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, 23 September, 1787.

Dear Sir,—

The accounts from Holland and France are very discouraging; so much so, that it would be imprudent to enter into a detail of evils that are inevitable. The republic of Holland is in the utmost danger of being extinct; and, if the old forms are hereafter preserved, the prince will be so much master in reality, that the friends of liberty must be very unhappy, and live in continual disgrace and danger. The English are arming, with all the affectation of spirit and firmness, and France neither moves nor negotiates with the least appearance of fortitude or understanding. To do the former justice, they have had the prudence to send, both to Versailles and the Hague, men of sense and business. England will rise in consideration and power, and France will fall in the eyes of all Europe; this will make the former overbearing and her people insolent, and France will soon, in my poor opinion at least, be obliged to go to war, or sink very low. The United States of America, instead of being more courted by the English, as they would probably be in case of a war, will rather be more neglected, perhaps treated cavalierly. It is easy to see, however, that the peace cannot continue long between the two European nations. The philosophical visions of perpetual peace, and the religious reveries of a near approach of the millennium, in which all nations are to turn the weapons of war into implements of husbandry, will, in a few years, be dissipated. The armaments, now making in England, will disarrange Mr. Pitt’s boasted plans of economy; and, in short, there is every appearance that the peace of Europe will be for years but an armed truce. The surplus of revenue, so ostentatiously displayed to the public, is but an artful deception. Oh fortunate Americans, if you did but know your own felicity! Instead of trampling on the laws, the rights, the generous plans of power delivered down from your remote forefathers, you should cherish and fortify those noble institutions with filial and religious reverence. Instead of envying the rights of others, every American citizen has cause to rejoice in his own. Instead of violating the security of property, it should be considered as sacred as the commandment, “thou shalt not steal.” Instead of trampling on private honor and public justice, every one who attempts it should be considered as an impious parricide, who seeks to destroy his own liberty and that of his neighbors. What would have become of American liberty, if there had not been more faith, honor, and justice in the minds of their common citizens, than are found in the common people in Europe? Do we see in the Austrian Netherlands, in the United Netherlands, or even in the parliaments in France, that confidence in one another, and in the common people, which enabled the people of the United States to go through a revolution? Where is the difference? It is a want of honesty; and if the common people in America lose their integrity, they will soon set up tyrants of their own, or court a foreign one. Laws alone, and those political institutions which are the guardians of them, and a sacred administration of justice, can preserve honor, virtue, and integrity in the minds of men.

With great respect, &c.

John Adams.