Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO SECRETARY JAY. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799)

Return to Title Page for The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

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

TO SECRETARY JAY. - 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:

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


TO SECRETARY JAY.

London, 30 May, 1785.

Dear Sir,—

I have redeemed a moment from a multitude of avocations at this critical time, to acknowledge the receipt by Colonel Smith of your letters of the 31st of March, with the resolutions of congress inclosed of the 21st of March. As M. de St. Saphorin is many months ago recalled from the Hague, I shall make inquiry after him, and, if I cannot find where he is, I shall communicate a copy of the resolution to the Danish minister here, by whom it will be transmitted to his Court, which I suppose will be an execution of my instructions as near the spirit of them as it is now practicable. The liberal decision of his Danish Majesty, respecting the ordination of American candidates for holy orders in the Episcopal church, called the Church of England, as soon as it was known in England, produced a more liberal spirit and decision here than had prevailed before, so that I hope that respectable body of our fellow-citizens who are interested in it have derived a benefit from it. I am much obliged to congress for this instance of their approbation, and for the honor they have done me in transmitting an account of it to the executives of the States.1

I have received, too, your letter of 13th of April, 1785, with the resolve of congress of 14th of February, 1785, empowering your ministers to apply a sum not exceeding eighty thousand dollars to the use of treating with Morocco, &c. But I have heard nothing of Captain Lamb, or the papers by him. What my colleagues will judge proper to do I cannot say; but the advice of the French Court was conformable to the opinion of us all,—that it will be indispensable for congress to send a consul with full powers.

I received at Auteuil my commission, instructions, and letter of credence to the Court of Great Britain, and have now received by Colonel Smith the papers sent by him.

I received at Auteuil the ratification of the last loan in Holland, which I transmitted immediately to Amsterdam, where it has been received, registered, and communicated to the lenders of the money, and has given them satisfaction, since which I have received from you, sir, duplicate and triplicate of the same ratification. The cipher is received, and shall be attended to.

Your ministers have written monthly an account of their proceedings. Not one packet has been missed; but when I left Auteuil we had no certain evidence that any one of our letters had been received. We supposed that this was because congress had not completed their instructions upon any of them; but I must beg the favor of you, sir, barely to mention the receipt of my letters, and their dates, although you may not be prepared to answer them. Without this one loses the chain of correspondence.

I have been visited by some gentlemen, who, I suppose, had seen the ministers, and learned from them what to say to me. They said that the ministry and the King considered the appointment of a minister as a proof of a conciliating disposition; that it was a relief to them from an anxiety, &c., and that they were fully determined to receive me in all respects like all the other foreign ministers. This, I believe is true; but we must be cautious what consequences we draw from it. It by no means follows that they are determined to do what their honor and their public faith oblige them to do according to our ideas of their obligations. It by no means follows that they will surrender the posts, restore the negroes, relieve the debtors, or make any equitable treaty of commerce. I hope they will do all these things; but I can ascertain nothing until my character is acknowledged by a public reception and audience of his Majesty, I have made my visits to his ministers, and have had time to enter into a candid discussion of these questions. You shall be punctually informed from step to step.

With great esteem, &c.

John Adams.

P. S. This morning Sir Clement Cottrell Dormer, master of the ceremonies, called upon me to inform me that he was ordered to attend me to Court on Wednesday, as he did on all foreign ministers at their first presentation, to show them the way through the apartments, &c.

[1 ]See page 231.