17351From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 12 July 1810 (Adams Papers)
In the latter end of December, 1781, I concluded to present myself a second time to the President of their high mightinesses, for an answer to my former memorial, and drew up a memorial in English and French; but as I had reason to believe the Duke De La Vauguion and the Comte De Vergennes would not now oppose me, but on the contrary would be pleased by being consulted, I communicated my...
17352From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 18 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
Mr. Hamilton, in his pamphlet, page 28, speaking of Talleyrand’s dispatches, says, “overtures so circuitous and informal, through a person who was not the regular organ of the French government for making them, to a person who was not the regular organ of the French government for receiving them, &c. were a very inadequate basis for the institution of a new mission.” Here, again, Mr....
17353From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 19 September 1809 (Adams Papers)
1781, January 18—wrote to Mr. Mazzei, at Florence: “Yesterday I received yours, of the 19th of October. Some time since, I received the other, of the 19th of August: both went to Paris, and I being here, Mr. Dana and Mr. Thaxter forwarded their enclosures to America, according to my desire, but I am not able to say in what vessel. In consequence of Mr. Laurens’s calamity, I am ordered to...
17354From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 25 January 1810 (Adams Papers)
During my absence, which was nearly through the whole month of July, the following state papers were translated by the gentlemen of my family, whom I left in Holland, and transmitted to Congress, or to be kept for me to sign, according to my directions after my return. Amsterdam, 5th July, 1781—“The following is an extract from the registry of the Resolutions of their high Mightinesses the...
17355From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 21 November 1809 (Adams Papers)
AMSTERDAM, May 8, 1781—wrote to Dr. Franklin: “I have the honor of your letter of the 29th of April, and according to your desire have inclosed a list of the bills accepted with the times of their becoming due; and shall draw for the money to discharge them, only as they become payable and through the house of Fizax & Grand. I sincerely congratulate you upon the noble aid obtained from the...
17356From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 18 June 1811 (Adams Papers)
As my object is to deposit as much about information concerning an interesting period of our history, as remains in my possession, and that they may not be scattered like the season’s leaves and like my friend Samuel Adams’ papers, I think it proper to send you some other copies which happen to be in my power.— To B Franklin, Esq. Paris, 5th June, 1782. Sir—Mr. Laurens, while under confinement...
17357From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 30 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
Though I thought I was negociating for peace , to better purpose in Holland than I could in France, yet as I could not be responsible for that, I was obliged to depart. The adventure of a journey, which, in the hands of Sterne, would make a sentimental romance, are of no importance here. On the 7th day of July, 1781, I wrote the following note to the Comte de Vergennes. Versailles, July 7,...
17358From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 26 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
In pamphlet , page 27, it is said that the great alteration in public opinion had put it completely in the power of our executive to control the machinations of any future public agent, of France. Therefore Philadelphia was a safer scene of negotiation than Paris. Mr. Hamilton’s erroneous conceptions of the public opinion may be excused by the considerations that he was not a native of the...
17359From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 8 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Hague, September 17, 1782—Wrote again to Mr. Secretary Livingston, “This morning I was in conference with Mr. secretary Fagel in order to make the last corrections in the language of the treaty, which is to be executed in English and Dutch, as that with the crown of France was in English and French. We have now I hope agreed upon every word, if not every point. Nothing now remains but to...
17360From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 29 September 1809 (Adams Papers)
1781, February 1st—wrote to Congress: “One of the most brilliant events which has yet been produced by the American revolution, is the following TREATY OF MARINE, Concluded at Copenhagen, the 28th of June, 1780, Old Style, between her Majesty the Empress of Russia, and his Majesty the King of Denmark and of Norway, for the maintenance of the liberty of neutral mercantile navigation , and in...
17361From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 8 February 1810 (Adams Papers)
This people must have their own way: They proceed like no other; there cannot be a more striking example of this, than the instructions given to privateers and letters of marque. The commander is ordered to bring his prizes into some port of the united provinces, or into the ports or roads of the allies and friends of this republic, especially France, Sweden, North America or Spain. And the...
17362From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 31 July 1809 (Adams Papers)
On the 24th of August, 1780, transmitted to Congress, by another conveyance, duplicates of the declarations of Sweden, Denmark, &c. relative to the maritime confederation. September 4th, wrote to Congress, news that the outward bound West-India fleet of 52 sail, and five East-Indiamen, on the 9th of August, fell in with the combined French and Spanish fleets, about sixty leagues from Cape St....
17363From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 29 May 1809 (Adams Papers)
Mr. Hamilton , in his pamphlet, page 21, speaks of the anterior mission of Messieurs Pinckney, Marshall and Gerry, and says, “it was resolved to make another, and a more solemn experiment in the form of a commission of three.” When I first read this sentence, I am not certain whether it excited most of astonishment, indignation, contempt, or ridicule. By whom was this Measure resolved ? By...
17364From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 27 July 1810 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, Feb. 21, 1782, wrote to the Hon. Robert R. Livingston, Secretary of State for foreign affairs. Secret and confidential.—Sir, I know very well the name of the family where I spent the evening with my worthy friend Mr.——, before We set off, and have made my alphabet accordingly; but I am on this occasion, as on all others hitherto, utterly unable to comprehend the sense of the...
17365From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 6 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
In page 28, Mr. Hamilton acknowledges that "the President had pledged himself in his speech, (he should have said in his message) to send a minister, if satisfactory assurances of a proper reception were given." Notwithstanding this, Mr. Hamilton, and all his confidential friends, exerted their utmost art and most strenuous endeavors to prevail on the President to violate this pledge. What can...
17366From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 6 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
AMSTERDAM, February 7th, 1781—wrote to Congress: “By the tenth article of the treaty of alliance with France, the Most Christian King and the United States agree to invite or admit other powers who may have received injuries from England, to make common cause with them, and to accede to that alliance, under such conditions as shall be freely agreed to, and settled between all the parties.”...
17367From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 17 February 1810 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, August 16, 1781, wrote to congress—“Mr. Temple has held offices of such importance, and a bank so considerable in America before the revolution, that his return to his native country at this time cannot fail to cause much speculation, and it is to be feared, some diversity of sentiments concerning him. As he came from London to Amsterdam, and did me the honor of a visit, in which he...
17368From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 4 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
ON the 20th of September, 1780, wrote to his excellency Joseph Reed, Esq. President, and the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, in answer to a letter recommending Mr. Searle and his mission, that he might depend upon every civility and assistance in my power, consistent with the duties of the place I was in. Mr. Searle was sent by them to Europe, to borrow money. Such was the distress...
17369From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 5 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
IN page 25, is a strain of flimsy rant, as silly as it is indecent. “The supplement to the declaration was a blameable excess.” It waved the point of honor, which after two rejections of our ministers, required that the next mission, should proceed from France. Where did he find this point of honor? If any such point had existed, it had its full force against the second mission: and its...
17370From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 12 March 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Hague, October 8th; 1782—Wrote to Secretary Livingston—“At 12 o’clock to-day I proceeded, according to appointment, to the state house, where I was received with the usual formalities at the head of the stairs, by Mr. Santheuvel, a deputy from the province of Holland and Mr. Van Linden, the first noble of Zealand, and a deputy from that province, and by them conducted into the chamber of...
17371From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 10 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
I was glad to see in your paper of the 7th of this month, the extract from the Baltimore Federal Republican , for many reasons, which may be explained in due time; one or two may be stated now. 1. I was pleased with the candid acknowledgment, that “Mr. Adams never was a favorite with the leading men of the federal party." The words leading men will require some explanation and some limitations...
17372From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 10 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
24th October, 1780—wrote to my correspondent in London: “Give me leave to trouble you to send me two newspapers, the General Advertiser and the Morning Post. Let them be sent constantly by the post. I have an opportunity already of seeing some other papers. Let me beg the favor of your sending me, also, General Burgoyne’s and General Howe’s narratives. When your funds are near exhausted, let...
17373From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 8 June 1809 (Adams Papers)
IN page 20, Mr. Hamilton says, my "conduct in the office of President was a heterogeneous compound of right and wrong, of wisdom and error." As at that time, in my opinion, his principal rule of right and wrong, of wisdom and error, was his own ambition and indelicate pleasures, I despise his censure, and should consider his approbation as a satire on my administration. “The outset," he says,...
17374From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 25 August 1810 (Adams Papers)
Soon after the petition of Leyden, I transmitted to Congress the following address of thanks with a further petition. To the noble, great and venerable Lords, the great Counsel of the city of Leyden: The undersigned manufacturers, merchants and other traders interested in the manufactures and fabrics of this city, give respectfully to understand— That a number of the undersigned having taken,...
17375From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 10 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
FROM Mr. Murray, the American Minister at the Hague, who had been appointed by President Washington, I received assurances from the French government similar to those in Mr. Barlow’s letter and so many others. They were conveyed from the French Directory to Mr. Pichon, Secretary of Legation and Charge des Affaires of the French Republic near the Batavian Republic, in the absence of the French...
17376From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 16 April 1810 (Adams Papers)
AMSTERDAM, October 25, 1781—wrote to congress—“I see in the London Courant which arrived to day, an advertisement of a translation into English, of the address to the people of the Netherlands: so that this work is likely to be translated into all languages and read by all the world; notwithstanding the placards against it. I have before sent that of Utrecht: that of Holland is as follows. The...
17377From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 29 July 1811 (Adams Papers)
The Journal proceeds—1782—November 26—Tuesday—Breakfasted at Mr. Jays, with Dr. Franklin, in consultation upon the propositions made to us yesterday by Mr. Oswald.—We agreed unanimously to answer him, that we could not consent to the article respecting the refugees as it now stands. Dr. Franklin read a letter which he had prepared to Mr. Oswald, upon the subject of the tories, which we had...
17378From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 8 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, October 4, 1780, wrote to Mr. Dumas—“I should be glad to see a copy of the dispatches from the Dutch plenipotentiaries at Petersburgh, or at least as exact an account of their substance as possible: and to learn whether the object of the congress is simply to form a plan for supporting each other and making a common cause in defence of those principles only which the three northern...
17379From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 12 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
WE will now return to Mr. Laurens, on the correspondence upon other subjects. On the 14th of October, 1780, wrote to Dr. Franklin—“The extracts of letters you were so good as to send me, have been inserted in the public papers, and I should be obliged to you for future communications of the same kind. Notwithstanding the flow of spirits and vigorous exertions of our countrymen, this year, I am...
17380From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 14 October 1809 (Adams Papers)
LEYDEN, March 10, 1781—wrote to Commodore Gillon: “I have received the letter you did me the honor to write me on the eighth of this month, requesting me to furnish you with fifty obligations of the United States, to enable you to discharge the debts of the ships, of which you have the command, in the service of the state of S. Carolina. I have considered your letter, sir, and all the...
17381From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 10 April 1810 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, October 17, 1781—wrote to congress: “There is at present a fermentation in this nation which may arise to violent extremities. Hundreds of pamphlets have appeared, some against the Court, some against the city and sovereign magistrates of Amsterdam, all of which must be adjudged to be seditious libels. At length a large pamphlet has appeared in Dutch; and having been distributed...
17382From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 1809 (Adams Papers)
You very well know, that the Publication of my Letters in Pamplets and Numbers, was a project of your own, without any previous Knowledge or Consent of mine. You had an undoubted write right to do this or to make any this Use of them or any other you pleased; because I had given them to you and to the World. But in your “Introductory Remarks by the Publishers” to the first number you have...
17383From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 8 August 1811 (Adams Papers)
When the conferences between the British and American ministers were first opened, or very soon afterwards, the former demanded the cession of the whole Province of Maine. They pretended that it was no part of the province of the Massachusetts bay, and therefore no part of the American confederacy, and consequently not included in their commission nor in ours—that the boundary between the...
17384From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 16 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
1780, November—wrote to Mr. Jennings: “I have received yours of the first. Will you be so good as to explain to me what is meant by ‘Instructions to endeavor to inspire American agents at Madrid, with distrust and jealousy of one another, at present employed in Europe?’ Let me remark here, Mr. Carmichael and Mr. Littlepage are no more. Mr. Jay and Judge Livingston live. It may be in their...
17385From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 4 September 1810 (Adams Papers)
The resolution mentioned in my last of Holland and West Friesland, is as follows— Extract of the resolutions of the lords, the states of Holland and West Friesland, taken in the assembly of their noble and grand mightinesses, Thursday, March 28, 1782. Deliberated by resumption, upon the address and the ulterior address of Mr. Adams, made the fourth of May, 1781, and the ninth of January, 1782,...
17386From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 6 January 1812 (Adams Papers)
By this time we were pretty well convinced that the coalition cabinet would do nothing by treaty, but leave all to the king’s absolute power by his orders in council; and I became more inattentive and frivolous than ever, if that is possible, in my diary. Such hower as it is, I shall lay all of it before the public, which was laid before congress, though not a quarter part of it was ever read...
17387From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 12 September 1810 (Adams Papers)
AMSTERDAM, 26th April, 1782—The following note to Mr. Hodshon, omitted in the order of its date must not be ordered here because it is connected with one of the most intricate and vexatious transactions that I ever found to puzzle me in all my life. Mr. Hodshon is desired to make the necessary inquiries, and as soon as he will give me under his hand his engagement to furnish congress with four...
17388From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 20 January 1812 (Adams Papers)
My last letter contained the journal of the 19th of June, 1783, and completes the copy of that journal, which was intended for no eye but my own: but which by a sudden thought was intended to be sent to Jonathan Jackson, Esq. peradventure, to furnish him with some hints to defend the American ministers, or at least to apologize for them in the case, that was very probable, of a motion of...
17389From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 21 April 1811 (Adams Papers)
In my first personal interview with Mr. Jay in private, between him and me alone, that minister opened and related to me in detail, the transactions which had passed after his arrival at Paris, from Madrid, and before my arrival on the 26th of October. Mr. Jay informed me, that after the arrival of Mr. Fitzherbert’s latin commission, which you have already published, the Comte de Vergennes...
17390From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 22 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
WHEN I had received that authentic act of the sovereign authority of France, a copy of which is inserted in my last letter to you, communicated by their Secretary of State, through their Secretary of Legation and Charge des Affaires and our Minister at the Hague, fully complying with all my requisitions, upon mature deliberation I determined to nominate a Minister to France. Some of the...
17391From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 10 May 1810 (Adams Papers)
(No VII.) Mr. President—Permit me to address to you, partriplicata, a copy of my despatch of the 24th of March 1798, which Mr. Caro, my compatriot, has had the honor of transmitting to your excellency from Falmouth, the 10th of May following. The object being of the highest importance, and the accidents of war having possibly prevented the arrival of the two former, it has appeared to me...
17392From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 1809 (Adams Papers)
There are two Sentences in Talleyrand’s Letter of the 28th of August, 1798 which ought not to pass unnoticed, the first “In France it was Supposed that the Government of the United States, wished only the appearances of a Negotiation, whence resulted a certain demand for Pledges of good Faith” The Second is “Can it be believed that a Man who should profess a hatred or Contempt of the French...
17393From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 1 January 1810 (Adams Papers)
AMSTERDAM, June 12, 1781, wrote to Congress: “The States of Holland and Westfriesland are adjourned to the 27th. In their last session they consented to the augmentation of 17686 land forces, according to the plan which the council of state, in concert with the statholder, had formed on the 18th of April, and which had been carried on the 19th of the same month to the assembly of the states of...
17394From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 18 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
Amsterdam, November 17, 1780—wrote to Congress: “From the time of the arrival of my commission, I have been constantly employed in forming acquaintances, making enquiries, and asking advice; but am sorry to be obliged to say, that hitherto I see no certain prospect of borrowing any money at all. For some years past, all the information I could obtain from this country, led me to think that...
17395From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 25 August 1809 (Adams Papers)
1780, Nov. 30th—wrote to Congress: “The state of parties in this republic is still critical. Many anonymous pamphlets appear, on both sides. Those which proceed from the English party, are virulent against Mr. Van Berckel. The republic itself wavers, according to events and causes, which are impenetrable. A few days ago, the plan appeared to be to accede to the armed neutrality, in order to...
17396From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 3 November 1809 (Adams Papers)
The black cloud that hung over the whole of the seven provinces; the solemn gloom that pervaded the whole nation; the universal uncertainty and timidity that had seized upon all minds, determined me to bring my own mission to a trial. If I should be rejected and ordered out of the country, our situation would not be worse. If I should be received, my object would be gained:—but if I should...
17397From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 25 April 1809 (Adams Papers)
A few words more on the subject of pressing. In strictness, we have nothing to do with the question, whether impressments of seamen in England are legal or illegal. Whatever iniquity or inhumanity that government may inflict on their own subjects, we have no authority to call them to an account for it. But when they extend that power to us, a foreign nation, it is natural for us, and it is our...
17398From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 4 November 1811 (Adams Papers)
Rough draft of the passport for British Ships. We, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, three of the ministers plenipotentiary of the United States of America for making peace with Great Britain, to all captains or commanders of ships of war, privateers, or armed vessels belonging to the said states or to either of them, or to any of the citizens of the same, and to all others whom...
17399From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 26 September 1810 (Adams Papers)
July, 1792. It appeared to me of some importance that my countrymen should be informed of the constitution of the bank of Amsterdam, and to this end I made all the enquiries in my power, in times that could be spared from other more important occupations, and prepared for congress the following sketch, which with the notes upon it, contained, as I was informed, a correct account of it. A...
17400From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 24 January 1812 (Adams Papers)
Mr. Hartley’s Propositions for the Definitive Treaty—June, 1783. 1. That lands belonging to persons of any descriptions, which have not actually been sold shall be restored to the old possessor, without price. 2. That an equal and free participation of the different carrying places, and the navigation of all the lakes and rivers of that country through which the water line of division passes...