*

extraordinary occasion; and from regard to my own reputation, I am very glad you have given me an opportunity of furnishing you with evidence that I did this part of my duty so far forth. The letter was written, sent to Versailles, and received by his Excellency before the arrival of the Marquis de la Fayette, his Aid-de-Camp, or Dr. Winship; that is, before the news reached Passy of the new arrangement. But lest that letter should not be sufficient, I shall enclose another certificate, not without a heartfelt grief, that malice should have been so daring and so barbarous, as to make such a letter or such a certificate from me either necessary or even pardonable. Your hint that I must correct some things that are amiss, extorts from me an involuntary sigh. I shall be in a situation critical and difficult without example, my own character at stake from various quarters, and without anything to support me but truth and innocence; and you need not be informed that these are not always sufficient. I have little expectation of doing good; God grant I may do no harm. I shall not designedly. But I suppose Congress intend to examine me as a witness, and I must tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as far as I know it. If the task should end here, I should not be much embarrassed; but if they should proceed to demand of me opinions and judgments of men and things, as there is reason to expect they will, although I hope they will not, what will be the consequences? Upon the whole, truth must be my shield, and if the shafts of interested malice can pierce through this, they shall pierce me.

I have the honor to be, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Braintree, August 3d, 1779.

Sir,

On the 27th of February, I had the honor of writing to Congress, informing them of my intention of returning home, in consequence of the commission which superseded mine. On the first of March, I

* See this letter in Arthur Lee's Correspondence, vol. I., p. 542.

† See as above, p. 560.

had again the honor of writing some information concerning the unprecedented interest which the British Government are obliged to give for the loan of money for the service of the present year. On the 8th of March, I took my leave of the American Minister, and left Paris for Nantes, in expectation of there meeting the Alliance, and sailing in her for America in a few weeks. Upon my arrival at Nantes, I learned the Alliance was yet at Brest, and so embarrassed with nearly forty prisoners, who were supposed to have been concerned in a conspiracy to carry her to England, and with other difficulties, that it was uncertain when she would be ready.

The agent at Nantes at this time receiving a letter from his Excellency, Dr. Franklin, desiring him to consult me about the direction of the Alliance, I thought it would expedite the public service for me to make a journey to Brest, about two hundred miles, which I undertook accordingly, and arrived at that port without loss of time. There, after an attendance of some weeks, and much negociation with the Commandant, Intendant, and Agent, all things were prepared for the frigate to sail for Nantes, with about one hundred British prisoners, to be exchanged for a like number of American prisoners, arrived there from England in a cartel. I returned to Nantes, and the Alliance in a few days arrived in the river, the prisoners were exchanged, about sixty enlisted in the Alliance, and the rest in the Poor Richard, Captain Jones.

After accommodating all the difficulties with the British prisoners, the American prisoners, the officers and crew of the Alliance, and supplying all their necessary wants, Captain Landais having orders to sail for America, and every thing ready to proceed to sea in a few days, received unexpected orders to proceed to L'Orient, and wait there for further orders. I had the honor of a letter at the same time from his Excellency, enclosing one from the Minister of Marine, by which I learned, that the King had been graciously pleased to grant me a passage on board the frigate which was to carry His Majesty's new Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, that the frigate was at L'Orient, and that the Minister would be there in a few days. I went in the Alliance from Nantes to L'Orient, where, after some time, the frigate, the Sensible, arrived; but his Excellency, the Chevalier de la Luzerne, did not arrive until the 10th of June. On the 14th of June, and not before, I had the pleasure to be under sail, and on the 3d of August, arrived in Nantasket Roads.

I have entered into this detail of disappointments to justify myself for not returning sooner, and to show that it was not my fault that I was hot at home in eight weeks from the first authentic information that I had nothing further to do in France. There is nothing remaining for me to do but settle my accounts with Congress; but as part of my accounts are in conjunction with my late colleagues, with whom I lived in the same house during my residence in Paris, I am not able to judge whether Congress will choose to receive my accounts, or to wait until the other Commissioners shall exhibit theirs, and have the whole together, under one view, so as to do equal justice to all. I am ready, however, to render all the account in my power, either jointly or separately, whenever Congress shall order it, and I shall wait their directions accordingly.

It is not in my power, having been so long from Paris, to give Congress any news of importance, except that the Brest fleet, under the Count d'Orvilliers, was at sea the beginning of June; that Admiral Arbuthnot was at Plymouth the 31st of May; and that there was a universal persuasion, arising from letters from Paris and London, that Spain had decided against the English. The Chevalier de la Luzerne will be able to give Congress satisfactory information. upon this head.

I ought not to conclude this letter without expressing my obligations to Captain Chavagne, and the other officers of the Sensible, for their civilities in the course of my passage home, and the pleasure I have had in the conversation of his Excellency, the new Plenipotentiary from our august ally, and the Secretary to the embassy, Monsieur Marbois.

The Chevalier de la Luzerne is a Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of an ancient and noble family, connected by blood with many characters of principal name in the Kingdom, a grandson of the celebrated Chancellor de la Moignon, a nephew of Monsieur Malesherbes, perhaps still more famous as first President of the Court of Aids and as Minister of State, a brother to the Count de la Luzerne, and of the Bishop of Sangres, one of the three Dukes and Peers who had the honor to assist in the consecration of the King, a near relation of the Maréchal de Broglie and the Count his brother, and of many other important personages in that country. Nor is his personal character less respectable than his connexions, as he is possessed of much useful information of all kinds, and particularly

of the political system of Europe, obtained in his late embassy in Bavaria; and of the justest sentiments of the mutual interests of his country and ours, and of the utility to both of that alliance which so happily unites them, and at the same time divested of all personal and party attachments and aversions. Congress and their constituents, I flatter myself, will have much satisfaction in his negociations, as well as in those of the Secretary to the embassy, who was recently Secretary to the embassy in Bavaria, and who is a counsellor of the Parliament of Metz, a gentleman whose abilities, application and disposition cannot fail to make him useful in the momentous office he sustains.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Braintree, August 4th, 1779.

Sir,

At the close of the service on which Congress have done me the honor to send me, it may not be amiss to submit a few remarks to their consideration on the general state of affairs in Europe, as far as they relate to the interests of the United States. As the time approaches when our relations with the most considerable States in Europe will multiply and assume a greater stability, they deserve the attention of Americans in general, but especially of those composing their supreme council.

France deserves the first place among those Powers, with which our connexions will be the most intimate, and it is with pleasure 1 am able to assure Congress, that from the observations I have made during my residence in that Kingdom, I have the strongest reasons to believe that their august ally, his Ministers, and nation, are possessed of the fullest persuasion of the justice of our cause, of the great importance of our independence to their interests, and the firmest resolution to preserve the faith of treaties inviolate, and to cultivate our friendship with sincerity and zeal. This is of the more consequence to us, as this Power enjoys in Europe at this hour an influence which it has not before experienced for many years.

Men are so sensible of a constant tendency in others to excesses, that a signal superiority of power never appears without exciting

jealousies and efforts to reduce it. Thus when Spain, under Charles the Fifth and his successor, inade herself dangerous, a great part of Europe united against her, assisted in severing the United Provinces from her, and by degrees greatly diminished her power. Thus when France, under Lewis the Fourteenth, indulged the spirit of conquest too far, a great part of mankind united their forces against her, with such success as to involve her in a train of misfortunes, cut of which she never emerged before the present reign. The English, in their turn, by means of their commerce and extensive settlements abroad, arose to a degree of opulence and naval power, which excited more extravagant passions in her own breast, and more tyrannical exertions of her influence than appeared in either of the other cases. The consequence has been similar, but more remarkable. Europe seems to be more universally and sincerely united in the desire of reducing her, than they ever were in any former instance. This is the true cause why the French Court never made war with so universal a popularity among their own subjects, so general an approbation of other Courts, and such unanimous wishes among all nations for her success, as at this time.

The personal character of the King, his declared patronage of morals and economy, and the great strokes of wisdom which have marked the commencement of his reign, the active spring which has been given to commerce by the division of the British empire, and our new connexions with his subjects; all these causes, together with the two treaties of peace, which have been lately signed under his auspices and his mediation, having given to this Power reputation, which the last reign had lost.

The first of these treaties has determined those controversies which had for a long time divided Russia and the Porte, and the parties have been equally satisfied with the conditions of their reconciliation, a circumstance the more honorable for the French Ministry, and the Chevalier de St. Priest, their Ambassador at Constantinople, as it is uncommon. The ancient confidence of the Porte in the Court of Versailles has revived, and the coolness, or rather enmity, which divided France and Russia for near twenty years, gives place to a friendship which is at this time in all its fervor, and will probably be durable, as these Powers have no interest to annoy each other, but on the contrary, are able to assist each other in a manner the most essential.