DR. RICHARD PRICE TO JAY. - John Jay, The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, vol. 3 (1782-1793) [1891]
Edition used:
The Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, ed. Henry P. Johnston, A.M. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1890-93). Vol. 3 (1782-1793).
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DR. RICHARD PRICE TO JAY.
Newington Green,near London,
July 9th, 1785.
Dear Sir:
I hope you will excuse the liberty I take in introducing to you the bearer of this letter, Mr. Curtauld. He and his Mother and Sisters have for several years made a part of my congregation at Haukney, and his character is unexceptionable. He has converted his little property into money which he intends to employ in purchasing land in some of the interior parts of America with no other view than to occupy it himself and to become an industrious farmer. Any information or assistance which you may be so good as to give him will confer an obligation upon me as well as upon him. The United States must be in some danger from needy and worthless adventurers who will be often going over to them from Europe. There is, in the present instance, no danger of this kind, for Mr. Curtauld’s views are laudable, and he will, I am fully persuaded, make an honest and useful member of the United States.
I directed to you in autumn last some copies of my pamphlet on the American Revolution.
This was an effort of my zeal to promote, according to the best of my judgment, the improvement and happiness of mankind in general and of the United States in particular. The recommendations in it of measures to abolish gradually the Negro-trade and Slavery and to prevent too great an inequality of property have I find offended some of the leading men in South Carolina; and I have been assured from thence that such measures will never be encouraged there. Should a like disposition prevail in many of the other States, it will appear that the people who have struggled so bravely against being enslaved themselves are ready enough to enslave others; the event which had raised my hopes of seeing a better state of human affairs will prove only an introduction to a new scene of aristocratical tyranny and human debasement; and the friends of liberty and virtue in Europe will be sadly disappointed and mortified.
I rely, Dear Sir, on your candour and goodness to excuse the liberty I now take with you. I am afraid that the acquaintance which I had the happiness to commence with you when in London is not sufficient to warrant it. With every good wish and great respect for your character, I am,
Your most obedient and humble servant,
Richard Price.
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