in important affairs. But I cannot help saying, that there may be
some danger of the good people in Holland losing some advantages in
commerce with America by their too great caution. I have reason to
believe, that the British Ministry have already sent orders to their
commissioners to give up the point of independence, provided they can
obtain some exclusive benefit in America."
I wish, however, that we could concert some new movement. There is yet
time to think of it before the meeting of the assembly. In all that
concerns myself, I can only promise my best efforts.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
FOOTNOTES:
[31] William Lee, who was at this time in Francfort.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
The Hague, December 3d, 1778.
Gentlemen,
The act of despotism, which I announced to you in my letter of the
16th,[32] was consummated on the 18th of November. The resolution
adopted by the majority had a specious design, to wit, to refuse the
commissaries which the English Ambassador demanded, to agree that the
article of naval stores, legalized by the treaty of 1674, should be
for the future contraband; but in the end, all was spoiled by the
refusal of convoy to ships carrying these articles to France.
But Amsterdam has inserted in the acts a formal protest, by which this
resolution is declared null, by its having been adopted in a manner
contrary to the constitution, which requires unanimity in this case.
The protest indicates, at the same time, the consequences which this
affair may have. They may be very serious if they push the city to
extremities. The first will be the closing of the public chest, as far
as concerns her contribution towards the expenses of the
confederation. This city alone pays about one quarter of all the
expenses of the republic, and if they should push things to extremity
she may ask succors of France, who certainly would not suffer her to
be oppressed. The Ministerial gazettes in England announce this to
their nation as a great success. _Qui vult decipi decipiatur._ On the
other side, France threatens to seize in her turn English property on
board of Dutch ships, and to deprive these of the favors they enjoy in
her ports, if the Republic does not cause her flag to be respected by
the English, according to treaties. On the fifteenth, the States of
the Province will be reassembled.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
FOOTNOTES:
[32] Missing.
* * * * *
MEMORIAL,
_Presented by His Excellency, the Duc de la Vauguyon, Ambassador of
France, to the States-General of the United Provinces._
The Hague, December 7th, 1778.
High and Mighty Lords,
The conviction which the king, my master, has had, that their High
Mightinesses, animated with a desire to perpetuate the perfect harmony
which subsists between France and the States-General, would conform
themselves scrupulously, in existing circumstances, to the principles
of the most absolute neutrality, has induced his Majesty to include
the United Provinces in the order that he made in the month of July
last, concerning the commerce and navigation of neutrals. His Majesty
has less room to doubt of the perseverance of their High Mightinesses
in these principles, because they have given him repeated assurances,
and because they are the basis and most solid guarantee of the repose
and prosperity of the Republic. His Majesty, however, thinks he ought
to procure, in this respect, an entire certainty; and it is with this
view that he has directed me to demand of your High Mightinesses an
explanation, clear and precise, of your final determination, and to
declare to you that he will decide according to your answer to
maintain or annul, so far as concerns the subjects of your High
Mightinesses, the orders which he has already given.
To make better known to your High Mightinesses the views and
intentions of the king, my master, I have the honor to observe to you,
that his Majesty flatters himself that you will procure to the flag of
the United Provinces all the freedom which belongs to it as a
consequence of their independence, and to their commerce all the
integrity which the law of nations and treaties secure to it. The
least derogation from these principles would manifest a partiality,
the effect of which would impose on him the necessity of suspending
not only the advantages that his Majesty has insured to your flag, by
his order in favor of neutrals, but also the material and gratuitous
favors, which the commerce of the United Provinces enjoys in the
ports of his kingdom, without any other consideration than the good
will and affection of his Majesty for your High Mightinesses.
DUC DE LA VAUGUYON.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMISSIONERS AT PARIS.
The Hague, December 18th, 1778.
Gentlemen,
I have seen our friend. There are two committees at work, one for the
new remonstrances occasioned by the English, the other on the answer
to be made to the Memorial of the French Ambassador.
_December 19th, forenoon._ The Admiralty it was said would not be in
favor of an answer, till next week; but measures were taken to make
them pass one this morning, in which were _verba pretereaque nihil_;
there was nothing changed in the restriction of convoy as to naval
provisions. The Ambassador having been notified of it, sent today,
early in the morning, to the Grand Pensionary a note so energetic that
it will be difficult to avoid giving a precise answer, yes or no,
which will save or lose to the Seven Provinces the commerce of France.
_December 19th, evening._ In spite of the note of the Ambassador, the
English party has prevailed in the provincial Assembly, and all except
Amsterdam have adopted by a majority the opinion of the Admiralty.
Thereupon, Amsterdam delivered her protest, in which she confirmed her
former protest against the resolution of the 18th of November. She
declared further, that she held herself irresponsible and discharged
of all injurious consequences to the Republic, which the
unsatisfactory answer they had given France might have. Our friend has
caused me to read this protest, which is moderate but energetic.
_December 22d._ I have a copy of the resolution and protest. I know on
good authority that the Court of London has declared, that it is no
better satisfied with the resolution adopted on the 18th of November.
Thus those who have wished to be wholly subservient to that Court are
very badly paid for their complaisance. The above resolution, adopted
by the majority of the States of Holland, on the 19th of this month,
has not yet been presented to the States-General. The Assembly of
Holland, which was to have separated this week, adjourned to Tuesday
next. The Deputies of the cities will depart on Thursday, to seek, it
is said, new instructions for another answer, such as the Ambassador
can receive. Those of Amsterdam remain here, because they have no need
of an _ad referendum_.
_December 24th._ The British Court has communicated to the Republic
its order, which declares liable to seizure neutral ships carrying to
France munitions of war, military and naval. This order is directly
contrary to the resolution of the 18th of November, by which the
States refuse to permit this article to be put in question, which
treaties secure to them.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
The Hague, December 25th, 1778.
Gentlemen,
Your friends here do all that they can to bring about future
connexions between the two Republics. The phrase, that I have
underlined in the Declaration,[33] expresses nothing else than the
authentic information, which the city of Amsterdam has of the
disposition by which a majority is influenced in the Republic. See in
it then only the wish of the city, that your virtuous perseverance in
a union, on which alone depends your sovereignty, may frustrate this
influence. It can do nothing against you without unanimity; but,
without this same unanimity, all the good will of the city can at the
present time do nothing more for you, as to the conclusion of a treaty
of amity and commerce, than project it, in order to have it ready when
it shall be able to propose it with some appearance of success. A copy
of the Memorial, presented on the 7th of December, by the French
Minister to their High Mightinesses, was sent to me by himself, on the
8th, to be communicated to you.
They have sent me from Amsterdam, with the same intent, a copy of the
protest of the city against the resolution adopted by the majority for
refusing convoy to naval articles. This important paper is very long,
(20 pages in folio.) Expecting that I may be able to send it to you,
translated and copied, I will transcribe for you, Gentlemen, what a
good Dutch citizen, to whom I lent it, thought of it. "It is scarce
possible for me," said he, "to paint the vexation with which I have
read the resolve adopted by the majority. A document at once puerile,
jesuitical, and made unintelligible, as I think, from design, to
conceal the palpaple contradictions and absurdities of which it is
full. I can compare it to nothing better than to a serpent, which
hides its ugly head under the tortuous folds of its horrible body. The
protest, on the contrary, is the finest document of its kind, that I
remember to have seen. As precise as it is luminous, it presents at
once, and gathers, so to speak, into a single focus, all the reasons
for the opposite sentiment, in a manner to strike all eyes which are
not voluntarily closed to its light. But we live in the midst of a
people, who do not hesitate to call white black, and black white,
provided it favors the party of the Boreases of England and of our
country." The States of Holland assembled yesterday. They have named
two committees to deliberate, the one on the answer to be made to the
Court of France, the other on the new complaints to which the English
have just given cause. We shall not know the result till next week.
In the circumstances, Gentlemen, in which you see things, it will be
necessary that I should be provided with a letter of credence from
your honorable Congress, like, _mutatis mutandis_, that which I
received from it under date from the 9th to the 12th of December,
1775, and of which I made use at the Court of France, in April, 1776;
with this difference, that the other being unlimited and accommodated
to existing circumstances, that which I now ask for should be limited
to this Republic, and conformable to the present situation and
dignity of the American confederation, to the end that I may be able
to produce it to whomever it shall be proper, and to labor with all
requisite credit and weight, in concert with your friends in this
country, on the proposal of amity and commerce between the two
Republics. Such a paper becomes every day more necessary; and I dare
say, that it will be necessary to the United States that I should be
provided with it as soon as possible, so as not to give it publicity,
which everywhere, except in France and Spain, seems to have no good
effect; but to continue, as I have done hitherto, to increase and
strengthen your friends here, and to hinder your enemies from
realising, at the expense of this Republic, the fable of the monkey
who drew his chestnuts from the fire with the cat's paw. _Malo esse
quam videri_ ought to be the constant maxim of all those, who are
called to serve so fine a cause as that of the American Union. It is
certainly mine. It is this that dictates the precise answer, which I
have yet to give to what you had the goodness to write concerning me,
in the letter with which you honored me, under date of the 14th of May
of this year, to wit; "We shall write particularly to the gentlemen at
Paris, respecting the injuries you have received from our enemies, and
shall instruct them to pay the strictest attention to our engagements
made to you at the commencement of our correspondence."
These gentlemen, in sending me the letter, wrote me nothing on this
business, and I have not drawn on them for more than I had agreed with
Mr Deane, towards the end of the past year, to be necessary for me to
live here in a style of mediocrity, and with much economy, namely,
two hundred louis d'ors this year. I shall continue on this footing,
drawing always a hundred louis d'ors every six months, till it please
your honorable Congress to fix my stipend. In expectation that the
situation of affairs will permit the United States to observe in
respect to me, or in case of my death, in respect to my daughter, the
wise magnanimity that befits sovereigns, I will serve them, with the
same zeal as if they gave me double, and with more inward satisfaction
than if any other Power should give me ten fold. I can assure you,
Gentlemen, that from the beginning, I have done for the whole American
people, as I would do for a friend in danger. For the rest, I am well
satisfied and grateful for the obliging things you have written me on
this subject, and I do not ask new assurances. It is sufficient for
me, that you know my true sentiments, and that you will have the
goodness to make them known to the honorable Congress.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.[34]
FOOTNOTES:
[33] This Declaration is missing.
[34] Several letters from M. Dumas, on the affairs of Holland, in the
year 1778, may be found in the Commissioners' Correspondence, in the
first volume of the present work.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
The Hague, January 1st, 1779.
Gentlemen,
On the 19th of December, the Grand Pensionary of Holland, before going
to the Assembly of the States of Holland, received from the Duc de la
Vauguyon, Ambassador of France, a note, explanatory of the Memorial
presented to their High Mightinesses the 7th, as follows.
"The king, determined to have perfect certainty of the final
resolution of the States, flatters himself that their High
Mightinesses will explain themselves in a clear and precise manner,
upon the point of perfect neutrality, which his Majesty is persuaded
that they do not wish to swerve from. He expects that they will
preserve to the flag of the United Provinces all the liberty that
belongs to them, in consequence of their independence, and to their
commerce all the integrity that the law of nations secures to it, and
that treaties confirm to it. But this liberty will become illusory,
and this integrity violated, if their High Mightinesses do not
maintain it by a suitable protection, and if they consent to deprive
their subjects of convoy, without which they cannot enjoy, in their
full extent, the rights which they have acquired and claim. A
resolution of whatever nature it be whose effect should be to deprive
them of a protection so legitimate, whether for all branches of their
commerce in general, or in particular for articles of naval stores of
any kind, would be regarded under present circumstances as an act of
partiality derogatory to the principles of an absolute neutrality, and
would inevitably produce the consequences mentioned in the Memoir,
which has been sent to their High Mightinesses. It is especially to
this essential object, and with the further intention to observe a
neutrality thus described, that the king asks of their High
Mightinesses an answer clear and precise."
The same morning the States of Holland adopted by a majority the
following answer, previously advised on the 16th by the Admiralty.
"That their High Mightinesses have always set, and will set, much
value on a good understanding with his Majesty, and that they would
cultivate willingly his friendship and affection for this State, by
all means which insure the independent repose of the Republic, and
contribute to their perfect neutrality in the existing differences
between his Majesty and the king of Great Britain. That their High
Mightinesses do not fear to declare with openness and candor to his
Majesty, that their design is to adhere scrupulously to the said
neutrality, in firm confidence that the two powers will be satisfied,
and that they will permit to their High Mightinesses the peaceable
enjoyment of it. That the commerce and navigation of the Republic,
being one of its principal means of subsistence, its free exercise
their High Mightinesses have strongly at heart. Their High
Mightinesses flatter themselves also that the two powers are inclined,
and will be persuaded to leave to them the course which the law of
nations and treaties guaranty, and that if any discussion takes place
on this subject, it will be attributed solely to the moderation and
caution of their High Mightinesses, in compliance with the suggestions
of prudence, if to measures adapted to the protection of their
commerce and their free navigation, without distinction as to the
property of the cargoes, and to the support of their neutrality, they
add others, intended to avoid all occasions of misunderstanding; that
their High Mightinesses are too firmly convinced of his Majesty's
justice, to doubt that he will be satisfied with this candid
exposition of the sentiments of their High Mightinesses, or that he
will continue to observe, in his treatment of neutrals, and
consequently of the subjects of their High Mightinesses, the rules,
which his Majesty has himself considered to be conformable to the law
of nations; and that he will continue in the disposition, on which the
commerce, at present existing between the subjects of both powers, to
the mutual advantage of both parties, is founded."
The resolution adopting this answer was invalidated at the same time
by the following protest.
"The Deputies of the city of Amsterdam, adhering to their protest and
note inserted on the 18th of November last, against the resolution
adopted the same day, on the final remonstrance of the merchants of
this country, on the subject of the seizure of their vessels by the
English, and the carrying them into English ports, as is therein more
fully detailed, have declared, that they cannot agree to the
resolution of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses, adopted this day on
the Memorial presented to their High Mightinesses by the Duc de la
Vauguyon, wherein he demands the observance of an exact neutrality
during the existence of the troubles with England in general, and the
maintenance of the freedom of the flag of the Republic, as well as of
the commerce and navigation of this country to the French ports in
particular; unless in the meantime should be given by the said
resolution the clear and precise answer demanded by the said Memorial,
and on which depends in great part the commerce of this country to the
ports of France, declaring also that they would not be in any manner
responsible for the evils that come upon the commerce and navigation
of the Republic, as well from the present resolution as from that of
the 18th of November last."
This has not hindered the States-General from adopting also the
answer. On the 30th of December it was carried, by the agent of their
High Mightinesses, to the Ambassador, who did not accept it, as not
being such as the King demanded. On which they have determined to send
it to M. de Berkenrode, at Paris, to endeavor to cause it to be
accepted by his Majesty.
On my return here on Tuesday evening, I went to see our friend.
Nothing has yet been done; but in spite of all that can be done
tomorrow, said he, things will finally go well. He told me also, that
the credit of Sir Joseph Yorke with a certain great personage was
manifest more and more, and that there was no longer room to doubt
that the latter had secret engagements with the Court of London.
I was the next day at the house of the French Ambassador. Their High
Mightinesses had sent him their answer to the Memorial, and he had
sent it back, as not admissible. He has in his pocket the Declaration
of the King, by which the subjects of the State are excluded from his
order in favor of neutrals, and deprived of the privileges which they
enjoy in the ports of the kingdom. It will be soon published. This
affair will do as much good to the Anti-English in these provinces, as
the taking of Bergen-op-zoom did them harm thirty years ago. The time
will come when they will be obliged to have recourse to the city of
Amsterdam, to remove the proscription, which too much complaisance to
the Court of London is drawing upon these Provinces.
Late on Wednesday I went to see our friend. He could only give me one
moment. The answer of the States-General to the Memorial of the
French Ambassador is the same as that adopted by a majority in the
States of Holland, excepting some additions which are not material.
The Deputies have not even consulted their respective Provinces
thereon; another blow given to the constitution. One of the Deputies,
with whom I had some conversation, gave me as the only excuse;--"_It
is not the first time we have done it._" I have seen a letter from an
able hand, in one of the Provinces, wherein much censure and heavy
reproaches are cast on this method of proceeding. Friesland can least
of all dispense with the commerce of France.
_January 2d._ There is today a grand concert at the _Hotel de France_.
The Court is there. The Ambassador does the reverse of what is
practised at the theatre; he began with the farce, and will finish
with the tragedy. They flatter themselves here, that he will not press
matters, because they have given him to understand that they have
convoked the Admiralty to deliberate more fully on the convoys. But
they do not say what all the world knows, that they have sent the
rejected answer to the Ambassador of the Republic at Paris to endeavor
to have it accepted by the King. Labor lost.
Our friend is fortunate in all this. He has the finest part to
perform, and he will perform it to his glory. He advances rapidly in
the paths of former great men of the Republic. On the other side, the
firmness of Amsterdam is seconded very seasonably by the Memorial.
I doubt not, Gentlemen, but the result has made you see the importance
of what has passed here, and how far my proceedings have been useful
in the business, to bring it to the point where it now is.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DUMAS.
* * * * *
TO THE COMMISSIONERS AT PARIS.
The Hague, January 12th, 1779.
Gentlemen,
The States of Holland assemble tomorrow. Our friend comes this evening
and I shall see him. They are here every day more embarrassed. Far
from the answer to the Memoir sent by their High Mightinesses to their
Ambassador at Paris being accepted, the Ambassador of France has
received an express from his Court, the purport of which we shall know
at the same time with the result of the deliberations of the States of
Holland.
_January 13th._ The Assembly today has been occupied only with simple
formalities. I know on very good authority, that Amsterdam will have
permission to trade to the French Isles in America, as well directly
as by way of St Eustatia and Curacoa; and I have been authorised to
inform certain armed houses [_maisons armes_] of it, in order that
they may be able to speculate in advance upon it.
_January 14th._ They wished to resolve today by a majority for a delay
of four months longer for the convoys of ship timber. All at once
Haerlem is ranged on the side of Amsterdam, and Alcmaer has taken the
matter _ad referendum_; which has much displeased a grand personage
present. The Grand Pensionary cried out also much upon it, and wished
to engage the Deputies of this city to accede to the opinion of the
majority; but they alleged the orders of their city in excuse. This is
the cause that the resolution cannot be passed till next week. It will
be such, moreover, that the Court of France will regard it as
derogatory to perfect neutrality; for the majority will always
prevail, but then Amsterdam, Haerlem and perhaps Alcmaer will
protest. You see, Gentlemen, that the opposition not only sustains
itself, but gains ground. This opposition was almost nothing six
months ago; it was a feeble plant that could only stand by bending
when the wind blew; now it is a solid and robust body, well supported,
which resists all the efforts of the English party, which has broken
them, and which will succeed at length in prevailing over this party,
and will restore to the Republic its ancient dignity.