To John Adams from the Comte de Sarsfield, 6 March 1786
From the Comte de Sarsfield
Paris 6 mars 1786
Si Javois Seu le voyage de Mr Jefferson, Je lui aurois remis quelques memoires curieux pour Vous. vous Savez que Je pense que vous autres Gens de l’autre monde ne Sauriez trop etudier le notre afin de Connoitre nos maux Et vous en preserver Sans quoy Vous ne Vaudrez pas mieux que nous dans quelque tems. Ily a un memoire de Mr du Paty1 qui vaut dans Son Genre les lettres de M Stuart au Ld Mansfield2 Et qui Est infiniment Curieux pour ceux qui Seroient bien aise de connoitre les vûes de notre barbare Jurisprudence Criminelle.
Je le repete, Etudiez nous pour vous mettre En etat d’Eviter nos maux, vous ne Sauriez commencer trop tot. Voilá un de mes Hobby Horses Et Il est bien Sensé. J’en ai plusieurs. Je veux par Exemple que vous buviez a ma Santé avec M Jefferson Et que Madame et Mademoiselle Adams vous repondent.
Nous avons icy un tems de Chien. dans ce moment cy Il tombe de la neige qui ne m’empechera Cependant pas d aller a pied a la Chaussée d Antin; savez vous ou Cest? Il y a envirôn 4 milles mais Il faut faire de l’exercîse.3
si M Jefferson ne vous a pas porté ce memoire de M du Pati, Mandez le moy quand Vous aurez le tems de m’ecrire Et Je vous l’enverrai.
Voicy une lettre bien courte pour lui faire passer la Mer Mais Ily avoit long tems que Je ne vous avois donné de mes nouvelles.
Une meilleure Education Est Sans doute la premiere mesure a prendre pour Assurer la prosperité de vos nations mais ce n’est pas Assez. Il faut une deffense Entre les mains de tout le monde Contre lamour du pouvoir dans les riches, Et l’amour du desordre dans les pauvres; contre leloquence qui Egare, la corruption qui Seduit, la pauvreté qui rend indifferent a tout Excepté a ce qui Satisfait au moment present, le libertinage qui a les memes Effets &c. Arrangez Vos loix pour le tems ou votre population Sera Complette, elles Seront bonnes pour votre Situation presente Et pour la future; au lieu que celles qui ne Seront que Suffisantes pour ce moment cy, laisseront la porte ouverte a tous les maux que l’on peut craindre. n’oubliez Jamais qu’en Politique Il y a bien peu de verité absolue Et que ce qui Convient aujourd huy ne conviendra pas demain.
Adieu my dear friend forever your &ca
TRANSLATION
Paris, 6 March 1786
If I had known about Mr. Jefferson’s trip, I would have had him transmit a few curious reports to you. You know I believe that you people of the other caste can hardly study ours too much in order to know our wrongs and to protect yourselves from them, failing which, in a short while, you would not be worth more than us. There is a memoir from Mr. Dupaty1 as worthy as the letters of Mr. Stuart and Lord Mansfield2 and which is exceedingly curious for those who should wish to know the views of our barbarous criminal jurisprudence.
I reiterate, study us to be prepared to avoid our ills; you cannot begin too soon. This is one of my hobby horses and it makes good sense. I have several. For example, I wish that you would drink to my health with Mr. Jefferson and that Mrs. and Miss Adams would reciprocate with you.
We are experiencing harsh weather here. At this moment snow is falling, which nevertheless will not keep me from going to the Chaussée-d’Antin on foot. Do you know where it is? It is about four miles from here, but one needs to exercise.3
If Mr. Jefferson did not bring you the memoir from Mr. Dupaty, let me know when you have the time to write me and I will send it to you.
This is quite a short letter to cross the sea but it had been a long while since I had given you any news of me.
A better education is without a doubt the first step to take in order to guarantee the prosperity of your nations but it is not enough. There needs be a defense within the reach of all against the love of power among the rich, and the love of disorder among the poor; against eloquence which leads astray, corruption which seduces, poverty which renders one indifferent to everything except that which brings satisfaction to the present moment, debauchery which has the same effects, etc. Structure your laws for the time when your population will be complete, they will be good for the present situation and for the future; instead of those which would be but sufficient for now and would leave the door open to all the evils to be feared. Never forget that in politics there is very little absolute truth and that that which is suitable today will not suit tomorrow.
Adieu my dear friend forever your etc.
RC (); addressed: “To / His Excellency John Adams Esq: / Plenipotentiary Minister / of the united States of / America / London;” endorsed by AA2: “Comt Sarsfeild. / March 6th 1786.”
1. Charles Marguerite Jean Baptiste Mercier Dupaty (1746–1788), French advocate general and writer, published Mémoire justificatif pour trois hommes condamnés à la roue, Paris, 1786. In Chaumont, France, three men—identified only as Bradier, Simarre, and Lardoise—were found guilty of violent robbery, and on 11 Aug. 1785, they were condemned to galley service for life. The Paris parlement took up the case in late October and ordered them instead to be broken on the wheel. Dupaty, the parlementary president at Bordeaux, intervened and won a stay of execution for the defendants. Dupaty then published an account documenting the judicial missteps and perceived parlementary abuse arising from the case in his Mémoire, which was ordered to be publicly burned “de la main du bourreau” (at the executioner’s hand), on 12 Aug. 1786. The three men were acquitted in Rouen on 18 Dec. 1787. Dupaty reprinted the censored account in his opus recommending judicial reform of criminal procedure, Réflexions historiques sur le droit criminel, Paris, 1788 (; David Williams, Condorcet and Modernity, N.Y., 2004, p. 183–184).
2. Sarsfield likens Dupaty’s work to Andrew Stuart’s Letters to the Right Honourable Lord Mansfield, London, 1773. Stuart (1725–1801) was a prominent lawyer and a neighbor of JA’s on Lower Grosvenor Street. In the 1760s he represented James George Hamilton, 7th Duke of Hamilton, then a minor, and his family against Archibald Douglas (formerly Stewart), 1st Baron Douglas of Douglas, in a famous dispute over Douglas’ succession to the family estates. After the House of Lords’ 1769 ruling in favor of Douglas, Stuart published his Letters attacking William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, for his lack of impartiality as a judge in the case. At the time, Stuart’s Letters were compared favorably to those of the anonymous Junius in opposition to the ministry of Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3d Duke of Grafton (). Sarsfield refers to that comparison in his 29 May 1786 letter, below.
3. Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin, located in Paris’ ninth arrondissement, was roughly three miles from Sarsfield’s home on Rue du Pot de Fer.