Sousa Coutinho to the American Commissioners: Résumé, 22 December 1784
Sousa Coutinho to the American Commissioners7
LS and copy: National Archives
⟨Paris, December 22, 1784, in French: I received your letter and the plan of a treaty it enclosed, which I will forward to the court at Lisbon.8⟩
[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]
7. Published in Jefferson Papers, VII, 580.
8. The commissioners’ letter was dated Nov. 30 (above). The Portuguese court returned no answer until the fall of 1785, when it was prodded again by Sousa, himself responding to a query from TJ. Portugal was willing to engage, but would require the mutual appointment of diplomatic representatives (at the rank of agent, at least) before treaty negotiations could begin: Jefferson Papers, VIII, 603.