Papers of John Adams, volume 19

To John Adams from Joel Barlow, 14 June 1787 Barlow, Joel Adams, John

From Joel Barlow

Sir Hartford June 14 1787

Some months have elapsed since I recieved your very obliging favour of May 1786.1 I have followed the advice of you & your friend Doct Price in bringing forward a publication of my Poem in America.2 The Edition is nearly disposed of. I take the liberty of addressing to your care a bundle of the Books, one of which be pleased to accept, & the others I wish to have conveyed to the persons to whom dircted; resting however upon your judgement, whether those directed to the Imperial Sovereigns & their Ambassadors can be presented with propriety. If they cannot, I beg you would present to any of your friends who will recieve them, One if you please to Doct Hugh Blair of Edenburgh.3

A few copies of your Treatise on the American Constitutions have been recievd in some of the Principal Towns. No Book I believe was ever recieved with more gratitude, or read with greater avidity. Two or three Editions are now in the Press at different places. It will have a very extensive run, & is calculated to do infinite service in the United States, by correcting thousands of erroneous sentiments: which have arisen from our inexperience, sentiments, which if uncorrected in this early stage of our political existence, will be the source of calamaties without measure & without end, both in this country & through the world. I wish most ardently to see the subject pursued, & a federal system delineated & defended with the same energy & perspicality as you have done that of the State Republics. Such a System adapted to our present & future circumstances you know is the great defederation in American Politics. An Enquiry of this kind pursued in the manner you have proposed to Col Smith must be a work of greater utility than can readily be imagined. And it is to be regretted that it could not have been done previous to the sitting of the present convention at Philadelphia.

I have the honour to be / Sir with great respect your / obet. Servt.

Joel Barlow

P.S.

I enclose drafts of letters to their Majesties, to be covered if sent, otherwise to be burnt.4 The Books for the Ambassadors are directed 95 in side. If they should not be used, the leaf may be cut out. May I hope for your pardon for offering you so much trouble

J Barlow

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excellency / Mr Adams”; endorsed: “Mr Joel Barlow / June 14th. 1787.”

An inadvertence. Barlow referred to JA’s letter of 4 April 1786 (vol. 18:225–227).

Armed with promises of support from JA and Richard Price regarding the prospect of publication and sale in England, Barlow printed the first American edition of The Vision of Columbus at Hartford, Conn., in 1787 (vol. 18:32–34, 225–227).

Hugh Blair (1718–1800), a Church of Scotland minister and prolific literary critic, had served as professor of rhetoric at the University of Edinburgh since 1760, and he preached against the American cause in 1776 ( DNB ).

JA evidently included these letters when distributing Barlow’s Vision of Columbus, for which see JA’s 4 Sept. 1787 letter to Count Semon Romanovich Vorontsov, and note 1, below.

From John Adams to John Jay, 16 June 1787 Adams, John Jay, John

To John Jay

Sir Grosvenor Square, London June 16. 1787

Inclosed is a Copy of the Translation from the Dutch into English, of the Contract, entered into by me in behalf of the United States by Virtue of their Full Power for a Million of Guilders.1 This Measure became absolutely neccessary, to prevent the total Ruin of their Credit, and the greatest Injustice, to their former Creditors, who are possessed of their Obligations: for the failure in Payment of the Interest, but for one day, would in holland cause those Obligations to depreciate in their Value like Paper Money.

It is of great Importance that this Contract Should receive a prompt Ratification in Congress, and be retransmitted to Amsterdam as soon as possible. Whether this Loan may not enable Congress, or their Board of Treasury, to raise the Credit of their own Paper at home in some degree, is for them to consider. and whether the Board of Treasury may not purchase Produce to Advantage and contract to have it delivered free of all Risque & Charges at Amsterdam, and pay for it in Bills of Exchange I know not.— If they do this I Should Advise them to Send one Cargo to the House of Willinks, and another to the House of Vanstaphorsts, instead of consigning the whole jointly to both Houses. This would not only excite an Emulation between the two Houses, to make the most Advantage for the Interest of the United States: but would prevent delays and other Inconveniences, which must arise from two Houses meeting to consult and dispose of a Vessell and Cargo.

As the Brokers, or Money Lenders, were pleased to insist upon 96 my Signature to all the Obligations, I was obliged to make a Tour to Amsterdam, for that Purpose, and happened to enter the City the Day after the First Riots, which continued two nights while I was there.—2 The Proceedings of the Prince of Orange, have at last brought on a Crisis, and the English are holding out an Appearance, as they thought it possible they might be obliged to take a Part in it.— if no foreign Power interferes, the Patriotic Party, is so much Stronger than the other, that I think the Prince must give Way, in the principal Points in Controversy. if any one foreign Power interferes, many others must follow the Example. This being well known and France and England, weary of War for the present, I hope the Dutch will be left alone to Settle their own Disputes.

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

John Adams

RC (PCC, No. 84, VI, f. 501–504); internal address: “His Excy John Jay / Secretary of State for / foreign Affairs.”; endorsed: “J. Adams / June 16. 1787 / Recvd 28 Septr— / Sept 28 / Referred with the contract / to the Secy for foreign Affairs / to report.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 113.

JA enclosed a Tripl of the contract for the third Dutch loan of [1 June], above. Once Congress achieved a quorum, it turned to reviewing the Constitutional Convention’s final report and totaling requisitions of the past three years. Congress did not ratify the contract until 11 Oct., below ( JCC , 33:649).

Waves of violence shook the streets of Amsterdam during JA’s visit, part of the ongoing clash between Patriot mobs and stad-holderian forces. On 21 April 1787, following several fiery pamphlets and public denunciations, Patriot burghers managed to secure the city’s Dam Square and evict William V’s officials, a tactic quickly repeated by colleagues in Deventer and Rotterdam. Wealthy families fled to the countryside. Enraged by the Orangists’ resistance, Amsterdam’s Patriots rioted throughout the end of May, burning bridges to cut off any advance and looting private homes. Writing to AA on 1 June, JA reported that the “very Seditious” throngs were quelled by military force. “Dont be anxious for Us, nor believe half the Reports that will be circulated,” he wrote ( AFC , 8:73, 74; Schama, Patriots and Liberators , p. 115–117). For the stadholderian supporters’ retaliation, see JA’s 15 Nov. letter to Jay, and note 1, below.