Title: From John Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, 28 July 1807
From: Adams, John
To: Warren, Mercy Otis

Dear Madam
Quincy 28th. July 1807

In the 135th. Page of your Second Volume, you State that in 1778 Mr John Adams of the State of Massachusetts was chosen to Succeed Mr Deane as Commissioner in behalf of the United States at the Court of France: an inaccuracy however of so little importance that it was Scarcely worth a Correction.
In the 139th. page you say that within a few Months after Congress made a new Arrangement of Ministers, and Mr Adams had been sent on in the room of Mr Deane, both Mr Adams and Mr Lee were directed to repair immediately to America: and Dr Franklin was appointed Sole Minister at the Court of France. My Commission is dated November 27th. 1777. Your Information Madam is incorrect. Dr Franklin was in deed in about little more than a year afterwards appointed Sole Minister at the Court of France. But neither Mr Adams nor Mr Lee were directed to repair to America. Mr Lee had a Commission to the Court of Spain which Still remained in Force, and therefore so far from being directed to return, he could not return without a Breach of Duty. He had still Negotiations to carry on with the Spanish Court and possessed the Means of Subsistence at least in his own hands, for Spain had advanced him a Sum of Money. Mr Adams was left, in an awkward Situation. He was neither directed to return to America nor to stay in Europe, nor was he furnished with the means of Subsistence, nor even with those of bearing his Expences of a Journey to a Seaport or paying for his Passage home in a Merchant Ship. The Cause of this neglect was the Division in Congress, which made it almost impossible to do any Thing or pass any Vote, in their foreign Affairs. If I had been directed home, as Mrs Warren affirms and a Passage offered me in the Alliance Frigate and provision made for my very moderate necessary Expences in the Journey and Voyage my Mind would have been in Paradise. I had no Reason to complain of the Annihilation of my Commission, and the appointment of Dr Franklin alone, for I had previously recommended both those Measures and they had been adopted by my Advice as the following Letter will show.
I had not been two Months in France, before the disputes between the two American Parties became so well known to me, and their violence had arisen to such rancour, that whatever was done or said by Dr Franklin or by me when I agreed with him in Opinion was censured and often misrepresented by one Party, And whatever was done or said by Mr Izzard Mr Lee and by me when I thought they were in the right was at least equally censured and misrepresented, by the other. I was so thoroughly disgusted with the Service, and so fully convinced that our whole System was wrong, and that ruin to our affairs abroad, and great danger and confusion to those at home must be the consequence of it, that I thought it my indespensible duty to represent my Ideas in America. To Congress I had no Justification to write, but in Conjunction with my Colleagues. It was impossible that we could agree in any Thing. I therefore determined to write to a confidential Friend in Congress, who I knew would communicate it to others, who might make such Use of it, as the Public Good might require. I accordingly wrote to Mr Samuel Adams as follows,
Passi May 21. 1778
My dear Sir
I have never yet paid my respects to you, since my Arrival in Europe, for which seeming Neglect of Duty, the total Novelty of the Scenes about me, and the incessant Avocations of Business and Ceremony and pleasure (for this last I find in Europe makes an essential part of both the other two) must plead my Excuse.
The Situation of the General Affairs of Europe is Still critical and of dubious Tendency. It is Still uncertain whether there will be War between the Turks and Russians; between the Emperor and the King of Prussia; and indeed between England and France, in the opinion of many People; My own Conjecture, however, is, that a War will commence and that Soon.
Before this reaches you, you will be informed, that a Strong Squadron of thirteen Capital Ships and Several Frigates, has Sailed from Toulon; and that another Squadron is ordered to Sail from Spithead. Whatever I may have heard of the Destination of the first, I am not at Liberty to mention it. We have yet no Intelligence that the latter has Sailed.
Chatham the great is no more: but there is yet so much of his wild Spirit in his last Speech, yet left in the Nation, that I have no doubt, but Administration will put all to the hazard.
We are happy to hear, but the Frigate Le Sensible, which has returned to Brest, that the Treaty arrived Safe at Casco Bay. We hope to have the earliest Intelligence of the Ratification of it. The Commissioners from England who sailed about the 22d. of April, will meet, as We Suppose with nothing but ridicule.
Prussia is yet upon the reserve concerning America, or rather forgetting his Promise has determined not to acknowledge our Independence, at present. His Reason is obvious. He wants the Aid, of those very German Princes who are most Subservient to Great Britain, who have furnished her with Troops to carry on the War against Us, and therefore he does not choose to offend them, by an Allyance with Us, at present. Spain is on the reserve too: but there is not the least doubt entertained here of her Intentions to Support America. In Holland there is more Friendship for Us, than I was aware, before I came here. At least they will take no part against Us.
Our Affairs in this Kingdom I find in a State of Confusion and Darkness that Surprizes me. Prodigious Sums of Money have been expended, and large Sums are yet due: but there are no Books of Accounts, or any Documents from whence I have been able to learn, what the United States have received as an equivalent.
There is one Subject, which lies heavily on my Mind, and that is the Expence of the Commissioners. You have three Commissioners at this Court, each of whom lives at an Expence of at least three thousand Pounds Sterling a Year. I fear at a greater Expence. Few Men in this World are capable of living at a less expence than I am. But I find the other Gentlemen have expended from three to four Thousands a year each, and one of them from five to six. And by all the Enquiries I can make have been able to make, I cannot find any Article of expence, which can be retrenched.
The Truth is, in my humble Opinion, our System is wrong in many particulars. 1. In having three Commissioners at this Court. One in the Character of Envoy is enough. At present each of the three is considered in the Character of a Public Minister, a Minister Plenipotentiary, which lays him under an absolute Necessity of living up to that Character. Whereas one alone would be obliged to no greater Expence, and would be quite sufficient for all that Business of a Public Minister. 2ndly. In leaving the Salaries of these Ministers at an Uncertainty, you will never be able to obtain a Satisfactory Account, of the public Monies while this System continues. It is a Temptation to live at too great an Expence, and Gentlemen will feel an Aversion to demanding a rigorous Account. 3dly. In blending the Business of a Public Minister with that of a Commercial Agent. The Business of various Departments are by this means so blended, and the Public and private Expences so confounded with each other, that I am sure no Satisfaction can ever be given to the Public, of the disposition of their Interests, And I am very confident that Jealousies and Suspicions will hereafter arise against the Characters of Gentlemen, who may perhaps have Acted with perfect Integrity and the fairest Intentions for the Public Good.
My Idea is this, Seperate the offices of Public Ministers from those of Commercial Agents—Recal, or send to some other Courts all the Public Minsters but one, at this Court. Determine with precision, the Sum that shall be allowed to the remaining one for his Expences and for his Salary i.e. for his Time, Risque trouble &c and when this is done See that he receives no more than his Allowance. The Inconveniences arising from the Multiplicity of Ministers and the Complication of Businesses, are infinite.
Remember me, with the most tender affections to my worthy Colleagues and to all others to whom you know they are due.
I am your Friend and Servant
John Adams
The Honourable Samuel Adams
This Letter was received by Mr Adams in due Season and by him communicated to Mr Richard Henry Lee and others. Mr R. H. Lee wrote immediately to me, that he had seen it, and was entirely of my Opinion. It was communicated to so many Members of Congress that it produced the Revolution which followed. My Friends and the Friends of Mr Arthur Lee, uniting with those of Dr Franklin Mr Deane and Mr Izzard in introducing the New Plan.
The Representation in my Letter of the Expences of the Commissioners, related only to the State of Things before my Arrival. My Expences were very trifling. I had no House Rent to pay Seperate from Dr Franklin. I kept no Carriage and used none, but that of Dr Franklin, and then only when he had no Use for it. I had very little Company more than Dr Franklin would have had, if I had not been there. But before my Arrival Mr Deane had his House and Furniture and Establishment of Servants, as well as his Carriage in Paris and another Establishment for his Apartments in the Country at Passi and another Carriage, sett of Horses and Servants, besides his Libertine Expences. Mr Lee had a House Furniture Carriage and organization of Servants at Chaillot. Dr Franklin had his in the Basse Court de Monsieur Le Ray De Chaumont the ancient Hotel de Valentinois, at what Rent I never could discover, because Mr Chaumont would never tell, but from the Magnificence of the Place it was universally expected to be enormously high. Making the best Estimate I could from the Representations that were made to me, I wrote as I then believed. But after a longer Residence more experience and further Inquiry, I was convinced that I had admitted much Exaggeration into the Account. Nevertheless the Expences of Mr. Deane never have been known and I presume never can be known.
From these Papers, Madam, you will see that Americans may easily investigate the Necessity, not of the Sudden recall of Mr Adams and Mr Lee, for they were not recalled, but of the Change of the Plan of our affairs abroad, and Mr Franklins Appointment as Sole Minister.
In page 140 of the 2d Volume you say that “Mr Adams returned rather disgusted at the early Revocation of his Commission, and the Unexpected order thus Speedily to leave the Court of France.” But you see Madam that the Revocation of his Commission had been Solicited by himself, was fully expected by him, and did not indeed arrive so soon as he expected it. The order to leave the Court of France never arrived at all. The Truth is it was not the Intention of Congress that he should return. Mr Samuel Adams and others told me it was the Intention to send me to Holland and that Nobody had the least Idea that I would return till I heard further from Congress.
I had taken pains to persuade my Colleagues to take a House in Paris and have but one Establishment for Us all. Mr. Lee whose opinion was that We ought to live in Paris, readily consented, but Dr Franklin refused. I then proposed that Mr. Lee should take Apartments with us at Passi, and there was room enough for Us all, and I offered to resign my Appartments to him and take others which were unoccupied and not so convenient. But Mr Lee refused to live with Us, unless it were in Paris, where the Americans in general and the French too, seemed to think We ought to live. All my proposals were therefore abortive.
Before I wrote the Letter to Mr. Adams, I had many Things to consider. What would be the Consequence, if my Plan should be adopted? Dr. Franklins reputation was so high in America, in the Court and Nation of France and all over Europe, that he would undoubtedly, as he ought to be, left alone at the Court of Versailles. Mr. Lee held too two Commissions, one to the Court of France and one to the Court of Spain. If that to the Court of Versailles should be annulled, the other to the Court of Madrid would remain in Force. The new Plan would therefore make little odds to him. I had but one, and that to the Court of Versailles. If this were annulled what would become of me? There was but one Country to which I thought it possible that Congress might send a Minister at that time, and that was Holland. But there was no hope that Holland would then receive a Minister, and I thought Congress ought not to send one there as yet. I thought therefore that there was no Alternative for me, but to return to America: and I very deliberately determined, that I had rather run the Gauntlett again through all the British Men of War in the Bay of Biscay, the British Channel and the Gulph Stream, with all their Storms and Calms, than remain where I was under a System and in Circumstances so ruinous to the American Cause. I expected however, that Congress would make some Provision for my return, by giving me orders to receive Money enough for my Expences, and give me a Passage in a Frigate, if any one should be in France. In these last Expectations only I was disappointed.
If I ever expressed any disgust it was at this disappointment, and not at being recalled, for I was not recalled and if I had been I should have rejoiced at it. Even this disgust was removed when I had opportunity to converse with Members of Congress who explained the Mystery to me. I might express disgust at another Thing. When, My Family and Baggage were all on board the Allyance, below Paimboeuf, in Nantes River ready to Sail the next Morning for America, my Frigate was impressed into the Service of John Paul Jones and I was left to wander on the Seacoast of France like a Ghost on the Banks of the Styx, for three or four months waiting for a Passage in a French Frigate. This however was not the Fault of Congress. It was an Intrigue. Whether the Motives to it were justifiable, or excusable or laudable or otherwise I shall not Say at present. Who were the Persons concerned in it and how they conducted it, are Questions which might fill many Pages, which may one day be written but not here. As the Public Service of The United States and of the King of France was the Pretext, and in part, I believed the real object, I acquiesced, however painfull my personal disappointment was.
You are pleased to add, Madam, that I retired privately to my Seat in Braintree, where I employed myself in preparing a concise Statement of the Situation and political Connections of the Powers of Europe, which I laid before Congress &c &c &c. And for this and Several other Things you refer to a Letter of mine to Congress dated August 4. 1779. I arrived in Boston Harbour, on August the third, on the next day the Letter is dated. I could not employ my self long therefore in preparing this Statement after my Arrival. But the Fact is that the Materials of that Letter had been collected in Europe and on the Passage and committed to writing before my arrival, and Sent off to Congress on the day of the Date. My time therefore, during the Inverval between my Arrival on the 3d of August and my Departure for Europe the Second time which was I think on the 19th. of November was not employed in preparing that Letter, but in Something of much more Importance. A few days before my Arrival my Fellow Citizens, of the Town of Braintree expecting me daily to home, every day, had elected me a Member of the Convention which was then called, to institute a Constitution of Government for the State of Massachusetts Bay instead of that Royal Charter under which they We had conducted all public affairs to that time. Upon my Arrival I found myself a Member of the Convention, and the Duties of this office in reading over my old Books upon Government, in constant Attendance in the Convention and Committees, and in drawing up all the Papers the Bill of Rights as well as the Frame of Government, and in daily and hourly debates both in the House and in Committee in vindication of my own opinions against a multitude of Motions, Schemes and Plans urged in opposition to them, I found full Employment for my time, without “repairing to Congress.” I sent on my Accounts which were soon approved and Settled by an honourable Vote. I Sent on all the Information I thought necessary or proper to be communicated and among the rest a Copy of all the Letters of the Commissioners had written in my time, all of which excepting two had been written by my own hand. My “Pride in the Gallican Alliance” and my “Zeal for Supporting it,” and all “the Expressions” of it, and are Still preserved in my Letters all of which public and private are at the Service of the Public, whenever the Public Voice shall call for them in Print.—It is not correct however to talk of my “Zeal for the Alliance,” without restrictions and Explanations. As the Treaty was made, and the Public Faith of my Country Solemnly pledged, no Man was more decidedly Zealous for fullfilling it, in every Article. But Articles had been Admitted into it, which I never approved and had always opposed in Congress from first to last. My invariable Maxim has been from the Beginning to this day Friendship and Commerce with all Nations but entangling alliances with none, except in the last Extremity of Necessity, And no Man knows this better than Mr Jefferson.
It is very true, that I advised Congress and every body else in America to guard against Principles and Manners inconsisted with our Government And have I ever given other Advice? Who, Madam has introduced an Inundation of Atheism Deism, Annihilation, Gambling, Contempt of Marriage and the Sabbath? Is it I? Who has dissemminated Paine Barlow Bowlanger, The System of Nature &c &c &c into the darkest Corners of the obscurest Villages, in our Country? Is it I?
There is an insinuation in the Note in this page. “This was under the Despotism of Kings. It was monarchic Principles and manners that Mr Adams then Admonished his Countrymen to avoid.” The Insinuation here Seems to be twofold. First that since France became a Republick the manners and Principles have been better, or Secondly that Mr Adams had Since become better reconciled to Monarchical Principles and manners. The first is contrary to the most notorious Facts; For the Principles and manners of France have been ten times worse Since the Abolition of the Royal Authority, than they were before. The Second insinuation if it is was intended, is as false as the first, for my opinion of Monarchical Principles and manners is the same it was in 1779 had been for twenty years before and has been ever Since, vizt that the Principles were indispensible and the manners unavoidable because incurable in the great Nations of Europe, but wholly inadmissible in America.
When you proceed to say, Madam, that “Mr Adams continued in this retired and mortified Situation for Some months,” I am astonished at the Spirit that guided your Pen. With how much apparent delight, do you inset the Word mortified. Instead of being retired I was in public forming a Constitution of Government for my Country, which I have Since Spent a great Part of my Life in “defending” If Solon and Lycurgus were retired when they did the same for theirs, I may be said to have been retired. Instead of being mortified it was the proudest Period of my whole Life. I made a Constitution for Massachusetts, which finally made the Constitution of the United States. Still in hopes, Madam that you will do me Justice I Subscribe as usual your injured Friend
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Mercy Otis Warren, 28 July 1807
From: Warren, Mercy Otis
To: Adams, John

(Lettr. 2)
Sir,
Plymouth Ms. July 28th: 1807.

Before I had an opportunity to forward my reply to yours of July 11th: I received another letter under date July 20th containing twenty pages, in which so many demands are made and so many threats denounced, that a total silence might be construed dismay.
My thread of existence in this evanescent state is too far spent for me again to enter on political discussion; yet, I think it my duty to observe upon this letter, so far as is necessary to vindicate my own veracity, and to confute the unfounded charges contained therein, and repel the assertions that my pen has been guided by a malignant heart.
You have observed in your letter of July 11th: that “in the spirit of friendship” you shall select passages “relative to yourself, without attending to order, but take them up as they occur by accident.” I perhaps may do the same thing, yet wish to be a little more methodical, therefore, I advert to the first time I have mentioned you in my historic work. You have grievously complained that you have been so long neglected, and that your appearance on the theatre of politics was not recorded until the Year one thousand seven hundred, and seventy-four.—Perhaps it would not have been done so early, had it not been for the extraordinary exigencies of the times, when I thought it would be an honor to Mr Adams or any other man to be mentioned on the list of Govr Gage’s negatived Counsellors. In this List, the names of Governor Bowdoin, Dr: Winthrop, Colo. Otis and Mr John Adams were particularly designated as “distinguished for their attachment to the ancient Constitution, and their decided opposition to the present Ministerial measures.”
In the page complained of, 131, Vol. 1st, it may be observed there are only four lines relative to Mr Bowdoin, seven to Dr Winthrop, one to Colo: Otis, and four to John Adams, Esqr:. It may be noticed there is only one line of my own father at this period, and no more than nine throughout the whole work, though his abilities, his firmness, and his long services to his country were universally acknowledged. He had been a Counsellor for many Years, and was very eminent as a professional man, as a patriot, and as a Christian,—yet is only incidentally and concisely mentioned by his daughter, as have been many other gentlemen without any charges of partiality or malignancy.
I am so much at a loss for the meaning of very many of your paragraphs, and the rambling manner in which your angry and indigested letters are written, that I scarcely know where to begin my remarks.
I never had the wish to enter into a discussion of your motives of action while President of the United States, nor to give a particular detail of an Administration that rendered you unpopular indeed.—This may be done by some one of that large majority of the people whose suffrages removed you from Presidential rank and placed another in the Chair.—I have frequently vindicated you as acting with honest intentions, however you might have been mistaken or have varied from some Gentlemen possessed of equal abilities, honor, and honesty with yourself. Had not Mr. Adams been suffering under suspicions that his fame had not been sufficiently attended to, or that his character was not invulnerable, he would not have put such a perverse construction on every passage where he is named, in a work in which the author aimed to do him compleat justice.
A striking instance of this appears, when you say, “The grave and solemn philosophical reflections in this and page 393, Vol. 3d are calculated to give more formality and a more aggravated character to the gloomy defamation in several paragraphs.”—My soul shrinks from such a charge.—The solemn or philosophical reflections annexed to the paragraphs where his change of sentiment have been mentioned were designed to throw a charitable veil over the general weakness of human nature, and to extenuate Mr Adams’s  conduct where the writer thought political errors and deviations had been apparent.—
I shall however, answer such parts of your letter, notwithstanding its prolixity, in a manner that may or ought to restore your tranquillity. If it does not, it will exculpate me from the imputation of “falshood or malignancy.”—
You complain that I have asserted that a partiality for Monarchy appeared in your conduct. This fact you deny, and entreat me to bring forward the evidences which I suppose will warrant the assertion.—The assertion was not founded on vague rumor, nor was it the result of any scattered and dubious expressions through your defence of the American Constitutions, that might warrant such a suspicion,—but from my own judgment and observation soon after your return from Europe in the Year 1788.—There certainly was then an observable alteration in your whole deportment and conversation.—Many of your best friends saw, felt, and regretted it.
If time has not weakened your memory, you will recollect many instances of it yourself. I will remind you of a few.—Do you not remember an interview at Cambridge, soon after your return from England, when his Lady and myself met you walking up to Mr Gerry’s?—We stop’d the carriage and informed you, that Mrs. Gerry and myself were engaged to take tea with Madam Winthrop.—You returned and took tea with us at the house of that excellent Lady.—You will remember that Mr Gerry’s carriage was sent for me in the edge of the evening.—You took a seat with me and return’d to Mr Gerry’s.—Do you not recollect Sir, that in the course of conversation on the way, you replied thus to something that I had observed,—“It does not signify, Mrs Warren to talk much of the virtue of Americans;—we are like all other people, and shall do like other nations, where all well regulated governments are Monarchic.”—I well remember my own reply,— “that a limited Monarchy might be the best government, but that it would be long before Americans would be reconciled to the idea of a King.”
Do you not recollect, that a very short time after this, Mr Warren and myself made you a visit at Braintree? The previous conversation in the evening, I do not so distinctly remember, but in the morning at breakfast at your own table, the conversation on the subject of monarchy was resumed.—Your ideas appeared to be favorable to monarchy, and to an order of nobility in your own country.—Mr Warren replied,—“I am thankful that I am a plebeian.”—You answered,—“No Sir, you are one of the Nobles,—there has been a natural Aristocracy here ever since the Country was settled,—your family at Plymouth, Mrs Warrens at Barnstable, and many others in very many places that have kept up a distinction similar to Nobility.”—This conversation subsided by a little mirth.
Do you not remember that after breakfast, You and Mr Warren stood up by the window and conversed on the situation of the country, on the Southern States, and some principal characters there?—You, with a degree of passion exclaimed,—“They must have a master;”—and added by a stamp with your foot—“By God they shall have a Master.”—In the course of the same morning, you observed that you “wished to see a Monarchy in this Country, and an hereditary one too.”—To this you say I replied as quick as lightning,—“And so do I too.”—If I did, which I do not remember, it must have been with some additional stroke, which rendered it a sarcasm. You added with a considerable degree of emotion, that you hated frequent elections—that they were the ruin of the morals of the people—that when a youth, you had seen more iniquity practised at a town-meeting for the purpose of electing Officers, than you had ever seen in any of the Courts in Europe—.
Those conversations were not disseminated by us,—we were too much hurt by the apparent change of sentiment and manner—they were concealed in our own bosoms until time should develope the result of such a change in such a man.—Is not the above sufficient to warrant every thing that I have said relative to your monarchic opinions?—Had you recollected the conversation alluded to above, you would not have asserted on your faith and honor, that every sentiment in a paragraph you refer to is “totally unfounded.”—
On your return from Europe it was generally thought that you looked coldly on your republican friends and their families, and that you united yourself with the party in Congress who were favorers of Monarchy;—that the old tories denominating themselves federalists gathered round you,—and did not your Administration while in the Presidential Chair evince, that you had no aversion to the usages of Monarchic Governments?—Sedition, Stamp, and Alien Laws—a standing Army, House and Land Taxes, and loans of money at an enormous interest, were alarming symptoms in the American Republic— and Your removal from the Chair by the free suffrages of a majority of the people of the United States, sufficiently evinces that I was not mistaken when I asserted that a  “large portion” of the inhabitants of America from New Hampshire to Georgia, viewed your political opinions in the same point of light in which I have exhibited them, and considered their liberties in imminent danger without an immediate change of the Chief Magistrate. However, I never supposed that you had a wish to submit again to the monarchy of Great Britain, or to become subjugated to any foreign sovereign. An American monarchy with an American Character at its head would, doubtless, have been more pleasing to yourself. The veracity of an historian is his strongest base,—and I am sure I have recorded nothing but what I thought I had the highest reason to believe.— If I have been mistaken, I shall be forgiven—and, if there are errors, they will be candidly viewed by liberal-minded and generous readers.
If you have a copy as doubtless you have I advise you to re-peruse the fourth and fifth pages of your Letter of July 20th: when I think, in a cooler moment you must be ashamed of the very angry and virulent expressions, poured out with the rapidity of a cataract against Mr Warren, myself, and my family.—You there say, that Mr Warren in a conversation with Mr Samuel Adams once charged you with corruption.—If he did which I very much doubt, he did not charge you as being corrupted by British Gold.—But, if he thought the pure principles of republicanism were contaminated in your breast, it is not strange that a man of his integrity and uniformity, should regret it, and express in any manner he thought proper, his surprize at so unexpected a change.—When you say, “Corruption is a charge that you cannot and will not bear,” Mr Warren is not shaken by your angry epithets or vindictive resolutions. Your ebullitions of passion may pass by without disturbing his tranquillity.
But why is Mrs Warren so indecently attacked?—You ask her in this petulant page, what you are to think of her history? I answer by asking another question which it has been said is common among New-Englanders,—What is Mrs Warren to think of your comments? I readily tell you she thinks them the most captious, malignant, irrelevant compositions that have ever been seen among criticisms from Zoilus to the Sage of Mount Wollaston. If you can infer from a history so impartially and candidly written, that myself or my family, have been the propagators of all the ridiculous stuff you mention, previous to Mr Jefferson’s election, I believe you are the only man in the United States that would draw such an absurd conclusion.
You have asked, “Am I to attribute to the Warren family the honor that was done me in the back parts of Pensylvania and in Kentucky, of being hanged in effigy by the side of Mr Jay, with a purse of English Guineas in my hand?”—Be assured Sir, the Warren family have said or done little about you for many years, and I believe have generally observed a great degree of delicacy when they have occasionally thought it necessary to mention your name: nor did they ever hear of the royal alliances of your children, the stories of the German Boors, or the burning in effigy, until you detailed them in not a very polite letter to Mrs. Warren.
There is a long list of items in your letter of July 27th just come to hand, which you say, Mrs. Warren ought to have remembered. I do remember your writings previous to the Year 1774, as well, as those of Dr. Mayhew, Mr Dickinson, and Mr Otis, all of which had an happy effect in our country and will never be forgotten, though no historian may take them up in detail. I do remember my first acquaintance with you, which commenced a short time previous to the Stamp Act. I do remember an increasing regard and esteem of myself and my husband, towards a young Gentleman who appeared to be warmly attached to the rights of America, and well qualified to assist in bringing forward her independence, if necessity should impel the effort. But, I do not remember that my brother James Otis ever predicted, as you assert he did, that “John Adams would one day be the greatest man in North America.”
But I well remember the critical period when your friends at the Plymouth fire-side, where you have spent many a pleasant hour, first named and brought you forward as a suitable character for a councillor. The project succeeded to our wishes, and Dr Winthrop and Yourself came in together, through the influence of a friend—a friend who was very sensible of your capacity and abilities for rendering service to your country, but among his many respectable acquaintance of that day, he had not anticipated, nor do I believe that any of them had, that “Mr Adams would one day be the greatest man in North America.”
The frequent negative of men of merit by the royal Governors Hutchinson and Gage, and yourself marked among them, led me to think it a proper period to introduce you, as then on a public theatre which would exhibit to the world the most important and interesting events.
But I do not remember that ever Mr Warren stood in need of your assistance to promote his popularity against Deacon Foster or any other man.—There was not a man who more generally possessed the confidence of the people of the Massachusetts for very many years than Mr Warren;—nor is there one in the United States who has been more uniform in his conduct and more faithful to the interests of his country than this Gentleman, whose long services are recollected with gratitude by most of his cotemporaries.
You also remind me of the long and friendly correspondence that subsisted between us for many years. I well remember the warm and affectionate expressions of regard, on account of your talents, patriotism, and friendship at that time.—These letters you observe, are not lost;—I have never been ashamed of them;—neither are your former letters lost,—nor do I intend your more recent ones shall ever be lost;—they shall be safely deposited for future use, if occasion shall require it.
I have attended to several of the grievances complained of in the long and laborious letter before me, & have noticed some unimportant things in a letter which immediately followed; but I must be excused from entering on a discussion of your principles of the American Revolution, or whether you have or have not ever appeared to “have relinquished the Republican system.”—This subject comprizes fourteen pages of Yours, and as I can see no pleasure or benefit in dwelling on such a theme, or following a thread spun out to such a length, it shall not at present be attempted by,
Mercy Warren


Title: From John Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, 30 July 1807
From: Adams, John
To: Warren, Mercy Otis

Dear Madam
Quincy 30th July 1807

Had I really been disgusted and mortified at my Treatment by Congress which in fact I was not, but was Satisfied as Soon as it was explained to me, the mortification would have been more than compensated by the Commissions I received on the fourth of November, 1779 unquestionably the more confidential Commissions that Congress had ever issued. The Commission to General Washington as Commander in Chief of the Army was far inferiour to it them both in Confidence and Importance, and in danger and in difficulty. The first constituted me Sole Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate and conclude a Peace with Great Britain. The Second to negotiate a Treaty of Commerce with that Power. The first Commission was in these Words.
The Delegates of the United States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticutt, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Marland, Virginia North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
To all who Shall See these Presents Send Greeting. It being probable, that a Negotiation will soon be commenced, for putting an End to the Hostilities between his Most Christian Majesty and these United States on the one Part, and his Britannic Majesty on the other Part, and it being the Sincere desire of the United States, that they may be terminated by a Peace, founded on such solid and equitable Principles, as reasonably to promise a Permanency of the Blessings of Tranquility, Know Ye, therefore that We confiding in the Integrity, Prudence and Ability of the Honourable John Adams Esquire, late Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Versailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts Bay, and Chief Justice of the said State, Have nominated and constituted, and by these Presents do nominate and constitute him the said John Adams, our Minister Plenipotentiary, giving him Full Power, general and Special, to Act in that quality, to confer, treat, agree and conclude, with the Ambassadors or Plenipotentiaries of his Most Christian Majesty and of his Britannic Majesty, and those of any other Princes or States, whom it may concern vested with equal Powers, relating to the Reestablishment of Peace, and Friendship, and whatever Shall be So agreed and concluded, for Us and in our Name to Sign, and thereupon make a Treaty or Treaties, and to transact every Thing, that may be necessary for compleating, Securing and Strengthening the Great Work of Pacification, in as ample Form, and with the Same Effect, as if We were Personally present and acted therein, hereby promising in Good Faith, that We will accept, ratify, fullfill and execute whatever Shall be agreed, concluded and Signed by our Said Minister Plenipotentiary, and that We will never Act nor Suffer any Person to Act, contrary to the Same, in the whole or in any Part. In Witness whereof, We have caused these Presents to be given in Congress at Philadelphia, the Twenty Ninth day of September, in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven hundred and Seventy nine, and in the Fourth Year of the Independence of The United States of America.
Signed by The President and Sealed with his Seal.
Samuel Huntington President, And a Seal.
Attest Charles Thomson Secy.
The Commission for making a Treaty of Commerce with Great Britain was in these Words
The Delegates of the United States of New Hampshire Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticutt, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina South Carolina and Georgia in Congress assembled.
To all who Shall See these Presents send Greeting.It being the desire of the United States, that the Peace, which may be established between them and his Britannic Majesty, may be permanent and Accompanied with the mutual Benefits derived from Commerce, Know Ye therefore, that We confiding in the Integrity, Prudence and Ability of the Honourable John Adams Esquire, late Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Versailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts Bay and Chief Justice of that State, Have nominated and constituted, and by these Presents do nominate and constitute him the Said John Adams, our Minister Plenipotentiary, giving him full Power general and Special, to act in that quality, to confer, agree, and conclude with the Ambassador or Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, vested with equal Powers, of and concerning a Treaty of Commerce, and Whatever Shall be So agreed and concluded, for Us and in our Name to Sign, and thereupon make a Treaty of Commerce, and to transact every Thing that may be necessary for compleating, Securing and Strengthening the Same, in as ample form and with the Same Effect, as if We were personally present and acted therein, hereby promising in good Faith, that We will accept, ratify, fullfill and execute whatever Shall be agreed, concluded and Signed by our said Minister Plenipotentiary, and that We will never Act, nor Suffer any Person to Act, contrary to the Same, in the whole nor in any Part.—In Witness whereof We have caused these Presents to be given in Congress at Phyladelphia, the twenty ninth day of September in the Year of our Lord, one Thousand Seven hundred and Seventy Nine, and in the fourth year of the Independence of the United States of America.
Signed by The President and Sealed with his Seal.
Samuel Huntington President, and a Seal.
Attest Cha. Thomson Secy.
With these two Commissions I received Special Instructions in detail. I have Submitted, Madam to the Drudgery of copying these Commissions for your Information. If I had ever made any ostentation of Talents or in your Words had Shown any “Pride of Talents,” which I deny, I would produce these Commissions in Justification of it, at least as an Apology for it. I had Spoken and Acted daily for four years before that Congress, which was composed of Men equal in Talents and Integrity to any who have Since figured in American Councils. I had been abroad about Eighteen Months and had minutely informed Congress of all my Conduct, which had Stood the Test of the most critical and vigilant observation of the two most obstinate and inveterate and inflamed Parties I ever knew. These Commissions were voted to me by Eleven States out of Twelve as I was informed. If therefore Confidence was ever placed in any Man by others, here was Confidence placed in me by Men, who had ample Experience of my Information in American Affairs and in my faculties of conducting them whatever they were, as well as of my Integrity. It is utterly incredible that Such Men should confide themselves their Country and all their Interests to a Man whose heart they did not believe incorruptible, and whose head they did not think Adequate to the Service, great, difficult and dangerous as it was.
It is not however from Vanity nor the “Pride of Talent” that I send you these Copies. It is that you may well weigh them as Historical and political Documents. For on these Commissions hangs a very long History. Many Intrigues have grown out of the Subjects of them especially that for Commerce and the Consequences are not yet ended. In my opinion most of the Disputes We have had with England, if not with France, have Sprung from the Jealousy which soon appeared of that Commission, and the Intrigues to get rid of it. I shall not enter into this history at this time, it would require a Volume. You Seem to have had no Idea of this great Tract of History, or did you omit it, Madam for fear it should do honor to me, or for fear it should do dishonor to the Comte De Vergennes? or for fear it should bring into Suspicion the Fortitude or Patriotism of Some of your present Political Patrons?
You have carefully recorded the Mission and appointment of Mr Jay to Madrid in page 141. Vol. 2 to have been on the twenty seventh of September 1779 yet have taken no Notice of mine which was on the twenty Ninth of the same Month. Both these Missions had been del under deliberation and discussion for Some time and were both resolved before any Person was nominated. Congress determined to nominate a Minister first for Spain, and Mr Jay was chosen; After this John Adams was nominated for Peace and Commerce chosen and appointed. I am not able to account Madam for your Knowledge of one Event, or your Ignorance of the other. If it was not “Pride” of Talent it was Presumption “of Talent” in a Lady to write a History with so imperfect Information or So little Impartiality.
In page 276 of the Second Volume you say that early in the present years the Honourable Henry Laurens of South Carolina, late President of the Continental Congress was vested with this important Commission. What Commission? You Say above “A Minister with proper Credentials to appear in a Public Character at the Hague.”—I have not Pride of Talent enough to Say what Commission Mr Laurens had. I have never inspected with this View The Secret Journal of Congress in which these Proceedings of Congress were recorded. Mr Laurens came over to Holland, after his Release from the Tower, and told me he had no Commission. By this I Supposed that he had Sunk his Commission in the Sea at the Time of his Capture. But I know not to this day whether he ever had a Commission or Credentials as a Public Minister. My present opinion is that he had only a Commission as Agent to borrow Money. If in this I am mistaken I am Sorry for it: but the fact may be ascertained by recurring to the Secret Journals of Congress. I have Several reasons for this conjecture among which is this that Mr Laurens never mentioned to be any other Credentials, and another is that no mention is made in my Commission of any other. My Commission is dated the 20th. day of June 1780 and is in these Words
L.S. seal
The United States of America, in Congress assembled
To the Honourable John Adams Esquir Greeting, Whereas by our Commission to the Honourable Henry Laurens Esquire, bearing Date the thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one Thousand Seven hundred and Seventy nine, We have constituted and appointed him the said Henry Laurens, during our Pleasure, our Agent for an on behalf of the said United States, to negotiate a Loan, with any Person or Persons, Bodies Politick And and corporate; and whereas the said Henry Laurens has by unavoidable Accidents been hitherto prevented from Proceeding on his said Agency; We therefore, reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Patriotism, Ability, Conduct and Fidelity, Do, by these Presents constitute and appoint you the said John Adams, Untill the said Henry Laurens, or Some other Person appointed in his Stead Shall arrive in Europe, and undertake the Execution of the aforesaid Commission, Our Agent for and on behalf of the Said United States to negotiate a Loan, with any Person or Persons Bodies Politick and Corporate, promising in good Faith to ratify and confirm whatsoever Shall by you be done in the Premisses, or relating thereunto.—Witness his Excellency Samuel Huntington Esquire President of the Congress of the United States of America at Philadelphia, the twentyeth day of June in the year of our Lord, one Thousand Seven hundred and Eighty, and in the fourth year of our Independence.
Samuel Huntington President
Attest. Chas. Thomson Secy.
Of this Commission, Madam, Although it was issued long before Mr Laurens’s departure from America, you take no Notice. On the contrary in Page 300. Vol. 2. you say “Immediately after the News of Mr Laurens’s capture, Imprisonment and Detention in England, the American Congress directed John Adams Esquire, who had a Second time been Sent to Europe in a Public Character, to leave France and repair to Holland, there to transact Affairs with the States General which had before been entrusted to the Fidelity of Mr Laurens. Mr Adams’s Commission was enlarged”:
This is the only Notice you have taken of my Commissions as Minister Plenipotentiary to treat of Peace and Commerce, with Great Britain. Who could understand what was meant by being sent a Second time to Europe in a Public Character? I was not in France, and had been long in Holland, which Congress knew very well for they had received a great Number of Letters from me in Holland. Although I went first to Spain and then to France where I resided some months, yet neither My Commissions nor Instructions as Minister for Peace and Commerce, required of me to reside in France: all Europe was open to me at my discretion I might have gone directly to England, and Lord North said he wished Mr Adams had come to London, where he should have been protected, for his Lordship began to be convinced that he must treat. I had no Thoughts of this however because it would have been a just cause of Jealousy to our Ally. But I went to Holland to see and reconnoitre that Country, to make more Friends for my Country and to See, as I told Dr Franklin, whether I could not find means of rendering America Somewhat less dependent on France. The Dr whom you respect so profoundly immediately wrote this to Congress as a Complaint against me. Congress did not, it seems think it a Crime to make them more independent. But instead of punishing recalling or censuring me, they exerted themselves to assist me, and athorized me to do what I hoped and intended. I accomplished it so fully that I not only made Congress but Dr Franklin himself less dependent on France: for years before he left France, he could get No Money to pay his own Salary nor even the Expences of his Household but from the Fund I had obtained in Holland. How was Mr Adams’s Commission enlarged? No Commission of his was enlarged or diminished. His commissions for Peace and Commerce remained in Full Force, and to them was Added a new Commission to negoitate a Loan of Money.
On the twenty Ninth day of December 1780 Congress issued another Commission in these Words
L.S. seal
The United States of American in Congress assembled
To all who shall See these Presents Send Greeting. Whereas an Intercourse between the Citizens of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, and the Citizens of these United States, founded on the Principles of Equality and Reciprocity, may be of mutual Advantage to both Nations, Know ye, therefore that We confiding in the Integrity, Prudence and Ability of the Honourable John Adams late Commissioner of the United States of America at the Court of Versailles, late Delegate in Congress from the State of Massachusetts Bay and Chief Justice of that the said State, have nominated constituted and appointed, and by these Presents do nominate, constitute and appoint him the said John Adams, our Commissioner, giving full Power general and Special to Act in that quality to confer, treat, agree and conclude, with the Person or Persons vested with equal Powers by the States General of the Said United Provinces, of and concerning a Treaty of Amity and Commerce: and whatever Shall be so agreed and concluded for Us and in our Name to sign and thereupon make a such Treaty, Conventions and Agreements as he shall judge conformable to the Ends We have in view. Hereby promising in good Faith that We will Accept, ratify and execute whatever Shall be agreed, concluded and Signed by our Said Commissioner. In Witness whereof We have caused these Presents to be given in Congress at Philadelphia the Twenty ninth day of December in the year of our Lord one Thousand Seven hundred and Eighty and in the fifth year of our Independence.
Signed Samuel Huntington President
Attest Charles Thomson Secy.
At the Same Time Congress Sent me a Letter of Credence to His Serene Highness the Prince of Orange as Statholder of the United Provinces.
There is no mention here of any Commission to Mr Laurens to negotiate a Treaty of Commerce or of any Letter of Credence as a Minister Plenipotentiary. In short I have reason to believe that the appointment of a Minister Plenipotentiary to the States General or to the Statholder, were occasioned entirely by my Letters in a great number of which I had recommended these Measures and urged them by every Argument of Necessity or Expediency that occurred to my own Mind or was Suggested by my Confidential Friends of whom I had many among the first Character for Talents and Influence in the Country, besides the Baron Van der Capellen de Poll and his Brother Van der Capellen de March. These Letters are recorded in the Books of the office of foreign Affairs at Washington, and if they should be destroyed they remain in my own Letter Books. I had urged the Appointment of a Public Minister not only to the States but to the Statholder, as a public Measure of great public Utility: but had not Sollicited this appointment for myself. Whatever may be thought of it, now, I had Business enough as Minister of Peace, and I knew not how Soon I might be called to Act publickly in that Character and I thought there was danger that I Should be embarrassed between the two Trusts as in fact it afterwards happened. I was accordingly very much concerned when I received the Full Power to negotiate a Loan and still more when that Arrived to Negotiate a Treaty with the States and represent my Country at the Prince of Oranges Court, least the Duties of one Commission or another Should be neglected. But as the Papers arrived I determined to do all in my Power.
In page 161 of the third Volume you say that “on Mr Adams’s Arrival in Holland he found every Thing in a Happy Train for Negotiation; the People well disposed and many of the most distinguished Characters zealous for a Treaty with the American States, without any farther delay.” Here Madam your Information is very erroneous. The People it is true, except the Statholderians and Anglomanes which Who were very numerous and then all powerfull, were well disposed towards the Americans and heartily wished them well, but neither the People nor any of the distinguished Characters were zealous or even willing for a Treaty. Even Mr Van berkel and his Friend Mr Bicker, nor Mr Geizlar the Pensioner of Dort were ready for a Treaty as yet. And America had no better Friends than these. Holland was full of the spies of the Statholder and the English Minestry in England and of Sir Joseph York the British Ambassador at the Hague. Even Some of the American Refugees particularly Paul Wentworth came over to watch and counter Act me. Sir Joseph York began soon to thunder with his Memorials to the State’s General, and to demand Vengeance against Some and threaten Vengeance against all. War was dreaded by the whole Nation as the greatest of Evils and they all knew that an Acknowledgment of American Independance would draw down the most furious Indignation of England and produce an immediate Declaration of War against them. Such was the universal Terror that Mr John De Neufville told me that Amsterdam and especially the Exchange was more gloomy and dismal than a Church yard. Mr Van Berckel was under Such Apprehensions that he dared not have any communication with me. I made a Visit to his House but was denied Admittance. I wrote him Letters but received no Answer. He was reduced to the necessity of writing Secretly to Mr Dumas to pray him to make his Apology to me, and to say that though he was very desirous to See me and to answer my Letters he dared to do neither. “Parce qu’on fait tout, Son possible pour me Sacrifier awe Anglomanes” i. e “because they are using their Utmost Endeavors to Sacrifice me to the English Party.” This Gentleman and others were apprehensive of the Fate of the De Witts i.e. of being torn to Pieces by an enraged Populace Stirred up by their Ennemies. And many People thought I had more reason to tremble than Mr Van Berckel. I might have retreated to France under twenty Pretexts or I might have gone on a Journey of Curiosity or Pleasure into Germany or to Antwerp: but I thank God that in those Parts of my Life when I have thought myself in the most personal danger, I have hitherto found myself the most collected. I determined therefore to remain at my Post, and ride out the storm.
The next paragraphs I never could read without laughing. “Mr Adamss manners and habits were much more assimilated to the Dutch than to the French Nation.” The Satyrical Sneer intended in this place would have come from Mrs Warren with a better Grace in a Satirical Poem than in a Grave History. However I declare the Assertion to be false. Distinguishing Morals from manners, I avow that the manners and habits of the French are the more agreable to me, than those of Holland England or even my own dear Country America. Conversation is more gay more Sprightly more good humoured more entertaining and instructive in France than in any Country I ever Saw. And their temperance and Sçavoir vivre, is more agreable than the deep drinking and perpetual Electioneering Politicks which poison Society in England and America and even in Holland. Though this trait was intended for a Sting it has not wounded me. It has excited nothing but ridicule.—If it were worth while I could produce very Satisfactory Proofs that my Manners and habits were at least as acceptable in France as those of any Minister America has ever yet Sent there. I could appeal to the Duke De La Vauguion with whom I lived in the Strictest Intimacy for many years and to the Chevalier de La Luzerne and Mr Marbois, and indeed to all the French Men and Women with whom I ever conversed to determine whether my Manners were ever disagreable to them. They were only Politicians and Intriguers who found fault with me and they, not for my Manners but my Morals and because they Said I had beaucoup de Tete, that is head enough to understand them and obstinacy enough to resist their insidious Policy.
This Assertion however, I can easily Suppose Mrs Warren has borrowed from Some Informer. But there is Something that follows which I cannot conceive could have been communicated to her by any Person in the World. “He took Lodgings at Amsterdam, for Several Months, at the House of Mr Dumas, a Man of Some mercantile Interest, considerable Commercial Knowledge, not acquainted with Manners or Letters, but much Attached to the Americans from the General Predilection of Dutchmen in favour of Republicanism.”
It is impossible for me to conjecture the Source from whence this foolish Information could have arisen. Whether Ignorance Dullness or Malice produced it I know not. If I had been dead it might have passed for Truth and gone down to Posterity. But it Shall not. It was manifestly intended to cast a Slur upon me, for an injudicious Choice of Lodgings, and as having Stooped below my Character in domiciliating myself with a Trader. But it is all false. Mr Dumas never lived in Amsterdam. Mr Dumas never was a Merchant. Mr Dumas never had any Mercantile Interest. If Mr Dumas had any Commercial Knowledge, it was merely Theoretical and Such as every Man of Reading and Reflexion and Knowledge of the World possesses. Mr. Dumas was a Man of the World, and well acquainted with Manners. Mr Dumas was so much of a Man of Letters that he was one of the most accomplished classical Schollars that I have been acquainted with, and had taken as general a Survey of ancient and modern Science and Litterature, as most of the Professors of the Universities of Europe and America. He was indeed much attached to the Americans, but from better motives and more Knowledge than “the general Predilection of Dutch Men in favour of Republicanism.” Such was Mr Dumas. He always lived at the Hague, at least from my first Knowledge of his Name till his Death at upwards of fourscore. He had been in England before our Revolution and Dr Franklin had been in Holland, in both of which Countries Dr Franklin and Mr Dumas had been Acquainted and attached in Friendship to each other. When Dr Franklin was a Member of the Com Secret Committee of Correspondence appointed by Congress, he advised them to write to Mr Dumas. When Dr Franklin Arrived in Paris a Correspondence took place at once between him Mr Deane Mr Lee and Mr Dumas. When I arrived in Paris the Correspondence was continued, and some Letters passed between me and Mr Dumas. Mr Dumas corresponded also with Congress and he was allowed three hundred Pounds Sterling a year for his Services. All this had passed before I ever visited Holland or had Seen the Face of this Gentleman.—What kind of Republicanism Mrs Warren, do you think was the general Predilection of Dutchmen? It was a Self created a Self continued and a Self preserved Aristocracy, in which the People had no more Share than they had in France; no more indeed than they had in Turkey: for in Turkey the People Sometimes rise in Mobs, and so they did in Holland. Besides this Mr Dumas was not a Dutchman, in Mrs Warrens Sense: He was a Native of Germany. I can Say no more about Republicanism because I know not the Meaning of the Word as Mrs Warren Uses it. And I believe She does not know her own Meaning: at least I will am confident She will never give me nor the Public a Definition of it.
Soon after my Arrival at Amsterdam in midsummer 1780 Mr Dumas came from the Hague to make me a Visit and pay his respects to me as an Ambassador in the Service of the Country in whose Service he was a Subordinate Agent. This was my first Personal Acquaintance with him: he Staid a few days and returned to his Home. We continued our Correspondence occasionally.
When afterwards I received my Commission to negotiate a Loan I took a House in Amsterdam, Op de Keisers Gracght, by de Spiegel Straat. The House was as commodious and elegant, as my public Character required and my Appointments would afford. For I had no additional allowance from Congress, for any Commission or Services but those for Peace. I employed Mrs Sigourney and Ingraham an American House established at that time in Trade at Amsterdam to furnish my House with Moveables and necessary Servants, which they did while I was absent at Leyden and the Hague. Here I lived  with as much Hospitality to my American Fellow Citizens who visited me, and to the Inhabitants of the City with whom I was acquainted, and to all Strangers who were recommended or introduced to me, as was in My Power, though not so much as was in my Will. What you mean Madam by My “Associating much with the Common Classes,” I know not. It Seems as if your Pen could not possibly approach my name without issuing some Insinuation of meanness and Awkwardness, or in other and plainer Words, without venting Some Spightful hint. Travelling in the Trecht Schuits, and at the Inns where I dined and lodged, I endeavoured to converse with the People and obtain as much Knowledge of the Country and its Inhabitants their manners Customs and Laws and Politicks, and of their Sentiments of France England and America as I could and associated no otherwise with the Common Classes, unless you except my Domestic Servants. My Society in Amsterdam were Burgomaster Hooft, Mr Van Berckel as respectable a Man as any in Amsterdam, Mr Vischer another Pensionary, The House of Horneca Fitzeaux and Grand a respectable French Banking House, the Vanstaphorsts De la Lande & Finie Mr Crommelin and an ancient Gentleman who had retired from Commerce with a Fortune and his three Sons who with large Property and high Credit, carried on the extensive Trade of the Company; Mr John De Neuville and Son, and especially Mr Bicker who had closed the Accounts of an Ancient House and retired upon a Capital of four or five Millions. This Gentleman was the a most intelligent and useful Friend, always ready to inform and advise me, and that with all the Prudence caution and circumspection which my Situation required. His Son also who was then a Magistrate that is a Judge and a Counsellor of the City was my Acquaintance and Friend both at Amsterdam and the Hague. There was no better Company in that Country. I might have added Mr John Hodshon one of the first Capitalists, who was as honourable a Friend as any that I found. I was advised to be introduced to Mr Hope the Dominant mercantile House in Holland, and Mr Hodshon offered to bring us together: but upon a careful Inquiry I found that The House of Hope did all the Business of the British Ministry in Holland on which he drew Commissions to a large amount that he would hold himself obliged to communicate whatever he knew to the English Government, and above all that he had conceived a Notion that America ought not to expect to borrow Money at a lower Interest than the Batavians had given in their Revolution which was ten or twelve Per Cent: for these Reasons I determined to have nothing to do with him or his House. I had many other Acquaintances and Several among the Litterary Characters, but those I Shall not name because excepting Mr Kalkoen, they had little Political or  Monied Connections with me.
After the Receipt of my Commission a and Credence as Minister Plenipotentiary to the States General and the Prince of Orange, I bought a House at the Hague, ever Way fit for a Public Minister even if he had the Title of an Ambassador, and removed my Furniture into it—Here I resided as I had done at Amsterdam, but finding myself perplexed with the Care of a Family and the Pecculations and Villanies of Servants, Mr Dumas, whose Property was not large though he had a Small real Estate and his Income as American Agent but Small, offered to remove with his Family into my House. I readily accepted his Proposal, and promised to bear all his Expences. He came Accordingly with his Wife and one Child an amiable and beautiful Daughter of about twelve years of Age and took the Oversight of my Servants and Family affairs to my great Relief and their considerable Emolument. It was a regular and a virtuous Family as far as ever I observed or heard. This Madam is the Mr Dumas, whom you have transmitted to Posterity, in so contemptible a Light.
From page 163 to 166 inclusively you have been pleased to insert a little Approbation and Something like a Panegyrick, yet in a Note at the End of it, you could not restrain your Malignity against me but must poison it all by a base insinuation. “Their object then was a free, independent Republick, without any Approximation to regal Authority, or Monarchic Usages: there was no Sighing then for rank, Titles, and the expensive Trappings of Nobility.” The Insinuation here is too obvious to need any explanatory Commentary. It is intended by the Historian to gratify the Prejudices of the present ruling Party in America, and to Sanction the Slanders by which they ascended to Power. Every true blue Jacobin who reads it will easily and readily apply it to all the Lies he has heard and read concerning me and cry out in all his drunken Circles “Ah! John Adams was once for a free independent Republic, without any approximation to regal Authority or Monarchic Usages: But Since he has been ‘corrupted’ in England he has been Sighing for Rank Titles, and the expensive Trappings of Nobility.” I  was always for a Free Republic; not a Democracy, which is as arbitrary Tyrannical bloody cruel and intollerant a Government as that of Phalaris with his Bull is represented to have been. Robespierre is a perfect Exemplification of the Character of the first Bell Wether in a Democracy. That I ever Sighed for Rank Titles or for the expensive Trappings of Nobility is false and Mrs Warrens knows me well enough to know that there is not a Man in the World to whom, Rank Titles and the expensive Trappings of Nobility, are more indifferent.
What have I done, Mrs Warren, to merit so much Malevolence from a Lady concerning whom I never in my Life uttered an unkind Word, or a disrespectful Insinuation? At least untill your History appeared, nor even Since I read it, till I began to write these Letters. I have Still confined my Resentment to these Communications to yourself. In these I have used the Words of Truth and Soberness. Still in hopes that you will do me the All the Justice in your Power, I subscribe / myself your Friend
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Mercy Otis Warren, 1 August 1807
From: Warren, Mercy Otis
To: Adams, John

(Lett. 3d)
Sir,
Plymouth, Ms. August 1st: 1807

Your fourth Letter like the preceding ones, discovers a fixed determination to mis-construe every expression of mine, where-ever You, Sir, are introduced in my History of the American Revolution. I am astonished that you should discover so much resentment at a sentence in page 140, particularly at the word mortified. I did, at the time alluded to, think you in a mortified situation. I did think you had been ill-treated, from your own representations, on your return from France in 1779. Mr Warren and myself visited you in the retirement noticed,—firmer and more attached friends you had not then in the United States.—We both thought alike on your deportment at the time, and both regretted the disappointment, chagrin, and vexation, you discovered, and drew our conclusions from your own expressions.—But, we never named it, and when it has been alluded to in an historic work, never designed to enter into the details of the wranglings of the American Commissioners at the Court of France, it was done in a delicate manner, consistent with the part I had been used to take, when you thought yourself injured, either by public or private men;—and none of your friends rejoiced more at the very honorable appointment you received in a few months after your first return, to repair again to Europe in a public character.
The copy of the letter you sent me, to Mr Samuel Adams was a very good one;—but, when you recommended through him to Congress, to appoint only one gentleman as a Plenipotentiary to the Court of France, did you wish Mr Lee to be the man?—You surely could not have wished it to have been Dr. Franklin.—I have long known your opinion of him too well to suppose this, and from what I had often heard you say, I have not a doubt, the bare apprehension would have been reason sufficient for your disgust and mortification.
There are several frivolous criticisms in your Letter of July 28th: that I do not think worthy of any observation; but, if you will please to look at the eighth page of the same letter, you will not wonder I am totally at a loss what to make of it, as I am at very many pages of the whole of your late correspondence.—You there ask,—“Who Madam, has introduced an inundation of Atheism, Deism, Annihilation, Gambling, Contempt of Marriage and the Sabbath?—Is it I?—Who has disseminated Paine, Barlow, Boulanger, the System of Nature &c. &c. &c. into the darkest corners of the obscurest villages in our Country?—Is it I?”—What can you possibly mean by asking Mrs. Warren those questions?—Can you mean to insinuate that she has had any part in introducing or encouraging those abominable principles and enormous vices which you have witnessed both in Europe and America?—Or is it meant to reproach any person or persons whom you think she is obliged to defend?—
You very well know Sir, that my detestation of the atheistical writers both in France and England, is at least equal to your own, and my dread of the result of the dissemination of the works of Voltaire and his disciples, has often been expressed by my pen;—and you never in conversation, in the course of a long acquaintance, had any reason to suspect my veneration for the Christian religion, the purity of its morals, and the efficacy of its example in promoting the happiness of mankind, both in this world and in the next.—Why then these extraordinary questions?—I might repeat this interrogatory on many other queries, assertions, and allusions, through the whole series of your late correspondence, so replete with jealousy, misconstruction, strange conclusions from unfounded suspicions, and a general want of candor and kindness, as renders the business very unpleasant.—
Nothing further need be adduced to prove this, than your forced construction on a note of two lines in page 140.—Was not the observation true?—If it was, where was the impropriety of making it?—And is not every one at liberty to draw inferences according to his own ideas of truth?—
Your strange suggestion that I had dwelt with pleasure on the word mortified,—a word only once used,—I can impute only to the mortified and vexatious state of mind you was then in.
You have appeared in your next Letter very much enraged at my informant relative to your residence for a time under the same roof with Mr Dumas.—You say, “Mr Dumas shall not be handed down to posterity as I have represented him.”—I do not think it very important whether Mr Dumas is handed down to posterity as a merchant or a man of letters—or whether he was a republican in my sense of the word, or in yours;—nor is it very material whether you resided with him as a boarder, or he with you as a domestic Inspector—as you say he did for some time. The little consequence this is of to the public, will exonerate the Gentleman from either “ignorance, dulness, or malice,” who incidentally mentioned the trivial circumstance to me.—The inaccuracy might be mine, that it was at Amsterdam instead of the Hague.—I do not see that this information tended to cast a slur upon your character, or that it lessened that of Mr. Dumas.—
If one or the other is done in this instance, it is by your own pen,—a pen from which I have lately received so much abuse, unfriendly, ungenerous, and ungentlemanly treatment, that my indignation is too much raised to reply to every particular of your dark, unfounded suspicions.—Some of them I hold in too much contempt to notice at all. But when you assert, that “it is intended by the historian to gratify the prejudices of the present ruling party in America, and to sanction the slanders by which they ascended to power,” it reaches a point beyond patient forbearance, where there is any degree of sensibility, honour, or truth.—If you wish to read the next scurrilous observations, look at your own copy of July 30th.—
I have never added or omitted a line relative to you or any other man from a malignancy of heart with which you so often charge me;—nor for fear “it should do dishonor to the Count de Vergennes;—nor for fear it should bring into suspicion the fortitude or patriotism of some of my present political patrons.” Pray Sir, who do you mean by  my political patrons?—I have never had political patronage from any quarter, and I desire to thank a kind providence, I do not stand in need of it.
You have boasted that you “have done many great and dangerous things, that my philosophical friend Mr Jefferson had not dared to undertake.”—You add, that I knew all this—there Sir, you are mistaken.—I never knew that my “philosophical friend, Mr Jefferson,” was afraid to do his duty in any instance.—But, this I know, he has dared to do many things for the benefit of his country, for which posterity will probably bless his memory, and I hope he will yet, by his wisdom, justice, moderation, and energy, long continue the blessings of peace in our country, and strengthen the republican system to which he has uniformly adhered.—
You have somewhere observed that you “can say no more about republicanism, because I know not the meaning of the word, as Mrs. Warren uses it, and I believe she does not know her own meaning, at least, I am confident she will never give me nor the public, a definition of it.”—Mrs. Warren has already given a definition of her meaning in several parts of her Historical Work.
You may see her ideas how the system ought to operate, in page 432, Vol. 3d. of Mrs. Warren’s History;—“The people may again be reminded, that the elective franchise is in their own hands;—that it ought not to be abused, either for personal gratifications, or the indulgence of partisan acrimony.—This advantage should be improved, not only for the benefit of existing society, but with an eye to that fidelity which is due to posterity.—This can only be done by electing such men to guide the national counsels, whose conscious probity enables them to stand like a colossus, on the broad basis of independence, and by correct and equitable arrangements, endeavour to light the burdens of the people, strengthen their unanimity at home, command justice abroad, and cultivate peace with all nations, until an example may be left on record, of the practicability of meliorating the condition of mankind.”—
Thus—You may see, by what I have already written, what I mean by a free republic, and that my ideas are very different from those which you exhibit, when you assert that, “Robespierre is a perfect exemplification of the character of the first bell weather in a democracy:” and go on in the same page to expatiate on “the true blue Jacobins, and the drunken circles that will apply my representations, and cry out, Ah! John Adams, &c.”
But, after I have heard you say, that the celebrated Mrs. Macauley knew nothing about government, I cannot wonder at your saying, “it is presumption in a lady to write a History with so little information as Mrs Warren has acquired.”—Perhaps that presumption might have been  excited by yourself, when with the warmest expressions of friendship you acknowledged you had received a Letter from an incomparable satirist, and requested your most profound respects might be presented to her, desiring her husband at the same time to tell her, that “God Almighty (I use a bold style) has intrusted her with powers for the good of the world, which in the course of his providence, he bestows upon very few of the human race.—that instead of being a fault to use them, it would be criminal to neglect them.”—Letter to General Warren, Braintree, March 15th, 1775
Such a flight of encomium is not claimed by Mrs. Warren as her prescriptive right—she has viewed it as the exuberance of partiality from a real friend;—but as it was from a friend who has declared, that he never used any dissimulation or flattery, either to man or woman, her judgment might be so far imposed upon as to lead her to attempt an historic record, without the fear of a charge from the same Gentleman of either “pride or presumption of talents.”—
Is not this a sufficient apology for transcribing an extract so flattering to the pride or presumption, of
Mercy Warren