The Writings of Samuel Adams Volume IV Part 44

BOSTON, April 24th, 1801

MY VERY DEAR FRIEND

Your Letter of the 29th of March came duly to my hand. I sincerely congratulate our Country on the arrival of the day of Glory which has called you to the first office in the administration of our federal Government. Your warm feeling of friendship must certainly have carried you to a higher tone of expression than my utmost merits will bear. If I have at any time been avoided or frowned upon, your kind e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n in the language of the most perfect friend of Man, surpa.s.ses every injury. The Storm is now over, and we are in port, and I dare say, the ship will be rigged for her proper service; she must also be well man'd and very carefully officered. No man can be fit to sustain an office who cannot consent to the principles by which he must be governed. With you, I hope, we shall once more see harmony restored; but after so severe and long a storm, it will take a proportionate time to still the raging of the waves. The World has been governed by prejudice and pa.s.sion, which never can be friendly to truth; and while you n.o.bly resolve to retain the principles of candour and of justice, resulting from a free elective Representative Government, such as they have been taught to hate and despise; you must depend upon being hated yourself, because they hate your principles, not a man of them dare openly to despise you; your inaugural speech, to say nothing of your eminent services to the acceptance of our Country, will secure you from contempt. It may require some time before the great body of our fellow citizens will settle in harmony good humour and peace. When deep prejudices shall be removed in some, the self interestedness of others shall cease and many honest Men, whose minds for want of better information have been clouded, shall return to the use of their own understanding, the happy and wished for time will come. The Eyes of the people have too generally been fast closed from the view of their own happiness, such ala.s.s has been always the lot of Man! but Providence, who rules the World, seems now to be rapidly changing the sentiments of Mankind in Europe and America. May Heaven grant that the principles of Liberty and virtue, truth and justice may pervade the whole Earth. I have a small circle of intimate friends, among whom Doctr Charles Jarvis is one; he is a man of much information and great integrity. I heartily wish there may be an epistolary correspondence between him and you. I should have written this Letter before, had not my faithfull friend and amanuensis John Avery, who is your friend as well as mine, been occupied in the business of his office of Secretary of this Commonwealth, which he attends with great punctuality and integrity. It is not in my power my dear friend, to give you council; an Old Man is apt to flatter himself, that he stands upon an equal footing with younger Men; he indeed cannot help feeling that the powers of his Mind, as well as his body are weakened; but he relies upon his memory, and fondly wishes his young friends to think that he can instruct them by his Experience, when in all probability he has forgot every trace of it, that was worth his memory. Be a.s.sured, that my esteem for you is as cordial, if possible, as yours is to me. Though an Old Man cannot advise you, he can give you his Blessing. You have devoutly my Blessing and my Prayers.

My dear Mrs. Adams will not suffer me to close this Letter, till I let you know, that she recollects the pleasure and entertainment you afforded us, when you was about to embark for France, and hopes that your administration may be happy to yourself and prosperous to our Country.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

[MS., Library of Congress , a draft is in the Samuel Adams Papers, Lenox Library.]

BOSTON Novemr 18th 1801

MY DEAR FRIEND

Doctr Eustis will be so kind as to deliver you this Letter.--I am persuaded you will find him a man of a candid and fair Mind and liberal sentiments.

I congratulate you on the return of Peace. The War both in America and Europe was designed by Tyrant Kings to exterminate those rights and liberties which the Gracious Creator has granted to Man, and to sink the happiness resulting therefrom in ruin and oblivion.--Is there not, my friend, reason to believe, that the principles of Democratic Republicanism are already better understood than they were before; and that by the continued efforts of Men of Science and Virtue, they will extend more and more till the turbulent and destructive Spirit of War shall cease?--The proud oppressors over the Earth shall be totally broken down and those cla.s.ses of Men who have hitherto been the victims of their rage and cruelty shall perpetually enjoy perfect Peace and Safety till time shall be no more.

I am

Your cordial friend

1802

TO THOMAS PAINE

[W. V. Wells, Life of Samuel Adams, vol iii , pp 372, 373]

BOSTON, November 30, 1802.

SIR,--

I have frequently with pleasure reflected on your services to my native and your adopted country. Your Common Sense, and your Crisis, unquestionably awakened the public mind, and led the people loudly to call for a declaration of our national independence. I therefore esteemed you as a warm friend to the liberty and lasting welfare of the human race. But when I heard you had turned your mind to a defence of infidelity, I felt myself much astonished and more grieved, that you had attempted a measure so injurious to the feelings and so repugnant to the true interest of so great a part of the citizens of the United States. The people of New England, if you will allow me to use a Scripture phrase, are fast returning to their first love. Will you excite among them the spirit of angry controversy at a time when they are hastening to amity and peace? I am told that some of our newspapers have announced your intention to publish an additional pamphlet upon the principles of your Age of Reason. Do you think that your pen, or the pen of any other man, can unchristianize the ma.s.s of our citizens, or have you hopes of converting a few of them to a.s.sist you in so bad a cause? We ought to think ourselves happy in the enjoyment of opinion, without the danger of persecution by civil or ecclesiastical law. Our friend, the President of the United States, has been calumniated for his liberal sentiments by men who have attributed that liberality to a latent design to promote the cause of infidelity. This, and all other slanders, have been made without the least shadow of proof. Neither religion nor liberty can long subsist in the tumult of altercation, and amidst the noise and violence of faction. Felix qui cautus. Adieu.