The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VII Part 45

"Your Excellency will oblige me exceedingly, by putting it in my power to give Congress early, explicit, and, let me add, agreeable information of his Majesty's pleasure and intentions on the subject of this letter.

"I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY."

Although it was sufficiently evident, that the Court of France could not, for the reasons a.s.signed in my letter to Congress, of the 6th of November, 1780, openly and warmly interpose their good offices to bring about this treaty, it nevertheless appeared to me most prudent, to behave on this occasion towards the Amba.s.sador, as if I knew nothing of those reasons, and, therefore, sent him a copy of the aforegoing letter to the Minister, enclosed in one of which the following is a copy.

TO THE COUNT DE MONTMORIN.

"Madrid, July 2d, 1781.

"Sir,

"I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency herewith enclosed, a copy of a letter I have this day written to his Excellency, the Count de Florida Blanca. I have thereby informed him of my being authorised to remove the objections. .h.i.therto made by the Court of Spain to a treaty of alliance with the United States, and again requested that the measures necessary for the purpose may now be taken.

"Permit me to request, that the favorable interposition of our kind and generous ally with his Catholic Majesty may be exerted to commence the proposed negotiation, and bring it to a speedy and happy conclusion.

"The confidence justly reposed by America in the amity and a.s.surances of his Most Christian Majesty, forbid me to urge this request by any arguments, (persuasives being indelicate, when not warranted by doubts of inclination.) I am happy in reflecting, that his instructions on this subject are committed to the execution of a Minister, from whose attachment, as well as from whose talents and address, the American cause may expect to derive advantage.

"I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY."

The instructions above alluded to are those, which Count de Vergennes, in his letter to me of the 13th of March, 1780, a.s.sures me should be sent to their Amba.s.sador here. I must confess to Congress, that I very much doubt his ever having received any other instructions, than generally to favor the treaty, and to manage his interference in such a delicate manner, as, without alarming the pride of Spain, to give both parties reason to think themselves obliged.

The French Amba.s.sador sent me no answer to this letter, which, in my opinion, gives a greater degree of probability to my conjectures. I must, nevertheless, do him the justice to say that I have great reason to believe him to be in sentiment, and with sincere attachment, a friend to our cause; and that he considers the honor and interest of France deeply concerned in the success and support of it.

On the 11th of July, having received no answer from the Minister, I waited upon him. He told me, he had received my letter, but that the short time the Court would remain at Madrid, and the multiplicity of business that he was obliged to despatch, would not admit of his attending to our affairs till after the arrival of the Court at St Ildefonso. He then informed me, that a vessel had arrived at Cadiz, which had brought despatches for me, and that his courier had brought them to Madrid. He then delivered me a number of letters, among which was one from his Excellency the President, of the 28th of May last.[32]

I need not observe, that all these letters bore evident marks of inspection, for that has uniformly been the case with almost every letter I have received.

I do not recollect to have ever received a letter that gave me more real pleasure. When I considered, that almost the whole time since I left America had afforded me little else than one continued series of painful perplexities and embarra.s.sments, many of which I neither expected, nor ought to have met with; that I had been engaged in intricate and difficult negotiations, often at a loss to determine where the line of prudence was to be found, and constantly exposed by my particular situation to the danger of either injuring the dignity and interest of my country on the one hand, or trespa.s.sing on the overrated respectability and importance of this Court, on the other; I say, Sir, that on considering these things, the approbation of Congress gave me most singular and cordial satisfaction.

I was also happy to perceive from this letter, that the plan of my late letters to the Minister and French Amba.s.sador, of the 2d of July, above recited, happens to correspond exactly with the views of Congress, respecting the manner of conducting this negotiation.

It appearing to me, that the communication I was directed to make to this Court could not be better made than in the very words of this letter, which seemed exceedingly well calculated for the purpose, I recited them in a letter, which I wrote two days afterwards to the Minister, viz.

TO THE COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA.

Madrid, July 13th, 1781.

"Sir,

"I have now the honor of communicating to your Excellency a copy of certain instructions I have just received from Congress, dated the 28th of May, 1781, and which were included in the despatches, which your Excellency was so obliging as to deliver to me the evening before the last, viz.

"It is their instruction, that you continue to acknowledge on all suitable occasions, the grateful impression made on these States by the friendly disposition manifested towards them by his Catholic Majesty, and particularly by the proofs given of it in the measures which he has taken, and which it is hoped he will further take for preserving their credit, and for aiding them with a supply of clothing for their army.

"You are also authorised and instructed to disavow in the most positive and explicit terms, any secret understanding or negotiation between the United States and Great Britain, to a.s.sure his Catholic Majesty that such insinuations have no other source than the insidious designs of the common enemy, and that as the United States have the highest confidence in the honor and good faith, both of his Most Christian and his Catholic Majesty, so it is their inviolable determination to take no step, which shall depart in the smallest degree from their engagements with either.'

"It gives me pleasure to observe that these instructions confirm, in the fullest manner, the a.s.surances and professions I have heretofore made to your Excellency respecting the sentiments and dispositions of the United States, and I flatter myself that his Majesty will be pleased to consider the a.s.surances they contain, as receiving unquestionable proofs of sincerity from the offer I have already made to confirm them by deeds, no less important to the interests than, I hope, consistent with the views and desires of his Majesty.

"I cannot omit this occasion of presenting my congratulations on the success of his Majesty's arms at Pensacola. This event cannot fail of being followed by important consequences to the common cause, and may perhaps induce the enemy to expect greater advantages from concluding a reasonable peace, than continuing to protract an unrighteous war.

"Having understood, shortly after receiving my letters from your Excellency, that the Court had also received despatches from Philadelphia, I presumed that the communication of any gazettes from thence, which indeed contain all the intelligence I have, would be useless, and therefore did not send them; but on considering that it was possible that the papers I had might be of later date than those which your Excellency might otherwise receive, I now take the liberty of enclosing two, which contain accounts somewhat interesting.

If they should be new to your Excellency, I beg that their not being sooner sent will receive an apology from the abovementioned circ.u.mstance; and that your Excellency will remain a.s.sured of the perfect respect and consideration with which I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY."

I also took the earliest opportunity of mentioning to the Amba.s.sador of France, that my letters from America gave me reason to believe that our union was daily growing more warm and intimate, and that Congress, in writing of their affairs here, had expressed themselves in the strongest terms of attachment to his Most Christian Majesty, and not only approved of my communicating freely and confidentially with his Amba.s.sador here, but also directed me in express terms to endeavor, in the course of my negotiations, to include and promote the interests of France.

The Amba.s.sador was much pleased. He told me his letters a.s.sured him that the best understanding subsisted between the French and American troops, and that much good might be expected from the increasing harmony and intercourse between the two countries.

The Court removed to St Ildefonso without the Minister's having either given any instructions to M. Gardoqui, answered my abovementioned letters, or taken the least notice of my late representations to them about the Dover cutter, &c.

The events of the campaign were as yet undecided, and little money in the treasury.

On the 21st of July the Minister wrote me the following note, in which there was ample field left open for procrastination.

Translation.

"The Count de Florida Blanca presents his compliments to Mr Jay, and has the honor of acquainting him, that he has duly received his two letters of the 2d and 13th instant. The short stay of the Court at Madrid allowing time only to despatch the most pressing business, the Count de Florida Blanca has not been able to take into consideration the points, which form the object of the abovementioned letters.

He proposes therefore to do it at present, in order to render an account thereof to the King, and in the meanwhile he has the honor to repeat to Mr Jay the a.s.surances of the most perfect esteem and consideration.

"_St Ildefonso, July 21st, 1781._"

On the 4th of August, I arrived here. I did not see the Minister till the 8th, he being, as I was told, from home. He had made no communications to the King. He had been sick; he had been busy, and was so still. I requested to be informed when it would be most convenient to him to confer with me on the subject of my late letters, and to give me such information relative to his Majesty's intentions, as he might be prepared to communicate to me. He answered, that he could not then fix a time, being exceedingly hurried by pressing business. He asked how long I proposed to stay, I told him till the Court removed. He then promised to take an early opportunity of conferring with me on the subject of our affairs, and promised to send me word when he should be ready to receive me.

I remained in this state of suspense and expectation until the 18th of August, when having been for a week past very much indisposed with a fever and dysentery, and fearing lest that circ.u.mstance might become a ground of delay, I wrote the Count word, "that my health would permit me to wait upon his Excellency at any time and place he might do me the honor to name." He replied two days afterwards, in a manner which indicated his supposing I had gone to Madrid and had returned. He must have known better, for none of my family had been absent from hence, and one or other of them were almost daily about the palace and gardens.

Translation.

"The Count de Florida Blanca is charmed to learn, that Mr Jay has sufficiently recovered from his last indisposition to make the journey from Madrid to this place, and thanks him for his attention in communicating it to him.

"The very pressing business with which he finds himself at present surrounded does not permit him to fix the day for a conference with Mr Jay, but the moment he shall be a little disengaged, he will have the honor to advise Mr Jay of it.

"_St Ildefonso, August 20th, 1781._"

On the 22d I sent him a note enclosing a newspaper, which contained an account of General Greene's operations, the capture of Fort Watson, &c.

The Count answered this note by another, expressing his thanks for the intelligence, but not a word of a conference.

On the 30th of August Major Franks arrived here with interesting despatches, of which I must not here take notice, lest I interrupt the thread of this letter, which I devote particularly to the affair of our negotiations for a treaty.

There was indeed among these despatches a very sensible letter from Mr R. Morris to me about money matters,[33] &c. excellently well calculated for being shown entire to the Minister.

I consulted with the French Amba.s.sador on the propriety of giving the Minister a copy of it. He advised me to do it, and much commended the letter. As it might have suffered from being carelessly translated, I had it put into very good French.

I was very glad to see the Major. The nature of the despatches he brought being a secret occasioned speculation, and gave me an opportunity of drawing further advantages from his arrival. His accounts of American affairs were favorable to us, and the manner of his behavior and conversation has not done discredit to himself, nor prejudice to his country.