Beschreibung:

Adams, JohnLetter signed ("John Adams") as second President, to Nehemiah Fales, et al. ("the Grand Jury of the county of Norfolk in the State of Massachusetts"), thanking them for their support of his foreign policy with France and excoriating the French Directory 2 pages (250 x 200 mm) on a leaf of laid paper, body of the letter written in a neat clerical hand, Quincy, 28 August 1798; a few tiny holes at intersecting folds, short fold separation at left margin, a few light stains. Half red morocco slipcase, chemise. "The present rulers in France have indeed discovered … a contempt for our government & national character." A fine example—written to his home county—of one of a series of letters sent by President Adams to supporters in the midst of the XYZ affair and Quasi-War with France. President Washington's 1793 Neutrality Proclamation and the 1795 signing of Jay's Treaty with England greatly strained relations between France and the United States. Hoping to defuse a situation that he had inherited, recently inaugurated President Adams sent three envoys, John Marshall Elbridge Gerry, and Charles Pinckney, to meet with French foreign minister Talleyrand, but they were refused reception, and it was suggested that a bribe should be paid to Talleyrand before the French would consider negotiating. Additional negotiations were carried on with French diplomats Jean-Conrad Hottinguer, Pierre Bellamy, and Lucien Hauteval, who were designated X, Y, and Z in the mission's dispatches to President Adams. President Adams made the diplomatic reports of these matters public, creating an uproar in the United States; many local governments sent addresses to Adams supporting his position. On 23 August 1798, Nehemiah Fales and his cohort from Norfolk County wrote to Adams, "when our freedom and laws are invaded by the hostile aggressions, and still more by the insidious arts of France, as they lead us coolly to confirm by our judgment, the prompt decision of our feelings, that it is better to support our Government and independence by the sword, than to maintain, (even if it could be so maintained) a scandalous peace, by tribute. … Indeed every true republican is greatly indebted, and ought to be grateful to you, Sir, and to your illustrious predecessor for administering our Government with such purity, firmness and wisdom, as have essentially contributed to its reputation, as well as success." The present letter is President Adams's grateful and impassioned reply: "I thank you for the obliging address you agreed on at the supreme court in Dedham. … It is not possible for a Grand Jury of honest and sensible men, to fulfill the duties assigned them by the laws of the land, without reflecting on the inestimable value of those laws, and the distinction as well as security of the freedom they confer exclusively upon us & the country of our ancestors. … I really question whether France ever doubted the spirit of Americans. She depended more on their ignorance of the world and their unsuspecting innocence and simplicity. The present rulers in France have indeed discovered by symptoms that cannot be misunderstood, a contempt for our government & national character. I cannot find, that they have respected any people, but such as are governed by Kings, or any governments, but monarchies & military dictatorships." In concluding, Adams alludes to his Norfolk County birth. "I thank you for your acknowledgement of me as a native of your country. Had the order of providence permitted me to have selected the place of my birth and residence, I would have prefer'd no other. Although my life cannot be much longer, I wish it may be continued, as long as you shall acknowledge it to be useful." By the time of this exchange, the Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war with France, was already underway, and would continue until the signing of the Convention of 1800 at Mortefontaine, 30 September 1800. PROVENANCEChristie's New York, 13 June 2018, lot 79 ("Property of a L