The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VII Part 20

His Majesty thinks, that until these points are settled, as he hopes they will be, it is not proper for your Excellency to a.s.sume a formal character, which must depend on a public acknowledgment and future treaty. But your Excellency may be a.s.sured of the sincerity and good dispositions of his Majesty towards the United States, and of his earnest desire to remove every difficulty, for the mutual happiness of them and of this monarchy. This has been intimated to Mr Carmichael, who can communicate the same to your Excellency, to whom I beg leave to make a tender of my service, being, &c.

COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA.

TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL.

Cadiz, February 25th, 1780.

Dear Sir,

Your favor of the 15th instant was delivered to me last evening. I congratulate you on your safe arrival, and hope the agreeable circ.u.mstances of your present situation will compensate for the fatigue and trouble you experienced on the way to it.

It gives me pleasure to hear the French Amba.s.sador has been so obliging, and I am glad to find from your letter, that your attentions to him at least keep pace with his civilities, especially as you are no stranger to the distinction between the candor and politeness of a gentleman, and that unbounded confidence which is seldom necessary.

The intelligence you received from him is so agreeable and so interesting, that although the nature of it leaves me no room to doubt of this having been signified by the Court of France to Congress, either through Dr Franklin or the Count de la Luzerne, yet as unexpected accidents may have r.e.t.a.r.ded its arrival, I shall also transmit it by a vessel, which will sail in a few days for Boston.

I regret your not having been more particular on the subject of the mistake you have been led to suppose in the direction of my letter, as I wish to have the means of determining whether it was from decisive authority that M. Gerard, whose opinion I requested on that subject, without hesitation told me, that M. Galvez was the Minister with whom all business with the United States was to be transacted, and urged several reasons for his being of that opinion. From that gentleman's knowledge of the Courts of Europe, and the departments established for the despatch of business in each, particularly with that of Madrid, with which his Court had been so long and so intimately acquainted, I was induced to desire and confide in his information on that point.

Very conclusive reasons, therefore, are necessary to induce a belief of his having been mistaken. But as it is of importance that all errors of this kind be known, and, if possible, corrected, I must request your attention to this matter in your next.

I am at a loss to determine from your letter whether or not you have sent my despatches to M. Galvez. From your not having seen that gentleman, nor expecting to be introduced to him till the 17th instant, I conjecture that my letter did not reach him till that day; if so, I fear the delay will appear as singular to him as I confess it does to me. It does the more so to me, as my letter would have introduced you, and as you were apprised of my apprehension that pains would be taken to delay my receiving a decided answer, as to my reception, until the sentiments of France should be known. Perhaps the advice you received, as to the time and manner most proper for the delivery of it, was a little influenced by a desire of gaining time. I wished to have felt the pulse of Spain, and, by their conduct on this occasion, to have been enabled to determine whether their councils, with respect to the United States, are in any and in what degree independent of those of France, or whether directed by them. This would have been very useful in the further progress of the business, and might have been easily obtained, had my letter been delivered immediately on your arrival, because in that case, before the sentiments of the French Court could have been asked and received, sufficient time would have elapsed to justify your applying to M.

Galvez for an answer; and, whatever that might have been, certain inferences would have been deducible from it. For these reasons, and not from an expectation of opposition from France, I regret this delay. But as my conjectures may prove groundless, and if just, you may have very cogent reasons, I forbear further remarks till I shall again have the pleasure of hearing from you.

Are you sure that the intelligence you heard respecting M. Mirales is _certain_? I am sorry by this question to lengthen your next letter, especially as writing in cypher is tedious and disagreeable. But that intelligence is important; if credited, it may have an influence on American measures, which, if it should be groundless, might be injurious. The transmission of information to Congress, by which their councils and determinations may be affected, is a very delicate business, and demands the greatest care and precision. It is not uncommon, you know, for one gentleman to think a matter certain, which another of no greater discernment, and judging by the same evidence, will deem somewhat doubtful. I would choose, therefore, with respect to all interesting intelligence, and particularly such as I may transmit to Congress, to possess as far as possible every circ.u.mstance necessary to form a judgment of its credibility, such as the rank and character of the informants, and the means they have of acquiring the information they give, that I may represent it as ent.i.tled to that degree of credit only, which, on full consideration, it may appear to deserve. I observe this less with reference to the case in question than as a general rule. Besides, as we correspond in cypher, no danger can result from being explicit.

I am well satisfied that the short time you had been at Madrid did not admit of your writing on the several subjects contained in your instructions, on all of which, if allowed sufficient time, I am persuaded you will be able to obtain important information. However, as the object of your going to Madrid was to prevent delays in my receiving an answer to the letter to M. Galvez, the other instructions, however important, are to be considered as secondary, and though I wish that great and constant attention may be paid them, yet by no means to the neglect or prejudice of the first.

I am much obliged to you for the American paper enclosed in your letter. Everything from our country is interesting. If you should find any more of them, whose contents afford either information or entertainment, send them, and you shall receive from me all I may meet with here, which come under that description.

The letter you gave me reason to expect from M. Gerard has not yet arrived; perhaps the next post will bring it. On the first occasion I have of writing to him, I shall take the liberty of mentioning the sense you have of his personal kindness and attention to you.

The polite offers of the French Amba.s.sador to be useful to me in all things that depend on him at Madrid, as well as his civilities to you, demand my acknowledgments, which I must beg the favor of you to present to him.

I am, Dear Sir, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Cadiz, February 29th, 1780.

Sir,

I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency in the enclosed papers,[16] all the intelligence I have received from Madrid. Mr Secretary Thompson will decypher them. An opinion begins to prevail, that America will be the theatre of war the ensuing campaign, and that the islands there will be the princ.i.p.al objects of contention.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

FOOTNOTE:

[16] See above, p. 207, Mr Carmichael's letter, dated February 15th, and Mr Jay's reply, p. 211, dated February 25th. See also a letter in _Carmichael's Correspondence_, dated February 18th.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Cadiz, March 3d, 1780.

Sir,

Agreeably to my promise to the Marquis de la Flotte, I must inform your Excellency, that a Monsieur Jean Guy Guatier, merchant at Barcelona, recommended to the Marquis by Monsieur Aubere, the French consul there, is desirous of becoming the consul of the United States at that port. He had been encouraged, as M. Aubere says, to expect this appointment by Dr Franklin, but as he supposed my arrival would prevent the Doctor's interference, it became necessary to make the application to me. I told the Marquis that my commission did not authorise me to comply with his request, and that all I could do would be to mention his friend's application to Congress.

How far it may be proper to grant appointments of this sort to any but citizens of America, is a question whose importance will not, I am persuaded, escape the notice of Congress. A sensible, active consul is a very useful officer in many respects, and has many opportunities of doing essential services to those who employ him, or to whom he may be most attached. It is most certain, that for want of proper persons appointed to take care of our distressed seamen, who, escaping from captivity at Lisbon, Gibraltar, &c. daily arrive here, America loses many of them. Humanity as well as policy calls for this provision. I have some of them now with me, dest.i.tute of bread and money, and almost of clothes, and of the means of getting either, unless by entering into the French or Spanish service. Such as may arrive here after my going to Madrid will be friendless unless I employ some person to take a little care of them, which I shall take the liberty of doing, being fully persuaded that the same principles which press me into that measure will induce Congress to approve it.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN JAY.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Cadiz, March 3d, 1780.

Sir,

Captain Morgan being still here, waiting for a fair wind, I have an opportunity of transmitting to your Excellency a copy of a letter[17]

just come to hand from the Count de Florida Blanca, in answer to mine to M. Galvez.

Being apprehensive that if present I should probably be amused with verbal answers capable of being explained away if necessary, until the two courts could have time to consult and decide on their measures, I thought it more prudent that my first application should be by letter rather than in person.

The answer in question, divested of the gloss which its politeness spreads over it, gives us, I think, to understand, that our independence shall be acknowledged, provided we accede to certain terms of treaty, but not otherwise; so that the acknowledgment is not to be made because we are independent, which would be candid and liberal, but because of the previous considerations we are to give for it, which is consistent with the principles on which nations usually act.

I shall proceed immediately to Madrid. There are many reasons (hereafter to be explained,) which induce me to suspect that France is determined to manage between us, so as to make us debtors to their influence and good correspondence with Spain for every concession on her part, and to make Spain hold herself obligated to their influence and good correspondence with us for every concession on our part.

Though this may puzzle the business, I think it also promotes it.

M. Gerard has often endeavored to persuade me, that a certain resolution of Congress would, if persisted in, ruin the business, which however he did not appear much inclined to believe, but, on the contrary, that if every other matter was adjusted you would not part on that point. I a.s.sured him that ground had, in my opinion, been taken with too much deliberation now to be quitted, and that expectations of that kind would certainly deceive those who trusted them. And, indeed, as affairs are now circ.u.mstanced, it would, in my opinion, be better for America to have no treaty with Spain, than to purchase one on such servile terms. There was a time when it might have been proper to have given that country something for their making common cause with us, but that day is now past. Spain is at war with Britain.

I do not like the cypher in which I write, and shall therefore defer further particulars till Mr Thompson shall receive the one now sent him.

I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, your Excellency's most obedient servant,

JOHN JAY.