Immediately upon the presentation of my memorial, M. Van Berckel ventured to present his requête and demand for a trial. This contributed still further to raise the spirits of the good people, and soon after the Burgomasters of Amsterdam appeared with their proposition for giving the Prince a committee for a council, and in course their attack upon the Duke; all which together excited such an enthusiasm in the nation, and among the officers of the navy, as produced the battle of the Doggerbank, which never would have happened, in all probability, but would have been eluded by secret orders and various artifices, if the spirit raised in the nation by the chain of proceedings, of which the American memorial was the first and an essential link, had not rendered a display of the national bravery indispensable for the honor of the navy, and perhaps for the safety of the Court.
The memorial as a composition, has very little merit; yet almost every gazette in Europe has inserted it, and most of them with a compliment, none without any criticism. When I was in Paris and Versailles afterwards, no man ever expressed to me the smallest disapprobation of it, or the least apprehension that it could do any harm. On the contrary, several gentlemen of letters expressed higher compliments upon it than it deserved. The King of Sweden has done it a most illustrious honor, by quoting one of the most material sentiments in it, in a public answer to the King of Great Britain; and the Emperor of Germany has since done the author of it the honor to desire in the character of Count Falkenstein to see him, and what is more remarkable, has adopted the sentiments of it concerning religious liberty into a code of laws for his dominions; the greatest effort in favor of humanity, next to the American revolution, which has been produced in the eighteenth century.
As my mission to this Republic was wisely communicated to the Court of Versailles, who can say that this transaction of Congress had not some influence in bringing De Grasse into the Chesapeake Bay? Another thing I ought to mention; I have a letter from Mr Jay, informing me that in the month of June last M. Del Campo was appointed by the Court of Madrid to treat with him; the exact time when my memorial appeared at Madrid. You may possibly say, that my imagination and self-love carry me extraordinary lengths; but when one is called upon to justify an action, one should look all round. All I contend for is, that the memorial has certainly done no harm; that it is probable it has done some good, and that it is possible it has done much more than can be proved. A man always makes an awkward figure when he is justifying himself and his own actions, and I hope I shall be pardoned. It is easy to say, "il abonde trop dans son sens; il est vain et glorieux; il est plein de lui-même; il ne voit que lui;" and other modest things of that sort, with which even your Malesherbes, your Turgots, and Neckers, are sometimes sacrificed to very small intrigues.
Your veterans in diplomacy and in affairs of State, consider us as a kind of militia, and hold us, perhaps, as is natural, in some degree of contempt; but wise men know that militia sometimes gain victories over regular troops, even by departing from the rules. Soon after I had presented the memorial, I wrote to the Duc de la Vauguyon upon the subject of inviting or admitting in concert, the Republic to accede to the alliance between France and America. The Duke transmitted that letter to the Count de Vergennes, which produced the offer to Congress from the King, to assist us in forming a connexion with the Republic, and the instructions upon the subject, which I shall execute as soon as the French Ambassador thinks proper. With him it now lies, and with him, thank God, I have hitherto preserved a perfectly good understanding, although I differed from him in opinion concerning the point of time to make the former proposition.
The evacuation of the barrier towns has produced an important commentary upon the conversation I had with the Duke, and his opinion upon that occasion. How few weeks was it, after the publication of my memorial, that the Roman Emperor made that memorable visit to Brussels, Ostend, Bruges, Antwerp, and all the considerable maritime towns in his Provinces of Brabant and Flanders? How soon afterwards his memorable journies to Holland and to Paris? Was not the American memorial full of matter for the Emperor's contemplation, when he was at Ostend, Antwerp, and Bruges? Was it not full of matter, calculated to stimulate him to hasten his negotiations with France concerning the abolition of the barrier towns? Was not the same matter equally calculated to stimulate France to finish such an agreement with him, as we have seen the evidence of in the actual evacuation of those towns? If this evacuation is an advantage to France and to America, as it undoubtedly is, by putting this Republic more in the power of France, and more out of a possibility of pursuing the system of Orange by joining England, and my memorial is supposed to have contributed anything towards it, surely it was worth the while.
The period since the 4th of May, 1781, has been thick sown with good events, all springing out of the American revolution, and connected with the matter contained in my memorial. The memorial of M. Van Berckel, the proposition of the Burgomasters of Amsterdam, their attack upon the Duke of Brunswick, and the battle of Doggerbank, the appointment of Señor del Campo, to treat with Mr Jay; the success of Colonel Laurens, in obtaining orders for the French fleet to go upon the coast of America; their victory over Graves, and the capture of Cornwallis; the Emperor's journey to his maritime towns, to Holland, and to Paris; his new regulations for encouraging the trade of his maritime towns; his demolition of the barrier fortifications; and his most liberal and sublime ecclesiastical reformation; and the King of Sweden's reproach to the King of England for continuing the war, in the very words of my memorial; these traits are all subsequent to that memorial, and they are too sublime and decisive proofs of the prosperity and glory of the American cause, to admit the belief, that the memorial has done it any material harm.
By comparing facts and events, and dates, it is impossible not to believe, that the memorial had some influence in producing some of them. When Courts, Princes, and nations, have been long contemplating a great system of affairs, and their judgments begin to ripen, and they begin to see how things ought to go, and are going, a small publication, holding up these objects in a clear point of view, sometimes sets a vast machine in motion at once like the springing of a mine. What a dust we raise, said the fly upon the chariot wheel? It is impossible to prove, that this whole letter is not a similar delusion to that of the fly. The Councils of Princes are enveloped in impenetrable secrecy. The true motives and causes, which govern their actions, little or great, are carefully concealed. But I desire only that these events may be all combined together, and then, that an impartial judge may say, if he can, that he believes that that homely, harmless memorial had no share in producing any part of this great complication of good.
But be all these speculations and conjectures as they will, the foresight of which could not have been sufficiently clear to have justified the measure, it is sufficient for me to say, that the measure was absolutely necessary and unavoidable. I should have been contemptible and ridiculous without it. By it I have secured to myself and my mission universal decency and respect, though no open acknowledgment or avowal. I write this to you in confidence. You may entirely suppress it, or communicate it in confidence, as you judge, for the public good.
I might have added, that many gentlemen of letters, of various nations, have expressed their approbation of this measure, I will mention only two. M. d'Alembert and M. Raynal, I am well informed, have expressed their sense of it in terms too flattering for me to repeat. I might add the opinion of many men of letters in this Republic.
The charge of vanity is the last resource of little wits and mercenary quacks, the vainest men alive, against men and measures, that they can find no other objection to. I doubt not but letters have gone to America, containing their weighty charge against me; but this charge, if supported only by the opinion of those who make it, may be brought against any man or thing. It may be said, that this memorial did not reach the Court of Versailles, until after Colonel Laurens had procured the promise of men and ships. But let it be considered, Colonel Laurens brought with him my credentials to their High Mightinesses, and instructions to Dr Franklin, to acquaint the Court of Versailles with it, and request their countenance and aid to me. Colonel Laurens arrived in March. On the 16th of April, I acquainted the Duc de la Vauguyon at the Hague, that I had received such credentials, and the next day waited on him in person, and had that day and the next two hours' conversation with him each day upon the subject, in which I informed him of my intention to go to their High Mightinesses. All this he transmitted to the Count de Vergennes; and though it might procure me the reputation of vanity and obstinacy, I shall forever believe, that it contributed to second and accelerate Colonel Laurens's negotiations, who succeeded to a marvel, though Dr Franklin says he gave great offence.[6]