The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. 01

by Unknown

TO THE COMMITTEE OF SECRET CORRESPONDENCE.

Paris, 12th March, 1777.

Gentlemen,

It is now more than four months since Mr Franklin's departure from Philadelphia, and not a line from thence written since that time has hitherto reached either of your commissioners in Europe. We have had no information of what passes in America but through England, and the advices are, for the most part, such only as the ministry choose to publish. Our total ignorance of the truth or falsehood of facts, when questions are asked of us concerning them, makes us appear small in the eyes of the people here, and is prejudicial to our negotiations.

In ours of the 6th of February, of which a copy is enclosed, we acquainted you that we were about purchasing some cutters to be employed as packet boats. We have succeeded in getting one from Dover, in which we purpose to send our present despatches. Mr Hodge, who went to Dunkirk and Flushing, where he thought another might be easily found, has not yet acquainted us with his success. We promised that when we had a conveyance, which, by its swiftness, is more likely to carry safely our letters, we would be more explicit in accounts of our proceedings here, which promise we shall now fulfil as follows.

In our first conversation with the minister, after the arrival of Mr Franklin, it was evident that this Court, while it treated us privately with all civility, was cautious of giving umbrage to England, and was therefore desirous of avoiding an open reception and acknowledgment of us, or entering into any formal negotiation with us, as ministers from the Congress. To make us easy, however, we were told that the ports of France were open to our ships as friends, that our people might freely purchase and export, as merchandise, whatever our States had occasion for; vending, at the same time, our own commodities; that in doing this, we should experience all the facilities that a government disposed to favor us could, consistent with treaties, afford to the enemies of a friend. But though it was at that time no secret that two hundred field pieces of brass, and thirty thousand fusils, with other munitions of war, in great abundance, had been taken out of the king's magazines, for the purpose of exportation to America; the minister, in our presence, affected to know nothing of that operation, and claimed no merit to his Court on that account. But he intimated to us that it would be well taken, if we communicated with no other person about the Court, concerning our affairs but himself, who would be ready at all convenient times to confer with us.

We soon after presented several memorials, representing the state of the Colonies, the necessity of some naval aid, and the utility to France, that must result from our success in establishing the independence of America, with the freedom of its commerce. In answer, we received a positive refusal of the ships of the line, (which we had been instructed to ask,) on this principle, that if a war with England should take place, the whole fleet of France would be necessary at home for her defence; that if such a war did not take place, yet, while England apprehended a war, it was equally serviceable to our States, that the fleet of France should remain entire in her ports, since that must retain an equal force of English at home, who might otherwise go to America, and who certainly would follow thither any French squadron. During these conferences, every step was taken to gratify England publicly, by attending to the remonstrances of her ambassador, forbidding the departure of ships which had military stores on board,[29] recalling officers who had leave of absence, and were going to join us, and giving strict orders, that our prizes should not be sold in French ports; yet that we might not be discouraged, it was intimated to us by persons about the Court, that these measures were necessary at present, France not being yet quite ready for a war, and that we might be assured of her good will to us and our cause.

Means were proposed of our obtaining a large sum of money for present use, by an advance from the Farmers-General, to be repaid in tobacco, of which they wanted twenty thousand hogsheads. We entered accordingly into a treaty with that company, but, meeting with difficulty in settling the terms, we were informed that a grant was made us of two millions of livres from the crown, of which five hundred thousand was ready to be paid us down, and an equal sum should be paid at the beginning of April, July, and October; that such was the king's generosity, he exacted no conditions or promise of repayment, he only required that we should not speak to any one of our having received this aid. We have accordingly observed strictly this injunction, deviating only in this information to you, which we think necessary for your satisfaction, but earnestly requesting that you would not suffer it to be made public. This is the money, which, in our letter, we mentioned as raised for us by subscription.

One of the ablest sea officers of France, skilled in all the arts relating to the marine, having offered his services to the States, with the permission of the minister, we (enabled by the above grant) engaged him to superintend the building of two ships of war, of a particular construction, which, though not of half the cost, shall be superior in force and utility to ships of sixtyfour guns. He has built one here for the king, which, we are told, exceeds every thing in swift sailing. He has furnished us with drafts,[30] which we send you, that if the Congress thinks fit, others of the same construction may be set up in America, in which case we have given him expectations of being their Commodore. We have seen his large and curious collection of memoirs, containing every, the minutest particular relating to the construction and management of a fleet, with a variety of proposed improvements, and we are persuaded that he will be found a valuable acquisition to our country.

April 9th. Since writing the above, we received despatches from the Congress, by Captain Hammond, others from Mr Morris, by Captain Bell, and some copies by Captain Adams, via Boston, which, on many accounts, were very satisfactory. We directly drew up and presented memorials on the subject of those despatches; we were promised immediate consideration, and speedy answers; for which, we detained Captain Hammond, but we have not yet obtained them. We receive, however, continual assurances, of the good will of this Court and of Spain. We are given to understand, that it is by their operations, the raising of German troops for England has been obstructed. We are paid punctually the second five hundred thousand livres, and having convinced the ministry of the great importance of keeping up the credit, and fixing the value of our currency, which might be done, by paying in specie the interest of what we borrow, or in bills upon France, for the amount. We are now assured, that the abovementioned quarterly payments shall be continued, (after the two millions) for the purpose of paying the interest of the five million dollars, you are supposed to have borrowed, which we believe will be punctually complied with; and the effect must be, restoring to its original value the principal for which such interest is paid, and with that the rest of the emission.

We have turned our thoughts earnestly to what is recommended to us by Congress, the borrowing two millions sterling, in Europe. We just proposed to borrow it of this Court, upon interest, but were told by the minister, that it was impossible to spare such a sum, as they were now arming, at a great expense, which kept their treasury bare, but there was no objection to our borrowing it of private capitalists here, provided we did not offer so high an interest as might raise it upon government. We are advised to try Holland; and we have caused the pulse to be felt there; but though Holland at present is a little disgusted with England, and our credit is considerably mended in Europe by our late successes, it does not yet appear sufficient to procure such a loan. Spain, it seems, has by its punctual payments of interest, acquired high credit there, and we are told, that by her publicly borrowing, as for herself, and privately allowing us to draw on her banker, we might there obtain what money we pleased.

Mr Lee was gone to Spain, before the commission and orders came to Doctor Franklin, for that station; he will give you a particular account of his negotiations; we here only mention that he received the same general assurances, of the good will of that Court, that we have here of this; he was informed, that three thousand barrels of powder, and some clothing were lodged for our use at New Orleans; that some merchants at Bilboa had orders to ship for us such necessaries as we might want, that orders would be given to allow us admission into the Havanna, as a favored nation, and that we should have a credit on Holland, (the sum not then settled) which might be expected at Paris, the beginning of this month. The Spanish Ambassador here, a grave and wise man, to whom Mr Lee communicated the above, tells us, that his Court piques itself on a religious observance of its word, and that we may rely on a punctual performance of its promises.

On these grounds, we are of opinion, that though we should not be able to borrow the two millions sterling, recommended to us, yet if the Congress are obliged to borrow the whole twenty millions of dollars they have issued, we hope to find sufficient here, by way of subsidy, to pay the interest in full value, whereby the credit of their currency will be established, and on great and urgent occasions they may venture to make an addition to it, which we conceive will be better than paying the interest of two millions sterling to foreigners. On the whole, we would advise Congress to draw on us for sums equal to the interest of what they have borrowed, as that interest becomes due, allowing the lenders, in the drafts, five livres, money of France, for every dollar of interest. And we think they may venture to promise it for future loans, without, however, mentioning the grounds we here give for making such a promise; for these Courts have particularly strong reasons for keeping out of the war, as long as they can, besides this general one, that on both sides the nation attacking loses the claim, which when attacked, it has for aid from its allies. And we have these advantages in their keeping out of the war, that they are better able to afford us private assistance, that by holding themselves in readiness to invade Britain, they keep more of her force at home, and that they leave to our armed vessels, the whole harvest of prizes made upon her commerce, and of course the whole encouragement to increase our force in privateers, which will breed seamen for our navy.

The desire that military officers here, of all ranks, have of going into the service of the United States, is so general, and so strong, as to be quite amazing. We are hourly fatigued with their applications, and offers, which we are obliged to refuse, and with hundreds of letters, which we cannot possibly answer to their satisfaction, having had no orders to engage any but engineers, who are accordingly gone. If the Congress think fit to encourage some of distinguished merit, to enter their service, they will please to signify it.

Captain Wickes made a cruise this winter, and returned with five prizes, of the produce of which we suppose Mr Morris will acquaint you; for they are sold, though the bringing them into France has given some trouble and uneasiness to the Court, and must not be too frequently practised. We have ordered him to make another cruise before he returns to America, and have given him for a consort, the armed cutter, Captain Nicholson; they will sail in a few days. Mr Hodge writes us, that he has provided another cutter; we intended to have employed one of them as a packet, but several of yours being now here, and having lately made a contract for sending one every month, a copy of which we enclose, we shall make use of this new purchase as a cruiser.

We have at length finished a contract with the Farmers-General, for five thousand hogsheads of tobacco, a copy of which is enclosed. We shall receive the first advance of two millions of livres, next month, and we entreat you to use your best endeavors to enable us to comply with our part of the agreement. We found it a measure of government to furnish us by that means with large advances, as well as to obtain the ground of some of their own taxes; and finding the minister anxious to have such a treaty concluded, we complied with the terms, though we apprehend them not to be otherwise very advantageous. We have expectations, however, that in case it appears, that the tobacco cannot be afforded so cheap, through captures, &c. government will not suffer us to be losers.

We have purchased eighty thousand fusils, a number of pistols, &c. of which the enclosed is an account, for two hundred and twenty thousand livres. They were king's arms and second hand, but so many of them are unused and unexceptionably good, that we esteem it a great bargain if only half of them should arrive. We applied for the large brass cannon, to be borrowed out of the king's stores till we could replace them, but have not yet obtained an answer. You will soon have the arms and accoutrements for the horse, except the saddles, if not intercepted by the enemy.

All Europe is for us. Our articles of confederation, being by our means translated, and published here, have given an appearance of consistence and firmness to the American States and government, that begins to make them considerable. The separate constitutions of the several States are also translating and publishing here, which afford abundance of speculation to the politicians of Europe, and it is a very general opinion, that if we succeed in establishing our liberties, we shall, as soon as peace is restored, receive an immense addition of numbers and wealth from Europe, by the families who will come over to participate in our privileges, and bring their estates with them. Tyranny is so generally established in the rest of the world, that the prospect of an asylum in America, for those who love liberty, gives general joy, and our cause is esteemed the cause of all mankind. Slaves naturally become base, as well as wretched. We are fighting for the dignity and happiness of human nature. Glorious is it for the Americans, to be called by providence to this post of honor. Cursed and detested will every one be that deserts or betrays it.

We are glad to learn the intention of Congress to send ministers to the empires of Prussia and Tuscany. With submission, we think Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, (if the expense is no objection,) should not be neglected. It would be of great service, if among them we could get a free port or two for the sale of prizes, as well as for commerce. A commencement of intercourse has been made with Prussia, as you will see by the enclosed copies of letters,[31] between his minister and us. We suppose, as the Congress has appointed one of us to Spain, they will order another of us to some of the other Courts, as we see no utility equal to the charge, and yet some inconveniency, in a joint commission here, where one, when freed from commercial cares and action, is sufficient for the business. As soon as the Court of Spain shall be willing to receive a minister, (which from Mr Lee's information, seems not to be at present the case,) Mr Franklin intends to go thither in obedience to the orders he has received. Mr Lee has expressed his readiness to go to Prussia or Tuscany, before the intention of Congress to send to those Courts was known; and he waits here awhile, by the advice of his colleagues, expecting that perhaps the next ship may bring his future destination.

For the procuring and sending more certain and speedy intelligence, we have, as before mentioned, entered into a contract here, whereby we are to have a packet boat despatched every month; the first will sail in about a fortnight. As we are yet without an explicit answer from Court on several important points, and we shall have that speedy opportunity, we do not now enlarge in answer to the several letters received by Hammond, Bell, Adams, and Johnston. We only now assure the Congress, that we shall be attentive to execute all the resolutions and orders they have sent us for our government, and we have good hopes of success, in most of them.

For news, we refer in general to the papers, and to some letters[32] enclosed, which we have received from London. We shall only add, that though the English begin again to threaten us with twenty thousand Russians, it is the opinion of the wisest men here, and particularly among the foreign ministers, that they will never be sent. The Anspachers, who were to be embarked in Holland, mutined, and refused to proceed, so that the Prince was obliged to go with his guards and force them on. A gentleman of Rotterdam writes us, that he saw a number of them brought, bound hands and feet, to that place in boats. This does not seem as if much service can be expected from such unwilling soldiers. The British fleet is not yet half manned; the difficulty in that respect was never before found so great, and is ascribed to several causes, viz. a dislike to the war, the subtraction of American sailors, the number our privateers have taken out of British ships, and the enormous transport service.

The French are free from this difficulty, their seamen being all registered, and serving in their turns. Their fleet is nearly ready, and will be much superior to the English, when joined with that of Spain, which is preparing with all diligence. The tone of the Court accordingly rises, and it is said, that a few days since, when the British Ambassador intimated to the Minister, that if the Americans were permitted to continue drawing supplies of arms, &c. from this kingdom, the peace could not last much longer; he was firmly answered—Nous ne desirons pas le guerre, mais nous ne la craigons pas. "We neither desire war, nor fear it." When all are ready for it, a small matter may suddenly bring it on; and it is the universal opinion, that the peace cannot continue another year. Every nation in Europe wishes to see Britain humbled, having all in their turns been offended by her insolence, which, in prosperity, she is apt to discover on all occasions. A late instance manifested it towards Holland, when being elate with the news of some success in America, and fancying all that business ended, Sir Joseph Yorke delivered a memorial to the States, expressing his master's indignation against them, on account of the commerce their subjects carried on with the rebels, and the governor of St Eustatia's returning the salute of one of the American ships, remarking that "if that commerce was not stopped, and the governor punished," the King knew what appertained to the dignity of his crown, and should take proper measures to vindicate it. The States were much offended, but answered coolly that they should inquire into the conduct of their governor, and, in the mean time, would prepare to secure themselves against the vengeance with which Britain seemed to threaten them. Accordingly, they immediately ordered twentysix men of war to be put upon the stocks.

We transmit you some affidavits,[33] relating to the treatment of our prisoners, with a copy of our letter[34] to Lord Stormont, communicating them, and his insolent answer. We request you to present our duty to the Congress, and assure them of our most faithful services.

With great respect we have the honor to be, &c.

B. FRANKLIN,
SILAS DEANE.

FOOTNOTES:

[29] These were afterwards privately permitted to go, or went without permission. Note by the Commissioners.

[30] Missing.

[31] Missing.—A letter from the Commissioners to Baron Schulenburg, will be seen in Arthur Lee's correspondence, under the date of April 19th, 1777.

[32] Missing.

[33] Missing.

[34] Missing.

AGREEMENT
Between Messrs Franklin and Deane, and the Farmers-General of France, for the sale of a quantity of Tobacco.

Translation.

ARTICLE I.

We the undersigned, as well in our own name, as by virtue of powers derived from the Congress of the United States of North America, promise and oblige ourselves to deliver, in the course of the present year, 1777, five thousand hogsheads, or five million weight of York and James River tobacco, to the Farmers-General of France, in the ports of France.

ARTICLE II.

The price of the tobacco, thus delivered, is fixed at eight sols per pound, net tobacco, mark weight, or forty livres tournois per cwt, and delivered into stores of the Farmers-General.

ARTICLE III.

All average, rotten, or spoiled tobacco, shall be cut off and deducted from the weight to be paid for, agreeably to the estimate, which shall be impartially made by experienced persons, by which a general average shall be fixed instead thereof.

ARTICLE IV.

There shall be a deduction, moreover, of four per cent, under the title of allowance for good weight, eight pounds weight per hogshead for samples, and two per cent discount on the amount of the invoice for prompt payment.

ARTICLE V.

The Farmers-General oblige themselves for the discharge of the amount of five thousand hogsheads, to remit at the disposal of Congress, and to pay into the hands of the banker, who shall be appointed by Messrs Franklin and Deane, or to direct their Receiver-General at Paris, to accept the bills, which shall be drawn upon him by Messrs Franklin and Deane, as far as a million of livres tournois, in the course of the ensuing month, and another million the instant of the arrival of the first ships loaded with tobacco, which shall be delivered to them; the said two millions making the balance and entire payment for the five thousand hogsheads, or five million weight of tobacco, mark weight, sold by Congress at the price of eight sols per pound, before agreed upon.

ARTICLE VI.

Should Congress be able to send to France a greater quantity of tobacco, whatever shall exceed the value of the two millions advanced by the Farmers-General, shall be remitted to them by Messrs Franklin and Deane, at the same price, and upon the same terms, and the Farmers-General oblige themselves to pay the value thereof in cash, or bills on their Receiver General, at three usances as customary.

ARTICLE VII.

And I, the undersigned Farmer-General, by virtue of a power vested in me by my company, subject and oblige myself in its name, to the full and entire execution of the six foregoing stipulated articles, and for the execution of the present, the parties have chosen their dwellings, that is to say, for Messrs Franklin and Deane, the Hamburgh hotel, University street, Parish of St Sulpice; and for the Farmers-General, at the hotel of the King's Farms, Grenelle street, Parish of St Eustache.

Done and concluded in duplicates, at Paris, this 24th of March, 1777.

B. FRANKLIN,
SILAS DEANE,
PAULZE.

AGREEMENT FOR PACKETS
Between M. Ray de Chaumont, on the one part, and Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, on the other, viz.

The said Ray de Chaumont engages to equip, in some port of France, agreed to by the said Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, in each month, for the space of one year, counting from the month of May next, a packet boat, or vessel, suitable for the carrying of despatches between France and the United States of North America, which vessel, or packet boat, shall be capable of carrying thirty tons of goods, without impeding her sailing to the best advantage; and the said Ray de Chaumont shall be at the whole expense of equipping, victualling, &c. each of the said packet boats, and shall furnish in each of them a passage for one person, sent by the said Franklin and Deane, to take charge of their despatches and goods shipped. Each packet boat or vessel shall attend the orders of the said Franklin and Deane, in pursuing her voyage, for the safest and most certain delivery of the said despatches and merchandise.

The said Franklin and Deane shall have liberty to load a quantity of goods on board each packet boat, to and from America, to the amount of thirty tons consigned to their orders; and they, the said Franklin and Deane, shall pay to the said Ray de Chaumont, the sum of eight thousand livres for each voyage of each packet boat, which sum of eight thousand livres shall be paid the said Ray de Chaumont, in three months after the entering on each voyage successively, whether the packet boat arrive in safety or not.

The packet boat shall not be delayed after her being ready to receive the goods, either in France or America. The said packet boats, with all their equipments, shall be solely at the risk and expense of the said Ray de Chaumont; but the goods to be shipped as aforesaid, with the freight stipulated therefor, as above mentioned, shall be at the risk of the said Franklin and Deane; and the said Ray de Chaumont shall not, in case either of said packet boats will carry more than the said thirty tons of goods, load them, or either of them, beyond the said quantity, so as in any manner to impede their or her sailing to the best advantage.

In witness of which, the parties have subscribed three agreements, each of this tenor and date, at Paris, April, 1777.

RAY DE CHAUMONT,
B. FRANKLIN,
SILAS DEANE.