Papers of John Adams, volume 18
I have received, Your Favour of October the 22d. and am Sorry to find you so true a Prophet.— Yet I am happy to perceive that Government arrouses itself with some degree of Dignity, and is likely to prevail.— It is apparent however that Discontents, and a restless Temper, have taken a deep root and will require much Prudence as well as firmness, to guard against their Tendency.— When We find ourselves disposed to think there is a total Change of manners and Principles We Should recollect, what the manners and Principles were before the War.— if you recollect the War of 1755, or even the War of 1745, you must remember, very Signal Proofs of a disposition in our People, to run eagerly after foreign manners and Fashions.—if you begin at 1760, and recollect, how many Persons satt out with Us, on the Same Side of the political question, and were warped off, Some by little Marks of distinction, Some by little Offices and some by great ones, some by their avarice, others by their ambition, some by their Vanity, others by their fears, some by Envy and others by Revenge, how much difficulty there was to keep the People Steady, but especially those who flattered themselves they were Leaders, You will be very Sensible that our Countrymen have never merited the Character of very exalted Virtue.— it is not to be expected that they should have grown much better.— I find myself very much averse to believe that they are grown much worse.— Yet this is very possible and your Situation affords you opportunities to know, which I have not.— if it is indeed true, that there is a general Degeneracy, it is an allarming Consideration.—1 The great Question is what can be done to check its further Grouth, or to restore Things to their former State?— When at home in 1779 I remarked a general Caution, and I thought timidity among the leading Characters, which made me apprehensive of disagreable Consequences.— If the People are upon the Watch, and are laying hold of every unpopular Idea or Expression, to propagate it, to exagerate it and to misrepresent it, this will naturally make Men afraid to pursue their own Judgments. Symptoms of this I thought appeared.— and I Should not wonder if the best Men became unpopular.— There is no Remedy,
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but a general Conviction of the danger, and a general Agreement against it.— My own Sentiments differ very widely from many of the best Characters, even from Mr Adams & General Warren.— I think the first Magistrate must be sett up very high in real Power as well as in the Opinion of the People.2 Without this We may lament Disorders but never cure them. The appearance of County Conventions and their Resolutions, sett me upon throwing together, Some Disquisitions concerning our Governments, which are now printed. I will send you a Copy of it.3 Popularity was never my Mistress, nor was I ever, or shall I ever be a popular Man.— This Book will make me unpopular. But one Thing I know a Man must be Sensible of the Errors of the People, and upon his Guard against them, and must run the risque of their Displeasure sometimes, or he will never do them any good in the long run. I deliver the Book up, to the Mercy of a World, that will never show me much Mercy, as my Confession of political Faith.— Unpopular as it may be at present, the time will come, after I am dead, when the System of it in general must be adopted, with bitter Repentance that it was not heeder sooner.— It is much easier to pull down a Government, in Such a Conjuncture of affairs as We have Seen, than to build up, at such a Season as the present.— if the Massachusetts can be governed without a total Seperation of the Executive Power from the Senate, the House & the People, I am Altogether ignorant of the Character of that People, and have not made one Sound Observation upon the History of Nations.— My Situation here is mournfull and unpleasant enough.— and it would not be more gay, any where else.— You and I have not had an easy task in Life hitherto, and I at least have no Cause to hope that mine will become easier.— But I will be as chearful and contented under it, as I can, let it be what it will.
My Family joins me, in affectionate Respects to yours, and I / remain with unalterable Esteem, your friend / and humble servant
inclosed is a Letter of Mr Hartleys. it contains Knowledge of Iron, that may be useful in America.4
RC (MHi:Warren-Adams Coll.); internal address: “General Warren / at Milton Hill.”; endorsed: “M J Adams / Jany. 87.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 113.
By the date of this letter JA had received letters, including Warren’s, above, and newspapers describing the increasingly violent nature of Shays’ Rebellion. It is interesting, therefore, that his comparison of the current unrest and economic dislocation to the situation following earlier wars is remarkably similar to his comments contained in his letters to Richard Cranch of 12 Dec. 1785 and to Warren of 4 July 1786, both above.
This marks JA’s first major expression of the need for a strong, national executive power. It is in line with his long-held views concerning the executive; in his draft of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution he had given the governor an absolute veto, a provision that the convention later removed (vol. 8:242, 265). Significantly, he mentions Samuel Adams and Warren as disagreeing with him on that subject, for both later joined the Antifederalist opposition to the 1787 U.S. Constitution. JA’s statement is also interesting because his earlier, related comments on the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the need for changes thereto centered on the capacity of the nation to make treaties and to fund the national debt.
This is JA’s first mention in any extant letter of the publication, origins, and effect of his Defence of the Constitutions. For his expansive comments on its origins and content, see his 15 Jan. 1787 letter to Cranch, below.
Although the enclosure has not been found, it was a copy of David Hartley’s 19 June 1786 letter to the commissioners of the British Navy. Warren had it printed in the 21 April 1787 Massachusetts Centinel, acknowledging there its transmission by his “very valuable friend, Mr. ADAMS, who embraces every occasion to promote the interest, as well as the honour of his country.” Hartley described in detail Henry Cort’s newly patented technique of “puddling,” which used coal to fuel the decarbonization of pig iron and thereby transform it into malleable metal (
DNB
).
Mr. Jay, in his last letter to me, observes that they hear nothing further of the treaty with Portugal. I have taken the liberty of telling him that I will write to you on the subject, & that he may expect to hear from you on it by the present conveyance.1 the Chevalier del Pinto being at London, I presume he has, or can inform you why it is delayed on their part. I will thank you also for the information he shall give you.
There is here an order of priests called the Mathurins, the object of whose institution is the begging of alms for the redemption of captives. about 18 months ago they redeemed 300, which cost them about 1500 livres a peice. they have agents residing in the Barbary states, who are constantly employed in searching and contracting for the captives of their nation, and they redeem at a lower price than any other people can. it occurred to me that their agency might be engaged for our prisoners at Algiers. I have had interviews with them, and the last night a long one with the General of the order. they offer their services with all the benignity & cordiality possible. the General told me he could not expect to redeem our prisoners as cheap as their own, but that he would use all the means in his power to do it on the best terms possible, which will be the better as there shall be the less suspicion that he acts for our public. I told him I would write to you on the subject, & speak to him again. what do you think of employing them, limiting them to a certain 541 price, as 300 dollars for instance, or any other sum you think proper? he will write immediately to his instruments there, & in two or three months we can know the event.2 he will deliver them at Marseilles, Cadiz, or where we please, at our expence. the money remaining of the fund destined to the Barbary business may I suppose be drawn on for this object. write me your opinion if you please, on this subject, finally, fully, & immediately, that, if you approve the proposition, I may enter into arrangements with the General before my departure to the waters of Aix, which will be about the beginning of February.3
I have the honour to be with very sincere esteem and respect Dear Sir your most obedient & most humble servt.
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “H. E. / Mr. Adams.”; endorsed: “Mr Jefferson Jan. 11. 1787. / ansd. Jan. 25.”; notation by CFA: “published in his Writings / vol 2d. p 80.” That is, Jefferson, Correspondence, ed. Randolph, 2:80–81.
For JA’s response to John Jay regarding the Portuguese treaty, see his 9 Jan. letter to Jay, and note 1, above. Jefferson’s letter to Jay referring him to JA for information on the Portuguese treaty was also of 9 Jan. (Jefferson, Papers
, 11:30).
On the evening before he wrote this letter, Jefferson met with Father François Maurice Pichault, head of the Church of St. Mathurin order in Paris. Jefferson’s interest in the Mathurins, an order long dedicated to redeeming Christian slaves from Barbary captivity, stemmed from their recent redemption of 300 French captives in Algiers—the same site where John Lamb had failed to obtain the release of American prisoners.
With the funds earmarked for the Barbary negotiations now dwindling, JA counseled Jefferson against using the Mathurins as intermediaries in his 25 Jan. reply, below. But Jefferson persisted with the plan, proposing it to Jay on 1 Feb. (same, 11:101–102). Jay laid Jefferson’s scheme before Congress three months later, along with a petition from Hannah Stephens, wife of the captive Isaac Stephens. Congress appropriated the requested money, but in the end nothing came of the proposal. The Mathurin negotiators, discouraged by the high price of $555 set for each American sailor, were further concerned by news that an allowance was sent to the prisoners. They indicated a willingness to pay a high ransom, but made little progress toward winning the sailors’ release. In 1789, when anticlericalism overtook France, the Mathurins were brutally suppressed, and Jefferson lost his link to the order (James G. Lydon, “Thomas Jefferson and the Mathurins,” Catholic Historical Review, 49:194–202 [July 1963]).
Jefferson planned to take the waters at Aix-en-Provence to rehabilitate his dislocated wrist. However, the illness and subsequent death of the Comte de Vergennes and the opening of the Assembly of Notables delayed his departure from Paris until 28 Feb. 1787, and then his visit to the spa formed part of his excursion through southern France and northern Italy, which lasted until 11 June (Jefferson, Papers
, 11:186, 415–464, 469).