The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Official Letters, Messages, and Public Papers.
• Introductory Note.
• 28 Nov. 1777: The President of Congress to John Adams.
• 3 Dec. 1777: The President of Congress to John Adams.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• To Henry Laurens, President of Congress.
• To the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
• Baron De Kalb to John Adams.
• ( Inclosed With the Foregoing. ) Baron De Kalb to the Comte De Broglie.
• Baron De Kalb to M. Moreau.
• 9 Jan. 1778: The Marquis De La Fayette to John Adams.
• The President of Congress to John Adams.
• To the Marquis De La Fayette.
• The Commissioners to M. De Sartine. 2
• To the Committee of Commerce.
• M. De Sartine to the Commissioners.
• The Commissioners to M. De Sartine.
• The Commissioners to the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• The Commissioners to the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
• M. De Sartine to the Commissioners. ( Translation. ) 1
• The Commissioners to M. De Sartine.
• The Commissioners to Count De Vergennes.
• The Commissioners to M. De Beaumarchais.
• The Commissioners to Count De Vergennes.
• To M. Le Ray De Chaumont.
• M. Le Ray De Chaumont to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• M. De Sartine to the Commissioners. ( Translation. )
• The Commissioners to M. De Sartine.
• The Commissioners to the President of Congress.
• To the American Prisoners In Forton, Plymouth, Or Elsewhere In Great Britain.
• To Ralph Izard.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• Ralph Izard to John Adams.
• To Ralph Izard.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• The Commissioners to William Lee.
• Ralph Izard to John Adams.
• The Commissioners to John Ross.
• The Commissioners to Count De Vergennes.
• To Ralph Izard.
• Arthur Lee to John Adams.
• To Arthur Lee.
• Arthur Lee to John Adams.
• M. Genet 1 to John Adams.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• M. Genet to John Adams.
• The Commissioners to M. De Sartine.
• The Commissioners to M. Schweighauser.
• The Commissioners to the President of Congress.
• The Commissioners to M. De Sartine.
• The Commissioners to Count De Vergennes.
• To the President of Congress.
• The Commissioners to Dr. Price.
• The Commissioners to John Ross.
• 1 Jan. 1779: The Commissioners to Count De Vergennes.
• The Commissioners to John Lloyd and Others.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams.
• To the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
• To M. De Sartine.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams.
• To the Marquis De Lafayette.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To the President of Congress.
• M. De Sartine to John Adams.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• M. De Lafayette to John Adams.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• ( Inclosed With the Preceding. ) M. De Sartine to Benjamin Franklin.
• Arthur Lee to John Adams.
• To Arthur Lee.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the Treasury Board.
• The Chevalier De La Luzerne to John Adams.
• The Chevalier De La Luzerne to Captain Chavagnes.
• M. De Marbois to John Adams.
• To M. De Sartine.
• To M. De La Luzerne.
• To M. De Marbois.
• The President of Congress to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• 15 Feb, 1780: To the President of Congress.
• To the Marquis De Lafayette.
• To M. Genet.
• M. De Lafayette to John Adams.
• M. Genet to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To the President of Congress.
• To M. Genet.
• To General Knox.
• To Captain Landais.
• To the President of Congress.
• Arthur Lee to John Adams.
• William Lee to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• Arthur Lee to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To Count De Vergennes.
• William Lee to John Adams.
• To Arthur Lee.
• To William Lee.
• To W. Carmichael.
• T. Digges to John Adams. ( Extract. )
• To the President of Congress.
• William Carmichael to John Adams.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• John Jay to John Adams.
• To M. Genet.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams.
• W. Carmichael to John Adams. ( Without Date. )
• T. Digges to John Adams. ( Extract. )
• To M. Genet.
• M. Genet to John Adams.
• To M. Genet. 1
• From the Count De Vergennes.
• From the Count De Vergennes.
• To W. Carmichael.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To John Jay.
• To T. Digges. 1
• To John Jay.
• To M. Genet.
• M. Genet to John Adams.
• To M. Genet.
• To the Count De Vergennes.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To Arthur Lee.
• M. Genet to John Adams.
• M. Genet to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress
• To Count De Vergennes.
• ( Extract Inclosed ) Richard Cranch to John Adams.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• ( Extract Inclosed. ) Elbridge Gerry to John Adams.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. 1 )
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• To Thomas Digges.
• Queries By B. Franklin.
• Answer to the Queries.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• To Thomas Jefferson.
• To B. Franklin.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• ( Inclosed Extract. ) B. Rush to John Adams.
• William Lee to John Adams.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• David Hartley to John Adams.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To William Lee.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To the President of Congress.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• Observations On Mr. Adams’s Letter of 17th July, 1780. ( Translation. )
• To Count De Vergennes.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• The President of Congress to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• David Hartley to John Adams.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• To John Luzac. 1
• To the President of Congress.
• Francis Dana to John Adams.
• To David Hartley.
• John Luzac to John Adams.
• To John Luzac.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• To M. Van Vollenhoven.
• From M. Van Blomberg.
• From M. Van Blomberg.
• From M. Mylius.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• To M. Dumas.
• Twenty-six Letters Upon Interesting Subjects Respecting the Revolution of America, Written In Holland, In the Year Mdcclxxx
• To Mr. Calkoen.
• M. Bicker to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• To Thomas Digges.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• Baron Van Der Capellen to John Adams.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• To Baron Van Der Capellen.
• To B. Franklin.
• To the President of Congress.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To M. Van Blomberg.
• From M. Van Blomberg.
• To M. Bicker.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• From M. Bicker. ( Translation. )
• To M. Bowens.
• ( Memorandum On the Foregoing Letter. )
• To M. Dumas.
• To M. Bicker.
• From M. Bicker. ( Translation. )
• To Commodore Gillon.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• To Baron Van Der Capellen.
• To M. John Luzac.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• Baron Van Der Capellen to John Adams.
• To B. Franklin.
• To the President of Congress.
• To Baron Van Der Capellen.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• The President of Congress to John Adams.
• Baron Van Der Capellen to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• 1 Jan. 1781: The President of Congress to John Adams.
• Francis Dana to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• The President of Congress to John Adams.
• To Francis Dana.
• To Baron Van Der Capellen.
• To M. Dumas.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To M. Dumas.
• To Messrs. John De Neufville and Sons.
• To M. Dumas.
• To Francis Dana.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• To M. Bicker.
• M. Bicker to John Adams.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• To M. Bicker.
• To M. Dumas.
• To M. Dumas.
• A Memorial to the States-general. to Their High Mightinesses, the States-general of the United Provinces of the Low Countries.
• To the Prince De Galitzin, Minister of the Empress of Russia.
• To M. Van Berckel, First Counsellor Pensionary of the City of Amsterdam.
• To the Duc De La Vauguyon, Ambassador of France At the Hague.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To Messrs. John De Neufville and Sons.
• To Francis Dana.
• The Duke De La Vauguyon to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To M. Dumas.
• To the President of Congress.
• To M. Dumas.
• To Francis Dana.
• To Messrs. John De Neufville and Sons.
• To John Jay.
• To the President of Congress.
• To B. Franklin.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To the Duc De La Vauguyon.
• To B. Franklin.
• The Duc De La Vauguyon to John Adams.
• Francis Dana to John Adams.
• To Francis Dana.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To Peter Van Bleiswyck.
• To M. Fagel.
• Memorial to Their High Mightinesses, the States-general of the United Provinces of the Low Countries.
• Memorial to the Prince of Orange.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To the Duke De La Vauguyon.
• To the President of Congress.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To M. Dumas.
• To the President of Congress.
• To John Laurens.
• To the Duke De La Vauguyon.
• The Duc De La Vauguyon to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To M. Dumas.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• To M. Dumas.
• To the President of the Assembly of the States-general.
• M. BÉrenger to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To M. BÉrenger.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the President of Congress.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To Count De Vergennes. 1
• M. De Rayneval to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To M. De Rayneval.
• To the President of Congress.
• Articles to Serve As a Basis to the Negotiation For the Reëstablishment of Peace. ( Translation. )
• To Count De Vergennes.
• Answer of the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, to the Articles to Serve As a Basis to the Negotiation For the Reëstablishment of Peace.
• To the President of Congress.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• Count De Vergennes to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• To Count De Vergennes.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• (private. Partly In Cipher.)
• To the President of Congress.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• (inclosed In the Preceding.) the President of Congress to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• To B. Franklin.
• Francis Dana to John Adams.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• The Committee of Foreign Affairs to John Adams.
• To B. Franklin.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• Francis Dana to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• George Washington to John Adams.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• To the Duc De La Vauguyon.
• To the Duc De La Vauguyon.
• To John Jay.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• To John Jay.
• To the President of Congress.
• To M. Dumas.
• The Duc De La Vauguyon to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To John Luzac.
• To Francis Dana.
• John Jay to John Adams.
• To the President of Congress.
• To the Duke De La Vauguyon.
• The Duc De La Vauguyon to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• The Duc De La Vauguyon to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• 6 Jan, 1782: Baron Van Der Capellen to John Adams.
• To Baron Van Der Capellen.
• To the President of Congress.
• To B. Franklin.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• David Hartley to John Adams.
• To B. Franklin.
• To M. De Lafayette.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To John Jay.
• To the Duc De La Vaugyon.
• The Duke De La Vauguyon to John Adams. ( Translation. )
• To M. Bergsma.
• To M. De Lafayette.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams. ( Without Date. )
• To M. Dumas.
• To Francis Dana.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To John Luzac.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• T. Digges to John Adams.
• (inclosed In the Preceding.) D. Hartley to John Adams.
• To T. Digges.
• To M. Dubbledemutz.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• M. De Lafayette to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• Traduction De La Résolution De Leurs Nobles Et Grandes Puissances Les Seigneurs États De Hollande Et De West Frise.
• M. Dumas to John Adams. ( Copie De Ma Lettre à Notre Ami. )
• To Peter Van Bleiswyck.
• Baron Van Der Capellen to John Adams.
• T. Digges to John Adams.
• To M. De Lafayette.
• C. De Gyselaer to John Adams.
• Baron Van Der Capellen to John Adams.
• To M. Dubbledemutz.
• The Duc De La Vauguyon to John Adams.
• To the Duc De La Vauguyon.
• B. E. Abbema to John Adams.
• To M. Abbema.
• To J. U. Pauli.
• John Luzac to John Adams.
• To Benjamin Franklin.
• To Secretary Livingston. 1
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To M. Hodshon.
• Proposals For Opening a Loan.
• M. Dumas to John Adams.
• (the Two Following Letters Explain the Preceding.) Jacob Nolet to John Adams.
• Jacob Nolet to M. Dumas.
• To M. Dumas.
• Verbal Message of C. W. F. Dumas to the City of Schiedam.
• To B. Franklin.
• M. De Lafayette to John Adams.
• W. and J. Willink, Nic. and Jac. Van Staphorst, and De La Lande and Fynje to John Adams.
• To Francis Dana.
• To Messrs. W. and J. Willink, N. and J. Van Staphorst, and De La Lande and Fynje.
• Messrs. Willink and Others to John Adams.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Messrs. W. and J. Willink and Others.
• Messrs. Willink and Others to John Adams.
• To M. De Lafayette.
• To Messrs. Willink and Others.
• To John Hodshon.
• To B. Franklin.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• C. L. Beyma to John Adams.
• E. F. Van Berckel to John Adams. ( Extract. )
• To M. Van Berckel.
• John Jay to John Adams.
• M. Van Berckel to John Adams.
• To M. Van Berckel.
• To John Jay.
• To Messrs. Willink and Others.
• To Mr. Mazzei.
• To John Jay.
• To Henry Laurens.
• To John Jay.
• To Henry Laurens.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• Henry Laurens to John Adams.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Francis Dana.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• Robert Morris to John Adams.
• John Jay to John Adams.
• To M. De La Fayette.
• M. Cerisier to John Adams.
• M. De Lafayette to John Adams.
• To John Jay.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Francis Dana.
• Francis Dana to John Adams. ( Secret and Confidential. )
• J. G. Holtzhey to John Adams.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To B. Franklin.
• To Jean George Holtzhey.
• Benjamin Franklin to John Adams.
• To Robert Morris.
• To Henry Laurens.
• To Secretary Livingston.
• To Robert Morris.
• To Francis Dana.
• Appendix.
• (a. P. 452.)
• Extrait De La Réponse De La Cour De France Aux Propositions Faites Au Sujet Du Rétablissement De La Paix Par Les Cours De Petersbourg Et De Vienne.
• Proposition.
• RÉponse.
• Projet De Réponse Aux Trois Cours Belligérantes.
• RÉponse (mutatis Mutandis).
• Réponse De Sa Majesté Très Chrétienne à La Réplique Des Deux Cours Impériales.
• Extract From the Answer of the Court of France to the Propositions Made On the Subject of the Reëstablishment of Peace By the Courts of Petersburg and of Vienna.
• Proposition.
• Answer.
• Project of an Answer to the Three Belligerent Courts.
• Answer (mutatis Mutandis).
• Answer of His Most Christian Majesty to the Reply of the Two Imperial Courts.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 15 February, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to inform congress, that on the 9th of this month, and not before, I had the good fortune to arrive in this city from Ferrol (where I arrived on the 8th of December) with Mr. Dana, Mr. Thaxter, and the rest of the company in tolerable health, after a journey of near five hundred leagues, in the dead of winter, through bad roads and worse accommodations of every kind. We lost no time, more than was indispensable to restore our health, which was several times much affected and in great danger; yet we were more than twice as long in making the journey by land as we had been in crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

The next morning after our arrival in Paris, Mr. Dana and myself went out to Passy, and spent the day with his Excellency, Dr. Franklin, who did us the honor the next day to accompany us to Versailles, where we had the honor to wait on their Excellencies, the Count de Vergennes, M. de Sartine, and the Count Maurepas, with each of whom we had the honor of a short conference upon the state of public affairs. It is sufficient for me at present to say, in general, that I never heard the French ministry so frank, so explicit, so decided, as each of these was in the course of this conversation, in his declarations to pursue the war with vigor, and to afford effectual aid to the United States. I learned with great satisfaction that they are sending, under convoy, clothing and arms for fifteen thousand men to America; that seventeen ships of the line were already gone to the West Indies under M. de Guichen, and that five or six more at least are to follow, in addition to ten or twelve they have already there.

I asked permission of the Count de Vergennes to write to him on the subject of my mission, which he cheerfully and politely agreed to. I have accordingly written to his Excellency, and shall forward copies of my letter and of his answer as soon as it may be safe to do it.

The English are to borrow twelve millions this year, and it is said the loan is filled up. They have thrown a sop to Ireland, but have not appeased her rage. They give out exactly such threats as they did last year, and every other year, of terrible preparations. But congress knows perfectly well how these menaces have been accomplished. They will not be more fully executed the next year than the last, and if France and Spain should throw more of their force, especially by sea, into America the next year, America will have no essential injury to fear.

I have learned, since my arrival at Paris, with the highest pleasure, the arrival of M. Gérard, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Carmichael at Cadiz, for whose safety we had been under great apprehensions. I have now very sanguine hopes that a solid treaty will soon be concluded with Spain; hopes which every thing I saw and heard in that country seemed to favor.

The Alliance frigate, now under the command of Captain Jones, with Captain Cunningham on board, is arrived at Corunna, where she is to be careened, after which she is to return to Lorient, and from thence to go to America, as I am informed by Dr. Franklin.

Mr. Arthur Lee and Mr. Izard are still in Paris, under many difficulties in procuring a passage home. Mr. William Lee is at Brussels. Mr. Izard has been to Holland to obtain a passage from thence, but unfortunately missed his opportunity, and returned disappointed.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.

Paris, 18 February, 1780.

My Dear General,—

You know extremely well the skill of our enemies in forging false news, and their artifice in circulating it, not only through the various parts of Europe, but in the United States of America, to keep up the spirits of their friends and depress those of their adversaries. It is their annual custom in the winter to send abroad large cargoes of these lies, and they meet with a success in making them believed, that is really astonishing.

Since my arrival here, I find they have been this winter at their old game again, and have circulated reports here, in Holland, and other parts of Europe, that they have made new contracts with other petty princes in Germany, by which, together with those made before, they will be able to draw seven thousand fresh troops from that country to serve in America; that, by appeasing the troubles in Ireland, they shall be able to avail themselves even of the military associations in that kingdom, by depending upon them for the defence of the country, and to draw near ten thousand men from thence for the service in America; that they have concluded a treaty with the Court of Petersburg, by which Russia is to furnish them with twelve ships of the line and twenty thousand men, which they say is of the more importance, on account of the intimate connection between Russia and Denmark, as the latter will be likely by this means to be drawn into the war with their numerous fleet of forty-five ships of the line. The greatest part of these tales are false, I know very well; and what is said of Russia is so contrary to all that I have heard of the good understanding between Versailles and Russia, that I have no doubt of its falsehood. But as I am very lately arrived, and consequently have not had opportunity to examine these reports to the bottom, I beg the favor of you to inform me with all the exactness possible, how much truth there is in them, if any at all.

You are very sensible that it is of the utmost importance that congress should have the earliest information of these things, and that you and I cannot render a more useful service to our country at present than by collecting such intelligence with precision, and transmitting it without delay. Knowing the pleasure you take in serving the United States in every way in your power, I thought I could beg this favor of you with propriety, and that you would believe me always

Your assured friend and servant,

John Adams.

TO M. GENET.

Paris, 18 February, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

Whether it is that the art of political lying is better understood in England than in any other country, or whether it is more practised there than elsewhere, or whether it is accidental that they have more success in making their fictions gain credit in the world, I know not. But it is certain that every winter since the commencement of the present war with America, and indeed for some years before, they sent out large quantities of this manufacture over all Europe and throughout all America; and what is astonishing is, that they should still find numbers in every country ready to take them off their hands.

Since my arrival in this city, I find they have been this winter at their old trade, and have spread reports here and in Holland and in various other parts of Europe, and, no doubt, they have found means to propagate them in America, too, tending to keep up the spirits of their well-wishers and to sink those of their opponents. Such as, that they have made new contracts with several German princes, by which they are to obtain seven thousand men to serve in America; that they have so skilfully appeased the troubles in Ireland, that they shall even be able to take advantage of the military associations there, by depending upon them for the defence of the kingdom, while they draw from thence ten thousand regular troops for the service in America; that they have even concluded a treaty with Russia, by which the Empress is to furnish them with twelve ships of the line and twenty thousand men, as some say, and twenty ships of the line and twelve thousand men, as others relate. This, they say, is of the greater moment, because of an intimate connection (I know not of what nature it is) between Russia and Denmark, by which the latter will be likely to be drawn into the war against the House of Bourbon and America; and Denmark, they say, has forty-five ships of the line.

I know very well that the greatest part of these reports is false; and particularly what is said of Russia is so contrary to all that I have heard for these twelve months past of the harmony between Versailles and Petersburg, that I give no credit to it at all; but I find that all these reports make impressions on some minds, and among the rest, on some Americans.

I therefore beg the favor of you to inform me of the exact truth in all these matters, that I may take the earliest opportunity of transmitting the intelligence to congress, where it is of importance that it should be known.

I was much mortified, when I was at Versailles the other day, that I could not have the honor of paying my respects to you; but I was so connected with other gentlemen, who were obliged to return to dinner, that I could not; but I shall take the first opportunity I can get to wait on you, and assure you that I am,

With great respect, &c.

John Adams.

M. DE LAFAYETTE TO JOHN ADAMS.

Paris, 19 February, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

As I came but this morning from Versailles, it was not in my power sooner to answer the letter you have honored me with, and this duty I now perform with the more pleasure, as it is of some importance to the interests of America. Since the first day, when I had the happiness of making myself and of being considered in the world as an American, I have always observed that among so many ways of attacking our liberties, and among the most ungenerous ones, treachery and falsehood have ever been the first weapons on which the British nation has the most depended.

I am glad it is in my power generally to assure you that the many reports propagated by them and alluded to in your letter are not founded upon truth. New contracts with petty German princes have not, I believe, taken place; and if any such merchandise were sent to America, it would at most consist of a few recruits. The troubles in Ireland, if there is the least common sense among the first patriots of that country, are not, I hope, at an end, and it seems they now begin to raise new expectations. The Russian troops, so much talked of in their gazettes, I take to be mere recruits for those thirty thousand Russians that Mr. Rivington had three years ago ordered to embark for America.

Those intelligences, my dear sir, must be counteracted by letters to our friends in America. But as the respect we owe to the free citizens of the United States makes it a point of duty for us never to deceive them, and as the most candid frankness must ever distinguish our side of the question from the cause of tyranny and falsehood, I intend paying to-morrow morning a visit to the minister of foreign affairs, and from him get such minute intelligence as shall answer your purpose.

With the most sincere regard, I have the honor to be, &c.

Lafayette, M. G.

P. S. On my return from Versailles, my dear sir, where I will settle the affairs of arms that I have undertaken, I will impart to you a project privately relating to me, that is not inconsistent with my sentiments for our country, America.

M. GENET TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Versailles, 20 February, 1780.

Sir,—

You have feared to be troublesome to the Count de Vergennes, and you have done me the honor of addressing yourself to me, in order to know what you are to think of several rumors which the English have endeavored to spread. I am infinitely flattered by the mark of confidence which you have been pleased to give me, but I have felt it my duty to lay your letter before the minister. He has directed me to assure you, that on every occasion he will be very happy to have you address yourself directly to him, and that you will always find him eager to satisfy your inquiries.

He has remarked, as well as yourself, the address which our enemies use to circulate false reports, and especially to make Europe believe that the Americans are making advances to them, in order to treat of an arrangement with them. The Count de Vergennes is as well persuaded of the contrary as he is confident that no new treaty has been negotiated with the princes of Germany, and that no levies are making there but for the sake of filling up the old ones. He does not think that the news of the treaty with Russia, nor that which relates to the Court of Denmark, are better founded. He has told me that I might do myself the honor to write you that all those rumors are false, and that you run no risk in presenting them as such to the persons on whom you think they may have made some impression, whether in Europe or in America.

I am extremely anxious to have the honor to see you, and congratulate you on your happy return. As I can but seldom go to Paris, I hope your business will permit you to do me the honor to call at my house and accept of a family dinner.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Genet.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 20 February, 1780.

Sir,—

Since my arrival in Europe, I have had the mortification to see in the public papers a series of little successes which our enemies have had in the prosecution of the war. The first was a very exaggerated account in the English Court Gazette of their successes against the Spaniards in South America. The next was the history of the repulse of General Lincoln and the Count d’Estaing at Savannah, and the raising the siege of that post. These were soon followed by the capture of the Spanish fleet of transport ships by Rodney’s squadron, and the advantage gained by that admiral over the Spanish ships of war, after a most gallant resistance, however, off Gibraltar.

These small triumphs, although chiefly of the defensive and negative kind, and a poor compensation for the blood and the millions they are annually wasting, are, however, sufficient to cheer the spirits of the British populace, and to banish from the minds of the ministry all thoughts of peace upon reasonable terms; for the English in the present war act upon a maxim diametrically opposite to that of the Romans, and never think of peace upon any event fortunate to them, but are anxious for it under every great adversity.

A report of my appointment having also been carried to England by the cartels from Boston, and being spread in Europe by various other ways, by passengers in the Committee,1 by French passengers in the Sensible, of whom there were a great number who had heard of it in all companies in America, and by many private letters, and the English ministerial writers having made use of this as evidence of a drooping spirit in America, in order to favor their loan of money, I thought it my best policy to communicate my appointment and powers to the French Court, and ask their advice, as our good allies, how to proceed in the present emergency. I accordingly wrote to his Excellency, the Count de Vergennes, the letter of the 12th of February, a copy of which is inclosed, and received his answer of the 15th, a copy of which is inclosed, to which I replied in a letter of the 19th, a copy of which is also inclosed.2 When I shall receive his Excellency’s answer, I shall do myself the honor to inclose that.

If there is any thing in these letters of mine which is not con formable to the views and sentiments of congress, I wish to be instructed in it, or if congress should not concur in sentiment with his Excellency, the Count, I shall obey their orders with the utmost punctuality and alacrity. I have ever understood that congress were first advised to the measure of appointing a minister to negotiate peace by the French Minister, then at Philadelphia, in the name of the Count de Vergennes. However this may have been, it cannot be improper to have some one in Europe empowered to think and treat of peace, which some time or other must come.

Since my last, which was of yesterday’s date, I have had opportunity to make more particular inquiries concerning the pretended treaty with Russia, and am informed that the English ministry did, not long since, make a formal application by their ambassador to the Empress of Russia for a body of troops and a number of ships; but that the application was opposed with great spirit and ability in the Russian Council, particularly by the minister for foreign affairs, and rejected in council with great unanimity: and that the harmony between Versailles and Petersburg remains as perfect as when I left France.

I have the honor to be, with very great respect, &c.

John Adams.

TO M. GENET.

Paris, 24 February, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me the 20th of this month.

I was cautious of troubling the minister with an application directly to him upon a subject like that of my letter to you; but I thank you for the trouble you have taken in laying it before him. The kind expressions of his Excellency’s confidence, and his readiness to receive any application directly from me, do me great honor; and I shall not fail of paying my respects to him upon proper occasions.

I am happy to have his Excellency’s authority to counteract the delusive artifices of our enemies; and he may be equally assured that the reports of advances made by the Americans towards an arrangement with the English are equally groundless.

I hope to have soon the honor of paying my respects to you at Versailles.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO GENERAL KNOX.

Paris, 28 February, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

Your friend, the Marquis, with whom I have sometimes had the honor to drink your health after that of General Washington, will deliver you this. His love of glory is not diminished, nor his affection for America, as you see by his return. He has been indefatigable in endeavors to promote the welfare and comfort of our army, as well as to support their honor and character, and has had success in both.

He has had a share in convincing this Court of the policy and necessity of transferring their exertions into the American seas, and, I hope, he will in time assist in bringing Spain into the same system. But time is necessary to bring nations to comprehend new systems of policy, and everybody has, some time or other, an opportunity of throwing in light. France and Spain are not yet habituated to reasoning upon the new connection, nor are they yet sensible of all the advantages they might derive from it, in the prosecution of the war. France is, however, more convinced of it this year than last. But I have not time to say more, except that I am, as usual,

Your friend,

John Adams.

TO CAPTAIN LANDAIS.

8 March, 1780.

These may certify that on the 8th day of March, 1779, I set off from Passy to Nantes, expecting to meet the Alliance frigate and go in her to America. When I arrived at Nantes, I learned from the American agent that the Alliance was still at Brest; and, by Captain Landais’s letters, it was uncertain how long she would remain there, upon which I determined to take a journey to Brest, to assist if I could in expediting her. Upon my arrival, there were thirty-eight prisoners on board, charged with having been concerned in a mutiny or conspiracy in the passage from Boston, whom Captain Landais had not been able to obtain permission to put on shore, which he thought necessary to be done before he could go to sea with safety. The frigate wanted stores and repairs, which he could not obtain until some one would become responsible for the pay for them, which Mr. Costentin declined doing until he had orders either from the American minister at court, or the American agent at Nantes; that Mr. Costentin, on my arrival, told me he had just received orders from Mr. Schweighauser to take my advice, which he took accordingly, and engaged to pay for what was wanted; and after an application from me and Captain Landais to the Intendant, and afterwards from me in writing, the prisoners were permitted to be sent on shore, and the stores and repairs were provided.

Certified at the request of Captain Landais, at Paris, the 8th day of March, 1780.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 12 March, 1780.

Sir,—

It is an observation made some years ago by a great writer of this nation, De Mably, that “the project of being sole master of the sea, and of commanding all the commerce, is not less chimerical nor less ruinous than that of universal monarchy on land; and it is to be wished, for the happiness of Europe, that the English may be convinced of this truth before they shall learn it by their own experience. France has already repeated several times that it was necessary to establish an equilibrium, a balance of power at sea, and she has not yet convinced anybody, because she is the dominant power, and because they suspect her to desire the abasement of the English, only that she may domineer the more surely on the continent. But if England abuses her power, and would exercise a kind of tyranny over commerce, presently all the States that have vessels and sailors, astonished that they had not before believed France, will join themselves to assist her in avenging her injuries.”1

The present conjuncture of affairs resembles so exactly the case here put, that it seems to be a literal fulfilment of a prophecy.

A domination upon the sea is so much the more dangerous to other maritime powers and commercial nations, as it is more difficult to form alliances and combine forces at sea than at land. For which reason it is essential that the sovereign of every commercial State should make his nation’s flag respected in all the seas and by all the nations of the world. The English have ever acted upon this principle, in supporting the honor of their own flag, but of late years have grown less and less attentive to it, as it respects the honor of other flags. Not content with making their flag respectable, they have grown more and more ambitious of making it terrible. Unwilling to do as they would be done by, and to treat other commercial nations as they have insisted upon being treated by them, they have grown continually more and more haughty, turbulent, and insolent upon the seas, and are now never satisfied until they have made all other nations see that they despise them upon that element. It is said by the Baron de Bielfield, that piracies and robberies at sea are so odious, so atrocious, and so destructive to the interest of all the European nations, that every thing is permitted to repress them. Providence has not granted to any people an exclusive empire upon the seas. To aim at setting up a master there, to prescribe laws to other free nations, is an outrage to all Europe.

I have quoted these authorities, because they contain the true principle upon which, as I have ever conceived, the English began this war, and upon which they will assuredly continue it as long as they can get men and money, which will be as long as they have success. They contain also the true principles of France, Spain, and Holland, and all the powers of Europe. The outrages committed upon the Dutch commerce, and the insults offered to their flag, ought to be, and are alarming to all the maritime powers. The late successes of the English will have no tendency to allay the fears of these powers; on the contrary, they will increase the alarm, by showing the precarious situation they will all be in if England should finally succeed, which some of them may, perhaps, apprehend from the late brilliant fortune of Admiral Rodney.

One cannot but be struck with the rapid series of fortunate incidents for the English, which have been published here in about the course of three months that I have been in Europe. The little affair of Omoa began it; the repulse of Savannah succeeded, with all its consequences; the Curraçoa fleet was next; Langara’s fleet soon followed; Gibraltar was relieved; Don Gaston’s squadron was dispersed by a storm; and Admiral Rodney had opportunity to get safe out of Gibraltar. The French East India fleet brings up the rear. There is hardly in history such a series of events, that no human wisdom could provide against or foresee. Yet, after all, the advantages gained are by no means decisive, although, no doubt, it will raise the ambition of the English, and, in some degree, damp the ardor of their enemies.

It must not have this effect, however, upon America. Let the maritime powers fare as they will, we must be free; and I trust in God we shall be so, whatever be their fate. The events of war are uncertain at sea, more than even by land; but America has resources for the final defence of her liberty, which Britain will never be able to exhaust, though she should exhaust France and Spain; and it may not impossibly be our hard fate, but it will be our unfading glory, finally to turn the scale of the war, to humble the pride which is so terrible to the commercial nations of Europe, and to produce a balance of power on the seas. To this end, Americans must be soldiers and seamen.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

ARTHUR LEE TO JOHN ADAMS.

Lorient, 15 March, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

By the bursting of the lock of one of my trunks on the journey, I was so unfortunate as to lose the packet of M. Gérard’s letters, among which was that you copied, and of which I must beg you to send me an authenticated copy.

Since my arrival here, I received a packet from congress, which came by the Confederacy. In that is a copy of one of the most false and wicked papers I have read upon the subject, given in to congress by Mr. Carmichael. In that he says,—“I have frequently declared that Mr. A. Lee had not the confidence of the Court of France. My reasons for this declaration are, among others, the Chevalier Grand and his brother, Mr. Grand, gentlemen who, at various times, acted as secret agents between the commissioners and the Court of France, in whose assertions I placed confidence, because I saw the Court intrusted them with secrets of the highest importance, and because I never found myself deceived by these gentlemen in any other information I had the honor to receive from them while employed by the commissioners abroad. I was informed, and believe, that this want of confidence arose from information given by M. Garnier, Chargé des Affaires for the Court of Versailles at London.”1

You will oblige me much, if you will show this extract to Mr. Grand and M. Garnier, and write me what they say to it. I always entertained, and do still entertain, too high an opinion, both of Mr. Grand’s veracity and discretion, to believe he ever told Mr. Carmichael what he here asserts. But I shall change my opinion, if he refuses to contradict this assertion, since it has been made with a manifest design of injuring me and imposing upon congress. As Mr. Carmichael could not know that these gentlemen were intrusted with secrets of the highest importance by the Court, unless they communicated those secrets to him, I do not see how any other conclusion can be drawn from what Mr. Carmichael says of them, but that either they were not so trusted, or that they betrayed their trust in such communication to him. I cannot determine whether Mr. Deane or Mr. Carmichael is the most contemptible liar. And I confess to you, sir, that it astonishes me that such contemptible and manifestly malignant performances should have had the smallest influence on any one man of common sense or common honesty in or out of congress.

We have no news here, nor is it likely we shall sail this month. I beg my compliments to Mr. Dana.

With the greatest esteem, I am, dear sir,
Your most obedient servant,

Arthur Lee.

WILLIAM LEE TO JOHN ADAMS.

Bruxelles, 17 March, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I understand that our enemies have now in contemplation the offering of some terms to America, which go no farther than a truce; probably somewhat similar to the propositions made last year by Spain to Great Britain.

Though I am not informed of the terms of peace with which you are charged, nor whether your powers are discretionary, I trust you will not think it an intrusion in me to offer my sentiments on such a proposition as a truce for America, supposing it should be made.

A truce with America must, of course, accompany a peace in Europe; in that case, our enemies, after recovering from their present exhausted state, having their hands clear of European troubles, would have their whole strength to employ against America; for, I conceive, that with such a prospect before them, there would not be the most distant probability of agreeing on a peace before the expiration of the truce.

In America we must keep up a great military and naval establishment to prevent our being taken by surprise, at nearly as great an expense as we are now at in war, and besides risk the dreadful misfortunes which have almost universally attended standing armies and a heavy load of debt on the state. I cannot suppose it possible that France and Spain would consent to a truce with America while the war is to continue between Great Britain and them; but if they should, would it be wise in America to accept of a truce on such terms, and to let our allies run the hazard of being destroyed, that we may become an easy prey afterwards?

These are some of the evident objections to a truce in any shape, nor can I see any possible argument in its favor, though I know there are some Americans, though well-intentioned, but visionary geniuses, whose heads run much on the idea of a truce; but I hope nothing will be attended to, unless they are fair, open, and honorable propositions for a substantial and lasting peace, in which blessed work I most heartily wish you speedy and full success.

The Dutch are in a very disturbed state; as yet there does not seem to be a probability of their taking a decided and open part with us in the war. The influence and power of the Prince of Orange are unfortunately too great to permit them to adopt those measures which their honor and interest direct, and which, I believe, a great majority of the people wish. The Prince is retained against us by the flattering prospect of marrying his daughter to the Prince of Wales; but in Europe where every thing is bought and sold, France and Spain may do great things; for the confidant and director of the Prince is as mercenary a wretch as can be found in England or even in Scotland.

We shall probably see Mr. Laurens here in his way to Holland; but if he does not pass through this town, I shall be much obliged to you for giving me any interesting public intelligence that he brings.

Be pleased to present my respects to Mr. Dana; and if I can be of any service here in promoting the great work you have in hand, or in rendering any services to our country, I shall be always happy in receiving your commands, being with great esteem, dear sir,

Your most obliged and obedient servant,

W. Lee.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 24 March, 1780.

Sir,—

Mr. Burke’s bill not being as yet public, we are not yet informed of the items of it. But as it already appears that it strikes at the department of secretary of state for America and at the board of trade, there seems to be little reason to doubt that it goes further, and strikes at the American board of commissioners, at all the American judges of admiralty, governors of provinces, secretaries, and custom-house officers of all denominations. At least, if this should not be found to be a part of the bill, there are stronger reasons, if possible, for abolishing this whole system of iniquity, together with all the pensions granted to the refugees from America, than even for taking away the board of trade. And from several late paragraphs in the papers, and from Mr. Fox’s severe observations in the house of commons upon Governor Hutchinson, calling him in substance the “firebrand that lighted up all the fire between the two countries,” it seems pretty clear that it is in contemplation to take away all these salaries and pensions.

If such a measure should take place, exiled as these persons are from the country which gave them birth, but which they have most ungratefully endeavored to enslave, they will become melancholy monuments of divine vengeance against such unnatural and impious behavior. Nevertheless, as these persons are numerous, and have some friends in England as well as in America, where they had once much property, there is a probability, I think, that whenever or wherever negotiations for peace may be commenced, they and their estates, now almost universally confiscated, will not be forgotten. But much pains and art will be employed to stipulate for them, in the treaty, both a restoration of their property and a right to return as citizens of the States to which they formerly belonged. It is very possible, however, that before a treaty shall be made, or even negotiations commenced, these gentlemen will become so unpopular and odious that the people of England would be pleased with their sufferings and punishment. But it is most probable that the Court will not abandon them very easily.

I should, therefore, be very happy to have the explicit instructions of congress upon this head, whether I am to agree, in any case whatsoever, to an article which shall admit either of their return or the restoration of their forfeited estates. There are sentiments of humanity and forgiveness which plead on one side; there are reasons of state and political motives, among which the danger of admitting such mischievous persons as citizens is not the least considerable, which argue on the other. I shall obey the instructions of congress with the utmost pleasure, or if for any reasons they choose to leave it at discretion, if I ever should have the opportunity, I shall determine it without listening to any passions of my own of compassion or resentment, according to my best judgment of the public good.

There is another point of very great importance, which I am persuaded will be aimed at by the English ministers; I am sure it will by the people of England, whenever terms of peace shall be talked of. For facilitating the return of commerce, they will wish to have it stipulated by the treaty, that the subjects of Great Britain shall have the rights of citizens in America, and the citizens of the United States the rights of subjects in the British dominions. Some of the consequences of such an agreement to them and to us are obvious and very important; but they are so numerous, and it is so difficult to determine whether the benefits or the inconveniences prevail, that I should be sorry to have so great a question left to my determination. If, however, contrary to my inclinations, it should fall to my lot to decide it without instructions, it shall be decided according to my conscience and the best lights I have.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

ARTHUR LEE TO JOHN ADAMS.

Lorient, 26 March, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I have but one moment to thank you for your favor, with one from London inclosed, which I received on my return from Brest. We are likely to be detained here by the prize money for the Serapis, &c. not being paid, without which the crew of the Alliance threaten a mutiny.

If, as I apprehend it may, the application I requested you to make to Mr. G., should at all interfere with your plan, which I think very prudent, of keeping as free as possible from those disputes, which indeed are a reproach to us, I beg you will think no more of it. What has been Gérard’s conduct since his arrival, and what his reception? He is a man to be observed narrowly. I do not mean on my account, but on that of the public, to which I think he will yet do much mischief if he is listened to. Farewell.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 30 March, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to inclose to congress copies of certain letters which I have had the honor to write to the Count de Vergennes, and of others which I have received from him.

It seems that the presentations of the American commissioners and ministers plenipotentiary have not been inserted in the Gazette, which occasioned some uneasiness in the minds of some of our countrymen, as they thought it a neglect of us, and a distinction between our sovereign and others. The inclosed letters will explain this matter, and show that no distinction has been made between the representatives of the United States and those of other powers.

I ought to confess to congress that the delicacy of the Count de Vergennes, about communicating my powers, is not perfectly consonant to my manner of thinking; and if I had followed my own judgment I should have pursued a bolder plan, by communicating immediately after my arrival, to Lord George Germaine my full powers to treat both of peace and commerce; but I hope congress will approve of my communicating first to this Court my destination, and asking their advice, and then pursuing it, because I think no doubt can be made that it is my duty to conduct my negotiations at present in concert with our ally, as I have hitherto done.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Versailles, 30 March, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter1 which you did me the honor to write on the 21st instant. I remember very well to have said to you that your presentation should be inserted in the Gazette of France; but, from the information I have obtained, I am convinced that the presentations, whether of ambassadors or ministers plenipotentiary, have never been announced in our Gazette, so that it would savor of affectation to insert yours. As a substitute, I will have it mentioned, if you wish, in the Mercure de France, and you can, without any hazard, take measures to have the notice repeated in the foreign gazettes.

I have the honor to be, &c.

De Vergennes.

P. S. I inclose the draft of an article, which I propose to have inserted in the Mercure. I shall not send it till you have given me your opinion of it.

Le S. Adams que le congrès des États Unis de l’Amérique a désigné pour assistre aux conférences pour la paix lorsqu’il y aura lieu, est arrive depuis quelque temps ici et a eu l’honneur d’être présenté au roi et à la famille royale.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 30 March, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor of your Excellency’s letter of this day, in answer to mine of the 21st of this month. Until the receipt of it, I had taken it for granted that the presentation of every ambassador was regularly inserted in the Gazette of France; and, until very lately, several days since the date of my letter to your Excellency of the 21st of this month, I had supposed that the presentation of ministers plenipotentiary was constantly inserted likewise.

The information your Excellency has given me, that the presentations neither of ambassadors nor ministers plenipotentiary have ever been inserted, has perfectly satisfied me, and, I doubt not, will equally satisfy my countrymen who have heretofore been under the same mistake with myself.

I approve very much of your Excellency’s proposition of inserting my presentation in the Mercury of France, and I shall take measures to have it repeated in the foreign gazettes.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

WILLIAM LEE TO JOHN ADAMS.

Brussels, 30 March, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I have had the honor of receiving yours of the 21st instant. The name of the person you wish to know, is the Duke of Brunswick, brother to Prince Ferdinand, Field Marshal and Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch land force. He is not liked by his family, as they conceive he is too much attached to the House of Austria.

The quintuple alliance that you mention, I conceive, is only the conjecture of some politicians; for there is not in fact any solid appearance of the Dutch resenting like men or an independent nation the cruel injuries and insults (that would be intolerable to any other people) which they have received from the English. The Prince of Orange, the better to deceive, and perhaps reflecting on the fate of De Witt, pretended to resent highly the insult offered to his flag; but you will agree with me that it must be only a pretence, when you know that Admiral Byland is to be honorably acquitted; and, in consequence, it is expected that the best captain in the Dutch navy will resign.

I hope you did not construe my last into any design of drawing from you any of the secrets of your mission, for, believe me, I have no such curiosity, being quite satisfied with that information respecting it, which the world is, and has been a long time in possession of; and besides, I know too well how extremely necessary circumspection and secrecy are to procure success to a negotiation.

Diffidence and distrust of an enemy are always warrantable, but particularly so when one has had repeated experience of their duplicity and treachery; the fatal experience of the Dutch in the negotiations at Gertruydenberg, as well as many other examples, teach us that distrust and resentment should not be carried to unreasonable lengths.

A great and good man has wisely observed that the best time to make peace is, when your enemy wishes for it; and I hope that the affairs of Ireland, with vigorous and well-directed operations on our part this campaign, will reduce our enemies to wish for peace in earnest before this year ends; although they seem to be getting the better of the opposition at home, which, it appears, they are determined to do, either by fraud or violence, as the papers will tell you how narrowly the life of Lord Shelburne has escaped one of the Scotch assassins.1

With infinite pleasure, I shall communicate to you what information I may receive in my retirement, of the nature you require; but I apprehend that a few hundred pounds sterling per annum, properly applied, might procure you such intelligence as would be worth millions to America; for, in our enemies’ quarters, every thing goes by purchase and sale; therefore, it was high time for us to have done with them.

We have no intelligence of the arrival of Mr. Laurens, though there are letters which mention his being embarked.

The Spaniards will do well to keep a watchful eye on the buccaneering expedition now preparing in England against their possessions in South America.

I have the honor to be, &c. &c.

William Lee.

TO ARTHUR LEE.

Paris, 31 March, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I have received yours of the 26th and that of the 15th of this month. I inclose a copy of the letter you desire.

M. Garnier is gone into the country, and I have not seen him since I arrived here. Mr. Izard, however, has seen him, and will give you a satisfactory account of what he says.

If I were to apply to the other gentleman, you know what would be the consequence. It would fly very soon to, you know where, and I should have only the credit of meddling unnecessarily with disputes which I have kept out of as much as I could, and which it is certainly now the public interest, and consequently my duty, to keep out of as much as I can; I had, therefore, rather be excused. The gentleman himself would probably give you the same answer to a letter from you directly to him as he would give to me, unless I should use arts with him, which would be unworthy of you as well as me, and which I cannot use with anybody.

I shall have enough to do to steer my little bark among the rocks and shoals. I shall have perplexities enough of my own, which I cannot avoid, and dangers too. These I shall meet with a steady mind, and perhaps none of them will be greater than that, which I think my duty, of avoiding things that do not belong to me.

Scarcely ever any minister executed a commission for making a peace, without ruining his own reputation, in a free government. No minister that ever existed had a more difficult and dangerous peace to make than I have.

The gentleman you mention has hitherto been very still; but he has been well received by all that I have learnt.

Adieu.

John Adams.

TO WILLIAM LEE.

Paris, 2 April, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

Your favor of the 30th of March is just come to hand, and I thank you for it. I did not construe any thing in your last into a design of drawing from me any of the secrets of my mission; indeed, there is no secret in it, but my instructions, which will, I hope, remain so until they are executed, if that time should ever come.

I have had reasons, however, for saying nothing till now about my commission, but those reasons exist no more. I have indeed the honor to be minister plenipotentiary with full powers, with the ambassadors or ministers from France and Great Britain, and all other princes and states whom it may concern, to enter into conferences, negotiations, and treaties for peace.

When our enemy will wish for peace so far as to think of it in earnest, I know not. Peace concerns her more than any of the belligerent powers. America even can sustain the war, although it will be irksome and grievous, infinitely better than England. America grows more powerful, more numerous, more brave, and better disciplined every year of the war, and more independent too, both in spirit and circumstances. Their trade, it is true, does not flourish as it did, but their agriculture, arts, and manufactures increase in proportion to the decline of their trade. England is wasting away, notwithstanding the violence of her convulsive struggles, in wealth, in commerce, in manufactures, in sailors, soldiers, population, and, above all, in political consideration among the powers of Europe every day. Her reputation, which is a more durable source of power, and a more constant cause of prosperity to states as well as individuals, declines amidst all her activity, exertions, and successes. The hopes and fears of other nations are turning by degrees from her to other people, and these she will find it harder to regain than even the good will of America, which is also leaving her every day. The English nation do not seem to me to see any thing in its true light, or weigh any thing in a just balance. The points already gained by Ireland do not appear to be understood in England in their consequences; if she should carry the other points she aims at, she will become a dangerous rival to Great Britain in trade, and even in political power, and dangerous to her even in military; and she must and will carry those points, if this war is continued. Yet the predominant temper drowns all in England. Their pride, revenge, and habits of domineering will not suffer them to listen to any thing that does not soothe these lively passions.

The fury that appears among the members of parliament convinces me that the opposition is more formidable than you seem to think it. The committees go on, and although I do not found my expectations upon characters that now appear, I know that these committees will bring up others to public view who will do the work. When a society gets disturbed, men of great talents and good qualities are always found or made.

I think I am perfectly sure of myself that I shall never be led much astray by my resentments against the English, however strong they may have been, and however justly founded. Distrust of them I have, quite separate from all resentment, so fixed by twenty years’ incessant attention to their policy, that it is very possible they may be in earnest about terms of peace before I shall believe it; but this error, I hope, will do neither them nor me any harm.

I wish you had been more particular concerning that buccaneering expedition which you say is preparing in England against the Spanish possessions in South America.

Nothing from America, nor from Mr. Laurens. Adieu.

John Adams.

TO W. CARMICHAEL.

Paris, 8 April, 1780.

Sir,—

I have this moment the honor of your letter from Madrid, of the 29th of February, as I suppose, although the month is not mentioned. I thank you, sir, for commencing a correspondence which I have for some time wished to begin. I wrote to Mr. Jay, at Madrid, the 22d of February, and wish to know if he has received the letter. It is certainly proper that those who are intrusted abroad should maintain a correspondence and cultivate a good understanding with each other, because, although their departments are in some respects separate, yet in others they are intimately connected. From all that I heard in Spain, I expected that you would meet with an agreeable reception at Madrid; and I am much pleased to learn from you that I was not mistaken.

I have sometimes wondered at the slowness of Spain in making a treaty with us; but, when I reflected upon a certain secret article, my surprise ceased.1 We are already bound in a treaty to her, but she is not bound to us. It would be ungenerous in her, however, to hold us long in this situation. The treaty, notwithstanding all that has been justly said of the advantages to us, is not less advantageous to our allies. The single article that binds us to exclude all armed vessels of the enemies of our allies in all future wars from our ports, is worth more millions to them than this war will cost; nay, it will be a severer loss to Great Britain than all that she has spent in it. Whether Great Britain has considered this or not I do not, know; but she will some time or other discover it, and feel the inconvenience of it.

You ask for news from America. A vessel from Baltimore is arrived at Bordeaux, but not a single letter to Dr. Franklin or me. She brings two or three Baltimore newspapers, one as late as the 15th of February. A hard winter, deep snows, uncommon frosts; frozen over from Connecticut to Long Island, and from New Jersey to Staten Island. Lord Sterling went over to Staten Island with a party on the ice, burnt a few vessels and a guard-house, took a few prisoners, and brought off a few deserters. Some New Jersey people went over at the same time, and plundered without mercy. Finding the communication open with New York, which had been supposed to be obstructed by the ice, he returned. An article from a Fishkill paper says, that Clinton and Cornwallis sailed the 26th of December with seven thousand men for the West Indies, but that the storm which happened soon after their departure was supposed to have done him mischief. A ship, brig, and schooner lost in the storm on Cape Cod, unknown who or whence; all perished. Congress had recommended to all the States to regulate prices at twenty for one, which, by the speculations in the papers, was not well liked. Governor Johnson a delegate for Maryland, General Ward for Massachusetts, in the room of Mr. Dana (who desires me to return you his compliments and respects.) The other delegates as last year. This is all the news I can recollect, having seen the papers only a few minutes in a large company.

The general state of affairs appears very well. I see no probability of England’s obtaining an ally; on the contrary, there are many symptoms of an approaching combination of the maritime powers to protect neutral ships from searches and insults. Ireland is in the full career of independence. England seems determined to force Holland into a war against her, that she may have an opportunity to plunder her.

The correspondences and associations in England distress the ministry very much; and, if the war continues, and they should not be very successful, it seems likely that they would save us the trouble of despatching them. I wish, however, that France and Spain were more convinced of the advantages they have in America and the West Indies. The more ships they send into those seas, the more they will force England to send there; the more she sends there, the weaker she is in Europe, and the less she is dreaded and respected. Holland, Ireland, the opposition in England, and the other maritime powers all feel a confidence rising in proportion to the diminution of the British naval force in Europe, besides the innumerable advantages the French and Spaniards have in supporting the war in the American seas over the English, which they have not in Europe; but I am apprehensive of being tedious. My compliments to Mr. Jay and his family.

I am, with much respect, &c.

John Adams.

T. DIGGES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Extract.)

London, 14 April, 1780.

Every day seems to produce more advocates or wishers for withdrawing the troops from America, or giving up an offensive war in that country. A motion was to have been made this day in the commons, relative to the state of the war in that country, and to push the ministry for the giving up the principles of that war, and to go seriously to some accommodation. The voice of the majority of the people is decidedly for some such accommodation; but there is no one who can devise the means by which it can be done. Though most of my parliamentary acquaintance are for giving the independence, none of them seem bold enough to stand forth and move it in the house. The time is certainly not yet arrived when it would go down there, but I do not think it very distant; and, I am sure, had the topic been debated to-day, there would have appeared a manifest disposition in the house to abandon the principles of the war in America; and it seems as if ministry wished to feel the pulse of the house on that subject. A new and unexpected matter put off the whole affair. The speaker, without appearing to be very ill, stood up and declared a wish to resign, from not being able through illness to go on with the business of the house.1 It appeared as much a political as a real illness, and I dare say some new movements, perhaps in the administration, may be the consequence. He has not, however, resigned, and the house is adjourned for the benefit of his health till next Monday week; perhaps it may then be too late to renew the intended motion about America, or the state of the war there. The possession of Charleston, if but for a week, or the taking two or three men-of-war from their enemies, may make these wise heads think their arms invincible, and that they may have some better success by prosecuting the war a little further.

I wish you every success and happiness, and am,
With very great regard, your obedient servant,

W. S. C.2

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 18 April, 1780.

Sir,—

It is my duty to transmit to congress, as soon as prudence will admit, every thing which deserves consideration, as having either a direct or an indirect tendency to peace, or even to negotiations for that important object. The inclosed letter has been transmitted to Paris through such a channel, that I have reasons to believe it was particularly intended for my inspection. It is from a gentleman, who, to do him justice, has long expressed an earnest desire for peace, but who, nevertheless, has never yet reflected maturely enough upon the state of America, of Great Britain, and of all Europe, to get into a right way of thinking concerning the proper means to his end.1 Congress will perceive this from the letter itself, in which it is obvious enough.

The first remarkable sentiment is, “We must at all events support our national honor by the most vigorous exertions, without shrinking; but surely, in such a complicated war as this is, if we can make any equitable offers of a treaty to any of the parties, common prudence calls upon us to use our endeavors to unravel by negotiation the combination of powers now acting against us.” In this paragraph I see the manifest marks of a mind that has not yet mastered its subject. True policy would have omitted every thing in this letter which should call up to the minds of the people the ideas of national honor. Every man in the world who is thoroughly acquainted with the subject, knows that Great Britain never can obtain a peace without a diminution of her honor and dignity. It is impossible, without miracles, and therefore the Englishman who undertakes to plan for peace must be convinced of this, and take it into his plan, and consequently should avoid with the utmost caution every word which should excite these ideas in the minds of the people. They stir passions which make them mad.

He should have avoided with equal solicitude every insinuation of a design to unravel by negotiation the combination of powers now acting against Great Britain. This combination is in fact much more extensive, much more universal and formidable, than the letter-writer had any idea or suspicion of. But if it had been no more extensive than France, Spain, and America, the impracticability of unravelling it ought to have been too obvious for the writer to have thrown out this sentiment. By it he proposes by negotiation to bring those to dishonor themselves who have certainly no occasion for it, at the same time that he stimulates others to cherish and preserve their honor who have already lost it, and are under an absolute necessity, sooner or later, of sacrificing it. By this means he only puts the confederates more upon their guard, and renders the attainment of his professed object, peace, impossible.

The next solecism in politics which he commits, is undertaking to vindicate America from the charge of having sought and formed this confederacy. America wanted no such vindication; it is folly to suppose it a fault, for all mankind will agree, even his correspondents themselves, that it was wisdom and virtue. Surely another turn must be given to popular ideas before they will be brought to petition for peace.

Nor do I think it was prudent in him to hold up the idea that America had proceeded with reluctance and regret to the treaty. That this is true, I know and feel to this very moment; for, although I had no such reluctance myself, those gentlemen with whom I had the honor to sit in congress at the time, will remember that I had very good reasons to be sensible that others had. But how well soever he might be informed of the fact, and from what source soever he might draw his information, it was bad policy in him to hold it up, because he ought to have been equally sure that America has now no reluctance to the treaty, nor any inclination to violate it. He ought not, therefore, to have held up a hope of this to the people.

Neither ought he to have flattered the people with hopes that America would not form any perpetual alliance with France, nor that their limited alliance might be satisfied and discharged. The alliance already made is limited, it is true, to a certain number of articles, but not limited in its duration. It is perpetual, and he had no grounds to soothe the people with hopes, either that France would give up any of the articles of the treaty, or that America would violate them.

He ought also to have avoided his insinuations that America has been so much harassed by the war. This is an idea so refreshing to the present passions of the people of England, that, instead of tending to dispose them to peace, it only revives their hopes of success, and inflames their ardor for war. That America has been harassed by the war is true; and when was any nation at war without being so? Especially, when did any nation undergo a revolution in government, and sustain a war at the same time, without it? Yet, after all, America has not been so much harassed, or distressed, or terrified, or panic-struck from the beginning, as Great Britain has been several times in the course of it.

But the most exceptionable passage of all is this:—“It is apparent to all the world that France might long ago have put an end to that part of the war which has been most distressing to America, if she had chosen so to do. Let the whole system of France be considered from the very beginning down to the late retreat from Savannah, and I think it is impossible to put any other construction upon it but this, namely,—that it has always been the deliberate intention and object of France, for purposes of her own, to encourage the continuation of the war in America, in hopes of exhausting the strength and resources of this country, and of depressing the rising power of America.”

Upon this paragraph I scarcely know what remarks to make. But, after deliberating upon it as patiently and maturely as I can, I will clearly write my opinion of it; for my obligations to truth and to my country are antecedent to all other ties.

I am clearly and fully of the opinion, then, that the fact is true that France might have put an end to that part of the war which has been most distressing to America; and I certainly know that the means were extremely simple and obvious, and that they were repeatedly proposed and explained, and urged to the ministry; and I should have had a terrible load of guilt of negligence of my duty upon my conscience, if it had not been done while I had the honor of a commission to this Court. But, when the letter-writer proceeds so far as to say that it was to encourage the continuance of the war, in order to exhaust the strength and resources of Great Britain, I cannot accompany him; much less can I join with him in the opinion that it was to depress the rising power of America. I believe, on the contrary, that France has not wished a continuance of the war, but that she has wished for peace. The war has been attended with too much loss and danger to France to suppose that she wished its continuance: and if she did not wish its continuance at all, she could not wish it to depress the power of America.

She could not wish it, in my opinion, for this reason, because it is not the means to this end. It has a contrary tendency. The longer this war is continued in America, the more will Americans become habituated to the characters of the soldier and the marine. Military virtues and talents and passions will gain strength and additional activity every year while the war lasts; and the more these virtues, talents, and passions are multiplied, the deeper will the foundations of American power be laid, and the more dangerous will it become to some or other of the powers of Europe; to France, as likely as to any other power, because it will be more likely to be ambitious and enterprising, and to aspire at conquests by sea and land.

This idea, however, deserves to be considered with all the attention that Americans can give to it; although I am convinced, by every thing I see and read and hear, that all the powers of Europe, except perhaps the House of Austria, and I am not very clear in that exception, rejoice in the American Revolution, and consider the independence of America as for their interest and happiness in many points of view, both respecting commerce and the balance of Europe; yet I have many reasons to think that not one of them, not even Spain nor France, wishes to see America rise very fast to power. We ought, therefore, to be cautious how we magnify our ideas, and exaggerate our expressions of the generosity and magnanimity of any of these powers. Let us treat them with gratitude, but with dignity. Let us remember what is due to ourselves and to our posterity, as well as to them. Let us, above all things, avoid as much as possible entangling ourselves with their wars or politics. Our business with them, and theirs with us, is commerce, not politics, much less war. America has been the sport of European wars and politics long enough.

I think, however, that this letter-writer was very much mistaken in his judgment when he threw out this language. It could be meant only to excite a jealousy and a quarrel between France and America, or rather to feed the Yorkshire people and the people of England with a hope of exciting such a quarrel. This is not the way to come at a peace. They will never succeed in such a plan, and every attempt towards it is false policy.

The next mistake is, the idea of a reconciliation and federal union with America. This must be intended separate from our allies, which this gentleman ought, before now, to have known is totally impracticable.

I have very little more relish for the notion of a truce. We are in a safer way at war. We cannot make a truce without France. She will never consent that we should make a truce unless she makes a peace; and such alterations may be made in the constitution of the Courts of France and Spain, and in the other Courts and political connections in Europe, before the expiration of the term of a truce, that it would be attended with too much hazard to us. Neither France nor Spain, nor the other powers of Europe, might, after a truce, be ready to go to war again; and unforeseen divisions may be excited among ourselves by artful emissaries from England. We are going on now in the sure and certain road. If we go out of it, we may be lost.

Upon the whole, I think, that this letter-writer should have stated the true situation of Europe, of Great Britain, Ireland, and America.

From this statement, his immediate conclusion should have been, open conferences for peace; make peace with all the world upon the best terms you can. This is the only chance you have for salvation. It must come to this very soon; otherwise, there will be a total dissolution of the British Empire.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO JOHN ADAMS.

Madrid, 22 April, 1780.

Sir,—

I received with much pleasure your obliging letter of the 8th instant, and take the earliest opportunity of thanking you for the information it contained. I should have certainly commenced my correspondence with you earlier, had I thought Mr. Jay would have been constrained by various circumstances to reside so long at Cadiz. Your observations, with respect to the conduct which France and Spain ought to follow, correspond with the opinions of the Swedish and Dutch ministers here, both of whom I have an opportunity of frequently seeing. The crisis seems near when others beside Britain may play the part of the bully.

If the patriots in Ireland are content with that which they have forced Great Britain to grant them, I shall be much mistaken, and their conduct in that case will not correspond with the history of mankind. I resided three months in that kingdom in the year 1768, and am well acquainted with some of the men who now appear to take a lead in their affairs. Some of these will be for pushing things to the greatest extremity, and perhaps would succeed, if they had liberality enough to tolerate a religion against which they have the most violent animosity.

A fleet of twelve sail of the line, besides frigates and other armed vessels, with eleven thousand five hundred men and a fine train of artillery, will sail this month from Cadiz, if it hath not already sailed. The troops embarked the 14th. I suppose that from Brest sails about the same time. From these armaments you may judge whether your ideas for carrying the war into the American seas are not conformable to the intentions of the allies. We have the same news from America which you announce to me, and our papers are as late as the 10th of March. By several captures taken from the enemy, it appears that Arbuthnot’s fleet must have suffered severely, and their dispersion must have been complete; for no news of their arrival in any port was received at Newbury, in Massachusetts Bay, the 14th of March, although they sailed the 26th of December from New York. It appears that congress meant to leave Philadelphia the 1st of April, but to what place is not mentioned. I have advice from Bordeaux that several letters for me arrived in the Buckskin, and were sent on to Madrid. Unhappily I have not received them, which chagrins me not a little. Mr. Jay and family present their respects to you; most of them have been unwell since their arrival here. I beg you to make the proper compliments for me to Mr. Dana, and to believe me,

Your obliged and humble servant,

William Carmichael.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 25 April, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to inform your Excellency that a small schooner has arrived at Nantes from Baltimore, by which came the inclosed newspapers, which I inclose to your Excellency without a moment’s loss of time. I hope, however, your Excellency has received these and many more, and much fuller intelligence by the same vessel; but, as it is possible it may be otherwise, I think it my duty to send them. I have no other news by this vessel as yet, excepting that General Gates was appointed to command the army in Charleston, an event which I esteem of great importance, because there is in the mind of the American soldier an affection for that officer and a confidence in him that will show its effects.

A vessel from Martinique had just arrived with an account that the Dean frigate, Captain Nicholson, had sent in there an English frigate sheathed with copper, mounting twenty-eight guns, which struck after a severe action.

If I should be so happy as to receive any more news from this vessel, I shall have the honor to transmit it to your Excellency.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

JOHN JAY TO JOHN ADAMS.

Madrid, 26 April, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I have at length had the pleasure of receiving your very friendly letter of the 22d February last. It has been very long on the road. Accept my thanks for your kind congratulations, and permit me to assure you that I sincerely rejoice in your having reached the place of your destination, on a business which declares the confidence of America, and for an object, in the attainment of which, I am persuaded you will acquire honor to yourself and advantage to her.

The circumstances you mention as indications of the disposition of Spain, undoubtedly bear the construction you give them. As the Count de Florida Blanca is, I am told, a man of abilities, he doubtless will see and probably recommend the policy of making a deep impression on the hearts of the Americans by a seasonable acknowledgment of their independence, and by affording such immediate aids as their circumstances and the obvious interest of Spain demand. Such measures at this period would turn the respect of America for Spain into lasting attachment, and in that way give strength to every treaty they may form.

Sir John Dalrymple is here; he came from Portugal for the benefit of his lady’s health (as is said). He is now at Aranjuez. He has seen the imperial ambassador, the governor of the city, Senor Campomanes, the Duke of Alva, and several others named to him, I suppose, by Lord Grant, who I find was much respected here. He will return through France to Britain.1 I shall go to Aranjuez the day after to-morrow, and shall form some judgment of his success by the conduct of the court towards America.

I am much obliged by your remarks on the most proper route for letter and intelligence to and from America, and shall profit by them. You may rely on receiving the earliest accounts of whatever interesting information I may obtain; and that I shall be happy in every opportunity of evincing the esteem with which

I am, &c. &c.

John Jay.

TO M. GENET.

Paris, 29 April, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

Do you think it worth while to work into your next article from London the following observations of Lord Bolingbroke?

“The precise point at which the scales of power turn, like that of the solstice in either tropic, is imperceptible to common observation; and, in one case as in the other, some progress must be made in the new direction before the change is perceived. They who are in the sinking scale, for in the political balance of power, unlike to all others, the scale that is empty sinks, and that which is full rises; they who are in the sinking scale do not easily come off from the habitual prejudices of superior wealth, or power, or skill, or courage, nor from the confidence that these prejudices inspire. They who are in the rising scale do not immediately feel their strength, nor assume that confidence in it which successful experience gives them afterwards. They who are the most concerned to watch the variations of this balance, misjudge often in the same manner and from the same prejudices. They continue to dread a power no longer able to hurt them, or they continue to have no apprehensions of a power that grows daily more formidable. Spain verified the first observation when proud and poor and enterprising and feeble, she still thought herself a match for France. France verified the second observation, when the triple alliance stopped the progress of her arms, which alliances much more considerable were not able to effect afterwards. The other principal powers of Europe in their turns have verified the third observation in both its parts.”1

These observations were never more remarkably verified than in these times; the English, proud and poor, and enterprising and feeble, still think themselves a match for France and Spain and America, if not for all the world; but this delirium cannot last long.

France and Spain and Holland continue to dread a power no longer able to hurt them; but this will be over as soon.

England continues to have small apprehensions of powers that grow daily more formidable; but these apprehensions will increase every day.

Your correspondent from London or Antwerp, among his lamentations over the blindness and obstinacy and madness of the ministry, may introduce these observations with propriety enough.

The balance of power was never perhaps shifted in so remarkable a manner and in so short a space of time. If the minds of the French and Spaniards had grown in confidence in proportion to the growth of their power, and if the confidence of the English had decreased in proportion to the diminution of theirs, it would have been all over with England before now. You know very well that Lord Bolingbroke was the most eloquent writer that England ever produced. His political writings, particularly, are more admired than any in that language. His name and authority, added to the obvious truth of these observations, and their apposite application to the present times, will make an impression upon many minds in all the nations at war. If you think so, and that it will increase the spirit of our friends and diminish the insolence of our enemies, as it ought, you will make use of it in your own excellent manner; if not, burn it.

Your friend,

John Adams.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

Á Versailles, le 30 Avril, 1780.

J’ai reçu, monsieur, les deux lettres que vous m’avez fait l’honneur de m’écrire les 25 et 27 de ce mois; je vous fais mes remercimens sincères pour les avis qu’elles renferment, et vous prie de vouloir bien continuer à m’envoyer ceux qui vous viendront de l’Amérique.

J’ai l’honneur d’être très sincèrement, monsieur, votre très humble et très obéissant serviteur,

De Vergennes.

W. CARMICHAEL TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Without Date.)

Sir,—

I did myself the honor of writing to you last post, in answer to yours of the 8th of April; at that time I had suspicions that a Sir John Dalrymple, who has now been here near three weeks, was employed by Great Britain to sound the disposition of this Court, and, in the mean time, to work under ground for the interests of his own country. I have hitherto been able to trace most of his motions, which are somewhat suspicious. He came hither from Lisbon under pretence, or really on account of his lady’s bad state of health. He had a passport from the ministry here for that purpose, as I have been informed by those who are personally employed about him. He hath visited several of the principal grandees, and all those who were most connected with Lord Grantham. He hath been at Aranjuez, where the royal family is at present; hath seen the French ambassador, and, as I have been told, will soon set out for France. This last circumstance occasions me to give you the present trouble, although I ought to have no other apprehension of his residence here or at Paris at this crisis, unless it be the singularity of the circumstance; for I know he had at one time the confidence of his king, and at least that part of the administration. I have never heard that he hath done any thing to forfeit it. If he is employed in the way I suspect, he may be induced to pay you a visit, if he passes through Paris, which, although it may be unnecessary, induces me to put you on your guard. I shall endeavor to inform you punctually of his route, and shall be always happy, on every occasion, of testifying to you and Mr. Dana how much I am

Your humble servant,

William Carmichael.

T. DIGGES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Extract.)

Wandsworth, 2 May, 1780.

General Conway’s motion relative to America was put off to-day for some future period. Hartley’s stands for Friday, the substance of which you will have in the General Advertiser of the 1st of May. Some deviltry has got into Conway’s head, for he seems to think there is yet a door open for peace with America, short of independence, than which nothing can be so fallacious and absurd. How he can imbibe such notions I cannot think; but I am told he is much in the circle of a Scotch acquaintance, and sometimes talks to refugees, such as Mr. Galloway, Allen, &c. I cannot account for it otherwise, than that he is looking up to the command of the army.

I should be glad, when you see and read the debates upon those motions, to know what you think thereof. I am, on all occasions,

Your obedient servant,

William Russell.1

TO M. GENET.

Paris, 3 May, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I had, two days ago, the honor to inclose to the minister a Boston Gazette of 21st February, in which is a relation of a glorious combat and cruise of my countryman, Captain Waters, of the Thorn. Let me beg of you, sir, to insert this account in the Gazette and the Mercure. There has not been a more memorable action this war; and the feats of our American frigates and privateers have not been sufficiently published in Europe. It would answer valuable purposes, both by encouraging their honest and brave hearts, and by exciting emulations elsewhere, to give them a little more than they have had of the fame they have deserved. Some of the most skilful, determined, persevering, and successful engagements that have ever happened upon the seas, have been performed by American privateers against the privateers from New York. They have happened upon the coasts and seas of America, which are now very well swept of New York privateers, and have seldom been properly described and published even there, and much more seldom ever inserted in any of the gazettes of Europe; whether it is because the actions of single and small vessels, and these privateers, are not thought worth publishing, or whether it has been for want of some person to procure it to be done.

Yours, most sincerely,

John Adams.

M. GENET TO JOHN ADAMS.

8 May, 1780.

Observations from such a masterly hand as Mr. Adams, on the proposals for a general pacification, by the Dean of Gloucester, would be very acceptable. It is obvious his name must be kept secret. We hope for the honor of the company of Mr. Francis Dana and the other gentleman. The proper hour to be here would be at nine in the morning; an American breakfast shall be ready. The ceremony at chapel begins at half after ten.

Genet.

TO M. GENET.1

Paris, 9 May, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I thank you for your note of yesterday and the papers inclosed.

The Proposals for a general pacification, by the Dean of Gloucester, whether they were written by him or by another, were probably intended to feel the pulse of France or Spain or America. Nay, it is not impossible that they might be intended to sound even so inconsiderable a portion of existence as Mr. John Adams. But it must be something rather more plausibly written, something a little more consonant to reason and to common sense, which will draw out of Mr. Adams his sentiments on the great work of pacification, if ever he should enter into any detail upon this subject, before general conferences take place, which he at present believes he shall not do.

Concealing, however, my name, you may take these few observations upon these proposals.

1. England may be heartily sick of the imprudent part she has taken. This point I shall not dispute with the Dean of Gloucester. Yet I wish she would give some better proof of it than she has done hitherto. But of Americans I can speak with confidence and certainty; and, so far from being sick of the part they have taken, they look upon the past madness of Great Britain which has compelled them to overcome all the prejudices and weak passions which heretofore bound them to her, and to become independent, as the greatest blessing which Providence ever bestowed upon them from the first plantation in the new world. They look upon it that a council of the wisest statesmen and legislators, consulting together on the best means of rendering America happy, free, and great, could not have discovered and digested a system so perfectly adapted to that end as the one which the folly and wickedness of Great Britain have contrived for them. They not only see and feel and rejoice in the amelioration of their forms of government, but in the improvement of their agriculture and their manufactures, and in the discovery that all the omnipotence of British fleets has not been able to prevent their commerce, which is opening and extending every year, as their population is increasing, in the midst of the war.

2. To suppose that France is sick of the part she has taken, is to suppose her to be sick of that conduct which has procured her more respect and consideration in Europe than any step she ever took. It is to suppose her sick of that system which enabled her to negotiate the peace between Russia and the Ottoman Porte, as well as the peace of Teschen; that system which has enabled her to unite in sentiment and affection all the maritime powers, even the United Provinces, in her favor and against England. It is to suppose her sick of that system which has broken off from her rival and natural enemy the most solid part of his strength; a strength that had become so terrible to France, and would soon have been so fatal to her. I do not mean to enlarge.

As to the propositions themselves, it would be wasting time to consider them. Of all the malicious plans of the English against America, none has ever been more so than this. It is calculated only to make America the sport of Britain in future; to put it in her power to be forever fomenting quarrels and wars; and, I am well persuaded, that America would sooner vote for a hundred years’ war.

I may be thought again too sanguine. I have been too sanguine these twenty years; constantly sanguine, yet eternally right.

Adieu,

John Adams.

P. S. I do not see Captain Waters’s engagement yet in any of the papers. I would have sent it to England and Holland for publication, if I had known it could not be printed here.

J. A.

FROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.

À Versailles, le 10 May, 1780.

Je vous dois des remercimens, monsieur, pour les différentes communications que vous avez bien voulu me faire. Si les notions que renferme la lettre qui vous a été confiée, sont exactes, vous ne devez pas tarder à en avoir la preuve, et dans ce cas il faudra voir quelles ouvertures on jugera à propos de vous faire. Je pense que vous ne devez point refuser de les entendre.

J’ai l’honneur d’être très parfaitement, monsieur, &c.

De Vergennes.

FROM THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.

À Versailles, le 11 May, 1780.

M. le Comte de Vergennes est très sensible à la communication que Monsieur Adams a bien voulu lui donner des derniers papiers Américains. Il les lui renvoye ci-joint, et le prie de continuer a lui faire passer tous ceux qu’il recevra.1

De Vergennes.

TO W. CARMICHAEL.

Paris, 12 May, 1780.

Sir,—

I had, two days ago, the favor of yours without date, and thank you for the history of Sir John Dalrymple, whose memoirs would be sufficient to put me upon my guard, if I knew no more of him. He has seen the imperial ambassador. Pray do you discover any of the sentiments of the Austrian family where you are? The old rivalry between that and Bourbon, the old friendship and alliance with England? The new éclat and power of an old enemy, and the declining forces of an old friend, are circumstances that cannot escape the notice of the sensible and aspiring chief of that great house. The family alliance with France is a lucky circumstance at this time.

I have received a few journals by the way of Amsterdam. Young Colonel Laurens has refused to come to Europe; I suppose smitten with the charms of military glory, and foreseeing the war was turning to his town. You will see, in the public papers, before this reaches you, all the news from America; we are waiting with no small anxiety the arrival of news from Charleston.

De Ternay sailed the 2d, and we hope soon to have the news that the armament from Cadiz is sailed. De Rochambeau is too weak, wherever he is gone; he should have had more force. The Spanish force is very great. But would it not be better policy, both for France and Spain, to send more ships and fewer troops? The British possessions in America, both upon the continent and the islands, depend upon the sea for their existence. According to the bull in the English play, “the strongest ground, or the only ground they stand upon, is the ocean.” By a decided superiority of naval force upon the American coasts and among the islands, under active, vigilant, and enterprising commanders, who will not think it beneath them to cruise for and watch the motions of transports and merchantmen, the trade of America and the islands would flourish, and the supplies of the English be totally cut off. A few French or Spanish men-of-war cruising in the Massachusetts Bay, a few more lying at anchor in the harbor of Rhode Island, and cruising occasionally, a few more lying in the mouth of the Delaware, a few more in Chesapeake Bay, say three ships and three frigates in each, this would make twelve ships of the line and twelve frigates. These would, by cruising themselves occasionally, and giving full scope to our privateers, more certainly ruin the British power than four times that force in Europe. But suppose there was only one ship of the line and two frigates stationed in each, this would be only four ships and eight frigates; these would either totally destroy the British army in America, by starving it, or compel the English to keep more than double their number on the North American station. This would weaken them so much in the West India islands, that the French and Spanish forces there would do whatever they pleased.

I know not the reason of it; but the English do not seem to take Spain into their account at all. They make their calculations to equal or excel the French a little, but reckon the Spaniards for nothing. A very little activity on the part of these would terrify the English beyond measure. I suppose, but it is only conjecture, that the Floridas are the object of the force from Cadiz. Gibraltar occupies another immense force. These forces, however, or the amount of their expenses employed in the American seas and kept constantly in motion, would more certainly ruin the whole British power, and, consequently, more certainly obtain the Floridas, Gibraltar, or whatever else is aimed at, than direct attacks upon those places; attacking these places is endeavoring to lop off single limbs; securing the dominion of the American seas is laying the axe to the root of the tree. But enough of my small politics.

Adieu.

John Adams.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 12 May, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write to me on the 10th of this month.

Although the writer of the letter, an extract of which I had the honor to inclose to you, may be right in his conjecture, that the British administration wish to know more than they do at present of my sentiments upon the great subject of a pacification, yet I have had too long experience of their principles, views, and tempers, and I know that they are too well acquainted with mine, for me to expect that they will directly convey any propositions to me. When we hear them affirm in parliament that America is upon the point of returning to an allegiance to the King of England, and that they seriously believe that America will return to such an allegiance; when the members of opposition, even those who are the most inclined to peace, such as Mr. Hartley, General Conway, &c., discover plainly, by their motions and arguments, that their object is a separate peace with America, in order to be the better able to gratify their revenge against France and Spain, I can have no expectations that they think of applying to me, because I think they must be convinced of this, at least, that I shall make no separate peace. I thank your Excellency, however, for your sentiment, that I ought to hear them, in case any overtures should be made to me. I should, in such a case, endeavor to hear them with decency and respect; but it would require much philosophy to hear with patience such absurd and extravagant propositions as are published in pamphlets and newspapers and made in parliament, even by the members of opposition, who profess to be most zealous for peace.

Our alliance with France is an honor and a security which have ever been near to my heart. After reflecting long upon the geographical situation of the old world and the new, upon the agriculture, commerce, and political relations of both, upon the connections and oppositions among the nations of the former, and the mutual wants and interests of both, according to such imperfect lights as I was able to obtain, the result has long since been this,—that my country, in case she should once be compelled to break off from Great Britain, would have more just reasons to depend upon a reciprocity of the good offices of friendship from France, Spain, and the other sovereigns who are usually in their system, than upon those in the opposite scale of the balance of power. I have ever thought it, therefore, a natural alliance, and contended for it as a rock of defence.

This object I pursued in congress with persevering assiduity for more than a year, in opposition to other gentlemen of much greater name and abilities than mine; and I had at length the satisfaction to find my countrymen very generally fall in with the same sentiment, and the honor to be appointed to draw the first treaty which was sent to this Court. These facts have been well known in America, even to the tories, and the utility and importance of this alliance being known to be deeply imprinted in my mind and heart, I suppose was a principal cause why the present trust was confided to me by my countrymen. These facts, although they may have been unknown in France, yet, having been known to the tories in America, I cannot suppose they are ignorant of them at the Court of St. James; I therefore think that neither the administration nor opposition in England will ever think of applying to me, until they are brought into such a situation as shall compel them to sue for peace with all the powers at war, which, to be sure, does not appear to be the case at present, nor likely to be, at least before the end of this campaign; nor then either, without some notable good fortune on the part of the allies in the progress of the war.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO JOHN JAY.

Paris, 13 May, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I had two days ago the pleasure of yours of the 26th of April, and am very happy to have at last received from your hand an account of your safe arrival in Madrid.

The Count de Florida Blanca is allowed to be a man of abilities, but, somehow or other, there is something in the European understanding different from those we have been used to. Men of the greatest abilities and the most experience are, with great difficulty, brought to see what appears to us as clear as day. It is habit, it is education, prejudice, what you will, but so it is.

I can state a very short argument, that appears to me a demonstration upon French and Spanish principles alone, that it is more for their interest to employ their naval force in America than in Europe; yet it is in vain that you state this to a minister of state. He cannot see it or feel it, at least in its full force, until the proper point of time is past and it is too late. So I think it may be demonstrated that it is the interest of France and Spain to furnish America with a handsome loan of money, or even to grant her subsidies; because a sum of money thus expended would advance the common cause and even their particular interests, by enabling the Americans to make greater exertions than the same sums employed in any other way. But it is in vain to reason in this manner with a European minister of state. He cannot understand you. It is not within the compass of those ideas which he has been accustomed to.

I am happy, however, that at length we have a minister at Madrid; I am persuaded that this will contribute vastly to opening the eyes both of France and Spain. I shall be always obliged to you for intelligence, especially concerning your progress in your affair.

I am, with much esteem, dear sir, your servant,

John Adams.

TO T. DIGGES.1

13 May, 1780.

I have to acknowledge one of 14th of April and one of 2d of May. The parcels have not yet been seen nor heard of; you may stop the London Evening Post and the London Packet for the future; but send on the Courant, if you please. I have not yet received the debate on Conway’s motion; I have seen the paper and read the debate. It is the scene of the goddess in the Dunciad, reading Blackmore to her children. The commons are yawning, while the ministry and Clinton are cementing the union of America by the blood of every province, and binding all to their allies, by compelling them to shed theirs. All is well that ends well. These wise folk are giving France and Spain a consideration in Europe, too, that they had not, and are throwing away their own as nothing worth. Sweden and Denmark are in the same system with Russia and Holland. Indeed, if the ministry had only common information, they would have known that this combination of maritime powers has been forming these eighteen months, and was nearly as well agreed a year ago as it is now. But when a nation is once fundamentally wrong, thus it is. Internal policy, external defence, foreign negotiations, all go away together. The bad consequences of a principle essentially wrong are infinite. The minority mean only to try if they can make peace with America separately, in order to revenge themselves, as they think they can, upon France and Spain. But this is as wrong and as absurd and impracticable as the plans of the ministry. All schemes of reconciliation with America, short of independence, and all plans for peace with America, allowing her independence separate from her allies, are visionary and delusive, disingenuous, corrupt, and wicked. America has taken her equal station, and she will behave with as much honor as any of the nations of the earth.

To say that the Americans are upon the poise, are balancing, and will return to their allegiance to the King of England, is as wild as bedlam. If witnesses cannot be believed, why do not they believe the nature of things? Ask the newspapers which are so free that nothing is spared; congress and everybody is attacked! Yet never a single paragraph was hinting in a most distant manner a wish to return. Ask the town meetings,—those assemblies which dared, readily enough, to think as they pleased, and say what they would, dared attack the king, lords, commons, governors, councils, representatives, judges, and whole armies, under the old government, and which attack everybody and every thing that displeases them at this day! Not one vote, not one instruction to a representative, not one motion, nor so much as one single speech in favor of returning to the leeks of Egypt. Ask the grand and petit juries who dared to tell the judges to their faces they were corrupted, and that they would not serve under them because they had betrayed and overturned the constitution! Not a single juror has ever whispered a wish to return, after being washed, to their wallowing in the mire. The refugees you mention never did know the character of the American people, but they know it now less than ever. They have been long away. The Americans at this day have higher notions of themselves than ever. They think they have gone through the greatest revolution that ever took place among men; that this revolution is as much for the benefit of the generality of mankind in Europe as for their own. They think they should act a base and perfidious part toward the world in general, if they were to go back; that they should manifestly counteract the designs of Providence as well as betray themselves, their posterity, and mankind. The English manifestly think mankind and the world made for their use. Americans do not think so. But why proceed? Time alone can convince.

Adieu.

F. R. S.

TO JOHN JAY.

Paris, 15 May, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I shall not always stand upon ceremonies, nor wait for answers to letters, because useful hints may be given which would be lost if one were to wait returns of posts.

The British Channel fleet is reckoned this year at from thirty-four to thirty-seven ships of the line; but it is well known that they depend upon seamen to be pressed from their first West India fleet, in order to make up this computation, without which they cannot make thirty. It is, therefore, of great importance that this first West India fleet should be intercepted. It will come home the latter end of June or the beginning of July; certainly not before the middle of June. A ship or two of the line, with a fifty gun ship or two and five or six frigates, would have a great probability of intercepting this fleet. Is there any service upon which such a number of vessels could be better employed than in cruising pretty far in the Bay of Biscay, and somewhat north of Cape Clear with this view? It is really astonishing that France and Spain should be so inattentive to the English convoys. The safest, easiest, and surest way of reducing the power and the spirits of the English is to intercept their trade. It is every year exposed, yet every year escapes; by which means they get spirits to indulge their passions, money to raise millions, and men to man their ships.

Pray is it not necessary to think a little of Portugal? Should not Spain, France, and America, too, use their influence with Portugal, to shut her ports against the armed vessels of all nations at war, or else admit freely the armed vessels of all? Under her present system of neutrality, as they call it, the ports of Portugal are as advantageous to England as any of her own, and more injurious to the trade of Spain and America, if not of France, while they are of no use at all to France, Spain, or America. This little impotent morsel of a State ought not to do so much mischief so unjustly. If she is neutral, let her be neutral; not say she is neutral, and be otherwise.

Would it not be proper for congress to discover some sensibility to the injuries which the United States receive from these States, such as Denmark and Portugal? I think they should remonstrate coolly and with dignity; not go to war, nor be in a passion about it; but show that they understand their behavior. Denmark restored Jones’s and Landais’s prizes to England without knowing why. Why would it not do to remonstrate; then prohibit any of the productions of Portugal from being consumed in America?

The prospect brightens in the West Indies. De Guichen has arrived. De la Motte Picquet has defended himself very well, secured his convoys, fought the English, even with inferior force, and got the better. De Guichen’s appearance dissipated all thoughts of their expedition, and threw the English islands into great consternation; but you will see in the public prints all the news.

The force from Brest which sailed on the 2d, and that from Cadiz, which I hope sailed as soon or sooner, will not diminish the terror and confusion of the English in America and the islands.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO M. GENET.

Paris, 15 May, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I have engaged a person in London to send me all the political pamphlets as they come out, and some necessary books, as I shall order them. He has sent me already one box and one packet at least, to a Mr. Francis Bowens, merchant, in Ostend. I shall be once more obliged to you, if you would inform me in what way I can soonest get them from thence, and whether there are any regulations which may obstruct this communication. I suppose there are regulations to prevent the introduction of religious or irreligious books; but I shall have none sent me either for or against religion; my bundles will be nothing but politics and a few books that relate to them. If I can get the English pamphlets in this way, I may promise to be of some little use to you now and then in your way. The English have an advantage of us in one point. Their newspapers propagate every thing favorable to them all over Europe immediately, whereas the limitations upon the press in this country prevent us from much of this advantage. Their generals and admirals calculate their despatches for the eye of Europe, for the people, and they adjust them so as to make an impression upon the hopes of their friends and the fears of their enemies, and in this consists full one half of their power.

All governments depend upon the good will of the people. The popular tide of joy and hope and confidence carries away armies and navies to great exertion; for officers and armies and navies are but people. On the contrary, the ebb of sorrow, grief, and despair damps the ardor and activity of officers and men; even the tradesmen, artificers, and laborers, even the mortals adjudged to the galleys, are benumbed by it. The English excite the ardor of their people and of their fleets and armies by falsehood and fiction; their enemies have no occasion for any thing but the truth; this would be enough, if it were known; but the English find means to hide it even from their own eyes.

There is not a more delusive thing in the world than their last despatches from New York; fabricated entirely to impose upon the credulity of friends and enemies. I see thousands of these things every day that might easily be counteracted. I do not wish you to publish any thing against your rules; and if ever I propose any thing of that sort, it will be from ignorance or inattention; and I rely upon your knowledge and prudence to check it. But as I am likely to have a little more leisure than I have had for a long time, if you will give me leave, I will assist you a little in your labors for the public good.

I forget whether the first audience of the Chevalier de la Luzerne has been published in Europe. I inclose it to you. You may print it, if you judge proper; but whether you do or not, I should be glad if you would return it as soon as convenient, because I have no other copy of the journal of those days. The publication of such things confirms the minds of people in their notions of the alliance, and gradually reconciles all to it; the people of England even are gradually familiarized to it in this way, and brought to consider it as unalterable, and a thing to be submitted to.

My compliments to your amiable family.

John Adams.

M. GENET TO JOHN ADAMS.

Versailles, 17 May, 1780.

Monsieur,—

C’est avec le plus grand plaisir que je faciliterai votre correspondance et que j’accepte les offres que vous voulez bien me faire, qui entrent complètement dans les vues de notre ministre. Je vous répond du plaisir avec lequel il donnera son approbation, pour l’impression dans le Mercure, à tout ce qui nous viendra d’une aussi bonne main, et vous ne devez pas douter du secret qui sera gardé sur votre nom pour tout autre que pour Monseigneur le Comte de Vergennes.

Pour avoir par mon canal les pamphlets qui vous seront addressés, il faut que M. Francis Bowens après les avoir reçus de Londres, mette une nouvelle enveloppe avec mon addresse, et remette les paquets à M. de Bowens, Directeur des Postes à Ostende. Aussitôt que je les aurai reçus je ne manquerai pas de vous les faire passer. Each bundle of the bigness of an ordinary octavo book, and but one at a time.

Les détails sur la première audience du Chevalier de la Luzerne ont paru dans la Gazette de France et dans le Mercure. Je vous renvoye le cahier du Journal du Congrès. Permettez moi de vous observer que le Mercure ne paroit qu’une fois la semaine et que la place que la politique doit y occuper n’est pas fort considérable. Ainsi il conviendra que vos Essays soient de peu de longueur. Il vaut mieux qu’ils ne soient pas de longue haleine et qu’ils paroissent plus souvent. Cette nation-ci lit tout ce qui est court, et elle aime la variété. Il faut saisir son goût pour parvenir à la persuader.

J’ai l’honneur d’étre, &c. &c.

Genet.

TO M. GENET.

Paris, 17 May, 1780.

Sir,—

General Conway, in his speech in the house of commons, on the 6th of May, affirms that the alliance between France and the United States is not natural. Whether it is or not is no doubt a great question. In order to determine whether it is or not, one should consider what is meant by a natural alliance; and I know of no better general rule than this,—when two nations have the same interests in general, they are natural allies; when they have opposite interests, they are natural enemies. The General observes, first, that nature has raised a barrier between France and America; but nature has raised no other barrier than the ocean; and the distance and this barrier are equally great between England and America. The General will not pretend that nature, in the constitution of American minds or bodies, has laid any foundation for friendship or enmity towards one nation more than another.

The General observes further that habit has raised another barrier between France and America. But he should have considered that the habits of affection or enmity between nations are easily changed as circumstances vary, and as essential interests alter. Besides, the fact is, that the horrible perfidy and cruelty of the English towards the Americans, which they have taken care to make universally felt in that country for a long course of years past, have alienated the American mind and heart from the English; and it is now much to be doubted whether any nation of Europe is so universally and heartily detested by them. On the contrary, most of the other nations of Europe have treated them with civility, and France and Spain with esteem, confidence, and affection, which has greatly changed the habits of the Americans in this respect.

The third material of which the general barrier is created, is language. This, no doubt, occasions many difficulties in the communication between the allies; but it is lessening every day. Perhaps no language was ever studied at once by so many persons at a time, in proportion, as the French is now studied in America. And it is certain that English was never so much studied in France as since the Revolution; so that the difficulties of understanding one another are lessening every day.

Religion is the fourth part of the barrier. But let it be considered, first, that there is not enough of religion of any kind among the great in England to make the Americans very fond of them. Secondly, that what religion there is in England, is as far from being the religion of America as that of France. The hierarchy of England is quite as disagreeable to America as that of any other country. Besides, the Americans know very well that the spirit of propagating any religion by conquest, and of making proselytes by force or by intrigue is fled from all other countries of the world in a great measure, and that there is more of this spirit remaining in England than anywhere else. And the Americans had, and have still, more reason to fear the introduction of a religion that is disagreeable to them, at least as far as bishops and hierarchy go, from a connection with England, than with any other nation of Europe. The alliance with France has no article respecting religion. France neither claims nor desires any authority or influence over America in this respect; whereas, England claimed and intended to exercise authority and force over the Americans; at least, so far as to introduce bishops; and the English Society for Propagating Religion in Foreign Parts, has, in fact, for a century, sent large sums of money to America to support their religion there, which really operated as a bribe upon many minds, and was the principal source of toryism. So that upon the whole, the alliance with France is in fact more natural, as far as religion is concerned, than the former connection with Great Britain or any other connection that can be formed.

Indeed, whoever considers attentively this subject will see that these three circumstances of habit, language, and religion will, for the future, operate as natural causes of animosity between England and America, because they will facilitate migration. The loss of liberty, the decay of religion, the horrible national debt, the decline of commerce, of political importance in Europe, and of maritime power, which cannot but take place in England, will tempt numbers of their best people to emigrate to America; and to this, fashions, language, and religion will contribute. The British government will, therefore, see themselves obliged to restrain this by many ways; and, among others, by cultivating an animosity and hatred in the minds of their people against the Americans. Nature has already sufficiently discovered itself, and all the world sees that the British government have for many years, not only indulged in themselves the most unsocial and bitter passions against Americans, but have systematically encouraged them in the people.

After all, the circumstances of modes, language, and religion have much less influence in determining the friendship and enmity of nations than other more essential interests. Commerce is more than all these and many more such circumstances. Now it is easy to see that the commercial interests of England and America will forever hereafter be incompatible. America will take away, or at least diminish, the trade of the English in ship-building, in freight, in the whale-fisheries, in the cod-fisheries, in furs and skins, and in other particulars, too many to enumerate. In this respect, America will not interfere with France; but, on the contrary, will facilitate and benefit the French commerce and marine to a very great degree. Here, then, will be a perpetual rivalry and competition between England and America, and a continual source of animosity and war. America will have occasion for the alliance of France, to defend her against this ill-will of England, as France will stand in need of that of America, to aid her against the natural and continual jealousies and hostility of England.

The boundaries of territory will also be another constant source of disputes. If a peace should unhappily be made, leaving England in possession of Canada, Nova Scotia, the Floridas, or any one spot of ground in America, they will be perpetually encroaching upon the States of America; whereas, France, having renounced all territorial jurisdiction in America, will have no room for controversy.

The people of America, therefore, whose very farmers appear to have considered the interests of nations more profoundly than General Conway, are universally of the opinion, that from the time they declared themselves independent, England became their natural enemy; and as she has been for centuries, and will be, the natural enemy of France and the natural ally of other natural enemies of France, America became the natural friend of France, and she the natural friend of the United States; powers naturally united against a common enemy, whose interests will long continue to be reciprocally secured and promoted by mutual friendship.

It is very strange that the English should thus dogmatically judge of the interests of all other nations. According to them, the Americans are, and have been for many years, acting directly against their own interest; France and Spain have been acting against their own interests; Holland is acting against her own interest: Russia and the northern powers are all acting against their own interests; Ireland is acting against hers, &c.; so that there is only that little island of the whole world that understands its own interest; and of the inhabitants of that, the committees and associations and assemblies are all in the same error with the rest of the world; so that there remains only the ministry and their equivocal and undulating majority among all the people upon the face of the earth who act naturally and according to their own interests. The rest of the world, however, think that they understand themselves very well, and that it is the English or Scottish majority who are mistaken.1

Your friend, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 19 May, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to inclose a few newspapers received by the last post from Boston by the way of Bilboa. There is very little news. I have letters as late as the 27th of March.

The most remarkable thing in the Pennsylvania Gazette is, that the great seal of the Province of Pennsylvania was brought into the house of the assembly of that State, and by order of the house defaced and cut to pieces, which, to be sure, is no proof of a desire to go back to their old government. I do not see how they could have expressed a stronger contempt of it.

In the Independent Chronicle of the 9th of March is a list of prizes made by the privateers of the middle district of the Massachusetts Bay only, since the last session of the court of admiralty. They amount to nineteen vessels; which shows that privateering flourishes in those seas, and also shows what havoc may, and probably will be made among the English transports, provision vessels, and merchantmen, when the superiority of the French and Spanish fleets comes to be as clear as it soon will be; perhaps as it is now and has been since the arrival of M. de Guichen.

In a private letter of the 27th of March, I am told, that two prizes had just then arrived, one with four hundred hogsheads of rum, and another with four thousand barrels of flour, pork, and beef, articles much wanted by the enemy, and not at all amiss in Boston.

The convention1 had gone through the constitution of government, and had accepted the report of the committee with some few unessential amendments.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Versailles, 24 May, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the two letters which you have done me the honor to write to me on the 12th and 19th of the present month. I had no need of your apology to induce me to render justice to the patriotic sentiments with which you are animated. You understand the interests and engagements of your country, and I am persuaded you will never have any other object than to consolidate both the one and the other. You can judge by this, sir, what confidence we place in your principles, and what security we feel beforehand as to the conduct you will hold, in case the Court of London should propose to you overtures of conciliation.

I offer you many thanks for the American gazettes which you have been so kind as to send me. I will take care that they shall all be punctually returned.

I have the honor to be, &c.

De Vergennes.

TO ARTHUR LEE.

Paris, 25 May, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

Your kind favor of April 12th is yet unanswered. With nothing at all to do, I am as busy as ever I was in my life. Whether any good will result from it time must discover. I have undertaken to inform congress a little more particularly than they are wont to be informed, of some things that have passed in Europe, which will ultimately affect them; but I find it is in vain to put my eyes out by writing; for when letters are written we cannot get them across the water. I have, however, sworn, and I will perform. If it is possible to get letters to them by the way of Spain or Holland, or any other way, let the expense be what it will, they shall go.

I have a very good opinion of Count Sarsfield, and have the honor to see him sometimes, though not so often as I wish. Too many unsuitable characters, it is very certain, have been permitted to meddle in our affairs; but when or how it will be remedied, God only knows. In a country where every thing goes and is done by protection, and where the maxims of government are the direct opposites of ours, I see no prospect of having it otherwise, let who will be in or out.

As to jobs, I never had, and never will have any thing to do in any, let the consequence to me and my family be what it will. The trusts with which you and I have been honored by our country are too sacred to be tarnished by the little selfish intrigues in which the insects about a court are eternally buzzing. If I had neither a sense of duty, nor the pride of virtue, nor any other pride,—if I had no higher principle or quality than vanity, it would mortify this in an extreme degree, to sully and debase so pure a cause by any such practices.

On the characters you mention, I shall never condescend to bestow my confidence, nor my resentment nor contempt. They have ever been treated by me, and ever will be, with justice and civility; but they will never be my friends.

I have received a letter by the way of Bilboa for you, which I do myself the honor to inclose.

I was in hopes you would have been at congress before now. Your situation must be disagreeable, but I know from experience it can be borne.

Pray how do you relish Clinton’s letter?1 I think the policy of France and Spain is pointed out by it in sunbeams. I hope they will profit by it. They seemed to be convinced of it before this letter arrived. They have now the testimony of our enemy to the truth and justice of what you and I had the honor to represent to them, in conjunction with our colleague last January was twelve months.

I am, with much esteem, &c., yours,

John Adams.

I have a letter from Mr. S. Adams and Dr. Gordon; both desire to be remembered to you. No news from either, only respecting our constitution, which it seems the convention have adopted without any essential alterations. They have published their result for the remarks and opinions of the people, after which they are to revise it. If two thirds of the people, in 1795, shall desire a convention to revise and alter, as experience shall find necessary, it is to be done. Massachusetts very intent on filling up their quota of the continental army.

M. GENET TO JOHN ADAMS.

Ce 26 Mai, 1780.

M. Genet renouvelle ses hommages à M. Adams. La lettre ci-incluse est traduite;1 mais il reste à entendre deux ou trois mots qu’il a été impossible de lire. M. Adams est supplié de les écrire de nouveau, pour que cet excellent morceau ne reste pas incomplet.

M. GENET TO JOHN ADAMS.

Ce 31 Mai, 1780.

M. Genet renouvelle tous ses hommages à M. Adams, et lui fait ses remercimens de l’excellent morceau qu’il vient de lui envoyer.2 Il ne doute point que le ministre ne désire qu’il soit imprimé dans le Mercure. Et M. Adams peut être certain de n’être point nommé.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

Paris, 2 June, 1780.

Sir,—

When a minister of an ancient nation, which has been renowned for its wisdom and virtue as well as power rises in a popular assembly, which is the most conspicuous theatre in Europe, and declares as it were in the face of all the world, and with an air of reflection, of deliberation, and of solemnity, that such and such are his own opinions concerning the truth of facts and the probability of future events, one cannot call in question his good faith, although we may know his information to be false and his judgment erroneous.

Lord George Germaine, in the debate in the house of commons on the 6th of May, declared that “he flattered himself the completion of the chief wish of his heart, peace with America, on what he thought good and honorable terms for Great Britain, was not far off. He verily believed, and his belief was not merely speculative, but founded on recent information, that the moment of conciliation was near. His Lordship described the misery which the Americans felt at this time, and stated that the greatest majority of the people there were ready and desirous to return to their allegiance, but that they were prevented by the tyranny of those who had got the power of government into their own hands. He did not believe the congress would ever treat for peace; but, from the condition of affairs in America, from the depreciation of their paper currency, from the poverty and distress of the country, from the great debt it groaned under, from the dissatisfaction which all ranks of people expressed at the alliance with France, from the little benefit America had derived from that alliance; from all these considerations he did believe that the people of America and the assemblies of America would soon come to terms.”

There may be some ambiguity in the phrase, “good and honorable terms for Great Britain;” but there can be no reasonable doubt that his Lordship meant either to return to their allegiance to Great Britain, or at least to make a peace with her, separate from France. Whether the Americans ever will agree to such terms or not, being a question concerning a future event, cannot be decided by witnesses, nor any other way, but by probable arguments. There is one argument which his Lordship does not appear to have considered. It is of some weight. It is this,—that in order to return to their allegiance to the King of England, or make a peace with him, separate from France, they must involve themselves in a certain war with France and Spain, at least, and indeed, according to present appearances, with Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and Portugal; for every one of these powers appears to be as decided against the claims, pretensions, and usurpations of Great Britain upon the seas, as France and Spain are. There is not an American merchant, yeoman, tradesman, or seaman but knows this, or will know it very soon. Americans must, therefore, be destitute of that common share of reason which God has given to men, to exchange the friendship of all the world for their enmity, merely for the sake of returning to a connection with Great Britain which could not protect them, and which they have the best reasons to dread as the greatest evil that could befall them, from the unheard of tyrannies and cruelties they have already experienced from her. His Lordship is desired to consider this, and to ask himself, if he was an American, whether he would wish to run under the broken fragments of an empire that is dashed in pieces, like a china vase, and commence a fresh war against a combination of all the nations of the world who now discover a degree of esteem and regard for America.

If the Americans are as miserable as his Lordship represents them, will they be likely to increase that misery tenfold and make it perpetual, by espousing the cause of a ruined empire and going to war with half a dozen that are not ruined?

If we believe the testimonies of witnesses who come from all parts of America, we shall be convinced that his Lordship deceives himself. Every man from that country who knows the principles and opinions of the people, declares that they are, with a unanimity that is unexampled in any other revolution, firmly determined to maintain their sovereignty and their alliances, and that there is nobody there who utters a wish of returning to the government of Great Britain, or even of making a separate peace.

But if his Lordship was a candid inquirer after truth, and had a mind sufficiently enlightened to discover the means that are in the power of all men of obtaining it, he might have seen his error. There are certain marks by which the opinions, principles, inclinations, and wishes of a people may be discovered with infallible certainty, without recurring to witnesses or to far-fetched arguments.

The press, the towns, the juries, and the assemblies are four sources, from whence an unerring demonstration of the true sentiments of the people of America may be drawn. There is not in any nation of the world so unlimited a freedom of the press as is now established in every State of America, both by law and practice. Every man in Europe who reads their newspapers must see it. There is nothing that the people dislike that they do not attack. They attack officers of every rank in the militia and in the army; they attack judges, governors, and magistrates of every denomination; they attack assemblies and councils, members of congress, and congress itself, whenever they dislike their conduct. But I appeal to every newspaper upon the continent, whether one paragraph, one wish or hint of returning to the government of Great Britain, or of making a separate peace, has ever appeared.

The towns in many parts of America are small districts of territory, on an average perhaps six miles square. By the ancient laws of the country, which are still in force, any seven inhabitants of one of these towns have a right to demand of the magistrates a public assembly of all. There are necessarily several of these town meetings every year, and generally a great number of them. In these assemblies, every man, high and low, every yeoman, tradesman, and even day-laborer, as well as every gentleman and public magistrate, has a right to vote, and to speak his sentiments upon public affairs, to propose measures, to instruct the representatives in the legislature, &c. This right was constantly and frequently used under the former government, and is now much more frequently used under the new. The world has seen some hundreds of sets of instructions to representatives under the former government, wherein they enjoined an open opposition to judges, governors, acts of parliament, king, lords, and commons of Great Britain. What is there now to prevent them from opposing congress? Nothing. Has a single vote of any one of these towns been read, or one speech heard, proposing or uttering a wish to return to the government of Great Britain? Not one. Is not this a demonstration of the sentiments of the people?

Juries in America were formerly another organ, by which the sentiments of the people were conveyed to the public. Both grand juries and petit juries have expressed themselves in language sufficiently bold and free against acts of parliament and the conduct of Great Britain. But has any one ever uttered a word against congress or the assemblies or the judges under their new governments? or a wish to return to the obedience of England? Not one.

But it is said the paper money embarrasses congress. What then? Does this tend to make them dissolve their union? to violate their alliances? Would the paper money embarrass congress less, if they had a war to maintain against France and Spain, than it does now? Would not the embarrassment be much greater? Does the paper money prevent the increase and the population of the States? No. Does the war prevent it? No. Both the population and the property of the States have increased every year since this war began. And all the efforts of Great Britain cannot prevent it. On the contrary, have the wealth and population of Great Britain increased? Has her commerce increased? Has the political weight of the nation in the scales of Europe increased? Let a melancholy Briton tell.

His Lordship talks about the misery of the people in America. Let him look at home, and then say where is misery! where the hideous prospect of an internal civil war is added to a war with all the world. The truth is, that agriculture and manufactures, not of luxuries, but of necessaries, have been so much increased by this war, that it is much to be doubted whether they ever fed or clothed themselves more easily or more comfortably. But, besides this, the immense depredations they have made upon the British trade have introduced vast quantities of British merchandises of every sort. And, in spite of all the exertions of the British fleet, their trade is opening and extending with various countries every year, and Britain herself is forced to aid it, and will be more and more; a recent proof of which is the permission to import American tobacco into the kingdom from any part of the world, in neutral bottoms.

The great debt is also mentioned. Do they pay an interest for this debt? Is every necessary and convenience of life taxed to perpetuity to pay this interest? Is the whole equal in proportion to their abilities to the debt of England? Would the debt be rendered less by joining Great Britain against France and Spain? Would the war against France and Spain be shorter, less expensive, or less bloody than the war against England? By returning to England, would not their debt be ten times more burdensome? This debt is as nothing to America, once give her peace. Let the Americans trade freely with one another and with all other nations, and this debt would be but a feather. Let them come under Great Britain again, and have the communication between one colony and another obstructed as heretofore, and their trade confined to Great Britain as heretofore, and this debt would be a heavier millstone about their necks than that of England is about theirs.

A general repugnance to the alliance with France is mentioned. A greater mistake was never made. On the contrary, every step of congress, every proceeding of every assembly upon the continent, every prayer that is made in the pulpit, and every speculation in the newspapers, demonstrates the high sense they have of the importance of this alliance. It is said that this alliance has been of little utility. Has it not employed the British army? has it not cut out work enough for the British navy? has it not wasted for England her annual twenty millions? has it not prevented these from being employed against America? has it not given scope to American privateers? has it not protected the American trade? has it not hurt that of Great Britain? has it not engaged Russia, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal, at least to a neutrality? at least has it not contributed much to these vast advantages to America? has it not taken away from Great Britain the dominion of the sea so far as to allow liberty of navigation to others? It is true the alliance might have been of more utility to all the allies with the same expense, if France and Spain had sooner adopted the policy of sending more of their forces to America. But they are now so well convinced of it, that unless miracles are wrought to prevent it, America and England, too, will soon see more of the efforts of this alliance. Let Britain tremble at the consequences of her own folly and her own crime.

His Lordship says that the people would return to their allegiance if they were not restrained by the tyranny of those who have got the powers of government. These are the assemblies, senates, governors, and congress. Now what power have any of these, but what the people please to allow them? By what engine is this tyranny exercised? Is it by the militia? In order to judge of this, let us consider the constitution of the militia. The militia is, in fact, the whole people; for, by the laws of every State, every man from sixteen to sixty years of age belongs to the militia, is obliged to be armed, to train and to march upon occasion, or find a substitute. The officers are chosen by the men, except the general officers, who are appointed by the assemblies. It is this very militia which forms the body of voters, who annually choose the members of assembly and the senators and governors. Is it possible these men should tyrannize over men upon whom they are so entirely dependent? As well might it be reproached to his Lordship and his colleagues in administration, that they tyrannized over their royal master, who can displace them at his pleasure. The assemblies thus annually chosen by the people or militia, annually choose the delegates in congress, and have power to recall them at pleasure. Will the militia then obey either assemblies or congress in the execution of tyrannical orders or any orders that are not generally agreeable to them? The thing speaks for itself. Is it the continental army, then, that is the instrument of their own servitude and that of their country? Every officer holds his commission at the pleasure of congress. But his Lordship and his colleagues often represent the continental army as so small and feeble as to be unable to make head against the British troops, and it is true that they are constantly employed in that service, and it is true that they are nothing in comparison with the militia. What would become of them, then, if the militia or any considerable number of them were to join the British troops?

There has never been any part of the continental army, in more than three or four of the thirteen States at a time, watching the motions of the British army and confining them to the protection of their men-of-war. What has there been, then, in the remaining nine or ten States for an instrument of tyranny? This is too ridiculous to need many words.

His Lordship concludes with a distinction, if possible, less grounded than his assertions. He says that congress will never treat, but that the people and the assemblies will. Where does his Lordship find the ground of his difference between the congress and the assemblies? Are not the members of congress made of the same clay? Are they not themselves members of the assemblies? Are they not the creatures of the assemblies? Are they not annually created? Are they not dependent every moment upon the assemblies for their existence? Have not the assemblies a right to recall them when they please, and appoint others by law and the constitution? Have not the assemblies a right to instruct them how to act? If they do not obey these instructions, cannot the assemblies displace them and appoint others who will be more obedient? If the assemblies desired a reconciliation with England, could not they appoint a congress who desired it too? If the people desired it, could not they appoint assemblies who would soon make a congress suitable for their purpose? But I have been too long; his Lordship betrays such misinformation of facts, such an inattention to those obvious marks of the feelings of a people, as are infallible indications of their designs, and such a want of knowledge of the laws and constitution of the United States, as excite astonishment in an impartial examiner, and a real commiseration for the unhappy nation who are devoted to destruction from his errors and delusions.1

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 16 June, 1780.

Sir,—

I have just received a letter from Nantes, brought in a ship from New London. I inclose your Excellency a newspaper inclosed in it, and an extract of the letter, which is from a gentleman who is a member of the assembly and one of the judges at Boston. This is all the news I have. I hope your Excellency has more by the same vessel.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

(Extract Inclosed)

RICHARD CRANCH TO JOHN ADAMS.

Boston, 26 April, 1780.

You will see by the papers the congress has recommended a total revolution in the paper currency. The general court is now sitting here. We have adopted the spirit of the recommendation, and a bill for that purpose has passed both houses, but is not yet enacted. By this act, a tax of seventy-two thousand pounds per annum for seven years, including the present year, is to be raised in hard money or produce at a certain rate; which sum is supposed sufficient to redeem our quota of the continental currency at its present depreciated value, estimated at forty paper dollars for one hard one. This tax is to be paid in silver, at six shillings and eight pence per ounce, or gold in proportion; or else in wheat, rye, corn, merchantable fish, barrelled pork and beef, &c. &c., which are to be delivered into the State stores, free of charge, at a certain stipulated price, such as the merchants would be willing to pay for them in silver and gold. This is the fund on which the new bills proposed by congress for this State are to be founded, and will, at the end of seven years, be sufficient to redeem them with gold and silver, and pay the intervening interest.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 20 June, 1780.

Sir,—

Last evening I received the letter, an extract of which I have the honor to inclose. It is from Mr. Gerry, a member of congress, who has been a member of their treasury board from the beginning of the year 1776.

It is much to be regretted that the congress did not publish their resolution to pay off the loan-office certificates, according to the value of money at the time of their being respectively issued, with their resolutions of the 18th of March; because this I think would have prevented the alarm that has been spread in Europe. It will be found that almost all the interest that European merchants or others have in our funds lies in these certificates, and that almost all the paper bills now in possession of their factors in America have been received within a few months, immediately before the 18th of March; and consequently received at a depreciation of forty for one at least, perhaps at a much greater.

Although some Europeans may have considerable sums in loan-office certificates, yet I have reason to believe that the whole will be found much less than is imagined. They have realized their property generally as they went along. Some may have purchased land, others have purchased bills of exchange, others have purchased the produce of the country, which they have exported to St. Eustatia, to the French West India Islands, and to Europe.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

(Extract Inclosed.)

ELBRIDGE GERRY TO JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 5 May, 1780.

The resolutions of congress for calling in and cancelling the two hundred millions of dollars emitted by them, have in general been well received. The depreciation is stopped, and specie, which before the passing of the resolves, was sold for upwards of seventy for one, is now current at sixty, and has been lately at fifty-five. The advantage of this plan will be great to the landholder, inasmuch as the national debt, including certificates and foreign demands, does not now much exceed five millions sterling, which is but a trifling sum compared with the two hundred millions of pounds sterling due from Great Britain.

Another benefit resulting from it is a supply of five millions of dollars of the new emission, every dollar of which is equal to forty dollars of the old emission. Indeed, this must be called in before that can be realized; nevertheless, there is a greater demand among all ranks for continental money than there has been since the commencement of the war, and specie is no longer hoarded by the disaffected or timid. So much for the value and stability of the medium.

With respect to our resources, congress are at present much in want of money, and it is a happy circumstance, for their economy is in proportion to their wants. The demands on the treasury are generally answered by warrants on the several States, which are careful, by some means or other, to discharge the drafts. The taxes are indeed very heavy, but the collection goes on, and, I doubt not that the army will be well fed and paid. Military stores and clothing must, however, be procured on credit in Europe, as well as a considerable loan to serve as a fund for drawing on in case of necessity. Trade and privateering are brisk, and there is a plenty of goods of every kind excepting military, but no money to purchase them. This is easily accounted for, since the whole sum in circulation, as congress have fixed it, is only five million dollars. Our privateers and commerce have, nevertheless, lately suffered much by the cruisers of the enemy, who have the command of the sea-coast.

It is much to be wished that the Court of France would order a squadron superior to the enemy, to be stationed in some part of the United States, as the best and only means of putting a speedy end to the war. It is almost impossible to conceive the havoc that our privateers made of the enemy’s cruisers and transports, during the time that the Count d’Estaing was at Rhode Island and Charleston. But our losses at present nearly equal our captures. Indeed, that worthy officer, aware of those and other advantages, ordered the Count de Grasse to be stationed at the Chesapeake, but his plan was defeated by the tempestuousness of the weather. Had the latter arrived with his squadron, Charleston could not have been besieged, and three or four of our frigates, which are now in Ashley’s River, and will probably be destroyed, would have been employed in intercepting the enemy’s transports.

I forgot to mention a resolution of congress to pay off the continental certificates, according to the value of money at the time of their being respectively issued. This is but justice, and will undoubtedly be satisfactory to foreigners. Bills of exchange are now at forty-five for one, and will be higher, in consequence of the great risk of sending vessels from the Eastern States to the Southern for produce.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.1 )

Versailles, 21 June, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 16th of this month, and also the extract of the letter addressed to you from Boston, dated the 26th of April.

According to the latter the assembly of Massachusetts has determined to adopt the resolution of congress, fixing the value of the paper money at forty for one in specie. In reading that resolution, I had convinced myself that it had no other object than that of restoring the value of the paper money by lessening its quantity, and that, in consequence of that operation, the paper not brought in would resume its currency according as circumstances should give it a greater or less degree of credit. What would have confirmed me in this opinion, was the liberty given to the possessors of the paper money to carry it to the treasury of their State, or to keep it in their own possession. But, from the information I have since received, and the very letter which you, sir, have been pleased to communicate to me, I have reason to believe that the intention of congress is to maintain the paper money invariably at the exchange of forty for one, and to redeem on that footing all the paper which it has thrown into circulation, in order to reduce insensibly the two hundred millions of dollars, for which it finds itself indebted, to about five millions.

I shall take great care, sir, not to criticize this operation in itself, because I have no right to analyze or comment upon the internal arrangements which congress may consider just and useful; moreover, I readily agree that there may be some situations critical enough to force even the best regulated and longest established governments to adopt extraordinary measures to repair their finances, and to put themselves in a condition to answer the public expenses; and this I am persuaded has been the principal reason that has induced congress to depreciate the money which itself had created.

But while I admit, sir, that that assembly could have recourse to the expedient above-mentioned, in order to lighten the load of its debt, I am far from agreeing that it is just and agreeable to the ordinary course of things to extend the effect to strangers as well as to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, I think it should have been confined to Americans alone, and that an exception should have been made in favor of those same strangers, or, at least, that some means should have been devised to indemnify these for the losses they may suffer by the general law.

In order to make you sensible of this truth, I will not tell you, sir, that it is for the Americans alone to support the expense which may be caused by the defence of their liberty, and that they ought to consider the depreciation of their paper money purely as a tax which ought to be concentrated upon themselves, as the paper money was at first established only to relieve them from the necessity of paying one. I shall content myself to remark to you that the French, if they should be obliged to submit to the reduction proposed by congress, would find themselves victims of the zeal, and I may say of the rashness, with which they have exposed themselves in furnishing the Americans with arms, ammunition, and clothing; in a word, with all things of the first necessity, of which the Americans stood in the most urgent need. You will agree with me, sir, that this is not the fate which the subjects of the King ought to expect; and that very far from dreading, after escaping the dangers of the sea and the vigilance of the English, to see themselves plundered in America, they might, on the contrary, have counted on the thanks of congress and of the whole American people, and have believed their property as secure and as sacred in America as in France itself. It was with this persuasion, and in a reliance on the public faith, that they received paper money in exchange for their merchandise, and kept that paper with a view to employ it in new speculations of commerce. The unexpected reduction of this same paper overturns their calculations, at the same time that it ruins their fortune. I ask you, sir, if these consequences induce you to believe that this operation of congress is fitting to advance the credit of the United States, to inspire confidence in their promises, to invite the European nations to share in the same risks to which the subjects of his Majesty have exposed themselves?

These, sir, are the principal reflections occasioned by the resolution of congress of the 18th of March. I make it a duty to communicate them to you with entire confidence, because you are too enlightened not to feel their force and justice, and too much attached to your country not to use all your endeavors to engage it to retrace its steps, and do justice to the subjects of the King.

I shall not conceal from you that the Chevalier de la Luzerne has already received orders to make the strongest representations on the subject in question, and that the King is firmly persuaded that the United States will be eager to give to him on this occasion a mark of their attachment, by granting to his subjects the just satisfaction which they solicit, and which they expect from the wisdom and justice of the United States.

I have the honor to be, &c.

De Vergennes.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 22 June, 1780.

Sir,—

I received this day the letter which your Excellency did me the honor to write me on the 21st of this month.

I thank your Excellency for the confidence which induced you to communicate this letter to me, and the continuance of which I shall ever study to deserve.

When your Excellency says that his Majesty’s minister at congress has already received orders to make representations against the resolutions of congress of the 18th of March, as far as they effect his subjects, I am at a loss to know with certainty whether your Excellency means only that such orders have lately passed and are sent off to go to America, or whether you mean that such orders were sent so long ago as to have reached the hand of the Chevalier de la Luzerne.

If the latter is your Excellency’s meaning, there is no remedy; if the former, I would submit it to your Excellency’s consideration, whether those orders may not be stopped and delayed a little time, until his Excellency Mr. Franklin may have opportunity to make his representations to his Majesty’s ministers, to the end that, if it should appear that those orders were issued in consequence of misinformation, they may be revoked; otherwise sent on.

I will do myself the honor to write fully to your Excellency upon this subject, without loss of time; and although it is a subject on which I pretend not to an accurate knowledge in the detail, yet I flatter myself I am so far master of the principles as to demonstrate that the plan of congress is not only wise but just.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 22 June, 1780.

Sir,—

I this day acknowledged the receipt of the letter which you did me the honor to write to me on the 21st.

I have the honor to agree with your Excellency in opinion, that it is the intention of congress to redeem all their paper bills which are extant, at an exchange of forty for one, by which means the two hundred millions of dollars which are out will be reduced to about five millions.

I apprehend, with your Excellency, that it was necessary for the congress to put themselves in a condition to defray the public expenses. They found their currency so depreciated and so rapidly depreciating, that a further emission sufficient to discharge the public expenses another year, would have probably depreciated it to two hundred for one; perhaps, would have so totally discredited it, that nobody would have taken it at any rate. It was absolutely necessary, then, to stop emitting. Yet it was absolutely necessary to have an army to save their cities from the fire and their citizens from the sword. That army must be fed, clothed, paid, and armed, and other expenses must be defrayed. It had become necessary, therefore, at this time to call in their paper; for there is no nation that is able to carry on war by the taxes which can be raised within the year. But I am far from thinking that this necessity was the cause of their calling it in at a depreciated value, because I am well convinced that they would have called it in at a depreciated value, if the British fleet and army had been withdrawn from the United States, and a general peace had been concluded. My reason for this belief is, the evident injustice of calling it in at its nominal value, a silver dollar for a paper one. The public has its rights as well as individuals; and every individual has a share in the rights of the public. Justice is due to the body politic, as well as to the possessor of the bills; and to have paid off the bills at their nominal value would have wronged the body politic of thirty-nine dollars in every forty as really as if forty dollars had been paid for one at the first emission in 1775, when each paper dollar was worth and would fetch a silver one.

I beg leave to ask your Excellency, whether you judge that the congress ought to pay two hundred millions of silver dollars for the two hundred millions of paper dollars which are abroad? I presume your Excellency will not think that they ought; because I have never met with any man in America or in Europe that was of that opinion. All agree that congress ought to redeem it at a depreciated value. The only question, then, is, at what depreciation? Shall it be at seventy-five, forty, thirty, twenty, ten, or five for one? After it is once admitted that it ought to be redeemed at a less value than the nominal, the question arises, at what value? What rule? I answer, there is no other rule of justice than the current value, the value at which it generally passes from man to man. The congress have set it at forty for one; and they are the best judges of this, as they represent all parts of the continent where the paper circulates.

I think there can be little need of illustration; but two or three examples may make my meaning more obvious. A farmer has now four thousand dollars for a pair of oxen which he sells to a commissary to subsist the army. When the money was issued in 1775, he would have been glad to have taken one hundred. A laborer has now twenty dollars a day for his work; five years ago he would have been rejoiced to have received half a dollar. The same with the artisan, merchant, and all others but those who have fixed salaries or money at interest. Most of these persons would be willing to take hard money for their work and their produce at the rate they did six years ago. Where is the reason, then, that congress should pay them forty times as much as they take of their neighbors in private life?

The amount of ordinary commerce, external and internal, of a society, may be computed at a fixed sum. A certain sum of money is necessary to circulate among the society in order to carry on their business. This precise sum is discoverable by calculation and reducible to certainty. You may emit paper or any other currency for this purpose, until you reach this rule, and it will not depreciate. After you exceed this rule it will depreciate; and no power or act of legislation hitherto invented can prevent it. In the case of paper, if you go on emitting forever, the whole mass will be worth no more than that was which was emitted within the rule. When the paper, therefore, comes to be redeemed, this is the only rule of justice for the redemption of it. The congress have fixed five millions for this rule. Whether this is mathematically exact, I am not able to say; whether it is a million too little or too much, I know not. But they are the best judges; and by the accounts of the money being at seventy for one, and bills of exchange at fifty-five for one, it looks as if five millions was too high a sum rather than too small.

It will be said that the faith of society ought to be sacred, and that the congress have pledged the public faith for the redemption of the bills at the value on the face of them. I agree that the public faith ought to be sacred. But who is it that has violated this faith? Is it not every man who has demanded more paper money for his labor or his goods than they were worth in silver? The public faith, in the sense these words are here used, would require that congress should make up to every man who for five years past has paid more in paper money for any thing he has purchased than he could have had it for in silver. The public faith is no more pledged to the present possessor of the bills than it is to every man through whose hands they may have passed at a less than the nominal value. So that, according to this doctrine, congress would have two hundred millions of dollars to pay to the present possessors of the bills, and to make up to every man through whose hands they have passed the difference at which they passed between them and silver.

It should be considered that every man, whether native or foreigner, who receives or pays this money at a less value than the nominal value, breaks this faith. For the social compact being between the whole and every individual, and between every individual and the whole, every individual, native or foreigner, who uses this paper, is as much bound by the public faith to use it according to the tenor of its emission as the congress is. And congress have as good a right to reproach every individual who now demands more paper for his goods than silver with a breach of the public faith, as he has to reproach the public or their representatives.

I must beg your Excellency’s excuse for calling your attention a little longer to this head of public faith, because I cannot rest easy while my country is supposed to be guilty of a breach of their faith, and in a case where I am clear they have not been so, especially by your Excellency, whose good opinion they and I value so much. This public faith is in the nature of a mutual covenant, and he who would claim a benefit under it ought to be careful in first fulfilling his part of it. When congress issued their bills, declaring them in effect to be equal to silver, they unquestionably intended that they should be so considered and that they should be received accordingly. The people or individuals covenanted in effect to receive them at their nominal value; and congress, in such case, agreed on their part to redeem them at the same rate. This seems to be a fair and plain construction of this covenant or public faith; and none other I think can be made, that will not degenerate into an unconscionable contract, and so destroy itself.

Can it be supposed that congress ever intended that, if the time should come when the individual refused to accept and receive their bills at their nominal value, and demanded and actually received them at a less value, in that case, the individual should be entitled to demand and receive of the public for those very bills silver equal to their nominal value? The consideration is, in fact, made by the public at the very instant the individual receives the bills at a discount; and there is a tacit and implied agreement springing from the principles of natural justice or equity between the public and the individual, that as the latter has not given to the former a consideration equal to the nominal value of the bills, so in fact the public shall not be held to pay the nominal value in silver to the individual. Suppose it otherwise, and how will the matter stand? The public offers to an individual a bill whose nominal value is, for example, forty dollars, in lieu of forty silver dollars; the individual says, I esteem it of no more value than one silver dollar, and the public pays it to him at that value; yet he comes the next day, when the bill may be payable, and demands of the public forty silver dollars in exchange for it. And why? Because the bill purports on the face of it to be equal to forty silver dollars. The answer is equally obvious with the injustice of the demand. Upon the whole, as the depreciation crept in gradually, and was unavoidable, all reproaches of a breach of public faith ought to be laid aside; and the only proper inquiry now really is, what is the paper honestly worth? What will it fetch at market? And this is the only just rule of redemption.

It becomes me to express myself with deference, when I am obliged to differ in opinion from your Excellency; but this being a subject peculiar to America, no example entirely similar to it, that I know of, having been in Europe, I may be excused, therefore, in explaining my sentiments upon it.

I have the misfortune to differ from your Excellency so far as to think that no general distinction can be made between natives and foreigners. For, not to mention that this would open a door to numberless frauds, I think that foreigners when they come to trade with a nation make themselves temporary citizens, and tacitly consent to be bound by the same laws. And it will be found that foreigners have had quite as much to do in depreciating this money in proportion as natives, and that they have been in proportion much less sufferers by it. I might go further, and say that they have been in proportion greater gainers by it without suffering any considerable share of the loss.

The paper bills out of America are next to nothing. I have no reason to think that there are ten thousand dollars in all Europe; indeed, I do not know of one thousand. The agents in America of merchants in Europe have laid out their paper bills in lands, or in indigo, rice, tobacco, wheat, flour, &c.; in short, in the produce of the country. This produce they have shipped to Europe, sold to the King’s ships, and received bills of exchange, or shipped to the West India Islands, where they have procured cash or bills of exchange. The surplus they have put into the loan-offices from time to time, for loan-offices have been open all along, from 1776, I believe, to this time. Whenever any person lent paper bills to the public, and took loan-office certificates, he would have been glad to have taken silver in exchange for the bills at their then depreciated value. Why should he not be willing now? Those who lent paper when two paper dollars were worth one in silver will have one for two; those who lent when forty were worth one will have one for forty; and those who lent when paper was as good as silver will have dollar for dollar.

Your Excellency thinks it would be hard that those who have escaped the perils of the seas and of enemies should be spoiled by their friends. But congress have not spoiled any; they have only prevented themselves and the public from being spoiled. No agent of any European merchant, in making his calculations of profit and loss, ever estimated the depreciated bills at the nominal value; they all put a profit upon their goods sufficient to defray all expenses of insurance, freight, and every thing else, and had a great profit besides, receiving the bills at the current, not the nominal value.

It may not be amiss to state a few prices-current at Boston the last and the present year, in order to show the profits which have been made.

Bohea tea, forty sous a pound at Lorient and Nantes, forty-five dollars. Salt, which costs very little in Europe, and used to be sold for a shilling a bushel, forty dollars a bushel, and in some of the other States two hundred dollars at times. Linens, which cost two livres a yard in France, forty dollars a yard. Broadcloths, a louis d’or a yard here, two hundred dollars a yard. Ironmongery of all sorts, one hundred and twenty for one. Millinery of all sorts, at an advance far exceeding. These were the prices at Boston. At Philadelphia and in all the other States they were much higher.

These prices, I think, must convince your Excellency that allowing one half or even two thirds of the vessels to be taken, there is room enough for a handsome profit, deducting all charges, and computing the value of bills at the rate of silver at the time.

There are two other sources from which foreigners have made great profits,—the difference between bills of exchange and silver. During the whole of our history, when a man could readily get twenty-five paper dollars for one in silver, he could not get more than twelve paper dollars for one in a bill of exchange. Nearly this proportion was observed all along, as I have been informed. The agent of a foreign merchant had only to sell his goods for paper, or buy paper with silver at twenty-five for one, and immediately go and buy bills at twelve for one. So that he doubled his money in a moment.

Another source was this,—the paper money was not alike depreciated in all places at the same time. It was forty for one at Philadelphia sometimes, when it was only twenty at Boston. The agent of a foreign merchant had only to sell his goods or send silver to Philadelphia and exchange it for paper, which he could lay out at Boston for twice what it cost him, and in this way again double his property.

This depreciating paper currency being, therefore, such a fruitful source for men of penetration to make large profits, it is not to be wondered that some have written alarming letters to their correspondents.

No man is more ready than I am to acknowledge the obligations we are under to France; but the flourishing state of her marine and commerce, and the decisive influence of her councils and negotiations in Europe, which all the world will allow to be owing in a great measure to the separation of America from her inveterate enemy, and to her new connections with the United States, show that the obligations are mutual. And no foreign merchant ought to expect to be treated in America better than her native merchants, who have hazarded their property through the same perils of the seas and of enemies.

In the late Province of the Massachusetts Bay, from the years 1745 to 1750, we had full experience of the operation of paper money. The Province engaged in expensive expeditions against Louisburg and Canada, which occasioned a too plentiful emission of paper money, in consequence of which it depreciated to seven and a half for one. In 1750, the British Parliament granted a sum of money to the Province to reimburse it for what it had expended more than its proportion in the general expense of the empire. This sum was brought over to Boston in silver and gold, and the legislature determined to redeem all their paper with it at the depreciated value. There was a similar alarm at first, and before the matter was understood, but after the people had time to think upon it, all were satisfied to receive silver at fifty shillings an ounce, although the face of the bills promised an ounce of silver for every six shillings and eight pence. At that time, the British merchants were more interested in our paper money, in proportion, than any Europeans now are; yet they did not charge the Province with a breach of faith, or stigmatize this as an act of bankruptcy. On the contrary, they were satisfied with it.

I beg leave to remind your Excellency, that at that time, the laws of Massachusetts were subject not only to the negative of the King’s governor, but to a revision by the King in council, and were there liable to be affirmed or annulled. And from the partial preference which your Excellency well knows was uniformly given to the interests of the subjects of the King within the realm, when they came in competition with those of the subjects of the Colonies, there is no reason to doubt that if that measure, when thoroughly considered, had been unjust in itself, the merchants in England would have taken an alarm, and procured the act to be disallowed by the King in council. Yet the merchants in England, who well understood their own interests, were quite silent upon this occasion, and the law was confirmed in the council; nor can it be supposed to have been confirmed there in a manner unnoticed. It had met with too much opposition among a certain set of interested speculators in the then Province, for that supposition to be made. And the case of the British merchants at that time differed in no respect from the present case of the French or other foreign merchants, except that the credits of the former were vastly greater, and they must have, consequently, been more deeply interested in that measure of government than the latter are in the present one. Their acquiescence in the measure, and the confirmation of that act, must have rested upon the full conviction of the British administration and of the merchants, of the justice of it.

Your Excellency will agree in the difficulty of making any distinction between the French merchant and the Spanish or Dutch merchant, by any general rule; for all these are interested in this business.

Your Excellency is pleased to ask, whether I think these proceedings of congress proper to give credit to the United States; to inspire confidence in their promises, and to invite the European nations to partake of the same risks to which the subjects of his Majesty have exposed themselves?

I have the honor to answer your Excellency, directly and candidly, that I do think them proper for these ends, and I do further think them to be the only measures that ever could acquire credit and confidence to the United States. I know of no other just foundation of confidence in men or bodies of men than their understanding and integrity; and congress have manifested to all the world by this plan, that they understand the nature of their paper currency; that its fluctuation has been the grand obstacle to their credit; and that it was necessary to draw it to a conclusion, in order to introduce a more steady standard of commerce; that, to this end, the repeal of their laws which made the paper a tender, and giving a free circulation to silver and gold, were necessary. They have further manifested by these resolutions that they are fully possessed of the only principle there is in the nature of things for doing justice in this business to the public and to individuals, to natives and foreigners; and that they are sufficiently possessed of the confidence of the people, and there is sufficient vigor in their government, to carry it into execution.

Notwithstanding all, if any European merchant can show any good reason for excepting his particular case from the general rule, upon a representation of it to congress, I have no doubt they will do him justice.

Moreover, if his Excellency, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, can show that the sum of five millions of dollars is not the real worth of all the paper money that is abroad, and that ten millions of dollars is the true sum, I doubt not congress would alter their rule, and redeem it at twenty for one. But I doubt very much whether this can be shown. But I cannot see that any distinction could be made between French merchants and those of other nations, but what would be very invidious and founded upon no principle. I cannot see that any distinction can be made between natives and foreigners, but what would have a most unhappy effect upon the minds of the people in America, and be a partiality quite unwarrantable; and, therefore, your Excellency will see that it is impossible for me to take any steps to persuade congress to retract, because it would be acting in direct repugnance to the clearest dictates of my understanding and judgment, of what is right and fit.

I cannot excuse myself from adding, that most of the arms, ammunition, and clothing for the army have been contracted for here by the ministers of congress, and paid for, or agreed to be paid for, here in silver and gold. Very little of these articles has been shipped by private adventurers. They have much more commonly shipped articles of luxury, of which the country did not stand in need, and upon which they must have made vast profits.

Thus have I communicated to your Excellency my sentiments, with that freedom which becomes a citizen of the United States, intrusted by the public with some of its interests. I entreat your Excellency to consider them as springing from no other motive than a strong attachment to the union of the States, and a desire to prevent all unnecessary causes of parties and disputes; and from a desire, not only to preserve the alliance in all its vigor, but to prevent every thing which may unnecessarily oppose itself to the affection and confidence between the two nations, which I wish to see increased every day, as every day convinces me more and more of the necessity that France and America will be under of cherishing their mutual connections.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.1

TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Paris, 23 June, 1780.

Sir,—

I have this day the honor of a letter from his Excellency, the Count de Vergennes, on the subject of the resolutions of congress of the 18th of March, concerning the paper bills, in which his Excellency informs me that the Chevalier de la Luzerne has orders to make the strongest representations upon the subject. I am not certain whether his Excellency means that such orders were sent so long ago as to have reached the hand of the minister at congress, or whether they have been lately expedited. If the latter, I submit to your Excellency, whether it would not be expedient to request that those orders may be stopped, until proper representations can be made at Court, to the end that if it can be made to appear, as I firmly believe that it may, that those orders were given upon misinformation, they may be revoked, otherwise sent on.

Your Excellency will excuse this, because it appears to me a matter of very great importance. The affair of our paper is sufficiently dangerous and critical, and if a representation from his Majesty should be made, advantages will not fail to be taken of it by the tories and by interested and disappointed speculators, who may spread an alarm among many uninformed people, so as to endanger the public peace.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THOMAS DIGGES.

24 June, 1780.

Yours of the 26th and 29th ultimo I have received, and another with the Court Gazette with the capitulation of Charleston; I have also received the box of books, and all the bundles of newspapers and pamphlets. I thank you most sincerely for your care. I beg your pardon, sir, for sending you half of the report of the committee;1 I thought it entire when I sent it; it is now printed in the papers, so that there is no necessity of sending another if I had it, but I have none left.

The pamphlets have been a feast to me. But what can be said of those written by—? Such a mass of falsehood! The Cool Thoughts on the Consequences of American Independence,1 should have been entitled, “A Demonstration that it is the Interest and Duty of America to support her Independence at all Events: and that it is equally the Interest and Duty of all the rest of Europe to support her in it.” It seems as if Providence intended to give success enough to lead on the English nation to their final and total destruction. I am sorry for it; I wish it not; but it must come, if they pursue this war much further. The conquest of Charleston will only arouse America to double exertion and fourfold indignation. The English nation knows not the people they have to do with, and that has been the fatal cause of their misconduct from first to last. Governor Pownall knows, although he dares not say in parliament what he knows. It is the decree of the destinies that the southern parts of the continent should be brought to as much experience in war as the northern. This will remove the only cause of jealousy, and strengthen the Union beyond a possibility of breaking it. It will make them taste equally, too, the bitter cup of British inhumanity. In short, the English, so far from gaining any thing by the acquisition of Charleston, will only double their expenses; their army will moulder away, and they will be in danger of losing both that and New York. Those who imagine that this will discourage anybody in America, have no idea of that people. The blubbering babies in Europe, who give up all for lost, upon every disaster, are no Americans. The last are men.

Yours, with great regard,

F. R. S.

QUERIES BY B. FRANKLIN.

Mr. Adams, after having perused the inclosed papers, is desired to give his opinions on the following questions.

1st. Whether Captain Landais, accused as he is of capital crimes, by his senior and late commanding officer, after having apparently relinquished the command of the Alliance frigate, by withdrawing his effects from the same, after having asked and received money by order of the minister plenipotentiary, in order to transport himself to America, and take his trial there upon the said accusation, and after having for that purpose, in writing, requested a passage to be procured for him, was entitled, at his pleasure, to retake the command of the Alliance (contrary to the positive order of the minister plenipotentiary, whose orders the said Landais was by the navy board instructed to obey,) and to dispossess his successor, the oldest naval officer of the United States in Europe, who had commanded the said frigate near eight months, and brought her to the port where she now is?

2d. Whether the conduct of Captain Landais, at Lorient, in exciting the officers and seamen of the Alliance to deny the authority of Captain Jones, under whose command they had voluntarily come, and remained there, and encouraging the said seamen to make unlawful demands on the minister plenipotentiary for the United States, and to enter into a mutinous combination, not to put to sea with the Alliance till said demands should be complied with, thereby retarding the departure of the said frigate, and of the public stores on board, be not highly culpable?

3d. Whether, after Captain Landais’s late conduct, and the manner in which he has retaken the command of the frigate Alliance, it be consistent with good order, prudence, and the public service, to permit him to retain the direction of her, and of the public stores intended to be sent with her, accused as he is of capital crimes, by his late commodore, and for which, if he arrives in America, he must of course be tried?

ANSWER TO THE QUERIES.

Paris, 26 June, 1780.

I have read over all the papers in the bundle left with me, numbered to thirty-seven. I have also read the three queries stated to me.

These queries I apprehend can legally be answered only by congress, or a court-martial; and, therefore, it would be improper in me to give any answer to them, because the papers will appear before congress or a court-martial, who can judge of them better than I. They will also hear Captain Landais in his defence, which I cannot do. My opinion, therefore, would have no weight either before the one or the other tribunal; or, supposing it to be admitted to be read, and to have any weight, it ought not to be given, because I cannot be legally either a witness or a judge.

I cannot, however, think that the instructions of the navy board to Captain Landais to obey the orders of the minister plenipotentiary, contain authority to remove him, without his consent, from the command of a ship committed to him by congress, because the navy board themselves had not, as I apprehend, such authority.

Since those instructions were given, as I was informed at Boston, congress has given to the navy board power, upon any misbehavior of an officer, to suspend him, stating to congress at the same time a regular charge against him. But I do not find among these papers such authority given to any body in Europe, nor do I find that any regular charge against Captain Landais has been stated to congress.

There has seldom, if ever, been in France a sufficient number of officers at a time to constitute a court-martial, and our code of admiralty laws is so inadequate to the government of frigates for any length of time in Europe, that it is presumed congress will in future either omit to put frigates under any direction in Europe, or make some additions to the laws of the admiralty adapted to such cases. For there is an end of all order, discipline, and decency, when disputes arise, and there is no tribunal to decide them, and when crimes are committed, or alleged, and there is no authority to try or to punish them.

I have not observed among these papers any clear evidence of Captain Landais’s consent to leave the command of the ship; and, therefore, upon the whole, rather than bring the present dispute about the Alliance to any critical and dangerous decision here, where the law is so much at loose, and there can be no legal tribunal to decide, I should think your Excellency would be most likely to be justified in pursuing the mildest measures, by transmitting all the papers and evidence to congress, or the navy board, for a trial by a court-martial, and ordering the commanding officer of the Alliance, with the stores and convoy, as soon as possible to America.

I give this opinion to your Excellency, to make what use of it you think proper.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 26 June, 1780.

Sir,—

The resolutions of congress of the 18th of March, respecting the paper bills, appeared first in Europe, as recited in the act of the assembly of Pennsylvania; they were next published in the English newspapers, as taken from a Boston paper, published by the council; at last the resolutions appeared in the journals of congress.

A great clamor was raised and spread, that the United States had violated their faith, and had declared themselves bankrupts, unable to pay more than two and a half per cent. A gentleman soon after called on me, and told me that the Court was alarmed, and that the Count de Vergennes would be glad to consult me upon the subject. I then received a letter from Boston, acquainting me that the legislature of Massachusetts had adopted the plan. Of this letter I sent an extract immediately to the Count, and waited on him at Versailles, where I had the honor of a long conversation with his Excellency on the subject, and endeavored to convince him of the rectitude of the measure. He desired me to converse with his first secretary, which I did particularly.

His Excellency told me he had written to me on the subject, and that I should receive the letter the next day. On my return from Versailles I received a letter from Mr. Gerry, informing me of the resolutions to pay the loan-office certificates at the value of money at the time when they were issued. I had before told the Count that I was persuaded this was a part of the plan. I sent an extract of this letter also to the Count, without loss of time. The next day I received the letter from his Excellency, a copy of which and of my answer are inclosed. Yesterday, Mr. Trumbull, of Connecticut, favored me with the law of that State respecting this matter, and an estimate of the gradual progress of depreciation. These papers I forthwith transmitted to his Excellency. I am determined to give my sentiments to his Majesty’s ministers whenever they shall see cause to ask them, although it is not within my department, until I shall be forbidden by congress; and to this end I shall go to Court often enough to give them an opportunity to ask them if they wish to know them.

The clamor that has been raised has been so industriously spread, that I cannot but suspect that the motive at bottom has either been a wish to have an opportunity of continuing the profitable speculations which artful men are able to make in a depreciating currency, or else by spreading a diffidence in American credit, to discourage many from engaging in American trade, that the profits of it may still continue to be confined to a few.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 29 June, 1780.

Sir,—

The disputes about the Alliance have been so critical and disagreeable, that congress will pardon me for making a few observations upon our arrangements here.

I apprehend that many of the disputes, delays, and other inconveniences, that have attended our affairs in this kingdom, have arisen from blending the offices of political minister, board of admiralty, chamber of commerce, and commercial agent together. The business of the minister is to negotiate with the Court, to propose and consult upon plans for the conduct of the war, to collect and transmit intelligence from the other parts of Europe, especially concerning the designs and the forces of the enemy. This is business enough for the wisest and most laborious man the United States have in their service, aided by an active, intelligent, and industrious secretary. But, added to all this, our ministers at the Court of Versailles have ever been overloaded with commercial and admiralty business, complicated and perplexed in its nature, and endless in its details. But for this, I am persuaded much more might have been done in the conduct of the war, and the United States might have had more effectual assistance, and France and Spain, too, fewer misfortunes to bewail.

I would, therefore, beg leave to propose to appoint a consul without loss of time to reside at Nantes, and to him consign all vessels from the United States. I think it should be an American, some merchant of known character, abilities, and industry, who would consent to serve his country for moderate emoluments. Such persons are to be found in great numbers in the United States. There are many applications from French gentlemen. But I think that from a want of knowledge of our language, our laws, customs, and even the humors of our people, for even these must be considered, they never would be able to give satisfaction or to do justice. Besides, if it is an honor, a profit, or only an opportunity to travel and see the world for improvement, I think the native Americans have a right to expect it; and further, that the public have a right to expect that whatever advantages are honestly to be made in this way should return sometime or other to America, together with the knowledge and experience gained at the same time.

These consuls, as well as the foreign ministers, should all be instructed to transmit to congress written accounts of the civil and military constitutions of the places where they are, as well as all the advantages for commerce with the whole world, especially with the United States. These letters preserved will be a repository of political and commercial knowledge, that in future times may be a rich treasure to the United States. To these consuls the commercial concerns of the public should be committed and the vessels of war. It will be necessary sometimes to send a frigate to Europe to bring intelligence, to bring passengers, even perhaps to bring commodities or fetch stores. But I hope no frigate will ever again be sent to cruise, or be put under the command of anybody in Europe, consul or minister. They may receive their orders from the navy board in America, and be obliged to obey them. I had a great deal of experience in the government of these frigates, when I had the honor to be one of the ministers plenipotentiary at the Court of Versailles, and afterwards at Nantes, Lorient, and Brest, when I was seeking a passage home. Disputes were perpetually arising between officers and their crews, between captains and their officers, and between the officers of one ship and another. There were never officers enough to compose a court-martial, and nobody had authority to remove or suspend officers without their consent; so that, in short, there was little order, discipline, subordination, or decency.

Another thing; when frigates are under the direction of an authority at a distance of three or four hundred miles, so much time is lost in writing and sending letters and waiting for answers, it has been found an intolerable embarrassment to the service. It is now two years since consuls were expected, and a secretary to this mission. It is a great misfortune to the United States that they have not arrived. Every man can see that it has been a great misfortune, but none can tell how great. There is much reason to believe that if our establishments here had been upon a well-digested plan and completed, and if our affairs had been urged with as much skill and industry as they might in that case have been, that we should at this moment have been blessed with peace, or at least with that tranquillity and security, which would have resulted from a total expulsion of the English from the United States and the West India Islands.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

Paris, 29 June, 1780.

My Dear Sir,—

Mr. Mazzei called on me last evening to let me know he was this morning, at three, to set off on his journey to Italy. He desired me to write you that he has communicated to me the nature of his errand, but that his papers being lost, he waits for a commission and instructions from you; that being limited to five per cent., and more than that being given by the powers of Europe, and, indeed, having been offered by other States, and even by the ministers of congress, he has little hopes of succeeding at so low an interest; that he shall, however, endeavor to prepare the way in Italy for borrowing, and hopes to be useful to Virginia and the United States.

I know nothing of this gentleman, but what I have learned of him here. His great affection for you, Mr. Wythe, Mr. Mason, and other choice spirits in Virginia, recommended him to me. I know not in what light he stands in your part; but here, as far as I have had opportunity to see and hear, he has been useful to us. He kept good company, and a good deal of it. He talks a great deal, and is a zealous defender of our affairs. His variety of languages, and his knowledge of American affairs, gave him advantages, which he did not neglect.

What his success will be in borrowing money, I know not. We are impatient to learn whether Virginia and the other States have adopted the plan of finances recommended by congress on the 18th of March. I think we shall do no great things at borrowing, unless that system or some other, calculated to bring things to some certain and steady standard, succeeds.

Before this reaches you, you will have learned the circumstances of the insurrections in England, which discover so deep and so general a discontent and distress, that no wonder the nation stand gazing at one another in astonishment and horror. To what extremities their confusions will proceed, no man can tell. They seem unable to unite in any principle, and to have no confidence in one another. Thus it is, when truth and virtue are lost. These, surely, are not the people who ought to have absolute authority over us, in all cases whatsoever. This is not the nation which is to bring us to unconditional submission.

The loss of Charleston has given a rude shock to our feelings. I am distressed for our worthy friends in that quarter. But the possession of that town must weaken and perplex the enemy more than us.

By this time you know more than I do, of the destination and the operations of French and Spanish armaments. May they have success, and give us ease and liberty, if the English will not give us peace!

I have the honor to be, with affectionate respect, &c.

John Adams.

TO B. FRANKLIN.

Paris, 29 June, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to inclose a copy of a letter of the Count de Vergennes to me, of the 21st of this month, and a copy of my answer to his Excellency, of the 22d.

This correspondence is upon a subject that has lain much out of the way of my particular pursuits, and, therefore, I may be inaccurate in some things; but, in the principles, I am well persuaded I am right. I hope that things are explained so as to be intelligible, and that there is nothing inconsistent with that decency, which ought in such a case to be observed.

If your Excellency thinks me materially wrong in any thing, I should be much obliged to you to point it out to me, for I am open to conviction.

This affair, in America, is a very tender and dangerous business, and requires all the address, as well as all the firmness of congress, to extricate the country out of the embarrassment arising from it; and there is no possible system, I believe, that could give universal satisfaction to all; but this appears to me to promise to give more general satisfaction than any other that I have ever heard suggested. I have added copies of the whole correspondence.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Versailles, 30 June, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter, which you did me the honor to write me on the 22d instant, on the subject of the resolution of congress, of the 18th of March last. I have already informed you, that it was by no means my intention to analyze this resolution, insofar as it respects the citizens of the United States, nor to examine whether circumstances authorize the arrangement or not. I had but one object in writing to you with the confidence I thought due to your knowledge and your attachment to the alliance, which was to convince you that the French ought not to be confounded with the Americans, and that there would be a manifest injustice in making them sustain the loss with which they are threatened.

The details into which you have thought proper to enter have not changed my sentiments; but I think that all further discussion between us on this subject will be needless, and I content myself to remark to you, that if the King’s council regards the resolution of congress in a false point of view, as you maintain, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, who is on the spot, will not fail to elucidate it; and that if congress on their part shall not adopt the representations, which that minister is charged to make to them, they will undoubtedly communicate to us the reasons upon which they will rest their refusal. Should these be well founded, the King will take them into consideration, his Majesty demanding nothing but the most exact justice. In the opposite case, he will renew his instances to the United States, and will confidently expect from their penetration and wisdom, a decision conformable to his demand. His Majesty is by so much the more persuaded that congress will give their whole attention to this business, that that assembly, to judge by their reiterated assurances of the fact, value differently from yourself, sir, the union which subsists between France and the United States, and that they will assuredly feel that the French may deserve some preference over the other nations, who have no treaty with America, and who have not even as yet acknowledged her Independence.

I have the honor to be, &c.

De Vergennes.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 1 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I had this morning the honor of your letter of the 30th of June.

It is very certain that the representations from his Majesty, which may be made by his minister, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, will be attended to by congress with all possible respect; and its due weight will be given to every fact and argument, that he may adduce; and I am well persuaded, that congress will be able to give such reasons for their final result, as will give entire satisfaction to his Majesty, and remove every color of just complaint from his subjects.

As in my letter of the 22d of last month, I urged such reasons as appeared to me incontestable, to show that the resolution of congress of the 18th of March, connected with the other resolution, to pay the loan office certificates, according to the value of money at the time they were emitted, being a determination to pay the full value of all the bills and certificates, which were out, and the depreciation of both being more the act and fault of their possessors than of government, was neither a violation of the public faith, nor an act of bankruptcy, I have the honor to agree with your Excellency, in opinion, that any further discussion of these questions is unnecessary.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 2 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to inclose a Boston paper of the 1st of May, containing an account of the arrival of the Marquis de Lafayette; an extract of a letter from London; and another from a letter of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, once a member of congress, and a gentleman of very good intelligence. He speaks the French language very well; was, about ten years ago, in Paris, and is a correspondent of Dr. Dubourg.

This letter was brought me by two young gentlemen, natives of Philadelphia, graduates in the university there, of Quaker families, who are students in medicine, and are come to Paris to complete their education in the faculty. They confirm Dr. Rush’s sentiments very fully. Two other gentlemen, just arrived from New England, confirm the same in the Eastern States.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

(Inclosed Extract.)

B. RUSH TO JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 28 April, 1780.

Our affairs wear their usual checkered aspect. Our governments are daily acquiring new strength. Our army, which I saw a few weeks ago at Morristown, has improved greatly in discipline since our former correspondence, in economy and healthiness. The number of our soldiers is small, occasioned not by a decay of military or whiggish spirit among us, but by the want of money to purchase recruits. The new scheme of congress for calling in the circulating money at forty for one will, I believe, be adopted with some alterations by the States. This will, we hope, restore to our counsels and arms the vigor of 1775.

The French alliance is not less dear to the true whigs than independence itself. The Chevalier de la Luzerne has made even the tories forget in some degree, in his liberality and politeness, the mischianzas1 of their British friends. M. Gérard is still dear to the faithful citizens of America. We call him the “republican minister.”

WILLIAM LEE TO JOHN ADAMS.

Brussels, 8 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I have been prevented by indisposition, otherwise should have had the honor of writing to you sooner on a subject which appears to affect the honor of America, of congress, and of its agents in Europe. The copy of General Clinton’s letter that was intercepted, which you sent here to Mr. Jenings, having afterwards appeared in most of the public papers, there was a formal contradiction of its authenticity, first in the Hague Gazette, and inserted in such a manner as to make the world believe that this contradiction came from Sir Joseph Yorke, the English minister. The Leyden Gazette confirmed in some measure this contradiction, in which it was followed by the Courier du Bas-Rhin, though it had before given the letter at length, as having been originally published by order of congress; but, after the intelligence of the surrender of Charleston, this same gazetteer,—namely, the Courier du Bas-Rhin, in No. 51, of 24 June, 1780,—positively states that letter to have been a forgery, and concludes in these injurious terms,—“Done il vaut mieux se bien défendre et se bien battre que de supposer des lettres qui ne peuvent abuser le public qu’un moment.” You must be sensible of the injury it will bring to America and the cause of liberty, if the world is permitted to be impressed with the idea that congress and its agents are base enough to be guilty of such a mean and pitiful conduct as to forge and publish the grossest falsehoods as solid truths.

Mr. Dumas, who is styled by Dr. Franklin and Mr. Deane the American agent at the Hague, and who is actually paid with the money of America, has a particular connection with the editor of the Leyden Gazette, and, I have reason to believe, has a correspondence with the Bas-Rhin; therefore, one would naturally imagine, as it was his duty, he would have taken some measures to prevent such a censure on America, &c. from spreading further than in the same circle in which the Hague Gazette circulates.1 The Bas-Rhin Gazette, as well as that of Berlin, is generally looked on as a Prussian Court gazette, being printed in the capital of the Prussian dominions on the Rhine, and, I have no doubt, if the Prussian minister at Paris was spoken to on the subject, a repetition of such conduct would at least be prevented in the editor of that gazette.

As Don Solano has returned to Cadiz with his squadron, leaving only four ships of the line to convoy the fleet to the West Indies, all my pleasing prospects of peace, from the hopes of the enemy suffering some capital loss there in this campaign, are totally vanished; for on the arrival of Graves and Walsingham, who have been permitted to go unmolested, the superiority of the enemy at sea will be so decided, that France will be fortunate, if she loses no more than those islands she had before taken from the English. Hitherto, Rodney has only shown his superiority in the art of boasting, which is certainly his forte.

The original force, intended to go under M. Ternay, has unhappily been diminished one half; no effectual, offensive operation can be expected from that expedition; and if it is true, as it is reported, that in the fall M. Ternay goes to the West Indies, the progress of the enemy northward, from South Carolina, may be greater, during the fall, winter, and spring, than most people imagine; when, in the course of a campaign or two, the four Eastern States and France may too late repent, one for supporting, and the others for not crushing in the bud the dangerous and alarming designs that began to appear in Philadelphia and congress eighteen months ago; if it is expected that M. Ternay is to render any effectual service to America, it is most clear to me, that he ought to winter in Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia, where, with very great ease, he may be secure against a very superior force, and prevent any attempt of the enemy for enlarging their quarters northward from Carolina. If the Court of Versailles should approve of such a plan, orders accordingly cannot be sent out too soon to M. Ternay; and if the squadron in the West Indies is to be reinforced or relieved, that should be done with clean and fresh ships from Europe.

From this, you will perceive that a speedy peace is not in my view. Indeed, it is not. I know the enemy too well; they will not seriously think of peace (though they will never cease in their attempts to divide and disunite the parties, which, I well know, they are endeavoring at now) while they have the least glimmering of hope left, unless it is on the terms of America again submitting to the British yoke, and France relinquishing the islands she has taken. Such a peace, I presume, will never take place. I am sure it cannot while America continues united.

It is said that young Mr. Laurens was gone from Carolina to congress, and as Mr. Laurens the elder has not yet arrived there seems to be too much reason to apprehend his having met with some unhappy accident at sea.

Adieu.

W. Lee.

THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 11 July, 1780.

The inclosed resolutions and commission will explain themselves;1 and we have only to add a request that, in the event of your not being able to undertake the business to which they point, you will furnish Mr. Dana with the papers, as we have not time to make out or procure other copies for him.

We are, sir, &c.

James Lovell,

William Churchill Houston.

In Committee of Foreign Affairs, 12 July, 1780.

Sir,—

Inclosed you have a description of the bills of exchange, concerning which we have written you. The secret checks accompany it. They are just furnished us by the treasury board, and we are sorry that the paper is so indifferent, but hope it will answer the purpose of information. We are assured the copy is exact. It is, however, necessary to observe that, unless the impression of the bills is very fine and clean, it will be very difficult to discover the whole of the secret checks perfectly.

We are sir, &c.

James Lovell,

William Churchill Houston.

THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 11 July, 1780.

Sir,—

Your letters, one of the 3d and three of the 4th of April, were received in congress yesterday. We are to thank you for the intelligence they contain, and are, sir,

Your very humble servants,

James Lovell,

William Churchill Houston.

1 August, 1780.

P. S. Your various letters by Mr. Izard were this day read, of dates from March 20 to 29. That of the 24th, respecting two points on which you wish for instructions, is committed specially to five.1

J. L.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 13 July, 1780.

Sir,—

By the treaty of alliance of the 6th of February, 1778, his Majesty and the United States agreed, in case of war, to join their counsels and efforts against the enterprises of the common enemy; to make it a common cause, and aid each other mutually with their good offices, their counsels, and their forces, according to the exigencies of conjunctures; and each of the contracting parties, in the manner it may judge most proper, is to make all the efforts in its power against the common enemy.

I have cited these clauses from the treaty, not as foundations of any demand that I have to make, because they are neither proper to support any demand, nor have I authority to make any if they were, but as an apology for the liberty I take of requesting your Excellency’s attention to a few observations upon the present conjuncture of affairs.

It is certain, from the best intelligence from London, as well as from the debates in parliament on the several motions which have been made for a pacification, that the British ministry are inflexibly determined to pursue the war another campaign in America, to send more troops and ships there, if they possibly can obtain them, and to put to the hazard not only the national credit, but their maritime power, and even their political existence, rather than give up their designs of domination over America; and, indeed, this is not at all to be wondered at, that the ministers and the nation who have so far lost their justice, their humanity, and policy, as to deliberately form and pursue the plan of changing the foundations of the laws and government of thirteen Colonies, and reducing them to slavery, and who have pursued this object with such sanguinary fury for so many years, should persist so as to bury themselves in the ruins of the empire rather than to fail of their purpose, when it is plain they consider, and that not without reason, the same ruin in the independence of America and her connection with France.

The conduct of Count de Guichen, on the 17th of April and the 15th and 19th of May, in the West Indies, does great honor to the national bravery as well as to their science in naval tactics, and shows that there is no cause to fear that the enemy will obtain any advantage there. Yet nothing has yet been done on either side that seems decisive.

The advantages which Spain has gained in West Florida, and particularly of late at Mobile, and the probability that she will succeed in acquiring both the Floridas, show that the English are on the losing hand in that quarter; but it is not the loss of both the Floridas nor of all their West India Islands, in my opinion, that will induce them to make peace and acknowledge the independence of America in alliance with France. They will see every possession they have beyond their island lopped off, one after another, before they will do this.

I pretend not to know to what part of America M. de Ternay and M. de Rochambeau are destined; but to whatever part it is, whether Canada, Nova Scotia, New York, Carolina, or Georgia, I have no hopes of any thing decisive from their operations, although they should be instructed to coöperate with General Washington. If they should be destined against Canada or Nova Scotia, they may succeed; but this success will not be decisive. If they are intended against New York, I have no hopes of their success. The naval force is not sufficient to command the seas. Admiral Graves, added to the ships before at New York, will be superior; and I shall venture to give my opinion, that, without a superiority of naval force, clear and indisputable, New York will never be taken. It is so situated, it is so fortified, it is garrisoned with troops so accustomed to war, and so embittered and inflamed by cruel passions carefully nursed up in their breasts by their king and their generals, and it is universally regarded by them a post of such essential importance, that I confess I should despair of success against it with an army twice as numerous as that of the Generals Washington and Rochambeau united, while the English are masters of the seas, or even while they have there an equality of naval power.

Most people in Europe have wondered at the inactivity of the American army for these two years past; but it is merely from want of knowledge or attention. The true cause of it is,—the English have confined themselves to their strong-holds in seaport towns, and have been sheltered from all attacks and insults there by the guns of their men-of-war; and they forever will be so while they have the superiority at sea. If our army had been three times as numerous as it was, it must have remained inactive without a fleet to coöperate with it; for an attack upon New York, without a fleet, would have been only sacrificing the lives of thousands of brave men without a possibility of succeeding.

Had the English two years ago marched into the country from Philadelphia, instead of retreating back with precipitation to New York, Europe would have heard more of the exertions of the American army; so much more, that, in my serious opinion, you would have heard of their total destruction. As it was, they were closely pursued, attacked, and, if not beaten, they had much the worst of the action; for, besides their loss in killed and wounded and in those who perished under the fatigue and heat of the day, not less than five hundred deserted from them; and their desertions would have been multiplied in every unsuccessful engagement within the country.

If in the last year the British army had marched out into the country, instead of remaining under cover of their men-of-war, I am equally clear that they would have been ruined. The English, ever since the alliance, have been fearfully apprehensive of an attack upon their strong-holds upon the coast by the French. This it was that induced them to retreat from Philadelphia to New York, and this has kept them almost wholly confined to that garrison the last year. I mention this, merely to wipe off the imputation said to result from the inactivity of our army since the alliance, by showing the true cause of it; that it proceeds not from any change of sentiments in the Americans, but from the change of the mode of prosecuting the war on the part of our enemies.

I am, however, clearly of opinion, and I know it to be the general sense of America, that the English, both in North America and in the West India Islands, have been for these two years past absolutely in the power of their enemies; and that they are so now, and will continue to be so, in such a degree, that nothing will be wanting but attention to their situation, and a judicious application of the forces of the allies, to accomplish the entire reduction of their power in America. In order to show this, let me beg your Excellency’s attention to a few remarks upon the situation of the English, and upon the method of applying the force of the allies so as to reduce them.

The English are in possession of Canada, a province vastly extensive, and in which there is a great number of posts, at a great distance from each other, necessary to be maintained; among a people, too, who are by no means attached to them, but who would readily afford all the assistance in their power to the united forces of France and the United States, and who would join them in considerable numbers. In this whole province, the English have not, comprehending the garrisons of all their posts, more than four thousand men.

The English are in possession of Nova Scotia; they have in Halifax and the other posts of the province and at Penobscot about three thousand men. But the people of this province, being descendants and emigrants from New England chiefly, are discontented with the British government and desirous of joining the United States. They are in possession of New York Island, Staten Island, and Long Island, where they have in all of regular British troops, perhaps NA thousand men. The militia, volunteers, &c., of whom they make such an ostentatious display in the despatches of their generals and in the gazette of St. James are of very little consideration; their numbers are much exaggerated; it is force, fear, and policy that enroll the greater part of them; there are perhaps fifteen thousand inhabitants of the city. These, together with the army and navy, are fed and supplied with provisions and stores and fuel, and their cattle and horses with forage, brought by sea from Quebec, Halifax, Ireland, and the West Indies, except the small quantity which they draw from Long Island and Staten Island.

They are now in possession of Charleston, in South Carolina, and Savannah, in Georgia. Their armies and navies in these places, as well as the inhabitants, must be chiefly supplied by sea in the same manner. They are still perhaps in possession of St. Augustine, in East Florida, and Pensacola in the west. From these places they have drawn of late years great supplies of lumber and provisions for their West India Islands. The number of troops in Georgia and Carolina may amount to NA thousands. They are in possession of Jamaica, Barbadoes, Antigua, St. Christophers, and St. Lucia, and other islands. These draw supplies of provisions and lumber, &c., from Quebec, Halifax, Pensacola, and Augustine, that is, from the Floridas. The number of troops they have in each island I am not able to ascertain; but certainly they are not strong in any of them; and the climate in the West Indies, and in Georgia and Carolina, is making a rapid consumption of their men.

From this sketch it will be easily seen what a great number of posts they have to sustain; how these are mutually connected with and dependent on each other, and that their existence in all of them depends upon their superiority at sea; and that to carry on the intercourse and communication between these various places, a vast number of transports, provision vessels, and merchant ships are necessary. This is so much the fact, that the English nation has now little navigation left but what is employed in maintaining the communication of these places with one another and with Europe. Here then it is that the English commerce and navy is vulnerable; and this it is which clearly points out to their enemies the only sure and certain way of reducing their power in that quarter of the world; and if it is reduced there, it is brought into a narrow compass everywhere.

The policy and necessity of keeping always a superior fleet both in the West India Islands and on the coast of the continent of North America, is from all this very obvious. The English are so sensible of this, that they dread it as the greatest evil that can befall them. The appearance of the Count d’Estaing upon the coast of North America never failed to throw the English into the utmost terror and consternation.

The appearance of a French fleet upon our coasts has repeatedly compelled, and ever must compel, the English to call off from their cruises all their frigates and other ships, and to assemble them at New York for their security, and the defence of that place. These are among the happy effects of such a measure,—the communication of the United States not only with each other but with the West Indies, with France, and all other parts of Europe with which they have any concern, is immediately opened, and they are thereby easily furnished in all parts with every thing fitting and necessary to carry on the war with the greatest vigor. His Majesty’s fleets and armies will be amply and much more cheaply supplied, and his subjects will reap, in common with the inhabitants of the United States, the benefits of this free commerce. It will give free sea-room to the few frigates belonging to congress and the several States, to cruise for the merchant ships, provision vessels, and transports of the enemy. It gives opportunity also to the privateers to do the same. There are at this day, notwithstanding the dreadful sacrifices made at Charleston and Penobscot, sacrifices the necessity of which would have been entirely prevented by a few ships of the line, the continental frigates, the Confederacy which is arrived at Philadelphia, the Alliance which will soon be there, the Trumbull, the Deane, the Bourbon, and also a ship of fifty-six guns which is nearly ready for sea. The State of Massachusetts has two frigates and several smaller vessels. There are, besides these, now in being, belonging to Newburyport, Beverly, Salem, Marblehead, Portsmouth, Boston, and Rhode Island, about forty privateers. There are several belonging to Philadelphia.

If a French fleet should constantly remain upon that coast, the number of these privateers would be doubled in a very few months. What havoc then must these armed vessels make, especially if a few French frigates should be also ordered to cruise for prizes among the provision vessels, merchant ships, and transports, passing and repassing to and from America and the West India Islands to Europe, and to and from America and the West Indies, and to and from Quebec, Nova Scotia, New York, Charleston, Savannah, and the Floridas. Such depredations have several times been made by our cruisers alone as to reduce the English at New York to very great distress; and it would be very easy in this way to reduce them to such misery as to oblige them to surrender at discretion.

I therefore beg leave to submit it to your Excellency’s consideration, whether there is any possible way that a marine force can be employed against the English, so much to the advantage of France and the disadvantage of England, as in this way; and whether, upon the principles of French interest and policy alone, even without taking into consideration that of the United States, a fleet ought not to be constantly kept in North America. The advantages they will there have in artists, supplies, accommodations, &c., above the English, are obvious.

But the question will arise, where shall they winter? I answer, they can winter with perfect security and advantage either at Boston, Rhode Island, Delaware or Chesapeake Bay.

Another question will arise, whether they should all winter together in one port, or be separated to several ports? I apprehend, however, that it would be most prudent to leave it to the discretion of the commander-in-chief of the squadron to keep the squadron together, or to detach parts of it, according to the exigencies of the service, advising with congress or with the Chevalier de la Luzerne from time to time.

Two ships of the line, with three frigates, stationed at Boston, with orders to cruise occasionally for the protection of French and American trade and the annoyance of the enemy; the same number at Rhode Island, with the same orders; the same number at Delaware River, with similar orders; and a like number in Chesapeake Bay, with like orders; which would make eight ships of the line and twelve frigates, I have a moral certainty, would, in one year, reduce the power of the English in North America to absolute annihilation without striking a blow on land. These ships would make a diversion of an equal force of the English from the West India Islands, so that they would be in that respect as usefully employed for his Majesty there as anywhere. Eight ships of the line and twelve frigates stationed together at Rhode Island, with orders to cruise for the same purposes, would do the same thing.

Which plan would do best, I dare not undertake to say; but, until further informed and instructed by congress, I should think, however, that the best plan would be to station the fleet for the winter either in Delaware or Chesapeake Bay; and as the war has lately turned to the southward, I am inclined to think that Chesapeake Bay would be the most proper.

But, in all events, I beg leave to entreat in the most earnest manner that a powerful fleet may be ordered to winter somewhere in North America. By this means, I think there is a moral certainty the English will be ruined there, whereas, if dependence is had upon the assault and attack of their strongholds, without the most absolute command of the sea, I fear it will end in disappointment and disgrace.

There is the more urgent reason for laying these considerations before your Excellency, because there is a portion of the people in America who wish to return to the domination of Great Britain, many of whom are artful and sensible men. They take notice of every circumstance of the conduct of France, and represent it in such a light as they think will throw a prejudice against the alliance into the minds of the people. They represent the affair of Rhode Island and of Savannah, and some other things, as proofs that the Court of France do not mean to give any effectual aid to America, but only to play off her strength against that of Britain, and thus exhaust both. The refugees in England concur with them in these representations, and the ministry and the members of parliament in their public speeches represent the same thing. Even Mr. Hartley, who is more for peace than any man in that kingdom, in a printed letter to the inhabitants of the county of York, says,—“It is our duty to unravel by negotiation the combination of powers now acting against us;” and he says further, in express words, that “it is apparent to all the world, that France might long ago have put an end to that part of the war which has been most distressing to America, if they had chosen so to do.” He must mean here the war of their frigates and privateers upon our trade. “Let the whole system of France be considered,” says he, “from the beginning down to the late retreat from Savannah, and I think it is impossible to put any other construction upon it but this, namely,—that it has always been the deliberate intention and object of France, for purposes of their own, to encourage the continuation of the war in America, in hopes of exhausting the strength and resources of this country, and of depressing the rising power of America.” This is not only the language of Mr. Hartley, but the general language of newspapers and pamphlets, and, I am well informed, of conversation in England. These are very industriously sent to America through various channels, which cannot be stopped by laws, art, or power.

The body of the people have great confidence in the sincerity of France; but if these contrary opinions should be suffered to gain ground, as they most assuredly will if something is not done to prevent it, when all the world sees and declares as they do, that it is the best policy of France, if she considered her own interest alone in the conduct of the war, to keep a superior naval force upon the coast of the continent of North America, I leave your Excellency to judge what a melancholy effect it will have upon our affairs. There is no event, in my opinion, which would have so direct a tendency to give force and extent to opinions so dangerous to both nations, as the calling off from the continent your naval force during the winter, and not keeping a superiority there through the year. I scruple not to give it as my opinion, that it will disunite, weaken, and distress us more than we should have been disunited, weakened, or distressed, if the alliance had never been made.

The United States of America are a great and powerful people, whatever European statesmen may think of them. If we take into our estimate the numbers and the character of her people, the extent, variety, and fertility of her soil, her commerce, and her skill and materials for ship-building, and her seamen, excepting France, Spain, England, Germany, and Russia, there is not a state in Europe so powerful. Breaking off such a nation as this from the English so suddenly, and uniting it so closely with France, is one of the most extraordinary events that ever happened among mankind. The prejudices of nations in favor of themselves and against all other nations, which spring from self-love, and are often nurtured by policy for unworthy purposes, and which have been ever certainly cultivated by the English with the utmost care in the minds of the Americans, as well as of the people of every other part of their dominions, certainly deserve the attention of the wisest statesmen; and as they are not to be eradicated in a moment, they require to be managed with some delicacy.

It is too often said in France, where the prejudice against the English has not been fostered into so much rancor, because France never had so much to fear from England as England has from France, “that the Americans and the English are the same thing,” not to make it appear that there are some remnants of prejudices against the Americans among the French, and it must be confessed there are some in America against France. It is really astonishing, however, that there are so few, and it is the interest and duty of both to lessen them as fast as possible, and to avoid with the nicest care every colorable cause of reviving any part of them.

I beg your Excellency to excuse this trouble, because the state of things in North America has really become alarming, and this merely for the want of a few French men-of-war upon that coast; and to believe me to be. &c.

John Adams.

DAVID HARTLEY TO JOHN ADAMS.

London, 17 July, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

Inclosed I send you a copy of a conciliatory bill which I moved in parliament on the 27th of the last month.

You will perceive by the tenor of it that it is drawn up in very general terms, containing a general power to treat, with something like a sketch of a line of negotiation. As the bill was not accepted by the ministers in this country, I have nothing further to say relating to it. As to my own private sentiments and endeavors, they always have been, and ever will be, devoted to the restoration of peace upon honorable terms. I shall be always ready, and most desirous to conspire in any measures which may lead to that end.

I am, dear sir, your most obedient servant,

D. Hartley.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 17 July, 1780.

Sir,—

In your Excellency’s letter to me, of the 24th of February last, I was honored with your opinion, in the following words:—

“With regard to the full powers, which authorize you to negotiate a treaty of commerce with the Court of London, I think it will be prudent not to communicate them to anybody whatever, and to take all possible precautions, that the British ministry may not have a premature knowledge of them. You will, surely, of yourself, feel the motives, which induce me to advise you to take this precaution, and it would be needless to explain them.”

1. I should have been very happy if your Excellency had hinted at the reasons, which were then in your mind, because after reflecting upon this subject as maturely as I can, I am not able to collect any reasons, which appear to me sufficient for concealing the nature of my powers in their full extent, from the Court of London. On the contrary, many arguments have occurred to me, which seem to show it to be both the policy of the United States, and my particular duty, to communicate them.

2. Your Excellency will recollect, that my commissions empower me to join with the ministers of the belligerent powers in making peace; to make a treaty of commerce with the ministers of his Britannic Majesty; and to represent the congress as their minister plenipotentiary, at the Court of London. It seems to me then, inconsistent with the design and nature of my appointments, to conceal them from the Court of London.

3. I think, also, that announcing my powers to the Court of London would have a tendency to draw out from them some proofs of their present designs, and it is always important to discover early the intentions of the enemy, that the people may be prepared, both with counsels and forces, to resist them if hostile.

4. The English nation would expect of the ministers, that some answer should be given to me. If it should be an insolent one, as there is too much cause to expect, it will prepare the minds of the Americans, and of the other belligerent powers, for what they are to expect, and it will alarm and arouse, if any thing can, the people of England.

5. At this particular time, when an election approaches, it would throw the ministry into some embarrassment; for the people of England sigh for peace.

6. Another consideration has weight with me; a great part of Europe, as well as the people of England, are amused by the English ministers and their emissaries with reports that there is some secret treaty between France and the United States, by which the former have secured to themselves exclusive privileges in some branches of the American commerce, which misrepresentations, as they are at present an obstruction to peace, would be cleared up by the communication of my powers.

7. There are at present many persons of consideration in England, who have long followed the ministry in the war against America, who begin to see the impracticability of succeeding, and now vote for peace, and will lay hold of every occurrence that favors its accomplishment.

8. At this moment, under the wild impression that the surrender of Charleston has made, it might be improper to make the communication; but upon the news coming of M. de Ternay’s arrival, of Don Solano’s, or both, or upon the receipt of some intelligence, which may take off a part of this impression, I submit it to your Excellency’s consideration, whether it would not be proper to communicate my appointments to Lord George Germaine. It seems to be most proper that it should be done, so that the nation may consider them before the meeting of parliament, and that those who wish for peace may digest their plans accordingly.

9. Notwithstanding the suppression of the late riots, and the consequent temporary relaxation of the committees and associations, the nation is in a most critical situation. Those disturbances were not simply the effect of fanaticism and bigotry, but of deep and general discontent and distress among the people; and although the ministry may at present be confident they have suppressed them forever, they will surely find themselves mistaken if they pursue this war. I know of no measure, that will be more likely to increase the opposition against administration, than communicating my powers. It will at least show all the world, that the continuance of the war and the consequent ruin of England is their own fault, not that of the Americans, who are ready to make peace upon terms honorable and advantageous to Great Britain.

10. I am the more confirmed in those opinions, by the communication your Excellency made to me yesterday, of the message sent by the Court of London to the Court of Madrid. I am convinced, in my own mind, that that message is insidious in the last degree, and that it is intended to answer two ends only; first, to spy out what they can of the political and military plans of Spain; secondly and principally, to amuse France, Spain, and America, too, with false ideas of pacific inclinations, simply in order to slacken and enervate their preparations for the next campaign.

11. Sincere intentions of making peace, upon any terms which France or America can agree to, consistent with subsisting treaties, I am as sure they have not, as I am of their existence. Now I think there is no way of counteracting this insidious policy so honorably and so effectually, as by a frank and decent communication of my full powers. This will necessitate them to come to an explanation of their real intentions concerning America; for there, sir, lies the obstacle to peace; all other questions would be soon arranged, if that was settled.

I hope your Excellency will pardon the long letters I write you, because it is really a voluminous subject we have in contemplation, and mankind in general are little less interested in it, than our particular countries. I shall hope for the honor of your Excellency’s answer upon these subjects; and I remain with great respect and attachment, &c.

John Adams.

TO WILLIAM LEE.

Paris, 20 July, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

Yours of the 8th I received in due course of post. The letter from Clinton arrived first at Lorient, in a Philadelphia newspaper, which had been sent to Mr. Jay. Mr. Wharton, I think, copied it, and sent it to Dr. Franklin, who communicated it soon after it appeared in Boston and other newspapers, without a hint of its want of authenticity. Within a few days past, I have seen a gentleman from America, who says it was a mere jeu d’esprit, written by an officer in the army, upon the North River. I have been all along afraid that our countrymen would at length imitate their enemies in this kind of imposition; and I always thought that, whenever they did, they would be ingenious at it. It must be agreed this is ingeniously done, and conveys a great deal of solid truth and important instruction under this fiction. Yet, I cannot think the ingenuity of it a justification or excuse. We have no need of such aids as political lies. Our character for truth, sincerity, and candor, is more real strength, than ever can be derived from such impostures, however artfully performed. The influence this practice has upon the world, in destroying confidence, and in poisoning the morals of the people, the pure and single source of which is truth, ought to induce us to discountenance the practice by all means. The liberty of the press by no means includes a right of imposing on mankind by such detestable forgeries. I cannot, therefore, think that the reflection you quote from the newspaper was too severe. All that we can do, is to write to congress and beseech them to suppress such practices. The signature of Charles Thomson, hitherto sacred, will no longer be credited, if something is not done to discountenance such abuses.

Don Solano has not returned to Cadiz; but what will be done in the West Indies, time alone can discover. Whether M. de Ternay will go to the West Indies, stay in America, or come to Europe, I know not. I have not contented myself with giving my sentiments of what ought to be done, by word of mouth, but I have stated it in writing, with my reasons at large, to more than one minister, and of all this I shall inform congress in detail, who will see and judge who is right.

You say that a speedy peace is not at present in your view. This is so far from being surprising to me, that I wonder you ever should have had any pleasing prospects of peace, from the enemy’s suffering some capital loss in the West Indies. They are in such a sulky, mulish, suicidical temper, that they would not make peace, if you took every island they have. This is my opinion. The suppression of the riots, committees, associations, correspondences and all, have given ministry more giddy confidence, than even the taking of Charleston. I fear America must reconcile herself to the thought of growing up in the midst of war, and find her resources in labor, patience, and economy, where she may have them in sufficient abundance.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Versailles, 20 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 13th of this month. I feel very sensibly the confidence with which you have reposed in me your ideas on the present situation of the United States, and the need they have of the immediate assistance of some ships of the line and some frigates. The Chevalier de Ternay and the Count de Rochambeau have been sent with the express design which makes the subject of your letter. They will concert their operations with congress and M. Washington. And as the King has given them no precise orders with regard to their return to Europe, but has, on the contrary, left them at liberty to act as they shall judge useful for the relief of the United States, there is every reason to believe that they will take their station during next winter in North America, if that shall be agreeable to congress, and that they will employ the ships and troops under their command, according to the plan that shall be settled between them and the American generals.

You may judge, sir, by this detail, that the King is very far from abandoning the cause of America, and that his Majesty, without having been solicited by congress, has, on the contrary, taken effectual measures to support it. I flatter myself, sir, that proceedings thus generous will be felt in America, and that they will prevail over the falsehoods which the common enemy and his wicked adherents propagate there, in order to make France suspected, and to induce the Americans to take resolutions which would terminate in their slavery and dishonor.

I have the honor to be, &c.

De Vergennes.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 21 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter you did me the honor to write me yesterday, and am extremely sensible of your Excellency’s confidence in communicating to me the destination of the armament under M. de Ternay and the Count de Rochambeau, and the probability that the ships will winter in North America.

I assure your Excellency that scarcely any news I ever heard gave me more satisfaction; and nothing, in my opinion, can afford a more effectual assistance to America, or make a deeper or more grateful impression on the minds of her inhabitants.

I am infinitely mistaken, if the service of the King in the conduct of the war, both in the West Indies and North America, does not derive such essential advantages from this measure as will demonstrate its wisdom to all the world; as well as, to the English and the Americans, the King’s determined benevolence to the American cause.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, 23 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I have been amused some time with dark and unintelligible hints in letters from London, of some messenger sent from Lord North to Madrid.

Three weeks ago I waited on the Count de Vergennes, at Versailles, to acquaint him that I had an intention of making a journey to Amsterdam for a few weeks, as I flattered myself I might form some acquaintances or correspondences there, and collect some intelligence, that might be useful to the United States. His Excellency desired me to wait some time, for that in eight or ten days he believed he should have something to communicate to me. I assured him that I would not go till I saw him again or heard further from him. This day sevennight, his Excellency informed me that he was ready to let me know that a messenger from the Court of London had arrived at Madrid; that the Spanish ministry had demanded the sentiments of the British Court concerning America. He said he was not instructed. He was told he must previously explain himself upon that subject. He determined to send an express to London for instructions. This the Count de Vergennes said would take up two months, and consequently leave me time enough to go to Holland; but if any thing should happen in the meantime he would give me the earliest information of it.

In the Courier de l’Europe of the 14th of July is this paragraph.

“The report runs, that a person who has been secretary of the Marquis d’Almodovar, during his embassy from the Court of Madrid to that of London, arrived here (London) some weeks ago, on board the Milford, coming from Oporto; that after a stay of eight days this frigate had orders to transport to Lisbon this person, accompanied by Mr. Cumberland, Secretary of Lord George Germaine, whose instructions imply that, if at the end of twenty days he is not called to Madrid, he is to return here immediately. As soon as this person arrived at Lisbon, he set out for Madrid, where, fifteen days after, Mr. Cumberland was invited to go, and where he is at present.”

There is a body of people in England who are zealous and clamorous for peace, and the ministry find their account in amusing and silencing them by some equivocal appearances of negotiation. They have ever made it a part of their political system to hold out to America some false hopes of reconciliation and peace, in order to slacken our nerves and retard our preparations. They think also that they can amuse the Courts of France and Spain with a talk about conferences and negotiations, while they are secretly concerting measures to succor Gibraltar and carry on their operations the next campaign. But serious thoughts of peace upon any terms that we can agree to, I am well persuaded they never had; but if they ever did entertain any thoughts of negotiation, it must have been at the time of their consternation for Sir Henry Clinton and their despair of his success.

The total and absolute suppression of the tumults in London, and the triumphant success of Clinton, beyond their most sanguine expectations, have now given them such exultation, and confidence that the people of America will dethrone congress, and, like the Israelites of old, demand a king, that they now think of nothing but unconditional submission, or at least of delusive proffers of terms which they know the majority of the people in America will not agree to, in order to divide us, to make a few gentlemen apostates and some soldiers deserters.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Versailles, 25 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter which you have done me the honor to write to me on the 17th of this month. I have read it with the most serious attention, and in order to give you an answer with greater exactness, I have placed it on the margin of each paragraph which seemed to require observations on my part. You will there see, sir, that I persist in thinking the time to communicate your full powers to Lord Germaine is not yet come, and you will there find the reasons on which I ground my opinion. I have no doubt you will feel the force of them, and that they will determine you to think with me. But if that should not be the case, I pray you, and even require you, in the name of the King, to communicate your letter and my answer to the United States, and to suspend, until you shall receive orders from them, all steps relating to the English ministry. I shall, on my part, transmit my observations to America, in order that M. de la Luzerne may make the members of congress possessed of them; and I dare to believe that that assembly will consider the opinion of the ministry of France worthy of some attention, and that they will not be afraid of going astray or of betraying the interests of the United States, by adopting it as a rule of their conduct.1

I have the honor to be, &c.

De Vergennes.

OBSERVATIONS ON MR. ADAMS’S LETTER OF 17TH JULY, 1780.

(Translation.)

I.2 The reasons, which determined the Count de Vergennes to give Mr. Adams that advice are as plain as they appear absolutely decisive.

1st. To be busy about a treaty of commerce, before peace is established, is like being busy about the ornament of a house before the foundation is laid.

2d. In the situation in which America stands at present with regard to England, to announce to that power that her system of tyranny, her cruelties, and her perfidy are forgotten, is discovering much weakness, or at least much simpleness; it is inviting her to believe that the Americans have an irresistible predilection for her; it is fortifying her in the opinion she entertains, that the American patriots will submit through weariness, or through fear of the preponderating influence of the tories.

3d. To propose a treaty of commerce, which must be founded on confidence, and on a connection equivalent to an alliance, at a time when the war is raging in all its fury, when the Court of London is wishing to ruin or to subjugate America, what is it but to give credit to the opinion which all Europe has ever entertained, conformable to the assertions of the English ministers, that the United States incline towards a defection, and that they will be faithful to their engagements with France, only so long as Great Britain shall furnish no pretext for breaking them?

II. A person may be furnished with plenipotentiary powers, in a certain event, without being under the necessity of publishing them before circumstances permit him to use them. This happens every day. Mr. Adams is charged with three distinct commissions. 1. To take a share in the future negotiations for peace. 2. To conclude a treaty of commerce with Great Britain. 3. To represent the United States at the Court of London. It requires no great effort of genius to show, that these three objects cannot be joined in one act. It requires no more to show that the two last cannot serve as an introduction to the first. It is necessary first of all to obtain from England an acknowledgment of the independence of America, and that this acknowledgment should serve as a foundation for a treaty of peace. Not until after that is obtained, can Mr. Adams talk of a treaty of commerce. To propose one, while the Court of London is flattering itself with the hopes of subduing America, and while with that view it is making the most strenuous efforts, would in the view of that Court be to propose what is chimerical, and would be taking a step which it would hold as a mockery. The case would be the same, were one at this time to talk of a minister plenipotentiary from the United States, appointed to reside at the Court of his Britannic Majesty.

The only powers, therefore, which circumstances have permitted Mr. Adams to announce, are those which authorize him to take a part in the negotiations for peace. The two other powers will have no value until the conclusion of that peace; so that it would be at least useless to produce them at present, and, consequently, Mr. Adams will not act inconsistently with the design and nature of his powers, by concealing them from the Court of London. Although the Count de Vergennes is unacquainted with the tenor of the instructions of Mr. Adams, yet he is persuaded that they are conformable to the foregoing reflections, and that they do not direct him to make an immediate communication of his powers relative to a treaty of commerce, any more than they order him to make a separate peace with Great Britain. This opinion is founded on that which the King’s ministry entertain of the wisdom, prudence, and fidelity of congress.

III. It has been observed, that the English ministry would consider that communication as a mockery; hence it is voluntarily seeking to blind one’s self to suppose, that it will engage them to enter into any conference, or to say any thing more than what is contained in the resolutions of parliament, namely,—that they will listen to the Americans and receive them into favor, when they shall have returned to their former allegiance. Therefore, it would be at least superfluous to draw upon one’s self such an answer, nor can the United States need it, to know the present sentiments of the Court of London, still less, to prepare themselves by counsels and armies to resist it. It is astonishing to talk of preparations of counsels and armies, when the war is raging in all its fury, when it has now lasted six years, and England has not yet made the smallest overture to the Americans, that can authorize them to believe that she would agree to their independence.

IV. The English ministry would either return no answer, or if they did, it would be an insolent one. In case of the latter, why needlessly expose one’s self to insult, and thereby become the laughing-stock of all the nations who have not yet acknowledged the independence of the United States? But there is reason to believe that Mr. Adams would receive no answer, because the British ministry would not think one due to a man who assumes a character, which the Court of London must consider as an insult. It should not be forgotten, that that Court steadily considers the Americans as rebellious subjects. With such an opinion, how could Lord Germaine receive a letter from Mr. Adams, assuming the character of minister plenipotentiary from the United States of North America? How could that minister bear the mention of a treaty of commerce, which can only take place between independent nations? These observations will convince Mr. Adams, that France has no occasion for the expedient which he proposes, to know and to appreciate the sentiments and dispositions of the Court of London, and that we are already perfectly acquainted with what we ought and may expect from it, in the present situation of affairs.

V. The silence or the answer of the English ministry, whichever it might be, will neither alarm nor arouse the people of England. That people, without doubt, desire peace and an accommodation with America. But we have heard as yet only some individuals speak of independence, and these, more from a spirit of contradiction, than from conviction. There never has been a single motion made in parliament tending to grant that independence. Yet the people have friends and protectors in parliament. From this, Mr. Adams may judge of the embarrassment into which the announcing of his powers might throw the ministry.

VI. England, as well as the rest of Europe, is perfectly acquainted with the nature of the engagements, which subsist between France and the United States. The King caused a declaration to be made officially, on the 13th of March, 1778, that he had not secured to himself any exclusive privilege by the treaty of commerce of the 6th of February of the same year, and his Majesty has confirmed that declaration in a writing published by his order. So that the full powers of Mr. Adams will disclose nothing new in this respect, either to England or to the other powers of Europe. Hence the false impression which he thinks the Court of London has in this matter can be no obstacle to a peace. If any such obstacle existed, the English ministry would themselves seek to remove it, if they were determined to make the peace depend thereon.

VII. It is certain that the whole English nation, and even the ministers themselves, wish for peace. But it has already been observed, that there has not been a single motion made in favor of the independence of America. Certainly the full powers of Mr. Adams will not change the present dispositions in that respect, and, consequently, the communication that might be made of them will neither facilitate nor accelerate the conclusion of peace.

VIII. This reflection is very wise. It proves that Mr. Adams himself feels that there are circumstances which place him under a necessity to conceal his powers. The King’s ministry think that such circumstances will continue till the English nation shall show a disposition to acknowledge the independence of the United States. That acknowledgment will not be facilitated by proposing a treaty of commerce. For the English are well persuaded that from this time forward they will have such a treaty with America whenever they shall judge convenient. They have besides, as Mr. Adams has himself mentioned in his letter of the 19th of February last, a full knowledge of his commission, so that the communication of his full powers will teach them nothing new in this respect.

IX. This paragraph has just been answered. There is not an Englishman who is not persuaded that the United States are disposed to grant the advantages of commerce to their ancient metropolis; but to persuade not merely an Englishman, but any thinking being, that by granting independence in exchange for these advantages, the Court of London were making an honorable and advantageous peace, would be a hard task to perform. If this was the real sentiment of the people of England, why have they for these six years past, without murmuring, furnished ruinous contributions in order to subdue America?

X. The English ministry either have sincere intentions of making peace, or they mean only to amuse and penetrate the designs of Spain. In the first case, they will express the conditions on which they desire to treat; they will then be obliged to explain their views and their demands with regard to America. They will assuredly forget nothing which they think will forward peace, and, once agreed upon independence, their first care will be, without doubt, to be placed on an equality with France in regard to commerce. On the contrary, if the English ministry mean only to amuse Spain, to penetrate her designs, and to slacken her preparations for war, Mr. Adams should do the ministry of Madrid the justice to believe that they have sagacity enough to discover all these views, and understanding and prudence sufficient to determine on the conduct they ought to pursue.

XI. If Mr. Adams is as sure as he is of his existence, that the English ministry have no desire to make peace on terms equally agreeable to France and America, to what purpose now communicate to them powers which cannot be made use of until after the peace? How can Mr. Adams persuade himself that the Court of London will be seduced by the bait of a treaty of commerce, while it still manifests an invincible repugnance to acknowledge the independence of America? Whenever it shall be disposed to acknowledge that independence, it will of itself propose the conditions on which it will deem it proper to grant it, and Mr. Adams may rest assured that it will not forget the article of commerce. Then will be the proper time for him to produce his full powers. In the mean time, it is necessary to labor for the establishment of the foundation of the negotiation, namely,—the independence of America,—and that can only be effected by carrying on the war with vigor and success.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, 27 July, 1780.

Sir,—

Since my letter of the 21st, and upon reading over again your Excellency’s letter to me of the 20th, I observed one expression, which I think it my duty to consider more particularly. The expression I have in view, is this, “that the King, without having been solicited by the congress, had taken measures the most efficacious to sustain the American cause.”

Upon this part of your letter, I must entreat your Excellency to recollect, that the congress did as long ago as the year 1776, before Dr. Franklin was sent off for France, instruct him, Mr. Deane, and Mr. Lee, to solicit the King for six ships of the line, and, I have reason to believe that the congress have been, from that moment to this, persuaded that this object has been constantly solicited by their ministers at this court.

In addition to this, I have every personal, as well as public motive to recall to your Excellency’s recollection a letter or memorial, which was presented to your Excellency in the latter end of the month of December, 1778, or the beginning of January, 1779,1 in which a great variety of arguments were adduced to show that it was not only good policy, but absolutely necessary, to send a superiority of naval force to the coasts of the Continent of America. This letter, together with your Excellency’s answer, acknowledging the receipt of it, I transmitted to congress myself, and their journals show that they received them near a year ago; so that congress, I am persuaded, rest in the most perfect security in the persuasion, that every thing has been done by themselves and their servants at this court, to obtain this measure, and that the necessary arrangements of the King’s naval service have hitherto prevented it.

But if it was only suspected by congress, that a direct application from them to the King was expected, I am well assured they would not hesitate a moment to make it. But I am so convinced by experience, of the absolute necessity of more consultations and communications between his Majesty’s ministers and the ministers of congress, that I am determined to omit no opportunity of communicating my sentiments to your Excellency, upon every thing that appears to me of importance to the common cause, in which I can do it with any propriety. And these communications shall be direct in person, or by letter to your Excellency, without the intervention of any third person. And I shall be very happy, and think myself highly honored, to give my poor opinion and advice to his Majesty’s ministers upon any thing that relates to the United States, or the common cause, whenever they shall be asked.

I wish I may be mistaken, but it could answer no good purpose to deceive myself; and I certainly will not disguise my sentiments from your Excellency. I think that Admiral Graves, with the ships before in America, will be able to impede the operations of M. de Ternay, of M. de Rochambeau, and of General Washington, if their plan is to attack New York.

If there should be a naval battle between M. de Ternay and Admiral Graves, the event is uncertain. From the near equality of force, and the equality of bravery and of naval science, which now prevails everywhere, I think we cannot depend upon any thing decisive in such an engagement, unless it be from the particular character of Graves, whom I know personally to be neither a great man, nor a great officer. If there should be no decision in a naval battle, Graves and his fleet must lay at New York, and M. de Ternay and his, at Rhode Island. I readily agree, that this will be a great advantage to the common cause, for the reasons mentioned in my letter to your Excellency, of the 13th of this month. But still I beg leave to suggest to your Excellency, whether it would not be for the good of the common cause to have still further resources in view; whether circumstances may not be such in the West Indies, as to enable M. de Guichen to despatch ships to the reinforcement of M. de Ternay, and whether it may not consist with the King’s service to despatch ships from Europe for that purpose; and, further, whether the Court of Spain cannot be convinced of the policy of keeping open the communication between the United States and the French and Spanish Islands in the West Indies, so as to cooperate with France and the United States in the system of keeping up a constant superiority of naval power, both upon the coast of North America, and in the West India Islands. This is the true plan which is finally to humble the English, and give the combined powers the advantage.

The English, in the course of the last war, derived all their triumphs, both upon the continent of America and the islands, from the succors they received from their colonies. And I am sure that France and Spain, with attention to the subject, may receive assistance in this war, from the same source, equally decisive.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Versailles, 29 July, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 27th of this month. When I took upon myself to give you a mark of my confidence, by informing you of the destination of MM. de Ternay and Rochambeau, I did not expect the animadversion which you have thought it your duty to make on a passage of my letter of the 20th of this month. To avoid any more of the kind, I think it my duty to inform you that, Mr. Franklin being the sole person who has letters of credence to the King from the United States, it is with him only that I ought and can treat of matters which concern them, and particularly of that which is the subject of your observations.

For the rest, sir, I ought to observe to you, that the passage in my letter on which you have thought it your duty to extend your reflections related only to sending the fleet commanded by the Chevalier de Ternay, and had nothing further in view than to convince you that the King did not stand in need of your solicitations to direct his attention to the interests of the United States.

I have the honor to be, &c.

De Vergennes.

THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS TO JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 30 July, 1780.

Sir,—

Since your arrival in Europe I have been favored with your several despatches of the 11th and 16th of December last, the 16th of January, the 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th, 25th, 27th, and 29th of February, the 8th, 18th, 19th, and 23d of March.

It is probable the committee of foreign affairs may have acknowledged the receipt of these despatches, and several duplicates which have also been received.

I presume they have given you particular intelligence of all material occurrences in America since your departure, it being properly in their department, and a business which my present engagements will by no means admit me to undertake in so ample a manner as is necessary or would be agreeable to your wishes. Before this comes to hand, you will doubtless have received the disagreeable intelligence of the capitulation and surrender of Charleston, in which the brave General Lincoln with about two thousand continental troops, officers included, were made prisoners.

On the evening of the 10th instant, the French squadron, under the command of the Chevalier de Ternay, arrived off Newport. The Count de Rochambeau has since landed his troops on Conanicut. Three days after their arrival, Admiral Graves, with a British squadron, arrived at New York, and being joined by the ships there, soon put to sea; and we have just received advice, that Graves with his whole squadron, since their junction, is cruising off Newport. The exact number and strength of his squadron I cannot learn; but it is thought equal, if not superior to Ternay’s.

Without a decisive superiority of naval strength in these seas, we cannot expect to expel the enemy from New York this campaign, where we have been plagued with them long enough.

We have been waiting some time in anxious expectation of intelligence from the West Indies; but by the latest advices from thence nothing capital had been done as late as the 15th instant.

I have the pleasure to inform you that the State of Massachusetts have established their constitution; a desirable and important event.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Samuel Huntington.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 14 August, 1780.

Sir,—

On the 27th of July I set out from Paris on a journey to Amsterdam. I left Mr. Dana and Mr. Thaxter at Paris, who will regularly transmit to congress whatever shall occur of importance to the United States to know. They will also inclose all the English, French, and Dutch gazettes. They are exerting themselves in this republic to man their ships of war, in which they have great success, as they give very great premiums for seamen, as far as sixty ducats a man. The Russian men-of-war are arrived and anchored in sight of the Texel, and several of their officers have been ashore in this city. The plenipotentiaries are gone to Petersburg. Sweden and Denmark have adopted the declaration of Russia. It is whispered that the Dutch ministers to the congress at Petersburg are shackled with instructions to insist on a warranty of their possessions in the East and West Indies, previous to their acceding to the confederation of the maritime powers; but this instruction produced a protest of the city of Amsterdam, with such reasons against it, that it is thought the opposite party will not venture to take upon themselves the consequences of a refusal to join in the confederation; so that it is expected the treaty will take place.

It is universally considered as a great misfortune to us, by all whom I converse with here, that Mr. Laurens is not arrived. Some prudent person, authorized by congress, is earnestly desired here. He would not be publicly received, at least until the States shall take a decided part with the other maritime powers against England; this case, however, may soon happen. But there is not in Europe a better station to collect intelligence from France, Spain, England, Germany, and all the northern parts, nor a better situation from whence to circulate intelligence through all parts of Europe, than this. And it may be depended on, that our cause has never suffered from any thing more than from the failure of giving and receiving intelligence. A minister here from congress would be considered as the centre of communication between America and this and many other parts of Europe; and I have, since my arrival here, been more convinced than ever that congress might open a considerable loan here, and be supplied from hence with stores and with clothing, and at the same time be gradually extending the commerce between this country and America, to the great advantage of both. I have had a great deal of conversation upon the subject of a loan, and shall have more. I am sure that a loan might be obtained by any one, with powers from congress. But there are no powers as yet arrived in Europe that will ever succeed here.

We are still in daily hope and expectation that Mr. Laurens will arrive; but should he decline to come, or in case any accident has befallen him, I most earnestly recommend to congress the appointment of some other gentleman, with a proper commission, with full powers, and especially to borrow money and to sign proper promissory notes for the payment of it.

The King of Sweden is at Spa, from whence in the letter of the 30th of July the public are informed that his Majesty, the first who, during the present maritime war, has given validity to the rights of neuters, by means of the declaration which he caused to be made the last year to the belligerent powers, and by means of the protection which he granted from that time to the commerce and the navigation of his subjects, in sending out from his ports a numerous squadron, has manifested the consistency of his sentiments and disposition in this respect by a new declaration lately made to the Courts of Madrid, Versailles, and London, an authentic copy of which here follows.1

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

DAVID HARTLEY TO JOHN ADAMS.

London, 14 August, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I take the liberty to introduce to your acquaintance my friend and relation, Mr. Samuel Hartley. Some business carries him to Paris, and he is desirous of that opportunity of being made known to you. Give me leave at the same time to tell you, on my own account, that I wish not to lose any occasion of expressing my personal respects to you. I heartily wish, likewise, that any fortunate events might bring us together in the negotiation of public and universal peace. All my political thoughts and views are comprised in that one word,—peace. I understand that it is the object of your appointment, and a most honorable one it is. I heartily wish success to it, and, in my limited situation, I should be happy to assist and to concur in that end. War cannot last forever. I will not therefore despair. Let peace and friendship return hand in hand together.

I am, dear sir, &c.

David Hartley.

TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Amsterdam, 17 August, 1780.

Sir,—

I was never more amused with political speculations, than since my arrival in this country. Every one has his prophecy, and every prophecy is a paradox. One says, America will give France the go-by. Another, that France and Spain will abandon America. A third, that Spain will forsake France and America. A fourth, that America has the interest of all Europe against her. A fifth, that she will become the greatest manufacturing country, and thus ruin Europe. A sixth, that she will become a great military and naval power, and will be very ambitious, and so terrible to Europe. In short, it seems as if they had studied for every impossibility, and agreed to foretell it, as a probable future event.

I tell the first, that if the King of France would release America from her treaty, and England would agree to our independence, on condition we would make an alliance offensive and defensive with her, America ought not to accept it, and would not, because she will in future have no security for peace, even with England, but in her treaty with France. I ask the second, whether he thinks the connection of America of so little consequence to France and Spain, that they would lightly give it up. I ask the third, whether the family compact added to the connection with America, is a trifling consideration to Spain. To the fifth I say, that America will not make manufactures enough for her own consumption these thousand years. And, to the sixth, that we love peace and hate war so much, that we can scarcely keep up an army necessary to defend ourselves against the greatest of evils, and to secure our independence, which is the greatest of blessings; and, therefore, while we have land enough to conquer from the trees and rocks and wild beasts, we shall never go abroad to trouble other nations.

To the fourth I say, that their paradox is like several others,—namely, that Bacchus and Ceres did mischief to mankind, when they invented wine and bread; that arts, sciences, and civilization have been general calamities, &c.—that upon their supposition, all Europe ought to agree to bring away the inhabitants of America, and divide them among the nations of Europe, to be maintained as paupers, leaving America to be overgrown again with trees and bushes, and to become again the habitations of bears and Indians, forbidding all navigation to that quarter of the world in future;—that mankind in general, however, are probably of a different opinion, believing that Columbus, as well as Bacchus and Ceres, did a service to mankind, and that Europe and America will be rich blessings to each other, the one supplying a surplus of manufactures, and the other a surplus of raw materials, the productions of agriculture.

It is very plain, however, that speculation and disputation can do us little service. No facts are believed, but decisive military conquests; no arguments are seriously attended to in Europe, but force. It is to be hoped, our countrymen, instead of amusing themselves any longer with delusive dreams of peace, will bend the whole force of their minds to augment their navy, to find out their own strength and resources, and to depend upon themselves.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO JOHN LUZAC.1

Amsterdam, 5 September, 1780.

Sir,—

Inclosed is an abridgment of a pamphlet published in London last winter.2 I beg your attentive perusal of it, and your candid opinion, whether it would be of service to our cause, which is the cause of mankind, and especially of Europe, to publish it, and in what manner. You will please to return it to me, if you do not make any use of it, because there is not in the world another copy.

It is an abridgment of a real pamphlet. This you may depend on.

Yours respectfully,

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 5 September, 1780.

Sir,—

As eloquence is cultivated with more care in free republics than in other governments, it has been found by constant experience that such republics have produced the greatest purity, copiousness, and perfection of language. It is not to be disputed that the form of government has an influence upon language, and language in its turn influences not only the form of government, but the temper, the sentiments, and manners of the people. The admirable models which have been transmitted through the world, and continued down to these days, so as to form an essential part of the education of mankind from generation to generation, by those two ancient towns, Athens and Rome, would be sufficient, without any other argument, to show the United States the importance to their liberty, prosperity, and glory, of an early attention to the subject of eloquence and language.

Most of the nations of Europe have thought it necessary to establish by public authority institutions for fixing and improving their proper languages. I need not mention the academies in France, Spain, and Italy, their learned labors, nor their great success. But it is very remarkable, that although many learned and ingenious men in England have from age to age projected similar institutions for correcting and improving the English tongue, yet the government have never found time to interpose in any manner; so that to this day there is no grammar nor dictionary extant of the English language which has the least public authority; and it is only very lately, that a tolerable dictionary has been published, even by a private person, and there is not yet a passable grammar enterprised by any individual.

The honor of forming the first public institution for refining, correcting, improving, and ascertaining the English language, I hope is reserved for congress; they have every motive that can possibly influence a public assembly to undertake it. It will have a happy effect upon the union of the States to have a public standard for all persons in every part of the continent to appeal to, both for the signification and pronunciation of the language. The constitutions of all the States in the Union are so democratical that eloquence will become the instrument for recommending men to their fellow-citizens, and the principal means of advancement through the various ranks and offices of society.

In the last century Latin, was the universal language of Europe. Correspondence among the learned, and indeed among merchants and men of business, and the conversation of strangers and travellers, was generally carried on in that dead language. In the present century, Latin has been generally laid aside, and French has been substituted in its place, but has not yet become universally established, and, according to present appearances, it is not probable that it will. English is destined to be in the next and succeeding centuries more generally the language of the world than Latin was in the last or French is in the present age. The reason of this is obvious, because the increasing population in America, and their universal connection and correspondence with all nations will, aided by the influence of England in the world, whether great or small, force their language into general use, in spite of all the obstacles that may be thrown in their way, if any such there should be.

It is not necessary to enlarge further, to show the motives which the people of America have to turn their thoughts early to this subject; they will naturally occur to congress in a much greater detail than I have time to hint at. I would therefore submit to the consideration of congress the expediency and policy of erecting by their authority a society under the name of “the American Academy for refining, improving, and ascertaining the English Language.” The authority of congress is necessary to give such a society reputation, influence, and authority through all the States and with other nations. The number of members of which it shall consist, the manner of appointing those members, whether each State shall have a certain number of members and the power of appointing them, or whether congress shall appoint them, whether after the first appointment the society itself shall fill up vacancies, these and other questions will easily be determined by congress.

It will be necessary that the society should have a library consisting of a complete collection of all writings concerning languages of every sort, ancient and modern. They must have some officers and some other expenses which will make some small funds indispensably necessary. Upon a recommendation from congress, there is no doubt but the legislature of every State in the confederation would readily pass a law making such a society a body politic, enable it to sue and be sued, and to hold an estate, real or personal, of a limited value in that State. I have the honor to submit these hints to the consideration of congress, and to be, &c.

John Adams.

FRANCIS DANA TO JOHN ADAMS.

Hotel Valois, Rue Richelieu, Paris, 8 September, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I had the pleasure of yours of the 30th of last month, on the 4th instant; but my eyes being again in a bad state, and being otherwise unwell, I desired Mr. Thaxter to acknowledge the receipt of it. My first misfortune I have not yet entirely recovered from, nor do I expect to till I shall be able wholly to lay aside both the book and the pen, for a considerable length of time. I had begun upon the business you mentioned some time before your departure, and had made a considerable progress in it, but my eyes have obliged me to stop short of my purpose. This misfortune (without a pun) frequently casts a gloomy shade over my future prospects. ’Tis really the source of much melancholy contemplation, but I will trouble you no more with it.

Mr. Thaxter communicated to you all our intelligence of a public nature; but as this letter will be handed to you by Mr. Austin, who sets off to-morrow evening for Amsterdam, I shall communicate some other parts of Mr.—’s letter to me.

“You doubtless know, that Mr. Cumberland, one of Lord George Germaine’s secretaries, has been here some time. His mission, as well as admission, has given cause to many conjectures. I am not apprehensive that Spain will make a separate peace; but I by no means think it prudent to receive the spies of Britain into their capital, and even into their palaces. There are a great many wheels in our business, and the machine won’t work easily, unless the great wheel be turned by the waters of the Mississippi, which I neither believe, nor wish, will be the case. Success in America would give it motion.”

“My adventurers” (you will understand him here) “are in a most perilous suspense; God grant them a happy deliverance.”

You will want no comments upon these texts. I shall only say, Spain having secured to herself a free commerce with America, hath now nothing to ask of her. Behold the effects of precipitate concession! If a young politician of a young country might presume to give his opinion upon matters of such high importance, he would say, that should America, in the end, feel herself constrained to comply with the claims of Spain, that alone would be the cause of bringing on the extinction of the Spanish dominion, on the east of the great river. As a Spaniard, therefore, he would think it unsafe and highly impolitic to urge the claim, or even to accept of the exclusive right. It is to be hoped, that the late important success of the combined fleets on the commerce of Britain will not only teach them that similar ones are easily to be obtained, but that they are also among the most eligible, as they most effectually distress and disable the common enemy. Such, however, is the force of habit, that he who should urge such policy might be told, you are but of yesterday, and know nothing.

I am happy to learn you spent your time so agreeably in Amsterdam, and find so much good-will to our cause and country; and I lament with you, that our worthy friend has not arrived there. Ministers at the courts you mention would doubtless render the councils and influence of our country more extensive and more independent, but these are things rather to be wished for, than expected.

I am glad to hear you have my form of our constitution; when you have done with it, please to forward it by the first private hand. I have a letter from that worthy character, Judge Sargeant; among other things, he says,—“In the course of our travelling, we have the pleasure to find a remarkable candor in the people with respect to the new form of government, excepting the third article about religion. There will be, as far as we can learn, almost an unanimous vote in favor of it, and more than two thirds in favor of that. This appears to be the case at the northward and southward, and in the middle counties where we have been; and the eastward counties were always in that disposition.” Thus, sir, I hope we shall have cause to rejoice in the candor and good sense of our countrymen, and in seeing them happy under a generous and free form of government.

I am, dear sir,

Francis Dana.

TO DAVID HARTLEY.

Amsterdam, 12 September, 1780.

Sir,—

I am obliged to you for a letter of the 14th of August which was this day delivered me by your friend.

You was not misinformed when you heard that the object of my appointment was peace. Nor do I differ from your opinion, that this appointment was honorable, although I see no prospect at all of ever acting in virtue of it. War will not last forever, it is true; but it will probably last long enough to wear you and me out, and to make room for our sons or grandsons to become the blessed peacemakers.

Peace will never come but in company with faith and honor;1 and when these can be allowed to live together, let friendship join the amiable and venerable choir. Peace seems to be flying away. The new parliament will drive her to the distance of seven years at least, and every year of the continuance of war will add some new humiliation to the demands upon a certain country. So the fates have ordained, and we mortals must submit.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

JOHN LUZAC TO JOHN ADAMS.

Leide, le 14 Septembre, 1780.

Monsieur,—

Je viens d’achever la lecture de la brochure, au sujet de laquelle vous avez bien voulu demander mon avis. La partie du style est excellente. Il me paroit seulement, que dans les huit ou dix premiers feuillets il y a des fautes de langage, faciles à corriger, mais néanmoins trop remarquables. Quant aux choses, elle est fortement pensée; et quoiqu’ne brillante imagination puisse avoir porté l’auteur à orner peut-être un peu trop le tableau des effets de la révolution Americaine, je suis convaincu pourtant, que le fond de ses idées est très vrai, et que ses principes ne méritent pas moins l’attention des philanthropes que ses vues sur l’avenir. Ainsi je pense qu’elle mérite à tous égards d’être rendue publique par l’impression, et que cette publication ne peut qu’inspirer des sentimens favorables aux intérêts de l’Amérique.

Je ne saurois néanmoins vous dissimuler un petit scrupule que j’ai à ce sujet. L’auteur trace avec un pinceau vigoureux la révolution que l’indépendance de l’Amérique opérera dans le système commercial de l’Europe. Mais en faisant ce tableau il peint la Russie dépouillée de son commerce exclusif du bois de construction, et des autres munitions navales; la Suéde de celui du fer; la Hollande de son cabotage et de son monopole d’épiceries, etc. Je crains que cette perspective n’effarouche les esprits. L’auteur tâche ensuite, il est vrai, de prouver que cette concurrence, cette liberté générale, cette réduction de toutes les nations à un niveau commun, seroient un bien; que la possession de colonies lointaines est un mal; que l’avantage d’un commerce exclusif n’est qu’un préjugé, etc. Mais, monsieur, ces préjugés sont trop profondément enracinés pour qu’ils n’opèrent pas encore en ce moment, Moi-même, en plaidant la cause de l’Amérique, et en soutenant que l’Europe étoit interessée à son indépendance, j’ai vingt fois rencontré cette objection de la part de personnes sensées et instruites. “Oui, mais si l’Amérique devient libre, elle fera un jour la loi à l’Europe. Elle nous enlèvera nos îles, et nos colonies de la Guyane; elle s’emparera de toutes les Antilles; elle engloutira le Mexique, le Pérou même, le Chili et le Brésil; elle nous enlèvera notre commerce de fret; elle payera ses bienfaiteurs d’ingratitude etc.” J’y ai toujours répondu dans les mêmes principes que notre auteur; mais je n’en suis pas moins resté persuadé, que cette jalousie influe ici sur beaucoup d’esprits; et quiconque connoît the selfishness, qui malheureusement ne fait que trop la base de la politique, pourra craindre, qu’elle n’ait aussi son effet chez les puissances du nord.

Il seroit néanmoins dommage qu’on touchât à la brochure en la châtrant; mais il me semble, qu’on pourroit dans une préface jeter un voile sur ces vérités trop nues et dont certains yeux pourroient s’offenser. Si vous le souhaitez, monsieur, je me chargerai bien volontiers du poste d’éditeur; et je trouverai aisément un libraire. Mais dans ce cas, s’il se pouvoit, je serois charmé d’avoir aussi entre les mains la brochure originale.

Je demande pardon de ne vous pas renvoyer encore les Gazettes de Pensylvanie. Il nous en est venu quelques autres d’un autre côté; et comme notre feuille ne peut tout contenir à la fois, je me propose d’en faire successivement usage d’une maniére, qui, à ce que je me flatte, ne vous sera pas désagréable. Vous en verrez quelques échantillons dans les feuilles ci-jointes, ainsi que le commencement de la traduction de l’adresse de la convention de Massachusetts Bay.

Je vous prie, &c. &c.

J. Luzac.

TO JOHN LUZAC.

Amsterdam, 15 September, 1780.

Sir,—

I have just now received yours of the 14th, and I wish I had time to write you a sheet or two on the subject of it. I am very glad to find you will undertake to be the editor; and I beg the favor of you to place such a preface as you like, and to correct the language whenever it has occasion. I hope to see it public as soon as possible.

I have met often in Europe with the same species of reasoners that you describe; but I find they are not numerous. Among men of reflection the sentiment is generally different, and that no power in Europe has any thing to fear from America. The principal interest of America for many centuries to come will be landed, and her chief occupation agriculture. Manufactures and commerce will be but secondary objects, and always subservient to the other. America will be the country to produce raw materials for manufactures; but Europe will be the country of manufactures, and the commerce of America can never increase but in a certain proportion to the growth of its agriculture, until its whole territory of land is filled up with inhabitants, which will not be in some hundreds of years.

Russia and the northern powers are too well informed to fear that America will interfere with them in the articles of their commerce. America will demand of them in hemp, duck, cordage, sailcloth, linens, and other articles, more than they will ever interfere with them in the trade of tar, iron, and timber. In fact, the Atlantic is so long and difficult a navigation, that the Americans will never be able to afford to carry to the European market great quantities of these articles. They have other productions of greater profit in a smaller compass, in such numbers and variety, that they never can interfere with the northern powers. As to iron, we shall import it in bars from Sweden as we ever did. We used to import Swedish iron from England.

But, supposing we should interfere, should we interfere less under the government of England than under our own government?

I have not the original “Memorial to the sovereigns of Europe,” but I can get it from London.

The question to your antagonists should be, can Europe prevent the independence of America? If united, perhaps they might; but can they be united? If Europe cannot prevent, or rather, if any particular nations of Europe cannot prevent the independence of America, then, the sooner her independence is acknowledged, the better; the less likely she will be to become warlike, enterprising, and ambitious. The truth is, however, that America can never unite in any war but a defensive one.

I have been much obliged to you for your favorable representation of the news from America and of our affairs in general.

And am, with great respect and esteem, &c. &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 16 September, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to send by this opportunity a few pamphlets and papers. The pamphlets relate to subjects which interest the United States, and therefore ought to be communicated to congress for their consideration.

The attention of mankind is now turned, next to the congress of America, upon that at Petersburg. The last letters from London say that they have information, that one of the first measures of this confederation will be an acknowledgment of American independence. Whether this is true or not, I am not able to say. The councils of the sovereigns of Europe are not easily penetrated; but it is our duty to attend to them, and throw into view such information as may be in our power, that they may take no measures inconsistent with their and our interests for want of light, a misfortune that may easily happen. In this view, I could wish that the United States had a minister at each of the maritime courts,—I mean Holland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark,—and, as the Cabinet of Berlin has much influence in the politics of Europe, Prussia. I say this upon supposition that congress can devise means of defraying the expense, which to be sure amounts to a large sum.

I have heard that Mr. Searle has arrived at Brest, but am not informed of his destination, nor whether he has despatches for me. I am anxious to learn from congress what their intentions may be respecting me. I have as yet received no authority to draw upon any fund whatsoever for my subsistence, nor to borrow money for that or any other purpose. I see no prospect of my commission being of any utility. Although many persons here think that peace will be made in the course of the ensuing winter or spring, yet I must confess I am of a different opinion. The idea, that France will dictate the conditions of peace, if it is made now, cannot be borne by Englishmen as yet; they are not yet sufficiently humbled, although probably every year will add some fresh humiliation to the demands upon their country. The English privateers have taken some Russian vessels loaded with hemp and iron, which must bring the question to a legal decision. The admiralty will probably discharge them, and the ministry will give up the point of free ships free goods, provided the Dutch agree with the northern powers; for they will not venture upon a war with all the world at once. Besides the military force, which they could not stand against, they would not be able to obtain any stores for their navy.

But the great question now is, whether the Dutch will agree. Their deputies are instructed to insist upon a warranty of their East and West India dominions. Whether the northern powers will agree to this condition, is a question. The states-general, however, are sitting, and will wait for despatches from Petersburg, and will probably be much governed by events. What events have happened in the West Indies and North America we shall soon learn.

Digby has sailed with a part of Geary’s late fleet, whether for another expedition to Gibraltar, or whether for the West Indies or North America, is unknown. The success of these operations will probably influence much the deliberations both at Petersburg and the Hague. This, time only can discover. It is said, however, that M. Le Texier will be exempted by the States-general from the payment of duties upon his masts, hemp, iron, and other naval stores that he is sending over land to the French marine. The capture of fifty-five ships at once, so much wealth, so many seamen and soldiers, and such quantities of stores, is a severe stroke to the English, and cannot but have the most excellent effects for us, both in the West Indies and North America. The right vein is now opened, and I hope that the Courts of France and Spain will now be in earnest in convoying their own commerce, and cruising for that of their enemies. This is a short, easy, and infallible method of humbling the English, preventing the effusion of an ocean of blood, and bringing the war to a conclusion. In this policy, I hope our countrymen will join, with the utmost alacrity. Privateering is as well understood by them as by any people whatsoever; and it is by cutting off supplies, not by attacks, sieges, or assaults, that I expect deliverance from our enemies. And I should be wanting in my duty, if I did not warn them against any relaxation of their exertions, by sea or land, from a fond expectation of peace. They will deceive themselves, if they depend upon it. Never, never will the English make peace, while they have an army in North America.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 19 September, 1780.

Sir,—

The day before yesterday Mr. Dana arrived here from Paris with the despatches which came by Mr. Searle.

I am very sensible of the honor that is done me by this appointment,1 and yesterday morning I set myself seriously about discharging the duties of it; and this day I have been some leagues into the country upon the same service. There are good reasons for concealing the names of the gentlemen to whom I have applied for advice and assistance, but they are such as congress, I think, would have approved, if they had themselves been here.

I was told very candidly that I might possibly be much mis, taken in my information; that possibly I might think that money was more plenty here than it is, that America had more friends than she has, and that the difficulty of negotiating a loan here was less than it is; that it was mysterious that congress should empower any gentleman to negotiate a loan, without, at the same time, empowering the same or some other to negotiate a political treaty of alliance and commerce, consistent with the treaties already made with other powers; that a minister plenipotentiary here would be advised to apply directly to the prince and the states-general; that he would not be affronted or ill-treated by either, and, whether received publicly or not, would be courted by many respectable individuals, and would greatly facilitate a loan.

I was, however, encouraged to hope that I might have some small success, and was advised to a particular course in order to obtain it, that cannot as yet be communicated. I must, however, apprize congress that there are many delicate questions which it becomes my duty to determine in a short time, and perhaps none of more difficulty than what house shall be applied to or employed. I have no affections or aversions to influence me in the choice; and shall not depend upon my own judgment alone, without the advice of such persons as congress will one day know to be respectable. But offence will probably be taken, let the choice fall upon whom it may, by several other houses that have pretensions and undoubted merit. As this may occasion censure and complaints, I only ask of congress not to judge of those complaints without hearing my reasons, and this request, I presume, I need not make. I have only to add, that the moment Mr. Laurens shall arrive, or any other gentleman vested with the same commission, I will render him every service in my power, and communicate to him every information I may possess.

But I ought not to conclude without giving my opinion, that it is absolutely necessary that Mr. Laurens, or whoever comes in his place, should have a commission of minister-plenipotentiary. If that gentleman was now here with such a commission, it would have more influence than perhaps anybody in America can imagine upon the conduct of this republic, upon the congress at Petersburg, and upon the success of Mr. Jay at Madrid.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.1

TO M. VAN VOLLENHOVEN.

22 September, 1780.

A stranger having particular occasion to speak with the broker who, some time since, negotiated in this city a loan of money for the city of Dantzic, begs the favor of M. Van Vollenhoven to communicate his name and place of abode, in writing, to the bearer.

(Reply on a Slip of Paper.)

Hendrik Van Blomberg, op de blomgragt.

FROM M. VAN BLOMBERG.

Amsterdam, 25 September, 1780.

Sir,—

Messrs. Van Vollenhoven, notwithstanding all the credit they have for the United States of North America, cannot accept of the commission which you have done them the honor to propose, for reasons that their branch of commerce being fixed to the Baltic, they cannot well extend it so far as North America.

I have the honor to be, &c.

H. V. Blomberg.

FROM M. VAN BLOMBERG.

Amsterdam, 26 September, 1780.

Sir,—

I waited yesterday for a second time on Messrs. Van Vollenhoven, after the receipt of your favor. The affair in question is too extended to decide by letters, for which reason I beg the favor of you to do me the honor to call on me this evening at six o’clock, when I shall have a person with me, with whom we can speak in confidence.

I am, with great regard, sir, &c.

H. V. Blomberg.

FROM M. MYLIUS.

Amsterdam, 29 September, 1780.

M. Mylius’s compliments to the Honorable Mr. Adams. Whereas M. Van Blomberg is out of the city and doth not return before Monday next, and hath ordered his clerk to bring any word which might come from you, sir, to me, so I did take the liberty to open your billet for M. Van Blomberg, and saw thereby that you desired another evening’s conversation in company only with me, for which honor I am much obliged to you; whereupon, I can say that I think it will be next Tuesday evening, the time nearer to be appointed.

And for the yearly paying off of 10 per cent., as is stipulated, and which shall be prolonged or continued again for ten years,

And in case there might be more negotiated than the prolongation of 10 per cent., then the expenses of that greater part are as above, 5 per cent.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN ADAMS.

Passy, 2 October, 1780.

Sir,—

By all our late advices from America, the hopes you expressed, that our countrymen, instead of amusing themselves any longer with delusive dreams of peace, would bend the whole force of their minds to find out their own strength and resources, and to depend upon themselves, are actually accomplished. All the accounts I have seen, agree that the spirit of our people was never higher than at present, nor their exertions more vigorous.

Inclosed I send you extracts of some letters from two French officers, a colonel and lieutenant-colonel in the army of M. de Rochambeau, which are the more pleasing, as they not only give a good character of our troops, but show the good understanding that subsists between them and those of our allies. I hope we shall soon hear of something decisive performed by their joint operations, for your observation is just, that speculations and disputations do us little service. Our credit and weight in Europe depend more on what we do than on what we say; and I have long been humiliated with the idea of our running about from court to court begging for money and friendship, which are the more withheld the more eagerly they are solicited, and would perhaps have been offered, if they had not been asked. The supposed necessity is our only excuse. The proverb says, “God helps them that help themselves,” and the world, too, in this sense, is very godly.

As the English papers have pretended to intelligence, that our troops disagree, perhaps it would not be amiss to get these extracts inserted in the Amsterdam Gazette.

With great respect, I have the honor to be, sir,

Your Excellency’s most obedient and most humble servant,

B. Franklin.

TO M. DUMAS.

Amsterdam, 4 October, 1780.

Sir,—

I have just received your favor of the 3d, and thank you for the early information of the arrival of the courier from the plenipotentiaries of this republic at Petersburg. I hope that this republic will agree, without delay, to the armed neutrality; but I should be glad to see a copy of the despatches, if possible, or at least as exact an account of their substance as may be. I should be glad also to learn, whether the object of the congress is simply to form a plan for supporting each other and making a common cause in defence of those principles only which the three northern powers have already adopted, or whether they have in contemplation a more extensive regulation of maritime affairs.

I do not see how this congress can have a peace between the belligerent powers for its object, when the parties who compose it have already so positively declared for a neutrality. I wish with all my heart that another republic had a minister at the congress, or at least at the Court of Petersburg. Neither the cause nor the country of America are understood in any part of Europe, which gives opportunity to the English to represent things as they choose. Onesta è sempre la causa di colui che parla solo.

I do not expect peace so soon as next spring. And I should dread the interposition of the congress at Petersburg in the business. They understand not the subject. It is impossible they should. America is not represented there, and cannot be heard. If they should take into consideration the affair of peace. I should be apprehensive of some recommendations to save the pride, or what they would call the dignity of England, which would be more dangerous and pernicious to America than a continuance of the war. I do not dread a continuance of war; I should dread a truce ten times more.

If all the powers at the congress at Petersburg would agree together to acknowledge American independency, or agree to open a free commerce with America and admit her merchant ships and vessels of war into their ports, like those of the other belligerent powers, this I think would be just. Indeed, that perfect neutrality which they profess, requires it. Refusing admittance to the American flag while they admit that of England, is so far from a neutrality, that it is taking a decided part in favor of England and against one of the belligerent powers; a power, too, which in point of numbers, wealth, industry, capacity, military, and naval power, as well as commerce, is quite as respectable as several of those which are or will be represented in the congress at Petersburg.

I have the honor to be, &c. &c.

John Adams.

TWENTY-SIX LETTERS UPON INTERESTING SUBJECTS RESPECTING THE REVOLUTION OF AMERICA, WRITTEN IN HOLLAND, IN THE YEAR MDCCLXXX

The following is the account of the composition of these letters, as given by Mr. Adams.

“At dinner one day, with a large company, at the house of a great capitalist, I met the giant of the law in Amsterdam, Mr. Calkoen. He was very inquisitive concerning the affairs of America, and asked me many ingenious questions. But he had spent his life in such ardent study of his institutes, codes, novelles, and pandects, with his immensely voluminous comments upon them, that he had neglected entirely the English language, and was very inexpert in the French. Interpreters were, therefore, necessary; but conversation that requires interpreters on both sides, is a very dull amusement. Though his questions were always ready, and my answers not less so, yet the interpretation was very slow and confused. After some time, one of the gentlemen asked me if I had any objection to answering Mr. Calkoen’s questions in writing. I answered, none at all. It was soon agreed, that the questions and answers should be written. Accordingly, in a few days, Mr. Calkoen sent me his questions in Dutch, Mr. Le Roy, now of New York, was obliging enough to translate them for me into English, and I wrote an answer to each question in a separate letter. They gave so much satisfaction to Mr. Calkoen, that he composed, from the information contained in them, a comparison between the revolt of the low countries from Spain, and the Revolution of the United States of America, in which his conclusion was, that as it was a kind of miracle that the former succeeded, it would be a greater miracle still if the latter should not. This composition was read by him to a society of gentlemen of letters, about forty in number, who met at stated times in Amsterdam; and by that means, just sentiments of American affairs began to spread, and prevail over the continual misrepresentations of English and Stadtholderian gazettes, pamphlets, and newspapers.

“The publications of General Howe and General Burgoyne, in vindication of themselves, were procured to be translated into French, and propagated, together with many other pamphlets, which assisted in the same design, and contributed to excite the citizens to those applications, by petition to the regencies of the several cities, which finally procured the acknowledgment of American independency, the treaty of commerce, and a loan of money.”

These letters were collected and printed in London, in 1786, by Mr. Adams, but not published. They were reprinted in 1789, in New York, and published with the title here prefixed, by John Fenno, and they also make a part of the volume published in Boston, in 1809, under the title, Correspondence of the late President Adams.

TO MR. CALKOEN.

Amsterdam, 4 October, 1780.

Sir,—

You desire an exact and authentic information of the present situation of American affairs, with a previous concise account of their course before, during, and after the commencement of hostilities.

To give a stranger an adequate idea of the rise and progress of the dispute between Great Britain and America would require much time and many volumes; it comprises the history of England and the United States of America for twenty years; that of France and Spain for five or six; and that of all the maritime powers of Europe for two or three. Suffice it to say, that immediately upon the conquest of Canada from the French in the year 1759, Great Britain seemed to be seized with a jealousy against the Colonies, and then concerted the plan of changing their forms of government, of restraining their trade within narrower bounds, and raising a revenue within them by authority of parliament, for the avowed or pretended purpose of protecting, securing, and defending them. Accordingly, in the year 1760, orders were sent from the board of trade in England to the custom-house officers in America, to apply to the supreme courts of justice for writs of assistance to enable them to carry into a more rigorous execution certain acts of parliament called the acts of trade (among which the famous act of navigation was one, the fruit of the ancient English jealousy of Holland) by breaking open houses, ships, or cellars, chests, stores, and magazines, to search for uncustomed goods. In most of the Colonies these writs were refused. In the Massachusetts Bay the question, whether such writs were legal and constitutional, was solemnly and repeatedly argued before the supreme court by the most learned counsel in the Province.

The judges of this court held their commissions during the pleasure of the governor and council; and the chief justice dying at this time, the famous Mr. Hutchinson was appointed, probably with a view of deciding this cause in favor of the crown, which was accordingly done. But the arguments advanced upon that occasion by the bar and the bench, opened to the people such a view of the designs of the British government against their liberties and of the danger they were in, as made a deep impression upon the public, which never wore out.

From this moment, every measure of the British court and parliament and of the king’s governors and other servants confirmed the people in an opinion of a settled design to overturn those constitutions under which their ancestors had emigrated from the old world, and with infinite toil, danger, and expense, planted a new one. It would be endless to enumerate all the acts of parliament and measures of government; but, in 1764, Mr. George Grenville moved a number of resolutions in parliament, which passed, for laying a vast number of heavy duties upon stamped paper; and, in 1765, the act of parliament was made, called the stamp act. Upon this, there was a universal rising of the people in every Colony, compelling the stamp-officers by force to resign, and preventing the stamped papers from being used, and, indeed, compelling the courts of justice to proceed in business without them. My Lord Rockingham perceiving the impossibility of executing this statute, moved, by the help of Mr. Pitt, for the repeal of it, and obtained it, which restored peace, order, and harmony to America; which would have continued to this hour, if the evil genius of Great Britain had not prompted her to revive the resistance of the people by fresh attempts upon their liberties and new acts of parliament imposing taxes upon them.

In 1767 they passed another act of parliament laying duties upon glass, paper, and painters’ colors, and tea. This revived the discontents in America; but government sent over a board of commissioners to oversee the execution of this act of parliament and all others imposing duties, with a multitude of new officers for the same purpose; and, in 1768, for the first time, it sent four thousand regular troops to Boston, to protect the revenue officers in the collection of the duties.

Loth to commence hostilities, the people had recourse to nonimportation agreements and a variety of other measures, which, in 1770, induced parliament to repeal all the duties upon glass, paper, and painters’ colors, but left the duty upon tea unrepealed. This produced an association not to drink tea. In 1770, the animosity between the inhabitants of Boston and the king’s troops grew so high, that a party of the troops fired upon a crowd of people in the streets, killing five or six and wounding some others. This raised such a spirit among the inhabitants, that, in a body, they demanded the instant removal of the troops; which was done, the governor ordering them down to Castle Island, some miles from the town.

In 1773, the British government, determined to carry into execution the duty upon tea, empowered the East India Company to export it to America. They sent some cargoes to Boston, some to New York, some to Philadelphia, and some to Charleston. The inhabitants of New York and Philadelphia sent the ships back to London, and they sailed up the Thames, to proclaim to all the nation, that New York and Pennsylvania would not be enslaved. The inhabitants of Charleston unloaded it and stored it in cellars where it could not be used, and where it finally perished. The inhabitants of Boston tried every measure to send the ships back, like New York and Philadelphia; but not being permitted to pass the castle, the tea was all thrown into the sea.

This produced several vindictive acts of parliament,—one for starving the town of Boston by shutting up the port; another for abolishing the constitution of the Province by destroying their charter; another for sending persons to England to be tried for treason, &c.

These acts produced the congress of 1774, who stated the rights and grievances of the Colonies, and petitioned for redress. Their petitions and remonstrances were all neglected, and treated with contempt. General Gage had been sent over with an army to enforce the Boston port bill and the act for destroying the charter. This army, on the 19th of April, 1775, commenced hostilities at Lexington, which have been continued to this day.

You see, sir, by this most imperfect and hasty sketch, that this war is already twenty years old. And I can truly say, that the people, through the whole course of this long period, have been growing constantly every year more and more unanimous and determined to resist the designs of Great Britain.

I should be ashamed to lay before a gentleman of Mr. Calkoen’s abilities so rude a sketch, if I had not an equal confidence in his candor and discretion, which will induce me, as I may have leisure, to continue to sketch a few observations upon your questions.

5 October.

Your first proposition is, “to prove, by striking facts, that an implacable hatred and aversion reigns throughout America.”

In answer to this, I beg leave to say, that the Americans are animated by higher principles, and better and stronger motives, than hatred and aversion. They universally aspire after a free trade with all the commercial world, instead of that mean monopoly, in which they were shackled by Great Britain, to the disgrace and mortification of America, and to the injury of all the rest of Europe; to whom it seems as if God and nature intended that so great a magazine of productions, the raw materials of manufactures, so great a source of commerce, and so rich a nursery of seamen, as America is, should be open. They despise, sir, they disdain the idea of being again monopolized by any one nation whatsoever; and this contempt is at least as powerful a motive of action as any hatred whatsoever.

Moreover, sir, they consider themselves contending for the purest principles of liberty, civil and religious; for those forms of government, under the faith of which their country was planted; and for those great improvements of them, which have been made by their new constitutions. They consider themselves not only as contending for these great blessings, but against the greatest evils that any country ever suffered; for they know, if they were to be deceived by England, to break their union among themselves, and their faith with their allies, they would ever after be in the power of England, who would bring them into the most abject submission to the government of a parliament the most corrupted in the world, in which they would have no voice nor influence, at three thousand miles distance from them.

But if hatred must come into consideration, I know not how to prove their hatred better, than by showing the provocations they have had to hatred.

If tearing up from the foundation those forms of government under which they were born and educated, and thrived and prospered, to the infinite emolument of England; if imposing taxes upon them, or endeavoring to do it, for twenty years, without their consent; if commencing hostilities upon them, burning their towns, butchering their people, deliberately starving prisoners, ravishing their women, exciting hosts of Indians to butcher and scalp them, and purchasing Germans to destroy them, and hiring negro servants to murder their masters;—if all these, and many other things as bad, are not provocations enough to hatred, I would request Mr. Calkoen to tell me what is or can be. All these horrors the English have practised in every part of America, from Boston to Savannah.

2. Your second proposition is “to show that this is general, at least so general, that the tories are in so small a number, and of such little force, that they are counted as nothing.”

If Mr. Calkoen would believe me, I could testify as a witness; I could describe all the sources, all the grounds, springs, principles, and motives to toryism through the continent. This would lead me into great length; and the result of all would be, my sincere opinion, that the tories throughout the whole continent do not amount to the twentieth part of the people. I will not, however, obtrude my testimony, nor my opinion; I will appeal to witnesses who cannot be suspected, General Burgoyne and General Howe. Burgoyne has published a Narrative of his Proceedings, in which he speaks of the tories. I left the pamphlet at Paris, but it may easily be had from London.

General Howe has also published a Narrative relative to his Conduct in America, to which the reader is referred.1

I have quoted to you General Howe’s words; and one would think this was sufficient to show how much or how little zeal there is for the British cause in North America. When we consider that, in the period here mentioned, the English army had been in possession of the cities of Boston, Newport, New York, and Philadelphia, and that they had marched through the Jersies, part of Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and with all their arts, bribes, threats, and flatteries, which General Howe calls their efforts and exertions, they were able to obtain so few recruits, and very few of these Americans, I think that any impartial man must be convinced that the aversion and antipathy to the British cause is very general; so general, that the tories are to be accounted but a very little thing.

The addresses which they have obtained to the King and his generals, when their army was in Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Savannah, and Charleston, show the same thing. It is well known that every art of flattery and of terror was always used to obtain subscribers to these addresses. Yet the miserable numbers they have obtained, and the still more despicable character of most of these small numbers, show that the British cause is held in very low esteem. Even in Charleston, the capital of a Province which contains two hundred thousand whites, they were able to obtain only two hundred and ten subscribers, and among these there is not one name that I ever remember to have heard before.

I am sorry I have not Burgoyne’s Narrative, which shows in the same point of light the resources the English are likely to find in the tories to be nothing more than a sure means of getting rid of a great number of their guineas.

To learn the present state of America, it is sufficient to read the public papers. The present state of Great Britain and its dependencies may be learned the same way. The omnipotence of the British parliament, and the omnipotence of the British navy, are like to go the same way.

6 October.

Your third proposition is “to show that America, notwithstanding the war, daily increases in strength and force.”

It is an undoubted fact that America daily increases in strength and force; but it may not be so easy to prove this to the satisfaction of a European who has never been across the Atlantic; however, some things may be brought into consideration, which may convince, if properly attended to.

1. It may be argued from the experience of former wars, during all which the population of that country was so far from being diminished or even kept at a stand, that it was always found at the end of a war that the numbers of people had increased during the course of it, nearly in the same ratio as in time of peace. Even in the last French war, which lasted from 1755 to 1763 (during which time the then American Colonies made as great exertions, had in the field as great a number of men, and put themselves to as great an expense in proportion to the numbers of people, as the United States have done during this war) it was found that the population had increased nearly as fast as in times of peace.

2. If you make inquiry into the circumstances of the different parts of America at this day, you find the people in all the States pushing their settlements out into the wilderness upon the frontiers, cutting down the woods, and subduing new lands with as much eagerness and rapidity as they used to do in former times of war or peace. This spreading of the people into the wilderness is a decisive proof of the increasing population.

3. The only certain way of determining the ratio of the increase of population is, by authentic numerations of the people and regular official returns. This has, I believe, never been done generally in former wars, and has been generally omitted in this. Yet some States have made these returns. The Massachusetts Bay, for example, had a valuation about the year 1773 or 1774, and again the last year, 1779, they had another. In this period of five years, that State was found to have increased, both in number of people and in value of property, more than it ever had grown before in the same period of time. Now the Massachusetts Bay has had a greater number of men employed in the war, both by land and sea, in proportion to the numbers of her inhabitants, than any other State of the thirteen. She has had more men killed, taken prisoners, and died of sickness, than any other State; yet her growth has been as rapid as ever, from whence it may be fairly argued that all the other States have grown in the same or a greater proportion.

4. It has been found by calculations, that America has doubled her numbers, even by natural generation alone, upon an average, about once in eighteen years. This war has now lasted near six years; in the course of it, we commonly compute in America that we have lost by sickness and the sword and captivity about five-and-thirty thousand men. But the numbers of people have not increased less than seven hundred and fifty thousand souls, which give at least an hundred thousand fighting men. We have not less, probably, than seventy thousand fighting men in America more than we had on the day that hostilities were first commenced, on the 19th of April, 1775. There are near twenty thousand fighting men added to the numbers in America every year. Is this the case with our enemy, Great Britain? Which then can maintain the war the longest?

5. If America increases in numbers, she certainly increases in strength. But her strength increases in other respects,—the discipline of her armies increases; the skill of her officers increases by sea and land; her skill in military manufactures, such as those of saltpetre, powder, firearms, cannon, increases; her skill in manufactures of flax and wool for the first necessity increases; her manufactures of salt also increase; and all these are augmentations of strength and force to maintain her independence. Further, her commerce increases every year,—the number of vessels she has had this year in the trade to the West Indies; the number of vessels arrived in Spain, France, Holland, and Sweden, show that her trade is greatly increased this year.

But, above all, her activity, skill, bravery, and success in privateering increase every year; the prizes she has made from the English this year will defray more than one half of the whole expense of this year’s war. I only submit to your consideration a few hints which will enable you to satisfy yourself by reflection how fast the strength and force of America increase.

7 October.

Your fourth question is,—“Whether America, in and of itself, by means of purchasing or exchanging the productions of the several provinces, would be able to continue the war for six, eight, or ten years, even if they were entirely deprived of the trade with Europe; or their allies, exhausted by the war, and forced to make a separate peace, were to leave them?”

This is an extreme case. And where is the necessity of putting such a supposition? Is there the least appearance of France or Spain being exhausted by the war? Are not their resources much greater than those of England, separated as she is from America? Why should a suspicion be entertained that France or Spain will make a separate peace? Are not these powers sufficiently interested in separating America from England? All the world knows that their maritime power and the possession of their Colonies depend upon separating them. Such chimeras as these are artfully propagated by the English to terrify stockjobbers; but thinking men and well-informed men know that France and Spain have the most pressing motives to persevere in the war. Besides, infractions so infamous of solemn treaties made and avowed to all mankind are not committed by any nation. In short, no man who knows any thing of the real wealth and power of England on one hand, and of the power and resources of France, Spain, and America on the other, can believe it possible, in the ordinary course of human events, and without the interposition of miracles, that France and Spain should be so exhausted by the war as to be forced to make a separate peace.

The other supposition here made is equally extreme. It is in the nature of things impossible that America should ever be deprived entirely of the trade of Europe. In opposition to one extreme, I have a right to advance another. And I say, that if all the maritime powers of Europe were to unite their navies to block up the American ports and prevent the trade of Europe, they could not wholly prevent it. All the men-of-war in Europe would not be sufficient to block up a seacoast of two thousand miles in extent, varied as that of America is by such an innumerable multitude of ports, bays, harbors, rivers, creeks, inlets, and islands; with a coast so tempestuous, that there are many occasions in the course of the year when merchant vessels can push out and in, although men-of-war cannot cruise. It should be remembered that this war was maintained by America for three years before France took any part in it. During all that time, the English had fifty men-of-war upon that coast, which is a greater number than they ever will have again; yet all their vigilance was not sufficient to prevent American trade with Europe. At the worst time we ever saw, one vessel in three went and came safe. At present, there is not one in four taken. It should also be remembered, that the French navy have never, until this year, been many days together upon the American coast. So that we have in a sense maintained the trade of the continent five years against all that the English navy could do, and it has been growing every year.

Why then should we put cases that we know can never happen? However, I can inform you that the case was often put before this war broke out; and I have heard the common farmers in America reasoning upon these cases seven years ago. I have heard them say, if Great Britain could build a wall of brass a thousand feet high all along the seacoast, at low-water mark, we can live and be happy. America is, most undoubtedly, capable of being the most independent country upon earth. It produces every thing for the necessity, comfort, and conveniency of life, and many of the luxuries too. So that, if there were an eternal separation between Europe and America, the inhabitants of America would not only live but multiply, and, for what I know, be wiser, better, and happier than they will be as it is.

That it would be unpleasant and burthensome to America to continue the war for eight or ten years is certain. But will it not be unpleasant and burthensome to Great Britain too? There are between three and four millions of people in America. The kingdom of Sweden, that of Denmark, and even the republic of the United Provinces, have not each of them many more than that number; yet these States can maintain large standing armies even in time of peace, and maintain the expenses of courts and governments much more costly than the government of America. What then should hinder America from maintaining an army sufficient to defend her altars and her firesides? The Americans are as active, as industrious, and as capable as other men.

America could undoubtedly maintain a regular army of twenty thousand men forever. And a regular army of twenty thousand men would be sufficient to keep all the land forces, that Great Britain can send there, confined to the seaport towns, under cover of the guns of their men-of-war. Whenever the British army shall attempt to penetrate far into the country, the regular American army will be joined by such reinforcements from the militia, as will ruin the British force. By desertions, by fatigue, by sickness, and by the sword, in occasional skirmishes, their numbers will be wasted, and the miserable remains of them Burgoyned.

V.

9 October.

The fifth inquiry is, “Whether a voluntary revolt of any one or more of the States in the American confederation is to be apprehended: and if one or more were to revolt, whether the others would not be able to defend themselves?”

This is a very judicious and material question. I conceive that the answer to it is easy and decisive. There is not the least danger of a voluntary revolt of any one State in the Union. It is difficult to prove a negative, however; and still more difficult to prove a future negative. Let us, however, consider the subject a little.

Which State is the most likely to revolt, or submit? Is it the most ancient Colony, as Virginia, or the Massachusetts? Is it the most numerous and powerful, as Virginia, Massachusetts, or Pennsylvania? I believe nobody will say, that any one of these great States will take the lead in a revolt or a voluntary submission.

Will it be the smallest and weakest States that will be most likely to give up voluntarily? In order to satisfy ourselves of this, let us consider what has happened; and by the knowledge of what is passed, we may judge of what is to come.

The three smallest States are Rhode Island, Georgia, and Delaware.

The English have plainly had it in view to bring one of these States to a submission, and have accordingly directed very great forces against them.

Let us begin with Rhode Island. In the latter end of the year 1776, General Howe sent a large army of near seven thousand men, by sea, under a strong convoy of men-of-war, detached by Lord Howe, to take possession of Newport, the capital of Rhode Island. Newport stands upon an island. It was neither fortified nor garrisoned sufficiently to defend itself against so powerful a fleet and army, and, therefore, the English made themselves masters of the place. But what advantage did they derive from it? Did the Colony of Rhode Island, small as it is, submit? So far from it, that they were rendered the more eager to resist; and an army was assembled at Providence, which confined the English to the prison of Rhode Island, until the fall of the year 1779, when they were obliged to evacuate it, and our army entered it in triumph.

The next little State which the English attempted, was Delaware. This State consists of three counties only, situated upon the river Delaware, below Philadelphia, and is the most exposed to the English men-of-war of any of the States, because they are open to invasion not only upon the ocean, but all along the river Delaware. It contains not more than thirty thousand souls. When the English got possession of Philadelphia, and had the command of the whole navigation of the Delaware, these people were more in the power of the English than any part of America ever was, and the English generals, admirals, commissioners, and all the tories, used all their arts to seduce this little State, but they could not succeed; they never could get the appearance of a government erected under the King’s authority. The people continued their delegation in congress, and continued to elect their governors, senate, and assemblies, under their new constitution, and to furnish their quota to the continental army, and their proportion to the militia, until the English were obliged to evacuate Philadelphia. There are besides, in this little State, from various causes, more tories, in proportion, than in any other. And as this State stood immovable, I think we have no reason to fear a voluntary submission of any other.

The next small State that was attempted was Georgia. This State is situated at the southern extremity of all, and at such a distance from all the rest, and such difficulties of communication, being above an hundred miles from Charleston, in South Carolina, that it was impossible for the neighboring States to afford them any assistance. The English invaded this little State, and took the capital, Savannah, and have held it to this day; but this acquisition has not been followed by any submission of the province; on the contrary, they continue their delegation in congress, and their new officers of government. This Province, moreover, was more immediately the child of England than any other; the settlement of it cost England more than all the rest, from whence one might expect they would have more friends here than any where.

New Jersey is one of the middling-sized States. New Jersey had a large British army in Philadelphia, which is on one side, and another in New York, which is on the other side, and the British army has marched quite through it; and the English have used every policy of flattery, of terror, and severity, but all in vain, and worse than in vain; all has conspired to make the people of New Jersey some of the most determined against the English, and some of the most brave and skilful to resist them.

New York, before the commencement of hostilities, was supposed to be the most lukewarm of the middling States, in the opposition to the designs of the English. The English armies have invaded it from Canada and from the ocean, and have long been in possession of three islands, New York Island, Long Island, and Staten Island; yet the rest of that Province has stood immovable, through all the varieties of the fortune of war, for four years, and increases in zeal and unanimity every year.

I think, therefore, there is not even a possibility, that any one of the thirteen States should ever voluntarily revolt or submit.

The efforts and exertions of General Howe in New York, Long Island, Staten Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, to obtain recruits; the vast expense that he put his master to in appointing new corps of officers, even general officers; the pains they took to enlist men, among all the stragglers in those countries, and among many thousands of prisoners which they then had in their hands; all these measures obtaining but three thousand six hundred men, and very few of these Americans, according to General Howe’s own account, shows, I think, to a demonstration, that no voluntary revolt or submission is ever to be apprehended.

But even supposing that Rhode Island should submit, what could this small colony of fifty thousand souls do, in the midst of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire?

Supposing Delaware, thirty thousand souls, should submit, what influence could it have upon the great States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, among which it lies?

If Georgia, at the extremity of all, should submit, what influence could this little society of thirty thousand souls have upon the two Carolinas and Virginia? The Colonies are at such vast distances from one another, and the country is so fortified every where, by rivers, mountains, and forests, that the conquest or submission of one part has no influence upon the rest.

10 October.

The sixth task is to show, “that no person in America is of so much influence, power, or credit, that his death, or corruption by English money, could be of any namable consequence.”

This question is very natural for a stranger to ask; but it would not occur to a native American, who had passed all his life in his own country; and upon hearing it proposed, he could only smile.

It should be considered, that there are in America no kings, princes, or nobles; no popes, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, or other ecclesiastical dignitaries. They are these, and such like lofty subordinations, which place great bodies of men in a state of dependence upon one, which enable one or a few individuals, in Europe, to carry away after them large numbers, wherever they may think fit to go. There are no hereditary offices, or titles, in families; nor even any great estates that descend in a right line to the eldest sons. All estates of intestates are distributed among all the children; so that there are no individuals nor families who have, either from office, title, or fortune, any extensive power or influence. We are all equal in America, in a political view, and as much alike as Lycurgus’s haycocks. All public offices and employments are bestowed by the free choice of the people, and at present, through the whole continent, are in the hands of those gentlemen who have distinguished themselves the most by their counsels, exertions, and sufferings, in the contest with Great Britain. If there ever was a war, that could be called the people’s war, it is this of America against Great Britain; it having been determined on by the people, and pursued by the people in every step of its progress.

But who is it in America that has credit to carry over to the side of Great Britain any numbers of men? General Howe tells us that he employed Mr. Delancey, Mr. Cortland Skinner, Mr. Chalmers, and Mr. Galloway, the most influential men they could find; and he tells you their ridiculous success.

Are they members of congress who, by being corrupted, would carry votes in congress in favor of the English? I can tell you of a truth there has not been one motion made in congress, since the declaration of independency, on the fourth of July, 1776, for a reconciliation with Great Britain; and there is not one man in America of sufficient authority or credit to make a motion in congress for a peace with Great Britain, upon any terms short of independence, without ruining his character forever. If a delegate from any one of the thirteen States were to make a motion for peace upon any conditions short of independency, that delegate would be recalled with indignation by his constituents as soon as they should know it. The English have artfully represented in Europe that congress have been governed by particular gentlemen; but you may depend upon it it is false. At one time the English would have made it believed that Mr. Randolph, the first President of Congress, was its soul. Mr. Randolph died, and congress proceeded as well as ever. At another time, Mr. Hancock was all and all. Mr. Hancock left the congress, and has scarcely been there for three years; yet congress has proceeded with as much wisdom, honor, and fortitude as ever. At another time, the English represented that Mr. Dickinson was the ruler of America. Mr. Dickinson opposed openly, and upon principle, the declaration of independency; but, instead of carrying his point, his constituents differed with him so materially that they recalled him from congress, and he was absent for some years; yet congress proceeded with no less constancy; and Mr. Dickinson lately, finding all America unalterably fixed in the system of independency, has fallen in like a good citizen, and now supports it in congress with as much zeal as others. At another time, the English have been known to believe that Dr. Franklin was the essential member of congress; but Dr. Franklin was sent to France in 1776, and has been there ever since; yet congress has been as active and as capable as before. At another time, Mr. Samuel Adams was represented as the man who did every thing; yet Mr. Samuel Adams has been absent for the greatest part of three years, attending his duty as Secretary of State in the Massachusetts Bay; yet it does not appear that Mr. Adams’s absence has weakened the deliberations of congress in the least. Nay, they have sometimes been silly enough to represent your humble servant, Mr. John Adams, as an essential member of congress; it is now, however, three years since congress did him the honor to send him to Europe, as a Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of Versailles, and he has never been in congress since; yet congress have done better since he came away than they ever did before.

In short, sir, all these pretences are the most ridiculous imaginable. The American cause stands upon the essential, unalterable character of the whole body of the people; upon their prejudices, passions, habits, and principles, which they derived from their ancestors, their education, drew in with their mothers’ milk, and have been confirmed in by the whole course of their lives; and the characters whom they have made conspicuous, by placing them in their public employments,

• Are but bubbles on the sea of matter borne;
• They rise, they break, and to that sea return.

The same reasoning is applicable to all the governors, lieutenant-governors, secretaries of state, judges, senators, and representatives of particular states. They are all eligible, and elected every year by the body of the people; and would lose their characters and influence the instant they should depart, in their public conduct, from the political system that the people are determined to support.

But are there any officers of the army who could carry over large numbers of people? The influence of these officers is confined to the army; they have very little among the citizens. But if we consider the constitution of that army, we shall see that it is impossible that any officer could carry with him any numbers, even of soldiers. These officers are not appointed by a king, or a prince, nor by General Washington; they can hardly be said to be appointed by congress. They have all commissions from congress, it is true; but they are named and recommended, and are generally appointed, by the executive branch of government in the particular State to which they belong, except the general officers, who are appointed by congress. The continental army consists of the quotas of officers and troops furnished by thirteen different States. If an officer of the Massachusetts Bay forces, for example, should go over to the enemy, he might, possibly, carry with him half a dozen soldiers belonging to that State; yet I even doubt, whether any officer whatever, who should desert from that State, could persuade so many as half a dozen soldiers to go with him.

Is it necessary to put the supposition, that General Washington should be corrupted? Is it possible, that so fair a fame as Washington’s should be exchanged for gold or for crowns? A character so false, so cruel, so blood-thirsty, so detestable as that of Monk might betray a trust; but a character so just, so humane, so fair, so open, honorable, and amiable as Washington’s, never can be stained with so foul a reproach.

Yet I am fully of opinion, that even if Mr. Washington should go over to the English, which I know to be impossible, he would find none or very few officers or soldiers to go with him. He would become the contempt and execration of his own army as well as of all the rest of mankind.

No, sir! the American cause is in no danger from the defection of any individual. Nothing short of an entire alteration in the sentiments of the whole body of the people can make any material change in the councils or in the conduct of the arms of the United States; and I am very sure that Great Britain has not power or art sufficient to change essentially the temper, the feelings, and the opinions of between three and four millions of people at three thousand miles distance, supported as they are by powerful allies.

If such a change could ever have been made, it would have been seven years ago, when offices, employments, and power in America were in the hands of the King. But every ray of royal authority has been extinguished now between four and five years, and all civil and military authority is in hands determined to resist Great Britain to the last.

VII.

Your seventh inquiry is,—“Whether the common people in America are not inclined, nor would be able to find sufficient means to frustrate by force the good intentions of the skilful politicians?”

In answer to this, it is sufficient to say, that the commonalty have no need to have recourse to force to oppose the intentions of the skilful; because the law and the constitution authorize the common people to choose governors and magistrates every year; so that they have it constantly in their power to leave out any politician, however skilful, whose principles, opinions, or systems they do not approve.

The difference, however, in that country, is not so great as it is in some others, between the common people and the gentlemen; for noblemen they have none. There is no country where the common people, I mean the tradesmen, the husbandmen, and the laboring people, have such advantages of education as in that; and it may be truly said, that their education, their understanding, and their knowledge are as nearly equal as their birth, fortune, dignities, and titles.

It is therefore certain, that whenever the common people shall determine upon peace or submission, it will be done. But of this there is no danger. The common people are the most unanimously determined against Great Britain of any; it is the war of the common people; it was undertaken by them, and has been, and will be supported by them.

The people of that country often rose in large bodies against the measures of government while it was in the hands of the King. But there has been no example of this sort under the new constitutions, excepting one, which is mentioned in General Howe’s Narrative, in the back part of North Carolina. This was owing to causes so particular, that it rather serves to show the strength of the American cause in that State than the contrary.

About the year 1772, under the government of Tryon, who has since made himself so obnoxious to all America, there were some warm disputes in North Carolina concerning some of the internal regulations of that Province; and a small number of people in the back parts rose in arms, under the name of Regulators, against the government. Governor Tryon marched at the head of some troops drawn from the militia, gave battle to the regulators, defeated them, hanged some of their ringleaders, and published proclamations against many others. These people were all treated as having been in rebellion, and they were left to solicit pardon of the Crown. This established in the minds of those regulators such a hatred towards the rest of their fellow-citizens, that in 1775, when the war broke out, they would not join with them. The King has since promised them pardon for their former treasons, upon condition that they commit fresh ones against their country. In 1777, in conjunction with a number of Scotch Highlanders, they rose; and Governor Caswell marched against them, gave them battle, and defeated them. This year they have risen again, and been again defeated. But these people are so few in number, there is so much apparent malice and revenge, instead of any principle, in their disaffection, that any one who knows any thing of the human heart will see that, instead of finally weakening the American cause in North Carolina, it will only serve to give a keenness and an obstinacy to those who support it.

Nothing, indeed, can show the unanimity of the people throughout America in a stronger light than this,—that the British army has been able to procure so few recruits, to excite so few insurrections and disturbances. Nay, although the freedom of the press and the freedom of speech are carried to as great lengths in that country as in any under the sun, there has never been a hint in a newspaper, or even in a handbill, nor a single speech or vote in any assembly, that I have heard of, for submission, or even for reconciliation.

VIII.

16 October.

The eighth inquiry is,—“What England properly ought to do to force America to submission, and preserve her in it? How much time, money, and how many vessels would be wanted for that purpose?”

I assure you, sir, I am as much at a loss to inform you in this particular as Lord George Germaine would be. I can fix upon no number of men, nor any sum of money, nor any number of ships that I think would be sufficient. But most certainly no number of ships or men which Great Britain now has, or ever can have, nor any sum of money that she will ever be able to command, will be sufficient.

If it were in the power of Great Britain to send a hundred thousand men to America, and they had men-of-war and transports enough to convey them there in safety amidst the dangers that await them from French, Spanish, and American men-of-war, they might possibly get possession of two or three provinces, and place so many garrisons in various parts as to prevent the people from exercising the functions of government under their new constitutions; and they might set up a sham appearance of a civil government under the King; but I do not believe that a hundred thousand men could gain and preserve them the civil government of any three States in the Confederation. The States are at such distances from one another, there are such difficulties in passing from one to another by land, and such a multitude of posts are necessary to be garrisoned and provided in order to command any one Colony, that an army of a hundred thousand men would soon find itself consumed in getting and keeping possession of one or two States. But it would require the armies of Semiramis to command and preserve them all.

Such is the nature of that country, and such the character of the people, that if the English were to send ever so many ships, and ever so many troops, they never would subdue all the Americans. Numbers, in every State, would fly to the mountains, and beyond the mountains, and there maintain a constant war against the English. In short, if the English could conquer America, which they never can, nor any one State in it, it would cost them a standing army of an hundred thousand men to preserve their conquest; for it is in vain for them ever to think of any other government’s taking place again under the King of England, but a military government.

As to the number of ships, it must be in proportion to the number of troops; they must have transports enough to carry their troops, and men-of-war enough to convoy them through their numerous French, Spanish, and American enemies upon the seas.

As to the sums of money, you will easily see, that adding two hundred millions more to the two hundred millions they already owe, would not procure and maintain so many ships and troops.

It is very certain the English can never send any great numbers more of troops to America. The men are not to be had; the money is not to be had; the seamen, and even the transports, are not to be had.

I give this to Mr. Calkoen as my private opinion concerning the question he asks. As Mr. Calkoen observes, this is a question that had better not be publicly answered; but time will show the answer here given is right. It would, at present, be thought extravagance or enthusiasm. Mr. Adams only requests Mr. Calkoen to look over this letter a few years hence, and then say what his opinion of it is. Victories gained by the English, in taking seaport towns, or in open field fighting, will make no difference in my answer to this question. Victories gained by the English will conquer themselves sooner than the Americans. Fighting will not fail, in the end, to turn to the advantage of America, although the English may gain an advantage in this or that particular engagement.

IX.

The ninth question is, “how strong the English land force is in America? How strong it was at the beginning? And whether it increases or diminishes?”

According to the estimates laid before parliament, the army under General Howe, General Carleton, and General Burgoyne, amounts to fifty-five thousand men, besides volunteers, refugees, tories, in short, all the recruits raised in Canada, and all other parts of America, under whatever denomination. If we suppose that all these, in Canada and elsewhere, amounted to five thousand men, the whole, according to this computation, amounted to sixty thousand land forces.

This estimate, however, must have been made from the number of regiments, and must have supposed them all to be full.

General Howe, himself, however, in his Narrative, page 45, tells us, that his whole force, at the time when he landed on Long Island, in 1776, amounted to twenty thousand one hundred and twenty-one rank and file, of which one thousand six hundred and seventy-seven were sick.

By a regular return of General Burgoyne’s army, after its captivity in 1777, it amounted, in Canadians, Provincials, British and German troops, to upwards of ten thousand men. We may suppose, that four thousand men were left in Canada for the garrison of Quebec, Montreal, and the great number of other posts in that Province. To these numbers if we add the officers, we may fairly allow the whole land force at that time to be forty thousand combatants.

This is all the answer that I am able to give from memory to the question “How strong the British army was?”

In order to give an answer to the other,—“How strong it is?”—let us consider—

1. There has been no large reinforcement ever sent to America since that time. They have sent some troops every year; but these never amounted to more than recruits, and, probably, rather fall short of filling up the vacancies which were made in the course of the year by desertion and death, by sickness and by the sword; so that, upon the whole, I think it may be safely said, that the army never has been greater than it was in 1776.

But we must deduct from this ten thousand men taken with Burgoyne, one thousand Hessians taken at Trenton and Princeton, and indeed many more, taken by two or three hundred at a time, upon other occasions.

In the next place, we must deduct, I suppose, about ten thousand more sent since the French war to Jamaica, St. Lucia, Barbadoes, and the other West India Islands.

So that, upon the whole, I think we make an ample allowance, if we state the whole number now in New York, Carolina, and Georgia, including all refugees, &c., at twenty thousand men, officers included.

This is, in part, an answer to the question, “Whether their force increases or diminishes?” But it should be further considered that there is a constant and rapid consumption of their men. Many die of sickness, numbers desert, there have been frequent skirmishes, in which they have ever had more men killed and wounded than the Americans; and now, so many of their troops are in Carolina and Georgia, where the climate is unhealthy, that there is great reason to expect the greatest part of that army will die of disease. And whoever considers the efforts the English have made in Germany, Ireland, Scotland, and England, as well as America, for seven years successively, to raise men, the vast bounties they have offered, and the few they have obtained; whoever considers the numbers they must lose this year by the severity of duty and by sickness, in New York, Carolina, Georgia, and the West India Islands, and the numbers that have been taken going to Quebec, North America, the East and West Indies, will be convinced that all the efforts they can make, will not enable them for the future to keep their numbers good.

X.

The tenth head of inquiry is, “How great is the force of America? The number of men? Their discipline, &c., from the commencement of the troubles? Is there a good supply of warlike stores? Are these to be found partly or entirely in America? Or must they be imported?”

The force of America consists of a regular army, and of a militia; the regular army has been various at different times. The first regular army, which was formed in April, 1775, was enlisted for six months only; the next was enlisted for one year; the next for three years; the last period expired last February. At each of these periods, between the expiration of a term of enlistment, and the formation of a new army, the English have given themselves airs of triumph, and have done some brilliant exploits. In the winter of 1775-6, indeed, they were in Boston; and although our army, after the expiration of the first period of enlistment for six months, was reduced to a small number, yet the English were not in a condition to attempt any thing. In the winter of 1776-7, after the expiration of the second term of enlistment, and before the new army was brought together, the English marched through the Jersies. After the expiration of the last term of enlistment, which was for three years, and ended last January or February, the English went to their old exultations again, and undertook the expedition to Charleston. In the course of the last spring and summer, however, it seems the army has been renewed; and they are now enlisted, in general, during the war.

To state the numbers of the regular army according to the establishment, that is, according to the number of regiments at their full complement, I suppose the continental army has sometimes amounted to fourscore thousand men. But the American regiments have not often been full, any more than the English. There are in the war office, at Philadelphia, regular monthly returns of the army, from 1775 to this day, but I am not able, from memory, to give any accurate account of them; it is sufficient to say, that the American regular army has been generally superior to that of the English; and it would not be good policy to keep a larger army, unless we had a prospect of putting an end to the British power in America by it. But this, without a naval superiority, is very difficult, if not impracticable; the English take possession of a seaport town, fortify it in the strongest manner, and cover it with the guns of their men-of-war, so that our army cannot come at it. If France and Spain should coöperate with us so far as to send ships enough to maintain the superiority at sea, it would not require many years, perhaps not many months, to exterminate the English from the United States. But this policy those courts have not adopted, which is a little surprising, because it is obvious that by captivating the British fleet and army in America, the most decisive blow would be given to their power, which can possibly be given in any quarter of the globe.

What number of regular troops General Washington has at this time under his immediate command, I am not able precisely to say; I presume, however, that he has not less than twenty thousand men, besides the French troops under the Comte de Rochambeau. Nor am I able to say, how many General Gates has to the southward.

But besides the regular army, we are to consider the militia, Several of the Colonies were formed into a militia, from the beginning of their settlement. After the commencement of this war, all the others followed their example, and made laws, by which all the inhabitants of America are now enrolled in a militia, which may be computed at five hundred thousand men. But these are scattered over a territory of one hundred and fifty miles in breadth, and at least fifteen hundred miles in length, lying all along upon the sea-coast. This gives the English the advantage, by means of their superiority at sea, to remove suddenly and easily from one part of the continent to another, as from Boston to New York, from New York to Rhode Island, from New York to Chesapeake or Delaware Bay, or to Savannah or Charleston; and the Americans the disadvantage, of not being able to march either the regular troops or the militia to such vast distances, without immense expense of money and of time. This puts it in the power of the English to take so many of our seaport towns, but not to make any long and successful marches into the interior country, or make any permanent establishment there.

As to discipline, in the beginning of the war there was very little, either among the militia or the regular troops. The American officers have, however, been industrious; they have had the advantage of reading all the books which have any reputation concerning military science; they have had the example of their enemies, the British officers, before their eyes a long time, indeed, from the year 1768; and they have had the honor of being joined by British, German, French, Prussian, and Polish officers, of infantry and cavalry, of artillery and engineering; so that the art of war is now as well understood in the American army, and military discipline is now carried to as great perfection, as in any country whatever.

As to a supply of warlike stores: at the commencement of hostilities, the Americans had neither cannon, arms, or ammuni, tion, but in such contemptible quantities as distressed them beyond description; and they have all along been straitened, at times, by a scarcity of these articles, and are to this day.

They have, however, at present, an ample field artillery; they have arms and powder; and they can never be again absolutely destitute, because the manufactures of all sorts of arms, of cannon of all sorts, of saltpetre and powder, have been introduced and established. These manufactures, although very good, are very dear, and it is difficult to make enough for so constant and so great a consumption. Quantities of these articles are imported every year; and it is certain they can be imported and paid for by American produce, cheaper than they can be made.

But the Americans, to make their system perfect, want five hundred thousand stands of arms, that is,—one at least for every militia man, with powder, ball, and accoutrements in proportion. This, however, is rather to be wished for than expected. The French fleet carried arms to America; and if the communication between America and France and Spain should become more frequent by frigates and men-of-war, and, especially, if this republic should be compelled into a war with England, America will probably never again suffer much for want of arms or ammunition.

The English began the war against the northern Colonies; here they found the effects of ancient militia laws; they found a numerous and hardy militia, who fought and defeated them upon many occasions. They then thought it necessary to abandon these, and fall upon the middle Colonies, whose militia had not been so long formed; however, after several years’ experience, they found they were not able to do any thing to the purpose against them. They have lastly conceived the design of attacking the southern Colonies; here, the white people, and consequently the militia, are not so numerous, and have not yet been used to war. Here, therefore, they have had some apparent successes; but they will find in the end their own destruction in these very successes. The climate will devour their men; their first successes will embolden them to rash enterprises; the people there will become inured to war, and will finally totally destroy them; for, as to the silly gasconade of bringing the southern Colonies to submission, there is not even a possibility of it. The people of those States are as firm in principle, and as determined in their tempers against the designs of the English, as the middle or the northern States.

XI.

17 October.

Your eleventh question will give an opportunity of making some observations upon a subject that is quite misunderstood in every part of Europe. I shall answer it with great pleasure, according to the best of my information, and with the utmost candor.

The question is,—

“How great is the present debt of America? What has she occasion for yearly to act defensively? Are those wants supplied by the inhabitants themselves, or by other nations? If in the latter case, what does America lose of her strength by it? Are they not, in one manner or other, recompensed again by some equivalent advantage? If so, in what manner? What would be required to act offensively, and by that means shorten the war?”

All Europe has a mistaken apprehension of the present debt of America. This debt is of two sorts,—that which is due from the thirteen United States, in congress assembled; and that which is owing from each of the thirteen States in its separate capacity. I am not able to say, with precision, what the debt of each separate State is; but all these added together, fall far short of the debt of the United States.

The debt of the United States consists of three branches:—1. The sums which have been lent them by France and Spain, and by M. Beaumarchais & Co. These have been for purchasing some supplies of cannon, arms, ammunition, and clothing for the troops; for assisting prisoners escaped from England, and for some other purposes. But the whole sum amounts to no great thing.

2. The loan-office certificates, which are promissory notes given to individuals in America who have lent paper money to the congress, and are their securities for the payment of the principal and interest. These the congress have equitably determined shall be paid, according to the value of the paper bills, in proportion to silver, at the time of their dates.

3. The paper bills which are now in circulation, or which were in circulation on the 18th day of March last. These bills amounted to the nominal sum of two hundred millions of dollars; but the real value of them to the possessors is estimated at forty for one, amounting to five millions of Spanish dollars, or one million and a quarter sterling. This is the full value of them, perhaps more; but this estimation of them has given satisfaction in America to the possessors of them, who certainly obtained them in general at a cheaper rate.

These three branches of debt, which are the whole (according to a calculation made last May, and sent me by a member of congress who has been four years a member of their treasury board, and is perfect master of the subject) amount in the whole to five millions sterling and no more. The national debt of America then is five millions sterling.

In order to judge of the burden of this debt, we may compare it with the numbers of people. They are three millions. The national debt of Great Britain is two hundred millions. The number of people in England and Scotland is not more than six millions. Why should not America, with three millions of people, be able to bear a debt of one hundred millions as well as Great Britain, with six millions of people, a debt of two hundred millions?

We may compare it with the exports of America. In 1774, the exports of America were six millions sterling. In the same year the exports of Great Britain were twelve millions. Why would not the exports of America, of six millions, bear a national debt of one hundred millions, as well as the twelve millions of British exports bear a debt of two hundred millions?

We may compare it in this manner with the national debt of France, Spain, the United Provinces, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, and you will find that it is but small in comparison.

We may compare it in another point of view. Great Britain has already spent in this war sixty millions sterling; America, five millions. Great Britain has annually added to her national debt more than the whole amount of her annual exports; America has not added to hers in the whole course of five years’ war a sum equal to one year’s exports.

The debt of Great Britain is, in a large proportion of it, due to foreigners, for which they must annually pay the interest by sending cash abroad. A very trifle of the American debt is yet due to foreigners.

Lord North borrowed last year twelve millions; and every future year of the war must borrow the same or a larger sum. America could carry on this war a hundred years by borrowing only one million sterling a year.

The annual expense of America has not hitherto exceeded one million a year; that of Great Britain has exceeded twenty millions some years. America may therefore carry on this war a hundred years, and at the end of it will be no more in debt, in proportion to her present numbers of people and her exports in 1774, than Great Britain is now.

There is another consideration of some weight; the landed interest in America is vastly greater, in proportion to the mercantile interest than it is in Great Britain. The exports of America are the productions of the soil annually, which increase every year. The exports of Great Britain are manufactures, which will decrease every year while this war with America lasts.

The only objection to this reasoning is this,—that America is not used to great taxes, and the people there are not yet disciplined to such enormous taxation as in England. This is true; and this makes all their perplexity at present; but they are capable of bearing as great taxes in proportion as the English; and if the English force them to it, by continuing the war, they will reconcile themselves to it; and they are in fact now taxing themselves more and more every year, and to an amount, that a man who knew America only twenty years ago would think incredible.

Her wants have hitherto been supplied by the inhabitants themselves, and they have been very little indebted to foreign nations. But, on account of the depreciation of her paper, and in order to introduce a more stable currency, she has now occasion to borrow a sum of money abroad, which would enable her to support her credit at home, to exert herself more vigorously against the English, both by sea and land, and greatly assist her in extending her commerce with foreign nations, especially the Dutch. America would not lose of her strength by borrowing money; but, on the contrary, would gain vastly. It would enable her to exert herself more by privateering, which is a mine of gold to her. She would make remittances in bills of exchange to foreign merchants for their commodities; and it would enable many persons to follow their true interest in cultivating the land, instead of attending to manufactures, which, being indispensable, they are now obliged more or less to follow, though less profitable. The true profit of America is the continual augmentation of the price and value of land. Improvement in land is her principal employment, her best policy, and the principal source of her growing wealth.

The last question is easily answered. It is,—“What would be required to act offensively, and by that means shorten the war?”

To this I answer, nothing is wanted but a loan of money and a fleet of ships.

A fleet of ships, only sufficient to maintain a superiority over the English, would enable the infant Hercules to strangle all the serpents that environ his cradle. It is impossible to express in too strong terms the importance of a few ships of the line to the Americans. Two or three French, or Dutch, or Spanish ships of the line, stationed at Rhode Island, Boston, Delaware River, or Chesapeake Bay, would have prevented the dreadful sacrifice at Penobscot. Three or four ships of the line would have prevented the whole expedition to Charleston. Three or four ships of the line more, added to the squadron of the Chevalier de Ternay, would have enabled the Americans to have taken New York.

A loan of money is now wanted, to give stability to the currency of America; to give vigor to the enlistments for the army; to add alacrity to the fitting out privateers; and to give an ample extension to their trade.

The Americans will labor through, without a fleet, and without a loan. But it is ungenerous and cruel to put them to such difficulties, and to keep mankind embroiled in all the horrors of war, for want of such trifles, which so many of the powers of Europe wish they had, and could so easily furnish. But if mankind must be embroiled, and the blood of thousands must be shed, for want of a little magnanimity in some, the Americans must not be blamed; it is not their fault.

XII.

We are now come to your twelfth head of inquiry, which is, “What countenance have the finances? How much does the expense exceed the yearly income? Does the annual revenue, deriving from the taxes, increase or diminish, in the whole, or in any particulars? and what are the reasons to be given for it?”

Here I am apprehensive I shall find a difficulty to make myself understood, as the American finances, and mode of taxation, differ so materially from any that I know of in Europe.

In the month of May, 1775, when the congress came together, for the first time, after the battles of Lexington and Concord, they found it necessary to raise an army, or, rather, to adopt an army already raised, at Cambridge, in order to oppose the British troops, and shut them up in the prison of Boston. But they found that the Colonies were but just got out of debt, had just paid off the debts contracted in the last French war. In the several treasuries of the Colonies they found only a few thousand pounds. They had before them a prospect of a stagnation, or interruption of their trade, pretty universally, by the British men-of-war. They had a thousand perplexities before them, in the prospect of passing through thirteen revolutions of government, from the royal authority to that under the people. They had armies and navies to form; they had new constitutions of government to attend to; they had twenty tribes of Indians to negotiate with; they had vast numbers of negroes to take care of; they had all sorts of arms, ammunition, artillery, to procure, as well as blankets and clothing and subsistence for the army; they had negotiations to think of in Europe, and treaties to form, of alliance and commerce; and they had even salt to procure, for the subsistence of the inhabitants, and even of their cattle, as well as their armies.

In this situation, with so many wants and demands, and no money or revenues to recur to, they had recourse to an expedient, which had been often practised in America, but nowhere else; they determined to emit paper money.

The American paper money is nothing but bills of credit, by which the public, the community, promises to pay the possessor a certain sum in a limited time. In a country where there is no coin, or not enough, in circulation, these bills may be emitted to a certain amount, and they will pass at par; but as soon as the quantity exceeds the value of the ordinary business of the people, it will depreciate, and continue to fall in its value, in proportion to the augmentation of the quantity.

The congress, on the 18th of March last, stated this depreciation at forty for one. This may be nearly the average, but it often passes much lower. By this resolution, all the bills in circulation on that day (and none have been emitted since) amount to about one million and a quarter sterling. To this if you add the money borrowed upon loan certificates, and the debt contracted abroad in France and Spain, the whole does not amount to but little more than five millions.

Yearly income we have none, properly speaking. We have no imposts or duties laid upon any articles of importation, exportation, or consumption. The revenue consists entirely in grants annually made by the legislatures, of sums of money for the current service of the year, and appropriated to certain uses. These grants are proportioned upon all the polls and estates, real and personal, in the community; and they are levied and paid into the public treasury with great punctuality, from whence they are issued in payments of the demands upon the public.

You see then that it is in the power of the legislatures to raise what sums are wanted, at least as much as the people can bear; and they are usually proportioned to the public wants, and the people’s abilities. They are now constantly laying on and paying very heavy taxes, although for the first three or four years of the war the obstructions of trade, &c., made it difficult to raise any taxes at all. The yearly taxes, annually laid on, have increased every year for these three years past, and will continue to be increased in proportion to the abilities of the people. This ability, no doubt, increases in proportion as population increases, as new lands are cultivated, and as property is in any way added to the common stock; it will also increase as our commerce increases, and as the success in privateering increases.

But by the method of taxing, you see that it is in the power of the legislature to increase the taxes every year, as the public exigencies may require; and they have no other restraint or limit than the people’s ability.

XIII.

26 October.

Your thirteenth inquiry is, “What resources might America hereafter still make use of?”

There are many resources, yet untried, which would certainly be explored, if America should be driven to the necessity of them.

1. Luxury prevails in that young country, notwithstanding all the confident assertions of the English concerning their distress, to a degree, that retrenching this alone would enable them to carry on the war. There are expenses in wheel carriages, horses, equipage, furniture, dress, and the table, which might be spared, and would amount to enough to carry on the war.

2. The Americans might, and, rather than the English should prevail against them, they would, be brought to impose duties upon articles of luxury and convenience, and even of necessity, as has been done by all the nations of Europe. I am not able at present, and upon memory, to entertain you with accurate calculations; but in general it may be said, with certainty, that, if as heavy duties were laid upon articles of consumption and importation as are laid in England, or even in Holland, they would produce a revenue sufficient to carry on this war without borrowing at all. I hope, however, they will never come to this. I am clear they need not. Such systematical and established revenues are dangerous to liberty; which is safe, while the revenue depends upon annual grants of the people, because this secures public economy.

3. If there should be hereafter any accession to the population of America, by migrations from Europe, this will be a fresh resource; because, in that country of agriculture, the ability to raise a revenue will bear a constant proportion to the numbers of people.

4. There are immense tracts of uncultivated lands. These lands are all claimed by particular States; but if these States should cede these claims to the congress, which they would do in case of necessity, the congress might sell these lands, and they would become a great resource; no man can say how great, or how lasting.

5. There is a great deal of plate in America; and if she were driven to extremities, the ladies, I assure you, have patriotism enough to give up their plate to the public, rather than lose their liberties, or run any great hazard of it.

6. There is another resource still. The war may be carried on by means of a fluctuating medium of paper money. The war has been carried on in this manner hitherto; and I firmly believe, if the people could not find a better way, they would agree to call in all the paper, and let it lie as a demand upon the public, to be hereafter equitably paid, according to its fluctuating value, in silver; and emit new bills to depreciate, and carry on the war in the same way. This, however, would occasion many perplexities and much unhappiness; it would do injustice to many individuals, and will and ought to be avoided, if possible.

7. A loan in Europe, however, would be the best resource, as it would necessarily extend our trade, and relieve the people from too great a present burden. Very heavy taxes are hurtful, because they lessen the increase of population, by making the means of subsistence more difficult.

8. There are resources of agriculture, manufactures, and labor, that would produce much, if explored and attempted.

9. The resources of trade and privateering ought to be mentioned again. The real cause of our doing so little hitherto, is this:—The congress, in 1774, agreed upon a non-exportation, to begin in September, 1775. This induced the merchants in every part of America to send their ships and sailors to England, from whence the most of them never returned. The consequence of which was, that the Americans have been distressed for want of ships and seamen ever since. But the number of both has increased every year, in spite of all that the English have taken and destroyed. The vast number of ships and seamen taken this year will repair those losses; and no man can say to what an extent trade and privateering will be carried the next and the succeeding years.

XIV.

The fourteenth question is,—“What is the quantity of paper money in circulation? What credit the inhabitants have for it in their daily business? What designs the inhabitants have, by maintaining its credit? What by preventing its increase? And in what manner do they realize it?”

The quantity of paper bills in circulation on the 18th of March last, was two hundred millions of paper dollars.

The congress then stated the value of it, upon an average, at forty for one; amounting in the whole to five millions of silver dollars, or one million and a quarter sterling. This they did, by resolving to receive one silver dollar in lieu of forty paper ones, in the payment of taxes. This was probably allowing more than the full value for the paper; because, by all accounts, the bills passed from hand to hand, in private transactions, at sixty or seventy for one.

The designs of the inhabitants, in preserving its credit as much as they can, are very good and laudable. The designs are, that they may have a fixed and certain medium, both for external and internal commerce; that every man may have an equal profit from his industry and for his commodities; that private and public debts may be justly paid; and that every man may pay an equal and proportional share of the public expenses. And this is their design in preventing its increase; because it is impossible, if the quantity is increased, to prevent the depreciation of the whole in circulation.

They realize it in various ways. Some have lent it to the public, and received loan-office certificates for it, upon interest, which are to be paid in proportion to their value in silver at the time of their dates. Some purchase with it the produce of the country, which they export to the West Indies and to Europe; and, by this means, supply the French and Spanish fleets and armies, both upon the continent of America and in the West India Islands. Others purchase merchandises imported with it; others purchase bills of exchange upon France, Spain, &c.; others purchase silver and gold with it; and others purchase houses and lands. Others have paid their debts with it, to such a degree, that the people of America were never so little in debt, in their private capacities, as at present.

XV.

Your fifteenth quære is, “Does not the English army lay out its pay in America? At how much can the yearly benefit be calculated? Are not the prisoners provided for in America? Who has the care of their maintenance? How was Burgoyne’s army supplied?”

When the English army was in Boston, they bought all that they could, and left considerable sums there in silver and gold. So they did at Rhode Island. Since they have been in New York, they have purchased every thing they could, of provisions and fuel, on Long Island, Staten Island, New York Island, and in those parts of the States of New York and New Jersey where they have been able to carry on any clandestine traffic. When they were in Philadelphia, they did the same; and General Howe tells you, that he suspects that General Washington, from political motives, connived at the people’s supplying Philadelphia, in order essentiallly to serve his country, by insinuating it into large sums of silver and gold. They are doing the same now, more or less, in South Carolina and Georgia; and they cannot go into any part of America, without doing the same.

The British prisoners, in the hands of the Americans, receive their clothing chiefly from the English; and flags of truce are permitted to come out from their lines, for this purpose. They receive their pay, also, from their master, and spend the most of it where they are; they also purchase provisions in the country, and pay for them in hard money.

I am not able to ascertain exactly the yearly benefit; but it must be considerable; and the addition now of a French fleet and army to supply, will make a great addition of cash and bills of exchange, which will facilitate commerce and privateering. And the more troops and ships Great Britain and France send to America, the greater will this resource necessarily be to the Americans.

XVI.

The sixteenth inquiry is, “Who loses most by desertion? Do the English and German deserters serve voluntarily and well in the American army? How can those who do not enter into the army subsist?”

These questions I answer with great pleasure. There has been, from the beginning of the war to this day, scarcely an example of a native American’s deserting from the army to the English. There have been, in the American army, some scattering Scotch, Irish, and German soldiers; some of these have deserted, but never in great numbers; and among the prisoners they have taken, it is astonishing how few they have ever been able to persuade, by all their flatteries, threatenings, promises, and even cruelties, to enlist into their service.

The number of deserters from them has been all along considerably more. Congress have generally prohibited their officers from enlisting deserters; for some particular services permission has been given, and they have served well.

Those who do not enlist into the army have no difficulty to subsist. Those of them who have any trades, as weavers, tailors, smiths, shoemakers, tanners, curriers, carpenters, bricklayers, in short, any trade whatsoever, enter immediately into better business than they ever had in Europe, where they gain a better subsistence and more money; because tradesmen of all denominations are now much wanted; those who have no trade, if they are capable of any kind of labor, are immediately employed in agriculture, &c., labor being much wanted, and very dear.

I am not able to tell the precise numbers that have deserted; but if an hundred thousand were to desert, they would find no difficulty in point of subsistence or employment, if they can and will work.

XVII.

The seventeenth inquiry is, “Whether we have any information that we can rely on, concerning the population? Has it increased or diminished, since the war?”

In some former letters, I have made some observations upon the subject of the increase of mankind in America.

In the year 1774 there was much private conversation among the members of congress, concerning the number of souls in every Colony. The delegates of each were consulted, and the estimates made by them were taken down as follows:—

This, however, was but an estimate, and some persons have thought there was too much speculation in it. It will be observed, that Georgia was not represented in the first congress, and, therefore, is not included in the estimate.

In a pamphlet published in England about a year ago, entitled, “A Memorial to the Sovereigns of Europe, on the present State of Affairs, between the Old and New World,” written by Mr. Pownall, a member of parliament, and formerly Governor of Massachusetts, and Lieutenant-Governor of New Jersey, we are told, that “The Massachusetts had, in the year 1722, ninety-four thousand inhabitants; in 1742, one hundred and sixty-four thousand; in 1751, when there was a great depopulation, both by war and the smallpox, one hundred and sixty-four thousand four hundred and eighty-four; in 1761, two hundred and sixteen thousand; in 1765, two hundred and fifty-five thousand five hundred; in 1771, two hundred and ninety-two thousand; in 1773, three hundred thousand.

In Connecticut, in 1756, one hundred and twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-four; in 1774, two hundred and fifty-seven thousand three hundred and fifty-six. These numbers are not increased by strangers, but decreased by wars and emigrations to the westward and to other States; yet they have nearly doubled in eighteen years.

In New York, in 1756, ninety-six thousand seven hundred and seventy-six; in 1771, one hundred and sixty-eight thousand and seven; in 1774, one hundred and eighty-two thousand two hundred and fifty-one.

In Virginia, in 1756, one hundred and seventy-three thousand three hundred and sixteen; in 1764, two hundred thousand; in 1774, three hundred thousand.

In South Carolina, in 1750, sixty-four thousand; in 1770, one hundred and fifteen thousand.

In Rhode Island, in 1738, fifteen thousand; in 1748, twenty-eight thousand four hundred and thirty-nine.

As there never was a militia in Pennsylvania before this war, with authentic lists of the population, it has been variously estimated on speculation. There was a continual importation for many years of Irish and German emigrants, yet many of these settled in other provinces; but the progress of population, in the ordinary course, advanced in a ratio between that of Virginia and that of Massachusetts. The city of Philadelphia advanced more rapidly,—it had, in 1749, two thousand and seventy-six houses; in 1753, two thousand three hundred; in 1760, two thousand nine hundred and sixty-nine; in 1769, four thousand four hundred and seventy-four; from 1749 to 1753, from sixteen to eighteen thousand inhabitants; from 1760 to 1769, from thirty-one thousand three hundred and eighteen to thirty-five thousand.

There were, in 1754, various calculations and estimates made of the numbers on the continent. The sanguine made the numbers one million and a half; those who admitted less speculation into the calculation, but adhered closer to facts and lists as they were made out, stated them at one million two hundred and fifty thousand. Governor Pownall thinks that two million one hundred and forty-one thousand three hundred and seven would turn out nearest to the real amount in 1774. But what an amazing progress, which in eighteen years has added a million to a million two hundred and fifty thousand, although a war was maintained in that country for seven years of the term! In this view, one sees a community unfolding itself, beyond any example in Europe.

Thus, you have the estimates made by the gentlemen in congress, in 1774, and that of Governor Pownall for the same epocha. That made in congress is most likely to be right. If, in their estimate, some States were rated too high, it has been since made certain that others were too low.

But, admitting Mr. Pownall’s estimate to be just, the numbers have grown since 1774 so much, notwithstanding the war and the interruption of migrations from Europe, that they must be wellnigh three millions. If the calculation made by the members of congress was right, the numbers now must be nearer four millions than three millions and a half.

I have observed to you, in a former letter, that the Massachusetts Bay has been lately numbered, and found to have increased in numbers as much as in former periods, very nearly.

I now add, that in Delaware, which in 1774 was estimated at thirty thousand, upon numbering the people since, they appeared to be forty thousand.

Pennsylvania is undoubtedly set too low in both estimates.

XVIII.

Question eighteenth. “Do sufficient tranquillity, contentment, and prosperity reign in those places where the war does not rage? Can one sufficiently subsist there without feeling the oppression of the taxes? Does plenty abound there? Is there more than is necessary for consumption? Are the people well affected and encouraged to pursue the war and endure its calamities? or is there poverty and dejection?”

There has been more of this tranquillity and contentment, and fewer riots, insurrections, and seditions throughout the whole war, and in the periods of its greatest distress, than there was for seven years before the war broke out, in those parts that I am best acquainted with. As to subsistence, there never was or will be any difficulty. There never was any real want of any thing but warlike stores and clothing for the army, and salt and rum both for the army and the people; but they have such plentiful importations of these articles now, that there is no want, excepting of blankets, clothing, and warlike stores for the army.

The taxes are rising very high, but there never will be more laid on than the people can bear, because the representatives who lay them tax themselves and their neighbors in exact proportion. The taxes indeed fall heaviest upon the rich and the higher classes of people.

The earth produces grain and meat in abundance for the consumption of the people, for the support of the army, and for exportation.

The people are more universally well affected and encouraged to pursue the war than are the people of England, France, or Spain, as far as I can judge.

As to poverty, there is hardly a beggar in the country. As to dejection, I never saw, even at the time of our greatest danger and perplexity, so much of it as appears in England or France upon every intelligence of a disastrous event.

The greatest source of grief and affliction is the fluctuation of the paper money; but this, although it occasions unhappiness, has no violent or fatal effects.

XIX.

Question nineteenth. “Is not peace very much longed for in America? Might not this desire of peace induce the people to hearken to proposals, appearing very fair, but which really are not so, which the people might be too quick in listening to, and the government forced to accept?”

The people, in all ages and countries, wish for peace; human nature does not love war; yet this does not hinder nations from going to war, when it is necessary, and often indeed for frivolous purposes of avarice, ambition, vanity, resentment, and revenge. I have never been informed of more desire of peace in America than is common to all nations at war. They in general know that they cannot obtain it, without submitting to conditions infinitely more dreadful than all the horrors of this war.

If they are ever deceived, it is by holding out to them false hopes of independence, and Great Britain’s acknowledging it.

The people of America are too enlightened to be deceived in any great plan of policy. They understand the principles and nature of government too well to be imposed on by any proposals short of their own object.

Great Britain has tried so many experiments to deceive them, without effect, that I think it is scarcely worth her while to try again. The history of these ministerial and parliamentary tricks would fill a volume. I have not records nor papers to recur to; but if Mr. Calkoen desires it, I could give him a sketch from memory of these artifices and their success, which, I think, would convince him there is no danger from that quarter.

XX.

Question twentieth. “Have there not been different opinions in congress, with regard to this (that is,—to proposals appearing fair which were not so,) from whence animosities have arisen?”

There has never been any difference of sentiment in congress since the declaration of independency, concerning any proposals of reconciliation. There have been no proposals of reconciliation made since the 4th of July, 1776, excepting twice.

The first was made by Lord Howe, who, together with his brother, the General, were appointed by the King commissioners for some purpose or other. The public has never been informed what powers they had. Lord Howe sent a message by General Sullivan to congress, desiring a conference with some of its members. There were different sentiments concerning the propriety of sending any members until we knew his Lordship’s powers. A majority decided to send. Dr. Franklin, Mr. John Adams, and Mr. Rutledge were sent. Upon their report, there was a perfect unanimity of sentiment in congress.

The second was the mission of Lord Carlisle, Governor Johnstone, and Mr. Eden, in 1778. Upon this occasion again there was a perfect unanimity in congress.

Before the declaration of independency, Lord North moved several conciliatory propositions in parliament, in which a good deal of art was employed to seduce, deceive, and divide. But there was always an unanimity in congress upon all these plans.

There were different opinions concerning the petition to the King, in the year 1775; and before that, concerning the nonexportation agreement. There have been different opinions concerning articles of the confederation; concerning the best plans for the conduct of the war; concerning the best officers to conduct them; concerning territorial controversies between particular States, &c.; but these differences of opinion, which are essential to all assemblies, have never caused greater animosities than those which arise in all assemblies where there is freedom of debate.

XXI.

27 October.

Question twenty-first. “Are there no malcontents in America against the government, who are otherwise much inclined for the American cause, who may force the nation, or congress, against their resolutions and interests, to conclude a peace?”

There is no party formed in any of the thirteen States against the new constitution, nor any opposition against the government, that I have ever heard of, excepting in Pennsylvania, and in North Carolina. These by no means deserve to be compared together.

In Pennsylvania there is a respectable body of people, who are zealous against Great Britain, but yet wish for some alteration in their new form of government; yet this does not appear to weaken their exertions; it seems rather to excite an emulation in the two parties, and to increase their efforts.

I have before explained the history of the rise and progress of the party, in North Carolina, consisting of regulators and Scotch Highlanders; and General Howe has informed you of their fate. This party has ever appeared to make North Carolina more stanch and decided, instead of weakening it.

The party in Pennsylvania will never have an inclination to force the congress, against their interests, to make peace; nor would they have the power, if they had the will.

The party in North Carolina, whose inclination cannot be doubted, is too inconsiderable to do any thing.

XXII.

Questions twenty-second and twenty-third. “General Monk repaired the King’s government in England: Might not one American general or another be able, by discontent or corruption, to do the same? Would the army follow his orders on such an occasion? Could one or more politicians, through intrigues, undertake the same with any hopes of success, should even the army assist him in such a case?”

I have before observed, that no politicians, or general officers, in America, have any such influence. Neither the people nor the soldiers would follow them. It was not attachment to men, but to a cause, which first produced, and has supported, the revolution; it was not attachment to officers, but to liberty, which made the soldiers enlist. Politicians in America can only intrigue with the people; these are so numerous, and so scattered, that no statesman has any great influence but in his own small circle. In courts, sometimes, gaining two or three individuals may produce a revolution; no revolution in America can be accomplished without gaining the majority of the people; and this not all the wealth of Great Britain is able to do, at the expense of their liberties.

Question twenty-fourth. “The revolution must have made a great change in affairs, so that many people, though at present free of the enemy’s incursions, have lost their daily subsistence. Have the occupations, which come instead of their old ones, been sufficient to supply their wants?”

All the difficulties which were ever apprehended, of this sort, are long since past. In 1774, some were apprehensive that the fishermen, sailors, and shipwrights would be idle; but some went into the army, some into the navy, and some went to agriculture; and if there had been twice as many, they would all have found employment. The building of frigates and privateers has employed all the carpenters. Manufactories, besides, have been set up, of cannon, arms, powder, saltpetre, salt. Flax and wool have been raised in greater quantities, and coarse manufactures of cloth and linen been increased. In short, the greatest difficulty is, that there are not hands enough. Agriculture alone, in that country, would find employment enough for millions, and privateering for thousands, more than there are.

XXIII.

Question twenty-fifth. “Do they who have lost their possessions and fortunes by the war, endure it patiently, as compatriots, so that nothing can be feared from them?”

Losing fortunes in America has not such dreadful consequences, to individuals or families, as it has in Europe. The reason is obvious; because the means of subsistence are easier to be obtained, so that nobody suffers for want. As far as I am acquainted with the sufferers, they have borne their losses, both of property and relations, with great fortitude; and, so far from producing in their minds a desire of submission, they have only served to irritate them, to convince them more fully of the precarious and deplorable situation they would be in under the government of the English, and to make them more eager to resist it.

Question twenty-sixth. “How has it gone with the cultivation of the land before the troubles, at their commencement, and at present? What change has taken place?”

Agriculture ever was, and ever will be, the dominant interest in America. Nevertheless, before this war, perhaps, she ran more into commerce than was for her interest. She depended too much, perhaps, upon importations for her clothing, utensils, &c., and indulged in too many luxuries. When the prospect opened, in 1775, of an interruption of her commerce, she applied herself more to agriculture; and many places that depended upon the lumber trade, the fishery, &c., for the importation of even their bread, have turned their labor and attention to raising corn, wool, flax, and cattle, and have lived better, and advanced in wealth and independence faster, than ever they did. For example, the towns in the neighborhood of the sea, in the Massachusetts Bay, used to depend upon the fishery and commerce to import them their wheat and flour from Philadelphia, Maryland, and Virginia, and rice from South Carolina and Georgia; the communication being interrupted by sea since the war, they have planted their own corn.

The eastern parts of the Massachusetts Bay, before the war, depended on the commerce of lumber for the West India market, and of masts, yards, and bowsprits for the royal navy of Great Britain, to procure them clothes, meat, and strong liquors. Since the war, they have cultivated their lands, raised their own corn, wool, flax, and planted the apple tree instead of drinking rum, in consequence of which, they are more temperate, wealthy, and independent than ever.

North Carolina depended upon the commerce of pitch, tar, and turpentine and tobacco, for the importation of many things. Since the war, they have turned their labor to raise more of the things which they wanted.

Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina depended upon the trade of tobacco to import coarse cloths for their negroes. Since the war, they have raised less tobacco, and more wheat, wool, and cotton, and made the coarse cloths themselves.

So that, upon the whole, the lessening of commerce, and the increase of agriculture, have rendered America more independent than she ever was.

XXIV.

Question twenty-seventh. “How was the situation of manufactures, manual art, and trade in general, at the beginning of this war? What change have they suffered?”

Manufactures in general never flourished in America. They were never attended only by women and children who could not work in the field, and by men at certain seasons of the year, and at certain intervals of time, when they could not be employed in the cultivation of the lands; because that labor upon land, in that country, is more profitable than in manufactures. These they could import and purchase, with the produce of their soil, cheaper than they could make them. The cause of this is the plenty of wild land. A day’s work, worth two shillings, upon wild land, not only produced two shillings in the crop, but made the land worth two shillings more. Whereas, a day’s work of the same price, applied to manufactures, produced only the two shillings.

Since the war, however, freight and insurance have been so high, that manufactures have been more attended to. Manufactures of saltpetre, salt, powder, cannon, arms, have been introduced; clothing, in wool and flax, has been made, and many other necessary things; but these, for the reason before given, will last no longer than the war or than the hazard of their trade.

America is the country of raw materials, and of commerce enough to carry them to a good market; but Europe is the country for manufactures and commerce. Thus Europe and America will be blessings to each other, if some malevolent policy does not frustrate the purposes of nature

XXV.

Question twenty-eight. “Has America gained, or lost, by the mutual capture of ships? How much is the benefit or prejudice of it, by calculation?”

America has gained. She took early, from the English, ordnance and ammunition ships, and supplied herself in that way with those articles when she had them not, and could not otherwise obtain them; she has taken, in this way, a great number of British and German soldiers; she has taken a vast number of seamen, who have generally enlisted on board our privateers; she has taken great quantities of provisions, clothing, arms, and warlike stores; she has taken every year more and more, since 1775, and will probably continue to take more and more every year, while the war lasts. I have certain intelligence, that there have been this year carried into Boston and Philadelphia only, ninety-nine vessels, in the months of July and August. On board of these vessels there were not less than eight hundred seamen; many of the ships were very rich. The vessels the English have taken from the Americans were of small value; this year they have been few in number.

I am not able to give you an exact calculation. The Quebec ships were worth from thirty to forty thousand pounds sterling each, and there were two-and-twenty of them in number.

Privateering is a great nursery of seamen; and if the Americans had not imprudently sacrificed such a number of their frigates and privateers in the attack and defence of places, these alone would, by this time, wellnigh have ruined the British commerce, navy, and army.

XXVI.

I believe you will be pleased, when I tell you, that we are now come to the twenty-ninth, and last question, which is, “What are the real damages sustained, or still to be suffered, by the loss of Charleston? And what influence has it had upon the minds of the people?”

An interruption of the commerce of indigo and rice; the loss of many negroes, which the English will steal from the plantations, and send to the West India islands for sale; a great deal of plunder of every sort; much unhappiness among the people; and several lives of very worthy men will be lost; but the climate will be death to European troops; and, at an immense expense of men and money, they will ravage for a while, and then disappear.

The effect of the surrender of Charleston, and the defeat of Gates, has only been to awaken the people from their dreams of peace.

The artifices of the English, holding out ideas of peace, seem to have deceived both the Americans and their allies, while they were only contriving means to succor Gibraltar, and invade Carolina. The people are now convinced of their mistake, and generally roused. But these disasters will have no more effect towards subduing America, than if they had taken place in the East Indies.

I have the honor to be, sir,
Your humble servant,

John Adams.

M. BICKER TO JOHN ADAMS.

(Translation.)

Amsterdam, 6 October, 1780.

Sir,—

I am much mortified to find that the visit which you paid at my instigation has met with no better success.1 The significant, positive, and reiterated expressions used by that house, lead me to believe that you should abandon the idea of opening the affair in question to it at all. It does not surprise me that you should not have found there so much confidence in the solidity of your United States as you would like to guarantee to us. I have had the honor already, Monsieur, to remark to you that this can spring up only through much patience, and after the appearance of some person properly accredited. I might indeed direct you to others; but the meeting too many refusals, sometimes of itself ruins an excellent project. The broker, Blomberg, is engaged. He might be asked if he could not find, perhaps, another person than the one named (J. D. B.) who would be willing warmly to enlist in such an enterprise; and before you shall address yourself to him, I will offer to you my unbiased opinion upon his solidity and his habits of thinking.

In the mean time, I have the honor to be,

With the most perfect consideration,

H. Bicker.

P. S. Under the seal of secrecy, I must say to you, that the house of Staphorst has favored me with a visit, in order to beg me to recommend it to you.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN ADAMS.

Passy, 8 October, 1780.

Sir,—

I received the letter you did me the honor of writing by Mr. Andrews, and shall render him every service I can in his application.

We begin to be in pain for Mr. Laurens, who was to have sailed three days after Mr. Searle. If that took place, he has been out ten or eleven weeks. I hope he did not sail so soon, otherwise it is probable that he is either lost or taken.

I do not just now recollect my having written, as from myself, any letter to the grand pensionary. I drew indeed the letter that was sent by the commissioners, acquainting him with the treaty of commerce, to which we had no answer. But I will search, and if I can find such a one, will send you a copy with a copy of the other.

I shall be glad to hear if you are like to make any progress in the affair of a loan, which I understand Mr. Laurens was charged with. I send you inclosed a copy of a note of congress, respecting your salaries. I hope you will be able to do without my assistance; if not, I must furnish you. But I have been obliged to accept M. Neufville’s bills, on account of his acceptances of those drawn on Mr. Laurens, and I shall, with some difficulty, be able to pay them; though these extra demands often embarrass me exceedingly.

We hear that the Alliance is arrived at Boston.

I beg leave to recommend to your civilities Mr. Searle, a member of congress for Pennsylvania, with whose conversation you will be pleased, as he can give you good information of the state of our affairs when he left America.

I ought to acquaint you, a governo, as the merchants say, that M. le Comte de Vergennes, having taken much amiss some passages in your letters to him, sent the whole correspondence to me, requesting that I would transmit it to congress. I was myself sorry to see those passages. If they were the effects merely of inadvertence, and you do not, on reflection, approve of them, perhaps you may think it proper to write something for effacing the impressions made by them. I do not presume to advise you, but mention it only for your consideration. The vessel is not yet gone that carries the papers.

With great regard, I have the honor to be, sir,
Your most obedient and most humble servant,

B. Franklin.

TO THOMAS DIGGES.

Amsterdam, 14 October, 1780.

Sir,—

Yours of the 6th and 10th are received. Upon what principle is it that they confine Mr. Laurens as a prisoner of State, after so many precedents as have been set? Sullivan, Sterling, Lee, Lovell, and many others have been exchanged as prisoners of war.

Mr. Laurens was in England when hostilities commenced, I believe. He came into public in America, after the declaration of independence; after the extinction of all civil authority under the crown; and after the formation of complete new governments in every State. To treat a citizen of a State thus completely in possession of a sovereignty de facto, is very extraordinary. Do they mean to exasperate America, and drive them to retaliation? Are these people governed by reason at all, or by any principle, or do they conduct according to any system? or do they deliver themselves up entirely to the government of their passions and their caprice? I saw so many contradictions in the papers about Mr. Laurens, that I hoped your first account was a mistake, but your letter of the 20th makes me think the first account right.

Pray inform me constantly of every thing relative to him, and let me know if any thing can be done for him, by way of France or any other.

Cornwallis’s and Tarlton’s gasconade serves to diminish the esteem of mankind for the people of England, by giving fuel to their passions, and making them throw off the mask. I do not believe that his advantage is half so great, nor the American loss half so much, as they represent. Time you know is the mother of truth. Audi alteram partem, and wait the consequences. Fighting is the thing. Fighting will do the business. Defeats will prove the way to victories. Patience! Patience! Il y en a beaucoup, en Amérique.

F. R. S.

TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Amsterdam, 14 October, 1780.

Sir,—

The extracts of letters you were so good as to send me, have been inserted in the papers, and I should be obliged to you for future communications of the same kind. Notwithstanding the flow of spirits, and the vigorous exertions of our countrymen this year, I am sorry to say I cannot see a prospect of any thing decisive this campaign. The fatal defect in the plan of the campaign in not sending a sufficient number of ships with M. de Ternay, or soon after him, will render abortive all the great exertions and immense expenses of the year. And, at the same time, Cornwallis will spread too much devastation at the southward, where the want of numbers of whites, the great numbers of blacks, and, above all, the want of discipline and experience, will make the people long unhappy and unfortunate.

The ill luck of Carolina pursues her citizens even to sea, and to Europe, I think. Can nothing be done for the relief of Mr. Laurens? Will you be so good as to apply to court, and see if they will send us somebody of mark to exchange for him? After exchanging so many military men as prisoners of war, it is pitifully spiteful to use Mr. Laurens as they do; but they cannot conceal the meanness of their character.

I have felt the mortification of soliciting for money as well as you. But it has been because the solicitations have not succeeded. I see no reason at all that we should be ashamed of asking to borrow money. After maintaining a war against Great Britain and her allies for about six years, without borrowing any thing abroad, when England has been all the time borrowing of all the nations of Europe, even of individuals among our allies, it cannot be unnatural, surprising, or culpable, or dishonorable for us to borrow money. When England borrows, annually, a sum equal to all her exports, we ought not to be laughed at for wishing to borrow a sum, annually, equal to a twelfth part of our annual exports. We may, and we shall, wade through, if we cannot obtain a loan; but we could certainly go forward with more ease, convenience, and safety by the help of one.

I think we have not meanly solicited for friendship anywhere. But to send ministers to every great Court in Europe, especially the maritime courts, to propose an acknowledgment of the independence of America, and treaties of amity and of commerce, is no more than becomes us, and in my opinion is our duty to do. It is perfectly consistent with the genuine system of American policy, and a piece of respect due from new nations to old ones. The United Provinces did the same thing, and were never censured for it, but in the end they succeeded. It is necessary for America to have agents in different parts of Europe, to give some information concerning our affairs, and to refute the abominable lies that the hired emissaries of Great Britain circulate in every corner of Europe, by which they keep up their own credit and ruin ours. I have been more convinced of this, since my peregrinations in this country, than ever. The universal and profound ignorance of America here, has astonished me. It will require time and a great deal of prudence and delicacy to undeceive them. The method you have obligingly begun of transmitting me intelligence from America, will assist me in doing, or at least attempting, something of this kind, and I therefore request the continuance of it, and have the honor to be, with respectful compliments to Mr. Franklin and all friends, sir, your most obedient servant,

John Adams.

BARON VAN DER CAPELLEN TO JOHN ADAMS.

Appeltern, 16 Octobre, 1780.

Monsieur,—

Ayant appris que le congrès vous a muni des mêmes pouvoirs qu’il avoit confié au Colonel Laurens dont la fâcheuse catastrophe me désole, et qu’entre autres votre mission a pour but une négociation pour l’Amérique Unie, je prends la liberté de vous prier de m’en envoyer le plutôt possible les conditions; un parent m’ayant témoigné de l’inclination d’y placer 20,000 florins de Hollande.

Si vous cherchez quelque correspondant à Rotterdam je puis vous recommander mon ami Adriaan Valck, négociant, demeurant, si je ne me trompe sur le Leuvenhave. Il mérite toute votre confiance, et est très zélé pour la bonne cause. Le digne Tegelaar vous est connu, de même que mon intime Van der Kemp. Ce dernier peut à l’avenir être de grande utilité pour le congrès. Il a beaucoup de connoissances, de la droiture, et une intrepidité que l’on ne chercheroit pas chez un prédicateur mennonite.

Du reste, monsieur, si je puis vous servir dans ma petite sphère, soyez persuadé que c’est avec un dévouement parfait à la cause Américaine et la plus haute considération pour votre personne, que j’ai l’honneur d’être,

Monsieur, votre très humble, très obéissant serviteur,

J. D. Van der Capellen.1

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN TO JOHN ADAMS.

Passy, 20 October, 1780.

Sir,—

Understanding that in case of Mr. Laurens’s absence you are charged with the affair of procuring a loan in Holland, I think it right to acquaint you, that by a letter from Mr. Jay of the 12th instant, from Madrid, we are informed that the King of Spain has been so good as to offer his guaranty for the payment of the interest and principal of a loan of money for the use of the United States. Mr. Grand thinks that no considerable use can be made here of that guaranty, on account of the considerable loan Mr. Necker is about to make; but that possibly it may have weight in Holland. Orders will be sent to the Spanish ambassador here, by the next post, respecting this matter. I regret much the taking of Mr. Laurens. His son, I understand, sailed a fortnight after him for France, but has not yet arrived.

The Ariel has been at sea, but meeting with a terrible storm which carried away all her masts, has returned into port to refit.

I have the honor to be, &c. &c.

B. Franklin.

P. S. By a former letter from Mr. Jay, I find the sum to be one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for which the King of Spain would be answerable, payable in the space of three years.

TO BARON VAN DER CAPELLEN.

Amsterdam, 22 October, 1780.

Sir,—

I have this day received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 16th instant. I beg you, sir, to accept of my sincere thanks for this instance of your attention to the United States of America. I have long desired the honor of an acquaintance with the Baron Van der Capellen, whose virtuous attachment to the rights of mankind and to the cause of America, as founded in the clearest principles, has been long long known and admired in America.

I beg leave to communicate to you in confidence, as I have done to a very few as yet in this place, that, although Mr. Laurens was destined to this country on an important negotiation for the United States, yet the congress, lest an accident might happen to Mr. Laurens, have been pleased to send to me a commission in part at least of the same import, although I had before a commission for another service. I have kept my commission secret in hopes of Mr. Laurens’s arrival. But all hopes of this, by the barbarous severity of the English, are now at an end; and I must set myself in earnest about the business of my commission.

I have not yet settled the conditions, nor determined upon a house. I should be happy, sir, to have your advice in respect to both.

You give me great pleasure, by informing me that a relation of yours has discovered an inclination to place twenty thousand florins in the American funds. As soon as a house is chosen, and the terms fixed, I shall with pleasure accept the offer.

I shall give great attention, sir, to the gentlemen you are so good as to recommend to me.

Mr. Trumbull is, as I believe, in London. He will doubtless pay his respects to you when he comes this way.

I have the honor to be, &c. &c.

John Adams.

TO B. FRANKLIN.

Amsterdam, 24 October, 1780.

Sir,—

I have this moment the honor of your letter of the 20th of this month, and it is as cold water to a thirsty soul. I have been busily employed in making inquiries, in forming acquaintances, and in taking advice. In hopes of Mr. Laurens’s arrival, and wishing him to judge for himself, I have not decided upon some questions that necessarily arise. I am not able to promise any thing, but I am led to hope for something. The contents of Mr. Jay’s letter will certainly be of great weight and use. I am assured of the good-will of a number of very worthy and considerable people, and that they will endeavor to assist a loan.

Let me entreat your Excellency to communicate to me every thing you may further learn respecting the benevolent intentions of the Court of Madrid, respecting this matter. I will do myself the honor to acquaint you with the progress I make. I was before in hopes of assisting you somewhat, and your letter has raised these hopes a great deal, for the English credit certainly staggers here a little.

The treatment of Mr. Laurens is truly affecting. It will make a deep and lasting impression on the minds of the Americans; but this will not be a present relief to him. You are, no doubt, minutely informed of his ill usage. Can any thing be done in Europe for his comfort or relief?

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 27 October, 1780.

Sir,—

It seems to be now certain, that some of Mr. Laurens’s papers were taken with him.

There have been sent to His Most Serene Highness, the Prince of Orange, copies of letters from M. de Neufville, Mr. Gillon, Mr. Stockton, and Colonel Derrick, and a copy of the plan of a treaty projected between the city of Amsterdam and Mr. William Lee.

The Prince was much affected at the sight of these papers, and laid them before their Noble and Grand Mightinesses, the States of Holland and West Friesland. One gentleman, at least, was present, who was concerned in the transaction with Mr. Lee, who handsomely avowed the measure.1 The Regency of Amsterdam have since given in writing a unanimous avowal of it, and of their determination to support it. The letters of M. de Neufville and Mr. Gillon are said to be decent and well guarded. So that upon the whole it seems to be rather a fortunate event, that these papers have been publicly produced. I wish I could say the same of Mr. Laurens’s captivity, but I cannot. The rigor of his imprisonment, and the severity of their behavior towards him, are not at all abated.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO JOHN ADAMS.

28 October, 1780.

Dear Sir,—

I shall endeavor to write largely to you, en ami, but I will not risk the sailing of the vessel for that purpose at this moment. It is reported Mr. Searle is taken. Our affairs in Holland must, in such case, be very bad, as you will not have received any powers for acting instead of Mr. Laurens, who is too probably taken and carried to England from Newfoundland; and I also know of other fatalities to my letters.

Your friend and humble servant,

James Lovell,Committee of Foreign Affairs.

M. DUMAS TO JOHN ADAMS.

La Haie, 1 Novembre, 1780.

Monsieur,—

Quoique j’aie eu l’honneur de vous écrire depuis la faveur de votre lettre du 4e, je dois néanmoins me souvenir que je n’y ai proprement pas répondu. Je n’ai pu me procurer une copie de la dépêche de Petersbourg, parceque les plénipotentiaires ont exigé qu’elle ne fût point communiquée. Mais elle porte en substance,—1o. Une convention proposée par l’Impératrice de Russie, où, aux cinq articles connus entre les cours du nord, cette princesse dans deux ou trois articles de plus, sans vouloir proprement rien garantir à la république, lui assure néanmoins son secours au cas qu’elle soit attaquée en haine de la dite convention. 2o. Que l’envoyé d’Angleterre à Petersbourg a déclaré a l’Impératrice, que la Grande Bretagne respectera la navigation de la neutralité armée, pourvu que cette république ici en soit exclue. 3o. Que l’envoyé de Prusse les a assurés que le roi son maître accédera à la neutralité armée. 4o. Un article séparé de la convention, que, lorsque la neutralité armée aura pris toute sa consistance, elle pourra procurer la paix en offrant sa médiation aux puissances belligérantes.

Au reste, il n’y a pas encore de congrès formé à Petersbourg; mais il n’est pas impossible qu’il s’y en forme un, lorsque les choses seront parvenues à une certaine maturité; et dans ce cas il seroit certainement nécessaire qu’il y eût, comme vous dites, un ministre Américain, dès qu’il s’y agiroit d’une pacification générale, c’est-à-dire, de l’ancien et du nouveau monde. Mais, encore une fois, il n’y a pas encore de congrès a Petersbourg, et jusqu’ici il n’en a pas même été question. Je vous ai seulement marqué, dans celle de mes lettres qui a occasioné la vôtre, qu’il regne un concert (ou une intelligence) manifeste entre les ministres étrangers (excepté celui d’Angleterre) et le Cabinet de Petersbourg, pour parvenir au grand but de l’impératrice, qui est d’affranchir toutes les mers de la prétention de toute puissance qui voudroit dominer seule, et inquiéter la navigation des neutres toutes les fois qu’elle seroit en guerre.

J’apprendrai avec bien du plaisir, monsieur, que vous jouissez d’une parfaite santé; et j’espère d’en être témoin oculaire, dès que l’assemblée d’Hollande ici se sera séparée; ce qui vraisemblablement aura lieu dans peu de jours.

Au reste, vous aurez déjà appris la résolution prise par la province d’Hollande, d’accéder à cette neutralité. Il s’agit que les six autres prennent la même résolution. Deux ou trois l’ont déjà fait. Mais il faut que les autres le fassent aussi, sans quoi rien ne pourra se conclure.

Je suis, monsieur, avec un grand respect,

Dumas.

P. S. Si vous savez quelque chose de l’état de M. Laurens, depuis qu’il est enfermé à la Tour, je vous supplie de m’en faire part.

Americanus sum, nec quidquam Americani a me alienum puto. Patior cum illis, ita ut olim gavisurus cum iisdem.

TO M. VAN BLOMBERG.

Amsterdam, 3 November, 1780.

Mr. Adams presents his compliments to Mr. Van Blomberg; hopes his health continues to return to him; wishes to know the answer of Mr. Bowens;1 because Mr. Adams has delayed the business already so long, that it is become necessary to come to a conclusion as soon as possible.

FROM M. VAN BLOMBERG.

Amsterdam, 4 November, 1780.

M. Van Blomberg returns his respect to Mr. Adams, will send immediately to the gentleman who called on Mr. Adams yesterday, desiring him still this afternoon, not doubting but he will, if he can. M. Van Blomberg must beg to be excused being present at the conference, as his ill state of health will not permit him to do any business.

TO M. BICKER.

Amsterdam, 6 November, 1780.

Sir,—

M. Blomberg is so ill that he cannot speak upon business, which obliges me to beg the favor of your advice, whether I ought to give more than according to the following plan.

I had the pleasure of half an hour’s conversation with M. Bowens, who desired me to consult with M. Blomberg, and send him my conditions.

A gentleman of great worth and skill advised me not to give more than four per cent. interest. America is willing, however, to give a just interest, and all other reasonable terms, but she would not, like a young spendthrift heir, give any thing, to get money.

I am sorry to give you so much trouble, amidst the sickness in your family; but the sickness of several persons upon whom I depended obliges me to do it, and to request your answer as soon as convenient.

With great respect, &c.

John Adams.

M. DUMAS TO JOHN ADAMS.

La Haie, 7 Novembre, 1780.

Monsieur,—

Vous aurez pu voir par le supplément de la Gazette de Leyde de ce jour, que je vous ai ponctuellement obéi, en faisant insérer les extraits concernant M. Laurens. On a seulement omis les deux ou trois dernières lignes, où white eyes est chargé de la bassesse du traitement indigne qu’éprouve M. Laurens, parce qu’on n’auroit pu les mettre sans s’exposer. Du reste, je vous suis très obligé, monsieur, de cette communication, dont j’ai fait bon usage ici avant que cela ait paru en public; ce qui n’est pas indifférent. Je me recommande pour cette raison, et aussi pour la part intime que je prends au sort de M. Laurens, à la continuation de votre bonté, à mesure que vous recevrez de ses nouvelles; et je vous promets de les publier ou supprimer, selon que vous le jugerez nécessaire pour le bien de M. Laurens, dont la mauvaise santé est ce qui m’inquiéte le plus. J’espère de pouvoir faire un petit voyage à Amsterdam, et de vous y voir en parfaite santé; en attendant je suis, avec un trèsgrand respect, &c. &c.

Dumas.

FROM M. BICKER.

(Translation.)

Amsterdam, 7 November, 1780.

Sir,—

I am very glad that you have had an interview with M. Bowens; but grieved that his broker Blomberg should be so ill that you find yourself constrained to have recourse to another. Upon this point you will permit me to recommend you to consult Mr. Bowens himself, or else let his bookkeeper find some one through whom you may gain intelligence. Whether there be any who speak French or English, I do not know, for such persons are rare. Mortier and Meerkemaer are among the highest in repute, but they act under Messrs. Staphorst for Mr. A. G.

I return your plan with some remarks which I submit for the consideration of the person or persons who will some day have the honor to become your agents, to wit:—

A. Five per cent. is not, in my opinion, too high a rate of interest, inasmuch as all the great sovereigns as well as the powers of the north eagerly take money at that price.

bc1 Two conditions until now never known to me, and, therefore, superfluous. They must have been suggested to you by some venal or interested soul.

On the other hand I see no condition specified for the payment of the annual interest, a duty which requires the most labor and well deserves the compensation of one per cent. Let me explain myself. Bonds to the amount of one million, yield fifty thousand as annual interest, one per cent. on which makes but five hundred florins. On that account I have always been paid two per cent.

I have the honor to be, &c.

H. Bicker.

TO M. BOWENS.

Amsterdam, 7 November, 1780.

Sir,—

I waited on M. Blomberg yesterday, but found him too ill to speak upon business. I must, therefore, request you to recommend to me another broker for the present, one who speaks French or English, if possible. I don’t mean to quit M. Blomberg, whom I esteem very much, but I suppose it will not be amiss to have two. Messrs. Mortier and Meerkemaer have been mentioned to me.

Meantime I will venture to propose to M. Bowens’s consideration the following plan.

I should be glad of your sentiments, as soon as may be convenient.

I am, with great respect, sir,
Your very humble servant,

John Adams.

(Memorandum on the foregoing Letter.)

10 November, 1780.

Returned to me, on the 10th of November, at one o’clock, by M. Bowens’s bookkeeper, with an answer that he had made some inquiries, and could not see any hopes of success, and, therefore, declined the trust.

TO M. DUMAS.

Amsterdam, 9 November, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor of yours of the 7th. Inclosed are a few more extracts concerning the treatment of Mr. Laurens; you will publish such parts as you judge proper. This event will have more serious and lasting consequences than are imagined; it is therefore proper that the facts should be preserved. It may be prudent to observe a delicacy concerning white eyes;1 but Europe, in general, is much mistaken in that character; it is a pity that he should be believed to be so amiable; the truth is far otherwise. Nerone neronior is nearer the truth. I shall be very happy to see you at Amsterdam, and am with much respect, &c.

John Adams.

TO M. BICKER.

Amsterdam, 10 November, 1780.

I wrote three days ago to M. Bowens, and proposed to him my conditions, and had no answer till this moment.

M. Bowens’s bookkeeper has this moment called upon me with M. Bowens’s answer,—that he has made some inquiry, and cannot see any hopes of success, and therefore declines accepting the trust.

I am now at a full stand. I should be very much obliged to you for your further advice.

The gentleman advises me to Messrs. Christian Tenkate and M^m. Van Vlooten as brokers. I should be glad of your opinion of them.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

FROM M. BICKER.

(Translation.)

Amsterdam, 11 November, 1780.

Sir,—

The brokers Tenkate, when I was in business, had free entry at my house. I think them capable; but I found them so liable to influence through their own interests, that I never could close with them. As to Mr. Van Vlooten, I think his residence is at Utrecht, and that he has fair opportunities of placing the money of citizens of that Province, who are not however capitalists to set agoing the negotiation in question.

I have the honor to be, &c.

H. Bicker.

TO COMMODORE GILLON.

Amsterdam, 12 November, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me the 12th of November.

It would give me great pleasure to do any thing in my power consistent with the duty I owe to my constituents, to assist you; but the advices you allude to are as great an obstruction to you as to me. I have left no measure unattempted that prudence could justify, but have neither procured any money, nor obtained the least hope of obtaining any. I have heretofore entertained hopes of obtaining something, but these hopes are all at an end. There are bills of exchange already here that must, I fear, be protested, and others on their way that must share the same fate, as Mr. Franklin cannot accept them, and no one else has any prospect.

In this situation I should be criminal to comply with the request in your letter. Indeed, if there was money of the United States here at my disposal, and more than enough to answer the bills drawn and to be drawn, I could not justify lending it to any particular State without express instructions. There are commissioners now in Europe from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts, who would have similar reasons for requesting my aid. But a precedent of this sort should never be set without the highest authority for it. If there could be any State for which I should hazard such an irregularity, it would be South Carolina, on account of her suffering situation.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 16 November, 1780.

Sir,—

On the 10th of this month Sir Joseph Yorke presented to the states-general the following memorial.1

Whether Sir Joseph Yorke, after twenty years’ residence in this republic, is ignorant of its constitution, or whether, knowing it, he treats it in this manner, on purpose the more palpably to insult it, I know not. The sovereignty resides in the states-general; but who are the states-general? Not their High Mightinesses who assemble at the Hague to deliberate; these are only deputies of the states-general. The states-general are the regencies of the cities and the bodies of nobles in the several Provinces. The burgomasters of Amsterdam, therefore, who are called the regency, are one integral branch of the sovereignty of the seven United Provinces, and the most material branch of all, because the city of Amsterdam is one quarter of the whole republic, at least in taxes.

What would be said in England if the Count de Welderen, ambassador at the Court of London, had presented a memorial to the King, in which he had charged any integral part of their sovereignty, as the whole house of lords, or the whole house of commons, with conspiracies, factions, cabals, sacrificing general interests to private views, and demanded exemplary punishment upon them? The cases are in nature precisely parallel, although there are only three branches of the sovereignty in England, and there are a greater number than three in Holland.

There are strong symptoms of resentment of this outrageous memorial in Amsterdam; but whether the whole will not evaporate, I know not. Many persons, however, are of opinion that a war is inevitable, and insurance cannot be had even to St. Eustatia, since this memorial was made public, under twenty or twenty-five per cent.

This memorial is so like the language of Lord Hillsborough and Governor Bernard, that I could scarcely forbear substituting Boston for Amsterdam, and Otis, or Hancock, or Adams, for Van Berckel, as I read it. I should not wonder if the next memorial should charge the republic with rebellion, and except two or three from pardon.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 17 November, 1780.

Sir,—

From the time of the arrival of my commission, I have been constantly employed in forming acquaintances, making inquiries, and asking advice; but am sorry to be obliged to say, that hitherto I see no certain prospect of borrowing any money at all.

For some years past, all the information I could obtain from this country led me to think that America had many friends in this republic, and that a considerable sum might be borrowed here, provided application was made to Dutch houses of old families and numerous connections. And after my arrival here, I had the opinion of persons who I had every reason to think knew best, that if proper powers should arrive from the thirteen United States, money might be had. But now that all agree, that full powers have arrived, I do not find the same encouragement. This nation has been so long in the habit of admiring the English, and disliking the French, so familiarized to call England the natural ally, and France the natural enemy of the republic, that it must be the work of time to eradicate these prejudices, although the circumstances are greatly altered. Add to this the little decision and success which have appeared in the conduct of the affairs of America and her allies, and the series of small successes which the English have had for the last twelve months; the suspense and uncertainty in which men’s minds have been held respecting the accession of the Dutch to the armed neutrality; and at last the publication of some papers taken with Mr. Laurens, the part the Stadtholder has acted, and the angry memorial of Sir Joseph Yorke concerning them; all these things together have thrown this nation into a state of astonishment, confusion, and uncertainty, to such a degree, that no house that I have as yet thought it prudent to apply to, dares to undertake the trust. The times are now critical indeed. The question will be decided in a few days, whether the republic shall join the armed neutrality or not. Four Provinces have voted for it; two others have voted in such a manner that their deputies may agree to it; and most men say it will be decided by the plurality.

The King of England demands a disavowal of the Amsterdam treaty, and the punishment of the regency. They will not be punished, nor their conduct disavowed. The King of England, therefore, must take such measures as he shall think his dignity and the essential interests of his people require. What these will be, time alone can discover. Many think he will declare war, but more are of a different opinion.

Congress, who have been long used to contemplate the characters and the policy of this King and his ministers, will see that they are now pursuing towards this republic the same maxims which have always governed them. Their measures in America, for many years, were calculated to divide the many from the few in the towns of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston; next, to divide the Provinces from their capitals; and then to divide the rest of the continent from those Provinces which took the earliest a decided part.

Their plan now is, to divide the people of Amsterdam from their burgomasters, and to single out M. Van Berckel for the fate of Barnevelt, Grotius, or De Witt; to divide the other cities of Holland from Amsterdam, and the other Provinces of the republic from Holland. But they will succeed no better in Holland than in America, and their conduct bids fair to make M. Van Berckel the most respected and esteemed of all the citizens.

In the present critical state of things, a commission of a minister plenipotentiary would be useful here. It would not be acknowledged, perhaps not produced, except in case of war. But if peace should continue, it would secure its possessor the external respect of all. It would give him a right to claim and demand the prerogatives and privileges of a minister plenipotentiary, in case any thing should turn up which might require it. It would make him considered as the centre of American affairs, and it would assist, if any thing would, a loan.

I cannot conclude without observing, that I cannot think it would be safe for congress to draw for money here, until they shall receive certain information that their bills can be honored. There are bills arrived, which, if Mr. Franklin cannot answer, must, for what I know, be protested.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO BARON VAN DER CAPELLEN.

Amsterdam, 20 November, 1780.

Sir,—

I have the honor to inclose a small pamphlet lately published, which in this critical moment may do some good.1

The hour draws nigh when this republic is to determine whether it will accede to the armed neutrality; but let their determination of that question be as it will, if they do not disavow the conduct of Amsterdam, and punish M. Van Berckel and the burgomasters, the King of Great Britain has threatened, and, if I am not deceived by his past conduct, he will attempt to carry his threat into execution. If he declares war, or, which is more probable, commences hostilities without a declaration, it will be on pretence of an insult and an injury, committed by beginning a correspondence and a treaty with his subjects in rebellion, although they were at that time as completely in possession of an independence and a sovereignty de facto as England or Holland were.

I hope for the honor of your answer to the proposal I made you, by the time limited, and am,

With the utmost respect,

John Adams.

TO M. JOHN LUZAC.

Amsterdam, 20 November, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received your obliging letter and a dozen copies of the “Pensées.” I am much obliged to you, sir, for these copies, and for an excellent preface, which is worth more than the book.

I should be glad to pay for a couple of dozens more of these pamphlets. They come out in the critical moment to do good, if ever. If the impression they make now should not be deep, it will sink deeper ere long; for I see plainly by a certain “memorial,” that the King of England and his ministers have in their hearts war against this republic; join or not join the armed neutrality, it will come, if, after a long experience of those characters, I have not mistaken them. They do not charge faction, cabal, &c. &c. &c., but in earnest.

I am, sir, with great esteem, your humble servant,

John Adams.

TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

Amsterdam, 24 November, 1780.

Sir,—

The letter which your Excellency did me the honor to write me on the 13th is received, and I have accordingly accepted the bills, and shall draw upon your Excellency about the time they become payable, for money to enable me to discharge them, provided I should not succeed in my endeavors to borrow it here.

I have hitherto no prospect at all. When I first arrived here, I had such informations as made me believe that a sum of money might be had upon the credit of the United States. But the news from Carolina and New York and the West Indies, but, above all, the affair of the burgomasters and Sir Joseph Yorke’s Memorial, have struck a panic which must have time to wear off. At present, I meet with only one gentleman who thinks any thing can be done, and I fear that he deceives himself.

I hope by this time your Excellency’s health is restored, and have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

BARON VAN DER CAPELLEN TO JOHN ADAMS.

Zwol, 28 Novembre, 1780.

Monsieur,—

J’etois sur le point de vous écrire lorsque je me vis honoré de votre lettre du 20 du courant. Je vous ai beaucoup d’obligation de la brochure Française, que vous avez eu la bonté de m’envoyer. Elle ne manquera pas de guérir bien des prejugés; mais aussi, à ce que j’ai déjà remarqué, elle alarmera les peuples commerçans, qui craigneront qu’ils ne seront pas en état de sontenir la concurrence des Américains ni dans les pêcheries, ni dans le commerce de cabotage et de fret, ni dans celui des Indes. C’est une remarque qu’un ami très éclairé me fit après la lecture de la dite brochure.

Quant à la proposition dont vous m’avez honoré; j’en ai pesé le pour et le contre avec cette prévention en faveur du premier, qui est l’effet naturel de mon zèle pour le bonheur des deux peuples, et de mon désir ardent de les voir se rapprocher, se lier, s’unir, malgré les efforts de ceux, qui, malheureusement avec trop de succès, ne cessent d’accumuler obstacle sur obstacle, afin de prévenir, pour toujours, s’il leur est possible, un événement si désirable. J’ai consulté sur cette affaire délicate mes meilleurs amis, et le résultat a été; qu’entamer ouvertement en mon nom une négociation en faveur des États Unis seroit donner de gaieté de cœur dans les embuches que mes ennemis ne cessent de dresser sous mes pas. Et sûrement, monsieur, la persécution entamée contre Monsieur Van Berckel et ses complices, c’est à dire contre tous ceux qui ont eu quelque correspondance avec les Américains, montre ce que j’aurois à attendre, si je me rendois coupable de ce que le roi d’Angleterre ne manqueroit pas de faire valoir comme un acte, par lequel j’aurois favorisé et soutenu la rebellion dans ses états. Quelle ne seroit pas la satisfaction que l’on demanderoit d’une part, et que, sans hésiter, l’on donneroit de l’autre, contre un magistrat obligé de maintenir les traités avec la Grande Bretagne, que notre république, chérissant ses fers, n’a pas encore trouvé bon de révoquer; contre un individu, qui, déjà l’objet de la haine la plus effrénée, réclamant depuis si longtems vainement la protection des loix, seroit seul responsable de ses actions, sans pouvoir, comme M. Van Berckel et autres, se retrancher sur les ordres de ses supérieurs, dont ils n’ont été que les executeurs!

D’ailleurs, monsieur, je suis persuadé que mon nom ne contribueroit en rien à la réussite. Jamais le crédit de l’Amérique n’a été si bas qu’à cette heure. La prise de Charleston, l’invasion de la Georgie et de la Caroline méridionale; la défaite du Géneral Gates, échecs que les Américains n’ont pas encore compensés par aucun avantage de quelque considération; l’inaction des flottes combinées de Solano et Guichen; la supériorité decidée des Anglais aux Indes Occidentales et à New York; la défection d’Arnold revue, corrigée et augmentée parles nouvellistes Anglais. Voilà plus qu’il n’en faut pour faire chanceler un crédit même établi. Ajoutez à ceci la crainte d’être enveloppé comme complice de M. Van Berckel, et, ce qui restera à jamais un obstacle chez bien des gens dans ce pays, la peur que l’on a de désobliger le Prince d’Orange; et calculez s’il y a pour le présent la moindre espérance pour la réussite d’une négociation à laquelle je me serois preté, s’il eût été faisable, avec tout le zèle dont je suis animé pour la cause de la liberté générale du genre humain. J’avois même tracé un plan, qui auroit beaucoup facilité l’entreprise. Monsieur Tegelaar auroit administré le comptoir général et je vous aurois proposé d’employer trois ou quatre personnes d’influence et de probité dans les différentes provinces pour y recevoir les deniers de l’emprunt, et y payer deux fois par an les intérêts. Pour les profits je les aurois cédés entièrement aux employés, me contentant d’un simple dédommagement. Mon plan de conduite dans le monde politique exige ce renoncement, afin de tenir, comme je l’ai pu faire jusqu’ici, mes ennemis dans l’impossibilité de m’attribuer les motifs par lesquels ils agissent eux mêmes.

Cependant, monsieur, je vous prie de ne pas trop presser votre départ. Les affaires de la république sont dans une violente crise. Le temps seul pourroit dans peu lever une grande partie des empêchements susdits. Le congrès lui même peut y contribuer beaucoup en ne nous laissant pas, comme jusqu’ici, sans informations authentiques touchant le véritable état des affaires de l’Amérique. C’est d’elle que dépend tout son crédit. Il n’acquerra jamais de la consistance dans ce pays, si longtemps que l’on n’y sera point guéri des ses préjugés touchant la faiblesse de l’Amérique et en faveur de la toute puissance de la Grand Bretagne. Le congrès devroit envoyer régulièrement une ou deux fois par mois de petits paquebots, uniquement afin de ne jamais laisser le champ libre au nouvellistes Anglois. Lorsque Henri IV. fit arrèter le Maréchal de Biron il envoya des couriers par toute l’Europe, et jusqu’ici (d’autant que je sache) l’on n’a de la défection d’Arnold que les récits sûrement éxagérés du ministre Britannique.

Je crains d’abuser de votre attention; mais je ne saurois, avant de finir, m’empêcher de vous avertir de vous méfier de la jalousie qui dévore les négocians de ce pays. Rabattez toujours quelque chose des informations que l’on vous donne à leur sujet. Je suis sûr que la réussite de la négociation ne dépend pas autant que l’on veut vous persuader du choix de la maison qui s’en charge, que des causes sus-mentionnées. Il est très indifférent pour les préteurs de qui ils reçoivent les contrats, signés d’ailleurs en forme requise, et les intérêts. Ce qui les intéresse plus, c’est que ce soit le plus près possible du lieu de leur demeure, pour éviter les frais de transport. Vous connoissez mieux que moi les affaires de M. Tegelaar. Mais si celui ci ne convient pas (ce dont je ne saurois juger) je ne vois aucune objection pour ne pas confier l’entreprise à Monsieur J. de Neufville. Il a fait autrefois de fortes dépenses. Il a essuyé des pertes, mais avec tout cela il est entré dans le commerce avec un million de florins. Il a fait de grandes affaires et les fait aujourd’hui plus grandes que jamais. Il est un des plus anciens et des plus zélés amis de l’Amérique. Il jouit de la confiance et de la considération de la régence de Amsterdam. La confiance qu’elle a eu en lui de l’employer dans cette négociation secrète lui donne du relief, lequel joint à un peu d’imprudence de sa part lui attire de la jalousie, et peut-être de l’envie. La maison qu’il seroit le plus naturel d’employer seroit celle de Fizeaux et Grand. Mais la connection du dernier avec un Général Anglais servant en Amérique mérite sûrement réflection.

Quant à la conduite des Anglais, je crains que leur but (outre celui en général d’amuser la république par des négociations et des mémoires de part et d’autre) ne soit de nous entrainer en guerre avant d’être admis à la neutralité armée, afin de donner occasion aux puissances conféderées de pouvoir nous refuser comme n’ayant pas la qualification requise, savoir, d’être une puissance neutre. Ou bien, si cela leur manque, de nous faire la guerre sous le prétexte spécieux d’avoir violé la neutralité par notre correspondance avec les rebelles de la couronne, afin de fournir aux puissances liguées une anse pour pouvoir, s’ils le veulent ou si l’influence des Anglais les y porte, nous refuser les secours stipulés sous prétexte de la non-existence du casus fæderis. La république, même la Province de Hollande, à ce que l’on débite, va faire un désaveu formel de ce que la ville d’Amsterdam a fait. C’est tout ce que je crois être en son pouvoir, car de faire punir les complices de ce compl⍛t est au dessus de leurs forces. Si donc le mémoire de Monsieur Yorke n’est pas une simple rodomontade, la guerre est inévitable, et une guerre quasi vero pour un démélé, qui n’est pas du ressort de la neutralité armée.

J’espère de retourner à Amsterdam dans trois semaines, et je suis, en attendant, avec tout le respect possible, monsieur,

Votre très humble, &c.

Capellen de Pol.

TO B. FRANKLIN.

Amsterdam, 30 November, 1780.

Sir,—

I was duly honored with your Excellency’s letter of the 8th of October, by Mr. Searle.

I thank you, sir, for inclosing the resolution of congress respecting my salary and Mr. Dana’s. I wish I could see a prospect of relieving you from this burden, as well as that of the bills of exchange drawn upon Mr. Laurens, but at present there is not a prospect of obtaining a shilling. What turn affairs may take, it is impossible to foresee. Some gentlemen tell me, that a few months, or, indeed, weeks, may produce events which will open the purses to me; but I think our want of credit here is owing to causes that are made permanent. I never had any just idea of this country, until I came here, if, indeed, I have now. I have received money of the house of Horneca, Fizeaux, and Grand, on account of Mr. F. Grand, of Paris, for my subsistence, and, if you have no objection, I will continue in this way.

Mr. Searle’s conversation is a cordial to me. He gives a charming, sanguine representation of our affairs, such as I am very well disposed to believe, and such as I should give myself, if interrogated according to the best of my knowledge. But we have a hard conflict yet to go through.

The correspondence you mention between his Excellency the Count de Vergennes and me, I transmitted regularly to congress in the season of it, from Paris, and other copies since my arrival in Amsterdam, both without any comments.

The letter I mentioned, I believe was from your Excellency to M. Dumas, who informs me that there has been none to the grand pensionary, but the one which your Excellency wrote when I was at Passy, which I remember very well.

The republic, it is said, for it is hard to come at the truth, have, on the one hand, acceded to the armed neutrality, and, on the other, have disavowed the conduct of Amsterdam.

This, it is hoped, will appease all nations for the present; and it may, for what I know. We shall see.

I should be the less surprised at Great Britain treating the United Provinces like an English Colony, if I did not every day hear the language and sentiments of English colonists. But if she treats all her Colonies with equal tyranny, it may make them all, in time, equally independent.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

P. S. A gentleman here has received a commission from England, to hire as many vessels as he possibly can, to carry troops to America. This I have certain information of. It is also given out, that Sir J. Yorke has demanded and obtained permission of the States to do it; but this, I believe, is an English report. It is also said that the burgomasters of the city have signified abroad, that it would be disagreeable if anybody should hire the ships. But this may be only bruit. It shows the English want of shipping, their intention to send troops, and their cunning to get away from this nation both their ships and seamen.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 30 November, 1780.

Sir,—

The state of parties in this republic is still critical. Many anonymous pamphlets appear on both sides. Those which proceed from the English party, are virulent against M. Van Berckel. The republic itself wavers, according to events and causes which are impenetrable. A few days ago, the plan appeared to be, to accede to the armed neutrality, in order to satisfy one party, and to disavow the conduct of Amsterdam, in forming with Mr. Lee the project of a treaty, in order to appease the other. Fifteen cities even in the Province of Holland, have disavowed this measure; Haerlem and Dort are the only two, which have approved it. The grand pensionary of Holland has sent after the courier, who had been despatched to the plenipotentiaries at Petersburg, and brought him back to the Hague. What alteration is to be made, is unknown. It is now given out, that they have determined to increase the fortifications of the maritime towns, and augment their garrisons.

I see every day more and more of the inveterate prejudices of this nation in favor of the English, and against the French; more and more of the irresistible influence of the Stadtholder, and more and more of the irresolution, uncertainty, and confusion of the nation. How the whole will conclude, I know not. One thing, however, is certain, that congress can depend upon no money from hence. I have, confiding in the assurances of Dr. Franklin, accepted all the bills drawn upon Mr. Laurens, which have yet been presented to me, amounting to thirty-four thousand three hundred and fifty-eight guilders; but I have no prospect of discharging them, or even of deriving my own subsistence from any other source than Passy. Congress will, therefore, I presume, desist from any further drafts upon Holland, at least until they receive certain information that money has been borrowed, of which I see no present prospect.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO BARON VAN DER CAPELLEN.

Amsterdam, 9 December, 1780.

Sir,—

I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me, on the 28th ultimo. The pamphlet which I took the liberty to send you may possibly excite in some minds a curiosity to read the original memoire, and turn the attention of many to a subject that deserves a serious consideration. It is very probable that Mr. Pownall meant to alarm this republic, and, perhaps, other nations, by several things which he has inserted in his work, for he is by no means a friend of America. The truths he tells of America do not come from a willing witness.

These little alarms and jealousies, of merchants or of nations, are not much to be regarded. The American question, one of the greatest that was ever decided among men, will be determined by the cabinets of Europe, according to great national interests. But let these decide as they will, America will be independent. It is not in the power of Europe to prevent it Little mercantile apprehensions, and less family competitions and alliances among princes, may light up a general war in Europe. It is possible that a jealousy of the house of Bourbon may enkindle a war of several powers against those nations who follow the several branches of that family. But this would promote, rather than retard, American independence. American independence is no longer a question with one man of sense in the world, who understands any thing of the subject.

That merchant must be a very superficial thinker, indeed, who dreads the rivalry of America independent, in the fisheries, in freight, and in the coasting trade, and yet would not be afraid of it connected with Great Britain. The possibility of America’s interfering with any nations in any of these things, will certainly be retarded by her independence.

I believe with you that the credit of America was never lower in the low countries, than at this hour; but I am unfortunate enough to differ from your opinion concerning the causes of it. The tales of Gates and Arnold, and the French and Spanish fleets, &c., are ostensible reasons. The true one is the apparent obstinacy and fury of England, manifested several ways, particularly in the treatment of Mr. Laurens, and the rage at the discovery of his papers; these have intimidated everybody. Every one dreads the resentment of the English party, and no one dares to stand forth in opposition to it. So be it. Let them go on lending their money and hiring their ships to England, to enable her to murder people, of whom neither the lender nor the borrower is worthy. Time will show them how much wisdom there is in their unfeeling sacrifice of every sentiment and every principle, upon the altar of mammon. The less America has to do with such people, the better it will be for her.

As to authentic informations, sir, no information from America would alter sentiments, which are formed upon motives, which lie altogether in Europe. No information from America could alter the constitution of this republic; give the Stadt-holder less decisive influence in it, or destroy the relations between the families of Hanover and Orange. I should not, therefore, think it wise nor honest in me to deceive America with any kind of hopes of assistance, in any way, from this republic.

There are a few, very few individuals, among the foremost of whom, you, sir, will ever be remembered, who would wish, from generous motives, to do us service, but they are so overborne by the opposite party, that they never will be able to do much, excepting in a case, in which we should have no need of their assistance.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 12 December, 1780.

Sir,—

In addition to other papers respecting your ministration, I now forward an act of congress of this day.1

You know it has been much, if not entirely, the practice of the committee of foreign affairs to let the resolves which they transmit speak for themselves. In the present case, however, there is no danger of a too warm expression of the satisfaction of congress, even if, in performing singly the duty of our whole committee, I should write in the approving language of a personally affectionate and very partial friend.

James Lovell,for the Committee of Foreign Affairs.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 14 December, 1780.

Sir,—

I am every day accepting the bills of exchange which were drawn upon Mr. Laurens; but I have no prospect of obtaining money to discharge them from any other person than Dr. Franklin.

For some years before I came to Holland, every person I saw from this place assured me that, in his opinion, money might be borrowed, provided application was made with proper powers directly from congress to solid Dutch houses. After my arrival here, these assurances were repeated to me by persons whose names I could mention, and who I thought could not be deceived themselves, nor deceive me. But now that powers have arrived, and application has been made to Dutch houses undoubtedly solid, those houses will not accept the business. In short, I cannot refrain from saying, that almost all the professions of friendship to America which have been made, turn out, upon trial, to have been nothing more than little adulations to procure a share in our trade. Truth demands of me this observation. Americans find here the politeness of the table, and a readiness to enter into their trade; but the public finds no disposition to afford any assistance, political or pecuniary. They impute this to a change in sentiments, to the loss of Charleston, the defeat of General Gates, to Arnold’s desertion, to the inactivity of the French and Spaniards, &c. &c. &c. But I know better. It is not love of the English, although there is a great deal more of that than is deserved, but it is fear of the English and the Stadtholderian party.

I must, therefore, entreat congress to make no more drafts upon Holland until they hear from me that their bills can be accepted, of which, at present, I have no hopes.

People of the first character have been, and are still constantly advising that congress should send a minister plenipotentiary here, and insist upon it, that this would promote a loan. It is possible it may; but I can see no certainty that it will. Sending a few cargoes of produce would do something.

The Dutch are now felicitating themselves upon the depth and the felicity of their politics. They have joined the neutrality, and have disavowed Amsterdam, and this has appeased the wrath of the English, the appearance of which, in Sir Joseph Yorke’s Memorial, terrified them more than I ever saw any part of America intimidated in the worst crisis of her affairs. The late news we have of advantages gained by our arms in several skirmishes in Carolina contributes a little to allay the panic. But all in Europe depends upon our successes. I say,—

• “Careat successibus opto
• Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putat.”

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS TO JOHN ADAMS.

Philadelphia, 18 December, 1780.

Sir,—

You will receive herewith inclosed a duplicate of my letter of the 30th of July, with a list of the original letters and duplicates which I have had the honor to receive from you since that time.

The pleasure and satisfaction which I have received from the perusal of those letters, especially that of the 26th of June, with the despatches accompanying it, makes me lament the want of leisure to answer your correspondence. But necessity compels me to confide in the committee of foreign affairs, to give you the needful and particular intelligence from this part of the world. It is expected a secretary for foreign affairs will soon be established, and constantly devoted to the business proper for such department; which will remedy many disadvantages we at present labor under.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Samuel Huntington.

BARON VAN DER CAPELLEN TO JOHN ADAMS.

Zwol, 24 Décembre, 1780.

Monsieur,—

J’aurois déjà eu le plaisir de répondre de bouche a votre honorée de ce mois si la gelée m’avoit permis de m’embarquer, Mardi passé, comme je l’avois projeté.

Je prendrai la liberté d’en suivre le fil dans celle-ci. Si Gouverneur Pownall peut avoir eu dessein d’alarmer cette république, et peut-être d’autres nations, il eût été plus prudent de ne pas publier la brochure en Français sans quelque antidote en forme de note sur les passages les plus dangereux. Vous vous rappellerez, monsieur, que cela a été mon opinion lorsque j’eûs l’honneur de vous en parler à Amsterdam.

Pour ce qui est du crédit de l’Amérique, j’avois pris la liberté de vous tracer dans ma dernière cumulativement toutes les causes qui coöpèrent à son abaissement actuel. L’invasion de la Georgie et de la Caroline Méridionale, la prise de Charleston, la perte des frégates continentales, la défaite de Gates, l’inaction des flottes combinées de Guichen et de Solano, la supériorité décidée des Anglais aux isles et à New York même, la défection d’Arnold, le mécontentement de l’armée et la jalousie entre elle et le corps politique, l’état toujours fluctuant de Monsieur Necker et l’incertitude de la durée du phénomène d’une bonne administration en France, et enfin, ce qui est plus que tout ceci et que j’avois oublié par mégarde d’ajouter à ma précédente, la dépréciation monstrueuse des papiers Américains, dépréciation qui ne peut qu’aboutir à une banqueroute nationale si le congrès ne trouve pas le moyen de les sauver par de la monnaie sonnante; tout ceci, monsieur, ne sont nullement des tales. Ce sont des faits qui influent sur la nation en général; qui même font trembler les amis de l’Amérique, parmi lesquels j’en connois de très éclairés, qui appréhendent beaucoup les suites d’une annihilation totale du cours des papiers. Ils craignent que l’Angleterre ne saisisse les momens où l’armée, faute de paye, n’existera plus ou sera fort affoiblie; où la milice pour la même raison ne sera pas assemblée en nombre suffisant; ils redoutent les troubles, les dérangemens, la confusion, que doit occasioner une banqueroute nationale dans toutes les classes du peuple, et ils tremblent à la perspective, qu’à la fin ce peuple se lassera de soutenir une guerre qui entraine avec elle des calamités qu’aucun peuple n’a jamais eprouvées, savoir, un manque total d’espèces et tout ce qui résulte d’une si terrible situation. Il en coûte moins de verser son sang pour sa patrie, que de souffrir à la longue l’indigence pour l’amour d’elle. Si le peuple Américain trouve encore dans sa vertu et dans son patriotisme une ressource contre cette épreuve, sûrement c’est un peuple encore unique à cet égard comme il est à bien d’autres. Vous concevez, monsieur; toutes ces inquiétudes ne sont pas les miennes. C’est la façon dont ma nation envisage les affaires de l’Amérique que je dépeins.

Tout crédit, soit d’un peuple, soit d’un particulier, dépend uniquement de deux choses, savoir, de l’opinion que l’on a de la bonne foi de l’emprunteur, et de la possibilité où il se trouve de faire face à ses engagemens. Quant à l’Amérique, le premier article n’est jamais révoqué en doute; mais je suis mortifié de ne pas pouvoir en dire autant du second, et je puis vous assurer, monsieur, que selon la nature de la chose, ce ne sera que par des informations authentiques du véritable état des affaires dans le nouveau monde que vous réussirez à persuader les capitalistes du vieux de lui prêter leur argent. N’attendez pas qu’on le fasse par principes. Une telle générosité surpasseroit les bornes de la vertu du gros des hommes. Cependant je puis vous assurer que la grande pluralité de ma nation, certainement plus de quatre-cinquièmes parties, aime les Américains et souhaite une bonne réussite. Etant du pays, parlant la langue, fréquentant toutes les classes de mes concitoyens, je suis plus à même de former un jugement juste là-dessus, que ceux qui sont privés de ces moyens d’information. Ce n’est que les gens attachés à la cour que l’on ne gagnera jamais; mais, grâces à dieux, ce ne sont pas les seuls; ce sont même les moindres de ceux de qui l’on a quelque chose à espérer. Je vous conjure pour cela, monsieur, de ne pas donner à vos seigneurs et maîtres une idée de la situation des affaires dans ce pays, et surtout de la façon de penser de ses habitans en général, laquelle, à la fin, pourroit ne pas se trouver justifiée par l’événement, et occasioner des mesures qui éloigneroient de plus en plus les deux républiques faites l’une pour l’autre, et que je souhaiterois ardemment de voir plus en plus s’unir. La nôtre est dans une violente crise, dont en bonne politique, avant de se déterminer, on doit absolument attendre l’issue, qui peut tourner du bon côté. Une guerre avec les Anglais me paroit inévitable. S’ils ne la cherchoient pas, ils ne hasarderoient pas de nous pousser à bout par des outrages, qui ne leur sont utiles à rien, que jamais peuple n’a avalé, ni enduré si longtemps que nous avons été contraints de le faire. C’est bien dommage, dans ces circonstances, que la saisie des papiers de Monsieur Laurens a fourni aux Anglais un prétexte specieux à maltraiter la république, ou plutôt la ville d’Amsterdam, que l’on veut perdre à tout prix, et de qui je crains que l’influence de la cour n’empêche les autres membres de l’état de prendre la défense. Mais quoiqu’il arrive, la lumière peut naître des ténèbres mêmes. L’Amérique ne peut se tirer d’affaires sans notre argent. Il faut donc, pour favoriser ses intérêts, attendre patiemment et saisir avec addresse le moment favorable pour l’attraper. Tôt ou tard il se présentera, peut-être plutôt que l’on s’y attend. On doit prendre les hommes comme ils sont.

J’ai reçu par le canal de son Excellence John Jay une lettre du Gouverneur Livingston du 15 Mars. Elle me renvoie pour des détails à la lettre du Gouverneur Trumbull (qui paroitra dans peu) et ne contient d’ailleurs aucune nouvelle, n’étant proprement que l’accusation de la réception de la mienne. “The chief difficulty we have now to struggle with” (ce sont les paroles du gouverneur) “is the depreciation of our currency; but as congress has lately most assiduously applied to financiering, I hope they will discover some way to extricate us out of that perplexity.”

Je crois que jamais ces papiers ne seroient tombés si bas, je crois même qu’ils se seroient parfaitement soutenus, si, à chaque émission, le congrès avoit pu imposer des taxes proportionelles; dans ce cas les papiers auroient circulé. L’État les recevant toujours au juste prix, les particuliers n’auroient pas osé ou pu les refuser à pari, et ces taxes les auroient tour à tour fait rentrer dans la caisse de l’état, qui par ce moyen là auroit pu trouver les nouvelles sommes dont il avoit besoin en empruntant sans intérêts les papiers déjà en circulation au lieu d’être dans la nécessité de faire toujours de nouvelles émissions, et d’augmenter plus qu’il ne falloit la quantité de ces papiers. Il y a moins d’argent dans le monde que l’on ne pense. La même pièce se représente, et pour ainsi dire se reproduit plusieurs fois, et l’Amérique ne me paroit pas avoir besoin de 200 millions de dollars pour suffire à tous ses objets de guerre ou de commerce intérieur.

J’assure de mes respects Messrs. Searle, Gillon, Dana, et le gentilhomme que j’ai eu l’honneur de voir souvent chez vous sans pouvoir me rappeler son nom; et j’ai l’honneur d’etre avec une profonde vénération, monsieur, &c.

Capellen de Pol.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 25 December, 1780.

Sir,—

Affairs are still in suspense. This day being Christmas, and yesterday Sunday, there was no public exchange held on either. But business, and especially stockjobbing, goes on without ceasing, being done at the coffee-houses on Sundays and holydays, when it cannot be held upon ’change.

The English mail, which had been interrupted by contrary winds for three posts, arrived on Saturday. The English gazettes of the 19th announced that Sir Joseph Yorke was recalled, and a Dutch war was inevitable. Private letters informed that the Count de Welderen was about leaving the British Court, that an embargo was laid on all Dutch ships in Great Britain, that the stocks had fallen two per cent., and that a war was unavoidable. The stockjobbers, Englishmen, and others at the coffee-houses had very melancholy countenances and more than common anxiety. News was also propagated from the Hague, that Sir Joseph Yorke was gone. Others said he had received his orders to go. As there was no exchange, the public judgment is not yet made up, whether there will be war or not. Some gentlemen of knowledge and experience think all this a farce, concerted at the Hague, between Sir Joseph and his friends there, and the ministry in England, in order to spread an alarm, intimidate the States into an answer, which may be accepted with a color of honor, &c., or to do something worse, that is, rouse a spirit among the mobility against the burgomasters of Amsterdam. I cannot, however, but be of opinion, that there is more in this, and that the ministry will carry their rage to great extremities. They have gone too far to look back, without emboldening their enemies, confounding their friends, and exposing themselves to the contempt and ridicule of both. A few hours, however, will throw more light upon this important subject. The plot must unravel immediately.1

I have the honor, to be, &c.

John Adams.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, 31 December, 1780.

Sir,—

It will scarcely be believed in congress, that at a time when there are the strongest appearances of war, there has not been a newspaper nor a letter received in this city from London, since the 19th or 20th of the month. There are symptoms of a more general war. If Britain adheres to her maxims, this republic will demand the aid of Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia, in pursuance of the treaty of armed neutrality. These powers will not be duped by the artifice of the British Court, and adjudge this war not a casus fæderis, when all the world agrees, that the accession of the republic to the armed neutrality is the real cause of it, and the treaty between Mr. Lee and M. de Neufville, only a false pretence. If the armed neutral confederacy takes it up, as nobody doubts they will, all these powers will be soon at war with England, if she does not recede. If the neutral powers do not take it up, and England proceeds, she will drive this republic into the arms of France, Spain, and America. In this possible case, a minister here from congress would be useful. In case the armed neutrality take it up, a minister authorized to represent the United States to all the neutral courts, might be of use.

The Empress Queen is no more. The Emperor has procured his brother Maximilian to be declared coadjutor of the bishopric of Munster and Cologne, which affects Holland and the low countries. He is supposed to have his eye on Liege; this may alarm the Dutch, the King of Prussia and France. The war may become general, and the fear of it may make peace,—that is, it might, if the King of England was not the most determined man in the world. But, depressed and distracted and ruined as his dominions are, he will set all Europe in a blaze before he will make peace. His exertions, however, against us cannot be very formidable. Patience, firmness, and perseverance are our only remedy; these are a sure and infallible one; and, with this observation, I beg permission to take my leave of congress for the year 1780, which has been to me the most anxious and mortifying year of my whole life. God grant that more vigor, wisdom, and decision may govern the councils, negotiations, and operations of mankind, in the year 1781.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]So in the manuscript. Probably the Confederacy was intended.

[2 ]These three letters will be found inserted in the Diary, vol. iii. pp. 259-264.

[1 ]Principes des Néqotiations, chap. vi.

[1 ]Mr. Carmichael was a member of congress from Maryland in May, 1779, and then gave in a statement in writing respecting the disputes of the first commissioners, from which the passage here quoted appears to be taken. The fact is undeniable that a marked difference was made by the French minister in the confidence reposed in the respective commissioners, and that Mr. Lee was sometimes excluded from the knowledge of what was communicated to the others. The reasons of this are given in a note to Mr. Sparks’s edition of Franklin’s Works, vol. viii. p. 260. However strong they may be regarded in this instance, the danger of suffering such an inlet to be opened in similar cases to the most obvious abuses, can scarcely admit of a question.

[1 ]This letter is to be found in the Diary. See vol. iii. p. 266. The correspondence is resumed here at the point at which Mr. Adams left it in his fragment.

[1 ]This alludes to the duel which took place on the 22d of this month between Lord Shelburne and a Mr. Fullarton, in which the former was wounded. Horace Walpole treats the matter in a very different view. See his letter to Sir Horace Mann, 8 April, 1780.

[1 ]This refers to the secret and separate article in the treaty of alliance with France, permitting Spain to come in whenever she should think proper.

[1 ]“Nothing ever happened more fortunately in favor of any administration than the illness, at this peculiar juncture, of the speaker. It seemed as if nothing else could at that time have saved them. The recess, indeed, was not long, but it produced extraordinary and unexpected effects.” Annual Register.

[2 ]Mr. Digges, the writer of many letters under this and other signatures, was a Maryland gentleman who remained in England during the war, and maintained secret communications with several of the American ministers, and not improbably with the British government likewise; though apparently he was but little trusted by either side. Dr. Franklin, in many of his letters, inveighs bitterly against him for his embezzlement of money remitted to him for the use of American prisoners.

[1 ]This was probably David Hartley, though no copy or trace of his letter has been found.

[1 ]Sir John Dalrymple had, in concert with Lord Rochford, prepared a memoir to prevent the war; and he took the present opportunity to submit it to the consideration of the Spanish government. This curious memoir was transmitted to congress in Mr. Jay’s despatches, and is printed at large in the seventh volume of the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution. It is also in the Appendix to the eighth volume of Sparks’s edition of Franklin’s Writings.

[1 ]Sketch of the History and State of Europe.

[1 ]An assumed name. Mr Digges was the writer.

[1 ]In the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution, this letter, which was obtained from Mr. Adams’s letter book, is set down as addressed to an unknown person. This was owing to the accidental omission of the name in the book. The note of M. Genet which immediately precedes it here, makes every thing plain.

[1 ]The series of notes here inserted, though unimportant in themselves, have a material bearing upon the subsequent relations of the parties. They show to what an extent communications were voluntarily invited by the French minister, though Mr. Adams was not accredited to his Court. In some late works this seems to have been misunderstood.

[1 ]This strong letter, apparently designed for publication in England, was directed to W. S. Church, the name most frequently assumed by Mr. Digges in his communications to Mr. Adams. It is signed with the initials F. R. S., suggested by Fernando Raymon San, the name of Mr. A.’s guide in Spain. See Diary, vol. iii. p. 247.

[1 ]This letter was translated into French, and printed in the Mercure de France of 3 June, 1780. It was likewise transmitted to London, and published in Parker’s General Advertiser. The substance of it was appended to the despatch, No. 70, addressed to the President of Congress, which contained General Conway’s speech. In the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution the parts are separated, and the latter is inserted in the form in which it appears here, with a note of reference to the former.

[1 ]In Massachusetts.

[1 ]A forgery. See the letter of W. Lee of the 8th July following.

[1 ]This refers to the letter of the 17th, which was inserted in the Mercure. See p. 176, note.

[2 ]This refers to a letter addressed to M. Genet on the 28th of the month, and inserted by him in the Mercure de France of 17 June, containing the same strictures upon the speech of Lord George Germaine, which were transmitted to the President of Congress in the despatch of the 2d of June, the next letter of the present collection. It was also published in the General Advertiser in London.

[1 ]Barriers between Great Britain and the United States of America to a Reconciliation, Alliance, or even Peace.

1. The malice, revenge, pride, obstinacy, and absurdity of the king and royal family.

2. The guilt and danger of the ministry; danger to their lives and personal safety, as well as of ruin to their fortunes, characters, and reputations.

3. The ambition and avarice of the minority, whose chiefs have the same hunger for the loaves and fishes as the ministers; as little attention to, and affection for the public as they; and, therefore, dare not displease the king, and so give up their hopes of his favor, by adopting any principles or espousing any system that couldlead to reconciliation or to peace.

4. The general prevalence of profligacy.

[1 ]It has already been remarked that every important translation herein given is taken from the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution, with such alterations only as seemed more nearly to approach the meaning of the original. But, perhaps, it is proper to state that, in the present case, the changes made affect the entire tone of the paper, which is scarcely felt in the former translation. This instance tends strongly to confirm the view taken at the outset, in this volume, of the propriety of adhering, at least in official documents, to the language in which they are written.

[1 ]This letter drew from congress a formal vote of thanks. See the letter of Mr. Lovell, under date of 12 December of this year, and the resolutions inclosed.

[1 ]On the Constitution of Massachusetts.

[1 ]The title of one of Joseph Galloway’s pamphlets.

[1 ]An allusion to the entertainment under that name given in Philadelphia, in honor of General Howe.

[1 ]This is unjust to M. Dumas. He was directed by Dr. Franklin and by Mr. Adams to cause this letter to be inserted in the Leyden Gazette. At the same time he suspected the trick, and first opened their eyes to it. Perhaps it had been wiser in him not to have so hastily followed his orders.

[1 ]The resolutions and commission, authorizing Mr. Adams to execute the duties assigned to Mr. Laurens in Holland, are to be found at large in the Secret Journals of Congress, vol. ii. pp. 314-317.

[1 ]See page 137. Among the circumstances deserving of notice in the early part of the Revolution, is the singularly laconic style of the correspondence on the part of the committee of foreign affairs with the ministers employed abroad. The private letters of Mr. Lovell and Mr. Gerry, which in part make up for it, will be found in the General Correspondence.

[1 ]This correspondence was transmitted to America with the design of procuring the removal of Mr. Adams from the sphere of negotiation in Europe. It actually produced the official instructions which will be found under date of 10 January, 1781, in this volume.

[2 ]Instead of repeating the paragraphs criticized of Mr. Adams’s letter, they have been numbered to correspond with these numbers in the criticism, so that a comparison is rendered easy. See pp. 228-230.

[1 ]See page 72 of this volume.

[1 ]The various official papers, transmitted by Mr. Adams with his despatches, are omitted in this collection, they being easily to be found elsewhere.

[1 ]John Luzac, editor of the Leyden Gazette, and Professor of History and of Greek Literature in the University of that place, accidentally killed by an explosion of a quantity of gunpowder in a canal boat, near his residence, in 1807. A biographical notice of him, translated from the Journal de l’Empire, is to be found in the Monthly Anthology, for October, 1809.

[2 ]This was Governor Pownall’s Memorial to the sovereigns of Europe, which I had procured to be translated by a masterly hand, into very good French. M. Luzac published it, and it was much read and admired. It was thought to be highly favorable to the American cause. Letters to the Boston Patriot, 1809.

[1 ]The words italicized alluded to some insinuations of Mr. Hartley, concerning a separate peace between us and England, which I considered as an infamous perfidy. Letters to Boston Patriot, 1809.

See vol. iii. of this work, p. 137. Also Mr. Hartley’s own letters and explanations in Mr. Sparks’s edition of Franklin’s Writings, vol. ix. pp. 118-126, 213-220. He seems to have erred in judgment more than in motive.

[1 ]This refers to the provisional commission to negotiate a loan, in case Mr. Laurens should not arrive.

[1 ]Although, when the foregoing letter was written, there were decisive reasons for concealing names, there are none at present. I consulted many; but the gentleman here intended was Mr. Bicker, a nephew of the two famous Bickers who defended Amsterdam more than a century before against a prince of Orange. He was of one of the most ancient, opulent, and respectable families in that city. This gentleman had been dismissed from the regency in 1748, and had applied himself to commerce in a mercantile house of more than a hundred years’ standing, by which he had accumulated a clear fortune of several millions. A patriot without alloy of French or English influence, one of the most sensible and well-informed men, and the most intimate, confidential friend of Mr. Van Berckel, he was to me a sincere friend and faithful counsellor from first to last. He advised me to inquire and consider what houses were too much connected with the British ministry. These must not be chosen. But he assured me I must ask other questions, such as,—what houses had other connections that would be equally likely to hinder or defeat the loan? He soon afterwards explained himself to mean, houses too much connected with the French ministry, and other houses whose solidity and credit were not sufficiently established, and he cautioned me, in confidence, particularly with regard to M. John de Neufville. Letters to the Boston Patriot, 1809.

[1 ]Here follow, in the original copy, several extracts from General Howe’s Narrative, showing his disappointments in the performance of the promises of aid given by the royalists in America. These extracts were omitted in the republication in 1809, and are therefore omitted here.

[1 ]M. Bicker recommended the Vollenhovens as a house of unquestionable solidity, wholly Dutch, biased neither by France nor England. But these were too rich to hazard so dangerous an experiment. They declined, upon my application to them at that time, and have repented since, as I believe, for they have endeavored to retrieve their error, and have succeeded, though not to so great advantage as they might have reaped, if they had accepted my offer.

Letters to the Boston Patriot, 1809.

[1 ]Of Baron Van der Capellen, see an account in the note to page 270 of the Diary, in vol. iii. of the present work.

[1 ]Upon this occasion I ought to observe that although M. Van Berckel, with all that honor, integrity, and fortitude, which marked his character through the whole course of his life, frankly avowed the measure, and although the Regency of Amsterdam resolved to support it, yet it is certain, the discovery of it spread a universal consternation throughout the seven Provinces. I do not remember to have found one person who pretended to see the wisdom of it, though no man doubted the purity of the design. It was irregular. Mr. Lee had no authority. The city could scarcely be said to have authority to bind itself to a man who had none. The city could not pledge the faith of the nation. The utmost amount of it could be no more than an invitation to congress to send an ambassador to the Hague. I have always believed that the regency was importuned into this measure by M. de Neufville, who was then avery busy and a very popular man upon the exchange of Amsterdam. Letters to the Boston Patriot, 1809.

[1 ]This Mr. Bowens and sons was a capital house in Amsterdam, near relations of Mr. Bicker, who recommended them to me after the Vollenhovens had refused. Although these gentlemen received me very kindly and politely, as the Vollenhovens had done, and had given me some hopes, yet the Prince’s denunciation of M. Van Berckel and the burgomasters of Amsterdam had excited such an alarm that the Bowens were intimidated and refused.

Letters to the Boston Patriot, 1809.

[1 ]These capitals correspond to those found in the letter to which it is an answer, p. 324.

[1 ]This name, which is found frequently in the letters written in Holland at this period, is supposed to mean the King of England.

[1 ]The memorial is here omitted. It may be found in the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution, vol. v. p. 372.

[1 ]The Abridgment of Pownall’s Memorial, which had been translated into French at my request, and printed by Mr. Luzac under the title of Pensées Extraits, &c. It was afterwards published in English, in London, under the whimsical title of A Translation into Common Sense and Plain English. Letters to Boston Patriot, 1809. The title and translation were both made by Mr. Adams himself, as appears from the copy remaining among his manuscripts.

[1 ]Congress took into consideration the report of the committee on the letter of June 26th, from the Hon. J. Adams; whereupon,—

Ordered, That the said letter be referred to the committee of foreign affairs, and that they be instructed to inform Mr. Adams of the satisfaction which congress receive from his industrious attention to the interests and honor of these United States abroad, especially in the transactions communicated to them by that letter.

[1 ]I cannot pass this letter without an observation upon it. This conduct of the Court of London and the Court of Holland was very skilfully adapted to the constitution and the state of society in the United Provinces. The sovereignty, by the constitution, is a pure aristocracy residing in the regencies, which consist of about four thousand persons. The common sense, or the common feelings of human nature had instituted, or rather forced up by violence, an hereditary stadtholder, to protect the common people or democracy against the regencies or aristocracy. But as the stadtholdership was always odious to the aristocracy, there had been frequent disputes between them, which must have terminated in the expulsion of the House of Orange and the abolition of the stadtholdership, if it had not been for the interposition of the commons,—the common people. These, having no house of commons, no house of representatives to protect them, or even to petition, had no mode of interposing, but by mobs and insurrections. This kind of democracy has always been dreadful in all ages and countries. Accordingly Barnevelt had been sacrificed at one time, the De Witts at another, and in 1748 more sacrifices would have been made, if the aristocracy had not learned some wisdom by tragical experience, and given way in some degree to the popular enthusiasm. If there is any credit to be given to history or tradition, there has never existed on this globe a character more pure, virtuous, patriotic, or wise, than John De Witt, or a greater hero than Cornelius. Yet these two citizens were murdered by their fellow-citizens at the Hague, with circumstances of cruelty and brutality too shocking to describe. Yet the most savage of these assassins is universally believed in Holland to have received a pension for life from our great deliverer, King William.

The apprehension at this time was very general, that M. Van Berckel and one or two of the burgomasters, Hooft at least, were to be immolated like the De Witts; and not a few expected that the American ambassador would not escape. I do not accuse, nor will I suspect that the two courts wished to proceed to such bloody extremities as in the case of De Witt; but that they expected to excite insurrections that should compel the republic to submit to the English policy, there can be little doubt. There is nothing so instructive to aristocracy and democracy as the history of Holland, unless we except that of France for the last five-and-twenty years; nothing which ought so forcibly to admonish them to shake hands and mutually agree to choose an arbitrator between. Let me not be misunderstood. I have been too often misunderstood already, sometimes ignorantly, and sometimes wilfully. I mean not an hereditary arbitrator. An hereditary executive power can be limited by nothing less than an hereditary aristocracy. When one is admitted the other must be as the only antidote to the poison. A proper equilibrium may be formed between elective branches as well and perhaps better than between hereditary ones. And our American balance has succeeded hitherto as well as that in England, and much better than that in Holland. May it long endure! But to that end, in my humble opinion, the president’s office must be less shackled than it has been.

Letters to the Boston Patriot, 1809.