To John Jay from the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston), 23 November 1782
From the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston)
Philadelphia 23d: November 1782.
Dear Sir
I have before me your letters of the 25th. & 28th June—1 I congratulate you on your safe arrival at Paris—where I venture to hope your residence will on many accounts be more agreable than it was at Madrid, nothing can be more agreable to us than your determination to write very frequently, since I am sorry to say that we have not yet been favored with such minute3 on many points of importance as we have reason to expect; both Doctor Franklin and yourself dwelth so much in generals in your last letters, that had it not been for a private letter of the Marquis to me— Congress would have remained ignorant of points, which they have thought of sufficient importance to make them the foundation of some of those resolutions which are herewith transmitted to you—2 You need to be under no apprehensions that Commissioners from the Court of Great Britain will be allowed to negotiate with Congress, their Sentiments on this subject, are sufficiently manifested in the resolutions that are sent to you and Doctor Franklin with this—and the case of Mr Burgess which you will find in one of the papers of last week and in my letter to Doctor Franklin will afford you some evidence of the extreme caution of particular States on this head—4
That in the mass of our people there are a great number, who tho’ resolved on independence prefer an alliance with England to one with France must be a mere speculative opinion which can be reduced to no kind of certainty—if we form our Judgement from acts of government we would suppose that no such Sentiment prevailed, they all speak a different language, if from the declarations of individuals we must entertain the same opinion— Since independence and the alliance with France connect themselves so closely together that we never speak of them separately— The mass of the people here are not so ignorant of the common principles of policy as to prefer an alliance with a nation whose recent pretentions and whose vicinity renders them natural Enemy’s to that of a prince who has no claims upon them and no territory in their Neighbourhood; at least till the principles of his Government shall be changed and he gives evident proof of the want of Justice and moderation— I see but one source from which differences between us and France can ever arise if spain should persist in her wild pretentions to boundless territory in this country and be supported in those pretentions by the other branch of the house of bourbon she will share in the resentments and jealoussies that such pretentions excite I learn from mr Carmichael that the marquis d arandas powers are not yet expedited so that as far as I can see the farce of negotiation is the same tho th[e] scene and the players are altered5
I think it unnecessary to repeat to you, what I have already written to Doctor Franklin presuming that you communicate with freedom to each other— Mr Jefferson will afford I dare say a very acceptable aid to your commission— I have not yet learnt from him whether he will take the duties upon him6 we continue to be as muche disstressed for money as ever. taxes come in very slowly and the five per cent duty which would produce a considerable revennue is not collected because Rhode Island refuses to pay it though every other state unless it be Georgia from which we have not heard have passed laws for that purpose.7 Mr Barlow a poet of New England has requested me to transmit you his proposals for printing by Subscription a poem of which he is the author— I can give no character of the work but what you will get from the Specimen enclosed, which is all I have seen of it—8 The enclosed resolution informs you of Mr Boudinots advancement to the Presidentship—9 for other intelligence I refer you to my letter to Doctor Franklin, and the papers that accompany this— I am Dear Sir with great Regard and Esteem your most obedt. humble Servt.
Rob R Livingston
LS, partly encoded, NNC (EJ: 7942). Enclosure: Congressional resolution on the appointment of Elias Boudinot as president of Congress, not located, but see note 8, below. Duplicate LS, NNC (EJ: 7944), marked “No. 15”; Dft, with encoding interlined, NHi: Robert R. Livingston (EJ: 835); LbkC, DNA: PCC, item 118, 340–45. Notation: “1st Copy by Ship Heer Adams / 2plicate by Colo. Ogden / 3plicate by Washington Packet.” Encoded in the Franklin-Morris code (WE008), decoded by the editors. Coded passages omitted in , 6: 70–71; and , 3: 2–3.
2. Probably Lafayette’s letter of 25 June 1782 (, 5: 43–48), reporting that “the ministry in England are now deceiving the people with the hope that Sir Guy Carleton is going to operate a reconciliation.” On 4 Oct. a congressional committee reported on JJ’s letter of 25 June and Lafayette’s of 25 and 29 June. Thereupon Congress adopted a series of resolutions: 1) declaring that neither France nor the United States would conclude peace or truce “without the consent of the other”; 2) reaffirming America’s intention to adhere to the alliance and to negotiate with Great Britain “in confidence and concert with his Most Christian Majesty”; 3) directing the states to “be vigilant” in guarding against British “emissaries and spies”; and 4) recommending to the states that British subjects coming from “any part of the British dominions” be barred from the U.S. during the war. See Richard Oswald to Thomas Townshend, 6–7 Nov. 1782, note 4, above; and , 23: 637–39.
3. Copiest error: “minute information” in Duplicate LS, Dft, and Lbk C.
4. RRL’s letter to BF of 21 Nov. 1782 cited the case of “Mr. Burgess, an English merchant, [who] was not permitted to settle at Boston and obtain the rights of citizenship upon principles which must be alarming to England, as evidence of the respect paid to the resolutions of Congress.” See , 38: 332–33.
5. In his letter to RRL of 12 June 1782, Carmichael had reported that Floridablanca and Campo “seemed to think the work of peace to be in a fair way.” He had, he added, “some reason to suppose that neither their instructions to their ambassador at Paris for this object, nor those for him to treat with Mr. Jay, are yet forwarded; and there are grounds to conjecture that this court would have retarded the negociation as much as possible had not the defeat of the Count de Grasse blasted their hopes of taking Jamaica.” , 5: 489.
6. Congress reappointed Jefferson as a peace commissioner on 12 Nov. See , 23: 848; and , 5: 268–69.
7. On 3 Feb. 1781, Congress urged the states to authorize a Continental levy of a five percent impost. , 19: 112. By the date of this letter Rhode Island had rejected it, thereby ending the possibility of the unanimous consent required under the Articles of Confederation. On the impost of 1781 and Rhode Island’s rejection of it, see , 1: 395–402; 7: 78–93.
8. Joel Barlow (1754–1812) of Connecticut journeyed to Philadelphia from West Point in the last week of October 1782 to seek subscriptions for the publication of his yet unfinished epic poem, “The Vision of Columbus,” which was not published until 1787. See Theodore A. Zunder, The Early Days of Joel Barlow, a Connecticut Wit (New Haven, 1934), ch. 7.
9. Elias Boudinot (1740–1821) was elected president of Congress on 4 Nov. 1782, succeeding John Hanson. , 23: 708.