The United States had not paid for its loan,
and its credit in Amsterdam was in jeopardy.
John Adams negotiated a loan in Holland at 6% interest.
On 24 January 1784 in a letter to Benjamin Franklin he wrote,
I Should look back with Pleasure, upon the less Chagrin,
upon the disagreeable Passage from London, if We had
Succeeded, in obtaining the Object of it, but I find I am here
only to be a Witness that American Credit in this Republic
is dead, never to rise again, at least until the United States
Shall all agree upon Some Plan of Revenue, and
make it certain that Interest and Principal will be paid.
There has Scarcely an Obligation been Sold Since the News
of the Mutiny of Soldiers in Philadelphia and the diversity
of Sentiments among the States about the Plan of Impost.
I have no Information from Congress or Mr. Morris,
but am told by our Bankers there are Bills to the Amount
of Thirteen hundred Thousand Guilders which must be sent
back, a terrible disappointment to great Numbers of People!
Some of the Bills become payable, the Beginning of March,
and the Rest being much the greatest Part in May.1
On February 10 John Adams wrote from The Hague
in a letter to the President of Congress,
Sir,— I had scarcely finished my dispatches, to go by
Mr. Thaxter with the definitive Treaty, when I was taken
down with a fever at Paris, and reduced so low as to be
totally unable to attend to any business for a long time.
When I grew so much better, as to be able to ride,
I was advised to go to England.
As I had nothing to do at Paris, and an attempt to reside
in Holland, would probably have thrown me into a relapse,
I took the advice and after a few weeks of gentle exercise
and relaxation of care, with a change of air and of diet
I found myself so much better as to venture over,
to Holland though in a very rigorous season to see
if I could do anything to save the public credit.
I have done my utmost, to no purpose.
Mr. Vanberckel & Mr. Vischer, who are very well disposed
to serve us have frankly told me, that there was no hope
of obtaining the least assistance from the regency.
I went to Amsterdam and spent eight or ten days there,
but could do nothing.
The bills of exchange must, for anything I see, go back,
and the credit of the United States will never revive,
until they shall have established a certain revenue
for the payment of interest.
A long course of journeys and voyages, a variety of climates
and continual application of mind, have so wrecked my
constitution, which was never very firm, and produced these
repeated attacks of the fever, that it is high time for me,
to take a little repose, and as Mr. Jay will be
with Dr. Franklin, at Paris, it will be unnecessary for me
to go thither, to execute the last instructions of Congress,
and I shall accordingly remain here, until further orders.
Peace is made between Russia and the Porte,
and the definitive Treaty between England and Holland,
is expected to be soon signed.
May the World continue at Peace.
But if it should not, I hope we shall have wisdom
enough to keep ourselves out of any Broil.
As I am quite in Sentiment with the Baron de Nolken,
the Swedish ambassador at St. James’s, who did me
the honor to visit me, although I had not visited him.
“Sir, said he, “I take it for granted that you will have
sense enough, to see us in Europe cut each other’s throats
with a philosophical tranquility?”
This Minister requested Governor Pownall
to introduce him to me.
He did So.
The ambassador told me, he had been twenty years,
at that Court, and had seen the rise, progress
and end of the dispute with America.
That he had lived much with the British ministers,
and had often ventured to give them his sentiments.
That he had constantly foretold the issue;
“but,” said he, “although I was upon good terms with them,
they had no confidence in me.
And in this they were right for no court ought ever
to have confidence in a foreign minister.”
I mention this, because it is a maxim, with all old nations,
and I think it high time it should
become the maxim of our young one.
Governor Pownall, told me, that he meditated a voyage
to America, but was afraid of jealousies and suspicions,
and asked if I thought he might be well received.
I told him I did not doubt he would be received,
respectfully in every part, of America.
That he had been always considered, as far as I know
as friendly to America, and that his writings
had been useful to our cause.2
John Adams on March 9 in a letter to the President of Congress wrote,
Sir, — On the 18th of February the Baron de Thulemeyer,
Envoy Extraordinary to their High Mightinesses from the
King of Prussia, did me the honor of a visit, but,
as he found I had company, he soon took his leave,
and as I accompanied him to the head of the stairs,
he told me, he had something to propose to me from
the King, and desired to know when he might call again.
I offered to return his visit at any hour he pleased.
He chose to call upon me, and named eleven the next day,
at which hour he came, and told me, “That the King who
honored him with a personal correspondence, and was
acquainted with my character, had directed him to make me
a visit, and to say to me, that as his subjects had occasion
for our tobacco and some other things, and as we had
occasion for Silesia linens and some other productions
of his dominions, he thought an arrangement might
be made between his Crown and the United States,
which would be beneficial to both;”
and the Baron desired to know my sentiments of it.
I answered him, “that I was very sensible of the honor
done me by his Majesty but that I had singly no authority
to treat or enter into conferences officially, upon the subject;
that congress had been pleased to confer upon their
ministers at the late peace, authority to enter into
conferences; that I could do nothing but in concurrence
with Mr. Franklin and Mr. Jay, who were at Paris;
but I thought I could answer for the good dispositions
of those ministers, as well as my own, for forming
an arrangement between the two powers which
might be beneficial to both; that I would write
to those ministers an account of what had passed.
He desired I would, and said he would write by the first post
to the King, and inquire if his Majesty, had anything
in particular to propose, would inform him of my answer,
and wait his further orders, which probably he should
receive as soon as I should have an answer from Paris.
I wrote the next day, and on Saturday last received
an answer from Dr. Franklin and Mr. Jay, in which they say,
that they “are persuaded that the communication
of the friendly disposition of his Prussian Majesty
made to you by the Baron de Thulemeier
will give great pleasure to congress.
The respect with which the reputation of that great Prince
has impressed the United States early induced them
to consider his friendship as a desirable object,
and we are happy in being authorized to assure his Majesty
that they will most cheerfully enter into such commercial
treaty with him, as being founded on principles of reciprocity
may be productive of equal benefit to both countries.
Although we have no commission to conclude such a treaty,
yet our instructions from congress enable us to join with the
King’s minister in preparing a draft of such a treaty,
which being sent to congress they would, together
with a commission to conclude the treaty give us pointed
instructions on the subject, and much time might be thereby
saved, if you are of this opinion, and his Majesty should be
pleased to approve such a measure, we think the articles
may be discussed between you and the Baron in the first
instance on the principles which govern in the treaties,
you mention, both of which have been approved and ratified
(i.e. with Holland and Sweden).
That being done, we might confer together
and write a joint letter to Congress on the subject.
We shall nevertheless make this Communication
a part of our next dispatch to Congress.”
Yesterday meeting the Baron at Court, on occasion
of the Prince of Orange’s birth-day, he told me
he had received another Letter from the King,
and would call upon me in the evening, which he did,
and informed me, that the King had written to him,
that he was collecting all necessary papers,
and would soon send them to him,
with his further propositions to be made to me.
I showed him my letter from Paris,
with which he was well satisfied.
He added, that the King, had directed him, to mention,
rice and indigo as articles in demand in his ports of Embden
and Stettin and that, a large quantity of Virginia tobacco,
had been this year purchased in those ports for the
Baltic market, and that the excellent porcelain of Saxony
might be a desirable article for the Americans.
I beg Leave to submit to Congress, whether the
Model of the Treaty with Holland or Sweden may not
in general be convenient for one with Prussia, as also the
Propriety of sending a full Power to their Ministers at the late
Peace, or one or more of them, to conclude this business.
With a great deal of difficulty, and at a dear rate, I have
at last obtained money to Save Mr. Morris’s bills
which are payable this month, from going back.
Messrs: Willink & Co. will transmit the contract
for the ratification of congress.
It is much to be lamented, that we are obliged to agree
to so high terms, but there was absolutely no other
alternative but this or protesting the bills.
This business has hitherto necessarily prevented me
from joining my colleagues at Paris,
in the execution of our instructions.3
On May 4 John Adams in a letter to Samuel Adams wrote,
Your advice “to reconcile myself to the Thought that
Justice may not be done me, till I am dead” is friendly.
I am not however apprehensive of Injustice living or dead.
I am not ambitious of a Reputation for great Talents or
Splendid Actions, with the present Age or with Posterity.
The great Anxiety of my Life, has been to do my Duty
and avoid just Reproach.
And I know very well, that my Life has been passed
at such a remote Distance, from every bad Principle
and foul Course that no Authority will be credited,
which may be so abandoned as to ascribe to me,
any Thing very vicious or very vile.
When you Say that “while I live, I Shall probably be
the Object of Envy,” you flatter me, because that Envy
is the best Testimony that the Envious
can give of their Sense of a Man’s Merit.—
I do not think that Envy Strictly Speaking
abounds in the World.
Many are falsely accused of Envy.
Indignation against successful Villainy, and Contempt of low
Cunning or impudent Empiricism, are not Envy,
though they are often called so.—
In former Parts of my Life, I have made Enemies, or rather
have excited little Resentments by too much Ardor,
or by little Incaution or Indiscretion, upon great Occasions
but I was never very Sensible that I was envied, but once.
My Commission for Peace was envied by one Man
and by one only that I knew of, and this dirty Passion,
put him upon a series of falsehoods, of insidious underhand
Maneuver, and other base Practices,
which would tarnish any Reputation
whenever or wherever it should be exposed.—
These Proceedings distressed me, not for myself
for I never cared a farthing for any Consequence
they could have upon me, but for the Public,
because I saw, that they put to the utmost hazard
some of the most important Interests of our Country.
And it is a kind of Miracle that they did not finally forfeit Us
all our Fish and Fur, and Venison at least.—
These are secured, and I am no longer troubled
about any Man’s Envy or Jealousy.
The Envy and Jealousy alluded to was aided
by two Auxiliaries which made it dangerous—
one was the Jealousy of the South which cannot bear to see
any Character of Consequence, arising in the North,
and the other was an Influence, which has betrayed
too much Inclination to domineer in our Councils
and Negotiations, and therefore has never treated
with common Decency any American Character,
which would not be a Prostitute.—
I Saw, with a Grief and Indignation which no Historian
will record, because no Words can express it,
the great Council giving way to these 3 Jealousies,
and Sacrificing a Man whose Conduct
they were necessitated to applaud.
But all this is past.
You assign me a Station, which would probably be envied.
But I shall probably never be in it, and I assure you, Since
I Saw it, I have much less Inclination for it, than I ever had.
There is one certain Way, of getting rid of Envy,
and that is getting out of envied Places.
This is now, I thank God and ever shall be in my Power.
But I will never make Use of this Power
from the fear of Envy.—
As soon as I shall see, that there is no further Service
to be done by me, I can retire with greater Joy
than I ever felt upon any Honor that was done me.
For my own Gratification I declare to you
I had rather be a Select Man of Braintree,
than Ambassador to any Court in the World.4
In May 1784 Thomas Jefferson was named a minister plenipotentiary,
and he joined John Adams and Ben Franklin.
After five years of separation Abigail was finally reunited
with her husband John Adams at The Hague on August 7.
On 26 April 1785 John Adams received a letter from Elbridge Gerry
informing him that he had been appointed the ambassador to Britain,
and that he should be there by the birthday of King George III on June 4.
Thomas Jefferson gave John and Abigail Adam
a copy of his Notes on the State of Virginia.
As Ben Franklin had retired, John Adams became
the most experienced American diplomat.
Yet Congress reduced his salary from £2,500 to £2,000.
In the great city of London the Adams couple went to
see Shakespeare’s tragedies of Macbeth and Othello.
His first goal was to open British ports to American ships
until he learned that the Articles of Confederation adopted
in 1781 did not permit the Congress to regulate commerce.
Jefferson in Paris and Adams began an active correspondence in which
they each wrote about 28 letters from late May 1785 to February 1786.
Barbary pirates extorted cash from European nations.
France paid Algiers $200,000 a year, and Britain paid them $280,000 per year.
On 2 May 1785 John Adams in this letter to
Elbridge Gerry wrote about different kinds of vanity.
The Imputation of a weak Passion has made So much
Impression upon me, that it may not be improper to Say
a little more about it, even although I Should convert you,
more and more to the Opinion of those who think
the public Interest in danger from it.
The Truth Should come out, and if the danger is real,
the Remedy is easily applied.
According to all that I have read of Morals or Seen of
Manners, there are, in Mankind various kinds of Vanity.
And every Gradation of the Passions, and every Shade
of their various operations on the good or Evil
of Society Should be Studied by you
the Statesmen who are forming a new World.
There is a Vanity whose Object is Show.
Its constant Study is to acquire Popularity to attract
the Attention and Consideration of the World,
and to impose upon Mankind, by Magnificence in Buildings,
Furniture, Equipage, Dress, Titles, Ribbons,
Stars, Garters, Crosses, and Eagles.
Such is the Propensity of the World in general to admire
those visible Objects and external Signs which Strike their
Imaginations and Senses, that this Species of Vanity
commonly changes the whole moral and political Character
of a People, by turning their Attention, Esteem, Admiration
and even their Confidence and Affection,
from Talents and Virtues, to these external Appearances.
While a People look for the former, they find them:
the choicest Spirits, who have most Benevolence as well as
Capacities, aim to do good, because they know
they Shall be Supported by the People and enabled to do it.
But when a People Seek for Marks those men acquire
their Confidence and manage the public Affairs,
who think of nothing but Marks.
Washington had never existed, if he had not known that
the People had formed the Idea of Such a Character,
were enquiring for Such a one, and would love and Admire it
more than that of a Caesar or a Prince of Orange.
And We shall See that if Orange Ribbons take Place
in America, they will be chiefly sought
and our next General will be a Prince of orange.
I believe, I was never accused of this sort of Vanity.
I never was infected with it, on the contrary my Interest
and Reputation have been always in America lessened,
by my living in a Simplicity even below
what my Circumstances would have justified.
There is another Sort of Vanity, which consists
or at least Shows itself in empty boastings of Wealth,
Birth, Power, Beauty, Parts learning, Virtues or Conduct.
This is Seldom very mischievous, or gains any Reputation,
but always prevents the Boaster, from acquiring
the Character, which Sometimes he may merit.
It is never indulged to be Sure by a Cunning Politician.
There is another Sort of Vanity, real Vanity as much as
either of the other Sort, but certainly less pernicious.
It is, on the contrary, although a Weakness and,
if you will a Vice, a real Proof of a valuable Character.
It is even a Vanity which arises from
the Testimony of a good Conscience.
When a Man is conscious of Services and Exertions,
from the purest Principles of Virtue & Benevolence
and looks back on a course of Years, Spent in the Service of
other Men, without Attention to himself, when he recollects,
Sacrifices, Sufferings and dangers, which have fallen
in his Way, and Sees himself preserved through all
and his labors crowned with transcendent Success
there arises a Satisfaction, and sometimes a Transport
which he must be very wise indeed,
if he can at all times conceal.
I Say more it is Hypocrisy oftener than Wisdom
that pretends to conceal it.
If I were to Say that I have felt this Consciousness, and
experienced this Joy, I should be chargeable with Vanity,
although you and every Man who knows me, must know it
to be true, and that it is impossible it Should be otherwise.—
If at Sometimes I have betrayed in Word or Writing
Such a Sentiment, I have only to Say in excuse for it that
I am not a Hypocrite, nor a cunning Man,
nor at all times wise.
And that although I may be more cautious for the future,
I will never be so merely to obtain the Reputation of a
cunning Politician, a Character I neither admire nor esteem.
I have Seen So much of it, between the Years 1755
and the Years 1785, as to give me a thorough disgust to it.
But the Gentlemen think that a public Minister
“ought never to have the weak Passion.”
In this I agree with them.—
It is always an Imperfection, a Weakness, a Fault
and if you will a Vice: but do they expect to find a Minister
without a fault, and is not a weak Passion
universally a Smaller Fault, than a Strong one?
Is not even Pride more dangerous than Vanity, as are not
Avarice, & Ambition, more pernicious than both?
Is not even Craft, Cunning, Intrigue, much worse
than the weak Passion?5
John Adams on June 2 in a letter to John Jay
described his meeting with King George III.
This is what he remembered of their conversation:
I made the three Reverences, one at the Door, another about
half Way and the third before the Presence, according to the
Usage established at this and all the northern Courts of Europe,
and then addressed myself to his Majesty in the following Words:
Sir
The United States of America, have appointed me
their Minister Plenipotentiary to your Majesty,
and have directed me to deliver to your Majesty,
this Letter, which contains the Evidence of it.
It is in Obedience 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
Subjects and their Citizens, and of their best Wishes
for your Majesty’s Health and Happiness,
and for that of your Royal Family.
The Appointment of a Minister from the United States
to your Majesty’s Court, will form an Epoch,
in the History of England and of America.
I think myself more fortunate, than all my fellow Citizens,
in having the distinguished Honor, to be the first to Stand
in your Majesty’s Royal Presence, in a diplomatic Character:
and I Shall esteem myself the happiest of Men,
if I can be instrumental in recommending my Country,
more and more to your Majesty’s Royal Benevolence
and of restoring an entire esteem, Confidence and Affection,
or in better Words, “the old good Nature and the old good
Humor” between People who, though Separated
by an Ocean and under different Governments have the
Same Language, a Similar Religion and kindred Blood.—
I beg your Majesty’s Permission to add, that although
I have Sometimes before, been entrusted by my Country
it was never in my whole Life in a manner
So agreeable to myself.—
The King listened to every Word I Said:
with dignity, it is true, but with an apparent Emotion.
Whether it was the Nature of the Interview, or whether
it was my visible Agitation for I felt more than I did
or could express, that touched him, I cannot Say,
but he was much affected, 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 must Say, that I not only receive
with Pleasure, the Assurances of the friendly Dispositions
of the United States, but that I am very glad the Choice
has fallen upon you to be their Minister.
I wish you, Sir to believe, and that it may be understood
in America, that I have done nothing in the late Contest,
but what I thought myself indispensably bound to do
by the Duty which I owed to my People.
I will be very frank with you.
I was the last to consent to the Separation:
but the Separation having been made, and having become
inevitable, I have always Said as I say now, 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 to give to this Country
the Preference, that moment I Shall Say
let the Circumstances of Language, Religion and blood,
have their natural and full Effect.
I dare not Say, that these Were the King’s precise Words,
and it is even possible that I may have in Some Particular,
mistaken his meaning for, although his Pronunciation is
as distinct, as I ever heard, he hesitated Sometimes
between his Periods, and between the Members
of the Same Period.
He was indeed much affected, and I was not less so,
and therefore I cannot be certain, that I was So attentive,
heard So clearly and understood So perfectly,
as to be confident of all his Words or sense, and I think that
all which he Said to me, Should at present be kept Secret
in America, unless his Majesty or his Secretary of State,
Should judge proper to report it.—
This I do say, that the foregoing is, his Majesty’s Meaning
as I then understood it, and his own Words,
as nearly as I can recollect them.
The King then asked me, whether I came last from
France, and upon my Answering in the Affirmative,
he put on an Air of Familiarity, and Smiling or rather
laughing Said “There is an Opinion, among Some People,
that 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 Indiscretion and a descent from his Dignity.
I was a little embarrassed, but determined not to deny
the Truth on one hand, nor leave him to infer from it,
any Attachment to England on the other;
I threw off as much Gravity as I could And assumed
an Air of Gaiety and a Tone of Decision,
as far as was decent, and said “That Opinion sir,
is not mistaken, I must avow to your Majesty,
I have no Attachments but to my own Country.”
The King replied, as quick as lightning
“An honest Man will never have any other.”
The King then Said a Word or two, to the Secretary
of State, which being between them I did not 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 last Reverence at the Door of the Chamber,
I went my Way.6
On August 24 John Adams had a long meeting
with Prime Minister William Pitt,
and they discussed the carrying off of slaves
during the war and the removing of British posts.
Pitt said those depended on payment of state debts.
Adams suggested a generous commercial policy,
and they recognized that both sides had rights.
John Adams on 10 September 1785 wrote about corruption
and what should be done in this letter to John Jebb.
It is a Wise Maxim that Every Freeman ought to have
some Profession Calling Trade or Farm, whereby
he may honestly subsist, but it by no means follows as a
Consequence that there can be no necessity for, nor use
in Establishing offices of profit, if we mean by these,
offices with moderate, decent and stated,
salaries sufficient for the comfortable support
of the officers and their Families.
Offices in General ought to yield as honest a subsistence and
as Clear an independence as Professions, Callings, Trades
or Farms, if by offices of Profit we mean, offices of
excessive profits, it is not only true that there can be no
necessity for them nor use in establishing them,
but it is clear they aught never to exist,—the dependence
and servility, unbecoming Freemen in the Possessors
and Expectants: though Faction, Contention, Corruption and
disorder amongst the People does not arise from the honest
profit but from the Excess,
and they oftener arise from Ambition than Avarice.
An office without Profits, without salary, Fees, Perquisites
or any kind of Emolument is sought for
with servility, Faction, and Corruption from Ambition
as often as an office of Profit is sought from Avarice.
And this is the Way in which Corruption is constantly
introduced into society: it constantly begins with the People
in their Elections; indeed the first Step of Corruption
is this dishonest disposition in the People,
an unwillingness to pay their Representatives,
the moment they require of a Candidate
that he serve them Gratis.
They establish an Aristocracy by excluding from a Possibility
of serving them all who are Poor & unambitious,
and by confining their suffrages to a few rich Men,
when this Point is once gained of the People which is
easily gained because their own avarice pleads for it.
Tyranny has made a Gigantic stride.
I appeal to your Knowledge of England whether
servility, Faction, Contention and Corruption appears
anywhere in so Gross forms, as in the Election
of Members of Parliament whose offices are
very expensive and have not Profits.
Is not the Legislative at this Hour
more Corrupt than the Executive?
Is not more servility, Faction, Contention and Corruption
in the offices in the Election of the People,
than is disposing of those in the Gift of the Crown?
Are there not as many in Proportion who apply
for these elections as for offices
in the Army, Navy, Church or Revenue?
The Number of Persons who apply for an office then
is no Proof of an increase of its Fees or Profits.
The Man who offers a City or Borough to serve them
for nothing, offers a Bribe to every Elector,
and the answer should be Sir you affront me:—
I want a service which is worth something.
I am able and willing to Pay for it.
I will not lay myself under any obligation to you
by accepting your Gift.
I will owe you no gratitude any further than
you serve me faithfully; the obligation
and Gratitude Shall be from you to me,
and if you do not do your Duty to me,
I will be perfectly free to call you to an account
and to punish you, and if you will not accept
of Pay for your service, you shall not serve me.—
There are in History examples of Characters wholly
disinterested who have displayed the sublimest talents,
the greatest virtues, at the same time that they have made
long and Severe sacrifices to their Country of their Time,
their Estates, their Labor, Health and even their Lives,
and they are deservedly admired
and revered by all virtuous Men.
But how few have they been One in two or three ages,
certainly not enough to watch over the Rights of Mankind
for these have been last in almost all ages and Nations;
societies Should not depend upon a succession of such Men
for the Preservation of their Liberties; the People Ruin
their own cause by exacting such sacrifices in their service.
Men see nothing but Misery to themselves and ruin to
their families attached to the honest service of the People.
And the examples of Aristides, Fabricius and Cincinnatus
have in all ages terrified thousands of able
and worthy Men from engaging in a service
so hopeless and uncomfortable.—
Knaves and Hypocrits see through
the Whole system at once.
I will take the People their own way says one of these,
I will serve them without Pay; I will give them money;
I will make them believe that I am perfectly disinterested
until I gain their Confidence and excite their enthusiasm.
Then I will Carry that Confidence and Enthusiasm to market
and will sell it for more than all I give them,
and all their Pay would have amounted to—
si populus vult decipi decipiatur.
(If people want to be deceived, they will be deceived.)
It should be a fundamental maxim with the People
never to receive any services Gratis,
nor to suffer any faithful service to go unrewarded,
nor any unfaithful services unpunished.
Their rewards should be temperate, instead of this,
how stingy are they at first and how wild at last,
Stingy until the Man has served them
long enough to gain their Confidence
mad and frantic with generosity afterwards.
Their Gratitude when once their Enthusiasm is excited
knows no bounds.
It scatters their favors all around the Man.
His family, his Father, Brother, son, all his relations,
all his Particular Friends must be idolized.
Wealth and Power without measure or End must be
conferred upon them, without considering whether they be
Wise Men or Fools, Honest Men or Knaves.—
The social science will never be much improved until
the People unanimously know and Consider themselves
as the fountain of Power and until they Shall know
how to manage it Wisely and honestly.
Reformation must begin with the Body of the People
which can be done only, to affect, in their Education.
The Whole People must take upon themselves
the Education of the Whole People
and must be willing to bear the expenses of it.
There should not be a district of one Mile Square without
a school in it, not founded by a Charitable individual
but maintained at the expense of the People themselves;
they must be taught to reverence themselves
instead of adoring their servants, their Generals,
Admirals, Bishops and Statesmen.
Instead of Admiring so extravagantly a Prince of Orange,
we Should admire the Batavian Nation which produced him.
Instead of Adoring a Washington, Mankind Should
applaud the Nation which Educated him.
If Thebes owes its Liberty and Glory to Epaminondas,
She will lose both when he dies; and it would have been
as well if She had never enjoyed a taste of either:
but if the Knowledge, the Principles, the Virtues and
Capacities of the Theban Nation produced an Epaminondas,
her Liberties and Glory will remain when he is no more:
and if an analogous system of Education is Established
and Enjoyed by the Whole Nation,
it will produce a succession of Epaminondas’s.
The Human Mind naturally exerts itself to form its Character
according to the Ideas of those about it.
When Children and Youth hear their Parents and Neighbors
and all about them applauding the Love of Country,
of Labor, of Liberty and all the Virtues, Habits and Faculties
which constitute a good Citizen, that is a Patriot
and a Hero;—those Children endeavor to acquire
those qualities, and a sensible and Virtuous People
will never fail to form Multitudes of Patriots and Heroes.
I Glory in the Character of a Washington because I know
him to be only an Exemplification of the American Character;
I know that the General Character of the Natives of the
United States is the same with him and that the prevalence
of such sentiments and Principles Produced his Character
and preserved it, and I know there are thousands of others
who have in them all the essential Qualities,
Moral & Intellectual which compose it.
If his Character Stood alone, I should value it very little,
I should wish it had never existed, because
although it might have wrought a great Event,
yet that Event would be no Blessing.
In the days of Pompey Washington would have been a
Caesar, his officers and Partisans
would have stimulated him to it.
He could not have had their Confidence without it—
in the time of Charles a Cromwell—in the days of
Phillip the second—a Prince of Orange, and
would have wished to be Count of Holland.
But in America he could have no other ambition
than that of retiring; in Wiser and more Virtuous Times
he would not have had that, for that, is an Ambition.
He would still be content to be Governor of Virginia,
President of Congress, a Member of a Senate
or House of Representatives.
It was a General sentiment in America
that Washington must retire.
Why? What is implied, in this necessity?
If he could not offer to serve the public longer without Pay,
let him be paid.
Would it Lessen his Reputation? Why Should it?
If the People were perfectly judicious instead of Lessening,
it would raise it; but if it did not, surely the late revolution
was not undertaken to raise one Great reputation to make
a sublime Page in History, but for the Good of the People.
Does not this Idea of the necessity of his retiring, imply an
opinion of danger to the Public from his Continuing in Public?
a Jealousy that he might become ambitious?
and does it not imply something still more humiliating,
a Jealousy in the People of one another?
a Jealousy of one Part of the People that another Part
had grown too fond of him and acquired habitually too much
Confidence in him, and that there would be danger of setting
him up for a king undoubtedly it does, and undoubtedly
there were such suspicions, and Grounds for them too.
Now I ask what occasioned this
dangerous Enthusiasm for him?
I answer that Great as his Talents and Virtues are,
they did not altogether contribute so much to it,
as his serving without Pay,
which never fails to turn the Heads of the Multitude.
His ten thousand officers under him and all his other
admirers might have sounded his Fame as much as
they would, and they might have justly sounded it very high.
And it would not all have produced such Ecstacy
among the People as this single circumstance.—
Now I say this is all wrong.
There should have been no such distinction made
between him and the other Generals;
he should have been paid as well as they.
And the People should have too high a sense of their own
Dignity ever to suffer any Man to serve them for nothing.
The higher and more important the office the more
rigorously Should they insist upon acknowledging its
appointment by them, and its dependence upon them:
but then they must be sensible of their own Enthusiasm
and constantly upon their Guard against it.
They Should consider that although History presents us
perhaps with one example in 500 years of one disinterested
Character, it Shows us ten thousand Instances every year
of the semblance of Disinterestedness Counterfeited, for the
most selfish purposes of Cheating them more effectually.
And the Glory of an Aristides and half a dozen others
with the transient flashes of Liberty they preserved
in the World are a miserable Compensation to Mankind
for the long dreary ages of Gloomy Despotism which
have passed almost over the Whole Earth, by means of
disinterested Patriots, becoming Artful knaves, or rather by
the People themselves not suffering their Benefactors to
persevere in that Disinterestedness to the End which they
exact of them at first, for I think that it has been the People
themselves who have always created their own Despots.7
John Adams on 23 March 1786 in a letter to
Matthew Robinson Morris wrote about the problem of American debt:
I have too much reason to believe with you, in your Letter
of the 18th that there is a fatal Infatuation somewhere,
& I think we should not differ in our Conjectures
where the Causes lie.—
There is room to hope that mankind will one day arrive
at a great degree of perfection in the science and art
of Government, when it shall no longer be thought
a divine science, it will be pursued upon human Principles.
When superstition & Imposture, shall cease to mislead,
Common sense will come forward.
When Authority shall be known to originate with the people
instead of descending from the skies in Miracles and
mystery, it will not be difficult to convince a Nation
that its own good is its End.
In short when Men shall study Government as they do
Geometry, they will make improvements in it, as fast
as they ever did in Painting, Statuary or Architecture.
But before any great things are accomplished,
a memorable change must, be made in the system
of Education, and knowledge must become so general as
to raise the lower ranks of Society nearer to the higher.
The Education of a Nation, instead of being confined
to a few schools & Universities for the instruction
of the few, must become the National Care and expense
for the information of the many.
It is odd that the Knowledge of Society which interests
every man, should be the last to receive improvements.
We are Thousands of Years more advanced in Astronomy
which comparatively concerns very few.
I may have said, though I don’t recollect it that it was
a Common opinion in England or in Europe that
American Independence came a Century too soon;
but as I never could conceive any possible Coincidence
of Circumstances in which America could have separated
from Great Britain without a War & without a Debt.
I have ever thought the time when it happened the best
time, and I still think it best for Britain as well as America.
There was a spirit in the Empire, that would have
extinguished the flame of Liberty in every part of it,
if the frame of it had not been broken.
Nothing now remains but for England to reconcile herself
to the Event and conform her Commercial
& political system to the new order of things,
& the Evil will not be found so great.
I love the spirit which moves you to write of American
Affairs because it is the spirit of wisdom and of Liberty.
Your Plan of American Politics is the ardent wish
of every sensible Citizen of the United States.
We have for seven Years together conformed
everything to it, and we desire nothing better now.
But you must be sensible that your scheme supposes
that other Nations, particularly the English
should conform to it, in their Intercourse with us.
You would not surely advise us to make ourselves
the Dupes of our own Liberality of sentiment, yield up
all our Exportations & Importations to foreign nations,
make ourselves a Nation of mere tillers of the Ground,
have none but a passive Commerce, & make ourselves
wholly defenseless against every power
that has a few Men of War & an Inclination to molest us.
Yet nothing less than such a humiliation is meditated for us.
We are willing that the English should have
the same Privileges with ourselves in our Ports,
but We expect in return for it some Privileges in theirs.
You seem to have too formidable apprehensions
of the American Debt.
What is a Debt of ten millions to a Nation that
has an annual Export, chiefly from the produce
of their agriculture of four Millions a Year?
This is a moderate Computation.
In two years from this time I doubt not it will be 5 or 6.
Justice without which a Nation can neither have
Confidences in itself, nor be relied on by others’ demands
that the Debt should be paid.
It is due to our most meritorious Citizens
& may be paid with ease and without the loss
of a meal of Meat or a single “bare foot.”
About one Million & 1/2 is due to France & Holland:
but the Interest only is demandable for many years.
I suppose this Interest to amount to
a hundred Thousand pounds a Year.
Cannot such a sum be easily paid by a people
who export annually so much produce?
I agree with you that France & Holland might have
afforded to purchase American Independence,
at a much greater expense:
but I would not accept it as a Gift;
not only national morality, but the pride of Virtue
would require that the whole should be paid.
Our People should be beholden
for their Liberties to themselves.
The Debt in Holland was not contracted
with the State but with Individuals.
It amounts to near seven hundred thousand pounds
all borrowed of private Persons upon obligations signed
by the Minister of the United States by their Orders.
Every feeling of honor & every sense of duty
requires that these people should not be defrauded.
And no American has an Idea of anything
but punctual Payment.
The Excises & Imposts necessary for the payment
of the Interest, would be very light, & a surplus might easily
be established to pay off the Capital as it becomes due.
America has no thought of a
permanent system of Debts & Taxes.
It is her intention to pay off the Capital, and then she will
abolish all her Excises & Imposts; & a very trifling
assessment upon Polls & Estates real & Personal will
afterwards defray her moderate Charges of Government.
All this may be accomplished without a Pang in ten Years,
& give me leave to say I have not a doubt
but it will be done unless England should be
mad enough to involve us in another War.8
Algerian pirates had seized two American ships in July 1785
and had forced 25 captured sailors to work as slaves.
John Jay wrote from Philadelphia to John Adams that he
was to use $80,000 to negotiate with the Barbary States.
In February 1786 Adams happened to see the Sultan of Tripoli’s
envoy Abdrahaman who offered to arrange a treaty.
He warned the Americans that a war between
Muslims and Christians could be “horrible.”
Thomas Jefferson came to London on March 11, and he and Adams met
with Abdrahaman who said they could get a peace treaty with Tripoli for
30,000 guineas for his Tripoli employers plus £3,000 for Abdrahaman.
He said a peace with the Barbary States could
cost them about 200,000 to 300,000 guineas.
Adams and Jefferson told him that they would have to consult with the Congress.
Adams in May went to Amsterdam to see if
he could get another loan for the United States.
Abigail went with her husband to The Hague where he
was needed to help ratify a commercial treaty with Prussia.
He came back on June 12 to attend the wedding
of their daughter Nabby to Col. William Smith.
On 25 May 1786 John Adams wrote this letter
to Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay,
Dear Sir,— I have not presented a formal memorial
in the name of our sovereign concerning the negroes
carried off contrary to the treaty, although it has been
frequently and constantly, insisted upon with the
British ministry, for several reasons.
One was a desire to confine the first memorial to one point,
the frontier posts that the real motives and intensions of the
cabinet might be the more distinctly laid open to congress.
Another reason was the frankness of ministers to own
in conversation, that the negroes must be paid for,
as a clear point.
Another was, that time might be allowed to you sir,
to transmit me the whole amount and evidence of the claim.
And lastly that I might have the explicit instructions
of congress to demand payment for the negroes in money,
and especially at what prices they should be stated.
By the answer of Lord Carmathen to the memorial
of the 30th of November, congress will see that
the detention of the posts is attempted to be justified
by the laws of certain States impeding the course of law
for the recovery of old debts, &c.
Were another memorial to be now presented relative
to the negroes, the same answer would undoubtedly be
given or more probably a reference only to that answer.
It is my duty to be explicit with my country, and therefore
I hope it will not be taken amiss, by any of my fellow
citizens, when they are told that it is in vain to expect
the evacuation of posts, or payment for the negroes,
a treaty of commerce, or restoration of prizes,
payment of the Maryland or Rhode Island demand,
compensation to the Boston merchants, or any other
relief of any kind, until these laws are all repealed.
Nor will the ministry ever agree to any explanation concerning
the interest during the war, or payments by instalments.
The old creditors have formed themselves into a society
and have frequent meetings, send committees to Mr. Pitt
and Lord Carmarthen, and, I am well informed,
oppose even a treaty of commerce, upon this ground;
and the ministers know them to be so numerous
that they could raise a clamor, a consideration which
has always had more weight at this Court and in parliament
than the interest of America or the British empire.
What, then, is to be done?
The States, it may be said, will not repeal their laws.
If they do not, then let them give up all expectations
from this Court and country, unless you can force them
to do as you please by investing congress
with full power to regulate the trade.
I will run the hazard, sir, of all the clamor that
can be raised against me by my friends, or by my enemies,
if any such there are, and of all the consequences that
can befall me, for writing my sentiments freely to congress,
on a subject of this importance.
It will appear to all the world, with an ill grace,
if we complain of breaches of the treaty, when the
British Court have it in their power to prove upon us
breaches of the same treaty of greater importance.
My advice, then, if it is not impertinent to give it, is,
that every law of every State, which concerns either debts
or royalists, which can be impartially construed contrary to
the spirit of the treaty of peace, be immediately repealed,
and the debtors left to settle with their creditors,
or dispute the point of interest at law.
I do not believe a jury would give the interest.
I beg leave to suggest another thing; if congress are
themselves clear that interest during the war was
not part of that bona fide debt which was intended
by the contracting parties, they may declare so
by a resolution, or the legislatures of the separate States
may declare so, and then the courts of justice and the juries
will certainly give no interest during the war;
but, even in this case, those States which have few debts,
and have made no laws against the recovery of them,
will think it hard that they should be subjected to dangers
by the conduct of such as have many,
and have made laws inconsistent with the treaty,
both respecting debts and tories.
You will give me leave sir to suggest another idea;
suppose the States should venture to do themselves justice;
for example, suppose Maryland should undertake to pay
herself for her bank stock and negroes carried off after
the treaty, by accepting security for it from her own citizens,
who are debtors to British subjects, and giving discharges
to those debtors, or engaging to stand between them and
the claims of the creditor; suppose the Carolinas, Virginia,
and all other States who had negroes carried off
after the peace, should do the same;
suppose Massachusetts should make up the losses of the
inhabitants of Boston in goods carried off by General Howe,
in the same way, at least those of them who were promised
compensation by General Howe, for these are undoubtedly
creditors of the British government; suppose further
that each State should undertake in the same way
to compensate the owners of vessels
taken after the commencement of the armistice.
I throw out these hints as possibilities and speculations
only, sensible that they might open a door to much
altercation; but I will not fail to add, that I think it would be
much sounder policy and nobler spirit to repeal at once
every law of every State which is in the smallest degree
inconsistent with the treaty respecting either debts or tories,
and I am well persuaded that no inconvenience would
be felt from it; neither law suits nor bankruptcies
nor Imprisonments would be increased by it;
on the contrary, the credit and commerce of all the States
would be so increased, that the debtors themselves
in general would find their burthens lighter.9
John Adams on June 6 in a letter to Thomas Jefferson wrote,
Dear Sir,— Yesterday I received your favor
of 30th May with its enclosures.
You have since that day no doubt received my answer
to yours of the 11th, in which I agreed perfectly with you
in the propriety of sending Mr. Lamb to Congress
without loss of time.
I am content to send Mr. Randal with him, but had rather
he should come to you first, and then to me, and embark
in London after we shall have had opportunity,
from his conversation, to learn as much as we can.
The Comte de Vergennes is undoubtedly right in his
judgment that avarice and fear are the only agents
at Algiers, and that we shall not have peace with them
the cheaper, for having a treaty with the Sublime Porte.
But is he certain we can ever at any price have peace with
Algiers, unless we have it previously with Constantinople?
And do not the Turks from Constantinople,
send rovers into the Mediterranean?
And would not even treaties of peace with Tunis, Tripoli,
Algiers, and Morocco be ineffectual for the security of
our Mediterranean trade, without a peace with the Porte?
The Porte is at present the theater of the politics of Europe,
and commercial information might be obtained there.
The first Question is, what will it cost us
to make peace with all five of them.
Set it, if you will, at five hundred thousand pounds sterling,
though I doubt not it might be done for three,
or perhaps for two.
The second question is,
what damage shall we suffer, if we do not treat.
Compute six or eight per cent insurance upon
all your exports, and imports; compute the total loss
of all the Mediterranean and Levant trade;
compute the loss of half your trade to Portugal and Spain.
These computations will amount to more than
half a Million sterling a year.
The third question is what will it cost to fight them.
I answer at least half a million sterling a year, without
protecting your trade; and when you leave off fighting,
you must pay as much money
as it would cost you now for peace.
The interest of half a million sterling is,
even at six per cent, 30,000 guineas a year.
For an annual interest of £30,000 sterling, then,
and perhaps for £15,000 or £10,000, we can have peace,
when a war would sink us annually ten times as much.
But, for God’s sake, don’t let us amuse our countrymen
with any further projects of sounding.
We know all about it, as much as ever we can know,
until we have the money to offer.
We know if we send an ambassador to Constantinople,
he must give presents.
How much, the Comte de Vergennes can tell you
better than any man in Europe.
We are fundamentally wrong.
The first thing to be done is for congress to have a revenue.
Taxes, duties must be laid on by congress or the assemblies
and appropriated to the payment of interest.
The moment this is done, we may borrow a sum adequate
to all our necessities; if it is not done, in my opinion,
you and I, as well as every other servant of the
United States in Europe, ought to go home,
give up all points, and let all our exports
and imports be done in European bottoms.
My indignation is roused beyond all patience to see
the people in all the United States in a torpor, and see them
a prey, to every robber, pirate, and cheat in Europe.
Jews and Judaizing Christians are now scheming to buy up
all our continental notes at two or three shillings in a pound,
in order to oblige us to pay them at twenty shillings a pound.
This will be richer plunder than that of Algerines,
or Lloyd’s coffee-house.10
John Adams on July 3 in this letter to Thomas Jefferson wrote,
Dear Sir, — Yours of the 23 of June is come to hand,
with a copy of Mr. Lamb’s of 6 June from Aranjuez.
There is no intelligence from America of armies
marching to take the posts from the English.
The news was made, as I suppose, against the opening
of the three per cents; and it had the intended effect,
to beat down the stocks a little.
Although the posts are important,
the war with the Turks is more so.
I lay down a few simple propositions.
1. We may at this time, have a peace with them,
in spite of all the intrigues of the English or others
to prevent it, for a sum of money.
2. We never shall have peace, though France, Spain,
England and Holland, should use all their influence
in our favor, without a sum of money.
3. That neither the benevolence of France nor
the malevolence of England, will be ever able
materially to diminish or increase the sum.
4. The longer the negotiation is delayed,
the larger will be the demand.
From these premises, I conclude it to be wisest for us to
negotiate and pay the necessary sum without loss of time.
Now, I desire you, and our noble friend the marquis,
to give me your opinion of these four propositions.
Which of them do you deny or doubt?
If you admit them all, do you admit the conclusion?
Perhaps you will say, fight them, though it should cost us
a great sum to carry on the war, and although, at the end
of it, we should have more money to pay as presents.
If this is your sentiment, and you can persuade
the southern States into it, I dare answer for it that all
from Pennsylvania, inclusively northward, would not object.
It would be a good occasion to begin a Navy.
At present we are sacrificing a million annually
to save one gift of £200,000.
This is not good economy.
We might, at this hour, have two hundred ships
in the Mediterranean, whose Freight alone
would be worth £200,000,
besides its influence upon the price of our produce.
Our farmers and planters will find the price of their articles
sink very low indeed, if this peace is not made.
The policy of Christendom has made cowards
of all their sailors before the standard of Mahomet.
It would be heroical and glorious in us
to restore courage to ours.
I doubt not we could accomplish it,
if we should set about it in earnest;
but the difficulty of bringing our people to agree upon it,
has ever discouraged me.
You have seen Mr. Randal before this, no doubt,
if he has not fallen sick on the road.
This letter is intended to go by Mr. Fox.
The Chevalier de Pinto’s courier unfortunately
missed a packet, which delayed him,
and consequently the treaty, a month.
The queen his mistress, as I wrote you a few days since,
has given orders to her squadron cruising in the Straits
to protect all vessels belonging to the United States.
This is noble and deserves thanks.11
On July 31 John Adams from London wrote again to Jefferson:
Dear Sir,— I have received the ratification of the
Prussian Treaty, and next Thursday shall set off for the Hague,
in order to exchange it with the Baron de Thulemeier.
Your favor of the 11th instant I have received.
There are great and weighty considerations urged in it
in favor of arming against the Algerines, and, I confess,
if our States could be brought to agree in the measure,
I should be very willing to resolve upon
eternal war with vigor, them.
But in such a case we ought to conduct the war with vigor,
and protect our trade and people.
The resolution to fight them would raise the spirits and
courage of our countrymen immediately, and we might
obtain the glory of finally breaking up these nests of banditti.
But congress will never, or at least not for years,
take any such resolution, and in the meantime
our trade and honor suffers beyond calculation.
We ought not to fight them at all,
unless we determine to fight them forever.
This thought, I fear, is too rugged for our people to bear.
To fight them at the expense of millions, and make peace,
after all, by giving more money and larger presents
than would now procure perpetual peace,
seems not to be economical.
Did Monsieur de Massac carry his point
without making the presents?
Did Louis XIV obtain his Point without making the Presents?
Has not France made presents ever since?
Did any nation ever make peace with
any one Barbary state without making the presents?
Is there one example of it?
I believe not, and fancy you will find
that even Massac himself made the presents.
I agree in opinion of the wisdom and necessity of a navy
for other uses, but am apprehensive
it will only make bad worse with the Algerines.
I will go all lengths with you in promoting a navy,
whether to be applied to the Algerines or not.
But I think, at the same time, we should treat.
Your letter, however, has made me easier upon this point.
Nevertheless, to humble the Algerines, I think you have
rather undercalculated the force necessary.
They have now fifty gun-boats, which, being small objects
against great ships, are very formidable.
None of these existed in the time of Monsieur Massac.
The harbor of Algiers, too, is fortified all round,
which it was not in Mr. Massac’s time, which renders it
more difficult and dangerous to attempt a blockade.
I know not what dependence is to be put upon Portugal
and Naples, in case of a war with the barbarians;
perhaps they might assist us in some degree.
Blocking Algiers would not obtain peace with Morocco;
so that our commerce would still be exposed.
After all, though, I am glad we have exchanged a letter
on the subject, I perceive that
neither force nor money will be applied.
Our States are so backward,
that they will do nothing for some years.
If they get money enough to discharge the demands
upon them in Europe already incurred,
I shall be agreeably disappointed.
A disposition seems rather to prevail among our citizens
to give up all ideas of navigation and naval power,
and lay themselves consequently at the mercy of foreigners,
even for the prices of their produce.
It is their concern, and we must submit; for your plan
of fighting will no more be adopted, than mine of treating.
This is more humiliating to me
than giving the resents would be.
I have a letter from Mr. Jay of 7th July, by packet,
containing nothing but an acknowledgment
of our letter of 25th April.
New Hampshire and Rhode Island have suspended their
navigation acts, and Massachusetts,
now left alone, will suspend theirs.
So that all will be left to the convention, whose system,
if they form one, will not be completed, adopted,
and begin to operate, under several years.
Congress have received the answer, which you saw,
to my memorial of 30th November;
and Mr. Ramsay writes me he is not distressed at it,
because it will produce a repeal of all the laws
against recovering private debts.12
Notes
1. The Works of John Adams: Second President of the United States, Volume 8
by Charles Francis Adams, p. 171.
2. Ibid., p. 177-179.
3. Ibid., p. 189-191
4. John Adams Writings from the New Nation 1784-1826
ed. Gordon S. Wood, p. 6-8.
5. Ibid., p. 16-18.
6. Ibid., p. 25-28.
7. Ibid., p. 33-37.
8. Ibid., p. 46-48.
9. The Works of John Adams: Second President of the United States,
Volume 8, p. 394-396.
10. Ibid., p. 399-401.
11. Ibid., p. 406-407.
12. Ibid., p. 410-412.
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