Papers of John Adams, volume 16

John Adams to Thomas Barclay, 19 July 1784 Adams, John Barclay, Thomas

To Thomas Barclay

Dear Sir The Hague July 19 1784.

I have rec’d your Letters of the fifth and ninth, and at last my Trunks are arrived, so that I am now collected into one Spot. I shall. be much obliged to you, to settle my Account, according to your own Judgment as soon as possible. I would not charge any Thing 281 wrong, nor willingly any thing that shall appear to be so. Yet I ought in Justice to charge what is right.

As to my coming to Paris, it is uncertain, and will be determined upon Mr: Jefferson’s arrival; If, as M: de la Fayette writes me, Mr: Jefferson is united with Dr: Franklin and me, in a Commission to treat with the maritime Powers, I shall be obliged to come.1 But all is uncertain, and indeed I doubt, whether Mr: Jefferson will embark before Congress have an opportunity to consult Mr: Jay. The Dr. writes me, that Mr: Jefferson is talked of to succeed him. Is he to die? or to resign? or be displaced.

Your’s &c.

Will you let me know whether Com: Jones is gone? I owe him a Letter and if he is in Paris I will pay it.2

LbC in JQA’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “Thos: Barclay Esqr: Consul General”; APM Reel 107.

See the Marquis de Lafayette’s letter of 25 June, above.

John Paul Jones, who had delivered dispatches from Congress to JA at London in Dec. 1783, was then at Paris, but there is no indication that JA wrote to him (vol. 15:387–388). JA’s last letter to Jones was of 12 Aug. 1782 (vol. 13:233), and the two would not exchange letters again until Jones’ letter of 7 Jan. 1786 (Adams Papers) and JA’s reply of the 21st (LbC, APM Reel 113).

John Adams to Benjamin Franklin, 19 July 1784 Adams, John Franklin, Benjamin

To Benjamin Franklin

Sir The Hague July 19. 1784

I have the Honour of your Letters of the 27 of June and 4. July, and Should advise your Excellency to present the C. de Mercy, a Copy of the Instruction as you propose.1

By the Length of Time, We have been left without Information respecting foreign Affairs, and by other Circumstances, there are greater Divisions among our Countrymen, respecting these as well as their Finances, than are Salutary. it is now near two Years that I have led the Life of a Spider after having led that of a Toad under an Harrow for four Years before. But I Swear I will not lead one nor the other much longer.

I cant recollect that I have had a Letter from Congress, Since the Peace.2

I read Somewhere, when I was young “Tis Expectation makes the Blessing dear Heaven were not Heaven, if We knew what it were.”3 But this Expectation must not be disappointed continually.

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Mr Hartley will wait too, I apprehend, as long as We, and for my Part I humbly propose that We Should banish all Thoughts of Politicks, and begin a Course of Experiments in Physicks or mechanicks, of telescopical or miscroscopical Observations. Bertholon and Spalanzani, and Needham have so entertained me of late, that I think to devote myself to similar Researches.4

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

John Adams

RC (DLC:Franklin Papers); internal address: “His Excellency Dr Franklin.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 107.

For Franklin’s presentation of the 29 Oct. 1783 instruction to the Austrian ambassador, the Comte Mercy d’Argenteau, see William Temple Franklin’s letter of 1 Aug. 1784, and note 1, below.

The last letters from the president of Congress to JA as an individual were of 1 Nov. 1783, which enclosed Congress’ instructions of 29 Oct. (vol. 15:329, 331–334, 335–336), and 20 March 1784, which enclosed congressional resolutions of 16 March (Adams Papers), for which see JA’s 15 June letter to Jonathan Jackson, and note 3, above.

Sir John Suckling, “Against Fruition,” lines 23–24.

The men mentioned by JA were prolific authors of scientific works, so it is impossible to know to which of their publications he refers. However, the Abbé Pierre Bertholon de Saint Lazare, a French electrical experimenter and friend of Benjamin Franklin, had recently published De l’électricité des végétaux, Paris, 1783. The Abbé Lazzaro Spallanzani, an Italian naturalist and physiologist, published among other works Nouvelles recherches sur les découvertes microscopiques, et la génération des corps organisés, Paris, 1769. Finally, the most famous work of John Turberville Needham, an English priest and naturalist who championed spontaneous generation, was Nouvelles observations microscopiques, avec des découvertes intéressantes sur la composition et la décomposition des corps organisés, Paris, 1750 (Hoefer, Nouv. biog. générale ; DNB ).