Title: To John Adams from William Cunningham, 9 December 1809
From: Cunningham, William
To: Adams, John

Dear Sir.
Fitchburg, Dec. 9th. 1809.

I am indebted to you for your favour of the 29th. ult. If you will compare your Letters of the 23d. of Oct. and the 15th. of Nov. with the one I am now answering, you will perceive, I think, that you have given me some occasion to suspect, that you distrust my qualifications for public employment. But as such a suspicion is irreconcileable with the character of your communications; and as I ought not, perhaps, on any consideration to entertain it, I can save my self-love from being wounded with the apprehension that your estimation of me is so correct.
It appears that you think our opinions as opposite “as the south to the Septension.” I am not sensible of so much odds, but be the difference what it may, when I gave you my impressions, I was bound in honour to be indifferent whether they would carry me into the southern or nothern region of your opinion. I well know, that no favour is so ungraciously received as the pure offering of friendship. Aware of this, Shakespeare has, in most of his colloquies where the severity of friendship should be displayed, assigned its performance to the Fool, from whom nothing offends. I do not say this by way of extenuation, for I cannot do your equanimity the wrong to doubt, for an instant, that I have disturbed it. Could I adopt the creed of Winchester, and adapt my practice to it, as he did, I would not “long be Jack-out-of-office.” But before I can be so accommodating, there must be some greater or smaller portions of divine kindness in my composition than I now possess.
You inform me, that I need be under no concern about your future treatment of Hamilton. The anxiety I have felt on that subject has not been on his account. As it respects him, and every other public character, living or dead, I should have no objection to having the basket of their true deserts “unpeg’d upon the house’s top.” With regard to yourself, I have thought I could say this with as much satisfaction, and with as much pride in the exaltation of humanity, as of any character that ever lived. Yes, Sir, with a confidence equal to that which animated Gelon, you might have related to the whole body of your fellow-citizens in arms, your management of their concerns in peace and in war, and not a sword would have been thirsty—not a tongue would have been silent. This, I know, is not your own opinion of your standing with the public; but I am totally unacquainted with the temper of my countrymen, if such might not have recently been your good fortune. I have not said this unmindful how broad a mark you have been for the shafts of calumny, nor yet that your friends have had some uneasiness—all this
“Is but the fate of place, and the rough brake
That virtue must go through.”
There is no uncertainty, in my mind, that your life would have been reviewed by all with unbroken plaudits. The case of the Syracusian Monarch, to which I have alluded as affording you a practicable pattern, was, indeed, at a moment of the most splendid successes. But the instance of Solon is equally apropos, and more analogous. Having boldly, though unsuccessfully, opposed the usurpation of Pisistratus, he exclaimed in a tone of conscious rectitude, “that he had done all in his power to defend him from despotism, his country and its laws.” All the excellencies of the human character were exhibited in the life of this most profound lawgiver, after the survival of his authority in the state. He was unsupported by any faction, and was revered by all. I may resume these reflections before I close.
I wish now particularly to say, that I have no sort of objection, resting on regard for him, to spreading before the public eye the whole history that you have given me of the insolent and indecent amours of Hamilton. But before I can dismiss the contemplation of this character, I must, in justice to myself, if not to him, say something farther. In a Letter with which you favoured me concerning him (I believe it was in one of the Letters I returned.) You expressed yourself to this purport:—“Conjugal fidelity is the fountain of all virtue. Statesmen, philosophers, and the Christian Religion, unite in representing adultery & fornication, as the worst of crimes; and Hamilton, for his insult to this essence of a good education, deserved to be branded with everlasting infamy.” In the same Letter, you said, “where bastards are not held in disgrace, there is no morality.” Unreservedly do I agree with you, in the importance to public happiness of conjugal purity. I dwell on your opinion on this subject, and the exemplification of it in your life, with great pleasure, as being unanswerable proof of your moral worth. In addition to the authority of statesmen, philosophers and Christians, we can call to our aid, in commending chastity, and in condemning incontinence, the opinion of historians, whose continence province it more particularly is, to notice the influence upon society of the principles of private conduct. “Private happiness,” says one of this description, “which cannot subsist without the affectionate discharge of domestic duties, is the only solid foundation of public virtue, national prosperity, or public happiness.” The other declaration, that bastards should be held in disgrace, and the adulterer be held in endless infamy, are equally true in a general sense. But to this rule there may be unavoidable exceptions. I need not point out to you a number of such exceptions—I will select from ancient times, but two, Achilles and Theseus. The first was born of an unwedded daughter of a Phonician merchant, and there can be no possible doubt but that the Trojan war terminated favourably to the Greeks, by the transcendent power of this Chief. In that posture of affairs, when the great achievment, be it what it may, is depending on a single arm, his lineage is of no account—it may be hidden in fable, or acknowledged, and the hero shines in the splendour of his deeds. Theseus was of equal importance to Attica in freeing it from an ignominious and inhuman tribute to the Cretans. The truth is, that whether a man proceeds from the loins of Ægeus through Æthra, or his own wife, if, in the difficult hour, he is the only man who can remove the rock, find the sword and sandals, and slay the Minotaur, he may no longer hide his origin in fable—he will be great.  Those who penetrated deepest into the character of Cæsar (and greatness only can measure greatness.) have pronounced, that he would have reigned in any commonwealth that had given him birth. Genius is a direct gift, and although it is most frequently strangely compounded, and is too often prodigally expended, like great riches which come by inheritance, yet its incommensurable power is irresistible. Polydamus would urge the fight when the foe was the “far-famed Atrides,” but when Achilles wielded the “Pelion ash, Polydamus would no longer advice to wage the war. If the instances of Achilles and Theseus, are too remote to be fair specimens of the influenced of a refined education, let it be remembered, that marriage is an institution which originated in the authority of heaven, and that an understanding of its rites is universally diffused. Besides, the Grecians, in the heroic age, were advanced beyond this intuitive knowledge of the sanctity of matrimony, by their acquaintance with the institutions of the Egyptians. In Greece, at the time referred to, as in the country from whom they had borrowed the regulation, polygamy was not permitted—adultery was punished. Nay more—women, surviving their husbands, were doomed to celibacy for the remainder of their days—Gorgaphona was the first who dared to break through the prejudices of the people, and the prohibitions of the law, to become a second time a wife. These remarks are, after all, unnecessary, for my conclusion is equally adapted to any state of the public manners.
The fruits of an unchaste embrace are generally, and for an obvious reason, more athletic than those of the unpolluted bed. But according to your description of the person of Hamilton, had he been born in Laconia, after the establishment of the regulations of Lycurgus, he would have been adjudged to the cavern of Tygetus.
Before I had been made acquainted by you, of his attempts upon ladies of the highest dignity and purest virtue, I supposed that he did not, like Paris, from mere wantonness, employ seductive arts; but that, overcharged with mercury, he was ut in grege taurus. There is the greatest difference in the two cases. Cimon was of the last. He was hail’d by Cratinus,
“The best and noblest of the Greeks,” and was yet described by Eupolis, another of his admirers, “a debauchee.”
Two things I wish now to have distinctly understood. The first, that the opinion I have given of the foulness of Hamilton, was founded on your representations of the vile and enormous excess of his lubricity.  The other is, that the observations I have made above, are nothing more than illustrations from history, applicable to Hamilton in no other view than his having been the Genius he was extolled to have been. That point I leave. But I will not forget what you observed in relation to it, in our late conversation. You spoke of the papers signed Publius, which were published under the general title of the Federalist. You acknowledged them to have been well written, but intimated, that he Hamilton was indebted to his familiarity with men of learning, and in particular to his attention to the debates in the General Convention, and to a retentive memory, for a stock of materials for their composition. If all his celebrated acts were performed by the help of such advantages, he was a copiest, not a genius. “The richest growths, and fairest shoots of genius,” says Blackwell, “spring like other plants, from the happiest exposition, and the most friendly soil.” Bearing, not plucking, is Genius. Another remark you made, was, that the amount of Hamilton’s estate was, in excess of his debts, sixty thousand dollars; and you observed, that so great a property could not have been acquired in the line of his profession. Could he have cherished an expectation of avails to half that excess, there would have been more of the affectation than of the reality of delicacy in the instructions to his children contained in his will—and so great an estate, unaccounted for by any visible means of its growth, must go some length in undervaluing the professions, rather boastingly made, in his “Observations on certain documents,” &c, of being “marked by an indifference to the acquisition of property, rather than by an avidity for it.” It must, however, be confessed, that had he been disposed to turn the advantages of his place to his own profit, he might have been a Cræsus. I have now done with Hamilton.
You proceed in your Letter, and say, “That you could not give an adequate idea of your transactions in Holland, without inserting, in their place, the Letters to Dr. Kalkoen. I am relieved by this declaration. As there was An edition of those Letters having been issued in Amsterdam, and several editions struck off in this country, I could not before comprehend the propriety of your passing them again through the press, except it was to evidence your satisfaction with the sentiments they contain. In this view it was I considered them as exposed to a comparison with the doctrines you at present inculcate.
The inconsistencies I attempted to disclose in the comparison, you say are imaginary. Let this be made out, and I will with pleasure own, that I was incapable of discernment when I thought them “Gross as a mountain”—so glaring as to “glimmer through a blind man’s eyes” I would not deny to any man the right to change opinion—it is a right which does not depend, in the least, on human sufferance, and opinion must necessarily fluctuate so long as knowledge is productive on progressive on the human mind; and yet there are a great many facts, so plain to the eye of Reason, so well settled by discussion and experience, that we can never find concerning them, on a mind of solid texture, a false record. A very censurable errour in wise men, is when they fluctuate with the times—the “general gender” are master teachers, and when a dogma of theirs is embraced by a cultivated mind, the reaction is with prodigious power, for the “faults that are rich are fair”—and in the new illumination they receive from the new oracle, the “bisson conspectuities,” are as confirmed as they could be made by a sheet of fire out of heaven. could make them. In coincidence with this was your opinion as given in your Letter to me of Feb. 24th. 1804. “If a family,” you said in that Letter, “which has been high in office, and splendid in wealth, falls into decay from profligacy, folly, vice or misfortune, they generally turn Democrats, and court the lowest of the people with an ardour, an art, a skill and consequently with a success, which no vulgar democrat can attain.” This truth, you proceeded to illustrate with many high examples in our own country. The subject was resumed in a Letter of the 15th. of March following, in which you gave a striking, and very entertaining illustration, too lengthy to be transcribed.
Allow me one word more, which is rather interesting to myself, about inconsistencies. If you have changed your opinion respecting the influence of what are called leading men, and now think them “Tritons of the minnows,” (and I think a change implied in what you say,) I have nothing to offer in objection. I only entreat that you would look with some allowance on the alterations in your plan, which I have had the presumption to recommend. The argument on which my hint was bottomed, I had from your own lips about five years ago. At that time, I read to you some manuscripts I had prepared for publication. In one of the numbers was inserted the so much censured expression—the people are their own worst enemies. At that line you interrupted me, and after passing a high encomium on the talents of Governeur Morris, from whose speech it was taken, you reproved it, and said the people were not to be so much distrusted, for they were not so easily made the instruments of their own destruction.” This does not agree so perfectly with the above extract, but it was a repetition exactly of the sentiment contained in the Kalkoen Letter. I noted, with a pen, the emendation you suggested, and adopted it so far, that I tempered the expression, and it now unst stands in the printed piece, with a plenty of soft flannel to wrap it up in. If I cannot claim some such indulgence on most, if not on every “point of disagreement between us, I am grossly abused deceived by the weakness of my perception.
I return to where the reflections on Hamilton commenced. How In what your public disclosures will eventuate remains for the decision of time. The suggestions I have presumed to make have all of them the merit of a good intention, however destitute of propriety. A line in Pindar’s Ode to Heiro, offers a good precaution:
“Beware of every step; a prince can never lightly err.” The address of Augustus to Cinna—of Timoleon to Demænetus, and many more such instances of magnanimity, in all ages which I need not multiply, I have contemplated as fine models for the imitation of injured greatness—their glory it is no envy to wish to see eclipsed. That they should be equaled, ought at this day, to be thought a moderate expectation.
Not knowing how you received my remarks on the Report of last Winter, I will fortify the main argument I urged in opposition with a fact in point. The antient Egyptians, superstitiously opposed to commerce and kept by the strictness of ecclesiastical regimen from an intercourse with other nations, permitted to the Phonicians the monopoly of their the trade to Egypt. But for the reasons which disinclined the Egyptians to maratime adventures, the Phonicians were licensed to trade at the single port of Naueratis, on the western side of the Nile. But It fully appears that the advantages which the Phonicians derived from the trade so limited, were as great as were derived to them and the Greeks together, after Psammitichus, the first Egyptian Monarch who patronized commerce, had opened all the ports of his kingdom to their reception.
The information I gave you concerning the organization of the State, you consider as “miching malicho.” It was not given to me as having such a design to mischief; nor would the character of my informer warrant a suspicion that it was so intended.
The times are portentious. Buonaparte seems to take by “sovereignty of nature” as the Osprey the tenants of the flood. Tyranny has and Liberty have as much at stake upon his life, as it they had on the life of Mardonius at the battle of Platæa. The German Empire he has reduced, as was the Persian, to a day’s journey on horse back. Ithome cannot much longer be a refuge for the Spaniards—there is no prospect that they will ever meet their enemies at the Boar’s Monument—and if the hopes that have been placed in Mr. Madison should “touch ground, and dash themselves to pieces,” the world will be Buonaparte’s. I would treat him with a frog, but he should have with it the whole assortment that Indthyrsus sent to Darius—“a bird, a mouse and a quiver of arrows.” I expect to hear that the brat by Jeremoe will be christened by his new governour “Charilaus.” Neither with England, nor with any other power, would I have war, without “great argument”—and yet with her, or with any other nation, I would have my country “greatly to find a quarrel in a straw, when honour’s at the stake.” I am not entirely satisfied that we such is our predicament.
I beg, with all sincerity, to give, with my own, and with my own Mrs C’s
best regards to Mrs. Adams, and your Family.
With veneration and affection, / I am, Dear Sir, / Your most obliged Friend,

Wm: Cunningham, Jr.
P.S. In your first Letters, I was enjoined to secrecy on account of your aversion to becoming a topic of public speculation—but as that reason no longer exists, I shall suppose the padlock may be taken off.

For want of time to copy this again, I must beg you to receive the following as if inserted at the places marked.

    This argument brings to my remembrance the reasons why Athelstan, natural son of Edward the Elder, was advanced to the throne of England, AD. 925, in preference to the legitimate children of his father, as they are given by an historian—“the nation, exposed to foreign and domestic wars, required a prince of vigour and abilities.” The historian adds, that on account of that exigency, “the stain in his birth was overlooked.” Similar instances, are numerous in the history of modern times. Charles Martel, natural son of Pepin, was raised to the throne of France, A.D. 750, was its political saviour—From this stock, Charlemagne was not far enough to removed to be uncontaminated with bastardy. He was himself a gross sensualist, and left several natural sons. John, natural son of Ferdinand King of Portugal, was the defence of his country against the Moors A.D. 1385. But why need I cite examples to you?

    The correctness of these representations I never permitted myself to doubt question, because you gave assurances of their authenticity.

   (b) But these representations, flagrant as they appear, do not rise so high in enormity as were the crimes of Henry VIII. Nor to the height of the practices of Edgar, whose reign is recorded in history “as one of the most fortunate in the English annals.” It is only upon the difference in the constitutional temperament of men, that we can account for the deeds of warmth in a great prince, and for the non-performances of another, characteized a weak one—I mean of him who was inclined to a vow of chastity, and who, at his death, restored his Cenugunda a virgin to her parents.


Title: From John Adams to Joseph Ward, 14 December 1809
From: Adams, John
To: Ward, Joseph

Dr Sir
Quincy December 14th 1809

I must, though much against my Inclination agree in your opinion expressed in your kind Letter of the 27th. of Nov. “that it will be a long time before, the Evil of a Paper Medium will be corrected.” your Reasons for this opinion, and your Judgment of the ill Effects of this Swindling System are infallible—
The Article “Foreign Relations” in the Patriot was not from me. Nothing from me has appeared without my Name.
The Terror of Napoleon has been artificially and chimerically wrought up in Minds of a Part of the American People, beyond all Truth, Probability or Possibility.
This English calculation has always been that Three Tons of Shipping are indispensably necessary for the transportation to America of every Single Soldier with his Arms Munitions Provisions and Accoutrements.
Some of our orators Say that Napoleon will Send two hundred thousand Men to conquer us. He must have Six hundred thousand Tons of transport Ships then. Where will he get them? All Europe, England included could not furnish them, without Stagnating the Commerce of the whole Globe.
They say that he Sent forty thousand Men to St. Domingo. What is become of them? The Climate has killed them. The Climate of South America and of our Southern States would be as fatal as the West Indies.
But the Truth is he never Sent a quarter Part of 40,000 Men to St. Domingo. Louis 14 and Louis 15 exerted all their Zeal and all the Resources they could Spare to transport Troops to the West Indies and to Canada to defend their Possessions in former Wars: but they never could get over, Ten thousand Men.
G. Britain in our Revolutionary War never had in North America including Canada, at any one time more than five and twenty thousand Men. During Some Part of the War I thought they had forty thousand. But upon examining their own most authentic Documents and Memorials I have long Settled an Opinion that they never exceeded twenty five thousand. And what was the Number of Transports? Six hundred, as it has often been Said, four hundred is the Smallest Number I ever heard. It is certain that England Scotland and Ireland could not furnish enough. They were obliged to hire Ships in Holland Sweden and Italy. Where then is Napoleon to get his Two thousand Ships of three hundred Tons each to transport his 200,000 Men?
No! Let Us reason more like Philosophers and Politicians! Let Us Say that Napoleon has found in Spain two Millions of Geese of the Breed of Gonzales. That these geese are to be yoked together by Tens. Every Ten is to transport his Man across the Atlantic and alight upon the Cloud Capt Towers gorgeous Palaces and Solemn Temples of our great Cities, descend like Clouds upon the Inhabitants and make themselves Masters of all at once.
I have been told by experienced Courtiers and able Statesmen in France that “a King of France never went to bed with any reasonable Certainty upon his Mind that he Should not awake in the Morning at War with Some Power or other. The Death of Some Prince, Minister or General, or any one of a thousand accidents which no human Wisdom could foresee or prevent might light up the flames of War in an instant in places where they thought themselves most Secure.” This is an undoubted Truth and it will be more constantly true of Napoleon and His Successors for a Century to come, that it was of the Bourbons. Men and Money grow not upon current Bushes and Grape Vines. All the Men and Treasures that France can command will be necessary to defend themselves at home. Napoleons Life is the most uncertain one in Europe. He will have too much to do to take care of it. All the World will agree he would be mad to come here. His Empire would be usurped in his Absence. He would not dare trust any of his Generals with a large Army here knowing that if he conquered Us, which he could not, he would Set up for himself.
Europe is not subdued. Neither Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Holland Italy Spain or Portugal are Subdued. The Power of Napoleon will be constantly in danger in all of them for a Century. He has prevailed in Germany because the House of Austria was odious, and in all the rest of Europe because England was odious. But Security Napoleon never will have. And without Security in Europe he cannot think of wasteing and ruining himself in America.
Si quid novisti rectius, imperti.
I am with great Esteem your humble Servant
John Adams


Title: From John Adams to François Adriaan Van der Kemp, 15 December 1809
From: Adams, John
To: Van der Kemp, François Adriaan

Sir
Quincy Decr. 15 1809

I have received your kind Letter of 28. of November and another Some time ago that I have not answered.
I rejoice with you in all your Prosperity, particularly in the happy Marriage of your Son; and sympathize in all your Sorrows, more especially in the Misfortune of your son Friend Vreede, whom I remember well.
Happy are you in your various Learning and the Enjoyment of your Books. I can read but little on acc on account of my Eyes. My Wife and Children and Grand Children are very good to read to me, but they can not always read when I want, nor always such Books as I should choose
There is in one of the last Anthologys an handsome Character of our Friend Mr John Luzac, which I hope you will read with Pleasure. I should be glad to know who wrote it.
It is a little remarkable that you never heard the Litterary Character of my Consort. There have been few Ladies in the World of a more correct or elegant Taste—A Collection of her Letters for the forty five years that We have been married would be worth ten times more than Madame Sevigne’s, though not so perfectly measured in Syllables and Letters; and would or a least ought to put to the Blush Lady Mary Worthy Montague and all her Admirers. So much! You will say for Conjugal Complaisance! So much! I say for Simple Justice to Merit.
What shall I say to you concerning your Diploma? I have Spoken twenty times to our secretaries to prepare and send it, and have as often been promised. But We are all Men of Business. Our secretaries have been Members of Congress; And I begin to think that Politicians should never be accademicians.
When I was in Leyden a Gentleman was introduced to me, I know not by whom, who presented me with a small Volume of Latin Poetry of his own Composition. In it was the famous Compliment to Dr Franklin.
Eripuit Cœlo Fulmen Sceptrumque Tyrannis, and I always understood that Gentleman to be the author of it. Can you tell me his Name? It has been in France and the World, attributed to Mr Turgot. But I have always understood that Mr Turgot took it from that volume, and only altered it to
Eripuit Cœlo Fulmen; mox Sceptra Tyrannis.
Pray tell me if you can the Name and Character of that Leyden Latin Poet, and whether my Memory has not deceived me.
I am in the last year of my fifteenth Lustre, and write with great difficulty. But as long as I can write at all I shall express to Mr Van der Kemp my best Wishes for his Happiness

John AdamsYour Question “Through What means the military and commercial Spirit can be most effectually entertained and rendered permanently advantageous to a Free Nation under a Republican form of Government is of great Importance. But no Man would discuss it. Nine tenths of our Nation would say the Militia, the other tenth a Standing Army. The Merchants would all say Let commerce alone and Merchants do as they please. Others would say protect Trade with a Navy. Others let Commerce be annihilated. Such Questions would only make of our Accademies so many Political Caucus’s.


Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 18 December 1809
From: Adams, John
To: Waterhouse, Benjamin

Dear Sir
Quincy December 18. 1809

I have recd your favour of Nov. 20th and regret very much that your Employments would not allow you to Spend a Night with Us.
I did not before know but you was one of those respectable People who do not read the Patriot.
I must be cautious of Affectation: and not go out of my Way to introduce Things. When I come to mention the sailing of the South Carolina, I Shall mention Some of the Passengers. Will you be So good as to tell me who the Gentlemen Passengers were besides yourself and Major Jackson? And especially inform me of the day on which you Sailed. It will be a long time before I come to it. Be Patient.
Your “concern of Mind to write upon Politicks” you will find to be a disease worse than the Itch or Pox Small or great.
Probatum est.
This Distemper is not cured forever by having it once, or a hundred times Nor is there any Kine Inocculation to mollify its Virulence or destroy its Contagion. Have a Care! Facilis Descensus Averni.
Our University I hope is now perfectly happy in all its Professors and Governors. But I must break off abruptly

John Adams


Title: To John Adams from Ignatius Thomson, 20 December 1809
From: Thomson, Ignatius
To: Adams, John

Honored Sir
Pomfret Decr 20th 1809

I received your letter of the Sixth of September which I read with pleasure and thank you for the freedom you have manifested in disclosing your thoughts on the subject. To err in judgement is an infirmity to which the wisest of men are liable, but I sincerely hope that our rulers will be endued with that wisdom that which is profitable to direct in this day of peculiar trial and the liberties of our country may yet under their protection be preserved unimpared. I should have written to you before, had I not the Subject of the inclosed inview. I consider that your respectability commands the peculiar attention of the public and consequently communications to you must be very great, I should be very unwilling to add an unnecessary weight to that to which in this respect you are Subjected—But considering you as a peculiar patron of Science I have ventured to Send you my thoughts on the Aurora Borealis. No man can be so proper a judge of his own works as others. I have perfect confidence in your judgement. If there be any part of it you should think correct or serviceable to the public you are at liberty to make such use of it as you may think proper—
I have some times entertained a thought that should my circumstances admit I would write more largely on the phylosophy of nature, however for the present it will suffice me to submit the inclosed to your perusal that I may enjoy the benefit of a judgment resulting from riper years and a replenished mind.
This from your friend in Sentiments of respect

Ignatius Thomson—


Title: To John Adams from William Plumer, 22 December 1809
From: Plumer, William
To: Adams, John

My dear Sir,
Epping (NH.) Decr 22: 1809

I owe you a thousand apologies for not sooner acknowledging your obliging letter of the fourth of November; but it would be more than useless to trouble you with the enumeration.
With respect to my intended history, my design is to commence with the discovery of America by Columbus, & bring it down to as late a period as my time & health will permit. I have commenced, but am very far from having finished, the introductory chapter; which will be confined to events & discoveries previous to those of our country. It is my first determination to avoid haste on the one hand, & indolence on the other. Much more of my present time is employed in collecting of materials for the work, than in compiling it. And you may be assured that the extent & importance of the undertaking often depresses my spirits. I have for sometime anxiously expected the public journals, before this, would have announced the publication of Dr Trumbulls history of the United States, of whom you speak so favorably; but in this I have been disappointed.
As to the secret journals of Congress, I expect at some future day to obtain the perusal of them. The late President Jefferson assured me that I should have an opportunity of perusing & taking extracts from them.
I am pleased that your late correspondence still continues to occupy the press—& I hope it will long continue to inform & instruct mankind. And if you should find a leisure hour from more important objects, to furnish me with a list of all your publications you would confer on me a real favor.
Whenever you write to your son at St Petersburg please to make my affectionate respects agreeably to him.
I am with much respect & esteem / Dear Sir, / your most obedient humble servant

William Plumer


Title: To John Adams from Henry Dearborn, 26 December 1809
From: Dearborn, Henry
To: Adams, John

Sir,
Boston Decemr. 26th. 1809

I have had the honor of receiving your several communications in relation to Manufactories, including your note of the 20th. inst. enclosing a letter from John Webb. Having sent about one hundred & fifty letters to different Gentlemen in various parts of this State in the month of August last, I had presumed that before this time I should have received so much information on the interesting subject of our manufactories, as to have enabled me to give to the genl. Government all the information on that subject that appeared to be desired by the letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, but I have been disappointed, not having received any answer, to more than one eighth part of my letters. Such Information as I have been able to procure, I have forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury, and shall continue to send on such as I may receive from time to time.—to what extent we can with propriety increase such manufactories as have been commenced, or proceed in new establishments, must in a considerable degree depend on the encouragement that Congress may Judge expedient to afford, the present state of things in Europe, and the imbarrassments of our affairs with that Country, seems to indicate the propriety of making efforts in this Country, for rendering us less dependent on other Countries for manufactured articles.—as far as my information extends, it appears that our new manufacturing establishments have heitherto succeeded beyond what was generally contemplated, especially those of cotton. I think we may reasonably calculate on many usefull workmen from Europe as soon as it is known that they will find imployment here.—the late rupture between our Executive & the British Minister, appears to have excited some warmth of feeling, but we find there are many warm advocates for Mr. Jackson.
With respectfull esteem / I am Sir your Obedt.  Servt.

H. Dearborn


Title: To John Adams from William Cunningham, 29 December 1809
From: Cunningham, William
To: Adams, John

Dear Sir.
Fitchburg, Dec. 29th. 1809.

When I wrote to you on the 9th. inst. I did not expect that I should again trouble you; nor did I look for an answer, except to the postscript, nor to that unless you chose to continue the communications you have made me embargoed in my bosom. To this hour, I can very truly assure you, that the contents of your Letters are unknown to any human being but myself, excepting those to whom they were known before their transmission to me. I would not be studious of concealing anything from my nearest friend, but as she has no curiosity to pry into my correspondences, with any body, the Letters or papers of any kind, which I consider of a confidential character, I place in an appropriate part of my scrutoire, so that the assurance above reaches to the exclusion of my other self.
But believing that you are overleaping the sentiments you used to embrace and inculcate, in the pursuit of some new design, or to gratify a resentment, I wish myself enlarged from your injunctions. And since I have seen and examined the Message of Mr. Madison at the opening of the present session of Congress, and the Documents accompanying it, I can hardly persuade myself, that my obligations to you are paramount to those which I owe my country.
I will shew you, in a very brief analysis of your Letters, wherein their disclosure would subserve the great purpose of overcoming the prejudices against one country, and of the partialities to another, which have already exhausted our treasury—enfeebled us to a condition that we are become the sport of the nation we would befriend—the contempt of the one we would injure; and which are about to ingulph us in an unjustifiable and a devouring war. The candour which would forebear this censure any longer, is itself censureable. It appears by your Letters to me in the years 1803 and 1804, that you declared yourself in possession of certain facts concerning Mr. Jefferson, which, for the reasons you assigned, you were averse to communicating by Letter—That you encouraged me to arraign “at the Bar of Reason,” the Administration of Mr. Jefferson and censured the Federalists for their inactivity—That you very intelligibly hinted, that you could verbally supply me with some materials for the manufacture of strictures—And that you very seriously declared of Mr. Jefferson, that he was under the government of the two most unfriendly passions to the liberties of a people, that can possibly reign in the bosom of a magistrate—“A mean thirst of popularity, and an inordinate ambition.” What, Sir but avariciousness of popularity, and an unruly insatiable ambition, have been the causes of all the Tyranny with which the world has been cursed? It will farther appear by your Letters, that so recently as September 1808, you passed judgment decidedly against much, nay against the most of the management during the Jeffersonian dynasty. And it appears, that subsequently to the last date, and after you had thrown off your aversion to an appearance on the public stage, you exonerated Mr. Jefferson, directly or virtually, of every allegation which had been proferred against him. Besides these things, the Letters first mentioned, contain much anti-democratical doctrine, of which I recited a specimen in my last letter.
I agree with Burke, “That no government ever yet perished from any other direct cause but than its own weakness.” And I agree with you, where you say, in your “Defence of the Constitutions of the United States”—“It has been the common people, and not the gentlemen, who have established simple monarchies all over the world. The common people, against the gentlemen, established a simple monarchy in Cæsar at Rome, in the Medici at Florence, and are now in danger of doing the same thing in Holland.” They have done it—And are they not in danger of doing the same thing in America? “An excellent ‘writer,” you observed in the “Defence,” “Said, somewhat incautiously, that a people will never oppress themselves, or invade their own rights—This compliment, say you, if applied to human nature, or to mankind, or to any nation or people, in being or in memory, is more than has been merited. If it should be admitted, that a people will not unanimously agree to oppress themselves, it is as much as is ever, and more than is always true.” Now Sir, with Letters of the complexion I have mentioned, and with such concessions, the fullest ever made, of the fickleness of the multitude, added to the peculiar circumstances of the times, I appeal to you as to a Patriot, and demand, what shall I do? Since the appearance of the Message and Documents, I have turned this question over and over in my mind. I have examined every side and each end of it—When patriotism gives me counsel, it is difficult to find enough in my affection for you to dissuade me against its importunity—When I confess the claim of affection, I think on those who have sacrificed their children for their country—But why this perplexity since the appearance of these State Papers? Because there was no colourable occasion for the dismission rejection of Mr. Jackson; and because his dismission the refusal of him “bears a frosty sound,” and is calculated, if not intended to, bring upon us “the red pestilence.” We have no practicable means within our own command, to avert it—we can only rely for its being averted, on the moderation, or rather condescension of England—this alone can constitute “the very bottom and soul of hope.” If she keeps her crest to the elevated point, “this quarrel must drink blood.” I never examined any papers with more attention than the Correspondence between Mr. Smith and Mr. Jackson; and the proofs I had an earnestly hoped to find of the insults which would with honour bear out our in the tone she has taken, have eluded my search; and in their stead I have found, clear as day, that the fastidiousness of our diplomatic organs agents, is nothing more than the affectations of the criminal. Junius observes, that reproaches, he might as well have said he insinuations, have no power to give affliction but to “the man who, without firmness enough to avoid a dishonourable action, has feeling enough to be ashamed of it.” I am extremely sorry to find myself supported by truth in passing this judgment, on the correspondence.
Having spoken lately of Genius, I could not help thinking, when I read the correspondence, that it furnished a good illustration of what are its properties. I have seen Mr. Smith, and judging from his nose, I should suppose a drop or two of the aquæ vitae was wanting when he was begotten. As to Jackson, I know not “whence he was extraught,” but had he been born of one of the Mendesian women, at the time of their familiarity with the he–goat; or of one of the visitants of the sacred Bull in the Temple of Memphis, he would be preferred, even by a nation of Puritans to conduct a negociation of weight and intricacy, to Mr Smith. And yet Mr. Smith, with his little nose, which looks as if it “had been a counsellor to Pepin or Clotharius, it keeps state so,” can inflame the public against his unmatchable antagonist; and Mr. Giles can so much farther inflame incense them, that probably they will demand of Mr. Madison, Jackson’s Eric. The Minister “has blown our Administration to their trials, and the bubbles are out.” Not a soul of the party but “feels a fever of the mad.” Reason is as misemployed on them as “precepts to the Leviathan”. But they shall not, if I can help it, receive any accession from those who have been accustomed to venerate the name of Adams.
I do verily believe, that nothing but the firm stand taken by a great portion of the people in this septentrional section of the Union, has preserved us to this hour in peace. This disposition to Peace, is in great danger of being much relaxed by the part you are taking. Connecting your late assurance, that our situation with regard to Great Britain could not be much longer smothered, with the late transactions of the Government, I cannot get the better of my apprehensions, that there is a determination among the principals of the Democratic party to force the Country, at all events, into a war with that power. The assurance alluded to, appears to be nearly akin these Leaders are the targets at which some of your balls are aimed. If, then, there is any disagreement between your treatment now of the great body of a party, and the light in which you contemplated them when you undertook to present their true image to the eye of a foreigner; and which sketch, by recopying, you would now have received by the public as correct—From this view, I I would submit to your consideration whether it will not be more conformable to your past former estimation of the people, to point out the errours they commit collectively, than to consider them of so maleable a composition, that they will receive any beating, and take any form under the hammer and on the anvil of a few masters? I said in my last, that the parties are held together, as a chain by its links, of which the uppermost is like the battery in an electrical machine, which gives a convulsive shock to the whole chain every link. This comparison, applies justly more aptly to the organization of the parties, than to their actual devotedness to a principal—they can take motions from a fugleman, while they keep their minds; at least they think they do. As to principals, they are every where; I know of 150 in this an hundred and fifty in this country, who swing their arms, walk, look sagacious, and take a pinch of snuff, in the swaggering and swelling air of Leaders of a party. Some of them are men who would really do honor to any cause. Of such a goodly groupe as are to be found in the state, is it to be supposed, that if any number of them should be invited to a feast and be all slain, that the cause they espouse would die, and its adherents become fugitives? So far from this, so far from breaking them up by plucking up a root, it woud be found, that the party is like the Alopecunes geniculatus, which runs a little way, and sets a new root, and so on through the whole round of the field. That the Federal party had no chief to whom they implicitly obeyed, is demonstrated, I think, in Hamilton. At the time of an equal vote between Jefferson and Burr, he exerted his influence in favour of the former, but unheededly; this may be accounted for, perhaps, (I mean the preference of H.) on other grounds than disinterested patriotism; but it is eno’ to shew, that the influence of Hamilton was not imperative—that he was not an Apis. Having said, that I have been induced, by a regard to consistency, to make these remarks, I will end them with a reflection from Vattell:—“The spirit of inconsistency,” says he, “which prevailed among the Athenians, was always dangerous to that contrary to the happiness of that Republic, and was at length fatal to that Liberty of which they were so jealous, without knowing how to enjoy it.”
  The resolution not to recommend a man to office under any administration, whom you might suppose would employ the influence of his office in schemes for the subversion of the administration, is becoming your integrity and honour. With such views against an administration, no man would solicit employment who felt the power of correct principles. In regard to myself, I take no other name than that of an American, disposed to advance the interests of my country by all just and lawful means, and to maintain its rights and honour against any and every aggressor. But this may be the creed of many a man mistaken in practice; man; the soundness, therefore,  of the stock must be determined by the ramifications, as they spring out and bear in the heat of occasions. The shoots I have put out you are something acquainted with. I have displayed them in private conversation, in public debate, and through the press, to the extent its imprimaturs would permit. I cannot believe, that Mr. Madison’s productions are of a much different kind. I may, however, be mistaken, and if I am, yet, in an office under him, there would be no difficulty in exercising that prudence which would keep a man from falling out with his bread and butter, and he be yet remain the safe keeper of his own integrity. But under him, or any other, if I sustained an office on sufferance, and my superiour should insist upon it, that “a cloud is a camel—a weasel a whale, or a hawk a handsaw,” I would, in total disregard of consequences, contradict him; but the jealousy I might feel of his plans, if I expressed it at all, I would impart do it to him admonish it as mercury, the most active of medicines is administered—in grains not ounces.
On the advancement of Mr. Madison I felt much inclined to an act of oblivion, like that which passed between Thrasybulus and the Thirty Tyrants. Could we go on afterwards in peace, I wish there might be such an act a law. The spirit of such an treaty act actually passed between the American and English negociators of the Peace of 1783—and, accordingly, you addressed your Countrymen, exhorting them to conform, in good faith, to the stipulations of the treaty, and to subdue their animosities. The complaints against England now vociferated are, indeed, for transactions injuries subsequent to the peace, yet these complaints are embittered with the remembrance of the old grudge—on the other hand, the aggressions of France are palliated by the remaining sense of obligation, however erroneously indulged, towards the French, for their co–operation with us in the Revolutionary War—the passion of resentment, and of gratitude should be unfelt, they are alike unfit.
You next say, “That if you were determined to overthrow an administration, in order to introduce another, you would recommend no man—you would accept no office under it—you would advise none of your friends to accept any.” In all this I heartily agree with you. That you do not intend the annoyance of the present administration, I have what, according to the above, amounts to an assurance, for in the preceding Letter you said you were not averse to interesting yourself with Mr. Madison, or the Heads of Departments, in favour of a candidate whom you might think worthy. My disposition towards the Administration will depend upon its conduct—I feel no tye to names, I am bound only to principles. Under any administration I should oppose the doctrine, too rigidly enforced, of giving  “to friends the wages of their virtue—to foes the cup of their deservings.” A goverment which guides the distribution of its favours and deals its displeasure by this rule, too strictly executed, (for the rule is not undeserving of respect,) must descend from the high ground of principle, to a petty squabble of who shall be in and grin, and who out and pout.
I was hostile to Mr. Jefferson’s Administration, and for that reason principally, I never thought of being in place under it. I never could see any thing to satisfy me, that he was a profound statesman, but much to convince me that he was superficial—that he was actuated by a mean thirst for popularity—and that the Constitution itself was not a bulwark against his revengeful spirit. In all this it is possible I may be mistaken, and, although supported in my opinion by the highest authority, I sincerely wish I may be, for notwithstanding the distressing experience I have had of the villainy of which man is capable, I am yet impel’d more by my disposition than is due to principle, to judge charitably. Although you have lately honoured him with the favour of your opinion, that he is not the lover of France, the hater of England, and the enemy of Commerce, which he has been represented to be, and with other testimonials, yet there is one recent fact which, if your patience will endure, I will state to shew why I think he feels partial to France and inimical to England. On the meeting of Congress last November, the Committee which draughted the Report on our Foreign Relations, speak (the most laboured document before Congress,) speak of “a proposition to repeal the Embargo, so far as relates to those powers which have not passed, or do not execute any decrees injurious to the neutral rights of the United States,” in the following manner:—“The true effect of the proposition,” say the committee, “would be to open an indirect trade with Great Britain, which, through St. Bartholemews and Havannah, Lisbon, Cadiz or Gottenburg, would receive at reduced prices by glutted markets, and for want of competition, all the provisions,” &c.…  “Nor can it be doubted,” say they, “that a measure which would supply exclusively one of the belligents would be war with the other.” The Report was drawn high–priests who have instructed me at her holy altar, and when I bow at her shrine, I breathe their inculcations in the following apostrophe:—
O Liberty! thy patron and thy opposer, are Order
Nam’d and Anarchy. Benignant as Nature, thy rule
Like her’s, is by establish’d laws. Abounding sustenance,
And the exuberant ellegancies of life, on the subordination
Of the satellites owe their regular production:—And
Independence, and the various blessings of civilized existence,
On the immutability of thy laws are no less dependent.
O that Men would learn thy code, and write it in
Their calendar for observation. Unimpeded would they
Revolve our political, temperate, abundant, variegated
And yet nicely balanc’d, as our natural years. Thus
Revolving, a tyrannic domination, barren, pinching
And obdurate as the Laplandian region, could
Ne’er encircle us with its “waist of iron.”
This may not be poetry, but its political orthodoxy I can prove by a small but significant anecdote: I made you a visit in the year 1792, in company with Mr. J. Q. A. The floor of the room in which the company sat, was covered with a new painted canvass. The figures arrested some attention, and it was generally concluded, that the painting represented the street of some antient city—assenting, with the rest, to this, you remarked, that the city which had such streets was not under the government of Selectmen; from which I drew the inference, that, in your opinion, the objects of legislation, even  within the limitted circle of municipal authority, could not be brought to any approach to perfection without energy and Order. How much more is an energetic regulation necessary to the attainment, by a Nation, of all the advantages of civil rule?
With veneration and affection, / I am, Dear Sir, / Your obliged Friend & Servant

Wm. Cunningham, Jr

   To come in at page 2.) And your Letter of the 22d. of June, contains a most unfortunate confession. You therein say, that your Daughter–in—law, on a particular occasion, exclaimed. “I know, Sir, that your two sons are very much delighted that you have taken the subject up. This,” you add, “I knew as well as she did.” This confession is unfortunate insomuch as it broadens the ground for the suspicion of an ascendancy over you by your sons, which stood on the public conduct of the eldest of them. It is not absent from me, that you lately told me, that your son, now with you, knows nothing of your plan; but surely he will not think himself complimented by an assurance, that he is much delighted with what he does not understand. Neither his filial affection, nor his confidence in you, can deserve a compliment of this extent.


Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 1809
From: Adams, John
To: Boston Patriot

Sirs
1809

There are two Sentences in Talleyrand’s Letter of the 28th of August, 1798 which ought not to pass unnoticed, the first “In France it was Supposed that the Government of the United States, wished only the appearances of a Negotiation, whence resulted a certain demand for Pledges of good Faith”
The Second is “Can it be believed that a Man who should profess a hatred or Contempt of the French Republic, or should manifest himself the Advocate of Royalty can inspire the Directory with a favorable opinion of the Dispositions of the Government of the United States? I should have disguised the Truth, if I had left this matter ambiguous: it is not to wound the Independence of that Government, to point out to a Sincere friend of Peace, the Shoals he ought to avoid.”
When I first read these Passages, I was at a Loss to know whether he meant them as Apologies for having demanded Apologies for my Speeches and answers to addresses, or for having given Intimations concerning the Characters to be employed, or for having rejected Mr Pinckney and Mr Marshall; or whether he meant me or Mr Pinckney and Mr Marshal, or all three of Us. The Doubt was then of no great Consequence and is of less at present. But these Hints however made me more cautious in Selecting the new Envoys: and I know of no Men less liable to such Suspicions that Mr Elsworth, Mr Davie and Mr Murray.


Title: Asking for Prayers on the Death of a Grandchild, 1809
From: Adams, John
To:

                            1809 or later

John Adams with his Consort and their Family desire prayers that the death of a grandchild may be Sanctified to them. They also request your Prayers for their Children and grand Children, in remote Countries abroad and distant parts at home, that thir Lives and health may be preserved from dangers by Sea and land and in due time returned in Safety to their Country and their Friends.


Title: To John Adams from Joseph Ward, 1 January 1810
From: Ward, Joseph
To: Adams, John

Sir—
Boston January 1st. 1810

I had the honor to receive your Favour of the 15th of December, for which I beg leave to express my grateful acknowledgements. I never read any thing from your pen, without deriving information and pleasure. You have Sir, I believe drawn a correct map of Bonaparte’s power. I had some similar ideas, but you have measured things by a large scale, and marked the limits of nature. Napoleon, like all men, must stop somewhere; and I trust he cannot pass the bounds you have set him. Your calculations, are more satisfactory, than a thousand loose opinions, which float in the heads of modern politicians.
After reading the “flap sail” writers of the day, whose crowded columes are light as smoke, & clear as a fogg; I am refreshed by your sentimental lines.
While reading your Communicans in the Patriot, the Herculean labour you had to encounter in Holland, to arouse the torpid Dutchmen; when “dead, and you knew not when they would come to life;”—To counteract the English intriguers; and the subtle Vergennes;—I am reimpressed with the weight of the mighty task;—and the lines of Pope occur to my mind,
“When Ajax aim’d his mighty Bolt to throw,
“The line still labour’d and the wheels mov’d slow.”
Nothing but Revolutionary patience and energy, could have strung your nerves for the combat.
I hope your writings may have the effect to impress the Americans in all ages with just ideas of the cost of Independence—and hence be led to improve it by a display of that magnanimity by which it was acquired. If such lights, do not serve to guide our national pilots in their intercourse with foreign nations, they will be blind indeed.
In a letter I had the honor to receive from you some time since, you observed, that many of our writers “too nearly resembled the old Tories.” The resemblance is now as near the originals, as ever it was. A new subject has called forth all the British advocates; to the dishonor of our Nation. Our national concerns are extremely perplexed. And I fear that more wisdom may be wanted, than can be found, at this crisis. Now some of our old Statesmen, should be at the helm.—
Whilst I reprobate our Englified countrymen, for justifying all the measures of the British govt. and Mr Jackson’s, I have some doubts of the policy of our Govt. in refusing any further correspondence with the Minister, lest his nation might feel their pride (of which they overflow) wounded; and thence he induced to support with more unanimity a wrongheaded administration. As they have no sense of justice, nor much sound policy, if the spirit of the nation should rise in their favour, it is possible they may proceed to war with us for the sake of plunder. Their naval friends are extremely hungry, and the American commerce would be a feast for them. Unless there is a fortunate change in their ministers, I can see no ground of hope for any arrangement with our Govt. Some indiscretions in our Govt. and the opposition to it here, may encourage them to persevere in their aggressions. Our national situation appears to me very unpromising, and unpleasant. But we hope some good, may come out of the evils we feel and fear.
If Sir, your Navy System, had been pursued with wisdom, we should not have been despised, however we might have suffered.
I have a settled opinion, that if your system of national policy had been pursued, our Country would at this day have been as much richer than it now is, as the whole amount of the national debt. In other words, if President Jefferson had during his administration, paid the whole debt, (which was his object for fame) he would have left the Nation worse than he found it, when the Govt. passed from your hands, into his.—
And the loss of national Character—maybe inestimable.—That hobby horse for popularity, extinguishing the debt—has, I humbly conceive, extinguished many of the first attributes of a free Govt. and an independent Nation. Hence the Judiciary system, absolutely necessary to preserve the Balance, was sacrificed—the Navy sacrificed—all Excise duties denounced—and the basis of public Credit, too weak before, pared down to popular taste, and Whisky measure.
It is unpleasant to prophesy evils to come—or I might venture to guess, what the effects of a war might be in our present state. But I will not venture upon the future, until Sir, you have correctected (if worth the trouble) my errors on the past. And I should rejoice Sir, to be convinced (pride of opinion notwithstanding) that I am totally wrong in the conclusions I have drawn—and see reasons for believing that all has been, and now is, just as it should be.
I console myself this, that my wrong conceptions, whatever they may be, are untainted with party or personal prejudice, are honest errors proceeding only from want of understanding, and therefore may be pardoned.
I lately met Mr Gerry, in this town, and had some conversation with him. He is I think an honest man and real patriot, although he has, like too many of the eminent Revolutionary patriots, been abused in scurvy newspapers by the office seekers. He ought I conceive to have succeeded General Lincoln. But fate has decided otherwise. In this world rewards are not always proportioned to merit. If they were, a great many poor rogues would starve.
I observed to Mr Gerry that he might aid you, in collecting materials to enlighten posterity. He is impressed with the importance of the subject; and said he meant to collect and publish some papers, after you had completed yours.
His letter to Talleyrand, published in the Patriot, I thought was to the point. Mr Gerry’s industry and talents, have not I conceive been duly estimated.
I feel such a regard for the Revolutionary Patriots, that I would not have Mr Jefferson abused;—but to record his encouraging & paying Callender to publish his infamous “Prospect”—is not abuse. That was unpardonable—it was infinitely blacker than “black Sally.” However he “has passed away.” And poor Callender is gone beyond the bounds of time. I would pardon treason and rebellion, sooner than assassination of Character.
It is a subject of regret, that a man by labouring with the Patriots of our Country had acquired laurels that might have bloomed forever, should to raise himself above his superiors, blast their preeminent fame.
Another Adam’s fall. Such things give pain to the wise and good. But the real Diamonds, shine the brighter for the counterfeits. The Patriot that leaves “no stain upon the wings of time”—should rule. I wish we had enough of this character to fill every office from the presidential Chair, to the lowest round of the political ladder.
Another year now dawns, may it be the most happy of your whole Life, / is most Respected and Dear Sir / the warm wish of your obedient / and sincere humble Servant
Joseph Ward


Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 1 January 1810
From: Adams, John
To: Boston Patriot

Sirs,
Quincy, January 1, 1810.

AMSTERDAM, June 12, 1781, wrote to Congress: “The States of Holland and Westfriesland are adjourned to the 27th. In their last session they consented to the augmentation of 17686 land forces, according to the plan which the council of state, in concert with the statholder, had formed on the 18th of April, and which had been carried on the 19th of the same month to the assembly of the states of the province—They have also taken the resolution to lend to the East India Company the sum of 1,200,000 florins at three per cent interest, to be reimbursed in 33 years, in payments of thirty six thousand florins. The affairs of the colony of Surrinam are about to engage the attention of government, according to a petition which the deputies of the merchants of Dort, Haerlem, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, presented on the 6th, to the states of Holland and Westfriesland, and for which the merchants have demanded, in an audience which they have had of the stadtholder, the support of his most serene highness. This petition was conceived in these terms:

The merchants deputies of the cities of Dort, Haerlem, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, represent in the most respectful manner, that the mortal stagnation of navigation and of commerce, which cannot preserve their well being but by continued activity, has forced the petitioners not to disguise any longer the fatal effects; and in circumstances, when the naval force of the republic is not yet in a state to procure them a sufficient protection, to seek for themselves a succour, which, in the extreme danger in which the colonies which yet remain to the state, and even the state itself, are found at this day, may serve apparently to advance in more than one manner, the general interest of this republic; that the supplicants, both for themselves and speaking in favor and in the name of several thousands of their fellow citizens, have taken the part to present to their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Provinces the petition, a copy of which is here joined, and to which they respectfully refer.

That as your noble and grand Mightinesses have always testified, that the well being of your fellow citizens in general, and that of merchants in particular, ought to be supported in every manner, the petitioners assure themselves, that the more the danger becomes imminent, the more the zeal of your noble and grand Mightinesses will animate itself to prevent, under the divine blessing, the total ruin of the essential sources of the existence of the country: so that this danger being at present so great, and becoming from day to day more pressing, the petitioners dare to promise themselves, on the part of your noble and grand Mightinesses, all the succour and assistance requisite, and to hope, that they shall not invoke in vain their powerful support, relative to the prayer before mentioned.

It is for this that the petitioners address themselves to this sovereign assembly in the manner the most respectful, and in a confidence the most entire in the inclination of your noble and grand Mightinesses, for the protection of the citizens of the republic, seriously praying, that it may please your noble and grand Mightinesses to authorise your deputies in the assembly of the States General to concur, in directing with all the earnestness possible, things in such a manner, that there be given to the petition aforesaid a prompt and favorable answer, and that measures be taken, to the end that the petitioners and those who are otherwise interested with them, may enjoy, without delay, the effect of a definitive determination, &c.

To their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Provinces, give respectfully to understand, the undersigned proprietors and owners of vessels navigating to the colony of Surrinam, owners of plantations situated there, merchants and others interested in the commerce of the said colony. That this colony, independently of the interest which the undersigned and a great number of others equally interested take in it, may be regarded as of the greatest importance for the republic itself, by reason of the very considerable revenues which for a long course of years it has produced not only to the direction privileged by grant, but also to the republic itself, and which become every day more lucrative, by the enormous expenses which the proprietors of plantations have made, to cultivate new lands and to improve the culture of several territorial productions.

To this effect the petitioners refer to the estimate annexed, containing the quantity of productions, which for some years have been transported from the colony into the ports of this country. That these productions, after having been transported from this country, some wrought up here, and others as they were received, procure continually to the treasury of the republic very important sums, proceeding from different duties, which are directly or indirectly relative to them. That the necessity to go in search of all these productions of the colony, and that of transporting thither provisions and other effects, employs annually a large number of great ships, which are for the most part fine frigates, solidly built, the number of which amounted to more than four score which all pay every voyage the duties of Lest, which are considerable, and serve at the same time for the maintenance of a numerous body of navigators, which amount to about three thousand well experienced seamen. That moreover, the importance of this colony does not fall short in point of utility, of any other, both with relation to what has been alleged, and because, in exchange for its productions, we receive here the precious metals and the cash of other nations, which remain in the bosom of the United Provinces: while on the contrary, it is necessary to export them to the East-Indies, there to pay for territorial productions, the manufactures of the Indies; and the payments which foreigners make to us, to procure themselves merchandizes, must equally return to the Indies for new purchases. That thus, the navigation and the commerce with this colony, serve not only to the amelioration of the finances of the republic, and to the augmentation of the national cash, but they are still an abundant source of general prosperity for the inhabitants scattered in the seven provinces. Many, by means of the free property of their plantations, draw from thence important revenues, and encouraged by success, make them largely circulate; while a much larger number of our countrymen are the bearers of obligations, carrying large interest negociated upon mortgages the preservation of which is of the greatest weight, considering that the sustenance of so many thousands of our fellow citizens depends upon them. That moreover, all which serves for house keeping, all which is wanted for the culture of the land, the building and repairing of edifices, and even eatables must be transported from hence into this colony. This commerce, therefore, can not fail to procure to a great number of manufacturers, mercers and traders, a continual outlet, which even surpasses all belief, and which is by so much the more useful, as this commerce consists for the most part in objects furnished by our territory, either in raw materials, or in things manufactured here. This article alone procures the maintenance of an infinite number of artisans in the cities, and of the cultivators of the field; without mentioning the construction and repairs of a great number of vessels employed in this navigation, of their provisions both for the voyage and return, which gives a living to several thousands of men. That thus, the public prosperity and that of individuals so intimately connected together, would both receive an irreparable blow, if they were deprived of the advantages which they draw from this abundant source. That this misfortune has already denounced itself and in the most sensible manner, from the commencement of this war, the further consequences of which are so alarming, that they deserve to be warded off or prevented by all means imaginable. That nevertheless, the petitioners on their part, cannot otherwise obviate them, than by putting the vessels they use in this navigation in a necessary state of defence and in equipping them sufficiently for the war; which will render them strong enough to repel all the enemies’ privateers of whatever size they may be, and by navigating in company, that they may be able to defend themselves even against the English men of war, and thereby assist and relieve the military marine of the republic.

But that the excessively increased prices of every thing which concerns the equipment of vessels, the bounties and the pay, risen to near double, which must now be given to seamen, would render an equipment of this nature so expensive, that the charges would never be repaid by the freight. That nevertheless, without an equipment of such vessels we should risk too much. This consideration has even determined the owners whose vessels were loaded before the hostile attack of the English, to unload them, and suspend the voyages, to the great prejudice of the colony, of themselves, and of their freighters. That moreover, they still find great difficulties to expedite their ships; on the one hand from the certainty, that the passage to the colony and in the West Indies themselves, is infested with the enemies’ vessels of war and privateers, who by surprise, have already made themselves masters of a great number of our merchant vessels; and have even invaded the defenceless possessions of the state, such as St. Eustatia, St. Martins, Escquibo, and Demerara; on the other hand, in the uncertainty, whether this excellent colony, in the neighborhood of which, as they have learned, the enemies’ squadrons cruise without opposition, has not undergone the same fate; in which case, their valuable vessels, with their rich cargoes, would fall into the power of an enemy, who, from the heights of fortresses taken by surprise, continue to display the Dutch flag, under the shelter of which, and by means of a certain number of vessels of war, he seizes upon merchant ships, destitute of defence, who confiding in the public faith, go in there, without fear.

That nevertheless, if by these considerations, and others of the same nature, the navigation to this colony is longer suspended, the well being of the republic cannot avoid the most sensible prejudice, and the colony must be considered as abandoned; her inhabitants will see themselves even reduced to deliver themselves into the hands of their enemies, to the ruin and total loss, not only of the classes the most at their ease, but of all the inhabitants whatsoever of the United Provinces; so that we ought not to delay a single moment, nor neglect any means of encouragement or precaution to preserve them; so much the rather, as it appears scarcely convenient under this embarrassment, to invoke the assistance of foreign nations, to make the transportations and to go to the colony and to return, because that in that case we should lose this navigation, and we should lend our own hand to the entire declension, not only of the aid furnished to the treasury of the republic by the activity of this commerce and this navigation, but also to the interruption of the sales of so many manufacturers, mercers and traders, and even to the entire privation of the sustenance of an immense number of workmen and artisans, to whom this construction of vessels and this navigation so extended procured their daily gain which they cannot forego, without being reduced to the most deplorable situation. That this repugnance to navigate on our own account will be  followed further by the desertion of a great number of sailors, who, for want of finding employment here, and tempted by the advantageous promises of the enemy, will go there in search of service to the double detriment of the public interest of the republic. That the respectable fleet composed of valuable vessels, destined to this navigation, would rot in our ports, and the officers who command them, many of whom have not been thought unworthy to be called to the service of their country, would be obliged to abandon with their families, this country, where all the other means of gaining a livelihood, fail more and more; and as they have solely applied themselves to navigation, they would go in search of their subsistence into places, where, by our interruptions, navigation makes new advances every day. That this method indicated by necessity, of recurring to foreign flags, by the more considerable expenses which arise from it, would so absorb the revenues, that, not only no planter would be able, with the little which should remain to him, to support his plantation; but, moreover, there would remain no well grounded hope for the great number of bearers of obligations, to flatter themselves with obtaining any payment, still less the entire payment of the interests promised them; since, without having yet supported these additional expenses, and notwithstanding the excessive prices at which the productions have been sold, they have seen themselves forced to diminish considerably the interests, and in some cases, to suspend even the entire payment; without mentioning so many other political considerations, relative to this object, which cannot escape the penetrating eye of the Sovereign. So that without hope of a full protection, this single means of obtaining something in ever so small a degree, is ever considered by the petitioners as very precarious, and as augmenting more and more, an inaction so fatal to a country, which, under the divine blessing, owes its prosperity so envied, to its application, its valor, and the fortitude of its inhabitants.In proportion as they are persuaded that your High Mightinesses, for these causes and others known to your wisdom, must be convinced of the indispensable necessity of protecting this branch of commerce and of navigation so respectable, which influences so visibly upon all the prosperity of all the classes of the inhabitants of the confederated provinces. They are equally persuaded of the paternal affection of your High Mightinesses, for preserving, by all the means of assistance possible the inhabitants of the republic, from so disastrous a declention, and to lend a hand to the sincere, courageous and necessary recovery of the navigation to this colony, for which the nation does not want for inclination nor desire, provided it was encouraged and protected in it, since, in general, notwithstanding the ill-treatment and pillages they have suffered, they offer what remains to them, for the maintenance of the honor of their country, the safety of its possessions and the liberty of posterity.That the petitioners think they have as good a title to the protection of the sovereign as have so many other particular branches, which, to prevent their decay, have enjoyed the succour of the munificence of the sovereign, who has granted them bounties and pecuniary encouragements; since, the suppliants have not only in their favour, the same reasons of utility and advantage, which are so much the more important for the great extent of their object, which does not embrace a single article, as the fishery, the refinery of sugar, &c.; as it has been demonstrated it touches all the classes of the inhabitants in general, from the richest to the poorest. The noble,  the magistrate, the capitalist, the merchant, the owner of vessels, the mercer, the artizan, the seaman, without excepting the ecclesiastic and the military. But principally, since the petitioners, for so long a time, have voluntarily and without regret, furnished to the treasury of the state, not only the ordinary charges, but also the extraordinary more burthensome than the former, and imposed by the sovereign specially as a means of procuring to the inhabitants, the necessary maritime protection for their commerce and navigation; of the performance of which engagement, be it said with respect, the petitioners, would judge it the greatest indecency to doubt a single moment. That to arrive at this end, the most convenient way, would be, no doubt, to grant a sufficient convoy both for going to the colony and for returning; but that the present state of the marine of the republic, makes the petitioners apprehend that some further time may pass away, and certainly the moments are too precious, before they may dare to flatter themselves with a protection so efficacious, as the danger of the crews, the valuable cargoes and the pressing necessity of the colony require.

That to this effect the petitioners take the liberty to solicit your High Mightinesses, with profound respect, in case it is impossible to grant immediately a sufficient escort to go to the colony and return; that in that case, as upon other occasions, it has been graciously granted by your High Mightinesses, for the support of trade, the equipment of vessels, societies, &c., to be so good also, as to grant generously in favor of the equipments to make for this colony, Berbicia, and the interesting establishment of Curagao, an encouragement equivalent to the design of the considerable disbursements, which they will be obliged to make, to put their vessels in a certain state of defence; and, moreover, for better order and direction to cause to be escorted their ships sailing in company, by as many vessels of war, as it will be possible to spare for this expedition. In fine, that under the good pleasure of your High Mightinesses, and that these ships well armed may also serve to molest as much as possible the enemy, there may be granted them letters of mark and reprisals, under the customary conditions, to the end, that they make use of them, upon occasion by the brave officers, which the subscribers dare boast, that they will employ in their ships.

This petition has been referred to the respective deputies of the colleges of the admiralty, to make report on it as soon as possible. The deputies of the merchants having beforehand solicited, in the most pressing manner, the Prince, Statholder, to support with his powerful recommendation, an affair of so great importance.

John Adams


Title: From John Adams to Joseph Ward, 8 January 1810
From: Adams, John
To: Ward, Joseph

Sir
Quincy January 8. 1810

I agree with you in your favor of the 1st. that our National concerns are extreamly perplexed. That the National Pride of Britain may feel itself hurt: that it is possible the Ministry may proceed to War with Us for the Sake of Plunder: that the American Commerce would be a Feast for their Naval Friends: that our national Situation appears very unpromising and unpleasant: that I can See no ground of hope for any Arrangement between the two Governments while the present Ministry in Britain continues: and I might Add, under any other Ministry as long as France and England both appear determined to Stake their Empires on the Slavery of or Freedom of the Scheld and the Low Countries. I do not think myself competent to condemn our Administration for refusing any further Correspondance with the British Ambassador. If I make it my own case. If I had been told that he had nothing to propose, that he was Sent here only to hear what I had to Say to him, after all that had passed, I own I Should have been in great danger of committing Some Indiscretion or other, at least as great as our Government have adopted, especially if he had added repeated Contradictions to my Face of Facts that I had Solemnly asserted of my own Knowledge. However, after all I am not very apprehensive that Britain will declare war against Us. They will continue to make War upon Us as they have done for years: and I believe this is the very Situation in which they wish to keep Us. American Privateers in the Baltic, The Mediterranean, The North Sea, The East and West Indies, in Saint Laurens River and especially in the English Channel might also make a feast for our Naval Friends with which the British Ministry would not wish to regale them.
I agree, that if our “Naval System had been pursued with Prudence We Should not have been despized, however We might have Suffered” It would be unnatural if I Should not consent to your Settled opinion, that if my System of national Policy had been pursued We Should have been richer, and more respected.” But my System of national Policy was ruined by my pretended Friends more effectually than by my Enemies.
The Repeal of the Taxes as well as the Neglect of the Navy were great Errors in my Judgment as well as yours: but they were both National Errors. The general Voice of the Nation declared loudly for both. Jefferson was chosen for this very purpose: and his Administration was infinitely more popular than Washingtons or mine. He had through his Eight years a Majority of Six to one in the Senate and of two three or four to one in the House. The Nation Stood by him to his last Moment, absolutely petitioned him to Serve again, and would have chosen him by a greater Majority than Mr Madison had. I know that Mr Jefferson has Studied Natural History more than Politicks and has laboured more to acquire a Sweetness of Style than to capture the profound and muddy Bottoms of the Policy of modern or ancient Nations: But I believe he Sincerly Acted for what he thought the Public good, and I am not much disposed harshly to condemn him and Still less to blacken him and Slander him for being carried away by the Public opinion which was at the Same time So flattering and delightfull to himself. Of all the Measures of his Administration I the most cordially condemn the Repeal of the Judiciary Law. I give him up to censure for this: but even here I must give up the Legislature and the Nation with him. In this point the Nation ought, above all others to know loudly and decidedly to have pronounced against him: because their Constitution and their own Security demanded it.
I certainly Shall not attempt to convince you that all has been or now is just as it Should be. But I wish you would inform me, how We are to make them better. I confess myself at a Loss. But if I had a clear System in my own head I have not Life and Strength left, nor Authority nor Influence to go through the immense proscess of convincing the Nation of the Wisdom of Measures that would be violently opposed by both the great Parties. It is time for me to think as little as possible of the present or future State of public affairs. If by past Experience of the Chicanery and Violence of foreign Courts the People Should be reminded of the Necessity of making them selves as independent of them as possible in all respects, even this is more than I can expect to do.
Mr Jeffersons “Charities” as he calls them to Callender, are a blot in his Escutchion. But I believe nothing that Callender Said, any more than if it had been Said by an infernal Spirit. I would not convict a dog of killing a Sheep upon the Testimony of two Such Witnesses. It was the Fashion of the Party to contribute to the Publication of Callenders Writings as it was of the opposite Party, to Support Cobbet and John Ward Fenno, whose Productions were equally abusive and much more mischievous. It was no doubt insisted on that Jefferson Should do his Part. I give him up to Censure for this: and I have the better right to do So, because my Conscience bears me Witness, that I never wrote a Line against my Enemies, nor contributed one farthing to any Writer for vindicating me or accusing my Enemies. John Fenno was my Friend whom I highly esteemed. I knew his distress for Want of Funds. I would have joyfully lent him a Thousand dollars and I own I Longed to do it. But I dared not to hint any Such Thing for fear of the reproach of rewarding or hiring Writers or Printers to defend me or annoy my Enemies. Though I knew that his Necessities not Seldom induced him to admit Pieces into his Paper that I by no means approved though by many they were falsely imputed to me.
Callender and Sally will be remembered as long as Jefferson as Blotts in his Character. The story of the latter, is a natural and almost unavoidable Consequence of that foul contagion Pox in the human Character Negro Slavery. In the West Indies and the Southern States it has the Same Effect. A great Lady has Said She did not believe there was a Planter in Virginia who could not reckon among his Slaves a Number of his Children. But is it Sound Policy will it promote Morality, to keep up the Cry of such disgracefull Stories, now the Man is voluntarily retired from the World. The more the Subject is canvassed will not the horror of the Infamy be diminished? and this black Licentiousness be encouraged? The Story of Mrs Walker, is acknowledged to have happened, before Jefferson was married, when he was but five and twenty years of Age. Is it for the Publick good to revive Such long forgotten Anecdotes especially by those who remembered twenty Tales of Hamilton much more attrocious, though they wished him to be Commander in Chief of the Army and President of the United States. Callender was manifestly about to adopt Hamilton as his Hero to be President of the U.S. He called expressly on all the Federal Editors to inlist under Colman as their Field Marshall. Cheetham began to veer the Same Way. Duane made me laugh at a Stroke will which Silenced Colman. The Field Marshall began to hint at Sally and Walker. Duane in his next Paper cautioned him to beware! if you touch upon that String, I will! I will? Colman took the hint, hauled in his Horns and Said he thought those Subjects ought not to be introduced and it was not his Intention to insist upon them.
I need not caution you that this Scrawl is confidential. You will not as others have done publish my Letter without my Leave. You may burn it, if you please.
I am with great Esteem as Usual your Friend and humble Servent wishing you as many New Years as you can enjoy

John Adams


Title: From John Adams to William Plumer, 9 January 1810
From: Adams, John
To: Plumer, William

Sir
Quincy January 9. 1810

The fugitive Trifles I have written in the Course of Fifty or Sixty Years are of little Consequence in point of intrinsic Merit. If they are of any Value and any of them deserve to be preserved, it is on Account of the Dates and Circumstances of the Times in which they were written and if I give you a List of them, it will be more for the sake of disavowing all other Writings than for the any great Esteem that I have for them.
1. There has been printed in The Anthology a Letter from me, written to Dr Nathan Webb in 1755 before I was 20 Years old. I should not remember this crude juvenile Effusion, if it had not been brought to Light by Accident after fifty years oblivion; and if it did not appear to be a Key to my whole Life.
2 There is printed in the Second Volume of Judge Minots History, a very imperfect Report an of an argument before The Judges of our Superiour Court in the Counsel Chamber in Boston, in 1761 between Mr Gridley on one side and Mr James Otis Junior and Mr Oxenbridge Thatcher on the other concerning Writs of assistance. The Minutes were taken by me at the Bar and lay in my Desk many years, till one of my Clerks, without my Knowledge printed them in Isaiah Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy.
3 In 1764 and from thence to 1767 or thereabout I printed a Number of Letters in the Names of Clarendon, Pym, Governor Winthrop and governor Bradford in Edes and Gills Boston Gazette, and a Number of Pieces Signed U in opposition—to Jonathan Sewall who wrote under the Signature of long J. I have not read these Pieces since they were first published. There is nothing personal or immoral or impolitick in them, nor any Thing of much Consequence.
4. In July and August 1765 I wrote four Pieces in Continuation in the same Gazette, without Title or Signature. They were soon printed in London and imputed to Mr Gridley, under the Title of a Dissertation on the Cannon and Feudal Law. In 1765 I drew the Instructions of the Town of Braintree to their Representative, printed in Drapers Massachusetts Gazette.
5 In 1770 or 1771 My argument or a Sketch of it in the Case of the Soldiers was printed with others in the Tryal.
6 In 1772 or three I printed Eight Letters in answer to General Brattle upon the Independence of The Judges.
7. I drew the Instructions of the Town of Boston to their Representatives in the years 1772 and 1773 and 1774 or in 1773 and 1774.
8 in 1774 and 1775 I printed a Number of Pieces under The Signature of Novanglus in answer to Massachusettens is i.e. Jonathan Sewall. These were collected in London and printed in a Volume, under the Title of Prior Documents a kind of Suppliment to The Remembrancer. They were afterwards reprinted in London in a Pamphlet, under The Title of History of the disputes with America. This Work is a tolerable Explanation of the Principles, on which I acted in the Revolution.
9. In 1776 I wrote Thoughts on Government in a Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend. This Friend was Chancellor Wythe of Virginia. This little Pamphlet was the first Publication in the United States which recommended a Legislature in three Branches, an Executive and Legislative Authority independant and yet dependent on each other and a Judiciary Power as independent as possible on both. This Pamphlet, as the late Judge Lowell informed me gave Occasion to the Gentlemen of the County of Essex to call a County Convention in which they wrought the Principles of my Letter into an ingenious System: but as Judge Lowell said they were “So unfair as to borrow my Ideas without acknowledging it or giving Credit for them.” This Pamphlet was adopted with Improvements into the Constitution of New York, and that of Massachusetts, that of Maryland that of The United States and that of the present Constitution of Pensilvania. This is the true Historical Affilliation or Pedigree or  Genealogy, call it which you will of the Constitution of Massachusetts and of The United States. It has had to contend against the Authority of mighty Names will such as Franklin Hancock and Samuel Adams, Richard H. Lee Patrick Henry and many more. But Experience has taught the Utility and Necessity of it. In your History Sir I hope you will trace this Generation of Constitutions. Those of the two Carolinas that of Georgia that of Vermont and that of Virginia, though they departed from the true Principles of it, yet they finally adopted a Part of the Skelliton. It seems to me that an Accurate constitutional History of the United States and of each Separate State would be more Useful to Mankind than the History of Wars or Negotiation. It is now I fear impracticable so many of the Characters are dead and some Facts are lost. Indeed Theories of Government are so constantly disturbed by the Passions and Interests of Individuals and Parties, that it seems almost Useless to investigate them. It seems as if Chance and accident must over rule every rational Effort to reconcile order with Liberty. Providence overrules all however and We ought to hope that no virtuous Effort will be wholly lost.
10 All the Writings which have been published with my Name you already know.
11. In France, Holland and England I had published a few Trifles which I have forgotten and knew not where to refer to them unless by naming The Mercure De France the Politique Hollandais and The General Advertiser.
12 Since my Retirement a few Bagatelles meerly litterary have been published in the Port Folio and the Anthology’s chiefly; if not altogether Translations from The French or the Latin.
Thus Sir, I have made a Confession. But no personal Reflections No obsceene immoral, irreligious or indecent Reflections ever went to the Press from my Pen: unless you judge to be such some that have lately been published in the Patriot with my Name. I am Sir, your most obedient Servant
John Adams