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Autograph Letter Signed, as President, to Tristram Dalton, March 30, 1798, Philadelphia, [Pa.] 2 pp., 8 x 9⅞ in. A wistful letter to a boyhood friend in which Adams mentions some guileful political colleagues and laments the "popular Passions of the times" and the general neglect of his political writings. "The Difficulty of leading or guiding Millions, by any means but Power and Establishments can be known only to those who have tried Experiments of it." Complete Transcript Philadelphia, March 30, 1798 [different hand:] Received April 5thMy worthy Friend, I am as much in Debts in the literary and epistolary way, as our Princes of modern Speculation are in their pursuits: and I suppose for Similar Reasons viz want of Method, in accuracy of amounts, no Economy and undertaking more than I am capable of managing. To you, I am indebted for three late letters, at least.The Character drawn in the first and alluded to in the Second, has always been civil to me, personally; and especially in his last visit to this Place. But I have heard frequently of his Conversation and Behavior. I am out of all danger from his designs.The Plan, in your last Letter, that I mean of the 26th of this month, shall have all the attention it deserves from me. There are few Men if any to whom my Inclinations and feelings are better disposed, than to the C. in question.In one of your Letters you recall the memory of forgotten Lucubrations. Alass! Experience, History and Prophecy founded on both are lost to Mankind. They oppose in vain, their feeble Resistance to the popular Passions of the times. It may in some future time be remarked that those Papers were written in 1786 & 1787, and the Events of the Subsequent ten or eleven years may be compared with them: but this will be done by a very few in their Closets and will influence Nations very little. The Difficulty of leading or guiding Millions, by any means but Power and Establishments can be known only to those who have tried Experiments of it. My regards to the Family. And accept of & renewal of Protestations of Esteem, which have been made and repeated almost half a hundred years,From your most obedientJohn AdamsHon. Tristram Dalton Esq.[Docketing in a different hand]: Once President of the United States Class mate of T D & friends while they lived M.A.W. 1907.Historical BackgroundEarlier in the month, Adams and his Cabinet had received reports of the humiliation suffered by John Marshall, Charles C. Pinckney, and Elbridge Gerry in Paris. French Foreign Minister Charles Talleyrand told the three diplomats through French officials indentified in the United States as "X," "Y," and "Z" that negotiations would not proceed unless they paid a personal bribe of $250,000. France, in the midst of war with Britain, had authorized its naval vessels to seize American shipping. A small American Navy was beginning to respond in kind in this "Quasi-War." In hopes of avoiding open war with their old revolutionary allies, Adams had sent Marshall, Pinckney, and Gerry, but now, as of March 1798, it appeared a declaration of war might be necessary. Adams called a special session of Congress in hopes of mobilizing for war while also sending new diplomatic envoys to France. On March 16, he addressed Congress, informing them of the XYZ affair, all of which sparked the bitterest partisanship the young republic had yet seen.Adams' reference to a duplicitous friend--affable in person but designing behind his back--is to Thomas Law (1756-1834). In his letter of February 12, Dalton warned Adams that Law was "a Person who may be deemed dangerous." Law had purchased large amounts of land in Washington, D.C. and expended "considerable Sums" on buildings, serving as the agent of someone in England. More sinisterly, Dalton worried about Law's influence on American politics. He had heard Law publicly "vilify" the measures of the Washington administration, especially the Jay Treaty with Great. (See website for full description). Seller Inventory # 27564
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