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

No. I.: WILLIAM VANS MURRAY TO JOHN ADAMS. 1 - 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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No. I.

WILLIAM VANS MURRAY TO JOHN ADAMS.1

The Hague, 1 July, 1798.

Dear Sir,—

The papers, some of which I have received as late as 8th May, and one of 26th May, have, after so long a pause of uncertainty, thrown me into a tumult of feelings, almost to tears. I see, with a pride sustained by active domestic sources of greatness, the rising energies of America spreading over that surface of the public mind which reflection had matured, into a mass of stability, fit to support all the passions that are generous and lofty. Among the causes of exultation, the addresses are certainly all important. I circulate them here, and they open the eyes of even the wilful as to the long-told tale and inveterate error, that the people and the Executive are at variance. The prospects which these things open upon this government, give them infinite solicitude. Their ally is deaf to their sufferings, and, if war openly comes on, I verily believe they do not know whether they are to share in it or not. They will struggle, complain, argue, and remonstrate against joining France, both because they hate her and rejoice at our energy, and because it will put almost a last stroke to their commerce, perhaps colonies. Knowing the absolute power of France over all their means, and foreseeing a period when the question might be decided against their neutrality respecting the United States, all my wishes have been bent towards the preparation of a state of things internally here, that might eventually drive the French out of this country. In this wish, the theories of the old and the new governments are not at all taken into view, nor are their merits among the motives I have felt to do this; it is my duty which makes it becoming in me, Sir, to tell you I have conversed with some of the important men among the moderates in the month of May. As soon as I knew very secretly that they intended through General Daendels to overturn the Directory and Councils, if they could get the leave of France, I discovered that their object ultimately was to get possession of power, new organize the whole country in its public men, and, if possible, in any lucky concurrence of external things, liberate the country from the French, whom they abhor. I wrote to Mr. King, stating the views to which I thought these men, if successful in oversetting the usurpers of 22d January, might be brought. My object in writing was this. In all their solicitude against France, the principal obstruction to a radical concert was the fear of the interference of Great Britain to restore the Stadtholder. That fear removed, and external events concurring, [and they seemed coming, as war on the Rhine, internal convulsions in France, ruptures in Italy] they seemed to be in a fair course to even success. I stated to him that, while the parties here (and one hundred and fifty thousand men voted for the Constitution) were afraid of this interference, all their measures for independence would be checked, and they would remain absolutely French; that if great Britain could by some means settle that fear, and the moderates succeeded (as they did on the 12th June), and other events that seemed probable occurred, the government which would be formed among the moderates, would do all in their power to so prepare things that they might successfully avail themselves of opportunity. My letters arrived safely, and nothing was hazarded on my part.

On the 22d of May, I was called upon by the second man in the party. A conversation the preceding evening at a ball of the French minister was the proximate cause, for I had enjoyed with him some confidential conversations before. In this interview, this gentleman, after telling me that he wished to converse fully with me in confidence, and that what I should hear from him should not go further than to you, Sir, the Secretary of State, and Mr. King, opened himself fully. He told me that if Daendels succeeded (he went the 17th at night) they meant to overturn the present men, whom he represented as peculators, and as men who exhausted every thing in enormous bribes, to arrange their internal affairs, and the first moment in their power to drive out the French; that opportunities would occur in the war, if it was renewed, and that they meant to embroil parties in France, if there was a chance of convulsion there, but that the great obstacle was the temper of England towards them; that this apprehension once settled by a secret understanding, they could join her and the United States against France; that this understanding ought to take place soon, because they would then work all their means to the grand object from the start of the new administration, which he hoped would be formed in a little time. I then read to him part of my letter to Mr. King from a press-copy, on this subject. He said that was all he wished. In many parts of his conversation he was excessively moved by mournful and indignant feelings. I told him I should write to Mr. King. That we were so distant, I did not see the necessity of writing to the President. You will see, Sir, that I have not overrated this interview, when I tell you that the gentleman was the name which you will find at the bottom of this page.* His name I have not informed Mr. King of, nor any one.

Could this nation be once roused, and drive the French out, the spirit of revolt from her would spread over all the affiliated countries, and the most important events succeed. As to the restoration of the Stadtholder, that is in my mind a secondary consideration, and for themselves; and it is not improbable that his restoration would take place. The expulsion of the French must be the groundwork of every measure, whether for his restoration, or any thing else, and would be highly important to the United States.

I mention this to you, Sir, because I think it my duty to tell you every thing of consequence, which I cannot and ought not to trust to the inspection of so many men (above a hundred), who claim the privilege of inspecting the despatches in the office, and I think it important enough to trouble you with, because it is a likeness of the men now in power, and, I believe, a true view of their wishes. But Great Britain will not give up the Stadtholder. I do not know that she need. The question, however, is, whether she would see this whole country eventually divided by France, or in the full possession of France, or so placed as that it might either have a constitution different from its old form, and probably also the Stadtholder, taking him back upon terms of their own after the French should be dispossessed, and without her interference. Prussia would take care also of this restoration, it is probable, though now she abandons all her friends, and Great Britain, by her project last summer, in fact gave him up.

I apprehend that the war will break out again. We know nothing of Bonaparte and his fleet, that can be deemed authentic, except that they are near Malta. The rupture between Genoa and the court of Turin is a thing intended by our great ally, and will lead to the speedy downfall of Sardinia, who, in the latter end of April, actually set on foot a negotiation at Paris to obtain a handsome retreat, if it was the declared intention of France to revolutionize his country. France tries to avoid such appearances with an ally, and though a miserable substitute for a manly and noble resistance, yet it had some policy in it, for it brought her to renounce openly her design, and enabled him to defeat the insurgents, who had been stimulated by France, and who for a month thought themselves deserted. It is singular, but he will join France, if war comes on with the Emperor. Such is his abject state, living with a certainty of being cut up, if the French republic exists a year.

Some part of the subject of this letter, which will be, I fear, Sir, very toilsome to you, may require a vindication. My own opinion is, that the evil ones of the world have a decided superiority over the good, by that jacobinical and secret intrigue, by which vast plots are ripened in the dark, and because the good will not go into the dark to work. I believe that an enemy is to be opposed in the recesses of the mine, which is ready to heave into air the fortress, as well as on the open plain in broad day, and that their mode of fighting must furnish the model by which the fashion of resistance is to be adopted. In fact, Sir, that a diplomat of strict honor, and with views the most correct, in the present scenes in Europe, must counterwork in the manner that they work. That to resist this horrible illuminism, this darkness visible, he must himself, if possible, be an illuminé. I submit this delicate question to you, Sir, who have yourself worked in the midst of difficulties the greatest. I trust that I feel the full force of the truth that there is something in honest intentions, and in true simplicity of design, that without cunning excels it; yet the experience at this day of every horrible scene that has occurred for ten years past, from the first step of revolution to the last, convinces me that this truth is applicable in sound interpretation to the principles and intentions of a system, and that though bad means are not sanctified by a good end, yet that no good means will equal bad means, conducted by immense combination, without they are combined and excited in a manner resembling that in which the bad are. This for my vindication, should I have appeared to you to be doing something secretly, which I have mentioned in this letter.

I have the pleasure to inform you that Mr. Adams was well on 23d June. I have the honor to be, with my felicitations among the crowd who address you, and the most sincere respect and most perfect esteem, dear Sir, your most obedient servant.

W. V. Murray.

[1 ]It is material to an accurate knowledge of events during this critical period, to record the date of reception of these letters. This and the succeeding one were received by Mr. Adams at Quincy, on the 9th of October, 1798. Being written partly in the cipher of the Department of State, of which Mr. A. had no key, he sent them on the 10th to Philadelphia to be deciphered, with a charge to Mr. Pickering to “keep their contents within his own bosom.” Mr. P. returned them deciphered on the 18th, with a letter, speaking of the first as “in different points of view, very interesting.” The effect on Mr. Adams’s own mind is expressed in his reply, 29th October, 1798, page 615.

[* ]To enable you, Sir, to burn the name, I have put it on a piece of paper, separate. [It was Admiral de Winter.]