"Madrid, May 11th, 1780."
To this I immediately received the following answer on that subject, viz.
Translation.
"M. de Montmorin received this morning Mr Jay's note, and thanks him for the information. M. de Montmorin is fully sensible of the importance of it, and although he is far from entertaining the least doubt on the sentiments of the Spanish Ministry, he will not fail to take the precaution to be informed of everything connected with Sir John Dalrymple's arrival. He advises Mr Jay to follow the same course. Courts are so beset with intrigues, that nothing should be neglected, which may tend to discover them. He repeats that he has not the slightest cause to suspect the Spanish Ministry, but on the contrary, has the strongest reasons for confiding in its integrity and honor. M. de Montmorin begs Mr Jay to accept his compliments, and to present his respectful homage to Mrs Jay."
Learning that Sir John had obtained leave to go to France in his way to England, I apprised Mr Adams of it in a letter of the 26th of April, 1780, of which the following is an extrac
"Sir John Dalrymple is here; he came from Portugal for the benefit of his lady's health, as is said. He is now at Aranjues. He has seen the Imperial Ambassador, the Governor of the city, Senior Compomanes, the Duke of Alva, and several others named to him I suppose by Lord Grantham, who I find was much respected here. He will return through France to Britain. I shall go to Aranjues the day after tomorrow, and shall form some judgment of that gentleman's success by the conduct of the Court towards America."
On waiting on the Count de Florida Blanca, a few days afterwards at Aranjues, he told me that Sir John had applied to him to obtain from him permission to go through Spain to France, and to the French Minister for a passport through that kingdom to England. The indisposition of his lady was the reason assigned for not going from Portugal by water. That in conversation, Sir John took occasion to say several things respecting the war, and the manner of drawing it to a conclusion. That the Count desired him to reduce what he would wish to say on that subject to writing, and that Sir John thereupon sent him a paper, entitled "A Historical Anecdote," of which the following is a copy.
A Project of Lord Rochford to prevent the War.
"Before the declaration of France in favor of America, Lord Rochford, formerly Ambassador in Spain and in France, formed a project to prevent the war. It was, that England should propose a great treaty of confederation between France, Spain, Portugal, and England, the objects of which should be the three following; the first, a mutual guarantee between these four powers of their possessions in America and the two Indies, with a proviso, that a war in Europe should never be a war in those remote regions on any pretext whatever, fixing also the number of troops and vessels to be furnished by the contracting powers against the power that should contravene the peace in those distant parts. The second object was, to grant a participation in the commerce of America to France, Spain, and Portugal, as far as such participation might not be incompatible with the common interests, and without the rivalship of English America and England. The third object was, the adjustment of the contested privileges of the Americans upon principles just and honorable for them. Lord Rochford was at that time Secretary of State. He told me, that the first person to whom he had communicated this project was the late Prince of Mazarano, Ambassador of Spain, and that though old and indisposed, he arose and embraced him, and said, 'Ah! my Lord, what divinity has inspired you?' Lord Rochford also communicated it to a friend of his, who was then, and still continues one of the Ministers of the King of England, who gave it his approbation; but Lord Rochford soon after quitted the Ministry and retired to the country, by which accident the project failed of being presented to the cabinet of the King.
"I have given a relation of this anecdote, because I am one of the four or five persons who alone know the truth of it, and because I am of opinion, that it is not yet too late to revive a project, which will save a million of Christians from becoming widows and orphans. As to the first object of such a confederacy, Lord Rochford did not doubt of the proposition's being accepted by all the powers, because it was the interest of all to accept it. The losses of France in the two Indies the last war, and their misfortunes in the East Indies in the present one, where, in six weeks, they have lost all they possessed; the losses of the Spaniards in the last war in the two Indies, and even the stroke the other day in the Bay of Honduras, by a young captain with a handful of soldiers; the facility with which Portugal lost the Island of St Catharine in the Brazils, and the misfortunes of the English armies the three last years in America, all prove that France, Spain, Portugal, and England, have their tender parts in America and the two Indies, and of consequence, that they have all an interest in a mutual guarantee of their possessions in those three parts of the world.