recent circumstances, press your going early to Versailles to-morrow; and I have considerable reason to think that your appearance there will not displease the person whom you address. I am of opinion that it is very likely that you will have the glory of having concluded the peace by this visit; at least I am sure, if the deliberations of to-morrow evening end unfavorably, that there is the strongest appearance of war; if they end favorably, perhaps little difficulty may attend the rest.
After all, the peace will have as much that is conceded in it as England can in any shape be made just now to relish, owing to the stubborn demands, principally of Spain, who would not, I believe, upon any motive recede from her conquests. What I wrote about Gibraltar arrived after the subject, as I understand, was canvassed, and when it of course must have appeared impolitic eagerly and immediately to revive it.
You reproved me, or rather reproved a political scheme, yesterday, of which I have heard more said favorably by your friends at Paris than by any persons whatever in London. But do you, my dear sir, make this peace, and trust our common sense respecting another war. England, said a man of sense to me the other day, will come out of the war like a convalescent out of disease, and must be reestablished by some physic and much regimen. I cannot easily tell in what shape a bankruptcy would come upon England, and still less easily in what mode and degree it would affect us; but, if your confederacy mean to bankrupt us now, I am sure we shall lose the great fear that would deter us from another war. Your allies, therefore, for policy and for humanity’s sake, will, I hope, stop short of this extremity, especially as we should do some mischief to others as well as to ourselves. I am, my dearest sir, your devoted, ever affectionate, and ever obliged,
B. Vaughan.
MCXLVIII. TO JOHN ADAMS
Passy, 19 January, 1783.
Sir:—
Late last night I received a note from Count de Vergennes, acquainting me that it is very essential he should have a conference with us, and requesting that I would inform my colleagues. He desires that we may be with him before ten on Monday morning. If it will suit you to call here, we may go together in my carriage. We should be on the road by eight o’clock. With great regard, I have the honor to be, etc.,
B. Franklin.
MCXLIX. TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON
Passy, 21 January, 1783.
Sir:—
I have just received your letters of November 9th and December 3d. Ref. 018 This is to inform you, and to request you to inform the Congress, that the preliminaries of peace between France, Spain, and England were yesterday signed, and a cessation of arms agreed to by the ministers of those powers and by us in behalf of the United States, of which act, so far as relates to us, I enclose a copy. I have not yet obtained a copy of the preliminaries agreed to by the three crowns, but hear, in general, that they are very advantageous to France and Spain. I shall be able, in a day or two, to write more fully and perfectly. Holland was not ready to sign preliminaries, but their principal points are settled. Mr. Laurens is absent at Bath, and Mr. Jay in Normandy, for their healths, but will both be here to assist in forming the definitive treaty. I congratulate you and our country on the happy prospects afforded us by the finishing so speedily this glorious revolution, and am, with great esteem, sir, etc.,
B. Franklin.
MCL. FROM JOHN JAY
Paris, 26 January, 1783.
Sir:—
It having been suspected that I concurred in the appointment of your grandson to the place of secretary to the American commission for peace at your instance, I think it right, thus unsolicited, to put it in your power to correct the mistake.
Your general character, the opinion I had long entertained of your services to our country, and the friendly attention and aid with which you had constantly favored me after my arrival in Spain, impressed me with a desire of manifesting both my esteem and attachment by stronger evidence than professions. That desire extended my regard for you to your grandson. He was then indeed a stranger to me, but the terms in which you expressed to Congress your opinion of his being qualified for another place of equal importance were so full and satisfactory, as to leave me no room to doubt of his being qualified for the one above mentioned. I was therefore happy to assure you, in one of the first letters I afterwards wrote you from Spain, that, in case a secretary to our commission for peace should become necessary, and the appointment be left to us, I should take that opportunity of evincing my regard for you by nominating him, or words to that effect. What I then wrote was the spontaneous suggestion of my own mind, unsolicited, and, I believe, unexpected by you.
When I came here on the business of that commission I brought with me the same intentions, and should always have considered myself engaged by honor, as well as inclination, to fulfil them unless I had found myself mistaken in the opinion I had imbibed of that young gentleman’s character and qualifications; but, that not being the case, I found myself at liberty to indulge my wishes and be as good as my word. For I expressly declare that your grandson is, in my opinion, qualified for the place in question, and that if he had not been, no consideration would have prevailed upon me to propose or join in his appointment.
This explicit and unreserved statement of fact is due to you, to him, and to justice, and you have my consent to make any use of it that you may think proper. I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect,
John Jay.
MCLI. TO MRS. MARY HEWSON
Passy, 27 January, 1783.
. . . The departure of my dearest friend, Ref. 019 which I learn from your last letter, greatly affects me. To meet with her once more in this life was one of the principal motives of my proposing to visit England again, before my return to America. The last year carried off my friends, Dr. Pringle, Dr. Fothergill, Lord Kames, and Lord le Despencer. This has begun to take away the rest, and strikes the hardest. Thus the ties I had to that country, and indeed to the world in general, are loosened one by one, and I shall soon have no attachment left to make me unwilling to follow.
I intended writing when I sent the eleven books, but I lost the time in looking for the twelfth. I wrote with that, and hope it came to hand. I therein asked your counsel about my coming to England. On reflection, I think I can, from my knowledge of your prudence, foresee what it will be, viz., not to come too soon, lest it should seem braving and insulting some who ought to be respected. I shall therefore omit that journey till I am near going to America, and then just step over to take leave of my friends, and spend a few days with you. I purpose bringing Ben with me, and perhaps may leave him under your care.
At length we are in peace, God be praised, and long, very long, may it continue! All wars are follies, very expensive, and very mischievous ones. When will mankind be convinced of this, and agree to settle their differences by arbitration? Were they to do it, even by the cast of a die, it would be better than by fighting and destroying each other.
Spring is coming on, when travelling will be delightful. Can you not, when
