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).
1. See BF to JJ, 22 Apr. 1782, : 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.
2. See 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 , 37: 345–46.