1From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 16 April 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have received the two Letters which your Excellency did me the Honour to write me, on the fifth and on the twelfth of this Month. I do not mean to give your Excellency the Trouble of answering, these Letters of mine, which contain Extracts of Letters from abroad, or simple News. This would be giving your Excellency too much trouble and taking up too much Time. Indeed, I think it will very...
2From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 14 March 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have just received from London, the Letters, Extracts of which are inclosed. They may possibly contain Some particulars, of Use to your Excellency. I beg your Pardon, sir, for troubling you with Intelligence which you undoubtedly have Much sooner, in greater detail, and with more Authority than mine. But in such Times as these, great Effects are sometimes produced by, small particulars of...
3From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 13 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
Paris, 13 February 1780. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:248 . This letter was a reply to Sartine’s of 31 Dec. 1779 (same, 4:247–248 ), which Adams received when he arrived at Paris. In that letter the minister congratulated him on his new appointment and expressed his pleasure that he...
4From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 6 October 1779 (Adams Papers)
The Sensible intending to Sail in a few Days, it is my Duty to embrace the Opportunity of acknowledging my Obligations to his Majesty and to your Excellency, for the Favour of a Passage, in this Frigate, which was rendered the more honourable and agreable to me, by the Company of his Excellency the Chevalier De la Luzerne and Mr. Marbois, two Characters that I have every Reason to believe,...
5From John Adams to Gabriel de Sartine, 16 February 1779 (Adams Papers)
By the late Appointment of Dr. Franklin to be a Minister plenipotentiary at this Court, I am left at Liberty to return to my own Coun try, as it does not appear that Congress, have any further Service for me to do in Europe. I therefore wish to return, as Soon as possible. But the English have heard So much of me, in Times past that I should be very loth to be exposed to their Goodwill. If it...
6The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 7 January 1779 (Adams Papers)
We have the Honour to inclose to your Excellency two Memorials concerning a French Vessell retaken from an English Privateer by An American Privateer the Hampden commanded by Captain Pickering. As there is nothing in either of the Treaties between his Majesty and the united States, respecting such Rescues and Recaptures the Laws of each State must govern the Cases of the Vessells carried into...
7The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 7 January 1779 (Adams Papers)
Your Excellency did Us the Honour to inform Us, sometime ago, that in order to obtain the Liberty of Americans, taken on board of English Vessells by his Majestys ships it was necessary, that We should inform your Excellency, that they had been made Prisoners by the English and forced into their service. We accordingly request the Liberty of William Berry, William Keating, John Williams,...
8The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 2 January 1779 (Adams Papers)
We had the Honour of receiving your Excellency’s Letter of the 22d, and are much obliged to you for the Interest you take in what concerns the unhappy Prisoners who may escape from England. We have not been inattentive to that Subject. There are Persons who Supply them at Bourdeaux, Brest, l’Orient, Nantes and Dunkirk. A Gentleman at Calais has voluntarily done this service for which We have...
9The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 17 November 1778 (Adams Papers)
We have received the Letter which your Excellency did Us the Honour to write to Us, on the 14 of this Month, and in answer to the Proposal Enquiry, contained in it, We beg Leave to acquaint your Excellency that there is not now in France, nor to our Knowledge, in Europe, any Frigate or other Vessell of War, belonging to the United States. If there was, We should not hesitate to order her,...
10The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 12 November 1778 (Adams Papers)
Last Night, We had a Letter from Nantes a Copy of which we have the honour to inclose to your Excellency. The Subject of it appears to us, of great Importance to the United States, as well as to the Individuals, Frenchmen and Americans, who are interested in the Vessels destined to America, to a considerable Number of Gentlemen and others who are going Passengers in this Fleet, and ultimately...
11The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 5 November 1778 (Adams Papers)
We have the Honour of your Excellencys Letter of the 5th. of this Month, but as the Memoire, of the French surgion, which your Excellency proposed to transmit to Us, was, by some Accident omitted to be inclosed in your Letter, We are ignorant of his Case, and consequently unable to inform your Excellency whether it is in our Power to afford him any Relief. If your Excellency, will have the...
We have been honoured with your Letter of the 26th. October, and We request your thank your Excellency, for the prompt and generous manner in which, you have given Liberty to four of our Countrymen, who were among the Prisoners at Dinant. Such Examples of Benevolence can not fail to make a lasting Impression on the American Mind. Since the Recipt of your Excellencys Letter, We have received...
13The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 12 October 1778 (Adams Papers)
The Letter which your Excellency did Us the Honour to write to Us on the Seventh of this Month, We duely received. In our Letter of the twenty Sixth of the last Month respecting the Goods of Mr. Izard on board the Nile, we cited the Sixteenth Article of the Treaty of Commerce, in Support of Mr. Izards claim, which your Excellency thinks an Error, and that it is the Fourteenth Article which...
14The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 27 September 1778 (Adams Papers)
We have received the Letter which your Excellency did Us the Honour to write to Us on the 21 instant, relative to the Isabella, retaken from a Guernsey Privateer, by Captain McNeil in the General Mifflin. As it is extreamly probable that the Compte D’Estaing has retaken several American Vessells from the English, We shall no dout Soon have Intelligence, what has been done in those Cases. We...
15The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 17 September 1778 (Adams Papers)
We have this Morning the Honour of your Excellencys Letter of the Sixteenth, relative to the french Brigantine the Isabella retaken, by the American Privateer the General Mifflin, from a Guernsey Privateer, after having been Eighty Hours in his Hands. We have the Honour to agree perfectly, with your Excellency, in your Sentiments of the Justice and Policy of the Principle of Reciprocity...
16The Commissioners to Gabriel de Sartine, 10 September 1778 (Adams Papers)
Captain Daniel McNeill of Boston in the State of Massachusetts Bay Commander of the American Privateer, which has been so successfull against the Common Enemy in the North seas and White seas had the Fortune to retake a French Vessell from a Guernsey Privateer, after she had been in the Enemy’s Possession more than three days, which Prize he has brought into Port Louis. He represents to Us...
17The Commissioners to Sartine, 18 August 1778 (Adams Papers)
We embrace this first opportunity to answer the Letter, which your Excellency did Us the Honour to address to Us, the Sixteenth of this Month. We have examined, with Some Attention the Alterations which your Excellency has made in the second and fourteenth Articles of the projected Regulations and are of opinion, that they will remove the Difficulties We apprehendd from the first Draught. We...
18Arthur Lee and John Adams to Sartine, 13 August 1778 (Adams Papers)
Your Excellency s Letter of the Twenty ninth of July, inclosing a Plan for a System of Regulations for Prizes and Prisoners, We had the Honour of receiving in due Time, and are very Sorry it has remained, so long unanswered. In general We are of opinion that the Regulations are very good, but We beg leave to lay before your Excellency the following observations. Upon the second Article We...
19The Commissioners to Sartine, 22 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
We have the Honour of your Excellencys Letters of July the 15th, and 18th. James Niggins and John Selby are wholly unknown to Us, but as their Account of themselves to your Excellency is probable enough; and if nothing appears to invalidate their Relation, We should be obliged to your Excellency if you will grant their Request. We are very Sorry for the Dispute between two Officers of the...
20The Commissioners to Sartine, 16 July 1778 (Adams Papers)
Passy, 16 July 1778. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:164 . The Commissioners told Sartine that the congress and the authorities in Massachusetts would be notified of his request, but that the presence of British warships on the Newfoundland and Halifax stations might make assistance to...
21The Commissioners to Sartine, 15 June 1778 (Adams Papers)
Passy, 15 June 1778. printed: JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:135–137 . The Commissioners, in answer to Sartine’s letter of 6 June, indicated their reasons for refusing the drafts drawn on them by Bersolle, and, by implication and tone, their displeasure at Sartine’s interference in the...
22The Commissioners to Sartine, 3 June 1778 (Adams Papers)
Passy, 3 June 1778. printed: JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:125–126 . Protesting duties charged on goods purchased for the Boston at Bordeaux, listed in an accompanying account, on the grounds that as a ship of war it was not liable for them, the Commissioners desired Sartine to take corrective...
23The Commissioners to Sartine, 16 May 1778 (Adams Papers)
Messrs. Basmarine, Raimbeaux and Co. having represented to Us, that they have applied to Government for a Frigate, to be employed in Defence of their Commerce to and from America, and in making Reprisals for the Losses they have lately Sustained by our Enemies. We the Commissioners of the united States of North America, hereby request, that Such a Frigate may be granted them: and in that Case,...
24The Commissioners to Sartine, 14 May 1778 (Adams Papers)
printed: JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams , ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:99–100 . The Commissioners requested that they be given permission to confine on French soil the prisoners taken by American vessels in order to permit their exchange for American prisoners held in England, a question of particular urgency because of John...