TO J. Q. ADAMS. Philadelphia, 31 March, 1797. MY DEAR SON,- Mr. Murray, of Maryland, your old friend, with whom you formed your first acquaintance at the Hague, is to succeed you.1 That gentleman has been so long a member of Congress, and has given such proofs of talents, amiable dispositions, and patriotic sentiments, as qualify him to do honor to the mission, as well as to his predecessor. It would have been enough to have said that he is well chosen to fill the place; for I have the best authority, besides my private opinion, to say, that no place has been better filled than that at the Hague, since your appointment to that mission. You sometimes hint an inclination to return to America, and nothing would give me greater pleasure, on certain suppositions; but, my son, independence is essential to self-esteem as well as to command the esteem of others, and where is your independence? If you would return to the bar, you might be independent, I grant, but I would not advise you to return to America yet; go to Lisbon, and send me as good intelligence from all parts of Europe as you have done. My entrance into office is marked by a misunderstanding with France, which I shall endeavor to reconcile, provided that no violation of faith, no stain upon honor, is exacted. But if infidelity, dishonor, or too much humiliation is demanded, France shall do as she pleases, and take her own course. America is not SCARED. The multiplicity of business in which I am involved is no otherwise irksome to me than as it may endanger my health; but I have great confidence in my saddle. I pray you to write me as often as you can. I am your affectionate father, JOHN ADAMS. 1 In Holland. 2 Mr. J. Q. Adams had been appointed by President Washington to go as minister to Portugal. TO ELBRIDGE GERRY. Philadelphia, 6 April, 1797. DEAR SIR, Your favor of the 27th ultimo gave me great pleasure. The proposal of appointing the Vice-President to go as envoy extraordinary to Paris, has arrived from so many quarters, that I presume the thought is a natural one. I will tell you a secret, but I wish you to keep it a secret in your own breast. I was so impressed with the idea myself, that on the 3d of March I had a conversation with Mr. Jefferson, in which I proposed it to him, and frankly declared to him, that if he would accept it, I would nominate him the next day, as soon as I should be qualified to do it. He as frankly refused, as I expected he would. Indeed, I made a great stretch in proposing it, to accommodate to the feelings, views, and prejudices of a party. I would not do it again, because, upon more mature reflection, I am decidedly convinced of the impropriety of it. The reasons you give are unanswerable, but there are others. It would be a degradation of our government in the eyes of our own people, as well as of all Europe. The Vice-President, in our Constitution, is too high a personage to be sent on diplomatic errands, even in the character of an ambassador. We cannot work miracles. We cannot make nations respect our nation, or its government, if we place before their eyes the persons answering to the first princes of the government, in the low and subordinate character of a foreign minister. It must be a pitiful country indeed, in which the second man in the nation will accept of a place upon a footing with the corps diplomatique, especially envoy such a one, ambassador such a one, or plenipotentiary such a one. The nation must hold itself very cheap, that can choose a man one day to hold its second office, and the next 1 Mr. Jefferson has given his account of this conference in his Ana. It seems to have been drawn up in 1818, from recollections associated with a memorandum made at the time. But no means are furnished by which to distinguish the original from the additions. He mentions Madison, Gerry, and Pinckney, as the three persons named for the mission. Mr. Adams gave, in 1809, his version of the same conference, formed much in the same way, excepting that his original memoranda date in 1801, four years later. He mentions Madison or Jefferson as one of the three, though he speaks of other characters having been considered in the course of the conversation; and this exactly conforms to the earlier record. send him to Europe, to dance attendance at levees and drawing rooms, among the common major-generals, simple bishops, earls, and barons, but especially among the common trash of ambassadors, envoys, and ministers plenipotentiary. The nation has chosen Jefferson, and commanded him to a certain station. The President, therefore, has no right to command him to another, or to take him off from that. A nation, to be consistent, must highly resent it. It appeared to me in this light, when the mission to England was talked of; two or three persons proposed to me to go, but I positively refused to have any thing said about it, and gave the reasons above, among many others. Indeed, I thought it wrong to send the chief 1 The date of this letter relieves the statement here made from all suspicion of especial motive. It thus forms a complete answer to a charge made three years later by Mr. Hamilton in his well known attack upon Mr. Adams. In that pamphlet is an attempt to connect with a private letter, made public by a violation of confidence on the part of Tench Coxe, an imputation of unworthy motives in writing it, which is the only circumstance that gives the affair any importance. It now clearly appears that Mr. Hamilton was mistaken. Yet, inasmuch as an impression seems to have prevailed elsewhere than with Mr. Hamilton, that Mr. Adams, against the uniform tenor of his preceding life, and contrary to all probabilities, had solicited the mission to England at the time here spoken of, it will not be out of place to add to this letter to Mr. Gerry, bearing date three years before the charge was thought of, an extract from a fragment written in 1801, originally intended as an answer to Mr. Hamilton, touching the same point. "It is scarcely conceivable in what this assertion originated. There has been no moment since Mr. Adams's return to America, that he would have accepted an appointment to England on any terms. He returned weary and satiated with the diplomatic course. He returned voluntarily. There is little doubt his commission would have been renewed to the court of London, if he had desired it. But so far from wishing it, he resigned all his commissions in Europe, and instead of asking leave to return home, he wrote the then Secretary of State, Mr. Jay, that he was determined to return." "Mr. Adams had also other reasons against any appointment abroad, and these were the same that President Washington suggested, according to Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Adams, however, never knew till he read it in this pamphlet, that the thought had ever occurred or been proposed to President Washington." [The letter to Mr. Jay, above referred to, is found in this volume, p. 424] The only circumstance which Mr. Adams can recollect, connected with this subject, is this. A gentleman once came to him and said, that he had come to propose to him a thing that appeared to him in a very serious light. A negotiation was in contemplation with England. The people and Congress were anxious. Some gentlemen of the Senate, one in particular, had desired him to see the Vice-President and propose to him to accept an appointment, and by way of inducement said that Mr. Adams would have an unanimous vote in the Senate. Mr. A. laughed at the idea of an unanimous vote, and said that he knew his own station in society so well as to know that unanimous votes were luxuries which were never to fall to his lot. That, in some former parts of his life, he had tasted the delicious flavor; but it was never to gratify his palate again. justice; he was too high to go, even as an ambassador; but to send him as envoy, was unpardonable; it must mark us with contempt in all Europe. But we studiously degrade our government, by every ingenious invention, and then wonder that our nation and government are despised. The satisfaction you express with my little harangue, before taking the oath, gives me great pleasure. I had been so abused, belied, and misrepresented, for seven years together, without uttering one syllable in my own vindication, and almost without one word in my favor from anybody else, that I was determined to give the lie direct to whole volumes at once, be the consequence what it would. I am, my dear Sir, with great respect, JOHN ADAMS. TO THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENT. Philadelphia, 14 April, 1797. The President of the United States requests the Secretary of State to take into his consideration the following questions,2 and make report of his opinion in writing, viz.: 1. Whether the refusal to receive Mr. Pinckney, and the rude orders to quit Paris and the territory of the republic, with such circumstances of indignity, insult, and hostility, as we have been informed of, are bars to all further measures of negotiation. Or, in other words, will a fresh mission to Paris be too great a humiliation of the American people in their own sense and that of the world? 2. If another mission be admissible, can any part, and what parts, or articles, of the treaty of amity and commerce with But he said to the gentleman, that he absolutely forbid his name to be mentioned on the occasion, for that he would refuse it, if he should be nominated, even if the miracle should be wrought in the Senate of an unanimous vote in his favor; and he assigned the same reasons which are hinted at above." 1 The same form addressed to the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, and the Attorney-General. 2 It has been affirmed that Mr. Adams decided all questions with little regard to his cabinet. The sequel will show that although he settled principles for himself, he was elaborate in the submission of all the details to their consideration, and ready to follow their advice so long as his confidence in them lasted. Great Britain be offered to France, or ultimately conceded to that power in case of necessity, if demanded by her? 3. What articles of the treaty of alliance, and of the treaty of commerce, with France, should be proposed to be abolished? 4. Whether it will be prudent to say anything concerning the consular convention with that power, and, if it will, what alterations in it should be proposed? 5. Whether any new articles, such as are not contained in either of our treaties with France or England, shall be proposed, or can be agreed to, if proposed by the French government? 6. What documents shall be prepared to send to France, as evidence of insult and injuries committed against the commerce of the United States by French ships of war or privateers, or by French commissioners, agents, officers, or citizens? 7. In what terms shall remonstrances against spoliations of property, capture of vessels, imprisonment of masters and mariners, cruelties, insults, and abuses of every kind to our citizens, be made? 8. In what terms shall restitution, reparation, compensation, and satisfaction, be demanded for such insults and injuries? 9. Shall demand be made of payment to our citizens for property purchased by the French government in Europe, or in the East and West Indies? 10. Shall demand be made of the French government of payment for vessels and cargoes captured and seized, whether by ships of war or private ships? 11. Shall any commission of inquiry and examination, like that with England, be agreed to? 12. What articles in the British treaty can be offered to France without compensation, and what with compensation, and what compensation shall be demanded? 13. Shall a project of a new treaty, abolishing the old treaties and consular convention, be proposed to France? 14. Shall such a project, with a project of instructions to the minister, be proposed and laid before the Senate for their advice and consent before they be sent to Europe?1 JOHN ADAMS. 1 It is to be regretted that the limits of this work will not permit of the insertion of the opinions of the cabinet officers, often quite various topics on which they were consulted by Mr. Adams. long, upon the In the present |