To James Madison from Benjamin Rush, 30 January 1806
From Benjamin Rush
Philadelphia Jany 30th. 1806.
Dear Sir,
Many years have passed away since I have read a political pamphflet. The Subject, and name of the author of the one which You have done me the honor to send me will force me from my habits of neglect of such publications.1 My son is now devouring it. It is spoken of in all the Circles in our city with the highest praise and admiration.
Connected with our present controversy with Great Britain permit me to relate the following fact. In the Spring of 1777 I called to see Mr: John Adams at his lodgings in Philadelphia soon After his return with Congress from Baltimore. He informed me in the Course of our Conversation that he had been much gratified by a Communication recently made to him by Col: Henry Laurence2 who had lately returned from a long residence in England, and who had at that time just taken his seat in Congress. Previously to his sailing for America, he waited upon George Greenville, and entered into a discussion with him of the american Claims to an exemption from taxation by the British parliament, and urged the impropriety of risking the loss of the Colonies for the sake of the trifling revenue which was the Object of the Controversy. “Hold, said Mr: Greenville—Mr. Laurence, you mistake the designs of this Country. We do not expect much revenue from you. The present Contest with America is for the empire of the Ocean. You spread too much Canvass upon our Seas, and we are determined to clip it.”3
The late Conduct of the Court of Britain shows that the declaration of Mr Greenville has been heriditary in it.
You may make any use you please of the Above Anecdote, only keep my name from the public eye. From Dear Sir your Sincere and Affectionate Old friend
Benjn: Rush4
RC (PHi: Dreer Collection, Signers of the Declaration of Independence).
1. See JM’s pamphlet, An Examination of the British Doctrine, Which Subjects to Capture a Neutral Trade, Not Open in Time of Peace, ante–8 Jan. 1806.
2. Henry Laurens.
3. Rush later repeated this story to John Adams who corrected his account by stating that the conversation had been not with George Grenville, but with Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough and secretary of state for the colonies (Philip Hamer et al, eds., The Papers of Henry Laurens [16 vols.; Columbia, S.C., 1968–2002], 8:52 n. 3).
4. Benjamin Rush (1745–1813) graduated from the College of New Jersey and studied medicine at the College of Philadelphia, the University of Edinburgh, and St. Thomas’s Hospital in London. A strong patriot before and during the American Revolution, he was surgeon general of the Middle Department of the Continental Army but resigned after criticizing director general William Shippen. He supported the federal constitution and a liberal Pennsylvania constitution, was a member of the Continental Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He wrote several books on medicine, was a fervent advocate for the practice of bleeding, was on the staff of the Pennsylvania Hospital, and taught at the University of Pennsylvania. His treatment of yellow-fever victims in the Philadelphia epidemic of 1793 brought him much criticism. As a reformer and humanist, he engaged in many philanthropic works, condemned capital punishment, espoused prison reform and temperance, and supported advanced theories of education. A member of the American Philosophical Society and the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, he was arguably the most famous physician in the United States at the time.