framing a plan of a foreign loan. It is my duty to say, that there
is not the least probability, in the present situation of things,
of obtaining any adequate loan in Europe, and to beseech Congress
not to let the vain expectation of that divert their attention from
trying every resource at home. It is necessary, that the impressions
to our discredit, which have arisen from the unsuccessful attempts
that have been already made, should be allowed to wear off, and some
favorable event occur, such as the enemy being obliged to draw off
their troops, before it will be possible to succeed in such a plan.
In the meantime, the repetition of ineffectual attempts will only
debase your credit more, and especially, if they are accompanied with
the offer of more than ordinary interest, which ever augments the
suspicion of the insecurity of the principal, and that the borrowers
are themselves conscious of their insufficiency.
It gives me pain to mention what regards myself so often; but
Congress will permit me to repeat, that if it should not please them
to recall me, it is absolutely necessary that some provision should
be made for the support of my mission, independent of Dr Franklin.
If, in the meantime, the State of Virginia should reimburse me what I
have advanced for them, that will be a fund, and I will immediately
give Congress advice of it. I must also beg, that Congress will fix
a sum for my expenses, both that I may not exceed what is thought
reasonable, nor have my time and attention employed in keeping
accurate accounts of expenses, which I never did do, nor ever shall
to my own satisfaction, or I believe to that of any one else. So that
if this is expected, it will expose me to censure, which I wish to
avoid.
The little time that remains from daily attention to public business,
and in collecting and digesting what relates to it, I wish to
devote to private correspondence and reading. I have, therefore,
thought it always sufficient to proportion my expenses in general
to my situation and means, without a minute attention to them in
detail. Whatever Congress fixes as reasonable will be the rule of my
conduct, and it will spare both them and myself a great deal of, as I
conceive, unnecessary trouble.
I cannot learn with any certainty, what probability there is of
any other powers entering next year into the present war. On that
subject, your Minister here, as his situation gives him the means,
will furnish you with earlier and surer information than it is
possible for me to obtain. But the following are nearly the plans
of the French and British cabinets for the next campaign. Fourteen
ships of seventyfour guns, and 8000 troops, are to be sent from hence
to the West Indies. The twelve expected home with Count d’Estaing,
being refitted with eight new ones, added to the sixteen remaining of
those which form the present fleet, and fifteen Spanish ships, will
make fiftyone sail, which are to convoy fifty thousand troops from
Brest, where they are all to be collected, to whatever part of the
coast of England is fixed upon for a descent. By this disposition of
the fleet and army, it is expected that the delay and disappointments
which render this campaign abortive will be avoided. The bulk of the
Spanish fleet is to secure the Mediterranean and press Gibraltar,
while the army continues its approaches by land.
The English cabinet are resolved to send all the troops they can
possibly collect, which they say will amount to 8 or 10,000 against
you, and stand upon the defensive at home. Their situation, however,
is not a little embarrassing. The Irish nation are so generally
determined upon having a free trade, that the Court was obliged to
allow it to be inserted in the address of both Houses, that a free
trade is their right and they must have it. To support this, there
are, besides the unanimous voice of the people, upwards of 15,000
men, in volunteer companies actually in arms, without the permission
or control of government. To delay or refuse the granting of free
trade, will endanger a general and most formidable insurrection
in that kingdom. To grant it, will produce commotions of no less
magnitude in England, of which they have already had some fearful
examples in and about Manchester. These insurrections, whenever they
happen, will be exasperated by great and real distress. For the fact
is, that if it be refused to Ireland, that country will be undone,
and if it be granted, the woollen and other manufactures of England
will be ruined. In such a situation, it is difficult to imagine a
medium by which the violences will be prevented, that must otherwise
call for the troops at home, which they have destined for us.
In Scotland the discontent is such, that a highland regiment actually
seized the castle of Edinburgh, and shut the gates against their
officers. This mutiny has been quelled, but the spirit that produced
it is not altered.
The inactivity of this campaign has left their credit unimpaired, and
their fleets have generally got in safe from all quarters. They will,
therefore, find money for the next campaign, but it is not probable,
that with all their efforts they will be able to equip a fleet equal
to that which will go against them. Without some accident, therefore,
they must either suffer the French army to land, or hazard an unequal
combat, which, if they are overcome, will leave their coast at the
mercy of invaders. To add to their counsels, already enfeebled by
the death of the only man of ability and business among them, Lord
Suffolk, they have put Lord Stormont, the most insufficient man
in the kingdom, into his place. Such is the present situation and
prospect of things in Europe.
Congress will, I hope, consider, that various events may change or
delay the plans above stated, and not let it impeach the veracity
of the intelligence, that they are not executed. Much, for example,
will depend upon Count d’Estaing’s movements and success, which
were not foreseen when these plans were formed. His expedition is
entirely of his own planning, and, therefore, could not be taken into
consideration here.
I enclose a copy of the Spanish ultimatum, which by mistake was
omitted being sent sometime ago. The following passage in the
manifesto, published by the Court of Great Britain, in answer to that
of France, seems to me a proof how little she herself expects from
the war with us.
“Two years have not passed since the day the rebels
declared their criminal resolution of shaking off the
yoke of the mother country, and this term has been
filled with the events of a bloody and obstinate war.
Success has been balanced, but the army of the king,
which occupies the most important maritime cities,
has continued to menace the interior provinces. The
English flag predominates in all the American seas.”
When all they can boast of, as the fruit of two years’ bloody and
obstinate war, in which, though they do not choose to say it, all
Europe knows they have expended forty millions of treasure, and
sixty thousand lives, is a balanced success, and the possession of
a few maritime towns, from whence they threaten us, it is plain
enough, that they themselves have not a hope of success. Their war,
therefore, is a war of desperate vengeance, which nothing can justify.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, November 30th, 1779.
Gentlemen,
Since my last, of the 6th and 25th, some material changes have taken
place in the British Ministry. Lord Bathurst is made Lord President
of the Council; Lord Hillsborough Secretary of State; and Lord
Carlisle first Lord of Trade. Lord Gower and Lord Weymouth are out.
I communicate this change to you, because it marks the entire
ascendency of that influence which began this war, and which will
assuredly continue it to every extremity. The two ex-ministers are
chiefs of the Bedford party, which of late has been for peace with us.
I know they are using every means with Russia and the German Princes,
to procure troops against you; but I cannot learn that they have
succeeded. It is impossible to say, what changes in the politics
of those powers the very unexpected inefficacy of this campaign
may produce. One thing is sure; that as it confirms their credit,
it will supply them with money, and enable them to continue the
war in a manner that appeared impossible six months ago. New York
and Charleston, if they can compass the possession of this latter,
are the strong holds from whence they purpose carrying continual
desolation and distress through all the States. The driving them
from New York is, therefore, an object of the last importance to the
welfare of our country.
It is certain that Holland will remain neuter, and under that
neutrality furnish us supplies, and, I hope, free from that
unexampled extortion in price, and imposition in quality, to which we
have been subjected from other quarters.
I still wait here for instructions, and must repeat to Congress,
that the refusal of Dr Franklin to furnish any money for my expenses
should I go to Spain, makes it necessary, if I am to serve, that some
other means of supplying me should be adopted; and I beg it may be
with a sum fixed, that future discussions and disputes may be avoided.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, December 8th, 1779.
Gentlemen,
I have the honor of transmitting to you the King of England’s speech
to his Parliament, and a memorial from his Ambassador at the Hague,
demanding assistance from the United Provinces. It is not probable he
will obtain it.
The speech shows, what I before wrote you was resolved in the British
Cabinet, a determination to continue the war. His total silence about
alliances seems as if he had not formed any, which I believe to be
the fact.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA.
Paris, December 16th, 1779.
Sir,
Your Excellency will have the goodness to permit my recalling to
your consideration what I have already had the honor of stating
to you, relative to the plan of the common enemy to establish
themselves in Georgia and South Carolina, in order to carry on more
effectually the war against the possessions of Spain in America,
and against the United States. I have most undoubted intelligence,
that they are more and more determined on pursuing this plan. The
good intentions of Count d’Estaing to drive them from Georgia having
unfortunately failed, and the departure of the French fleet having
left them again a decided superiority on our coast, must give them
fresh encouragement to prosecute their enterprise, and will render
the assistance of his Catholic Majesty’s squadron at the Havanna
absolutely necessary to prevent its succeeding. Suffer me, therefore,
to entreat most earnestly your Excellency’s attention to this, if
other more near and important objects of the war should have hitherto
diverted it.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, December 25th, 1779.
Gentlemen,
I this day had the honor of receiving yours of the 13th of October,
notifying me, by the Resolve of Congress of the same date, of Mr
Jay’s appointment and my recall. As Mr Jay is not yet arrived, I
suppose it my duty to wait his coming, that I may communicate to him
what is in my knowledge, that concerns the public in his department.
It does not appear that it has pleased Congress to give any orders
about the immediate return of the Confederacy, and taking me on
board, without which it may be many months before I can find a
passage in any other manner. Mr Izard has been waiting at Amsterdam
for two months to get even to St Eustatia on his way home.
The plans of the enemy, of which I advised you in mine of the 13th of
October and the 6th of November, are going into execution with vigor.
Admiral Rodney has probably sailed by this time. The ministry appear
to be tottering, but unfortunately for us if they do go out they will
give place to men by far more formidable to us in wisdom, economy,
popularity, and confidence, both foreign and domestic. I feel it,
therefore, in the strongest manner my duty to conjure Congress to
prepare for a campaign which, in all human probability, will be urged
with the utmost vigor, and to call forth every resource at home for
the support of the public credit, without any reliance on foreign
assistance. Such assistance is too precarious to hazard our cause on,
and strong exertions on our part will give it, should it exist, a
surer and more speedy effect. Congress may rely upon it, that on no
terms whatsoever will our independence be acknowledged at present by
Great Britain.
There are granted, for the service of the ensuing year, 178,950
men, including 4200 militia, and it is supposed that 97000 will be
employed in America and the Islands. The removal of all restrictions
on the export of wool, woollens, and glass ware from Ireland to Asia,
Africa, and America, the United States excepted, it is probable will
prevent any immediate commotions in that kingdom, and it is certain
that the British Court have not such apprehensions from that quarter,
as to prevent them from pursuing their operations against you in
their utmost extent.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Paris, January 19th, 1780.
Gentlemen,
Having signified to the Count de Vergennes the resolution of
Congress, assenting to my return, his Excellency proposed my taking
leave of the King in form, and upon my doing so, that minister
presented me his Majesty’s picture set in diamonds.
I thought it my duty to decline accepting it, upon which his
Excellency told me it was a mark of his Majesty’s esteem, and was
never refused. After this it appeared to me improper to persist in
the refusal, and I received it with a determination to leave it to
the disposal of Congress. It is sufficient for me, that the giving it
is a distinguished proof of the untruth of what has been asserted,
that this Court was disgusted with me and dissatisfied at my conduct.
The present itself I shall dispose of according to the pleasure
of Congress. His Majesty’s portrait is graved upon my mind by the
justice and virtue which constitute his character, of which gold and
jewels cannot enhance the value.
Permit me from this example to remark, for the sake of the ministers,
that this law should be explained so as not to leave them to the
disagreeable alternative of an ungracious refusal, or an acceptance
that may expose them to censure.
An expedition with ten thousand of the enemy’s best troops will
take place in about two months from Ireland, and though from the
profound secrecy observed, I have not yet been able to discover its
destination with certainty, yet I have sufficient reason to think
that Boston is the object of it.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO JOHN JAY MINISTER FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AT MADRID.
L’Orient, March 17th, 1780.
Sir,
I had not the honor of receiving your favor, dated 26th of January,
till this day, and at this place, from which I am to embark as soon
as the Alliance is ready. Your letter had a double seal upon it, the
undermost seeming to be a head, and the one above being a coat of
arms, but what I cannot clearly make out. I mention this, that you
may judge whether these seals were of your applying.
Give me leave Sir, to take this opportunity of expressing my concern
for the dangers and sufferings, which you and your family experienced
in your passage, and to congratulate you and my country on your safe
arrival in Europe.
I waited some time in Paris, after I received notice of your
appointment, in expectation of your arrival, that I might communicate
many things to you in a personal interview, which cannot be committed
to paper. It would have given me very great pleasure to obtain for
you those recommendations to the confidence of some of the first
persons at the Court of Madrid, that were promised me, which might
have been effected by making you personally acquainted with those,
who were to give them.
The copies of memoirs, and the letters, which I wrote to Congress,
contained in general what you do me the honor of asking. I have
reason to believe, that you will find a favorable disposition where
you wish. There is no Court in Europe, at which secrecy will so much
recommend a negotiator, as that to which you are destined. Insomuch,
that as far as you can keep the capital parts of your negotiation
entirely to your own breast, you will have reason to think it
prudent. You are to negotiate with a people of honor and a Ministry
of wisdom. They will propose fairly and perform faithfully. You will
not be embarrassed by intrigue, at least, none of Spanish origin,
nor will it be advantageous to employ any. These considerations,
together with the good sense and great abilities for which you are
distinguished, make me hope, Sir, that you will accomplish with
facility the important purposes of your mission; to the advantage of
our country and to your own honor.
The house of Gardoqui has executed what was intrusted to them with
diligence, and as far as I can judge, with fidelity. They therefore
deserve your confidence. There is due to them from the public
12,000 livres, which they advanced for the freight of goods sent to
Congress; and which, as it was done without my knowledge, I had made
no provision for, and therefore could not repay it. The part of the
prize money due to the public for the prizes sent into the ports of
Spain, by Captain Cunningham, was never remitted to me, nor has the
account been settled to my knowledge.
Accept my thanks for your care of the letters for me. As I shall
certainly have quitted Europe before they can reach me, I must
beg the favor of you to enclose them to Mr Lovell with the first
despatches, which you send to Congress.
If an entire stranger may be permitted to offer his homage to your
lady, I beg the favor of you, Sir, to make mine acceptable to Mrs Jay.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, October 7th, 1780.
Sir,
I must trouble your Excellency to inform Congress of my arrival
in this city; and that I shall obey their commands, in giving them
information in my power relative to the conduct of their private
affairs.
Your Excellency will permit me to deposit with you the picture of the
King of France, set with diamonds, which the Minister of that monarch
presented to me, as a mark of his Majesty’s esteem, upon my taking
leave of the Court of Versailles. But as it was in consequence of my
having been a Commissioner of Congress at that Court, I do not think
it becomes me to retain this present, without the express approbation
of Congress.
It is with infinite pain, that I feel myself obliged to mention
to Congress, that the manner of my dismission from the service of
the United States implies a censure upon my conduct abroad, and is
injurious to my character. I have already laid before Congress the
fullest evidence of the untruth and malice of the insinuations made
against me. And as they all appear at length abandoned by those who
made them, and the single assertion maintained of my having been
disesteemed at the French Court, I desire to lay before Congress a
copy of a letter from Count de Vergennes in direct contradiction to
that assertion; with two letters from my colleague, Mr John Adams, as
testimonials of my conduct, to which he was witness.[51]
Should any doubt remain in Congress, that the insinuations made
against me were groundless and malicious, and that I have discharged
the public trust reposed in me with zeal and fidelity, I must beg of
their justice to give me a full hearing at their bar, upon the whole
of the proceedings, that concern my public conduct.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.
_P. S._ I have brought with me the original vouchers, to show the
manner of the expenditure in public supplies, of the money intrusted
to me, particularly for the public use. These vouchers I shall lay
before Congress as soon as it is their pleasure to receive them.
[51] For these letters see above, p. 224, 227, and 249.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Philadelphia, December 7th, 1780.
Sir,
I received in due time the letter, which your Excellency did me the
honor of writing me, on the 26th of October, enclosing a resolution
of Congress, by which I am directed to lay before them all the
information in my power, relative to their affairs in Europe.
As a citizen of the United States, I should have immediately complied
with the desire of that respectable body, had I not felt myself
embarrassed by the dubious light in which the manner of my dismission
from the public service had placed my conduct.[52]
The information Congress requires should comprehend the conduct,
character, views, and dispositions of the Courts and Ministers with
which these United States are connected, and the proceedings of the
servants of Congress in Europe. It is hardly to be expected, that
I should commit to paper what I know and think of the former; and
of the latter, the disputes which have been artfully excited and
fomented, make it a painful task to speak even the truth.
In my letter of the 21st of May, 1779, I have written as far as I
might of the state of Europe, and the most material alterations
since, are the declaration of Spain against Great Britain, upon a
distinct ground, and the league of the neutral powers, planned by
the Empress of Russia, to maintain and enlarge the rights of neutral
ships. But the real policy of this plan was to prevent the House of
Bourbon, as well as Great Britain, from acquiring a dominion of the
seas, dangerous to the liberties of the rest of Europe.
The ineffectual attempts, which have been made in Europe for
obtaining money, and the disposition which I observed on that
subject, satisfied me, that however essentially necessary it may
be at this juncture, it will be infinitely difficult to succeed.
The Court of France in particular will not, I am of opinion, assist
us with any adequate sum, but from being fully impressed with the
indispensable necessity of it to the maintenance of our independence,
and that we are by wise and honest systems retrieving the public
credit, and establishing funds, which may soon relieve them from the
burthen of supplying us.
With regard to loans from the public at large in Europe, you will
permit me, Sir, to repeat what I had the honor of writing to the
Committee of Congress, November 6th, 1779. “I perceive by the
journals, that a committee is appointed for framing a plan of a
foreign loan. It is my duty to say, that there is not the least
probability in the present situation of things of obtaining any
adequate loan in Europe, and to beseech Congress not to let the
vain expectation of that divert their attention from trying every
resource at home. It is necessary, that the impressions to our
discredit, which have arisen from the unsuccessful attempts, that
have been already made, should wear off, and some favorable event
occur, such as the enemy being obliged to draw off their troops,
before it will be possible to succeed in such a plan. In the meantime
the repetition of ineffectual attempts will only debase your credit
more, and especially if they are accompanied with the offer of more
than ordinary interest, which ever augments the suspicion of the
insecurity of the principal, and that the borrowers are themselves
conscious of their insufficiency.” Since the time the above was
written, the successes of the enemy against us have necessarily
increased the improbability of our having credit to found a foreign
loan.
From the experience I have had of your foreign affairs, as well
as from the example of all other States, the establishment of a
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who may digest them into
system, and conduct them with regularity, seems absolutely necessary.
There remains one object of the last importance to the most essential
interest of these States, in the final settlement of the present
contest, that is the Court of Petersburg. The vast power of the
Russian Empire, the wisdom and extensive views of its Ministers,
and the respectability of its Empress, give that Court the greatest
weight among the confederate neutral powers. These certainly hold
the balance in this war, and most probably will dictate the terms
of a general pacification. The wisdom of Congress will, therefore,
perceive, that it is of the greatest consequence, that the views and
opinions of that Court in this question should be known to them,
and measures taken to impress the Empress and her Council with a
favorable opinion of our cause. And this more especially, as the
Empress has been hitherto left entirely to English impressions, and
some degree of disrespect shown her in applications to other powers.
I have the honor to be, &c.
ARTHUR LEE.