upon the strictest construction of law, equity, and the treaty, may, in my opinion, in most cases, if not in all, deny the interest during the war to the creditor. In some of these ways relief must be had, or in none, for the ministry here will never intermeddle in the business. If any one should ask, what was the intention of the contracting parties at the treaty, the answer must be, the treaty itself must determine, and any one who reads it may judge as well as one of the plenipotentiaries. The word "heretofore" was not used in preference to the words "before the war," with any view to the interest, but to comprehend debts which had been contracted during the war. The intention was, no doubt, that whatever judges and juries should find to be a debt, should be recovered; and I believe that any man, acting in the character of either, will find it difficult to say, upon his oath, that interest during the war is bona fide due. Did any debtor, foreseeing the war, contract a debt, and pledge his faith to pay interest during the continuance of it? Let this be proved, and a judge or juror would compel payment. But probably there is not one such case. The war may be considered as one of those accidents bona fide not expected or foreseen, against which equity will always give relief. With great and sincere esteem, &c. JOHN ADAMS. DAVID GRIFFITH TO JOHN ADAMS. Philadelphia, 26 June, 1786. SIR, The general convention of the Protestant Episcopal church acknowledge themselves greatly obliged to your Excellency, for your kind attention to their religious concerns, in forwarding their endeavors to obtain consecration for bishops, and such a succession in the orders of her ministry as is most conformable to their principles and agreeable to their wishes. Having instructions from the convention to transmit to your Excellency their vote of thanks, I do myself the honor now to inclose it. With the greatest respect for your character, both private and public, I have the honor to be, &c. DAVID GRIFFITH, President. (Inclosed.) 24 June, 1786. In Convention. Resolved, That the thanks of this convention be given to his Excellency John Adams, Esquire, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Great Britain, for his kind attention to the concerns of this church; and that the President be desired to transmit the same. Extract from the minutes. FRANCIS HOPKINSON, Secretary. WILLIAM WHITE TO JOHN ADAMS. Philadelphia, 28 June, 1786. SIR, I had the honor and satisfaction of receiving your Excellency's letter dated 28 February, 1786;1 and while the church to which I belong is emboldened, by your past condescension, to solicit your further attention to her concerns, I take the liberty to inclose you a production, which can have no importance but what it may derive from the weighty business of the body before whom it was delivered. I cannot conclude without expressing my most hearty concurrence in the sentiments of your letter, with my wishes that they may always adorn those characters with whom the honor and happiness of our country shall be entrusted. With the most perfect respect and esteem, &c. . WILLIAM WHITE. D. GRIFFITH AND OTHERS TO JOHN ADAMS. Philadelphia, 28 June, 1786. SIR,The condescension your Excellency has shown, in delivering to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury a copy of a former address of the convention of the Protestant Episcopal church, and in transmitting the answer to it, added to your great candor and liberality in so stating the laws and constitutions of the United States on the subject of it, as will be forever remembered with gratitude by the members of our church, and 1 See by all friends of religious freedom, hath emboldened us, as a committee of a succeeding convention, to request the like attention of your Excellency to their address to the right reverend bench; a copy of which we do ourselves the honor to inclose. The Rev. Mr. Hultgien, a native and subject of Sweden, who is the bearer of this letter, hath taken the charge of the books and other communications referred to in the address, and will provide for their being delivered, with the assistance and under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Murray, formerly a clergyman in the State of Pennsylvania, whose past endeavors to forward our views have induced us to ask of him this instance of attention. With a deep sense of your Excellency's great goodness, we have the honor to subscribe ourselves, London, 29 June, 1786. SIR, The importance of peace with the Algerines and the other inhabitants of the coast of Barbary, to the United States, renders it necessary that every information which can be obtained should be laid before congress; and, as the demands for the redemption of captives, as well as the amount of customary presents, are so much more considerable than seem to have been expected in America, it appears to us necessary that you should return, without loss of time, to New York, there to give an account to congress of all the particulars which have come to your knowledge, as well as of your own proceedings, and of the moneys which have been paid on account of the United States in consequence of your drafts upon their ministers in London. From congress, when you arrive there, you will receive orders for your future government; and, in the mean time, we have no further occasion for your services in Europe. If you know of a certain passage immediately from any port in Spain, we advise you to avail yourself of it; if not, we think it most advisable for you to come to Paris, and from thence, after having consulted with Mr. Jefferson, to repair to Lorient and embark for New York in the first packet. As the instructions we send to Mr. Randal are to come on to Paris in his way to America, unless he should choose to accompany you from some port in Spain, we desire you to furnish him with money for his expenses to Paris and London out of the cash already in your hands; and we recommend to him, as well as to you, all reasonable attention to economy. DEAR SIR, Yours of the 23d June is come to hand, with a copy of Mr. Lamb's of 6th June from Aranjuez. There is no intelligence from America of armies marching to take the posts from the English. The news was made, as I suppose, against the opening of the three per cents; and it had the intended effect, to beat down the stocks a little. Although the posts are important, the war with the Turks is more so. I lay down a few simple propositions. 1. We may at this time have peace with them, in spite of all the intrigues of the English or others to prevent it, for a sum of money. 2. We never shall have peace, though France, Spain, England, and Holland should use all their influence in our favor, without a sum of money. 3. That neither the benevolence of France, or the malevolence of England, will be ever able materially to diminish or increase the sum. 4. The longer the negotiation is delayed, the larger will be the demand. From these premises, I conclude it to be wisest for us to negotiate and pay the necessary sum without loss of time. Now, I desire you, and our noble friend the Marquis, to give me your opinion of these four propositions. Which of them do you deny or doubt? If you admit them all, do you admit the conclusion? Perhaps you will say, fight them, though it should cost us a great sum to carry on the war, and although, at the end of it, we should have more money to pay as presents. If this is your sentiment, and you can persuade the southern States into it, I dare answer for it that all from Pennsylvania, inclusively northward, would not object. It would be a good occasion to begin a navy. At present we are sacrificing a million annually, to save one gift of £200,000. This is not good economy. We might, at this hour, have two hundred ships in the Mediterranean, whose freights alone would be worth £200,000, besides the influence upon the price of our produce. Our farmers and planters will find the price of their articles sink very low indeed, if this peace is not made. The policy of Christendom has made cowards of all their sailors before the standard of Mahomet. It would be heroical and glorious in us to restore courage to ours. I doubt not we could accomplish it, if we should set about it in earnest; but the difficulty of bringing our people to agree upon it, has ever discouraged me. You have seen Mr. Randal before this, no doubt, if he has not fallen sick on the road. This letter is intended to go by Mr. Fox. The Chevalier de Pinto's courier unfortunately missed a packet, which delayed him, and consequently the treaty, a month. The queen his mistress, as I wrote you a few days since, has given orders to her squadron cruising in the Straits. to protect all vessels belonging to the United States. This is noble, and deserves thanks. With great respect, JOHN ADAMS. T. JEFFERSON TO JOHN ADAMS. Paris, 9 July, 1786. DEAR SIR, I wrote you last on the 23d of May. Your favor of that date did not come to hand till the 19th of June; in consequence of it I wrote the next day letters to Mr. Lamb |