To John Jay from William Carmichael, 18–19 June 1780
From William Carmichael
[18th[–19th] June [1780] Aranjues]
Dear Sir
Near 12 this night St Jean brought me your favors of the 16th and 17th with their inclosures. As it was too late to carry your letter to the Ct. de Florida Blanca, I defer doing it until tomorrow morning. The Letters you sent me were from Mr Lecouteux at Cadiz containing others for Mr. Harrison & two newspapers, the latter ^of^ which I now send you, Two letters ^also^ from London, one of the 14 April & the other of the same date in May. The one from a sensible young fellow from Maryland, a friend of your Brother Sir James, offering his services & correspondence, the other From a very pretty girl, also offering services. I have also received a letter from Mr Carrol of Carlton,1 who writes in good Spirits altho our Money was almost at its last gasp. Nothing can save us from all the ruinous effects of a Bankruptcy, but money in Europe. My Journal will not be interesting this last week. I have formed new acquaintances & cultivated the old. I have seen our Abby2 as you desired, and beleive him, what the Princess of Maserano3 says he is, an intriguing enterprizing
busy meddling Priest with a conscience as pliant as a Ladys kid Skin glove. He is mighty civil to me— At eight oclock [illegible] this morning Mr. C[umberlan]d4 and Family arrived. I sat up till two in the Morning in order to have a sight of them, but dispairing of their arrival I went to Bed. I shall give you notice of his Motions. I find that Our Abby is as inquisitive about us, as we about him. I am sorry that you could not be present at the Dinner given to the Corpes Diplomatic by the French Embassador. Your Absence will occasion much Speculation, as I find your not having been at Court doth.5 The papers you mention have long been ready, The information is not so complete as I could wish to send to Congress, as you can Judge who have had it in detail and as I received it. Audibert left Aranjues on Wednesday, promised me to wait on you at Madrid. I gave him all the papers with a note to you He returned on Thursday, delivered me again the papers and the note saying that he could not find you, Set out yesterday morning for Seville, leaving me some Enveloppes for different houses in Cadiz, to whom he desired me to inclose your letter in answer to his— I had a great inclination to forward his papers to Harrison, to be sent to Congress, but Judging that you would chuse to write at the Same time, I declined doing it; and more particularly as he will be some time on the road.6 I have delivered your letter without speaking to any one. I am inclined to think Mr. C[umberlan]d will be heard before you receive an answer to your last while here.7 I paid my Compliments to Mr Galvez the day after the news arrived. I was well received &c. I told him that I was going to communicate to you the news, which I knew would be particularly agreable to you & every other American both as contributing to the Public interest of Spain & the particular satisfaction of a family, which they ranked as their most powerful friends here—8 I have been again seized with the colic & a lax & would most [illegible] ^willingly^ excuse myself from dining with forty very Illustrious Spies, if I could well do it. I beg you to present compliments for me to Mrs Jay & wishes for her health & Strength. Pray write me now & then if it is only to inform me, how the family is, or prevail on the Colonel to do it—
I shall speak feelingly on the Subject of the Letters Stopped at the Post to Monsr Del Campo,9 & even to the Ct Himself Insinuating that I am afraid it is done by some one in the Post office, who betray them to the English Spies All the Letters I received last night had been opened more than once. I am your Obliged & Humble servt10
Wm. Carmichael
His Excellency John Jay Esqr.
ALS, NNC (EJ: 7538). Addressed: “His Excellency / John Jay Esq”. Endorsed: “ . . . Recd. 19 Do [June]”. Enclosures not found.
1. These letters have not been found. Charles Carroll (1737–1832) of Carrollton was then a member of the Maryland Senate, having resigned from the Continental Congress. Joseph Guin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton (New York, 1932), 105.
2. Father Thomas Hussey (1741–1803), an Irish priest, had served as chaplain to the Spanish embassy in London before diplomatic relations between Spain and England were broken off. Hussey remained in London as a Spanish agent even after the ambassador had returned to Madrid. He subsequently worked in conjunction with Richard Cumberland on the mission described in note 4, below.
3. The Princess Charlotte Louise Masserano, whom JJ described as “a Lady of much observation and Discernment,” was the sister of Cardinal Louis René Edourd de Rohan, who had been French ambassador to Vienna, 1772–74. Her husband was a member of an ancient Piedmontese family, but he lived in Madrid, commanded Spanish troops at the siege of Gibraltar in 1782, and was raised to the rank of brigadier general in that year by Charles III. , 60, 69, 87. On the kindness of the Masseranos to JJ, see JJ to BF, 25 Oct., below.
4. Richard Cumberland (1732–1811), a British playwright and novelist who had obtained several minor bureaucratic positions under his patron, Lord Halifax. He and Thomas Hussey, the “Abby” to whom Carmichael referred, had been authorized by the Earl of Hillsborough to explore the terms on which Spain might agree to make peace with Britain. Cumberland reported that he was immediately received by Floridablanca, who, however, met with him only at night, with the English-speaking Campo present, and took extreme precautions to keep the meetings secret. He claimed that Floridablanca initially indicated that he would break the Family Compact if Britain would agree to return Gibraltar, but that despite strained relations between France and Spain, prospects for the success of his negotiations were destroyed soon after they began by news of the Gordon riots and by Córdova’s naval victory in August 1780. See Cumberland, Memoirs of Richard Cumberland Written by Himself (Philadelphia, 1856), 232–36, 240. For Carmichael’s efforts to collect information about Cumberland, see JJ to Carmichael, 27 and 29 June, and Carmichael to JJ, 12 Aug., below.
Despite his pledge to Montmorin that Spain would not consent to any peace arrangement that did not satisfy France with regard to American independence, Floridablanca’s willingness to talk to Cumberland made both JJ and Montmorin uneasy. Floridablanca broke off the discussions by the end of September 1780, but Cumberland remained in Spain until March 1781. See JJ to the President of Congress, 6 Nov.; and the notes to Notes on John Jay’s Conference with Floridablanca, 5 July and 23 Sept., below; Montmorin to Vergennes, 12 and 22 June, 17 and 20 July, 22 and 29 Sept., FrPMAE: CP-E, 599: 222r–224v, 281r–282v, 337r–v, 451r, 463r–v, 497r–v; 602: 6v–8v, 75r–76r; , s.v. “Cumberland, Richard”; Samuel Flagg Bemis, The Hussey-Cumberland Mission and American Independence: An Essay in the Diplomacy of the American Revolution (Princeton, 1931), 12, 15; and , 51–64. For Floridablanca’s views on the Franco-American treaty, see Notes on John Jay’s Conference with Floridablanca, 23 Sept. 1780, below.
5. In a second letter dated 19 June, ALS, NNC (EJ: 7538), Carmichael reported that Montmorin had taken great care to publicly express regret that JJ had not been able to attend.
6. See Étienne d’Audibert Caille to JJ, 21 Apr., above.
7. JJ to Floridablanca, 9 June, above. Carmichael repeated these sentiments in his letter of 19 June, cited in note 5, above.
8. On the capture of Mobile by Bernardo de Gálvez, see Carmichael to JJ, 15 June, ALS, NNC (EJ: 7537).
9. Bernardo del Campo was Floridablanca’s secretary. , 61.