He evidently foresaw the French Revolution would prove a failure; and that it was engendering an influence which, unchecked, would be deeply injurious to American liberty and order.

To counteract this tendency, he published in the Boston Centinel, in 1791, a series of articles, signed "Publicola," in which he discussed with great ability, 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.