Part 34

Certain papers, among which were all those delivered to me by Mr Lovell, and the board of Admiralty, fell into Captain Keppel’s hands. These papers had been enclosed in a bag, accompanied by a considerable weight of iron shot, and thrown overboard, but the weight proved insufficient for the purpose intended. Admiral Edwards, Governor of this Island, and commander of the stationed squadron, has ordered me to England in the sloop of war Fairy, under the command of Captain Keppel. Mr Young and Captain Pickles will probably go in the same vessel.

I should be wanting in justice, and indeed deficient in common gratitude, were I to omit an acknowledgment of Captain Keppel’s kindness to myself, and to everybody captured in the Mercury. Captain Pickles’ conduct, while he had the command of that vessel, was perfectly satisfactory to me.

I have the honor to be, &c.

HENRY LAURENS.

[72] This letter is missing, nor does it appear from the Correspondence at what time, or from what place Mr Laurens sailed. On the 20th of June, 1780, it was resolved in Congress, that, as circumstances had prevented his departure, the commission to negotiate a loan in the United Provinces and the Low Countries, should be transferred to John Adams. And on the 7th of July, it was resolved, “That the commission, which was agreed to on the first day of November, 1779, for the honorable Henry Laurens, as a Commissioner to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with the States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, be delivered to him; and that the consideration of the instructions relative to the negotiation of the treaty be for the present deferred; and that Mr Laurens, on his arrival in Holland, inform himself of the state of affairs in that country, and advise Congress particularly thereof, that they may be able to decide with more certainty upon the terms on which such treaty ought to be settled.”

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Tower of London, December 20th, 1781.

Sir,

Almost fifteen months have I been closely confined, and inhumanly treated, and even now have not a prospect of relief. The treaty for exchange is abortive. There has been languor, and there is neglect somewhere. If I merit your attention, you will no longer delay the only speedy and efficacious means for my deliverance. Enter this if you please, and what it may produce, on your Secret Journal, and pardon the omission of ceremony.

I am, full of love and respect for you,

HENRY LAURENS.

_P. S._ A friend will trace the direction in ink.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, May 30th, 1782.

Sir,

From the 6th of October, 1780, to November, 1781, I remained a close prisoner in the Tower of London, without hearing of any steps taken for my release, or for my support or consolation in that distressed state, either by Congress or by any of their servants.[73] In the latter month I learned that Mr Edmund Burke had, some very little time before, applied to Dr Franklin to effect an exchange between Lieutenant General Burgoyne and myself, that the Doctor had replied that he had in his possession a resolution of Congress for that purpose, a copy of which he then transmitted to Mr Burke; and about the same time, a letter from Dr Franklin to Mr Hodgson, or to Mr Vaughan, I forget which, was put into my hands in the Tower. In this letter, the Doctor expressed some satisfaction in having heard from “high authority,” that I was well satisfied with the treatment I had received in my imprisonment, (the contrary was notorious to the whole world) and he directed the pittance of one hundred pounds to be paid to me, if I should stand in need. To the first part I desired it might be answered, that the Doctor had been most egregiously misinformed, and imposed upon by the “high authority,” and that the second was to me, after thirteen months imprisonment, _like a drop of water from the very tip of Lazarus’ little finger_. But I heard no more from Dr Franklin on these subjects, or any other, while I was in confinement, nor till four months after my enlargement, and I have received no money from him at any time.

On the 20th of December last, being still a close prisoner, I penciled a few lines to Congress, informing them of the ill usage I had suffered in the Tower; that the proposed treaty for exchange had proved abortive, slightly intimating there had been a neglect of me somewhere, and entreating that the only efficacious measure might be adopted for my release. I penciled seven copies of this letter, passed the whole into the hands of a friend in London, and desired he would forward them to Holland, and France, in moiety, for distribution on board eight vessels bound to America. From this precaution, I trust one has gained the place of address.

Within a day or two after the British Ministry had determined against accepting Lieutenant General Burgoyne in exchange for me, an inquiry was made of me, from them as I believed, whether Doctor Franklin had power to exchange Lord Cornwallis for me, to which I could give no positive answer, and there the subject dropped. On the 31st of December, being, as I had long been, in an extreme ill state of health, unable to rise from my bed, I was carried out of the Tower to the presence of the Lord Chief Justice of England, and admitted to bail, “to appear at the Court of King’s Bench, on the first day of Easter term, and not to depart thence without leave of the Court.” This measure it seems had been preconcerted, and determined upon without my solicitation or knowledge, but I refused to enter into that, or any other obligation, until I had previously made the following declaration to Mr Chamberlain, Solicitor of the Treasury, (who had been sent by the Secretaries of State to notify me in the Tower of their intention to enlarge me upon bail) in the audience of several officers of the Court, the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Tower, and other persons who attended upon the occasion, at Sergeant’s Inn. “In order to prevent, or to save trouble, as I do not know the nature of the obligation to be required of me, I think it necessary to premise, that I will do no act that shall involve me in an acknowledgment of subjection to this realm, and that I save and reserve to myself all the rights and claims of a citizen of the united, free, and independent States of North America.”[74] This solemn second abjuration of the King, in one of his own Courts, was going as far as decency would permit, and I was at that moment in so very low and languishing a state, that I could express myself no further. None but God knows what I suffered, and I expected nothing less than to be remanded immediately to the Tower. The Solicitor concluded by saying, that some violence had been done to the laws for my relief.

About ten or twelve days before the first day of Easter term, being still in a very bad state of health, I obtained permission to leave England, in order to hold a conference with Mr Adams, having a warrant from under the hand of Lord Shelburne to leave England, and for putting off the day first assigned for my appearance at the Court of the King’s Bench. Mr Adams met me at Haerlem, (within twelve miles of Amsterdam) and, in a conversation of a very few minutes, confirmed me in opinions, which I had firmly and uniformly delivered to the British Ministry, that the United States of America would not enter upon any treaty with Great Britain, but in terms of the treaty of alliance between France and America. On the 23d of April I returned to London, and repeated the next day to Lord Shelburne, what I had formerly assured his Lordship on that head, in which his Lordship had supposed, or perhaps only hoped, that I had been mistaken for want of better information. I left his Lordship apparently disappointed and chagrined.

On the 25th, I peremptorily declared my intention to surrender myself to the Court of King’s Bench, the Court being then sitting, to discharge my bail, and submit my person to the will and disposition of the Court. This having been signified to Lord Shelburne, his Lordship sent to me by the hands of Mr Oswald, one of my bail, an ample discharge on the 27th. Reflecting that there had been frequent attempts, while I was in the Tower, to discharge me under a pardon, even privately, and to be effected by some contrivance without my own concurrence and knowledge, I questioned Mr Oswald before I would accept the discharge, whether it proceeded in any degree from a grant of pardon, to which he answered in the negative upon his honor. Lord Shelburne having, before I had been to visit Mr Adams, proposed to grant me a full and unconditional discharge, I had replied to his Lordship, that I dared not accept of it myself as a gift, that Congress would make a just and adequate return for my enlargement, that having once offered a British Lieutenant General in exchange for me, I was under no doubt they would give for my ransom an officer of the same rank. And I have reason to believe that after my refusal to accept the gift, his Lordship understood and expected that such a return would be made, although from the nature of my commitment, it was pretended he could not formally enter into a stipulation. Therefore, immediately after receiving the discharge on the 27th, I wrote to Dr Franklin, and solicited his concurrence for discharging Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. Hitherto I have not received the Doctor’s answer. Should he concur in my opinion, and join in the necessary act for that purpose, I trust we shall receive the approbation of Congress.

On the 10th instant I received from Doctor Franklin a formal notification of my appointment in the commission for treating with Great Britain, and also a copy of the said commission. I left London on the 11th, and arrived at Ostend on the 15th, from whence I informed Doctor Franklin, that I declined the honor of that office,[75] but that I should proceed to the Hague, and inquire of Mr Adams whether I could be serviceable in the business originally charged upon me by Congress, in which, if there was an opening, I would engage with diligence and fidelity. Upon my arrival at the Hague, I related to Mr Adams the purpose of my journey, adding, that I was ready to enter upon my duty, provided I was included in his commission, observing that my own had been destroyed at the time of my capture. Mr Adams at first intimated a hearty desire to accept the offer of my service, and said, “We will look into the commission.” At our second meeting, without speaking of the commission, he informed me that he had already taken the necessary measures in the business, by employing proper mercantile houses to borrow money on account of our United States. From the tenor of these answers it remains to me uncertain, whether I am included in the subsequent commission or not, but from his forbearing further to invite it, I conclude he thinks my attention is not requisite, and that it could only be productive of unnecessary expense to the public, which I neither wish nor would encourage. I shall, therefore, after having paid an indispensable debt of friendship and humanity, by visiting my distressed relations in the South of France, from whom I have been separated upwards of seventeen years, and after having recovered by a change of climate and respite from fatigue a better state of health, return to America, and present, if required, a much more minute account of my conduct, to Congress. And I flatter myself with hopes of convincing them, that notwithstanding the rigorous close confinement which I suffered in the tower, I made many opportunities even there, of rendering essential service to the interests of my country, without permitting my ardor to be in the least degree checked by considerations of neglect.

Permit me humbly to say it was I, though in close confinement, who first urged the propriety and utility of passing an act of Parliament for exchanging American prisoners. After my enlargement I further urged that business to its completion, visited those prisoners at a considerable expense to myself, administered to some of them relief from my own impoverished pocket, and obtained much greater for them from other persons. I first proposed to Lord Shelburne, and obtained his Lordship’s promise to send those prisoners in cartel ships to America, and I had the good fortune to prevail on his Lordship to surmount the difficulty of doing this without the formality of pardons. I had declared that not the meanest of all the American prisoners at Portsmouth or Plymouth should accept pardon, and in my zeal for the honor of my country I presumed to add, “If they are discharged under that condition, not a British prisoner in America shall be enlarged without a pardon.” I delivered my sentiments freely on the bill, which had been so very long in agitation for empowering the King to make a truce or peace with America, and declared it would not only prove inadequate, but offensive. The bill was frequently brought to me by members of Parliament, to receive hints for amendment. The only amendment, which I could propose, was annihilation, and I left it under various scratches and scars, in a languishing condition. My advice was, “If you mean to do the business of peace, it is vain to continue nibbling; do it fully and gracefully by an act to authorise the King to recognise or to acknowledge the independence of America; the fears which you affect to labor under, that America will become dependent upon any other power, will thereby be effectually removed.” I was told, a new bill, which would be tantamount to my ideas, would be introduced into Parliament; but since I left England, intimations to me from private friends speak of their continuing to hack at the old. I think, however, the temper of the present House of Commons will not give it passage without very great reform. This will probably be known before my letter enters upon its voyage.[76]

I shall conclude this head with the words of a friend, received since my arrival on this side of the water. “_They_ (meaning the British ministry) _think your absence good company_”. I believe this may be applicable to that part of the Ministry, who still hear with reluctance the doctrine of the total independence of America; a doctrine which I asserted in the Tower of London, and out of it, and always in the presence of their Lordships, as freely and as strenuously as ever I had done in Philadelphia, and to which I am assured I have made many converts amongst people of the first importance in England, and perhaps it would be no exaggeration instead of many, to say thousands. Even Lord Shelburne, in the last conversation I had the honor of holding with his Lordship, discovered his determination, if not to be reconciled, to submit to it. “I shall part with America, Mr Laurens, with great regret, because I think a total separation will not be for her good.” As far as I am able to judge, the people of England, and I have lately been very much among them, are sincerely disposed to peace with America, and to accede to her absolute independence; and I have some grounds for hoping, that the day is not far distant when those, who have it more immediately in their power to breathe peace or war, will perceive it to be for the interest of their country to enter heartily into the same disposition. The terms and conditions they know, and they now know the terms and conditions must be complied with.

Mr Moses Young, whom I had engaged at my first appointment by Congress to attend me as a Secretary and assistant, has made a claim for five hundred and sixtyseven pounds, fourteen shillings and two pence, sterling, as due to him for salary to the 15th of February, 1782, when he entered the public service under Dr Franklin. I shall recommend the payment of the said sum to the Doctor. Mr Young’s loss of time, loss of effects, and suffering in imprisonment, as well as his zeal and attachment in the cause of America, will be considered by Congress, and I hope, when he shall make a proper representation of his case, a further sum will be granted to him. While I remain in Europe, the honor and interests of the United States shall be always in my view, and though in a private character, I do not despair of being serviceable to my country.

I have the honor to be, &c.

HENRY LAURENS.

_P. S. May 31st._ The success of the British fleet in the West Indies may, and probably will, inflate the heart of his Britannic Majesty, and turn it from an immediate disposition to peace.

[73] The following letter merits insertion in this place. It was written to Count de Vergennes by the Marchioness de Lafayette, wife of the Marquis de Lafayette, immediately after she heard the news of the capture of Mr Laurens. It is translated from the original, which I found among the American papers in the Archives of Foreign Affairs in Paris. It should be premised, that, after the Marquis de Lafayette was wounded at the battle of Brandywine, Mr Laurens, then at Philadelphia, took him in his carriage to Bethlehem, and provided for him a safe and comfortable retreat, where he remained till his wound was healed. This letter to the Count de Vergennes, is equally a proof of the gratitude and tenderness of its fair author.

“Paris, October 18th, 1780.

“Pardon, I pray you, Sir, my importunity, and permit me to address you with the confidence with which your kindnesses to M. de Lafayette have inspired me, and to speak to you of an affair, which interests me deeply. The capture and detention of Mr Laurens in England has sensibly afflicted me. He is the intimate friend of M. de Lafayette, and took care of him during the time of his wound in a manner truly touching. His misfortune seems to me overwhelming, and when we consider the high station he has held in America, it is probable that it may become still more so. I know not if any means can be found to prevent it, or even to soften the actual rigors of his captivity; but I am persuaded, Sir, if there are any such, that they will be known to you. Should it be possible, let me entreat you earnestly to put them in use.

“Permit me also to speak to you of an idea which has occurred to me, and which is not perhaps entirely unworthy of consideration. M. de Lafayette has friends, that are on intimate terms with Mr Fitzpatrick, who is himself well known. Among the ladies of my acquaintance are some, who are the confidential friends of Lady Stormont. May not something be done through these parties in favor of Mr Laurens? And what must be said to them? I beg you a thousand times to pardon my importunities, and give me in this affair your kind interest and counsels. You will perhaps think me very ridiculous, and very unreasonable, but the hope, however ill founded, of rendering some good service to the unfortunate friend of M. de Lafayette, has prompted me to run this risk, and make this experiment upon your indulgence, which, at least, I must desire you to accord to me. This will add yet more to the lively and sincere acknowledgment, with which I have the honor to be,

Sir, your very humble, and very obedient servant, NOAILLES DE LAFAYETTE.”

[74] I have been often assured, that this declaration had a very great effect upon the minds of the people in England in favor of American independence.--_Note by Mr Laurens._

[75] I might assign various reasons, all valid, for this determination. The following single consideration, I trust, will be satisfactory to Congress. Five persons are nominated in the commission, not conjunctly, but severally and respectively, fully empowered. Whence it evidently appears, that Congress had not in view or expectation that the whole would act; therefore, as there are three of those persons besides myself, and all of superior abilities upon the spot, were I to thrust myself in, merely to make a fourth figure, I should feel guilty of a species of peculation by putting the public to unnecessary expense, without any well grounded hope of rendering public service.--_Note by Mr Laurens._

[76] I have replied to my friend, who wrote to me on this subject, as follows; “As to the peace bill, let them shape it as they please, Wisdom is justified of her children; if they will act foolishly, be the consequences to themselves. I have said and done all that became me.”--_Note by Mr Laurens._

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Nantes, September 5th, 1782.

Sir,

I had the honor of writing to Congress from Amsterdam on the 30th of May, by Captain Bacon. Copies of that address were sent by the vessels of Captain Briggs and Captain Smedly, and a third committed to the care of Mr Moses Young, to be despatched by a cutter from Ostend. At that time, I was in a deplorable state of health, and am now (after the practice of every proper means of abstemious regimen, bathing, medicine, and bleeding,) but beginning to recruit, still extremely weak and feeble. Notwithstanding such ill health, I hastened in the month of July from the south of France, even at the hazard of my life, to this port with a view of embarking for America. While I was employed seeking for a proper vessel, Mons. Labouchere suggested the imminent danger of a second capture, and the train of evil consequences, adding, that I was entitled to a safe conduct from England to one of the United States, in return for the exchange of Lord Cornwallis at his own door, and for that purpose, recommended a demand upon the Court of London.

The propriety of this gentleman’s reasoning was apparent, the danger of capture was marked in every newspaper, by accounts of the havoc on both sides the Atlantic, by British cruisers upon American vessels. I consulted other persons, who unanimously concurred in Mons. Labouchere’s opinion and advice. Wherefore, I requested certain friends in London to make the necessary application on my behalf, for permission to re-enter Great Britain to embark at Falmouth for New York, and for a passport to proceed thence to Philadelphia, not in terms of prayer from me, but by a representation of right to be submitted for consideration. This day I have received letters from London, importing that an application had been made, that Lord Cornwallis in particular had interested himself in the measure, and that a proper passport would soon be transmitted to me.

Doctor Franklin writes to me under the 19th of August, “though we are very sensible if you could get well to America, you might be of great service to the public, yet we think the hazard is too great, as it might be winter before you could come upon the coast, and perhaps at this juncture you might be equally useful in England; on these considerations, we agreed to advise your return thither.” This advice I intend to pursue, and as I ardently wish to be in America, and present myself to Congress, I shall, if my health will permit, embark in the November packet; or otherwise defer the voyage to March or April, persuaded that neither my passing through England, nor even a few months necessary, perhaps unavoidable, residence in that kingdom, can possibly work any detriment to my country; I am therefore confident of the approbation of Congress.

Since my discharge from restraint in England, Doctor Franklin has very cordially pressed me to take from him a supply of money for my expenses,[77] but from my knowledge of the state of our public finances, I have refused to lessen them, since from the fragments of my own funds, I shall be able to support myself in a frugal style while I am unfortunately detained on this side of the water.