mistaken, that the British Court in their answer to the articles, will
adhere to their two preliminaries. It is very convenient for the
English to hold up the idea of peace; it serves them to relieve their
credit at certain times when it is in distress; it serves to
disconcert the projects of the neutral powers to their disadvantage;
it enables their friends in the United Provinces, to keep the Dutch
nation in that state of division, sloth and inactivity, from which
they derive so much plunder, with so much safety. But I cannot
persuade myself, that the English will soberly think of peace, while
they have any military force in the United States, and can preserve a
gleam of hope of conquering or regaining America. While this hope
remains, no depredations on their commerce, no loss of dominions in
the East or West Indies, will induce them to make peace; because they
think, that with America reunited to them they could easily regain
whatever they may now lose. This opinion of theirs may be extravagant
and enthusiastical, and they would not find it so easy to recover
their losses; but they certainly entertain it, and while it remains, I
fear they will not make peace.
Yet it seems they have negotiated themselves into a delicate
situation. If they should obstinately adhere to their two
preliminaries, against the advice of the two Imperial Courts, this
might seriously affect their reputation, if they have any, for
moderation and for pacific dispositions, not only in those Courts, but
in all the Courts and countries of Europe, and they would not easily
answer it to their own subjects, who are weary of the war. Peace is so
desirable an object, that humanity, as well as policy, demands of
every nation at war a serious attention to every proposition, which
seems to have a tendency to it, although there may be grounds to
suspect, that the first proposer of it was not sincere. I think, that
no power can judge the United States unreasonable in not agreeing to
the _statu quo_, or the armistice. But perhaps I have not been
sufficiently explicit upon another point.
The proposal of a separate treaty between the British Minister and the
Representative of the United States, seems to be a benevolent
invention to avoid several difficulties; among others, first, that
England may be allowed to save her national pride, to think and to
say, that the independence of America was agreed to voluntarily, and
was not dictated to her by France and Spain; secondly, to avoid the
previous acknowledgment of American independence, and the previous
ascertaining the title and character of the American Representative,
which the Imperial Courts may think would be a partiality inconsistent
with the character of mediators, and even of neutrals, especially as
England has uniformly considered any such step as a hostility against
them; though I know not upon what law of nations, or of reason.
I cannot see, that the United States would make any concession, or
submit to any indignity, or do anything inconsistent with their
character, if their Minister should appear at Vienna, or elsewhere,
with the Ministers of other powers, and conduct any negotiation with a
British Minister, without having the independence of the United States
or his own title and character acknowledged or ascertained, by any
other power, except France, until the pacification should be
concluded. I do not see, that America would lose anything by this, any
more than by having a Minister in any part of Europe, with his
character unacknowledged by all the powers of Europe. In order to
remove every embarrassment, therefore, as much as possible, if your
Excellency should be of the same opinion, and advise me to it, I would
withdraw every objection to the Congress on the part of the United
States, and decline nothing but the _statu quo_, and the armistice,
against which such reasons might be given, as I think would convince
all men, that the United States are bound to refuse them. If your
Excellency should think it necessary for me to assign these reasons
particularly, I will attempt some of them; but it is sufficient for me
to say to your Excellency, that my positive instructions forbid me to
agree either to the armistice, or _statu quo_.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
* * * * *
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Amsterdam, July 17th, 1781.
Sir,
Since my letter of the 26th of June last, the Memorial of the Deputies
of the City of Amsterdam, of the 8th of June, has appeared entire, and
is conceived in the following terms.
"Most Serene and Illustrious Prince and Lord,
"The gentlemen, the Deputies of the City of Amsterdam, in the name and
by the order of the gentlemen, their constituents, have the honor to
represent to your Most Serene Highness, that the said constituents
having learnt, with much uneasiness the discontent, that your Highness
had taken, on the subject of their last proposition, made in the
Assembly of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses, although it had been
contrary to their intention to give your Highness the least offence,
or to offer him any insult or displeasure, they have seized with great
satisfaction, an opportunity to give your Highness the most sincere
assurances of it; that they flatter themselves, that, from what they
shall have the honor of laying before you your Highness will be able
to deduce the reasons, for which they have not previously acquainted
him with the contents of the said proposition, before it hath been
remitted to the Assembly of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses; that
they should feel a real chagrin, if your Highness attributed this
silence to any particular distrust towards his person; they declare,
that they are absolutely divested of it, and that they have nothing so
much at heart as to excite and cherish between your Highness and their
City that confidence, that the well-being and advancement of the
public cause render inevitably necessary; that by their proposition
they have only wished to open a way to find out and carry into
execution, such measures as the critical situation of affairs most
pressingly requires for the safety and preservation of their dear
country.
"That placed at the head of the government of a very populous city, in
which the lower class of the people begin already to feel that
indigence, which results from a want of business, they are obliged to
show in effect, and in the best manner possible, that they desire not
to let any opportunity escape of encouraging and promoting the
well-being of the country, and of its good citizens, unless they would
run the risk of entirely destroying the proper authority, and the good
order, which in a popular government are founded only upon the
confidence of the people, and of the Burgesses in its Regents, and of
seeing in a little time a total anarchy, that they had thought that
affairs had, for a long time, and particularly since the rupture with
England, appeared in the eyes of the whole nation, and not without
reason, to be administered in a strange and inconceivable manner,
seeing, that notwithstanding the extreme condescendence to the wishes
of England, we had only experienced from that kingdom, each year
contempt, affronts, and insults, which have been lately crowned by an
open war, commenced by the capture of a considerable number of our
vessels, and the invasion of our foreign possessions, and that,
nevertheless, we had remained in a defenceless state, and taken no
sufficient steps to place the Republic in a situation to protect its
liberty, its well acquired rights, its extensive navigation, and its
lawful commerce.
"That, nevertheless, it is an incontestible truth, that the members of
government have for a long time been of opinion, that it is
principally by sea, that it is necessary to place themselves upon a
respectable footing, as it evidently appears by the different
resolutions taken in the year 1778, and following, by different
reports, petitions, and assents to augment and reinforce the equipages
of vessels of war, and particularly by the report of the 30th of
March, 1779, that notwithstanding the said opinions and resolutions of
the confederates, to equip all the vessels of war of the State, and to
construct new ones, yet at this moment, after so much time has
elapsed, and some things have taken so disadvantageous a turn, there
hath not been put to sea the thirtytwo vessels stipulated in the month
of April, 1779, much less still the fiftytwo, whose armament had been
resolved upon the last year, so that to this moment none of the
precautions proposed in the month of March, 1779, to the generality
for the defence of our coasts, and the mouths of our rivers, have been
taken.
"That the regency of our city, with all the good citizens of the
Republic, who discover the best disposition possible to pay the
ordinary and extraordinary imposts, has been much surprised at the
little promptitude and at the slowness in the executions of
resolutions so important for the Sovereign; for it is impossible to
believe that the situation in which the respective admiralties found
themselves, should be so bad that they could not effect in two years
the equipments that they themselves had proposed; as they had no want
of money, and as the necessity of them became more and more pressing
daily; that in consequence, one could not conceive what were the
causes of this slowness and inactivity no more than of the
non-execution of the resolutions and orders to secure the coasts and
harbors, and above all, one could not form an idea of the unforeseen
obstacles and difficulties which have prevented the sailing of few
vessels, which had been supposed perfectly in a state of putting to
sea, even when your Highness after a suitable examination of things,
had given the necessary orders to this effect.
"That seeing it is to this state of inactivity and incapacity of
defending themselves, that it is necessary to attribute in the
greatest measure the evils and calamities which have happened to the
Republic, and which still threaten it, and that to this moment we have
not been able to observe that any vigorous measures are taken to
prevent future misfortunes, and to repair those already suffered,
(without which we ought soon to expect the total ruin of the
Republic,) we have judged it the indispensable duty of the brave
regents, and that they cannot dispense themselves from searching out
to what one ought to attribute this inexcusable negligence? And by
what means one may remedy it, and direct and re-establish still
affairs, as much as possible, for the safety of the State?
"That this having been attempted from time to time, privately, but in
vain, and affairs becoming more and more disadvantageous and critical,
it was so much the more necessary to take vigorous resolutions, and
one could not longer defer the concerting of suitable measures; that
from a mature and deliberate consideration of the whole of this had
resulted the proposition, made by order of the Regency of Amsterdam
the 18th of May last to the Assembly of Holland, and submitted to the
judgment and deliberations of the other members, to the end that these
deliberations might give rise to resolutions the most useful and the
most salutary to the country; that the said Regency are still of
opinion, that duty to themselves, to their country, and to its good
citizens, who for a long time had expected a similar measure on their
part, required them to make the said proposition.
"That, nevertheless, it was very far from their intention to give your
Highness any uneasiness or discontent, or to introduce innovations, or
to diminish and circumscribe in more narrow limits the authority
lawfully acquired of my Lord the Stadtholder; that on the contrary,
they could assure solemnly, that they would assist constantly with all
their power, to maintain the present constitution of government with
which they judge the well-being of the Republic is intimately
connected; that they considered at the same time, that in the present
circumstances of affairs nothing would be more necessary or more
useful, for the direction and execution of the operations of the
present war, and for to combine them with more secrecy and despatch
than to form and establish a small council or committee, composed of
the regencies of the respective Provinces, to assist your Highness
with the advice and labors, and to co-operate conjointly to the
preservation of the country.
"That this proposition, (founded perhaps upon former examples,)
proceeded not from any motive of distrust of the good intentions and
designs of your Serene Highness, of which there is no reason to
suspect their purity, although according to the information of the
Regency of that city, some evil minded persons have endeavored to
insinuate the contrary to your Serene Highness.
"That such a distrust fell only upon him, whose influence over the
mind of your Serene Highness is regarded as the first cause of the
slowness and indolence in the administration of affairs, and as that
cannot but be very prejudicial to the general good, one had in vain
expected for a long time, that the dangerous circumstances in which
the Republic finds itself at present, would at length have given rise
to serious deliberations upon the measures necessary to be employed in
future, and with more vigor than the past; but that this expectation
having been vain to the present moment, and as the question in
agitation was concerning the preservation of the country, of its dear
bought liberty, of your Serene Highness, of his illustrious House, in
one word, of everything dear and precious to the inhabitants of the
Republic, it is for these reasons that the Regency of Amsterdam have
judged that they could no longer by silence be wanting in their duty,
but saw themselves forced, although with regret, to the present
measure.
"It is therefore with all the respect that they owe to your Serene
Highness, but at the same time with the candor and honest freedom that
the importance of the affair requires, that they represent to your
Serene Highness, and declare to him expressly, that, according to the
general opinion, the Lord the Duke is regarded as the principal cause
of the deplorable state of weakness in which the Republic finds itself
at this day, of all the negligence which hath had place, of all the
false measures that have been taken for a long time, and of all the
fatal consequences that have resulted from them; that your Serene
Highness may be assured that the aversion and hatred of the nation
against the person and administration of the Duke, are arisen to such
a degree that one ought to dread an event the most grievous and the
most disagreeable for the public tranquillity.
"That without doubt your Serene Highness has been already informed by
others of all these things; but in case your Serene Highness is still
ignorant of them, it is necessary to attribute it solely to a fear of
the effects of the resentment of the Duke. We dare, nevertheless, to
appeal with confidence upon everything now advanced, to the testimony
of all the honest and sincere members of the Regency, that your Serene
Highness shall deign to interrogate, after granting them full liberty
of speech, and summoning them to answer according to their duty and
their conscience.
"That they had heard many times with much regret, M. the Counsellor
Pensionary, complain, in presence of divers members of the Province of
Holland, of the misunderstanding which existed between him and the
Lord the Duke, as well as of the ascendancy that the said Lord has
over the mind of your Serene Highness, whereby all his effects for
the good of the country were rendered fruitless.
"That this disunion and this diversity of sentiments and views between
the principal Counsellor of your Serene Highness and the first
Minister of this Province must have not only consequences the most
fatal, but furnished also a sufficient motive to make the strongest
instances to remove the source of that distrust and of that discord;
seeing it is only a previous re-establishment of confidence and
concord that can save the Republic; that nothing is also more
necessary for the happiness of your Most Serene House, for the support
of your authority, the preservation of the esteem and confidence of
the nation, and of your consideration among the neighboring powers;
for we can assure your Serene Highness, and we are obliged to apprise
him, that he might indeed lose one day the esteem and confidence of
the people, instead of being and continuing the worthy object of the
love and the veneration of this people, and of its Regents; which we
pray and wish ardently that your Serene Highness may ever experience,
seeing upon that depends, in a great measure, the preservation and the
happiness of our dear country and of the House of Orange.
"That as well persuaded as we may be, that the members of the
sovereignty have always the liberty, and that it is sometimes even
their duty to communicate to your Serene Highness and to the other
members, their sentiments upon the state and administration of public
affairs, we should have preferred, nevertheless, to have abstained
from the present measure, if we had been able to conceive any hope,
amelioration, and change; but since we can no longer flatter ourselves
with that, for the reasons above alleged, and the danger has arisen to
its highest degree, there remains no other part to take than that of
laying before your Serene Highness the true state of things, of
praying him, in the most solemn manner, to reflect seriously upon
them, and of no longer listening to the councils and insinuations of a
man loaded as he is with the hatred of the great and the small,
regarded as a stranger destitute of a sufficient knowledge of the form
of our government, and not possessed of a true affection to our
country.
"That we are very far from wishing to accuse this Lord of what he is
but too openly charged, or of considering as founded, the suspicions
circulated against him of an excessive and illicit attachment to the
Court of England, or of bad faith and corruption; that we believe,
that a Lord of so high a birth and so distinguished a rank, is
incapable of such baseness, but that we think, that the unhappy ideas
that have been unfortunately entertained of him, and which have caused
a general distrust, render him totally unuseful and pernicious, even
to the service of the State and of your Serene Highness, that he
consequently be removed from the direction of affairs, and from the
Court of your Serene Highness, as being a perpetual obstacle to the
re-establishment of the good intelligence so necessary between your
Serene Highness and the principal members of the State; seeing that on
the contrary, his presence cannot but for the future, occasion the
distrust conceived, whether with or without reason, of his counsels to
fall upon your Serene Highness.
"That these representations do not spring from a principle of hatred
or of ill will against the Lord, the Duke, who has formerly had
occasion to be well satisfied, even with the benevolence and the real
marks of affection of the Regency of Amsterdam, but that we protest
before God and the whole world, that the only motives which have
dictated them to us, are the preservation of the country and of the
illustrious House of your Most Serene Highness, and to prevent their
approaching total ruin; that the Regency of our city have seen
themselves obliged to take this measure, both in quality of
inhabitants of this country, and as a member of its sovereign
Assembly; to the end to make by this means the last effort, and to
point out, perhaps, yet in time, a means of saving, with the blessing
of the Almighty, the vessel of State from the most imminent danger,
and of conducting it into a safe port, or of acquitting themselves at
least in every case of their duty, and of exculpating themselves in
the eyes of their fellow citizens and posterity.
"That, in truth, it is not necessary to despair of the safety of the
country; but that, nevertheless, affairs appear to have arrived to
such an extremity, that it cannot be saved without the use of
extraordinary means, and that for this reason, we ought still, with
the approbation of your Serene Highness, to take the liberty to submit
to his consideration, if the best means of managing hereafter affairs
with success would not be, that your Serene Highness should associate
to himself a small number of persons, chosen from among the most
distinguished and the most experienced citizens born in the country,
to concert assiduously with them everything which should be the most
necessary or the most useful for the preservation and the service of
the country during the present war, with such powers and such
restrictions, as should be judged requisite to fulfil effectually the
object of this commission; that we expect therefrom the two following
effects, as important as useful.
"1st. That, in a conjuncture like the present, in which every moment
is precious, no delay occasioned by deliberations of long duration
shall take place, and the requisite despatch would be given to the
execution of that which shall have been resolved.
"2dly. That thereby the confidence of the nation would be
re-established, an universal tranquillity and content promoted, and
each one would be encouraged and animated to contribute with joy
everything in his power to the execution of the measures of the
sovereign, whilst, that at present, we see the contrary take place,
and hear everywhere of the general complaints of the division and of
the inactivity of the government.
"That this proposition appears of the highest necessity, not only to
the Regency of Amsterdam, but we have reason to think, that it is
considered in the same point of light by the principal members of this
Province, and of all the others.
"Besides, nothing is more necessary than to adopt a fixed system and
plan of conduct, seeing that the Republic ought to choose between two
conditions; either to re-establish the peace with England, or to
prosecute the war with all our forces, to the end to accelerate by
this means an honorable peace; which ought to be the sincere wish of
every good citizen, and to which alone, without any further views, (as
we can assure your Serene Highness in the most serious manner) has
tended the overture made by our proposition of concerting with France
the operations for this campaign. We desire nothing more ardently on
our part, than to deliberate seriously with your Serene Highness upon
the option between the two conditions alleged, and what means it will
be necessary to employ to arrive at the end which shall be chosen; but
we are absolutely of opinion, that above all things, we must never
lose sight, although a reconciliation may be preferred, that nothing
ought to be neglected or omitted, to place in every respect, the
Republic in such a position that it has nothing to fear from its
enemies, but, on the contrary, that it may be in a state to force them
to wish the re-establishment of that peace, which, without any lawful
cause, they have so unjustly and wickedly broken.
"That the above piece is word for word the same without any addition
or omission, as that which has been read to his Serene Highness, the
8th of June, 1781, by the order of the gentlemen, the Burgomasters, by
the Pensionary Vischer, in presence of the Counsellor Pensionary of
Holland, and which is written with the hand of the said Pensionary, is
that which we attest.
"Amsterdam, June 12th, 1781.
E. DE VRY TEMMINCK, } _Reigning_
J. RENDORP, } _Burgomasters._
C. W. VISCHER, _Pensionary._
"Deposed in the cabinet of the gentlemen, the Burgomasters, the said
12th of June, 1781."
"The original of this memorial, which after the reading has been put
into the hands of his Most Serene Highness, but taken back during the
audience, has been sent, the 14th of June, to the Counsellor
Pensionary, accompanied with a letter in the name of the Burgomasters,
written by the Burgomaster Rendorp to the said Counsellor Pensionary."
"By a resolution of the 6th of this month, the States-General have
revoked the order, that their High Mightinesses had given, at the
beginning of the war, to all captains or patrons of merchant-ships
belonging to the subjects of this Republic, to remain in the ports
where they found themselves, and not to make sail from them, either
for their destination or to return into this country. Their High
Mightinesses have this day given to the proprietors and captains of
these vessels, the liberty of navigating and employing them in such a
manner, and when they shall judge proper.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
* * * * *
COUNT DE VERGENNES TO JOHN ADAMS.
Translation
Versailles, July 18th, 1781.
Sir,