which I had received to my Memorial, and my reply to it. Things remain
in the same state, as we have no news of the conclusion of peace under
the mediation of their Imperial Majesties. This delay is supposed to
arise from some difficulties still subsisting between Great Britain
and the United Provinces respecting their affairs in the East Indies,
and though the latter are not concerned (any more than the United
States) in the mediation, yet France will not probably conclude her
definitive treaty till Great Britain and the United Provinces have
agreed upon their terms. To give time for this, was not the least
object which France had in view by the present mediation.
Notwithstanding the language of all the gazettes in Europe respecting
an adjustment of affairs between the Imperial Courts and the Porte
being at hand, it is still thought here, that the war between the
latter and this empire, at least, is inevitable. Should the Emperor
take a part in it, we shall see this continent in a flame. The naval
reinforcements intended to be sent from hence into the Mediterranean,
are stopped most certainly on account of an opposition from the
quarter mentioned in mine of May 30th. Though in my last, by the
references there made, I have pointed out the general object of the
war with the Porte, on the part of the Imperial Courts, yet there are
some particulars relative to the Empress, of which you are not
particularly informed, I will give them to you by the first safe
opportunity. I shall have one in about a month by Mr Allen, a merchant
of Boston, who arrived here last week, and proposes to return to
America about that time. The journey of the Empress into Finland, as
mentioned in my last, has been postponed on account of a hurt the King
of Sweden received from a fall from his horse; it will take place in a
few days.
The flag of the United States is now displayed at Riga, upon a ship of
five hundred tons, commanded by a Captain McNeil, belonging to
Massachusetts, who arrived there on the first instant from Lisbon with
salt, an article permitted in that port though prohibited here. This
is the only arrival of any American vessel in any part of this empire.
She carries out hemp only, it being the only article with which she
can be furnished there proper for our markets. This demand comes very
seasonably to destroy the allegations of those who had endeavored to
promote their particular interests at the expense of ours, and also to
support the contrary representation which I had constantly made of our
commerce. Cordage may indeed be had at Riga, as well as hemp, but both
of them are dearer than in this port. They are, however, of a better
quality, but they are seldom exported on private account, as the
difference of the price is thought to be too great for that of the
quality. The Admiralty of England prefers them. I mention these
circumstances as they may give some useful information, not only to
the Admiralty of the United States, but to our private merchants. The
one may seek them, the other may avoid them. A vessel owned partly in
Ireland, and partly by a Mr Wharton and others, of Philadelphia, I am
told, will sail from hence for Philadelphia in about a month. Mr Allen
will take his passage in one of the two abovementioned vessels.
I have the honor to be, &c.
FRANCIS DANA.
* * * * *
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
St Petersburg, July 1st, 1783.
Sir,
I do myself the honor to write you by this day's post, merely to let
you know, that we have not yet received an account of the conclusion
of the definitive treaty of peace, and of course, that I remain in the
same state as at the date of my last. Her Imperial Majesty set off
last Friday to meet the King of Sweden at Fredericksham, and is
expected here again next Friday. The object of this meeting is
doubtless such as I have mentioned in my letter of June 17th. The King
of Sweden has a well appointed army of more than ten thousand men near
his frontiers in Finland, and the Russian army, about their frontiers,
is said to be greater. The two Sovereigns have been putting their
possessions in that quarter into a better state of defence for some
time. Sweden has been engaged in completing the fortress of Sweaborg,
near Helsingfors, which is said to be an exceeding strong place.
These preparations do not indicate, certainly, hostile intentions on
either part. They are such as common prudence, with the most pacific
dispositions, might render indispensable in the present prospect of a
war with Turkey. Should this empire prove unsuccessful in that, there
is little reason to doubt that Sweden would seize upon such an
occasion, to recover the territories which have been conquered from
it. Or if the Emperor should take a part in the Turkish war, of which
there seems to be much doubt at present, and thereby engage Prussia,
France, and perhaps, Spain in it, it is highly probable in that case,
that Sweden would not long remain inactive. It cannot now be long
before the point will be decided, whether we shall have a general war
on the continent of Europe or not.
We shall have a great change in the course of the summer, in the
diplomatic corps here. The Minister of Spain has lately gone away,
leaving a _Chargé d'Affaires_. The Ministers of France, Portugal, and
Denmark, are about doing the same. The Minister of England will be
succeeded by another of the same class, as also the Minister of
Naples. Besides these changes, a Minister is coming from the Republic
of Venice. France, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, and Sweden, will be
represented here by _Chargés d'Affaires_, and, if I might offer my
opinion upon the matter, when the United States shall have made their
commercial treaty with this empire, a _Chargé d'Affaires_ would answer
every useful purpose they can have in view at the Court. Every day's
experience convinces me, that they cannot decently maintain a Minister
of the second class at this Court, under an appointment of £3000
sterling per annum, and that it would be a very useless expense for
them, as a _Chargé d'Affaires_ may be well supported upon half that
sum. I have not received any letter from you later than ----, nor has
the confederation or the constitutions of the several States, which
you say you have sent me, and which would be very acceptable to me,
ever come to hand, and as you have not mentioned through what channel
you sent them, I know not where to apply for them. I have written to
Paris and Holland for them in vain.
I have the honor to be, &c.
FRANCIS DANA.
* * * * *
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
St Petersburg, July 8th, 1783.
Sir,
After the departure of her Imperial Majesty for Fredericksham, as
mentioned in my last, the Vice Chancellor communicated to the foreign
Ministers the information, that their Imperial Majesties had concluded
an alliance offensive and defensive against the Porte. Thus it is now
become certain, that the Emperor will take a part in this new war; the
consequence of which will be, as I have supposed in some of my former
letters, a general war on the continent of Europe.
A courier has been sent from hence with a similar communication as
above, to the Courts of Berlin and Versailles, which Courts having
been apprehensive of such an event, are, doubtless, prepared to meet
it, and oppose themselves to the execution of the project of the
Imperial Courts, which is nothing short of what was supposed to be in
agitation, by my letter of the 30th of March, 1782, particularly by
the first sentence of it relative to that subject, to which I beg
leave again to refer you for more particular information. Last
Saturday, a courier arrived from Versailles for the French Minister,
which was sent from thence in consequence of the same matter being
communicated there by the Minister of the Emperor, that from this
Court had not then arrived. I am told his Most Christian Majesty
expresses in a firm tone his surprise at the Empress's seizing upon
the Crimea, and demands an explanation upon that subject, concluding,
however, with an offer of his mediation between her Imperial Majesty
and the Porte for settling their differences and pretensions. But it
is evident the sword alone must decide these.
Sometime in last February, France having information of the project
formed against the Porte, remonstrated in strong terms against it to
the Emperor, upon which, as is said, he gave full assurances that he
had not any such design as was imputed to him. This gave rise to the
doubts, which have been entertained, whether he would take a part in
the war against the Turks, which seemed to be the point upon which a
general war upon the continent would depend. For if Russia alone had
attacked the Turks, the powers whose interest it is to support them,
would have, probably, confined themselves to secret succors. Their own
safety will now oblige them to make powerful diversions in their
favor. Not only France and Prussia have a deep interest to prevent the
aggrandizement of the House of Austria, but many of the Electors and
Provinces of Germany also, in order to preserve their own independence
and liberties, which are ever in danger from powerful and ambitious
Emperors. Hence we may see some of these allied with those two
principal powers, to support the Turks against the formidable alliance
of the Imperial Courts. Great Britain will remain neuter, rejoicing
to see France engaged in an expensive continental war. Or if a
favorable occasion should arise, she may take a part in it towards the
close, to avenge herself for the part France has taken in our
revolution. Thank God, we have a world to ourselves, and may rest in
peace while the calamities of war are laying waste and desolating this
continent. We may derive special advantages from it, as it will,
probably, augment the emigrations of that most useful class of men,
the peasants of Germany, into America.
Since my last, a Nuncio from the Pope has arrived here, coming from
Poland. Having had no account of the definitive treaty, I remain _in
statu quo_.
I have the honor to be, &c.
FRANCIS DANA.
* * * * *
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
St Petersburg, July 27th, 1783.
Sir,
I have this day been honored with the duplicate of your letter of the
1st of May last, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 1st of
April, approving of my intention of returning to America, provided I
should not be engaged in a negotiation with this Court at the time I
should receive that resolution, but that if I should be, it is the
desire of Congress that I should finish such negotiation before I
return.[28] This letter has come very opportunely to hand, as we are
in expectation every moment of receiving the account of the conclusion
of the definitive treaty of peace, when I should have immediately had
my audience of her Imperial Majesty. I shall now think it expedient to
decline that honor. For it would be a very useless ceremony, to take
an audience of reception one day, when the next, I must ask one of
departure, as according to your letter, it not only seems that
Congress declines being at the customary expense of concluding a
treaty with her Imperial Majesty, but you say also, with respect to a
commercial treaty, (the only one I had any intention of concluding,)
none could be signed by me, as my powers only extend "to _communicate_
with her Imperial Majesty's Ministers on the subject of a treaty, &c.
&c. but not to sign it." I confess I had put a very different
construction upon the passage of my instructions alluded to, which is,
"You shall assure her Imperial Majesty and her Ministers, of the
sincere disposition of the United States to enter into a treaty of
friendship and commerce with her, on terms of the most perfect
equality, &c. and you are authorised to communicate with her Imperial
Majesty's Ministers on the form and terms of such treaty, and transmit
the same to Congress for their ratification," especially when taken
into conjunction with the following paragraph of my commission, "And
he is further authorised in our name and on behalf of the United
States of America, to propose a treaty of amity and commerce between
these United States and her said Imperial Majesty, and to confer and
treat thereon with her Ministers vested with equal powers, so far as
the same shall be founded on principles of equality, &c. transmitting
such treaty for our final ratification. And we declare in good faith,
that we will confirm whatsoever shall by him be transacted in the
premises."
But it is useless to spend a moment's consideration upon the extent of
my powers, when you say you are persuaded it is the wish of Congress
rather to postpone any treaty with Russia, than to buy one at this
day, as I am persuaded no treaty is to be obtained, or could be
honorably proposed, without conforming, as other nations have done, to
the usage of this Court in that respect. That it would be for the
interest of the United States, immediately to conclude a commercial
treaty with her Imperial Majesty, such a one as I flatter myself I
could obtain, I have not the least doubt upon my mind. As to the
neutral confederation, I have the honor to agree in opinion with you,
that it is now of little consequence to us; for this reason, I had
determined to have nothing to do with it, even if I could not obtain a
commercial treaty without acceding to it, as was the case with
Portugal.
I pray you to be pleased to acquaint Congress, that I shall improve
the earliest opportunity to leave this country and to return to
America. Happily, I shall have a very good one in three weeks or a
month, in the yacht of the Dutchess of Kingston, which will sail from
hence for Boston, where I hope to arrive in all November. I have not
received the letter from Mr Morris, which you mention.
I have the honor to be, &c.
FRANCIS DANA.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] "Resolved, That Mr Dana having intimated his intention of
returning to America, Congress do approve of the same; provided he
should not be engaged in a negotiation with the Court of St Petersburg
at the time of receiving this resolution, in which case, it is the
desire of Congress that he should finish such negotiation before he
returns."
* * * * *
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
St Petersburg, August 8th, 1783.
Sir,
In my last, I acknowledged the receipt of yours of the 1st of May,
enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 1st of April, relative to
my returning to America, and I acquainted you, at the same time, that
I should take my passage directly from hence for Boston, in the yacht
of the Dutchess of Kingston. It being necessary immediately to prepare
for the voyage, I thought it but decent to inform the Vice Chancellor
of this change before it should become public, and have this day
written a letter to him for that purpose, of which the following is a
copy.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY COUNT OSTERMANN.
"I do myself the honor to acquaint your Excellency, that having
obtained the permission of the Congress of the United States to return
to America, I propose to leave this Empire in a few weeks. And as her
Imperial Majesty has been pleased to postpone granting me an audience
for the purpose of presenting my letters of credence, till the
conclusion of the definitive treaties of peace, under the mediation of
their Imperial Majesties, though that event should take place before
my departure, yet if would be unnecessary to trouble her Imperial
Majesty with that ceremony, when it must be soon followed with
another. I have thought it incumbent upon me to inform your Excellency
of my intention to return to America, before I had taken any step,
which might make it public.
"I have the honor to be, &c.
FRANCIS DANA.
"_St Petersburg, August 8th, 1783._"
As it is probable I shall be in America by the time this letter will
reach you, that is in all November, I shall add nothing here.
I have the honor to be, &c.
FRANCIS DANA.
* * * * *
TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.
St Petersburg, August 17th, 1783.
Sir,
Before I received your letter and the resolution of Congress founded
upon my letter of the 23d of September last, permitting my return to
America, finding it impracticable to support myself upon my
appointment for the time I expected to be detained in negotiating a
treaty of commerce, I had written to Messrs Willink, and other bankers
of the United States in Holland, to give me a credit here, for a sum
not exceeding one thousand pounds sterling on account of the United
States, engaging at the same time to be responsible for it, if
Congress should refuse to allow it. Over and above this, I had applied
to my bankers in this city to advance me six hundred pounds sterling,
on my private credit, which I found it would be necessary for me to
expend for such household furniture only, as is not included in what
they call here a furnished house. Such a one I was just upon the point
of engaging for six months, at the rate of sixteen hundred rubles a
year, when your letter came to hand.
But as the object of negotiation above mentioned, is not thought by
Congress to be worth pursuing at this time, I thought it would be most
advisable for me to disengage myself from these extraordinary
expenses, and to improve the convenient opportunity which now offers
to take my passage from this port for Boston, without waiting for the
conclusion of the definitive treaties of peace, merely to take an
audience of her Imperial Majesty; especially as I doubted whether
Congress would approve of my incurring them, after I had received
their permission to return, and found that they had no particular
object of negotiation in view at this Court. Besides, I saw if I had
an audience of her Majesty, it would not do for me to leave the Court
abruptly, or before the next spring, and that in consequence of it, I
should not be able to arrive in America till nearly the expiration of
another year. I therefore wrote to the Vice Chancellor, as you will
find by my last, to inform him of my intention to return to America.
Further to explain the motive of Congress, as well as my own
respecting this measure, I wrote him again on the 14th instant as
follows.
TO COUNT OSTERMANN.
"Sir,
"Lest the motive of the Congress of the United States, in granting me
permission to return to America, as mentioned in the letter I did
myself the honor to write to your Excellency on the 8th instant, might
be misapprehended, I beg leave to inform you, that finding my health
had suffered greatly since coming into this climate and my private
affairs urging it upon me at the same time, I wrote to the Congress in
September last, acquainting them with my desire to return to America.
It was in consequence of this alone, they have been pleased to grant
me that liberty.
"Those causes, but especially my ill state of health, operating with
greater force at this day, oblige me to improve the earliest occasion
to return to America, and one now offering from this port, I have
proposed to take the benefit of it. But independent of such
considerations, which are merely personal, as I have not yet been
acknowledged in my public character, it appears improper for me after
having received the abovementioned act of Congress, to ask an audience
of her Imperial Majesty for the purpose of assuming it, and when too,
if I should do it, I must immediately after ask an audience of leave.
These reasons I hope, will excuse my retiring in a private character,
as I have hitherto remained here. Highly sensible of the honor I
should derive from being the first Minister from the United States of
America at this Imperial Court, it is with infinite regret, I feel
myself under the necessity of departing without having assumed that
character. If your Excellency should judge it expedient, I will do
myself the honor to wait upon you, in order to give you further
explanations upon this subject verbally, than I have done in writing.
"I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your Excellency's most
obedient and humble servant,
FRANCIS DANA."
In consequence of the above letter I received a message from the Vice
Chancellor on the 15th by one of his Secretaries, acquainting me that
he should be glad to see me at his house in the country the next
morning. When I waited upon him accordingly, he said he had received
my two letters respecting my departure for America, assigning the ill
state of my health as the occasion of it, that I was already well
informed of the time her Imperial Majesty had fixed for my reception,
and of the reasons which influenced her in that respect; and that she
could not make any change in it; that if my health did not permit me
to wait for the event, in such a case it lay wholly with me to return.
I told him the cause which I had mentioned was the true cause, that my
health was in such a state the last fall, when I wrote to the
Congress, that I should not have remained over the winter, but from an
expectation that everything would have been settled during the winter,
so that I might have had an audience of her Majesty, and been ready to
return to America early in the spring, by which time I expected to
have received the permission of the Congress, that I wished only to
have the matter properly understood, that the permission of the
Congress was not owing to any transactions which had taken place here.
He then asked if I had received any answer from the Congress since the
communication of my mission. I replied, none at all, that if he would
be pleased to attend to dates, he would see it was impossible; that my
communication was made on the 24th of February, that the permission of
the Congress was dated on the 1st of April, between thirty and forty
days after; that the greater part of that time, my letter containing
the account of it, must have been on its way to Paris; that if my
letters reached them in two or three months it was very well; that six
months, sometimes nine, as was the present case, elapsed before I
could receive any answer from America, and that I did not receive her
Majesty's first answer, till near two months after the communication.
He seemed to be perfectly satisfied with this account, and said he was
very sorry my health would not permit me to remain here, that he
should have been very happy to have had the honor of seeing me in my
public character. I expressed again the great regret with which I
should depart, especially after having resided so long in the country
without having had an audience of her Imperial Majesty, which I should
have deemed the highest honor of my life. I told him, so convenient an
opportunity now offering directly from hence for Boston, I thought I
ought not to omit improving it, that if I should, I should be detained
in the country through the next winter; for I could not think it would
be proper to depart sooner, after taking an audience of her Majesty,
to which he seemed to assent. He said, perhaps, after I had recovered
my health, I might return again, when he should be very happy to see
me, &c. I thanked him for his politeness, and we parted without the
least apparent dissatisfaction. Yet I am persuaded, that they had much
rather I should remain, because they have their apprehensions, that
Congress may resent the postponement of my audience to the conclusion
of the definitive treaties of peace; an event, which they must know
can operate no change in the political existence of the United States.
I thought it best to put the permission upon its true ground, and my
speedy departure upon the ill state of my health; because this would
not in the least engage Congress, but leave them at perfect liberty to
send another Minister at this Court or not, as they shall judge
expedient, all circumstances considered. It is clearly my opinion,
since Congress decline being at the expense of concluding a commercial
treaty with her Majesty, that the supporting a Minister here has
become a matter of much indifference to our interests. The interests
of this empire are much more in the power of the United States, than
theirs are in the power of this empire. Should we vigorously adopt
the cultivation of hemp, and our territories along the Ohio are
exceedingly well adapted to it, we should strike at the foundation of
the commerce of this empire, and give her Majesty reason to repent at
leisure of the line of conduct she has chosen to hold with the United
States.
I have the honor to be, &c.
FRANCIS DANA.
* * * * *
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Cambridge, December 17th, 1783.
Sir,