Sir,
Your favor of December the 18th came to hand the 2d of this month, with the despatches of our Commissioners at the Court of Versailles, from whom we had received nothing regularly for about a whole year.
The decisive part, which His Most Christian Majesty has at length taken in our cause, must greatly influence other crowned heads in Europe, not immediately allied to Britain, to desire a portion in our friendship and commerce, and must prepare the way for your welcome reception at the Court of Tuscany. We are pleased to find, that you have formed a connexion with one, who promises to be so friendly to your Commission as your correspondent, the favorite Minister of the Grand Duke, and we think you could not have done better than in following his past advice.
The enclosed resolve of Congress of the 7th inst will remove any doubts about your support, which may have arisen in your mind from an omission on our part, which did not occur to us until we received a hint of it from the gentlemen at Paris, in their letter of February the 16th.
Other papers herewith sent will convey to you a general idea of our affairs, and we hope you will be particularly industrious to expose those attempts of our enemies, which are calculated to lead Europe to think we are not thoroughly fixed in our plan of independence. You may observe, that we proceeded on the draughts only of two intended bills, which had been sent to America by the British Ministry. We should not have done this, but from a conviction of insidious intentions founded upon former attempts to hurt our character abroad. We were so well satisfied of the spirit of these States to persevere in a noble cause, that we should have waited for the bills themselves, if we had not been anxiously attentive to the good opinion of Europe and the rest of the world. We were altogether strangers to the happy state of our affairs in France, accident and knavery having suppressed the despatches of our friends, as our former letters will prove, if any attempts shall be made to attribute our late determined conduct to a knowledge of our new alliance. Congress unanimously ratified the treaties on the 4th, and the people have showed their satisfaction, wherever the knowledge of the proceeding has reached. The army also, which is daily increasing in strength, has expressed its joy, and is now prepared either for honorable peace, or a continuation of the just war.
We shall endeavor to procure an enlargement of your powers, and shall immediately forward them to you. There can be no danger of any clashing of future treaties with those now made, provided the plain principles of mutual benefit, without any exclusive privileges, are made the basis. We send you the first volume of the Journals of Congress, another will be out in a few days, and shall be forwarded also. We recommend to you the frequent communication of your proceedings, and we wish you every felicity, being, Sir, your affectionate humble servants,
R. H. LEE,
JAMES LOVELL,
ROBERT MORRIS.
P. S. You are to have Plenipotentiary Commissions, with instructions not limiting the terms of the proposed treaties of amity and commerce.
TO ARTHUR LEE.