cause of your visit to Haverhill, and I was not disappointed, but if I should not receive one this week I should be mortified. The spirit in the two Houses has hitherto appeared well disposed to support the government, but whether the House will venture to censure a great number of their constituents so freely as the President and Senate have done, I know not. Mr. Madison and Mr. Scott upon the committee would not admit the clause into their report, and whether the House will insert it is not yet certain. An army of fifteen thousand militia so easily raised from four States only, to go upon such an enterprise ought to be a terrible phenomenon to anti-federal citizens as well as to insolent Britons. If our old stepmother continues to provoke us, till our patience is exhausted, she will soon see mischief to her dominions in America. But they will cost us infinitely more than they are worth. Adieu. LETTER CCXXXIX. J. A. Philadelphia, 5 December, 1794. MY DEAREST FRIEND, He is cousin I RETURNED this day the visit of the ci-devant Duc de Liancourt. He is a sensible man. german of the late Duc de la Rochefoucauld, and in herited his estate and, for what I know, his titles, but neither the estate nor the titles are of any use at present. What will be the future destiny of these high personages is a curious problem. I endeavored to im press upon him as I have upon all other Frenchmen, the necessity of an independent senate in France, incapable of being warped by ministers of state on one hand, or by popular demagogues on the other. I begin now to entertain hopes of soon hearing from our sons, to whom I have written by Mr. Greenleaf. This session of Congress is the most innocent I ever knew. We have done no harm. The English are so beaten and the French so triumphant, that I wonder there are not some projects for war. But it seems popularity is not now to be gotten by spirit. I know not what to write to you, unless I tell you I love you and long to see you; but this will be no news. I wish I had a farm here. I would give you my chronicles of husbandry in return for yours. Three long months before I can see you. Oh! what to do with myself I know not. My duty to my mother, and love to brothers and sisters and cousins. Mr. Morris inquired of me the character of William Cranch. Be sure I gave him a How is Mr. Wibird's health, and Mr. good one. Quincy's ? Adieu. J. A. LETTER CCXL. MY DEAREST FRIEND, Philadelphia, 14 December, 1794. ALTHOUGH the weather is the most beautiful I ever knew in December, the time seems longer to me than ever any time did in America. The business of Congress this session is dulness, flatness, and insipidity itself. I have been much engaged in reading the trials of Muir, Margarot, Watt, Downie, and Walker. Mr. Walker, of Manchester, appears to have been very ill used by the church party; but he was honorably acquitted. The others, I suppose, could not be held guiltless according to the laws of Scotland and England. The severity, however, of their sentences may excite rather than suppress discontent and mutiny. Self-created societies must be circumspect. It is very easy for them to trangress the boundaries of law, and as soon as they do, they become unlawful assemblies, seditious societies, mischievous conventions, pernicious associations, dangerous and destructive combinations, and as many such hard appellations as you choose to give them. I take it for granted that political clubs must and ought to be lawful in every free country. I belonged to several in my youth, and I wish I could belong to one now. It would save me from ennui of an evening, which now torments me as bad as the blue devils would if I had them, which, by the way, I never had, and so can't say by experience. Low spirits and blue devils are not the same. I think I will read Swedenborg's works. I dare say they are as entertaining as the Pilgrim's Progress, or Robinson Crusoe, or the Seven Champions. Any thing that shows a strong and strange imagination, and is neither melancholy nor stark mad, is amusing. I fear the atheistical and theistical philosophers, lately turned politicians, will drive the common people into receptacles of visionaries, enluminées, illuminées, &c., &c., &c., for the common people will undoubtedly insist upon the risk of being damned rather than give up the hope of being saved in a future state. The people will have a life to come and so will I. I fear you will think me a little crazy, so I conclude. I send you a history of Geneva. Adieu. LETTER CCXLI. Philadelphia, 1 January, 1795. MY DEAREST FRIEND, I WISH you a happy new year, and a repetition of happy new years as long as time shall endure; not here below, because I shall want you in another country, better than this. What do you say? Shall I keep a national thanksgiving with you? I hope, before that day, we shall have good news from all our family, though we cannot be all together. Compliments of the season to L., and all my good friends. Don't forget my farm next time you write. I hope to find a letter at the Senate chamber. Adieu. LETTER CCXLII. MY DEAREST FRIEND, Philadelphia, 5 January, 1795. By this day's post I have your letter of the 26th ultimo. I believe that some incomprehensible sympathy or other, made me low-spirited all the time you were sick, though I neither knew nor suspected it. I rejoice to be informed of your recovery. If I were not afraid of every change in your situation that might endanger your health, I would plan a project for next winter; but I must leave that for a tête à tête. To a heart that loves praise so well, and receives so little of it, your letter is like laudanum, which Mr. Henry the senator, says, is the Divinity itself. The French Convention has passed a number of resolutions for the regulation of Jacobinical clubs or self-created societies, founded in eternal reason, |