We have not yet had time to hear what has been done by the other assemblies; but I have no doubt that similar acts will be made use of by all of them, and that the mass of evidence produced by the execution of those acts, not only of the enormities committed by those people, under the direction of the British Generals, but of those committed by the British troops themselves, will form a record that must render the British name odious in America to the latest generations. In that authentic record will be found the burning of the fine towns of Charlestown, near Boston; of Falmouth, just before winter, when the sick, the aged, the women and children, were driven to seek shelter where they could hardly find it; of Norfolk, in the midst of winter; of New London, of Fairfield, of Esopus, &c. besides near a hundred and fifty miles of well settled country laid waste; every house and barn burnt, and many hundreds of farmers, with their wives and children, butchered and scalped.
The present British Ministers, when they reflect a little, will certainly be too equitable to suppose, that their nation has a right to make an unjust war, (which they have always allowed this against us to be,) and do all sorts of unnecessary mischief, unjustifiable by the practice of any individual people, which those they make war with are to suffer without claiming any satisfaction; but that if Britons, or their adherents, are in return deprived of any property, it is to be restored to them, or they are to be indemnified. The British troops can never excuse their barbarities. They were unprovoked. The loyalists may say in excuse of theirs, that they were exasperated by the loss of their estates, and it was revenge. They have then had their revenge. Is it right they should have both?
Some of those people may have merit in their regard for Britain, and who espoused her cause from affection; these it may become you to reward. But there are many of them who were waverers, and were only determined to engage in it by some occasional circumstance or appearances; these have not much of either merit or demerit; and there are others, who have abundance of demerit respecting your country, having by their falsehoods and misrepresentations brought on and encouraged the continuance of the war; these, instead of being recompensed, should be punished.
It is usual among Christian people at war to profess always a desire of peace; but if the Ministers of one of the parties choose to insist particularly on a certain article, which they have known the others are not and cannot be empowered to agree to, what credit can they expect should be given to such professions?
Your Ministers require that we should receive again into our bosom those who have been our bitterest enemies, and restore their properties who have destroyed ours, and this, while the wounds they have given us are still bleeding! It is many years since your nation expelled the Stuarts and their adherents, and confiscated their estates. Much of your resentment against them may by this time be abated; yet, if we should propose it, and insist on it as an article of our treaty with you, that that family should be recalled and the forfeited estates of its friends restored, would you think us serious in our progressions of earnestly desiring peace?
I must repeat my opinion, that it is best for you to drop all mention of the refugees. We have proposed, indeed, nothing but what we think best for you as well as ourselves. But if you will have them mentioned, let it be in an article, in which you may provide, that they shall exhibit accounts of their losses to the Commissioners, hereafter to be appointed, who should examine the same, together with the accounts now preparing in America of the damages done by them, and state the account, and that if a balance appears in their favor, it shall be paid by us to you, and by you divided among them as you shall think proper. And if the balance is found due to us, it shall be paid by you.
Give me leave, however, to advise you to prevent the necessity of so dreadful a discussion by dropping the article, that we may write to America and stop the inquiry.
I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
Philadelphia, November 27th, 1782.
Sir,
An opportunity offering from this port to write directly to you, I do not choose to hazard anything by the post, which carries this to Boston, particularly as I did not hear till just now, that a frigate was to sail from thence, and it is uncertain whether this will arrive in time to go by her. This then only accompanies the newspapers, which contain all the public information now in circulation.
The Memorials of Messrs la Marque and Fabru are transmitted to South Carolina, as it is a matter in which the United States are not concerned. It is to be hoped, that the State will do justice to the claimants, if, as asserted, Gillon acted under authority from them. He has just left this with his ship, not in the most honorable manner, having, as I am informed, been arrested by order of the proprietor of the ship for his proportion of the prize money. The sheriff stands in the gap.
The Swiss officer mentioned in yours, I have sent to Edenton to get information about. You shall have the result of inquiries in my next.
As your grandson will probably choose to continue in the line he is in, I cannot but think he might find important advantages from opening a correspondence with this office. His diligence and accuracy in collecting and transmitting intelligence would procure him friends here. My attachment to you will render me desirous to place them in the best light.
I am, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Passy, November 29th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to acquaint your Excellency, that the Commissioners of the United States have agreed with Mr Oswald, on the preliminary articles of the peace between those States and Great Britain. Tomorrow I hope we shall be able to communicate to your Excellency a copy of them.[7]
With great respect, I have the honor to be, Sir, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
Philadelphia, December 3d, 1782.
Sir,
I have just now received the certificates required by Mr Wallier. The vessel which carries my other despatches having been long detained, I embrace the opportunity to forward them. Nothing new since my last, except that, by a gentleman who left Charleston the 4th instant, we learn that the British had dismounted their cannon, and were certainly on the point of leaving it.
I am, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Passy, December 4th, 1782.
Sir,
We detain the Washington a little longer, expecting an English passport for her in a few days, and as possibly some vessel bound for North America may sail before her, I write this line to inform you, that the French preliminaries with England are not yet signed, though we hope they may be very soon. Of ours I enclose a copy. The Dutch and Spain have yet made but little progress, and as no definitive treaty will be signed till all are agreed, there may be time for Congress to give us further instructions, if they think proper. We hope the terms we have obtained will be satisfactory, though, to secure our main points, we may have yielded too much in favor of the royalists. The quantity of aid to be afforded us remains undecided. I suppose something depends on the event of the treaty. By the Washington you will be fully informed of everything.
With great regard, I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
Passy, December 5th, 1782.
Sir,
I am honored by your several letters, Nos 16, 17, 18 and 19, dated September 5th, 13th, 15th, and 18th. I believe that the complaints you make in them of my not writing, may ere now have appeared less necessary, as many of my letters written before those complaints must have since come to hand. I will nevertheless mention some of the difficulties your Ministers meet with, in keeping up a regular and punctual correspondence. We are far from the seaports, and not well informed, and often misinformed about the sailing of vessels. Frequently we are told they are to sail in a week or two, and often they lie in the ports for months after, with our letters on board, either waiting for convoy, or for other reasons. The post office here is an unsafe conveyance; many of the letters we received by it have evidently been opened, and doubtless the same happens to those we send; and at this time particularly, there is so violent a curiosity in all kinds of people to know something relating to the negotiations, and whether peace may be expected, or a continuance of the war, that there are few private hands or travellers, that we can trust with carrying our despatches to the seacoast; and I imagine that they may sometimes be opened and destroyed because they cannot be well sealed. Again, the observation you make, that the Congress Ministers in Europe seem to form themselves into a privy council, transacting affairs without the privity or concurrence of the sovereign, may be in some respects just; but it should be considered, that if they do not write as frequently as other Ministers here do to their respective Courts, or if when they write, their letters are not regularly received, the greater distance of the seat of war, and the extreme irregularity of conveyances may be the causes, and not a desire of acting without the knowledge or orders of their constituents. There is no European Court, to which an express cannot be sent from Paris in ten or fifteen days, and from most of them answers may be obtained in that time. There is, I imagine, no Minister who would not think it safer to act by orders than from his own discretion; and yet, unless you leave more to the discretion of your Ministers in Europe than Courts usually do, your affairs may sometimes suffer extremely from the distance which, in the time of war especially, may make it five or six months before the answer to a letter shall be received. I suppose the Minister from this Court will acquaint Congress with the King's sentiments, respecting their very handsome present of a ship of the line. People in general here are much pleased with it.
I communicated, together with my memoir demanding a supply of money, copies of every paragraph in your late letters, which express so strongly the necessity of it. I have been constant in my solicitations both directly, and through the Marquis de Lafayette, who has employed himself diligently and warmly in the business. The negotiations for peace are, I imagine, one cause of the great delay and indecision on this occasion beyond what has been usual, as the quantum may be different if those negotiations do or do not succeed. We have not yet learnt what we may expect. We have been told that we shall be aided, but it cannot be to the extent demanded; six millions have been mentioned, but not as a sum fixed. The Minister tells me still, that he is working upon the subject, but cannot yet give a determinative answer. I know his good will to do the best for us that is possible.
It is in vain for me to repeat again what I have so often written, and what I find taken so little notice of, that there are bounds to everything, and that the faculties of this nation are limited like those of all other nations. Some of you seem to have established as maxims the suppositions, that France has money enough for all her occasions, and all ours besides; and that if she does not supply us, it is owing to her want of will, or to my negligence. As to the first, I am sure it is not true, and to the second, I can only say I should rejoice as much as any man in being able to obtain more; and I shall also rejoice in the greater success of those who may take my place. You desire to be very particularly acquainted with "every step which tends to negotiation." I am, therefore, encouraged to send you the first part of the journal, which accidents, and a long severe illness interrupted; but which, from notes I have by me, may be continued if thought proper. In its present state, it is hardly fit for the inspection of Congress, certainly not for public view. I confide it therefore to your prudence.
The arrival of Mr Jay, Mr Adams, and Mr Laurens, has relieved me from much anxiety, which must have continued, if I had been left to finish the treaty alone; and it has given me the more satisfaction, as I am sure the business has profited by their assistance.
Much of the summer has been taken up in objecting against the powers given by Great Britain, and in removing those objections. The not using any expressions, that might imply an acknowledgment of our independence, seemed at first industriously to be avowed. But our refusing otherwise to treat, at length induced them to get over that difficulty, and then we came to the point of making propositions. Those made by Mr Jay and me before the arrival of the other gentlemen, you will find in the paper A, which was sent by the British Plenipotentiary to London for the King's consideration. After some weeks, an under secretary, Mr Strachey, arrived, with whom we had much contestation about the boundaries and other articles which he proposed and we settled; some of which he carried to London, and returned with the propositions, some adopted, others omitted or altered, and new ones added, which you will see in paper B. We spent many days in disputing, and at length agreed on and signed the preliminaries, which you will see by this conveyance. The British Minister struggled hard for two points, that the favors granted to the royalists should be extended, and all our fishery contracted. We silenced them on the first, by threatening to produce an account of the mischief done by those people, and as to the second, when they told us they could not possibly agree to it as we requested it, and must refer it to the Ministry in London, we produced a new article to be referred at the same time, with a note of facts in support of it, which you have, C.[8] Apparently, it seemed, that to avoid the discussion of this, they suddenly changed their minds, dropped the design of recurring to London, and agreed to allow the fishery as demanded.
You will find in the preliminaries some inaccurate and ambiguous expressions, that want explanation, and which may be explained in the definitive treaty, and as the British Ministry excluded our proposition relating to commerce, and the American prohibition of that with England may not be understood to cease merely by our concluding a treaty of peace, perhaps we may then, if the Congress shall think fit to direct it, obtain some compensation for the injuries done us as a condition of our opening again the trade. Every one of the present British Ministry has, while in the Ministry, declared the war against us as unjust, and nothing is clearer in reason, than that those who injure others by an unjust war, should make full reparation. They have stipulated too, in these preliminaries, that in evacuating our towns, they shall carry off no plunder, which is a kind of acknowledgment that they ought not to have done it before.
The reason given us for dropping the article relating to commerce, was, that some statutes were in the way, which must be repealed before a treaty of that kind could be well formed, and that this was a matter to be considered in Parliament.
They wanted to bring their boundary down to the Ohio, and to settle their loyalists in the Illinois country. We did not choose such neighbors.
We communicated all the articles, as soon as they were signed, to Count de Vergennes, (except the separate one) who thinks we have managed well, and told me that we had settled what was most apprehended as a difficulty in the work of a general peace, by obtaining the declaration of our independency.
December 14th. I have this day learnt, that the principal preliminaries between France and England are agreed on, to wit.
1st. France is to enjoy the right of fishing and drying on all the west coast of Newfoundland, down to Cape Ray. Miquelon and St Pierre to be restored, and may be fortified.
2d. Senegal remains to France, and Goree to be restored. The Gambia entirely to England.
3d. All the places taken from France in the East Indies to be restored, with a certain quantity of territory round them.
4th. In the West Indies, Grenada and the Grenadines, St Christophers, Nevis and Montserat, to be restored to England. St Lucia to France. Dominique to remain with France, and St Vincents to be neutralized.
5th. No Commissioner at Dunkirk.
The points not yet quite settled are the territory round the places in the Indies, and neutralization of St Vincents. Apparently these will not create much difficulty.
Holland has yet hardly done anything in her negotiation.
Spain offers for Gibraltar to restore West Florida and the Bahamas. An addition is talked of the island of Guadaloupe, which France will cede to Spain in exchange for the other half of Hispaniola, and Spain to England, but England, it is said, chose rather Porto Rico. Nothing yet concluded.
As soon as I received the commission and instructions for treating with Sweden, I waited on the Ambassador here, who told me he daily expected a courier on that subject. Yesterday he wrote a note to acquaint me, that he would call on me today, having something to communicate to me. Being obliged to go to Paris, I waited on him, when he showed me the full powers he had just received, and I showed him mine. We agreed to meet on Wednesday next, exchange copies, and proceed to business. His commission has some polite expressions in it, to wit; "that his Majesty thought it for the good of his subjects to enter into a treaty of amity and commerce with the United States of America, who had established their independence so justly merited by their courage and constancy;" or to that effect. I imagine this treaty will be soon completed; if any difficulty should arise, I shall take the advice of my colleagues.
I thank you for the copies of Mr Paine's letter to the Abbé Raynal, which I have distributed to good hands. The errors we see in histories of our times and affairs weaken our faith in ancient history. M. Hilliard d'Auberteuil has here written another history of our revolution, which however he modestly calls an essay, and fearing that there may be errors, and wishing to have them corrected, that his second edition may be more perfect, he has brought me six sets, which he desires me to put into such hands in America, as may be good enough to render him and the public that service. I send them to you for that purpose, by Captain Barney, desiring that one set may be given to Mr Paine, and the rest where you please. There is a quarto set in the parcel, which please to accept from me.
I have never learnt whether the box of books I sent to you, and the press to Mr Thompson, were put on board the Eagle or one of the transports. If the former, perhaps you might easily purchase them at New York; if the latter, you may still receive them among the goods for Congress, now shipping by Mr Barclay. If they are quite lost let me know it, that I may replace them.
I have received several letters from your office with bills to pay Ministers' salaries. Nothing has yet been done with those bills, but I have paid Mr Laurens 20,000 livres.
I have this day signed a common letter to you drawn up by my colleagues, which you will receive herewith. We have kept this vessel longer for two things, a passport promised us from England, and a sum to send in her; but she is likely to depart without both, being all of us impatient that Congress should receive early intelligence of our proceedings, and for the money we may probably borrow a frigate.
I am now entering on my 78th year; public business has engrossed fifty of them; I wish now to be, for the little time I have left, my own master. If I live to see this peace concluded, I shall beg leave to remind the Congress of their promise then to dismiss me. I shall be happy to sing with old Simeon, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
With great esteem, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
Passy, December 15th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to acquaint your Excellency, that our courier is to set out tomorrow at ten o'clock, with the despatches we send to Congress, by the Washington, Captain Barney, for which ship we have got a passport from the King of England.[9] If you would make any use of this conveyance, the courier shall wait upon you tomorrow at Versailles, and receive your orders.
I hoped I might have been able to send part of the aids we have asked, by this safe vessel. I beg that your Excellency would at least inform me what expectations I may give in my letters. I fear the Congress will be reduced to despair, when they find that nothing is yet obtained.
With the greatest and most sincere respect, I am, Sir, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
Versailles, December 15th, 1782.
Sir,
I cannot but be surprised, Sir, that after the explanation I have had with you, and the promise you gave, that you would not press the application for an English passport for the sailing of the packet Washington, that you now inform me, you have received the passport, and that at ten o'clock tomorrow morning your courier will set out to carry your despatches. I am at a loss, Sir, to explain your conduct and that of your colleagues on this occasion. You have concluded your preliminary articles without any communication between us, although the instructions from Congress prescribes, that nothing shall be done without the participation of the King. You are about to hold out a certain hope of peace to America, without even informing yourself on the state of the negotiation on our part.
You are wise and discreet, Sir; you perfectly understand what is due to propriety; you have all your life performed your duties. I pray you to consider how you propose to fulfil those, which are due to the King? I am not desirous of enlarging these reflections; I commit them to your own integrity. When you shall be pleased to relieve my uncertainty, I will entreat the King to enable me to answer your demands.
I have the honor to be, Sir, with sincere regard, your very humble and obedient servant,
DE VERGENNES.
Passy, December 17th, 1782.
Sir,
I received the letter your Excellency did me the honor of writing to me on the 15th instant. The proposal of having a passport from England was agreed to by me the more willingly, as I at that time had hopes of obtaining some money to send in the Washington, and the passport would have made its transportation safer, with that of our despatches, and of yours also, if you had thought fit to make use of the occasion. Your Excellency objected, as I understood it, that the English Ministers by their letters sent in the same ship, might convey inconvenient expectations into America. It was therefore I proposed not to press for the passport, till your preliminaries were also agreed to. They have sent the passport without being pressed to do it, and they have sent no letters to go under it, and ours will prevent the inconvenience apprehended. In a subsequent conversation your Excellency mentioned your intention of sending some of the King's cutters, whence I imagined, that detaining the Washington was no longer necessary; and it was certainly incumbent on us to give Congress as early an account as possible of our proceedings, who will think it extremely strange to hear of them by other means, without a line from us. I acquainted your Excellency, however, with our intention of despatching that ship, supposing you might possibly have something to send by her.
Nothing has been agreed in the preliminaries contrary to the interests of France; and no peace is to take place between us and England, till you have concluded yours. Your observation is, however, apparently just, that in not consulting you before they were signed, we have been guilty of neglecting a point of bienséance. But as this was not from want of respect for the King, whom we all love and honor, we hope it will be excused, and that the great work, which has hitherto been so happily conducted, is so nearly brought to perfection, and is so glorious to his reign, will not be ruined by a single indiscretion of ours. And certainly the whole edifice sinks to the ground immediately, if you refuse on that account to give us any further assistance.
We have not yet despatched the ship, and I beg leave to wait upon you on Friday for your answer.
It is not possible for any one to be more sensible than I am, of what I and every American owe to the King, for the many and great benefits and favors he has bestowed upon us. All my letters to America are proofs of this; all tending to make the same impressions on the minds of my countrymen, that I felt in my own. And I believe, that no Prince was ever more beloved and respected by his own subjects, than the King is by the people of the United States. The English, I just now learn, flatter themselves they have already divided us. I hope this little misunderstanding will therefore be kept a secret, and that they will find themselves totally mistaken.
With great and sincere respect, I am, Sir, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
Passy, December 24th, 1782.
Sir,
Sundry circumstances occurring since mine of the 5th and 14th, have hitherto retarded the departure of our despatches. They will now go under the security of a British passport, be accompanied by a sum of money, and by some further intelligence from England, which shows the still unsettled state of minds there, and, together with the difficulties and small progress in the Dutch and Spanish negotiations, makes the speedy conclusion of peace still uncertain.
The Swedish Ambassador has exchanged full powers with me. I send a copy of his herewith. We have had some conferences on the proposed plan of our treaty, and he has despatched a courier for further instructions respecting some of the articles.
The Commissioners have joined in a letter to you, recommending the consideration of a proposal from Mr Bridgen, relating to copper coin. With this you have a copy of that proposal, and a sample of the copper. If it should be accepted, I conceive the weight and value of the pieces (charge of coinage deducted) should be such that they may be aliquot parts of a Spanish dollar. By the copy enclosed, of an old letter of mine to Mr Bridgen, you will see the ideas I had of the additional utility such a coinage might be of, in communicating instruction.[10]
December 25th. Enclosed is a copy of a letter just received from the Count de Vergennes, upon the present state of negotiation with England.[11]
With great regard, I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
Gustavus, by the Grace of God, King of Sweden, of the Goths and Vandals, &c. &c. &c. Heir of Norway, Duke of Sleswick-Holstein, of Stormaria, and of Ditmarsen, Count of Oldenburgh and of Delmenhorst, &c. &c. makes known, that the United States of North America, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, on the Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, having obtained the fruit of their courage and constancy, and their Independence being duly and solidly acknowledged and established; We, in consequence of our desire to concur with them in the establishment of certain fixed rules, by which a reciprocal and advantageous commerce may be carried on between Sweden and North America, which may be permanent between the two nations, have nominated, constituted, and appointed, and by these presents do nominate, constitute, and appoint our very dear and well beloved Count Gustavus Philip de Creutz, our Ambassador Extraordinary at the Court of France, Knight and Commander of our Orders, and we give him full powers to confer with whomsoever the United States shall have furnished with their powers in due form, to agree on, conclude, and sign such Treaty of Amity and Commerce between us and the said United States, as shall be reciprocally advantageous to our subjects, promising, on our word of a King, to agree to everything that our said Ambassador shall stipulate, promise, and sign in virtue of the present power, as likewise to make out the ratifications in proper form, and to deliver them to be exchanged at such time as shall be agreed on by the treaty so to do. In faith of which, we have signed these presents with our own hand, and have caused our royal seal to be thereunto affixed.
GUSTAVUS.
COUNT ULR. SCHEFFER.
Philadelphia, January 2d, 1783.
Sir,
I was honored with your letters by the Danae. I congratulate you upon the promising state of our negotiations, since peace begins to be no less desirable here than elsewhere.
But I will not enter into that subject at present, as I mean to write very fully both to Mr Jay and you by Mr Jefferson, who will sail in company with this frigate in the Romulus, a ship of fortyfour guns. Lest, however, any accident should happen to prevent his arriving so soon as the Emerald, I enclose a resolution of Congress, which was suggested by the proposition you mention to have been made to Mr Oswald, on the subject of commerce. For my own part, I presume that it is already included in your propositions, but as we have yet been favored only with that short note of them, which has been transmitted by you, we can form no accurate judgment on the subject. You can hardly conceive the embarrassments that the want of more minute details subjects us to.
You will learn from the Count de Rochambeau, that the French army sailed the 24th ult. Perhaps it were to be wished that they had remained here, at least till New York and Charleston were evacuated, or rather till the peace. Congress have, however, given them a good word at parting, as you will see by the enclosed resolves. Not being consulted, they could interpose no objections to their departure, though they were not without many reasons for wishing to detain them.
Our finances are still in great distress. If the war continues, a foreign loan in addition to those already received will be essential. A plan for ascertaining what shall be called contingent expenses, is under the consideration of Congress, as well as the objections you have stated with respect to the mode of paying your salaries, which will, I believe, be altered. The allowance to Mr Franklin has been confirmed, and your moderation and his upon this point have done you both honor in the opinion of Congress.
I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Philadelphia, January 6th, 1783.
Sir,
I have before me your letters of the 25th and 29th of June, 12th of August, 3d and 26th of September, and 14th of October last. Several matters contained in them have already been answered, and some others I am unable to reply to, till Congress have decided on such propositions as I have submitted to their consideration.
The convention relative to consuls has been objected to by Mr Barclay, on account of its prohibiting the consuls from trading. As the funds of Congress leave them no means of affording an adequate support to persons who are qualified, they fear, that the only inducement to accept the appointment will be taken away by this prohibition. Mr Barclay's letter on that subject is under consideration.
I see the force of your objections to soliciting the additional twelve millions, and I feel very sensibly the weight of our obligations to France, but every sentiment of this kind must give way to our necessities. It is not for the interest of our allies to lose the benefit of all they have done, by refusing to make a small addition to it, or at least to see the return that our commerce will make them suspended by new convulsions in this country. The army have chosen committees; a very respectable one is now with Congress. They demand with importunity their arrears of pay. The treasury is empty, and no adequate means of filling it presents itself. The people pant for peace; should contributions be exacted, as they have heretofore been, at the point of the sword, the consequences may be more dreadful than is at present apprehended. I do not pretend to justify the negligence of the States in not providing greater supplies. Some of them might do more than they have done; none of them all that is required. It is my duty to confide to you, that if the war is continued in this country, it must be in a great measure at the expense of France. If peace is made, a loan will be absolutely necessary to enable us to discharge the army, that will not easily separate without pay. I am sorry that neither Mr Jay nor you sent the propositions at large, as you have made them, since we differ in opinion about the construction to be put on your commercial article, as you will find by a resolution enclosed in my letter.
I wish the concession made of our trade may be on conditions of similar privileges on the part of Great Britain. You will see that without this precaution, every ally that we have, that is to be treated as the most favored nation, may be entitled to the same privileges, even though they do not purchase them by a reciprocal grant.
As to confiscated property, it is at present in such a state, that the restoration of it is impossible. English debts have not, that I know of, been forfeited, unless it be in one State, and I should be extremely sorry to see so little integrity in my countrymen, as to render the idea of withholding them a general one; however, it would be well to say nothing about them, if it can conveniently be done.
I am more and more convinced, that every means in your power must be used to secure the fisheries. They are essential to some States, and we cannot but hate the nation, that keeps us from using this common favor of Providence. It was one of the direct objects for carrying on the war. While I am upon this subject, I cannot but express my hope, that every means will be used to guard against any mistrusts or jealousies between you and France. The United States have shown their confidence in her by their instructions. She has repeatedly promised to procure for us all we ask, as far as it lies in her power. Let our conduct leave her without apology, if she acts otherwise, which I am far from suspecting.
With respect to the seamen you mention, I wish if any further order is necessary, than that which Mr Barclay already has, that you would give it so far as to enable him to state their accounts, and transmit them to Mr Morris. As the treaty with Holland is concluded, I hope you have made some progress in that with Sweden, a plan of which has been transmitted; another copy will go by Mr Jefferson.
I am glad to find you have some prospect of obtaining what is due on the Bon Homme Richard's prize money. That matter has been much spoken of, and occasioned some reflection, as it is alleged that M. Chaumont was imposed on the officers as their agent by the Court, and of course that they should be answerable for his conduct, which certainly has been very exceptionable.
Congress have come to no determination, as to the size or expense of the pillar they propose to erect at Yorktown. What I wished of you was to send me one or two plans, with estimates of the expense, in order to take their sense thereon.
As to the designs of Spain, they are pretty well known, and Mr Jay and Congress concur so exactly in sentiment with respect to them, that I hope we have now nothing to fear from that quarter.
Congress have it now under consideration to determine what should be allowed as contingent expenses. I believe house-rent will not be allowed as such. I mentioned in my last what respected your grandson, to which I have nothing to add. I agree with you in sentiment, that your salaries should not depend on the fluctuations of the exchange, and have submitted that part of your letter to Congress. I believe they will direct a stated sum to be paid. Waiting for this determination, I am prevented from drawing bills at this time. As to the money received from me, you will be pleased to replace with it the two quarters' salary you had drawn before it came to hand. You will have bills for a third quarter, which have been sent on some time since.
Several important political events have taken place here lately. The evacuation of Charleston, the sailing of the French fleet and the army, the decision of the great cause between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in favor of the latter, the state of the army, &c., all of which I should enlarge upon, if this was not to be delivered by Mr Jefferson, who will be able to inform you fully on these points and many others, that you will deem important to a right knowledge of the present state of this country.[12]
I enclose a state of the trade between these States and the West Indies, as brought in by a Committee of Congress, and referred to me. It may possibly afford you some hints, and will serve to show how earnestly we wish to have this market opened to us.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Passy, January 14th, 1783.
Sir,
I am much obliged by your information of your intended trip to England; I heartily wish you a good journey, and a speedy return, and request your kind care of a packet for Mr Hodgson.
I enclose two papers, that were read at different times by me to the Commissioners; they may serve to show, if you should have occasion, what was urged on the part of America on certain points; or may help to refresh your memory. I send you also another paper, which I once read to you separately. It contains a proposition for improving the law of nations, by prohibiting the plundering of unarmed and usefully employed people. I rather wish than expect, that it will be adopted. But I think it may be offered with a better grace by a country, that is likely to suffer least and gain most by continuing the ancient practice; which is our case, as the American ships, laden only with the gross productions of the earth, cannot be so valuable as yours, filled with sugars or with manufactures. It has not yet been considered by my colleagues, but if you should think or find that it might be acceptable on your side, I would try to get it inserted in the general treaty. I think it will do honor to the nations that establish it.
With great and sincere esteem, I am, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
Propositions relative to Privateering, communicated to Mr Oswald.
It is for the interest of humanity in general, that the occasions of war, and the inducements to it should be diminished.
If rapine is abolished, one of the encouragements to war is taken away, and peace therefore more likely to continue and be lasting.
The practice of robbing merchants on the high seas, a remnant of the ancient piracy, though it may be accidentally beneficial to particular persons, is far from being profitable to all engaged in it, or to the nation that authorises it. In the beginning of a war, some rich ships, not upon their guard, are surprised and taken. This encourages the first adventurers to fit out more armed vessels, and many others to do the same. But the enemy at the same time become more careful, arm their merchant ships better, and render them not so easy to be taken; they go also more under protection of convoys; thus while the privateers to take them are multiplied, the vessels subject to be taken, and the chances of profit, are diminished, so that many cruises are made, wherein the expenses overgo the gains; and as is the case in other lotteries, though particulars have got prizes, the mass of adventurers are losers, the whole expense of fitting out all the privateers, during a war, being much greater than the whole amount of goods taken. Then there is the national loss of all the labor of so many men during the time they have been employed in robbing; who besides spend what they get in riot, drunkenness, and debauchery, lose their habits of industry, are rarely fit for any sober business after a peace, and serve only to increase the number of highwaymen and housebreakers. Even the undertakers, who have been fortunate, are by sudden wealth led into expensive living, the habit of which continues when the means of supporting it ceases, and finally ruins them; a just punishment for their having wantonly and unfeelingly ruined many honest innocent traders and their families, whose subsistence was employed in serving the common interests of mankind.
Should it be agreed and become a part of the law of nations, that the cultivators of the earth are not to be molested or interrupted in their peaceable and useful employment, the inhabitants of the sugar islands would perhaps come under the protection of such a regulation, which would be a great advantage to the nations who at present hold those islands, since the cost of sugar to the consumer in those nations, consists not merely in the price he pays for it by the pound, but in the accumulated charge of all the taxes he pays in every war, to fit out fleets and maintain troops for the defence of the islands that raise the sugar, and the ships that bring it home. But the expense of treasure is not all. A celebrated philosophical writer remarks, that when he considered the wars made in Africa, for prisoners to raise sugars in America, the numbers slain in those wars, the numbers that, being crowded in ships, perish in the transportation, and the numbers that die under the severities of slavery, he could scarce look on a morsel of sugar without conceiving it spotted with human blood. If he had considered also the blood of one another, which the white nations shed in fighting for those islands, he would have imagined his sugar not as spotted only, but as thoroughly dyed red. On these accounts I am persuaded, that the subjects of the Emperor of Germany, and the Empress of Russia, who have no sugar islands, consume sugar cheaper at Vienna, and Moscow, with all the charge of transporting it after its arrival in Europe, than the citizens of London or of Paris. And I sincerely believe, that if France and England were to decide, by throwing dice, which should have the whole of their sugar islands, the loser in the throw would be the gainer. The future expense of defending them would be saved; the sugars would be bought cheaper by all Europe, if the inhabitants might make it without interruption, and whoever imported the sugar, the same revenue might be raised by duties at the custom houses of the nation that consumed it. And, on the whole, I conceive it would be better for the nations now possessing sugar colonies to give up their claim to them, let them govern themselves, and put them under the protection of all the powers of Europe as neutral countries, open to the commerce of all, the profits of the present monopolies being by no means equivalent to the expense of maintaining them.
Versailles, January 18th, 1783.
Sir,
It is essential that I should have the honor of conferring with you, Mr Adams, and your other colleagues, who are in Paris. I therefore pray you to invite these gentlemen to come out to Versailles with you on Monday, before ten o'clock in the morning. It will be well, also, if you will bring your grandson. It will be necessary for much writing and translating from English into French to be done. The object for which I ask this interview is very interesting to the United States.
I have the honor to be, Sir,
DE VERGENNES.
Passy, January 18th, 1783.
Sir,
Agreeably to the notice just received from your Excellency, I shall acquaint Mr Adams with your desire to see us on Monday before ten o'clock, at Versailles; and we shall endeavor to be punctual. My other colleagues are absent; Mr Laurens being gone to Bath, in England, to recover his health, and Mr Jay into Normandy. I shall bring my grandson, as you direct.
With great respect, I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
Paris, January 18th, 1783.
My Dearest Sir,
I cannot but in the most earnest manner, and from recent circumstances, press your going early to Versailles tomorrow; and I have considerable reason to think, that your appearance there will not displease the person whom you address. I am of opinion, that it is very likely that you will have the glory of having concluded the peace by this visit; at least I am sure, if the deliberations of tomorrow evening end unfavorably, that there is the strongest appearance of war; if they end favorably, perhaps little difficulty may attend the rest.
After all, the peace will have as much that is conceded in it, as England can in any shape be made just now to relish, owing to the stubborn demands, principally of Spain, who would not, I believe, upon any motive recede from her conquests. What I wrote about Gibraltar arrived after the subject, as I understand, was canvassed, and when it of course must have appeared impolitic eagerly and immediately to revive it.
You reproved me, or rather reproved a political scheme yesterday, of which I have heard more said favorably by your friends at Paris, than by any persons whatever in London. But do you, my dear Sir, make this peace, and trust our common sense respecting another war. England, said a man of sense to me the other day, will come out of the war like a convalescent out of disease, and must be re-established by some physic and much regimen. I cannot easily tell in what shape a bankruptcy would come upon England, and still less easily in what mode and degree it would affect us; but if your confederacy mean to bankrupt us now, I am sure we shall lose the great fear that would deter us from another war. Your allies, therefore, for policy and for humanity's sake, will, I hope, stop short of this extremity; especially as we should do some mischief to others, as well as to ourselves.
I am, my dearest Sir, your devoted, ever affectionate, and ever obliged,
B. VAUGHAN.
Passy, January 19th, 1783.
Sir,
Late last night I received a note from Count de Vergennes, acquainting me that it is very essential he should have a conference with us, and requesting that I would inform my colleagues. He desires that we may be with him before ten on Monday morning. If it will suit you to call here, we may go together in my carriage. We should be on the road by eight o'clock.
With great regard, I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
Passy, January 21st, 1783.
Sir,
I have just received your letters of November 9th and December 3d. This is to inform you, and to request you to inform the Congress, that the preliminaries of peace between France, Spain, and England, were yesterday signed, and a cessation of arms agreed to by the Ministers of those powers, and by us in behalf of the United States, of which act, so far as relates to us, I enclose a copy. I have not yet obtained a copy of the preliminaries agreed to by the three Crowns, but hear, in general, that they are very advantageous to France and Spain. I shall be able, in a day or two, to write more fully and perfectly. Holland was not ready to sign preliminaries, but their principal points are settled. Mr Laurens is absent at Bath, and Mr Jay in Normandy, for their healths, but will both be here to assist in forming the Definitive Treaty. I congratulate you and our country on the happy prospects afforded us by the finishing so speedily this glorious Revolution, and am, with great esteem, Sir, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
Paris, January 26th, 1783.
Sir,
It having been suspected, that I concurred in the appointment of your grandson to the place of Secretary to the American commission for peace at your instance, I think it right, thus unsolicited, to put it in your power to correct the mistake.
Your general character, the opinion I had long entertained of your services to our country, and the friendly attention and aid with which you had constantly favored me after my arrival in Spain, impressed me with a desire of manifesting both my esteem and attachment by stronger evidence than professions. That desire extended my regard for you to your grandson. He was then indeed a stranger to me, but the terms in which you expressed to Congress your opinion of his being qualified for another place of equal importance, were so full and satisfactory, as to leave me no room to doubt of his being qualified for the one above mentioned. I was, therefore, happy to assure you, in one of the first letters I afterwards wrote you from Spain, that in case a Secretary to our commission for peace should become necessary, and the appointment be left to us, I should take that opportunity of evincing my regard for you, by nominating him, or words to that effect. What I then wrote, was the spontaneous suggestion of my own mind, unsolicited, and I believe unexpected by you.
When I came here on the business of that commission, I brought with me the same intentions, and should always have considered myself engaged by honor, as well as inclination, to fulfil them, unless I had found myself mistaken in the opinion I had imbibed of that young gentleman's character and qualifications; but that not being the case, I found myself at liberty to indulge my wishes, and be as good as my word. For I expressly declare, that your grandson is, in my opinion, qualified for the place in question, and that, if he had not been, no consideration would have prevailed upon me to propose, or join in his appointment.
This explicit and unreserved statement of facts is due to you, to him, and to justice, and you have my consent to make any use of it that you may think proper.
I have the honor to be, Sir, with great respect,
JOHN JAY.
Copenhagen, February 22d, 1783.
Sir,
As I know you are on the point of making a tour to France, I cannot omit warmly recommending to you to endeavor, during your stay at Paris, to gain as much as possible, the confidence and esteem of Mr Franklin.
You will recollect, Sir, what I said to you in our conversations, of the high respect which all the King's Ministry have for that Minister. You have witnessed the satisfaction with which we have learned the glorious issue of this war for the United States of America, and how fully we are persuaded, that it will be for the general interest of the two States to form, as soon as possible, reciprocal connexions of friendship and commerce. Nothing, certainly, would be more agreeable to us, than to learn by your letters, that you find the same dispositions in Mr Franklin, and in that case it seems to me the shortest way of accelerating these new connexions would be to take the treaty between the Congress and the States-General for the basis, and that Mr Franklin should communicate to us his ideas on the changes or additions which he might think reciprocally useful in the treaty of commerce, which Congress might conclude with us.
We should eagerly and frankly reply to such overtures; and, as soon as the changes thus agreed on shall have met the approbation of Congress, one of the persons commissioned by that body, then in Europe, might, in order to gain time, come here with full powers to conclude, leaving on both sides the most particular stipulations for the negotiations of the Ministers which those States shall, in the sequel, send to reside with each other.
I shall finish, Sir, with hoping that you may happily terminate the visits you have proposed to make to the different parts of France; and it is with sentiments of the most distinguished respect, that
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROSENCRONE.