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

TO BENJAMIN RUSH. - 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.

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TO BENJAMIN RUSH.

Quincy, 23 May, 1807.

I received, at an exhibition of music in our polite village of Mount Wollaston, on Thursday, your letter relative to Mr. Loud, and sent it immediately to Dr. Tufts by his lady, that the young gentleman’s friends might be informed of his situation. I lament the untimely decline of a youth, although I never saw him, who has been represented to me as one who injured his health by too intense an application to study. I never heard his name but once, when my brother Cranch mentioned him to me before he embarked on his voyage.

And now I have mentioned my brother Cranch, a gentleman of four-score, whose memory is better than mine, I will relate to you a conversation with him last evening. I asked him if he recollected the first line of a couplet whose second line was, “and empire rises where the sun descends.” He paused a moment and said,—

  • “The eastern nations sink, their glory ends,
  • And empire rises where the sun descends.”

I asked him, if Dean Berkeley was the author of them. He answered no. The tradition was, as he had heard it for sixty years, that these lines were inscribed, or rather drilled, into a rock on the shore of Monument Bay in our old colony of Plymouth, and were supposed to have been written and engraved there by some of the first emigrants from Leyden, who landed at Plymouth. However this may be, I may add my testimony to Mr. Cranch’s, that I have heard these verses for more than sixty years. I conjecture that Berkeley became connected with them, in my head, by some report that the bishop had copied them into some publication. There is nothing, in my little reading, more ancient in my memory than the observation that arts, sciences, and empire had travelled westward; and in conversation it was always added since I was a child, that their next leap would be over the Atlantic into America.

The claim of the 1776 men to the honor of first conceiving the idea of American independence, or of first inventing the project of it, is as ridiculous as that of Dr. Priestley to the discovery of the perfectibility of man. I hereby disclaim all pretensions to it, because it was much more ancient than my nativity.

TO BENJAMIN RUSH.

Quincy, 3 September, 1808.

I will not stand upon ceremonies with you, and wait for the return of a visit, or an answer to my last letter.

Whatever proportion of loyalty to an established dynasty of kings, or whatever taint of Catholic superstition there may be in the present sensations of the Spanish people, or however their conduct may have been excited by British or Austrian gold, I revere the mixture of pure patriotism that appears to be in it and inseparable from it, and I wish to know the sentiments of your Pennsylvania statesmen concerning it.

The contest between the houses of Austria and Bourbon in the beginning of the last century for the succession to the throne of Spain, is well known. Philip V. and Charles VI. were rivals, as Ferdinand VII. and Joseph I. are now. Charles was supported by the Emperor, England and Holland, and Philip by France and her allies. The Earls of Galway and Peterborough ran about Spain with armies at their heels, and proclaimed Charles at Madrid, and many other places, till Louis XIV. and his grandson Philip were in despair. In this situation, Vauban, the great teacher of fortification, and one of the profound statesmen as well as honest patriots of France, proposed to his court to send Philip to reign in America, that the commerce of Mexico and Peru might be secured to France. The English seem to have adopted this project of Vauban, and to aim at securing the commerce of South America to themselves. Have your Philadelphia politicians considered what will be the consequence of this to the United States? How will it affect our Louisiana claims, our West India commerce? I am almost afraid to ask so bold and hazardous a question, as whether it will not make France the natural ally of the United States.

The inclination of the Spaniards was in favor of Philip, and the fortitude of the Castilians turned the scale in his favor. They made great efforts when they found him in danger. It is a very arduous enterprise to impose upon a nation a king in spite of their teeth. The Austrians, the Dutch, the English, and the Portuguese, were harassed in Spain, suffered for want of provisions, and were consumed by degrees.

By some accounts, certain provinces in Spain have proclaimed Prince Charles. This looks like a desire to revive the old connection of Spain with the house of Austria, which might check the house of Napoleon for the present, but would lay a foundation for interminable future wars in Europe.

Is there room to hope that the French will meet with effectual obstructions in Spain? How will they procure provisions? Not by sea. The English fleet is in the way. By land, from France and Italy, will be almost impossible, and the Spaniards have not onions and turnips enough for themselves. An army of two or three hundred thousand Frenchmen will consume a great many bushels. The Spaniards had better fight and die in battle than perish with famine.

These occurrences in Spain open wide views to those who have more information and sagacity than I have. They will give trouble to Napoleon, employ a great part of his force, and be a powerful temptation to nations he has humbled, to avenge their disgrace. The French have always been chased out of Italy. Germany and the north of Europe must be alarmed at having Spain and the Indies in the power of the Corsicans. In short, I know not but the Spaniards may produce a Marlborough in England, and in Germany a Eugene, to give Napoleon a fistula. What think you?

I have always called our Constitution a game at leap-frog. New England is again converted to federalism. The federal administration lasted twelve years. The republicans then leaped over their heads and shoulders, and have ruled eight years. They may possibly hold out four years more, and then probably the federalists will leap again. But neither party will ever be strong, while they adhere to their austere, exclusive maxims. Neither party will ever be able to pursue the true interest, honor, and dignity of the nation. I lament the narrow, selfish spirit of the leaders of both parties, but can do no good to either. They are incorrigible. We must adopt the Dutch motto, “Incertum quo fata ferant.”