From John Jay to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston), 13 October 1782
To the Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Robert R. Livingston)
Paris 13th. October 1782.
Dear Sir,
I hope my Letter to you of the 18th September, of which I also sent a Duplicate, has come safe to hand, for it contained important Matter—namely a Copy of a Letter from Marbois to the Count de Vergennes against our sharing in the Fishery1
This Court advised and persuaded us to treat with Oswald under his first Commission, I positively refused
Aranda will not or can not exchange powers with me, and yet wants me to treat with him. This Court would have me do it, but I decline it.
I would give you Details but must not until I have an American to carry my Letters from hence.2
Oswald is well disposed—you shall never see my name to a bad Peace, nor to one that does not secure the Fishery.
I have received many long Letters from you, which I am as busy in decyphering as my Health will permit.
M. Fayette is very desirous to give us his aid—but, as we have a competent number of Commissioners it would not be necessary to give him that Trouble.3 I am, Dear Sir, With great Esteem and Regard, your most obedient Servant,
(signed) John Jay4
P. S. General du Portail is to be the Bearer of this—I believe he goes by order of the Court—
LbkC, partly in code, decoded, DNA: PCC, item 110, 2: 271–72 (EJ: 4243); LbkCs, NNC: JJ Lbk. 1; CSmH (EJ: 3481). Encoded in “Office of Finance Cipher No. 1” (WE006). See “John Jay’s Use of Codes and Ciphers” (editorial note), : 10–11.
1. See JJ to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 18 Sept. 1782, above.
2. See JJ to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 17 Nov. 1782, below. Although BF thought that JJ might be sending a copy of the preliminary articles at this time, he did not. See , 38: 221.
3. The present letter was conveyed with letters from Lafayette that claimed he had been detained in Europe to assist the American peace commissioners. On the claim and the dispatches carried by Duportail, see John Jay’s Diary of the Peacemaking, 12–29 Oct., above.
4. RRL acknowledged this letter in his letter to JJ of 4 Jan. 1783, below.