The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VIII Part 46

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO FRANCIS DANA.

Philadelphia, May 27th, 1783.

Sir,

Since my last, a copy of which will be transmitted with this, Congress were pleased to pa.s.s the enclosed resolution limiting the term to which they conceive the duration of the treaty of commerce to be proposed to Russia should be confined, and directing that it should be in no way obligatory upon them, till they had revised and approved it.[26] This latter part of the resolution, will I dare say make no difficulty, since it only conforms to the powers you already have, and which if you have made any propositions, must I presume have been made under this restriction. You will find, however, that Congress do not wish to perplex or embarra.s.s you, if your propositions are not exactly conformable to their intentions, but have left it to your discretion to proceed if you are too far engaged to recede with honor; but they are still anxious not to engage extensively in commercial treaties, till experience has shown the advantages or disadvantages that may result from them.

I wish you had enlarged upon this subject so as to have shown minutely the conveniences, that will arise from trading with the dominions of her Imperial Majesty under a treaty rather than without. You hint at one of them, when you speak of the different coin in which the duties are to be paid, but not having explained the value of the money of the country, or the amount of duties, we know not what advantage we are to gain from being permitted to pay them in it.

By a late resolution, Congress have been pleased to direct, that the postage of letters and the payment of couriers be allowed as contingent expenses.

Give me leave, Sir, again to remind you, that your letters have hitherto been silent on the subject of government, police, laws, arts, manufactures, finances, civil and military establishments, &c. It is true, a general knowledge of these may be acquired from several publications; but minute and accurate details are necessary to answer political purposes; and as you have much leisure, an ample support, and the means of acquiring this information, with the ability to employ those means to the best advantage, I must again request you to impose this task upon yourself, and to consider it as a standing instruction, to write at least once a week on these subjects.

I have nothing to add as to general intelligence, since my last, but that Congress have ordered that furloughs be granted to about two thirds of the army. And that we have some reason to complain of the infraction of the seventh article of the provisional treaty; Sir Guy Carleton having sent off numbers of slaves under pretence of having come in under proclamation, which gave them their freedom, and they could not be within the letter or spirit of the article.

I have the honor to be, &c.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

FOOTNOTES:

[26] "_In Congress, May 22d, 1783._ Resolved, that Mr Dana be instructed, in case he has not already proceeded too far in the commercial treaty between the United States of America and Russia, that the treaty be limited to the term of fifteen years; and that the same be subject to the revisal and approbation of Congress before they shall be under obligations to accept or ratify it." For the proceedings of Congress on the subject of Mr Dana's letters, see the _Secret Journal_, Vol. III. pp. 344-354.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, May 30th, 1783.

Sir,

I have already sent you three copies of the Memorial, which I presented to the Vice Chancellor, Count Ostermann. There is no doubt, now hostilities have ceased, but one of them at least will come safe to hand. It has all along been uncertain to me what the effect of the Memorial would be, that is, whether it would produce any change in her Majesty's present plan of conduct towards the United States. I had in view by it princ.i.p.ally, to place our affairs in such a point of light, that if her Majesty should persist in her answer, the dishonor of it, if any, should not fall upon the United States.

The Memorial was as unexpected to the Vice Chancellor, as his answer was to me, after the previous a.s.surances I had received, that all obstacles were removed. He expected the whole matter would have ended with the conference I had with him. In which case they could, and they would without any scruple, have made what they pleased of it; have varied it, added to it, or diminished it, as future circ.u.mstances should render expedient. To prevent this, finding I could not obtain a note in writing of the substance of the answer, I determined to make that certain, as well as my reply to it, by throwing the whole into a Memorial.

Not having received an answer to this, as I had desired in my letter accompanying it, on the 28th instant, I wrote another letter for the Vice Chancellor, as my ultimatum, and intended to have sent it yesterday, but a private friend called upon me in the evening of the same day, and told me he was informed, that I should have an answer in the course of this week, which would be satisfactory to me, but that he knew nothing of the particulars. Upon this intelligence I have omitted to send my letter to the Vice Chancellor, and shall wait patiently for the answer, at least through the week. Though my expectations are not sanguine from this information, which I have no doubt has been delivered exactly as it was received, yet it gives some room to hope for further explanations upon the subject, and that a proper system, such as the true interests of this empire point out, may be finally adopted, and without my coming to the last measure, that of quitting the country, a measure which I cannot but consider as indispensably necessary to the maintenance of the honor of the United States, if her Majesty should persist in her first answer. A few days will now determine whether all obstacles to my reception are effectually removed, or whether more plausible pretences only are intended to be opposed to it. Not a moment shall be lost to communicate to you whatever may take place relative to so interesting a subject.

As to general news there seems to be no doubt of the war breaking out between Russia and the Porte, but it is still thought that the Emperor will not take a part in it, knowing the consequence of his doing so will be a general war upon the continent, in which he may probably suffer much. I am told the Khan of the Crimea, who has lately been restored by Russia, has ceded that important peninsula to the Empress, and retired into the Cuban. Thus that country has been made independent of the Porte, but to become a province of this empire; an event which most have been foreseen, though probably not expected so early. You will find some particulars relative to the Crimea in my letter of the 15th of January last. Russia must henceforward be considered as having the absolute command of the Black Sea. But on the other hand, she will not probably be able to act with her fleets in the Archipelago against the Turks, as in the last war, for a plan it is said, is forming by the House of Bourbon, to render the Mediterranean a privileged sea like the Baltic, (which was done by a confederation of the powers bordering upon that sea) by a similar confederation of the powers upon the Mediterranean. By this means the Russian fleet will be obliged to quit that sea, and France without entering into the war will render a most essential service to the Porte. Seven sail of men-of-war, which had received orders to sail from hence and Archangel, to join the fleet at Leghorn, have in consequence of this plan, as is supposed, been stopped. It is said likewise to be intended to suppress those troublesome piratical people upon the coasts of Barbary, and who so frequently insult the first maritime powers of the world, and in a manner make them all their tributaries.

I am, Sir, with the greatest respect, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, June 6th, 1783.

Sir,

In my last I acquainted you, that I had been informed I should receive a satisfactory answer to my Memorial, in the course of that week. None has yet been given. Through the same channel I was yesterday informed, that it was intended to give the answer on Monday or Tuesday next.

From this delay I am inclined to think, they wait to receive an account of the definitive treaty, when all ideas of a mediation will be done away. This is daily expected here. The other objections may be then dropped. It would be thought perhaps to be too humiliating to give them all up at once. In this way probably the whole may be compounded. I shall wait patiently in this expectation till we receive that account.

I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, June 17th, 1783.

Sir,

Although we have not received any account of the conclusion of the definitive treaty, under the mediation of their Imperial Majesties, I have the satisfaction to acquaint you, that our affairs have taken the turn, which I supposed in my last they might do. This is the utmost effect I could ever expect from my Memorial, for the reason mentioned in that letter. On Sat.u.r.day morning I received a note from the Vice Chancellor, of which the following is a copy.

Translation.

"Count Ostermann begs Mr Dana to do him the favor to call on him today at one o'clock, taking this occasion to a.s.sure him, with great pleasure, of his perfect esteem.

"_Sat.u.r.day, June 14th._"

Having waited upon him accordingly, he entered into a conversation tending to explain away the princ.i.p.al parts of his first answer. He said, however, that he did not intend that as the answer to my Memorial, this being included wholly in the note which he would read to me, and that I might take a copy of it to prevent any mistakes, which is as follows.

Translation.

"I have not failed, Sir, to place under the eyes of the Empress, my Sovereign, the letters which you addressed to me on the 8th and 10th of April, accompanied with a Memorial and a supplement to that Memorial.

"Their contents proving that you have taken in a wrong sense what I had the honor of saying to you previously respecting the overture, which you made to me relative to the honorable commission with which you are charged, I have renewed to you the expression of satisfaction with which the Empress has accepted the mark of attention, which your const.i.tuents have shown in sending to her a person expressly clothed in a public character, and that she will receive him with pleasure in that quality, as soon as the definitive treaties, which are now on the eve of being concluded between the powers, who have been at war, shall be consummated. Her delicacy has been a law to her not to make any advance before that time, which should be considered inconsistent with those principles, which have characterised her strict impartiality during the course of the late war. In other respects, the Empress designs that you shall enjoy, not only in your own person, but also your countrymen, who shall visit her empire either on commercial or other affairs, the most favorable reception, and the protection of the laws of nations.

"As to what I said to you, Sir, concerning the date of your letters of credence, there has been no occasion for any question respecting the consequences you have drawn from it. The conduct, which the Empress has held during the whole course of the war, sufficiently proves the impartiality of her sentiments, renders all discussion on this subject unnecessary, and ought to be perfectly satisfactory to you."

To which I returned the following answer.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY COUNT OSTERMANN.

"I have considered the answer to my Memorial, which your Excellency gave to me, on the part of her Imperial Majesty on the 14th instant, as contained in the written note, of which you permitted me to take a copy. Knowing the high sense the United Status of America have, of that strict impartiality between all the late belligerent powers, which her Imperial Majesty has so evidently manifested during the course of the war, and that they would not wish any propositions should be made on their part, which she might possibly think in the least degree repugnant to it, I omitted to make the communication of my mission to your Excellency, till the conclusion of the preliminary treaty between the Courts of Versailles, Madrid, and London, had been in form communicated to her Imperial Majesty. It is to be observed, that at the time I made it, the mediation had not taken place, the despatches relative to it, if I am not mistaken, having arrived three days after. The other matters being waved, I shall conform with the utmost satisfaction, to her Imperial Majesty's manner of thinking respecting the present mediation, and wait the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace. I have a most grateful sense of the a.s.surances, which her Imperial Majesty has been pleased to give to me, that in the meantime, not only myself, but such of the citizens of the United States, as affairs of commerce or others may bring into her empire, shall enjoy the most favorable reception, and the protection of the laws of nations.

"I pray your Excellency to accept my sincere acknowledgments of the polite manner in which you communicated the answer to my Memorial.