in that respect, hardly dealt with. Settlement of accounts and payment of just balances are due even between enemies. I know not where the Virginia stores lie. I will inquire and acquaint Mr. Barclay with your resolution concerning them, which I think very prudent. Penet, who was employed by that State as an agent to borrow money here, is broke and absconded. His creditors are all worrying me with their complaints, who have nothing to do with his affairs. I have long since mentioned the inconvenience of the attempts of separate States to borrow money in Europe. They have hurt our credit, and produced nothing. We have put faith in every adventurer, who pretended to have influence here, and who, when he arrived, had none but what our appointment gave him. I congratulate you on the tokens of approaching peace. I wish nothing may happen to prevent it. With sincere and great esteem, I am, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN. SIR, TO COUNT DE VERGENNES. Passy, 15 December, 1782. I have the honor to acquaint your Excellency, that our courier is to set out to-morrow at ten o'clock, with the despatches we send to Congress, by the Washington, Captain Barney, for which ship we have got a passport from the King of England. If you would make any use of this conveyance, the courier shall wait upon you to-morrow at Versailles, and receive your orders. I hoped I might have been able to send part of the aids we have asked, by this safe vessel. I beg that your Excellency would at least inform me what expectations I may give in my letters. I fear the Congress will be reduced to despair, when they find that nothing is yet obtained. With the greatest and most sincere respect, I am, Sir, &c. B. FRANKLIN. FROM COUNT DE VERGENNES TO B. FRANKLIN. Complains that the Preliminaries between the British Commissioners had been concluded without any Communication with the French Cabinet. Translation. Versailles, 15 December, 1782. SIR, I cannot but be surprised, that, after the explanation I have had with you, and the promise you gave, that you would not press the application for an English passport for the sailing of the packet Washington, you now inform me, that you have received the passport, and that at ten o'clock to-morrow morning your courier will set out to carry your despatches. I am at a loss, Sir, to explain your conduct, and that of your colleagues on this occasion. You have concluded your preliminary articles without any communication between us, although the instructions from Congress prescribe, that nothing shall be done without the participation of the King. You are about to hold out a certain hope of peace to America, without even in forming yourself on the state of the negotiation on our part. You are wise and discreet, Sir; you perfectly understand what is due to propriety; you have all your life performed your duties. I pray you to consider how you propose to fulfil those, which are due to the ! 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. Translation. Versailles, 19 December, 1782. SIR, 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 governinent. 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 |