Part 16

It may be proper to inform you, that I have dismissed my former secretary, Major Thornton, because it was verified to me, that he had received from Mr Wharton a note of hand for five hundred pounds, payable on war taking place in such a time. This afforded so strong a suspicion, that they who are now his accusers had seduced him into this gambling society, and probably for the purpose of betraying my secrets in the Spanish negotiation, that I thought it prudent to supply his place with another, and have chosen the Rev. Hezekiah Ford, of the State of Virginia, and chaplain to the 3d and 5th regiments of North Carolina troops, in the service of the United States. We have administered to him an oath of secrecy and fidelity, which from his character I have every reason to believe he will religiously observe. The present moment is as totally barren of news, as times of the most perfect tranquillity.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR LEE.

JAMES GARDOQUI TO ARTHUR LEE.

Madrid, September 28th, 1778.

Sir,

A severe illness, which almost reduced me to the last, has prevented my giving you punctual answers to your favors down to the 1st instant; but embracing the first moments of my recovery, I have to say, that I am afraid I did not explain my sentiments clearly in my last. The hints given you were purely mine, and as a friend who wishes the best to both, in order that you might make use of them as you thought proper, and of course I cannot say anything about your powers and treaties, being things out of my way, with which it would be improper for me to meddle. I wish most heartily, that things may be accommodated happily for both parties, so I pray consider this as such, as I should be sorry, that hints given you without either design or authority should be thought otherwise, or meet with results of consequence.

In this same light, and as a sincere friend, who wishes the best intelligence between your constituents and this side, I have now to add, that the capture of the Swedish ship, the Henrica Sofia, Captain P. Held, loaded with Spanish property, and bound from London to Teneriffe, by Captain Cunningham of the Revenge privateer, has occasioned the utmost disgust on this side. I would, therefore, recommend to you not only the immediate release of said vessel, but likewise to give the strictest orders to said Cunningham to pay more regard to the territories of this Kingdom, and to the Spanish flag, for there has been such complaints about his conduct, that I hear orders have been sent to the several ports to prevent his entry; besides which, there are rumors, that he is not properly an American privateer, being manned by French adventurers, who, with their commander, have acted contrary to the law of nations.

Some of my friends, with whom I tried to raise a sum for you, desire to know the length of time you want it, the interest you will allow, and whether you will pay said interest in tobacco, and at what price it will be reckoned in Bilboa, with all other particulars that may offer to you; so I wish you to let me know, if agreeable, that I may let them see it, observing, that I judge we may raise a part, though not the two million of livres, which you desired of me; I would also know whether you will want the money in France or Spain.

I am with sincere esteem, your most obedient humble servant,

JAMES GARDOQUI.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Chaillot, September 28th, 1778.

Sir,

I had the honor of your Excellency’s letter of the 23d. I should not trouble you with an answer, did it not appear to me necessary to show, that the blame it imputes to me is by no means merited. For that purpose your Excellency will permit me to remind you of what is the fact, that I was not present when the conversation relative to M. Holker, to which your Excellency refers passed between you and my colleagues. I imagine too it arose accidentally, as the intention of conversing on that subject was not communicated to me.

With regard to the duties, my knowledge of them arose from a transaction of my own as Commissioner for Spain, in which my colleagues had no concern. I have always been so sensible of the impropriety of one Commissioner acting, or being acted with, for the whole, in what regards their deputation here, as scrupulously to avoid setting the example. Therefore I entirely agree with your Excellency, that such a precedent should never be permitted.

It was not my intention to make any complaint about the duties, which were probably imposed for wise purposes, but to offer my opinion to your Excellency of what I conceived might be beneficial to that union, which my connexion and myself have always been most zealous in advising, and for the permanency of which, it is therefore natural that I should be particularly anxious.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR LEE.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Paris, September 30th, 1778.

Gentlemen,

Since I wrote you the 9th of this month, no step has been taken either by our enemies or allies of moment enough to advise you of; nor has any material event happened in Europe, insomuch that times of the profoundest peace could not possibly be more barren. This arises from the general reluctance to war, which, though all are preparing for, no one seems to desire. The fate of this campaign with you will determine whether we shall have immediate offers of peace or continuance of war. If their fleets and armies maintain their ground, or gain any advantage, they will continue the war, and wait for something in the chapter of accidents, which is the sole resource of the Ministers.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR LEE.

TO JAMES GARDOQUI.

Paris, October 6th, 1778.

Sir,

I have not had the pleasure of any answer from you to mine of the 22d of August. I am afraid that the total silence of your friends about taking an open part with us, when all the impediments, which you know were stated, are removed, will make bad impressions on the minds of my countrymen, and transfer all their gratitude to those who have declared in their favor. And this more especially, as one of the English Commissioners, Governor Johnstone, had pledged his honor publicly to prove, that Spain disapproved of, and endeavored to prevent, the declaration of France in our favor.

If to stop the effusion of human blood, and all the shocking calamities attending a war like this, be worthy of a pious prince; if to prevent the chances of war from having any influence in preventing the dismemberment of the British Empire, and the humiliation of their pride be an object worthy of a political prince; if to drive the English immediately from America, and receive a portion of her independent commerce, be an advantage to the crown and people of Spain, this is the moment for its monarch to decide and enforce those events by an immediate declaration of our independency, and an union of force, which must be irresistible.

The last certain accounts from America announce preparations for an assault upon Rhode Island, on the 16th of August. It was already invested both by sea and land, and the enemy had been obliged to burn several of their vessels, and among the rest one of twentysix guns.

The report is, that the Island is taken, for a confirmation of which we wait with much anxiety. The loss of it would deprive the enemy of their port for wintering their navy, and oblige them to abandon New York.

I hope to receive good tidings from you soon, and have the honor to be, with great esteem, Sir, your most obedient servant,

ARTHUR LEE.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Paris, October 12th, 1778.

Sir,

Your Excellency has seen in the separate and secret act, signed the 6th of February, 1778, that I am charged with full powers to conclude a treaty with Spain. You are also acquainted with my having been in Spain, and having had conferences with the Marquis de Grimaldi on this subject.

All the objections, which were then alleged against an immediate declaration, are now removed. The consistency of our cause is unquestionable. France is ready, and has actually declared. Their treasure is safe, and the fleet from Buenos Ayres is in their harbors, yet we do not see the least movement on their part towards realising the hopes they gave us; but on the contrary such ostensible measures as they have taken must certainly give encouragement to our enemies. That Court has not thought proper to take the least notice of the ratification of the separate and secret article, which I announced to them. While we are therefore bound, they remain at liberty.

All this, Sir, gives me much uneasiness. I am apprehensive, that Congress will not think this mode of acting very satisfactory; and that the encouragement, that it must hold out to the Court of London, will prolong this pernicious war, and make it cost us much more blood and treasure than is necessary to tie the hands of our common enemy, and establish effectually the liberty, sovereignty, and independence, absolute and unlimited, of the United States.

In these very critical circumstances I must have recourse to the King and to your Excellency. Our cause is common, and it is my wish to conduct it by your experience, your lights, and your counsel, as to the measure I am to take, whether it be to act or to wait. This would always be my desire; but I consider it now as my duty; for it appears to be the mutual sentiment of your Court and of Congress, that the eventual treaty signed at Paris, the 6th of February, is now become actual, permanent, and indissoluble. The first article of that treaty says, “That if war should break out between France and Great Britain, during the continuance of the present war between the United States and Great Britain, his Majesty and the United States will make it a common cause, and will aid each other with their mutual good offices, counsels, and forces, according to the exigency of things, and as becomes good and faithful allies.”

It is upon these principles, that I think it my duty to endeavor to place upon an equal footing the interests of France, and those of the United States; and therefore not to commence anything without the concurrence of your Court. Upon the same principles, I flatter myself with obtaining the aid and assistance of your wisdom and information, as to the moment of commencing the measures to be taken, and the means to be employed, with the Court of Spain.

I am persuaded, and always was so, that Great Britain cannot make head for a year against the united counsels and force of the House of Bourbon and the United States of America.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR LEE.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO ARTHUR LEE.

Translation.

Versailles, October 17th, 1778.

Sir,

I have received the letter you did me the honor to write to me the 12th instant. I have examined its contents with that attention, which is due to the interest I take in every thing that respects the prosperity of the United States, and it is my opinion, that you will act prudently in suspending the measures you wish to take at the Court of Madrid, with the view of ascertaining its principles and resolutions with regard to America.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DE VERGENNES.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Paris, October 19th, 1778.

Gentlemen,

Our affairs in Holland, both as to the treaty and loan, are in a promising state. The King of Naples and of Sicily has declared to us in form, by his Ambassador here, that his ports are open to all vessels belonging to the United States. As the success of our cause gains ground daily in the opinion of mankind, I imagine this winter will produce us some more declared friends among the European powers.

The enemy appears to have no system about continuing the war, or ending it on the terms which Congress has marked out to them. A little success in privateering, since the commencement of hostilities, has given a momentary exhilaration to their depressed spirits; and the expectation of a speedy peace, which is artfully circulated by Ministerial agents, keeps them from entirely sinking.

I find by a specimen, which did not reach me until the goods were shipped, that I have been most egregiously imposed upon in the fusils sent from Berlin. I mean to complain of it to the king of Prussia’s Minister, as it was the king’s contractor that furnished them by his order. The impositions, that we daily meet with, are in consequence of an opinion prevailing among individuals, that as we are not acknowledged they may do it with impunity.

No movements yet on the part of Spain. I have consulted Count de Vergennes on the propriety of my taking any measures to bring that Court to a decision; his advice is in these words. “My opinion is, that you will act prudently to suspend the advances, which you desire to make to that Court, with the view of ascertaining its principles and resolutions with regard to America.”

Agreeably to this advice, I shall wait the positive orders of Congress, unless some change of circumstances should make it evidently prudent and necessary for me to act before they arrive.

I beg my humble duty may be recommended to Congress, and have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR LEE.

TO BARON DE SCHULENBURG.

Chaillot, October 21st, 1778.

Sir,

Your Excellency had the goodness to write me on the 16th of January last, in the following words. “As to the fusils and other arms of our manufacture, you will have liberty to purchase them, and the bankers Splittgerber, who have charge of the fabrication of arms, will be instructed to deliver to you whatsoever may be demanded on your part. I subjoin a note of the prices, which are the same as the king pays, and add, that the fusils for the infantry may be had at a little lower price, if regard is only had to the solidity of the work, without insisting on that exact uniformity which the king requires.”

In consequence of this, I ordered eight hundred fusils for infantry, of the best kind, from the Messrs Splittgerber, and paid them their own price immediately. My intention was to arm a regiment, that the whole army might judge of the superiority of the Prussian model. The fusils were sent by Hamburgh to Bordeaux, and were shipped from thence to America, a case having previously been opened, and a fusil taken out and sent to me. By this specimen, I find that the fusils, so far from being of the sort at present used in his Prussian Majesty’s army, are directly the reverse, and of the worst and most ordinary workmanship that can be imagined. I do assure your Excellency, that they are such as our militia would reject, and appear to me and others, who are competent judges, to be old rejected muskets. The ramrod is not a quarter of an inch in diameter, and the lock holes that receive it narrow and of the same diameter above and below; so that the Prussian manner of charging is impracticable with these fusils. The observation I made a thousand times over of the fusils, which the troops at Berlin used, enables me to assure you, that this is a most egregious imposition in being sent as the same, and I am sure they would not sell in Europe for six livres a piece.

My merchant at Bordeaux, the Commercial Agent of Congress, assures me that he took the fusil, from which I form my judgment, with his own hand out of one of the cases sent from Messrs Splittgerber, through the house of Chapeaurouge at Hamburgh.

I therefore entreat your Excellency to oblige these men to do me justice. I am not so much offended at the imposition, for the money it has defrauded me of, as for the disgrace it will bring on the manufactures of Prussia, and the disappointment of the plan I had formed to introduce them into the United States. The mildest reparation, which I conceive can be demanded of the Messrs Splittgerber, is that they send immediately to Bordeaux, at their own expense, eight hundred fusils, such as are ordered, that is, of the present Prussian form, and the best workmanship. Those, that they have sent, I will order to be sold in America, and the net amount of what they bring shall be paid to them.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR LEE.

COUNT DE VERGENNES TO ARTHUR LEE.

Translation.

Versailles, October 24th, 1778.

Sir,

I have received, with great sensibility, the news which you have obtained by the way of Spain. It is a very great fatality, that the unlucky gale of wind separated the squadrons just as Count d’Estaing had joined the English. He then had a superiority, which he must have lost, if the Admirals Byron and Parker have joined Lord Howe. We are very impatient to receive some direct accounts from our Vice Admiral. We flatter ourselves, that the favorable winds will bring some despatches from him. I request you, in the meantime, Sir, to communicate whatever news you may receive through other channels.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DE VERGENNES.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Paris, November 4th, 1778.

Gentlemen,

I wrote you on April the 14th, May the 9th, 20th and 23d, June the 1st, 9th, 15th, 17th, July 6th, 16th, 20th, 28th, 29th, August 21st and 31st, September 9th, and 30th, October 5th and 19th, none of which have been acknowledged or answered. I usually send triplicates of my letters and of all the papers enclosed.[39]

Whether the British cabinet have yet determined upon relinquishing the war in America, I have not been able to learn. This is certain, that they have ordered considerable quantities of clothing and provisions to be made ready for that quarter, which looks as if they intended their fleet and army should winter with you. From their situation at present, and that of Europe, it appears improbable that they can reinforce, or even recruit their army to any effect. Their naval force is so exactly balanced in Europe by that of France alone, that they can hardly venture to detach any more of their fleet against you. It seems, therefore, that you have before you the utmost force that you are likely to contend with.

It serves the purposes of the enemy to propagate reports of aid from Russia, sometimes in ships, sometimes in troops. As far as there is any certainty in political events, you may be assured they will have neither. The plan they adopt for Parliament, which will meet the 26th, will, I imagine, depend much on the representations of Lord Howe and Governor Johnstone, who are both arrived in England.

Should their fleet and army winter in America, it will be a capital object to intercept their provision fleets. For this purpose I shall obtain and transmit to you, from time to time, intelligence of their being collected at Cork, from which you may judge what time they may be expected on the coast.

The whale fishery, which the enemy have established on the coast of Brazil, and which they carry on by men from Nantucket, is likely to become very valuable; and being totally unprotected, it might be destroyed at one blow.

The instruments for abolishing the 11th and 12th articles are exchanged, and that matter entirely settled.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ARTHUR LEE.

[39] Several of these letters are missing.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Paris, November 15th, 1778.

Gentlemen,

I am informed, that it is determined in the Cabinet of London not to recall their Commissioners this winter. Governor Johnstone has been very graciously received; Lord Howe not. He conducts himself as one that is discontented, and has not been at Court. It is given out, that Johnstone declares he is possessed of impeachable matter against both the Howes.

I before mentioned, that the enemy was preparing to send out provisions and clothing for their troops, as if it was intended they should remain in America. It is also certain, that they have contracted for twelve thousand tons of shipping for the beginning of next March. They talk of sending over either ten thousand British, or twelve thousand Russians, for the next campaign, which I am assured and believe they have determined to risk.

To sustain this, they affirm very confidently, that a triple alliance offensive and defensive is concluded between Russia, Prussia, and Great Britain. This I believe is at best anticipation. That such an alliance will be the subject of this winter’s negotiation is very probable; perhaps too it may succeed, and that Denmark and Sweden may join. But the good effects of it in favor of our enemy are very problematical. It will inevitably draw forth Spain, which in our part of the question is of much more weight than all the rest. And as to the general war, the league that would be necessarily formed against the other, between the United States, the Empress, France, and Spain, would be the most powerful. I do not count upon Portugal, Naples, Tuscany, and Sardinia, which yet, in all human probability, will join our confederacy. The temper of Holland is such, that the junction of the United Provinces may well be expected, if England has not the wisdom to recede from her claims; and if she does, the Hollanders, having gained the points in trade which they contend for, will render their neutrality perhaps more favorable to us in matters of supply, than an actual confederation.

These are the plans, that must employ the negotiation of all Europe during this winter, which will produce either a general pacification or a general war. The latter is what our enemy is endeavoring to effect. In doing this, by the same fated perversion of understanding, which has happily prevailed in all their measures, they are laboring to secure what they wish to subvert, the absolute independency of America. For there never was a political event more manifest and sure, than that a general war must involve in it the independence of the United States, as an inevitable consequence.

The obtaining money in Europe is doubtful, though not desperate. But this seems very probable, that if the irritation and ill humor in Holland is continued by England’s persisting in the interruption of their trade, they will lend us money out of revenge; and if England retracts, the Dutch will send us such plentiful supplies, and take in return our produce as in a great measure to compensate for the want of funds. The dispute seems to be in such a state, that there is no medium. I am therefore in hopes, that if the war should continue, the distress of it will press with much more severity upon our enemies than on us.

I am informed, that a Swedish ship, the Henrica Sofia, Captain P. Held, loaded with Spanish property, bound from London to Teneriffe, has been taken by Captain Cunningham in the Revenge, which being considered in Spain as a violence done to them, has given great offence. I have assured them, that upon its being made to appear in the Admiralty Court in America, that the property is neutral, it will be restored, with such damages as are just. The Court of Spain is so much offended at Captain Cunningham’s conduct before this, that they write me orders have been sent to all their ports to prohibit his entrance. From the beginning to the end of this business of Cunningham, it has been so bad, that Congress only can correct it, by punishing those who are concerned. It has cost the public more than one hundred thousand livres, and embroiled us both with the French and Spanish Courts.