CHAPTER XLV. DIPLOMATIC AFFAIRS. CHANGE OF MINISTRY IN ENGLAND. ON XLV. Feb. N his return to Paris as commissioner to treat for CHAPTER peace and to form a commercial treaty with Great Britain, John Adams took with him as private secretary his 1780. son, John Quincy Adams, then a boy of fourteen, afterward President of the United States. Very contrary to his own inclination, Adams was prevented by Vergennes from any attempt at immediate negotiation. The temper of Adams was quite too exacting and impetuous to make him a favorite at the French court. He thought, so Franklin wrote, that the Americans had been too free in their expressions of gratitude to France; that the obligation, in fact, was on the other side; and that aid ought to be demanded with spirit. As dissimulation made no part of his character, these opinions, if not openly expressed, were sufficiently indicated by his manner and bearing. The French embassador had complained to Congress of the losses to French merchants in consequence of the official reduction of the old tenor to forty for one. Similar complaints were reiterated by Vergennes. Ad CHAPTER ams, impatient at having nothing to do, undertook to XLV. justify that proceeding in a long memorial, which gave 1780. additional offense to the French minister, as an interference with Franklin's province. Finding himself uncomfortable at Paris, and being authorized to negotiate a loan in Holland, Adams proceedAug. ed thither. After the capture of Laurens became known in America, he was commissioned as American minister at the Hague. But he was discountenanced by the French resident; and, though Holland was on the brink of a war with England-probably on that very account -he was refused a reception; incidents which tended to increase the doubts and suspicions he had all along entertained of the designs of the French court. Oct. March. After the total destruction of the southern army in the battle of Camden, some of the southern delegates in Congress, very much alarmed at the progress of the British, and fearing a peace on the principle of leaving each belligerent in possession of what he held, became very anxious for the aid of Spain. They even proposed to abandon all claim to the navigation of the Mississippi, as the price of a Spanish subsidy and alliance. Bland supported this proposition; but his colleague, James Madison, lately appointed a delegate from Virginia, and already a leading member of Congress, opposed it. To settle the difference between them, the matter was referred to the Virginia Assembly. The subject coming up during Arnold's invasion, that same terror which determined the question of the public 1781. lands, induced the Virginia Assembly to wave also the claim, till now so strenuously insisted upon, of a free naviApril. gation of the Mississippi. Madison, though contrary to his own opinion, drew up new instructions to Jay, which Congress adopted-not, however, without a strenuous op XLV. position from North Carolina, Connecticut, and Massa- CHAPTER chusetts, disinclined by their interest in the public lands, and, in the case of the two latter states, by their com- 1781. parative security, from so serious a sacrifice. Meanwhile the Empress of Russia had offered her Jan. mediation for bringing about a peace. At the request of Great Britain, the Emperor of Germany joined in the mediation. This offer, and the acceptance of it by Great Britain, being communicated to Congress by the French embassador, a committee was appointed to confer with May. him; and on the report of that committee, influenced by the French embassador's representations, and the financial pressure to which Congress was subjected, a decided modification took place in the terms of peace formerly agreed to. The express acknowledgment of independence was now waved. Any thing was to be accepted June 15. which substantially amounted to it. The treaty with France was to be maintained in full force; but every thing else was intrusted to the discretion of the negotiators, the former instructions to be considered as indicating the wishes of Congress. The most candid and confidential communications were to be made to the French minister for foreign affairs; nothing was to be undertaken without his knowledge and concurrence; and, in the last resort, the negotiators were to be governed by his advice. These concessions, opposed by the New England states, were carried by the influence of Virginia and the South, now, under the pressure of invasion, quite as anxious for a speedy peace as France herself. The idea was started of having five commissioners to represent the different sections of the Union, and Adams, Jay, Franklin, Jefferson, and Laurens were accordingly chosen. Adams's separate powers to negotiate a treaty of commerce CHAPTER were revoked, and the Dutch negotiation was presently XLV. put also under French control. 1781. The mediation of Russia and Germany resulted in Aug. nothing. Great Britain haughtily refused to acknowledge the independence of the United States, or to admit them in any way as parties to the negotiation, and France, in consequence, broke off the treaty. 1780. Dec. Dana, late secretary to Adams, appointed by Congress minister to Russia, with authority to accede to the principles of the armed neutrality, received no encouragement from Vergennes to proceed on his mission, and 1781. when he did so, he met with no countenance from the Aug. French minister at St. Petersburg, where he was unsuccessful in his attempts to obtain an audience. M. de Luzerne stated to Congress, in explanation, that to receive an envoy from America would be inconsistent with the position of Russia as a mediator. Vergennes entertained the opinion, and so did Franklin, that nothing was to be gained for America by soliciting the reluctant countenance of European courts. Dana, however, concurred with Adams-and Jay inclined to the same opinion that France, for some sinister purpose of her own, was seeking an exclusive control over the foreign relations of the United States. On Franklin's complaint of the great amount of business thrown upon his shoulders, much of it relating to commercial and nautical affairs, in which he was not 1780. skilled, Congress had sought to relieve him by sending Nov. out Palfrey, the late paymaster general, as American But the ship in which he sailed was 1781. never heard of, and near a year elapsed before a successor Oct. was appointed. This was Thomas Barclay, who was consul at Paris. presently authorized, also, to settle all outstanding accounts in Europe. XLV. As the loss of Charleston and the defeat at Camden CHAPTER had induced the Americans to lower their tone, so the successes of Greene and the surrender of Cornwallis pro- 1781. duced a like effect on the British. So soon as news arrived of the surrender of Cornwallis, Nov. 27. Clinton was superseded by Carleton. The king's speech at the opening of the session of Parliament breathed only war; but the first division in the House of Commons showed a considerable accession to the strength of the opposition. A motion being made "that any further at- Dec. 12. tempt to reduce the Americans by force would be ineffectual and injurious," the ministry could muster against it a majority of only forty-one-a great falling off from their former strength. The hopes of the opposition rose, and they continued to gain ground. A motion by General Conway, after the Christmas recess, for an address 1782. to the king to put a stop to the war, was lost by only one vote. A few days after, a similar motion was car- Feb. 27. ried. An attempt was made to divide the opposition, which consisted of two parties, the adherents of Lord Rockingham and those of Lord Shelburne; this attempt failing, Lord North resigned. The leadership of the new ministry devolved on the Marquis of Rockingham, whose avowed principle it was to acknowledge the independence of the United States, and to treat with them accordingly. Lord Shelburne and his friends, adhering to Chatham's ideas, still cherished the hope of some possible accommodation. Overtures were made to Adams at the Hague, where at length he had obtained a reception, and was busy in negotiating a treaty of commerce, as well as to Franklin at Paris, to ascertain whether the United States would not agree to a separate peace, and to something less than entire independence. With the same object, Sir Guy Carleton, appointed Feb. 22. March 28. |