most sincere respect, I am, sir, your excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN. THE ANSWER. Je puis être surpris, Monsieur, après l'explication que j'ai eue avec vous, et la promesse que vous m'aviez faite que vous ne presseriez pas l'obtention d'un passeport Anglois pour l'expédition du pacquebot le Washington, que vous me fassiez part que vous avez reçu le même passeport, et que demain à dix heures du matin votre courier partira pour porter vos dépêches. Je suis assez embarrassé, Monsieur, à expliquer votre conduite et celle de vos collègues à notre égard. Vous avez arrêté vos articles préliminaires sans nous en faire part, quoique les instructions du congrès vous prescrivissent de ne rien faire sans la participation du Roi. Vous allez faire luire un espoir certain de paix en Amérique sans même vous informer de l'état de notre négociation. Vous êtes sage et avisé, Monsieur; vous connoissez les bienséances, vous avez rempli toute votre vie vos devoirs. Croyez-vous satisfaire à ceux qui vous tiennent au Roi? Je ne veux pas porter plus loin les réflexions, je les abandonne à votre honnêteté. Quand vous aurez bien voulu satisfaire à mes doutes, je prierai le Roi de me mettre en état de répondre à vos demandes. J'ai l'honneur d'être, avec une véritable considération, Monsieur, votre très-humble et très-obéissant serviteur, DE VERGENNES. Versailles, lé 15 Xbre, 1782. SIR, TO M. LE COMTE DE VERGENNES. Passy, Dec. 17, 1782. 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 dispatches, 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 might 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 dispatching that ship, supposing you might possibly have something to send by her. Nothing has been agreed in the preliminaries contrary to the interest 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 farther assistance. We have not yet dispatched 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 perfect secret, and that they will find themselves totally mistaken.* With great and sincere respect, I am, sir, your excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN. * Dr. Franklin thus adroitly endeavored to soothe the minister's justifiable discontent; but the private motives which induced the American plenipotentiaries to deviate from their instructions, and from the expectations of the French government, by signing Preliminary Articles of Peace with the British commissioner, while the negotiation between France and Great Britain was undeter A SON EXCELLENCE M. FRANKLIN. Versailles, le 25 Xbre, 1782. J'ai l'honneur de vous envoyer, Monsieur, mes dépêches pour M. le Chevalier de la Luzerne: le paquet est volumineux, mais il renferme beaucoup de duplicats. mined, and without the knowledge of Count de Vergennes, were their apprehension of a disposition in the Court of France to abridge the right of the Americans to fish on their own coasts; which apprehension had been excited by a letter written from Philadelphia to Count de Vergennes, by Mons. Marbois, (secretary of the French embassy,) and which being intercepted and deciphered by the British government, had been sent by the latter, through Mr. Oswald, to the American commissioners; also the apprehension of a design in the Court of Spain to hinder the United States from forming settlements to the westward of the Alleghany Mountains; which apprehension had been excited by the pretensions which Count d'Aranda, the Spanish ambassador, had advanced in his negotiation with Mr. Jay. The following is a translation of the deciphered letter of M. de Marbois: TRANSLATION OF AN INTERCEPTED AND DECiphered letTER FROM M. DE MARBOIS TO M. LE COMTE DE VERGENNES. SIR, Philadelphia, March 13, 1782. South Carolina again enjoys the benefit of a legislative body, after having been deprived of it for two years; it was summoned together towards the end of last year, and met in January at Jacksonburgh, only ten leagues distant from Charlestown; where deliberations are carried on with as much tranquillity as if the state was in profound peace. Mr. Rutledge, who was then governor, opened the meeting with a speech greatly applauded, wherein he represents, in their full extent, the important services rendered by the king to the United States, expressing their just acknowledgments for the same. This sentiment prevails much, sir: the different states are eager to declare it in their public acts, and the principal members of government, and the writers em Je voudrois pouvoir lui mander que notre négociation est au même point que la vôtre, mais elle en est ployed by them, would forfeit their popularity were they to admit any equivocal remarks respecting the alliance. General Green affirms that in no one state is attachment to independence carried to a higher pitch, but that this affection is yet exceeded by the hatred borne to England. The assembly of Carolina is going to make levies of men, and has imposed pretty large sums; as there is but little money in the country, the taxes will be gathered in indigo; and what deficiency may then be found, will be supplied by the sale of lands of such Carolinians as joined the enemy while they were in possession of the country. South Carolina was the only state that had not confiscated the property of the disaffected. The step just taken puts her on a footing with the other states of the union. The assembly of this state has passed a resolution, in consequence of which a purchase of land is to be made of the value of 240,000 livres tournois, which Carolina makes a present of to General Green, as the saviour of that province. ... Mr. Matthews, a delegate from Congress, lately arrived in Carolina, has, it is said, been chosen governor in the room of Mr. Rutledge: he has communicated to persons of the most influence in his state the ultimatum of the month of last, who approved of the clauses in general, and particularly that one which leaves the king master of the terms of the treaty of peace or truce, excepting independence, and treaties of alliance. A delegate from South Carolina told me that this ultimatum was equally well known by persons of note in his state, and this had given entire satisfaction there; it is the same with regard to several other states, and I believe I may assure you, upon the testimony of several delegates, that this measure is approved by a great majority; but Mr. Samuel Adams is using all his endeavors to raise in the state of Massachusetts a strong opposition to peace, if the eastern states are not thereby admitted to the fisheries, and particularly to that of Newfoundland. S. Adams delights in trouble and difficulty, and prides himself on forming an opposition against the government, whereof he is himself president. His aim and attention are to render the minority of consequence, and at this very moment he is attacking the constitution of Massachusetts, although it be in a great measure his own work, but he |