117

    To John Hobby

    Philadelphia        30 May 1794

    My dear Sir—

    The state of politics has continued pretty much the same since I wrote you last—Some bustle was made, out doors, by the Captains & mates of Vessells to induce Congress to continue the Embargo, & they signed an agreement, to the amount of more than a hundred in this city—& as many in Baltimore & Wilmington that they would not take charge of any Vessell untill Congress should ensure them safety on the seas, & the national Flagg a security from insult—these with petitions were sent to Congress, & to the merchants & mariners in the city of New-York—But they were not much attended to by the first,1 & actually laughed at by the latter—The merchants of New York hastened to get their vessells to sea as soon as possible after the expiration of the embargo, & were rather pleased than otherwise at the idea of their brethren of other ports laying a voluntary embargo on theirs, since it gave them the chance of the first & best market at foreign places—However, the Leaguers in this place & Baltimore soon thought they had been too much in a hurry to embargo themselves, & in less than four days, they thought better of the matter, & have chiefly put to Sea—And all appearances are in favour of their neutral rights being duly respected—But this is opinion—

    [. . . .]

    The Pigou arrived here yesterday from London, which place she left on the tenth of april, and brings papers as late as the fifth—She has on board eighty or ninety passengers, chiefly mechanics—Another ship has just got in from Dublin with upwards of one hundred passengers—whose views are to settle in America—

    [. . . .]

    There are in the papers extracts of Letters, from the Continent, said to be wrote by persons of respectable situation for knowing the secrets of political maneuvers, which congratulate their friends in England on the prospect of a general peace—And speak of that event as highly probable—For my part I believe the King of Prussia has by this time withdrawn himself from the combination, or so connected himself with the Ruling powers in France as not much to aid her enemies—I estimate this as a steping-stone to peace on the Continent; But how will this effect England, & can she join in the peace?

    I do not see how she can make a peace with France—England is hitherto the only power that has been at war with France who have possessed themselves of any thing to pay for the expence they have been at—And while the others may see no prospect of gaining by a continuance of hostilities, she will be induced to hold on upon what she has got—& unless France will surrender her claims to all her former possessions in the east & west Indies, which I am of opinion she will not yet do, I see no alternative but the war must rage for a yet longer time between these ancient rivals—and now most inveterate foes—I wish it may prove prove that I am wrong in this conjecture, & that peace may be universal—

    From the close of the American war to the visible operations of the causes that have produced a subversion of the French monarchy was scarcely six years—And I shall not think it strange if in a shorter time, from the close of the present European war, than six years, we discover manifest indications of a Revolution in some of the nations now in the combination against France—I have very little expectation of ever seeing the Governments in Europe ameliorated by gradual amendments—They are most of them radically & constitutionally wrong—They must, therefore, like France be regenerated; & like her they must begin by destruction—The forest is cut down to plant the orchard & lay out a Garden—

    I expect to take my departure, for the east, in about five days—And am, in the mean time, my dear Sir, yours &c

    * * *

    ALS, TFP. Omitted text repeats account of Gov. Simcoe’s incursions on the northwest frontier, written the day before to Nathaniel Barrell (see No. 116, above), and describes the changing composition of the coalition against France.