Papers of John Adams, volume 18
I have inclosed to Mr Ramsay an Address to the landed trading and funded Interests of England, which contains Some good Sense, intermixed here and there with a little Folly. Mr. Ramsay will be so good as to let you read it and in return you may let him read the inclosed Principle of the Commutation Act.1 As the Commerce of the United States begins to run to the East Indies, every Thing which may affect it in that Branch, will be interesting to you.
The Revival of the Newfoundland Act, which will, I suppose be followed by that of the American Intercourse Act, will Shew you, that the Ministry persevere in the system adopted at the Peace, Yet 159 without any decided Resolution to avow it for Perpetuity or any long Duration. It is nevertheless, too probable that they will make it perpetual the next Year or the year after, if the Proceedings of our States do not discourage them.
It is agreed on all hands that there is a Surplus of Revenue. The Sum is not yet known. and it by no means follows that there will be a Surplus next Year. Several Causes have this Year cooperated to increase the Taxes, some of which will not exist another Year. E. G. The French Comtroller General Mr De Calonne, last Year sent seven hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds to England chifly in Gold to pay for a Quantity of Bullion he bought in Spain and Portugal, to coin in France. This has sett many Wheels in motion, and by employing many People enabled them to live and pay Duties.— Many sums of Money too have come from America, which I presume cannot at least I hope will not be sent the next.— Yet there are great Complaints of the scarcity of Money.2
The United States have nothing to do, but go on with their navigation Acts, their Bounties and Duties. if these Measures Should not induce the British Court to do as We wish; they will bring their own reward. It is by a Sagacious Use of Bounties, Draw backs, Prohibitions and Duties that the commerce of the British Empire has become what it is. They will have the same Effects upon Ours, if imitated by Us.— Why should not Bounties be given upon Iron manufactured in the United States, and Duties laid upon all imported?3 There are innumerable other Articles, which might be thus protected by Duties laid upon Importations and by Bounties upon the Manufacture.
If the present Bounty on Oil is not sufficient, I hope it will be doubled or tripled; so as decidedly to ruin the British Fishery, Since they are for Tryals of skill. a Markett may certainly be found in France Spain and Ireland: but if it could not, I would be for increasing the Bounty untill We could clearly under Sell the English in the City of London. at the Same time some measures should be taken to draw home our own Whaling Captains and Endsmen and Oarsmen.
It is the Opinion of the Foresighted that Grain will be in Demand in Europe next Summer, because the Crops in Poland not only failed the last Harvest, but what is more important the seedtime was so wett, as to give a melancholly Prospect for the next Year.4 This I had from Mr De Bukaty the Polish Envoy a few days ago.5 I am sir / with great regard your humble / servant
RC (NHi:Rufus King Papers); internal address: “The Hon. Mr King.”; endorsed: “John Adams 14: Feb. 86.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM 113.
For the pamphlet sent to David Ramsay, see
JA’s 9 Feb. letter and note 2, above. For King, JA enclosed a copy of Sir Francis Baring’s The Principle of the Commutation-Act Established by Facts, London, 1786. Baring (1740–1810), 1st baronet, merchant banker, and director of the East India Company since 1779, had joined with the Earl of Shelburne in advocating for the liberalization of trade policy with America (
DNB
). On page 23 of his pamphlet Baring argued that William Pitt’s 1784 reduction of taxes on tea not only had deterred smugglers, but also generated the “rapid and considerable” wealth needed for British expansion in the lucrative China trade.
As part of his broader economic reform agenda to promote the limited, voluntary use of paper currency, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the French finance minister, initiated a gold recoinage in 1784–1785. Calonne’s plan was to realign French gold’s ratio with that of silver, and then to align it with the market and mint ratios of other countries like Spain and Portugal, suppliers of the bullion that was bought by France to mint money. Delays in the revaluation process led to a scarcity of specie and stoked popular criticism of Calonne’s policy as benefiting only Louis XVI and government elites (Wilma J. Pugh, “Calonne’s ‘New Deal,’” Journal of Modern History, 11:304–305 [Sept. 1939]).
For British reliance on Baltic iron production, and JA’s assessment of legislation restricting the emigration of British iron workers and the exportation of tools and machinery, see vol. 17:368, 370, 374.
Still struggling from droughts and extreme weather caused by the June 1783 eruption of Iceland’s Laki volcano, Europeans experienced blighted harvests for the next three years. Many turned to American farmers for their supply of rice, flour, and grain (vol. 17:99).
Franciszek Bukaty (1747–1797) was currently the Polish minister resident and would be appointed minister plenipotentiary in April 1789 (
Repertorium
, 3:310).
y1786
I had your very agreeable Letter of the 1st. Octobr in course after it’s date, which I have not before acknowledged nor the very obliging Note from Miss Adams accompanying it—1 you will please for me & Mr Tracy to thank that Lady for her kind Enquiries & good Wishes espressed for us & our families & to return their & our affectionate Compliments to Mrs. & Miss Adams— I hope that the Ladies enjoy the Air & Society in which they are placed—that they have Health & Peace of Mind—
I wrote to you in Octr & then took the Liberty to introduce to your Acquaintance Mr Escott & his Partners, who were a Society with which I enjoyed as much real Sociability, & by whom I was treated with as much Hospitality as by any persons while abroad— if agreeable to you I hope that an Acquaintance is commenced between you & that you find them as I described them—
Mr Parkinson is a Man of Information & Ingenuity— Had I been sure that to your Ladies it would have been agreeable, I should have proposed to Mrs. Reed an Acquaintance with them, tho’ mine with
161
her would perhaps scarcely authorize it— she is a Lady I got quite attached to for her very pleasing & agreeable manners— she is more of a domestic Woman than the fine Ladies of England commonly are, & was she & your Ladies to slide into an easy Acquaintance with each other I think they would both be pleased & enjoy it—
I am writing to Mr Escott by this Conveyance & again meddling with what perhaps is impertinent— I have hinted to him my Wish that your Ladies & Mrs Reed should be brõt to Know each other—2if my Interference should be construed by either of you to be impertinent, you will attribute it I hope to a well intentioned Zeal that others should enjoy like pleasures as I have—
My Partner Mr Higginson wrote to you by one of the last Ships & anticipated every thing I could furnish you in the political Line & with much more Perspicuity & Method—3
I wish more than I expect to hear of a speedy & agreeable Termination of the Pursuits committed to your Charge, both with the Country you are placed in, & with the States of Barbary—
By the time you return you will be practised I imagine in the Arts of defence, & get accustomed to the Attack of Scribblers & Party-Men, & with perfect Composure will be able to meet the most impudent unfounded Assertions— even Kings in the Country you are in must learn to live easy under these or not to be easy at all— in this respect it is an extraordinary people— while I was in their Country I never heard of but one person of importance enough to attack & vilify that had escaped the Arrows of Detraction—& that was said to be their present Queen, indeed it was once attempted on her but an universal Disapprobation of it had discouraged a Renewal— from all that was said of her I was led to think her a valuable domestic Character— indeed it was generally said that she had the Discretion never to meddle with their Politics, which if true is much in her favour, & a rare instance I believe in the Courts of Europe—
When you have Leisure my good Sir your Communications upon any Subject you may think worthy your pen will always be most agreeable to me— I have very seldom seen your Son since his Arrival— I am told that he is a very hard & close Student & confines himself to Haverhill almost entirely at present—4
If you meet Doctr Price & Mr Benja Vaughan5 at any time you will oblige me to present them with my respectfull Compliments—
With great respect & esteem / I am dear Sir / your friend & most obedt Servt
aJackson
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Honble. / Mr Adams”; endorsed by AA2: “Mr Jackson Feb / 1786—”
Vol. 17:484–485. AA2’s note has not been found.
In his 24 Oct. 1785 letter (Adams Papers), Jackson introduced the London and Málaga wine merchant John Kirkpatrick Escott (d. 1799), his wife Deborah (d. 1818), and Mrs. James Reed, the wife of Escott’s partner, who died in November. “Mr Parkinson” was probably John Parkinson, who was also associated with the firm (Edward Wedlake Brayley, The History of Surrey, 5 vols., London, 1841–1844, vol. 2, part 1, p. 200; The Pedigree Register, 2:307 [Sept. 1912]; John B. Bosanquet and Christopher Puller, comps., Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Courts of Common Pleas, and Exchequer Chamber, and in the House of Lords, 3 vols., Phila., 1805, 1:349; Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, 12:27 [Nov. 1944]). There is no evidence that the Adamses ever socialized with Jackson’s friends.
Stephen Higginson’s letter was of 30 Dec. 1785, above, to which JA replied on 18 Feb. 1786, below.
JQA was studying for his entrance into Harvard, under the tutelage of his uncle Rev. John Shaw (vol. 17:60, 61). Adhering to a rigorous reading schedule, JQA wrote that he would “seldom retire before 1 in the morning, and rise, between 8 and 9” (JQA, Diary
, 1:408).
Benjamin Vaughan was a London merchant and protégé of the Earl of Shelburne whom JA first met at Paris in 1782 (JA, D&A
, 3:53, 54;
AFC
, 5:464, 466–467). Vaughan frequently dined at No. 8 Grosvenor Square, for which see the indexes to
AFC
, vols. 6 and 7.