if you refuse on that account to give us any farther assis tance. We have not yet dispatched the ship, and I beg leave to wait upon you on Friday for your answer. It is not possible for any one to be more sensible than I am, of what I and every American owe to the King, for the many and great benefits and favours he has bestowed upon us. All my letters to America are proofs of this; all tending to make the same impressions on the minds of my countrymen, that I felt in my own. And I believe that no prince was ever more beloved and respected by his own subjects than the King is by the people of the United States. The English, I just now learn, flatter themselves they have already divided us. I hope this little misunderstanding will therefore be kept a perfect secret, and that they will find themselves totally mistaken. With great 1. Dr. Franklin thus adroitly endeavoured to soothe the minister's justifiable discontent; but the private motives which induced the American plenipotentiaries to deviate from their instructions, and from the expectations of the French government, by signing Preliminary Articles of Peace with the British commissioner, while the negociation between France and Great Britain was undetermined, and without the knowledge of Count De Vergennes; were their apprehension of a disposition in the Court of France to abridge the right of the Americans to fish on their own coast; which apprehension had been excited by a letter written from Philadelphia to Count De Vergennes, by Mons. Marbois, (Secretary of the French embassy), and which being intercepted and decyphered by the British government, had been sent by the latter, through Mr. Oswald, to the American commissioners. Also the apprehension of a design in the Court of Spain to hinder the United States from forming settlements to the westward of the Alleghany Mountains; which apprehension had been excited by and sincere respect, I am, Sir, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN. the pretensions which Count d'Aranda, the Spanish ambassador, had advanced in his negociation with Mr. Jay. The following is a translation of the decyphered Letter of M. De Marbois. TRANSLATION OF AN INTERcepted and DECYPHERED LETTER FROM M. DE MARBOIS TO M. LE COMTE DE VERGENNES. SIR, Philadelphia, March 13, 1782. South Carolina again enjoys the benefit of a legislative body, after having been deprived of it for two years; it was summoned together towards the end of last year, and met in January at Jacksonburgh, only ten leagues distant from Charlestown; where deliberations are carried on with as much tranquillity as if the state was in profound peace. Mr. Rutledge, who was then governor, opened the meeting with a Speech greatly applauded, wherein he represents in their full extent, the important services rendered by the King to the United States, expressing their just acknowledgments for the same. This sentiment prevails much, Sir, the different States are eager to declare it, in their public acts, and the principal members of government, and the writers employed by them would forfeit their popularity were they to admit any equivocal remarks respecting the alliance. General Green affirms that in no one state is attachment to independence carried to a higher pitch, but that this affection is yet exceeded by the hatred borne to England. The assembly of Carolina is going to make levies of men, and has imposed pretty large sums; as there is but little Money in the country, the taxes will be gathered in indigo; and what deficiency may then be found, will be supplied by the sale of lands of such Carolinians as joined the enemy while they were in possession of the country. South Carolina was the only state that had not confiscated the property of the disaffected. The step just taken puts her on a footing with the other states of the union. The assembly of this state has A SON EXCELLENCE M. FRANKLIN, Versailles, le 25 Xbre. 1782. J'ai l'honneur de vous envoyer, Monsieur, mes dépeches pour M. le Chevalier de la Luzerne: le paquet est volumineux, mais il renferme beaucoup de duplicats. passed a resolution, in consequence of which a purchase of land is to be made of the value of 240,000 livres tournois, which Carolina makes a present of to General Green, as the saviour of that province. Mr. Matthews, a delegate from Congress, lately arrived in Carolina, has, it is said, been chosen governor in the room of Mr. Rutledge: he has communicated to persons of the most influence in his state, the ultimatum of the month of . . . . . . last, who approved of the clauses in general, and particularly that one which leaves the King master of the terms of the treaty of peace or truce, excepting independence, and treaties of alliance. A delegate from South Carolina told me that this ultimatum was equally well known by persons of note in his state, and this had given entire satisfaction there; it is the same with regard to several other states, and I believe I may assure you, upon the testimony of several delegates, that this measure is approved by a great majority; but Mr. Samuel Adams is using all his endeavours to raise in the state of Massachusetts a strong opposition to peace, if the eastern states are not thereby admitted to the fisheries, and particularly to that of Newfoundland. S. Adams delights in trouble and difficulty, and prides himself on forming an opposition against the government, whereof he is himself president. His aim and attention are to render the minority of consequence, and at this very moment he is attacking the constitution of Massachusetts, although it be in a great measure his own work, but he had disliked it since the people had shown their uniform attachment to it. It may be Je voudrois pouvoir lui mander que notre négociation est au même point que la votre, mais elle en est encore expected that with this disposition, no measure can meet the approval of Mr. S. Adams, and if the United States should agree relative to the fisheries, and be certain of partaking therein, all his manœuvres and intrigues would be directed towards the conquest of Canada, and Nova Scotia; but he could not have used a fitter engine than the fisheries for stirring up the passions of the eastern people. By renewing this question which had lain dormant during his two years absence from Boston, he has raised the expectation of the people of Massachusetts to an extraordinary pitch. The public prints hold forth the importance of the fisheries; the reigning toast in the east is, may the United States ever maintain their right to the fisheries. It has been often repeated in the deliberation of the general court; No peace without fisheries. However clear this principle may be in this matter, it would be needless and even dangerous to attempt informing the people through the public papers, but it appears to me possible to use means for preventing the consequences of success to Mr. S. Adams and his party, and I take the liberty of submitting them to your discernment and indulgence; one of those means would be for the King to cause it to be intimated to congress or to the ministers, "His surprize that the Newfoundland fisheries have been included in the additional instructions; that the United States set forth therein pretensions without paying regard to the King's rights, and without considering the impossibility they are under of making conquests, and keeping what belongs to Great Britain." His Majesty might at the same time cause a promise to be given to congress" of his assistance for procuring admission to the other fisheries, declaring however that he would not be answerable for the success, and that he is bound to nothing, as the treaty makes no mention of that article." This Declaration being made before the peace, the hopes of the people could not be supported, nor could it one day be said that we left them in the dark on this point. It were even to be wished that this declaration should be made fort éloignée. Je ne puis même prevoir quelle en sera l'issue, car les difficultés naissent des facilités aux quelles whilst New York, Charles Town and Penobscot are in the enemy's hands; our allies will be less tractable than ever upon these points whenever they recover these important posts, There are some judicious persons to whom one may speak of giving up the fisheries and the 1 ..of the West for the sake of peace. But there are enthusiasts who fly out at this idea, and their numbers cannot fail encreasing when, after the English are expelled this continent, the burthen of the war will scarce be felt. It is already observable that the advocates for peace are of those who lived in the country, The inhabitants of towns whom commerce enriches, mechanics who receive there a higher pay than before war, and 5 or 6 times more than in Europe, do not wish for it: but it is a happy circumstance that this division be nearly equal in the congress and among the states, since our influence can incline the beam either for peace or war which ever way we chuse, Another means of preserving to France so important a branch of her commerce and navigation is that proposed to you, Sir, by M. viz. the conquest of Cape Breton; it seems to me as it does to that minister the only sure means of containing within bounds, when peace is made, those swarms of smugglers who, without regard to treaties, will turn all their activity, daring spirit and means towards the fisheries, whose undertakings Congress will not perhaps have the power or the will to repress. If it be apprehended that the peace which is to put an end to the present war will prove disagreeable to any of the United States, there appears to me a certain method of guarding against the effects of this discontent, of preventing the declarations of some states and other resources which turbulent minds might employ for availing themselves of the present juncture. This would be, for his Majesty to cause a Memorial to be delivered to Congress, wherein should be stated the use made by his ministers of the powers entrusted to them by that assembly; and the impediments which may have stood in the way of a fuller satisfaction on every point. This step would certainly Supposed Settlements, or Lands. |