if I do!

"I will stay but one night in New York. Smith says that my books are upon
the table of every member of the Committee for framing a constitution of
government for France, except Tom Paine, and he is so conceited as to
disdain to have anything to do with books. Although I abused Smith a
little above, he is very clever and agreeable; but I have been obliged to
caution him against his disposition to boasting. Tell not of your
prosperity, because it will make two men mad to one glad; nor of your
adversity, for it will make two men glad to one sad. He boasts too much of
having made his fortune, and placed himself at ease, above all favors of
government. This is a weakness, and betrays too little knowledge of the
world; too little penetration; too little discretion. I wish, however,
that my boys had a little more of his activity. I must soon treat them as
the pigeons treat their squabs--push them off the limb, and make them put
out their wings or fall. Young pigeons will never fly till this is done.
Smith has acquired the confidence of the French ministry, and the better
sort of the members of the National Convention. But the Executive is too
changeable in that country to be depended on, without the utmost caution.
"Adieu, adieu, tendrement, J. A."

One of the sons of the noble patriot, soon "put out his wings," and
soared, ultimately, to a pinnacle of honor and renown attained by few
among men. In the winter of 1793 and 1794, the public mind had become
highly excited from the inflammatory appeals in behalf of France, by
Citizen Genet, the French Minister to the United States. A large portion
of the anti-Federal party took sides with Mr. Genet, against the neutral
position of our Government, and seemed determined to plunge the Union into
the European contest, in aid of the French Republic. Some idea may be
obtained of the excitement which prevailed at this time, and of the
perilous condition of the country, by an extract or two from letters of
Vice-President John Adams. In a letter dated Philadelphia, Dec. 5, 1793,
he writes as follows:--

"It will require all the address, all the temper, and all the firmness of
Congress and the States, to keep this people out of the war; or rather, to
avoid a declaration of war against us, from some mischievous power or
other. It is but little that I can do, either by the functions which the
Constitution has entrusted to me, or by my personal