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.