TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, October 6th, 1777.
Gentlemen,
From Berlin, on the 11th of June, and from this place, 29th of July, I had the honor of informing you at large of my proceedings in Prussia. Not having received an answer from that Court, relative to the reception of our privateers and their prizes in Prussian ports, I have written lately to press for one, which I hope will be favorable, as I left so friendly a disposition there, that I was desired to communicate his Majesty’s warmest wishes for our success. I mentioned too the improbability of our enemy’s receiving assistance from Russia for the next campaign, and how much their resources were exhausted in Germany.
By Captain Young I received the commands of Congress, in their commission for me to the Court of Spain. As Dr Franklin had announced his appointment, with an assurance of his readiness to repair to Madrid, as soon as that Court thought proper to receive him, it seemed unnecessary to apprize them immediately of the new appointment. During my absence in Germany, a letter was received from Monsieur Gardoqui at Bilboa, intimating an expectation of returns from you, for what was transmitted to you through their house. But upon application to his Court I am again authorised to assure you, that for the supplies already sent no return was expected, but in future, that remittances of American produce were expected for supplies through the house of Gardoqui. It is impracticable to bring them to such an explanation, as to know with certainty whether they mean this in earnest, or only as a cover, should the transaction transpire; I am inclined to think the latter; however, I wrote to M. Gardoqui in consequence, as follows. “We are now to begin on a new footing, and I shall take care that my constituents be informed, that for all the aids they receive hereafter from your quarter, they are to make returns in tobacco, pitch, tar, &c. to your house. I beg to know by your next, whether the same arrangement is to take place for the future with regard to the deposits at the Havanna and New Orleans, or whether nothing further is to be transmitted through those channels; that if so, the trouble of sending thither and the disappointment may be prevented. As the winter campaign is approaching fast, in which blankets are of the greatest utility, I wish you to send as many of them as possible.”
Upon this subject of returns, I think it my duty to state to you some facts relative to the demands of this kind from Hortalez. The gentleman, who uses this name,[19] came to me about a year and a half ago in London, as an agent from this Court, and wishing to communicate something to Congress. At our first interview he informed me, that the Court of France wished to send an aid to America of £200,000 sterling in specie, arms, and ammunition, and that all they wanted was to know through which island it was best to make the remittance, and that Congress should be apprized of it. We settled the Cape as the place, and he urged me by no means to omit giving the earliest intelligence of it, with information, that it would be remitted in the name of Hortalez. At our next meeting he desired me to request, that a small quantity of tobacco, or some other production, might be sent to the Cape, to give it the air of a mercantile transaction, repeating over and over again, that it was for a cover only, and not for payment, as the remittance was gratuitous. Of all this I informed Dr Franklin, Chairman of the Committee, by sundry opportunities. At the same time, I stated to Monsieur Hortalez, that if his Court would despatch eight or ten ships of the line to our aid, it would enable us to destroy all the British fleet, and decide the question at one stroke. I repeated this to him in a letter after his return to Paris, to which the answer was, that there was not spirit enough in his Court for such an exertion, but that he was hastening the promised succors. Upon Mr Deane’s arrival the business went into his hands, and the aids were at length embarked in the Amphitrite, Mercure, and Seine. The Minister has repeatedly assured us, and that in the most explicit terms, that no return is expected for these subsidies.[20]
I have the honor to be, &c.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG TO ARTHUR LEE.