You will see in the answer to the President's speech much room for criticism. You must, for the present, be content to know that it resulted from a choice of evils. His reply to the foreign paragraph indicates a good effect on his mind. Indeed, he cannot but wish to avoid entailing a war on his successor. The danger lies in the fetters he has put on himself, and in the irritation and distrust of the French Government.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

PHILADELPHIA, Decr 25, 1796.

DEAR SIR, I cannot yet entirely remove the uncertainty in which my last left the election. Unless the Vermont election, of which little has, of late, been said, should contain some fatal vice in it, Mr. Adams may be considered as the President elect. Nothing can deprive him of it but a general run of the votes in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, in favour of Mr. Pinckney, which is altogether contrary to the best information. It is not even probable that Mr. P. will be the second on the list; the secondary votes of N. Hampshire being even said to have been thrown away on Ellsworth; and a greater number consequently required from the States above mentioned than will be likely to fall to his lot. We have nothing new from Europe. The prospect and projects in our foreign Department are under a veil, not a corner of which I have been able to lift. I fear the distrust with which the French Government view the Executive here, and the fetters which the President has suffered himself to put on, will be obstacles to the reconciliation which he cannot fail to desire. It is whispered, also, that the Spanish minister has intimated the probable dissatisfaction of his Court at the Explanatory article of the British Treaty. Nor can it be doubted, from the nature of the alliance between that and France, that a common cause will be made in all the steps taken by the latter with respect to this Country. In the mean time, the British. party are busy in their calumnies for turning the blame of the present crisis from themselves, on the pretended instigations of

France, by Americans at Paris; and some of them are already bold enough to talk of an alliance with England, as the resource in case of an actual rupture with France. The new President, whoever he will be, will have much in his power; and it is important to make as many circumstances as possible conspire to lead him to a right use of it. There never was greater distress than at this moment in the monied world. Failures and frauds occur daily; and are so much connected with Banks, that these Institutions are evidently losing ground in the public opinion.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

PHILADELPHIA, Jany 8, 1797.

DEAR SIR, I have received your favour of the 17th ult. The election is not likely to terminate in the equilibrium of votes, for which the Constitution has not provided. If the Vermont votes should be valid, as is now generally supposed, Mr. Adams will have 71 and you 68, Pinckney being in the rear of both. It is to be hoped that the nicety, and, in truth, the unpropitious casualty of the choice of Mr. A., will lessen the evil of such an ostensible protest by this Country against Republicanism. Your acceptance of a share in the administration will not fail to aid this tendency. It is suggested to me that it will be necessary for you to be here before the adjournment of Congress, in order to be qualified. I have not examined the Constitution and the law on this subject. You will have the means of doing both, and of deciding on the question. Altho' I am sensible of the inconveniency of such a trip at this season of the year, yet I see so many advantages likely to result from it, that I cannot help wishing it may be found necessary. If you cannot qualify elsewhere, you must come, of course, that the danger of an interregnum may be provided against. The expense would be no objection; and is, besides, balanced by the effect of the qualification in settling the date of the compensation.

The special communication from the President on our affairs with France is not yet made. The gloom over them is in no

respect diminished. Not a word from Monroe, or any other quarter, relating to his recall, or enabling us to judge on the question whether Pinckney will be received. We wait with anxiety for the light that will probably be thrown on the first point by the expected communication.

The inclosed paper will give you the foreign news as it has first made its appearance here. A comparison of paragraphs renders the Italian part of it unfavourable to the French very improbable. There may, nevertheless, be some foundation for it. The French operations against our trade seem to be better authenticated, as well as the renewal of the Algerine warfare. The abortive result of Lord Malmesbury's errand is also highly probable. I just understand that Spain declared war against G. Britain on the 8th of October.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

PHILADELPHIA, Jans 15, 1797.

DEAR SIR, The last mail brought me your favour of Jan 1, inclosing an unsealed one for Mr. A., and submitting to my discretion the eligibility of delivering it. In exercising this delicate trust I have felt no small anxiety, arising by no means, however, from an apprehension that a free exercise of it could be in collision with your real purpose, but from a want of confidence in myself, and the importance of a wrong judgment in the case. After the best consideration I have been able to bestow, I have been led to suspend the delivery of the letter, till you should have an opportunity of deciding on the sufficiency or insufficiency of the following reasons: 1. It is certain that Mr. Adams, on his coming to this place, expressed to different persons a respectful cordiality towards you, and manifested a sensibility to the candid manner in which your friends had, in general, conducted the opposition to him. And it is equally known that your sentiments towards him personally have found their way to him in the most conciliating form. This being the state of things between you, it deserves to be considered

whether the idea of bettering it is not outweighed by the possi bility of changing it for the worse. 2. There is, perhaps, a general air on the letter which betrays the difficulty of your situation in writing it, and it is uncertain what the impression might be resulting from this appearance. 3. It is certain that Mr. A. is fully apprized of the trick aimed at by his pseudo friends of N. Y., and there may be danger of his suspecting in mementos on that subject a wish to make his resentment an instrument for revenging that of others. A hint of this kind was some time ago dropped by a judicious and sound man, who lives under the same roof, with a wish that even the newspapers might be silent on that point. 4. May not what he said, "of the sublime delights of riding in the storm, &c.," be misconstrued into a reflection on those who have no distaste to the helm at the present crisis? You know the temper of Mr. A. better than I do, but I have always conceived it to be rather a ticklish one. 5. The tenderness due to the zealous and active promoters of your election makes it doubtful whether their anxiety and exertions ought to be depreciated by anything implying the unreasonableness of them. I know that some individuals who have deeply committed themselves. and probably incurred the political enmity at least of the P. elect, are already sore on this head. 6. Considering the probability that Mr. A.'s course of administration may force an opposition to it from the Republican quarter, and the general uncertainty of the posture which our affairs may take, there may be real embarrassments from giving written possession to him of the degree of compli ment and confidence which your personal delicacy and friendship have suggested.

I have ventured to make these observations because I am sure you will equally appreciate the motive and the matter of them; and because I do not view them as inconsistent with the duty and policy of cultivating Mr. A.'s favorable dispositions, and giving a fair start to his Executive career. As you have no doubt retained a copy of the letter, I do not send it back as you request. It occurs, however, that if the subject should not be changed in your view of it by the reasons which influence mine,

and the delivery of the letter be accordingly judged expedient, it may not be amiss to alter the date of it, either by writing the whole over again, or authorizing me to correct that part of it.

The special communication is still unmade. It is, I am told, to be extremely voluminous. I hope, under the sanction of the P.'s reply to our address, that it will be calculated rather to heal than irritate the wounded friendship of the two Countries. Yet I cannot look around at the men who counsel him, or look back at the snares into which he has hitherto been drawn, without great apprehensions on this subject. Nothing from France, subsequent to the arrival of Pinckney. The negociations for peace, you will see, are suspended. The accession of Spain to the war enforces the probability that its calamities are not likely yet to be terminated. The late news from the Rhine and from Italy are, on the whole, favorable to the French. The last battle was on the 27th Oct., in the Hunspruck, and ended in a victory on their side. The II. of Reps are on direct taxes, which seem to be so much nauseated and feared by those who have created both the necessity and odium of them, that the project will miscarry. Hamilton, you will recollect, assured the farmers that all the purposes of the Government could be answered without resorting to lands, houses, or stock on farms. This deceptive statement, with other devices of his administration, is rising up in judgment against him, and will very probably soon blast the prospects which his ambition and intrigues have contemplated. It is certain that he has lost ground in New York of late, and his treachery to Adams will open the eyes of New England.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

PHILADELPHIA, Jany 22, 1797.

DEAR SIR, I have received yours of Jan' 8th. You will find by the papers that the communication on French affairs has been at length made. It being ordered to be printed without