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how you propose to fulfil those, which are due to the King? I am not desirous of enlarging these reflections; I commit them to your own integrity. When you shall be pleased to relieve my uncertainty, I will entreat the King to enable me to answer your demands. I have the honor to be, Sir, with sincere regard, &c. DE VERGENNES.

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

No Peace can take Place between England and America without the Concurrence of France.

Passy, 17 December, 1782.

SIR, I received the letter your Excellency did me the honor of writing to me on the 15th instant. The proposal of having a passport from England was agreed to by me the more willingly, as I at that time had hopes of obtaining some money to send in the Washington, and the passport would have made its transportation safer, with that of our despatches, and of yours also, if you had thought fit to make use of the occasion. Your Excellency objected, as I understood it, that the English ministers, by their letters sent in the same ship, might convey inconvenient expectations into America. It was therefore I proposed not to press for the passport, till your preliminaries were also agreed to. They have sent the passport without being pressed to do it, and they have sent no letters to go under it, and ours will prevent the inconvenience apprehended. In a subsequent conversation, your Excellency mentioned your intention of sending some of the King's cutters, whence I imagined, that detaining the Washington was no longer necessary; and it was certainly

incumbent on us to give Congress as early an account as possible of our proceedings, who will think it extremely strange to hear of them by other means, without a line from us. I acquainted your Excellency, however, with our intention of despatching that ship, supposing you might possibly have something to send by her.

Nothing has been agreed in the preliminaries contrary to the interests of France; and no peace is to take place between us and England, till you have concluded yours. Your observation is, however, apparently just, that, in not consulting you before they were signed, we have been guilty of neglecting a point of bienséance. But, as this was not from want of respect for the King, whom we all love and honor, we hope. it will be excused, and that the great work, which has hitherto been so happily conducted, is so nearly brought to perfection, and is so glorious to his reign, will not be ruined by a single indiscretion of ours. And certainly the whole edifice sinks to the ground immediately, if you refuse on that account to give us any further assistance.

We have not yet despatched the ship, and I beg leave to wait upon you on Friday for your answer.

It is not possible for any one to be more sensible than I am, of what I and every American owe to the King, for the many and great benefits and favors he has bestowed upon us. All my letters to America are proofs of this; all tending to make the same impressions on the minds of my countrymen, that I felt in my own. And I believe, that no Prince was ever more beloved and respected by his own subjects, than the King is by the people of the United States. The English, I just now learn, flatter themselves they have already divided us. I hope this little misunderstanding will therefore be kept a secret, and that they will

find themselves totally mistaken. With great and sincere respect, I am, Sir, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO M. DE LA LUZERNE.*

On the Signing of the Treaty of Peace by the English and American Commissioners without the Knowledge of the French Ministry.

SIR,

Translation.

Versailles, 19 December, 1782

With this letter I have the honor to send you a translation of the preliminary articles, which the American Plenipotentiaries have agreed to and signed with those of Great Britain, to be made into a treaty when the terms of peace between France and England shall be settled.

* M. de la Luzerne was at this time the French minister in the United States. As a historical document this letter is remarkable and important. Circumstances excited suspicions in the minds of the American Commissioners unfavorable to the French ministers, in regard to their designs in the treaty. These suspicions were fostered in various ways by the English Commissioners, whose policy and interest led them to produce as much alienation as they could between their allied opponents. Such was their influence to this end, combined with the circumstances alluded to, that the American Commissioners were induced to sign the treaty, without the knowledge of the French government, which was contrary to the positive instructions of Congress, and in violation of the most obvious rules of courtesy required by the terms of the alliance. This implied distrust of the fidelity and honorable motives of the French government, as may well be supposed, could not be viewed with indifference by that government. The above letter, communicating the first intelligence of the event by Count de Vergennes to the French minister in the United States, and being in the nature of a confidential despatch, must necessarily be considered as expressing the undisguised sentiments of the writer, and consequently of the French cabinet. Indeed, there is no fact in history, which is now more susceptible of complete demonstration, than that the suspicions of the American Commissioners on this occasion were utterly without any just foundation; that the

You will surely be gratified, as well as myself, with the very extensive advantages, which our allies, the Americans, are to receive from the peace; but you certainly will not be less surprised than I have been, at the conduct of the Commissioners. According to the instructions of Congress, they ought to have done nothing without our participation. I have informed you, that the King did not seek to influence the negotiation any further than his offices might be necessary to his friends. The American Commissioners will not say, that I have interfered, and much less that I have wearied them with my curiosity. They have cautiously kept themselves at a distance from me. Mr. Adams, one of them, coming from Holland, where he had been received and served by our ambassador, had been in Paris nearly three weeks, without imagining that he owed me any mark of attention, and probably I should not have seen him till this time, if I had not caused him to be reminded of it.*

When

French ministry, so far from interfering or meddling with the negotiation, kept wholly aloof from it; that they had no design whatever to secure advantages to themselves at the expense of the American claims; and that they were really gratified at the success of the Americans in procuring so good terms as they did. The direct proofs of these facts are abundant; whereas the suspicions of the Commissioners are sustained by no other evidence, than that of circumstances, inferences, conjectures, and deceptive appearances.

* When Mr. Adams mentioned this subject in a letter to Mr. Livingston, dated November 11th, 1782, he said, the Commissioners had been so constantly engaged with the treaty, that he "had not been out to Versailles nor anywhere else." He added; "On Saturday last, the Marquis de Lafayette called upon me, and told me he had been to Versailles, and that the Count de Vergennes had said to him, that he had been informed by the returns of the police, that I was in Paris, but not officially, and he should take it well if I would come and see him. I went out to dine with Dr. Franklin the same day, who had just returned from delivering his memorial, and repeated to me the same message. I said to both, I would go the next morning, and accordingly on Sunday the 9th I went to make my court to his Excellency."- See Diplomatic Correspondence, Vol. VI. p. 451.

ever I have had occasion to see any one of them, and inquire of them briefly respecting the progress of the negotiation, they have constantly clothed their speech in generalities, giving me to understand, that it did not go forward, and that they had no confidence in the sincerity of the British ministry.

Judge of my surprise, when, on the 30th of November, Dr. Franklin informed me that the articles were signed. The reservation retained on our account does not save the infraction of the promise, which we have mutually made, not to sign except conjointly. I owe Dr. Franklin the justice to state, however, that on the next day he sent me a copy of the articles. He will hardly complain, that I received them without demonstrations of sensibility. It was not till some days after, that, when this minister had come to see me, I allowed myself to make him perceive that his proceeding in this abrupt signature of the articles had little in it, which could be agreeable to the King. He appeared sensible of it, and excused, in the best manner he could, himself and his colleagues. Our conversation was amicable.

Dr. Franklin spoke to me of his desire to send these articles to the Congress, and said, that for this purpose he and his colleagues had agreed to an exchange of passports with the English minister, for the safety of the vessels which should be sent. I observed to him, that this form appeared to me dangerous; that, the articles being only provisional and dependent on the fate of our negotiation, which was then very uncertain, I feared this appearance of an intelligence with England, in connexion with the signature of the articles, might make the people in America think a peace was consummated, and embarrass Congress, of whose fidelity I had no suspicion. I added many other reasons,

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