of hunger! That it was reported the king came here to borrow money, and to offer to sell Gottenburg to France; a thing not very probable.

M. Dussaulx called, and said, it is reported there is an alliance treating between the Emperor of Austria, Russia, and England; the purpose not known; and that a counter-alliance is proposed between France, Prussia, and Holland, in which it is supposed Spain will join. He added that changes in the ministry are talked of ; that there are cabals against M. De Vergennes; that M. De Calonne is to be Garde des Sceaux, with some other rumors fabricated perhaps at the Palais Royal. June 29. Mr. Hammond, secretary to Mr. Hartley, called to tell me that Mr. Hartley had not received any orders by the last courier, either to stay or return, which he had expected; and that he thought it occasioned by their uncertainty what terms of commerce to propose, till the report of the committee of council was laid before parliament, and its opinion known; and that he looked on the delay of writing to him as a sign of their intending to do something.

He told me it was reported that the king of Sweden had granted the free use of Gottenburg as a port for France, which alarmed the neighboring powers. That in time of war, the northern coast of England might be much endangered by it.

June 30th. M. Dupont, inspector of commerce, came to talk with me about the free port of L'Orient, and some difficulties respecting it; I referred him to Mr. Barclay, an American merchant and commissioner for accounts; and as he said he did not well understand English when spoken, and Mr. Barclay did not speak French, I offered my grandson to accompany him as interpreter, which he accepted.

I asked him whether the Spaniards from the continent of America did not trade to the French sugar islands? He said not. The only commerce with the Spaniards was for cattle between them and the French at St. Domingo. I had been told the Spaniards brought flour to the French islands from the continent. He had not heard of it. If we can find that such a trade is allowed (perhaps from the Missisipi), have not the United States a claim by treaty to the same privilege?

July 1st. The Pope's Nuncio called and acquainted me that the Pope had, on my recommendation, appointed Mr. John Carrol, superior of the Catholic clergy in America, with many of the powers of a bishop; and that probably he would be made a bishop in partibus before the end of the year. He asked me which would be most convenient for him, to come to France, or go to St. Domingo for ordination by another bishop, which was necessary. I mentioned Quebec as more convenient than either. He asked whether, as that was an English province, our government might

not take offence at his going thither? I thought not, unless the ordination by that bishop should give him some authority over our bishop: he said, not in the least: that when our bishop was once ordained, he would be independent of the others, and even of the pope; which I did not clearly understand. He said the congregation de propaganda fidei had agreed to receive and maintain and instruct two young Americans in the languages and sciences at Rome: (he had formerly told me that more would be educated gratis in France). He added, they had written from America that there are twenty priests, but that they are not sufficient; as the new settlements near the Missisipi have need of some.

The Nuncio said we should find that the Catholics were not so intolerant as they had been represented; that the inquisition in Rome had not now so much power as that in Spain; and that in Spain it was used chiefly as a prison of state. That the congregation would have undertaken the education of more American youths, and may hereafter, but that at present they are overburthened, having some from all parts of the world. He spoke lightly of their new Bostonian convert, Thayer's conversion: that he had advised him not to go to America, but settle in France. That he wanted to go to convert his countrymen; but he knew nothing yet of his new religion himself, &c.

Received a letter from Mr. Bridgen of London, dated the 22d past, acquainting me that the council of the Royal Society had voted me a gold medal, on account of my letter in favor of Captain Cook. Lord Howe had sent me his Journal, 3 vols. 4to. with a large volume of engravings, on the same account, and, as he writes, "with the King's approbation."

July 3. Mr. Smeathman comes and brings two English or Scotch gentlemen: one a chevalier of some order, the other a physician who had lived long in Russia. Much conversation. Putrid fevers common in Russia, and in winter much more than in summer: therefore supposed to be owing to their hot rooms. In a gentleman's house there are sometimes one hundred domestics; these have not beds, but sleep twenty or thirty in a close room warmed by a stove, lying on the floor and on benches. The stoves are heated by wood. As soon as it is burnt to coals, the chimney is stopt, to prevent the escape of hot and entry of cold air. So they breathe the same air over and over again all night. These fevers he cured by wrapping the patient in linen wet with vinegar, and making them breathe the va'por of vinegar thrown on hot bricks. The Russians have the art of distilling spirits from milk. To prepare it for distillation it must, when beginning to sour, be kept in continual motion or agitation for twelve hours; it then becomes an uniform

vinous liquor, the cream, curd, and aqueous part or whey, all intimately mixt. Excellent in this state for restoring emaciated bodies. This operation on milk was discovered long since by the Tartars, who in their rambling life often carry milk in leather bags on their horses, and the motion produced the effect. It may be tried with us by attaching a large cag of milk to some part of one of our mills.

July 6. Directed Temple Franklin, who goes to court to-day, to mention three things to the minister. The main levée of the arrested goods, the port of L'Orient, and the consular convention; which he did with effect.—The port is fixed—and the convention preparing.—Hear that Gottenburg is to be a free port for France, where they may assemble northern stores, &c.

Mr. Hammond came and dined with me. He acquaints me, from Mr. Hartley, that no instructions are yet come from England.

July 7. A very hot day. Received a visit from the secretary of the king of Sweden, M. Franke, accompanied by the secretary of the embassy.

July 8. Mr. Franke dines with me, in company with Mde. Helvetius, Abbé de la Roche, M. Cabanis, and an American captain. The king of Sweden does not go to England.

July 10. Mr. Grand came to propose my dining with the Swedish court at his house, which is next door, and I consented. While he was with me the consul came. We talked about the Barbary powers; they are four, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. He informed me that Salee, the principal port belonging to the Emperor of Morocco, had formerly been famous for corsairs. That this prince had discouraged them, and in 1768 published an edict declaring himself in peace with all the world, and forbid their cruising any more, appointing him consul for those Christian states who had none in his country. That Denmark pays him 25,000 piastres fortes yearly, in money; Sweden is engaged to send an ambassador every two years with presents: and the other powers buy their peace in the same manner; except Spain and the Italian States, with whom they have constant war. That he is consul for Sardinia and Prussia, for whom he procured treaties of peace. That he proposed a peace for Russia; but that the Emperor having heard that Russia was going to war with his brother, the Grand Seignior, he refused it. Mr. Audibert Caille (the consul) thinks it shameful for Christendom to pay tribute to such canaille, and proposes two ways of reducing the barbarians to peace with all Europe, and obliging them to quit their piratical practices. They have need of many articles from Europe, and of a vent for their superfluous commodities. If, therefore, all Europe would agree to refuse any commerce with them but on condition of their

quitting piracy, and such an agreement could be faithfully observed on our part, it would have its effect upon them. But if any one power would continue the trade with them, it would defeat the whole. There was another method he had projected, and communicated in a memorial to the court here, by Mr. de Rayneval; which was, that France should undertake to suppress their piracies and give peace to all Europe, by means of its influence with the Porte. For all the people of these states being obliged by their religion to go at times in caravans to Mecca, and to pass through the Grand Seignior's dominions, who gives them escorts of troops through the desert, to prevent their being plundered and perhaps massacred by the Arabs, he could refuse them passage and protection but on condition of their living peaceably with the Europeans, &c. He spoke of Montgomery's transaction, and of Crocco, whom he understands was authorised by the court. The barbarians, he observed, having no commercial ships at sea, had vastly the advantage of the Europeans; for one could not make reprisals on their trade. And it has long been my opinion that if the European nations, who are powerful at sea, were to make war upon us Americans, it would be better for us to renounce commerce in our own bottoms, and convert them all into cruisers. Other nations would furnish us with what we wanted, and take off our produce. He promised me a note of the commerce of Barbary, and we are to see each other again, as he is to stay here a month.

Dined at Mr. Grand's, with the Swedish gentlemen. They were Mons. Rosenstein, secretary of the embassy, and * * with whom I had a good deal of conversation relating to the commerce possible between oar two countries. I found they had seen at Rome, Charles Stuart, the Pretender: they spoke of his situation as very hard: that France, who had formerly allowed him a pension, had withdrawn it, and that he sometimes almost wanted bread!

July 11. M. Waltersdorff called. He hears that the agreement with Sweden respecting the port of Gottenburg is not likely to be concluded. That Sweden wanted an island in the West Indies, in exchange. I think she is better without it.

July 13. Mess. Mirabeau and Champfort came and read their translation of (American) Mr. Burke's pamphlet against the Cincinnati, which they have much enlarged, intending it as a covered satire against noblesse in general. It is well done. There are also remarks on the last letter of General Washington on that subject. They say General Washington missed a beau moment, when he accepted to be of that society, (which some affect to call an order). The same of the Marquis de la Fayette.

July 14. Mr. Hammond calls to acquaint me that Mr. Hartley is still without

any instructions relating to the treaty of commerce; and supposes it occasioned by their attention to the India bill. I said to him,—your court and this seem to be waiting for one another, with respect to the American trade with your respective islands. You are both afraid of doing too much for us, and yet each wishes to do a little more than the other. You had better have accepted our generous proposal at first, to put us both on the same footing of free intercourse that existed before the war. You will make some narrow regulations, and then France will go beyond you in generosity. You never see your follies till too late to mend them.—He said, Lord Sheffield was continually exasperating the parliament against America. He had lately been publishing an account of loyalists murdered there, &c. Probably invented.

Thursday, July 15. The Duke De Chartres's balloon went off this morning from St. Cloud, himself and three others in the gallery. It was foggy, and they were soon out of sight. But the machine being disordered, so that the trap or valve could not be opened to let out the expanding air, and fearing that the balloon would burst, they cut a hole in it which ripped larger, and they fell rapidly, but received no harm. They had been a vast height, met with a cloud of snow, and a tornado which frightened them.

Friday, 16. Received a letter from two young gentlemen in London, who are come from America for ecclesiastical orders, and complain that they have been delayed there a year, and that the archbishop will not permit them to be ordained unless they will take the oath of allegiance; and desiring to know if they may be ordained here. Inquired and learnt that if ordained here, they must vow obedience to the archbishop of Paris. Directed my grandson to ask the Nuncio, if their bishop in America might not be instructed to do it literally?

Saturday, 17. The Nuncio says the thing is impossible, unless the gentlemen become Roman Catholics. Wrote them an answer.1

Sunday, 18. A good abbé brings me a large manuscript containing a scheme of reformation of all churches and states, religion, commerce, laws, &c. which he has planned in his closet, without much knowledge of the world. I have promised to look it over, and he is to call next Thursday. It is amazing the number of legislators that kindly bring me new plans for governing the United States.

Monday, July 19. Had the Americans at dinner, with Mr. White and Mr. Arbuthnot from England. The latter was an officer at Gibraltar during the late

PRIV. CORR. Part I. See letter dated July 18, 1784,