Sir,
I have received with much pleasure your favor of yesterday's date. No apology was necessary for the delay of so few days to answer a letter, the contents of which did not, from any public consideration, require haste. My most fervent wishes mingle themselves with yours, that the happy time may soon arrive when we may enjoy the blessings of peace, uninterrupted by disputes with any power whatever. But alas! my apprehensions are very strong, that we are yet at a distance from so great a felicity.
You will readily acknowledge the impropriety of my entering into the question concerning the duty of the Commissioners here, to have made the communications of the treaty, which you mention. But of this you may be assured, that I shall at all times hold myself obliged to you for the communication of your sentiments upon any public affair. I am therefore sorry, that in your letter you have confined yourself to that part of the treaty, upon which I particularly requested your sentiments. And I now take the liberty to request your sentiments upon every part of the treaty, which you conceive liable to doubtful construction, or capable of producing discontent or dispute, for I have the honor to be fully of your opinion, that it is of very great importance to be upon our guard, and avoid every cause of controversy with France as much as possible. She is, and will be, in spite of the obstacles of language, of customs, religion, and government, our natural ally against Great Britain as long as she shall continue our enemy, and that will be at least as long as she shall hold a foot of ground in America, however she may disguise it, and whatever peace or truce she may make.
Your sentiments of the fishery, as a source of wealth, of commerce and naval power, are perfectly just, and therefore this object will and ought to be attended to with precision, and cherished with care. Nevertheless, agriculture is the most essential interest of America, and even of the Massachusetts Bay, and it is very possible to injure both, by diverting too much of the thoughts and labor of the people from the cultivation of the earth to adventures upon the sea. And this, in the opinion of some persons, has been a fault in the Massachusetts Bay. Experience has taught us in the course of this war, that the fishery was not so essential to our welfare as it was once thought. Necessity has taught us to dig in the ground instead of fishing in the sea for our bread, and we have found that the resource did not fail us.
The fishery was a source of luxury and vanity, that did us much injury; yet this was the fault of the management, not of the fishery. One part of our fish went to the West India Islands for rum, and molasses to be distilled into rum, which injured our health and our morals; the other part went to Spain and Portugal for gold and silver, almost the whole of which went to London, sometimes for valuable articles of clothing, but too often for lace and ribands. If, therefore, the cessation of the fishery for twenty years to come was to introduce the culture of flax and wool, which it certainly would do as far as would be necessary for the purposes of decency and comfort, if a loss of wealth should be the consequence of it, the acquisition of morals and of wisdom would perhaps make us gainers in the end.
These are vain speculations I know. The taste for rum and ribands will continue, and there are no means for the New England people to obtain them so convenient as the fishery, and therefore the first opportunity will be eagerly embraced to revive it. As a nursery of seamen, and a source of naval power, it has been, and is an object of serious importance, and perhaps indispensably necessary to the accomplishment and the preservation of our independence. I shall therefore always think it my duty to defend and secure our rights to it with all industry and zeal, and shall ever be obliged to you for your advice and co-operation.
Pardon the length of this letter, and believe me, with much esteem, your friend and servant,
JOHN ADAMS.