The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VIII Part 50

A courier has been sent from hence with a similar communication as above, to the Courts of Berlin and Versailles, which Courts having been apprehensive of such an event, are, doubtless, prepared to meet it, and oppose themselves to the execution of the project of the Imperial Courts, which is nothing short of what was supposed to be in agitation, by my letter of the 30th of March, 1782, particularly by the first sentence of it relative to that subject, to which I beg leave again to refer you for more particular information. Last Sat.u.r.day, a courier arrived from Versailles for the French Minister, which was sent from thence in consequence of the same matter being communicated there by the Minister of the Emperor, that from this Court had not then arrived. I am told his Most Christian Majesty expresses in a firm tone his surprise at the Empress's seizing upon the Crimea, and demands an explanation upon that subject, concluding, however, with an offer of his mediation between her Imperial Majesty and the Porte for settling their differences and pretensions. But it is evident the sword alone must decide these.

Sometime in last February, France having information of the project formed against the Porte, remonstrated in strong terms against it to the Emperor, upon which, as is said, he gave full a.s.surances that he had not any such design as was imputed to him. This gave rise to the doubts, which have been entertained, whether he would take a part in the war against the Turks, which seemed to be the point upon which a general war upon the continent would depend. For if Russia alone had attacked the Turks, the powers whose interest it is to support them, would have, probably, confined themselves to secret succors. Their own safety will now oblige them to make powerful diversions in their favor. Not only France and Prussia have a deep interest to prevent the aggrandizement of the House of Austria, but many of the Electors and Provinces of Germany also, in order to preserve their own independence and liberties, which are ever in danger from powerful and ambitious Emperors. Hence we may see some of these allied with those two princ.i.p.al powers, to support the Turks against the formidable alliance of the Imperial Courts. Great Britain will remain neuter, rejoicing to see France engaged in an expensive continental war. Or if a favorable occasion should arise, she may take a part in it towards the close, to avenge herself for the part France has taken in our revolution. Thank G.o.d, we have a world to ourselves, and may rest in peace while the calamities of war are laying waste and desolating this continent. We may derive special advantages from it, as it will, probably, augment the emigrations of that most useful cla.s.s of men, the peasants of Germany, into America.

Since my last, a Nuncio from the Pope has arrived here, coming from Poland. Having had no account of the definitive treaty, I remain _in statu quo_.

I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, July 27th, 1783.

Sir,

I have this day been honored with the duplicate of your letter of the 1st of May last, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 1st of April, approving of my intention of returning to America, provided I should not be engaged in a negotiation with this Court at the time I should receive that resolution, but that if I should be, it is the desire of Congress that I should finish such negotiation before I return.[28] This letter has come very opportunely to hand, as we are in expectation every moment of receiving the account of the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace, when I should have immediately had my audience of her Imperial Majesty. I shall now think it expedient to decline that honor. For it would be a very useless ceremony, to take an audience of reception one day, when the next, I must ask one of departure, as according to your letter, it not only seems that Congress declines being at the customary expense of concluding a treaty with her Imperial Majesty, but you say also, with respect to a commercial treaty, (the only one I had any intention of concluding,) none could be signed by me, as my powers only extend "to _communicate_ with her Imperial Majesty's Ministers on the subject of a treaty, &c.

&c. but not to sign it." I confess I had put a very different construction upon the pa.s.sage of my instructions alluded to, which is, "You shall a.s.sure her Imperial Majesty and her Ministers, of the sincere disposition of the United States to enter into a treaty of friendship and commerce with her, on terms of the most perfect equality, &c. and you are authorised to communicate with her Imperial Majesty's Ministers on the form and terms of such treaty, and transmit the same to Congress for their ratification," especially when taken into conjunction with the following paragraph of my commission, "And he is further authorised in our name and on behalf of the United States of America, to propose a treaty of amity and commerce between these United States and her said Imperial Majesty, and to confer and treat thereon with her Ministers vested with equal powers, so far as the same shall be founded on principles of equality, &c. transmitting such treaty for our final ratification. And we declare in good faith, that we will confirm whatsoever shall by him be transacted in the premises."

But it is useless to spend a moment's consideration upon the extent of my powers, when you say you are persuaded it is the wish of Congress rather to postpone any treaty with Russia, than to buy one at this day, as I am persuaded no treaty is to be obtained, or could be honorably proposed, without conforming, as other nations have done, to the usage of this Court in that respect. That it would be for the interest of the United States, immediately to conclude a commercial treaty with her Imperial Majesty, such a one as I flatter myself I could obtain, I have not the least doubt upon my mind. As to the neutral confederation, I have the honor to agree in opinion with you, that it is now of little consequence to us; for this reason, I had determined to have nothing to do with it, even if I could not obtain a commercial treaty without acceding to it, as was the case with Portugal.

I pray you to be pleased to acquaint Congress, that I shall improve the earliest opportunity to leave this country and to return to America. Happily, I shall have a very good one in three weeks or a month, in the yacht of the Dutchess of Kingston, which will sail from hence for Boston, where I hope to arrive in all November. I have not received the letter from Mr Morris, which you mention.

I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

FOOTNOTES:

[28] "Resolved, That Mr Dana having intimated his intention of returning to America, Congress do approve of the same; provided he should not be engaged in a negotiation with the Court of St Petersburg at the time of receiving this resolution, in which case, it is the desire of Congress that he should finish such negotiation before he returns."

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, August 8th, 1783.

Sir,

In my last, I acknowledged the receipt of yours of the 1st of May, enclosing the resolution of Congress of the 1st of April, relative to my returning to America, and I acquainted you, at the same time, that I should take my pa.s.sage directly from hence for Boston, in the yacht of the Dutchess of Kingston. It being necessary immediately to prepare for the voyage, I thought it but decent to inform the Vice Chancellor of this change before it should become public, and have this day written a letter to him for that purpose, of which the following is a copy.

TO HIS EXCELLENCY COUNT OSTERMANN.

"I do myself the honor to acquaint your Excellency, that having obtained the permission of the Congress of the United States to return to America, I propose to leave this Empire in a few weeks. And as her Imperial Majesty has been pleased to postpone granting me an audience for the purpose of presenting my letters of credence, till the conclusion of the definitive treaties of peace, under the mediation of their Imperial Majesties, though that event should take place before my departure, yet if would be unnecessary to trouble her Imperial Majesty with that ceremony, when it must be soon followed with another. I have thought it inc.u.mbent upon me to inform your Excellency of my intention to return to America, before I had taken any step, which might make it public.

"I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

"_St Petersburg, August 8th, 1783._"

As it is probable I shall be in America by the time this letter will reach you, that is in all November, I shall add nothing here.

I have the honor to be, &c.

FRANCIS DANA.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

St Petersburg, August 17th, 1783.

Sir,

Before I received your letter and the resolution of Congress founded upon my letter of the 23d of September last, permitting my return to America, finding it impracticable to support myself upon my appointment for the time I expected to be detained in negotiating a treaty of commerce, I had written to Messrs Willink, and other bankers of the United States in Holland, to give me a credit here, for a sum not exceeding one thousand pounds sterling on account of the United States, engaging at the same time to be responsible for it, if Congress should refuse to allow it. Over and above this, I had applied to my bankers in this city to advance me six hundred pounds sterling, on my private credit, which I found it would be necessary for me to expend for such household furniture only, as is not included in what they call here a furnished house. Such a one I was just upon the point of engaging for six months, at the rate of sixteen hundred rubles a year, when your letter came to hand.

But as the object of negotiation above mentioned, is not thought by Congress to be worth pursuing at this time, I thought it would be most advisable for me to disengage myself from these extraordinary expenses, and to improve the convenient opportunity which now offers to take my pa.s.sage from this port for Boston, without waiting for the conclusion of the definitive treaties of peace, merely to take an audience of her Imperial Majesty; especially as I doubted whether Congress would approve of my incurring them, after I had received their permission to return, and found that they had no particular object of negotiation in view at this Court. Besides, I saw if I had an audience of her Majesty, it would not do for me to leave the Court abruptly, or before the next spring, and that in consequence of it, I should not be able to arrive in America till nearly the expiration of another year. I therefore wrote to the Vice Chancellor, as you will find by my last, to inform him of my intention to return to America.

Further to explain the motive of Congress, as well as my own respecting this measure, I wrote him again on the 14th instant as follows.

TO COUNT OSTERMANN.

"Sir,

"Lest the motive of the Congress of the United States, in granting me permission to return to America, as mentioned in the letter I did myself the honor to write to your Excellency on the 8th instant, might be misapprehended, I beg leave to inform you, that finding my health had suffered greatly since coming into this climate and my private affairs urging it upon me at the same time, I wrote to the Congress in September last, acquainting them with my desire to return to America.

It was in consequence of this alone, they have been pleased to grant me that liberty.

"Those causes, but especially my ill state of health, operating with greater force at this day, oblige me to improve the earliest occasion to return to America, and one now offering from this port, I have proposed to take the benefit of it. But independent of such considerations, which are merely personal, as I have not yet been acknowledged in my public character, it appears improper for me after having received the abovementioned act of Congress, to ask an audience of her Imperial Majesty for the purpose of a.s.suming it, and when too, if I should do it, I must immediately after ask an audience of leave.

These reasons I hope, will excuse my retiring in a private character, as I have hitherto remained here. Highly sensible of the honor I should derive from being the first Minister from the United States of America at this Imperial Court, it is with infinite regret, I feel myself under the necessity of departing without having a.s.sumed that character. If your Excellency should judge it expedient, I will do myself the honor to wait upon you, in order to give you further explanations upon this subject verbally, than I have done in writing.

"I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant,

FRANCIS DANA."

In consequence of the above letter I received a message from the Vice Chancellor on the 15th by one of his Secretaries, acquainting me that he should be glad to see me at his house in the country the next morning. When I waited upon him accordingly, he said he had received my two letters respecting my departure for America, a.s.signing the ill state of my health as the occasion of it, that I was already well informed of the time her Imperial Majesty had fixed for my reception, and of the reasons which influenced her in that respect; and that she could not make any change in it; that if my health did not permit me to wait for the event, in such a case it lay wholly with me to return.

I told him the cause which I had mentioned was the true cause, that my health was in such a state the last fall, when I wrote to the Congress, that I should not have remained over the winter, but from an expectation that everything would have been settled during the winter, so that I might have had an audience of her Majesty, and been ready to return to America early in the spring, by which time I expected to have received the permission of the Congress, that I wished only to have the matter properly understood, that the permission of the Congress was not owing to any transactions which had taken place here.

He then asked if I had received any answer from the Congress since the communication of my mission. I replied, none at all, that if he would be pleased to attend to dates, he would see it was impossible; that my communication was made on the 24th of February, that the permission of the Congress was dated on the 1st of April, between thirty and forty days after; that the greater part of that time, my letter containing the account of it, must have been on its way to Paris; that if my letters reached them in two or three months it was very well; that six months, sometimes nine, as was the present case, elapsed before I could receive any answer from America, and that I did not receive her Majesty's first answer, till near two months after the communication.

He seemed to be perfectly satisfied with this account, and said he was very sorry my health would not permit me to remain here, that he should have been very happy to have had the honor of seeing me in my public character. I expressed again the great regret with which I should depart, especially after having resided so long in the country without having had an audience of her Imperial Majesty, which I should have deemed the highest honor of my life. I told him, so convenient an opportunity now offering directly from hence for Boston, I thought I ought not to omit improving it, that if I should, I should be detained in the country through the next winter; for I could not think it would be proper to depart sooner, after taking an audience of her Majesty, to which he seemed to a.s.sent. He said, perhaps, after I had recovered my health, I might return again, when he should be very happy to see me, &c. I thanked him for his politeness, and we parted without the least apparent dissatisfaction. Yet I am persuaded, that they had much rather I should remain, because they have their apprehensions, that Congress may resent the postponement of my audience to the conclusion of the definitive treaties of peace; an event, which they must know can operate no change in the political existence of the United States.

I thought it best to put the permission upon its true ground, and my speedy departure upon the ill state of my health; because this would not in the least engage Congress, but leave them at perfect liberty to send another Minister at this Court or not, as they shall judge expedient, all circ.u.mstances considered. It is clearly my opinion, since Congress decline being at the expense of concluding a commercial treaty with her Majesty, that the supporting a Minister here has become a matter of much indifference to our interests. The interests of this empire are much more in the power of the United States, than theirs are in the power of this empire. Should we vigorously adopt the cultivation of hemp, and our territories along the Ohio are exceedingly well adapted to it, we should strike at the foundation of the commerce of this empire, and give her Majesty reason to repent at leisure of the line of conduct she has chosen to hold with the United States.