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.

Quincy, 6 August, 1799.

Sir,—

I received late last evening your favor of the 31st of July, inclosing a triplicate of Mr. Murray’s letter of the 17th of May, and a copy, certified by Mr. Murray, on the 18th of May, of a letter of Charles Maurice Talleyrand, dated Paris, le 23e Floréal de l’an 7 de la République Française une et indivisible.

Sovereign to sovereign, and minister to minister, is a maxim in the cabinets of Europe, and although neither the President of the United States, nor the executive Directory, are sovereigns in their countries, the same relations exist between them and their ministers, and, therefore, the reason of the maxim is applicable to them. It is far below the dignity of the President of the United States to take any notice of Talleyrand’s impertinent regrets, and insinuations of superfluities.1 You or Mr. Murray may answer them as you please in your correspondence with one another, or with the French minister. I will say to you, however, that I consider this letter as the most authentic intelligence yet received in America of the successes of the coalition. That the design is insidious and hostile at heart, I will not say.1 Time will tell the truth. Meantime, I dread no longer their diplomatic skill. I have seen it, and felt it, and been the victim of it these twenty-one years. But the charm is dissolved. Their magic is at an end in America. Still, they shall find, as long as I am in office, candor, integrity, and, as far as there can be any confidence or safety, a pacific and friendly disposition. If the spirit of exterminating vengeance ever arises, it shall be conjured up by them, not me. In this spirit I shall pursue the negotiation, and I expect2 the coöperation of the heads of departments. Our operations and preparations by sea and land are not to be relaxed in the smallest degree. On the contrary, I wish them to be animated with fresh energy. St. Domingo and the Isle of France, and all other parts of the French dominions, are to be treated in the same manner as if no negotiation was going on. These preliminaries recollected, I pray you to lose no time in conveying to Governor Davie his commission, and to the Chief Justice and his Excellency, copies of these letters from Mr. Murray and Talleyrand, with a request that, laying aside all other employments, they make immediate preparations for embarking. Whether together or asunder, from a northern, a southern, or a middle port, I leave to them. I am willing to send Truxtun, or Barry, or Talbot, with them; consult the Secretary of the Navy and heads of department on this point. Although I have little confidence in the issue of this business, I wish to delay nothing, to omit nothing.

The principal points, indeed, all the points of the negotiation, were so minutely considered and approved by me and all the heads of department, before I left Philadelphia, that nothing remains but to put them into form and dress. This service I pray you to perform as promptly as possible. Lay your draught before the heads of department, receive their corrections, if they shall judge any to be necessary, and send them to me as soon as possible. My opinions and determinations on these subjects are so well made up, at least to my own satisfaction, that not many hours will be necessary for me to give you my ultimate sentiments concerning the matter or form of the instructions to be given to the envoys.1

I have the honor, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]In transmitting these papers, Mr. Pickering had remarked;—

“The answer, I observe, does not exactly conform to the terms used in the instructions to M. Murray, and which he repeated in his letter of May 5th to the minister. But Mr. Talleyrand does not forget the common practice of his government, to drop a reproach or insult while making amicable professions. It was certainly not necessary for him to insinuate that the President of the United States was wasting many months of precious time for ‘the simple confirmation,’ that if new envoys were sent they would be received.”

[1 ]So in the copy-book. Mr. Gibbs in his work has the word deny, and prints the sentence in small capitals. Memoirs of the Fed. Adm. vol. ii. p. 250.

[2 ]Printed, request, by Mr. Gibbs. There are other variations of less consequence.

[1 ]This letter is remarkable as containing a summary of the President’s policy on this point, so sharply contested by his three cabinet officers; a policy from which the result will show him not to have varied in any essential particular from beginning to end.