The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume IX Part 31

I have had the honor of informing you, that I intended answering your favor of the 31st of July last, wherein you did me the honor of charging me to send to the Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America, in Paris, the testimony of the satisfaction that had been given to the honorable Regency of your city and to you in particular, by the transmission of a copy of their treaty of amity and commerce with France. Not only has your request been complied with, by transmitting to those gentlemen a copy of your letter, but I did more; for having occasion at the same time to write to America directly, I have added another copy for Congress. That body, therefore, will, without delay, be informed of the benevolent sympathy which the Republic in her turn feels for her worthy sister, as also of the happy effects which this sympathy cannot fail to produce, when the obstacle unfortunately attached to the ship shall have lost the power of obstructing her progress. Meantime, continue, Sir, by your patriotic efforts, to clear away difficulties, to provide means, and to hasten the moment of a connexion so desirable on both sides, and present and future generations will bless your name and your memory.

You will have seen by the gazettes, and especially by that of Leyden, with what unanimity and dignity the United States disdained the propositions, injurious to their good, great, and august ally, as well as to their own majesty, made to them by the British Commissioners. I have in hand and will show you the authentic proofs of this, as well as of the horror, which the Americans have, of ever returning under the iron sceptre they have broken. This confounds the falsehoods, that have been uttered and kept up with so much complacency in this country. Will they never cease to give credit to such impudent a.s.sertions? I cannot forbear to transcribe what a friend[31] has written to me. This friend does not know in detail what I have been doing here. He had asked me how I advanced. I had told him _festino lente_.

"In general," says he, "I am not disposed to precipitation, especially in important affairs. But I cannot help saying, that there may be some danger of the good people in Holland losing some advantages in commerce with America by their too great caution. I have reason to believe, that the British Ministry have already sent orders to their commissioners to give up the point of independence, provided they can obtain some exclusive benefit in America."

I wish, however, that we could concert some new movement. There is yet time to think of it before the meeting of the a.s.sembly. In all that concerns myself, I can only promise my best efforts.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DUMAS.

FOOTNOTES:

[31] William Lee, who was at this time in Francfort.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

The Hague, December 3d, 1778.

Gentlemen,

The act of despotism, which I announced to you in my letter of the 16th,[32] was consummated on the 18th of November. The resolution adopted by the majority had a specious design, to wit, to refuse the commissaries which the English Amba.s.sador demanded, to agree that the article of naval stores, legalized by the treaty of 1674, should be for the future contraband; but in the end, all was spoiled by the refusal of convoy to ships carrying these articles to France.

But Amsterdam has inserted in the acts a formal protest, by which this resolution is declared null, by its having been adopted in a manner contrary to the const.i.tution, which requires unanimity in this case.

The protest indicates, at the same time, the consequences which this affair may have. They may be very serious if they push the city to extremities. The first will be the closing of the public chest, as far as concerns her contribution towards the expenses of the confederation. This city alone pays about one quarter of all the expenses of the republic, and if they should push things to extremity she may ask succors of France, who certainly would not suffer her to be oppressed. The Ministerial gazettes in England announce this to their nation as a great success. _Qui vult decipi decipiatur._ On the other side, France threatens to seize in her turn English property on board of Dutch ships, and to deprive these of the favors they enjoy in her ports, if the Republic does not cause her flag to be respected by the English, according to treaties. On the fifteenth, the States of the Province will be rea.s.sembled.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DUMAS.

FOOTNOTES:

[32] Missing.

MEMORIAL,

_Presented by His Excellency, the Duc de la Vauguyon, Amba.s.sador of France, to the States-General of the United Provinces._

The Hague, December 7th, 1778.

High and Mighty Lords,

The conviction which the king, my master, has had, that their High Mightinesses, animated with a desire to perpetuate the perfect harmony which subsists between France and the States-General, would conform themselves scrupulously, in existing circ.u.mstances, to the principles of the most absolute neutrality, has induced his Majesty to include the United Provinces in the order that he made in the month of July last, concerning the commerce and navigation of neutrals. His Majesty has less room to doubt of the perseverance of their High Mightinesses in these principles, because they have given him repeated a.s.surances, and because they are the basis and most solid guarantee of the repose and prosperity of the Republic. His Majesty, however, thinks he ought to procure, in this respect, an entire certainty; and it is with this view that he has directed me to demand of your High Mightinesses an explanation, clear and precise, of your final determination, and to declare to you that he will decide according to your answer to maintain or annul, so far as concerns the subjects of your High Mightinesses, the orders which he has already given.

To make better known to your High Mightinesses the views and intentions of the king, my master, I have the honor to observe to you, that his Majesty flatters himself that you will procure to the flag of the United Provinces all the freedom which belongs to it as a consequence of their independence, and to their commerce all the integrity which the law of nations and treaties secure to it. The least derogation from these principles would manifest a partiality, the effect of which would impose on him the necessity of suspending not only the advantages that his Majesty has insured to your flag, by his order in favor of neutrals, but also the material and gratuitous favors, which the commerce of the United Provinces enjoys in the ports of his kingdom, without any other consideration than the good will and affection of his Majesty for your High Mightinesses.

DUC DE LA VAUGUYON.

TO THE COMMISSIONERS AT PARIS.

The Hague, December 18th, 1778.

Gentlemen,

I have seen our friend. There are two committees at work, one for the new remonstrances occasioned by the English, the other on the answer to be made to the Memorial of the French Amba.s.sador.

_December 19th, forenoon._ The Admiralty it was said would not be in favor of an answer, till next week; but measures were taken to make them pa.s.s one this morning, in which were _verba pretereaque nihil_; there was nothing changed in the restriction of convoy as to naval provisions. The Amba.s.sador having been notified of it, sent today, early in the morning, to the Grand Pensionary a note so energetic that it will be difficult to avoid giving a precise answer, yes or no, which will save or lose to the Seven Provinces the commerce of France.

_December 19th, evening._ In spite of the note of the Amba.s.sador, the English party has prevailed in the provincial a.s.sembly, and all except Amsterdam have adopted by a majority the opinion of the Admiralty.

Thereupon, Amsterdam delivered her protest, in which she confirmed her former protest against the resolution of the 18th of November. She declared further, that she held herself irresponsible and discharged of all injurious consequences to the Republic, which the unsatisfactory answer they had given France might have. Our friend has caused me to read this protest, which is moderate but energetic.

_December 22d._ I have a copy of the resolution and protest. I know on good authority that the Court of London has declared, that it is no better satisfied with the resolution adopted on the 18th of November.

Thus those who have wished to be wholly subservient to that Court are very badly paid for their complaisance. The above resolution, adopted by the majority of the States of Holland, on the 19th of this month, has not yet been presented to the States-General. The a.s.sembly of Holland, which was to have separated this week, adjourned to Tuesday next. The Deputies of the cities will depart on Thursday, to seek, it is said, new instructions for another answer, such as the Amba.s.sador can receive. Those of Amsterdam remain here, because they have no need of an _ad referendum_.

_December 24th._ The British Court has communicated to the Republic its order, which declares liable to seizure neutral ships carrying to France munitions of war, military and naval. This order is directly contrary to the resolution of the 18th of November, by which the States refuse to permit this article to be put in question, which treaties secure to them.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DUMAS.

TO THE COMMITTEE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

The Hague, December 25th, 1778.

Gentlemen,

Your friends here do all that they can to bring about future connexions between the two Republics. The phrase, that I have underlined in the Declaration,[33] expresses nothing else than the authentic information, which the city of Amsterdam has of the disposition by which a majority is influenced in the Republic. See in it then only the wish of the city, that your virtuous perseverance in a union, on which alone depends your sovereignty, may frustrate this influence. It can do nothing against you without unanimity; but, without this same unanimity, all the good will of the city can at the present time do nothing more for you, as to the conclusion of a treaty of amity and commerce, than project it, in order to have it ready when it shall be able to propose it with some appearance of success. A copy of the Memorial, presented on the 7th of December, by the French Minister to their High Mightinesses, was sent to me by himself, on the 8th, to be communicated to you.

They have sent me from Amsterdam, with the same intent, a copy of the protest of the city against the resolution adopted by the majority for refusing convoy to naval articles. This important paper is very long, (20 pages in folio.) Expecting that I may be able to send it to you, translated and copied, I will transcribe for you, Gentlemen, what a good Dutch citizen, to whom I lent it, thought of it. "It is scarce possible for me," said he, "to paint the vexation with which I have read the resolve adopted by the majority. A doc.u.ment at once puerile, jesuitical, and made unintelligible, as I think, from design, to conceal the palpaple contradictions and absurdities of which it is full. I can compare it to nothing better than to a serpent, which hides its ugly head under the tortuous folds of its horrible body. The protest, on the contrary, is the finest doc.u.ment of its kind, that I remember to have seen. As precise as it is luminous, it presents at once, and gathers, so to speak, into a single focus, all the reasons for the opposite sentiment, in a manner to strike all eyes which are not voluntarily closed to its light. But we live in the midst of a people, who do not hesitate to call white black, and black white, provided it favors the party of the Boreases of England and of our country." The States of Holland a.s.sembled yesterday. They have named two committees to deliberate, the one on the answer to be made to the Court of France, the other on the new complaints to which the English have just given cause. We shall not know the result till next week.

In the circ.u.mstances, Gentlemen, in which you see things, it will be necessary that I should be provided with a letter of credence from your honorable Congress, like, _mutatis mutandis_, that which I received from it under date from the 9th to the 12th of December, 1775, and of which I made use at the Court of France, in April, 1776; with this difference, that the other being unlimited and accommodated to existing circ.u.mstances, that which I now ask for should be limited to this Republic, and conformable to the present situation and dignity of the American confederation, to the end that I may be able to produce it to whomever it shall be proper, and to labor with all requisite credit and weight, in concert with your friends in this country, on the proposal of amity and commerce between the two Republics. Such a paper becomes every day more necessary; and I dare say, that it will be necessary to the United States that I should be provided with it as soon as possible, so as not to give it publicity, which everywhere, except in France and Spain, seems to have no good effect; but to continue, as I have done hitherto, to increase and strengthen your friends here, and to hinder your enemies from realising, at the expense of this Republic, the fable of the monkey who drew his chestnuts from the fire with the cat's paw. _Malo esse quam videri_ ought to be the constant maxim of all those, who are called to serve so fine a cause as that of the American Union. It is certainly mine. It is this that dictates the precise answer, which I have yet to give to what you had the goodness to write concerning me, in the letter with which you honored me, under date of the 14th of May of this year, to wit; "We shall write particularly to the gentlemen at Paris, respecting the injuries you have received from our enemies, and shall instruct them to pay the strictest attention to our engagements made to you at the commencement of our correspondence."

These gentlemen, in sending me the letter, wrote me nothing on this business, and I have not drawn on them for more than I had agreed with Mr Deane, towards the end of the past year, to be necessary for me to live here in a style of mediocrity, and with much economy, namely, two hundred louis d'ors this year. I shall continue on this footing, drawing always a hundred louis d'ors every six months, till it please your honorable Congress to fix my stipend. In expectation that the situation of affairs will permit the United States to observe in respect to me, or in case of my death, in respect to my daughter, the wise magnanimity that befits sovereigns, I will serve them, with the same zeal as if they gave me double, and with more inward satisfaction than if any other Power should give me ten fold. I can a.s.sure you, Gentlemen, that from the beginning, I have done for the whole American people, as I would do for a friend in danger. For the rest, I am well satisfied and grateful for the obliging things you have written me on this subject, and I do not ask new a.s.surances. It is sufficient for me, that you know my true sentiments, and that you will have the goodness to make them known to the honorable Congress.

I have the honor to be, &c.

DUMAS.[34]