I have the honor to be, with great esteem, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
St Ildefonso, September 29th, 1782.
Sir,
I had the honor to address you on the 8th instant, since which we have advice of the disastrous issue of the enterprise with the floating batteries against Gibraltar, but although we have had notice of this misfortune some days past, I have delayed writing until I could procure authentic information of the particular circumstances of this event. The enclosed copies of letters and papers, written or sent me by a person in the General's family, will, I hope, prove more satisfactory than any which you will receive from other quarters. The projector, M. d'Arçon, is generally blamed. Enclosed you have a plan of the attack as it was made, and as it was intended to have been made, accompanied by a Memorial, which M. d'Arçon sent hither to exonerate himself from part of the blame. I saw a letter he wrote an hour after the affair, in which he avows he had deservedly forfeited the confidence reposed in him by two Sovereigns.
This news dejected exceedingly the King, the Court, and the nation. Their chagrin from the disappointment is, in some measure, proportionate to their confidence of success. It is said, however, that the King is determined to continue the siege, and, I believe, that this will be the case. At present, an expedition in force to the West Indies is in agitation. I am informed from a very good quarter, that the command is offered to the Count d'Estaing. The party which opposed him at Versailles, at the head of which is the Duchess de Polignac, the Queen's favorite, the present Minister of Marine and the former one, have made advances to him, and seem convinced that he alone can repair the disasters of the present campaign. I hear that he is unwilling to accept the command at this critical conjuncture, but as he is the only French Admiral, who unites the suffrage of this Court and nation in his favor, it is to be hoped he will comply with the general wish of France and Spain. This affair is yet a secret.
From all accounts I have of the Spanish marine, I fear that Gibraltar will be relieved. The expense of this siege has been enormous. I have been assured, that during the present campaign it has cost thirtytwo millions of piastres of fifteen reals each. This information comes from one of the first clerks of the treasury. The great demand for specie occasioned thereby has depreciated the paper money; it fluctuates between twelve and sixteen per cent. To prevent its further depreciation, the Court is endeavoring to procure gold from Portugal, and negotiates, as I mentioned in former letters, a loan of three millions of florins in Holland, to be augmented in case the subscriptions fill readily. I am assured from thence, they do not, and I am told here by a man in the secret, that the three millions will be delivered in Spain in the month of December. Messrs Hope, the negotiators of it, subscribe seven hundred and fifty thousand florins.
As I have not had the honor to hear from Messrs Franklin and Jay anything respecting the negotiations at Paris for peace, I can speak only from indirect advice and my own conjectures. I have heard that difficulties have been started respecting the powers of the British Plenipotentiary to treat with our Commissioners. If this is true, it will require some time to remove them. On the whole, it may be supposed, that the negotiations will be spun out until the meeting of Parliament, until the event of the expedition to relieve Gibraltar is known; in fine, until the account of Lord Pigot's motions shall have reached Europe, which may appear to give a favorable turn to the British affairs in the West Indies. No expedition can sail from hence in time to prevent the enemy from pushing their operations in that quarter, if they proceed thither in force and with despatch. The Dutch are like to do nothing this year; their affairs draw to a crisis, and it is to be hoped, that it will prove favorable to our friends. The Emperor is occupied in ecclesiastical and civil changes, his health is in a precarious state, and he runs the risk of losing entirely his sight. The motions of Russia indicate a war with the Porte no longer Sublime. The Empress negotiates loans in Holland and at Genoa. I have taken measures to be informed of their success. The King of Great Britain, as Elector of Hanover, is recruiting in all the imperial cities, and it is said, he is endeavoring to obtain an additional body of German troops for the next campaign. The preparations for war are as vigorous as ever.
I have not yet received an answer on the affair of the Lord Howe, mentioned in my last. I visit the Ministers, and pass offices on this subject and that of the duties, and shall omit nothing that depends on me to obtain satisfaction, and I hope the pains I take will not prove wholly ineffectual. Besides the affairs above mentioned, I am obliged to visit and write to the Judges of the Council of the Indies, on account of law-suits in which some of our countrymen are interested, and which are before them by appeal from the inferior jurisdictions. Even justice here is obtained by favor and solicitation. In other respects, my situation is more agreeable than I could have expected. I live on the best footing with almost the whole corps diplomatique. The Ministers of Saxony and Prussia seem much disposed to induce their Courts to open a direct commerce with America, particularly if the war continues. For this purpose, they have demanded and obtained from me, all the information in my power to give them, with every motive that I could employ, to persuade their respective Courts to engage heartily in this measure. If it is adopted, the Maritime Company at Berlin, under the King's immediate protection, and the Elector or his Ministers in the name of companies of commerce, will be concerned in the first speculations. I do not enter into details on this subject until I see whether these Courts are serious in their intentions.