Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw, 22 August 1800
Thomas Boylston Adams to William Smith Shaw
Philada: 22d: august [1800]
Dear William
I have paid you all I owed in the article of letters, but I receive few communications from home. Please to tell my mother that I like to know, now & then, a little of the Cabinet secrets.
The Report that the negociation with France is broken off, creates considerable sensation here & at New York— I think few people actually believe the story, but it serves the turn of newspaper Scriblers to abuse the Mission or the President— The Gazette of the U.S. which is now in a great measure Edited by Mr: Dennie, has, I think, spoken a different language with respect to this news of Our Envoys, from that which it employed before the change—1 Tell me, if “Plutarch,” in the Gazette of last night meet with approbation, & then I will tell you who wrote it.2
You may see how the Aurora of this morning, speaks of the legal adjudication on the question whether America & France are at War or at peace—3 This decision of the Supreme Court is a very dreadful thing to the Jacobins— They talk, you see, of impeaching the Judges for violating the Constitution—
Duane says “the Report,” is likely to be a forgery—but if accurate, then highly momentous for three reasons—
I have no need to tell you, I presume that I was the Reporter, and can vouch for the correctness of the Statement.
I perceive by extracts from “the Centinel” how “Mister Major Big Ben of Boston” goes on. He is one of the most Stupid fellows on the Continent— A political Whirligig, moving & twisting, turning & shifting with every pull of the string. Even the Commercial Gazette is false at times—but how can it be otherwise when no one man thinks in politics just like an other, nor like himself for a week together, & every body will write.4
I enclose you a letter from T W—5
I must have the Aurora back again, or my file will be broken— You say nothing of my Books—there are several Philadelphia Gentlemen to whom you might entrust that which I want most, if you have found it.
Give my love to all / & believe me / Your’s
T B Adams
RC (MWA:Adams Family Letters); addressed: “W. S. Shaw / Quincy”; internal address: “W S Shaw”; endorsement: “T B Adams / Rec 28 Aug / Ansd 4th Sept”; docketed: “1802? / 1801.”
1. Reports surfaced in New York and Philadelphia in August that Franco-American negotiations had stalled in June and that France was to blame. The Gazette of the United States, editorial control of which had been assumed by Joseph Dennie Jr. in May, similarly reported the delay on 19 Aug. but offered a correction on 21 and 22 Aug., denying a breach with France and claiming that the negotiations “wear a very satisfactory appearance.” A delay in the negotiations did occur from 17 May to 11 July owing to a need to consult Napoleon, who was with the French Army in Italy (New York Mercantile Advertiser, 19 Aug.; New-York Gazette, 20 Aug.; Philadelphia Gazette, 19, 20 Aug.; Harold Milton Ellis, “Joseph Dennie and His Circle: A Study in American Literature from 1792 to 1812,” Studies in English, 3:130 [15 July 1915]; , Foreign Relations, 2:325, 327–328).
2. TBA wrote an essay under the pseudonym Plutarch that appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 21 August. The piece was a response to comments in the Philadelphia Aurora General Advertiser, 20 Aug., which blamed the reported breach with France on “anglo-federalists” and called it “indispensibly necessary to place Mr. Jefferson in the chair, because his desire for an universal peace is well known.” TBA argued that “the jacobins democratic-republicans” in the United States were working with emissaries in France to stifle the talks and mobilize opposition to JA’s administration in advance of the presidential election of 1800.
3. The Aurora General Advertiser, 22 Aug., commented on the 15 Aug. U.S. Supreme Court decision in Baas v. Tingey, which implied that the United States and France were in a state of war. The Aurora reprinted a report on the case from the Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 20 Aug., and claimed that the Gazette’s article was possibly a fabrication, but if not that it was “most important and momentous to this country,” for three reasons: the justices violated the U.S. Constitution by preempting congressional power to declare war, the ruling could adversely affect Franco-American negotiations, and reparation claims of U.S. merchants would be weakened by the decision.
4. The Philadelphia Gazette of the United States, 21 Aug., extracted an article from the Boston Columbian Centinel, 16 Aug., which proposed the creation of three tickets for the presidential election, one pairing JA and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a second joining JA and any other candidate, and a third offering Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
5. Not found.