TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Amsterdam, March 19th, 1782.
Sir,
I have before transmitted to you the resolution of Friesland of the 26th of February, 1782, by which that Province acknowledged the independence of the United States, and directed their Minister to be received; but some proceedings in Guelderland deserve to follow. In an extraordinary assembly of the county of Zutphen, held at Nimeguen the 23d of February, the following measures were taken.
"After the report of the committees of this Province to the generality, laid this day upon the table, relative to what passed in the precedent assembly, and after an examination of an extract of the register of the Resolutions of their High Mightinesses the States-General of the Low Countries, of the 9th of last month, in relation to the ulterior address of Mr Adams to the President of their High Mightinesses, concerning the presentation of his letters of credence to their High Mightinesses, in behalf of the United States of North America, for, and demanding a categorical answer, whereof the gentlemen, the Deputies of the respective Provinces, have taken copies, the Baron Robert Jasper Van der Capellan de Marsch, first by word of mouth, and afterwards in writing, proposed and insisted at the Assembly of this Quarter, that at present and without delay, we should make a point of deliberation, and that we should make upon the table the necessary overture, conceived more at length in the advice of this nobleman, inserted in these terms;
"Noble and Mighty Lords,
"The subscriber judges, upon good grounds, and without fear of being contradicted, that he is able to affirm, that it is more than time that we should give a serious attention to the offer and invitation, in every sense honorable and advantageous for the Republic, of friendship and reciprocal connexions with the Thirteen American Provinces, now become free at the point of the sword; in such sort that the categorical answer demanded by their Minister, Mr Adams, may become a subject of the deliberations of your High Mightinesses, and that they may decide as soon as possible concerning their respective interests. He judges that he ought not to have any further scruple in this regard, and the uncertain consequences of the mediation offered by Russia cannot, when certain advantages for this Republic are in question, hinder that out of regard for an enemy, with whom we (however salutary the views of her Imperial Majesty are represented) cannot make any peace at the expense of a negligence so irreparable; that the longer delay to unite ourselves to a nation already so powerful, will have for its consequence, that our inhabitants will lose the means of extending, in a manner the most advantageous, their commerce and their prosperity; that by the rigorous prohibition to import English manufactures into America, our manufactures, by means of precautions taken in time, will rise out of their state of languor; and that, by delaying longer to satisfy the wishes of the nation, her leaders will draw upon them the reproach of having neglected and rejected the favorable offers of Providence; that, on the contrary, by adopting these measures, the essential interests of this unfortunate people will be taken to heart.
"The subscriber declaring, moreover, that he will abandon this unpardonable negligence of an opportunity favorable to the Republic, to the account of those whom it may concern; protesting against all the fatal consequences, that a longer refusal of these necessary measures will certainly occasion. Whereupon he demanded that for his discharge, this note should be inserted in the registers of the Quarter.
R. I. VAN DER CAPELLAN."
"This advice having been read, Jacob Adolf de Heeckeren d'Enghuisen, Counsellor, and First Master of Accounts in Guelderland, President at this time of the Assembly of the Quarter, represented to the said Robert Jasper Van der Capellan de Marsch, 'that although he must agree to the justice of all that he had laid down, besides several other reasons equally strong, which occurred to his mind, the deliberation upon the point in question appeared to him premature; considering that the Lords, the States of Holland, of West Friesland, and Zealand, as the principal commercial Provinces, who are directly interested, had not, nevertheless, as yet explained themselves in this regard; consequently, that it would not be so convenient for the States of this Dutchy and County, who are not interested in it, but in a consequential and indirect manner, to form the first their resolutions in this respect. For this reason he proposed to consideration, whether it would not be more proper to postpone the deliberations upon this matter to a future opportunity?