To Benjamin Franklin from the Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, 28 September 1784
From the Comte de Mercy-Argenteau
LS: Massachusetts Historical Society; draft: Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv; copy and transcript: National Archives4
à Paris le 28. Septembre 1784—
Monsieur!
Sur la proposition des Etats unis d’Amérique que j’ai fait parvenir à ma Cour relativement à des arrangemens de commerce à prendre entre les deux Dominations respectives,5 je viens, Monsieur, de recevoir l’ordre, d’avoir l’honneur de Vous prévenir que Sa Majté. l’Empereur a agréé la dite proposition, et qu’Elle enjoint au Gouvernement général des Païs-Bas de s’occuper des moïens d’y donner suite.6
Lorsque les détails qui ont rapport à cet objet, me seront parvenus, je m’empresserai à Vous les communiquer,7 et je saisis cette occasion de Vous renouveller les assurances du très parfait attachement avec lequel j’ai l’honneur d’être Monsieur Votre tres humble et tres obeissant Serviteur
Mercÿ argenteau
à Monsieur Franklin, Ministre plenipotentiare des Etats unis
d’Amérique.
Notation: Paris Sept. 28. 1784 from Count Mercy-argenteau. Ambr of the Emperor &c
4. The English translation made for Congress is in Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, VI, 820–1.
5. On July 30 BF had informed Mercy-Argenteau of the congressional instructions to the peace commissioners of Oct. 29, 1783, proposing to conclude a treaty of amity and commerce with Emperor Joseph II. That letter, and the ambassador’s reply, are in XLII, 456, 457.
6. A dispatch from the Austrian chancellor Kaunitz dated Sept. 4, 1784, informed Mercy-Argenteau that the emperor would be pleased to formalize trade relations. However, the court was still consulting the government of the Austrian Netherlands on what to include in a treaty. Kaunitz instructed Mercy-Argenteau to find out what the Americans had to offer: Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv.
7. Mercy-Argenteau never did, despite having received by late November detailed information regarding treaty provisions from Brussels and Vienna. Included in his instructions was Austria’s insistence that America be the one to formally initiate negotiations, following diplomatic etiquette. BF’s letter of July 30 evidently did not qualify, and the American commissioners had not sent Austria one of their official circular letters. In January, 1786, Mercy-Argenteau complained to TJ that the commissioners had failed to respond to the present letter. TJ explained that this letter had led the Americans to expect further details from the Austrian court. He also informed the count that the commissioners’ powers would expire on May 12. Mercy-Argenteau received his powers to negotiate while TJ was visiting London in March and April. Upon his return, TJ gave Mercy-Argenteau a copy of the American draft treaty, but, as his commission was about to expire, declined to negotiate without further instructions from Congress: Jefferson Papers, VIII, 544; IX, 166, 167, 234–5, 501, 507; Jonathan Singerton, “Empires on the Edge: The Habsburg Monarchy and the American Revolution 1763–1789” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 2018).