11From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 11 February 1779 (Adams Papers)
As Your Excellency reads English perfectly well, my first Request is, that you would do me the Favour to read this, without a Translation after which I Submit it to your Excellency to make what Use of it, you shall think proper. I have hitherto avoided, in my Single Capacity, giving your Excellency, any trouble, by Letter, or Conversation: but the present Emergency demands that I should ask...
12From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 25 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:253–254 . Replying to Vergennes’ letter of the 24th (calendared above), John Adams expressed his appreciation for his upcoming presentation at the French court. He also agreed to avoid publicizing his peace commission before its announcement in the...
13From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 12 May 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have received the letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 10th. of this month. Altho’ the writer of the letter, an extract of which I had the honor to enclose to you, may be right in his conjecture that the British Administration wish to know more than they do at present of my sentiments upon the great subject of a pacification, yet I have had too long experience of their...
14From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 12 February 1780 (Adams Papers)
Paris, 12 February 1780. printed : JA, Diary and Autobiography Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, ed. L. H. Butterfield and others, Cambridge, 1961; 4 vols. , 4:243–245 With this letter John Adams formally notified Vergennes of his mission. Stating that he had been appointed to negotiate treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain, he explained, so far as he knew it, the origins of...
15From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 18 July 1781 (Adams Papers)
I have received the Letter, Sir, which you did me the honour to write me of this Days Date: and I assure your Excellency I never had a Thought of appearing upon the Scaene, or of taking ministerially or otherwise any Step towards the two mediators. I must confess to your Excellency, that I have too many Jealousies of the motives, and too many Apprehensions of the Consequences of this...
16From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 21 July 1781 (Adams Papers)
Since my Letter of the nineteenth, Sir, another Point has occurred to me, upon which it seems necessary, that I Should Say Something to your Excellency, before my Departure for Holland, which will be on Monday Morning. An Idea has, I perceive been suggested, of the several States of America, choosing Agents seperately, to attend the Congress, at Vienna, in order to make Peace, with Great...
17From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 13 July 1780 (Adams Papers)
By the Treaty of Alliance of the sixth of February 1778, his Majesty and the United States agreed, in Case of War, to join their Councils and Efforts against the Enterprises of the common Enemy: to make it a common Cause, and aid each other mutually with their good Offices, their Councils and their Forces, according to the Exigences of Conjunctures, and each of the contracting Parties, in the...
18From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 21 March 1780 (Adams Papers)
In the letter which you did me the honour to write me the 24th. of February your Excellency proposed that the principal object of my Mission shou’d be inserted in the Gazette of France, when it shou’d make mention of my presentation to the King and Royal Family. In the answer to this letter which I had the honour write on the 25th. of February, I informed your Excellency that I shou’d not...
19I. John Adams’ Draft of the Commissioners to the Comte de Vergennes, 20 December 1778 (Adams Papers)
Certain The Some late Proceedings of the common Ennemy, are of a Nature so extraordinary, and may if not in some Way or other controuled, produce Consequences so disagreable injurious not only to all the belligerent Powers France and the United States , but by their Example to other Nations, that We have thought it our Duty, to Submit a few observations upon them, to the your Excellency’s...
20From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 20 June 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have just now received Some Newspapers and Journals, which I think it my Duty to inclose without Loss of Time to your Excellency. The Account from Charlestown in the Newspapers does not favour the Report of Clinton’s Defeat. The Journals of the ninth and twenty fifth of February, show what measures Congress have taken for raising and subsisting an Army of thirty five thousand Men. Your...
21From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 19 May 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to inclose a few Newspapers, recieved the last Post, from Boston by the Way of Bilbao. There is very little News. I have Letters as late as the twenty seventh of March. The remarkable thing in the Pensylvania Gazette is, that the Great Seal of the Province of Pensylvania, was brought into the House of Assembly, of that State, and by order of the House defaced and cut to Pieces...
22From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 13 July 1781 (Adams Papers)
I have the Honour to inclose, to your Excellency Some Remarks, upon the Articles to Serve as a Basis of the negotiation for the Re-establishment of Peace, which you did me the Honour to communicate to me. As I am unacquainted, whether you desired my Sentiments upon these Articles, merely for your own Government, or with a design to communicate them to the Imperial Courts I should be glad of...
23From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 22 June 1780 (Adams Papers)
I this day acknowledged the Receipt of the Letter which you did me the honor to write me on the 21st. by mistake I dated my Letter on the twenty third. I have the Honor to agree with your Excellency in Opinion that it is the Intention of Congress to redeem all their paper Bills which are extant at an Exchange of Forty for one; by which means the two hundred Millions of Dollars which are out,...
24From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 27 February 1779 (Adams Papers)
I have received the Letter, which your Excellency did me, the Honour, to write me, on the twenty first of this Month. This Testimony, from your Excellency, of those indulgent Sentiments with which his Majesty, is pleased to honour my Sincere Intentions, cannot fail to be preserved by me and my Posterity as a most precious Monument, and what, is of infinitely more importance, it cannot fail to...
25From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 17 July 1780 (Adams Papers)
In your Excellency’s letter to me of the Twenty Fourth of February last, I was honored with your opinion in the following Words. Quant au plein pouvoir, que vous autorise à negocier un Traité de Commerce avec la Cour de Londres, Je pense qu’il sera prudent de n’en donner Communication a qui que se soit, et de prendre toutes les precautions possibles pour que le Ministere Anglois n’en ait pas...
26From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 26 July 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have recieved the letter which your Excellency did me the honor to write me the twenty fifth of this month. The sincere respect I entertain for your Excellency’s Sentiments would have determined me, upon the least intimation, to have communicated my letter and your Excellency’s answer to Congress, and to suspend, until I should recieve orders on their part, all measures towards the British...
27[Draft of a Letter to Vergennes, 10–11 February 1779.]Confidential (Adams Papers)
As your Excellency reads English perfectly well, my first Request is that you would not communicate this Letter, even to a Translator. I have hitherto avoided, in my single Capacity, giving your Excellency, any Trouble at all either by Letter or by Conversation. But the present Crisis Emergency demands that I should ask the Favour of your Excellency to explain my Sentiments to you, either by...
28From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 2 July 1780 (Adams Papers)
I have the honor to inclose a Boston News Paper of the first of May, containing an Account of the Arrival of the Marquiss de la Fayette; an Extract of a Letter from London; and another of a Letter from Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia, once a member of Congress, and a Gentleman of very good Intelligence. He speaks the French Language very well, was about ten Years ago in Paris, and a...
29Franklin and John Adams to Vergennes, 12 November 1778: résumé (Franklin Papers)
AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; two copies: National Archives <Passy, November 12, 1778: In view of the magnitude of the alliance between France and the United States, we conceive it would be highly pleasing to our constituents to have a portrait of His Majesty to be kept where Congress sits; if you are of opinion this would give no offense, we request your kind offices to...
30The American Peace Commissioners to Vergennes, 10 July 1783 (Franklin Papers)
AL : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères Messieurs Adams, Franklin & Jay, Ministers of the United States for treating of Peace, present their Respects to Mr le Comte de Vergennes, & request he would be pleased to favour them with a Copy of the Offer made by the two Imperial Courts of their Mediation. Notations: juillet 10 / rep. le 31 Juillet 1783. Written by BF . At Versailles on...
31The American Commissioners to Vergennes, 10 April 1778: résumé (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères <Passy, April 10, 1778: Mr. Adams, appointed by Congress to replace Mr. Deane, has arrived and will wait on you as soon as he recovers from his voyage. He came on a continental frigate, which took a prize with a cargo valued at £70,000. Congress is detaining Gen. Burgoyne and his army for a breach of the convention, and has more than 10,000...
32The American Commissioners to Vergennes, 9 February 1779: résumé (Franklin Papers)
LS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; copies: Library of Congress, National Archives (two); translation: American Philosophical Society <Paris, February 9, 1779: For nearly six months Captain Mc-Neill of the privateer General Mifflin has been embarrassed with a lawsuit concerning a French ship he recaptured from the British after it...
33The American Commissioners to Vergennes, 26 September 1778: résumé (Franklin Papers)
ALS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; two copies: National Archives <Passy, September 26, 1778: Last evening we received your letter of the 24th and shall observe the rules prescribed by M. Necker. We also received your letter of the 25th; article 16 of the treaty of commerce applies to Mr. Izard’s goods as they were shipped before...
34The American Commissioners to Vergennes, [before 9 January 1779]: résumé (Franklin Papers)
LS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; AL (drafts): Harvard University Library, Massachusetts Historical Society (two); two copies and two transcripts: National Archives The commissioners, particularly Lee and Adams, devoted substantial effort to the drafting of this memorandum asking that a powerful French fleet be sent to American waters. Their efforts were doomed to failure, at...
35The American Commissioners to Vergennes, 29 October 1778: résumé (Franklin Papers)
LS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; two copies: National Archives <Passy, October 29, 1778: We are ready to execute and exchange the declarations concerning the omission of the 11th and 12th articles of the treaty of commerce, and ask you to appoint a day for us to wait on you.> Published in Taylor, Adams Papers , VII . In the hand...
36The American Commissioners to Vergennes, 28 August 1778: résumé (Franklin Papers)
LS : Archives du Ministère des affaires étrangères; AL (draft): Massachusetts Historical Society; two copies: National Archives <Passy, August 28, 1778: We have several subjects that we must lay before you. One, unfortunately, is money. The nature of the war has necessitated far more emissions of paper currency than would ordinarily have been wise; to limit them Congress has borrowed...
37The Commissioners to the Comte de Vergennes, 12 November 1778 (Adams Papers)
The Alliance between this Kingdom, and the United States of America, is an Event of such Magnitude in their History, that We conceive it would be highly pleasing to our Constituents, to have the Picture of their his Majesty their illustrious Friend and Ally, to be kept in some Public Place where the Congress sits. We would carefully avoid every Thing which would be disagreable to the King and...
38From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 16 July 1781 (Adams Papers)
Since my Letter of the thirteenth, upon further Reflection I have thought it necessary to explain myself a little more particularly in some Points to your Excellency. If I comprehend the Facts, the British Court first proposed to the Imperial Courts, a Congress, and a Mediation, upon two Conditions 1. The Dissolution of the Treaties between France and the United States. 2. The Return of the...
39From John Adams to the Comte de Vergennes, 12 April 1779 (Adams Papers)
I have the Honour to inform your Excellency, that I expect to imbarque and Sail for America, in fifteen days that if your Excellency or any of his Majestys other Ministers, have Occasion to Send any fresh Dispatches to any Part of the united States, So good an Opportunity may not be omitted. The season promisses a short Passage, and I shall be happy in this opportunity, and in every other, of...
40The Commissioners to the Comte de Vergennes, 29 October 1778 (Adams Papers)
We have the Honour to inform your Excellency that we are ready to execute and exchange the Declarations, concerning the Omission of the eleventh and twelfth Articles of the Treaty of Commerce, and to request your Excellency to appoint a Day to wait on your Excellency for that Purpose. We have the Honour to be with the most respectful Consideration Your Excellency’s most obedient and most...