Peace December 11. 1779
A Leak was soon discovered in the Ship, which obliged Us to ply the Pumps.
As it seemed a steady Leak, it gave little Alarm at first: but continuing to
increase, to such a degree, as to make two Pumps, incessantly necessary night
and day, obliging the Passengers to take their turns in common with the Ships
People, the Captain judged it necessary to make the first Port he could
find.... Accordingly on the Seventh day of December, We happily discovered
Cape Finisterre, and on the Eighth arrived at the magnificent
Spanish Port of
Ferrol, where We found a Squadron of French Ships of the Line,
the Officers of which think We were very happy in making this Port, as the
Frigate, since she has been in Harbour, is found to
make Seven or Eight feet of Water in an hour.
The Advice of all the Gentlemen here to me is to make the best of my Way to
Paris by Land: As it is the Opinion of many that the Frigate
will be condemned. But if not, she certainly will not be ready to sail again
from this Port, in less than four or five Weeks. This is unfortunate to me,
because by all the information I can obtain, Travelling in this Kingdom is
attended with many difficulties and delays, as well as very great
expence, there being no regular Posts as in
France and no possibility of passing over the mountainous parts
of this Country in Carriages.
I find there has been no Engagement in the European Seas, between the
English and the combined Fleets of
France and
Spain, as was reported in
America. There has been an epidemic Sickness, on board the
French Fleet, which obliged them to return to
Brest rather sooner than was intended. There are twenty five
Ships of the Line Spanish Ships of the Line in
Brest Harbour with the French. It is
reported that Monsieur Du Chaffault is appointed Commander in
Chief of the Fleet French Fleet and that the Comte
D'Orvilliere has retired.
Captain Jones has done another brilliant Action, by taking
a Forty four Gun Ship, after an obstinate Engagement, and carried her into the
Texell. But I cannot learn the particulars with much Certainty
or Exactness.
I have been treated with the utmost Politeness and Attention since my
Arrival in this place, both by the Spanish and French Officers, particularly by
the Spanish Lieutenant General of the Marine, Don Joseph Saint
Vincent, who is Commander in Chief of the Marine, by Monsieur
De Sade, the French Chef D'Escadre, and by the French Consul and Vice
Consul, who have all obligingly offered me every Assistance in their Power.
I shall endeavour to inform Congress of every
Step of my Progress, as I may find Opportunity. I have heard nothing as yet,
which makes it probable to me, that I shall have any
Thing to do openly and directly, in pursuance of my Commission, very
speedily. There is a confused Rumour here of a Mediation of
Russia and
Holland: but I am persuaded without foundation. It seems to be
much more certain that the English continue in their old ill Humour and insolent Language, notwithstanding their
Impotence grows every day more apparent. I have the honour to be with the greatest respect and Esteem, Sir your
most obedient and most humble Servant
John Adams.
His Excellency Samuel Huntington
Esqr. President of
Congress.
1779
December 12 Monday Sunday
Walked about the Town, but there was nothing to be seen, excepting two
Churches, and the Arsenals, dry Docks, Fortifications and Ships of War.
1779
December 13. Monday.
The great Inconvenience of this Harbour is, the
Entrance is so narrow, there is not no possibility of going out, but
when the Wind is in one Point, that is the South East.... I was
surprized to find so important a Place as this is
to the Spanish Naval Power, surrounded by Heights which might easily
be possessed by an Enemy, and which entirely overlooked and commanded the Town,
the Ships, the Arsenals and Docks.
The Three French Ships of the Line here were the Tryumphant
Triomphant of Eighty Guns, M. Le Comte De
Sade Chef D'Escadre or General, M. Le Chevalier de
Grasse Preville, the Capitaine de Pavillon.
The Souverain of Seventy four Guns, M. Le Chevalier
De Glandevesse Captain
The Jason of Sixty four Guns, M. de La
Marthonie, Commander.
We dined one day with the Comte De Sade on Board the
Triomphant, with all the principal Officers of the
Fleet in all the Luxury of the French Navy.
A very fine Turkey was brought upon Table, among every Thing else that Land or Sea or
Air could furnish. One of the Captains, as soon as he saw it, observed
that he never saw one of those Birds on a Table but it excited in him a deep
regret for the Abolition of that order of Ecclesiasticks the Jesuits to whom We were he said,
indebted for so many Excellent Things, and among the Rest for Turkeys. These
Birds he said were never seen or known in
Europe till the Jesuits imported them from
India. This occasioned much Conversation and some Controversy:
but the majority of the Officers appeared to join in this regrett. The Jesuits were represented as the greatest
Masters of Science and Litterature: as
practising the best System of Education, and as
having made the greatest improvements, the happiest Inventions and the greatest
discoveries for the Comfort of Life and the Amelioration of Man and Society.
Till this time I had thought that although millions of Jesuits,
Pharisees and Machiavilians still existed in the World, yet that the Word
Jesuit as well as that of Pharisee and Machiavilian, had become so odious in
Courts and unpopular with Nations that neither was ever advocated in good
Company. I now found my Error, and I afterwards perceived that even the
Philosophers were the principal Friends left to the Jesuits.
The French
Words Names Dindon and Poulet D'Inde,
indicate that the Fowl was imported from
India: But the English Name Turkey and Turkey fowl, seems to
imply that the Bird was brought from the
Levant. But if I am not mistaken, the English pretend that Sir
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Walter Raleigh first imported this Luxury
from
America. These important Questions of Natural History I shall
leave to the Investigation and Discussion of those who have nothing else to do,
nor
any thing of more Taste and Consequence to
contemplate.
I was highly entertained however with this Conversation and not a little
delighted to find that I could so well understand a Conversation so rapid and
lively in French.
As the Count De Sade placed me next to himself at
Table, his chief and indeed his whole Conversation was with me. He was very
inquisitive about
every Thing in
America, but the Subject which most engaged his Attention was
the Commerce and especially the Naval Power of
America. This Subject I always found most prevalent in the Minds
of all the Naval Gentlemen both of
France and
Spain. The Count said that no Nation in
Europe had such Advantages for Naval Power as
America. We had Timber of the best Kinds in the World, our Oaks
and Cedars especially the Live Oaks and Red Cdars, which
America Possessed in such Abundance, were an Advantage that no
Nation ever enjoyed before in such Perfection. That We had inexhaustible Mines
of Iron
Oar and all the Skill and Apparatus necessary to
work it prepare it, work it and refine it. That our Soil produced
Flax and Hemp of good quality, and our Agriculturalists knew how to raise it
and preserve it. We have a Maxim among Us in the Marine, said the Count, That
with Wood, Hemp and Iron, a Nation may do what it will. And you may do what you
will, and you will do what you will. For No Nation has, and No Nation that ever
existed ever had such Advantages for raising a formidable Navy in a short time
as you have. For to all the Materials you add all the Skill and Art. You have
already learned of the English, all the Skill in Naval Architecture and all the
Art and Enterprise of Navigation, which was ever possessed by the most
commercial and most maritime People that ever existed. In fine his Conversation
was in the same Strain with that of Monsieur De Thevenot
[Thevenard] at
L'Orient, in the Spring of the same Year, but more in detail. As
the Count de Sade understood no English and my organs
were not very flexible to the French, my part of the Conversation could not be
very fluent. I made him however to understand, that I thought
it w
our People had so much Employment at home upon their Lands, which would be more
comfortable and less hazardous if not more profitable that it would be a long
time before they would turn their Attention to a Naval military Power. I must
however now confess that I did not then believe that French, Spanish, Dutch and
English Emissaries, would obtain so much influence in
America as to cast a mist before the Eyes of the People and
prevent them from seeing their own Interest and feeling their own Power for
seven and twenty Years, to such a degree as to suffer their own Coasts and
harbours to be insulted and their Commerce plundered
even in
Page 4
the
West Indies by Pirates, which a few Frigates might send to their
[own] place. The Count presented to me The
Chevalier De Grasse, as his Captaine De Pavillon and as
the Brother of the Count de Grasse, the Commander in
America, and as a Gentleman of large and independent Fortune,
who had no Occasion to go to Sea but chose to expose himself to the rough Life
of a Sea Officer, from pure Zeal for the Kings Service.
1779
December 14. Tuesday.
Walked once more to the Barracks and dry Docks. The Stones with which these
Works were constructed, were far inferiour to our
Quincy North Common Granite. They were not better than the South
Common Stone. We went into the magnificent
Church of St. Julien, where We saw Numbers of Devotees upon
their Knees, some before the Altar and some before one Statue or Picture and
some before another. This kind of Devotion was much more fashionable in
Spain than in
France.
We had lodged en la Calle de La Madalena, junto coca, en casa de Pepala
Botoneca, i.e. in the Street of the Magdalen near the head, in the House of
Pepala Botoneca.
I spent several Evenings with the French Consul Monsieur
Detournelle, whom I found a well bred and well informed Man. He was
well read, and had been conversant with the Writers on the Law of Nations,
particularly in the Titles of those Laws relative to Ambassadors and Consuls.
He quoted several Writers on the Rights and Duties of Ambassadors and Consuls
and some on Ettiquette and the Formalities and Ceremonies required of those
Offices. He told me that the Office of French Consuls was regulated by an
ordinance of the King, but that some Nations had entered into particular
Stipulations with the King. That the Consuls of different Nations were
differently treated by the same Nation. That as Consul of
France he had always claimed the Priviledges of the most favoured Nation. That he carefully enquired what
Priviledges were enjoyed by the Consuls of
England,
Germany and
Italy and demanded the highest Priviledges of the Gentis amicissim.
The Chief Magistrate of the
Town of Ferrol, is The Corregidor. For the Province or Kingdom
of
Gallicia, there is a Souvereign
Court of Justice, which has both civil and criminal Jurisdiction. In all
criminal Cases it is without Appeal, but in some civil Cases an Appeal lies to
the Council at
Madrid. There is no time allowed in criminal Cases for an
Application for Pardon, for they execute forthwith. Hanging is the Capital
Punishment. They burn sometimes but it is after death. There was lately a
Sentence for Parricide. The Law required that the Criminal should be headed up
in a hogshead, with an Adder, a Toad, a Dog and a Cat and cast into the Sea.
But I was much pleased to hear that Spanish humanity had suggested and Spanish
Ingenuity invented a Device to avoid some part of the Cruelty and horror of
this punishment. They had painted those Animals on the Cask, and the dead body
was put into it, without any living Animals to attend it to its watery
Grave.
