Papers of John Adams, volume 19
J’ai Recue, monsieur, avec bien de la Reconnoissance les detaïls que vous avis la Bonté de m’envoïer;2 ils sont alarmans même pour Ceux qui Connoissent l’amerique; ils ne peuvent que paroitre encore plus dangereux à Ceux qui ne la Connoissent pas; on nous dit qué la tempéte s’est appaisée; puissent les sages mesures que prendront le Congrès, les etats, et la Convention de philadelphie Retablir la Confiance, et la tranquillité; les dispositions de la lettre de M. de Calonne à M. jefferson, les demarches que nous faisons pour la franchise d’Honfleur, quelques projets que nous avons pour le debit des ris de Caroline, et l’entrepôt à donner à l’amerique du Commerce de nismes avec les espagnols qui ont Ruiné les fabricans de Cette ville par leur prohibitions, voilà des moïens d’établir dans les etats unis un peu de Commerce et de circulation.3 encouragés le gouvernement par vos depêches: il ne doit s’arrêter, ce me semble, que lorsque par toutes les faveurs possible il aura procuré à la france le debit ou l’entrepôt de toutes les productions Americaines, et si le soleïl des etats unis s’obscurcit pendant quelque tems, il ne paroitra que plus brillant En sortant du nuage puisqu’il s’avance toujours vers son meridien.
le traité de commerce de la france avec la Russie est Signé; le ministre Anglais a été moins Heureux que Segur, et le voyage de Kerson va Renvoïer Bien loin le traité des anglais.4 j’avois du y joindre l’imperatrice à Kiew, mais l’assemblée des Notables me retient ici, peutêtre pour longtems.5 elle est differée par la maladie de Mr̃ de vergennes qui m’inquiete et par celles du garde des sceaux, et de M. de Calonne lui même qui ne sont pas aussi Considerables. j’espere Beaucoup de Cette assemblée qui fait Bien de l’Honneur au Roy et à son ministere; le clol franks vous Remettra un petit imprimé qui n’est interessant que par la liste qui est au Bas. j’aurai soin de vous faire Avoir des nouvelles de la tenüe dont l’ouverture sera, je crois, le quatorze. les affairs de Hollande ne s’arrangent pas encore; celles du
7
Capitan pacha en Egipte ne vont pas aussi Bien qu’on l’avoit cru.6 il n’y a point encore de mouvement dans le Corps diplomatique parceque Mr̃ d’adhemar est Retourné en Angleterre. donnés moi, je vous prie, de vos nouvelles, et des nouvelles publiques; les gazettes que vous adresserés à M. Cadran directeur des fermes au Havre7 seront Recües avec Reconnoissance. agrées, je vous prie, mes vœux Bien sinceres pour votre Bonheur, et l’assurance de l’attachement avec lequel j’ai l’Honneur d’etre, Votre trés Humble et obeïssant Serviteur
ou en est M. L’enfant de ses affaires?8
I received, sir, with much gratitude the details that you had the goodness to send me.2 They are alarming even for those who know America. They can only appear all the more foreboding for those who do not know it. We are told that the storm has subsided; may the wise measures which Congress shall take, along with the states, and the Philadelphia Convention restore confidence and peace. The instructions of Mr. Calonne’s letter to Mr. Jefferson, the steps that we are taking toward the liberation of Honfleur, several projects that we have for the distribution of Carolina rice, and the depot to be given to America for the commerce of Nîmes with the Spaniards who have ruined the manufacturers of that town by their prohibitions— these are means toward the restoration in the United States of a little commerce and traffic.3 Encourage the government with your dispatches; it should not stop, in my view, until through all possible means it has procured for France the distribution or depot of all American goods, and if the sun of the United States dims for a period, it will only appear more brilliantly upon emerging from the clouds as it continues to rise toward its zenith.
The French treaty of commerce with Russia is signed; the British minister was less content than Ségur, and the voyage to Kherson will postpone the English treaty for some time.4 I was supposed to meet the empress at Kiev, but the Assembly of Notables keeps me here, perhaps for a long time.5 It has been delayed by the illness of Mr. Vergennes, which worries me, and that of the keeper of the seals and of Mr. Calonne himself, which are not as serious. I expect much out of this assembly that does much honor to the king and his ministry. Colonel Franks will deliver a short publication to you which is interesting only for the list at the bottom. I will be sure to send you news of the proceedings, the opening of which will be, I believe, on the fourteenth. The Dutch affairs are not yet improving; those of the captain pasha in Egypt are not going as well as had been thought.6 There are not yet any developments in the diplomatic corps because Mr. Adhémar has returned to 8 England. I pray you send me public news and news of yourself; gazettes that you address to Mr. Cadran, director of farms at Le Havre,7 will be gratefully received. I pray you accept my most sincere wishes for your happiness, and the assurance of the attachment with which I have the honor to be your most humble and most obedient servant
How have the affairs of Mr. L’Enfant been coming along?8
RC (MH-H:Autograph File); docketed by HA: “A. M. J. Adams.”
This letter is a rare example of Lafayette addressing JA in French, likely occasioned by his intense focus on duties related to preparing for the Assembly of Notables.
Lafayette referred to JA’s 12 Jan. letter alluding to the events of Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts (vol. 18:541–542).
For Lafayette’s efforts to promote Franco-American commerce, see same, 18:345–346, 347.
Louis Philippe, Comte de Ségur, had been the French ambassador to Russia since 1785. His efforts to secure a Franco-Russian commercial treaty, signed in Jan. 1787, capped the Comte de Vergennes’ foreign policymaking. Throughout the negotiations, debate circled around two products: French wines and Russian iron. Ségur secured new commercial rights for French merchants and stemmed Russia’s reliance on British goods. The treaty’s terms also addressed maritime rights in war and peace, thereby bolstering French recognition of Russia as a European power. Though the treaty promised a more robust Franco-Russian trade, trade was blocked in the Black Sea region as Russia warred with the Ottoman Empire and political unrest consumed France (Murphy, Vergennes
, 447, 450–454, 458).
Catherine II of Russia, who had recruited Lafayette to collect Native American words for a planned universal dictionary, invited him to Russia in spring 1787. Lafayette canceled the trip in order to attend the Assembly of Notables, and Catherine II grew to dislike Lafayette’s political radicalism (Gottschalk, Lafayette
, 4:269–270, 277).
Cezayirli Ghazi Hasan Pasha (d. 1790) led the Ottoman Navy in July 1786 to Egypt, where he suppressed a Mamluk revolt and restored order. By March 1787, he had consolidated his victory by amassing reinforcements of roughly 22,000 men, and he was reportedly readying eleven warships for a new siege, perhaps against Venice. Instead, the Ottoman admiral departed in October to command forces in the Black Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792, but he was unable to prevent the Russians from capturing and holding the Ottoman fortress of Ochakov (Alexander Mikaberidze, ed., Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2 vols., Santa Barbara, Calif., 2011, 1:240–241; M. W. Daly and Carl F. Petry, eds., The Cambridge History of Egypt, 2 vols., Cambridge, Eng., 1998, 2:84–85; The Gentleman’s Magazine, 57:261 [March 1787]).
Lafayette had written a letter of introduction for Philippe François Cadran to JA on [ca. 10 May] 1785, recommending him as “a very obliging Gentleman for Whom I Have a sincere friendship, Because I found Him very Honest and very kind” (Adams Papers).
Lafayette referred here to the engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who organized the French chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati, over which Lafayette presided. In the spring of 1787, L’Enfant journeyed to New York City to supervise the installation of the Richard Montgomery monument at St. Paul’s Church (vol. 16:76;
ANB
).
th:1787
When I writ to you last week to return you my thanks for the instruction and pleasure given me by your Defence of the American Constitutions I had no reason to expect that you Should give
9
yourself the trouble of making any reply to it.2 I am therefore the more obliged to you for your letter; and I cannot make myself easy without Sending you a few lines of acknowledgmt:— The circumstance you mention that your Book was written and the materials for it collected Since Septr: last makes me think more highly of the ability that produced it; and I cannot be Sorry that I have given occasion for it by the publication of Mr Turgot’s letter. At the time of this publication I was entirely ignorant that you had deliver’d any opinion with respect to the Sentiment in the passage to which you have objected. I have lately writ Several letters to America, and in Some of them I have taken occasion to mention your publication, and to Say that you have convinced me of the main point which it is intended to prove, and that I wish I had inserted a Note to Signify the difference of opinion between Mr Turgot and me on that point. The Subject of civil governmt:, next to religion, is of the highest importance to mankind. It is now, I believe, better understood than ever it was. Your book will furnish a help towards farther improvemt; and your country will, I hope, give Such an example of this improvemt as will be useful to the world.
With Sincere wishes that you and Mrs Adams may enjoy all that can make you most happy, and under a grateful Sense of her and your kind attention and civility, I am, Sr, respectfully and affectionately / Yours
d:Price
RC (Adams Papers).
As he explained in letters to JA the previous autumn, Price withdrew from public life in London and relocated to Sydenham, England, in order to mourn the 20 Sept. 1786 death of his wife, Sarah Blundell Price, from palsy and the aftereffects of a “paralytick stroke” that she had suffered two years earlier. Price temporarily left his nonconformist church, Gravel-Pit Meeting Place in Hackney, where JA and AA worshipped, in the care of Rev. Thomas Taylor of Carter Lane Meeting-House (vol. 17:533; The Correspondence of Richard Price, eds. W. Bernard Peach and D. O. Thomas, 3 vols., Durham, N.C., 1983–1994, 3:61, 66–67;
AFC
, 7:179, 370; William Urwick, Nonconformity in Worcester, London, 1897, p. 111).
Price’s 2 Feb. 1787 letter has not been found, but throughout the spring and summer of 1787, Price widely praised the work in letters to Arthur Lee, William Bingham, and Benjamin Rush. “Fully convinced” by JA’s arguments, Price declared the
Defence of the Const.
to be the final renunciation of criticisms against American government first launched by Anne Robert Jacques, Baron de Turgot, in a 22 March 1778 letter to Price. In his 4 Feb. 1787 reply to Price, JA reasserted that he wrote the Defence since “it is well known that Mr Turgot’s crude idea is really a personal attack upon me, whether he knew it or not, and therefore very proper that the defence should come from me” (vol. 18:546–550; The Correspondence of Richard Price, 3:120; MHS, Procs.
, 2d ser., 17:364–365 [May 1903]).