Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811)

Return to Title Page for The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

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

TO T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811) [1854]

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. 9.

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 T. PICKERING, SECRETARY OF STATE.

I have received your favor of July 30th, inclosing Mr. King’s letter of 5th June, which I return. There is not a question in mathematics or physics, not the square of the circle or the universal menstruum, which gives me less solicitude or inquietude than the negotiations with Russia and the Porte. Mr. King’s official assurances induced me to nominate the missions, and if there has been any thing hasty in the business, it was Mr. King’s haste. I know that both Russia and the Porte have as much interest in the connections proposed, as we have, and that the stiff and stately formalities about it are exactly such as France has practised upon us these twenty years. The object is to assume the air of granting favors, when they receive them, and to make the American government and people believe they are not yet independent and can do nothing of themselves. If we are retarded at all, it will be owing to the artifices of intermeddlers, and instead of having one farthing of money the less to pay, I know it will cost us more.