Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 10

The front page of Nouvelles extraordinaires de divers endroits, usually known as the Gazette de Leyde, of 29 August contains the first fruits of John Adams' effort to influence Dutch public opinion. The newspaper, published by Jean Luzac, supported the Dutch patriot party and generally favored the American cause. John Adams recognized that the Gazette would be a valuable outlet for American news and wrote to Luzac on 22 August (below), enclosing the act of the Massachusetts General Court of 4 May establishing the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a report of the American Philosophical Society's meeting of 21 January. According to Adams, the enclosures showed a “Tranquility of Mind in the midst of a civil War” and their publication would counter British reports of American “Distress.” Luzac agreed to publish the reports and used Adams' letter of 22 August, which he redated 15 June from Philadelphia, to introduce the enclosures. The Gazette's front page contains Adams' {p. R8} letter, as modified by Luzac, and the first part of the act establishing the American Academy. The remainder of the material is continued on pages 2 and 3 of the newspaper. In a letter of 31 August (below), Luzac noted his publication of Adams' offerings and indicated his willingness to consider future contributions by the American. For the remainder of his mission to the Netherlands, Adams' relations with Luzac remained cordial and the Gazette occasionally printed items submitted by Adams. Luzac's refusal to publish propaganda, however, led Adams to seek additional channels for promoting the American cause, most notably Le politique hollandais that Antoine Marie Cerisier began publishing in Amsterdam in 1781 (Schulte Nordholt, Dutch Republic and Amer. Independence , p. 122–125).