Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 10

4. In 1809, when he published this letter in the Boston Patriot, JA included an additional comment on the impact of Yorke's Memorial on the Netherlands: “If the prince's [William V, Prince of Orange] denunciation had spread a great alarm, the thunder of Sir Joseph York, when it had time to reach the ears of the whole nation, excited shudderings and amazement, like that of Mount Sinai, among the {p. 353} camp of the Hebrews. The nation had scarcely known a war for three quarters of a century, and a near prospect of it, though only probable, was very terrible to them all” (JA, Corr. in the Boston Patriot , p. 271–272).