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Paris, 2 April 1780
My dearest friend,
In Truth, it has been a melancholy Tyme since we last parted; I have try'd to sustain Myself with Speculations about the Fate of our new Constitution, the one I drafted for our beloved Commonwealth last Winter. I await any word from my cousin Samuel, and I have, I confess it, bombarded him with Letters inquiring as to its Fate.
I am pleas'd that the Marquis was so welcomed by the People of Boston; tho', as Mr. Jefferson notes, he has a canine Appetite for popularity, still, he is young and ardent in the Cause of Libberty, and this Circumstance makes him immensely Valuable to our Cause.
Mr. Thomas Paine is present in Paris with Colonel John Laurens, a young American officer of good Family (his father, Henry Laurens, is a leading member of the Congress from South Carolina). Col. Laurens is a Man of Choleric Temper and, like so many Gentlemen from his State, is abrupt and undiplomatick. Last evening, at a Royal Reception, he confronted His Most Christian Majesty Louis XVI with Words both ardent and impatient, whilst Mr. Paine wrung his Hands at the other man's lack of Tact. Never did I think that I would see our impetuous Paine so pain'd by another's want of Courtesy and Civility. To our amazement, however, the King took Laurens's Enthusiasm in good Part.
Mr. Paine and I have somewhat cool Relations these days; I believe truly that he has never forgiven me for my Strictures on his Theories of what a proper Constitution would contain, nor, if Truth be told, have I been able to accept his Enthusiastic Prescriptions of a Government Catastrophick in the Simplicity of its Structure. To vest all Power in one Assembly, indeed! 'Tis a project for fools and madmen, or perhaps for the French, and certainly for the Projectors who venerate the aged, the incomparable, the complaisant Dr. Franklin.
But I must close, as the Packett is set to sail for America before the Day is out. Pray kiss the children for me, and accept not only the Enclos'd from John Quincy, but the most ardent assurances of my Affectionate Esteem,
I am, as I ever was and ever shall be,
Yours, yours, yours, yours, yours,
John Adams
Postscriptum: Pray, dearest Friend, have you remember'd to secure the Books I sought for in my last letter?
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