Benjamin Franklin Papers
Documents filtered by: Recipient="American Commissioners" AND Period="Confederation Period"
sorted by: date (ascending)
Permanent link for this document:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-43-02-0282

Thulemeier to the American Commissioners: Résumé, 24 January 1785

Thulemeier to the American Commissioners4

LS and copy: National Archives

⟨The Hague, January 24, 1785, in French: The king has authorized me to transmit to you some observations on the counterproject of the treaty of commerce, which you sent me on November 10 and which a Dutch courier delivered on the twenty-sixth. An express courier charged with dispatches for the Dutch ambassador at Paris provides me today with a safe and swift opportunity. Since the Prussian chancellery as well as the king and his ministers are unfamiliar with the English language, I had to have a French translation of the treaty made, and to demonstrate its accuracy, I had it placed alongside the enclosed observations.5 I flatter myself that the latter will appear to you dictated by the spirit of justice, equity, and humanity that characterizes all the endeavors of my monarch.6 I do not doubt that your next letter will facilitate an agreement and enable us to complete the treaty.⟩

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

4Published in Jefferson Papers, VII, 615–16, and, with an English translation, in Adams Papers, XVI, 403–4, 409.

5The French translation of the treaty fills the left column of this document, and the Prussian “Observations” are in the right column; the entire text (with an English translation) is published in Adams Papers, XVI, 377–98, 404–13. The observations were drafted by Schulenburg-Kehnert, the Prussian minister for war and maritime trade (XLII, 166–7n), and approved by Frederick II on Dec. 29: Frederick II to Schulenburg-Kehnert, Dec. 29, 1784, Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz.

6In a cover letter to the packet addressed solely to JA, Thulemeier advised in confidence that the successful conclusion of the treaty depended on the Americans’ acceptance of the proposed changes to Articles 2 through 5, 8, 10, and 12: Adams Papers, XVI, 402–3.

Index Entries