Sir, TO JOHN ADAMS Passy, March 31st, 1782. I received yours of the 10th instant, and am of opinion with you, that the English will evacuate New York and Charleston, as the troops there, after the late resolutions of Parliament, must be useless, and are necessary to defend their remaining islands, where they have not at present more than three thousand men. The prudence of this operation is so obvious, that I think they can hardly miss it; otherwise I own, that, considering their conduct for several years past, it is not reasoning consequentially to conclude they will do a thing because the doing it is required by common sense. Yours of the 26th is just come to hand. I thank you for the communication of Digges's message. He has also sent me a long letter, with two from Mr. Hartley. I shall see M. de Vergennes to-morrow, and will acquaint you with every thing material that passes on the subject. But the Ministry, by whom Digges pretends to be sent, being changed, we shall, by waiting a little, see what tone will be taken by their successors. You shall have a copy of the instructions by the next courier. I congratulate you cordially on the progress you have made among those slow people. Slow, however, as they are, Mr. Jay finds his* much slower. By an American, who goes in about ten days to Holland, I shall send you a packet of correspondence with Mr. Hartley, though it amounts to little. With great esteem, I have the honor to be your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN. TO DAVID HARTLEY. Passy, March 31st, 1782. Dear Sir, I have just received your favors of March the 11th and 12th, forwarded to me by Mr. Digges, and another of the 21st per post. I congratulate you on the returning good disposition of your nation * The Spaniards. towards America, which appears in the resolutions of Parliament. that you have sent me; and I hope the change of your Ministry will be attended with salutary effects. I continue in the same sentiments expressed in my former letters; but as I am but one of five in the Commission, and have no knowledge of the sentiments of the others, what has passed between us is to be considered merely as private conversation. The five persons are Messrs. Adams, Jay, Laurens, Jefferson, and myself; and in case of the death or absence of any, the remainder have power to act or conclude. I have not written to Mr. Laurens, having constantly expected him here, but shall write to him next post; when I shall also write more fully to you, having now only time to add, that I am ever, with great esteem and affection, dear sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, My dear Friend, B. FRANKLIN. TO DAVID HARTLEY. Passy, April 5th, 1782. I wrote a few lines to you the 31st past, and promised to write more fully. On perusing again your letters of the 11th, 12th, and 21st, I do not find any notice taken of one from me, dated February the 16th. I therefore now send you a copy made from it in the press. The uncertainty of free transmission discourages a free communication of sentiments on these important affairs; but the inutility of discussion between persons, one of whom is not authorised, but in conjunction with others, and the other not authorised at all, as well as the obvious inconveniences that may attend such previous handling of points that are to be considered when we come to treat regularly, is with me a still more effectual discouragement, and determines me to waive that part of the correspondence. As to Digges, I have no confidence in him, nor in any thing he says, or may say, of his being sent by Ministers. Nor will I have any communication with him, except in receiving and considering the justification of himself which he pretends he shall be able and intends to make, for his excessive drafts on me, on account of the relief I have ordered to the prisoners, and his embezzlement of the money. You justly observe, in yours of the 12th, that the first object is to procure a "meeting of qualified persons," and that you understand the Ministry will be ready to proceed towards opening a negociation as soon as the bill shall pass, and therefore it is necessary to consult time and place, and manner and persons, on each side. This you wrote while the old Ministry existed. If the new have the same intentions, and desire a general peace, they may easily discharge Mr. Laurens from those engagements which make his acting in the Commission improper; and except Mr. Jefferson, who remains in America, and is not expected here, we the Commissioners of Congress can easily be got together, ready to meet yours at such place as shall be agreed to by the Powers at war, in order to form the treaty. God grant that there may be wisdom enough assembled to make, if possible, a peace that shall be perpetual, and that the idea of any nations being natural enemies to each other may be abolished for the honor of human nature. With regard to those who may be commissioned from your Government, whatever personal preferences I may conceive in my own mind, it cannot become me to express them. I only wish for wise and honest men. With such, a peace may be speedily concluded. With contentious wranglers, the negociation may be drawn into length, and finally frustrated. I am pleased to see in the votes and parliamentary speeches, and in your public papers, that, in mentioning America, the word reconciliation is often 'used. It certainly means more than a mere peace. It is a sweet expression. Revolve in your mind, my dear friend, the means of bringing about this reconciliation. When you consider the injustice of your war with us, and the barbarous manner in which it has been carried on, the many suffering families among us from your burning of towns, scalping by savages, &c., &c., will it not appear to you, that though a cessation of the war may be a peace, it may not be a reconciliation? Will not some voluntary acts of justice, and even of kindness on your part, have excellent effects towards producing such a reconciliation? Can you not find means of repairing, in some degree, those injuries? You have in England and Ireland twelve hundred of our people prisoners, who have for years bravely suffered all the hardships of that confinement, rather than enter into your service, to fight against their country. Methinks you ought to glory in the descendants of such virtue. What if you were to begin your measures of reconciliation by setting them at VOL. II.-16 towards America, which appears in the resolutions of Parliament that you have sent me; and I hope the change of your Ministry will be attended with salutary effects. I continue in the same sentiments expressed in my former letters; but as I am but one of five in the Commission, and have no knowledge of the sentiments of the others, what has passed between us is to be considered merely as private conversation. The five persons are Messrs. Adams, Jay, Laurens, Jefferson, and myself; and in case of the death or absence of any, the remainder have power to act or conclude. I have not written to Mr. Laurens, having constantly expected him here, but shall write to him next post; when I shall also write more fully to you, having. now only time to add, that I am ever, with great esteem and affection, dear sir, your most obedient and most humble servant, B. FRANKLIN. TO DAVID HARTLEY. Passy, April 5th, 1782. My dear Friend, I wrote a few lines to you the 31st past, and promised to write more fully. On perusing again your letters of the 11th, 12th, and 21st, I do not find any notice taken of one from me, dated February the 16th. I therefore now send you a copy made from it in the press. The uncertainty of free transmission discourages a free communication of sentiments on these important affairs; but the inutility of discussion between persons, one of whom is not authorised, but in conjunction with others, and the other not authorised at all, as well as the obvious inconveniences that may attend such previous handling of points that are to be considered when we come to treat regularly, is with me a still more effectual discouragement, and determines me to waive that part of the correspondence. As to Digges, I have no confidence in him, nor in any thing he says, or may say, of his being sent by Ministers. Nor will I have any communication with him, except in receiving and considering the justification of himself which he pretends he shall be able and intends to make, for his excessive drafts on me, on account of the relief I have ordered to the prisoners, and his embezzlement of the money. You justly observe, in yours of the 12th, that the fir procure a "meeting of qualified persons," and that you understand the Ministry will be ready to proceed towards opening a negociation as soon as the bill shall pass, and therefore it is necessary to consult time and place, and manner and persons, on each side. This you wrote while the old Ministry existed. If the new have the same intentions, and desire a general peace, they may easily discharge Mr. Laurens from those engagements which make his acting in the Commission improper; and except Mr. Jefferson, who remains in America, and is not expected here, we the Commissioners of Congress can easily be got together, ready to meet yours at such place as shall be agreed to by the Powers at war, in order to form the treaty. God grant that there may be wisdom enough assembled to make, if possible, a peace that shall be perpetual, and that the idea of any nations being natural enemies to each other may be abolished for the honor of human nature. With regard to those who may be commissioned from your Government, whatever personal preferences I may conceive in my own mind, it cannot become me to express them. I only wish for wise and honest men. With such, a peace may be speedily concluded. With contentious wranglers, the negociation may be drawn into length, and finally frustrated. I am pleased to see in the votes and parliamentary speeches, and in your public papers, that, in mentioning America, the word reconciliation is often 'used. It certainly means more than a mere peace. It is a sweet expression. Revolve in your mind, my dear friend, the means of bringing about this reconciliation. When you consider the injustice of your war with us, and the barbarous manner in which it has been carried on, the many suffering families among us from your burning of towns, scalping by savages, &c., &c., will it not appear to you, that though a cessation of the war may be a peace, it may not be a reconciliation? Will not some voluntary acts of justice, and even of kindness on your part, have excellent effects towards producing such a reconciliation? Can you not find means of repairing, in some degree, those injuries? You have in England and Ireland twelve hundred of our people prisoners, who have for years bravely suffered all the |