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

TO SECRETARY LIVINGSTON. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799) [1853]

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. 8.

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

About Liberty Fund:

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TO SECRETARY LIVINGSTON.

Paris, 23 January, 1783.

Sir,—

The letters you did me the honor to write on the 6th and 18th of November came safe to hand.

You do me honor, sir, in applauding the judgment I have formed from time to time of the Court of Britain, and future ages will give me credit for the judgment I have formed of some other courts. The true designs of a minister of state are not difficult to be penetrated by an honest man of common sense, who is in a situation to know any thing of the secret of affairs, and to observe constantly the chain of public events; for whatever ostensible appearances may be put on, whatever obliquities may be imagined, however the web may be woven, or the thread doubled and twisted, enough will be seen to unravel the whole.

My opinions, as you observe, sometimes run counter to those generally received; but the reason of this has generally been, that I have had earlier evidence than the generality, and I have had the satisfaction to find that others have formed the same judgment when they have had the same intelligence. I do not affect singularity, nor love to be in a minority, though truth and justice have sometimes obliged me to be so. You say, that nothing can be more conformable to your wishes than the instructions I transmitted. I am not surprised at this; it is very natural. Had I never been on this side of the Atlantic, I believe I should have been of your mind in this particular. At present I cannot be, and I believe, by this time, the Dutch regret having given them. You will hear enough of the reason of it. I have lived long enough, and had experience enough of the conduct of governments and people, nations and courts, to be convinced that gratitude, friendship, unsuspecting confidence, and all the most amiable passions in human nature, are the most dangerous guides in politics. I assure you, sir, if we had not been more cautious than the Dutch, we should have been worse off than they, and our country would have suffered much more.

Mr. Laurens has been here, and has behaved with great caution, firmness, and wisdom. He arrived so late as only to attend the two last days of the conferences, the 29th and 30th of November. But the short time he was with us, he was of great service to the cause. He has done great service to America in England, where his conversation has been such as the purest and firmest American could wish it, and has made many converts. He is gone again to Bath, and his journey will do as much good to his country as to his health. He will return to the signature of the definitive treaty.

The ratifications of my contracts have been received.

The release of Captain Asgill was so exquisite a relief to my feelings, that I have not much cared what interposition it was owing to. It would have been a horrid damp to the joys of peace, if we had received a disagreeable account of him.

The difference between Denmark and Holland is of no serious nature. The clue to the whole is, the Queen dowager is sister to the Duke of Brunswick; but there is nothing to fear from Denmark. As to the northern powers, we have nothing to fear from any of them. All of them and all the neutral powers would have acknowledged our independence before now, by receiving Mr. Dana to sign the principles of the armed neutrality, if he had not been restrained from acting. The unlimited confidence of congress has been grossly abused, and we should have been irreparably injured, if we had not been upon our guard. As our liberties and most important interests are now secured as far as they can be against Great Britain, it would be my wish to say as little as possible of the policy of any minister of our first ally, which has not been as we could desire, and to retain forever a grateful remembrance of the friendly assistance we have received. But we have evidence enough to warn us against unlimited confidence in any European minister of state.

I have never drawn upon Dr. Franklin for any money since the end of my two and a half years’ salary; and he tells me he has made no use of the bills. I had received money for my subsistence of Messieurs Willink, and as it will be but a few months more, at farthest, that I shall have to subsist in Europe, I beg leave to proceed to the end in the same way. I shall receive only the amount of my salary, and settle the account with congress on my return.

I hope to be safely landed on my native shore in the month of June; and to this end, I beg that an appointment may be made to the Dutch mission, and the acceptance of my resignation be transmitted to me by the first ships.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.