Papers of John Adams, volume 18
I do myself the Honour to enclose Papers, relative to affrican Affairs, altho Mr Jefferson has transmitted them before, as it is possible his Conveyance may fail.1
The Intelligence all tends to confirm what has been more than once written to you before, that two or three hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling, will be necessary to obtain a perpetual Peace.— It is very clear, that a Peace would be worth more than that Sum annually, if you compute Insurance, and the Levant, Mediterranean, Portuguese & Spanish Trade.
If Congress should be empowered to lay on Taxes upon Navigation and Commerce or any Thing else to pay the Interest of the Money borrowed in Europe You may borrow what you will.— if that is not done, The servants abroad had better be all recalled, and our Exports and Imports all Surrendered to foreign bottoms.
Inclosed is a Bill now pending.2 The System of this Country is quite settled.— It is with our States to unsettle it, by Acts of Retaliation, or to acquiesce in it, as they judge for their own Good.
With great Regard, I have the / Honour to be sir your most obedient / and most humble servant
RC and enclosures (PCC, No. 84, VI, f. 211–297); internal address: “His Excellency / John Jay / Secretary of State.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 112.
For JA’s enclosures, see Thomas Jefferson’s 30 May letter, and note 1, above.
This enclosure has not been found, but JA may be referring to “An Act for the further
332
Increase and Encouragement of Shipping and Navigation” (26 Geo. 3, ch. 60). When debated in the House of Commons on 11 April, Charles Jenkinson, newly appointed president of the reconstituted Council for Trade and Plantations, opened the proceedings by indicating that the bill was an opportunity to define clearly what in fact was a British-built ship (
AFC
, 7:75;
Parliamentary Hist.
, 25:1372–1375). With regard to the United States, Art. 7 of the act provided “that no Ship or Vessel built in any of the Colonies of North America now called The United States of America, during the Time that any Act or Acts of Parliament made in Great Britain, prohibiting Trade and Intercourse with those Colonies was or were in force, nor any Ship or Vessel which was owned by or belonged to the Subjects of the said United States, or of any of the said States respectively, during the Existence of those Acts, and not registered before the Commencement thereof, is or shall be entitled to be registered under this present Act” (John Raithby, comp., The Statutes Relating to the Admiralty, Navy, Shipping, and Navigation of the United Kingdom, from 9 Hen. III. to 3 Geo. IV. Inclusive, London, 1823, p. 439).
Yesterday I received your Favour of 30. May with its Inclosures. You have Since that day no doubt received my Answer to yours of the 11th., in which I agreed perfectly with You in the Propriety of Sending Mr Lamb to Congress without Loss of time.1 I am content to Send Mr Randal with him but had rather he Should come to You first and then to me, and embark in London after We shall have had Opportunity from his Conversation to learn as much as We can.
The Comte de Vergennes is undoubtedly right in his Judgment that Avarice and Fear are the only Agents at Algiers, and that We shall not have Peace with them the cheaper, for having a Treaty with the Sublime Porte. But is he certain We can ever at any Price have Peace, with Algiers, unless We have it previously with Constantinople? and do not the Turks from Constantinople, Send Rovers into the Mediterranean? and would not even Treaties of Peace with Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers and Morocco be ineffectual for the Security of our Mediterranean Trade, without a Peace with the Porte? The Porte is at present the Theater of the Politicks of Europe? and commercial Information might be obtained there.
The first Question is, what will it cost Us to make Peace with all five of them? Set it if you will at five hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling, tho I doubt not it might be done for Three or perhaps for two.
The Second Question is, what Damage Shall We Suffer, if We do not treat.
compute Six or Eight Per Cent Insurance upon all your Exports, and Imports.
333compute the total Loss of all the Mediterranean and Levant Trade
compute the Loss of half Your Trade to Portugal and Spain.
These computations will amount to more than half a Million sterling a Year.
The third Question is what will it cost to fight them? I answer, at least half a Million sterling a Year, without protecting your Trade and when You leave off fighting you must pay as much Money as it would cost you now for Peace.
The Interest of five Mill half a Million Sterling is, even at Six Per Cent, Thirty Thousand Guineas a Year.— for an Annual Interest of 30,000£. st. then and perhaps for 15,000, or 10,000 We can have Peace, when a War would Sink Us annually ten times as much.—
But for Gods sake dont let Us amuze our Countrymen with any further Projects of Sounding. We know all about it, as much ever We can know, untill We have the Money to offer. We know if We Send an Ambassador to Constantinople, he must give Presents. How much, the Comte de Vergennes can tell you better than any Man in Europe.
We are fundamentally wrong. The first Thing to be done is for Congress to have a Revenue. Taxes Duties must be laid on by Congress or the Assemblies and Appropriated to the Payment of Interest. The Moment this is done We may borrow a Sum adequate to all our Necessities. if it is not done in my Opinion you & I as well as every other Servant of the United states in Europe ought to go home, give up All Points, and let all our Exports & Imports be done in European Bottoms.2 My Ind[ig]nation is roused beyond all Patience to see the P[eople] in all the United states in a Torpor, and see them a Prey to every Robber, Pirate and Cheat in Europe. Jews and Judaizing Christians are now Scheeming to buy up all our Continental Notes at two or three shillings in a Pound, in order to oblige Us to pay them at twenty shillings a Pound. This will be richer Plunder than that of Algerines or Loyds Coffee House. My dear friend Adieu
RC (DLC:Jefferson Papers); internal address: “His Exy. / Th. Jefferson.”; endorsed: “Adams Jno.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 112. Text lost due to a torn manuscript has been supplied from the LbC.
JA’s reply was of 23 May, above, but Jefferson did not receive it until 19 June (Jefferson, Papers
, 9:565).
At this point in the left margin is a notation in WSS’s hand: “1. 2. 3. 4. 5. / 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 / W.S.S.”