To John Adams from Philip Mazzei, 7 October 1787
From Philip Mazzei
Parigi, 7 8bre 1787.1
Stimmo: Signor mio,
Il nostro degno amico Sigr: Jefferson mi comunicò tempo fa i progressi di Vostr’ Eccellenza nella lingua toscana, e il suo desiderio ch’io Le scrivessi nella detta lingua, ogni qual volta mi prendessi la libertà d’incomodarla, facendo uso d’uno stile semplice e chiaro. Eecomi dunque ad obbedire ai suoi comandi, e secondo il solito per chieder favori.
Il Sigr: Jefferson ed io abbiamo pensato, che la relazione della sollevazion di Massachusets, messa a confronto con quel che è successo di simile negli ultimi undici anni nella Granbrettagna, in Francia, e nell’Impero Ottomanno, potrebbe far prova in favor dei nostri governi, tanto in riguardo alla rarità del fatto, che alle cause, alla condotta, e agli effetti.
Ciò dovrebbe far parte d’un supplemento che sto scrivendo per la mia opera, e che non posso indugiar molto a mandare sotto il torchio, poichè n’è già stampato il sesto foglio della quarta e ultima parte. Se Vostr’ Eccellenza volesse dunque favorirmi, con tutta la sollecitudine possibile, un ragguaglio esatto delle sollevazioni seguite in codest’ isola nel detto spazio di tempo, Le ne professerei una grande obbligazione.2
Sono stato informato della fiera malattia del mio caro amico e suo degno genero Col: Smith; La prego di reverirmelo cordialmente, e di ragguagliarmi del presente stato della sua salute. La supplico parimente di presentare i miei umili e sinceri ossequi alla sue Signore, Consorte e Figlia, di onorarmi presto dei suoi comandi, e di permettermi ch’io mi soscriva con egual dose d’affetto e di rispetto, / Di Vostr’ Eccellenza, / Devmo: ed Umilmo: Servitore
Filippo Mazzei
TRANSLATION
Paris, October 7 17871
Most esteemed sir
Our worthy friend Mr. Jefferson communicated to me some time ago your excellency’s progress with the Tuscan language, and your desire that I should write to you in the said language, whenever I had the freedom to accommodate your wishes, using a simple and clear style. Here I am, then, obeying your commands and, as usual, asking for favors.
Mr. Jefferson and I thought that the account of the Massachusetts uprising, compared with the similar events of the past eleven years in Great Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire, could serve as proof in favor of our governments, as much with regard to the rarity of the event as to the causes, the conduct and the effects.
This account will be part of a supplement that I am writing for my work, which I cannot much delay in sending to press, since the sixth sheet of the fourth and last part is already printed. If your excellency would therefore provide me with, as promptly as possible, the exact details of the uprisings that occurred on that island, then I should be greatly obliged to you.2
I have been informed of the grave illness of my dear friend and your worthy son-in-law Colonel Smith. Please give him my regards, and let me know of the present state of his health. I also entreat you to present my humble and sincere respects to your ladies, wife and daughter, to honor me soon with your commands and to permit me to sign with an equal dose of affection and respect, your excellency’s most devoted and most humble servant
Filippo Mazzei
RC (Adams Papers).
1. This rare Italian-language letter, one of two that Mazzei sent, came at JA’s request (to Thomas Jefferson, 10 July, above). The second letter, Mazzei’s of 11 Jan. 1788, is below.
2. JA apparently did not send further details of Shays’ Rebellion to Mazzei, though the topic arose briefly in the concluding “Supplement” of Mazzei’s four-volume Recherches historiques et politiques, Paris, 1788, with regard to the unsettled state of Anglo-American relations. Denouncing the “affected negligence” with which the Court of St. James had greeted JA, Mazzei questioned why a British minister had not been appointed to America. Mazzei wrote, “Men in key positions in England claim we want to go back under British rule and say they would refuse to grant such a request; this statement is denied by British subjects in America. The general opinion in Massachusetts is that these maneuvers had much to do with Shay’s Rebellion.” He described Americans’ surprise at the Shaysite ringleaders’ pardon, and he concluded that “calm has been restored” (Philip Mazzei, Researches on the United States, ed. and transl. Constance D. Sherman, Charlottesville, Va., 1976, p. 401, 402).