Affairs inform the said Ministers, that many thousands of slaves,
and other property, to a very great amount, have been carried
off, or destroyed by the enemy; and that in the opinion of
Congress, the great loss of property, which the citizens of the
United States have sustained by the enemy, will be considered by
the several States as an insuperable bar to their making
restitution or indemnification to the former owner of property,
which has been, or may be forfeited to, or confiscated by any of
the States."
In consequence of these resolutions and circular letters of the
Secretary, the Assembly of Pennsylvania, then sitting, passed the
following act, viz.
"_State of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly._"
Wednesday, September 18th, 1782.
"The bill, entitled 'An Act for procuring an estimate of the damages
sustained by the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, from the troops and
adherents of the King of Great Britain during the present war,' was
read a second time.
"Ordered to be transcribed, and printed for public consideration.
Extract from the minutes.
PETER Z. LLOYD.
_Clerk of the General Assembly._"
"Whereas great damages, of the most wanton nature, have been committed
by the armies of the King of Great Britain, or their adherents within
the territory of the United States of North America, unwarranted by
the practice of civilized nations, and only to be accounted for from
the vindictive spirit of the said King and his officers; and whereas
an accurate account and estimate of such damages, more especially the
waste and destruction of property, may be very useful to the people of
the United States of America, in forming a future treaty of peace,
and, in the meantime, may serve to exhibit in a true light to the
nations of Europe the conduct of the said King, his Ministers,
officers, and adherents; to the end, therefore, that proper measures
be taken to ascertain the damages aforesaid, which have been done to
the citizens and inhabitants of Pennsylvania, in the course of the
present war within this State; Be it enacted by the House of
Representatives of the freemen of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in
General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, that in every
county of this State, which has been invaded by the armies, soldiers,
or adherents of the King of Great Britain, the Commissioners of every
such county shall immediately meet together, each within their county,
and issue directions to the assessors of the respective townships,
districts, and places within such county, to call upon the inhabitants
of every township and place, to furnish accounts and estimates of the
damages, waste, spoil, and destruction, which have been done and
committed as aforesaid, upon the property, real or personal, within
the same township or place, since the first day of which was in
the year of our Lord 177 , and the same accounts and estimates to be
transmitted to the Commissioners without delay. And if any person or
persons shall refuse or neglect to make out such accounts and
estimates, the said assessors of the township or place shall, from
their own knowledge, and by any other reasonable and lawful method,
take and render such an account and estimate of all damage done or
committed, as aforesaid; Provided always, that all such accounts and
estimates to be made out and transmitted as aforesaid, shall contain a
narrative of the time and circumstances; and if in the power of the
person aggrieved, the names of the General, or other officers or
adherents of the enemy by whom the damage in any case was done, or
under whose orders the army, detachment, party, or persons, committing
the same, acted at that time, and also the name and condition of the
person or persons, whose property was so damaged or destroyed, and
that all such accounts and estimates be made in current money, upon
oath or affirmation of the sufferer, or of others having knowledge
concerning the same; and that in every case it be set forth, whether
the party injured hath received any satisfaction for his loss, and by
whom the same was given.
"And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said
Commissioners, having obtained the said accounts and estimates from
the assessor of the several townships and places, shall proceed to
inspect and register the same in a book, to be provided for that
purpose, distinguishing the districts and townships, and entering
those of each place together; and if any account and estimate be
imperfect, or not sufficiently verified and established, the said
Commissioners shall have power, and they, or any two of them, are
hereby authorised to summon and compel any person, whose evidence they
shall think necessary, to appear before them at a day and place
appointed, to be summoned upon oath or affirmation, concerning any
damage or injury as aforesaid; and the said Commissioners shall, upon
the call and demand of the President, or Vice President of the Supreme
Executive Council, deliver, or send to the Secretary of the said
council, all or any of the original accounts and estimates aforesaid,
and shall also deliver, or send to the said Secretary, copies of the
book aforesaid, or any part or parts thereof, upon reasonable notice.
And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all losses
of negro or mulatto slaves and servants, who have been deluded and
carried away by the enemies of the United States, and who have not
been recovered or recompensed, shall be comprehended within the
accounts and estimates aforesaid; and that the Commissioners and
assessors of any county, which had not been invaded as aforesaid,
shall nevertheless inquire after, and procure accounts and estimates
of any damages suffered by the loss of such servants and slaves, as is
herein before directed as to other property.
"And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the
charges and expenses of executing this act, as to the pay of the said
Commissioners and assessors, shall be as in other cases; and that
witnesses shall be rewarded for their loss of time and trouble, as
witnesses summoned to appear in the courts of quarter sessions of the
peace; and the said charges and expenses shall be defrayed by the
commonwealth; but paid, in the first instance, out of the hands of the
Treasurer of the County, for county rates, and levies upon orders
drawn by the Commissioners of the proper county."
We have not yet had time to hear what has been done by the other
assemblies; but I have no doubt that similar acts will be made use of
by all of them, and that the mass of evidence produced by the
execution of those acts, not only of the enormities committed by those
people, under the direction of the British Generals, but of those
committed by the British troops themselves, will form a record that
must render the British name odious in America to the latest
generations. In that authentic record will be found the burning of the
fine towns of Charlestown, near Boston; of Falmouth, just before
winter, when the sick, the aged, the women and children, were driven
to seek shelter where they could hardly find it; of Norfolk, in the
midst of winter; of New London, of Fairfield, of Esopus, &c. besides
near a hundred and fifty miles of well settled country laid waste;
every house and barn burnt, and many hundreds of farmers, with their
wives and children, butchered and scalped.
The present British Ministers, when they reflect a little, will
certainly be too equitable to suppose, that their nation has a right
to make an unjust war, (which they have always allowed this against us
to be,) and do all sorts of unnecessary mischief, unjustifiable by the
practice of any individual people, which those they make war with are
to suffer without claiming any satisfaction; but that if Britons, or
their adherents, are in return deprived of any property, it is to be
restored to them, or they are to be indemnified. The British troops
can never excuse their barbarities. They were unprovoked. The
loyalists may say in excuse of theirs, that they were exasperated by
the loss of their estates, and it was revenge. They have then had
their revenge. _Is it right they should have both?_
Some of those people may have merit in their regard for Britain, and
who espoused her cause from affection; these it may become you to
reward. But there are many of them who were waverers, and were only
determined to engage in it by some occasional circumstance or
appearances; these have not much of either merit or demerit; and there
are others, who have abundance of demerit respecting your country,
having by their falsehoods and misrepresentations brought on and
encouraged the continuance of the war; these, instead of being
recompensed, should be punished.
It is usual among Christian people at war to profess always a desire
of peace; but if the Ministers of one of the parties choose to insist
particularly on a certain article, which they have known the others
are not and cannot be empowered to agree to, what credit can they
expect should be given to such professions?
Your Ministers require that we should receive again into our bosom
those who have been our bitterest enemies, and restore their
properties who have destroyed ours, and this, while the wounds they
have given us are still bleeding! It is many years since your nation
expelled the Stuarts and their adherents, and confiscated their
estates. Much of your resentment against them may by this time be
abated; yet, if we should propose it, and insist on it as an article
of our treaty with you, that that family should be recalled and the
forfeited estates of its friends restored, would you think us serious
in our progressions of earnestly desiring peace?
I must repeat my opinion, that it is best for you to drop all mention
of the refugees. We have proposed, indeed, nothing but what we think
best for you as well as ourselves. But if you will have them
mentioned, let it be in an article, in which you may provide, that
they shall exhibit accounts of their losses to the Commissioners,
hereafter to be appointed, who should examine the same, together with
the accounts now preparing in America of the damages done by them, and
state the account, and that if a balance appears in their favor, it
shall be paid by us to you, and by you divided among them as you shall
think proper. And if the balance is found due to us, it shall be paid
by you.
Give me leave, however, to advise you to prevent the necessity of so
dreadful a discussion by dropping the article, that we may write to
America and stop the inquiry.
I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO B. FRANKLIN.
Philadelphia, November 27th, 1782.
Sir,
An opportunity offering from this port to write directly to you, I do
not choose to hazard anything by the post, which carries this to
Boston, particularly as I did not hear till just now, that a frigate
was to sail from thence, and it is uncertain whether this will arrive
in time to go by her. This then only accompanies the newspapers, which
contain all the public information now in circulation.
The Memorials of Messrs la Marque and Fabru are transmitted to South
Carolina, as it is a matter in which the United States are not
concerned. It is to be hoped, that the State will do justice to the
claimants, if, as asserted, Gillon acted under authority from them. He
has just left this with his ship, not in the most honorable manner,
having, as I am informed, been arrested by order of the proprietor of
the ship for his proportion of the prize money. The sheriff stands in
the gap.
The Swiss officer mentioned in yours, I have sent to Edenton to get
information about. You shall have the result of inquiries in my next.
As your grandson will probably choose to continue in the line he is
in, I cannot but think he might find important advantages from opening
a correspondence with this office. His diligence and accuracy in
collecting and transmitting intelligence would procure him friends
here. My attachment to you will render me desirous to place them in
the best light.
I am, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
* * * * *
TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.
Passy, November 29th, 1782.
Sir,
I have the honor to acquaint your Excellency, that the Commissioners
of the United States have agreed with Mr Oswald, on the preliminary
articles of the peace between those States and Great Britain. Tomorrow
I hope we shall be able to communicate to your Excellency a copy of
them.[7]
With great respect, I have the honor to be, Sir, your Excellency's
most obedient and most humble servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
FOOTNOTE:
[7] These articles will be found in the Correspondence of the
Commissioners.
* * * * *
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO B. FRANKLIN.
Philadelphia, December 3d, 1782.
Sir,
I have just now received the certificates required by Mr Wallier. The
vessel which carries my other despatches having been long detained, I
embrace the opportunity to forward them. Nothing new since my last,
except that, by a gentleman who left Charleston the 4th instant, we
learn that the British had dismounted their cannon, and were certainly
on the point of leaving it.
I am, Sir, &c.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
* * * * *
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON
Passy, December 4th, 1782.
Sir,
We detain the Washington a little longer, expecting an English
passport for her in a few days, and as possibly some vessel bound for
North America may sail before her, I write this line to inform you,
that the French preliminaries with England are not yet signed, though
we hope they may be very soon. Of ours I enclose a copy. The Dutch and
Spain have yet made but little progress, and as no definitive treaty
will be signed till all are agreed, there may be time for Congress to
give us further instructions, if they think proper. We hope the terms
we have obtained will be satisfactory, though, to secure our main
points, we may have yielded too much in favor of the royalists. The
quantity of aid to be afforded us remains undecided. I suppose
something depends on the event of the treaty. By the Washington you
will be fully informed of everything.
With great regard, I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
Passy, December 5th, 1782.
Sir,
I am honored by your several letters, Nos 16, 17, 18 and 19, dated
September 5th, 13th, 15th, and 18th. I believe that the complaints you
make in them of my not writing, may ere now have appeared less
necessary, as many of my letters written before those complaints must
have since come to hand. I will nevertheless mention some of the
difficulties your Ministers meet with, in keeping up a regular and
punctual correspondence. We are far from the seaports, and not well
informed, and often misinformed about the sailing of vessels.
Frequently we are told they are to sail in a week or two, and often
they lie in the ports for months after, with our letters on board,
either waiting for convoy, or for other reasons. The post office here
is an unsafe conveyance; many of the letters we received by it have
evidently been opened, and doubtless the same happens to those we
send; and at this time particularly, there is so violent a curiosity
in all kinds of people to know something relating to the negotiations,
and whether peace may be expected, or a continuance of the war, that
there are few private hands or travellers, that we can trust with
carrying our despatches to the seacoast; and I imagine that they may
sometimes be opened and destroyed because they cannot be well sealed.
Again, the observation you make, that the Congress Ministers in Europe
seem to form themselves into a privy council, transacting affairs
without the privity or concurrence of the sovereign, may be in some
respects just; but it should be considered, that if they do not write
as frequently as other Ministers here do to their respective Courts,
or if when they write, their letters are not regularly received, the
greater distance of the seat of war, and the extreme irregularity of
conveyances may be the causes, and not a desire of acting without the
knowledge or orders of their constituents. There is no European Court,
to which an express cannot be sent from Paris in ten or fifteen days,
and from most of them answers may be obtained in that time. There is,
I imagine, no Minister who would not think it safer to act by orders
than from his own discretion; and yet, unless you leave more to the
discretion of your Ministers in Europe than Courts usually do, your
affairs may sometimes suffer extremely from the distance which, in the
time of war especially, may make it five or six months before the
answer to a letter shall be received. I suppose the Minister from this
Court will acquaint Congress with the King's sentiments, respecting
their very handsome present of a ship of the line. People in general
here are much pleased with it.
I communicated, together with my memoir demanding a supply of money,
copies of every paragraph in your late letters, which express so
strongly the necessity of it. I have been constant in my solicitations
both directly, and through the Marquis de Lafayette, who has employed
himself diligently and warmly in the business. The negotiations for
peace are, I imagine, one cause of the great delay and indecision on
this occasion beyond what has been usual, as the quantum may be
different if those negotiations do or do not succeed. We have not yet
learnt what we may expect. We have been told that we shall be aided,
but it cannot be to the extent demanded; six millions have been
mentioned, but not as a sum fixed. The Minister tells me still, that
he is working upon the subject, but cannot yet give a determinative
answer. I know his good will to do the best for us that is possible.
It is in vain for me to repeat again what I have so often written, and
what I find taken so little notice of, that there are bounds to
everything, and that the faculties of this nation are limited like
those of all other nations. Some of you seem to have established as
maxims the suppositions, that France has money enough for all her
occasions, and all ours besides; and that if she does not supply us,
it is owing to her want of will, or to my negligence. As to the first,
I am sure it is not true, and to the second, I can only say I should
rejoice as much as any man in being able to obtain more; and I shall
also rejoice in the greater success of those who may take my place.
You desire to be very particularly acquainted with "every step which
tends to negotiation." I am, therefore, encouraged to send you the
first part of the journal, which accidents, and a long severe illness
interrupted; but which, from notes I have by me, may be continued if
thought proper. In its present state, it is hardly fit for the
inspection of Congress, certainly not for public view. I confide it
therefore to your prudence.
The arrival of Mr Jay, Mr Adams, and Mr Laurens, has relieved me from
much anxiety, which must have continued, if I had been left to finish
the treaty alone; and it has given me the more satisfaction, as I am
sure the business has profited by their assistance.
Much of the summer has been taken up in objecting against the powers
given by Great Britain, and in removing those objections. The not
using any expressions, that might imply an acknowledgment of our
independence, seemed at first industriously to be avowed. But our
refusing otherwise to treat, at length induced them to get over that
difficulty, and then we came to the point of making propositions.
Those made by Mr Jay and me before the arrival of the other gentlemen,
you will find in the paper A, which was sent by the British
Plenipotentiary to London for the King's consideration. After some
weeks, an under secretary, Mr Strachey, arrived, with whom we had much
contestation about the boundaries and other articles which he proposed
and we settled; some of which he carried to London, and returned with
the propositions, some adopted, others omitted or altered, and new
ones added, which you will see in paper B. We spent many days in
disputing, and at length agreed on and signed the preliminaries, which
you will see by this conveyance. The British Minister struggled hard
for two points, that the favors granted to the royalists should be
extended, and all our fishery contracted. We silenced them on the
first, by threatening to produce an account of the mischief done by
those people, and as to the second, when they told us they could not
possibly agree to it as we requested it, and must refer it to the
Ministry in London, we produced a new article to be referred at the
same time, with a note of facts in support of it, which you have,
C.[8] Apparently, it seemed, that to avoid the discussion of this,
they suddenly changed their minds, dropped the design of recurring to
London, and agreed to allow the fishery as demanded.
FOOTNOTE:
[8] The papers alluded to in this letter will be found in the
Correspondence of the Commissioners for negotiating peace.
You will find in the preliminaries some inaccurate and ambiguous
expressions, that want explanation, and which may be explained in the
definitive treaty, and as the British Ministry excluded our
proposition relating to commerce, and the American prohibition of that
with England may not be understood to cease merely by our concluding a
treaty of peace, perhaps we may then, if the Congress shall think fit
to direct it, obtain some compensation for the injuries done us as a
condition of our opening again the trade. Every one of the present
British Ministry has, while in the Ministry, declared the war against
us as unjust, and nothing is clearer in reason, than that those who
injure others by an unjust war, should make full reparation. They
have stipulated too, in these preliminaries, that in evacuating our
towns, they shall carry off no plunder, which is a kind of
acknowledgment that they ought not to have done it before.
The reason given us for dropping the article relating to commerce,
was, that some statutes were in the way, which must be repealed before
a treaty of that kind could be well formed, and that this was a matter
to be considered in Parliament.
They wanted to bring their boundary down to the Ohio, and to settle
their loyalists in the Illinois country. We did not choose such
neighbors.
We communicated all the articles, as soon as they were signed, to
Count de Vergennes, (except the separate one) who thinks we have
managed well, and told me that we had settled what was most
apprehended as a difficulty in the work of a general peace, by
obtaining the declaration of our independency.
_December 14th._ I have this day learnt, that the principal
preliminaries between France and England are agreed on, to wit.
1st. France is to enjoy the right of fishing and drying on all the
west coast of Newfoundland, down to Cape Ray. Miquelon and St Pierre
to be restored, and may be fortified.
2d. Senegal remains to France, and Goree to be restored. The Gambia
entirely to England.
3d. All the places taken from France in the East Indies to be
restored, with a certain quantity of territory round them.
4th. In the West Indies, Grenada and the Grenadines, St Christophers,
Nevis and Montserat, to be restored to England. St Lucia to France.
Dominique to remain with France, and St Vincents to be neutralized.
5th. No Commissioner at Dunkirk.
The points not yet quite settled are the territory round the places in
the Indies, and neutralization of St Vincents. Apparently these will
not create much difficulty.
Holland has yet hardly done anything in her negotiation.
Spain offers for Gibraltar to restore West Florida and the Bahamas. An
addition is talked of the island of Guadaloupe, which France will cede
to Spain in exchange for the other half of Hispaniola, and Spain to
England, but England, it is said, chose rather Porto Rico. Nothing yet
concluded.