We went next to the Prince Bariatinski, Minister Plenipotentiary from the Court of Russia; our servant asked if the Prince was at home, and received for answer, that he was. We were shown into the Prince's apartment, who received us very politely. While we were here, Mr Markoff came in. He also is a Minister Plenipotentiary, adjoined to the Prince in the affair of the mediation. I told him we proposed to do ourselves the honor of calling on him. He answered, "As you are an old acquaintance I shall be very happy to see you." Whether this was a turn of politeness, or whether it was a political distinction, I know not. We shall soon know, by his returning, or not returning, our visit. The Prince asked where I lodged, and I told him. This indicates an intention to return the visit.
We went next to the Dutch Ambassador's, M. de Berkenrode. He was not at home, or not visible. Next to the Baron de Blome, Envoy Extraordinary of the King of Denmark; not at home. Next to M. Markoff's. The porter answered, that he was at home. We alighted, and were going to his apartment, when we were told he was not come in. We left a card, and went to the other Dutch Ambassador's, M. Brantzen, who was not at home; en passant, we left a card at the Swedish Minister's, and returned home, the heat being too excessive to pursue our visits any further.
Thus, we have made visits to all the Ministers, who are to be present at the signature of the definitive treaty. Whether the Ministers of the Imperial Courts will be present, I know not. There are many appearances of a coldness between France and Russia, and the Emperor seems to waver between two opinions, whether to join in the war that threatens, or not. Perhaps the Ministers of the Imperial Courts will write for instructions whether to return or not our visit.
After I had begun this letter, Captain Barney came in, and delivered me your duplicate of No. 12, November the 6th, 1782; duplicate of No. 14, December the 19th, 1782, and triplicate of No. 16, April the 14th, 1783, and the original of your letter of the 18th of April, 1783, not numbered. The last contained my account. But as I have never received any of this money from Dr Franklin, or M. Gerard, but have my salary from Messrs Willinks & Co. at Amsterdam, I am extremely sorry you have had so much trouble with this affair.
Although in your later letters you say nothing of my resignation, or the acceptance of it, I expect to receive it soon, and then I shall have an opportunity to settle the affair of my salary at Philadelphia.
After reading your letters to me, I went out to Passy to see those addressed to us all. Dr Franklin, Mr Jay, and myself, (Mr Laurens being still in England) read them all over together. We shall do all in our power to procure the advantages in the definitive treaty, you mention. The state of parties is such in England, that it is impossible to foresee when there will be a Ministry, who will dare to take any step at all. The coalition between Lord North and his connexions, and Mr Fox and his, is a rope of sand. Mr Fox, by pushing the vote in the House of Commons disapproving the peace, and by joining so many of the old Ministers in the new administration, has justly excited so many jealousies of his sincerity, that no confidence can be placed in him by us. I am extremely sorry, that the most amiable men in the nation, Portland, and the Cavendishes, should have involved themselves in the same reproach.
In short, at present, Shelburne, Pitt, Townshend, and the administration of which they were members, seem to have been the only ones, who, for a moment, had just notions of their country and ours. Whether these men, if now called to power, would pursue their former ideas, I know not. The Bible teaches us not to put our trust in Princes, and à fortiori in Ministers of State.
The West India commerce now gives us most anxiety. If the former British Ministry had stood, we might have secured it from England, and, in that case, France would have been obliged to admit us to their islands, se defendendo. The first maxim of a statesman, as well as that of a statuary, or a painter, should be to study nature; to cast his eyes round about his country, and see what advantages nature has given it. This was well attended to, in the boundary between the United States and Canada, and in the fisheries. The commerce of the West India Islands, falls necessarily into the natural system of the commerce of the United States. We are necessary to them and they to us; and there will be a commerce between us. If the government forbid it, it will be carried on clandestinely; France can more easily connive at a contraband trade than England. But we ought to wish to avoid the temptation to this. I believe, that neither France nor England will allow us to transport the productions of their Islands to other parts of Europe.
The utmost we may hope to obtain would be permission to import the productions of the French Islands into France, giving bond to land them in some port of that kingdom, and the productions of the English Islands into some port of Great Britain, giving bonds to land them there. It must, however, be the care of the Minister, who may have to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, to obtain as ample freedom in this trade as possible.
While I was writing the above, my servant announced the Imperial Ambassador, whom I rose to receive. He said, that he was happy that the circumstances of the times afforded him an opportunity of forming an acquaintance with me, which he hoped would be improved into a more intimate one. I said, his Excellency did me great honor, and begged him to sit, which he did, and fell into a conversation of an hour. We ran over a variety of subjects, particularly the commerce which might take place between the United States and Germany, by the way of Trieste and Fiume, and the Austrian Netherlands, and the great disposition in Germany to migration to America. He says he knows the country round about Trieste very well, having an estate there; that it is a very extensive and a very rich country, which communicates with that maritime city, and that the navigation of the Adriatic sea, though long, is not dangerous. I asked him what we should do with the Barbary powers. He said, he thought all the powers of the world ought to unite in the suppression of such a detestable race of pirates, and that the Emperor had lately made an insinuation to the Porte upon the subject. I asked him if he thought France and England would agree to such a project, observing that I had heard that some Englishmen had said, "if there were no Algiers, England ought to build one." He said, he could not answer for England.