The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VIII Part 40

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

FRANCIS DANA.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO FRANCIS DANA.

Philadelphia, December 17th, 1782.

Sir,

Your distance, and the difficulty of conveying letters to you, make it proper at times to take a retrospective view of what has pa.s.sed, and by that means of supplying in part such despatches as may have miscarried.

The last year closed with important advantages gained over the southern States. The winter was unproductive of any events in this country that merit your attention.

The alteration in the British system of warfare in this country, in consequence of their reduced strength, and in pursuance of the victory obtained by the opposition in the House of Commons, has rendered the campaign inactive on the part of the enemy, and the few posts they possessed were so well fortified and garrisoned as to render an attack by us, without the a.s.sistance of a fleet, very hazardous. The reasons we had to hope for such a.s.sistance kept us from taking measures to act offensively in proper time. But though the summer has pa.s.sed off without any brilliant military exploit, it has by no means been unemployed. Such attention has been paid during these moments of leisure to the discipline of the troops and recruiting the army, that they are at this time more numerous than they have been at any period during the war. So perfect are the officers and men in every military manoeuvre, that we may, I believe, without vanity, boast to have an army not inferior to any in Europe. We should not know how to give this praise to our troops, but from the facility with which every foreigner gives it, notwithstanding national prejudices.

Among the military events which mark this year, are the evacuation of Savannah, and the measures taken for abandoning Charleston. The poor wretches, whom fear or interest led to join the enemies of their country, find themselves sufficiently punished to merit even our pity.

With blasted characters and ruined fortunes, they are seeking new habitations under the line or near the pole. Numerous cargoes of them are sent to the West Indies and Halifax, to St Augustine and Pen.o.bscot.

But it is of moment to you, to be acquainted with the political character of your country and their sentiments with respect to the faith that is due to treaties. By knowing how far you can rely upon them yourself, you acquire a degree of confidence in making engagements for them, and you can venture to p.r.o.nounce upon their conduct on every trying occasion, without waiting for intelligence from this side of the Atlantic. You need not be told, that the British nation, suffering themselves to be deceived by their wishes, and misled by the misrepresentations of those that were interested in the continuance of the war, have believed, or at least pretended to believe, that a majority of the people wished well to their cause.

Neither our forms of governments, which gave their partisans annually an opportunity to declare their sentiments, and if most numerous to change their rulers; nor the number that repaired to their standard when hoisted in eleven of the Thirteen States; neither the determined and successful opposition hitherto given to the forty thousand heralds, which they sent to proclaim their champion, encourage his friends, and bid defiance to his foes, had sufficed to cure them of this delusive hope. They still imagined that a few kind words would close the wounds that they had seven years been widening. General Carleton was sent over to speak to them. So little doubt had he that they would be well received, that he was about to send out Mr Morgan, his Secretary, without soliciting a pa.s.sport, and was much surprised when Colonel Livingston, who was then a prisoner, informed him that he would be stopped at the first post; and still more so, when upon a subsequent application, he found that Congress refused to have any intercourse with him; and referred all negotiations to Europe, where they could treat in conjunction with their allies.

But nothing serves more strongly to show the little confidence the people of this country have in the promises of Great Britain, and their fixed determination not to break their engagements with their allies, than the resolutions pa.s.sed on the subject by the respective legislatures without consulting each other, and independent of directions from Congress; it proves beyond contradiction, to those who know how our legislatures are formed, and the frequency of their elections, that these sentiments are the sentiments of the people; and that, too, at a time when they most sincerely wished for peace. It anything was wanting to give the last blow to British credit in this country, it was their late change in their administration; from which Mr Fox and others are excluded, for avowing the sentiments that their Commissioners, Digby and Carleton, solemnly p.r.o.nounced in a public letter to be those of their Sovereign.

The other general objects, which it is necessary for you to be acquainted with, are the commerce, the finances, and the government of this country. The first suffered considerably in the beginning of this year, by the great vigilance of the British cruisers, but has since been very flourishing and successful. None of those wants are known, which prevailed at the beginning of this controversy. Our stores and warehouses are amply supplied with everything, that can administer to the necessities or luxuries of the people. The West Indies and Europe furnish a ready market for all we raise beyond what is necessary for our own consumption. The embargoes and restrictions, which were once thought necessary to enable us to obtain a scanty supply for our army, have been unknown among us for three years past; and yet a most ample provision has been made both for our troops and those of our allies.

Our trade with the Havana has furnished considerable sums in specie; paper is entirely out of circulation, if we except the bank paper, which, being payable at sight in specie, is equal to it in value. So extensive has this circulation been, that the managers, not long since, published a distribution of the first _half year's_ dividend at four and a half per cent, notwithstanding a variety of expenses to which they had been put, in the first organization of the bank. So that the profit upon bank stock, is generally estimated at about ten per cent per annum, which will, I should conceive, when known in Europe, be a strong inducement with many people, those particularly who have thoughts of coming to this country, to lodge their money here.

I would not, however, have you think the flourishing state of the bank (which is the property of a private company, under the protection of government) a certain indication of the happy situation of our own finances. This is by no means the case. The demand for money to replace the property, which the enemy have destroyed, to repair buildings, and the profits which commerce yields, together with the difficulty of forming new systems of taxation in a country, which has. .h.i.therto scarce known a tax, beyond what was necessary for the support of its own frugal governments, renders the collection of a direct tax extremely difficult. Duties and excises must be levied upon some general system, so as to prevent one State from depending on another.

This has been attempted by a five per cent duty on all imports, but it has. .h.i.therto been defeated by the refusal of Rhode Island to come into the plan. Congress are about to send down a committee of their own body to urge them to a compliance with this measure. Should it be attended with success, a very considerable revenue will arise from that source. Public credit, which has so frequently tottered during the revolution, will be established upon a firm and lasting basis.

The evacuation of the southern States, which we have reason to believe has taken place by this time, though we have yet received no official information of it, will greatly increase our resources. Their exports will consist in the most valuable articles at foreign markets, and must occasion such an influx of wealth, as will enable them to contribute to the public expenses, which they have hitherto been in a great measure incapable of doing.

Before you left this, I believe most of the States had formed their governments. Ma.s.sachusetts has since completed hers upon plans similar to those of the other States. That of New Hampshire is printed for the approbation of the people, and I am told will shortly be agreed to.

The causes which occasioned a temporary suspension of government in South Carolina and Georgia being removed, they are again in the full exercise of them, and, indeed, have been so ever since Lord Cornwallis left the latter State.

Upon this head, therefore, I have nothing to inform you unless it be that the people appear to be perfectly happy under their new establishment; not the smallest commotion having arisen in any of the States from discontents on this, or, indeed, on any other ground, if we except an attempt, which was made by an inconsiderable party in one county of Ma.s.sachusetts, to prevent the collection of debts till the termination of the war. This was instantly suppressed by the punishment of their leader. Indeed, this trifling matter was so little attended to here, that I should not have thought of mentioning it, if I had not seen that they had magnified it in England, into a revolt of the New England States against the government of the Congress. A letter from a Dr Walter, who I believe was originally of Ma.s.sachusetts, is printed as a voucher for this impudent falsehood. As British emissaries may endeavor to circulate this with you, where they have an interest in deceiving, I concluded it proper to furnish you with the means of refuting it.

Your knowledge of the continental forms of governments, leaves me nothing to say on that head. It will, however, give you pleasure to be informed, that the great Council is at present as respectable for numbers, integrity, and abilities as it has been at any time during the war, and I believe much freer from party spirit or partial views.

Add to this, they have acquired an experience in public business, which they could not but want at first. I would not have you infer from this, that the old members are always continued; this is far from being the case; but as the new delegates are generally elected from the number of gentlemen who have held important offices in their respective States, they bring with them that knowledge, and habit of business which they acquired at home. The establishment of Ministers for the great executive department (a regulation which has taken place since you left us) has been found to be productive of very great advantages. Congress are no longer troubled with those little details, which used to take up their time. The business brought before them from those departments, is digested before it comes up, and they are not now obliged to wade through a variety of unnecessary circ.u.mstances, to come at what merits their attention. You are personally acquainted with the Ministers of Finance, and War, so that I need say nothing relative to the character of either. Their conduct gives general satisfaction; and Mr Morris's attention, abilities, and personal credit, have done much towards relieving that of the United States.

As this revolution makes a new era in the history of man, which furnishes no other instance of a whole people's uniting to form governments for themselves, and their posterity, I have thought it would not be unacceptable to the philosophic mind of the Empress of all the Russias, to contemplate the first rudiments of these governments, which may hope after the example of her own dominions, by an a.s.siduous application to the arts of peace and war, to obtain an elevated station among the nations of the earth. I have, therefore, directed to your care, a packet containing the confederation, and such of the const.i.tutions of the respective States as have been hitherto printed.

Thus, Sir, I have endeavored to give you a general view of our situation. In return for which I must pray you to be more minute in your information of what pa.s.ses with you. I have already explained to you the objects on which I wish you particularly to enlarge. None of your letters have embraced those objects. I would recommend it to you to keep a journal of every remarkable event, to minute down every conversation you have upon political subjects; and to digest them weekly into a despatch for us; adding thereto, a sketch of the character and station of the person whose sentiments you give. I know, Sir, that this will be attended with some trouble, but I know too, that you will have no reluctance to impose any task upon yourself, which the duties of your station render necessary.

I am, Sir, &c.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, December 21st, 1782.

Sir,

I had the honor of your letter of the 18th of September, last week, in which you acknowledge the receipt of mine of March 30th, but add, that the one of March 5th has never reached you. I am at a loss how to account for the failure of that, when a copy of it accompanied the other.

I am glad to learn the observations I sent you upon the trade of this empire, have been deemed at all pertinent, and have afforded any useful hints, as well as that the state of its connexion with the Porte, has not been wholly uninteresting. If you have received my other letters in course, you will find I have not been silent upon the particular subjects you mention, and upon which you want information, nor altogether an idle spectator of events; although to this moment I have not had any conferences with either of her Majesty's Ministers, or taken any official step, yet I have constantly endeavored to clear up all misrepresentations of every kind, of our enemies or others, in a channel which I have reason to believe has had a good effect. I am a.s.sured that all alarms about a dangerous concurrence in commerce, which had been artfully raised to serve particular interests, are perfectly quieted, and that it is now also believed, that a free and direct commerce between this empire and America, will be highly beneficial to the former. A sketch of the arguments made use of to these ends, you will find in my preceding letters.

As to the great point of our independence, the armed neutrality sprung out of it, and the propositions of the mediators, were built upon it.

These sentiments were expressed in my first letters from hence to the President, have since been repeated in several of my letters to you, and I have never seen occasion to change them. I have never troubled the French Minister with any conversation upon the subject you allude to, since that I first detailed to Congress, except when I thought some important change had taken place in the state of affairs, such as the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army, when the Parliament pa.s.sed their several resolutions respecting the American war, preceding the change of the old Ministry, when Mr Fox communicated to this Court a new proposition relative to the mediation, the substance of which was, "His Britannic Majesty says, that he does not prejudice, nor will he prejudice, any question whatsoever, and that he does not pretend to exclude any one from the negotiation, which is had in view, who can be supposed to be interested in it, whether it may be a question respecting the States-General or the American Colonies;" and finally, when I had authentic intelligence, that a commission had pa.s.sed the great seal to authorise Mr Oswald to treat of peace with the Commissioners of the United States. On all these occasions I consulted him freely, but found him as I had expected, invariably against the measure I proposed to his consideration, always a.s.signing the old reasons in support of his advice. My sentiments upon the last most important change, you will have in my last letter, three copies of which are forwarded to you.

Persuaded that the system of this Court, so far as it respects Great Britain and the United States, is such as I have pointed out heretofore, but more particularly in my last, I should not despair of bringing them from that chosen ground by communicating our propositions at this moment. The United States have acquired too much consideration in Europe to be lightly offended by any Sovereign, and I do not believe the ill.u.s.trious Sovereign of this empire, has the least disposition to offend them. If, therefore, the question was brought before her, shall we admit or shall we reject their propositions? in my opinion they would not be rejected. Upon what ground could a rejection be founded at this time? When the Parliament of Great Britain had long since declared in the face of the world their utter inability to conquer any one of the United States, and have even made the attempt itself criminal, by resolving, that the Minister who should advise it, or the General who should obey an order to that effect, should be deemed enemies of their King and country; when they had pa.s.sed an act to enable the King to make a peace or truce with America, when their military commanders in America have published under their hands from authority, that their Sovereign had commanded his Ministers, to direct Mr Granville, that the independency of America should be proposed by him in the first instance, unshackled with conditions, and when another of his Ministers (Mr Oswald) is in fact in treaty with the United States, as with an independent sovereign power, in virtue of a commission pa.s.sed in form under the great seal of the kingdom, could it be plausibly alleged, that an acceptance of our propositions, or the admission of your Minister at this Court, would be a breach of the most scrupulous neutrality? If not, is not our way clear? But as it is a possible case, let it be supposed, that after all this our propositions would be rejected, and your Minister denied an admission into this Court; and that in consequence of it he should immediately retire from the empire. Under such circ.u.mstances, which would have suffered most, the honor and dignity of the United States, or the honor and dignity of this Sovereign? Besides, to remain masked at such a moment, does it not seem to argue a self-conviction, that we are unworthy that rank among the nations of the world, which we have so justly a.s.sumed, and so bravely maintained?

I should not have time to copy this letter, if I should enlarge upon this subject; and enough has, perhaps, been already said upon it, to point out fully the reasons, which would induce me, if I was at liberty, to make an immediate communication of my mission to this Court. You may be a.s.sured, Sir, the cause of America has lost no ground here, and that the impression of our revolution has been irresistible throughout all Europe. We have nothing to fear from any quarter, even if the present negotiation should be broken off. In such a case, we shall have only to lament, that we did not seize upon the advantages, which the moment presented to us. The letter of General Carleton and Admiral Digby, which you enclosed, and desired me to have published, had been published before in the princ.i.p.al gazettes of Europe.

I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, December 27th, 1782.

Sir,

Though neither the French Minister nor myself has any intelligence of it from Paris, yet yesterday's post brings through several channels an account, that the preliminaries for a general peace were signed on the 1st of this month. Thus there is an end to the great contest in which we have been engaged; and with regard to myself, every one will now agree that all obstacles are removed. I expect, therefore, soon to take my proper station at this Court, and to be engaged in the business of making a commercial treaty with her Imperial Majesty.

But I shall find an impediment in this business not to be surmounted, if Dr Franklin and Mr Adams should not be able, or think themselves authorised to advance the cash mentioned in my former letter, for which purpose I wrote to them as soon as the negotiations were commenced, at least as soon as intelligence of it reached us here. It is not time yet for me to expect their answer.

I have heretofore acquainted you, that I proposed to return to America as soon after I should be received at this Court as our commercial treaty should be finished. It would be less justifiable for me to quit this Court before the completion of that treaty, because the Minister who might succeed me, would probably want that information relative to the commerce of this Empire, which I may have acquired by my long residence here. I still continue of the same mind, and will now a.s.sign my reasons for it, when it will certainly be too late for any one to consider them in the light of a solicitation for my own benefit.

Congress have been pleased to honor me with the same rank in the diplomatic corps, which they have conferred upon their Ministers in Europe, viz. that of a Minister in the second cla.s.s, and though this is unquestionably the most expensive Court at which they have any Minister, they have thought fit to reduce my appointment to three fifths of that granted to their other Ministers. It is the same which the _Charge d'Affaires_ of Spain had, of whom it was not expected that he should hold a house and a table, as it is of the other Ministers. I have lived here long enough to see that it will be absolutely impossible for me to sustain the indispensable expenses of my rank, with an appointment less than that of our other Ministers in Europe.

If there was, therefore, no other motive to influence my determination, that alone, I have no doubt, Congress will admit for my full justification.

For their particular information, I have endeavored to procure an account of the appointments of all the foreign Ministers residing at this Court, but have not yet obtained it. I can only say with regard to the Minister of Sweden, who has a Secretary to his Emba.s.sy, that his appointment and allowance for his house rent, exclusive of some other benefits, amount to more than double my appointment, including everything I can charge agreeably to what I suppose to be the intention of Congress. I will send the abovementioned account as soon as the gentleman, who has promised to procure it for me, shall furnish me with it.

I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.