Sir,
On the 27th of July I set out from Paris on a journey to Amsterdam. I left Mr Dana, and Mr Thaxter at Paris, who will regularly transmit to Congress whatever shall occur of importance to the United States to know. They will also enclose all the English, French, and Dutch gazettes. They are exerting themselves in this Republic to man their ships of war, in which they have great success, as they give very great premiums for seamen, as far as sixty ducats a man. The Russian men-of-war are arrived and anchored in sight of the Texel, and several of their officers have been ashore in this city. The Plenipotentiaries are gone to Petersburg. Sweden and Denmark have adopted the declaration of Russia. It is whispered, that the Dutch Ministers to the Congress at Petersburg are shackled with instructions, to insist on a warranty of their possessions in the East and West Indies, previous to their acceding to the confederation of the maritime powers, but this instruction produced a protest of the city of Amsterdam, with such reasons against it, that it is thought the opposite party will not venture to take upon themselves the consequences of a refusal to join in the confederation; so that it is expected the treaty will take place.
It is universally considered as a great misfortune to us, by all whom I converse with here, that Mr Laurens is not arrived. Some prudent person, authorised by Congress, is earnestly desired here. He would not be publicly received, at least until the States shall take a decided part with the other maritime powers against England; this case, however, may soon happen. But there is not in Europe a better station to collect intelligence from France, Spain, England, Germany, and all the northern parts, nor a better situation, from whence to circulate intelligence through all parts of Europe than this. And it may be depended on, that our cause has never suffered from anything more than from the failure of giving and receiving intelligence. A Minister here, from Congress, would be considered as the centre of communication between America and this, and many other parts of Europe; and I have since my arrival here, been more convinced than ever, that Congress might open a considerable loan here, and be supplied from hence with stores and with clothing, and at the same time be gradually extending the commerce between this country and America, to the great advantage of both. I have had a great deal of conversation upon the subject of a loan, and shall have more. I am sure that a loan might be obtained by any one with powers from Congress. But there are no powers as yet arrived in Europe that will ever succeed here.
We are still in daily hope and expectation that Mr Laurens will arrive; but should he decline to come, or in case any accident has befallen him, I most earnestly recommend to Congress the appointment of some other gentleman, with a proper commission, with full powers and especially to borrow money, and to sign proper promissory notes for the payment of it.
The King of Sweden is at Spa, from whence in the letter of the 30th of July the public are informed, that his Majesty, the first who during the present maritime war has given validity to the rights of neuters, by means of the declaration which he caused to be made the last year to the belligerent powers, and by means of the protection which he granted from that time to the commerce and the navigation of his subjects, in sending out from his ports a numerous squadron, has manifested the consistency of his sentiments and disposition in this respect, by a new declaration, lately made to the Courts of Madrid, Versailles, and London, an authentic copy of which here follows.
DECLARATION OF SWEDEN.
"From the commencement of the present war, the King has taken care to make known his fashion of thinking to all Europe; he has prescribed to himself a perfect neutrality; he has discharged the duties of it with scrupulous exactness; he has thought himself entitled to enjoy in consequence of it the rights attached to the quality of a sovereign absolutely neuter. Notwithstanding his trading subjects have been obliged to demand his protection, and his Majesty has found himself under a necessity of granting it to them. To fulfil this object, the King caused to be armed the last year a certain number of vessels; one part of them he employed upon the coasts of his kingdom, and the other has served to convoy the Swedish merchant vessels, in the different seas where the commerce of his subjects called them to navigate; he communicated these measures to the belligerent powers, and he prepared himself to continue them in the course of the present year, when other Courts, which had equally adopted a neutrality, communicated to him the dispositions which they had made, conformable with those of the King, and tending to the same end. The Empress of Russia caused to be presented a declaration to the Courts of London, Versailles, and Madrid, by which she informed them of the resolution she had taken to defend the commerce of her subjects, and the universal rights of neutral nations. This declaration was founded upon principles so just, that it did not appear possible to call them in question. The King has found them entirely conformable to his own cause, to the treaty concluded in 1666, between Sweden and England, and to that between Sweden and France; and his Majesty has not been able to excuse himself from acknowledging and adopting these same principles, not only with regard to the powers with whom the said treaties are in force, but also with relation to those who are already involved in the present war, or who may become so in the sequel, and with whom the King has no treaty to appeal to. It is the universal law, and in default of particular engagements, this becomes obligatory upon all nations. In consequence of which, the King declares once more, that he will observe in future the same neutrality, and with the same exactness, which he has observed heretofore. He will forbid his subjects, under severe penalties, to deviate in any manner whatsoever from the duties which a similar neutrality imposes; but he will protect their lawful commerce by all means possible, when they shall conduct it conformably to the principles abovementioned."
From Hamburg, the 1st of August, we have the following article. "All nations and all commercial cities being interested in the liberty of the seas and the safety of navigation, attacked and violated in our days, in a manner whereof history furnishes few examples, we have not learned here with less joy than in the rest of Europe, (if we except perhaps Great Britain,) the generous resolution which the three Powers of the North have taken to protect, by an armed neutrality, the commerce of their subjects, and at the same time the rights of all nations; rights immemorial, which honor and justice alone ought to cause to be respected, without having occasion to recur to the sanction of treaties. The Court of Denmark has adopted these principles into the declaration, which, after the example of Russia, she has made to the belligerent powers, and which is conceived in these terms."
DECLARATION OF DENMARK.
"If a neutrality the most exact and the most perfect, with a navigation the most regular, and an inviolable respect for treaties had been sufficient to place the freedom of commerce of the subjects of the King of Denmark and Norway in a state of safety from these misfortunes, which ought to be unknown to nations which are at peace, and who are free and independent, it would not be necessary to take new measures to insure them this liberty to which they have a right the most incontestible.