MikeDunnAuthor<p>No Kings, No Priests</p><p>I was wandering around Bilbao this summer with my son, and my Basque friend A., and we stumbled across this bust of John Adams, which I thought was a very peculiar thing to find in the Basque Country. But when I read the inscription, it said: </p><p>“Biscay (Letter IV, a Defence of the constitutions of the government of the USA 1787)…this extraordinary people have preserved their ancient language, genius, laws, government and manners without innovation, longer than any other nation of Europe.”</p><p>In 1779, Adams and his sons were on their way to Paris to sign a commercial treaty with Great Britain and to end the Revolutionary War. Weather forced them into the Bay Biscay and they had to travel to Paris by land, stopping first in Bilbao. There he visited the Gardoqui family, which had helped fund the American revolutionaries. Adams was appalled at the incredible poverty he saw through Spain, particularly in comparison with the incredible wealth of the Church, writing “I see nothing but Signs of Poverty and Misery, among the People. A fertile Country, not half cultivated, People ragged and dirty, and the Houses universally nothing but Mire, Smoke, Fleas and Lice. Nothing appears rich but the Churches, nobody fat, but the Clergy.”</p><p>The actual quote on his statue in Bilbao leaves out an important context. What he actually said was: “While their neighbours have long since resigned all their pretensions into the hands of kings and priests, this extraordinary people [the Basque] have preserved their ancient language, genius, laws, government, and manners, without innovation, longer than any other nation of Europe.” He went on to say: “It is a republic; and one of the privileges they have most insisted on, is not to have a king.” He was not, however, completely sold, criticizing the fact that the vote was only extended to “… a few noble families, unstained, both by the side of father and mother, by any mixture with Moors, Jews, new converts, penitentiaries of the inquisition, &c.”</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>workingclass</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LaborHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/bilbao" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>bilbao</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/spain" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>spain</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/basque" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>basque</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/JohnAdams" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JohnAdams</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Revolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Revolution</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/democracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>democracy</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/poverty" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>poverty</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Kings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Kings</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/priest" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>priest</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/church" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>church</span></a></p>