JAMES LOVELL,
For the Committee of Foreign Affairs.
TO B. FRANKLIN.
Amsterdam, October 4th, 1781.
Sir,
Since the 25th of August, when I had the honor to write to you, this is the first time I have taken a pen in hand to write to anybody, having been confined and reduced too low, to do any kind of business, by a nervous fever.
The new commission for peace has been a great consolation to me, because it removed from the public all danger of suffering any inconvenience, at a time, when, for many days together, there were many chances to one, that I should have nothing more to do with commissions of any sort. It is still a great satisfaction, because I think it a measure essentially right, both as it is a greater demonstration of respect to the powers, whose Ministers may assemble to make peace, and as it is better calculated to give satisfaction to the people of America in all parts, as the Commissioners are chosen from the most considerable places in that country.
It is probable, that the French Court is already informed of the alteration. Nevertheless, I should think it proper, that it should be officially notified to the Count de Vergennes, and, if you are of the same opinion, as you are near, I should be obliged to you if you would communicate to his Excellency an authentic copy of the new commission.
I should think, too, that it would be proper to give some intimation of it to the public, in the Gazette, or Mercure de France, the two papers, which are published with the consent of the Court, and, if you are of the same opinion, upon consulting the Count de Vergennes, I should be glad to see it done.
Have you any information concerning Mr Jefferson, whether he has accepted the trust? Whether he has embarked? Or proposes soon to embark? I saw a paragraph in a Maryland paper, which expressed an apprehension, that he was taken prisoner, by a party of horse, in Virginia.