Title: To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 9 January 1816
From: Van der Kemp, François Adriaan
To: Adams, John

My Dear and high respected friend!
Oldenbarneveld 9 Jan. 1816.

You Shall indulge me—having been engaged So long in various lucubrations—that I take Some repose, and write a few lines to the man, whom duty and inclination compel me to revere. I do So rather as—how triffling a Letter may be, you are So indulgent as to favour it with a kind reception—and to tell you the truth—I have been a while impatiently desiring to hear Something of your health and that of your excellent Ladÿ—Not that I intend to become important in my demands—well convinced—that this time of the year must cramp your exertions—and I flatter myself, if all was not well in your familÿ, you would have extended your kindness, in charging one of your devout Secretaries, to communicate to me Such an unwellcome tiding. Enjoy then continually otium cum dignitate, and the approaching Spring Shall prompt you, to assure your friend—that he is not yet left quite alone. You may by this Strain Suspect that again my mind’s tranquillity had be Some-what ruffled—and So it actually is—Last week a London Letter informed me of the death of mÿ oldest friend—Dr. josh. Toulmin—who since 72 was a guide of mÿ youth—and Since my constant warm frend—In april last he wrote me a long and affectionate Letter—and never—I expect—received mÿ answer—Now one trial is left—God forbids—that I Should Survive them all—and yet—all three are farther advanced in age—all three Surrounded by frends and relatives—your frend nearly alone!
I effected more in the last two months—than in the two preceeding years together—So much is my health renewed in rigour—and my old enemÿ raps only now and then with a Lady’s knock at the door for entrance, and, although, I am not allways permitted—to Say not home—our pour-parler does not last long—
I planned a refutation of the Strian hypothesis by positive arguments without mentioning their name—as in the title—I chalked the outlines of a treatise on agriculture—in behalf of a new beginner—on an extensive Scale—I amused myself in a Scrutinÿ of Pererius whimsical paradox of the Præ-adamites—and finished from old Scraps—a tour in 1792 to Lake Oneyda and Ontario. This last triffle maÿ amuse you during one of our long-evenings, when you have nothing better at hand, or art in Search for Some repose from your more Serious and momentous reflections.
I rejoyce in our concluded Treaty of commerce—and doubt not, exccept I value it higher than it deserves—or my congratulation Shall be acceptable—Is it not the work of John Quincÿ—I can not question his powerful influence on his colleagues—and I believe the Brittish Ministerÿ values his talents. How am I delighted with Decatur’s achievement—alas! poor Holland! that was—even a Sels—even á Loutman—under William the iv. and v. would not have waited, that the Americans did Set them an example—Sells actually did So now fall’n—fall’n—fall’n—from her high estate!
Is a Dr. John Adams of Orange a relative of you? is the history of modern Republicks by J. A. LLD. with his portrait—published in London—a different work with your Defence? the first, by its price, Seems a Splendid edition—1£. 7S. 6D. by John Stockdale, Piccadilly, London.
Will you inform me once of the Situation of Life of Hannah Moore? is She in affluence or compelled to write for bread?—I hope the first; I Should pity her if the latter had fallen to her Share—She writes well—but might yet write better—if She wrote less—and knowed Some what to prune her exuberant Stile—She is often happy in the antithesis, and knows a vast deal of the human heart, but had not Studied it quite So thouroughly as my old frend Montaigne—This name brings me to La Boetie—what you Say about his Servitude volontaire? had it been written under Louis xvi—by many it would have considered as one of the means to prepare the Revolutionary explosion. Was your Sprightly grandson yet at Quincÿ—I Should beg you—Send him to your Librarÿ—and Let him copy for me Boyle’s judgment upon that treatise. He was unquestionably a man of great parts. I am Stirring again every man’s Soul, with whom I have Some connection, to rise in their Strenght in behalf of our Western Canals—Time Shall come, when the Bostonians having carried a cargo to Quebec—ascend the St Lawrence—cross Ontario and return by Erie through our western Canals to the Hudson—It is practicable and can thus be performed—few bold daring men to plan and direct—and a vast heap of moneÿ—and it is done.
What are your grand-Sons about in London? or are they already at Oxford or Cambridge? what an exquisite repast to your Lady—in Seeing them returned—accoutred in their Doctoral tabbards—with covered with a Square velvet tasseled cap! It be So! and then ought to be obtained a grant for your frend to pass and repass—free of expences from his cottage to Quincy-hall—to witness the enraptured pleasures of their grand-Parents encircled by all their relatives and friends—and then the Doctoral cup Shall go round—and then the Patriarchal Lord of the feast Shall Send His heartfelt thanks to heaven—and pour a Shower of blessings on all—near and dear to Him—the last cup Shall be pledged to the Embassadour at the court of St James—and So we retire to Sleep to enjoy a new in the morning the polished conversation of my revered frend’s—Do no disturb my dreams mr Adams! Say rather—be it So—but—even—if it happens otherwise, and you continue to bestow your favours upon me—I Shall be contented—in assuring you—that I cannot cease to remain, while I praÿ for your health, / My Dear and high respected frend! / your affectionate and obliged frend!

Fr. Adr. vanderkemp


Title: To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 11 January 1816
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Adams, John

Dear Sir  Monticello Jan. 11. 16.Of the last five months I have past four at my other domicil, for such it is in a considerable degree. no letters are forwarded to me there, because the cross post to that place is circuitous and uncertain. during my absence therefore they are
			 accumulating here, & awaiting acknolegements. this has been the fate of your favor of Nov. 13.I agree with you in all it’s eulogies on the 18th. century. it certainly witnessed the sciences and arts, manners and morals, advanced to a higher degree than the world had ever before seen. and might we not go back to the aera of the Borgias, by which time the barbarous ages had reduced national morality to it’s lowest point of depravity, & observe that the arts and sciences, rising from that point, advanced gradually thro’
			 all the 16th. 17th. and 18th. centuries, softening & correcting the manners and morals of man? I think too we may add, to the great honor of science & the arts, that their natural effect is, by illuminating
			 public opinion, to erect it into a Censor, before which the most exalted tremble for their future, as well as present fame. with some exceptions only, through the 17th. and 18th. centuries morality occupied an honorable chapter in the political code of nations. you must have observed while in Europe, as I thought I did, that those who administered the governments of the greater powers at least, had a respect to faith, and considered the dignity of their government as involved in it’s
			 integrity. a
			 wound indeed was inflicted on this character of honor in the 18th. century by the partition of Poland. but this was the atrocity of a barbarous government chiefly, in conjunction with a smaller one still scrambling to become great, while one only of those already great, and having character
			 to lose, descended to the baseness of an accomplice in the crime. France, England, Spain shared in it only inasmuch as they stood aloof and permitted it’s perpetration. how then has it happened that these nations,
			 France especially & England, so great, so dignified, so distinguished by science & the arts, plunged at once into all the depths of human enormity, threw off suddenly & openly all the restraints of morality, all sensation to character, & unblushingly avowed and acted on the principle
			 that power was right? can this sudden apostacy from national rectitude be accounted for? the
			 treaty of Pilnitz seems to have begun it, suggested perhaps by the baneful precedent of Poland. was it from the terror of
			 monarchs, alarmed at the light returning on them from the West, and kindling a Volcano under their thrones? was it a combination to extinguish that light, and to
			 bring back, as their best auxiliaries, those enumerated by you, the Sorbonne, the Inquisition, the Index expurgatorius, & the knights of Loyola? whatever it was, the close of the century saw
			 the
			 moral world thrown back again to the age of the Borgias,
			 to the
			 point from which it had departed 300. years before.
			 France, after crushing and punishing the conspiracy of Pilnitz, went herself deeper and deeper into the crimes she had been chastising. I say France, & not Bonaparte; for altho’ he was the head and mouth, the nation furnished the hands which executed his enormities.
			 England, altho’ in opposition, kept full pace with France, not indeed by the manly force of her own arms, but by oppressing the weak, & bribing the strong. at length the whole choir joined and divided the weaker nations among them.
			 your
			 prophecies to Dr. Price proved truer than mine; and yet fell short of the fact, for instead of a million, the
			 destruction of 8. or 10. millions of human beings has probably been the effect of these convulsions. I
			 did not, in 89. believe they would have lasted so long, nor have cost so much blood. but altho’ your prophecy has proved true so far, I hope it does not preclude a better final result. that same
			 light from our West seems to have spread and illuminated the very engines employed to
			 extinguish it. it has given them a glimmering of their rights and their power. the idea of representative government has taken root and growth among them. their masters feel it, and are saving
			 themselves by timely offers of this modification of their own powers. Belgium, Prussia, Poland, Lombardy Etc. are now offered a representative government organisation: illusive probably at first, but it will grow into power in the end. opinion is power, & that opinion will come. even France will yet attain representative government. you observe it makes the basis of every constitution which has been demanded or offered:
			 of that demanded by their Senate; of
			 that offered by Bonaparte; & of
			 that granted by Louis XVIII. the idea then is rooted, and will be established, altho’ rivers of blood may yet flow between them
			 and their object. the allied armies now couching upon them are first to be destroyed, and
			 destroyed they will surely be. a nation united can never be conquered. we have seen what the ignorant bigotted and unarmed Spaniards could do against the disciplined veterans of their invaders. what then
			 may we not expect from the power & character of the French
			 nation? the oppressors may cut off heads after heads, but like those of the Hydra, they multiply at every stroke. the recruits within a nation’s own limits are prompt and without number; while
			 those
			 of their invaders from a distance are slow, limited, and must come to an end. I think too we percieve that all these allies do not see the same interest in the annihilation of the power of France. there are certainly some symptoms of foresight in Alexander that France might produce a salutary diversion of force were Austria and Prussia to become her enemies. France too is the natural ally of the Turk, as having no interfering interests, and might be useful in neutralising and perhaps turning that power on Austria. that a re-acting
			 jealousy too exists with Austria & Prussia I think their late strict alliance indicates; and I should not wonder if Spain should discover a sympathy with them. Italy is so divided as to be nothing. here then we see new coalitions in embrio which after France shall in turn have suffered a just punishment for her crimes, will not only raise her from the earth on which she is prostrate, but give her an opportunity to establish a government of as
			 much liberty as they she can bear, enough to ensure her happiness and prosperity. when
			 insurrection begins, be it where it will, all the partitioned countries will rush to arms, and Europe again become an Arena of gladiators. and what is the definite object they will propose? a restoration certainly of the Status quo prius, of the state of possession of 89. I see no other principle on which Europe can ever again settle down in lasting peace. I hope your
			 prophecies will go thus far, as my wishes do, and that they, like the former, will
			 prove to have
			 been the sober dictates of a superior understanding, and a sound calculation of effects from causes well understood. some future Morgan will then have an opportunity of doing you justice, and of counterbalancing the breach of confidence of which you so justly complain, and in which no one has had more frequent occasion of
			 fellow-feeling than myself.
			 permit me to place here my affectionate respects to mrs Adams, and to add for yourself the assurances of cordial friendship and esteem.Th: Jefferson


Title: From John Adams to Joseph Delaplaine, 17 January 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Delaplaine, Joseph

Sir
Quincy January 17th. 1816

His Excellency Samuel Adams late Governor of Massachusetts was born in Boston in 1722. His first Education was in the celebrated public Latin School in that City where he was prepared for the University at Cambridge to which he was admitted in 1736. He received his degree of Batchellor of Arts in 1740 and his Degree of Master of Arts in 1743.
After his first degree, he entered the store of Thomas Cushing an eminent Statesmen as well as Merchant, and after his Apprenticiship expired, Expenced a Store for himself. But his Love of Letters and Politicks prevailing over the Passion for Lucre he soon abandoned the Pursuit of Commerce.
To do Justice to the Life and Character of this great Man would require more Volumes than Dr Kippis has bestowed on Captain Cook or than Chief Justice Marshall has consecrated to President Washington.
There is a Portrait of him at full Length in Possession of his only surviving Child, Mrs Wells, painted by Copley and equal to any I have seen of Steuart West or Reynolds. I have mentioned this to Mr Morse, who favoured with his Company for a few days, and with his pleasing Conversation, your humble / Servant
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Benjamin W. Crowninshield, 18 January 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Crowninshield, Benjamin W.

Sir
Quincy. January 18th. 1816

Samuel Tucker Esquire, a Member of our Massachusetts Legislature has a Petition to Government for Justice or customary favour to meritorious Officers which will be explained before the proper Judges. I cannot refuse his request to certify what I know of his Character and History. My Acquaintance with him commenced early in the Year 1776 when he was first appointed to a Command in the Navy in which he Served with Reputation and without reproach to the End of the War in 1783. His Biography would make a conspicuous figure even at this day, in the Naval Annals of the United States. I can be particular only in one Instance. In 1778 he was ordered to France in the Boston Frigate. He Saild in February, and Soon fell in with three British Frigates ordered from Rhode Island expressly to intercept him. Fighting of One against Three was out of the Question. In a chace of three days and three Nights he baffled all the Inventions and defeated all the Maneuvres of the Enemy, and was Seperated from him at last in the Gulph Stream by a furious Hurricane, which for three days more threatened him with immediate destruction. Nor was this his last danger from Seas or from Ennemies. He had two other Storms and two other detachments of British Men of War to encounter one in the English Channel and another in the Bay of Biscay. He arrived at Bourdeaux in April.
Nothing but Vigilance Patience and Perseverance, added to consummate Nautical Skill could have preserved that Ship through So many dangers at that Equinoctial Season, and Such a Succession of irresistable Enemies.
I heartily wish Captain Tucker Success and beg the favour of you, Sir, to communicate to any Committee who may be charged with the Examination of his Application, this Letter from your Friend and humble Servant
John Adams.


Title: From John Adams to David Sewall, 19 January 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Sewall, David

Dear Sir
Quincy Jan. 19. 1816

Your favour of the fifth, and Judge Sewalls Letter to his son Samuel, have convinced me that No Parson Hull existed. Doctor and President Hoar, who was the Guest of Hull the Coiner deceived me. This Hoar lies buried within half a Mile of me, under a Monument and a long Inscription much obscured by Age. He was connected with Hulls and Quincys so nearly that they buried him here.
But why Should I care for Hulls or Hoars more than Father Flynt did.
Some Sixty Years ago I was acquainted with Colonel Hoar a Smart Sensible Fellow a Descendant of President Hoar. He claimed Kindred with Father Flynt and asked him to remember him in his Will. “You know Sir the Connection between your Family and the Hoars.” The Old Gentleman Smacked his Lips as you and I have often heard him and answered “Prithy, Young Man, I am too old to give Money to Hoars Whores.”
Our political Sentiments, as you well observe, are of no Consequence to the Community.
You and I agreed very well at Colledge in calculating Eclypses and in all our Astronomical and Algebraical Studies. We have ever Since as I hope, agreed in private Friendship. But We have gazed at the Great Political System of the Universe through different Telescopes. The Great Globes have been Seen by Us, rolling round their Axis and revolving round their Primaries, from different Stations in different Longitudes and Latitudes. Conjuntions, Oppositions and Eclupses, have been visible to you when they were invisible to me; and Vice versa.
It appears by the Conclusion of your Letter that We differ toto Cœlo in Sentiment relative to the late War. Butt as our opinions are of no consequence, it would be Useless to discuss them. And moreover, it would require more Volumes than you or I shall live to write or read.
I am Sir your Sincere Friend till death, hoping And expecting, Soon, very Soon, to meet you where We Shall be known to each other, as we are known on high.

John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Jedidiah Morse, 20 January 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Morse, Jedidiah

Dear Sir
Quincy January 20th. 1816

In the Order of Time, I have passed over a Tragical Event, which excited much interest, and contributed largely, to render the Sovereignty of Parliament odious, detestable and horrible to the People. And I can consionscously add, accellerated the Catastrophy of the fifth of March 1770.
In 1769 a little before the Recall of Governor Bernard, The British Frigate, The Rose Sent a Lieutenant, a Midshipman and a Press Gang of Sailors on board a Ship of Mr Hooper of Marblehead then returning from Bilboa, upon the recruiting Service. The Lieutenant, demanded of the Captain a Sight of his Crew. The Crew were called, “Are here all”? No Answer. “Search the Ship” Said the imperious Leiutenant. A way flew the Midshipman and his Gang of loyal Sailors through every part of the Ship to Search for hidden Seamen. At last the Cry was heard “Here they Are”. Four Sailors, had hid themselves in the forepeak of the Ship the place most likely to be overlooked in a Search. The Forepeak,  was immediately invaded by the Lieutenant the Midshipman, and the whole Presgang armed with Swords and Pistols. Michael Corbett and Lieutenant Panton argued the Cause: but neither being convinced, resort was had to the Ratio Ultima and an Amiable Youth was laid dead at the Feet of Michael Corbett. A boat was Sent to The Rose, and a Strong Reinforcement to the Presgang, Soon broke down all before them, Seized the four Sailors, one of whom was bleeding, with an Arm broke, by a Pistol Ball, Shot by the Midshipman at random, among the four; in the first assault upon the Forepeak.
A Special Court of Admiralty was Summoned, According to Act of Parliament, to try these four Sailors for Pyracy and Murder on the High Seas in killing Lieutenant Panton; When in Law, Truth and Conscience, the Commander of the Rose Frigate ought to have been prosecuted for Pyracy and Murder on the High Seas in illegally Sending a Press Gang, to enslave Freemen and compelling them in Self defence, to destroy their Invader and intended Destroyer. Or in the better Language of the Boat Swain of the Rose Frigate “to deprive honest Men of their Liberty.”
The Constitution of this Court ought to be Stated by an Historian. It consisted of the Governors of Massachusetts Bernard and New Hampshire Wentworth Judge of Admiralty, Auchmuty Commander of the Navy Commodore Hood, and Counsellers from Several Collonies to the Number of Fifteen. Whether Hutchinson Satt as Lieutenant Governor or as Chief Justice, I know not. When the Court opened the Counsell of the Poor Prisoners, presented Pleas to the Jurisdiction of the Court, and if that Should be overruled requesting and demanding that a Jury Should be Summoned to try the Facts according to the Course of the Common Law.
What has become of the Records of this Court; whether they have been Sent to Hallifax or to London; whether they remain in any Repositary in Boston, or whether they have been burned, like most of the Records of this World, I know not. But if they exist, they will Show four Pleas drawn at great Length, Stating the Laws, Principles and Reasonings on which they were founded and each of them Signed by one of the four Prisoners or by his Counsell. These Pleadings, contemptible as they may appear at this day, cost the Council many days of painful Reserch, and the mere composition and draught of them, Cost more than one Sleepless Night in the hand Writing.
When the Prisoners were Arraigned they presented these four Pleas to the Court and their Counsell appeared to Support them with his Arguments and Books of Authority against Mr Sewall himself and the other Counsell for the Crown.
But the Counsell, on neither Side, were permitted to Say a Word. Hutchinson Started up, and with a countenance, which remains deeply engraven on my Retina to this hour, expressive of the designs and Passions, the Fears and Apprehensions that agitated and tormented his Soul, moved that the Court Should adjourn to the Counsell Chamber. No Opposition! No Reasons Pro or Con. The Countenances of the Innocents and the Simple on the Bench indicating Some Surprize, but the knowing ones manifesting a knowledge or at least a pleasing Conjecture of the Secret. The Prisoners were remanded, Parties, Witnesses, Counsell, Audience, dismissed, and the Court adjourned to the Counsell Chamber, where they remained in Secret Conclave till late in the Evening. When they arose it was given out and propagated through the Town that they had decided in favour of The Pleas, and that Jurors were to be Summoned the next Morning to try the Prisoners.
Whether this Rumour had any foundation in Truth, or whether it was invented and circulated to Soften the keen Asperity of the Public Feeling, I know not. But this is certain, The Court met again early next Morning in Secret Conclave in the Counsell Chamber; and then it was believed by many, conjectured by more and reported generally that Hutchinson and his confidential few, had been allarmed at the decission of the Preceeding Evening, and had contrived a Secret Meeting in the Morning to reconsider the Vote. Whether there was any Truth in these Whispers, Rumors and Murmours I know not. But one Thing is certain that When the Court opened in Form, the four Pleas, without permitting one Word to be said for them or against them by the Counsell on either Side, were pronounced by The President Bernard to be overruled.
The Prisoners were now at the Bar, and the Tryal commenced. The Witnesses on both Sides examined and cross examined. All agreed in every Fact and Circumstance. No contradictory Testimony, British Sailors and American Sailors all agreed. What Morality and what Religion, Dr Morse, in these Sons of Neptune? Oh! for the honour of human Nature, that I could Say the Same of the Court!
When the Examination was ended and taken down by the Clerk and the Counsell in Writing, the Argument of Counsell was expected. The Counsel for the Prisoners had taken great Pains to Search and research, through every Law human and divine, the Doctrine of Homicide in all its divisions, distinctions and Limitations. As this was Said to be a Civil Law Court, he had ransacked every Writer on the Civil Law that the Town of Boston possessed; He had examined every Authority in the Laws of England upon the Subject, and Superadded to all, he had brought forward that Volume of the British Statutes at large, which contained the “Act of Parliament which expressly prohibited, the Impressment of Seamen in America”. All these Books were piled up, on the Table before him, in the Sight of the Court, when the Counsell arose in the ordinary course of Proceedings to argue “The Cause of his Clients the poor Prisoners at the Bar. After addressing to the Court in the usuall Style of respect, he begged their Attention to the Authorities in Law, and to the Testimonies which he Should apply to Shew that the Action of the Prisoners in killing Lieutenant Panton could amount to nothing more than “Justifiable Homicide in necessary Self Defence.
The Words “Justifiable Homicide” were Scarcely out of his Mouth before Hutchinson Started up in very indecorous haste, and moved that the Prisoners be remanded and Court adjourned to the Counsel Chamber. The Prisoners tho crowded Audience, the Barr the Counsell were all thunder Struck, But What were Prisoners Audience Barr or Counsell against “Sic volo, Sic Judeo, Stet pro ratione Voluntas? The Court was adjourned to the Counsell Chamber and there enclosed like a Conclave of Cardinals in Secret Intrigues for the rest of the day.
When the Court opened the next day and the Prisoners ordered to the Bar, All the World expected that the Tryal would commence, and the Argument, on the Law and the Evidence proceed. But, After a Solemn Pause and total Silence, Governor Bernard the President of the Court arose, and with a Countenance So Solemn and So gloomy as made the Audience Shudder, as if a Sentence of Death was coming, addressed himself to the Prisoners by Name, and pronounced, “The Court have considered the Evidence in Support of the Libel against you, and are Unanimously of Opinion that it amounts only to Justifiable Homicide; You are accordingly acquitted and discharged from your Imprisonment.” Not another Word was Said, except by Mr Auchmuty, the Judge of Admiralty who cried out “The Court is unanimous in this Opinion.”
I will leave to Poets and Writers of Romance to describe the Joy that glowed in every heart, and lighted every Countenance at this Denuament of the Tragedy. One Circumstance is too Characteristick to be omitted. The Counsel for the Prisoners, descending from the Chamber where the Court Satt to the lower Floor of the Court house, was met at the bottom of the Stairs by the Boatswain of the Rose “Sir said he We are all greatly obliged to you for, your noble Conduct, in defence of these brave Fellows; Yet, Sir, this is the Employment in which I have been almost constantly engaged for twenty Years; fighting with honest Men to deprive them of their Liberty; I always thought I ought to be hanged for it; and now I know it.”
This Tryal, Dr Morse, is a Mystery never yet explained. A Labyrinth, without a clue! An Enigma that never can be unridled!
Though all Hypotheses must be unavailing in investigating this Phenomenon, So Strange, So unprecedented in the History of Jurisprudence I must be permitted to Suggest a few hints for your Consideration and Inquiry.
1st. Where, can you find a Secret Court of Judicature? In Courts Martial In the Inquisition? or in the Lions Mouth at Venice? The Star Chamber, and the High Commission Court in England even Jeffries’s Courts were open and public.
2. Here were the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Chief Justice the Judge of Admiralty of Massachusetts, the Governor and Counsellors from New-Hampshire, Counsellors from Rhode Island and the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy, Commodore Hood, now if alive Lord Bridport, Skulking and hiding in total Silence from open Court to Secret Counsell Chamber, like Indians fighting behind Bushes and running in the dark from one Bush to another to avoid Detection.
3. Upon What Law? Upon what Principle? were the Prisoners acquitted of Pyracy and Murder? Nobody knew; Nobody could Conjecture. Every honest Soul was delighted with the Decision; but none knew or could Surmise upon what Grounds it was made.
4. Was the decision, according to The Law of Nature? The Law of Nations? The civil Law? The Common Law? Or the Statute Law?
No Man could answer any of these Questions. All was darkness Mysterily Mystery, Uncertainty and Confusion. The honest Lawyers Said “Misera Servitus est Ubi Jus est Vagum aut incognitum.”
5. There was an Act of Parliament expressly forbiding Impressments in America, then lying on the Table before the Judges produced by the Counsell for the Prisoners, and ready to be read at a Moments Warning which would have justified the decision of the Court to the King the English Nation and the American Public without any other Authority or Argument. Why did not the Court permit this Statute to be read or mentioned? Why did they not produce it and read it themselves, if the Counsell had through Ignorance or forgetfulness omitted it.
6. Can it be credible that this Court, and all the Counsell for the Crown and all the Naval and Custom house Officers were ignorant of this Statute? However incredible it may appear, I have always believed and Still believe that not one of them all had the least knowledge or Suspicion that Such an Act existed. There was at that time but one Copy of the Statutes at Large in the Massachusetts and that Sett had been imported by the Counsell for the Prisoners.
7. Was the Sentence of the Court founded on the Principle of the Universal Illegality of Impressment? I Sincerely believe it was. And moreover, that not one Judge upon that Bench would have dared to give an opinion of its Legality. The oracular and equivocal Dictum of Lord Chatham had not then been pronounced, nor the opinion of the first Pitt as ignorant as it was dogmatical, that it was a Common Law Prerogative of the Crown. Candour obliges me to acknowledge that Mr Sewall conducted this Prosecution like a judicious Lawyer and polite Gentleman: but Hutchinson appeared hurried between his Terror of the Crown and its Officers on one hand and his dread of Unpopularity on the other.
No Tryal had ever interested the Comunity So much before; excited so much Curiosity and Compassion, or So many Apprehensions of the fatal Consequences of the Supremacy of Parliamentary Jurisdiction or the Intrigues of Parlimentary Courts. No Tryal had drawn together Such Crowds of Auditors from day to day. They were as numerous As those in the next Year, at the Tryals of Preston and the Soldiers.
Nevertheless, Every thing relative to this great Event must remain misterious. The whole Transaction seems totally forgotten. None of our Historians appear to have ever head of it. Mrs Warren has not remembered it, and Dr Gordon has taken no Notice of it. Yet Dr Gordon has minutely related the Acction of “Mr Richardson in Shooting Young Sneider and its Effects.” Mr Richardson and his Exploit were thought worthy to be recorded, while Panton and Corbett were to be forgotten! And who was Richardson? If there was even a couler of Justice in the Public Opinion he was the most abandoned Wretch in America; Adultery, Incest Perjury were reputed to be his ordinary Crimes. His Life would exhibit an Atrocious Volume. This Man was Selected by the Board of Commissioners for a Custom house Officer. His Name was Sufficient to raise a Mob. And I had almost Said, to the honour of the Mob— “Mr Richardson” and the innocent Victim Snyder ought to have been remembered, but Panton &Corbett ought not to have been forgotten. Preston and his Soldiers ought have been forgotten sooner.
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Noah Worcester, 23 January 1816
From: Worcester, Noah
To: Adams, John

					Sir,
					Brighton Jan 23d. 1816—

				Having for more than a year devoted much of my time to an inquiry relating to war—that terrible scourge of guilty nations—I am desirous of having the fruits of my inquiries examined by men whose talents, situations and prospects will enable them to judge impartially. The Rev. Mr Norton informed me that you had condescended to read my writings on some other Subjects. This has excited a hope that you will read with candor what I have written on war and peace. I therefore Send you a copy of “A Solemn Review of the Custom of War” and three numbers of “The Friend of Peace.” Be pleased, Sir, to Accept them, with my best wishes for your pressent present and future welfare.I have Sent Similar copies to Mr Jefferson, and intend Soon to Send to Mr Jay. As I have no wish to conceal any part of my object in these communications, I will Say—I hope to obtain a testimony from three able and aged statesmen, before they Shall leave the world, which may be employed in favor of the object which lies So near my heart—The abolition of the most fatal custom which ever afflicted the human family. I can not but hope that you, and the other two gentlemen, have been preserved to this late period, to perform a Service which will be remembered with gratitude for many ages, and which Shall contribute to the temporal and eternal Salvation of millions of your fellow beings. A few words from such men, while on the borders of eternity, may be the occasion of unspeakable good. With the pamphlets, I also Send a copy of the Constitution of the Massachusetts Peace Society, which has been recently formed. It would add much to my happiness to see your venerable name in the list of Subscribers. We have indeed many respectable names already; yours would add to the joy of many, and particularly to that of your / Sincere friend

					Noah Worcester.


Title: From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 2 February 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
Quincy Feb. 2. 1816

I know not what to say of your Letter of the 11th of Jan. but that it is one of the most consolatory, I ever received.
To trace the commencement of the Reformation I suspect We must go farther back than Borgia, or even that Huss or Wickliff, and I want the Acta Sanctorum to assist me in this Research. That Stupendous Monument of human Hypocricy and Fanaticism the Church of St. Peter at Rome, which was a Century and an Half in Building; excited the Ambition of Leo the tenth, who believed no more of the Christian Religion than Diderot, to finish it: And finding St. Peters Pence insufficient, he deluged all Europe with Indulgences for sale, and excited Luther to contravert his Authority to grant them. Luther and his Associates and Followers, went less than half way in detecting the Corruptions of Christianity; but they acquired Reverence and Authority among their Followers almost as absolute as that of the Popes had been, To enter into details would be endless. But I agree with you, that the natural Effect of Science and Arts is to erect public opinion into a Censor, which must in Some degree be respected by all.
There is no difference of Opinion or Feeling between Us, concirning the Partition of Poland, the intended Partitions of Pilnitz or the more daring Partitions of Vienna.
your Question “How the Apostacy from National Rectitude can be Accounted for” is too deep and wide for my Capacity to answer. I leave Fisher Ames to dogmatize up the Affairs of Europe and Mankind. I have done too much in this Way. A burned Child dreads the Fire. I can only say at present, that it should Seem that human Reason and human Conscience, though I believe there are such things, Are not a Match, for human Passions, human Imaginations and human Enthusiasm. You however I Believe have hit one Mark, “the Fires the Governments of Europe felt kindling under their Seats:” and I will hazard a short at another, The Priests of all Nations imagined they felt approaching Such Flames as they had so often kindled about the Bodies of honest Men. Priests and Politicians, never before, so suddenly and so unanimously concurred in Reestablishing Darkness and Ignorance Superstition and Despotism.
The Morality of Tacitus, is the Morality of Patriotism, and Britain & France have adopted his Creed; i.e. that all things were made for Rome. Jura negat Sibi lata, nihil non arrogat Armis, Said Achilles. Laws were not made for me, said the Regent of France and his Cardinal Minister Du Bois. The Universe was made for me, says Man. Jesus despized and condemned this Patriotism: But what Nation or What Christian has adopted his System? He was, as you Say “the most benevolent Being, that ever appeard on Earth.” France and England, Bourbons and Bonaparte, and all the Sovereigns at Vienna, have acted on the same Principle “All things were made for my Use.” “Lo! Man for mine, replies a Pampered Goose”. The Philosophers of the 18th Century have acted on the Same Principle. When it is to combat Evil, ’tis lawful to employ the Devil”. Bonus Populus vult decipi, decipiatur. They have employed the Same Falshod the Same deceit, which Philosophers and Priests of all ages have employed for their own Selfish Purposes. We now know how their Efforts have Succeeded. The old Deceivers have tryumphed over the New. Truth, must be more respected than it ever has been, before any great Improvement can be expected in the Condition of Mankind. As Rochfaucault his Maxims drew, from” history and from Practice, “I believe them true” from the whole Nature of Man, moral intellectual and physical he did not draw them.
We must come to the Principles of Jesus. But, when will all Men and all Nations do as they would be done by? Forgive all Injuries and love their Enemies as themselves? I leave those profound Phylosophers whose Sagacity perceives the Perfectibility of Humane Nature, and those illuminated Theologians who expect the Apocalyptic Reign, to enjoy their transporting hopes; provided always that they will not engage Us in Crusades and French Revolutions, nor burn Us for doubting. My Spirit of Prophecy reaches no father than, New England Guesses.
you ask, how it has happened that all Europe, has acted on the Principle “that Power was Right”. I know not what Answer to give you, but this, that Power always sincerely, conscientiously, de tres bon Foi, believes itself Right. Power always thinks it has a great Soul, and vast Views, beyond the Comprehension of the Weak; and thait it is doing God Service, when it is violating all his Laws. Our Passions, Ambition, Avarice, Love, Resentment &c possess so much metaphysical Subtilty and so much overpowering Eloquence, that they insinuate themselves into the Understanding and the Conscience and Convert both to their Party. And I may be deceived as much as any of them, when I say, that Power must never be trusted Without a Check.
Morgan has misrepresented my Guess. There is not a Word in my Letters about “a Million of human Beings.” Civil Wars, of an hundred years, throughout Europe, were guest at, and this is broad enough for your Ideas; for Eighteen or twenty Million would be a moderate Computation for a Century of Civil Wars, throughout Europe. I Still pray that a Century of civil Wars, may not desolate Europe And America too South, and North.
Your speculations into Futurity in Europe are so probably that I can suggest no doubts to their disadvantage. All will depend on the Progress of Knowledge. But how Shall Knowledge Advance! Independant of Temporal and Spiritual Power, the Course of Science and Litterature is obstructed and discouraged by so many Causes that it is to be feared, its there motions will be Slow I have just finished reading four Volume of D’Israeli, two on the Calamities and two on the Quarrels of Authors. These would be sufficient to Shew that, Slow rises Genius by Poverty and Envy oppressed. Even Neuton and Lock and Grotius could not escape. France could furnish four other Volumes of the Woes and Wars of Authors.
My Compliments to Mrs Randolph, her Daughter Ellen and all her other Children, and believe me as ever
John AdamsTo which mrs Adams adds her affectionate Regards. and a wish that distance did not seperate souls congenial—


Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Waterhouse, 2 February 1816
From: Waterhouse, Benjamin
To: Adams, John

					Dear Sir,
					Cambridge 2d February 1816

				I have received several Epistles in prose and verse, written to console me for my heavy loss, but nothing has equalled the three first lines of your last letter.—It is seldom that affliction comes singly & alone. Suppose I should tell you that my professional & political enemies have succeeded in obtaining a decree of banishment against me, and that I am ordered to take my departure tomorrow for Siberia, alias Sackett’s harbour?—Have they chosen this particular time, when I and my family are stupified by affliction to break down my spirits, & destroy the slender portion of health that yet remains in my shattered constitution?—I will tell you the story, & you shall judge for yourself.When the Junto succeeded in driving me from their University, they meant to destroy me; but the President of the U.S. saved me by giving me the appointment of Hospital Surgeon in this District. I accepted it from General Armstrong on the condition of not being seperated from my family here, & this was unequivocally understood between him and our friend Mr Gerry, & this condition was known to my Superiors at Washington on the reduction of the army.—I soon found that my location was coveted, & that intrigue was very busy to effect my dislocation. I thereupon stated the case to the Secretary of War, & immediately received from him a copy of his letter to Genl. Ripley who commanded this Department as follows, “Department of War 19th June 1815.SirDr Benjn. Waterhouse has requested to be located as Hospital Surgeon, at Boston. The Dr’s age, domestic establishment, & professional pursuits render it desirable that he should, in this respect, be accomodated, & I will thank you to make your arrangements accordingly.Alexr. J. Dallas.”About this time my competitor, a young man, went from Boston to Brownsville; and soon after I received an order from Major Genl. Brown to repair to Sacketts-harbour, & assume the medical direction of that department. When this arrived, I consulted Genl. Dearborn; and thereupon wrote to Genl. Brown that I was already located by the Secretary of War; & sent him a copy of the order; & General B. has retained my competitor from that day to this in the Brownsville, or 1st. Dept. (this here being the 2d) This gentleman has been all this winter in Boston on furlough—Last autumn I met Genl. Brown at Portsmouth, where he introduced me to Commodore Chancey & McDonough as the Chief of the medical staff in this Department. We were much together, & when he arrived in Boston a friendship & intimacy grew up between us, (being brother Quakers!) that excited uneasiness, and even expressions of displeasure in—I wont say who—He was at my house in Cambridge, & received great & extraordinary attention from the gentlemen & Students in this University, and he & I parted like men who never wished to forget each other. We talked of the medical affairs of the army, & lamented together its headless condition. In all which he unequvocally recognized me as an officer in his proper place; and yet because he did not send me a written counter order, a quibble has been conjured up here Seven months after, that has thrown me into no small perplexity & rendered me liable to be exiled from the remnant of my family to a dreary & unhealthy region at this dismal season. The following department order will explain it.“Milty. Departt. No 2. Brigade Insp. office. Head Qrs. Boston Jany. 15. 1816Departt. Orders.The Major General (Ripley) having received this day a report from Dr Waterhouse” (in consequence of the General’s asking for it.) is constrained “of the following orders, is constrained to determine their construction on military principles. In doing it he has  no intention of any interference farther than may be necessary to carry into effect the order of his superior officer.The orders on which Dr. Waterhouse claims to be located as Chief of the Medical Staff of Department No 2 are as follows—” (viz the letter dated 19th. June at the bottom of the 1st. page signed “Alex. J Dallas”)and—“Head Qrs. Brownsville June 29th. 1815Orders,Hospital Surgeon B. Waterhouse will repair forthwith to Sacketts-harbour, & assume the direction of the medical staff in Department No 1.By command of Majr. Genl. RipleyR. J.”and“The military principle in relation to the construction of orders is, that the last shall be obeyed, without at all attempting to decide what were the views of the war office, or of Major Genl. Brown—Major General Ripley is constrained to part with a valuable officer, whose character & services he highly respects; and directs Dr W. to repair to Sacketts harbour in obedience to the order of General Brown of the 29th of June. He is allowed however a furlough of 20 days (being as long as the Majr. Genl. is authorized to grant) to make the necessary arrangements.By order of the Maj. Gen. RipleyJ. B. Romaynes”Now General Ripley is very far from wishing me to go from Departt. No 2 to Deptt. No 1. and he told me in the presence of the Honble John Holmes, that he had been forced into the above act, but not by Genl. Brown, who has certainly never considered me as belonging to Dept. No 1, but No 2, where I always have been. He, in confidence, said more, and freely gave me his advice; but the 20 days allowed me is not enough to take advantage of it, & he can allow no more. He tells me however that a renewed order from Washington would settle the whole business, and would, I believe, for ever put at rest these attempts to dislocate me.But my Dear Sir! such is the net-work of intrigue both in Boston and at Washington that I scarcely dare trust the ordinary medium of communication. The last letter I received from your son J. Q. Adams which was the last of august, has not diminished my suspicions. I have not health or spirits to go to Washington, or even to visit you at Quincy, and yet I am ordered off at this dreary Season to the most dismal & unhealthy spot in the U. States, where there is already located an Hospital Surgeon entirely agreeable to the wishes of General Brown, who knows nothing of the quibble in question.Beside the one or two interested individuals, you know full well the men, & the Junto of men, who have been long trying to overwhelm me, or to drive me from my stand. You know they have left no string untouched, or stone unturned. These men have united their forces, & chosen the time, when they see me depressed by a domestic affliction. Yes! the enemy who I have so often repulsed, has attacked my post which they knew was weakened by death & desertion, and they will carry their point, unless I am speedily reinforced.I have written to Genl. Ripley, & sent him ample certificates that my health will not allow me, at present, to set out for Sacketts-harbour, whatever it may be a month hence;—In the mean time it behoves me to make such a representation of things to the head of the War Deptt. as may secure my post from these sudden attacks—I have written to Mr Crawford but it is not probable that he knows anything of me: but I have neither health, spirits nor confidence to write as I ought, to the President, to whom I personally owe my place.Thus situated, conditioned, & circumstanced, I have turned my eyes on you, from a recollection that you never yet took up your pen in my favour but you always succeeded; because you never countenance any thing that is not right & proper. Boston always will need an hospital Surgeon, & I have always filled that office to the entire satisfaction of every commander.  My wish is to die in peace in my own family (since Death has cut that knot which bound us all together) instead of taking a long and tedious journey to my grave on the banks of the Ontario. Yours as usual.

					Benjamin Waterhouse


Title: From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 5 February 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Van der Kemp, François Adriaan

Dear Sir
Quincy Feb. 5th. 1816

Your favours of November and January have not been acknowledged. The Politiques de Pous les Cabinets, I once had but have lost. Of the other Books I know nothing; and it is too late for me, ever to know any thing, concerning, “An infernal Spirit, which has Evil for its Good,” I can Say Nothing, but advise you to read Beausobres Manicheism, and Hugh Farmers Demons.
My Grandsons are at an Academy: but never to go to any University but Harvard Colledge.
I know nothing of the Circumstances of Col. Smiths Election, or Reprobation.
We have had enough of Hurricane and Influenza but they deserve no recollection in comparison with other things
Of Mrs Adams’s Letters and mine, the World must judge as it pleases. I know not, Who are “The Livery of London.”
I fear, but know not, that Wheelock has fallen a Sacrifice to Sacerdotal Intrigue
Now for your Letter of Jan. 9. “Otium cum dignitate” has nothing to do with me. I never was more encumbered with Business; and that at time, when I am incapable of doing any.
Noting with regret your loss of Touilman, I must hint at my losses. Dr Tufts at 84, Dr Lothrop at 76, and Dr. Holten at 77, three of my oldest Friends departed, within a few days of each other.
J. Q. A. Shared with his Colleagues, in Studies, Labours Compositions and Results, and that is enough for him. Oh! Decatur! Oh! Holland! Oh! France! Oh! Spain! Oh! Naples! Oh! South America! Oh! North America! Oh! all the World! Churchills Tragick. Oh, and more tragic Ah! is all I can say.
Stockdale printed a Second Edition in London of the “Defence” and placed before it a Bastard Title, “Adams’s History of Republicks”
Mrs Adams when she getts well must inform you about Hannah Moore. I know nothing about her.
Montaigne and Boethius had Some Glimmerings of Revolutionary Revelations; but Robespierre, Bonaparte and the present Bourbons of France, Spain and Naples forbid me to recollect any thing about them.
Prosperity to all usefull Canals: but they have cost me too dear, to think much more about them.
Farewell! Let Us go to Sleep in peace! And as you say “Be it so.”

John Adams
P.S. I have got hold of Baron De Grim. I must live 20 years to read him and nobody here can read him to me. I have read D’Israelis Wars and Woes of Authors. How encouraging is the Pursuit of Science and Letters?


Title: From John Adams to Noah Worcester, 6 February 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Worcester, Noah

Dear Sir,
Quincy, February 6, 1816.

I have received your kind letter of the 23d of January, and I thank you for the pamphlets enclosed with it.
It is very true, as my excellent friend, Mr. Norton, has informed you, that I have read many of your publications with pleasure.
I have also read, almost all the days of my life, the solemn reasonings and pathetick declamations of Erasmus, of Fenelon, of St. Pierre, and many others against war, and in favour of peace. My understanding and my heart, accorded with them, at first blush. But, alas! a longer and more extensive experience has convinced me, that wars are as necessary and as inevitable, in our system, as Hurricanes, Earthquakes and Volcanoes.
Our beloved country, sir, is surrounded by enemies, of the most dangerous, because the most powerful and most unprincipled character. Collisions of national interest, of commercial and manufacturing rivalries, are multiplying around us. Instead of discouraging a martial spirit, in my opinion, it ought to be excited. We have not enough of it to defend us by sea or land.
Universal and perpetual peace appears to me, no more nor less than everlasting passive obedience, and non-resistance. The human flock would soon be fleeced and butchered by one or a few.
I cannot therefore, sir, be a subscriber or a member of your society.
I do, sir, most humbly supplicate the theologians, the philosophers, and politicians, to let me die in peace. I seek only repose.
With the most cordial esteem, however, / I am, sir, your friend and servant,
John Adams.


Title: From John Adams to Noah Worcester, 6 February 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Worcester, Noah

Dear Sir.
Quincy February 6th 1816

I have received your kind Letter of the 23d of January and I thank you for the Pamphlets enclosed with it.
It is very true, as my excellent Friend Mr Norton has informed you that I have read many of your Publications with pleasure.
I have also read, almost all the days of my life, the solemn Reasonings and pathetic Declamations of Erasmus, of Fenelon, of St Pierre and many others against War, and in favour of Peace, My Understanding and my heart accorded with them at first blush. But Alass! a longer and more extensive Experience has convinced me that Wars, are as necessary and as inevitable, in our System as Hurricanes, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes.
Our beloved Country, Sir, is Surrounded by Enemies of the most dangerous, because the most powerfull and most unprincipled Characters. Collisions of National Interests, of Commercial and manufacturing. Rivalries are multiplying around Us, Instead of discouraging a Martial Spirit, in my opinion it ought to be excited. We have not enough of it to defend Us by Sea or Land.
Universal and perpetual Peace, appears to me, no more nor less, than everlasting Passive Obedience and Non-Resistance, The human Flock would soon be fleeced and butchered by One or a few.
I cannot therefore Sir, be a Subscriber or a Member of your Society—
I do, Sir, most humbly Supplicate, The Theologians, The Phylosophers and The Politicians, to let me die in Peace, I seek only repose.
With the most cordial Esteem, however I am, / Sir your Friend and Servant

John Adams.


Title: To John Adams from Joseph Delaplaine, 10 February 1816
From: Delaplaine, Joseph
To: Adams, John

					Dear sir,
					Philada. Feby. 10. 1816.

				I received your last obliging letter, & thank you most sincerely for the information it contains. I beg leave at the same time to tender my acknowledgments for the kind & prompt manner with which you have answered my several letters.—The Revd. Dr. Morse informs me that his son’s portrait of you for me, is acknowledged to be the best likeness ever taken of you. I am very happy to hear it.I enclose for your acceptance a portrait of the late Fisher Ames Esqr.—  With sincere respects / I remain / your obed huml. st

					Joseph Delaplaine


Title: From John Adams to James Madison, 22 February 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Madison, James

Dear Sir
Quincy Feb. 22d 1816

I am informed that General Dearborne, Mr Morton and other Gentlemen have recommended Mr Winthop for a Consulate abroad and I am requested to add my testimony to theirs in his favour.
My Acquaintanc with him has been only general, but his Father and Grandfather, his Name and Family have been esteemed and Venerated all my Days, his Education was publick, he has travelled in Europe and his moral Character is without reproach. His Father, his Uncles, and his Connctions in general, Men of Property and Learning have been remarkably and Steadily and disinterestedly attached to the Republican Administrations both of the National and State Governments.


Title: To John Adams from Joseph Delaplaine, 27 February 1816
From: Delaplaine, Joseph
To: Adams, John

					Sir,
					Philadelphia February 27th: 1816.

				You had done me the honour of answering my letters to you, so fully, that I had supposed I should never again, perhaps, trespass on your time and attention. I am induced, however, once more, to trouble you.I this day received an anonymous letter, under no date, and bearing the Boston Post office mark. It is very well written, and appears disinterested. It is respectful, liberal, and evinces a mind at once of feeling and possessed of a proper sense of the subject which is that of your portrait. To enable you, however, to have the best view of the matter, I take the liberty of transcribing nearly all of his interesting letter.“Sir As you have lately requested a likeness of the ex-President Adams. I presume you would wish the best likeness which is to be obtained of him. Mr. Morse has taken a portrait of him which I cannot deny is sufficiently a likeness to be known, but is by no means a pleasing one. It is austere & fails in character. I regret this the more as I consider Mr: Morse a rising genius whom I should wish to encourage & a gentleman I highly esteem; but the portrait he has taken  will rather injure than promote his interest, which will not be the case with some others I have seen of his. There is at the Ex-president’s house a likeness lately taken of him by Stuart which is so strong that a child not two years old knew it. Age has given a softness and mellowness to the countenance which Stuart has happily caught without loseing the characteristic vigor of former years. If you could obtain a Copy of that you would then have the likeness you wish for. I am not alone in the opinion I have expressed” &c &c &c.I respect Mr. Morse so highly, that I am particularly desirous that the contents of this letter from Boston should be kept entirely from him. I can receive his picture of you & thereby give no offence. But as it appears he has failed in a Characteristic likeness, so well obtained by Stuart, I am very desirous to have the engraving executed from that picture.It is entirely incompatible with the correctness of my work to have Copies taken from portraits when the persons themselves are alive. For what would the world say? “How much to be regretted! Mr. Delaplaine employs parity to copy pictures of persons who themselves are alive! What can this mean? Surely there is always a considerable loss in making a copy from a picture!” Thus would they argue, & the professed authenticity of my work would be questioned & of course its reputation materially injured.If, sir, you can favour me with your portrait by Stuart for a few weeks, to be sent by water, safely & carefully packed in a wooden case, I will pledge my word, to have an engraving taken from it as soon as possible, & the picture returned in perfect safety.—Mr. Madison, sent me his portrait from the Southward, Govr. Tompkin from New York as well as other gentlemen. Mr. Munroe’s picture too, & Genl. Nelson’s I have just received from Richmond Virginia I should in the first instance have employed Mr. Stuart to paint your portrait, had not his price deterred me. The expences attending my work have already been excessive.—Hoping to receive the honor of a reply /  I remain with perfect respect & regard / Your obed. & very huml. st.

					Joseph Delaplaine


Title: From John Adams to James Monroe, 1 March 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Monroe, James

Sir
Quincy march 1st. 1816

I have to thank you for the Presidents message, and for a pacquet from our fellow Citizen La Fayette.
I have also the honour to enclose a letter from C H Robbins, in favour of his brother. There Robinses, are Sons of our once Lieutenant Governor, now Judge of Probate. They are respectable people & have respectable connections. You probably know mr Forbes.
There may be many applications from persons whom I know not; whose pretensions, I cannot weigh,  & I have no right to do it if I could; I therefore submit the question to the fashionable words “legitimate authority” and remain with much respect / your most obedient Servant
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 2 March 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Van der Kemp, François Adriaan

Dear Sir
Quincy March 2nd 1816

At the hazard of the little Vision that is left me I have read your Travels in the Wilderness with as much Interest Pleasure and Instruction as Coxes or Moores or Crusoe’s or Gullivers.
I have Sent the Manuscript to Alexander Bryant Johnson of Utica and requested him to return it to you by a safe hand. My dear Wife has been sick all Winter and is Still very week, tho’ We hope somewhat better.
To destroy my Eyes more effectually, they have Sent me The Baron De Grim’s History of the Wars of Ecclesiasticks and Phylosophers from 1753. Here the French Revolution is traced, to its Principles and Motives. But I can Scarcely write

John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 2 March 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir
Quincy March 2. 16

I cannot be Serious.! I am about to write you, the most frivolous letter you ever read.
Would you go back to your Cradle and live over again your 70 years? I believe you would return me a New England Answer, by asking me another question “Would you live your 80 years over again”?
If I am prepared to give you an explicit answer, the question involves So many considerations of Metaphysicks and Physicks, of Theology and Ethicks of Phylosophy and History, of Experience and Romance, of Tragedy Comedy and romance Farce: that I would not give my opinion without writing a Volume to justify it.
I have lately lived over again, in part, from 1753, when I was junior Sophister at Colledge till 1769 when I was digging in the Mines, as a Barrister at Law, for Silver and gold, in the Town of Boston: and got as much of the Shining dress for my labour as my Utmost Avarice, at that time craved.
At the hazard of all the little Vision that is left me, I have read the History of that Period of 16 Years, in the Six first Volumes of the Baron de Grimm. In a late Letter to you, I expressed a Wish to See an History of Quarrels and Calamities of Authors in France, like that of D’Israeli in England. I did not expect it So Soon: but now I have it in a manner more masterly than I ever hoped to see it
It is not only a Narration of the incessant great Wars between the Ecclesiasticks and the Phylosophers, but of the little Skirmishes and Squabbles of Poets, Musicians, Sculptors Painters Architects Tragedians, Comediens, Opera Singers and Dancers, Chansons, Vaudevilles Epigrams, Madrigals Epitaphs, Anagrams Sonnets &c
No Man is more Sensible than I am, of the Service to Science and Letters, Humanity, Fraternity, and Liberty, that would have been rendered by the Encylopedists and Œconomists, By Voltaire, Dalembert, Buffon Diderot, Rouseau La Lande, Frederick and Catharine, if they had possessed Common Sense. But they were all totally destitute of it. They all Seemed to think that all Christendom was convinced as they were, that all Religion was “Visions Judaicques” and that their effulgent Lights had illuminated all the World. They Seemed to believe, that whole Nations and Continents had been changed in their Principles Opinions Habits and Feelings by the Sovereign Grace of their Almighty Philosophy, almost as Suddenly as Catholicks and Calvinists believe in instantaneous Conversion. They had not considered the force of early Education on the Millions of Minds who had never heared of their Philosophy.
And what was their Phylosophy? Atheism; pure unadulterated Atheism. Diderot, D’Alembert, Frederick, De Lalande and Grimm were indubitable Atheists. The Univere was Matter only and eternal; Spirit was a word without a meaning; Liberty was a Word without a Meaning. There was no Liberty in the Universe; Liberty was a Word void of Sense. Every thought Word Passion Sentiment Feeling, all Motion and Action was necessary. All Beings and Attributes were of eternal Necessity Conscience, Morality were all nothing but Fate.
This was their Creed and this was to perfect human Nature and convert the Earth into a Paradise of Pleasure. Who, and what is this Fate? He must be a Sensible Fellow. He must be a Master of Science. He must be Master of Spherical Trigonometry and Great Circle Sailing. He must calculate Eclipses in his head by Intuition. He must be Master of the Science of Infinitessimal “Le Science des infiniment petits.” He must involve and extract all the Roots by Intuition and be familiar with all possible or imaginable Sections of the Cone. He must be a Master of Arts mechanical and imitative. He must have more Eloquence than Demosthenes, more Wit than Swift or Volltaire, more humour than Butler or Trumbull. And what is more comfortable than all the rest, he must be good natured, for this is upon the whole a good World. There is ten times as much pleasure as pain in it.
Why then should We abhor the Word God, and fall in Love with the Word Fate? We know there exists Energy and Intellect enough to produce Such a World as this, which is a Sublime and beautiful one, and a very benevolent one, notwithstanding all our Snarling, and a happy one, if it is not made otherwise by our own fault.
Ask a Mite, in the Center of your Mammouth Cheese, what he thinks of the "το παν."
I should prefer the Philosophy of Tymæus of Locris, before that of Grimm and Diderot, Frederick and D’Alembert. I should even prefer the Shasta of Indostan, or the Chaldean Egyptian, India, Greek, Christian Mahometan Tubonic or Celtic Theology.
Timæus and Ocellus taught that three Principles were eternal. God, Matter and Form. God was good, and had Ideas. Matter was Necessity, Fate, dead, without Ideas, without form without Feeling, perverse, untractible. capable however of being cutt into Forms of Spheres Circles, Triangles, Squares cubes Cones &c. The Ideas of the good God laboured upon matter to bring it into Form: but Matter was Fate Necessity, Dulness obstinacy and would not always conform to the Ideas of the good God who desired to make the best of all possible Worlds but Matter, Fate Necessity resisted and would not let him compleat his Idea. Hence all the Evil and disorder, Paine Misery and Imperfection of the Universe.
We all curse Robespierre and Bonaparte; but were they not both Such restless vain extravagant Animals as Diderot and Voltaire? Voltaire was the greatest Litterary Character and Bona the greatest Military Character of the 18 Century. There is all the difference between them. Both equally Heros and equally Cowards.
When you asked my opinion of a University, it would have been easy to Advise Mathematicks Experimental Phylosophy, Natural History Chemistry and Astronomy Geography and the Fine Arts, to the Exclusion of Ontology Metaphysicks and Theology. But knowing the eager Impatience of the human Mind to search into Eternity and Infinity, the first Cause and last End of all Things I thought best to leave it, its Liberty to enquire till it is convinced as I have been these 50 years that there is but one Being in the Universe, who comprehends it; and our last Resource is Resignation.
This Grimm must have been in Paris when you was there. Did you know him or hear of him?
I have this moment recd. two Volumes more, but these are from 1777 to 1782. leaving the Chaine broken from 1769 to 1777. I hope hereafter to get the two intervening Volumes.
I am your old Friend
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Joseph Delaplaine, 5 March 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Delaplaine, Joseph

Sir
Quincy March 5th. 1816

your letter of 27th Feb, has surprised me. Of the writer of the anonymous letter to you I have no knowledge. The portrait taken by mr Stewart is the property of John Quincy Adams my son, taken by his order, often repeated, for six years, from St Petersburg & paid for by his property; I have no right in it, or power over it. Most certainly it will never go from under my roof, with my consent, untill it is delivered into his hand. But if the picture was my property, I should feel a delicacy for the painter. It would be painful to me to engrave it without his consent. mr Stewart possesses another portrait as like it as any two objects in nature, or Art are alike.
The expence of your undertaking must be very great, & your remuneration very uncertain. I am very sorry you have so much trouble with an old countenance, worn with fourscore years of anxiety.
The fine Arts have struggled with difficulties in all ages, Religion,  Politicks and Party have embarrassed them in all Countries, & you will find similar difficulties in our beloved United States. Taste is the rarest thing in the world, except judgement and virtue
I am Sir with much respect your humble Servant
John Adams


Title: To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 18 March 1816
From: Van der Kemp, François Adriaan
To: Adams, John

My Dear and high-respected Friend!
Oldenbarneveld 18 March. 1816.

Although I dilay’d till now to answer your very gratifying favour of Febr. the 5th, it was not, that I valued it less. But various circumstances imperiously forbid to pay it Sooner my attention—I Shall not plead the necessity of answering European Letters—and yet this would have Some weight by my frend—amongs whom was one of the Children of our deceased de Gyzalaer—requesting me to mention his death to the venerable John Adams, as deeply Sensible, of the continued remembrance and esteem, which he fostered towards their revered Father. But Some distressing circumstances in the family of my frend, which filled me with anxious cares, have entirely occupied my mind, and yet my endeavours, I apprehend, Shall finally be vain—want of prudence and activity and indolent weakness have embarrassed his Sons affairs—which—if not desperate, are highly critical. Now—I know from your heart—I do not want another apology.
I must have verÿ incorrectly expressed my Self in one of my last; I did not want nor even desire information about “the infernal Spirit” I applied to your better knowledge, to know—if the expression "an infernal Spirit, which has evil for its good—is that of correct language—It appeared to me—a blunder—it Seemed contradictory with the idea of perfection—to which it is however joined bÿ Ed. Burke.
Our losses have been reciprocal—you can not wish, that I Should undervalue mine—Others Stand on the threshold! may I not be deemed utterly undeserving, to move—in another Station—in their in your glorious Sphere! what a pleasing—what a comfortable prospect, if we can confidently indulge the flattering vision, once, it shall be reunited with all, who are worthy, who were dear to us—I wander often in these aërial fields. That good and omnipotent Being doth good continually and eternallÿ—the creation of our globe was perhaps only its renovation for another Set of Beings. Its pristine Inhabitants enjoy a mor happy existence—may be the Angels, of whom we know So little—and So might perhaps the existence of our Lord—having dwelled here before, and rewarded for his well doing—ennobled with the Province to Save a new race of men, be made plausible. The final destruction of this globe—Shall prepare it again; for a new modification by the Almighty power—and the Newtons—the Wheston’s the Buffons of the next generation again employ’d, to explain the Laws and Secrets of nature—and heap a new reveries upon reveries. But let me not longer vex you with mine. I have been employ’d these days in trying experiments upon experiments in measuring time—by the pulse—allways Successfully—although I can not explain the whÿ? It may Appear as insignificant as the motion of an apple in its fall—and yet a Newton explained the laws of gravitation—
I ardently hope, your Ladÿ at this time has perfectly recovered her health—it Spread a gloom over your whole Letter—I do not remember, that I ever received one from your hand—So formal, So cold! God Spare her precious life for you—for her children—for her friends. For her own Sake. I doubt not in the least, or She would cheerfully Submit to her Maker’s will to whatever She knew must be conducive to her more permanent happiness. Recommend, my Dear Sir! your friend to her remembrance.
About this time De witt Clinton must have forwarded you a Bagatelle—if it can amuse you for a few moments in an hour of leisure, my labour is rewarded—Send it, when perused to Jos. Quincy—with request to give afterward’s to the Elliot’s familÿ—wher mor papers of me are, and from where I can obtain it, when wanted.
I remain with Sentiments of affectionate respect / your obliged frend!

Fr Adr vanderkemp

P.S. excuse this coarse paper, I possess this moment no other—be Persuaded, that the Sentiments, which warm my breast; are as pure, as if expressed on that of the finest texture, lined with gold—


Title: To John Adams from Stephen D. Kingston, 29 March 1816
From: Kingston, Stephen D.
To: Adams, John

					Sir
					Philadelphia 29 March 1816

				The obligation confered by the letter you did me the honor to write in September last will always be highly estimated, and as the subject on which I took the liberty of troubling you appears to involve important considerations particularly as to our treaties. I beg leave to inclose the printed documents laid before the Legislature of this State. I am sorry to add in vain. With great Respect and sincerity I have the honor to subscribe / Sir / Your most Obedient / very humble Servant

					Stephen Kingston


Title: From John Adams to Joseph Gale, 5 April 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Gale, Joseph

                            my Gale
                            Quincy April 5th 1816

I have remitted to Judge Cranch, ten dollars, to discharge your account. You will be so good as to give him a receipt, for your humble Servant

                            John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Thomas Jefferson, 8 April 1816
From: Jefferson, Thomas
To: Adams, John

 Dear Sir Monticello Apr. 8. 16. I have to acknolege your two favors of Feb. 16. & Mar. 2. and to join sincerely in the sentiment of mrs Adams, and regret that distance separates us so widely. an hour of conversation would be worth a volume of letters. but we must take things as they come.You ask if I would agree to live my 70. or rather 73. years over again? to which I say Yea. I think with you that it is a good world on the whole, that it has been framed on a principle of benevolence, and more pleasure than pain dealt out to us. there are indeed (who might say Nay) gloomy & hypocondriac minds, inhabitants of diseased bodies, disgusted with the present, & despairing of the future; always counting that the worst will happen, because it may happen. to these I say How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened? my temperament is sanguine. I steer my bark with Hope in the head, leaving Fear astern. my hopes indeed sometimes fail; but not oftener than the forebodings of the gloomy. there are, I acknolege, even in the happiest life, some terrible convulsions, heavy set-offs against the opposite page of the account. I have often wondered for what good end the sensations of Grief could be intended. all our other passions, within proper bounds, have an useful object. and the perfection of the moral character is, not in a Stoical apathy, so hypocritically vaunted, and so untruly too, because impossible, but in a just equilibrium of all the passions. I wish the pathologists then would tell us what is the use of grief in the economy, and of what good it is the cause, proximate or remote.Did I know Baron Grimm while at Paris? yes, most intimately. he was the pleasantest, and most conversible member of the diplomatic corps while I was there: a man of good fancy, acuteness, irony, cunning, & egoism: no heart,
			 not much of any science, yet enough of every one to speak it’s language. his fort was Belles-lettres, painting & sculpture. in these he was the oracle of the society,
			 and as such was the
			 empress Catharine’s private correspondent and factor in all things not diplomatic.
			 it was
			 thro’ him I got her permission for poor Ledyard to go to Kamschatka, and cross over thence to the Western coast of America, in order to penetrate across our continent in the opposite direction to that afterwards adopted for
			 Lewis and Clarke: which permission she
			 withdrew after he had got within 200. miles of Kamschatska, had him siesed, brought back and set down in Poland. altho’ I never heard Grimm express the opinion directly, yet I always supposed him to be
			 of the school of Diderot, D’Alembert,
			 D’Holbach.
			 the first of whom committed their system of atheism to writing in “Le bon sens,” and the last in his “Systeme de la Nature.” it was a numerous school in the Catholic
			 countries, while the infidelity of the Protestant took generally the form of Theism. the former always
			 insisted that it was a mere question of definition between them, the hypostasis of which on
			 both
			 sides was “Nature” or “the Universe:” that both agreed in the order of the existing system, but the one supposed it from eternity, the other as having begun in time. and when the atheist
			 descanted on
			 the unceasing motion and circulation of matter thro’ the animal vegetable and mineral kingdoms, never resting, never annihilated, always changing form, and under all forms gifted with the power
			 of
			 reproduction; the Theist pointing “to the heavens above, and to the earth beneath, and to the waters under the earth,” asked if these did not proclaim a first cause, possessing intelligence and power; power in the production, & intelligence in the
			 design & constant preservation of the system; urged the palpable existence of final causes, that the eye was made to see, and the ear to hear, and not that we see because we have eyes, and
			 hear
			 because we have ears; an answer obvious to the senses, as that of walking across the room was to the philosopher demonstrating the non-existence of motion.
			 it was in D’Holbach’s conventicles that
			 Rousseau imagined all the machinations against him were contrived; and he left, in his Confessions the most biting anecdotes of Grimm. these appeared after I left France;
			 but I have heard that poor
			 Grimm was so much afflicted by them, that he kept his bed several weeks. I have never seen these Memoirs of Grimm. their volume has kept them out of our market.I have been lately amusing myself with Levi’s book in answer to Dr. Priestley. it is a curious and tough work. his style is inelegant and incorrect, harsh and petulant to his adversary, and his reasoning flimsey enough. some of his doctrines were new to me, particularly that of his two resurrections: the first a particular one of all the dead, in body as well as soul, who are to live over again, the Jews in a state of perfect obedience to god, the other nations in a state of corporeal punishment for the sufferings they have inflicted on the Jews. and he explains this resurrection of bodies to be only of the original stamen of Leibnitz, or the homunculus in semine masculino, considering that as a mathematical point, insusceptible of separation, or division. the second resurrection a general one of souls and bodies, eternally to enjoy divine glory in the
			 presence of the supreme being. he alledges that the Jews
			 alone preserve the doctrine of the unity of god. yet their god would be deemed a very
			 indifferent man with us: and it was to correct their Anamorphosis of the deity that Jesus preached, as well as to establish the doctrine of a future state. however Levi insists that that was taught in the old testament, and even by Moses himself & the prophets. he agrees that an anointed prince was prophecied & promised: but denies that the character and
			 history of Jesus has any analogy with that of the person promised. he must be fearfully embarrassing to the Hierophants of fabricated Christianity; because it is their own armour in which he clothes himself
			 for the attack. for example, he takes passages of Scripture from their context (which would give them a very different meaning) strings them together, and makes them point towards what object he
			 pleases; he interprets them figuratively, typically, analogically, hyperbolically; he calls in the aid of emendation, transposition, ellipsis, metonymy, and every other figure of rhetoric; the
			 name
			 of one man is taken for another, one place for another, days and weeks for months and years;
			 and finally avails himself of all his advantage over his adversaries by his superior knolege of the
			 Hebrew, speaking in the very language of the divine communication, while they can only fumble on with conflicting and disputed translations. such is this war of giants. and how can such pigmies
			 as
			 you and I decide between them? for myself I confess that my head is not formed tantas componere lites. and as you began your Mar. 2. with a declaration that you were about to write me the most frivolous letter I had ever read, so I will close mine by saying I have written you a full match for it, and
			 by adding my affectionate respects to mrs Adams, and the assurance of my constant attachment and consideration for yourself.Th: Jefferson


Title: To John Adams from Samuel Ewing, 27 April 1816
From: Ewing, Samuel
To: Adams, John

					My dear Sir,
					Philada. April 27. 1816

				I have taken the liberty of recommending to your kind attention, Henry Jonathan Williams Esquire, a young Gentleman of this City, who is about visiting England, and whose respectable Connexions desire for him an introduction to you—In addition to all those claims which a young Stranger in a foreign land has upon his Countrymen, he has an additional one to offer in the excellent private and public character of his late Father, General Jonathan Williams, who could scarcely have been personally unknown to you, but certainly with whose philosophical and literary name you were familiar—I know, my dear Sir, with what important objects your time is occupied, but I do not forget that you have always a leisure hour to be cheerfully given to those who have so fair a claim upon it as Mr Williams—I recommend him to the kindest civilities of yourself and Mrs: Adams, to whom I beg leave to present my best respects—I have to apologise to you for my neglect of your last friendly letter, but I do not despair of forgiveness since my offence bears its own punishment, in depriving me of that correspondence in which I have taken so much pleasure, and which I hope will be  resumed, now that the world is at peace, and our facilities of communication are so numerous—I shall soon take another occasion of soliciting your interference on behalf of the “Athenæum of Philadelphia” an institution upon the plan of that which flourished so well under your auspices at Boston—We wish to open an intercourse with literary men in England, so as to enable us to obtain late and interesting books, papers and pamphlets—In effecting this object no one can render more assistance than yourself, and as I know your attachment to the literature of your Country, I shall not hesitate in asking your friendly aid in our behalf—Believe me to be with great respect / Yours very sincerely

					Saml Ewing


Title: To John Adams from François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 1 May 1816
From: Van der Kemp, François Adriaan
To: Adams, John

					Dear  and respected Sir!
					Olden barneveld 1 May 1816.

				Mr. Alex. Bryant Johnson returned me the ms—Had I more time I Should be tempted to write a geogological history of a part of this western world—Say between the little falls and Lakes—but now I give it up, and, nevertheless, can not cease of collecting materials. I lately finished a treatise—on agriculture—I ought rather to Say—its Skeleton—but it remains yet in the brouillon. And now I am called a new to hard Labour—which however I rather consider as a blessing than as a curse, but—although it does not extend further as my garden—it is not an easy task—having no assistance whatever as that of my Son.Was I only a few miles from Quincÿ, then curiosity—now—I will do justice to your generous heart, then frendship would prompt you, to order your carriage—for a visit to my hermitage, and your Lady might condescend to be your companion, and as well pleased with our frugal fare and cordial welcome, as with a Sumptuous Boston entertainment.That Grimm Baron’s history Seems  to have pleased you—It traces, you hint, the principles and motives of the French Revolution: Can you not, if not by amusement—be it then in way of correction induce one of your fair Secretaries—to compile a concise Extract of these principles and motives? In the beginning of last Century 1717 was published—in refutation of Lucrecius—a work by Charles Claude Genet—at Paris “Principes de Philosophie, ou preuves Naturelles de L’existence de Dieu et de L’immortalité de L’ame” Have you Seen it—? is it equal to that of the Anti-Lucretius of Card. Polignac?Do not tell me, that I ask you much—it cost you only a little recollection—and—it is your fault, my Dear frend!omnibus ornatum voluisti excellere rebusbesides—that, it is your fault—that during So many years—you complied with my demands—and you know—if we give a finger to a child—that it grasps too often the hand—and is it not So with a frend—accustomed to receive, without the power to reciprocate? Be it as it may, trusting on your friendship, I do not hesitate in my confidence that it Shall be continued—as long you live, and assure you that I remain with unabated affectionate respect / My Dear Sir! / your obliged frend!

					Fr. Adr. van der kemp


Title: To John Adams from Jedidiah Morse, 2 May 1816
From: Morse, Jedidiah
To: Adams, John

					Dear sir,
					Charlestown May 2d. 1816

				I am on the wing for N. York, where I hope for an interview with Gov. Jay & Dr. Boudinot, who I expect will both be present to give their influence in the formation of a National Bible Society, after the manner of those in Europe. I wish Sir, you could be present, & give, (shd you think it proper) your sanction to such an Institution—If you approve of the measure, & will drop me a line, to that effect, directed to N. York, where I expect to be the 8th. inst. (the day of the Meetg.) I shd. be gratified in announcing your approbation of the plan of forming such a Society—I have to ask pardon for so long a silence, & keeping your papers, (whh I enclose) so long—The feeble state of my health, & my pressing engagements, your goodness will receive as my apology.— On my return, I will endeavor, early to write you agn.  Very sincerely & respectfully / your friend

					J morse


Title: From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 3 May 1816
From: Adams, John
To: Jefferson, Thomas

Dear Sir.
Quincy May 3. 1816

Yours Ap. 8 has long Since been recd.
J. “Would you agree to live your 80 years over again”?
A. Aye! And Sanse Phrases.”
J. “Would you agree to live your Eighty-Years over again forever”?
A. I once heard our Acquaintance, Chew, of Philadelphia Say, “He Should like to go back to 25, to all Eternity”: but I own my Soul would Start and Shrink back on itself, at the Prospect of an endless Succession of Boules de Savon almost as much as at the Certainty of Annihilation. For what is human Life? I can Speak only for one. I have had more comfort than distress, more pleasure than paine, Ten to one, nay if you please an hundred to one. A pretty large Dose however of Distress and Paine. But after all, What is human Life? A Vapour, a Fog, a Dew, a Clould, a Blossom a flower, a Rose a blade of-Grass, a glass Bubble, a Tale told by an Idiot, a Boule de Savon, Vanity of Vanities, an eternal Succession of which would terrify me, almost as much as Annihilation.
J. “Would you prefer to live over again rather than Accept the offer of a better Life in future state”? A. Certainly not. J. “Would you live again, rather than chang for the worse in a future State, for the sake of trying something new”? Certainly state yes.
J. “Would you live over again once or forever rather than run the risque of Annihilation, or of a better or a worse State at or affter death”? A. Most certainly I would not.
J. “How valiant you are”! A. Aye, at this moment, and at all other moments of my Life that I can recollect: but who can tell what will become of his Bravery when his Flesh and his heart Shall fail him?
Bolinbroke said “his Philosophy was not Sufficient to Support him in his last hours.” D’Alembert Said “Happy are they who have Courage, but I have none.” Voltaire the greatest Genius of them all, behaved like the greatest Coward of them all, at his death as he had like the wisest fool of them all in his Lifetime. Hume aukwardly affect to Sport away all Sober thoughts. Who can answer for his last Feelings and Reflections? especially as the Priests are in possession of the Custom of making them the great Engines of their Craft. Procul este Prophani!
J. “How Shall We, how can We, estimate the real Value of human Life”?
A. “I know not, I cannot weigh Sensations and Reflections, Pleasures and Pains, Hopes and Fears in Money Scales. But I can tell you how I have heard it estimated by some Phylosophers. One of my old Friends and Clients, A Mandamus Counseller against his Will, a Man of Letters and Virtues without one Vice, that I ever knew or Suspected, except Garrulity, William Vassall, asserted to me, and Strenuously maintained that “pleasure is no Compensation for Pain.” “An 100 Years of the keenest delights of human Life could not atone for one hour of Billious Cholic, that he has felt.” The Sublimity of this Philosophy my dull Genius could not reach. I was willing to State a fair Account between Pleasure and Pain, and give Credit for the Ballance, which I found very great in my favour. Another Philosopher, who as We say, believed nothing, ridiculed the Notion of a future State. One of the Company asked “Why are you an Ennemy to a future State”? “Are you weary of Life”? “Do you detest Existence”? “Weary of Life!— Detest Existence! Said the Philosopher, No, “I love Life So well, and am so attached to Existence, that to be Sure of Immortality I would consent, to be pitched about with forks by the Devils among Flames of fire and Brimstone to all Eternity.”
I find no Resources in my Courage, for this exalted Philosophy. I had rather be blotted out.
Il faut trancher let Mot! What is there is Life to attach Us, to it; but the hope of a future & a better? It is a Craker, a Rocquett a Firework, at best.
I admire your Navigation and Should like to Sail with you, either in your Bark or in my own, along Side of yours; Hope with her gay Ensigns displayed at the Prow; fear with her Hobgoblins behind the Stern. Hope Springs eternal; and Hope is all that endures. Take away hope and What remains? What pleasure? I mean, Take away Fear, and what Pain remains 99/100ths of the Pleasures and Pains of Life are nothing but Hopes and Fears.
All Nations, known in History or in Travels have hoped, believed, an expected a future and a better State. The Maker of the Universe, the Cause of all Things, whether We call it, Fate or Chance or God has inspired this Hope. If it is a Fraud, We Shall never know it. We Shall never resent the Imposition, be grateful for the Illusion, nor grieve for the disappointment. We Shall be no more. Credat Grim, Diderot, Buffon, La Lande, Condorcet, D’Holbach, Frederick Catherine; Non Ego. Arrogant as it may be, I Shall take the Liberty to pronounce them all, Idiologians. Yet I would not persecute a hair of their Heads. The World is wide enough for them and me.
Supose, the Cause of the Universe, Should reveal to all Mankind, at once a Certainty that they must all die within a Century and that death is an eternal Extinction of all living Powers, of all Sensation and Reflection. What would be the Effect? Would there be one Man Woman or Child existing on this Globe, twenty Years hence? Would not every human Being be, a Madame Deffand, Voltaires “Aveugle clairvoiante,” all her Lifetime regretting her Existence, be waiting that She had ever been born; grieving that She had ever been dragged without her Consent, into being. Who would bear the Gout the Stone the Cholick, for the Sake of a Boule de Savon when a Pistol a Cord, a Pond, or a Phyal, of Laudanum was at hand? What would Men Say to their Maker,? would they thank him? They would reproach him; they would curse him to this Face
Voila! a Sillier Letter than my last.! For a Wonder, I have filled a Sheet. And a greater Wonder, I have read fifteen Volumes of Grim. Digito comesce Labellum. I hope to write you more upon this and other Topicks of your Letter. I have read also a History of the Jesuits in four Volumes. Can you tell me the author or any Thing of this Work?

John Adams