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Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 8
Docno: ADMS-06-08-02-0026
Recipient: Franklin, Benjamin
Date: 1779-04-13
To Benjamin Franklin
[dateline] Nants April 13. 1779
[salute] Sir
I had Yesterday the Honour of yours of the third of this Month.
C. Landais had So much diffidence in some of his Crew, that he could not think of
carrying home any of the most culpable of the Conspirators, especially as he was so
weak handed.
The naval Code of the united States, has great Occasion for Amendments in many Particulars,
without which there will be little Discipline subordination, or Obedience.1
I am happy that you approve of cloathing the petty officers and thank you for the
Confidence you have put in me in desiring that I would give Directions in your Behalf
for what I may judge for the good of the service, Funds and Circumstances considered.
A Trust however, that will involve me in difficulties, because I fear the Demands
of officers and Men will be greater than I could wish. Obedience, on Board is So imperfect,
that I do not expect the ship can possibly be got to sea, without some Money to the
Officers and Men.
I expect the Ship here every day, and I hope in 15 days to be at sea, if you have
any Letters should be glad to carry them.
Am much pleased with your Reception at Court in the new Character and I do not doubt
that your opinion of the good Will of this Court to the United States is just. This
Benevolence is the Result of so much Wisdom and is founded in such Solid Principles
that, I have the Utmost Confidence in its Perseverance to the End.
Spain, too, must sooner or later see her true Interest, and declare in favour of the
same generous Cause. I wish, and hope with you that it will be soon.2 If it is not, there is great Reason to fear a very unnecessary and profuse Effusion
of human Blood: for the English derive such Spirits from their Captures at sea and
other little successes, and War is everlastingly So popular among them, when there
is the least Appear• { 33 } ance of success however deceitful that, they will go on, at whatever Expence and Hazard.
Master Johnny, whom you have honoured with an affectionate Remembrance, and who Acts
at present in the quadruple Capacity of Interpreter, secretary, Companion and Domestick
to his Pappa desires me to present you his dutiful Respects.
My Regards if you please to Mr. Franklin and Mr. Gellée, and the young Fry.3
[salute] I have the Honour to be with great Respect, your most obedient servant4
[signed] John Adams
1. In the left margin, opposite the first word of this paragraph, is an “X.”
2. JA's hope had already been realized. On the previous day France and Spain had signed
the Convention of Aranjuez, which obligated Spain to enter the war if Great Britain
rejected its latest mediation offer of 3 April. Spain's proposal, in the form of an
ultimatum and phrased to insure its rejection, marked the end of a long series of
Spanish offers, beginning in April 1778, to mediate Anglo-French differences. In view
of the “Family Compact” existing between the Bourbon rulers of France and Spain, the
sincerity of the Spanish offers was always suspect, but the object of Spain's mediation
and the consequence if it was not achieved were clear. Spain sought to have Britain
purchase its neutrality by ceding Gibraltar and when that price proved too high, determined
to take its objective by force (see, for example, JA's speculations regarding Gibraltar in his letter to Francis Dana of 25 Dec. 1778, above). After the expected British rejection of the ultimatum, the Spanish Ambassador
delivered a manifesto to Lord Weymouth on 16 June that amounted to a declaration of
war. It was followed on the 18th by the British order for reprisals (Bemis, Diplomacy of the Amer. Revolution, p. 78–87; Sir Francis Piggott and G. W. T. Omond, Documentary History of the Armed Neutralities of 1780 and 1800, London, 1919, p. 112–116, 119–122). It was not until after he was at sea on his
return to America that JA learned of the final rupture between Britain and Spain from the new French minister
to the United States, La Luzerne (JA, Diary and Autobiography, 2:387–389).
4. Benjamin Franklin answered this and JA's second letter of this date (below) on 21 April (Adams Papers; JA, Works, 7:92). There Franklin asked JA to see to the needs of the returned American prisoners to the extent that the available
funds permitted. He also noted the reports appearing in the English papers concerning
British apprehensions about Spain entering the war and hoped that they “had some Foundation.”
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2016.
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/