Papers of John Adams, volume 10
1780-08-24
This week honor'd me with Your kind favors of 23d Febry.1last, for which acknowledge myself much obliged.
With respect to the Vessel sunk in the W Indies, I took the liberty to address You, in July, from Boston—when the Owners, supposing your public important Commission not to permit any particular attention to such private business, forwarded to the Honble. Mr. Dana every paper they thought necessary, for renewing their Application to the Court of France, for redress2—begging leave to refer You to my said Letter on that Subject, be pleased to accept my sincere thanks for Your polite Offers of Service—which You'll permit me to value, chiefly, because I esteem them really meant—and let me add, my happiness will be doubled if you will put it in my power to render Yourself, or Connections, here, or abroad, any good Offices.
Friendship founded, in those early Years, when neither fashion or selfinterest sway the heart, produce the most lasting Fruits—As you are pleased to recognize that which was formed in our early days, I 88embrace with Earnestness, the claim, and wish, as Opportunities, in our different Professions, permit, to experience and prove, that the Blessings which flow therefrom are the Result, and not the Germs, as is common in Contractions of later life when the World appears too designing and vitious, almost, to be trusted.
Your Opinion respecting Peace must be of great Service in the plans of the mercantile Line. Some Gentlemen, from expecting peace, have neglected the equipments of Vessels of War—but most are now convinc'd that, while any successes can pacify the people of Britain by any representations the Minister makes of them, that Nation will be so infatuated as to push the war; tho' the wisest cannot see with what rational Expectations. The conquest of America must appear ideal—the Chastisement of the House of Bourbon as much so; especially, considering the apparent disposition of the other powers of Europe. Under these sentiments of their Conduct, the Merchants, having pretty well recovered from their deplorable Loss at Penobscot, as also on account of their prodigious Success in capturing such a Number of the Fleet bound to Quebec;3 ten of which are brought in to this County, are pushing into the privateering Business, to the extent of their capitals. I have, thro' the war, kept largely in this business, which, however profitable, nothing but the Service it has done the Country, in the present Contest, would fully justify to my Disposition.
My success has been very various—like the tossing of the Sea, sometimes up to a good Height—sometimes engulphed, I yet carry good Sail, and hope the close of the war may leave me in that Situation, wherein I can best serve my Country and Mankind. But how I am interrupting your valuable Moments! Excuse me, & permit me to acknowledge myself to be, with true Esteem, Dear Sir Your obliged Friend & most humble Servant
Shall I presume, by P.S., to ask the Favor of any Intelligence which may affect the disposition of the mercantile Interest, so far as is consistent with your every Consideration?
Vol. 8:356.
The brigantine Fair Play had been sunk inadvertently by a French battery at Guadaloupe in Jan. 1779. Dalton had requested JA's assistance in obtaining compensation from the French government for the loss in a letter of 13 May 1779 (vol. 8:59–60), to which JA's letter of 23 Feb. 1780 was a reply. For the loss of the vessel and the efforts to obtain compensation, see the letter of 13 May, and note 1. 89
No letter from Dalton to JA in July has been found, nor have the documents sent to Francis Dana been located in his papers. However, on 15 and 17 Oct., Francis Dana wrote to Dalton from Amsterdam that he had received Dalton's letter of 21 Jan. containing documents concerning the Fair Play and, after consulting with JA, had decided to visit Paris in an effort to resolve the matter. In a letter of 8 Feb. 1781 from Paris, Dana reported on the efforts that he and Benjamin Franklin had made and were making to obtain adequate compensation (all in MHi: Francis Dana Letterbook).
Reports of the attack on the supply ships bound for Quebec in the Boston Independent Ledger of 7 Aug. and the Independent Chronicle of 10 Aug. indicate that several Massachusetts privateers were involved, probably including the Essex, Junius Brutus, America, and Saucy Jack, and that nineteen vessels, approximately half the fleet, were captured. For the British account of the attack, which is somewhat different and indicates that it occurred on 12 July, see Thomas Digges' letter of 29 Aug., note 5 (below).
1780-08-24
I wrote you a few lines on the 18th and 22d Instants1 chiefly to inform you the news of those days, but as they were forwarded by the usual conveyance of Post (my not knowing you were then in Holland) I suppose they will not get to hand earlier than this letter; which is born by a particular friend Mr. Saml. Hartley a relation of D. Hartleys. He is a considerable Merchant of this place and goes abroad on some commercial business to Holland (I beleive in the neutral-flag way) which will also lead Him to Paris. He has ever shewn himself an open friend to the cause of our Country, and as I dare say He would be glad to express it to any of our publickly employd Men abroad, I beg leave to recommend Him to your notice should chance bring you together either in Holland or France. As Mr. Hartley is perfectly well acquainted with the publick movements of this Country and well informed as to the news of the day and the beating of the pulses of the people generally, I take the liberty to refer you to Him for particulars. The late news of the Capture of a whole outward bound East and West India Fleet by the combind fleet of France and Spain,2 has thrown a gloom upon the minds of the people which you can much more easily guess than I can describe. It has been a black week at Loyds, and well it may, for one half of the underwriters that walk that Coffee House, will likely be ruind by such a vas
The Ministerial runners however still give out with a degree of impudence and falseness that is astonishing, that they are shure of No. Carolina, Virga., and Maryland “comeing in” as they term it to the feet of this Country. The torrent of folly which reignd ever since the capture of Chs. Town on the subject of this “comeing in” of all southern Ama., has subsided very generally among the thinking people within this week or two. There are those among the great however who still keep it up and exult exceedingly about the state of Affairs in Ama.; but I never suffer myself to be dejected by the triumphs of a People so easily and suddenly elated. God Governs, and I trust the second “hour of their Insolence” will be of as short duration as the first.
I am with the highest esteem Dr Sir Yr Obligd & Obt Ser
No letters of these dates from Digges have been found, although Digges does refer in his letter of 25 Aug. (below) to this letter as being of the 22d, rather than the 24th. For an indication of the content of the letter of the 18th, however, see Digges' letter of that date to Benjamin Franklin, since he often wrote similar letters to the two men on the same day (Digges,
Letters
, p. 247–251).
This report and those that follow are taken largely from the London newspapers of 23 and 24 Aug. (see for example the London Courant), but see also William Lee's letter of 27 Aug. (below) for an account of the capture of the convoy bound for the Indies.