I. The reasons, which determined the Count de Vergennes to give Mr Adams that advice are so plain, that they must appear at first view.
1st. To be solicitous about a Treaty of Commerce, before peace is established, is like being busy about furnishing a house, before the foundation is laid.
2d. In the situation in which America stands at present with regard to England, to announce to that power that they have forgotten her system of tyranny, her cruelties, and her perfidy, is discovering too great a degree of weakness, or at least too much good nature, and inviting her to believe, that the Americans have an irresistible predilection for her, and to fortify her in the opinion she entertains, that the American patriots will submit through weariness, or the preponderating influence of the tories.
3d. To propose a Treaty of Commerce, which must be founded on confidence, and on a union equivalent to an alliance, at a time when the war is raging in all its fury, when the Court of London is wishing to ruin or to subjugate America, what is it but to give credit to the opinion, which all Europe entertains, conformable to the assertions of the English Ministers, that the United States incline towards a defection, and that they will be faithful to their engagements with France, only till such time as Great Britain shall furnish a pretext for breaking them.
II. A person may be furnished eventually with plenipotentiary powers, without being under the necessity of publishing them, until circumstances permit him to use them. This happens every day. Mr Adams is charged with three distinct commissions. 1. To take a share in the future negotiations for peace. 2. To conclude a treaty of commerce with Great Britain. 3. To represent the United States at the Court of London. It requires no great effort of genius to show, that these three objects cannot be accomplished at the same moment of time, nor that the two last cannot serve as an introduction to the first. It is necessary first of all to obtain from England an acknowledgment of the Independence of America, and that acknowledgment must serve as a foundation for a treaty of peace. Until this is obtained, Mr Adams cannot talk of a treaty of commerce. To propose one while the Court of London is flattering itself with the hopes of subduing America, and while with that view it is making the most strenuous efforts, would in the view of that Court be to propose what was chimerical, and would be taking a step which it would hold in derision.
The case would be the same, were one at this time to talk of a Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States appointed to reside at the Court of his Britannic Majesty. The only powers, therefore, which circumstances permit Mr Adams to announce, are those which authorise him to take a part in the negotiations for peace. The two other powers can be of no avail until the conclusion of that peace, so that it would be at least useless to produce them at present; and consequently Mr Adams will not act inconsistent with the design and nature of his appointment by concealing them from the Court of London. Although the Count de Vergennes is unacquainted with the instructions of Mr Adams, yet he is persuaded that they are conformable to the foregoing reflections, and that they do not direct him to make an immediate communication of his powers relative to a treaty of commerce, any more than they order him to make a separate peace with Great Britain. This opinion is founded on that which the King's Ministry entertain of the wisdom, prudence and fidelity of Congress.
III. It is to be observed, that the English Ministry would consider that communication as ridiculous; so that it is deceiving one's self to suppose, that it will engage them to enter into any conference, or so say anything more than what is contained in the resolutions of Parliament, namely, that they will listen to the Americans and receive them into favor, when they return to their former allegiance. It can answer no good purpose to draw from them such an answer, nor can the United States want such an answer, to inform them of the present sentiments of the Court of London, and much less to prepare with councils and arms to resist them. It is astonishing to talk of preparations of councils and arms, when the war is raging in all its fury, when it has now lasted six years, and England has not yet made one overture to the Americans, that can authorise them to believe that she would agree to their independence.
IV. The English Ministry would either return no answer, or if they did it would be an insolent one. In case of the latter, why should a man needlessly expose himself to insult, and thereby make himself the laughing-stock of all the nations who have not yet acknowledged the independence of the United States? But there is reason to believe that Mr Adams would receive no answer, because the British Ministry would not think themselves bound to return one to a man who assumes a character, which the Court of London must consider as an insult. It should not be forgotten, that that Court always considers the Americans as rebellious subjects. With such an opinion, how could Lord Germain receive a letter from Mr Adams, taking upon himself the character of Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of North America? How could that Minister bear the mention of a treaty of commerce, which can only take place between independent nations? These observations will convince Mr Adams, that France has no occasion for the expedient which he proposes, to discover the sentiments and dispositions of the Court of London, and that we are already perfectly acquainted with what we ought and may expect from it, in the present situation of affairs.
V. The silence, or the answer of the English Ministry, let which will happen, will neither alarm nor arouse the people of England. That people, without doubt, desire peace and an accommodation with America. But we find that only some individuals talk of independence, and these, more from a spirit of opposition than from conviction. There never has been a single motion made in Parliament tending to grant that independence. Yet the people have friends and protectors in Parliament. From this, Mr Adams may judge into what embarrassment the announcing his powers would throw the Ministry.
VI. England, as well as the rest of Europe, is perfectly acquainted with the nature of the engagements, which subsist between France and the United States. The King caused a declaration to be made by his Ministry on the 13th of March, 1778, that he had not secured to himself any exclusive privilege by the treaty of commerce of the 6th of February of the same year, and his Majesty has confirmed that declaration in a writing published by his order. So that the plenipotentiary powers of Mr Adams can disclose nothing new, either to England or to the other powers of Europe, and the false opinion of the Court of London in this matter can be no obstacle to a peace. If any such obstacle existed, the English Ministry would themselves find means to remove it, if they were determined to make peace; depend upon that.