TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL, SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN EMBASSY AT MADRID.
Paris, April 8th, 1780.
Sir,
I have this moment the honor of your letter from Madrid of the 29th of February, as I suppose, although the month is not mentioned. I thank you, Sir, for commencing a correspondence, which I have for some time wished to begin. I wrote to Mr Jay at Madrid, on the 22d of February, and wish to know if he has received the letter. It is certainly proper, that those who are intrusted abroad should maintain a correspondence and cultivate a good understanding with each other, because, although their departments are in some respects separate, yet in others they are intimately connected. From all that I heard in Spain, I expected, that you would meet with an agreeable reception at Madrid; and I am much pleased to learn from you, that I was not mistaken.
I have sometimes wondered at the slowness of Spain in making a treaty with us; but, when I reflected upon a certain secret article, my surprise ceased. We are already bound in a treaty to her, but she is not bound to us. It would be ungenerous in her, however, to hold us long in this situation. The treaty, notwithstanding all that has been justly said of the advantages to us, is not less advantageous to our allies. The single article, that binds us to exclude all armed vessels of the enemies, in all future wars, from our ports, is worth more millions to them than this war will cost; nay, it will be a severer loss to Great Britain, than all that she has spent in it. Whether Great Britain has considered this or not I do not know; but she will some time or other discover it, and feel the inconvenience of it.
You ask for news from America. A vessel from Baltimore is arrived at Bordeaux, but not a single letter to Dr Franklin or me. She brings two or three Baltimore newspapers, one as late as the 15th of February. There has been a hard winter, deep snows, uncommon frosts, frozen over from Connecticut to Long Island, and from New Jersey to Staten Island. Lord Sterling went over to Staten Island with a party on the ice, burnt a few vessels and a guard house, took a few prisoners, and brought off a few deserters. Some New Jersey people went over at the same time, and plundered without mercy. Finding the communication open with New York, which had been supposed to be obstructed by the ice, he returned. An article from a Fishkill paper says, that Clinton and Cornwallis sailed the 26th of December, with seven thousand men, for the West Indies, but that the storm, which happened soon after their departure, was supposed to have done him mischief. A ship, brig, and schooner were lost in the storm on Cape Cod, unknown who or whence, all perished. Congress had recommended to all the States to regulate prices at twenty for one, which, by the speculations in the papers, was not well liked. Governor Johnson is a delegate for Maryland, General Ward for Massachusetts, in the room of Mr Dana, (who desires me to return you his compliments and respects.) The other delegates as last year. This is all the news I can recollect, having seen the papers only a few minutes in a large company.
The general state of affairs appears very well. I see no probability of England's obtaining an ally; on the contrary, there are many symptoms of an approaching combination of the maritime powers, to protect neutral ships from searches and insults. Ireland is in the full career of independence. England seems determined to force Holland into a war against her, that she may have an opportunity to plunder her.
The correspondences and associations in England distress the Ministry very much; and, if the war continues and they should not be very successful, it seems likely, that they would save us the trouble of despatching them. I wish, however, that France and Spain were more convinced of the advantages they have in America and the West Indies. The more ships they send into those seas, the more they will force England to send there; and the more she sends there, the weaker she is in Europe, and the less she is dreaded and respected. Holland, Ireland, the opposition in England, and the other maritime powers all feel a confidence rising in proportion to the diminution of the British naval force in Europe, besides the innumerable advantages the French and Spaniards have, in supporting the war in the American seas over the English, which they have not in Europe; but I am apprehensive of being tedious. My compliments to Mr Jay and his family.