1. In anticipation of his departure for Europe, Morris delivered this and other letters to Thomas Jefferson on 24 January. On 7 April, following his decision not to go, Jefferson returned the letters to Morris, who in turn gave them to John Vaughan, brother of Benjamin. John Vaughan presumably forwarded this letter from London when he arrived there in early May (Morris, Papers description begins The Papers of Robert Morris, 1781–1784, ed. E. James Ferguson, John Catanzariti, Elizabeth M. Nuxoll, Mary A. Gallagher, and others, Pittsburgh, 1973–1999; 9 vols. description ends , 7:360, 673, 697–698).

2. The cipher that Morris intended for JA has not been found, and JA does not mention it in his reply of 21 May, below. Jefferson likely returned it with the letter on 7 April, and Morris may have decided not to entrust it to John Vaughan.

Mentioned neither by Morris in this letter nor by JA in his reply are copies of two congressional resolutions that are with this letter in the Adams Papers and may have been enclosed with it. The first, adopted on 27 Dec. 1782, approved JA’s purchase of the legation at The Hague. The second, voted on 31 Dec., instructed the joint peace commissioners “to obtain for the citizens and inhabitants of the United States a direct commerce to all parts of the British dominions and possessions” in any commercial agreement with Great Britain (JCC description begins Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, ed. Worthington Chauncey Ford, Gaillard Hunt, John C. Fitzpatrick, Roscoe R. Hill, and others, Washington, 1904–1937; 34 vols. description ends , 23:832, 838).