the wild vagaries engendered among political writers in France, and which
had been caught up by many in our own country. These articles attracted
much attention, both at home and abroad. They were re-published in
England, as an answer to several points in Paine's "Rights of Man." So
profound was the political sagacity they displayed, and so great the
familiarity with public affairs, that they were, by general consent,
attributed to the elder Adams. On this subject, John Adams writes his wife
as follows, from Philadelphia, on the 5th December, 1793:--

"The Viscount Noailles called on me. * * * * He seemed very critical in
his inquiries concerning the letters printed as mine in England. I told
him candidly that I did not write them, and as frankly, in confidence, who
did. He says they made a great impression upon the people of England; that
he heard Mr. Windham and Mr. Fox speak of them as the best thing that had
been written, and as one of the best pieces of reasoning and style they
had ever read."

The younger Adams, in surveying the condition of the country at this
critical period, became convinced it would be a fatal step for the new
government to take sides with either of the great parties in Europe, who
were engaged in the settlement of their difficulties by the arbitrement
of arms. However strongly our sympathies were elicited in behalf of the
French Republic--however we may have been bound in gratitude for the
assistance rendered us during our Revolutionary struggle, to co-operate
with France in her defence of popular institutions--still,
self-preservation is the first law of nature. Mr. Adams saw, that to throw
ourselves into the melee of European conflicts, would prostrate the
interests of the country, and peril the very existence of the government.

These views he embodied in a series of articles, which he published in the