DEAR SIR, TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. Philadelphia, October 8, 1782. In Your favor of the twenty-seventh of September came to hand yesterday, and is a fresh instance of the friendly part you take in my necessities. consequence of the hint in your last of a pressing representation to the Executive, our public letter of last week touched on that subject, but the letter received yesterday from the Governor, which seems to chide our urgency, forbids much expectation from such an expedient. The letter from Mr. Ambler enclosed for me a second bill on Mr. Holker, for two hundred dollars, which very seasonably enabled me to replace a loan by which I had anticipated it. About three hundred and fifty more (and not less) would redeem me completely from the class of debtors. I omitted, in my last, to inform you that the Swedish Minister at Versailles had announced to Dr. Franklin the wish of his King to become an Ally of the United States, and that the treaty might be negotiated with the Doctor in particular. A plenipotentiary commission has, in consequence, issued for that purpose. The model transmitted by Congress is pretty analogous to the treaty with France, but is limited in duration to fifteen years. DEAR SIR, TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. Philadelphia, October 15, 1782. The offensive paragraph in the correspondence of Mr. L. with Mr. P., spoken of in your favor of the fifth, was, as you supposed, communicated to me by Mr. Jones. I am, however, but very imperfectly informed of it. We have not yet received a second volume of the negotiations at Versailles; nor any other intelligence from Europe, except a letter from Mr. Carmichael, dated about the middle of June, which is chiefly confined to the great exertions and expectations with respect to Gibraltar. Whilst the siege is depending, it is much to be apprehended that the Court of Madrid will not accelerate a pacification. Extract of a letter from Sir Guy Carleton to General Washington, dated New York, September twelfth, 1782. "Partial though our suspension of hostilities may be called, I thought it sufficient to have prevented those cruelties in the Jerseys (avowed) which I have had occasion to mention more than once; but if war was the choice, I never expected this suspension should operate further than to induce them to carry it on as is practised by men of liberal minds. I am clearly of opinion with Your Excellency, that mutual agreement is necessary for a suspension of hostility, and, without this mutual agreement, either is free to act as each may judge expedient; yet I must, at the same time, frankly declare to you, that being no longer able to discern the object we contend for, I disapprove of all hostilities both by sea and land, as they only tend to multiply the miseries of individuals, when the public can reap no advantage from success. As to the savages, I have the best assurances, that from a certain period, not very long after my arrival here, no parties of Indians were sent out, and that messengers were despatched to recall those who had gone forth before that time; and I have particular assurances of disapprobation of all that happened to your party on the side of Sandusky, except so far as was necessary for self-defence." It would seem, from this paragraph, that the insidious object of a separate convention with America was still pursued. The symptoms of an evacuation of New York became every day less apparent. Our next intelligence from Charleston will probably confirm our expectations as to that metropolis. DEAR SIR, TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. Philadelphia, October 22, 1782. By the vessel spoken of in my last, Congress have received a letter from Mr. Adams, dated Hague, August the eighteenth, which enclosed a copy of the plenipotentiary commission issued to Mr. Fitzherbert, the British Minister at Brussels." The following skeleton of the commission will give you an idea of its aspect towards America: แ Georgius tertius, etc., omnibus, etc., salutem. Cum, belli incendio jam nimis diu diversis orbis ter rarum partibus flagrante, in id quam maxime incumbamus ut tranquillitas publica, tot litibus, etc., rite compositis, reduci, etc., possit,-cumque eâ de causa, virum quendam tanto negotio parem, ad bonum fratrem nostrum, Regem Chrismum mittere decrevimus: Sciatis igitur quod nos, fide, etc. Alleini Fitzherbert, etc., confisi, eundem nominavimus, etc., nostrum Plenipotentiarum, dantes, etc., eidem omnem potestatem, etc., nec non mandatum generale pariter ac speciale, etc., in aula prædicti bon. frat. Reg. Chrismi pro nobis et nostro nomine, una cum Plenipotentiariis, tam Celsorum et Præpotentium Dominorum, ordinum Generalium Fœderati Belgii, quam quorumcunque Principum et Statuum quorum interesse poterit, sufficiente auctoritate instructis, tam singulatim ac divisim quam aggregatim ac conjunctim, congrediendi, etc., atque cum ipsis de pace, concordia, etc., præsentibus, etc. etc. In palatio nostro, etc., 24 Julii, 1782. The only further circumstance contained in his letter, relative to the business of a pacification, is the appointment of a Plenipotentiary by the States General, who was to set out for Paris in about three weeks after the date of the letter. The States of Holland and West Friesland had determined upon the proposed treaty of commerce, and Mr. Adams expected to have a speedy conference with the States General, in order to bring it to a conclusion. The Secretary of War lately communicated to Congress an extract of a letter from General Washington of a very unwelcome tenor. It paints the discontents of the army in very unusual colors, and surmises some dangerous eruption, unless a payment can be effected within the present year. The Secretary is gone to head-quarters at the request of the General. How far their joint precautions will calm the rising billows, must be left to the result. Congress have reduced the estimate for the ensuing year to six millions of dollars, and the requisitions on the States, for the present, to one-third of that sum. A call for the residue is suspended till the result of the applications for loans shall be known. The combined fleets have certainly gone to support the siege of Gibraltar. The Dutch has returned to the Texel. According to the preconcerted plan, it was to have proceeded North, after disposing of its convoy, and have reinforced the combined fleet. The disappointment is traced up to the machinations of the Prince of Orange, whose attachment to the enemies of the Republic seems to be fatal to all her exertions. For other particulars taken from foreign gazettes, I refer to those herewith enclosed, and those enclosed to Mr. Ambler. TO EDMUND RANDOLPH. Philadelphia, October 29, 1782. DEAR SIR, Some intelligence has been received from the frontiers of New York, which revives the apprehensions of further inroads from Canada, and co-operation on the part of the Vermonters. The tenor of Carleton's letter to General Washington on this sub |