I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Paris, June 2d, 1780.
Sir,
When a Minister of an ancient nation, which has been renowned for its wisdom and virtue, as well as power, rises in a popular assembly, which is the most conspicuous theatre in Europe, and declares, as it were, in the face of all the world, and with an air of reflection, of deliberation, and of solemnity, that such and such are his own opinions, concerning the truth of facts, and the probability of future events, one cannot call in question his good faith, although we may know his information to be false, and his judgment erroneous.
Lord George Germain, in the debate in the House of Commons, on the 6th of May, declared, that "he flattered himself the completion of the chief wish of his heart, peace with America, on what he thought good and honorable terms for Great Britain, was not far off. He verily believed, and his belief was not merely speculative, but founded on recent information, that the moment of conciliation was near. His Lordship described the misery, which the Americans felt at this time, and stated, that the greatest majority of the people there were ready and desirous to return to their allegiance, but that they were prevented by the tyranny of those, who had got the power of government into their own hands. He did not believe the Congress would ever treat for peace, but from the condition of affairs in America, from the depreciation of their paper currency, from the poverty and distress of the country, from the great debt it groaned under, from the dissatisfaction, which all ranks of people expressed at the alliance with France, from the little benefit America had derived from that alliance; from all these considerations he did believe, that the people of America and the Assemblies of America would soon come to terms."
There may be some ambiguity in the phrase, "good and honorable terms for Great Britain;" but there can be no reasonable doubt, that his Lordship meant either to return to their allegiance to Great Britain, or at least to make a peace with her, separate from France. Whether the Americans ever will agree to such terms or not, being a question concerning a future event, cannot be decided by witnesses, nor any other way, but by probable arguments. There is one argument, which his Lordship does not appear to have considered. It is of some weight. It is this, that in order to return to their allegiance to the King of England, or make a peace with him, separate from France, they must involve themselves in a certain war with France and Spain, at least, and indeed, according to present appearances, with Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and Portugal, for every one of these powers appear to be as decided against the claims, pretensions, and usurpations of Great Britain upon the seas, as France and Spain are. There is not an American merchant, yeoman, tradesman, or seaman, but knows this, or will know it very soon. Americans must therefore be destitute of that common share of reason, which God has given to men, to exchange the friendship of all the nations of the world for their enmity, merely for the sake of returning to a connexion with Great Britain, which could not protect them, and which they have the best reasons to dread as the greatest evil that could befal them, from the unheard of tyrannies and cruelties they have already experienced from her. His Lordship is desired to consider this, and to ask himself if he was an American, whether he would wish to run under the broken fragments of an empire, that is dashed in pieces, like a china vase, and commence a fresh war against a combination of all the nations of the world, who discover a degree of esteem and regard for America.
If the Americans are as miserable as his Lordship represents them, will they be likely to increase that misery tenfold, and make it perpetual, by exposing the cause of a ruined empire, and going to war with half a dozen that are not ruined?