The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume XI Part 2

Translation.

Philadelphia, October 25th, 1781.

Sir,

I have received the letter, with which you honored me on the 24th instant, and it is with the most sincere satisfaction, that I see in it your determination to accept the office, to which Congress have appointed you. It will give me great pleasure to address myself to you, in sending to Congress those communications, which I shall have it in my power to make; and I shall be no less flattered to receive through you every communication, which that body shall think proper to make to me. I can a.s.sure you, Sir, that the choice now made by Congress will give great satisfaction in Europe, where your patriotism, your past services, and your wisdom have long been known.

I have the honor to be, &c.

LUZERNE.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO M. DE LA LUZERNE.

Office of Foreign Affairs, November 2d, 1781.

Sir,

It is with peculiar pleasure that I obey the directions of Congress in making communications, which show their sense of the exertions of their ally, and of the merit of the officers he employs. The confidence inspired by the first, and the esteem excited by the last, form new bands of union between nations, whom reciprocal interests had before connected. In this view I flatter myself the enclosed acts of Congress will be agreeable to you, and that you will with pleasure communicate to his Most Christian Majesty their desire, with his permission, to present to the Count de Gra.s.se two pieces of field ordnance, taken from the enemy at York, with inscriptions calculated to show that Congress were induced to present them from considerations of the ill.u.s.trious part, which he bore in effectuating the surrender.[1]

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect and esteem, &c.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _In Congress, October 28th, 1781._ "Resolved, That the thanks of the United States in Congress a.s.sembled be presented to his Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, for the cordiality, zeal, judgment, and fort.i.tude, with which he seconded and advanced the progress of the allied army against the British garrison in York.

"That the thanks of the United States in Congress a.s.sembled be presented to his Excellency the Count de Gra.s.se, for his display of skill and bravery in attacking and defeating the British fleet off the Bay of Chesapeake, and for his zeal and alacrity in rendering, with the fleet under his command, the most effectual and distinguished aid and support to the operations of the allied army in Virginia.

"That the thanks of the United States in Congress a.s.sembled be presented to the commanding and other officers of the corps of artillery and engineers of the allied army, who sustained extraordinary fatigue and danger in their animated and gallant approaches to the lines of the enemy.

"Resolved, That the United States in Congress a.s.sembled will cause to be erected at York, in Virginia, a marble column, adorned with emblems of the alliance between the United States and his Most Christian Majesty, and inscribed with a succinct narrative of the surrender of Earl Cornwallis to his Excellency General Washington, Commander in Chief of the combined forces of America and France, to his Excellency the Count de Rochambeau, commanding the auxiliary troops of his Most Christian Majesty in America, and his Excellency Count de Gra.s.se, commanding in chief the naval army of France in the Chesapeake.

"Resolved, That two pieces of the field ordnance, taken from the British army under the capitulation of York, be presented by the Commander in Chief of the American army to Count de Rochambeau, and that there be engraved thereon a short memorandum, that Congress were induced to present them from considerations of the ill.u.s.trious part, which he bore in effectuating the surrender.

"Resolved, That the Secretary of Foreign Affairs be directed to request the Minister Plenipotentiary of his Most Christian Majesty to inform his Majesty, that it is the wish of Congress, that the Count de Gra.s.se may be permitted to accept a testimony of their approbation, similar to that to be presented to the Count de Rochambeau."

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Translation.

Philadelphia, November 4th, 1781.

Sir,

I have received the letter, which you did me the honor to write on the 29th ultimo, and the papers from Count de Gra.s.se, which you had the goodness to send to me, and for which I beg you will accept my thanks.

We are encouraged to hope for your arrival here. I shall be extremely happy to be able to testify to you in person the joy, which I have received from your success. That joy is universal, and it can but increase the attachment and esteem of all orders of citizens, and of my own countrymen, to your Excellency.

I have the honor to be, &c.

LUZERNE.

TO THE SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

Translation.

Philadelphia, November 4th, 1781.

Sir,

I have received the letter, with which you honored me on the 2d instant, with the resolutions of Congress of the 28th of October, which accompanied it. I have no doubt that they will be most agreeable to his Majesty, and that he will learn with great pleasure, that the remembrance of the success obtained by the allied arms is to be preserved by a column, on which a relation of this event will be inscribed, and mention made of the alliance.

I shall be glad, before any farther resolutions are taken on this subject, to communicate to you some ideas relative to this monument.

It is so honorable to the two nations, and so well adapted to perpetuate the remembrance of their union, that we ought to be mutually desirous of giving it all the solidity and durability of which the works of man are susceptible. Besides, Sir, I observe that the United States are named before the King in these resolutions. This is the second time within my knowledge, that this form has been adopted. I remarked on it the first time; and was then positively a.s.sured, that it was an error, which should be corrected on the journals. I entreat you to be pleased to let me know distinctly what usage Congress intends to adopt on this subject, in order that I may make it known to my Court.

I have the honor to be, &c.

LUZERNE.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO M. DE LA LUZERNE.

Office of Foreign Affairs, November 6th, 1781.

Sir,

Having been honored with your letter of the 4th instant, I remark with pleasure, that the mode in which Congress propose to perpetuate the success obtained by the allied armies at York, is such as will in your opinion be agreeable to his Most Christian Majesty. As Congress must concur with you in wishing to render this monument of the alliance, and of the military virtues of the combined forces as lasting, if possible, as the advantages they may reasonably hope to reap from both, they will, without doubt, pay all due deference to any ideas you may think proper to suggest relative to the manner of carrying the resolutions of the 28th of October into effect. I shall receive, Sir, with pleasure, and submit to Congress any communications, that you will do me the honor to make on this subject.

I am sorry to find, that you consider the order, in which the allied nations or their Sovereigns are placed in the resolutions, as anywise exceptionable. This mode of expression might perhaps be justified by the absolute equality established between sovereign powers, and the common practice of independent nations to recognise no superior in acts to be executed by themselves, within their own limits. But, Sir, I am so well satisfied that Congress wish to avoid discussions, which must be treated with great delicacy by nations situated as ours are, where every demand on the one part, not strictly authorised by the law of nations, might derogate from the generous protection, which we make it our boast to have received, and the denial of just rights on the other subject us to the imputation of ingrat.i.tude, that I think you may safely rely upon their practice, when some future occasion shall present, to evince that the order in which the allied nations are mentioned did not originate in any settled rule, and above all, that no want of respect for his Most Christian Majesty dictated the resolution to which you object. Be persuaded, Sir, that regardless as the United States are of form and ceremony, in matters that relate to themselves alone, they will think their endeavor to support France in the high rank which her extent, wealth, and power have given her, a small return for the wise and generous use she makes of these advantages.

I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the greatest respect and esteem, &c.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Office of Foreign Affairs, November 6th, 1781.