The definitive treaty is not yet arrived; but from accounts which, though not official, appear to deserve credit, it may be daily expected. A gentleman, known and confided in, has arrived at Philadelphia, who informs, that he saw a letter from Dr. Franklin to Mr. Barkeley, telling him that the definitive treaties were signed the twenty-seventh of May, between all the parties; that New-York was to be evacuated in six months from the ratification of the preliminaries in Europe, which will be the twelfth or fifteenth of next month.
As it is not my intention to return to Congress, I take this opportunity to make my respectful acknowledgments to the Legislature, for the honorable mark of their confidence conferred upon me, by having chosen me to represent the State in that body. I shall be happy if my conduct has been agreeable to them.
With perfect respect,
I have the honor to be,
Your Excellency’s
Most obedient servant,
A. Hamilton.
To his Excellency General Washington.
CLINTON TO DUANE AND L’HOMMEDIEU.
Aug. 23, 1783.
* * * * I would take this opportunity also of calling your attention to concurrent resolutions of the Legislature, respecting the garrisoning of the Western posts in this State, which, by the provisional treaty, are to be evacuated by the British. These resolutions were in the tenor of instructions to our delegates, and were immediately transmitted to them; but as I have not been favored with any official information of the result, I submit it to you whether some report on a subject so interesting to the State, may not be necessary for the satisfaction of the Legislature. From informal communications made to me by the Commander-in-Chief, I have reason to believe, that he has directions from Congress for garrisoning those posts with continental troops, and that he is making arrangements for that purpose. But as you will observe, that as it was the sense of the Legislature, that those posts should have been garrisoned by the State, an explanation on the subject becomes the more necessary; and it is now for this reason alone, I would request, that you would be pleased to favor me with a particular detail of the motives which influenced the determination of Congress on this occasion. For it will readily be perceived, that should Congress, at this late day, accede to the propositions made by the State, it might be impracticable to carry them into execution, especially, as I have not ventured, in the state of uncertainty in which I was left, to incur the expense which the necessary preparations for the purpose would have required * * *
Geo. Clinton.
DUANE AND L’HOMMEDIEU TO FLOYD AND HAMILTON.
Princeton, 1783.