The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume I Part 30

Gentlemen,

We received duly your despatches by Mr McCreary, and Captain Young, dated May 2d and 30th, June 13th, 18th, 26th, and July 2d. The intelligence they contain is very particular and satisfactory. It rejoices us to be informed, that unanimity continues to reign among the States, and that you have so good an opinion of your affairs, in which we join with you. We understand that you have also written to us of later dates by Captain Holmes. He is arrived at Port L'Orient, but being chased, and nearly taken, he sunk his despatches.

We are also of your sentiments, with regard to the interests of France, and Spain, respecting our Independence, which interests we are persuaded they see as well as we, though particular present circ.u.mstances induce them to postpone the measures, that are proper to secure those interests. They continue to hold the same conduct described in our last, which went by Wickes and Johnson, a copy whereof we send herewith, as Johnson is unfortunately taken. We have lately presented an earnest memorial to both Courts, stating the difficulties of our situation, and requesting that if they cannot immediately make a diversion in our favor, they would give a subsidy sufficient to enable us to continue the war without them, or afford the States their advice and influence in making a good peace.

Our present demand, to enable us to fulfil your orders, is for about eight millions of livres. Couriers, we understand, are despatched with this memorial to Madrid by both the amba.s.sador of Spain and the minister here; and we are desired to wait with patience the answer, as the two Courts must act together. In the meantime, they give us fresh a.s.surances of their good will to our cause, and we have just received a fourth sum of five hundred thousand livres. But we are continually charged to keep the aids, that are, or may be afforded us, a dead secret, even from the Congress, where they suppose England has some intelligence; and they wish she may have no certain proofs to produce against them, with the other powers of Europe. The apparent necessity of your being informed of the true state of your affairs, obliges us to dispense with this injunction; but we entreat that the greatest care may be taken that no part of it shall transpire; nor of the a.s.surances we have received, that no repayment will ever be required from us, of what has been already given us, either in money or military stores. The great desire here seems to be, that England should strike first, and not be able to give her allies a good reason.

The total failure of remittances from you, for a long time past, has embarra.s.sed us exceedingly; the contracts we entered into for clothing and arms, in expectation of those remittances, and which are now beginning to call for payment, distress us much, and we are in imminent danger of bankruptcy; for all your agents are in the same situation, and they all recur to us to save their and your credit. We were obliged to discharge a debt of Myrtle's, at Bordeaux, amounting to about five thousand livres, to get that vessel away, and he now duns us at every post for between four and five thousand pounds sterling, to disengage him in Holland, where he has purchased arms for you. With the same view of saving your credit, Mr Ross was furnished with twenty thousand pounds sterling, to disentangle him. All the captains of your armed vessels come to us for their supplies, and we have not received a farthing of the produce of their prizes, as they are ordered into other hands. Mr Hodge has had large sums of us.

But to give you some idea for the present, till a more perfect account can be rendered of the demands upon us, of what we have paid, we enclose a sketch for your perusal; and shall only observe, that we have refused no application, in which your credit appeared to be concerned, except one from the creditors of a Mr Ceronio, said to be your agent in Hispaniola, but of whom we had no knowledge; and we had reason to hope, that you would have been equally ready to support our credit, as we have been yours, and from the same motives, the good of the public, for whom we are all acting, the success of our business depending considerably upon it.

We are sorry, therefore, to find all the world acquainted here, that the Commissioners from Congress have not so much of your regard as to obtain the change of a single agent, who disgraces us all. We say no more of this at present, contenting ourselves with the consciousness, that we recommended that change from the purest motives, and that the necessity of it, and our uprightness in proposing it, will soon fully appear.

Messrs Gardoqui, at Bilboa, have sent several cargoes of naval stores, cordage, sailcloth, anchors, &c. for the public use, consigned to Elbridge Gerry. They complain, that they have no acknowledgment from that gentleman of the goods being received, though they know that the vessels arrived. We have excused it to them, on the supposition of his being absent at Congress. We wish such acknowledgments may be made, accompanied with some expressions of grat.i.tude towards those from whom the supplies come, without mentioning who they are supposed to be. You mention the arrival of the Amphitrite and Mercury, but say nothing of the cargoes.

Mr Hodge is discharged from his imprisonment, on our solicitation, and his papers restored to him; he was well treated while in the Bastile.

The charge against him was, deceiving the government in fitting out Cunningham from Dunkirk, who was represented as going on some trading voyage; but, as soon as he was out, began a cruise on the British coast, and took six sail. He is got safe into Ferrol.

We have received and delivered the commissions to Mr William Lee, and Mr Izard. No letters came with them for these gentlemen, with information how they are to be supported on their stations. We suppose they write to you, and will acquaint you with their intentions.

Some propositions are privately communicated to us, said to be on the part of Russia, for forming a commercial company at Emden. We shall put them into the hands of Mr Lee.

We do not see a probability of our obtaining a loan of two millions sterling, from any of the money holders in Europe, till our affairs are, in their opinion, more firmly established. What may be obtained from the two crowns, either as loan or subsidy, we shall probably know on the return of the couriers, and we hope we shall be able to write more satisfactory on those heads by Captain Young, who will, by that time, be ready to return.

With the greatest respect, we have the honor to be, &c.

B. FRANKLIN, SILAS DEANE, ARTHUR LEE.

FROM THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE COMMISSIONERS.

Yorktown, 18th October, 1777.

Gentlemen,

We have the pleasure of enclosing to you the copy of a letter from General Gates, containing the circ.u.mstances of a victory gained over General Burgoyne, on the 7th. This event must defeat the main views of General Clinton, in proceeding up Hudson's river. He has, it is true, got possession of fort Montgomery, but with much loss, as we hear.

Though the enemy should boast much of this acquisition, yet we are persuaded the consequences will be very little profitable to them, as Governor Clinton, of New York, and his brother General James Clinton, are acting vigorously in concert with General Putnam, who commands in that quarter.

Our army under General Washington is numerous and in high spirits, while General Howe is busied in forming obstructions in the roads leading to the city of Philadelphia, by which he supports the hopes of keeping our troops from routing him out of his stolen quarters. The enclosed resolves need no comment from us, being sufficient of themselves to determine your conduct in the points to which they relate. It is with concern we find, that British property has lately been covered by conveyance in French bottoms, which practice pursued, and American search disliked by France, it is obvious, that the most vulnerable part of Great Britain, her commerce, will be secured against us, and that by the intervention of our professed friends. We desire, therefore, gentlemen, that you will confer with the ministers of France on this subject, and satisfy them of the propriety, and even the necessity which there is, that either this commerce should be prohibited, or that the United States be at liberty to search into, and make distinctions between the bottom and the enemy's property conveyed in that bottom.

To prevent ill impressions being made, by a number of officers who are returning to France, we think it proper to observe, that without totally deranging and risking even the annihilation of the American armies, it was not possible to provide for many of those gentlemen in the manner they wished, and which some of them had stipulated for, previous to their leaving France. We have done all in our power to prevent discontent, but no doubt there will be some, whose dissatisfactions will produce complaints, and perhaps misrepresentations. You will be guarded on this head, and represent our conduct as founded solely on the necessity of our situation.

We have the honor to be, &c.

B. HARRISON, R. H. LEE, R. MORRIS, J. LOVELL.

FROM THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE COMMISSIONERS.

York, 31st October, 1777.

Gentlemen,

We have the pleasure to enclose to you the capitulation by which General Burgoyne and his whole army surrendered themselves prisoners of war. This great event might have been still greater, had not the operations on the Hudson river, below Albany, rendered it probable, that Sir Henry Clinton might come to the relief of General Burgoyne, as he had urged his way up to within fortyfour miles of Albany, at which place were lodged the princ.i.p.al magazines of war and provisions for our northern army. General Gates is now moving down the north river, having sent General Stark with two thousand brave men, to reduce Ticonderoga and the pa.s.ses yet occupied by the enemy on lake George.

General Howe is yet at Philadelphia, but whether he will be able to continue there, may be judged from a consideration of General Burgoyne's surrender, from the hitherto unavailing efforts of the enemy to get their fleet up to the city, from General Washington's being with a good army now near Germantown, and closing upon the enemy's lines, which run across the commons by Philadelphia, as we are informed, from Delaware to Schuylkill.

After many smaller attempts had been made in vain, upon fort Island and the chevaux de frize, a general and very powerful attack was made upon the 22d and 23d of this month, on Red Bank, by twelve hundred Hessians, and on Fort Island, by several ships of war, which approached as near as the chevaux de frize would admit, and by fire from batteries erected on Province Island. The Hessians were led on by Count Donop, Colonel Commandant. They attempted the place by storm, and were repulsed with the loss of seventy dead on the spot, and seventyeight prisoners wounded; among the latter, are Colonel Donop, and his aid major. Among the former, are a Lieutenant Colonel, and some inferior officers. From the ships and Province Island batteries, a furious cannonade was long continued, and warmly returned by fort Mifflin and the gallies. At length the ships were obliged to retire with the loss of two, which the enemy set on fire themselves, and which were thus blown up. These two are said to be the Augusta, of sixtyfour guns, and the Liverpool frigate. The names of the ships we cannot be sure of yet, but, that two men of war were destroyed is certain, and being desirous of giving you the most early information of the great events at the northward, we shall be more particular about the Delaware business hereafter. We rely on your wisdom and care to make the best and most immediate use of this intelligence, to depress our enemies, and produce essential aid to our cause in Europe.

The public acknowledgment of the independence of these United States, would be attended with beneficial consequences, and whilst we proceed with diligence and care to profit from our advantages, we are sensible how essential European aid must be to the final establishment and security of American freedom and independence. We are in daily expectation of hearing from you, which we have not done since May last.

As some of our frigates are ordered to France, under your after direction, we hope to hear in due time, that more effectual distress has been conveyed to the commerce of our enemies. It is a pity that some of their towns should not be made to suffer for the licentious conflagrations, which have been kindled by them in America.

We have the honor to be, &c.

R. H. LEE, J. LOVELL.

FROM THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE COMMISSIONERS.

York, 8th November, 1777.

Gentlemen,

At the time this will be delivered to you, bills of exchange will also be presented for your acceptance, drawn by Henry Laurens, of Charleston, South Carolina, who was elected President of the Continental Congress, on the first day of this month, of which we thought proper to give you thus early information, that you may duly honor his draughts, the particulars of which we shall forward speedily by another opportunity, concluding with much regard, &c.

R. H. LEE, J. LOVELL.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Pa.s.sy, 30th November, 1777.

Gentlemen,

In a former letter we acquainted you that we had engaged an officer, one of the most skilful in naval affairs this country possessed, to build us a frigate in Holland, on a new construction (drafts of which we sent you) and to go over in her to America, and enter your service. The frigate is almost finished. She is very large, is to carry thirty 24 pounders, on one deck, and is supposed equal to a ship of the line. But the infinite difficulties we find in equipping and manning such a ship in any neutral port, under the restrictions of treaties, together with the want of supplies from you, have induced us to sell her to the king, who, by a large pension offered to our officer, has engaged him to remain in his service, and pays us what we have expended on her.

We have built a small frigate at Nantes, which we hope to get away soon, laden with supplies of various sorts. We meet with difficulties too in shipping arms and ammunition in her, but hope they will be surmounted. Several other vessels, some under the direction of Mr Ross, others belonging to French merchants, are almost ready to sail for America, and we had thoughts of sending them in a little fleet, under convoy of the Raleigh, and Alfred, but on consultation, considering the spies maintained by England in all the ports, and thence the impossibility of making up such a fleet, without its being known, so as to give time for a superior force to be in wait for it, we concluded the chance better of their going off singly, as they should be ready. In these vessels are clothes, ready made, for thirty thousand men, besides arms, cloths, linens, and naval stores to a great amount, bought up by us and Mr Ross. The private adventures will also be very considerable. And as we shall continue our endeavor to complete your orders, we hope that if the ships have common success in pa.s.sing, you will be better provided for the next campaign, than you have been for any of the preceding.

How we are enabled to make these supplies, must be a matter of some surprise to you, when you reflect that little or nothing from you has been received by us, since what came by Captain Wickes, till now by the arrival of the Amphitrite, and that the seeming uncertainty of your public affairs has prevented hitherto our obtaining the loan proposed. We have however found, or made some friends, who have helped, and will, we are confident, continue to help us.

Being anxious for supporting the credit of Congress' paper money, we procured a fund for payment of the interest of all the Congress had proposed to borrow. And we mentioned in several of our letters, that we should be ready to pay all bills drawn for the discharge of such interest, to the full value in money of France, that is, five livres for every dollar of interest due. We were persuaded, that thus fixing the value of the interest would fix the value of the princ.i.p.al, and consequently of the whole ma.s.s. We hope this will be approved, though we have yet no answer. We cannot apply that fund to any other purpose, and therefore wish to know as soon as may be, the resolution of Congress upon it. Possibly none of those letters had reached you, or your answers have miscarried; for the interruptions of our correspondence have been very considerable. Adams, by whom we wrote early this summer, was taken on this coast, having sunk his despatches. We hear that Hammond shared the same fate on your coast.

Johnson, by whom we wrote in September, was taken, going out of the channel, and poor Captain Wickes, who sailed at the same time, and had duplicates, we just now hear foundered near Newfoundland, every man perishing but the cook. This loss is extremely to be lamented, as he was a gallant officer, and a very worthy man. Your despatches also, which were coming by a small sloop from Morris's River, and by the _Mere Bobie_ packet, were both sunk, on those vessels being boarded by English men of war.