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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.

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TO SECRETARY JAY.

London, 15 November, 1787.

Dear Sir,—

The attack upon Mr. Dumas is but a part of that system of intimidation that the present triumphant party in Holland is pursuing; and if one were to conjecture, it would be plausible to suppose that Sir James Harris was the instigator of it.

The English Court and nation, with all their affected contempt and rude execrations of the Dutch, have at bottom a very great opinion of the importance of that power in the balance between England and the House of Bourbon. Hints have been several times thrown out in the English papers of the partiality of the American minister at the Hague to France; and as Mr. Dumas was supposed to be under my direction, his motions have been imputed to me. Mr. Dumas has a pension from France, reversible to his daughter. It would be better for congress to pay this pension, at the expense of the United States, or to dismiss him from their service, paying him, however, during his life, his annual allowance, than to have a person in their service in the pay of two powers at once. If an English ambassador, or chargé d’affaires, or agent, at the Hague, should receive from France a pension for opposing the interests of the United States, congress would have some cause to be uneasy. I am not at all surprised, therefore, at the attack upon Mr. Dumas, yet I should be very sorry if it should prevail against him; and, therefore, it is to be hoped that congress will take time to deliberate upon the subject. As there has been no formal deliberation of their High Mightinesses upon my memorial, and as the correspondence has been hitherto only between Mr. Fagel and me,—although their High Mightinesses have been acquainted with it, and have directed it on the part of Mr. Fagel,—yet congress are not obliged formally to answer it. Sovereign to sovereign, and minister to minister, is the diplomatic maxim; congress, therefore, may take as long time as they please to deliberate, and it is hoped they will take so much, that the present passions may cool, and the present scene be shifted. After another year, or six or nine months, circumstances may be very different.

If we were to judge, by the tone of arrogance at present in Holland, we should conclude that they would infallibly blow up a war between England and France, and join the former. But this, to me, at least, is very doubtful. Notwithstanding the complaint against Mr. Dumas, and the recall of Mr. Van Berckel, if that should be agreed to, you will not find any hostile disposition towards the United States. If France remains quiet, as she ought at present, for it is now too late for her to move, all nations and parties will sit down satisfied with the restoration of the Stadtholder for some years, and there will be no formal rupture with France or America. England has blustered, and France has slept; but the former has, at heart, no inclination for war. Fifty millions of debt, added to the present, would produce a tornado in this country, the consequences of which cannot be computed. England, Holland, and Prussia will be very glad to remain as they are, and France shows no disposition to disturb them.

As I take all the late transactions to have been merely a system of intimidation, you will not hear of those rigorous prosecutions and cruel punishments of the patriots in Holland, which are held out in terror; neutrality, eternal neutrality, will still be the passion and politics in the United Provinces, both of Stadtholderians and patriots. There are no warlike characters among them, and the present dominant party will be as anxious as their adversaries to avoid every provocation to a war, either with France or England. William V. is neither the politician nor the warrior that William III. was. An appearance of spirit, and even of arrogance, has been assumed in the Netherlands, as well as in England, merely to overawe, and upon the secret presumption that they should not be forced into a war in earnest. This policy has succeeded so well, that I cannot help suspecting there were better grounds for it than the world in general were acquainted with. I know that the patriots in Holland, some of them at least, as long ago as when Mr. Rayneval made his curious journey into that country, suspected that their ideas of liberty were not to be supported, and accordingly thought very seriously of emigrating to America. I do not mean, however, by this, the casuistical characters. Money is, however, so much better understood, and more beloved, than liberty, that you will not hear of many emigrations. The friends of France affect to speak slightly of Holland at present, and of her weight in the scale. This is necessary to excuse their inattention and blunders on the late occasion; but France never committed a greater error in policy than she has done by her unskilful negotiations at Berlin, the Hague, and London, since the peace. If Holland should be forced into a renovation of her connections with England, America, in my opinion, will have reason to regret it; for I have not a doubt that England, Holland, and Prussia would get the better in a war against the house of Bourbon, and America will be obliged to join the latter in self-defence; for, after having humbled France, England would not scruple to attack the United States. That our country may act with dignity in all events, that she may not be obliged to join in any war without the clearest conviction of the justice of the cause, and her own honor and real interest, it is indispensably necessary that she should act the part, in Holland, of perfect independence and honest impartiality between the different Courts and nations who are now struggling for her friendship, and who are all, at present, our friends. This has ever appeared to me so clear and obvious, that I never could approve the conduct of M. Dumas, or Messieurs Van Staphorst, in taking so decided a part in favor of France and against the Stadtholder, although I fully believe they followed the judgments of their understandings, and the inclinations of their hearts, with integrity and honor.

With great respect, &c.

John Adams.