a passage to France on board the French frigate Chimere, commanded
by the Chevalier Durumain, who, at the special request of this
State, is gone on a short cruise on the coast, in company with three
of the Continental frigates, with a prospect of intercepting some
of the enemy’s transport ships and troops from New York, intended
for Georgia. Immediately after the Chimere arrives at the bar of
Charleston, whither she is to return for necessary stores for her
voyage, I shall embark. If any accident shall prevent her return, I
will embrace the very next earliest opportunity of proceeding, either
direct for Europe, or by way of the West Indies, without regard to my
own private interest or indulgence. No vessel has sailed from this
port for Europe, since my arrival here.
I have the honor to be, &c.
HENRY LAURENS.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Charleston, February 14th, 1780.
Gentlemen,
My last address went forward, under the 31st ult. by Mr Renshaw, one
of the corps of escorts. The 10th instant, General Lincoln was on
the point of ordering the Ranger frigate to conduct me to France.
Governor Rutledge had given his consent, and I believe there would
have been no opposition in Council, but on the 11th we received
authentic intelligence of the arrival of the enemy’s troops from New
York, at and near Tybee, and the next day of their having landed
a large detachment on John’s Island, within sixteen miles of this
capital. We heard yesterday, that another detachment had landed,
and repossessed Beaufort, and we know that two ships of the line,
two frigates, and several armed vessels, are cruising near the bar
of this harbor. Thus environed an attack upon Charleston, very illy
prepared for defence, may be every hour expected.
In these circumstances, were I to study my own private interests and
desires, I should remain here, and stand or fall with my country.
Whatever her fate may be, exceedingly heavy losses to me will be
the consequence of my absence at this critical conjuncture, but the
Governor and other judicious friends urge me to use every endeavor
for obtaining a passage through some other channel. Duty dictates the
same measure. I shall therefore proceed to North Carolina, where are
four vessels belonging to this port, and embark immediately on board
of one of them. In the mean time, I shall omit no opportunity of
acquainting you with my circumstances.
I have the honor to be, &c.
HENRY LAURENS.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Charleston, February 24th, 1780.
Gentlemen,
I had the honor of intimating on the 14th instant, by a public
messenger, my purpose of seeking a passage to Europe from North
Carolina, but upon inquiry into the circumstances of the four vessels
alluded to, I judged it best to embark at this port. General Lincoln
has hired a swift sailing brigantine, the Adriana, Josiah Hill
master, to conduct me to Martinique, and the government has relaxed
the embargo on the vessel, and such cargo as she will be laden with,
which will be no more than sufficient to ballast her. By agreement,
this vessel should have sailed on the 20th instant, but bad weather
and distracted times have been impediments. She will be ready for sea
tomorrow. Nothing that I foresee will then detain her, unless the
wind shall be unfavorable.
The General has contracted to insure the value of the vessel, with
the condition of shipping such quantity of goods on Continental
account, as I should judge proper, freight free; but I must pay for
the use of the cabin, this being the perquisite of the master; and
although it is small and very inconvenient, I suppose it will cost
me forty or fifty guineas. I cannot yet bring Captain Hill to be
explicit in his demand, but it shall be ascertained before I embark.
Considering that the circuitous voyages, which I must make, will be
attended with great expense; that Congress would have furnished me
with means for defraying my expenses had it been in their power;
that they had in contemplation when I left Philadelphia to raise a
fund abroad, by the exportation of indigo; that I had an opportunity
of shipping that and other articles free from freight, and at very
moderate prices, compared with those of the staples of other States,
I presumed that it would be pleasing to Congress that I should make
such an export, on account of the United States, as will appear in
the enclosed invoice and bill of lading. The indigo alone will
probably yield upwards of £3200 sterling, at some market in Europe.
The whole shall be faithfully accounted for, and I trust that
Congress will enter into a resolution for indemnifying me, and order
the amount of the invoice to be placed to my credit. If it please God
to conduct me in safety, a part of the money arising from the sale of
the goods may be very acceptable to Mr Jay, or other gentlemen in the
service of these States abroad.
The vessel in which I am to embark is esteemed so good in this town,
as to induce underwriters, notwithstanding she is to sail in the
face of British men of war, to insure on her at 25 per cent; coming
into this port she was pursued by those very men of war and their
tender, but escaped them; she is now clean, and barely in ballast for
sailing, and will go out in an evening. My long delay is a subject of
grief to me, but Congress will be pleased to recollect, that I made
my coming to Charleston, in order to present myself at the tribunal
of my country, the _sine qua non_ of my acceptance of a new mission.
The first opportunity that offered for Europe was the Chimere,
Commodore Durumain. I have already informed you of the causes of my
disappointment. I had not thought it possible, that the Commodore
would have induced a junction of two Continental frigates with his
little squadron of three ships, under an excellent plan for a ten
days’ cruise, unless he had been fully determined to perform his
part in the execution. A contrary proceeding exposed those frigates
to imminent danger, which they narrowly escaped. What has happened
since the Commodore’s departure, respecting my intended embarkation,
Congress have been informed of.
I have the honor to be, &c.
HENRY LAURENS.
TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
Vestal--British Frigate, }
St. John’s, Newfoundland, September 14th, 1780.}
Gentlemen,
I had the honor of writing to the Board of Admiralty, from on board
the Mercury packet, the 23d ult.[72] by Captain Young, at parting
with the Saratoga. On the 3d instant, the Vestal came in view, and
after a pursuit of some five or six hours, Captain George Keppel took
possession of the packet. Mr. Young, Captain Pickles, and myself,
were conducted on board this ship, and yesterday we arrived here.
Certain papers, among which were all those delivered to me by Mr
Lovell, and the board of Admiralty, fell into Captain Keppel’s
hands. These papers had been enclosed in a bag, accompanied by
a considerable weight of iron shot, and thrown overboard, but
the weight proved insufficient for the purpose intended. Admiral
Edwards, Governor of this Island, and commander of the stationed
squadron, has ordered me to England in the sloop of war Fairy, under
the command of Captain Keppel. Mr Young and Captain Pickles will
probably go in the same vessel.
I should be wanting in justice, and indeed deficient in common
gratitude, were I to omit an acknowledgment of Captain Keppel’s
kindness to myself, and to everybody captured in the Mercury. Captain
Pickles’ conduct, while he had the command of that vessel, was
perfectly satisfactory to me.
I have the honor to be, &c.
HENRY LAURENS.
[72] This letter is missing, nor does it appear from the Correspondence
at what time, or from what place Mr Laurens sailed. On the 20th of
June, 1780, it was resolved in Congress, that, as circumstances had
prevented his departure, the commission to negotiate a loan in the
United Provinces and the Low Countries, should be transferred to John
Adams. And on the 7th of July, it was resolved, “That the commission,
which was agreed to on the first day of November, 1779, for the
honorable Henry Laurens, as a Commissioner to negotiate a treaty of
amity and commerce with the States-General of the United Provinces of
the Low Countries, be delivered to him; and that the consideration
of the instructions relative to the negotiation of the treaty be for
the present deferred; and that Mr Laurens, on his arrival in Holland,
inform himself of the state of affairs in that country, and advise
Congress particularly thereof, that they may be able to decide with
more certainty upon the terms on which such treaty ought to be settled.”
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Tower of London, December 20th, 1781.
Sir,
Almost fifteen months have I been closely confined, and inhumanly
treated, and even now have not a prospect of relief. The treaty for
exchange is abortive. There has been languor, and there is neglect
somewhere. If I merit your attention, you will no longer delay the
only speedy and efficacious means for my deliverance. Enter this if
you please, and what it may produce, on your Secret Journal, and
pardon the omission of ceremony.
I am, full of love and respect for you,
HENRY LAURENS.
_P. S._ A friend will trace the direction in ink.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Amsterdam, May 30th, 1782.
Sir,
From the 6th of October, 1780, to November, 1781, I remained a close
prisoner in the Tower of London, without hearing of any steps taken
for my release, or for my support or consolation in that distressed
state, either by Congress or by any of their servants.[73] In the
latter month I learned that Mr Edmund Burke had, some very little
time before, applied to Dr Franklin to effect an exchange between
Lieutenant General Burgoyne and myself, that the Doctor had replied
that he had in his possession a resolution of Congress for that
purpose, a copy of which he then transmitted to Mr Burke; and about
the same time, a letter from Dr Franklin to Mr Hodgson, or to Mr
Vaughan, I forget which, was put into my hands in the Tower. In this
letter, the Doctor expressed some satisfaction in having heard from
“high authority,” that I was well satisfied with the treatment I
had received in my imprisonment, (the contrary was notorious to the
whole world) and he directed the pittance of one hundred pounds to be
paid to me, if I should stand in need. To the first part I desired
it might be answered, that the Doctor had been most egregiously
misinformed, and imposed upon by the “high authority,” and that the
second was to me, after thirteen months imprisonment, _like a drop of
water from the very tip of Lazarus’ little finger_. But I heard no
more from Dr Franklin on these subjects, or any other, while I was in
confinement, nor till four months after my enlargement, and I have
received no money from him at any time.
On the 20th of December last, being still a close prisoner, I
penciled a few lines to Congress, informing them of the ill usage
I had suffered in the Tower; that the proposed treaty for exchange
had proved abortive, slightly intimating there had been a neglect
of me somewhere, and entreating that the only efficacious measure
might be adopted for my release. I penciled seven copies of this
letter, passed the whole into the hands of a friend in London, and
desired he would forward them to Holland, and France, in moiety,
for distribution on board eight vessels bound to America. From this
precaution, I trust one has gained the place of address.
Within a day or two after the British Ministry had determined against
accepting Lieutenant General Burgoyne in exchange for me, an inquiry
was made of me, from them as I believed, whether Doctor Franklin
had power to exchange Lord Cornwallis for me, to which I could give
no positive answer, and there the subject dropped. On the 31st of
December, being, as I had long been, in an extreme ill state of
health, unable to rise from my bed, I was carried out of the Tower
to the presence of the Lord Chief Justice of England, and admitted
to bail, “to appear at the Court of King’s Bench, on the first
day of Easter term, and not to depart thence without leave of the
Court.” This measure it seems had been preconcerted, and determined
upon without my solicitation or knowledge, but I refused to enter
into that, or any other obligation, until I had previously made the
following declaration to Mr Chamberlain, Solicitor of the Treasury,
(who had been sent by the Secretaries of State to notify me in the
Tower of their intention to enlarge me upon bail) in the audience
of several officers of the Court, the Governor and Deputy Governor
of the Tower, and other persons who attended upon the occasion, at
Sergeant’s Inn. “In order to prevent, or to save trouble, as I do
not know the nature of the obligation to be required of me, I think
it necessary to premise, that I will do no act that shall involve me
in an acknowledgment of subjection to this realm, and that I save
and reserve to myself all the rights and claims of a citizen of the
united, free, and independent States of North America.”[74] This
solemn second abjuration of the King, in one of his own Courts, was
going as far as decency would permit, and I was at that moment in
so very low and languishing a state, that I could express myself no
further. None but God knows what I suffered, and I expected nothing
less than to be remanded immediately to the Tower. The Solicitor
concluded by saying, that some violence had been done to the laws for
my relief.
About ten or twelve days before the first day of Easter term, being
still in a very bad state of health, I obtained permission to leave
England, in order to hold a conference with Mr Adams, having a
warrant from under the hand of Lord Shelburne to leave England, and
for putting off the day first assigned for my appearance at the Court
of the King’s Bench. Mr Adams met me at Haerlem, (within twelve miles
of Amsterdam) and, in a conversation of a very few minutes, confirmed
me in opinions, which I had firmly and uniformly delivered to the
British Ministry, that the United States of America would not enter
upon any treaty with Great Britain, but in terms of the treaty of
alliance between France and America. On the 23d of April I returned
to London, and repeated the next day to Lord Shelburne, what I had
formerly assured his Lordship on that head, in which his Lordship had
supposed, or perhaps only hoped, that I had been mistaken for want of
better information. I left his Lordship apparently disappointed and
chagrined.
On the 25th, I peremptorily declared my intention to surrender myself
to the Court of King’s Bench, the Court being then sitting, to
discharge my bail, and submit my person to the will and disposition
of the Court. This having been signified to Lord Shelburne, his
Lordship sent to me by the hands of Mr Oswald, one of my bail, an
ample discharge on the 27th. Reflecting that there had been frequent
attempts, while I was in the Tower, to discharge me under a pardon,
even privately, and to be effected by some contrivance without my
own concurrence and knowledge, I questioned Mr Oswald before I would
accept the discharge, whether it proceeded in any degree from a grant
of pardon, to which he answered in the negative upon his honor. Lord
Shelburne having, before I had been to visit Mr Adams, proposed
to grant me a full and unconditional discharge, I had replied to
his Lordship, that I dared not accept of it myself as a gift, that
Congress would make a just and adequate return for my enlargement,
that having once offered a British Lieutenant General in exchange for
me, I was under no doubt they would give for my ransom an officer of
the same rank. And I have reason to believe that after my refusal
to accept the gift, his Lordship understood and expected that such
a return would be made, although from the nature of my commitment,
it was pretended he could not formally enter into a stipulation.
Therefore, immediately after receiving the discharge on the 27th, I
wrote to Dr Franklin, and solicited his concurrence for discharging
Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. Hitherto I have not received
the Doctor’s answer. Should he concur in my opinion, and join in
the necessary act for that purpose, I trust we shall receive the
approbation of Congress.
On the 10th instant I received from Doctor Franklin a formal
notification of my appointment in the commission for treating with
Great Britain, and also a copy of the said commission. I left
London on the 11th, and arrived at Ostend on the 15th, from whence
I informed Doctor Franklin, that I declined the honor of that
office,[75] but that I should proceed to the Hague, and inquire of
Mr Adams whether I could be serviceable in the business originally
charged upon me by Congress, in which, if there was an opening, I
would engage with diligence and fidelity. Upon my arrival at the
Hague, I related to Mr Adams the purpose of my journey, adding, that
I was ready to enter upon my duty, provided I was included in his
commission, observing that my own had been destroyed at the time of
my capture. Mr Adams at first intimated a hearty desire to accept the
offer of my service, and said, “We will look into the commission.”
At our second meeting, without speaking of the commission, he
informed me that he had already taken the necessary measures in the
business, by employing proper mercantile houses to borrow money on
account of our United States. From the tenor of these answers it
remains to me uncertain, whether I am included in the subsequent
commission or not, but from his forbearing further to invite it, I
conclude he thinks my attention is not requisite, and that it could
only be productive of unnecessary expense to the public, which I
neither wish nor would encourage. I shall, therefore, after having
paid an indispensable debt of friendship and humanity, by visiting my
distressed relations in the South of France, from whom I have been
separated upwards of seventeen years, and after having recovered
by a change of climate and respite from fatigue a better state of
health, return to America, and present, if required, a much more
minute account of my conduct, to Congress. And I flatter myself with
hopes of convincing them, that notwithstanding the rigorous close
confinement which I suffered in the tower, I made many opportunities
even there, of rendering essential service to the interests of my
country, without permitting my ardor to be in the least degree
checked by considerations of neglect.
Permit me humbly to say it was I, though in close confinement, who
first urged the propriety and utility of passing an act of Parliament
for exchanging American prisoners. After my enlargement I further
urged that business to its completion, visited those prisoners at a
considerable expense to myself, administered to some of them relief
from my own impoverished pocket, and obtained much greater for them
from other persons. I first proposed to Lord Shelburne, and obtained
his Lordship’s promise to send those prisoners in cartel ships to
America, and I had the good fortune to prevail on his Lordship to
surmount the difficulty of doing this without the formality of
pardons. I had declared that not the meanest of all the American
prisoners at Portsmouth or Plymouth should accept pardon, and in my
zeal for the honor of my country I presumed to add, “If they are
discharged under that condition, not a British prisoner in America
shall be enlarged without a pardon.” I delivered my sentiments
freely on the bill, which had been so very long in agitation for
empowering the King to make a truce or peace with America, and
declared it would not only prove inadequate, but offensive. The bill
was frequently brought to me by members of Parliament, to receive
hints for amendment. The only amendment, which I could propose, was
annihilation, and I left it under various scratches and scars, in a
languishing condition. My advice was, “If you mean to do the business
of peace, it is vain to continue nibbling; do it fully and gracefully
by an act to authorise the King to recognise or to acknowledge the
independence of America; the fears which you affect to labor under,
that America will become dependent upon any other power, will thereby
be effectually removed.” I was told, a new bill, which would be
tantamount to my ideas, would be introduced into Parliament; but
since I left England, intimations to me from private friends speak of
their continuing to hack at the old. I think, however, the temper of
the present House of Commons will not give it passage without very
great reform. This will probably be known before my letter enters
upon its voyage.[76]
I shall conclude this head with the words of a friend, received
since my arrival on this side of the water. “_They_ (meaning the
British ministry) _think your absence good company_”. I believe
this may be applicable to that part of the Ministry, who still hear
with reluctance the doctrine of the total independence of America;
a doctrine which I asserted in the Tower of London, and out of
it, and always in the presence of their Lordships, as freely and
as strenuously as ever I had done in Philadelphia, and to which I
am assured I have made many converts amongst people of the first
importance in England, and perhaps it would be no exaggeration
instead of many, to say thousands. Even Lord Shelburne, in the last
conversation I had the honor of holding with his Lordship, discovered
his determination, if not to be reconciled, to submit to it. “I shall
part with America, Mr Laurens, with great regret, because I think a
total separation will not be for her good.” As far as I am able to
judge, the people of England, and I have lately been very much among
them, are sincerely disposed to peace with America, and to accede to
her absolute independence; and I have some grounds for hoping, that
the day is not far distant when those, who have it more immediately
in their power to breathe peace or war, will perceive it to be
for the interest of their country to enter heartily into the same
disposition. The terms and conditions they know, and they now know
the terms and conditions must be complied with.
Mr Moses Young, whom I had engaged at my first appointment by
Congress to attend me as a Secretary and assistant, has made a claim
for five hundred and sixtyseven pounds, fourteen shillings and two
pence, sterling, as due to him for salary to the 15th of February,
1782, when he entered the public service under Dr Franklin. I shall
recommend the payment of the said sum to the Doctor. Mr Young’s loss
of time, loss of effects, and suffering in imprisonment, as well as
his zeal and attachment in the cause of America, will be considered
by Congress, and I hope, when he shall make a proper representation
of his case, a further sum will be granted to him. While I remain in
Europe, the honor and interests of the United States shall be always
in my view, and though in a private character, I do not despair of
being serviceable to my country.
I have the honor to be, &c.
HENRY LAURENS.
_P. S. May 31st._ The success of the British fleet in the West Indies
may, and probably will, inflate the heart of his Britannic Majesty,
and turn it from an immediate disposition to peace.
[73] The following letter merits insertion in this place. It was
written to Count de Vergennes by the Marchioness de Lafayette, wife
of the Marquis de Lafayette, immediately after she heard the news of
the capture of Mr Laurens. It is translated from the original, which I
found among the American papers in the Archives of Foreign Affairs in
Paris. It should be premised, that, after the Marquis de Lafayette was
wounded at the battle of Brandywine, Mr Laurens, then at Philadelphia,
took him in his carriage to Bethlehem, and provided for him a safe and
comfortable retreat, where he remained till his wound was healed. This
letter to the Count de Vergennes, is equally a proof of the gratitude
and tenderness of its fair author.
“Paris, October 18th, 1780.