in July last, has come to hand, I send you herewith a copy of it,
(though now a little stale,) as it serves to show my continued good
opinion of a gentleman, who, by the papers you have sent me, seems to
be hardly used. I have never meddled with the dispute between him and
Mr Lee, but the suspicion of having a good will to him has drawn upon
me a great deal of ill will from his antagonist. The Congress have
wisely enjoined the ministers in Europe to agree with one another. I
had always resolved to have no quarrel, and have, therefore, made it a
constant rule to answer no angry, affronting, or abusive letters, of
which I have received many, and long ones, from Mr Lee and Mr Izard,
who, I understand, and see indeed by the papers, have been writing
liberally, or rather illiberally, against me, to prevent, as one of
them says here, any impressions my writings against them might
occasion to their prejudice, but I have never before mentioned them in
any of my letters.
Our scheme here for packet boats did not continue.[16] I wish Congress
could fall on some method of sending some little light vessels once a
month, to keep up a correspondence more regular. Even the receiving of
letters of a certain date, though otherwise of no importance, might
serve to refute the false news of our adversaries on both sides of the
water, which have sometimes too long their intended effect before the
truth arrives. I see that frequently little pilot boats, of twentyfive
or thirty tons burthen, arrive safe from Virginia; the expense of such
would not be great.
I beg leave to recommend earnestly to your civilities M. le Chevalier
de la Luzerne, who goes over to succeed M. Gerard, as the King's
Minister to the Congress. He bears here a most amiable character, has
great connexions, and is a hearty friend to the American cause.
With great esteem, I am, Sir, your most obedient and most humble
servant,
B. FRANKLIN.
[16] This scheme may be found in the Correspondence of the
Commissioners, Vol. I. p. 284.
* * * * *
JAMES LOVELL TO B. FRANKLIN.
Philadelphia, June 13th, 1779.
Sir,
By way of Martinique I forward to you gazettes, journals, and one or
two pamphlets. The situation of things in Congress has been such for
some time past, that the Committee of Foreign Affairs have been drawn
on to look daily for some interesting decisions to communicate to you,
which must account for their silence many weeks. I am once again left
alone, and therefore in too delicate circumstances to give you any
detail of matters agitated, but not concluded, respecting your
commission. I enclose a late resolve,[17] to which I beg your
attention, and I entreat that you will believe me to be, with much
respect, Sir, your most obedient servant,
JAMES LOVELL,
_For the Committee of Foreign Affairs_.
[17] _In Congress, June 5th, 1779._--"_Resolved_, that the Committee
for Foreign Affairs be directed to write immediately to the
Commissioners at the Court of France, and desire them to transmit an
account of their proceedings in Mr Beaumarchais's accounts, pursuant
to the order of Congress of the 13th day of April, 1778."
* * * * *
JAMES LOVELL TO B. FRANKLIN.
Philadelphia, July 9th, 1779.
Sir,
I send by this opportunity journals and gazettes, with some letters,
which were to have gone by way of Martinique some time ago, with
others that I hope will reach you by that channel. I add a complete
set of Journals, as far as they are printed, viz. 1st volume, 2d
volume, and from January 9th to June 12th this year, with two spare
pamphlets of Nos. 2, 3, 11, 12, to make those already sent complete.
Perhaps I may have the honor of writing again before the vessel sails
out, though she is now falling down the river.
Your most obedient humble servant,
JAMES LOVELL,
_For the Committee of Foreign Affairs_.
* * * * *
JAMES LOVELL TO B. FRANKLIN.
Philadelphia, July 16th, 1779.
Sir,
We find by the Minister of France, that your appointment has given
high satisfaction to his Court, and we are encouraged to expect proofs
of its most confidential reliance upon your character. We have not had
a line from you of this year's date; indeed, I believe your latest is
November the 7th, 1778. Two days ago we received several letters from
Doctor Lee and one from Mr Izard; the latter of March 4th, the former
up to April 6th. The vessel was from Rochelle about the middle of May.
It was unfortunate that we did not get the information of Mr Lee
earlier, respecting the designs of the enemy against Connecticut. They
had accomplished a part of them a few days before. Will no one under a
commission from these United States retaliate on the coast of England,
for the burning of our beautiful Fairfield. A single privateer might,
I think, show there a striking sample of the species of war carried on
by Britain against America. We are told this evening, that General
Lincoln has had an advantage over Prevost, in an open field fight, in
which the militia behaved to admiration, on the 20th of June.
We forward two letters for "our great, faithful, beloved friend and
ally, Louis Sixteenth, King of France and Navarre." We submit,
however, the superscription to your judgment.
You will manage the invoices by your best abilities. The probability
of success was held out to us by one, who doubtless makes known by
this opportunity how much our present circumstances render such aids
essential to us. A report of the treasury, respecting the just stipend
of our late and present Ministers at foreign Courts, is not quite
determined upon. A decision is peculiarly necessary as to Mr Lee and
Mr Izard, after the proceedings here of June 8th. I put up for you a
set of the Journals, which have been printed this year, adding some
spare numbers to complete what have been sent in part of No. 15.
Presuming from report, and a passage of a letter from Doctor Lee, that
Mr Adams is on his return hither, we do not write to him more. Should
he remain in France, we beg he may be made acquainted with the cause
of our omission. Good as this opportunity is, we expect a much better
one shortly, when we shall renew assurances of being, &c.
JAMES LOVELL,
_For The Committee of Foreign Affairs_.
_P. S._ The letters and papers respecting M. de Francy's agency, were
only this day delivered to us from the Secretary's office; but M. de
Francy had sextuples before.
* * * * *
INSTRUCTIONS FROM CONGRESS TO B. FRANKLIN.
In Congress, August 14th, 1779.
Sir,
Having determined, in order to put a period to the present war,
conformably to the humane dispositions, which sway the allied powers,
that we would not insist on a direct acknowledgment by Great Britain
of our right in the fisheries, this important matter is liable to an
incertitude, which may be dangerous to the political and commercial
interests of the United States; we have therefore agreed and resolved,
that our right should in no case be given up; that we would not form
any treaty of commerce with Great Britain, nor carry on any trade or
commerce whatsoever with her, unless she shall make an express
stipulation on that subject; and that if she shall, after a treaty of
peace, disturb the inhabitants of these States in the exercise of it,
we will make it a common cause to obtain redress for the parties
injured.
But notwithstanding the precautions, as Great Britain may again light
up the flames of war, and use our exercise of the fisheries as her
pretext; and since some doubts may arise, whether this object is so
effectually guarded by the treaty of alliance with His Most Christian
Majesty, that any molestation therein on the part of Great Britain is
to be considered as a _casus federis_, you are to endeavor to obtain
of his Majesty an explanation on that subject upon the principle, that
notwithstanding the high confidence reposed in his wisdom and justice,
yet considering the uncertainty of human affairs, and how doubts may
be afterwards raised in the breasts of his royal successors, the great
importance of the fisheries renders the citizens of these States very
solicitous to obtain his Majesty's sense with relation to them, as the
best security against the ambition and rapacity of the British Court.
For this purpose, you will propose the following article, in which
nevertheless such alterations may be made, as the circumstances and
situation of affairs shall render convenient and proper. Should the
same be agreed to and executed, you are immediately to transmit a copy
thereof to our Minister at the Court of Spain.
Whereas by the treaty of alliance between the Most Christian King and
the United States of North America, the two parties guaranty mutually
from that time, and for ever, against all other powers, to wit; the
United States to His Most Christian Majesty, the possessions then
appertaining to the crown of France in America, as well as those which
it may acquire by the future treaty of peace; and His Most Christian
Majesty guaranties, on his part, to the United States, their liberty,
sovereignty, and independence, absolute and unlimited, as well in
matters of government as commerce, and also their possessions, and the
additions or conquests, that their confederation might obtain during
the war, according to the said treaty; and the said parties did
further agree and declare, that in case of a rupture between France
and England, the said reciprocal guarantee should have its full force
and effect, the moment such war should break out; and whereas doubts
may hereafter arise how far the said guarantee extends to this case,
to wit; that Great Britain should molest or disturb the subjects and
inhabitants of France, or of the said States, in taking fish on the
banks of Newfoundland, and other the fishing banks and seas of North
America, formerly and usually frequented by the subjects and
inhabitants respectively; and whereas the said king and the United
States have thought proper to determine with precision the true intent
and meaning of the said guarantee in this respect;
Now, therefore, as a further demonstration of their mutual good will
and affection, it is hereby agreed, concluded, and determined as
follows, to wit; that if, after the conclusion of the treaty or
treaties, which shall terminate the present war, Great Britain shall
molest or disturb the subjects or inhabitants of the said United
States in taking fish on the banks, seas, and places formerly used and
frequented by them, so as not to encroach on the territorial rights,
which may remain to her after the termination of the present war as
aforesaid; and war should thereupon break out between the said United
States and Great Britain, or if Great Britain shall molest or disturb
the subjects and inhabitants of France in taking fish on the banks,
seas, and places, formerly used and frequented by them, so as to
encroach on the territorial rights of Great Britain, as aforesaid, and
war should thereupon break out between France and Great Britain, in
either of those cases of war, as aforesaid, His Most Christian Majesty
and the said United States shall make it a common cause, and aid each
other mutually with their good offices, their counsels, and their
forces, according to the exigence of conjunctures, as becomes good and
faithful allies; provided always, that nothing herein contained shall
be taken or understood as contrary to, or inconsistent with the true
intent and meaning of the treaties already subsisting between His Most
Christian Majesty and the said States; but the same shall be taken and
understood as explanatory of, and conformable to those treaties.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN JAY, _President_.
* * * * *
TO THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.
Passy, August 24th, 1779.
Sir,
The Congress, sensible of your merit towards the United States, but
unable adequately to reward it, determined to present you with a
sword, as a small mark of their grateful acknowledgment. They directed
it to be ornamented with suitable devices. Some of the principal
actions of the war, in which you distinguished yourself by your
bravery and conduct, are therefore represented upon it. These, with a
few emblematic figures, all admirably well executed, make its
principal value. By the help of the exquisite artists France affords,
I find it easy to express everything but the sense we have of your
worth, and our obligations to you. For this, figures, and even words,
are found insufficient. I therefore only add, that, with the most
perfect esteem,
I have the honor to be, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
_P. S._ My grandson goes to Havre with the sword, and will have the
honor of presenting it to you.
* * * * *
THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE TO B. FRANKLIN.
Havre, August 29th, 1779.
Sir,
Whatever expectations might have been raised from the sense of past
favors, the goodness of the United States for me has ever been such,
that on every occasion it far surpasses any idea I could have
conceived. A new proof of that flattering truth, I find in the noble
present which Congress has been pleased to honor me with, and which is
offered in such a manner by your Excellency, as will exceed anything
but the feelings of my unbounded gratitude.
In some of the devices I cannot help finding too honorable a reward
for those slight services, which in concert with my fellow soldiers,
and under the godlike American hero's orders, I had the good luck to
render. The sight of these actions, where I was a witness of American
bravery and patriotic spirit, I shall ever enjoy with that pleasure,
which becomes a heart glowing with love for the nation, and the most
ardent zeal for their glory and happiness. Assurances of gratitude,
which I beg leave to present to your Excellency, are much too
inadequate to my feelings, and nothing but those sentiments may
properly acknowledge your kindness towards me. The polite manner in
which Mr Franklin was pleased to deliver that inestimable sword, lays
me under great obligations to him, and demands my particular thanks.
With the most perfect respect, I have the honor to be, &c.
LAFAYETTE.
* * * * *
TO JAMES LOVELL.
Passy, September 30th, 1779.
Sir,
I have within these few days received a number of despatches from you,
which have arrived by the Mercury and other vessels. Hearing this
instant of an opportunity from Bordeaux, and that the courier sets out
from Versailles at five this evening, I embrace it just to let you
know, that I have delivered the letters from Congress to the King,
and have laid the invoices of supplies desired (with a translation)
before the Ministers, and though I have not yet received a positive
answer, I have good reason to believe I shall obtain most of them, if
not all. But as this demand will cost the Court a vast sum, and their
expenses in the war are prodigious, I beg I may not be put under the
necessity, by occasional drafts on me, of asking for more money than
is required to pay our bills for interest. I must protest those I have
advice of from Martinique and New Orleans, (even if they were drawn by
permission of Congress) for want of money; and I wish the Committee of
Commerce would caution their correspondents not to embarrass me with
their bills.
I put into my pocket nothing of the allowance Congress has been
pleased to make me. I shall pay it all in honoring their drafts and
supporting their credit, but do not let me be burthened with
supporting the credit of every one, who has claims on the Board of
Commerce or the navy. I shall write fully by the Mercury.
I send you some of the latest newspapers, and have the honor to be,
&c. &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
TO MR. BRIDGEN.
Passy, October 2d, 1779.
Dear Sir,
I received your favor of the 17th past, and the two samples of copper
are since come to hand. The metal seems to be very good, and the price
reasonable, but I have not yet received the orders necessary to
justify my making the purchase proposed. There has, indeed, been an
intention to strike copper coin, that may not only be useful as small
change, but serve other purposes. Instead of repeating continually
upon every half penny, the dull story, that every body knows, and what
it would have been no loss to mankind if nobody had ever known, that
George the Third is King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c.
&c. to put on one side some important proverb of Solomon, some pious
moral, some prudential or economical precept, the frequent inculcation
of which, by seeing it every time one receives a piece of money, might
make an impression upon the mind, especially of young persons, and
tend to regulate their conduct; such as on some, _The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom_; on others, _Honesty is the best policy_;
on others, _He that by the plough would thrive, himself must either
lead or drive_; on others, _Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep
thee_; on others, _A penny saved is a penny got_; on others, _He that
buys what he has no need of, will soon be forced to sell his
necessaries_; on others, _Early to bed and early to rise, will make a
man healthy, wealthy, and wise_; and so on, to a great variety.
The other side it was proposed to fill with good designs, drawn and
engraved by the best artists in France, of all the different species
of barbarity with which the English have carried on the war in
America, expressing every abominable circumstance of their cruelty and
inhumanity that figures can express, to make an impression on the
minds of posterity, as strong and durable as that on the copper. This
resolution has been a long time forborne, but the late burning of
defenceless towns in Connecticut, on the flimsy pretence that the
people fired from behind their houses, when it is known to have been
premeditated, and ordered from England, will, probably, give the
finishing provocation, and may occasion a vast demand for your metal.
I thank you for your kind wishes respecting my health. I return them
most cordially fourfold into your own bosom.
Adieu,
B. FRANKLIN.
* * * * *
TO JOHN JAY, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Passy, October 4, 1779.
Sir,
I received the letter your Excellency did me the honor to write to me
of the ---- of June last, enclosing acts of Congress, respecting bills
of exchange for two millions four hundred thousand livres tournois,
drawn on me in favor of M. de Beaumarchais. The bills have not yet
appeared, but I shall accept them when they do, relying on the care of
Congress to enable me to pay them. As to the accounts of that
gentleman, neither the Commissioners, when we were all together, nor
myself since, have ever been able to obtain a sight of them, though
repeatedly promised, and I begin to give over all expectation of them.
Indeed if I had them, I should not be able to do much with them, or to
controvert anything I might doubt in them, being unacquainted with the
transactions and agreements on which they must be founded, and having
small skill in accounts. Mr Ross and Mr Williams, pressing me to
examine and settle theirs, I have been obliged to request indifferent
persons, expert in such business, to do it for me, subject to the
revision of Congress; and I could wish that my time and attention were
not taken up by any concerns in mercantile affairs, and thereby
diverted from others more important.
The letters of Congress to the King were very graciously received. I
have earnestly pressed the supplies desired, and the Ministers (who
are extremely well disposed towards us) are now actually studying the
means of furnishing them. The assistance of Spain is hoped for. We
expect to hear from thence in a few days. The quantity is great, and
will cost a vast sum. I have this day accepted three of your drafts,
part of the three hundred and sixty thousand livres, drawn for on the
9th of June, but when I ask for money to pay them, I must mention,
that as they were drawn to purchase military stores, an abatement
equal to the value may be made of the quantity demanded from hence,
for I am really ashamed to be always worrying the Ministers for more
money. And as to the private loans expected, I wrote in a former
letter, that our public credit was not yet sufficiently established,
and that the loan in Holland had not exceeded eighty thousand florins,
to which there has since been no addition. A Mr Neufville came from
thence to me last spring, proposing to procure great sums, if he might
be employed for that purpose, and the business taken away from the
house that had commenced it. His terms at first were very extravagant,
such as that all the estates real and personal in the Thirteen
Provinces should be mortgaged to him; that a fifth part of the capital
sum borrowed should every year, for five years, be laid out in
commodities, and sent to Holland, consigned to him, to remain in his
hands till the term (ten years) stipulated for final payment was
completed, as a security for the punctuality of it, when he was to
draw the usual commissions; that all vessels or merchandise coming
from America to Europe should be consigned to him or his
correspondents, &c. &c. As I rejected these with some indignation, he
came down to the more reasonable one of doing the business as it was
done by the other house, who, he said, could do no more, being
destitute of the interest which he possessed.
I did not care abruptly to change a house, that had in other respects
been very friendly and serviceable to us, and thereby throw a slur
upon their credit, without a certainty of mending our affairs by it,
and therefore told Mr Neufville, that if he could procure and show me
a list of subscribers, amounting to the sum he mentioned, or near it,
I would comply with his proposition. This he readily and confidently
undertook to do. But after three months, during which he acquainted me
from time to time, that the favorable moment was not yet come, I
received, instead of the subscription, a new set of propositions,
among the terms of which were an additional _one per cent_, and a
patent from Congress, appointing him and his sons "_Commissioners for
Trade and Navigation, and Treasurers of the General Congress and of
every private State of the Thirteen United States of North America,
through the Seven United Provinces_," with other extravagancies, which
I mention, that it may be understood why I have dropped a
correspondence on this subject with a man, who seemed to me a vain
promiser, extremely self-interested, and aiming chiefly to make an
appearance without solidity, and who I understand intends applying
directly to Congress, some of his friends censuring me as neglecting
the public interest in not coming into his measures.
The truth is, I have no expectations from Holland, while interest
received there from other nations is so high, and our credit there so
low; while particular American States offer higher interest than the
Congress, and even our offering to raise our interest tends to sink
our credit. My sole dependence now is upon this Court; I think
reasonable assistance may be obtained here, but I wish I may not be
obliged to fatigue it too much with my applications, lest it should
grow tired of the connexion.
Mr Ross has lately demanded of me near twenty thousand pounds
sterling, due to him from the Committee of Commerce, but I have been
obliged to refuse him, as well as an application made last week by Mr
Izard for more money, though he has already had 2500 guineas, and
another from Mr Arthur Lee, though he has had five hundred guineas
since the news of his being out of this Commission.[18] He writes me,
that he will return to America forthwith, if I do not undertake to
supply his expenses. As I see no likelihood of his being received at
Madrid, I could not but approve his resolution.
[18] Ralph Izard's Correspondence, Vol. II. p. 446; and Arthur Lee's
Correspondence, p. 262, 268, 272.
We had reason to expect some great events, from the action of the
fleets this summer in the Channel, but they are all now in port,
without having effected anything. The junction was late, and the
length of time the Brest fleet was at sea, equal to an East India
voyage, partly on the hot Spanish coast, occasioned a sickness among
the people, that made their return necessary; they had chased the
English fleet, which refused combat. The sick men are recovering fast
since they were landed; and the proposed descent on England does not
yet seem to be quite given up, as the troops are not withdrawn from
the ports.