Mr. Cornelius Stevenson, or Mr. Henricus Godet, merchants at St. Eustatia, or under cover to Mr. Isaac Gouveneur, merchant at Curraçoa, will certainly come safe, and if you can send with them regular supplies of the English and other newspapers, you will add to the obligation. The expense of procuring them shall be reimbursed, together with any other charges, and a reasonable allowance for your time and trouble in this agency. The members of this committee, styled the Committee of Secret Correspondence, are John Jay, Thomas G. Johnson, Robert Morris, Richard Henry Lee, William Hooper, and John Witherspoon; and as vacancies happen by death or absence, the Congress fill them up with new members, which we mention for your information, and with great respect and esteem remain, sir, your most obedient, humble servants, ROBERT MORRIS, RICHARD HENRY LEE, WILLIAM CARMICHAEL TO C. W. F. DUMAS. Dear Sir, Amsterdam, October 27th, 1776. You owe to my forgetfulness what ought only to proceed from my respect, yet I will not quarrel with any thing that gives me an opportunity of writing to you. I left the Memoir on Commerce in your hands, and it is necessary I should have it as soon as possible. I send you Common Sense, but you must look on my presents as Indian ones, for I, like they, expect much larger in return; as much as you please, and I am sure you can spare a great deal of what I send you. My present is only the rough material of America, your returns will be elegant and superb manufactures of Europe. The English mail is not arrived. I have a very angry letter from Mr. William Lee on the subject I mentioned to you respecting Dr. B. I am happy to know that I acted for the public good, and that, without partiality to any person, will, I hope, always be the rule of my conduct. I am, &c., WILLIAM CARMICHAEL. Dear Sir, ARTHUR LEE TO C. W. F. DUMAS. London, November 15th, 1776. The indispensable business of my profession has hitherto prevented me from complying, as I wished, with the desire of your very obliging favors. You will have seen, by the proceedings of Parliament, how decided the King is in prosecuting the American war. For, in truth, he alone is Minister, and his will governs with absolute sway. At the same time the powers which he has given to Lord Howe appear, from his declaration in America, to be most ample. That, however, I rather attribute to what is deemed the art of Government, than to any pacific or redressing intention. We can never forget the perfidy of making Lord Botetourt declare to the assembly that the revenue acts should be repealed, when in fact no such thing was intended or done; and the Secretary of State being ordered to tell the agents of Congress that his Majesty had received their petition. very graciously, and from the importance of it would lay it before his two Houses of Parliament, when, at the same time, the same Secretary wrote, by his Majesty's commands, to all the Governors of America, denominating that very Congress an illegal meeting, their grievances pretended, and ordering them to prevent their meeting again. These facts are too decisive to leave a doubt of the credit that is due to the promises of this Court, and, at this very time, they are abusing the Howes for negociating; the language of Court being, "we sent them to use their hands, and they are employing their heads." The Rockingham part of the opposition are determined upon seceding from Parliament, in which Lord Shelburne, Lord Camden, and the Duke of Grafton refuse to accompany them for two reasons, 1st, because the feelings of the public are not high enough for so decisive a measure; and, 2dly, because the others will not agree to make the great fundamental abuse of the Constitution, as well as the temporary misconduct of Government, the groundwork of that secession. In a word, because they will not declare that the object of the measure is to obtain the abolition of corruption, and not merely the change of those who minister it. This schism will, however, reduce opposition so as to leave the Court at perfect ease from that quarter. I thank you for the magnanimity of your sentiments towards our friends, on the supposition that the late occurrences are events of consequence. I am by no means of that opinion. After the affair of Long Island, the loss of New York was inevitable; but is not the successful army still faced and kept at bay, by that over which it is supposed to have obtained these decisive advantages? Could any one expect more from a new raised army than that it should face the disciplined invaders, almost equal in numbers, and much superior in equipments, to win its way by inches. Where, then, is the ground for despair, when our friends are looking the enemy in the face, and he does not dare to attack them? Of two things, sir, you may be satisfied, that the advantage on Long Island was obtained neither by the superiority of the troops nor of the General, but by his having bribed the officer who commanded the first pass,* who giving up his post without suffering a gun to be fired, enabled Clinton to march in the night and take the left wing of the Americans, so as to put them between two fires from much superior numbers, with an immense train of artillery. The other fact is that the officer who brought the last despatches declares that the American lines upon New York island cannot be forced but with a certainty of so much loss as cannot be hazarded. General Howe will therefore try his former art of treachery and corruption, from which alone I am satisfied we have any thing to fear. The talk of the Congress having sent Deputies to Staten Island, to negociate with Lord Howe, is not, that I know of, authenticated. Adieu, ARTHUR LEE. SILAS DEANE TO C. W. F. DUMAS. Without date. Dear Sir, I am still indebted to you for your favors of the 29th ultimo, and the 15th instant, to which I should earlier have replied, but for a slight indisposition, and much chagrin at some unfavorable news. However, I am recovering in health, with which my spirits return, *This wants proof before it can be adopted as a historical fact. and I keep ever in my mind the motto, de republicâ nil desperandum. I counted the cost when I entered the lists, and balanced private fortune, ease, leisure, the sweets of domestic society, and life itself in vain, against the liberties of my country; the latter instantly predominated, and I have nothing to complain of, though much to grieve at, occasioned by the miscarriage or delay of my full powers for open and public application. I sent you a memoir on American commerce, and wish to know your sentiments on that subject. The vessel detained at Bilboa has been dismissed, and the commissary reprimanded for her detention, and ordered to lend the Captain every assistance he needed. This is a great point gained. I must suspend saying any thing on the proposals of officers for entering the service of the American States, as also any thing further on the other artists I wrote about, until I receive intelligence which I hourly have long expected, and which I think cannot possibly be far off, as I despatched a vessel early in September, express, with an account of my situation, and that of affairs here; besides, a war is evidently at hand here in Europe. Mr. Carmichael warmly described the kind reception you gave him, and your zeal for the interest of the United States, and friendship for me, which he might have spared, as every one of your letters demonstrates the sincerity and disinterestedness of your friendship, as well for my country as for myself; and as you value your being the first Plenipotentiary of the American States, I equally value myself on your friendship and correspondence in the part I have the honor of acting with you in this important scene, and am happy to think that, to the present or coming actors in, or spectators of, the foundation and rise of this State in a New World, our correspondence will show that our sentiments ever coincided. Be not discouraged, my dear friend, America must come off in the end triumphant, and under new and unprecedented laws, liberty, and commerce, be the happy asylum for the sons of men in future ages. Whatsoever disappointments I may meet with, I never will despair of my country, for which I shall count it my glory to suffer all things, if it receive any advantage therefrom, and if not, I shall at least enjoy the pleasure, the inalienable pleasure, resulting from a consciousness of having done all in my power for its happiness, and connectedly for the happiness of mankind in general. The temper of the times is in favor of America, and it is now as fresh and striking an object to Europe as when first discovered and called the New World. It is among my principal mortifications that I cannot have a few days at least personal conversation with you; but the situation of affairs here will not allow of a moment's absence, which Mr. Carmichael, I doubt not, explained to you. With persons in public or private, who are friendly, yet equally apprehensive of consequences, willing to aid, yet timid, and at the same time not well acquainted and informed, the task, you are sensible, is as laborious as delicate, and at a time when events bear down arguments, one cannot be released a moment from the closest attention to everything rising, real or imaginary. Your lady's kind preparations for me, Mr. Carmichael most affectionately mentioned, and I will, life permitting, the moment I can quit Paris, in person acknowledge, as far as words are capable of expressing, how sensible I am of this more than hospitable kindness, since to provide for and receive the stranger on arrival is the duty of hospitality, but here is a work of supererogation, and though no Roman Catholic myself, yet so catholic as not the less to love and esteem generous actions on all occasions. My most respectful and affectionate regards, with my ardent wishes for your mutual felicity, attend you. I am, &c., SILAS DEANE. P. S. Pray for what sum per annum can a young man be educated at Leyden, adhering to the strictest economy? Dear Sir, SILAS DEANE TO C. W. F. DUMAS. Paris, December 13th, 1776. I am indebted for two letters, and the same cause of my neglect, viz., a hurry of business still subsisting, I cannot make amends by a long letter in this, but the substance will be agreeable, which is, that Dr. Franklin is arrived at Nantes, and I expect him at Paris to-morrow. He left Philadelphia the last of October, and everything was favorable in America. On his passage, the ship he was in made two prizes on this coast. I received a letter from my venerable friend on his landing, who was in high spirits and good health. Here is the hero, and philosopher, and patriot, all united in this celebrated |