they may judge whether he is endowed, as Congress no doubt desires, with that conciliating spirit which is necessary for the important and delicate business with which he is intrusted.* I have the honor to be, etc., DE VERGENNES. Washington to Luzerne.t PEEKSKILL, August 4, 1780. SIR: Colonel Jamet arrived here last night, by whom I had the honor to receive your excellency's request that I would send instructions for the second division coming from France with respect to the measures which it should pursue for forming a junction with the first. I beg leave to inform your excellency that I wrote to the Count de Rochambeau, agreeably to my letter to you of the 27th ultimo, and requested that he, in concert with the Chevalier de Ternay, would communicate to me, that it might be transmitted to your excellency, the line of conduct which they should judge proper to be pursued by this division. As the marine are concerned, and the junction in present circumstances is a matter of peculiar delicacy, I did not think myself qualified to decide on that point. I liave not received their answer yet, and therefore I can not pretend to determine what should be done; I will, however, take the liberty to observe that if the ships of war with this division are superior, or even fully equal, to those of the enemy off Rhode Island, I should suppose it would be eligible for them to proceed there at once, should they be met by the cruisers your excellency has sent A copy of the correspondence between Count de Vergennes and Mr. Adams respecting the communication of his powers to the British ministry being forwarded to Congress, a committee was appointed to consider the subject. Conformably to their report the President wrote to Mr. Adams the following letter, in the name of Congress, on the 10th of January, 1781: "SIR: Congress considers your correspondence with the Count de Vergennes on the subject of communicating your plenipotentiary powers to the ministry of Great Britain as flowing from your zeal and assiduity in the service of your country; but I am directed to inform you that the opinion given to you by that minister relative to the time and circumstances proper for communicating your powers and entering upon the execution of them is well founded. "Congress have no expectations from the influence which the people may have on the British counsels, whatever may be the dispositions of that nation or their magistrates towards these United States, nor are they of opinion that a change of ministry would produce a change of measures. They therefore hope that you will be very cautious of admitting your measures to be influenced by presumptions of such events or their probable consequences. "I am, etc., [SPARKS. + MSS. Dep. of State; 5 Sparks' Dip. Rev. Corr., 700. "S. HUNTINGTON, "President of Congress." out on the southern coast. If this is not the case, they ought to make the Delaware as soon as possible. In this event the troops might be forwarded to Trenton in the first instance, and the ships might remain until ulterior measures, with respect to them, should be determined. These, however, I would not offer but as mere suggestions, and much it would seem must depend on circumstances and the discretion of the officer commanding the division. Perhaps if the ships of war should proceed directly to Rhode Island it will be best for them to disembarrass themselves of their transports, and send them into the Delaware, as in the other case. I take it for granted that signals of recognizance have been preconcerted between the two divisions. On the 31st ultimo the enemy's fleet in the sound returned from Huntington Bay to New York. From every information the Count de Rochambeau and his army were certainly their object, and they had embarked in considerable force with a view of attacking him. I can not determine with precision the reasons which induced the enemy to relinquish their plan; but it is not improbable that the movements of our army and the ulterior measures I was about to prosecute operated in some measure to produce it. I have the honor to be, etc., GEORGE WASHINGTON. Washington to Luzerne.* PEEKSKILL, August 6, 1780. SIR: I had this morning the honor to receive your excellency's letter of the 30th of July, with the one addressed to the Chevalier de Ternay, which I have sealed and forwarded by an express. With respect to the Continental frigates, I beg leave to inform your excellency that I did not apprehend, from the resolution of Congress concerning them, that they were to be under my orders or to receive any instructions from me until they had joined the Chevalier de Ternay, after assembling in the Delaware. This being the case, I can not give any directions about them at present, and would take the liberty to recommend to your excellency to apply to Congress or the board of admiralty; to the latter of whom I have written to give their orders to the captains of the frigates on the conduct they are to pursue. The employment for them, or at least for one which your excellency has suggested, appears to me to be proper, and that it will answer the double purposes you mention. I have by my letter of to-day to the Chevalier de Ternay requested him to advise me in what manner he thinks the frigates can be most usefully employed to assist his fleet, and that there might be no further * MSS. Dep. of State; 5 Sparks' Dip. Rev. Corr., 701, delay, when matters with respect to them are ultimately fixed, I requested him also to communicate to the captains of the frigates at Boston, as well as to myself, the signals of recognizance. When I receive his answer I will embrace the earliest occasion to transmit the siguals. I have the honor to be, etc., GEORGE WASHINGTON. Izard to the President of Congress.* PHILADELPHIA, August 6, 1780. SIR: In several letters which I wrote to Congress from Paris I acquainted them with my reasons for not going into Italy. It will give me great pleasure to be informed that those reasons and my conduct have been approved of by the Representatives of my country. Permit me, sir, to request that you will be pleased to inform Congress of my arrival in this city, and that I shall be ready, whenever it is their pleasure, to give them any information in my power respecting their affairs in Europe. I have the honor to be, etc., RALPH IZARD. Franklin to the President of Congress.t PASSY, August 9, 1780. SIR: With this your excellency will receive a copy of my last, dated May 31, the original of which, with copies of preceding letters, went by the Alliance, Captain Landais, who sailed the beginning of last month, and who I wish may arrive safe in America, being apprehensive that, by her long delay in port from the mutiny of the people (who, after she was ready to sail, refused to weigh anchor till their wages were paid), she may fall in the way of the English fleet now out, or that her crew, who have ever been infected with disorder and mutiny, may carry her into England. She had on her first coming out a conspiracy for that purpose, besides which, her officers and captain quarreled with each other, the captain with Commodore Jones, and there have been so many embroils among them that it was impossible to get the business forward while she staid; and she is at length gone without taking the quantity of stores she was capable of taking and was ordered to take. I suppose the conduct of that captain will be inquired into by a courtmartial. Captain Jones goes home in the Ariel, a ship we have borrowed * MSS. Dep. of State; 1 Sparks' Dip. Rev. Corr., 705. + MSS. Dep. of State; 2 Sparks' Dip. Rev. Corr., 116, with verbal changes; 8 Sparks' Franklin, 484; 7 Bigelow's Franklin, 107. of government here, and carries one hundred and forty-six chests of arms and four hundred barrels of powder. To take the rest of the stores I have been obliged to freight a ship, which, being well armed and well manned, will, I hope, get in safe. The clothes for ten thousand men are, I think, all made up; there are also arms for fifteen thousand, new and good, with two thousand barrels of powder. Besides this, there is a great quantity of cloth I have bought, of which you will have the invoices sent by Mr. Williams; another large quantity purchased by Mr. Ross; all going in the same ship. The little authority we have here to govern our armed ships and the inconvenience of distance from the ports occasion abundance of irregularities in the conduct of both men and officers. I hope, therefore, that no more of those vessels will be sent hither till our code of laws is perfected respecting ships abroad and proper persons appointed to manage such affairs in the seaports. They give me infinite trouble; and, though I endeavor to act for the best, it is without satisfaction to myself, being unacquated with that kind of business. I have often mentioned the appointment of a consul or consuls. The Congress have perhaps not yet had time to consider that matter. Having already sent you, by different conveyances, copies of my proceedings with the court of Denmark relative to the three prizes delivered up to the English, and requested the instructions of Congress, I hope soon to receive them. I mentioned a letter from the Congress to that court as what I thought might have a good effect. I have since had more reasons to be of that opinion. The unexpected delay of Mr. Deane's arrival has retarded the settlement of the joint accounts of the commission, he having had the chief management of the commercial part, and being therefore best able to explain difficulties. I have just now the pleasure to hear that the Fier Rodrique, with her convoy from Virginia, arrived at Bordeaux all safe, except one tobacco ship, that foundered at sea; the men saved; and I have a letter from Mr. Deane that he is at Rochelle; proposes to stop a few days at Nantes, and then proceed to Paris, when I shall endeavor to see that business completed with all possible expedition. Mr. Adams has given offense to the court here by some sentiments and expressions contained in several of his letters written to the Count de Vergennes. I mention this with reluctance, though perhaps it would have been my duty to acquaint you with such a circumstance, even were it not required of me by the minister himself. He has sent me copies of the correspondence, desiring I would communicate them to Congress; and I send them herewith.* Mr. Adams did not show me his letters before he sent them. I have in a former letter to Mr. Lovell mentioned some of the inconveniences that attend the having more than one minister at the same court; one of which inconveniences is, *These letters will be found in Mr. Adams' Correspondence in the month of June, 1780, supra. that they do not always hold the same language, and that the impres sions made by one, and intended for the service of his constituents, may be effaced by the discourse of the other. It is true that Mr. Adams' proper business is elsewhere; but the time not being come for that business, and having nothing else here wherewith to employ himself, he seems to have endeavored supplying what he may suppose my negotiations defective in. He thinks, as he tells me himself, that America has been too free in expressions of gratitude to France, for that she is more obliged to us than we to her, and that we should show spirit in our applications. I apprehend that he mistakes his ground, and that this court is to be treated with decency and delicacy. The king, a young and virtuous prince, has, I am persuaded, a pleasure in reflecting on the generous benevolence of the action in assisting an oppressed people, and proposes it as a part of the glory of his reign. I think it right to increase this pleasure by our thankful acknowledg ments, and that such an expression of gratitude is not only our duty, but our interest. A different conduct seems to me what is not only improper and unbecoming, but what may be hurtful to us. Mr. Adams, on the other hand, who at the same time means our welfare and interest as much as I or any man can do, seems to think a little apparent stoutness and a greater air of independence and boldness in our demands will procure us more ample assistance. It is for the Congress to judge, and regulate their affairs accordingly.* M. de Vergennes, who appears much offended, told me yesterday that he would enter into no further discussions with Mr. Adams, nor answer any more of his letters. He is gone to Holland to try, as he told me, whether something might not be done to render us less dependent on France. He says the ideas of this court and those of the people of America are so totally different, that it is impossible for any minister to please both. He ought to know America better than I do, having been there lately, and he may choose to do what he thinks will best please the people of America. But when I consider the expressions of Congress in many of their public acts, and particularly in their letter to the Chevalier de la Luzerne, of the 24th of May last, I can not but imagine that he mistakes the sentiments of a few for a general opinion. It is my intention, while I stay here, to procure what advantages I can for our country by endeavoring to please this court; and I wish I could prevent anything being said by any of our countrymen here that may have a contrary effect and increase an opinion lately showing itself in Paris, that we seek a difference, and with a view of reconciling ourselves to England. Some of them have of late been very indiscreet in their conversations. I have received, eight months after their date, the instructions of Congress relating to a new article for guarantying the fisheries. The |