Papers of John Adams, volume 12
1782-04-16
The corporate Body of Manufacturers and Merchants of this City having presented yesterday to the Honorable Great-Council of Leyden an Address of thanksgiving and further prayer, concerning the future Commerce of our Republic with the United-States of America, I find myself honored with their orders to present Your Excellency with some printed Copies of it.1 This epoch, Sir, is one of the most desirable I could ever wish: Zealous for the good of my Country, and rejoicing in the noble exertions of my Fellow-Citizens for its prosperity, by a mutual friendship and intercourse with our Sister-Republic, it is a peculiar satisfaction to me, that those very circumstances afford me an opportunity of testifying to Your Excellency their ardent wishes for our common Cause, the Cause of Liberty and Mankind, and their sincere regard for a Minister, who by his personal talents and character inspires them with a true esteem and affection for those he represents.
On 15 April Leyden merchants adopted an address to the States of the province of Holland and West Friesland in gratitude for the resolution of 18 March to recognize the United States and admit JA as minister plenipotentiary. The address of thanks prefaced a second petition, asking the provincial states to ensure that the States General expedited the conclusion of a Dutch-American commercial treaty so that the Netherlands could accrue the advantages from such an agreement in advance of a general peace. A copy of the printed petition, which bears the names of 91 merchants, is in the Adams Papers and JA included an English translation in A Collection of State-Papers, 1782, p. 35–44.