The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. 11
Chapter 21
With respect to the second report, I am led to make it by Mr Adams's recommendation, and by my sense of the zeal and diligence, which M. Dumas has so long testified in the cause of America, when it was very far from being a popular one in Holland. Though I must confess I feel some reluctance in seeing any but an American in the line, which ought to serve as a school for future Ministers. But this case has peculiar circumstances by which it must be determined. The commission of _Charge d'Affaires_ I should conceive too important and too confidential to be placed in any hands, but those of a citizen of the United States. There are other reasons, which will suggest themselves to Congress, against this measure, which it is unnecessary to mention. The salary I have left blank, as that subject is under the consideration of a committee. The second resolution is to take away the necessity of making it greater than our circumstances will allow.
The merits of the other gentlemen mentioned by Mr Adams, together with his recommendation, might justly perhaps induce Congress to show them some marks of their attention, if the situation of their finances would permit, but as neither of those gentlemen are in the service of Congress, it is to be presumed that they will not choose to take any public notice of that part of his letter, till they are in circumstances to satisfy the just claims of those who have demands upon them.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Office of Foreign Affairs, September 12th, 1782.
Sir,
Having carefully examined Mr Laurens's letter,[25] I believe Congress will think with me, that the subjects of it are such as I can in no other way report on, than by recommending it to be submitted to a special committee.
The two great points are his resignation and exchange. The first of these Congress only are competent to decide upon; and the last, not relating in any way to my Department, is intimately connected with a subject already under the consideration of a committee. With respect to his support, I believe that there can be no doubt that Mr Laurens's salary is to be paid, till Congress determine to accept his resignation. I have considered it as a part of the expenses of this Department, and accordingly remitted the amount of two quarters' salary to Dr Franklin, commencing in January last, previous to which, that business was under the direction of Dr Franklin. I shall continue to include his salary in my drafts on Mr Morris, till I receive directions from Congress to discontinue it. Congress having empowered Mr Laurens to appoint a secretary, there can be no doubt about the propriety of discharging his salary.
The enemy having published an account of Mr Laurens's petition for relief, &c. which appears by his letter to have been without foundation, I beg leave to submit to Congress the propriety of printing his own account of this transaction, since it evidences in contradiction to their reports, that he always acted with the dignity and firmness, which became his station and character.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] See this letter in _Henry Lauren's Correspondence_, Vol. II. p. 463.
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CIRCULAR TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE STATES.
Office of Foreign Affairs, September 12th, 1782.
Sir,
Agreeably to the direction of Congress, contained in the enclosed resolution, I am to solicit your Excellency's attention to the object of it, and to pray that means may be used by the State over which you preside, to furnish the returns they require, sending quadruplicate copies of them, under the seal of the State, to this office. I am sorry to have reason to complain of the little attention that the recommendations of Congress, and my letter of the 12th day of November, 1781, relative to a similar object, has met with from your State, since the want of those returns will, without doubt, be severely felt by our Ministers, whenever they shall commence the negotiations for a general peace.
I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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CIRCULAR TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE STATES.
Office of Foreign Affairs, September 15th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to inform you, by the direction of Congress, that I have lately received official advices from Mr Adams, of the resolutions of their High Mightinesses the States General, to receive and acknowledge the said Mr Adams in quality of Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, and to request your Excellency to cause this interesting event to be made public. I have the honor to enclose copies of the resolutions of their High Mightinesses on this subject, and to inform you that the States General did, on the 23d day of April, appoint a Grand Committee to confer with Mr Adams, to whom, having been introduced in the usual forms by two noblemen, he laid before them the plan of a Treaty of Amity and Commerce, which was immediately printed, and sent to the different members of the sovereignty.
I cannot conclude without congratulating your Excellency upon an event, which widens the basis of our independence, and leads to an immediate connexion with a powerful nation, whose alliance a variety of circumstances in their origin and government render extremely desirable.
I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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GENERAL GREENE TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Head Quarters, October 2d, 1782.
Sir,
Your letter of the 13th of May did not come to hand until some time in August, before the receipt of which his Excellency, General Washington, had communicated the agreeable information of the birth of a Dauphin, and directed that some public declaration of our feelings should be had upon the occasion. Accordingly, on the 4th of July, we fired a _feu de joie_, and gave every testimony in our power of the pleasure and happiness we felt upon an event so interesting to our good ally, and so intimately connected with the welfare of America; and I beg you will communicate to the Minister in Philadelphia, how sincerely the officers of this army participate in the general joy, which this public blessing diffuses through France and America.
It is with infinite satisfaction that I inform you, that the enemy is making every preparation for the evacuation of Charleston, the last and only place they hold in any of the Southern United States.
I hope a general peace will follow, and that America may long enjoy, without interruption, the blessings she has been so long contending for.
I have the honor to be, &c.
NATHANIEL GREENE.
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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, October 29th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to enclose, for the inspection of Congress, a letter from Mr Harrison. So much of it as relates to the state of his accounts, has been sent to the Office of Finance. As this subject has before been strongly insisted upon by Mr Jay, I doubt not that Mr Morris will pay every attention to it, which the means in his hands will permit.
Mr Harrison is so well spoken of by Mr Jay, and has manifested, on many occasions, watchful attention to the welfare of the United States, and discovered such disinterestedness in every transaction which related to them, that I cannot but hope that Congress will think him worthy of some public notice. Should they be of opinion, that it would be improper to appoint him consul at a time when he could not be received in his public character, and when an attempt to display it might draw upon the United States new indignities, yet it would give me pleasure to be enabled to assure him from Congress, that they entertain a just sense of his services, that they wish him to continue to act under the authority he has received from Mr Jay, till the politics of Spain shall render it proper to vest him with more ample powers. This earnest of the favor of Congress would stimulate him to merit further marks of their confidence.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.
Philadelphia, November 13th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to transmit a resolution of Congress, appointing you one of their Ministers Plenipotentiary for negotiating peace. I rejoice in this fresh proof of their confidence in your virtue and abilities. The sacrifices you have heretofore made to the interests of your country, induce me to hope that you will suffer no personal consideration to prevent their being employed in its service upon this important occasion.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO GOVERNOR MATTHEWS, OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
Philadelphia, November 20th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to transmit the copy of a letter from Count de Vergennes to Dr Franklin, accompanied with a memorial from Messrs Le Marque and Fabre, on the subject of debts contracted by Mr Gillon, as is said, in behalf of the State of South Carolina. I wish, Sir, you would enable me to afford such an answer to it as will exculpate the State from any censure which Mr Gillon may have deservedly incurred. If he was vested with such powers as enabled him to bind the State, they will doubtless have the justice to direct that his engagements be made good, notwithstanding any loss they may incur thereby. If he had no such powers, they will embrace the earliest opportunity of disavowing them.
I shall trouble your Excellency to apprize me of the steps, that may be taken in consequence of this information, that I may embrace the earliest opportunity, by placing this matter in its true light, to do that justice to the integrity and good faith of the State, which they will undoubtedly merit.
I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO THOMAS BARCLAY.
Philadelphia, November 26th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the pleasure of transmitting a resolution of Congress, by which you are appointed a Commissioner for adjusting their accounts in Europe. I flatter myself, that this fresh mark of their confidence in you will be highly acceptable, and that you will take the earliest opportunity to enter upon the task assigned you, since not only the interest, but the honor of the United States, has greatly suffered by the delay, which this necessary business has heretofore experienced.
I am, Dear Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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THOMAS JEFFERSON TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Chesterfield, November 26th, 1782.
Sir,
I received yesterday the letter, with which you have been pleased to honor me, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 12th instant, renewing my appointment as one of their Ministers Plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace, and beg leave through you to return my sincere thanks to that august body, for the confidence they are pleased to repose in me, and to tender the same to yourself for the obliging manner in which you have notified it.
I will employ in this arduous charge, with diligence and integrity, the best of my poor talents, which I am conscious are far short of what it requires. This I hope will ensure to me from Congress a kind construction of all my transactions; and it gives me no small pleasure, that my communications will pass through the hands of a gentleman, with whom I have acted in the earlier stages of this contest, and whose discernment and candor I had the good fortune then to approve and esteem.
Your letter finds me at a distance from home, attending on my family under inoculation. This will add to the delay which the arrangement of my particular affairs would necessarily occasion. I shall lose no moment, however, in preparing for my departure, and shall hope to pay my respects to Congress and to yourself some time between the 20th and the last of December.
I have the honor to be, &c.
THOMAS JEFFERSON.
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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, December 2d, 1782.
Sir,
Having lately been informed, that the business of the Court of Chancery in the State of New York has increased so much as to demand more of my attention than is consistent with the duties of the place, which I have the honor to hold under the United States, I must pray your Excellency to lay before Congress my request to be permitted to resign the latter, and to assure them at the same time, of the grateful sense which I shall always retain, not only of the honor done me by the appointment, but of those distinguished marks of confidence, which they have repeatedly shown me in the execution of my trust.
That the business of this office may sustain no injury by my resignation, I shall, if Congress approve, continue to perform its duties till they shall be pleased to appoint a gentleman to succeed me, or direct some other mode for carrying it on, in confidence that they will make their arrangements as early as is consistent with the deliberation they may conceive them to require.
I take the liberty to recommend to the protection of Congress, and the gentleman who is to succeed me, Mr Morris and M. Duponceau, my secretaries, having the greatest reason to confide in their fidelity and attention to the business intrusted to their care. The Reverend Mr Tetard, who is likewise employed in the office, has some claim to their attention; he rendered essential services to our army in Canada, suffered many personal inconveniences there, and finds himself reduced, at an advanced age, to absolute ruin by the enemy and our own army, both having contributed to lay waste his farm, destroy his buildings, and pillage his property. For these facts, I take the liberty to refer Congress to his Memorial.
As Congress in making a new appointment will probably wish to adapt the salary to the necessary expense of the department, of which they have heretofore had no opportunity to be fully informed, it is a duty I owe to them, as well as to my successor, to assure them that my expenses, exclusive of purchase and wear, carriages, horses, and household furniture, have exceeded my allowance from Congress, upwards of three thousand dollars. As I have now no personal interest in mentioning this circumstance, Congress will, I am persuaded, attribute the liberty I have taken, to my desire of seeing a department, in which I have had the honor to preside, supported with dignity.
Be pleased, Sir, to receive my thanks for your personal attention, and believe me to be, with the most respectful attachment and esteem, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO RICHARD HARRISON.
Philadelphia, December 5th, 1782.
Dear Sir,
I have this moment learned that a vessel will sail for Cadiz in an hour's time. I beg to recommend to your particular care the letter for Mr Carmichael, which the captain will deliver to you. It contains a cypher, and must not therefore pass through the post office.
Congress, as yet, have done nothing in your affair, though it has been particularly recommended to them, and now lies before them. One obstruction is the difficulty of appointing Consuls, till some treaty or convention between us and Spain shall authorise it.
The season of the year admits of no military operations here; and the packet of newspapers sent herewith, will give you the current news. You will find by them, that we are still in suspense with respect to the fate of Charleston, though it is generally believed, that it cannot be long ere the evacuation will be completed. The French fleet are still at Boston, though prepared to sail. Nothing astonishes us more, than the effrontery of the British publications, which affirm boldly, that great tumults have been excited in the Eastern States, on account of their reluctance to the war, when there is not the slightest foundation in fact for such an assertion. This I suppose, is calculated to give a momentary popularity to Lord Shelburne.
I am, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Office of Foreign Affairs, December 9th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to inform Congress, that the Minister Plenipotentiary of France communicated to me the contents of a letter, received on Saturday from Count de Rochambeau, by which he was apprized, that the Count, in pursuance of his instructions, had ordered the troops under his command to embark, and that they were to proceed with the fleet to the Islands.
The legion, and a detachment of about six hundred men, together with the convalescents are to remain on the continent. The whole may amount to about sixteen hundred men. The Minister further informed me, that in consequence of his representations on the subject, he had received assurances, that such a force should be detached from the West Indies, as would be adequate to the protection of the trade upon this coast during the winter.
The enclosed extract of a letter from Boston, contains an account of the success of the British in relieving Gibraltar. Though it is not official it is to be feared it is too well founded.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, December 16th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to enclose for the inspection of Congress a short letter from Mr Jay, which contains important information, and explains some passages in Dr Franklin's letters. Unless the commission given to Mr Fitzherbert on the 24th of July is revoked, it will be difficult to account for Mr Oswald's being appointed to treat with the Thirteen United States, unless we suppose, either that his powers are more limited, or that the British Administration design to treat under the mediation of some neutral Prince, upon the plan proposed by the Imperial Courts, so as that the negotiations with America may be distinct from those with the other belligerent powers.
Just as I was closing this, a private letter from Mr Jay was delivered of the 4th of September, which contains the following remarkable passage. "I am preparing a map to show you the line, which Count d'Aranda proposes for our western boundary. It will not be finished in time for this conveyance. I am persuaded it is best for us to take time. My further reasons shall be explained at large in a future letter, which I shall begin as soon as my health will permit." He adds, "that Spain has issued more bills, and that the depreciation has increased." I delay reporting on the passage in Dr Franklin's letter, relative to the demands of Spain, as there is no immediate opportunity of writing to Europe, and as I am in hourly expectation of receiving something more particular on this subject.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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GENERAL GREENE TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Head Quarters, South Carolina, } December 19th, 1782. }
Dear Sir,
The Southern States, so long oppressed by the weight of a destructive war, are now happily relieved by the evacuation of Charleston, and the total departure of the British troops from this country. This event, so very important to all America, took place on the 14th instant.
The fleet, with the troops on board, fell down into Rebellion Road, and on the 17th crossed the bar and went out to sea. The British regiments are said to be destined for the West Indies, and the German troops for New York. They took with them a great deal of property, and between five and six thousand negroes, the greater part of which they had once promised to deliver up.
Governor Matthews, with all the officers of government are now in town; and civil police fully established and supported.
I am, &c.
NATHANIEL GREENE.
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TO THE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS APPOINTED TO REPAIR TO RHODE ISLAND.
Philadelphia, December 20th, 1782.
Gentlemen,
I can only reply to your inquiries with respect to the probability of extending our loans in France, by informing you, that the general tenor of our public despatches discourages the idea, as will appear by the extracts of letters herewith sent you. To them I have added such official communications as I have received from time to time from the Minister of France.
I might add to these the result of several private conversations with him upon that subject, having frequently introduced it, to know how far we might in case of extreme necessity lean on France. He has always expressed on these occasions a strong sense of our wants, and a wish to relieve them, accompanied with an apprehension, that the heavy expense incurred by France, in creating and supporting a large marine, would render it highly imprudent to expect, that she should add anything to the liberal supplies already afforded us, and the maintenance of an army in America on our account. Of late, too, the unproductiveness of our taxes, and the uneasiness of the public creditors in the United States, has not escaped his observation. His reflections on this subject are so obvious, that I need not repeat them. I am seriously alarmed for their effect on the loans we have already opened. A private letter from Mr Jay informs me, that the paper struck by Spain has greatly depreciated, so that had we needed any further assurances on that head, we must now be fully convinced, that we have nothing to expect from that quarter.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, December 22d, 1782.
Sir,
I have just received my despatches, which consist of duplicates from Dr Franklin and the enclosed, which have not yet been submitted to Congress, together with a copy of Mr Oswald's commission.
Mr Jay has also written, but his letter is not yet decyphered. A private letter from the Marquis de Lafayette to me, (the whole of which is not yet decyphered) contains much the same account of our negotiations, with that given by Dr Franklin, and the following passage from a letter of Mr Adams to him of the 29th of September;
"We have at length the consent of the Cities, States, and Provinces, and have adjusted and agreed upon every article, word, syllable, letter, and point, in the treaty of commerce, and clerks are employed in making out fair copies for signature, which will be done this week."
By a paper of the 22d of October, I find the treaty was signed by seven deputies, one for each Province, and by Mr Adams on the 4th of October.
The Marquis also mentions, that several accounts, but none official, say, that Madras has been taken by the French troops, that landed at Port Novo, in conjunction with those of Hyder Ally. He adds, that though this account is believed, yet it is not confirmed.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
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GOVERNOR MARTIN TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
North Carolina, December 23d, 1782.
Sir,
I am favored with your two letters of the 12th and 15th of September last, and your circular, in which you announce the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States by the States of Holland; an event that will greatly add to the national importance of America, not only in the councils of Europe, but through the world.
The resolution of Congress respecting damages, which the inhabitants of this State have received from the British enemy, I cannot carry into effect until I have an Act of Assembly for this purpose, to point out the particular mode in obtaining the same; the account of which, as soon as it can be procured from the different parts of the State, shall be transmitted to you, without loss of time.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ALEXANDER MARTIN.
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CIRCULAR TO THE GOVERNORS OF THE STATES.
Philadelphia, December 23d, 1782.
Sir,