Title
[Document, 1821 March 20]
Library Location
Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
Name
Peters, Richard, 1743-1828 (Author)
Jay, John, 1745-1829 (Addressee)
Format
correspondence
Digital Project
Papers of John Jay
Date
March 20, 1821
Language
English
Physical Description
3 pages
Subjects
United States--History--1783-1865; Jay, John, 1745-1829
Summary
Refers to the "round assertions" of eastern orators that no proofs existed of French maneuvering, grounding on this base their eulogy of John Jay's coadjutor exclusively. Those who lived and acted in the scenes of that day know better, and could easily prove their point were solid advantages to be gained for America. Remembers Jay's letter from St. Ildefonso; a vote of censure was attempted in the Congress of 1783 to gratify the French. Modern votaries of expediency have imitated their predecessors; such actions do not gain advantages to a country. Some public men have proved "obliquities of human nature" on the admission of Missouri to the Union, and the subject has ended proving the imbecility of opposition to deep-rooted prejudices and widely spread interests. It is good to enjoy, as does Jay, both personal approbation and fame within difference to censure and contempt for extravagant praise. While laboring in adversity during the Revolution we were content with independence and safety as our goals, not foreseeing the prosperity and wealth which success would achieve. We now seem to be languishing with no prospect of reinvigoration. Sends a report of the Agricultural Society on flax, which could rival cotton with the proper machinery. The Society should make every effort to set American genius at work to produce at home what cannot be obtained from abroad. Though agriculture is languishing, he continues to nurse it in the hope that it will revive. Is sorry about Jay's state of health; his own has been preserved. It seems that among New Yorkers there is more agreement on agriculture and public improvement than in politics.
Identifier
columbia.jay.09583