Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow (Inclosed in the Preceding.) D. HARTLEY TO JOHN ADAMS. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 7 (Letters and State Papers 1777-1782)

Return to Title Page for The Works of John Adams, vol. 7 (Letters and State Papers 1777-1782)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

(Inclosed in the Preceding.) D. HARTLEY TO JOHN ADAMS. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 7 (Letters and State Papers 1777-1782) [1852]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 7.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


(Inclosed in the Preceding.)

D. HARTLEY TO JOHN ADAMS.

Dear Sir,

Having been long informed of your benevolent sentiments towards peace, I wrote a letter to you on the 19th of last month, through the hands of Mr. Laurens, Jr., to renew that subject with you, because I was aware at that time, from conferences and correspondences to which I had been a party, that the topic of peace would soon become general. I understand that Mr. Jay, Dr. Franklin, Mr. Laurens, and yourself, are empowered, by a special commission, to treat. I hope the powers of that commission will soon be called forth into action, and that success may attend. The public proceedings of parliament, and the proposed bill to enable the crown to conclude peace or truce with America, are, or will certainly be, made known to you. The first object will be to procure a meeting of authorized persons, and to consult upon the preliminaries of time, place, and manner; but the requisites, above all others, are mutual good dispositions to conciliate and to accommodate, in the confident hope, that if the work of peace were once well begun, it would soon become general. Permit me to ask whether the four gentlemen above specified are empowered to conclude as well as to treat, and whether jointly so, or severally. The bill now depending in parliament on the part of this country, is to conclude as well as to treat. As to other provisions of it, I cannot speak positively, but I understand, from the best authority, that the general scope of it is to remove the parliamentary obstructions now subsisting, which would frustrate the settlements which may be made at the termination of the war. I heartily wish success to the cause of peace.

I am, dear sir, with great respect,
Your most obedient servant,

D. Hartley.

P. S. Mr. Digges, who will deliver this to you, will explain many things of great importance on the subject of peace. I have been witness of the authority upon which they have been delivered to him; when the first application was made to him, he consulted me, as knowing that such topics had more than once passed through my hands. I have recently had many conferences on my own part with the ministry here, relating to the mode of entering into negotiations of peace, and am fully informed of the subject of Mr. Digges’s commission to you. You may, therefore, be assured that it comes to you from the highest authority.