Papers of John Adams, volume 18
I am honored with yours of Jan. 19. mine of Jan. 12. had not I suppose at that time got to your hands as the receipt of it is unacknoleged. I shall be anxious till I receive your answer to it.1
I was perfectly satisfied, before I received your letter, that your opinion had been misunderstood or misrepresented in the case of the Chevalier de Mezieres. your letter however will enable me to say so with authority. it is proper it should be known that you had not given the opinion imputed to you. tho’ as to the main question it is become useless, Monsieur de Reyneval having assured me that what I had written on that subject had perfectly satisfied the Ct. de Vergennes & himself that this case could never come under the treaty. to evince still further the impropriety of taking up subjects gravely on such imperfect information as this court had, I have this moment received a copy of an act of the Georgia assembly placing the subjects of France as to real estates on the footing of natural citizens & expressly recognizing the treaty.2 would you think any thing could be added after this to put this question still further out of doors? a gentleman of Georgia assures me General Oglethorpe did not own a foot of land in the state— I do not know whether there has been any American determination on the question whether American citizens & British subjects born before the revolution can be aliens to one another? I know there is an opinion of Ld Coke’s in Calvin’s case3 that if England & Scotland should in a course of descent pass to separate kings, those born under the same sovereign during the union would remain natural subjects & not aliens. common sense urges strong considerations against this. e. g. natural subjects owe allegiance. but we owe none.— Aliens are the subjects of a foreign power. we are subjects of a foreign power.— the king by the treaty acknoleges our independance; how then can we remain natural subjects.— the king’s power is by the constitution competent to the making peace, war & treaties. he had therefore authority to relinquish our allegiance by treaty.— but if an act of parliament had been necessary, the parliament passed an act to confirm the treaty. &c &c. so that it appears to me that in this question fictions of law alone are opposed to sound sense.
I am in hopes Congress will send a Minister to Lisbon. I know no 151 country with which we are likely to cultivate a more useful commerce. I have pressed this in my private letters.
It is difficult to learn any thing certain here about the French & English treaty. yet, in general, little is expected to be done between them. I am glad to hear that the Delegates of Virginia had made the vote relative to English commerce, tho they afterwards repealed it.4 I hope they will come to again. when my last letters came away they were engaged in passing the revisal of their laws, with some small alterations. the bearer of this, mr̃ Lyons, is a sensible worthy young physician, son of one of our Judges, and on his return to Virginia.5 remember me with affection to mr̃s & miss Adams, Colos. Smith & Humphreys and be assured of the esteem with which I am Dr. Sir / Your friend & servant
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “Mr̃ Adams”; endorsed: “Mr. Jefferson. Feb. 7 / 1786.”; notation by CFA: “published in his Writings / Vol 1st. p 439.” That is, Jefferson, Correspondence, ed. Randolph, 1:439–440.
Jefferson received
JA’s 28 Jan. reply, above, on 9 Feb. (Jefferson, Papers
, 9:238).
On 22 Feb. 1785, the Georgia Assembly passed “An act to enable the subjects of his most christian majesty to transfer and settle such of their estates and property as is or shall happen to fall within this State” (Robert and George Watkins, A Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia, Phila., 1800, p. 312).
Calvin’s Case, decided in 1608, ruled that Scottish citizens born after the 1603 union under King James VI and I were to be treated as English subjects under common law. JA made use of the case when framing the Massachusetts house of representatives’ 2 March 1773 reply to Thomas Hutchinson and again in the Novanglus letters of 23 Jan. through April 1775 (vols. 1:335–337, 345; 2:309, 326, 347–349, 354, 377–378, 384).
Jefferson refers to JA’s report from William Voss that on 14 Nov. 1785 the Va. house of delegates resolved to entrust the regulation of trade to Congress (to Jefferson, 19 Jan. 1786, note 4, above). The resolution addressed the “animosities, which cannot fail to arise among the several States from the interference of partial and separate regulations” and sought to raise public revenue, but victory was brief (Evans, No. 19352). On 30 Nov. the resolution was rescinded, prompting James Madison and others to call for the Annapolis Convention (from Charles Storer, 7 April 1786, and note 2, below).
Dr. James Lyons (ca. 1763–1830), College of William and Mary 1776, was returning to Richmond after earning medical degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Edinburgh. His father, Peter (1735–1809), served as judge of both the general and appeals courts of Virginia (
AFC
, 7:42, 46; Jefferson, Papers, Retirement Series
, 7:175;
DAB
).
rythe 7
th179[6] [
1786]
Supposing Som one gentleman to be charged with the affairs of the united States of america in London I take the Liberty to write1
The Bearrer of this Letter Doctor warner2 his Brittanick Majestys Doctor in algirs and a gentleman that is able To give you any 152 intelligence That you may want as To the affairs in algirs and allso as to our mortifying State of Slavery and has bin the means of Saveing many of your Countrymen Lives and our only Doctor Since in algirs By order of Count D Espilly When he was in algirs and Had the Care of us for the Spaniards had Rather have a Dog in their hospitle then a prodestant & I Could wish for the honour of My Country that Doctor Warner might be justly Paid for he has Don the Christian Benevolent part to all the americans in algirs Nither would thay give us medicine without pay and Som has bin at Deaths Door and obliged to Leave the hospitle & Doctor warner has Taken them in hand and they are well and My Self has bin Two months under his Care for the Billious Dissorder But thank god im Better—
if you Can give us any intelligence consarning our Redeemption I shuld be Exceeding glad Doctor warner is the English Doctor at algirs and will Soon Return again to algirs our pay has bin Stoped for five months on account that Mr Carmichael Could pay the money that the Spanish Consul had advanced we Have wrote Mr Carmichael Several Times on the Subject and No answer as yet which adds hunger to afflictions a Line from you will be Kindly acknowledged from your humle Servent
Sir if you would be So good as to Extend your Charity a Little and Due me and your Countrymen a great favour in Sending me the history of america3 if old no matter and Som Late magazins By Doctor warner he will Bring them as we have No Books to amuse our Selves in this Calamitious Situation as we Expect to Stay in Slavery all our Life time as the Sum is So great an objict to our Country
god Bless the foederal States of america
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “To Mr / John Adams Esqr or / Gentleman who may be is Charged / With the affairs of the united / States of america / in London”; endorsed: “Capt. Stephens”; notation: “per favour Doctr. / Warner.” Filmed at [1785–1788]. Some loss of text due to a torn manuscript.
Capt. Isaac Stephens of the American merchant schooner Maria, who was captured and enslaved along with the crew of the Dauphin by Algerian corsairs in Aug. 1785, was freed in Sept. 1795 and left Algiers the following July (vol. 17:xv–xvi;
AFC
, 11:553–554).
Dr. Phillip Werner (Warner), surgeon to the British consulate at Algiers, met with Thomas Jefferson in early 1788 and gave a detailed account of his three years’ experience there. Werner offered assessments of the Algerian treatment of foreign prisoners and of John Lamb’s behavior as the negotiator sent to liberate Stephens and other American sailors. Werner described the mismanagement of British consular affairs by the “drunkard” Charles Logie; the diplomatic implications of the elderly dey’s ill health; and the uneven nature of the country’s military force. Werner’s insights formed the core of Jefferson’s [ca. Jan. 1788] memorandum concerning Algiers and the resulting report that he sent to John Jay on 5 Feb. (Review of An Account of Two Cases of the Diabetes Mellitus, by John Rollo, The British Critic, 10:264 [Sept. 1797]; Jefferson, Papers
, 12:549–551, 565).
Probably William Robertson’s three-volume History of America, then entering a fourth edition in London. The third edition of 1780, along with two earlier French editions, is in JA’s library at MB (
Catalogue of JA’s Library
).