written to obtain more exact and authentic information, which I will not fail to transmit as early as possible. I have received an account at length, both by the Gazette Extraordinary and by letter from London, that Admiral Digby is returned with the fleet and Spanish prizes from Gibraltar, and brought in with him the Protée, a French sixty-four-gun ship and three small storeships, part of a fleet bound from L'Orient to the East Indies. The sixty-four-gun ship had about sixty-three thousands pounds in cash on board. This fleet was unlucky enough to fall in with Digby, on the 23d of February. Rodney sailed from Gibraltar on the 14th, and parted with Digby on the 18th, taking only four ships-of-the-line with him to the West Indies. A like number will probably go under Walsingham, about the 20th or 25th of this month, with the fleet to the West Indies. It is said in letters from London that, by every appearance, there are no more troops going to North America, and that it looks as if the Ministry mean not to continue the American war, but to let it dwindle and die away. If this should be the case, it is to be hoped that the Americans and their allies will not let it dwindle, but put it to death at a blow. The Marquis de la Fayette and his brother, the Viscount de Noailles, a young noble officer, who is worthy of his family, and of the relation he bears to the Marquis, who I hope will be the bearer of this letter, will be able to say more upon this head. At present, the King and his general are the only persons who ought to know the secret. I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN ADAMS. TO JAMES LOVELL. Paris, March 16th, 1780. Dear Sir, I have received, since my arrival here, your favor of the 16th of November, 1779. I shall take proper notice of your remarks upon the thirteenth and nineteenth articles of the treaty. They are both of them of importance, and, as to the last, I wish for an instruction upon it, because there is no doubt to be made that, whenever a serious negociation shall be commenced, great pains will be taken for the banished, although little attention is paid to them now. I learned, yesterday, that they have received no payment of their pensions these eighteen months. The delay is colored with a pretence of Quebec, which have been stopped by the They are still bitter, as I am told, and waiting for some funds for interruption of that trade. are firmly persuaded that longer. America cannot hold out six months Dana, and in a Indeed, I do not You assure me that I shall not be without the orders and credit, which I mentioned in a letter of mine. I thank you for this assurance, which is conceived in such strong terms that one would think you did not expect any opposition to it; at least, an effectual opposition. I wish there may not be, but I am not without conjecturesI will not call them suspicions-upon this head. Denying them, however, would be virtually recalling me and Mr. manner the most humiliating and disgraceful. know how we should get away from our creditors. sort of minds cannot bear a brother near the throne; and so fair, so just, so economical a method, would not escape minds of so much penetration, as a refusal to lend money without orders. I am not sure, however, that the measure would be hazarded in the present circumstances by persons by whom I have been treated politely enough since my return. You know what I should be glad to know what the Board of Treasury have done with my accounts; whether they have passed upon them, or whether there are any objections to them, and what they are. I do not know but I was indiscreet in sending all my original vouchers, because if any of them should be lost, I might be puzzled to explain some things. However, I know by a letter from Mr. Gerry, that they were received, and I presume they will be preserved. I wish to know your private opinion whether Congress will con tinue Mr. Dana and me here, at so much expense, with so little prospect of having any thing to do for a long time; an uncertain time, however; or whether they will revoke our powers, and recall us; or what they will do with us. A situation so idle and inactive is not agreeable to my genius; yet I can submit to it as well as any man, if it be thought necessary for the public good. I will do all the service I can, by transmitting intelligence and in every other way. You must have observed that in all my public letters-and indeed in a great measure in my private ones-I have cautiously avoided giving accounts of the state of our affairs in France. I had many reasons for this caution. In general, I was sure it would do no good, and I doubted the propriety of stating facts, and remarking upon characters, without giving notice of it to the persons concerned, and transmitting the evidence. There is no end of conceiving jealousies; but I am sure that officers of Government, especially foreign Ministers, ought not to attack and accuse one another upon jealousies, nor without full proof; nor then, without notifying the party to answer for himself. Thus much let me say, however: that the present plan of having a distinct Minister in Spain, another in Holland, and another to treat with Great Britain, and having Secretaries independent of Ministers, is a good one. I pray you to stand by it with the utmost firmness, if it should be attacked or undermined. If you revoke the powers of a separate Minister to treat with the King of Great Britain, you ought to revoke the former powers of treating with all the Courts of Europe which were given to the Commissioners at Passy; for, under these, authority will be claimed of treating with the English, if my powers are revoked. The powers of treating with all other Courts ought to be separated from the mission. Your friend, &c., JOHN ADAMS. TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. Paris, March 18th, 1780. Sir, We have this moment the news of the arrival of the convoy from St. Domingo, with sixty sail of merchant vessels, which is a great event for this country. It is also reported that ten sail of Spanish ships-of-the-line, with ten battalions of land forces, have sailed; and their destination is supposed to be North America. The armament preparing at Brest is thus described in one of the public papers: The Count du Chaffault de Besné, Lieutenant General of the naval forces in France, has taken leave of the King, being presented to his Majesty by M. de Sartine. The report runs that orders have been sent on the 29th of February for the officers who are at Paris to join their regiments upon the coasts by the 15th of March, and that eight regiments are to embark under the Count de Rochambeau. These regiments are that of Anhalt, whereof the Marquis de Bergen is Colonel in second; Auvergne, Colonel Commandant the Viscount de Lavel; Bourbonnois, Colonel Commandant the Marquis de Laval, and in second, the Viscount de Rochambeau; Neustrie, Colonel Commandant the Count de Guibert, and in second, the Viscount le Veneur; Romergne, Colonel Commandant the Viscount de Custine, and in second, the Marquis du Ludec; Royal Corse, Colonel Commandant the Marquis du Luc, and in second, the Count of Pontevez; Royal Deux Ponts, Colonel Commandant the Count aux Ponts; Saintongé, Colonel Commandant the Viscount de Beranger, and in second, the Marquis de Themines. It is asserted that there will be added a detachment of artillery, and that the Baron de Viomenil, the Count de Chastellux, and the Count de Witgenstein will embark with these troops, and that the Duc de Lazun will have the command of a body of twelve hundred volunteers, and be joined to the armament under the Count de Rochambeau. All these troops, as it is believed, will embark at Brest, and go out under the convoy of the Count du Chaffault de Bresné. They add that he will have more than thirty-seven ships-of-theline under his command, destined for an expedition, whereof the genuine object is yet unknown. Many other regiments have also orders to march down nearer to those upon the sea-coast, and there are many vessels taken upon freight for the service of the King in the different ports of the Kingdom. The freight at Havre is thirty livres a ton, on condition that the owner furnish his vessel for twelve months. They say the Prince de Condé will go and command upon the coast of Brittany with the Count de Vaux. By a letter I just now received from Holland, I am told that the grand business is done between the northern Powers on a footing very convenient for Holland, as it must compel the English to cease interrupting the trade of the neutral Powers. This would be more beneficial to France and Spain than to Holland, by facilitating the acquisition of ship-timber, hemp, and all other things for the supply of their arsenals of the marine. A principal branch of the British policy has ever been to prevent the growth of the navies of their enemies, by intercepting their supplies. What gives further countenance to this letter, and the reports to the same purpose which have been some time circulated, is an article in the Mercure de France, enclosed. They talk of an alliance between Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Prussia, and the United Province, for maintaining the honor of the flags of these Powers. Congress will see also another paragraph from London, which favors this idea; that the Baron de Nolker, Envoy Extraordinary from Sweden, had declared that if the convoy of his nation was not released forthwith, with an indemnification for expenses and losses, he had orders to quit the Court of London in twenty-four hours. Some other paragraphs seem to show the Dutch in earnest about equipping a respectable naval force of fifty-two vessels. I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN ADAMS. TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS. Paris, March 19th, 1780. Sir, Enclosed is a paper of the 10th of March, which was accidentally omitted to be enclosed in the season of it. There are two articles of intelligence which ought not to escape our observation, because they have relation to the armament equipping at Brest, although I do not suppose them of much consequence. The first is of a small squadron of frigates, which is said to have sailed from Portsmouth on the 28th of February, in consequence of orders sent from the Admiralty on the 22d, under the command of Captain Marshall, who is on board the Emerald, of thirty-two guns. The others are the Hussar of thirty-two, the Surprise of twenty-eight, the Squirrel, and Heart of Oak of twenty; the sloops the Beaver's Prize, of fourteen, the Wolf, and the Wasp of eight, with the cutters the Nimble and the Griffin. It is thought that this little squadron is gone to make a cruise on the coast of France, to hinder the transports assembled in different ports from going out, or even to destroy them, if that shall be found to be possible. There is not, however, much to be dreaded from this squadron so near the neighborhood of Brest. The other paragraph discovers the marks of more ingenuity and less truth. It is taken from the English papers, that Captain Jarvis in the Foudroyant, of eighty guns, who has been out upon a cruise, with a small division in the mouth of the channel, has returned to Plymouth and gone to Court, to be himself the bearer to Government of despatches of great importance, from the Court of France to Congress, found on board a sloop which on her passage to Phil |