The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume IV Part 32

Dear Sir,

With great pleasure to ourselves we discharge our duty, by enclosing to you your commission for representing these United States at the Court of France. We are by no means willing to admit a thought of your declining this important service, and therefore we send duplicates of the commission, and the late resolves, in order that you may take one set with you, and send the other by another vessel.

These are important papers, and therefore we wish they may be put into the hands of a particular and careful person, with directions to deliver them himself into the hands of the Commissioners. Mr Hanc.o.c.k, before he left this place, said that he intended to send a gentleman to France on some particular business. Cannot we prevail to get this gentleman to undertake the delivery of our packet to the Commissioners, they paying the expense of travel to Paris, and back again to his place of business?

It is unnecessary to mention the propriety of directing these despatches to be bagged with weight proper for sinking them, on any immediate prospect of their otherwise falling into the enemy's hands.

We sincerely wish you a quick and pleasant voyage, being truly your affectionate friends,

R. H. LEE, JAMES LOVELL.

TO HENRY LAURENS, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Braintree, December 23d, 1777.

Sir,

Having been absent on a journey, I had not the honor of receiving your letters until yesterday, when one, of the 28th of November, enclosing a resolution of Congress of the same day, and another of the 3d of December, enclosing a commission for Dr Franklin, Dr Lee, and myself, to represent the United States at the Court of France, were delivered to me in Boston.

As I am deeply penetrated with a sense of the high honor, which has been done me in this appointment, I cannot but wish I were better qualified for the important trust, but as Congress are perfectly acquainted with all my deficiencies, I conclude it is their determination to make the necessary allowances; in the humble hope of which, I shall submit my own judgment to theirs, and devote all the faculties I have, and all that I can acquire, to their service.

You will be pleased to accept of my sincere thanks, for the polite manner in which you have communicated to me the commands of Congress, and believe me to be, with the most perfect respect and esteem, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Braintree, December 24th, 1777.

Gentlemen,

Having been absent from this State, I had not the honor of your favor of December 3d, until the 22d, when it was delivered to me with its enclosures, viz. a letter from the President to the Navy Board at Boston, and a private letter of December 8th, from Mr Lovell. At the same time, I received a packet directed to Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, and John Adams, Commissioners of the United States of America, in France, under seal. I also received a packet unsealed, containing

1. Copy of a letter dated the 2d of December, from the Committee of Foreign Affairs to the Commissioners.

2. A duplicate of a commission of the 27th of November, to the Commissioners.

3. A duplicate of a resolve of December 3d; duplicates of resolves of November 20th and 21st, and duplicates of resolves of November 10th and 22d.

4. Two letters unsealed, to Silas Deane, Paris.

5. Two printed handbills, one containing messages, &c. between the Generals Bourgoyne and Gates; the other, a copy of a letter, &c. from Mr Strickland. The packet under seal, I shall do myself the honor to forward by the first conveyance, and the other shall be conveyed, G.o.d willing, with my own hand.

I have the honor to be, with the greatest esteem, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO SAMUEL ADAMS.

Pa.s.sy, May 21st, 1778.

Dear Sir,

I have never yet paid my respects to you since my arrival in Europe, for which seeming neglect of duty, the total novelty of the scenes about me, and the incessant avocations of business, and ceremony, and pleasure, (for this last, I find in Europe, makes an essential part of both the other two,) must plead my excuse.

The situation of the general affairs of Europe is still critical and of dubious tendency. It is still uncertain whether there will be war between the Turks and the Russians, between the Emperor and the King of Prussia, and indeed between England and France, in the opinion of many people. My own conjecture, however, is that a war will commence, and that soon.

Before this reaches you, you will be informed that a strong squadron of thirteen capital ships and several frigates has sailed from Toulon, and that another squadron is ordered to sail from Spithead. Whatever I may have heard of the destination of the first, I am not at liberty to mention it. We have no intelligence that the latter has sailed.

Chatham the great is no more, but there is so much of his wild spirit in his last speech yet left in the nation, that I have no doubt but the administration will put all to the hazard.

We are happy to hear by the frigate, La Sensible, which has returned to Brest, that the treaty arrived safe at Cas...o...b..y. We hope to have the earliest intelligence of the ratification of it. The Commissioners from England, of the 22d of April, will meet, as we suppose, with nothing but ridicule. The King of Prussia is yet upon the reserve concerning America, or rather forgetting his promise, has determined not to acknowledge our independence at present. His reason is obvious; he wants the aid of those very German princes, who are most subservient to Great Britain, who have furnished her with troops to carry on the war against us, and, therefore, he does not choose to offend them by an alliance with us at present. Spain is on the reserve too, but there is not the least doubt entertained here of her intention to support America. In Holland there is more friendship for us than I was aware of before I came here; at least, they will take no part against us.

Our affairs in this kingdom I find in a state of confusion and darkness, that surprises me. Prodigious sums of money have been expended, and large sums are yet due; but there are no books of account, nor any doc.u.ments from whence I have been able to learn what the United States have received as an equivalent.

There is one subject which lies heavily on my mind, and that is the expense of the Commissioners. You have three Commissioners at this Court, each of whom lives at an expense of at least three thousand pounds sterling a year, I fear at a greater expense; few men in the world are capable of living at a less expense than I am. But I find the other gentlemen have expended from three to four thousand a year each, and one of them from five to six. And by all the inquiries I have been able to make, I cannot find any article of expense which can be retrenched.[36]

The truth is, in my humble opinion, our system is wrong in many particulars.

1. In having three Commissioners at this Court; one in the character of Envoy is enough. At present, each of the three is considered in the character of a public Minister Plenipotentiary, which lays him under an absolute necessity of living up to this character, whereas, one alone would be obliged to incur no greater expense, and would be quite sufficient for all the business of a public Minister.

2. In leaving the salaries of these Ministers at an uncertainty, you will never be able to obtain a satisfactory account of the public monies while this system continues; it is a temptation to live at too great an expense, and gentlemen will feel an aversion to demanding a vigorous account.

3. In blending the business of a public Minister with that of a commercial agent. The business of various departments is by this means so blended, and the public and private expenses so confounded with each other, that I am sure no satisfaction can ever be given to the public of the disposition of their interests, and I am very confident, that jealousies and suspicions will hereafter arise against the characters of gentlemen, who may, perhaps, have acted with perfect integrity and the fairest intentions for the public good.

My idea is this; separate the offices of public Ministers from those of commercial agents;[37] recall, or send to some other Court, all the public Ministers but one at this Court; determine with precision the sum that shall be allowed to the remaining one for his expenses, for his salary, and for his time, risk, trouble, &c.; and when this is done, see that he receives no more than his allowance. The inconveniences arising from the multiplicity of Ministers and the complication of business are infinite.

Remember me with the most tender affection to my worthy colleagues, and to all others to whom you know they are due.

I am your friend and servant,

JOHN ADAMS.

FOOTNOTES:

[36] In another letter, which Mr Adams afterwards wrote to Mr Samuel Adams, he says the account of the Commissioners' expenses here given is "exaggerated," and "put much too high," owing to his having been but a short time in Paris, and not being accurately informed on the subject. See this letter hereafter, dated February 14th, 1779, in the present volume.

By a letter from Mr Arthur Lee, dated May 9th, 1778, containing a transcript from the banker's books, it appears, that from December, 1776, to March, 1778, a period of fifteen months, Silas Deane received on his private account, $20,926; Arthur Lee, $12,749; and Dr Franklin, $12,214. _See Arthur Lee's Correspondence_, Vol. II. p. 159, where the above sums are stated in livres, and they are here reduced to dollars by the rule practised at that time, of allowing five livres and eight sols to the dollar. The fractions are omitted in the reduction. It must be observed, that the above payments are not a specification of the amounts actually received for the period in question, because the Commissioners may have had other expenses for which they afterwards drew on the banker, but these sums may serve as a tolerably correct indication of their expenses, and were probably intended as such by Mr Lee. At this time no fixed salary was allowed, but Congress resolved that all expenses should be paid, and that such an additional compensation should be granted, as might afterwards be deemed expedient by Congress.

On the 1st of June, 1778, Mr Lee wrote to Congress; "I am of opinion, with our colleague, Mr Adams, that it would be better for the public, that the appointment of your public Ministers were fixed, instead of being left at large, and their expenses indefinite. From experience, I find the expense of living in that character cannot well be less than three thousand pounds sterling a year, ($13,333) which I believe is as little as is allowed to any public Minister beyond the rank of consul." _Arthur Lee's Correspondence_, Vol. II. p. 165.

The original mode of paying Ministers abroad continued, however, till October 4th, 1779, when Congress,