то T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Quincy, 26 September, 1798.

I had the honor of your letter of the 19th, last night, and have read the inclosures.

Dr. Rush's letter gives me pleasure, because the number of disappointed candidates is diminished by it by one.

Mr. Sitgreaves's letter is frank, candid, and agreeable. But, although this gentleman has merit and talents held in high esteem by his country as well as by me, I cannot help thinking that a few years of service, in stations less exalted than the bench of the United States, may reasonably be expected from him.

Mr. Lee's letter deserves great attention. The name, the connections, the character, the merit, and abilities of Mr. Washington1 are greatly respected. But I still think that General Marshall ought to be preferred. Of the three envoys, the conduct of Marshall alone has been entirely satisfactory, and ought to be marked by the most decided approbation of the public. He has raised the American people in their own esteem, and if the influence of truth and justice, reason and argument, is not lost in Europe, he has raised the consideration of the United States in that quarter of the world. He is older at the bar than Mr. Washington; and you and I know by experience that seniority at the bar is nearly as much regarded as it is in the army. If Mr. Marshall should decline, I should next think of Mr. Washington. It is true that some regard to States ought to be always remembered; but Pennsylvania has always had a judge, Virginia has had none since the resignation of Mr. Blair. As far as States can have reasonable pretensions, therefore, those of Virginia are at least equal to those of Pennsylvania. Thus the subject appears to me. If you are of a different opinion I pray you to inform me, or if any more meritorious candidate than Mr. Marshall occurs to you, I hope you will mention him to, Sir, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

1 Bushrod Washington.

TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Quincy, 28 September, 1798. DEAR SIR, — I have received your letter of September 20th, and return you the commission for a Judge of the Supreme Court, signed, leaving the name and date blank. You will fill the blank with the name of Marshall, if he will accept it; if not, with that of Bushrod Washington. I cannot blame the former, if he should decline; of the latter, I have always heard the most agreeable accounts.1

I have also received your letter of the 21st, with its inclosures and the extract from General Marshall's letter. I am of his opinion, that the world has seldom seen more extraordinary letters than those of Talleyrand.

TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Quincy, 30 September, 1798.

I have received your favor of the 24th, and have read carefully all the inclosures. Such as ought to remain in your office I return, inclosed in this.

There is nothing that requires any remarks from me, because I think all is well considered and well done. It may not, however, be amiss to observe to Mr. Adams, that he need not be solicitous about his success in making treaties with Prussia and Sweden at present; that I am fully convinced, as he is, that both will affect to refuse any treaty upon the terms in his instructions. This will not alarm me at all, and if both powers finally refuse to agree to any stipulations without the articles in

'Mr. Washington was appointed. Mr. Marshall declined. In his letter to the Secretary of State, dated 28 September, he says:

"I pray you to make my respectful and grateful acknowledgments to the President for the very favorable sentiments concerning me, which are indicated by his willingness to call me to so honorable and important a station as that of a Judge of the United States. The considerations, which are insurmountable, oblige me to decline the office. I can assure you, that I shall ever estimate properly, both the dispositions of the President, and the polite and friendly manner in which you have communicated them."

contemplation, we shall not be very uneasy. Our commerce is of more consequence to them, than theirs to us; and with or without treaties we shall have all we want. But we should be very improvident, at the moment of being forced into a war, to bind ourselves to permit France and her colonies to be supplied with every thing, even our own produce, in Prussian and Swedish or Danish ships.

JOHN ADAMS.

The Constitution's prize must be tried and fairly determined by law. I hope and believe that care will be taken that no suspicions of plundering any thing may arise.

TO B. STODDERT, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.1

Quincy, 1 October, 1798.

DEAR SIR, I have received your favors of the 20th, 21st, and 24th of September. I am sorry that Captain Barry has not fully answered your expectations; but I hope you will soon send him out again. The hurricanes are now passed, and there is no longer danger from them. We must sweep the West India seas, and get as many of the French seamen, as they are called, whether they are Italians, Spaniards, Germans, or negroes, as we can. Seamen are so scarce that they cannot send out large privateers.

I thank you for your humane and wise directions to the Navy Agent at Norfolk. The captives ought to have able and honorable counsel, and I rely upon the impartial justice of our tribunals, for their honorable acquittal, if the law and the truth require it. The suppression of ship's papers is a suspicious fact. If they have cruised and plundered Americans, there cannot be much hesitation. I cannot conceive there can be any difficulty in procuring evidence to show clearly the guilt or innocence of the ship.2

The navy department had been organized in the month of May preceding, and Mr. Stoddert of Maryland, had been made the first secretary.

2 This was a ship of twenty-four guns sent into Hampton roads by Captain

TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

Quincy, 3 October, 1798.

DEAR SIR,- Inclosed is a duplicate of a letter from Miranda, with some estimates. Read it and think of it. A number of questions and considerations occur. We are friends with Spain. If we were enemies, would the project be useful to us? It will not be in character for me to answer the letter. Will any notice of it, in any manner, be proper? I shall send it by Mr. Humphreys with Mr. Gerry's papers.1

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Quincy, 9 October, 1798.

SIR, I received, yesterday, the letter you did me the honor to write me on the 25th of September.2

You request to be informed, whether my determination to preserve the order of the three major-generals is final; and whether I mean to appoint another adjutant-general without your concurrence. I presume that before this day you have Nicholson, on a suspicion of piracy. Mr. Stoddert was inclined to believe the vessel filled with French refugees under British protection. In his letter, he

says:

"I have written to the Navy Agent at Norfolk, to liberate, on parole, the officers and owners, if they are confined, unless there are stronger reasons than I am informed of, to suspect them of piracy; and to tell them they have nothing to apprehend, if innocent. And I have desired him to recommend them to able and honorable counsel, which I have no doubt will meet with your approbation." 1 On the 11th, Mr. Pickering acknowledges the reception from Mr. Humphreys, of "the despatches of Mr. Gerry and others," but he takes no notice of the questions.

2 Sparks's Washington's Writings, vol. xi. p. 304. A marked difference is visible in the tone and sentiment of this letter and of that addressed to Mr. Hamilton on the 14th of July. Vol. xi. p. 265. In the latter, General Washington clearly designates Mr. Pinckney as the next to him in command; in the former, he says he intended the rank to be in the order of the names on his list. In the one, he complains of any variation from his list as an infraction of the condition of his acceptance, in the other, he distinctly alludes to the President as having a right to use his pleasure in the last resort. One explanation of this change is to be found in the gradual action of third persons upon General Washington, by naming individuals, known to be much disliked by him, as likely to obtain appointments.

received information from the Secretary of War, that I some time ago signed the three commissions and dated them on the same day, in hopes, similar to yours, that an amicable adjustment, or acquiescence, might take place among the gentlemen themselves. But, if these hopes should be disappointed and controversies should arise, they will, of course, be submitted to you as Commander-in-chief, and if, after all, any one should be so obstinate as to appeal to me from the judgment of the Commander-in-chief, I was determined to confirm that judgment. Because, whatever construction may be put upon the resolutions of the ancient Congress, which have been applied to this case, and whether they are at all applicable to it or not, there is no doubt to be made that, by the present Constitution of the United States, the President has authority to determine the rank of officers.

I have been for some time prepared in my own mind to nominate Mr. Dayton to be Adjutant-General, in case of the refusal of Mr. North. Several others have occurred and been suggested to me, but none who in point of science or literature, political and military merit, or energy of character, appear to be equal to him. If you have any other in contemplation, I pray you to mention him to the Secretary at War, who may fill up his commission immediately, in case Mr. North declines.

I hope your own health and Mrs. Washington's are perfect. Mine is very indifferent, and Mrs. Adams's extremely low. Confined to the bed of sickness for two months, her destiny is still very precarious, and mine in consequence of it.1

With great respect, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

1 This letter was probably the consequence of one addressed to Mr. Adams by Mr. Wolcott, on the 17th of the preceding month, wherein an earnest effort was made to heal a misunderstanding, which was widening into a breach, between the President and General Washington. On the 19th, Mr. Wolcott wrote to Mr. Hamilton, urging him to remain quiet, and expressing the conviction that "the embarrassment might have been entirely avoided." In this Mr. Wolcott is doubtless correct, and by his more skilful tact Mr. Adams was ultimately induced to concede the point. But an imperfect draft of a letter, designed to be a reply to Mr. Wolcott, remains among the papers, which shows how accurately Mr. Adams understood the true position which General Washington had, at first, intended to occupy, and the uses that had been made of both. As explaining his views and feelings, the greater part of it is not without interest. Mr. Wolcott's letter is printed in full in Mr. Gibbs's work, vol. ii. pp. 93–99. Quincy, 24 September, 1798.

I have received your favor of the 17th, and read it over and over again, with