1. Judging from the contrasting color of the ink and style of the handwriting, JM made three additions to his record for this date long after he penned his original notes. These addenda are (1) “of 8th day of October 1782,” (2) “with the States Genl” in the second paragraph, and (3) the names of the committee, beginning with “to” in the final sentence. The first of these alterations should have been inserted after “Another letter” at the outset of the second paragraph. In the first paragraph JM referred to John Adams’ dispatch from The Hague on 23 September 1782 to Robert R. Livingston, secretary for foreign affairs. Characterizing Gibraltar as only a “trophy of insolence to England and of humiliation to Spain,” Adams depreciated the “utility” of “that impenetrable rock” in an era when “freedom of commerce is so much esteemed,” and added that he “had no expectation at all” of a successful outcome of the siege by the armed forces of Spain and France (Wharton, Revol. Dipl. Corr description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States (6 vols.; Washington, 1889). description ends ., V, 750–51). For the accuracy of Adams’ “prophetic observations,” see Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (6 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , V, 198, n. 10.

Jared Sparks recorded that he was told by JM at Montpelier on 25 April 1827: “It was customary in the Old Congress for the Secretary to read to the Congress assembled all the letters of our ministers in foreign countries. The letters of John Adams were not interesting to the members in general, because they contained much extraneous matter, discussions and speculations on government, and narratives of events abroad. He had a great deal of leisure, was fond of writing, and thus his letters became voluminous. But Mr. Madison thinks they would be very interesting for the mass of readers at the present day” (Herbert B. Adams, The Life and Writings of Jared Sparks [2 vols.; Boston, 1893], II, 33).

2. With his dispatch of 8 October 1782 to Livingston, Adams enclosed “an authentic copy” of “the treaty of commerce and the convention concerning recaptures,” which he had signed on that day as the minister of the United States to the Netherlands (Wharton, Revol. Dipl. Corr description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States (6 vols.; Washington, 1889). description ends ., V, 803). For the text of these agreements, see JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, 1904–37). description ends , XXIV, 68–82.

3. The appointment of this committee is not recorded in the printed journal for 21 January 1783 but is noted in NA: PCC, No. 186, fol. 80. See Report on Treaty, 23 Jan. 1783.