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. FROM JOHN JAY TO B. FRANKLIN. Paris, 26 January, 1783. SIR, 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. This explicit and unreserved statement of facts is due to you, to him, and to justice, and you have my consent to make any use of it that you may think proper. I have the honor to be, Sir, with great respect, JOHN JAY. TO MRS. MARY HEWSON. On the Death of several Friends. - Declines visiting England. - Requests her to visit Paris. Passy, 27 January, 1783. The departure of my dearest friend,* which I learn from your last letter, greatly affects me. To meet with her once more in this life was one of the principal motives of my proposing to visit England again, before my return to America. The last year carried off my friends Dr. Pringle, Dr. Fothergill, Lord Kames, and Lord le Despencer. This has begun to take away the rest, and strikes the hardest. Thus the ties I had to that country, and indeed to the world in general, are loosened one by one, and I shall soon have no attachment left to make me unwilling to follow. I intended writing when I sent the eleven books, but I lost the time in looking for the twelfth. I wrote with that; and hope it came to hand. I therein asked your counsel about my coming to England. On reflection, I think I can, from my knowledge of your prudence, foresee what it will be, viz. not to come too soon, lest it should seem braving and insulting some who ought to be respected. I shall, therefore, omit that journey till I am near going to America, and then just step over to take leave of my friends, and spend Mrs. Stevenson, the mother of Mrs Hewson. a few days with you. I purpose bringing Ben with me, and perhaps may leave him under your care. At length we are in peace, God be praised, and long, very long, may it continue. All wars are follies, very expensive, and very mischievous ones. When will mankind be convinced of this, and agree to settle their differences by arbitration? Were they to do it, even by the cast of a die, it would be better than by fighting and destroying each other. Spring is coming on, when travelling will be delightful. Can you not, when you see your children all at school, make a little party, and take a trip hither? I have now a large house, delightfully situated, in which I could accommodate you and two or three friends, and I am but half an hour's drive from Paris. In looking forward, twenty-five years seem a long period, but, in looking back, how short! Could you imagine, that it is now full a quarter of a century since we were first acquainted? It was in 1757. During the greatest part of the time, I lived in the same house. with my dear deceased friend, your mother; of course you and I conversed with each other much and often. It is to all our honors, that in all that time we never had among us the smallest misunderstanding. Our friendship has been all clear sunshine, without the least cloud in its hemisphere. Let me conclude by saying to you, what I have had too frequent occasions to say to my other remaining old friends, "The fewer we become, the more let us love one another." Adieu, and believe me ever yours most affectionately, B. FRANKLIN. TO JOHN SARGENT. MY DEAR FRIEND, Passy, 27 January, 1783. I received and read the letter you were so kind as to write to me the 3d instant, with a great deal of pleasure, as it informed me of the welfare of a family, whom I have so long esteemed and loved, and to whom I am under so many obligations, which I shall ever remember. Our correspondence has been interrupted by that abominable war. I neither expected letters from you, nor would I hazard putting you in danger by writing any to you. We can now communicate freely; and next to the happiness of seeing and embracing you all again at Halstead, will be that of hearing frequently of your health and prosperity. Mrs. Sargent and the good lady, her mother, are very kind in wishing me more happy years. I ought to be satisfied with those Providence has already been pleased to afford me, being now in my seventy-eighth ; a long life to pass without any uncommon misfortune, the greater part of it in health and vigor of mind and body, near fifty years of it in continued possession of the confidence of my country, in public employments, and enjoying the esteem and affectionate, friendly regard of many wise and good men and women, in every country where I have resided. For these mercies and blessings I desire to be thankful to God, whose protection I have hitherto had, and I hope for its continuance to the end, which now cannot be far distant. The account you give me of your family is pleasing, except that your eldest son continues so long unmarried. I hope he does not intend to live and die in celibacy. The wheel of life, that has rolled down to him from Adam without interruption, should not stop |