“At sea, which has hitherto been our prerogative element, they
rise against us at a stupendous rate; and if we cannot return
to our old mutual hospitalities towards each other, a very few
years will show us a most formidable hostile marine, ready to
join hands with any of our enemies.… I will venture to prophesy
that the principles of a federal alliance are the only terms of
peace that ever will and that ever ought to obtain between the
two countries.”[485]
On the 5th of June, three weeks afterwards, the “Parliamentary History”
reports briefly:--
“Mr. Hartley went upon the cruelties of slavery, and urged the
Board of Trade to take some means of mitigating it. He produced
a pair of handcuffs, which he said was a manufacture they were
now going to establish.”[486]
Thus again the abolitionist reappeared in the vindicator of our
independence. On the 22d June, 1779, he brought forward another formal
motion “for reconciliation with America,” and, in the course of a
well-considered speech, denounced the ministers for “headstrong and
inflexible obstinacy in prosecuting a cruel and destructive American
war.”[487] On the 3d December, 1779, in what is called “a very long
speech,” he returned to his theme, inveighing against ministers for
“the favorite, though wild, Quixote, and impracticable measure of
coercing America.”[488] These are only instances.
During this time he maintained relations with Franklin, as appears in
the “Diplomatic Correspondence of the Revolution,” all of which attests
a desire for peace. In 1778 he arrived at Paris on a confidential
errand, especially to confer with Franklin. On this occasion John
Adams met him and judged him severely. In 1783 he was appointed a
commissioner to sign the Definitive Treaty of Peace.
* * * * *
These things belong to history. Though perhaps not generally known,
they are accessible. I have presented them for their intrinsic value
and prophetic character, but also as the introduction to an unpublished
letter from Hartley, which I received some time ago from an English
friend, who has since been called away from important labors. The
letter concerns _emigration to our country, and the payment of the
national debt_. The following indorsement explains its character:--
“NOTE. This is a copy of the material portion of a long letter
from D. Hartley, the British Commissioner in Paris, to Lord
Sydenham, January, 1785. The original was sold by C. Robinson,
of 21 Bond Street, London, on the 6th April, 1859, at a sale
of Hartley’s MSS. and papers, chiefly relating to the United
States of America. It was Hartley’s copy, in his own hand.
“The lot was No. 82 in the sale catalogue. It was bought by J.
R. Smith, the London bookseller, for £2 6_s._ 0_d._
“I had a copy made before the sale.
“JOSEPH PARKES.
“LONDON, 18 July, ’59.”