Adriaan van Zeebergh to John Adams: A Translation, 25 July 1782
Adriaan van Zeebergh to John Adams: A Translation
25 July 1782
Sir
I have the honor of enclosing to your excellency the considerations we discussed yesterday.
By clarifying my ideas and those of my city regarding the differentiating articles in the treaty plan between the two republics, I hope this can contribute in some way toward a good compromise on a point that, if I am not mistaken, we agree on entirely in principle.
I am delighted to have this opportunity to express to your excellency the respect with which I have the honor to be, sir, your very humble and very obedient servant
A: Van Zeebergh1
RC and enclosure (Adams Papers); the recipient’s copy is filmed at 25 Sept. (Adams Papers, Microfilms, Reel No. 358); enclosure endorsed: “Mr Van Zeeberg’s Observations on the 22 & 23 Articles” and, accompanied by C. W. F. Dumas’ French translation, is filmed at [22–29 Aug.] (same, Reel No. 357).
1. For JA’s good opinion of Adriaan van Zeebergh, a lawyer and the pensionary of Haarlem, see his letter of 4 Sept. to Robert R. Livingston, below. Van Zeebergh’s observations on Arts. 22 and 23 constitute the most detailed explanation available of the reasons why the Dutch wanted them removed from the treaty. Equally important is the fact that Van Zeebergh suggested a means to overcome the Dutch objections. For the ultimate resolution of the problem posed by the two articles, see The Negotiation of the Dutch-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce, 22 Aug. – 8 Oct., Nos. II, III, and IV, below.