1From John Adams to Edmund Jenings, 12 March 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have to acknowledge the Receipt of three excellent Letters—one of the first, the other of the fifth and the third of the eighth of March. Thank You for the Copy of your Letter to the Pensioner and for your dialogue between York and Chatham. It is undoubtedly the Duty of every Commercial Nation, to make their Flag to be respected in all the Seas and by all the Nations, not by insulting and...
It is an Observation made some Years ago by a great Writer of this Nation de Mably, that the Project of being sole Master of the Sea, and of commanding all the Commerce, is not less chimerical, nor less ruinous, than that of universal Monarchy, on Land: And it is to be wished, for the Happiness of Europe, that the English may be convinced of this Truth, before they shall have learned it by...