Papers of John Adams, volume 20
y.1
st:1790
This comes to you with a Discourse which has been much talked of here; and which, I hope, you will accept as a Small testimony of my gratitude and respect.1 It is an effusion of zeal in the cause of human liberty and virtue; and, ’tho a Subject of censure with many in this country, I can be confident that you will approve the Spirit of it, and the general Sentiments it contains.
I thought myself greatly favoured by the letter which I received from you at the beginning of last Summer; and it is impossible I Should ever forget the kind attention with which you have always honoured me.—2
You must probably feel the Same Satisfaction and triumph in the
late Revolution in France that I have felt. It appears to me that most of the events
in the annals of the world are but childish tales compared with it. But the united
States of America have the glory of having led the way to it. The new constitution of
France deviates in Some respects from those Ideas of the best constitution of
governmt which you have with So much ability explained
and defended. But this deviation, as France is Situated, Seems to have been
unavoidable; for had not the Aristocratical and Clerical orders been obliged to throw
themselves into one chamber with the Commons, no reformation could have taken place,
and the regeneration of the Kingdom would have been impossible: And, in future
legislatures, were these two orders to make distinct and independent States, all that
has been done would probably be soon undone. Hereafter, perhaps, when the new
constitution as now formed, has acquired Strength by time, the national Assembly may
find it practicable as well as expedient to establish, by means of a third estate,
Such a check as now takes place in the American
governmts, and is indispensible in the British
governmt.—
Remember me very kindly to Mrs Adams.
May you be long continued happy in one another and in your connexions. I feel myself
in the decline of life. An indolence is increasing upon me, and a disposition to be
encumber’d and burden’d by every little business that comes in my way. I rejoyce in
your usefulness and eminence, and the just respect which has been Shewn you by the
united States. The new federal governmt: has, I hope, now
acquired Such a firm establishmt as will make it the means
of extricating the united States 228 from difficulties
and rendering them permanently prosperous and happy.
Hoping never to be forgotten by you, I am, with Sentiments of warm affection and respect, / ever yours
dPrice
May I request the favour of you to convey to Mr Smith the pamphlet I have directed to him, and to deliver
to him and to Mrs Smith my kind respects?3
RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “John Adams Esq:”; endorsed: “Dr Price. Feb. 1. / ansd Ap. 19.
1790.”
Price sent his Discourse on the Love of
Our Country, London, 1789. Drawn from a 4 Nov. 1789 speech that he gave in
London, Price’s work connected the onset of the French Revolution to the same
political ideologies that spurred the American Revolution (Arthur Sheps, “The American
Revolution and the Transformation of English Republicanism,” Historical Reflections, 2:7 [Summer 1975]).
For JA’s 20 May letter to Price, see vol. 19:469–470.
The pamphlet has not been found, but it may have been a second
copy of the discourse sent to JA, for which see note 1. Price’s most
recent letter to WSS was of 28 July, commenting on political conditions
in France. He thanked WSS for conveying American news, thereby countering
the “nonsense” he heard about the “Dictatorship” of George Washington (The Correspondence of Richard Price, ed. W. Bernard Peach
and D. O. Thomas, 3 vols., Durham, N.C., 1983–1994, 3:237–239).
We beg leave to refer to our last respects of 8 dec̃:, since whch. time we continue without your agreable favors, we are now
paying the intrest due on the 4 PC. Obt: and request Your Sending us the Coupons of
yours & to dispose of Said amount; it is highly agreable to us to see the American
Credit on a respectable footing, in consequence the 5 PC: Obt: are advanced at 99 1/2
PC: and the 4 PC: Sell at a premium of 2 PC: on acct. of the
Lotery, the management we kept in it, we flatter ourselves will assure us the
satisfaction of the United States & your personal knowledge in how much the
influence of our Credit has contributed to it will assure us your benevolence. We think
it our duty to inform you as our Friend abt: the letter we
write with Msr. V Staphorst to the Treasurer Hamilton Esqr. of the applications made to the Court of france to transfer
to Speculaters the debt of Congress paye.
1 Part in money Part in france Stocks to great
advantage of the undertakers, who made application to borrow on said American debt here,
on terms very advantageous to money Lenders, whch. they
Could easily pay out of the profit that 229 Should result to
them from this operation, whch. measure the Houses
considered highly detrimental to the Credit of the United States, as the obligt. of their Loans should necessary decline, whenever people
could obtain much higher intrest of Obt: funded on a debt of the Same United States
& those Speculators Possessed of such a considerable debt became in Some measure
Masters of the Credit here whch. they had no reason to
maintain & obliged to Satisfy their engagemts. Should be
in the necessity to get money on Said debt at any condition & by those advantages
make it absolutely impossible for the United States to borrow here at a reasonable
Condition at the Simple intrest of 5 PCt. after all our
endeavours to put a Stop to it in Paris, & by the knowledge Of the desire of
Congress to Pay if not of the Principal the arrears of intrest at least to france, the
houses considered the best measure to make it almost impossible to the Speculators to
agree, to make the obtaining of money if not impossible, highly difficult to them, in
order to maintain the Credit of the United States & keep the faculty to borrow for
them, the houses took on themselves to open a Loan under approbation of the United
States for 3 Mills of f at 5
PC. in full Confidence, that our motives Should be Considered in the true light & be
highly approved, the more as we get it on the terms of the first Loan, and Sacrifis a
great Profit offered to us by the speculators either to be partners or commissioners
whch. we thought our duty to decline.
some Members however may blame the Liberty we have taken, but we
flatter ourselves of the equitable Judgment of the States, that our motives will be done
Justice and considered as it is truely, a determination for the intrest of the United
states, there we regretted infinitely your & Mr.
Jefferson’s absence to be able to Consult the Ministers in a Matter of Such
delicacy.
In case of any remarks on our conduct We hope you’ll be so kind to
be a favourable interpreetor of the Sincerity of our Sentiments there nothing than a
Sense of our duty & attachmt. to the intrest of the
United States could bring us to the dermination & make us decline a considerable
profit to maintain their Credit & the faculty, to borrow on advantageous terms in
full reliance on your friendship we hope to hear from you, well assured that we’ll
always retain a proper Sense of Your benevolence
We request our Sincere Compliments to your Lady & remain with great esteem / sir Your most Obedient servants
RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Honl: John
Adams Esqr / Newyork”; endorsed: “Willinks. 1. Feb. 1790.”
Dupl (Adams
Papers).
Following JA’s and Thomas Jefferson’s departures
from Europe, the supervision of American foreign loans reverted to U.S. treasury
secretary Alexander Hamilton. On 28 Jan. William Short, the U.S. chargé d’affaires in
Paris, forwarded a 25 Jan. letter from the Dutch loan consortium to Hamilton apprising
him that on 1 Feb. it would open a fifth loan, of 3 million florins, to be reimbursed
between 1801 and 1805. The agreement was mainly identical to the previous four
contracts, and it halted Jefferson’s plans to transfer American debt to revolutionary
France. Despite lacking a U.S. minister to authorize it, the Dutch bankers publicly
advertised the loan, and Hamilton approved it on 7 May 1790, pending the finalization
of plans for the federal assumption of state debt (vol. 19:289; Hamilton, Papers
,
6:210–218, 409).