FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO B. FRANKLIN. Translation. Versailles, 5 May, 1783. SIR, I have received the two letters of yesterday, and to-day, which you have done me the honor to write to me, and a copy of the three articles discussed between the Commissioners of the United States and Mr. Hartley. You are aware, that I shall want a sufficient time to examine them before submitting to you the observations, which may relate to our reciprocal interests. Receive, in the mean time, my sincere thanks for this communication. I hope to have the honor of seeing you to-morrow at Versailles. I trust you will be able to be present with the foreign ministers. It is observed, that the Commissioners from the United States rarely show themselves here, and inferences are drawn from it, which I am sure their constituents would disavow, if they had a knowledge of them. I have the honor to be, &c. DE VERGENNES. TO COUNT DE VERGENNES. Passy, 5 May, 1783. SIR, It was my intention to pay my devoirs at Versailles to-morrow. I thank your Excellency, nevertheless, for your kind admonition. I omitted two of the last three days, from a mistaken apprehension, that, being holidays, there would be no court. Mr. Laurens and Mr. Jay are both invalids; and, since my last severe fit of the gout, my legs have continued so weak, that I am hardly able to keep pace with the ministers who walk fast, especially in going up and down stairs. I beg you to be assured, that whatever deficiency there may be of strength, there is none of respect in, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN. TO DAVID HARTLEY. Desires the Abolition of Privateering. DEAR FRIEND, Passy, 8 May, 1783. I send you enclosed the copies you desired of the papers I read to you yesterday.* I should be happy if I could see, before I die, the proposed improvement of the law of nations established. The miseries of mankind would be diminished by it, and the happiness of millions secured and promoted. If the practice of privateering could be profitable to any civilized nation, it might be so to us Americans; since we are so situated on the globe, as that the rich commerce of Europe with the West Indies, consisting of manufactures, sugars, &c., is obliged to pass before our doors, which enables us to make short and cheap cruises, while our own commerce is in such bulky, low-priced articles, as that ten of our ships taken by you are not equal in value to one of yours, and you must come far from home, at a great expense, to look for them. I hope, therefore, that this proposition, if made by us, will appear in its true light, as having humanity only for its motive. I do not wish to see a new Barbary rising in America, and our long extended coast occupied by piratical states. I fear, lest our privateering success See the Article about privateering, above, p. 469. in the two last wars should already have given our people too strong a relish for that most mischievous kind of gaming, mixed blood; and, if a stop is not now put to the practice, mankind may hereafter be more plagued with American corsairs, than they have been and are with the Turkish. Try, my friend, what you can do, in procuring for your nation the glory of being, though the greatest naval power, the first who voluntarily relinquished the advantage that power seems to give them, of plundering others, and thereby impeding the mutual communications among men of the gifts of God, and rendering miserable multitudes of merchants and their families, artisans, and cultivators of the earth, the most peaceable and innocent part of the human species. With great esteem and affection, I am ever, my dear friend, yours most sincerely, B. FRANKLIN. FROM ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO B. FRANKLIN. Philadelphia, 31 May, 1783. SIR, I informed you some time since, that I had written to the Court of Appeals on the subject of the Nossa Senhora da Soledado San Miguel e Almas, and laid before them the papers you sent me. The cause has since been determined in such a way, as will, I hope, be satisfactory to her Portuguese Majesty. I enclose the copy of a letter from the first judge of the Court of Appeals on that subject. Nothing has yet been done as to the acceptance of your resignation, nor will, as I believe, any thing be done very hastily. Many think your task will not be very burdensome now, and that you may enjoy in peace the fruit of your past labors. As this will probably be the last letter, which I shall have the pleasure of writing to you in my public character,* I beg leave to remind you of the affairs of the Alliance and the Bon Homme Richard, which are still unsettled. I must also pray you not to lose sight of the vessels detained by his Danish Majesty. This will be a favorable opportunity to press for their restitution. I do not see how they can decently refuse to pay for them. Great Britain is bound in honor to make them whole again. Preparations for the evacuation of New York still go on very slowly, while the distress of our finances has compelled us to grant furloughs to the greater part of our army. If it were possible to procure any addition to the last six millions, it would be extremely useful to us at present. An entire new arrangement with respect to our foreign department is under consideration. What its fate will be, I know not. I am, &c. ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, SIR, TO M. PIERRES. Passy, 10 June, 1783. I received the exemplaire of the Constitutions. I intended to wait on the Keeper of the Seals yesterday, at Versailles, but was prevented. I shall write to him to-day. The ratification of the Swedish treaty is arrived, so that there is no further obstruction to the publication. I desire to have fifty of the octavo copies bound in calf and lettered, and fifty half bound, that * Mr. Livingston resigned the office of Secretary of Foreign Affairs on the 4th of June. is, between pasteboards with a sheepskin back, and lettered, but not cut. I desire also six of the quarto copies bound in Morocco. I am, with great esteem, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN. TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. Treaty with Sweden. - Treaty with Denmark in Progress. Portugal proposes to treat. Treaty with England delayed. SIR, Definitive Passy, 12 June, 1783 I wrote to you fully by a vessel from Nantes, which I hope will reach you before this. If not, this may inform you, that the ratification of the treaty with Sweden is come, and ready to be exchanged when I shall receive that from Congress; that the treaty with Denmark is going on, and will probably be ready before the commission for signing it arrives from Congress. It is on the plan of that proposed by Congress for Sweden. Portugal has likewise proposed to treat with us, and the ambassador has earnestly urged me to give him a plan for the consideration of his court, which I have accordingly done, and he has forwarded it. The Congress will send commissions and instructions for con cluding these treaties to whom they may think proper; it is only upon the old authority, given, by a resolution, to myself with Messrs. Deane and Lee, to treat with any European powers, that I have ventured to begin these treaties in consequence of overtures from those crowns. The definitive treaty with England is not yet concluded, their ministry being unsettled in their minds |