To John Jay from John Adams, 8 July 1782
From John Adams
The Hague July 8. 1782.
Sir
The Duke de la Vauguion1 has this Moment, kindly given me Notice, that he is to Send off a Courier this Evening at Eleven, and that the Dutch Fleet has Sailed from the Texel this Morning.
I shall take Advantage of the Courier Simply to congratulate you on your Arrival at Paris, and to wish you and Mrs Jay, much Pleasure, in your Residence there.— Health, the Blessing which is Sought in vain, among these Meadows and Canals, you can Scarcely fail of enjoying in France.
Shall I beg the Favour of you, to write me, from Time to Time the Progress of the Negotiations for Peace?— The states of Holland, go upon my Project of a Treaty, the 10th. and I dont foresee any Obstacle to the Compleation of, it, Slowly however.2 After which I fancy I shall make a further Proposal, with great Modesty and Humility as becomes me, but which the English, if not the Russians and the Danes, will think very forward and assuming.—3 How the Loan here is likely to suceed I cannot as yet inform you, I am flattered with Hopes of getting a Million and an half, but I dare not depend upon one Quarter Part of that sum, nor indeed upon any Part, untill the Money is received.—4 Appearances in this Country are not less uncertain now than they were in the Times of D Avaux & D’Estrades.—5
I hope, in God that your Spanish Negotiation has not wrecked your Constitution as my Dutch one, has mine. I would not undergo again, what I have suffered here, in Body & mind, for the Fee Simple of all their Spice Islands.6 I love them however, because with all their Faults and under all their Disadvantages, they have at Bottom a Strong Spirit of Liberty, a Sincere Affection for America, and a Kind of religious Veneration for her Cause.
There are Intrigues, going on here, which originate in Petersbourg and Copenhagen, which Surprize me.7 They Succeed very ill: but they are curious.—have you discerned any coming from the same sources at Madrid or Versailles? Whether the Object of them is, to Stir up a Party in favour of England to take a Part in the War, or only to favour her in obtaining moderate Terms of Peace, or whether it is Simply, to share some of her Guineas ^by an amusement of this kind, like a Game at Cards^ is a Problem.—
As to Peace, no Party in England Seems to have Influence enough to dare to make, one real Advance towards it. The present Ministry is really to be pitied.— They have not Power to do any Thing. I am Surprised they dont all resign.—if they dissolve Parliament, I don’t believe they would get a better.— Is Mr Carmichael at Paris with you, or does he continue at Madrid? With great Esteem I have the Honour to be Sir your most obedient servant
J. Adams
Mr Jay
ALS, NNC (EJ: 5415). Endorsed: “ . . . ansd 2 Augt.”
1. Paul François de Quelen de Suer de Caussade, duc de la Vauguyon, the French ambassador at The Hague.
2. JA was officially received by the Dutch on 19 Apr., and on the 23rd he formally proposed the formation of a committee to treat with him in drawing up a Dutch-American treaty of amity and commerce. The protracted negotiations culminated in the signing of the treaty at The Hague on 8 Oct. 1782. , 3: 3–4, 16–17; , 5: 325, 803–5.
3. The “further Proposal” was doubtless JA’s scheme to gain America’s admission into the League of Armed Neutrality, thereby obtaining de facto recognition of the U.S. See below, JA to JJ, 10 Aug. 1782.
4. On 11 June JA signed a contract with three Dutch banking firms for a loan of 5 million guilders ($2 million). Although JA was unduly skeptical about receiving most of it in the near future, virtually the full amount was subscribed by the end of 1782. Rafael R. Bayley, The National Loans of the United States from July 4, 1776 to June 30, 1880 (Washington, D.C., 1882), 17; , 5: 594.
5. Jean Antoine de Mesme, comte d’Avaux, and Godefroi, comte d’Estrades, both French ambassadors at The Hague in the seventeenth century, were authors of accounts of negotiations with the Dutch that JA had read. See , 3: 146 and n2; , 12: 18, 20n5; 13: 167 and n2, 325 and n2.
6. JA had been seriously ill the previous summer and remained in weakened condition as late as the spring of 1782. Page Smith, John Adams (2 vols.; Garden City, N.Y., 1962), 1: 502, 511, 516.
7. These “intrigues” concerned renewed proposals for Austrian and Russian mediation of the Anglo-Dutch War. See , 13: 147, 148n4.