Most Serene Highness, the Prince of Orange, some copies of letters taken with Mr Laurens. I cannot learn, that there are any, but from M. de Neufville and Mr Gillon, who are here. But it is propagated, that there are many more, and M. Van Berckel and the Baron Van der Capellan are named. But I have very good reason to believe, that they have not a line of either.

The English are giving out, as is their practice every fall, that they are determined to send great forces to America. Fourteen regiments are talked of, ten thousand men, but these threats will be executed as usual. Fourteen regiments, if they send them, will not produce four thousand men in America, to repair all their losses in North America and the West Indies.

We have one enemy more pernicious to us than all their army, and that is an opinion, which prevails in too many American minds, that there is still some justice, some honor, some humanity, and some reason in Great Britain, and that they will open their eyes and make peace. That there are individuals who have these virtues cannot be doubted. Rome had many such, even after the ultimi Romanorum. But they were so few, in comparison to the whole, and had so little share in government, that they only served, by their endeavors to bring things back, to make the nation more miserable.

I am so fully convinced, that peace is a great way off, and that we have more cruelty to encounter than ever, that I ought to be explicit to Congress. We shall be forced to wean ourselves from the little remainder of affection and respect for that nation. Nay, even from our curiosity. I cannot think it decent, that any American should voluntarily set his foot on British ground, while we are treated

as we are. The practice is too common to step over, upon motives of curiosity, pleasure, or business, and I cannot but think it ought to be discountenanced.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

Sir,

TO B. FRANKLIN.

Amsterdam, November 4th, 1780.

M. de Neufville this morning brought me a number of bills of exchange, drawn upon Mr Laurens, in the mouth of July, amounting to seven or eight hundred pounds sterling, and informed me that your Excellency had declined becoming responsible for them and referred him to me. I have inquired of Mr Searle, who informs me there are about twenty thousand pounds in such bills now on their way. If there were only seven or eight hundred pounds, I would accept them, for the honor of the United States, and run the venture of being able to pay them, by borrowing, or some way or other; but twenty thousand pounds is much beyond my private credit. I have been and am pursuing all those measures, to which I am advised by gentlemen, in whose judgment I can justify placing confidence, and am not without hopes of succeeding in some measure; but I have not as yet been able to obtain any money, nor any certainty of obtaining any in future. I write this, therefore, to your Excellency, that if you could see your way clear to become responsible for these bills, for the present, I will engage to see them paid with the money I may borrow here, if I borrow enough before the term for their payment expires, or as much of them as I shall be able to borrow; but in this case, if I should not succeed

in obtaining the money, your Excellency will be answerable. I should be sorry that the credit of the United States should suffer any stain, and would prevent it if I could; but at present it is not in my power.

The successes of the English at the southward, added to the many causes that obstructed our credit in this Republic before, some of which it would not be prudent to explain, will render a loan here difficult; but I still hope not quite impracticable.

I have the honor to be, &c.

Sir,

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, November 16th, 1780.

On the 10th of this month, Sir Joseph Yorke presented to the States-General the following

MEMORIAL.

"High and Mighty Lords,

"The King, my master, has discovered during the whole course of his reign the most sincere desire to maintain the union, which has subsisted for more than a century between his Crown and this Republic. This union rests upon the immovable basis of reciprocal interest; and as it has contributed much to the prosperity of the two nations, the natural enemy of both employs all the resources of his policy to destroy it. For sometime past, this enemy has not labored but with too much success, being supported by a faction, which seeks to govern the Republic, and which is always ready to sacrifice the general interest to private views. The King has seen with as much surprise as re

gret, the little effect which has been produced by his repeated demands of the succors stipulated by the treaties, and the representations of his Ambassadors, concerning the daily violations of engagements the most solemn.

"The moderation of the King has induced him to attribute this conduct of your High Mightinesses, to the intrigues of an overbearing cabal; and his Majesty would still persuade himself, that your justice and your intelligence will determine you to fulfil your engagements towards him, and to prove by all your proceedings your resolution to put in vigor the system formed by the wisdom of your ancestors, and the only one which can ensure the safety and glory of the Republic. The answer of your High Mightinesses to this declaration, which the subscriber makes by the express order of his Court, will be the touchstone of your sentiments and intentions towards the King.

"His Majesty has had for sometime indications without number of the dangerous designs of an unbridled cabal. But the papers of Mr Laurens, who calls himself a President of a pretended Congress, have made a discovery of a conspiracy without example in the annals of the Republic. It appears by these papers, that the gentlemen of Amsterdam have commenced a clandestine correspondence with the rebels of America, from the month of August, 1778, and that there were instructions and full powers given by them, relative to the conclusion of an indissoluble treaty of amity with these rebels, subjects of a sovereign, to whom the Republic is bound by engagements the most strict. The authors of this conspiracy pretend not to deny it; on the contrary, they avow it, and endeavor in vain to justify it. It is in these circumstances, that his Majesty, depending on the equity of your High Mightinesses, demands a

formal disavowal of a conduct so irregular, not less contrary to your engagements the most sacred, than to the fundamental laws of the Batavian Constitution. The King demands also, a prompt satisfaction proportioned to the offence, and an exemplary punishment of the Pensionary, Van Berckel, and of his accomplices, as disturbers of the public peace, and violators of the law of nations.

"His Majesty persuades himself, that the answer of your High Mightinesses will be prompt and satisfactory in all respects. But if the contrary should happen, if your High Mightinesses refuse a demand so just, or endeavor to evade it by silence, which will be considered as a refusal, in that case, the King will not be able to consider the Republic itself but as approving of misdemeanors, which it refuses to disavow and to punish; and after such a conduct, his Majesty will see himself in the necessity of taking such measures, as the maintenance of his dignity and the essential interests of his people demand.

"Done at the Hague, the 10th of November, 1780.

JOSEPH YORKE.”

Whether Sir Joseph Yorke, after twenty years' residence in this Republic, is ignorant of its Constitution, or whether, knowing it, he treats it in this manner, on purpose the more palpably to insult it, I know not. The sovereignty resides in the States-General; but who are the States-General? Not their High Mightinesses, who assemble at the Hague to deliberate; these are only deputies of the States-General. The States-General are the Regencies of the cities, and the bodies of nobles in the several Provinces. The Burgomasters of Amsterdam, therefore, who are called the Regency, are one integral branch of the sovereignty of the