Papers of John Adams, volume 16

Thomas Barclay to John Adams, 18 April 1784 Barclay, Thomas Adams, John

From Thomas Barclay

Dear Sir Auteuil 18th. April 1784—

As we hear that you are soon Expected at Paris, I Beg leave to mention to you that the Bills which were paid by your orders in Holland are All in the hands of Fizeau & Grand of Amsterdam, and that when your Accounts are arranging it will be necessary to have them here, to Compare them with the sums Charged— you will therefore please to take up those Bills and bring them with you—1 I have had a late encrease of Family, and Mrs. Barclay and the little Girls are pritty well,2 Indeed we are All so Except myself, who Can only be Cured by the arrival of the Heer Adams who was loading Tobacco at Philadelphia, and who I hope will Enable me to pay some of my Just debts—3 I have taken a House on the Boulvarde, and I beleive if you wanted this one it might be got pretty reasonably,4 It is a good Summer House, but a Bad winter one— Let me know your Mind on this subject— Be so good to present My respects to Mr. and Madam Dumass, as well as to Madamoisselle, I shall be much obliged to Mr. Dumass for his account with the united States— He stands Charged with various sums of Money, which I suppose were paid on account of his Salary— My Best Compliments Attend your son, and I am Very much / Dear Sir, / Your Affect Humb Sert.

Thos Barclay 168

RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “His Excellency / John Adams Esqre— / Hague—”; endorsed: “Mr Barclay / 18. Ap. ansd 23. 1784.”

For the bills of exchange, see JA’s reply of 23 April, below.

Mary Hoops Barclay gave birth to a daughter, Maria Isabella, on 17 March. She joined two sisters, Ann and Elizabeth, and a brother, Robert (Roberts and Roberts, Thomas Barclay , p. 47, 55, 65, 138).

The Heer Adams, with its cargo of tobacco, arrived at Lorient in July (same, p. 144).

This is the Comte de Rouault’s house at Auteuil. JA and JQA had lived there in Sept. and Oct. 1783 while JA recovered from a serious illness, leaving only upon their departure for London. JA, AA, AA2, and JQA took up residence there on 17 Aug. 1784 (vol. 15:294, 352–353; to C. W. F. Dumas, 25 Aug., below). For JA’s on-and-off requests for Barclay to rent the house, see their ongoing correspondence through Barclay’s letter of 9 Aug., below.

John Adams to Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, 20 April 1784 Adams, John Franklin, Benjamin Jay, John

To Benjamin Franklin and John Jay

Gentlemen The Hague April 20. 1784

I have just now received the Letter which Dr Franklin did me the Honour to write me on the 16th. with the Copy of the Treaty with Sweeden. I have before inclosed the King of Prussias Project of a Treaty, prepared as I am assured by his Minister with his own Hand in his private Cabinet.

I believe it has been reserved to the present Age when the subtilties of Aristotle and the schools are transferred from Theology to Politicks, to discover Room for a Doubt in the Construction of the Armistice. and therefore We shall Search in vain in any Admiralty, for a Precedent. The Words are “Le terme Sera d’un mois depuis la manche et les mers du Nord, jusqu’aux Isles Canaries inclusivement, Soit dans l’Ocean, Soit dans la Mediterranée.”1

This Limit is to extend to the Southermost Point of the Southernmost Canary Island, from the Channell. This is the Extent from North to South.— What is to be the Extent from East to West? is it to have none. is it to be confined to a mathematical Line, running from the Middle of the Channel to the remotest Part of the remotest Canary? or is it to be a Space as Wide as the Channel, running from it to that Canary? or is it to be as wide as that Island. if none of these Constructions have common Sense in them, what can We suppose to have been the Meaning of the Contracting Parties? They have ascertained the Space very exactly from North to South, and as they have left the Extent from East to West without limits, it is very clear they intended it should be unlimited and reach all round the Globe, at least where there is any Ocean or Mediterranean.

I have the Honour to be Gentlemen / your most obedient and most / humble servant

John Adams 169 170

RC (NNC:John Jay Papers); addressed by JQA: “France / à / Leurs Excellencies / Messieurs B. Franklin et J. Jay / Ministres Plenipotentiaires des Etats Unis / de l’Amerique / à / Passy / près / Paris”; internal address: “Their, Excellencies / Benjamin Franklin Esq / & / John Jay Esqr.”; endorsed by John Jay: “Mr. Adam’s Letter / of 20 Ap. 1784 to / Mrs. Franklin & Jay.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 107.

JA quotes from Art. 22 of the 20 Jan. 1783 Anglo-French preliminary peace treaty (Miller, Treaties , 2:112). The Anglo-American preliminary treaty took effect upon the signature of that treaty but contained no provision regarding the cessation of hostilities, or, as Franklin phrased it in his 16 April 1784 letter, above, “the Limits & Term of Captures.” The British and American proclamations of the cessation of hostilities, dated 14 and 20 Feb. 1783, respectively, therefore included an English translation of the French passage (vol. 14:264–266, 281, 284–285). JA thought that there should be little room for variant interpretations of the meaning of the provision since, as he indicated in his 20 April 1784 letter to John Hurd, below, essentially the same language had been used in Art. 25 of the 3 Nov. 1762 preliminary peace treaty between Britain, France, and Spain ending the Seven Years’ War ( Parliamentary Hist. , 15:1250).