Bourbon, and England has been exhausted to prevent it; she has engaged
allies pretendedly to keep the balance of power in Europe, as it is
ridiculously and unintelligibly termed by European politicians; but
you will permit an American to give his sentiments; they may at least
divert and make you smile. From the period when the feudal system
prevailed over all Europe, when every lord was sovereign, to this
hour, the number of kingdoms or distinct powers in Europe has been
decreasing, and if we look three centuries back, and reckon up the
distinct powers then existing and compare them with those of the
present, and extend our view forward, the whole must at some not very
distant period be brought into one; for not an age passes, and scarce
a single war without annihilating or swallowing up several of them.
But from what quarter is this universal empire in Europe to originate?
I answer negatively; not from the House of Bourbon, though formidable
for its connexions and alliances in the South; but I will venture to
predict, that if Great Britain, by forming an accommodation of
friendship and alliance with the United States, renders herself, as by
that measure she easily can, mistress of that world, by taking the
affairs of the East Indies into her own hands, she will be in
possession of exhaustless treasure, and in 1780 the charter of the
East India Company expires, when both the territory and commerce will
be at her disposal. Add to all this her strict and close alliance
with Russia. I say, that laying these circumstances together, it is
easy to foresee, that Great Britain, America, and Russia united, will
command not barely Europe, but the whole world united.
Russia like America is a new State, and rises with the most
astonishing rapidity. Its demand for British manufactures, and its
supplies of raw materials, increase nearly as fast as the American;
and when both come to centre in Great Britain, the riches as well as
power of that kingdom will be unparalleled in the annals of Europe, or
perhaps of the world; like a Colossus with one foot on Russia and the
East, and the other on America, it will bestride, as Shakspeare says,
your poor European world, and the powers which now strut and look big,
_will creep about between its legs to find dishonorable graves_.
I dare say you smile at my prophecy, but you will observe it is a
conditional one, and I am persuaded, like most other prophecies, will
neither be believed nor understood, until verified by the event,
which, at the same time, I am laboring like my good predecessors of
old, (who prophecied grievous things,) to prevent taking place if
possible; for it is my ultimate and early wish that America may
forever be as unconnected with the politics or interests of Europe, as
it is by nature situated distant from it, and that the friendly ties
arising from a free, friendly, and independent commerce may be the
only ties between us.
Adieu,
SILAS DEANE.
* * * * *
WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO C. W. F. DUMAS.
Paris, June 13th, 1777.
Sir,
We are still without any news from America, except what we get by the
way of England. The campaign was not opened the end of April, Howe
being scarce of provisions, and without forage. I have seen a letter
from an English officer in the service, dated the 25th of that month,
and have been much pleased with the sight of it; a horrid pleasure,
which derives its source from the prospect of human misery. The flux
raged much in the army of the Philistines, as the saints of New
England style it, owing to their food, salted meat, and no vegetables.
I believe a certain brig, from a place called Rotterdam, has fallen
into the hands of the chosen people, for one of my countrymen crossed
the Atlantic in a small vessel of about twenty tons, on purpose to
take her; at least he informs me that he had carried into Cherbourg a
brig laden with about two hundred hogsheads of Geneva, some pitch,
oil, &c. from Rotterdam; which said articles will, before this reaches
you, be metamorphised into louis d'ors of France.
I have crossed the Chesapeake in this very ferry boat, in which my
bold countryman crossed the Atlantic. I had been told by a man high in
office in England, that resistance was a chimera in us, since their
armed vessels would swarm so much in our rivers, as even to intercept
the ferry-boats. His assertions are verified _vice versa_; our
ferry-boats ruin their commerce. You smile, and think me amusing you.
Be assured that is not the case. This very little boat took on her
passage another brig of two hundred tons from Alicant, and sent her
into America; she also took four or five vessels in the Channel,
chiefly smugglers, and plundered them of their cash, and the Captain
being a good natured fellow let them go, as he did a transport, which
he took in sight of a man-of-war, and was obliged to give her up,
bringing off, however, with him his people. He has promised for the
future to burn those he cannot send in, and I believe will be as good
as his word. This is the way the English serve not only ours, but the
French vessels, which they take on our coast. The Captain tells me, he
was told this last circumstance by several French Captains, whom he
saw prisoners, (himself a prisoner) at New York. The eyes of this
Court will be opened, it is to be hoped, before it is too late, a war
being inevitable, in my opinion, to force an accommodation. They will
unite with us on our own terms, and discerning from the past how
little effective assistance we have to hope from France for the
future, will make a war with this nation one article of the Federal
Union. Whichever strikes first will probably succeed. Our valuable
commerce is more hurt on the French coast than on our own. We have
lost above L60,000 sterling, from South Carolina only, all which was
coming to be laid out for French manufactures. It is a fact at
present, that the manufacturers of this country cannot execute so fast
as they receive orders.
The English papers published by the authority of General Howe, at New
York, tell with triumph, that one of their cruisers has sunk a twenty
gun French ship at some distance from the Delaware, and every soul
perished. We have some fears that this is the Amphitrite. Another ship
was taken, French property, a few leagues from the harbor of St
Pierre, which she had just quitted. If they dare do this in their
present critical situation, what will they not dare if successful, or
at peace and united with us?
I wrote you before what I repeat again, that had General Howe got
possession of Philadelphia last winter, as insolent a Memorial as that
presented by Sir Joseph York, would have been presented by Lord
Stormont here, and had not their demands been instantly complied with,
the immediate destruction of the French commerce would have been the
consequence. All the navy, all the army contracts are made, for five
years, in England. Letters of marque were given to contractors, and
friends of government, for what? To cruise against our trade? No; but
to be ready at a signal given, to enrich themselves by the first
captures on the French nation; for the gleanings of our commerce are
no object to a private adventurer, assured as the English Ministry are
of the pacific intentions of this Court. From the quarter I mentioned
to you in my last, they will try his patience, and they do right, for
the only hope they now have of conquering us is to deprive us of the
means of resistance, and the hopes of foreign aid, which keeps up the
spirits of the people. If the Amphitrite is really lost, General
Washington will open the campaign without any of their military
stores, so long promised, and so vainly expected, except about twelve
thousand muskets.
We expect with impatience direct news from America; the moment it
arrives I will communicate it to you. The gentlemen are well, and beg
me to present compliments.
I am, Dear Sir, yours, &c.
WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.
_P. S._ You will not mention publicly, for particular reasons, the
history of the little privateer. When the Captain of our small
privateer boarded the transport, and told him he was his prisoner, he
very insolently asked where his ship was, not conceiving that any
person would have crossed the ocean in so small a boat.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
June 14th, 1777.
Gentlemen,
I have escaped, as much as I am able, from my chains, to make journeys
to the Hague, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, in order to maintain and
increase useful acquaintances; and when I obtain any light I
communicate it to friends. The great majority, almost the whole of our
merchants, are for you. The regencies of our cities, and among others
Amsterdam, seem to take part with the Court, which is allied with and
friendly to England. But all this is precarious, and will change with
your fortune. Let us hear of a successful campaign, and your friends
will show themselves, your partizans will multiply; they will lose by
degrees this panic terror for a power, that is not loved by the
multitude. These persons are chiefly large annuitants, whose hearts
are in the sources of their income.
Another important truth, which I have learned at Amsterdam, is that no
banking house is willing to take part, to the amount of a shilling, in
the loan of five millions sterling, which England has raised, because
they were not content with the offered premium and with her solidity,
nor sure of selling the stock in detail. Distrust increases here, in
proportion as England sinks. The premium ought to be two and a half
per cent, but we know that in England even the bankers are content
with their sales in detail at five eights per cent.
I have made acquaintance and connexion with a House, to whom I shall
address in future all my despatches for you, and under cover to whom
you may in safety address to me your letters, viz. Messrs Lalande &
Fynge, merchants, Amsterdam. If you will send me regularly, by your
vessels going to St Eustatia and Curacoa, one at least of your best
public papers to the address above pointed out, or in the packets of
friends in France, I will make good use of it for your service in our
periodical papers. They complain everywhere of knowing nothing of your
affairs, but what the English wish Europe should know; and on this
subject we have often to wait some months before the truth is unfolded
from a heap of impostures, which do not fail sometimes to answer the
malice of your enemies in leaving false impressions on minds, which I
wish to be able to destroy in their birth.
I have the Honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
August 22d, 1777.
Gentlemen,
In spite of my extreme circumspection, your enemies are not altogether
without knowledge of me, and, not able to persecute me openly, are
endeavoring secretly to deprive me of my post in this country. I sent
an account yesterday to Paris, and today to a certain person at the
Hague, of what has happened to me. I am sustained in all my losses by
the firm resolution to live and die the faithful servant of United
America, and by consequence, also, with the most profound respect for
the honorable General Congress and yourselves. God bless your just
arms.
_September 5th._--It would be useless for me to give you copies of the
last letters that I wrote to Paris. They chiefly concern myself; and I
await their answers. I will say only in general here, that from the
moment when I was first honored with your orders and your confidence,
I have devoted to you in every event, my person, services, and
fidelity; and this for the love I bear to your cause, and on the most
perfect conviction of its justice. I have conducted myself in the
execution of your orders with all imaginable prudence, circumspection,
and patience. At last, however, I am the victim of the suspicions and
implacable hatred of your enemies. They have found it an easy task to
injure me indirectly in the sordid, ungrateful, and treacherous heart
of a person on whom my fortune depended, and who is devoted to them. I
should be ruined, with my family, if I had not firm confidence of
receiving in your service the annual stipend allotted for their
subsistence, of which I have been deprived. To this injustice they
have added the insult of tempting me by deceitful offers, which I
rejected with disdain, because I could not accept them without
exposing your secrets, or at least degrading the character with which
you have honored me, in the eyes of those who have knowledge of it. My
refusal has exasperated them against me; they will secretly ruin me as
far as they are able. But I have said enough of myself.
Your enemies have begun to take the Dutch vessels in Europe as well
as in America; among others, one for St Eustatia. They are impatient
at Amsterdam to know how the Regency will take this; and they write me
that this circumstance will, probably, be the cause of the detention
of vessels, bound for the Islands, two months in this port.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
The Hague, October 14th, 1777.
Gentlemen,
If I do not speak to you in all my letters, of the person with whom
you know I am connected at the Hague, it is not because this connexion
does not continue daily, but because it is sufficient to give an
account of our conferences to your honorable commission in Europe, and
also, considering the time that my packets are on the way, my reports
would be as superfluous and useless to you, as they would be long and
difficult to decypher, or dangerous to transmit without cypher. The
enemy alone would be able to profit by them. Moreover, I doubt not but
your Commissioners transmit to you the result of all that passes.
Our States-General are assembled; and they have begun with labors,
which by no means please your enemies. The first was to make a claim
directly, in the name of their High Mightinesses, upon the English
Minister for the Dutch vessel destined for St Eustatia, and taken in
the Channel by an English vessel of war, under the pretext that the
vessel was American built. (The Dutch had purchased her at Halifax.)
Our States have sent instructions on this subject to their Envoy at
London, with orders to have discontinued whatever process has been
instituted by the captor before the English Judges against this
vessel; and an order also to the owners of the vessel and cargo not to
plead before the Judges, because they have proved here, that they had
conformed in all things to the laws of this country, and to its
conventions with Great Britain. We are impatient here to learn the
answer of England.
Their second debate was on a petition in very strong terms, signed by
a hundred of the principal commercial houses of Amsterdam, (except the
house of Hope, devoted to England) for the purpose of asking a convoy
for their vessels going to the West Indies.
I have all this from the best authority; as also that the party of
your enemies in this country, though yet considerable, are visibly
losing their influence, and cannot fail to seccumb, especially if the
English continue to seize our vessels, and if they wish to engage this
Republic to involve itself in a war on their account; for we desire
here to be at peace with all the world.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
December, 16th, 1777.
Gentlemen,
I congratulate you, and the honorable Congress, and all United America
with all my heart. This news (Burgoyne's capture) has made the
greatest possible sensation in this country; a deep consternation
among those who have all their interest in England; a marked joy
among those who hate your enemies. My correspondent at Amsterdam
writes thus. "Many thanks for the prompt advice of the affair so
glorious for our friends. Letters from England received here this
morning confirm it entirely. All was in motion today in our _cafes_
and on the exchange. The royalists here are entirely depressed, and
even fear the like catastrophe for General Howe, if he hazard himself
further into the country." This news has made an astonishing
impression everywhere; all is considered lost to the English.
_December 19th._--I have received advice from my correspondents, to
whom I had forwarded packets according to your orders, by which they
inform me, under date of 26th of September and 18th of October, of
having received and forwarded my packets for you. My correspondent at
Amsterdam, who transmitted them to me, has pointed me to the following
passage. "The Anti-Americans are not yet recovered from their fright;
they see the Americans at present with a different eye, and desire
strongly that the Ministry may be changed, that by mild means we may
obtain peace as favorable as possible." Another writes from Rotterdam;
"I received on the 11th, the account of the victory of General Gates.
It was pulled out of my hands. I pray you as soon as you receive
advice, that Howe has done as well as Burgoyne, to let me have the
great pleasure of knowing it first, that I may regale many persons
with the news. You cannot think what a bustle there is yet in all
companies and _cafes_ about this affair, and how they fall on the
English Ministers."
We have confirmation from Germany of the increasing obstructions,
which the levying of recruits against America meets with.
I this moment learn that the States-General have despatched messengers
of State extraordinary to all the Provinces; and it cannot be doubted
that the contents of their despatches, which are kept secret, relate
only to the catastrophe which the English have suffered in America,
and to the consequences which it is presumed it will have, as well on
this side of the ocean as on the other.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
The Hague, April 14th, 1778.
Gentlemen,
I have the satisfaction of being able to apprize you, that since the
declaration of France, made here the 18th of March, affairs have taken
in this country a most favorable turn. My last journey to Amsterdam
has not been useless. But I cannot trust to paper, and to the
vicissitudes of so long a voyage, the detail of my operations. I
constantly give information to your honorable Commissioners, to whom I
write almost every post. I will say only in general, that the cabal of
your enemies fails in all the attempts it has made to engage this
Republic to put herself in the breach for them. The Republic is firmly
determined to the most perfect neutrality, if there be war; and I wait
only the letters of the honorable Commissioners at Paris, whom I have
requested to propose a friendship and commerce direct and avowed
between your States and theirs.[28]
We are preparing a third piece upon credit. I will add copies of it to
my packet when it is printed.
At the moment I am about to seal my packet, I learn for certain, "that
Lord Chatham on the 7th of April in the House of Lords pleaded with so
much warmth for not giving up the dependence of America, nor giving
away the Americans, because he considered them a hereditament of the
Prince of Wales, the Bishop of Osnaburgh, and the whole royal line of
Brunswick, that he fainted away, but was soon recovered by the aid of
two physicians. He confessed however that he did not know what the
means were of preserving both."
I have the honor, &c.
DUMAS.[29]
FOOTNOTES:
[28] On this subject see a letter to M. Dumas in the Commissioners'
Correspondence, Vol. I. p. 463.
[29] For a letter from the Committee of Foreign Affairs to M. Dumas,
dated May 14th, 1778, see the Correspondence of the Commissioners in
France, Vol. I. p. 386.
* * * * *
TO M. VAN BERCKEL, PENSIONARY OF AMSTERDAM.
July 27th, 1778.
Sir,
Directed by the Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America in
Paris, to send you the annexed copy of a treaty of amity and commerce
concluded between France and the said United States, with the
testimony of the high esteem and consideration they have for you in
particular, and for all the honorable members of the Regency of
Amsterdam in general, I acquit myself of these orders with all the
satisfaction and eagerness, which my respectful devotion to the
interest of this Republic dictates. The Plenipotentiaries pray you,
Sir, to communicate this treaty in such a manner that copies of it may
not be multiplied, until they have written me that it may be published
and in the hands of all the world. I have carried this morning to Mr
---- a like copy with the same request.
I add to this a proclamation of Congress that I have received, and the
communication of which I think will give you pleasure. It will appear
in the Gazettes in French and Dutch, and ought to satisfy all the
maritime powers, no less than it does honor to the sagacity and equity
of Congress.
I am, with the truest respect, &c.
DUMAS.
* * * * *
M. VAN BERCKEL TO C. W. F. DUMAS.
Amsterdam, July 31st, 1778.
Sir,
I am much obliged to you for the kindness you have done, in sending me
the copy of the treaty of amity and commerce, concluded between France
and the United States of America. And as it was at the request of the
Plenipotentiaries of the said United States, may I venture to ask you
to testify to those gentlemen the gratitude of the Regency of
Amsterdam in general, and my own in particular, for this mark of
distinction. May we hope that circumstances will permit us soon to
give evidence of the high esteem we have for the new republic, clearly
raised up by the help of Providence, while the spirit of despotism is
subdued; and let us desire to make leagues of amity and commerce
between the respective subjects, which shall last even to the end of
time. What troubles me is, that it is not in our power to make the
other members of the government do as we could wish; in which case the
Republic would be at once disposed to another course. But I am
persuaded that the Americans are too wise not to penetrate the true
causes, or to attribute the inaction of ---- until the present time
to any want of esteem and affection for the United States.
This Republic is full of people who think rightly, but there will be
found here, as elsewhere, partizans of a certain system, who, by their
ignorance or stupidity, or by the wickedness of their hearts and
abominable vices, hinder the people from doing as much as they could
wish. I expect to hear important news in the actual circumstances of
Europe, and am impatient to receive some, which may have a good effect
on the affair in question. I shall take care that the abovementioned
treaty does not go into bad hands, and that no copy be made before the
time.[30]
VAN BERCKEL.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] For other particulars on this subject, see the Correspondence of
the Commissioners in France, Vol. I. pp. 376, 456, 463.
* * * * *
TO M. VAN BERCKEL.
The Hague, August 17th, 1778.
Sir,
I have had the honor of informing you, that I intended answering your
favor of the 31st of July last, wherein you did me the honor of
charging me to send to the Plenipotentiaries of the United States of
America, in Paris, the testimony of the satisfaction that had been
given to the honorable Regency of your city and to you in particular,
by the transmission of a copy of their treaty of amity and commerce
with France. Not only has your request been complied with, by
transmitting to those gentlemen a copy of your letter, but I did
more; for having occasion at the same time to write to America
directly, I have added another copy for Congress. That body,
therefore, will, without delay, be informed of the benevolent sympathy
which the Republic in her turn feels for her worthy sister, as also of
the happy effects which this sympathy cannot fail to produce, when the
obstacle unfortunately attached to the ship shall have lost the power
of obstructing her progress. Meantime, continue, Sir, by your
patriotic efforts, to clear away difficulties, to provide means, and
to hasten the moment of a connexion so desirable on both sides, and
present and future generations will bless your name and your memory.
You will have seen by the gazettes, and especially by that of Leyden,
with what unanimity and dignity the United States disdained the
propositions, injurious to their good, great, and august ally, as well
as to their own majesty, made to them by the British Commissioners. I
have in hand and will show you the authentic proofs of this, as well
as of the horror, which the Americans have, of ever returning under
the iron sceptre they have broken. This confounds the falsehoods, that
have been uttered and kept up with so much complacency in this
country. Will they never cease to give credit to such impudent
assertions? I cannot forbear to transcribe what a friend[31] has
written to me. This friend does not know in detail what I have been
doing here. He had asked me how I advanced. I had told him _festino
lente_.