In the next place, the Court of London is the best station to collect intelligence from every part, and by means of the freedom of the press to communicate information for the benefit of our country, to every part of the world. In time of peace, there is so frequent travelling between Paris, London, and the Hague, that the correspondence of our Ministers at those Courts may be carried on by private hands, without hazarding anything from the infidelity of the posts, and Congress may reasonably expect advantages from this circumstance.
In the third place, a treaty of commerce with Great Britain is an affair of great importance to both countries. Upon this occasion I hope I shall be excused if I venture to advise, that Congress should instruct their Minister not to conclude such a treaty, without sending the project to them for their observations and fresh instructions, and I think it would not be improper, on this occasion, to imitate the Dutch method, and take the project, ad referendum, and transmit it to the Legislatures of all the States for their remarks, before Congress finally resolve. Their Minister may be authorised and instructed, in the mean time, to enter into a temporary convention for regulating the present trade, for a limited number of months or years, or until the treaty of commerce shall be completed.
In the fourth place, it is our part to be the first to send a Minister to Great Britain, which is the older, and as yet the superior State. It becomes us to send a Minister first, and I doubt not the King of Great Britain will very soon return the compliment. Whereas if we do not begin, I believe there will be many delicacies at St James', about being the first to send. I confess I wish a British Minister at Philadelphia, and think we should derive many benefits from his residence there. While we have any foreign Ministers among us, I wish to have them from all the great powers with whom we are much connected. The Corps Diplomatique at every Court is, or ought to be, a system representing at least that part of the system of Europe, with which that Court is most conversant.
In the same manner, or at least from similar reasons, as long as we have any one Minister abroad at any European Court, I think we ought to have one at every one to which we are most essentially related, whether in commerce or policy, and therefore while we have any Minister at Versailles, the Hague, or London, I think it clear we ought to have one at each, though I confess I have sometimes thought, that after a very few years, it will be the best thing we can do to recall every Minister from Europe, and send embassies only on special occasions.
If, however, any members of Congress should have any delicacies, lest an American Minister should not be received with a dignity becoming his rank and character at London, they may send a commission to make a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, to their Minister at Madrid, or Versailles, or the Hague, or St Petersburg, and instruct him to carry on the negotiation from the Court where he may be, until he shall be invited to London, or a letter of credence may be sent to one of these, with instructions to go to London, as soon as the King shall appoint a Minister to go to Philadelphia.
After all, however, my opinion is, that none of these manœuvres are necessary, but that the best way will be to send a Minister directly to St James', with a letter of credence to the King, as a Minister Plenipotentiary, and a commission to treat of a treaty of commerce, but with instructions not to come to any irrevocable conclusion, until Congress and all the States have an opportunity to consider of the project, and suggest their amendments.
There is one more argument in favor of sending a Minister forthwith; it is this, while this mission lies open, it will be a source of jealousy among present Ministers, and such as are or may be candidates to be foreign Ministers, a source of intrigue and faction among their partisans and adherents, and a source of animosity and division among the people of the States. For this reason, it is a pity, that the first choice had not been such as Congress could have continued to approve, and the first measure such as Congress could have constantly persevered in. If this had been the case, the door of faction would have been kept shut. As this, however, was once my department, by the voice of eleven States, in twelve present, and as I will be answerable at any hazard, it will never be the department of any one by a greater majority, there seems to be a propriety in my giving my advice concerning it, on taking leave of it, if such is the will of Congress, as I have before done in this letter, according to the best of my judgment. And if it should not be thought too presumptuous, I would beg leave to add, what is my idea of the qualifications necessary for an American foreign Minister in general, and particularly and above all to the Court of St James'.
In the first place, he should have had an education in classical learning, and in the knowledge of general history, ancient and modern, and particularly the history of France, England, Holland, and America. He should be well versed in the principles of ethics, of the law of nature and nations, of legislation and government, of the civil Roman law, of the laws of England, and the United States, of the public law of Europe, and in the letters, memoirs, and histories of those great men, who have heretofore shone in the diplomatic order, and conducted the affairs of nations, and the world. He should be of an age to possess a maturity of judgment, arising from experience in business. He should be active, attentive, and industrious, and above all, he should possess an upright heart, and an independent spirit, and should be one, who decidedly makes the interest of his country, not the policy of any other nation, nor his own private ambition or interest, or those of his family, friends, and connexions, the rule of his conduct.
We hear so much said about a genteel address, and a facility in speaking the French language, that one would think a dancing master and a French master the only tutors necessary to educate a statesman. Be it remembered, the present revolution, neither in America nor Europe, has been accomplished by elegant bows, nor by fluency in French, nor will any great thing ever be effected by such accomplishments alone. A man must have something in his head to say, before he can speak to effect, how ready soever he may be at utterance. And if the knowledge is in his head, and the virtue in his heart, he will never fail to find a way of communicating his sentiments to good purpose. He will always have excellent translators ready, if he wants them, to turn his thoughts into any language he desires.
As to what is called a fine address, it is seldom attended to after a first or second conversation, and even in these, it is regarded no more by men of sense of any country, than another thing, which I heard disputed with great vivacity among the officers of the French frigate, the Sensible. The question was, what were the several departments of an Ambassador and a Secretary of Legation. After a long and shrewd discussion, it was decided by a majority of votes, "that the Secretary's part was to do the business, and that of an Ambassador to keep a mistress." This decision produced a laugh among the company, and no ideas of the kind will ever produce anything else, among men of understanding.