From John Jay to John Adams, 3 August 1785
To John Adams
Office F. Af. 3 Augt. 1785
Dr. Sir
I have had the Honor to recieve & communicate to Congress your Letters of 15 Decr. 1784 & 13 & 24 April 1785 4 May 5 May 7 May 8 May 13 May 29 May which enclosed yr. Correspondence with Ld. Carmarthen 30 May and 1 June—1
I shall reply in their order
^[In margin] 24 april^ Congress are pleased to hear that you have compleated the Loan in Holland; but at present do not think it expedient to ^have not directed me to say anything of^ openg a new one.2 I wish it was I could assure you that the Exertions of the States to provide for the payment of the public Debts were proportionate to the public Exigencies—at present they are not—but we flatter ourselves that our Expectations on that Head will yet be realized, and that the different Legislatures at their ensuing Sessions will see the necessity of adopting more efficient Measures than have hitherto been taken.3
I am clear entirely of opinion with you that the People of this Country should by a punctilious observance of the Treaty, enable you to insist with more Propriety ^& Energy^ on a its being kept with equal good Faith by Britain—The Case of the Refugees is a delicate Subject, and my Sentiments are as respecting it perfectly correspond with Yours.
The obliging Terms in which you mention my appointment to this office demand my warmest acknowledgments—4 be assured that my Endeavours shall not be wanting so to conduct the Business of it ^this Department^ as to confirm the opinion you entertain of my Attention to it.—
There is Reason to believe that the Demand of Mr Longchamps will not be persisted in;5
^[In margin] 4 May^ I presume you will not recieve a Letter of Recall from your Legation to the Hague, untill a Successor shall be appointed—Govr
Rutledge Livingston was elected but declined; and the answer of Govr Rutledge who has since been appointed, has ^is^ not yet arrived. Perhaps circumstances may admit of your making a Trip to the Hague to take Leave in form; if not, a proper Letter would properly ^stating^ ^mentioning^ ^mentioning in general Terms the obstacles wh. detain you wd.^ probably be satisfactory to their High Mightinesses—6
^[In margin] 5 May 7 May—to pay his Salary—^ Congress approve of your having defrayed the Expences mentioned in your Letter of 7 May out of their Monies in Holland, & con are content that until their further order you continue to pay the Salaries of these the public Servants in Europe from out of the same fund.7
The Calamities experienced ^& apprehended^ by France from the unseasonable Weather of the late Spring are severe; and will doubtless ^must naturally^ have the Tendency you predict ^men^ ^remark^, I am happy to inform th you that this Country enjoys the Prospect of plentiful Crops— ^a plentiful Harvest^
^[In margin] 8 May^ If Britain should object to the powers of Congress to form Treaties of Commerce; it will probably be for the Purpose of Delay. There is no Reason to suspect that the different States ^even^ wish to send separate Ministers to foreign States in a Powers in any other Way than the one directed by the Confederation. Nor is it more probable that Congress will refer their proper Business to the Deliberation and Discussion of the different Legislatures; for such References would sap the Foundation of all fœderal Government. Whether any & what further measures may be necessary to obviate the Difficulties you allude to ^on those points^ wh will best be decided when the Nature & Extent of them can be ascertained. Your Letters will ^conferences with the Minister^ will soon be ^put you^ in Capacity to remove all Doubts on these points on that Head
The Attentions paid you by the Duke of Dorset8 strike me [in another light than?] as Marks of his good Sense; and the Cautious Manner in which he compared notes with you is another ^rather an^ shews that as yet his Prudence advances far before his Confidence argument of Prudence than Confidence shews that much is not to be expected from his Frankness—but whatever may be the Intentions of his Court as to our Frontiers &c. and in whatever Degree of Silence & mystery they may wish to involve their Designs; the f your first Conference^ versation^ with the Minister on those Heads must furnish You at least with a Clue to them—
The Expences of the Presentation of yourself and Family, will doubtless be considerable and I have long been of opinion that your Salary is not equal
to what their your Expences ^the^ Expences of a Minister ought to me be; for Custom & Fashion often exact a Tribute which tho I however just and virtuous to refuse, Ex is often very expedient to pay. In short your Salary is more than what a private Gentleman may ^with care^ live decently upon, but it is far less than is necessary to enable You to live like other ^as other^ Ministers usually and generally do. ^[in margin] Whether Congress will make any alterations in this Respect is very uncertain—There are Men in all the States who make a Merit of saving Money and Clamour in small matters, without sufficiently attending to the consequences of it and without seeming to recollect the Profusion which whant want of System &^9
^[In margin] 29 May^ I congratulate you sincerely on your arrival in London; and think you was very right in settling all matters of Etiquette with the Marqs. of Carmathen previous to your Presentation.10 A letter of Credence to the Queen was I believe neither heard nor thought of here. I think it would be well to make further Inquiries ^respecting^ that Matter, and so that we may form some Judgmt. of the Tenor and Contents of such Letters—I wish you had informed me whether such a Letter would could with propriety yet be sent You, or whether it would not be better to be silent with about it ^the^ ommission, & only take Care not to repeat it on a future Occasion. [illegible] I am inclined to the [Latter?] Your Opinion wd be ^the more^ decisive, because you may learn with Certainty whether such a Letter is ^yet^ expected from Congress in and whether consequently whether At any Rate I think it would be well to give assurances that the omission proceeded not from ^want of^ Disrespect or want of Inclination but from want of Information; for that undoubtedly was the Fact.
^[In margin] 30 May^ Your communicating to the Danish minister a Copy of the Resolution intended for the M of the 21 March was ^rendered^ very proper by Mr De St. Saphorin’s having been recalled.11
On the 25 March last the Papers ^you alluded to,^ respecting the Morrocco Business were sent ^forwarded^ to Capt. Lamb by a Messenger whom he sent for them. I think he sailed [in] Rhode Island or some other New England Port but at ^at^ what Time exactly ^he sailed^ I am not informed, tho I am persuaded it must have been very soon after the Return of his Messenger—12 as he wrote me that the vessel was just ready to sail
Congress are pleased ^It gives me Pleasure^ to hear that your Reception at St James was such as you represent it: and they ^I^ flatter themselves ^myself^ that the Difficulties you expect to encounter will be surmounted by the ^like^ address and temperate Perseverance which gave Success to your Eff Exert Negociations in Holland—
I hope by the next Conveyance to be enabled to communicate to you some Directions of Congress respecting the payment ^of^ the Salaries of yourself and the other public Ministers and Servants in Europe. I made a Report on that Subject to Congress the 1 April last, but which is still and under their Consideration13
You will recieve recieve some of our latest news papers and the Journals of Congress from the 1 March to 19 June last—I have the Honor to be with great Respect & Esteem Dr Sr Your most obedt. & very hble Servt.
Dft, NNC (EJ: 5749). Endorsed: “Draft …”. LbkC, , 96–100 (EJ: 2418). E, DLC: Washington (EJ: 10072). JJ’s marginal notations indicate the date of the letter to which he is responding.
1. JJ’s list of the dates of the letters received is consolidated into standard paragraph form. See JA to JJ, 15 Dec. 1784, 3: 650–52, and 5 May, above; LS of all JA’s letters, with enclosures, as listed, DNA: PCC, item 84, 5: 363–66, 421–28, 381–85, 389–92, 393–96, 397–400, 401–9, 413–20, 437–39, 461–64, 465–66; LbkCs, MHi: Adams; first 7 letters in 2: 165–90; last 3 in 4: 166–97, which pp. include the 5 enclosures of 29 May: 26, 27, 28 May 1785, JA to Carmarthen; 2 of 27 May 1785, Carmarthen to JA; all except 7 and 29 May in 8: 233–55.
2. In JA’s 24 Apr. reply to JJ’s of 11 Feb. 1785, which contained the ratification of JA’s 2nd Dutch loan of two million guilders obtained 9 Mar. 1784, JA had reported that that loan was “long since full, as my first loan of five millions of guilders is nearly so; I must, therefore, solicit the further instructions of Congress, whether I am to open any new loan or not.” In his 30 May letter, JA noted that he transmitted the loan’s ratification immediately to Amsterdam, to be “registered and communicated” to the creditors. JJ to JA, 11 Feb. 1785, LS, MHi: Adams (EJ: 4709); Dft, NNC (EJ: 5709); LbkC, DNA: PCC, Foreign Letters, 3–4 (EJ: 2399); 2: 164–65.
3. This is in reference to the Board of Treasury’s 30 July 1785 report assessing the foreign debt: “if the respective states provide certain and adequate funds payable in solid coin … The Board presume they would not find much difficulty” in discharging the nation’s obligations. 29: 599–606n (2 Aug. 1785).
4. See JA’s letter of 24 Apr. 1785, cited in note 1 above; 2: 171–72; and Commissioners in Europe to JJ, 18 Mar. 1785, DNA: PCC, item 116, 257–60 (EJ: 3561); 16: 568; 2: 281–82; 8: 36.
5. See the editorial note “The Longchamps Affair,” above.
6. See “John Jay and Dutch Affairs” (editorial note) and note 4, below.
7. JA had requested Congress’s “authority by a resolution, to draw upon their bankers in Holland” for his and William S. Smith’s salaries and miscellaneous expenses. From those monies JA had also advanced funds to TJ for furnishing his Paris residence and to David Humphreys for the expense of medals and swords to be struck as authorized by Congress.
8. John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (1745–99), British ambassador-extraordinary and plenipotentiary to France, 1783–89. On Britain’s “objections” to Congress’s powers to conclude commercial treaties, see the editorial note “Anglo-American Relations,” above.
9. In his letter of 13 May from Auteuil, after learning from Dorset that etiquette required him to present his entire family at the Court in London, JA lamented that it would “make a difference of several hundred pounds sterling” in his “inevitable annual expenses,” for new clothes on such an occasion were de rigueur. JA added, “This is not the first serious lecture that I have had upon the subjects of etiquette, and even dress. … There is a certain appearance in proportion to rank, which all the courts of Europe make a point of exacting from everybody who is presented to them.”
10. JA and his family arrived in London on 26 May (JA to TJ, 27 May 1785, 8: 251–52). His first letter from there to JJ is 29 May, on the details of the arranged audience with George III, which took place on 1 June, with the advice and accompaniment of Secretary of State Carmarthen. “I was in a very short time introduced to the King’s closet, where, with the usual ceremony, I presented my letter of credence to his Majesty, and, after a few minutes’ conversation, retired. I have only time to observe, sir, that I was introduced with every necessary formality, and received with some marks of attention.” On his audience with the King JA further reported: “He was indeed much affected, and I confess I was not less so. …” JA to JJ, 29 May, cited in note 1; and 2 June 1785, LS, body in code except for last two sentences and closing, with deciphered text, DNA: PCC, item 84, 5: 469–75, 477–84 (EJ: 11841); ALS (FC), marked “Duplicate,” NNGL (EJ: 90513); LbkC, with deciphered text, DNA: PCC, item 104, 5: 251–57, 258–64; C, NHi: King, 1785–87 (EJ: 638); 4: 198–203; 8: 255–59.
11. JJ to JA, 31 Mar. 1785, covered the 21 Mar. resolution of Congress about ordination in the Protestant Episcopal Church: “the United States in Congress Assembled” were pleased with “the liberal decision made by his Majesty … respecting the Ordination of American Candidates for holy Orders in the episcopal Church, commonly called the Church of England,” as originally proposed by JA to St. Saphorin. At the same time, JJ was ordered to transmit to the states JA’s 22 Apr. 1784 letter and its enclosures on Episcopal ordination. D, DNA: PCC, item 5; 28: 187 and n. Because St. Saphorin had been recalled as the Danish minister to the Netherlands, JA outlined in his letter of 30 May steps for the transmittal of the documents. See also JJ to JA, 1 Nov. 1785 (first letter), below; and the editorial note “John Jay and the Founding of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America,” below.
12. On Lamb’s delayed arrival in Paris, see the editorial note “The Barbary States: A Problem with No Ready Solution,” below.