yourself on account of this delay to your journey, and that you cannot
be reproached with want of zeal for the interests of your constituents,
when you defer for some time an affair, the success of which cannot
most probably but be slow, to manage other matters more important and
pressing.
I have the honor to be, &c.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
TO THE COMMISSIONERS AT PARIS.
Vienna, May 27th, 1777.
Dear Sirs,
I reached this in three days from Munich, and in expectation of hearing
from you tomorrow, I shall not proceed till the 29th. Dresden will be
my next stage.
There is a cold tranquillity here, that bodes us no good. It is not
possible to quicken this German indifference. From what I learn, we
need be under no apprehensions from Russia.
I hope you will not forget to sound the two Courts, whether they will
join Prussia in declaring us independent. I am afraid this latter will
not be obtained, unless they are in our favor.
I am, dear Sirs, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
Vienna, May 28th, 1777.
Dear Sir,
The post is in and nothing from you. I therefore shall proceed
tomorrow, and hope to reach my destination in eight days.
The chief purpose for giving money, stated in my Memorial,[17] was to
pay the interest of our loans and support our funds. I added the paying
for the ship we were obliged to build in Holland, in lieu of those
requested. To these purposes therefore they will expect the money will
be applied.
Yours, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
[17] Memorial to the Court of Spain, dated Burgos, March 8th.--See
above, p. 41.
TO BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
Berlin, June 5th, 1777.
Sir,
In consequence of the letter, which I had the honor, in conjunction
with the other deputies of Congress in Paris, of writing to your
Excellency, on the 19th of April, I arrived here last night.
I take the earliest opportunity to inform you of my arrival, and to
request your Excellency to have the goodness to inform me, when I may
have the honor of an interview with you, on the subject of this letter.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
Berlin, June 7th, 1777.
Sir,
I have the honor of sending to your Excellency lists of the commodities
on both sides, which will be the most suitable for the commerce which
is projected. As to the exact price of the different articles, I cannot
speak. But as European commodities are very dear in America, and our
own are cheap, while at the same time they bear a high price in Europe,
commerce on this footing cannot but be advantageous to Europeans. A
musket, for example, which costs here twentytwo French livres, can be
sold in America for at least fifty. With these fifty livres two hundred
weight of tobacco can be bought, which in Europe will bring two hundred
livres.
It seems to me, that the mode of carrying on this trade with the
greatest security will be, to fit out vessels for the Island of St
Eustatia. Then a skilful captain can set sail directly for America,
and having a calculation of his voyage made for the express purpose
of showing, that he was driven from his course by the violence of the
winds, if he should meet any vessel of war on the American coast, he
can offer his excuse, and, under the pretence of being in want of
water, enter the nearest port. Thus, in going, the risk will not be
great; and in returning, it can always be known when the coast is
clear, and with a good wind at first, a vessel is soon out of danger.
It will be expedient for this trade, that the vessels engaged in it
should be the best sailers possible, since much will depend on that. At
Emden or at Hamburg, it cannot be difficult to find captains or sailors
who can speak English.
At first it will be better to send the vessels to the continental
commercial agent, since there is one in each of the principal
ports. The principal ports are Newburyport, Salem, and Boston in
Massachusetts; New London in Connecticut; Baltimore in Maryland; York,
Hampton, and Alexandria, in Virginia; Charleston, in South Carolina;
and Savannah, in Georgia. These are the principal ports, as you go
along the coast from North to South. In order to arrive at the ports
of Virginia and Maryland, it is necessary to enter Chesapeake Bay,
into which all the rivers of the two States empty. I shall write to
our agents directing them to give all possible facilities to your
commerce in these ports. I have omitted the ports of Rhode Island and
Philadelphia, because they are direct objects of the war, and they may
be in the possession of the enemy. It will therefore be better to avoid
them in the present state of affairs.
I hope your Excellency will do me the justice to believe, that if I had
known his Majesty’s pleasure before my departure, I should have acted
in conformity to it. And if my residence here as a traveller should
give the least uneasiness to your Court, I rely upon your Excellency’s
informing me of it; since nothing could be more disagreeable to me,
than to cause the slightest uneasiness where I owe the highest respect.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG TO ARTHUR LEE.
Translation.
Berlin, June 9th, 1777.
Sir,
I have received the letter, which you did me the honor of writing to me
yesterday, and I imagine from its conclusion, that on account of the
difference of language, you did not perhaps take in the true sense some
of the expressions which I used in our conversation.
I lose no time, therefore, to assure you, Sir, as I did in the letter,
which I addressed to you at Paris, that your residence at Berlin will
not be at all disagreeable to the king, provided you live here as an
individual, and without assuming a public character.
As to the information you give me with respect to commerce, you will
be pleased, Sir, to add a memorandum of the places where insurance
can be effected on vessels destined for America, and the premiums of
insurance to be paid. I will then examine your propositions, and will
soon be able to inform you whether we conceive it possible to make an
experiment of the kind with success.
I have the honor of being, &c.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
TO BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
Berlin, June 10th, 1777.
Sir,
By the accounts received a little before I left Paris, the premium
on insurance to America at Cadiz was twelve and a half per cent. At
Bordeaux it was forty per cent to and from America. A scheme was then
forming for the establishment of very considerable and responsible
companies of insurance at Rouen and Nantes. But I am apprehensive there
will be some difficulty about insuring any but French property.
I should, therefore, conceive your Excellency would do best to have it
tried at Amsterdam, where one would imagine that forty per cent, which
is infinitely beyond the risk, would be an irresistible temptation.
If the insurance to America were made here, the Congress might insure
back. There is, however, an obvious objection to this, arising from
their want of funds in Europe to answer the loss. This objection
would not now have existed, had not our commerce with Europe been so
much discouraged by an almost universal concurrence of its powers
in prohibiting our being supplied with arms and ammunition, things
essentially and immediately necessary to our defence and existence.
The European ports being also shut against our vessels of war, it is
impracticable to contrive convoys for our trade, and it is thus exposed
to the enemy.
These, and the thousand other delays and difficulties, to which the
present cautious system of Europe subjects us, give every possible
opportunity to Great Britain to recover that commerce, which her unwise
and unjust conduct has obliged us to withdraw from her, and offer to
the rest of Europe. An open acceptance of that offer would have settled
the question at once. I may not presume to doubt the wisdom of that
policy, which prefers the chance of gleaning our fields after they
have been spoiled and laid waste by a mercenary and enraged army, to
the certainty of reaping the full harvest of an unravaged country.
Undoubtedly there are better reasons for it than I can devise. This is,
however, most clear, that if the commerce of America were a thing not
valuable, or rather noxious to the European powers, they could not give
Great Britain a fairer opportunity of cutting it off from them forever,
by retrieving the monopoly, or of greatly diminishing its sources by
destroying our cities and laying waste our country with mercenary arms.
We are left, like Hercules in his cradle, to strangle the serpent that
annoys all Europe.
I beg your Excellency will accept my thanks for the satisfactory
explanation you were so good as to give me yesterday of what I confess
was not clear to me before.
Permit me to suggest, that as it is probable your captains will not be
able to provide themselves with marine charts of the American coast,
it would be proper to order some of the best of them from London. If
in any thing your Excellency should think I can be further useful, you
will do me the honor to command me.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Berlin, June 11th, 1777.
Gentlemen,
In pursuance of the plan, which I had the honor of mentioning in former
letters, I arrived here the 4th of this month. Mr Sayre accompanies me
in the place of Mr Carmichael, who after promising refused to go.
The king being absent in the review of his troops, I have only had some
conversation with his Minister relative to their beginning a commerce
with you in their own bottoms. This I have reason to think will take
effect; but there seems to be a system of great caution here, which
will cramp whatever they attempt.
I have good reasons for assuring you, that Russia will send no troops
against us. The consequence of the Prince of Hesse’s conduct is
beginning to be a lesson to the other German princes, so that it is
not probable they will draw any more supplies from them. The country
of Hesse is depopulating so fast from the apprehension of being forced
into this service, that the women are obliged to cultivate the lands.
At present, therefore, the foreign resources of Great Britain seem to
be exhausted, nor is there any human probability of their reinstating
their army, should this campaign materially diminish it, except it be
with Catholics from Ireland. I have a plan for rendering that of little
effect, which I hope will succeed.
Upon your maintaining your ground this campaign, the question of
acknowledging your independence will become very serious next winter
among the European powers; but until the events of this summer
are decided, their conduct will remain the same, and no open act
of interference is likely to take place. Till that time too they
should not wish to receive commissioners, as it subjects them to the
complaints of the English Court.
A transaction has lately happened in England, which, notwithstanding
appearances speak otherwise, makes me believe that our enemies expect
some further and considerable assistance from Hesse. It is their
paying an old rejected claim to the Landgrave of £41,000. I know the
British Court too well to believe they would do this from any other
motive, than the expectation of future favors, and to soften the sense
of shame and loss, which, already sustained by the Landgrave, would
prevent him from furnishing them further. But whether the object is
merely to quicken him in supplying the stipulated recruits, or to get
some of his old regiments, I cannot learn. A letter, which I have
read, from the agent of that Prince at the Court of Great Britain to
his Minister, upon the very subject of this claim, grounds it only on
the necessities of England for troops to carry on this war, without
mentioning that he had stipulated anything specially on his part in
return. You may, however, depend upon my endeavors to get the most
speedy and accurate information on this subject, and to raise every
obstacle that can come from this and the imperial Court.
I expect to have finished what I can do here in ten days, when I shall
set out on my return to Paris, whence the conveyance being safer, I
shall write you more particularly.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
_P. S._ I see by the English papers, that a motion by Lord Chatham for
an address of the House of Lords to the king, to begin an accommodation
by a cessation of hostilities, and an offer of a full redress of
grievances, supported by Lords Shelburne and Camden, was rejected by
100 to 28. This motion was made on the 30th of last month, and the
chief objection on the ministerial part was, that it would stop the
career of their success that must soon reduce you.
TO THE COMMISSIONERS AT PARIS.
Berlin, June 15th, 1777.
Dear Sirs,
I had the honor of writing to you from Munich and Vienna, from the
last of which I arrived here the 4th of this month. The letters you
have received from hence will show you how the wind blows here; I have
tried all in my power to make it change, hitherto in vain. In ten days
I shall set out on my return. There cannot be a state of more perfect
quiescence than prevails in this place; what is merely commercial is
planned, but whether it will be adopted remains to be determined.
I have the honor of being, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.
Berlin, June 15th, 1777.
Dear Sir,
It has been with uncommon satisfaction, that I have seen you in a
situation in which I long ago hoped you would be, if we were forced to
dispute the great question, which in my own judgment I was satisfied
would happen. I never forgot your declaration, when I had last the
pleasure of being at your house in 1768, that you were ready to take
your musket upon your shoulder whenever your country called upon you. I
heard that declaration with great satisfaction. I recollect it with the
same, and have seen it verified to your immortal honor, and the eminent
advantage of the illustrious cause in which we are contending.
I have the pleasure of assuring you, that your conduct against General
Howe has been highly approved by the principal military men here and
in France. That approbation has been increased in those, to whom I
have had an opportunity of stating the great inferiority of the troops
you commanded to those of the enemy, in number and in every necessary
provision for war.
The Prussian army, which amounts to 228,000 horse and foot, are
disciplined, by force of hourly exercise and caning, to move with a
rapidity and order so as certainly to exceed any troops in Europe. When
the king reviews an army of 40,000 men, not a man or horse, though the
former in full march and the latter in full gallop, is discernibly out
of the line. The regiments here are in the field every day, where,
besides the general exercise, every man is filed off singly and passes
in review before different officers, who beat his limbs into the
position they think proper, so that the man appears to be purely a
machine in the hand of a workman.
The improvements of utility, which I have been able to note, are
these. The ramrod is thicker all the way than ours, and enlarged at
each end as ours are at one; the advantage of this is, that, to ram
down the charge they do not turn the rod, but raising it to the muzzle
plunge the lower end into the barrel, and then raising it up return it
straight, without the necessity of turning it as formerly. This saves
two very awkward motions for turning the rammer, and a great deal of
time. The mouth of the loops, that receive the rammer is very large,
so that there is much more readiness in hitting them than formerly,
which also expedites the important business of charging the musket. To
compensate the increase of weight, the musket is shortened two inches
in the barrel. When they present, instead of levelling their firelocks,
they are taught to slant them down, so that a point blank shot from
them so depressed would strike the ground at about ten yards distance.
And this depression is found necessary to counteract the elevation,
which the act of firing gives inevitably to the musket. And even when a
ball does strike the ground, it generally rises and may do execution;
but if directed too high, it is lost irretrievably.
These are alterations, which seem to me of great utility; and I wish
they may appear so to you.
It is my intention, when I have leisure, to write the history of this
civil contention. The share you have had in it will form an interesting
and important part. It will be in your power to preserve a variety of
most material papers and anecdotes for such a work. May I venture to
hope, that you will think me so far worthy of your confidence, and fit
for such a work, as to preserve them for me? Dubious parts of history
can be cleared by such documents only.
The resources of our enemy are almost annihilated in Germany; and their
last resort is to the Roman Catholics of Ireland. They have already
experienced their unwillingness to go, every man of a regiment raised
there last year having obliged them to ship him off tied and bound. And
most certainly, they will desert more than any other troops whatsoever.
They themselves rely upon the present campaign, so that if it should
not produce something very decisive in their favor; which God forbid,
we may depend upon their efforts being in the wane.
With the most ardent wishes for your success, safety, and happiness, I
am, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG TO ARTHUR LEE.
Translation.
Berlin, June 18th, 1777.
Sir,
After having duly examined the propositions, which you have been
so kind as to address to me, respecting the establishment of a
direct commerce between his Majesty’s States and the English
Colonies of America, I am of opinion with you, Sir, that it
is very probable, that even with paying the highest premium
of insurance, the scarcity and dearness of our merchandise
in America, added to the abundance and low price of your
productions, which can be advantageously sold in Europe, would
render this commerce very profitable to the two nations. Nothing
remains, therefore, but to make the essay; but a difficulty
almost insurmountable presents itself, which is, that never
having gone as far as your country, we want vessels as well as
captains, pilots, and sailors, who could or would go to such
distant seas. Besides, the vessels we have are necessary for the
interior commerce between his Majesty’s different provinces,
and for that which we carry on with France, England, and Spain.
We can only therefore try and see if there are any proprietors
of vessels in Holland or Hamburg, that in consideration of a
suitable freight, will load with and carry our merchandise; and
in the second place, if insurance can be effected.
We will endeavor to obtain information on these two points, and
if it is possible to succeed by these means, after having removed
some other difficulties of less consequence, we may be able to
derive some benefit from the information, which you have been so
kind as to furnish me.
I have the honor to be, &c.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
TO BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
Berlin, June 20th, 1777.
Sir,
I had the honor of receiving your Excellency’s letter of the 18th this
day. Upon trial, I hope the difficulties will not be found so great as
your Excellency seems to imagine.
When I had the honor of conversing with your Excellency, I mentioned,
that the admission of our cruisers into his Majesty’s ports to supply
themselves with necessaries, careen, and sell their prizes in a secret
manner, would be attended with great advantages. It is the only method
of establishing a commerce, at present, from America hither, in the
commodities and vessels of the States; for the privateers take in a
light cargo from America, which they bring to the ports where they are
permitted; this they exchange for necessary supplies, and then make a
cruise, by the profits of which they are enabled to purchase a cargo of
such manufactures as are wanted in America, with which they return.
If I had his Majesty’s permission to signify, that our cruisers would
be received in his ports upon this footing, as they are in the south,
I can have no doubt but that this species of commerce would soon take
place; and most assuredly, the advantages of it to those ports, and
consequently to his Majesty’s kingdom, would be very considerable.
Without such permission, our cruisers will be obliged to send the
prizes they make in the northern seas to the south, or directly to
America, and will have no means of commerce or communication with his
Majesty’s dominions.
In about two days I purpose quitting Berlin on my return, before which
I hope to hear from your Excellency on this important subject.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG TO ARTHUR LEE.
Translation.
Berlin, June 26th, 1777.
Sir,
After having testified to you, in my letter of the 18th instant, the
inclination we have to establish a direct commerce with the Colonies of
North America, provided we can succeed in surmounting the difficulties
which are in the way, it only remains for me to answer you respecting
the free admission of your privateers into our ports, of which you
wrote me in your letter of the 20th. I can assure you, Sir, that the
king is very much disposed to please your constituents; but, on the
other hand, his Majesty in the present circumstances, as you well
know, cannot embroil himself with the Court of London. Moreover, our
ports have ever hitherto received only merchant vessels, and no ships
of war nor privateers have ever entered there, so that the officers
established in our ports would be embarrassed how to conduct themselves
on such an occasion, the usages customarily observed in this respect
being totally unknown to them.
We must therefore inform ourselves, in what manner the Courts of
France and Spain act, and of the formalities they observe towards your
privateers, and how they grant free admission to the latter, consistent
with the connexions of friendship, which they at the same time support
with Great Britain. The result of this information will decide whether,
and on what conditions, the desired permission can be granted, and it
will afford me pleasure, Sir, to inform you as soon as possible of the
measures his Majesty shall think proper to adopt.
I have the honor of being, &c.
BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
TO THE COMMISSIONERS IN PARIS.
Berlin, June 28th, 1777.
Dear Sirs,
I have not yet received a line from you. It is not easy to divine the
reason for so long a silence.
There are for sale here, and deliverable in any port in France,
fourteen thousand weight of brass cannon, at six guineas the quintal,
and six thousand to be melted down at five guineas and a half. They
are six, twelve, and twentyfour pounders. The expense of freight and
insurance to Nantes or elsewhere will be added to this price.
Two days ago, while I was at dinner, my bureau was broken open, and
some papers stolen out, which were in my _porte-feuille_. The English
Ambassador happened to be in the hotel where I lodge, when I discovered
the robbery. Upon being informed that I was gone to the Governor, and
that the suspicion fell upon one of his servants, he went away in
great confusion, and in half an hour the _porte-feuille_ with all the
papers were laid down at the door, and the person ran off undiscovered.
The examinations that have been taken charge his servant with having
repeatedly told the servants of the hotel, that his master would give
two thousand ducats for my papers. The landlord, who charged his
servant with it before him, deposes, that he said he would send the
servant to answer for himself, but the servant never appeared. Prince
Colberg, who was also present, deposes, that he immediately quitted
the room in the greatest confusion. The whole is before the king. The
return of the papers, (those which he particularly wanted not having
been left in the bureau,) disappointed him of his object, while the
whole odium rests upon him.
I shall leave this on Thursday next, and expect to be at Strasburg in
twelve days from thence, so that a letter will meet me there by return
of post.
I am, with the greatest esteem, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE KING OF PRUSSIA.
Translation.
Berlin, June 29th, 1777.
Sire,
The singular wisdom, by which your Majesty has raised your kingdom
to so flourishing a state, the wise measures, which have carried the
prosperity of your dominions to a truly astonishing degree, do not
prevent me from being so bold, as to say to your Majesty, that there
are yet means of increasing the number and the wealth of your subjects.