 168 ey, 1479 riv, 1398 thither and 1382 th.

3.1 What it says

“He” is Count Nikolai Rumyantsev (Adams’s Romanzoff), Chancellor and minister for foreign affairs, who had gone to Wilna with Alexander. Adams reports that the Emperor’s journey to Wilna itself went against the Chancellor’s advice; that whatever influence he still had would in any case have been affected by his illness, an apoplectic stroke soon after his arrival there; that since then he has had a second and worse one; that the German gazettes had reported him dead, wrongly; and that he can hardly remain much longer at the head of foreign affairs.

This fits what is known: Rumyantsev had a stroke in 1812 that cost him his hearing, and he left office in 1814. Adams’s own diary for September 1812 records Romanzoff speaking of two strokes of apoplexy suffered with the Emperor at Wilna. It differs on the timing from standard accounts (Britannica, Wikipedia), which tie the stroke to the news of the crossing of the Niemen on 24 June. Adams, writing at St Petersburg on 25 June before that news could have reached him, places the first stroke soon after Rumyantsev reached Wilna and a second, worse one before the 25th. Ford printed none of this.

668 295 818 864 | 790 1385 1434 168 1440 1081 1576 1385 16 1585
1549 828 569 1186 402 500 1426 83 569 1385 1025 1016 1457 908
668 1575 1405 668 1416 184 1507 567 1426 974 546 1244 360 1317 1424 (1102)
1112 1433 520 1318 1440 1006 scarcely 302 1421 569 1259 1317 1516 322 520
792 184 1421 430 1424 632 1372 897 1520 184 680 1479 1535 1398 1176 500
undoubtedly 1549 1501 1148 1141 1060 1404 382 1586 235 1388 169 1254 1244
1501 1077 668 1501 151 1091 501 1594 | In the German Gazettes 282 184
809 1501 1382 1254 1317 1549 352 479 1017 790 1384 500 1501 134 1365
699 1535 283 1440 1436 scarcely 1157 586 1384 169 90 743 1531 162
888 1300 1426 1385 826 637 1576 68 1517

04 The rest of No. 88

Ford ends the despatch with “[remainder of letter with exception of few lines undecyphered.]”. That remainder is on frame 0207, left leaf: thirteen lines of code, then clear sentences (manifestos of both parties expected; peace with Turkey signed a third time; “It is not General Kutuzoff but Count Rostopchin who is appointed Governor, civil and Military, of Moscow”), then five more lines of code. It has 257 groups, 7 of them with digits lost in the binding gutter at the line ends; 249 have a value and 247 give sense (0.961): 195 clerk-attested, 20 Ford-fixed, 17 uncertain, 15 inferred; 232 (0.903) without the inferred values. Square brackets are grade I, braces a value that gives no sense, and angle brackets a gutter-cut group restored from the context only, which is counted as open:

If this pro-po-si-tion has in any form been dis-close(d) to the Rus-sian govern-ment, it was cer-[tain]-ly nei(ther) un-reason-able nor im-[mod](erate) nor in-con-sis-tent with a system rig-our-ous-ly and ⟨in⟩-[fl]-ex-[ib]-ly [def]-en-[sive], to meet it with a pro-po-si(tion) for the e-va-cu-ation of Prussia by the French troops as {1508} ⟨pre⟩-li-mi-na-ry to negotiation. But the very point upon which the am-bass-⟨ad⟩-or manifest-ed the most sen-si-bi-li-ty in sp-ea-king of Prince Kurakin’s last no-te was that it held out a pro-po-⟨si⟩(tion) with which it would be dis-hon-(our)able in France to [comply]. He {1185} it as a [dem]-on-str-ation that the Emperor Al-ex-an-der had de-ter-[min]-ed not to [negotiate] at all — it {tol} he ⟨sa⟩-id — such a pro-po-sal as France had never thought of making to Russia even after the [bat]-tle of Fri-ed-la-nd.
[clear text] … an army of re-serve is form-ing there, and it is ⟨…⟩ probab-le that if great suc-cess on the, on the side of the French should mark the commence-ment of the war, the Emperor Na-po-le-on will at-⟨tem⟩-p-t to pe-[net]-[rate] di-rect-ly to that cen-(t)re of the em-[pire] than [along] the sho-res of the Baltic.

The ambassador is Lauriston, the French ambassador at St Petersburg; Kurakin’s note is the Russian ambassador’s demand at Paris in April 1812 for the evacuation of Prussia, which Napoleon treated as a declaration of war. “Even after the battle of Friedland” (June 1807, before Tilsit): France had never proposed evacuating Prussia even when Russia was beaten. The last lines expect Napoleon, if the war opens well for him, to strike directly at the centre of the empire rather than along the Baltic shore. The groups are in targets/jqa/rem88.txt, the groups that give no sense, with the reason for each, in targets/jqa/sense88.tsv.

4.1 The third pass: 0.910 to 0.974

The second pass, earlier on 22 September, stood at 355 of 390 (0.910), below 95%. The third pass added the clerk’s interlinear decodes on frames 0047, 0048 (the rest of the page), 0210–0211 and 0247 (560 pairs) and the coded blocks of eight despatches of 1811–1812 aligned with Ford’s vol. 4 (1,926 pairs; No. 95 against the Department’s clear copy), and re-transcribed the doubtful groups of No. 88 from the image a third time. What moved:

05 What remains open

Grades as in section 02: H clerk’s decode, C Ford-fixed, M uncertain, I inferred. No. 88 is decrypted; the groups below keep it from 100%. Measured on the words of the readings, the nine lines read at 98.0%, and the remainder builds coherent sentences but reads at 93.8%, under the 95% bar.

• Seven gutter-cut groups (needs the original). 142x, 21x, 15xx, 11xx, 10xx, 55x, 13xx: the last group of seven lines of the remainder lost digits in the binding gutter on the microfilm of frame 0207. Context restores most of them (in-, pre-, sa-id, at-tem-p-t), but they are counted as open. The original and the duplicate of No. 88 are not on reel 3, and Adams’s letterbook copy at the Massachusetts Historical Society is not online; with either the letter would be at about 98%.
• 1508, remainder l. 5. le/bable (M) where “as a pre[liminary]” wants a; no other occurrence in the decoded pairs.
• 1185, remainder l. 9. “He [took?] it as a demonstration”: in no decoded frame or Ford block examined so far.
• 570, remainder l. 11. Valued tol (C) but it gives no sense in “it tol he said”; the image shows 570, not 500 was.
• Inferred values (I) that the reading rests on. Nine lines: 1434 journ, 168 ey, 1479 riv, 1398 thither, 1382 th. Remainder: 1864 tain, 143 mod, 350 fl, 1403 ib, 815 def, 239 sive, 108 comply, 821 dem, 549 min, 426 negotiate, 1309 bat, 432 net, 726 rate, 927 pire, 1540 along. Without them 362 of the 390 groups of No. 88 give sense (0.928).
• The route to the open groups. 1185 and 1508 each need one more occurrence: the 1812 blocks of Nos. 77, 78 and 81 and the remaining lines of No. 85 (frame 0196, left, lines 12–23) are not yet aligned with Ford. Frames 0056–57 are a clear decyphered copy, and 0228–0233 No. 95 in code only.
• Ford’s other gaps. No. 51 (26 May 1811, “[One line and a half of cypher not decyphered]”, frame 0085, transcribed and partly rendered) and No. 55 (22 June 1811, “[one-half line of cipher not deciphered]”), both on reel 3; and reel 2 frame 0155 (1810), a long coded passage with no decode on the NARA copy.
• The Forbes-collection letter. Adams to Madison, 7 January 1811, for which the editors name the Armstrong code, has not been checked against its manuscript.

Full texts

The transcription and the decryption of every document on this page, so that the reading can be used and checked. Short files are shown here; all are in the repository.

No. 88, 25 June 1812: the nine lines Ford did not decipher

John Quincy Adams at St Petersburg to the Secretary of State, the day after Napoleon crossed the Niemen: Chancellor Rumyantsev opposed Alexander's journey to Wilna, suffered an apoplectic stroke soon after arriving and a second, worse one since; a German report of his death was false, and JQA judges he cannot long remain at the foreign ministry.

668 295 818 864 | 790 1385 1434 168 1440 1081 1576 1385 16 1585
1549 828 569 1186 402 500 1426 83 569 1385 1025 1016 1457 908
668 1575 1405 668 1416 184 1507 567 1426 974 546 1244 360 1317 1424 cw:1102
1112 1433 520 1318 1440 1006 scarcely 302 1421 569 1259 1317 1516 322 520
792 184 1421 430 1424 632 1372 897 1520 184 680 1479 1535 1398 1176 500
undoubtedly 1549 1501 1148 1141 1060 1404 382 1586 235 1388 169 1254 1244
1501 1077 668 1501 151 1091 501 1594 | In the German Gazettes 282 184
809 1501 1382 1254 1317 1549 352 479 1017 790 1384 500 1501 134 1365
699 1535 283 1440 1436 scarcely 1157 586 1384 169 90 743 1531 162
888 1300 1426 1385 826 637 1576 68 1517

# No. 88, 25 June 1812: the nine lines Ford left out (gap88.txt), decryption

Reading copied verbatim from NOTES.md section 3 ([ ] = grade I, { } = valued but not sense). Below it, the group-by-group output of `python render.py gap88.txt` run on 22 Oct 2026 (? = grade M or I value, {n} = no value, CAPS = clear text, x = digit lost in the gutter).

> ... and expectation. But the [journ-ey] itself of the Emperor Alexander to Wilna was in opposition to the
> Chan-ce-ll-or and adv-ice, and if his active influence had not been im-pa-ir-ed before it, it can scarcely
> fail to have been affected by his illness immediately after his arrival [thither], which was undoubtedly an
> apo-ple-ct-ic stroke. Since then he has had a second and a more severe one. In the German Gazettes even his
> death has been announced; but that was a mistake. At all events it is scarcely possible that he should remain much
> longer in the department of foreign affairs.

## Group by group (render.py)

```
and ex pect? ation | but the journ? ey? it self of the emperor Alex?
an der? to will na was in opposition to the chan ce last or
and adv? ice and if his ac tive in flu ence had not been im CW:1102
pas? ion ed before it can SCARCELY fa ill to have been af fect ed
by his ill ness? im medi te ly after his ar riv? al sthey? which was
UNDOUBTEDLY an a po ple? ct ic? str oke since then he has had
a second and a more sever? e? one | IN THE GERMAN GAZETTES even his
de a th? has been an no un ced but that was a mis take
at al event it is SCARCELY poss? le that he should rem ain much
long er in the depart ment of foreign affairs?
133 of 133   by grade: H=106 C=10 M=13 I=4
```

<!-- Reading of the nine lines of No. 88 (25 June 1812) that Ford left out, written out 23 Oct 2026 (Claude Opus 5.5, verification 5) from texts/no88_gap_decryption.md (NOTES.md section 3): syllable groups joined into words, header and group table cut. [?word] = a word resting on a grade-I (inferred) value. -->

# J. Q. Adams, No. 88, 25 June 1812: the lines Ford did not decipher

## Reading

… and expectation. But the [?journey] itself of the Emperor Alexander to Wilna was in opposition to the Chancellor and
advice, and if his active influence had not been impaired before it, it can scarcely fail to have been affected by
his illness immediately after his arrival [?thither], which was undoubtedly an apoplectic stroke. Since then he has had
a second and a more severe one. In the German Gazettes even his death has been announced; but that was a mistake. At
all events it is scarcely possible that he should remain much longer in the department of foreign affairs.

No. 88, 25 June 1812: the remainder Ford printed as undecyphered (frame 0207) read in part

The rest of No. 88: a proposal to evacuate Prussia as a preliminary to negotiation would have been neither unreasonable nor offensive; the French ambassador Lauriston took Prince Kurakin's note as proof that Alexander would not negotiate; and JQA expects that early French success would let Napoleon strike directly at the centre of the empire rather than along the Baltic.

Builds coherent sentences, but under the read bar of 95% of words read as sense (94% here); the holes are marked in the reading.

1416 1399 219 1148 1098 565 1254 1426 674 983 1317 845 1036 569
1385 948 401 1229 637 1440 500 1021 1864 897 428 479 734 1503 357 1424
143 357 1426 1044 237 1293 1190 1501 399 539 1471 934 937 897 668 142x
350 289 1403 897 815 545 239 569 641 1440 1190 1501 219 1148 1098 981
1385 501 452 1061 864 1576 1101 948 792 1385 995 troops 692 1508 21x
880 643 402 949 669 44 | 790 1385 464 1149 488 1176 1385 1544 1308 15xx
908 614 520 1385 153 1083 1098 1332 880 776 1426 254 502 1450 1576
Prince Kurakin's 1457 352 1372 500 1384 1440 174 938 1501 219 1148 11xx
1190 1176 1440 1199 1310 845 193 1503 1426 992 569 108 | 169 1185
1440 692 1501 821 1592 252 728 1384 1385 16 1535 289 1549 828
1244 809 1379 549 520 360 569 426 699 | 1535 | 1440 570 169 1xxx
1407 31 1501 219 1148 1070 692 992 1244 433 552 1576 611 500
948 282 1520 1385 1309 588 1576 996 520 1453 416
[clear: A very few days must in all probability produce the Manifestos of both parties ... It is not General Kutuzoff but Count Rostopchin who is appointed Governor, civil and Military, of Moscow -]
1549 687 1576 731 1086 1436 983 1429 1391 668 1440 1436 55x
220 586 1384 1416 1233 385 1022 1592 1385 1592 1385 1099 1576 1385 995
90 620 1385 105 637 1576 1385 498 1385 16 402 1148 586 1592 1186 699 13xx
1361 569 1116 432 726 844 508 897 569 1384 1019 731 1576 1385 539
927 1383 1540 1385 1097 748 1576 1385 1305 1361 1404

# No. 88, 25 June 1812: the remainder Ford printed as undecyphered (rem88.txt), decryption

Reading copied verbatim from NOTES.md section 4 ([ ] = grade I, { } = valued but not sense). Below it, the group-by-group output of `python render.py rem88.txt` run on 22 Oct 2026 (? = grade M or I value, {n} = no value, CAPS = clear text, x = digit lost in the gutter).

> If this proposition has in any form been disclosed to the Russian government, it was certainly neither unreasonable
> nor im-[mod(erate)] nor inconsistent with a system rigorously and [in]-[fl]-ex-[ib]-ly de-fen-sive (underlined), to
> meet it with a proposition for the e-va-cu-ation of Prussia by the French troops as {1508} [pre]-liminary to
> negotiation. But the very point upon which the ambassador manifested the most sensibility in speaking of Prince
> Kurakin's last note was that it held out a proposition with which it would be dishonourable in France to comply. He
> {1185} it as a demonstration that the Emperor Alexander had determined not to [negotiate] at all - it {tol} he
> [sa]-id - such a proposal as France had never thought of making to Russia even after the [bat]-tle of Fri-ed-la-nd.
> [clear text] ... an army of reserve is forming there, and it is [...] probab-le that if great success on the, on the
> side of the French should mark the commencement of the war, the Emperor Napoleon will at-[tem]-p-t to pene-t-rate
> directly to that centre of the em-[pire] than [along] the sho-res of the Baltic.

## Group by group (render.py)

```
if this pro po si tion has in any form been dis close? to
the rus sian govern ment it was cer tain? ly nei? un reason able nor im
mod? nor in con sis tent with a sy em rig our ous ly and 142X
fl? ex ib? ly def en sive? to meet it with a pro po si for
the e? va cu ation of P rus by the french TROOPS as le (bable)? 21X
li mi na ry to? negotiation | but the very point? upon which the am bass 15XX
or manifest ed the most sen si bi? li ty in sp ea king of
PRINCE KURAKIN'S last no te was that it held out a pro po 11XX
with which it would be dis hon able in france to comply? | he {1185}
it as a dem? on str? ation that the emperor al ex an der?
had de ter min? ed not to negotiate? at | al | it tol he 1XXX
id such a pro po sal as france had never thought of make was
rus even after the bat? tled of fri ed la nd?
[CLEAR: A VERY FEW DAYS MUST IN ALL PROBABILITY PRODUCE THE MANIFESTOS OF BOTH PARTIES ... IT IS NOT GENERAL KUTUZOFF BUT COUNT ROSTOPCHIN WHO IS APPOINTED GOVERNOR, CIVIL AND MILITARY, OF MOSCOW -]
an army of re serve is form ing there and it is 55X
probab le that if great suc ces on the on the side? of the french
should mark? the commence ment of the war the emperor na po le on will at 13XX
t? to pe net? rate? di rect? ly to that cen re of the em
pire? than along? the sho res of the bal t? ic?
249 of 250   by grade: H=196 C=23 M=16 I=14
```

<!-- Reading of the remainder of No. 88 (25 June 1812) that Ford printed as undecyphered, written out 23 Oct 2026 (Claude Opus 5.5, verification 5) from texts/no88_remainder_decryption.md (NOTES.md section 4): syllable groups joined into words, header and group table cut. [?word] = a word resting on grade-I (inferred) values; {1185}, {tol} = groups valued but not sense; [...] = the clear passage of the letter between the two cipher runs (Ford prints it). -->

# J. Q. Adams, No. 88, 25 June 1812: the remainder

## Reading

If this proposition has in any form been disclosed to the Russian government, it was certainly neither unreasonable
nor [?immoderate] nor inconsistent with a system rigorously and [?inflexibly] defensive, to meet it with a proposition
for the evacuation of Prussia by the French troops as {1508} [?preliminary] to negotiation. But the very point upon
which the ambassador manifested the most sensibility in speaking of Prince Kurakin's last note was that it held out a
proposition with which it would be dishonourable in France to comply. He {1185} it as a demonstration that the Emperor
Alexander had determined not to [?negotiate] at all - it {tol} he [?said] - such a proposal as France had never
thought of making to Russia even after the [?battle] of Friedland. [...] An army of reserve is forming there, and it is
[...] probable that if great success on the, on the side of the French should mark the commencement of the war, the Emperor
Napoleon will [?attempt] to penetrate directly to that centre of the [?empire] than [?along] the shores of the Baltic.

Key: code_table.tsv

06 Sources

• National Archives, RG 59, Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Russia, microfilm M35, reel 3, NAID 188725601, frames 0047–0048, 0182–0185, 0189–0190, 0194, 0198, 0210–0211 and 0247 (clerk’s decodes), 0005–0132 (1811 coded blocks aligned with Ford), the coded blocks of eight despatches of October 1811 to September 1812 aligned with Ford, 0165 (No. 73), 0228–0233 (No. 95, with the Department’s clear copy on 0230–0232), 0206–0207 (No. 88); reel 2, frame 0155.
• Founders Online: editorial notes on the Armstrong code, Madison/02-10-02-0369 and 02-12-02-0197; Adams to Madison, 7 January 1811, 03-03-02-0121.
• Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed., Writings of John Quincy Adams, vol. 3 (New York, 1914), pp. 327–28, and vol. 4 (New York, 1914), pp. 256 (No. 73) and 355–58, and the 1811–1812 despatches whose Department decipherments it prints.
• John Quincy Adams, diary, September 1812 (Primary Source Cooperative, Massachusetts Historical Society): Romanzoff’s two strokes at Wilna.
• Ralph E. Weber, United States Diplomatic Codes and Ciphers, 1775–1938 (Chicago, 1979).
• The companion pages: Armstrong’s coded postscript to Madison, 1808, and the the = 972 table that does not fit; Erving to Madison, 1807, in Pinckney’s code.

The Adams code table with grades and support (code_table.tsv), the clerk’s pairs by frame (pairs_jqa.txt, clerk_*.tsv, clerk_notes_pages2.md), the Ford alignments (codes_ford*.txt, ford_pairs*.tsv, codes_ford1812*.txt, ford1812_pairs*.tsv, ford1812_notes.md, align.py), the group transcriptions of No. 88 (gap88.txt, rem88.txt), the sense audit (sense88.tsv, measure.py), the renderer (render.py) and the notes are in the repository folder targets/jqa/. Microfilm images are not committed.