If I had known a few weeks sooner that Congress had resolved to send a Minister to London, it would have saved you the trouble of a letter upon the subject, which you will receive by the packet. It has appeared to me for some time to be an important and necessary measure; and although the gentleman who may be sent there, whoever he may be, will probably find himself in a thicket of briars, from which he will hardly get free without tearing his flesh, yet I am persuaded that the appearance of an American Minister at the British Court will have good effects upon our affairs, even in France and Spain, and the nations in alliance with them, as well as in the courts and nations in the opposite scale of the balance, but especially upon the British and American nations.

Will it be foreign to the purpose, upon this occasion, or improper for me to observe that the people in America, and their Legislatures in the several States, should prepare the way for their Ministers in England, to require a faithful execution of treaties by setting the example of a punctual execution on their part? If we establish the principle that we have a right to depart from the treaty in one article because they have departed from it in another, they will certainly avail themselves of the same principle, and probably extend it as much farther, as their sense of justice is less, and their opinion of their own power, however ill founded, is greater. It cannot, I think, be too often nor too earnestly recommended to our countrymen to consider the treaty as sacred, and to fulfil it in all its parts, according to its real spirit and intention, in good conscience, in that most delicate point of all respecting refugees. I even wish that the people could conquer their natural feelings and suppress their just resentments. This I am confident is the best revenge that can be taken, and will most effectually disarm even those among them who are most distinguished for their enmity. If we have any thing to fear from Canada and Nova Scotia, or for our whale fishery, it arises, and will arise, from our own severity to these people; and the same observations may be applied to the fur trade and the posts upon the frontier.

Your desire, sir, to hear from me frequently, and to have my poor opinion on the affairs of your department, does me great honor, and shall be complied with to the utmost of my power. But I shall much oftener have occasion for your advice in such affairs as are entrusted to me. I think myself extremely happy, in common with

our countrymen, that I have to correspond with a gentleman to whom our foreign affairs are very familiar, by long experience—who knows where our difficulties and dangers lie, and who has proved himself, upon all occasions, superior to them.

I am sorry to learn that the French Chargé d'Affaires has demanded Monsieur Longchamps to be delivered up, and am the more surprised because I had understood from such sources as I thought authentic that the punishment to which he has been sentenced was satisfactory at Court. It may not, however, be amiss for the French Government to keep up a claim which may be a standing restraint to their own subjects in all foreign countries. But it cannot be doubted that the French Ministry know our right to refuse, as well as theirs to demand; as there is no positive stipulation between the two Powers that criminals shall be mutally given up. And surely it is no perfect right, by the law of nations, nor is it a common practice; so far from it that it will be difficult to show an example of it, where there is no convention,

Your packet for Mr. Carmichael shall be delivered to the Spanish Ambassador, to go by his courier, as you desire.

With the utmost respect and esteem, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS.

Sir,

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY.

Auteuil, near Paris, May 4, 1785.

The day before yesterday I received the letter you did me the honor to write me on the 18th of March, enclosing a commission, instructions, and letter of credence to the Court of Great Britain, and a duplicate of your letter of February 11th, with the ratification of the loan in Holland.

The appointment to the Court of Great Britain demands my most grateful acknowledgments to Congress, and the utmost care and diligence in the execution of it.

I am happy to see, by the resolution of March 7th, that a Minister is to be appointed to succeed me at the Hague, both because a Minister will be necessary there, and because that the Minister in London will find employment for all his time, and should devote himself

wholly to the, duties of that mission. As no letter of recall is as yet arrived to me, I am a little perplexed. I have been a witness of so much friendship to the United States, and have experienced so much kindness to myself in Holland, that I ought not finally to quit that country without taking leave of their High Mightinesses, even if established forms had not rendered such a ceremony indispensable.

There is no time to be lost unnecessarily in executing the instructions of Congress; but you are very sensible, sir, of the necessity of taking leave of this Court and of the foreign Ministers here, and of the time which such a formality takes up. It will, therefore, be longer before I can be in London than you may wish, perhaps five or six weeks. In the meantime Colonel Smith, I hope, will arrive with the additional information, and I may take such measures as I can to prepare the way before us. The Duke of Dorset has offered me all the service in his power, and professes to wish me success. It may not be useless for me to see Mr. Harris at the Hague.

The instructions are perfectly agreeable to my own inclinations; but it would be my duty to carry them into punctual execution to the utmost of my power if they were not so. It is not the first time that a public trust of some importance has been committed to me, but I do not know that any ever made a deeper impression upon my spirits, or gave me more serious reflections. To do my duty to our country and her allies, and to reconcile the Americans and English upon principles and terms which may give satisfaction to all, is no easy task. I can promise nothing but industry-the prospect of success is far from being encouraging. The measure of sending a Minister had become indispensable; Congress will have tried the experiment, and done all that, in the opinion of the world, was incumbent on them; and if the English nation perseveres in obstinacy and delusion, the United States will be fully informed of it, and have it undoubtedly in their power to do themselves justice. The resolutions of New York and Rhode Island, the former laying heavier duties upon British ships and merchandizes, and the latter adopting the impost of five per cent., if the public papers inform us truly, are symptoms of a spirit rising in America which will either make the English friendly to us or their enmity a blessing.

The Count D'Aranda told me yesterday that your packet to Mr. Carmichael was gone to Madrid.

I forgot to mention in its place your letter of March 15th. The confidence you express is mutual, which 1 esteem one of the happiest circumstances in my whole life. I have not the honor to be personally known to Mr. Smith, but he shall receive from me all the regard which becomes the relation between us.

With sincere esteem I have the honor to be, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS.

Sir,

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY.

Auteuil, near Paris, May 3, 1785.

The Britons boast that all the prophecies of the loss of the American trade from the independence of the United States have proved false; that the experiment has been tried, and the contest decided; that there was at the peace a competition of the commercial nations of Europe for the prize; that the superior abilities of the British manufacturers, and the greater capitals of their merchants, have enabled them to give our traders better bargains and longer credit than any others in Europe; that, as we love our interests and have small fortunes, we must come to them who can furnish us with goods of the best qualities at the cheapest rates, and allow us the longest time to pay; that Britain has monopolized our trade beyond credibility; that all the foreign merchants, French, Dutch, and even Spanish and Portuguese, who had engaged in our trade have failed, while few of theirs have suffered.

While, on the one hand, it is certain that in all this there is much exaggeration, it must be confessed, on the other, that there is too much truth, and the success of your mission to London will depend very much upon the researches of Congress and the States into this subject, and the measures they may take in consequence of their inquiries. You will negotiate for reciprocities in commerce to very little purpose while the British Ministers and merchants are certain that they shall enjoy all the profits of our commerce under their own partial regulations.

It behooves the whole people of America, then, to turn their attention to this subject. It would be presumption in me to discuss the question whether it is necessary the States should give to Congress a plenary power to govern the commerce of the whole Confederation.

I have been too long absent, and at too great a distance to be able to form a judgment, even to my own satisfaction. But I can see numberless mischiefs and inconveniences arising from the want of unity and system in the direction of such complicated interests, and every State will find itself necessitated frequently to apply to Congress for their interposition, either by recommendations or decisions.

You will give me leave, then, to inquire whether it may not be proper for Congress to call upon the States in such manner as they may judge constitutional to furnish them with authentic accounts of all the exports and imports of every State since the peace, of the vessels which have entered or cleared out, the nation to which they belong, and all other particulars which may be thought proper. It should seem impossible that the Union can be preserved without some such general repository of the commercial interests and knowledge; the information to be derived from it would bring the States to act in concert by shewing the necessity of it to all; and Congress or the States might take such measures as would insure them justice against the English. From such a view they might lay such discouragements on British ships and manufactures, and procure such advantages to their own, as would be beneficial to our country, while it would show the English their own weakness; heavy duties might be laid upon articles of luxury wrought in England and imported from thence, which would discourage the extravagant use of them among ourselves, place other nations upon as good and better footing than the English, and raise the revenue for the public out of that enthusiasm for England which has been and is still so unwise in itself and so hurtful to our country. Such measures as these would discover to the English that we know our own strength and their weakness, and would have probably a greater tendency to influence the Ministry, by preparing the nation, than any reasoning which can be used. It is a diplomatic axiom, "that he negotiates ill who is not in a condition to make himself feared;" but measures for this purpose must be taken by the people of America. Our army will be no terror to them, because they think at present they shall never send an army to fight us in our own country, and they do not believe that ours will go abroad to attack them. They are too proud of their own navy, and have too much disregard of ours, to dread us upon the sea; although experience should have taught them that