The Original Writings of Samuel Adams, Volume 4

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My regards to Dr. Holten and Mr. Higgenson, if he is still in Congress.
Pray write to me often.

Adieu.

1 For a facsimile note by Adams to Gerry, dated September 11, 1783, see
Brotherhead, Signers of the Declaration of Independence (1872), p. 172.

TO JOHN ADAMS.

[MS., Adams Papers, Quincy; the text is also in John Adams, Works, vol.
ix., pp. 519-521.]

BOSTON Novr 4 1783.

MY DEAR SIR

Colo John Trumbull, the Son of the worthy Governor of Connecticutt is
the Bearer of this Letter. I give the Governor this Epithet, because I
think his faithful Services to our Country entitle him to it. Yet even
he has undergone the Suspicions of some, unsupported by any solid
Reasons that I have heard of. We live in an Age of Jealousy, and it is
well enough. I was led to believe in early Life, that Jealousy is a
political Virtue. It has long been an Aphorism with me, that it is one
of the greatest Securities of publick Liberty. Let the People keep a
watchful Eye over the Conduct of their Rulers; for we are told that
Great Men are not at all times wise. It would be indeed a Wonder if in
any Age or Country they were always honest. There are however some Men
among us, who under the Guise of watchful Patriots, are finding Fault
with every publick Measure, with a Design to destroy that just
Confidence in Government, which is necessary for the Support of those
Liberties which we have so dearly purchas'd. Many of your Countrymen
besides myself, feel very grateful to you and those of our Negociators
who joyned you, in preventing the Tory Refugees from being obtruded
upon us. These would certainly have increasd the Number of such Kind of
Patriots as I have mentiond, and besides, their Return would have been
attended with other mischievous Effects. Mutual Hatred and Revenge
would have occasiond perpetual Quarrels between them & the people &
perhaps frequent Bloodshed. Some of them, by Art and Address might
gradually recover a Character & in time an Influence, and so become the
fittest Instruments in forming Factions either for one foreign Nation
or another. We may be in Danger of such Factions, and should prudently
expect them. One might venture to predict that they will sooner or
later happen. We should therefore guard against the evil Effects of
them. I deprecate the most favord Nation predominating in the Councils
of America, for I do not believe there is a Nation on Earth that wishes
we should be more free or more powerful than is consistent with their
Ideas of their own Interest. Such a disinterested Spirit is not to be
found in National Bodies; The World would be more happy if it prevaild
more in individual Persons. I will say it for my Countrymen, they are,
or seem to be, very grateful. All are ready freely to acknowledge our
Obligations to France for the Part she took in our late Contest. There
are a few who consider the Advantage derivd to her, by a total
Seperation of Britain & the Colonies, which so sagacious a Court
doubtless foresaw & probably never lost Sight of. This Advantage was so
glaring in the first Stages of our Controversy, that those who then ran
the Risque of exciting even an Appeal to Heaven rather than a
Submission to British tyranny, were well perswaded that the Prospect of
such a Seperation would induce France to interpose, and do more than
she has done if necessary. America with the Assistance of her faithful
Ally has secured and establishd her Liberty & Independence. God be
praisd! And some would think it too bold to assert, that France has
thereby saved the Being of her great Importance.--But if it be true why
may we not assert it? A punctual Fulfillment of Engagements solemnly
enterd into by Treaty is the Justice, the Honor & Policy of Nations. If
we, who have contracted Debts, were influenced only by Motives of sound
Policy, we should pay them as soon as possible & provide sure &
adequate Funds for the Payment of Interest in the mean time. When we
have done this we shall have the Sense of Independence impressd on our
Minds, no longer feeling that State of Inferiority which a wise King
tells us the Borrower stands in to the Lender.

Your Negociation with Holland, as "my old Friend" observd, is all your
own. The faithful Historian will do Justice to your Merits--Perhaps not
till you are dead. I would have you reconcile yourself to this Thought.
While you live you will probably be the Object of Envy. The leading
Characters in this great Revolution will not be fairly marked in the
present Age, It will be well if the leading Principles are rememberd
long. You, I am sure, have not the Vanity, which Cicero betrayed, when
he even urged his Friend Licinius to publish the History of the
Detection of Cataline in his Life Time that he might enjoy it. I am far
from thinking that Part of History redounds so much to the Honor of the
Roman Consul, as the Treaty of Holland does to its American Negociator.

Decr 4th I intended to have committed the Care of the foregoing Letter
to Mr Trumbull, but when he called on me I was confind to my Chamber by
severe bodily Indisposition unable to attend even to the lightest
Business. I am still kept at home, but hope soon to be abroad. Mr Jonn
Jackson will deliver this to you if he meets you in London, otherwise
he will convey it by some safe hand. When I shall be certain of your
being appointed for London, I will write to you as often as I can. May
Heaven bless you My Friend as I am

affectionately yours

1784

TO JOHN ADAMS.

[MS., Adams Papers, Quincy.]

BOSTON Feb 4 1784

MY DEAR SIR/

I had laid up in my mind many things to say to you, but an hours notice
only of this opportunity and the hurry of business in the General Court
now sitting prevents my communicating them to you at present. The Son
of Mr Nathl Appleton will deliver to you this short epistle; written
for the sake of recommending him to your notice. He is a young
gentleman lately enterd into Business in the Commercial line. My
Affection for a young fellow Citizen, and Regard for his Father an
intimate friend & a Member of the old committee of Correspondence of
this town are strong Inducements to me to take this method of availing
the Son of your Advice & Patronage. I wrote to you the 4 Decr by Mr
Jonathan Jackson & will write again by the next opportunity. Your
Family was well a few Days ago. You will doubtless have heard, before
this will reach you, of the Death of our good Friend Dr Cooper.

Adieu

TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

BOSTON Feb 25 1784

MY DEAR SIR

When a Committee was appointed by the G C1 to correspond with the
Delegates in Congress for this C W2 I proposd that the Correspondence
shd be carried on in a liberal Manner; but it was apprehended that the
Sentiments of the G C might be mistaken by the Come & the Delegates
thereby misled & so the Idea was drop'd & nothing material was left for
the Court to do but to forward such Letters or papers as shd be from
time to time orderd by the Court. Had the Come pursued the first
proposal, I could have had no Share in the Correspondence having been
exceedingly sick the greatest part of the Time from June to January.
This I hope will apologize for my not having written to you & my other
Friends in Congress; which I mention because, not receiving your
favors, I have been affraid you imputed my Omission to Neglect. In the
September Session the Court thought fit to direct the Delegates
officially to write to the Govr once a fortnight which of Course
dissolved the Corresponding Come, & since that time no Letters from the
Delegates have been laid before the G C.

Your Letter of Sept 11 directed to the Come was through mere
forgetfulness omitted to be communicated in Season. This was attributed
by some Persons of illiberal Minds & Party Spirit to an abominable
Design to withhold from the Court the Sentiments of the Delegates
respecting the Expediency of refusing to yield Supplys to the
Continental Treasury till Justice should be done us with Regard to the
Old money now in our publick Treasury & private hands. I could not help
diverting my self with the Ebullitions of apparent Zeal for the publick
Good on this Occasion, and upon its being said by a Gentn in Senate
that it was the Subject of warm Conversation among the people without
Doors I observed the Clamour wd undoubtedly subside on the Afternoon of
the first Monday in April next. Your Letter has since been very
prudently published by an unknown Person in Edes' Paper.

Inclosd is a Letter to your Self from Colo Scar Gridley. It seems he
applied to this G C some time ago for Depretion of his pay while in the
Service, upon which the Govr was requested to write to G W to make
known to him the Rank held by Mr Gridley & . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .but the Letter has never been written. I advisd
him to write you on the Subject, & hope you will excuse my giving you
the Trouble. As you are now near the Place of Residence of General
Washington, perhaps it may not be inconvenient to you to write to him,
in doing which you will gratify & oblige Mr Gridley.

I shall esteem a Letter from you one of the greatest favors being your
very affectionate Friend,

1 General Court.

2 Commonwealth.

TO JOHN ADAMS.

[MS., Adams Papers, Quincy; a draft is in the Lenox Library.]

BOSTON April 16 1784

MY DEAR SIR

I have not receivd a Letter from you of a later Date than the 10th of
Septr last. Extracts of yours to D G of the same Date have been handed
about, with a View, as I conceivd, of giving the Sanction of your
Opinion to that of others respecting the Tories. It is often
inconvenient, perhaps unsafe, to trust ones Confidential Letters to
indiscrete, however honest, Friends. Detachd Parts of them being given
out, they may be made to bear a different Construction from what was
intended, and answer the Purpose of interrested & designing Men. When
the Recommendations of Congress in Pursuance of the 5th Article of the
Treaty were receivd here, they were treated with great Decency & very
seriously considerd. They were construed differently by Men of Sense,
who were above the Influence of old Prejudices or of Party or Family
Connections. This Difference, I supposed, was owing to certain
Ambiguities in the Treaty, which I afterwards found had been
acknowledgd in a joynt Letter to Congress of the 18th July, in which it
appeard that our Negociators had studiously avoided any Expressions in
the Articles of the Treaty which shd amount to absolute Stipulations in
Favor of the Tories. From the first Sight I had of the Articles, I have
been of opinion that no such Construction could fairly be put upon
them, but that it would finally lie with the several Legislatures of
the States, how far it would be proper to show Lenity to them, and I
was happy in being confirmd in this Opinion by an Expression in your
joynt Letter to Congress Septr 10th--"it is much to be wishd that the
Legislators may not involve all the Tories in Banishment and Ruin, but
that such Discrimination may be made as to intitle the Decisions to the
Approbation of disinterested Men and dispassionate Posterity." In this
View I early inculcated Moderation and Liberality towards them, as far
as could be consistent with that leading Principle of Nature which
ought to govern Nations as it does Individuals, Self Preservation. I
cannot think that all can be admitted consistently with the Safety of
the Commonwealth. I gave you my Reasons in my Letter of Nov. 4th. Nor
can I believe you intended to be understood universally in your private
Letter above referrd to. Some of them would be useful & good Citizens;
others, I believe highly dangerous. Our Act passed in the late Session
of the General Court declares them all Aliens, and excludes those of
them who in a former Act were called Conspirators from residing among
us. It restores the Estates of others which have not been confiscated
and refers their coming to reside within the Commonwealth in the first
Instance to the Governor with Advice of Council. The Licenses he may
give are to be valid if approvd of by the General Court at the Session
next after such License shall be given. It is thought that this will be
a difficult Task for the Governor & Council, but a constant Attention
to the publick Safety without Respect to Persons will prevent
Difficulties. "Much, says your joynt Letter, will depend upon our
Negociations with England." The sooner a Commercial Treaty is settled
with that Nation the better, as it appears to me. Our General Court, in
the late Session, thought of making Retaliation on England for her
prohibiting Importations from America into her West India Islands but
in British Bottoms. They were sensible of the Difficulty in the Way of
the United States coming into general Regulations of this Kind, & have
written to their Delegates on the Subject. Should the States agree to
give Congress a more extensive Power, it may yet be a great while
before it is compleated; and Britain in the mean time seeing our Trade
daily reverting to its old Channel, may think it needless and
impolitick to enter into express Stipulations in favor of any Part of
it while she promises her self the whole without them.

I am fully in the Sentiment expressd in your joynt Letter Sept 10th,
that now we have regular & constitutional Governments, popular
Committees and County Conventions are not only useless but dangerous.
They served an excellent Purpose & were highly necessary when they were
set up. I shall not repent the small Share I then took in them. But
what think you of the District & State Conventions of the Cincinnati, &
of the Cincinnati in Congress assembled? Do not these Assemblies
convene expressly to deliberate & adopt Measures on great and National
Concerns proper only for the Cognizance of the United States in
Congress assembled, and the different Legislators & Officers of
Government? And will they not, being an Order of Military Men, too soon
proceed to enforce their Resolutions, not only to the lessening the
Dignity of the States in the Eye of Europe, but the putting an End to
their free Existence! The Order is very unpopular here. By the inclosd
you will see the Sentiments of our Gen1 Court. The Governor of Sdeg.
Carolina in a late Speech to his Assembly inveighs against them with
the Vehemence of Luther.

Adieu

TO JOHN ADAMS.

[MS., Adams Papers, Quincy; a draft is in the Lenox Library.]

BOSTON April 17 1784

DEAR SIR

Several of my Fellow Citizens have desired me to mention to you certain
Difficulties they labour under & to request that you would inform me
whether it is probable they can obtain Reliefe, among whom are Dr Nath1
Noyes & Capt Saml Dashwood. Both of them I believe you knew. I inclose
Mr Noyess Questions as he has stated them himself.--Capt Dashwoods Goods
were taken from him by order of the Commanding officer of the British
Troops when they left this Town in 1776. I need not trouble you to
explain as I doubt not you well remember the Circumstances of these
Matters. It will be hard for such Persons to pay the British Creditors
for the same Goods which the British Nation took from them for its own
necessary Use & if I mistake not with a Promise to compensate them,
unless the Promise is complied with.

A few Lines on this Subject when you are at Leisure will very much
oblige them as well as

Your Friend

TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text is in J. T. Austin,
Life of Elbridge Gerry, vol. i., pp. 422-424.]

BOSTON April 19th 1784

MY DEAR SIR,

Mr Higginson was so obliging as to show me your Letter to him dated the
4th of March. I was happy in having adopted an opinion of the
Cincinnati so similar to what I found yours to be. I think I am as
sensible as any Man ought to be of the important Services of our late
Army, and am very desirous that their full Share of Merit may be
gratefully acknowledgd & rewarded by the Country. This would have been
done, (for the Prejudice of the People against the Gratuity of five
years pay began to subside) had they not adopted a Plan so disgustfull
to the Common Feeling. It appears wonderful that they could imagine a
People who had freely spent their Blood & Treasure in Support of their
equal rights & Liberties, could so soon be reconciled to the odious
hereditary Distinction of Families. This Country must be humiliated &
debased to a great Degree, before they will patiently bear to see
Individuals stalking with their assumed honorary Badges, & proudly
boasting "These are the Distinctions of our Blood." I cannot think that
many of our Officers entertained such an Idea of haughty Pre-eminence;
but the human Mind is so captivated with the Thought of being elevated
above the ignoble Vulgar, that their Sons, if they should not
themselves, when they perceive the Multitude grown giddy with gazing,
may assume more than the mere Pageantry of Nobility. When Men begin to
applaud themselves, they are not easily perswaded to believe they can
take a greater Share of Honor than justly belongs to them. They will be
pleasd with the Adulatory Addresses of other Men & flatter themselves
that they are intitled to Power and Authority as well as the
ostentatious Show of Superiority above their Equals. I confess I do not
barely dislike the order. With you I think it dangerous & look upon it
with the Eye of Jealousy. When the Pride of Family possesses the Minds
of Men it is threatning to the Community in Proportion to the Good they
have done. The unsuspecting People, when they are in a Mood to be
grateful, will cry up the Virtues of their Benefactors & be ready to
say, Surely those Men who have done such great things for us, will
never think of setting up a Tyranny over us. Even Patriots & Heroes may
become different Men when new & different Prospects shall have alterd
their Feelings & Views; and the undiscerning People may too late repent
that they have sufferd them to exalt themselves & their Family upon the
Ruins of the Common Liberty. The Cincinnati are very unpopular here;
you will wonder then that one of the Order has had a Majority of the
Votes of this Town for a Senator for the County. I am affraid the
Citizens are not so vigilant as they used and ought still to be. It was
given out at the Moment of Election that he intended to withdraw
himself from the Society. If he does, it may weaken their Influence--if
not, he will probably destroy his own. You have doubtless seen the
Sentiments of the General Court of the Order. The Reprobating Speech of
the Governor of So Carolina has been publishd in our papers.

I had the Pleasure of receiving by the same Post your several Letters
of the 15th, 20th and 24th Ulto. If I have a Seat in the General Court
the ensuing year, (which is uncertain) I shall (tho very reluctantly)
communicate your Intention to leave Congress, unless you will gratify
the earnest Wishes of your Friends by altering your Determination. I
assure you there is no Friend to our Country within my Circle who is
not anxiously solicitous for your continuing there longer. I was in
hopes when you was prevailed upon again to take a Seat you would have
held it at least two years. Let me entreat you to release me from the
obligation of complying with your Request.

I have written so much in Spite of my trembling hand, concerning the
Cini, that I can at present only fulfill a Promise I gave our Navy
officers, to inclose their Petition to Congress and to beg your
Patronage of it. They appear to me to be injurd or at least neglected
Men. It is certainly high time they should receive their Prize Money
and Assurances of their Pay. I will write you by Mr Lowell (who sets
off for Phila in a few Days & intends making you a Visit) or by the
Post speedily. Mrs A desires her Complts

Adieu my Friend,

TO ELBRIDGE GERRY.

[MS., Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library; a text with modifications is
in J. T. Austin, Life of Elbridge Gerry, vol. i., pp. 424-427.]

BOSTON April 23 1784

MY DEAR SIR,

Mr Lowel thinks he shall not be able to make you a Visit at Annapolis
as he intended, so I have not written by him. Is the Court of Appeals1
of which he is a Member to continue now the War is over? I should think
it a needless Expence. If ever there should be Occasion for it, a new
Court might at any time be constituted. I observe by the inclosd, that
the Cincinnati in Congress assembled are to meet at Philadelphia on the
5th of May & that General Washington is to preside. That Gentleman has
an idea of the Nature & Tendency of the Order very different from mine,
otherwise I am certain he would never have given it his Sanction. I
look upon it to be as rapid a Stride towards an hereditary Military
Nobility as was ever made in so short a Time. My Fears may be ill
grounded, but if they are not, it is impossible for me not to think it
a very great Misfortune to these States that he is a Member; for the
Reputation he has justly acquired by his Conduct while Commander in
Chiefe of our Armies, and the Gratitude & warm Affection which his
Countrymen do & ought to feel towards him will give Weight to any thing
he patronizes, & Lustre to all who may be connected with him. It is a
Tribute due to the Man who has servd his Country well, to esteem him
highly & confide in him. We ought not however to think any Man
incapable of Error. But so it is with the Bulk of Mankind & even in a
free Country. They will reprobate the Idea of implicit Faith; and at
the same time, while the Impression of Gratitude is deep in their
Minds, they will not admit of a Benefactor, which must be said of every
Man, "aliquando dormitat." I would never inculcate a mean & envious
Suspicion of any Man especially of those who have renderd signal
Services to their Country. But there is a Degree of Watchfulness over
all Men possessd of Power or Influence upon which the Liberties of
Mankind much depend. It is necessary to guard against the Infirmities
of the best as well as the Wickedness of the worst of Men. Such is the
Weakness of human Nature that Tyranny has oftener sprang from that than
any other Source. It is this that unravels the Mystery of Millions
being enslavd by a few. What was it that indued the Cincinnati
Gentlemen who have undertaken to deliberate and act upon Matters which
may essentially concern "the Happiness & future Dignity of the American
Empire," to admit foreign Military Subjects into their Society? Was
there not Danger before that a foreign Influence might prevail in
America? Do not Foreigners wish to have Weight in our Councils? Can
such a Junction of Subjects of different Nations (& those Nations
widely different in their principles of Government) to Deliberate upon
things which relate to the Union & national Honor, the Happiness &
future Dignity of one consist with sound Policy? Are we sure that those
foreign Nations will never have separate Views & very national &
interrested ones too, because they once united in the same object & it
was accidentally their mutual Interest to fight Side by Side? If the
Cincinnati had a Right to erect themselves into an order for the
national Purposes of their Institution, had they a Right to call in
foreign Aid for those Purposes? It appears to me as impolitic,
preposterous & dangerous as it would be for the United States to invite
& admit a Delegation from that foreign Power into their Congress.

I take Notice that the Committee of Congress propose that the Govts of
the ten new States to be formd shall be in Republican form & shall
admit no Person to be a Citizen who holds any hereditary Title. I hope
Congress will not fail to make this an indispensible Condition.

Your Letter of the 2d relating to Colo Gridleys Affair came to hand. I
am obligd to you for the Care you have taken.

Believe me to be yr sincere & affectionate Friend,

1 Cf. J. F. Jameson, Essays in Constitutional History, pp. 32 et seq.

TO NOAH WEBSTER.

[MS., Ford Collection, Lenox Library; a draft is in the Samuel Adams
Papers, Lenox Library,]

BOSTON April 30th 1784

SIR

I was favord with your Letter of 24th March, but by a Multiplicity of
Affairs, which, as it happened I was at that Time engaged in, I was
prevented returning an Answer so speedily as you desired. For this
Reason I afterwards thought an Answer would be of no Importance.
Decency alone should, however, have induced me to have acknowledgd the
Favor. I hope you will excuse the Omission.

Some time in the Month of September last, a Gentleman in Connecticutt
requested me to give him my Opinion of a Subject, perhaps too much
altercated in that State as well as this, The Commutation of half Pay
granted by Congress to the Officers of the late Army for Life for full
Pay during the Term of five years. I did not hesitate to say in Return,
that in my Opinion Congress was, in the Nature of their Appointment,
the sole Judge of the necessary Means of supporting the late Army
raised for the Defence of our Common Rights against the Invasions of
Great Britain; and if, upon their own deliberate Councils & the
repeated Representations of the Commander in Chiefe of the Army, they
judgd that the Grant of half Pay for Life was a Measure absolutely
necessary for the Support of a disciplined Army for the Purpose before
mentiond, they had an undoubted Right to make it; and as it was made in
behalf of the United States by their Representative authorizd to do it,
each State was bound in Justice & Honor to comply with it, even tho it
should seem to any to have been an ill judgd Measure; because States &
Individual Persons are equally bound to fulfill their Obligations, and
it is given as Characteristick of an honest Man, that "though he
sweareth (or promiseth) to his own hurt he changeth not." I moreover
acquainted him, that although I was never pleasd with the Idea of half
Pay for Life, for Reasons which appeard satisfactory to myself, some of
which I freely explaind to him, yet I had always thought, that as the
Opportunities of the Officers of the Army of acquiring moderate
Fortunes or making such Provision for their Families as Men generally
wish to make, were not equal to those of their Fellow Citizens at home,
it would be but just & reasonable, that an adequate Compensation should
be made to them at, or as soon as conveniently might be after, the End
of the War; and that he might therefore conclude, that the Commutation,
if it be an adequate Compensation had fully coincided with my Ideas of
Justice & Policy.

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