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).
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.
Copyright information:
The text is in the public domain.
Fair use statement:
This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit.
DR. RICHARD PRICE TO JAY.
Newington Green, [England]
Nov. 25th, 1786.
Dear Sir,
I have received both the letters with which you have honoured me, and I return you many thanks for them. I know your time must be much engaged by the duties of your office, and therefore I can not but feel very sensibly your kind attention which exceeds all that I could have any reason to expect. Your civility and friendship to Mr. Curtauld deserve my particular gratitude. His mother and family are much impressed by them. . . .
I am a sad stranger to myself, if my pamphlet address’d to the United States is not an effort of well meant zeal to promote their best interests, and thro’ them the happiness of mankind. Though I have given offence in some places, I have reason to be very well satisfied on the whole with the reception it has met with. Were I to write it again I should lower some expressions in it; for I am sensible that I have been too hasty and sanguine in my expectations. I cannot, however, despair while I know that such a person as you are, and many others of whose wisdom integrity and liberal principles I have a high opinion, are members of the United States and concerned in advising and directing them. I now see that such an improved state of society in America as I wish for must be the work of more time than I imagined; and, perhaps, the result of severe struggles and conflicts still to be gone thro’. Affairs between this country and yours wear a dark complexion. It is unhappy for us that the coalition between Ld. North and Mr. Fox prevented the makers of the peace from completing it. Our councils now are under a different direction, nor is there any probability of a change. I lament continually our wretched policy. We are throwing away the trade and the friendship of a world rapidly increasing, and forcing it into the scale of France. Should the issue be a total alienation and the conversion of the extreme of love into the extreme of hatred, the fault will be chiefly ours, and we shall be the greatest sufferers. Trade is essential to our existence. On the contrary, the rage for trade is one of your greatest enemies; and all events that check it may do you the greatest service. Were even all your ports shut up, you would be only rendered more independent and secure; and in a course of years you might, with the aid of simple manners, general liberty, plenty produced by agriculture, and a strong federal union, become the most powerful and happy people on earth. At present your affairs, I am afraid, are far from being in this train. God forbid that, in consequence of luxery, mercantile avarice, and the feebleness of the federal government, the United States should ever become the image of our Europe.—I ask pardon, for entering into these reflexions. I did not intend them when I began this letter. I am very happy in the friendship of Mr. Adams. He will send better information than I can give. All (as you observe at the end of your letter) that the best men can do is to persevere in doing their duty to their country, leaving the consequences to the Disposer of all events. The happiness attending the consciousness of such conduct is the greatest any of us can enjoy. This is a happiness which I doubt not, you will enjoy. Wishing you, Dear Sir, every possible blessing I am, with great Respect,
Your oblig’d humble Servt
Richd Price.
This, the most valuable of Dr. Price’s pamphlets, was entitled, “Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution, and the Means of Making it a Benefit to the World.” It was published first in London in 1784, then at Philadelphia in 1785, and again at Boston in 1812, 1818, and 1820. Mirabeau translated it into French.
Titles (by Subject) 