JOHN ADAMS TO THOMAS JEFFERSON
Quincy, June 20, 1815.
Dear Sir,—The fit of recollection came upon both of us so nearly at the same time, that I may, some time or other, begin to think there is something in Priestley's and Hartley's vibrations. The day before yesterday I sent to the post-office a letter to you, and last night I received your kind favor of the 10th.
The question before the human race is, whether the God of Nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles? Or, in other words, whether authority is originally in the people? or whether it has descended for 1800 years in a succession of popes and bishops, or brought down from heaven by the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove, in a phial of holy oil?
Who shall take the side of God and Nature? Brachmans? Mandarins? Druids? or Tecumseh and his brother the prophet? Or shall we become disciples of the Philosophers? And who are the Philosophers? Frederic? Voltaire? Rousseau? Buffon? Diderot? or Condorsett? These philosophers have shown themselves as incapable of governing mankind, as the Bourbons or the Guelphs. Condorsett has let the cat out of the bag. He has made precious confessions. I regret that I have only an English translation of his "Outlines of an Historical View of the Progress of the Human mind." But in pages 247, 248, and 249, you will find it frankly acknowledged, that the philosophers of the eighteenth century, adopted all the maxims, and practiced all the arts of the Pharisees, the ancient priests of all countries, the Jesuits, the Machiavillians, &c., &c., to overthrow the institutions that such arts had established. This new philosophy was, by his own account, as insidious, fraudulent, hypocritical, and cruel, as the old policy of the priests, nobles, and kings. When and where were ever found, or will be found, sincerity, honesty, or veracity, in any sect or party in religion, government, or philosophy? Johnson and Burke were more of Catholics than Protestants at heart, and Gibbon became an advocate for the inquisition.
There is no act of uniformity in the Church, or State, philosophic. As many sects and systems among them, as among Quakers and Baptists. Bonaparte will not revive inquisitions, Jesuits, or slave trade, for which habitudes the Bourbons have been driven again into exile.
We shall get along with, or without war. I have at last procured the Marquis D'Argens' Occellus, Timæus, and Julian. Three such volumes I never read. They are a most perfect exemplification of Condorsett's precious confessions. It is astonishing they have not made more noise in the world. Our Athanasians have printed in a pamphlet in Boston, your letters and Priestley's from Belsham's Lindsey. It will do you no harm. Our correspondence shall not again be so long interrupted. Affectionately.
Mrs. Adams thanks Mr. Jefferson for his friendly remembrance of her, and reciprocates to him a thousand good wishes.
P. S. Ticknor and Gray were highly delighted with their visit; charmed with the whole family. Have you read Carnot? Is it not afflicting to see a man of such large views, so many noble sentiments, and such exalted integrity, groping in the dark for a remedy, a balance, or a mediator between independence and despotism? How shall his "love of country," "his honor," and his "national spirit," be produced?
I cannot write a hundredth part of what I wish to say to you.
JOHN ADAMS TO THOMAS JEFFERSON
Quincy, June 22, 1815.
Dear Sir,—Can you give me any information concerning A. G. Camus? Is he a Chateaubriand? or a Marquis D'Argens? Does he mean to abolish Christianity? or to restore the Inquisition, the Jesuits, the Pope and the Devil?
Within a few days I have received a thing as unexpected to me as an apparition from the dead: Rapport à l'Institut National. Par A. G. Camus, imprimè par ordre de l'Institut, Pluviose An XI.
In page 55 of this report, he says, "Certain pieces which I found in the chamber of accounts in Brussels, gave me useful indications concerning the grand collection of the Bollandists; and conducted me to make researches into the state of that work, unfortunately interrupted at this day. It would add to the Institute to propose to government the means of completing it; as it has done with success for the collection of the historians of France, of diplomas and ordinances.14"
Permit me to dwell a few minutes on this important work.
"Almost all the history of Europe, and a part of that of the east, from the seventh century to the thirteenth, is in the lives of personages to whom have been given the title of Saints. Every one may have remarked, that in reading history, there is no event of any importance, in civil order, in which some Bishop, some Abbé, some Monk, or some Saint, did not take a part. It is, therefore, a great service, rendered by the Jesuits (known under the name of the Bollandists) to those who would write history, to have formed the immense collection, extended to fifty-two volumes in folio, known under the title of the Acts of the Saints. The service they have rendered to literature, is considerably augmented, by the insertion, in their acts of the Saints, a great number of diplomas and dissertations, the greatest part of which are models of criticism. There is no man, among the learned, who does not interest himself in this great collection. My intention is not to recall to your recollection the original authors, or their first labors. We may easily know them by turning over the leaves of the collection, or if we would find the result already written, it is in the Historical Library of Mensel, T. 1, part 1, p. 306, or in the Manual of Literary History, by Bougine, T. 2, p. 641.
"I shall date what I have to say to you only from the epoch of the suppression of the society, of which the Bollandists were members.
"At that time, three Jesuits were employed in the collection of the Acts of the Saints; to wit, the Fathers De Bie, De Bue, and Hubens. The Father Gesquière, who had also labored at the Acts of the Saints, reduced a particular collection, entitled Select Fragments from Belgical Writers, and extracts or references to matters contained in a collection entitled Museum of Bellarmine. These four monks inhabited the house of the Jesuits at Antwerp. Independently of the use of the library of the convent, the Bollandists had their particular library, the most important portion of which was a state of the Lives of the Saints for every day of the month, with indications of the books in which were found those which were already printed, and the original manuscripts, or the copies of manuscripts, which were not yet printed. They frequently quote this particular collection in their general collection. The greatest part of the copies they had assembled, were the fruit of a journey of the Fathers Papebrock and Henshen, made to Rome in 1660. They remained there till 1662. Papebrock and his associate brought from Rome copies of seven hundred Lives of Saints, in Greek or in Latin. The citizen La Serna, has in his library a copy, taken by himself, from the originals, of the relation of the journey of Papebrock to Rome, and of the correspondence of Henshen with his colleagues. The relation and the correspondence are in Latin. See Catalogue de la Serna, T. 3, N. 3903.
"After the suppression of the Jesuits, the commissioners apposed their seals upon the library of the Bollandists, as well as on that of the Jesuits of Antwerp. But Mr. Girard, then Secretary of the Academy at Brussels, who is still living, and who furnished me a part of the documents I use, charged with the inventory and sale of the books, withdrew those of the Bollandists, and transported them to Brussels.
"The Academy of Brussels proposed to continue the Acts of the Saints under its own name, and for this purpose to admit the four Jesuits into the number of its members. The Father Gesquière alone consented to this arrangement. The other Jesuits obtained of government, through the intervention of the Bishop of Newstadt, the assurance, that they might continue their collection. In effect, the Empress Maria Theresa approved, by a decree of the 19th of June, 1778, a plan which was presented to her, for the continuation of the works, both by the Bollandists and of Gesquière. This plan is in ample detail. It contains twenty articles, and would be useful to consult, if any persons should resume the Acts of the Saints. The establishment of the Jesuits was fixed in the Abby of Candenberg, at Brussels; the library of the Bollandists was transported to that place; one of the monks of the Abby was associated with them; and the Father Hubens being dead, was replaced by the Father Berthod, a Benedictine, who died in 1789. The Abby of Candenberg having been suppressed, the government assigned to the Bollandists a place in the ancient College of the Jesuits, at Brussels. They there placed their library, and went there to live. There they published the fifty-first volume of their collection in 1786, the fifth tome of the month of October, printed at Brussels, at the printing press Imperial and Royal, (in typis Cæsario regiis.) They had then two associates, and they flattered themselves that the Emperor would continue to furnish the expense of their labors. Nevertheless, in 1788, the establishment of the Bollandists was suppressed, and they even proposed to sell the stock of the printed volumes; but, by an instruction (Avis) of the 6th of December, 1788, the ecclesiastical commission superseded the sale, till the result could be known of a negociation which the Father De Bie had commenced with the Abbé of St. Blaise, to establish the authors, and transport the stock of the work, as well as the materials for its continuation at St. Blaise.
"In the meantime, the Abby of Tongerloo offered the government to purchase the library and stock of the Bollandists, and to cause the work to be continued by the ancient Bollandists, with the monks of Tongerloo associated with them. These propositions were accepted. The Fathers De Bie, De Bue, and Gesquière, removed to Tongerloo; the monks of Candenberg refused to follow them, though they had been associated with them. On the entry of the French troops into Belgium, the monks of Tongerloo quitted their Abby; the Fathers De Bie, and Gesquière, retired to Germany, where they died; the Father De Bue retired to the City Hall, heretofore Province of Hainault, his native country. He lives, but is very aged. One of the monks of Tongerloo, who had been associated with them, is the Father Heylen; they were not able to inform me of the place of his residence. Another monk associated with the Bollandists of 1780, is the Father Fonson, who resides at Brussels.
"In the midst of these troubles, the Bollandists have caused to be printed the fifty-second volume of the Acts of the Saints, the sixth volume of the month of October. The fifty-first volume is not common in commerce, because the sale of it has been interrupted by the continual changes of the residence of the Bollandists. The fifty-second volume, or the sixth of the same month of October, is much more rare. Few persons know its existence.
"The citizen La Serna has given me the two hundred and ninety-six first pages of the volume, which he believes were printed at Tongerloo. He is persuaded that the rest of the volume exists, and he thinks it was at Rome that it was finished (terminé).
"The citizen De Herbonville, Prefect of the two Niths at Antwerp, has made, for about eighteen months, attempts with the ancient Bollandists, to engage them to resume their labors. They have not had success. Perhaps the present moment would be the most critical, (opportune,) especially if the government should consent to give to the Bollandists assurance of their safety.
"The essential point would be to make sure of the existence of the manuscripts which I have indicated; and which, by the relation of the citizen La Serna, filled a body of a library of about three toises in length, and two in breadth. If these manuscripts still exist, it is easy to terminate the Acts of the Saints; because we shall have all the necessary materials. If these manuscripts are lost, we must despair to see this collection completed.
"I have enlarged a little on this digression on the Acts of the Saints, because it is a work of great importance; and because these documents, which cannot be obtained with any exactitude but upon the spots, seem to me to be among the principal objects which your travellers have to collect, and of which they ought to give you an account."
Now, my friend Jefferson! I await your observations on this morsel. You may think I waste my time and yours. I do not think so. If you will look into the "Nouveau Dictionaire Historique," under the words "Bollandus, Heinshernius, and Papebrock," you will find more particulars of the rise and progress of this great work, "The Acts of the Saints."
I shall make only an observation or two.
1. The Pope never suppressed the work, and Maria Theresa established it. It therefore must be Catholic.
2. Notwithstanding the professions of the Bollandists, to discriminate the true from the false miracles, and the dubious from both, I suspect that the false will be found the fewest, the dubious the next, and the true the most numerous of all.
3. From all that I have read, of the legends, of the lives, and writings of the saints, and even of the Fathers, and of ecclesiastical history in general, I have no doubt that the Acta Sanctorum is the most enormous mass of lies, frauds, hypocrisy, and imposture, that ever was heaped together on this globe. If it were impartially consulted, it would do more to open the eyes of mankind, than all the philosophers of the 18th century, who were as great hypocrites as any of the philosophers or theologians of antiquity.
TO MR. CORREA
Monticello, June 28, 1815.
Dear Sir,—When I learned that you proposed to give a course of Botanical lectures in Philadelphia, I feared it would retard the promised visit to Monticello. On my return from Bedford, however, on the 4th instant, I received a letter from M. Dupont flattering me with the prospect that he and yourself would be with us as soon as my return should be known. I therefore in the instant wrote him of my return, and my hope of seeing you both shortly. I am still without that pleasure, but not without the hope. Europe has been a second time turned topsy-turvy since we were together; and so many things have happened there that I have lost my compass. As far as we can judge from appearances, Bonaparte, from being a mere military usurper, seems to have become the choice of his nation; and the allies in their turn, the usurpers and spoliators of the European world. The right of nations to self-government being my polar star, my partialities are steered by it, without asking whether it is a Bonaparte or an Alexander towards whom the helm is directed. Believing that England has enough on her hands without us, and therefore has by this time settled the question of impressment with Mr. Adams, I look on this new conflict of the European gladiators, as from the higher forms of the amphitheatre, wondering that man, like the wild beasts of the forest, should permit himself to be led by his keeper into the arena, the spectacle and sport of the lookers on. Nor do I see the issue of this tragedy with the sanguine hopes of our friend M. Dupont. I fear, from the experience of the last twenty-five years, that morals do not of necessity advance hand in hand with the sciences. These, however, are speculations which may be adjourned to our meeting at Monticello, where I will continue to hope that I may receive you with our friend Dupont, and in the meantime repeat the assurances of my affectionate friendship and respect.
TO MADAME LA BARONNE DE STAEL-HOLSTEIN
Monticello, July 3, 1815.
Dear Madam,—I considered your letter of November 10th, 12th, as an evidence of the interest you were so kind as to take in the welfare of the United States, and I was even flattered by your exhortations to avoid taking any part in the war then raging in Europe, because they were a confirmation of the policy I had myself pursued, and which I thought and still think should be the governing canon of our republic. Distance, and difference of pursuits, of interests, of connections and other circumstances, prescribe to us a different system, having no object in common with Europe, but a peaceful interchange of mutual comforts for mutual wants. But this may not always depend on ourselves; and injuries may be so accumulated by an European power, as to pass all bounds of wise forbearance. This was our situation at the date of your letter. A long course of injuries, systematically pursued by England, and finally, formal declarations that she would neither redress nor discontinue their infliction, had fixed the epoch which rendered an appeal to arms unavoidable. In the letter of May 28th, 1813, which I had the honor of writing you, I entered into such details of these injuries, and of our unremitting endeavors to bring them to a peaceable end, as the narrow limits of a letter permitted. Resistance on our part at length brought our enemy to reflect, to calculate, and to meet us in peaceable conferences at Ghent; but the extravagance of the pretensions brought forward by her negotiators there, when first made known in the United States, dissipated at once every hope of a just peace, and prepared us for a war of utter extremity. Our government, in that state of things, respecting the opinion of the world, thought it a duty to present to it a justification of the course which was likely to be forced upon us; and with this view the pamphlet was prepared which I now enclose. It was already printed, when (instead of their ministers whom they hourly expected from a fruitless negotiation) they received the treaty of pacification signed at Ghent and ratified at London. They endeavored to suppress the pamphlet as now unreasonable—but the proof sheets having been surreptitiously withdrawn, soon made their appearance in the public papers, and in the form now sent. This vindication is so exact in its facts, so cogent in its reasonings, so authenticated by the documents to which it appeals, that it cannot fail to bring the world to a single opinion on our case. The concern you manifested on our entrance into this contest, assures me you will take the trouble of reading it; which I wish the more earnestly, because it will fully explain the very imperfect views which my letter had presented; and because we cannot be indifferent as to the opinion which yourself personally shall ultimately form of the course we have pursued.
I learned with great pleasure your return to your native country. It is the only one which offers elements of society analogous to the powers of your mind, and sensible of the flattering distinction of possessing them. It is true that the great events which made an opening for your return, have been reversed. But not so, I hope, the circumstances which may admit its continuance. On these events I shall say nothing. At our distance, we hear too little truth and too much falsehood to form correct judgments concerning them; and they are moreover foreign to our umpirage. We wish the happiness and prosperity of every nation; we did not believe either of these promoted by the former pursuits of the present ruler of France, and hope that his return, if the nation wills it to be permanent, may be marked by those changes which the solid good of his own country, and the peace and well-being of the world, may call for. But these things I leave to whom they belong; the object of this letter being only to convey to you a vindication of my own country, and to have the honor on a new occasion of tendering you the homage of my great consideration, and respectful attachment.
TO ANDREW C. MITCHELL, ESQ
Monticello, July 16, 1815.
I thank you, Sir, for the pamphlet which you have been so kind as to send me. I have read it with attention and satisfaction. It is replete with sound views, some of which will doubtless be adopted. Some may be checked by difficulties. None more likely to be so than the proposition to amend the Constitution, so as to authorize Congress to tax exports. The provision against this in the framing of that instrument, was a sine quâ non with the States of peculiar productions, as rice, indigo, cotton and tobacco, to which may now be added sugar. A jealousy prevailing that to the few States producing these articles, the justice of the others might not be a sufficient protection in opposition to their interest, they moored themselves to this anchor. Since the hostile dispositions lately manifested by the Eastern States, they would be less willing than before to place themselves at their mercy; and the rather, as the Eastern States have no exports which can be taxed equivalently. It is possible, however, that this difficulty might be got over; but the subject looking forward beyond my time, I leave it to those to whom its burthens and benefits will belong, adding only my prayers for whatever may be best for our country, and assurances to yourself of my great respect.