“This sentence was perhaps omitted from an impression that
it might be thought to savor not merely of enthusiasm, but
of extravagance. Who now would deny that this magnificent
anticipation has been already to a great degree realized? Who
does not now see that the accomplishment of this great object
is already placed beyond all possibility of failure?”[364]
His grandson, Charles Francis Adams, alluding to the changes which took
place in the original sketch, says:--
“As not infrequently happens, however, in this process, one
strong passage was lost by it, which at this time must be
regarded as the most deserving of any to be remembered.”[365]
Thus again, at an early day, did this prophet discern the future. How
true it is that the mission of this Republic is “the illumination
of the ignorant,” and, still further, “the emancipation of the
slavish part of mankind all over the earth”! Universal enlightenment
and universal emancipation! And the first great stage was National
Independence.
* * * * *
3. The Declaration of Independence bears date 4th July, 1776, for on
that day it was signed; but the vote which determined it was on the 2d
July. On the 3d July, John Adams, in a letter to his wife, wrote:--
“Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was
debated in America; and a greater, perhaps, never was nor
will be decided among men.… I am surprised at the suddenness
as well as greatness of this revolution. Britain has been
filled with folly, and America with wisdom. At least this is
my judgment. Time must determine. _It is the will of Heaven
that the two countries should be sundered forever.…_ The day
is passed. The second day of July, 1776, will be the most
memorable epocha in the history of America. _I am apt to
believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as
the great anniversary festival._ It ought to be commemorated,
as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God
Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with
shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations,
from one end of this continent to the other, from this time
forward, forevermore. You will think me transported with
enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood
and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration,
and support and defend these States. _Yet, through all the
gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I
can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and
that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction_, even
although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall
not.”[366]
Here is a comprehensive prophecy, first, that the two countries would
be separated forever; secondly, that the anniversary of Independence
would be celebrated as a great annual festival; and, thirdly, that
posterity would triumph in this transaction, where, through all the
gloom, shone rays of ravishing light and glory: all of which has
been fulfilled to the letter. Recent events give to the Declaration
additional importance. For a long time its great premises, that all men
are equal, and that rightful government stands only on the consent of
the governed, were disowned by our country. Now that at last they are
beginning to prevail, there is increased reason to celebrate the day
on which the mighty Declaration was made, and new occasion for triumph
in the rays of ravishing light and glory.
* * * * *
4. Here is another prophetic passage, in a letter dated at Paris, 13th
July, 1780, and addressed to the Comte de Vergennes of France, pleading
the cause of the Colonists:--
“The United States of America are a great and powerful people,
whatever European statesmen may think of them. If we take into
our estimate the numbers and the character of her people, the
extent, variety, and fertility of her soil, her commerce, and
her skill and materials for ship-building, and her seamen,
excepting France, Spain, England, Germany, and Russia, there is
not a state in Europe so powerful. Breaking off such a nation
as this from the English so suddenly, and uniting it so closely
with France, is one of the most extraordinary events that ever
happened among mankind.”[367]
Perhaps this may be considered statement rather than prophecy; but it
illustrates the prophetic character of the writer.
* * * * *
5. While at Amsterdam, in 1780, Mr. Adams met a gentleman whom he calls
“the giant of the law,” Mr. Calkoen. After an unsatisfactory attempt
at conversation, where neither spoke the language of the other, it
was arranged that the latter should propound a series of questions in
writing, which the American minister undertook to answer. The questions
were in Dutch, the answers in English. Among the questions was this:
“Whether America in and of itself, by means of purchasing or exchanging
the productions of the several provinces, would be able to continue
the war for six, eight, or ten years, even if they were entirely
deprived of the trade with Europe, or their allies, exhausted by the
war and forced to make a separate peace, were to leave them?” To this
question our prophet replied:--
“This is an extreme case.… Why, then, should we put cases that
we know can never happen? However, I can inform you that the
case was often put before this war broke out; and I have heard
the common farmers in America reasoning upon these cases seven
years ago. I have heard them say, if Great Britain could build
a wall of brass a thousand feet high all along the sea-coast,
at low-water mark, we can live and be happy. _America is most
undoubtedly capable of being the most independent country upon
earth._ It produces everything for the necessity, comfort, and
conveniency of life, and many of the luxuries too. So that, if
there were an eternal separation between Europe and America,
the inhabitants of America would not only live, but multiply,
and, for what I know, be wiser, better, and happier than they
will be as it is.”[368]
Here is an assertion of conditions essential to independence of
“the most independent country upon earth,” with a promise that the
inhabitants will multiply.
* * * * *
6. In an official letter to the President of Congress, dated at
Amsterdam, 5th September, 1780, the same writer, while proposing an
American Academy “for refining, correcting, improving, and ascertaining
the English language,” predicts the extension of this language:--
“_English is destined to be in the next and succeeding
centuries more generally the language of the world than Latin
was in the last or French is in the present age._ The reason of
this is obvious,--because the increasing population in America,
and their universal connection and correspondence with all
nations, will, aided by the influence of England in the world,
whether great or small, force their language into general use,
in spite of all the obstacles that may be thrown in their way,
if any such there should be.”[369]
In another letter, of unofficial character, dated at Amsterdam, 23d
September, 1780, he thus repeats his prophecy:--
“You must know _I have undertaken to prophesy that English will
be the most respectable language in the world; and the most
universally read and spoken, in the next century, if not before
the close of this_. American population will in the next age
produce a greater number of persons who will speak English than
any other language, and these persons will have more general
acquaintance and conversation with all other nations than any
other people.”[370]
David Hume, in a letter to Gibbon, 24th October, 1767, had already
written:--
“Our solid and increasing establishments in America, where
we need less dread the inundation of Barbarians, _promise a
superior stability and duration to the English language_.”[371]
But these more moderate words, which did credit to the discernment of
the philosopher-historian, were then unpublished.
The prophecy of John Adams is already accomplished. Of all the European
languages, English is most extensively spoken. Through England and the
United States it has become the language of commerce, which sooner
or later must embrace the globe. The German philologist, Grimm, has
followed our American prophet in saying that it “seems chosen, like its
people, to rule in future times in a still greater degree in all the
corners of the earth.”[372]
* * * * *
7. Another field was opened by a European correspondent, John Luzac,
who writes from Leyden, under date of 14th September, 1780, that,
in pleading the cause of American Independence, he has twenty times
encountered, from sensible and educated people, an objection which he
sets forth as follows:--
“Yes, but if America becomes free, she will some day give the
law to Europe. She will take our islands, and our colonies
at Guiana; she will seize all the Antilles; she will absorb
Mexico, even Peru, Chili, and Brazil; she will carry off
our freighting commerce; she will pay her benefactors with
ingratitude.”[373]
To this Mr. Adams replied, in a letter from Amsterdam, 15th September,
1780:--
“I have met often in Europe with the same species of reasoners
that you describe; but I find they are not numerous. Among
men of reflection the sentiment is generally different, and
that no power in Europe has anything to fear from America.
The principal interest of America for many centuries to
come will be landed, and her chief occupation agriculture.
Manufactures and commerce will be but secondary objects, and
always subservient to the other. America will be the country
to produce raw materials for manufactures, but Europe will be
the country of manufactures; and the commerce of America can
never increase but in a certain proportion to the growth of its
agriculture, until its whole territory of land is filled up
with inhabitants, which will not be in some hundreds of years.”
After referring to tar, iron, and timber as American articles, he
says:--
“In fact, the Atlantic is so long and difficult a navigation,
that the Americans will never be able to afford to carry to the
European market great quantities of these articles.”
If the prophet fails here, he is none the less wise in the suggestion
with which he closes:--
“If Europe cannot prevent, or rather if any particular nations
of Europe cannot prevent, the independence of America, then
the sooner her independence is acknowledged, the better,--the
less likely she will be to become warlike, enterprising, and
ambitious. The truth is, however, that America can never unite
in any war but a defensive one.”[374]
Had the prophet foreseen the increasing facilities of commerce, the
triumphs of steam, the floating masses of transportation, the wonders
of navigation, quickened and guided by the telegraph, and to these had
he added the diversified industry of the country, extending, expanding,
and prevailing, his remarkable vision, which already saw so much, would
have viewed other glories in assured certainty.
* * * * *
8. There is another prophecy, at once definite and broad, from the
same eminent quarter. In a letter dated London, 17th October, 1785, and
addressed to John Jay, at the time Secretary for Foreign Affairs under
the Confederation, John Adams reveals his conviction of the importance
of France to us, “while England held a province in America”;[375]
and then, in another letter, dated 21st October, 1785, reports the
saying of people about him, “_that Canada and Nova Scotia must soon be
ours_; there must be a war for it,--they know how it will end,--but
the sooner, the better; this done, we shall be forever at peace,--till
then, never.”[376] These intimations foreshadow the prophecy found in
the Preface to his “Defence of the American Constitutions,” written in
London, while minister there, and dated Grosvenor Square, 1st January,
1787:--
“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the
first example of governments erected on the simple principles
of Nature.… Thirteen governments thus founded on the natural
authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or
mystery, and _which are destined to spread over the northern
part of that whole quarter of the globe_, are a great point
gained in favor of the rights of mankind. The experiment is
made, and has completely succeeded.”[377]
Here is foretold nothing less than that our system of government is to
embrace the whole continent of North America.
* * * * *
9. This series may be concluded by other words, general in character,
but deeply prophetic, showing a constant sense of the unfolding
grandeur and influence of the Republic.
The first is from the concluding chapter of the work last cited, and in
harmony with the Preface:--
“A prospect into futurity in America is like contemplating the
heavens through the telescopes of Herschel. Objects stupendous
in their magnitudes and motions strike us from all quarters,
and fill us with amazement.”[378]