Newspaper Page Text
rs the mcafujc. He saw that
v.iformation was wanted, and
that it would be ufefui, because
when the truth fhculd be known,
it would compose the people..
John Adams had gone away in
what may be called a clandcjline
manner, *itheut surrendering in
to the haudAtf his I'uccetFor, as
he ought dene in per
fen, any accent of the affairs of
the executive deoartmenr, fo
reign or dome (lie. There are
::o papers or documents that I
know of, and l believe there are
none, because there can be none
\:i the iccretary cf date’s office,
that wiil juft.fy John Adams in
the ex pence to which his admi
aiilration put the country or
even aHo id gtouud for lufpici
on that cither Fi ance or England
mended to invade the United
£*ULcs. for what purpose then
was an army to be railed. The
projectors (ji Inch a measure
mult have had Come object in
view, and as that object lias ne
ver been explained, it ought to
be enquired into. It is bad po
licy, and alio a bad precedent,
efpecialiy in public affairs, to
lit unpolitical Hide away with
cut detteben.
At the time I talked with Mr.
£ reckt m idge on this fubjedl, I
expected that Mr. Skipxsiiih for
Siierly | and at this time, Ame
rican conlul at Paris, and Joel
parl-rjj would loon arrive, and
Z did not v.'iHi the enquiry to be
gone Into till they came. After
the fill of Ucbefpierrt and the
dhbMhmcnt at the dire&ory
confutation; those two gentle
men and myft-lf, Mr. Monroe
being recalled) had better op
portunities of knowing the ten
timents and intentions of the
French government, with ref
pc ft to America, than other
per lons had; and they can be
evidence equally with Inyfelf,
that no intention Cxi fled in the
Fiench government to'invade
America i nor was any prepara
tion made lor such an attempt,
nor couid it be made. The pof
iibinty of luch a thing did not
exist. The French navy at
time fcas nearly annihilated;
her ports blockaded by the Bri
tilh i and she had to fight by
land, Tingle handed, against al
inoif the whole of Europe. She
had it not in her power to spare
a regiment, much less could she
spare an army, to lend to Ame
rica i and if lhe could have ipa*
red one, she had not the means
of traniporting ir, nor a convoy
to protect ir. All the circum
flances as well as the evidence
that can be provided, will fiiew
that the adminiilration of John
Adams, was a fraudulent and ex
pend ve imposition on the coun
, try 3 and that the army to be
railed was intended for fomc fe
rret purpose, and not for the
purpoie oi defence. If John
Adams was not confcicus of
Errs-thing wrong, and appre
herhive of feme consequences,
why did he ablcond in the hasty
and private manner kecid ? Or
pA A. S.bp'X h b re J :y:si tve
itnjtitJLip during the uilhrrdjirati
on of John Adams. 1 believe on
fucunt of a rude inful ting letter
be received from “limothy Picke
ring, then jeeret ary of fate. -Mr.
m tutid Ivir, kk'f -
wiib .
why did his partizans want to
put Aaron Burr in the presiden
cy. In the days of the black
cockades, John Adams had one
so enormous and so valiantly
large, that he appeared to be
fulpended by it; but when his
midnight hour arrived, his valor
tied and hirnfeif also.
The voluntary embassy of Dr.
Logan to Paris appears to-have
difeoncerted John’s administra
tion, and difeomfitted its lea
ders ; because it served to ex
pose and put an end to their pro
jects. When Dr. Logan called
on Timothy Pickering, secre
tary of slate, with Mr. Skip
vvith’s dispatches from Paris, Ti
mothy, before he knew their
contents, though Logan knew
the whole, began to talk of in
vanona and dangers, and the ne
cessity of preparation. <( It may
be very well, said Logan “to
have the militia always in good or
der.”
<c The militia fir /” said Timo
thy, “ the militia never did any
good and never will. J We mujl
have an army .of fifty thoujand
men.” When Logan was com
ing away, Timothy laid to him
at the door, Cf Sir, rhe govern
ment don’t thank you.’*
When Logan waited on Ge
neral Wafhing&on, who had been
J Timothy Pickering's resell t
cn on the militia defenses a rebuff
It was the viilitia that fought at
Bunker’s-Hill under Warren, a
militia general.—lt was by the
aid cf numerous reinforcements of
militia to join general Gates that
Burgoyne was taken. It was by
a volunteer militia under Stark,
a volunteer general, that colonel
Baum a Hefjian officer, was de
feated at Pennington, in Vermont,
which was the prelude to the cap
ture of Burgoync . But perhaps
Timothy reasons ffom btnfelf ;
and if hi makes hirnfeif the fan
dard by which to judge of the me
rit, of the milita, there is ground
for bis faying the militia never
did any good and never will.—
Timothy's firfi public employment
was very harmless , that of a tea
cher ofpfalmody. When the revo
lution began he learned tbs manu
el excrcife, and then taught it.
He was afterwards .appointed co
lonel of a regiment e/jnihtia, and
when the affairs, cf Lexington
and Concord took place, April 19,
1775, aJ,, d the Britijh were re
treating from Concord back to
Bcjlon, an Order wasfont to Timo
thy, to march with his regiment,
andpof limjelf at a certain piace
to cut cjf their retreat. Timothy
marched, but be flopped jhort cf
the place, and drew up his men,
and went to prayers , till tbs Bri
tijh puffed it. His prayers freed
him from the dangers of that day.
Ido not know that heJung pfahns.
Per hap S’ not. The enemy might
have ore;hcard him. Had Ti
mothy d±te bis duty cn that oca
jion, and put bis trufl in God with
out loitering away his fine, the
whole party cf the Britijh , about
• two thoujand, tnufl have been pd
f'oners, per they could not have got
back into Is of on ; and the daugh
ter at Bunker's hill, the 1 ptc of
June following , could not have
taken place The whole fora cf
the Britijh at Boflon at that time,
was about four thoujand, one half
cf which were on this expedition.
7 ’ p
then appointed the lieutenant
general of the army then railing,
of which John was commander
in chief!—the general received
him coldly and flernly, and said
to him in a haughty tone, “ and
pray fir, what right have you,
that are but a private citizen, to
interfere in matters of govern
ment Login very prudently
replied, “ i have no answer, fir,
to make to that,'* and withdrew.
Fhe flare of Pennsylvania, soon
after this, elected Dr. Logan
one of its lenators in congreis.
Circumstances often unriddle
and explain themselves, and it
happens so in this case ; for if
the adminillration, and those
leaders, connected with it, were
sincere in their belief that the
danger was real, and that the
country (as Governeur Morris
exprefihd it, in his funefal ora
tion on Hamilton) was “ menaced
with dangers from without,” and
chat France intended an invasi
on and if, at the fame time,
they had no concealed objtd in
contemplation thefrifelves, they
would welcome the* mef&nger
that Ihouid bring them good ti
dings chat all was well. But if,
on the contrary, they knew they
were afting & fraud, and heating
the country with falfhoods and
falfe alarms, for the purpose cf
procuring loans, levying new
taxes, and railing an army to
accomplish fome concealed pur
pose that could not be accom
plished without that treachery,
they would be enraged at him ;
and this accounts for the rude
reception Dr. Logan receiv
ed from that administration.-
Thousands who supposed that
adminifli ation from 3 belief that
it was acting right, have fmee
abandoned it from a. conviction
that it acted deceitfully wrong,
and this also accounts for the
great majority a: the lad pru
dential election. We have no
alarms now, nor should we have
had any then, if the present ad
miniflration had existed a: that
time.
It requires only a prudent and
honelt adminillration to preserve
America always in peace.-
Her difiance from the European
world frees her from its intrigues.
But when men gs: in power,
wiiofe h ads, like the head of
John Adams , are filled with
“ firange notions” and counter
revolutionary principlesar.d pro
jects, things will be lure to go
wrong. John Adams, who was
more the dupe of a party than
the leader of it, entered on the of
fice of president with his head
turned by the elevation he was
lifted to ; and his principles,
(if he ever had any) corrupted.
He turned out to be a counter
cealed project of his adminiflra
tionhad lucceeded, the federal
conflitudon would have been
deflroyed, and that by persons
under the aifumed and fraudu
lent names of federalifls.
“ Hs general IVajhmgtsn (said
John Adams) has no children,
it will be right to make the go vern
ment hereditary in the family of
Lund IVafkingtcr..” Perhaps
John intended this as a fiy intro
duction of himfelf and his hope
fu. son Tguinccy in prcfetence to
any of the Walhingtons ? for
this fame John Adams was one
cf the chief of a party ir; ::nrrehs
at Pork-tew ain Pennsylvania,
in the latter end of the year 1777
and beginning of 78, for dismiss
ing IVafungtcn from the com
mand of the army, bccauje, they
said, he was not capable cf it and
did nothing. Yet under John's
adminiflration the name of Waf
ington was made use of, for the
purpole of introducing and co
-a counter revolutionary
fyflem. Such is the inconsis
tency of faction and of men who
have no fixed principles!
The independence of Ameri
ca would have added but little
to her own happiness, and beea
of no benefit to the world, if her
government had been formed
on the corrupt models of the old
world. It was the opportunity
of beginning the world anew , as
\t were ; and of bringing tor
ward a new fyflem of govern
ment in which tire rights of all
men fhotild be preser ved, that
gave value to independence.—
The pamphlet, Common Sense ,
the firtr work I ever publilhed,
embraced both those objects.—
Mere independence might at
fome future time, have been
effect:d and established, by
arms, without principles, but a
juff fvftem of government could
not, la snort, it was the prin
ciples, at that time, that produ
ced the independence ; for un
til the principle spread itfelf
abroad among the people, inde
pendence was not thought of,
and America was fighting with
out an object. Thole who know
the circumstances of the times
1 (peak of, know this to be true.
I am not persecuting John
Adams, nor any other man, nor
did I ever persecute any ; but
I fee the propriety, and even the
nectlficy of inflituting an enqui
ry into the confufed flare of af
fairs during his adminiflration.
All the circumstances and the
evidence combined with them,
juftiry the suspicion that during
teat admin deration the country
| wa s grofily imposed upon, an d
pur to so great and unnecessary
expence, which the present ad
ministration has to pay off j and
that fome concealed and coun
ter-revolutionary scheme was in
contemplation. The leaders,
separately, might hide from each
other what his own particular
cbjefl was. Each of them
might have a different cne. But
all of them agreed in the prelim
inary project, that of raising afi
*nny ; and the caie would have
been, that when they had collec -
ted that army, they would have
broken into diflinft parties, like
the generals of Alexander’s a A
my, and deflroyed each other,
to decide who should be the
reigning usurper.—Symptoms
cf dilguft had already begun to
appear among the chiefs. ~ Ha
milton despised W a filing tern ;
Adams was jealous of Hamuroh ,
and Hamilton had a perfect con -
tempt for Adams. * But In the
end, John, I believe would have
come poorly off. He was not
a man of the sword, but only of
the cockade.
I purposely delayed entering
upon this lubjedl till the prtfi
dential eltflion should be over.
Had I pubiifhed it before that
tune, the clamour of sass ion
would have fa;d it was an electi
oneering trick. Now, they can
tct .ay y