114

    To John Hobby

    Philadelphia        17 May 1794

    My dear Sir,

    We have been tranquil for some time—The Senate, by puting their negative to the Bill sent from this House, for interdicting the commerce between this Country & Great Britain, and by agreeing to the appointment of Mr. [John] Jay to the Court of London, have has drawn upon them & the President much abuse & Blackguard railery in one of the news-papers of this City—which I see is taken into one of the Boston papers—

    It is a little strange the people of Boston will suffer themselves to be imposed upon in the manner & degree they are in some matters of the greatest importance to the peace and tranquility of the Country—

    On thursday [15 May] an express got here from Boston with copies of the Resolutions of the Town meeting held on the monday preceeding1—The Resolutions were sent to Mr. [Benjamin] Goodhue—this was not improper as Boston is within the District that voted for him—but as Mr. [Fisher] Ames was chosen in the particular District of Boston it would have appeared very civil, & perhaps particularly proper to have sent the Resolutions to him as their immediate Representative—And it is worthy of notice—that copies of the Resolutions were sent, as I am well informed, to Mr. [James] Madison, [William Branch] Giles & [Josiah] Parker of Virginia—I do not say this is wrong—but why it was done in this particular instance is a matter of curious inquiry—Or why a special express was thought necessary to carry the Resolutions is not easy to guess—They contained nothing mandatory—they barely expressed the approbation of the Town in the Embargo, & would acquiess therein so long as Congress should think it necessary—They did not ask a continuance unless Congress should think it necessary—And it seems to me, they might have presumed this would have been done, whether they hurried on an express at an unusual expedition or not—if Congress should deem a continuance necessary—People are naturally led to conjecture at the causes of all unusual appearances; and taking all circumstances together I am led to believe this extraordinary hurry in forwarding certain resolutions of the Town to Madison & others, & not specially commiting them to their own immediate Representative was done with a designe to pass a censure upon the Conduct of Mr. Ames—And I must confess I am sorry to see such repeated attempts in the news-papers & otherwise to injure this man—He is a man of first rate abilities firmly attached to his country, and of unspoted character & a firmness & integrity of mind I believe rarely to be met with—I have before said, & cannot repeat it too often, that all attempts to injure Mr. Ames, so far as they succeed, actually works an injury to the Country at large—It is a singular thing that in all the charges thrown out against him not one of them is true—And yet some News-paper writers seem to act as tho it was their duty to publish falshood upon falshood—

    All things lead to a belief that it will be safe to let the embargo die on the 25th. instant—unless some new difficulties arise—

    No late news from Europe—

    yours &c

    * * *

    ALS, TFP