To John Jay from Lafayette, 28 April 1782
From Lafayette
Paris April 28th 1782
Dear Sir
The Opportunity I now Embrace is offered By the Prince of Masserano Who Sets of this Minute for Spain, and Intends to Act a part in the daring Siege of Gibraltar—1 I will Communicate a few intelligences Which it May be Agreable for You to know and Which I Hope I May Safely Intrust to this Conveyance
Holland is now Quite determined, and Has Agreed to Acknowledge our Independence— They are About Making A treaty of Commerce and Have Received Mr Adams in His Public Character2
I will Also Give you an Account of What Has Lately past Respecting Negotiations
A few days Before the fall of the late Ministry France Had some Advances Made to Her Under Hand Wherein it Appeared the Great point was to Make Her Abandon American Independence—the Answer was Very proper, Very finely Expressed, and Such as Would please Every American Mind3
Some time After that Mr. Adams Was Applied to at the Hagu— He also said Independence was the prime Step, and Nothing Could be done But in Common with France.4
The New Ministry Have sent Emmissaries to the French Administration, to Mr Adams and to Mr Franklin— The French Ministers Have Repeated their making terms out of the Question Untill American Plenipotentiaries were Admitted Into the Negotiations— Mr. Adams, and Mr. Franklin Have once More Said that [illegible] ^America was not less^ Averse to a Seperate peace, and that Any Attempt at it Was Nothing but a loss of time5
Under those Circumstances, I think we must Very Soon know What the Intentions of the Ennemy Are, either to try the Course of this Campaign or to Propose a General Negotiation
Mr. Mithon who Commanded an Important Convoy Has Safly Arrived into Martinique Harbour— He Has Under His Care a Vast Quantity of Military stores much wanting for the French Fleet, and His Safe Arrival Affords us Great Satisfaction—6
Some Vessels Going Under Convoy to the East Indies Have Met An English Squadron and Were obliged to Put Back—it is feared some Transports may Be taken, but Nothing Material.7
I am in Hopes a Northern Power, not of the first Rate, will Before long Enter into a Treaty of Commerce—8 But I Request from You the Utmost Secrecy— The telling of it to You Now Cannot Be a Break of Confidence—
I Beg the Whole of this Letter May be Considered as Confidential, and I do Not know [illegible] whether Communications Have Been Made to Your Friends— God Grant them a Good Success at Gibraltar— I wish the devilish Rock was out the way Most affectionately and Respectfully yours
ALS, NNC (EJ: 6729) Addressed: “His Excellency John Jay Esq. &c.” Endorsed.
1. In the late spring of 1782, the duc de Crillon brought a large Franco-Spanish force to join in the siege of Gibraltar, which had been in progress since June 1779. Masserano also carried BF’s letter to JJ of 24 Apr. 1782, above.
2. The States General agreed to recognize JA as official United States envoy on 22 Apr. , 12: 441–42. The treaty was not signed until 8 Oct. 1782.
3. Nathaniel Parker Forth, an agent of the North ministry, sought unsuccessfully on 14 Mar. to interest Vergennes in a peace settlement that did not include U.S. independence. , 254.
4. The exploratory visit to JA was made by Thomas Digges. Ibid., 255–56; , 12: xvii; , 5: 18–19.
5. The North ministry had resigned on 20 Mar. 1782. The new ministry was headed by Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquess of Rockingham. Charles Fox, who was friendly to American independence, was named secretary of state for foreign affairs. William Petty Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne, held the post of secretary of state for home, colonial, and Irish affairs, and was reluctant to concede independence. He maintained that since independence had not yet occurred, American affairs fell under the jurisdiction of his department, and he sent Richard Oswald to begin talks with BF. Fox countered by sending Thomas Grenville to represent his position. JJUP, 2: 237–41.
6. Mithon de Genouilly, a French naval officer, evaded Rodney’s patrols and reached Martinique on 26 Mar. with two ships of the line convoying transports from Brest. Their arrival enabled de Grasse to mount an attack against Jamaica, in the course of which his fleet was engaged by Rodney in the battle of the Saints. , 4: 142n; W. M. James, The British Navy in Adversity: A Study of the War of American Independence (London and New York, 1926), 330–35.
7. In engagements northeast of Ushant on 21 and 22 Apr., the British captured two French ships of the line and 12 transport vessels bound for the East Indies. See James, British Navy, 366–67.
8. The first informal conversations regarding a Swedish-American treaty, reputedly arranged by Lafayette, took place in Paris in April 1782 between BF and Count Gustav Philip Creutz, the Swedish ambassador to France. Not until December 1782, however, did Creutz and BF begin serious negotiations, and the treaty was not signed until April 1783. See Adolph B. Benson, Sweden and the American Revolution (New Haven, Conn., 1926), 48–55; and Amandus Johnson, Swedish Contributions to American Freedom, 1776–1783 (Philadelphia, 1953), 1: 572–81.