opened mine. She is far from having obtained three millions of it. Spain opened a loan with the house of Hope at the same time for two millions only, and, you may depend upon it, it is very far from being full. Not one quarter part of the loan of France upon life-rents, advantageous as it is to the lender, is full. In short, there is not one power in Europe whose credit is so good here as ours. Russia and Spain, too, allow of facilities to undertakers and others, in disposing of their obligations, much more considerable than ours; yet all does not succeed. You will see persons and letters in America that will affirm that the Spanish loan is full, and that France and Spain can have what money they please here. Believe me, this is all stockjobbing gasconade. I have made very particular inquiries, and find the foregoing account to be the truth. Of all the sons of men, I believe the stockjobbers are the greatest liars. I know it has been given out that the Spanish loan which was opened at Hope's was full the first day. This I know has been affirmed in the hearing of Americans, with a confidence peculiar, and with a design, I suppose, that it should be written or reported to congress. But I am now assured that it is so far from being true, that it is not near full to this hour. Let me beg of you, sir, to give Mr. Morris an extract of this, because I am so pressed for time that I cannot write to him. Upon further inquiry concerning sugars, I find that the Dutch were used to purchase annually considerable quantities of the raw sugars of Spain, as well as of France, England, and Portugal. Some of these they obtained by a clandestine trade between Curaçao and Havana and St. Domingo; but the greater part were purchased at Cadiz. I suppose our merchants and masters of vessels will be as adroit at inventing and executing projects of illicit trade as others. But this is a resource that congress and the States cannot depend on, nor take into their calculations. Illicit trade will ever bear but a small proportion to that which is permitted. And our governments should take their measures for obtaining, by legal and honorable means, from Spain, Portugal, France, England, Holland, and Denmark, all the productions which our people may want for consumption, for manufacture, and for exportation. I have the honor to be, &c. JOHN ADAMS. TO ROBERT MORRIS. Amsterdam, 28 July, 1783. SIR,- Upon inquiry of those who best know, I see no probability of success from any application to authority in this country, for reasons which I have explained to our minister of foreign affairs. Our only resource is in the public opinion and the favor of the nation. I know of nothing which would operate so favorably upon the public as the arrival of a few vessels with cargoes of American produce, addressed to your bankers, and appropriated to the payment of interest. The report of such an event would greatly augment our credit, by spreading the opinion of our ability and disposition to pay. It would be presumption in me, at this distance, to undertake to advise you, who are upon the spot, and much better informed. But I beg leave to suggest the question, whether an application of congress to the States would not succeed. Suppose congress should represent to the States the necessity of an exertion, in order to obtain a loan at present, to enable you to satisfy the most urgent demands of the army and other public creditors, until the States can agree upon some permanent establishment, and should recommend to each State to furnish a cargo of its produce, in proportion to its rate upon the list. For example, South Carolina and Georgia a quantity of rice or indigo; Virginia and Maryland, of tobacco; Pennsylvania, of wheat or flour; and the northern States, of fish or any other thing. Suppose these cargoes, which need not be expensive for the thirteen States, should be sent to Amsterdam or anywhere else in Europe, the proceeds of sale to be remitted to Amsterdam to your bankers. The reputation of this, if well planned, adopted, and executed, would give a strong impulsion to your loan here. I am but just arrived, and have not yet seen our bankers. Saturday and Sunday are usually spent at country seats. But before I leave this place, I shall be able to inform you more precisely, whether you may depend on any thing from hence. No pains of mine shall be spared. The British stocks are so low, that we may hope for something. If a minister is sent to London, you should give him a commission to borrow money. If he conducts the matter with secrecy and caution, he may probably obtain a considerable sum there. There are moneyed men in that country who wish us well. There are others who may easily be inspired with more faith in our funds than they can rationally have in their own. If, upon advising with proper persons, he should not judge it prudent to open a loan there, he might easily put things in a train for some individuals to purchase obligations in your loan in Amsterdam. So dismal are the prospects in England, that many men are on the wing to fly, and some would be willing to transfer their property across the Atlantic. I have the honor to be, &c. JOHN ADAMS. FRANCIS DANA TO JOHN ADAMS. St. Petersburg, 29 July, 1783. MY DEAR SIR, 'Tis done. The bolt of your Vulcan has hit its aim. The idea you mentioned to me some time since, relative to the use of the credit I had asked for, and which in reply I told you was not new to me, that the same had been repeatedly thrown out here by persons, whom to suspect of sinister or interested views would be deemed by some a most damnable, political heresy, has crossed the Atlantic, and gotten possession of congress. I am told, they will not buy a treaty at this day. But pray remark what I have said in my letter to you of the 21st of last May, relative to this subject, particularly in the last paragraph of it, beginning thus,—" Besides, I should not be surprised."1 You may turn also to my letter of the 26th of the same month. But, contemptible beyond all contempt (pardon the expression) is the construction upon my instructions. Would it not put a pettifogger out of countenance to be detected in such a miserable thing? Pray, my friend, are you sufficiently versed in the diplomatic science to develop the whole meaning of the term "communicate," and of the double &c.? These, Lord Coke observes, are very pregnant oftentimes. And that gentleman has read Lord Coke, and must, therefore, be an excellent commentator. But, lest he should 1 See page 65. not have read the text through, when he made his comment, I have laid it out at its full length before him. He may now comment upon it at leisure. I have thought it too plain to need any of mine. Do not imagine, my friend, that I am angry, shall I say, at this Dutch commentator. No. I have other feelings respecting him and our much abused country. I recollect the cause of the instruction we received, relative to the fishery, at our departure. I recollect the fatal revocation of your power to conclude a commercial treaty with Great Britain. I call it fatal, because, if I am not deceived, we have lost forever the most important advantages of a free commerce with the British West Indies by that measure. We might have obtained every thing at the conclusion of our preliminary treaty, if our commissioners had had that power. This is evident from the bill of Mr. Pitt, the chancellor of the exchequer. This last stroke, I think, tops the system. A more favorable moment for negotiating a commercial treaty here, will, in all probability, never happen. The present views of Great Britain give us many advantages to draw forth convenient concessions. Can Russia see, with indifference, Great Britain holding out special favors for the encouragement of our naval stores? But I need not enter into particulars with you on these subjects, who have surveyed them on all sides. I send you inclosed my letter to Mr. Livingston. I have several times acquainted congress of my wish and intention to return to America as soon as I had concluded a commercial treaty with her Imperial Majesty. In consequence of this, they have, by resolution, approved of my returning, provided I should not be engaged in a negotiation with this Court at the time of receiving the resolution, in which case it is the desire of congress, that I should finish such negotiation before I return." I am not engaged in any, as I have not yet had my audience; and to communicate, but not to sign, is beyond my comprehension, and, I believe, would surpass theirs also. If I should break through this cobweb, I should find myself stopped short by the other matter, which is essential. 1 To understand the allusions in this letter, it will be necessary to recur to Secretary Livingston's despatch to Mr. Dana, dated 1 May, 1783, in the Diplcmatic Correspondence of the Revolution, vol. viii. p. 437. What is to be done in such circumstances? I answer, the wisest part it appears to me is to get out of them as soon as possible. But for this last difficulty, I would demand my audience as soon as the definitive treaty is concluded, enter immediately upon the negotiation of a treaty of commerce, and, maugre all comments, sign, ah, and seal, too, "the form and terms of a treaty" I should agree upon with her Majesty's ministers. As it is, I say to myself, begone. I will be gone. And God grant, I may soon have the pleasure of meeting you in our country, and all friends well. Yours, &c. FRANCIS DANA. - TO SECRETARY LIVINGSTON. The Hague, 31 July, 1783. SIR, The last evening, at Court in the house in the Grove, where all the foreign ministers supped, the Count Montagnini de Mirabel, the minister plenipotentiary from the King of Sardinia, took an opportunity to enter largely into conversation with me. As he and I were at a party of politics, while the greatest part of the company were at cards, for two or three hours, we ran over all the world; but nothing occurred worth repeating, except what follows. The Count said, that his advice to congress would be, to write a circular letter to every power in Europe, as soon as the definitive treaty should be signed, and transmit with it a printed copy of the treaty. In the letter, congress should announce, that on the 4th of July, 1776, the United States had declared themselves a sovereign State, under the style and title of the United States of America; that France, on the 6th of February, 1778, had acknowledged them; that the states-general had done the same on the 10th of April, 1782; that Great Britain, on the 30th of November, 1782, had signed with them a treaty of peace, in which she had fully acknowledged their sovereignty; that Sweden had entered into a treaty with them on the 5th of February, 1783; and that Great Britain had concluded the definitive treaty under the mediation of the two empires, if that should be the fact, &c. Such a notification to all the other powers would be a regular procedure, a piece of politeness which would be very well received, and the letter would be |