from you since. Upon a supposition, that I should have funds
sufficient in my hands, I desired your house to collect 20,000 or
30,000 blankets, which I intended to pay for without troubling our
friends with you. But I find the clothing, shoes and stockings,
which I was obliged to send from hence, have consumed most part of
the money remitted to me, so that I shall be unable to pay for those
blankets. Yet they are an article most essential to our army both in
winter and summer. I must therefore beg you to beseech our friends to
extend their order to them, and have them shipped as fast as they are
collected by your house, _on the old plan_.
In consequence of what passed when we were at Burgos and Vitoria, I
wrote that our vessels would be received at the Havanna, as those
of the most favored nation. It is desired to know whether, under
this, the produce of the States may be carried thither for sale, and
prizes sold there or in any other of his Catholic Majesty’s ports
in America. I shall be much obliged to you to get me an explanation
on this head, as we would wish to avoid giving embarrassment or
offence, by extending the liberty further than is meant. The ports
being open in this manner would be certainly beneficial to both, but
I am no judge how far it would be consistent with the policy of your
commercial regulations.
Count d’Estaing’s fleet was refitted, and ready to sail from Boston
the 3d of November. His officers and sailors have behaved there with
the greatest decorum, and rendered themselves exceedingly agreeable
to the inhabitants. The fray, of which our enemies make so much,
was entirely accidental, and owing to some privateersmen wanting
to get biscuit for a cruise. The readiness of our enemies to hope,
from every little incident, a dissolution of our foreign connexions,
serves only to show how much they apprehend from a continuance of
them.
There is no certain intelligence of the enemy’s fleet or army.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, December 5th, 1778.
Gentlemen,
I had the honor of writing you on the 14th of April, May the 9th,
20th, and 23d, June the 1st, 9th, 15th, and 17th, July the 6th,
16th, 20th, 28th, and 29th, August the 21st, and 31st, September the
9th and 30th, October the 5th and 19th, November the 4th, 18th and
20th, with various enclosures, among which were triplicates of Mr
Williams’s accounts, and quadruplicates of the state of the Swiss
militia.
From Lord Suffolk’s speech on the address, it appears, that they have
adopted a dernier plan for conducting the war against you, which,
I am informed, is to burn and destroy every thing they approach.
The example of Colonel Butler is to be pursued on all the frontiers
accessible to the Indians, to whom small bodies of regulars are to be
joined. The fleet and armies are to lay waste the sea coast and its
vicinities. Lord Suffolk is the mouth of the king of Great Britain,
and his advisers, Lords Bute and Mansfield, and Mr Wedderburne. What
he says may therefore be depended on as their resolution.
From the enclosed piece (copies of which have been sent from Holland)
you will be able to judge of the nature and situation of the dispute
in Holland. The friends to themselves and us are for augmenting their
marine, the purchased advocates of England, and the dependants of the
Stadtholder, are for increasing their army.
To make them and other neutral nations feel the necessity of
supporting the privileges of their flags against the English, this
Court has declared its determination to make prize of all goods
belonging to the enemy, found in neutral ships, as long as the same
is permitted to be done by the British cruisers, with regard to the
effects of France in the same situation. This is such a blow to
their interests as, it is imagined, must rouse the Dutch to vigorous
exertions against Great Britain, in support of their privileges as
common cruisers.
The Court of Spain has published its intention of admitting the sale
of prizes, made by the French, and the entrance of all American
vessels upon the footing of all other neutral nations.
The Empress of Russia has determined to take part with the King of
Prussia in the German war, which the House of Austria seems resolved
to support against their united forces. As Hanover, and the other
German princes, are pledged to assist Prussia, our enemy can hardly
expect any aid from thence. Though it is therefore impossible to
conceive how they can maintain the war in their very exhausted state,
and without one effectual ally, yet it is certain, that they mean to
try another campaign.
I send you some charts of the Continent of America, and of the
Islands, lately published, and reckoned extremely accurate, from
which perhaps Congress may think proper to have others engraved for
the use of the navy. They consist of three volumes folio, with a
quarto volume of directions.
We are in daily expectation of the final pleasure of Congress, on the
several important matters relating to our missions.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA.[40]
Paris, December 17th, 1778.
Sir,
I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a true copy of a
proclamation and manifesto lately issued in America by the British
Commissioners. The plan of desolation and cruelty announced in it
has been approved in Parliament, by one of his Britannic Majesty’s
principal Secretaries of State, the Earl of Suffolk; and a majority
in both Houses of Parliament have given their sanction to the
manifesto itself by refusing to disclaim it. Upon these grounds it
may justly be considered the act of the nation.
The intentions of Great Britain, derogatory at once of all the
sacred rights of humanity, and of the honor of God, and of the
established laws of civilized nations, are thus declared in the
manifesto. “The policy as well as the benevolence of Great Britain
have thus far checked the _extremes of war_, when they tended to
distress a people still considered as our fellow subjects, and _to
desolate_ a country shortly to become again a source of mutual
advantage. But when that country professes the unnatural design, not
only of estranging herself from us, but of mortgaging herself and
her resources to our enemy, the whole contest is changed, and the
question is how far Great Britain may, by every means in her power,
destroy or render useless a connexion contrived for her ruin, and
for the aggrandizement of France. Under such circumstances, the laws
of self-preservation must direct the conduct of Great Britain; and
if the British Colonies are to become an accession to France, will
direct her to render that acquisition of as little avail as possible
to her enemy.”
The pretext here alleged for carrying war to all extremities, which
the laws of humanity and of nations forbid, and of _desolating_
merely for the purpose of desolation, is, that the country is to be
monopolised by France. That this is merely a pretext is manifest from
the treaty itself on which they ground it, in which it is declared,
that the United States are at liberty to make the same treaty with
all nations.
Your Excellency knows too, how unjust this imputation is in our most
secret transactions. By one of those strange absurdities, into which
men blinded by bad passions are often betrayed, they denounce this
desolation against the people at large, who they in the same breath
assert have not ratified the treaty. Thus, if we are to credit their
own assertions, the ground of their rage is pretended, and the
objects of it innocent.
It is therefore most clear, that the threatened cruelties are not out
of policy, but out of revenge. And as nothing is more odious than
this spirit, nothing more dangerous to all that is deemed dear and
sacred among men, than an open avowal of such a principle, and an
exercise of the barbarities which it suggests, such a conduct ought
to arm all nations against a people, whose proceedings thus proclaim
them to be _hostis humani generis_.
It is not that they can add to the cruelties they have already
exercised; desolation and massacre have marked their steps wherever
they could approach. The sending of those captives, whom they pretend
now to be their fellow subjects, into perpetual slavery in Africa and
India; the crowding of their captives into dungeons, where thousands
perish by disease and famine; the compelling of others, by chains
and stripes, to fight against their country and their relations;
the burning of defenceless towns; and the exciting of the savages,
by presents and bribes, to massacre defenceless frontier families,
without distinction of age or sex, are extremities of cruelty
already practised, and which they cannot exceed. But the recovery of
what they called their rights, and the reduction of those who had
renounced as they alleged a just supremacy, was then avowedly the
object of the war. These cruelties were, it was pretended, incidental
severities, and necessary to the attainment of a just object. But
now destruction alone is the object. It is not profit to themselves,
but injuries to others, which they are pursuing. Desolation for the
pleasure of destroying is their only purpose. They will sacrifice to
disappointed vengeance what their injustice lost, and their power
cannot regain.
There cannot be a greater violation of those laws, which bind
civilized nations together, which are the general property, and which
distinguish their wars from those of savages and barbarians, than
this manifesto. All civilized nations are called upon, as well by
their own interests as those of humanity, to vindicate its violated
laws. Your Excellency will therefore permit me to hope, that so
daring and dangerous a procedure will call forth a declaration from
the king of Spain, whose pre-eminent character among princes for
piety, wisdom, and honor, will render him a fit avenger of the common
cause of mankind. It is not America only, that is wronged by this
savage proclamation, but the feelings of humanity, the dictates of
religion, the laws of God, and of nations.
Your Excellency will also give me leave to request, that this
representation may be laid before his Majesty, and enforced with such
arguments as your Excellency’s greater knowledge, and the favor you
have had the goodness to manifest for our just cause may suggest.
I have the honor to be your Excellency’s very humble servant,
ARTHUR LEE.
[40] This letter was forwarded to Count de Florida Blanca, through the
agency of Count d’Aranda, Spanish Ambassador in France.
TO THE BARON DE SCHULENBURG.
Paris, December 25th, 1778.
Sir,
I had the honor of receiving your Excellency’s favor of the 1st. I
am extremely sorry for having troubled you with a representation,
which seems to have given offence, instead of obtaining redress.
Neither the character of a merchant, nor that of all the merchants of
Europe, can weigh against the evidence of one’s senses. I do assure
your Excellency upon my honor, that the musket, which is the specimen
of those sent for the best Prussian arms, and which have cost me five
livres a piece more than the best arms in France, is one of the worst
that I ever beheld. I have seen most of the troops in Europe, and I
never saw such a musket in a soldier’s hand. It has this remarkable
in it, that it is neither of the old nor the new model; but seems to
have been a barrel spoiled in attempting to new model it, and this
put into a stock of such wood, and of such fashion, that nothing
can be imagined worse. There is no mark upon it of its having been
examined. In short, a mistake between the new and the old model is
out of the question.
But your Excellency will give me leave to observe, that if my demand
was not explicit, it is a little surprising, that the house of
Splittberger, in the correspondence that passed between them and Mr
Grand, before the order was executed, did not ask an explanation,
whether the old or the new model was meant. They knew, though we did
not, that there were different kinds of arms of the Prussian make,
and therefore that a mistake might happen. As to myself, I had seen
the troops at Berlin, and the arsenal furnished with arms of the
new model. I had conversed with sundry officers upon the preference
due to arms of the Prussian make, and never found any one who by
that term did not understand those of the new model. Not knowing,
therefore, that there was any possibility of mistake, I did not
conceive I could be more explicit. Upon the whole, instead of the
best arms in Europe, which I promised, I sent the worst, if the rest
are like the specimen sent me.
I hope your Excellency will pardon me for having given you the pain
of reading one letter on this subject, and I should not have added a
second, but that there was a sort of censure thrown upon me, which
I most assuredly did not deserve. I should have thought myself
censurable, if I had concealed from your Excellency a proceeding
on the part of those gentlemen, which appeared so flagrant to me.
You thought I was alone to blame, in which I cannot in any degree
whatsoever concur.
I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a copy of a
manifesto, which the avowedly savage intentions of our enemies have
compelled Congress to make. The previous resolution will show your
Excellency with what reluctance Congress has adopted retaliation. As
long as it was possible to impute the barbarities committed, to the
unauthorised malignity of individuals, they entreated forbearance.
But when a solemn avowal on the part of his Britannic Majesty’s
Commissioners, of their determination to exercise the extremes of
war, and to desolate for the sole purpose of destroying, had deprived
them of the apology they had too generously made for the actions of
their enemies, their duty to the people, to humanity, to the nations,
called from Congress this resolution of retaliation.
This conduct of our enemies will, like all their other follies and
persecutions, knit more firmly our confederation. The inhuman purpose
of massacre and desolation, upon a pretext of our being mortgaged
to France, which the very treaty to which they allude expressly
contradicts, has armed every heart and hand against them. It has
confirmed the wavering, animated the timid, and exasperated the
brave. The laws of nations are the Common property of all civilized
people. Our liberties, which _were_ the object of the war, are
secure; we are _now_ fighting the battles of humanity and of nations,
against the avowed and bitter enemies of both.
I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your Excellency’s,
&c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA.
Paris, December 27th, 1778.
Sir,
I have the honor of enclosing to your Excellency a manifesto from
Congress, in answer to that of his Britannic Majesty’s Commissioners.
You have also enclosed a copy of a former resolution of Congress
on this subject, from which it will appear how earnestly they have
shunned this shocking extremity. As long as it was possible to
impute the barbarities committed to the unauthorised intemperance
of individuals, Congress exhorted the suffering people to lenity
and forbearance. But when they became acts of authority, avowed and
ordered, Congress must not only stand justified before God and man,
but would have been culpable in the eyes of both, had they longer
withheld the order for retaliation. Permit me to hope, that your
Excellency will represent these things to his Majesty, and that they
will produce an immediate declaration, which is most likely to arrest
the sanguinary progress of our enemy, and compel them to relinquish
the devastation of our country for the defence of their own.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.
Chaillot, January 3d, 1779.
Sir,
I have the honor to send to your Excellency the copy of a letter,
which I received yesterday. It is from the same person as the other,
which I had the honor of communicating to you through Mr Grand. It is
fourteen months since the writer has been proposing a rendezvous with
Mr Franklin and myself, for the purpose of arranging the conditions
of an accommodation. This gentleman, who is named Berkenhout, has
since that time been sent to America with the British Commissioners.
He has been imprisoned in Philadelphia on suspicion of the object
of his mission, and released for want of proofs. He has again, as
you see, returned to his country, and to his endeavors to seduce,
by offers of emoluments and _titles of honor_, which we call in our
language, _honors_.
If your Excellency is of opinion, that it would be of any utility to
endeavor to obtain proofs of authority for what he offers, I will
answer him accordingly; if otherwise, I will not return him any
answer. This is also the opinion of my colleagues.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
COUNT DE VERGENNES TO ARTHUR LEE.
Translation.
Versailles, January 4th, 1779.
Sir,
I did not find annexed to the letter you did me the honor of writing
to me yesterday, the one from England, which you mentioned, and
which you say is from Dr Berkenhout, who rendered himself suspected
at Philadelphia. But without seeing this letter, I think, Sir, that
after what has passed between Congress and the English Commissioners,
it would be unbecoming the dignity of your commission to grant
a rendezvous to agents, who did not bring the palm of sovereign
independence in their hands. My opinion would be, therefore, that you
should answer in plain terms to this agent, that unless he assures
you of the most entire acknowledgment of your independence, and
brings you propositions conformable to the fidelity, with which your
nation and government glory in fulfilling their engagements, that you
cannot consent to any interview with him, or with any other emissary.
You and your colleagues both perceive, that these people wish to
negotiate with you, not for the purpose of granting you suitable
conditions, but to hold up an appearance that there is little
agreement between you and us, by means of which illusion the purse of
the English is drained.
I have the honor to be, &c.
DE VERGENNES.
TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.
Chaillot, January 8th, 1779.
Sir,
I have the honor to send to your Excellency the answer, which I
should have written to Dr Berkenhout, had I sent one. I have studied
the Court of London and its agents very much, and for a long time,
and I conceive, that it is most for our interest to treat them with
pride, if not with an appearance of contempt.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
_P. S._ My letters from England announce, that a fleet of one hundred
and twenty sail, with provisions for the English Islands, is to sail
from Cork in a short time, with an escort of two sail of the line and
one frigate.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, January 5th, 1779.
Gentlemen,
My despatches of April the 14th, May the 9th, 20th and 23d, June the
1st, 9th, 15th and 17th, July the 6th, 16th, 20th, 26th and 29th,
August the 21st and 31st, September the 9th and 30th, October the
5th and 19th, November the 4th, 18th and 20th, and December the 5th,
remain unanswered.
Nothing material has since happened in Europe. The late proceedings
in Holland discover, that the English party have gained ground there.
The truth is, that the English borrow their money and then bribe
them with it; for it is so manifestly their interest to join against
England, and their advantages from the trade of America, being free,
are clearly so much greater than those of any other nation, that
unless their rulers were blinded by some powerful application, it is
impossible but that they should be active and earnest in promoting
this revolution. The Court of France is acting with firmness and
wisdom to restrain them by powerful motives of interest.
There does not at present seem any probability of an accommodation in
Germany. The ordinary of the expense our enemy is to incur this year
stands thus.
Exchequer bills to be paid off, £2,500,000
British troops, 3,640,000
Foreign do. 713,000
Navy, 4,589,000
Militia, 700,000
-----------
£12,142,000
To this add transport service and
extraordinaries, which cannot be less than 5,000,000
-----------
£17,142,000
Troops.
-------
They purpose having on the British establishment 82,744
Foreigners, 24,800
Augmentation to the British by new levies, 14,400
Militia, including fencible men, 39,701
American Tories, 6,000
Irish establishment, 14,685
-------
181,685
Though they will never be able to realise this number, or near it,
yet the expense will not therefore be diminished. With their taxes
doubled, and such an enormous increase of expense while her commerce
is so greatly abridged, it may easily be judged how long Great
Britain can continue so ruinous a contest. Nothing seems more sure,
than that she will not get even the stipulated number of recruits
from Germany; much less has she any chance of an augmentation.
Yet all the advices concur in assuring us, that the Cabinet is
determined on pushing the war in America, for which purpose they
propose sending the following regiments; 1st and 2d battalions of
Royals; 3d, 11th, 13th, 19th, 25th, 30th, 32d, 36th and 69th. The
18th, 66th and 67th from Ireland. These fourteen regiments may
contain from five to six thousand men. One of my correspondents,
in whom I have much reliance, thinks they will be sent to the West
Indies, and not to the Continent. In truth, I believe they will wait
till the operations of Count d’Estaing enable them to decide whether
they can venture to send them to New York, or must necessarily
re-enforce the troops in their islands in order to preserve them.
I send you copies of the bill of lading and the invoice of supplies
shipped from Bilboa, which I hope will arrive safe. You also have
an account of the money I have been intrusted with, and how I have
expended it. The vouchers are the merchants’ accounts, which I have
regularly transmitted as I received them.
We wrote to M. de Beaumarchais upon our receiving your letter, and
the agreement with his supposed company, that we were ready to
settle accounts with him whenever he chose. He has made no answer.
If your commercial agents do not keep an exact account of the marks
of what they receive on the public account, and count or weigh what
is delivered, you will want the means as we do, of checking the
demands made. For example, M. Monthieu brings in an account to us for
so many uniforms of blue cloth and so many pounds of rose copper;
and Mr Williams, the agent, gives a receipt for so many bales of
uniforms and so many casks of copper, without specifying the number,
weight, or quality, so that we are as little able to judge whether
what we are to pay for has been received, as if no receipt at all was
produced. Nor is the receipt of the agent on your side of the water
in the least more explicit.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
_P. S._ Circumstances are such, that it is not prudent to say much
about my particular department, but I think Congress will have reason
to be satisfied with that quarter. January 28th.
_Public Money expended._
1777, Livres.
May 25th, Power of Attorney to Dr Franklin
to dispose of the first remittance, 9
Remitted to Gardoqui at Bilboa
(for supplies sent to Congress)
November 29th, 1777, 60,790;
May 29th, 1778, 14,599;
September 25th, 24,654;
January 3d, 1779, 19,905; 119,848
1778,
Feb. 7th, Courier with despatches to Nantes, 120
20th, A person’s expenses to and from
London, to get intelligence, 1,165
March 30th, Remitted to the prisoners at Portsmouth
by Mr Thornton, 495
Advanced for the State of Virginia, 35,585
June, Cost and expenses of 800 fusils, 22,548
" 10th, Lieutenant Jones of the Providence,
his expenses for bringing despatches, 347
" 23d, Mr Thornton’s expenses to
Portsmouth, &c. 480
My own expenses, 2,232
Sept. 25th, Mr Bonfield’s accounts for supplies
sent, 52,501
-------
_Amount carried over_, 235,330
_Amount brought over_, 235,330
Banker’s commission, 1,037
30,000 blankets ordered from Bilboa, 210,000
Charges on them, 18,000
-------
464,567
_Public Money received._
1777, May, Remittance from Spain, 187,500
1778, Oct. Two do " do 187,500
Interest on the last for three months, 2,000
-------
377,000
-------
Debit, 87,567
-------
January 1st, 1779. Livres 464,567
COUNT DE VERGENNES TO ARTHUR LEE.
Translation.
Versailles, January 10th, 1779.
Sir,