Thursday, December 12th.—Met at Mr Laurens', and signed the letter I had drawn up to Mr Dana, which I sent off, enclosed with a copy of the preliminaries, and consulted about articles to be inserted in the definitive treaty. Agreed that Mr Jay and I should prepare a joint letter to Congress. At seven o'clock, I met Mr Jay at his house, and we drew up a letter.
Friday, December 13th.—I went first to Mr Jay, and made some addition to the joint letter, which I carried first to Mr Laurens, who made some corrections and additions, and then to Passy, to Dr Franklin, who proposed a few other corrections, and showed me an article he had drawn up for the definitive treaty, to exempt fishermen, husbandmen, and merchants, as much as possible, from the evils of future wars. This is a good lesson to mankind, at least. All agreed to meet at my house, at eleven o'clock tomorrow, to finish the joint letter.
END OF THE SIXTH VOLUME.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mr Adams arrived at Paris on the 6th of July, and consequently could not have written this letter in Amsterdam on the 5th, although it is thus dated in the original. He was absent during the whole month of July, and yet several letters, as will be seen, are dated at Amsterdam in that time. These letters contain chiefly intelligence, which was probably collected by his Secretary, under different dates during Mr Adams' absence, and forwarded by him on his return without altering the dates. This will account for the circumstance of letters being dated throughout the month of July, both at Amsterdam and Paris.
[3] See the Secret Journals of Congress, Vol. II. p. 470, 472.
[4] The new commission for negotiating peace was given to John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and Thomas Jefferson. See the Commission and Instructions in the Secret Journals of Congress. Vol. II. pp. 445, 447.
[5] For these instructions, and Mr Adams' new commission to form a treaty of alliance with the United Provinces, see the Secret Journals of Congress, Vol. II pp. 470, 472.
[6] See Dr Franklin's letters to Major Jackson, on this subject, in Franklin's Correspondence, Vol. III. pp. 227, 229.