being intended for the payment of ministers’ salaries for the two first quarters of this year. But as these bills came so late, that all those salaries were already paid, I shall make no use of the bills, but lay them by till further orders, and the salaries of different ministers not having all the same times of falling due, as they had different commencements, I purpose to get all their accounts settled and reduced to the same peroid, and send you the state of them, that you may be clear in future orders. I see in one of the estimates sent me that a quarter’s salary of a minister is reckoned at 14,513 livres; in the other it is reckoned 16,667 livres, and the bill for 9,756 Ref. 006 livres is mentioned as intended to pay a balance due on the remittance of the 68,290 livres. Being unacquainted with the state of your exchange, I do not well comprehend this, and therefore leave the whole for the present, as I have said above. Permit me only to hint for your consideration whether it may not be well hereafter to omit mention of sterling in our appointments, since we have severed from the country to which that denomination of money is peculiar, and also to order the payment of your ministers in such a manner that they may know exactly what they are to receive, and not be subject to the fluctuations of exchange. If it is that which occasions the difference between 14,513 for the first quarter, and 16,667 for the second, it is considerable. I think we have no right to any advantage by the exchange, nor should we be liable to any loss from it. Hitherto we have taken 15,000 for a quarter (subject, however, to the allowance or disallowance of Congress), which is lower than the medium between those two extremes.
The different accounts given of Lord Shelburne’s character, with respect to sincerity, induced the ministry here to send over M. de Rayneval, Secretary to the Council, to converse with him, and endeavor to form by that means a more perfect judgment of what was to be expected from the negotiations. He was five or six days in England, saw all the ministers, and returned quite satisfied that they are sincerely desirous of peace, so that the negotiations now go on with some prospect of success. But the court and people of England are very changeable. A little turn of fortune in their favor sometimes turns their heads, and I shall not think a speedy peace to be depended on till I see the treaties signed. I am obliged to finish. With great esteem, etc.,
B. Franklin.
MCXXI. TO JOHN ADAMS
Passy, 15 October, 1782.
Sir:—
A long and painful illness has prevented my corresponding with your Excellency regularly.
Mr. Jay has, I believe, acquainted you with the obstructions our peace negotiations have met with, and that they are at length removed. By the next courier expected from London we may be able perhaps to form some judgment of the probability of success, so far as relates to our part of the peace. How likely the other powers are to settle their pretensions I cannot yet learn. In the meantime America is gradually growing more easy by the enemy’s evacuation of their posts, as you will see by some intelligence I enclose. With great respect I have the honor to be, etc.,
MCXXII. FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON
Head-Quarters, 18 October, 1782.
Sir:—
I have been honored with two favors of your Excellency, one presented by the Count de Ségur, of the 2d of April, the other delivered by the Prince de Broglie, of the 8th, both of which were rendered doubly agreeable by the pleasure I had in receiving them from the hands of two such amiable and accomplished young gentlemen. Independently of my esteem for your Excellency, be assured, sir, that my respect and regard for the French nation at large, to whom this country is under so great obligations, as well as the very favorable impressions I have conceived for their particular characters, will secure my warmest attention to the persons of these distinguished young noblemen.
I am much obliged by the political information which you have taken the trouble to convey to me, but feel myself much embarrassed in my wish to make you a return in kind. Early in the season, the expectations of America were much raised in consequence of the change of the British ministry, and the measures of Parliament; but events have shown that our hopes have risen too high. The death of the Marquis of Rockingham, the advancement of the Earl of Shelburne, and the delays of negotiation, have given us very different impressions from those we at first received. We now begin again to reflect upon the persevering obstinacy of the king, the wickedness of his ministry, and the haughty pride of the nation, which recall to our minds very disagreeable recollections, and a probable continuance of our present troubles. The military operations of the campaign are drawing to a close without any very important events on this side of the water, unless the evacuation of Charleston, which is generally expected, but not yet known to me, should take place, and form a paragraph in the page of this year’s history.
The British fleet from the West Indies still continues in New York. I have not been able yet to decide on the enemy’s intentions there. It is generally thought that a detachment of their troops will sail when the fleet returns to the West Indies, where it is conjectured their efforts for the winter will be prosecuted with vigor. I have the honor to be, etc.,
George Washington.
MCXXIII. TO THOMAS TOWNSHEND
Passy, 4 November, 1782.
Sir:—
I received the letter you did me the honor of writing to me by Mr. Strachey, Ref. 007 and was much pleased with the opportunity it gave me of renewing and increasing my acquaintance with a gentleman of so amiable and deserving a character.
I am sensible you have ever been averse to the measures that brought on this unhappy war. I have therefore no doubt of the sincerity of your wishes for a return of peace. Mine are equally earnest. Nothing, therefore, except the beginning of the war, has given me more concern than to learn at the conclusion of our conferences that it is not likely to be soon ended. Be assured no endeavors on my part would be wanting to remove any difficulties that may have arisen, or, even if a peace were made, to procure afterwards any changes in the treaty that might tend to render it more perfect and the peace more durable. But we, who are here at so great a distance from our constituents, have not the possibility of obtaining in a few days fresh instructions, as is the case with your negotiators, and are therefore obliged to insist on what is comformable to those we have, and at the same time appears to us just and reasonable. With great esteem and respect, I have the honor to be, sir,
B. Franklin. Ref. 008
MCXXIV. TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON
Passy, 7 November, 1782.
Sir:—
The Baron de Kermelin, a Swedish gentleman of distinction, recommended strongly to me by his Excellency, the ambassador of that nation to this court, as a person highly esteemed in his own, purposes a journey through North America, to view its natural productions, acquaint himself with its commerce, and acquire such information as may be useful to his country, in the communication and connexion of interests that seem to be growing, and probably may soon become considerable, between the two nations. I therefore beg leave to introduce him to you, and request
