peaceably follow their respective employments, shall be allowed to continue the same, and shall not be molested by the armed force of the enemy in whose power by the events of the war they may happen to fall; but, if any thing is necessary to be taken from them, for the use of such armed force, the same shall be paid for at a reasonable price. And all merchants or traders with their unarmed vessels, employed in commerce, exchanging the products of different places, and thereby rendering the necessaries, conveniences, and comforts of human life more easy to obtain, and more general, shall be allowed to pass freely, unmolested. And neither of the powers, parties to this treaty, shall grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessels, empowering them to take or destroy such trading ships, or interrupt such commerce.

FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO B. FRANKLIN.

Translation.

SIR,

Versailles, 18 January, 1783.

It is essential that I should have the honor of conferring with you, Mr. Adams, and your other colleagues, who are in Paris. I therefore pray you to invite these gentlemen to come out to Versailles with you on Monday, before ten o'clock in the morning. It will be well, also, if you will bring your grandson. It will be necessary for much writing and translating from English into French to be done. The object for which I ask this interview is very interesting to the United States. I have the honor to be, Sir,

DE VERGENNES.

SIR,

TO COUNT DE VERGENNES.

Passy, 18 January 1783.

Agreeably to the notice just received from your Excellency, I shall acquaint Mr. Adams with your desire to see us on Monday before ten o'clock, at Versailles; and we shall endeavour to be punctual. My other colleagues are absent; Mr. Laurens being gone to Bath, in England, to recover his health, and Mr. Jay into Normandy. I shall bring my grandson, as you direct. With great respect,, I have the honor to be, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

FROM BENJAMIN VAUGHAN TO B. FRANKLIN.

MY DEAREST SIR,

Paris, 18 January, 1783.

I cannot but in the most earnest manner, and from recent circumstances, press your going early to Versailles to-morrow; and I have considerable reason to think, that your appearance there will not displease the person whom you address. I am of opinion, that it is very likely that you will have the glory of having concluded the peace by this visit; at least I am sure, if the deliberations of to-morrow evening end unfavorably, that there is the strongest appearance of war; if they end favorably, perhaps little difficulty may attend the rest.

After all, the peace will have as much that is conceded in it, as England can in any shape be made just now to relish, owing to. the stubborn demands, principally of Spain, who would not, I believe, upon any motive recede from her conquests. What I wrote about Gibraltar arrived after the subject, as I under

stand, was canvassed, and when it of course must have appeared impolitic eagerly and immediately to revive it.

You reproved me, or rather reproved a political scheme, yesterday, of which I have heard more said favorably by your friends at Paris, than by any persons whatever in London. But do you, my dear Sir, make this peace, and trust our common sense respecting another war. England, said a man of sense to me the other day, will come out of the war like a convalescent out of disease, and must be reëstablished by some physic and much regimen. I cannot easily tell in what shape a bankruptcy would come upon England, and still less easily in what mode and degree it would affect us; but, if your confederacy mean to bankrupt us now, I am sure we shall lose the great fear, that would deter us from another war. Your allies, therefore, for policy and for humanity's sake, will, I hope, stop short of this extremity; especially as we should do some mischief to others, as well as to ourselves. I am, my dearest Sir, your devoted, ever affectionate, and ever obliged

B. VAUGHAN.

TO JOHN ADAMS.

SIR,

Passy, 19 January, 1783.

Late last night I received a note from Count de Vergennes, acquainting me that it is very essential he should have a conference with us, and requesting that I would inform my colleagues. He desires that we may be with him before ten on Monday morning. If it will suit you to call here, we may go together in my carriage. We should be on the road by eight o'clock. With great regard, I have the honor to be, &c. B. FRANKLIN

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Preliminaries signed between France, Spain, and

SIR,

England.

Passy 21 January, 1783.

I have just received your letters of November 9th and December 3d.* This is to inform you, and to request you to inform the Congress, that the preliminaries of peace between France, Spain, and England, were yesterday signed, and a cessation of arms agreed to by the ministers of those powers, and by us in behalf of the United States, of which act, so far as relates to us, I enclose a copy. I have not yet obtained a copy of the preliminaries agreed to by the three crowns, but hear, in general, that they are very advantageous to France and Spain. I shall be able, in a day or two, to write more fully and perfectly. Holland was not ready to sign preliminaries, but their principal points are settled. Mr. Laurens is absent at Bath, and Mr. Jay in Normandy, for their healths, but will both be here to assist in forming the definitive treaty. I congratulate you and our country on the happy prospects afforded us by the finishing so speedily this glorious revolution, and am, with great esteem, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN.

SIR,

FROM JOHN JAY TO B. FRANKLIN.

Paris, 26 January, 1783.

It having been suspected, that I concurred in the appointment of your grandson to the place of secre

* See Diplomatic Correspondence, Vol. IV. pp. 31, 45.

tary to the American commission for peace at your instance, I think it right, thus unsolicited, to put it in your power to correct the mistake.

Your general character, the opinion I had long entertained of your services to our country, and the friendly attention and aid with which you had constantly favored me after my arrival in Spain, impressed me with a desire of manifesting both my esteem and attachment by stronger evidence than professions. That desire extended my regard for you to your grandson. He was then indeed a stranger to me, but the terms, in which you expressed to Congress your opinion of his being qualified for another place of equal importance, were so full and satisfactory, as to leave me no room to doubt of his being qualified for the one above mentioned. I was, therefore, happy to assure you, in one of the first letters I afterwards wrote you from Spain, that, in case a secretary to our commission for peace should become necessary, and the appointment be left to us, I should take that opportunity of evincing my regard for you, by nominating him, or words to that effect. What I then wrote was the spontaneous suggestion of my own mind, unsolicited, and I believe, unexpected by you.

When I came here on the business of that commission, I brought with me the same intentions, and should always have considered myself engaged by honor, as well as inclination, to fulfil them, unless I had found myself mistaken in the opinion I had imbibed of that young gentleman's character and qualifications; but, that not being the case, I found myself at liberty to indulge my wishes, and be as good as my word. For I expressly declare, that your grandson is, in my opinion, qualified for the place in question, and that, if he had not been, no consideration would have prevailed upon me to propose, or join in, his appointment.