Papers of John Adams, volume 18

From John Adams to John Jay, 15 July 1786 Adams, John Jay, John

To John Jay

Sir London July 15. 1786

On Wednesday, the 13. the Marquis of Carmarthen, informed me, that, Captain of the Mercury Man of War, to use his Lordships own Words “had received a Severe Rap, over the Knuckles, from the Lords of the Admiralty, for his Conduct at Boston.” His Lordship had “received a Letter from Lord How, accompanied with a long dull Letter, from Captain Stanhope which instead of being a justification of his Conduct was rather an Aggravation of it.”— His Lordship then called in his Under Secretary of State, Mr Fraser, and ordered the Letter from the Admiralty to be brought to him, which he read to me.— [It] inform’d him, that the Lords of the Admiralty, had called upon Captain Stanhope, for his justification of his Conduct to Governor Bowdoin and had received from him the Letter, inclosed for the Information of his Majesty, which their Lordships however thought no Apology. That their Lordships had accordingly, Signified to Captain Stanhope their Sensible Displeasure at his Conduct; and as the Mercury had been ordered home from the American Station, their Lordships would take Special Care, that he Should be no longer continued in that Service.1

The Secretary of State, was pleased to Say farther that he would Speak to Lord Sidney, concerning the Affair of the Eastern Line, that Sir Guy Carleton might have Instructions concerning it before he went out.

His Lordship was asked if any Appointment had been made of a Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, and Answered “Not Yet.”

With great Respect I have the Honour / to be, sir your most obedient / and most humble servant

John Adams.

RC (PCC, No. 84, VI, f. 339–342); internal address: “His Excellency John Jay / Secretary of State, for / the Department of foreign / Affairs.”; endorsed: “Letter 15 393 July 1786 / Mr Adams / Read 19 Septr. 1786 / Referred to Secy for foreign / Affairs to Communicate / to the Executive of Massachusetts / So much as relates to Capt Stan- / hope and the eastern boundary.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 112. Text lost due to an ink blot has been supplied from the LbC.

For the Stanhope Affair, involving Capt. Henry Edwin Stanhope of the British frigate Mercury, see JA’s 9 Dec. 1785 letter to Jay, and note 1, above. News of Stanhope’s recall spread rapidly, for on 3 Aug. 1786 the Boston Independent Chronicle reported that “Mr. Stanhope, the commander, having been recalled, it is said, to answer for his ungracious and indelicate addresses to Governour Bowdoin, on which since his return to that very FERTILE and POLITE province, he and his petit maitre officers have constantly plumed themselves. Mr. Stanhope, sensible of his being in a situation where correction could not be dispensed … has frequently embellished and enriched his vociferations in Roubalet’s Coffee-Room, in Halifax, with the very LIBERAL & POLITE terms, ‘damn the Americans—their Country—and the Congress.’”

From John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, 16 July 1786 Adams, John Jefferson, Thomas

To Thomas Jefferson

Dear Sir London July 16. 1786

last night Mr Randal arrived with yours of the 9th. If the Prussian Treaty arrives to You, I think you will do well to Send Mr Short with it to the Hague and Exchange it with Thulemeier, and get it printed in a Pamphlet Sending a Sufficient Number to you and to me. if it comes to me and you approve, I will Send Some one or go myself.

The Chevr. De Pinto’s Courier unfortunately missed a Packet by one Day, which obliged him to wait a month at Falmouth for another. The Chevr. was greatly chagrined at the Delay. He is much obliged for your Notes, and I Should be more so for another Copy, having Sent mine to my Brother Cranch, who writes me that your Argument in favour of American Genius, would have been much Strengthened, if a Jefferson had been Added to a Washington, a Franklin and a Rittenhouse.1 I wrote you lately that the Queen of Portugal had ordered her Fleet cruising in the Streights to protect all Vessells belonging to American Citizens equally with those of her own Subjects against the Algerines.

Boylstons Vessell Arrived in Boston, with Sugars, and he expects another Vessell hourly, with which he will go again to France.— He desires me, to express his Obligations to you and the Marquis, for your former Assistance. Coffin Jones has Sent a Vessell to L’Orient, with another Cargo of Oil.2 The French Government would do well to encourage that Trade. if they do not, it will go elsewhere. it is in vain for French or English to think, that Sperma Cæti Oil cannot find a Market but in their Territories. it may find a Market in every City that has dark nights, if any one will do as Boylston did, go and shew the People its qualities by Samples & Experiments. The Trade 394 of America in Oil and in any Thing else will labour no longer, than public Paper is to be sold under Par. while a Bit of Paper can be bought for five shillings that is worth twenty, all Capitals will be employed in that Trade, for it is certain there is no other that will yield four hundred Per Cent Profit, clear of Charges and Risques. as soon as this lucrative Commerce shall cease We shall see American Capitals employed in sending all where it will find a Market that is all over Europe if France does not wisely monopolise it as she may, if she will.

inclosed is an oration of Dr Rush.3

I am my dear sir, your most / obedient

John Adams

RC (DLC:Jefferson Papers); addressed by WSS: “His Excellency / Thos. Jefferson— / Minister Plenipotentiary / &c &c &c / Paris—”; internal address: “Mr Jefferson”; endorsed: “Adams J.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 112.

JA enclosed Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia [Paris, 1785] with his 11 March letter to Richard Cranch, to which Cranch replied on 20 May ( AFC , 7:85, 175). For Cranch’s reaction to Jefferson’s enumeration of American genius, see the 20 May letter, and for the Adamses’ comments, see vol. 17:117.

John Coffin Jones (1750–1829), Harvard 1769, was a Boston merchant and Massachusetts appointee to the Annapolis Convention. Nothing, however, is known of Jones’ effort to sell whale oil in France ( Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 17:49–54).

The enclosure has not been found, but it was Benjamin Rush’s An Oration Delivered before the American Philosophical Society, Held in Philadelphia on the 27th of February, 1786: Containing an Enquiry into the Influence of Physical Causes upon the Moral Faculty, 2d edn., London, 1786 (Jefferson, Papers , 10:141).