The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VIII Part 5

Much reason has been given me to believe, that the hard proceedings against Captain Hill were not justifiable, and the Minister's declining to furnish me with a state of the facts supposed to be alleged against him speaks the same language. What intelligence the Count may have respecting this misconduct of any other of our armed vessels, I know not, nor have I heard any other insinuations of that kind, except what are contained in his note.

The Count omitted to take any notice of my last letter on this subject, and it was not before the 26th of November, that the matter was determined by the order alluded to in the following polite letter.

Translation.

"My Dear Sir,

"From respect to your Excellency and to the American Congress, the King has determined that Captain Hill, on satisfying, or giving security to satisfy, the damage he has done to one of our vessels, on account of which he is detained, shall be at liberty to return to his country when he pleases. For this purpose I communicate the enclosed order to the Corregidor of Bilboa, and repeating myself to be at the service of your Excellency, I pray G.o.d to preserve you many years.

COUNT DE FLORIDA BLANCA."

The next day I sent the Count some American papers, which had just come to hand, and enclosed them with a card, in which there was this paragraph.

"Mr Jay has received the letter, which his Excellency did him the honor to write yesterday by M. Gardoqui, and is greatly obliged by the permission granted to Captain Hill to depart, as well as by the polite terms in which that circ.u.mstance is communicated to Mr Jay."

As further remonstrance on this subject would have been useless, I thought it best to appear satisfied, and not, by any expressions of discontent, to hazard new obstacles to the attainment of our more important objects.

I must now return to the old subject. Although the Count had been some weeks at the Escurial, and I had in vain waited with great patience for the letter, which the Minister had promised to write to me on leaving St Ildefonso, yet as many bills would become payable in December, and I was unprovided with funds, I thought it high time to remind the Minister of my situation.

I therefore wrote him the following letter.

"Madrid, November 16th, 1781.

"Sir,

"I find myself constrained to beseech your Excellency to think a little of my situation. Congress flatter themselves, that the offers they have made would certainly induce his Majesty at least to a.s.sist them with some supplies. The residue of the bills drawn upon me remain to be provided for. Those payable in the next month amount to thirtyone thousand eight hundred and nine dollars. Would it be too inconvenient for your Excellency to lend us this sum? Before January, when further bills would become payable, your Excellency may probably find leisure to give me an answer respecting our propositions. The time presses; I entreat your Excellency's answer. I can only add, that I am, with great consideration and respect, &c.

JOHN JAY."

To this letter I never received any answer, and it is remarkable, that the Count's subsequent letter of the 26th of November, announcing the permission given to Captain Hill to depart, does not take the least notice of it. Whatever might be the Minister's real intentions, as to furnis.h.i.+ng me with the funds necessary to pay the bills to become due in December, it appeared to me imprudent to neglect any means in my power to provide for the worst. I therefore apprised Dr Franklin (to whom I am under great obligations, and have given much trouble) of my hazardous situation by the following letter.

"Madrid, November 21st, 1781.

"Dear Sir,

"It seems as if my chief business here was to fatigue you and our good allies with incessant solicitations on the subject of the ill timed bills drawn upon me by Congress. It is happy for me that you are a philosopher, and for our country that our allies are indeed our friends. _Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur._

"This Court continues to observe the most profound silence respecting our propositions.

"I cannot as yet obtain any answer to any of my applications for aids.

Heretofore the Minister was too sick or too busy. At present his Secretary is much indisposed. I have requested that he would lend us for the present only as much as would satisfy the bills of December, viz. thirtyone thousand eight hundred and nine dollars; no answer.

What is to be done? I must again try and borrow a little, and, as usual, recur to you. Thank G.o.d, no new bills arrive; if they did, I should refuse to accept them; only a few straggling old ones now and then appear.

"Would not the Court of France, on your representing this matter to them, enable you to put an end to this unhappy business? Thirty thousand pounds sterling would do it. I am sure the evils we should experience from the protest of these bills would cost even France a vast deal more. You see my situation; I am sure I need not press you to deliver me from it if in your power.

"I cannot yet believe, that all the a.s.surances of this Court will vanish into air. I still flatter myself that they will afford us some supplies, though not in season. I think we might very safely offer to repay the French Court the proposed sum in America, for surely Congress would not hesitate to prefer that to the loss of their credit.

"I enclose a newspaper, which gives us reason to indulge the most pleasing expectations. G.o.d grant they may be realised. I have a letter from Mr Gerry, dated at Marblehead the 9th of October. He was then in daily expectation of hearing that Lord Cornwallis and his army were our prisoners. He describes the last harvest as very abundant, and the general state of our affairs as very promising; much more so, indeed, than ever they have been.

"I am, &c. &c.

JOHN JAY."

This letter was conveyed by a courier of the French Amba.s.sador. I did not choose, by putting it in the post office, to give this Court an opportunity of knowing that I was endeavoring to obtain a credit for the sum in question, lest that circ.u.mstance might become an additional motive with them to withhold their a.s.sistance.

In short, Sir, the whole month of November wore away without my being able to advance a single step. M. Del Campo's illness afforded a tolerable good excuse for delay during the latter part of November, and the first three weeks in December.

On the 1st of December I found myself without any answer from Dr Franklin, with many bills to pay, and not a farthing in bank. M.

Cabarrus, fortunately for me, was willing as well as able to make further advances, and to him I am indebted for being relieved from the necessity I should otherwise have been under, of protesting the bills due in that month.

The Court removed from the Escurial to Madrid without having bestowed the least attention either on the propositions or different memorials on commercial matters, which I had submitted to the Minister.

It was natural to expect, that our successes in Virginia would have made a very grateful impression on this Court; but I am far from being persuaded that they considered these events as favorable to their views. Of this, some judgment may be formed from their subsequent conduct.

On the 6th of December I sent the Minister the following card, and a memorial from Mr Harrison at Cadiz, the nature of which will be best explained by a recital of it.

"Mr Jay presents his compliments to the Count de Florida Blanca, and has the honor of requesting his attention to the enclosed memorial.

"Mr Jay had the honor of calling at his Excellency's on Tuesday evening last, but had the misfortune of not finding him at home. As Mr Jay wishes to regulate his visits by his Excellency's convenience, he begs the favor of his Excellency to inform him when it would be agreeable that Mr Jay should wait on his Excellency, and have an opportunity of conversing with him on the object of Mr Jay's mission."

The answer I received to the letter, which accompanied this memorial, is as follows.

Translation.

"The Count de Florida Blanca will receive Mr John Jay whenever he may please to come, in the evening at half past seven or later, in his Secretary's office in the palace, except on Sat.u.r.day evening next, when he will be engaged."

This note was not dated, but I received it the 7th of December. On the same day I received a letter from General Was.h.i.+ngton, dated the 22d of October, and enclosing copies of the articles of capitulation of Yorktown, and returns of prisoners, &c.

This letter was brought to France by the frigate, which carried there the first intelligence of that important event, and yet it is remarkable that it did not reach me until after these articles had been published in the Paris and Madrid gazettes. I nevertheless immediately sent copies to the Minister.

As to Mr Harrison's Memorial, no answer has been given it to this day.

Nor indeed have any of the representations I have hitherto made to the Ministers relative to commercial grievances procured the least redress. Even the hard case of the Dover cutter still remains unfinished, notwithstanding my repeated and pressing applications on behalf of the poor captors. It is now more than a year since the Minister promised me that the cutter should be immediately appraised, and the value paid to the captors, one of whom afterwards came here, and after waiting two or three months returned to Cadiz, without having received any other money than what I gave him to purchase his daily bread.

As the Minister could not see me on Sat.u.r.day evening, it was not till Monday evening the 10th of December that I had an opportunity to converse with him.

He began the conversation by observing, that I had been very unfortunate, and had much reason to complain of delays, but that they had been unavoidable. That M. Del Campo had been appointed near three months ago to treat and confer with me; that shortly after the Court removed from St Ildefonso that gentleman's health began to decline; and that his indisposition had hitherto prevented his attending to that or any other business, but that he hoped by the time the Court should return from Aranjues (to which the King was then about to make a little excursion) he would be able to proceed on it, and that he should have the necessary instructions for the purpose.

I told the Count, that these delays had given me great concern, and that I was very solicitous to be enabled to give Congress some positive and explicit information, on the business alluded to. He replied, that I must now confer on those subjects with M. Del Campo, for that for his part his time and attention were so constantly engaged by other matters, that he could not possibly attend to this, especially while at Madrid, when he always enjoyed much less leisure than at the Sitios. He then proceeded to congratulate me on our late successes in Virginia; he a.s.sured me, that the King rejoiced sincerely in those events, and that he himself was happy to see our affairs a.s.sume so promising an aspect. I was about to descend to particulars, and to remind the Count of the various memorials, &c. which still remained to be considered and despatched, when he mentioned he was engaged for the rest of the evening in pressing affairs. This intimation put an end to the conference.