John Jay Papers
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https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jay/01-03-02-0004

From John Jay to Aranda, 25 June 1782

To Aranda

Paris— Hotel de la Chine 25 June 1782 1782

Sir

On leaving Madrid his Excellency the Ct. De Florida[blanca] assured ^informed^ me that the Papers relating to the objects of my mission there had been transmitted to yr. Exy with such instructions & authority & Instructions to treat me with me on the Subjects of them—1

I arrived here ^the Day before^ Yesterday afternoon, & th have the Honor to assure ^acquaint^ your Exy of my ^being^ Readylyness to commence the necessary Conferences at such Time and Place as as your Exy may think proper to name—

Your Exys Character m gives me Reason to hope that the proposed ^that the^ negociations ^in question^ will be conducted and terminated in a manner agreable and useful to both ^our^ Countries,2 & permit me to assure ^you^ that nothing on my Part shall be wanting to manifest the Respect & Consideration with which I have the Honor to be yr Exys most obt. & most hble Servt3

Dft, NNC (EJ: 8200); Cs, FrPMAE: CP-E, 608: 398 (EJ: 4003); SpMaAHN: Estado, leg. 3885, exp. 1, doc. 13 (EJ: 12094); LbkCs, DNA: PCC, item 110, 2: 137, 174 (EJ: 4227, 4234); NNC: JJ Lbk. 1; CSmH (EJ: 3476, 3486).

1See BF to JJ, 22 Apr. 1782, JJSP, 2 description begins Elizabeth M. Nuxoll et al., eds., The Selected Papers of John Jay, Volume 2, 1780–82 (Charlottesville, Va., 2012) description ends : 725–26; and Floridablanca to Aranda, 17 May 1782, LS, in Spanish, SpMaAHN: Estado, leg. 3885, exp. 3, doc. 1. Aranda is said to have had specific instructions from Floridablanca to negotiate with JJ, but not to conclude a treaty. See María de los Angeles Pérez Samper, “Franklin Y Aranda: Dos Embajadores en París,” in Norteamérica a Finales del Siglo XVIII: España y los Estados Unidos, Eduardo Garrigues López-Chiceri, Coordinador (Madrid, Barcelona, Buenos Aires: 2008), 121.

2See Aranda’s reply of 27 June 1782, below. Two days later, on French advice, JJ and BF paid a visit to Aranda, which Aranda reciprocated the following day. But because of sudden illness, JJ was unable to accept Aranda’s dinner invitation, and they did not meet again for a month. See JJ to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 17 Nov. 1782, below; and PBF description begins William B. Willcox et al., eds., The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (40 vols. to date; New Haven, Conn., 1959–) description ends , 37: 345–46.

3JJ embedded copies of this letter in his letters to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of 25 June and 17 Nov. 1782, below. In his letter to RRL of 8 July 1782, Carmichael reported that Floridablanca had informed him that he had received a copy of the present letter. RDC description begins Francis Wharton, ed., The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States (6 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1889) description ends , 5: 600.

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