Chapter D: Hartley

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T. DIGGES TO B. FRANKLIN.

Amsterdam, March 22d, 1782.

Sir,

I left England a few days back, and until my conversation and some consultations with Mr Adams, on a matter which will be mentioned to you by him, and more particularly explained in this letter, my determination was to have seen you, as well on that business as on a matter of much consequence to my private reputation. I feel the disadvantages under which I labor, when writing to you on a matter, which cannot be explained or cleared up but by personal conversation. I do not give up my intended purpose of personally speaking to you; but it being found better and more convenient to my purpose to return immediately hence to England, and from thence to Paris, in preference to going first to Paris, it must be unavoidably delayed for some days.

It would take up more than the length of a letter to explain the whole opening and progression of a matter I am here upon, which was and is meant to be jointly communicated to you with Mr Adams; I will therefore take the liberty to give you an abbreviation of it in as few words as I can.

About a fortnight ago a direct requisition from the Ministry, through Lord Beauchamp, was made to Mr R. Penn, to know if he could ascertain _that any person or persons in Europe were commissioned by Congress to treat for peace, whether they were_ now _willing to avail themselves of such commission, and of the present sincere disposition in the Ministry to treat, and whether they would receive an appointed Commissioner to speak for a truce, and mention a place for the meeting, &c._

Mr Penn's referring Lord Beauchamp to me, as knowing the nature of Mr Adams's former commission, was the sole cause of my being privy to, or a party, in the matter. I had various meetings with Lord Beauchamp in company with Mr Penn on the subject; the particular memorandums of which, and Lord Beauchamp's statement of what the Ministry wanted to obtain, together with every other circumstance relative to the matter, I regularly consulted Mr Laurens and Mr D. Hartley upon; and the result was, my taking the journey hither, and to Paris, in order to put the questions (as they are before stated from Lord B. to Mr Penn) and to bring an answer thereto. I am well convinced, by Lord Beauchamp's pledge of his personal honor, as well as from Mr Hartley's telling me he knew the matter to come directly from Lord North, (for he visited him more than once to ascertain the fact) that it is a serious and sincere requisition from the Ministry, and that they will immediately take steps to open a treaty, provided I go back with assurances, that there is a power vested in Americans in Europe to treat and conclude, and that they are willing to avail themselves of such power when properly applied to.

I have stated the whole transaction to Mr Adams, read every memorandum I had made, informed him of every circumstance I knew, and when I put the questions (as they are before stated from Lord Beauchamp to Mr Penn) he replied, "that there were certainly Commissioners in Europe, of which body he was one, who had powers to treat and conclude upon peace; that he believed them willing to enter into such a treaty, provided a proper offer was made; but that no questions now, or to be made in future, could be answered by him, without previously consulting his colleagues, and afterwards acquainting the Ministers of the belligerent powers thereof." Mr Adams recommended that any future questions might be made directly to you, for that the present, as well as any subsequent propositions, would be immediately communicated to you and to M. de Vergennes.

His answers to my questions were nearly what I foretold and expected, and are substantially what Lord Beauchamp seemed so anxious to procure. When I relate this answer to his Lordship, my business will be finished in that quarter. I will here explain to you my only motive for being a messenger from him, whom I had never known nor been in company with before. It will enable me to say, "I have done one favor for you, and I claim of you another, viz. to obtain a restoration of my papers from Lord Hillsborough's office, which were in a most illegal and unjustifiable manner seized from me near a twelvemonth ago, and are yet withheld, notwithstanding the personal applications for them from Lord Coventry, Lord Nugent, and Mr Jackson, each of whom has explained the injury and very extraordinary mischief the want of my papers for so long a time has and is now doing me."

On my first conversation with Mr Adams, I had concluded to go to you, partly by his advice to do so, but as the expense of two journeys, where one may serve, is of some import to me, and from supposing your answer would be substantially the same as that from Mr Adams, I have thought it better to go back immediately to London, and then set out for Paris, with the probability of being able to bear my papers.

I will take the liberty to trouble you with another letter, if anything occurs on my arrival in London. I am to leave this with Mr Adams for forwardance; and for the present, I have only to beg a line acknowledging the receipt of it. If your letter is put under a cover to Mr Stockdale, Bookseller, Piccadilly, London, it will the more readily get to hand.

I am, with great respect, Sir, your very obedient servant,

T. DIGGES.

_P. S. Ostend, March 26th._--On my last visit to Mr Adams, Friday evening, to explain to him the substance of the foregoing letter, and ask his forwardance of it to you, we had some further conversation on the matter, the ultimate conclusion of which was, that it was thought better I did not send the annexed letter to you, or mention my business with him, until my going in person from England. Mr Adams's reasons were these. That if I made the communication _then_, he should be necessitated to state the matter in a long letter to you and others of his colleagues; that the matter as it then stood was not of such importance, but he could save himself the trouble of the explanation; and that as he recommended any future questions or applications to be made directly to you, your situation making it more convenient sooner to inform the French Court thereof, he thought my letter had better be postponed, and the substance of it given in person as soon as I could possibly get from London to Paris. I acquiesced, though reluctantly, and having thought much on the matter on my journey hither, I have at length determined to forward the foregoing letter with this postscript, and at the same time to inform Mr Adams of my exact feelings on the matter, viz. that my wishes and intentions, which, when I left England, were to see and make known the matter to you, that through Mr Hartley or some other channel you must hear that I had been at Amsterdam, and my seemingly turning my back upon you might be thought oddly of; and finally, that I could not answer for carrying the enclosure from Mr Hartley back to England, not knowing the consequence it might be of. I hope and think I have done right in this matter.

The purpose for my moving in the business I went to Mr Adams upon, has, I own, been with a double view of serving myself in a matter of much consequence to me, for after delivering the explanations I carry, I can with some degree of right, and a very great probability of success, claim as a gratuity for the trouble and expense I have been at, the restoration of my papers; the situation of which I have already explained to Lord Beauchamp, in order to get him to be a mover for them, and I have very little doubt that a few days will restore them to me, and give me an opportunity to speedily speak to you on a matter, which gives me much uneasiness, vexation, and pain. Excuse the hurry in which I write, for I am very near the period of embarkation. Paul Wentworth embarked this day for England. I trod on his heels the chief of the way from the Hague, which he left suddenly. General Fawcett is on his road hence to Hanover.

T. D.

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JOHN ADAMS TO B. FRANKLIN.

The Hague, March 26th, 1782.

Sir,

One day last week I received at Amsterdam a card from Mr Digges, enclosing two letters to me from David Hartley. The card desired to see me upon business of importance; and the letters from Mr Hartley contained an assurance, that to his knowledge the bearer came from the highest authority. I answered the card, that in the present situation of affairs here and elsewhere, it was impossible for me to see any one from England without witness; but if he were willing to see me in the presence of Mr Thaxter, my secretary, and that I should communicate whatever he should say to me to Dr Franklin, and the Count de Vergennes, I should wait for him at home at ten o'clock; but that I had rather he should go to Paris without seeing me, and communicate what he had to say to Dr Franklin, whose situation enabled him to consult the Court without any loss of time. At ten, however, he came, and told me a long story about consultations with Mr Penn, Mr Hartley, Lord Beauchamp, and at last Lord North, by whom he was finally sent, to inquire of me, if I, or any other, had authority to treat with Great Britain of a truce. I answered, that "I came to Europe with full powers to make peace, that those powers had been announced to the public upon my arrival, and continued in force until last summer, when Congress sent a new commission, containing the same powers to four persons, whom I named; that if the King of England were my father, and I the heir apparent to his throne, I could not advise him ever to think of a truce, because it would be but a real war under a simulated appearance of tranquillity, and would end in another open and bloody war, without doing any real good to any of the parties."

He said that "the Ministry would send some person of consequence over, perhaps General Conway, but they were apprehensive that he would be ill treated or exposed." I said, "that if they resolved upon such a measure, I had rather they would send immediately to Dr Franklin, because of his situation near the French Court. But there was no doubt, if they sent any respectable personage, properly authorised, who should come to treat honorably, he would be treated with great respect; but that if he came to me, I could give him no opinion upon anything without consulting my colleagues, and should reserve a right of communicating everything to them, and to our allies."

He then said, that "his mission was finished; that the fact to be ascertained was simply, that there was a commission in Europe to treat and conclude; but that there was not one person in Great Britain, who could affirm or prove that there was such a commission, although it had been announced in the gazettes."

I desired him, and he promised me, not to mention Mr Laurens to the Ministry without his consent, (and without informing him, that it was impossible he should say anything in the business, because he knew nothing of our instructions) because, although it was possible that his being in such a commission might induce them to release him, yet it was also possible it might render them more difficult concerning his exchange.

The picture he gives of the situation of things in England is gloomy enough for them. The distresses of the people, and the distractions in administration and Parliament, are such as may produce any effect almost that can be imagined.

The only use of all this I think is to strike the decisive strokes at New York and Charleston. There is no position so advantageous for negotiation, as when we have all an enemy's army prisoners. I must beg the favor of you, Sir, to send me, by one of the Count de Vergennes' couriers to the Duc de la Vauguyon, a copy in letters of your peace instructions. I have not been able to decypher one quarter part of mine. Some mistake has certainly been made.

Ten or eleven cities in Holland have declared themselves in favor of American independence; and it is expected that today or tomorrow this Province will take the decisive resolution of admitting me to my audience. Perhaps some of the other Provinces may delay it for three or four weeks. But the Prince has declared, that he has no hopes of resisting the torrent, and, _therefore_, that he shall not attempt it. The Duc de la Vauguyon has acted a very friendly and honorable part in this business, without, however, doing any ministerial act in it.

With great respect, I have the honor to be, Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

JOHN ADAMS.

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TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Passy, March 30th, 1782.

Sir,

In mine of the ninth instant I acknowledged the receipt of yours of January 7th, and I have not since received any of later date. The newspapers, which I send you by this conveyance, will acquaint you with what has, since my last, passed in Parliament. You will there see a copy of the bill, brought in by the Attorney General, for empowering the King to make peace with the colonies. They still seem to flatter themselves with the idea of dividing us; and rather than name the Congress, they empower him generally to treat with any _body or bodies of men, or any person or persons, &c._ They are here likewise endeavoring to get us to treat separately from France, at the same time they are tempting France to treat separately from us, equally without the least chance of success. I have been drawn into a correspondence on this subject, which you shall have with my next.

I send you a letter of Mr Adams's, just received, which shows also that they are weary of the war, and would get out of it if they knew how. They had not then received the certain news of the loss of St Christopher's, which will probably render them still more disposed to peace. I see that a bill is also passing through the House of Commons, for the exchange of American prisoners, the purport of which I do not yet know.

In my last, I promised to be more particular with respect to the points you mentioned, as proper to be insisted on in the treaty of peace. My ideas on those points are, I assure you, full as strong as yours. I did intend to have given you my reasons for some addition, and if the treaty were to be held on your side the water, I would do it; otherwise, it seems on second thoughts to be unnecessary, and, if my letter should be intercepted, may be inconvenient. Be assured, I shall not willingly give up any important right or interest of our country, and unless this campaign should afford our enemies some considerable advantage, I hope more may be obtained than is yet expected.

I have purchased for you all the books you desired, except four, which we have sent for to England. I shall request our excellent friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, to take them under his care, and I hope they will get safe to hand. The others shall follow by the first opportunity, after I receive them.

Our affairs go on, generally, well in Europe. Holland has been slow, Spain slower, but time will I hope smooth away all difficulties. Let us keep up, not only our courage, but our vigilance, and not be laid asleep by the pretended half peace the English make with us without asking our consent. We cannot be safe while they keep armies in our country.

With great esteem, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

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TO JOHN ADAMS.

Passy, March 31st, 1782.

Sir,

I received yours of the 10th instant, and am of opinion with you, that the English will evaluate New York and Charleston, as the troops there, after the late resolutions of Parliament, must be useless, and are necessary to defend their remaining islands, where they have not at present more than three thousand men. The prudence of this operation is so obvious, that I think they can hardly miss it; otherwise, I own, that considering their conduct for several years past, it is not reasoning consequentially to conclude they will do a thing, because the doing it is required by common sense.

Yours of the 26th is just come to hand. I thank you for the communication of Digges's message. He has also sent me a long letter, with two from Mr Hartley. I shall see M. de Vergennes tomorrow, and will acquaint you with everything material that passes on the subject. But the Ministry, by whom Digges pretends to be sent, being changed, we shall, by waiting a little, see what tone will be taken by their successors. You shall have a copy of the instructions by the next courier. I congratulate you cordially on the progress you have made among those slow people. Slow however as they are, Mr Jay finds his[33] much slower. By an American, who goes in about ten days to Holland, I shall send you a packet of correspondence with Mr Hartley, though it amounts to little.

With great esteem, I have the honor to be your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

[33] The Spaniards.

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TO DAVID HARTLEY.

Passy, March 31st, 1782.

Dear Sir,

I have just received your favors of March the 11th and 12th, forwarded to me by Mr Digges, and another of the 21st per post. I congratulate you on the returning good disposition of your nation towards America, which appears in the resolutions of Parliament, that you have sent me; and I hope the change of your Ministry will be attended with salutary effects. I continue in the same sentiments expressed in my former letters; but as I am but one of five in the commission, and have no knowledge of the sentiments of the others, what has passed between us is to be considered merely as private conversation. The five persons are Messrs Adams, Jay, Laurens, Jefferson, and myself; and in case of the death or absence of any, the remainder have power to act or conclude. I have not written to Mr Laurens, having constantly expected him here, but shall write to him next post; when I shall also write more fully to you, having now only time to add, that I am ever, with great esteem and affection, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

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TO DAVID HARTLEY.

Passy, April 5th, 1782.

My Dear Friend,

I wrote a few lines to you the 31st past, and promised to write more fully. On perusing again your letters of the 11th, 12th, and 21st, I do not find any notice taken of one from me, dated February the 16th. I therefore now send you a copy made from it in the press. The uncertainty of free transmission discourages a free communication of sentiments on these important affairs; but the inutility of discussion between persons, one of whom is not authorised, but in conjunction with others, and the other not authorised at all, as well as the obvious inconveniences that may attend such previous handling of points, that are to be considered, when we come to treat regularly, is with me a still more effectual discouragement, and determines me to waive that part of the correspondence.

As to Digges, I have no confidence in him, nor in anything he says, or may say, of his being sent by Ministers. Nor will I have any communication with him, except in receiving and considering the justification of himself, which he pretends he shall be able and intends to make, for his excessive drafts on me, on account of the relief I have ordered to the prisoners, and his embezzlement of the money.

You justly observe in yours of the 12th, that the first object is to procure a "meeting of qualified and authorised persons," and that you understand the Ministry will be ready to proceed towards opening a negotiation as soon as the bill shall pass, and therefore it is necessary to consult time and place, and manner and persons, on each side. This you wrote while the old Ministry existed. If the new have the same intentions, and desire a general peace, they may easily discharge Mr Laurens from those engagements, which make his acting in the commission improper, and except Mr Jefferson, who remains in America, and is not expected here, we the Commissioners of Congress can easily be got together ready to meet yours, at such place as shall be agreed to by the powers at war, in order to form the treaty. God grant, that there may be wisdom enough assembled to make, if possible, a peace that shall be perpetual, and that the idea of any nations being natural enemies to each other, may be abolished for the honor of human nature.

With regard to those who may be commissioned from your government, whatever personal preferences I may conceive in my own mind, it cannot become me to express them. I only wish for wise and honest men. With such, a peace may be speedily concluded. With contentious wranglers the negotiation may be drawn into length, and finally frustrated.

I am pleased to see in the votes and Parliamentary speeches, and in your public papers, that in mentioning America, the word _reconciliation_ is often used. It certainly means more than a mere peace. It is a sweet expression. Revolve in your mind, my dear friend, the means of bringing about this _reconciliation_. When you consider the injustice of your war with us, and the barbarous manner in which it has been carried on, the many suffering families among us from your burning of towns, scalping by savages, &c. &c., will it not appear to you, that though a cessation of the war may be a peace, it may not be a reconciliation? Will not some voluntary acts of justice, and even of kindness on your part, have excellent effects towards producing such a _reconciliation_? Can you not find means of repairing in some degree those injuries? You have in England and Ireland twelve hundred of our people prisoners, who have for years bravely suffered all the hardships of that confinement, rather than enter into your service, to fight against their country. Methinks you ought to glory in descendants of such virtue. What if you were to begin your measures of _reconciliation_ by setting them at liberty? I know it would procure for you the liberty of an equal number of your people, even without a previous stipulation; and the confidence in our equity, with the apparent good will in the action, would give very good impressions of your change of disposition towards us. Perhaps you have no knowledge of the opinions lately conceived of your king and country, in America; the enclosed copy of a letter will make you a little acquainted with them, and convince you how impossible must be every project of bringing us again under the dominion of such a sovereign.

With great esteem, I am, dear Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

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TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Passy, April 8th, 1782.

Sir,

Since my last, an extraordinary revolution has taken place in the Court of England. All the old Ministers are out, and the chiefs of the opposition are in their places. The newspapers that I send will give you the names as correctly as we yet know them. Our last advices mention their kissing hands, but they had yet done nothing in their respective offices, by which one might judge of their projected measures, as whether they will ask a peace, of which they have great need, the nation having of late suffered many losses, men grown extremely scarce, and Lord North's new taxes proposed as funds for the loan meeting with great opposition; or whether they will strive to find new resources, and obtain allies to enable them to please the King and nation by some vigorous exertions against France, Spain, and Holland.

With regard to America, having while in opposition carried the vote for making no longer an offensive war with us, they seem to have tied their own hands from acting against us. Their predecessors had been tampering with this Court for a separate peace. The King's answer gave me great pleasure. It will be sent to M. de la Luzerne, and by him communicated to Congress. None of their attempts to divide us meet with the least encouragement, and I imagine the present set will try other measures.

My letters from Holland give pleasing accounts of the rapid progress our affairs are making in that country. The packet from M. Dumas, which I forward with this, will give you the particulars. The Prince de Broglie will do me the favor of delivering this to you. He goes over to join the French army with the more pleasure, as it is employed in the cause of liberty, a cause he loves, and in establishing the interests of America, a country for which he has much regard and affection. I recommend him earnestly to the civilities and services it may be in your power to render him, and I request you would introduce him to the President of Congress, and to the principal members civil and military.

Our excellent friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, will sail in about three weeks. By that time we may have more interesting intelligence from England, and I shall write you fully.

With great esteem, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

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TO HENRY LAURENS.

Passy, April 12th, 1782.

Sir,

I should sooner have paid my respects to you by letter, if I had not till lately expected you here, as I understood it to be your intention. Your enlargement gave me great pleasure, and I hope that the terms exacted by the late Ministry will now be relaxed, especially when they are informed, that you are one of the Commissioners appointed to treat of peace. Herewith I send you a copy of the commission; the purport of which you can communicate to the Ministers if you find it proper. If they are disposed to make peace with us and our allies at the same time, I will, on notice from you, send to Mr Jay to prepare for meeting at such time and place as shall be agreed on.

As to our treating separately, and quitting our present alliance, which the late ministry seemed to desire, it is impossible. Our treaties and our instructions, as well as the honor and interest of our country, forbid it. I will communicate those instructions to you, as soon as I have the pleasure of seeing you. If you have occasion for money, please to acquaint me with the sum you desire, and I will endeavor to supply you.

With very great esteem and respect, I have the honor to be, Sir, &c.

B. FRANKLIN.

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