The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution
Chapter 471 : 98;--also in _Fla.s.san's Diplomatic Francaise_, Vol. VII. p. 300.--The papers he

98;--also in _Fla.s.san's Diplomatic Francaise_, Vol. VII. p. 300.--The papers here inserted are imperfect, but they are all that could be found in the Department of State. They will serve to ill.u.s.trate that part of the preceding communication of M. de la Luzerne, which relates to the proposed mediation.

No. 2.

_The Answer of the Court of London to the Preliminary Articles proposed by the Mediating Courts._

I am authorised to return an answer to the paper, which, by order of your Court, you delivered me, and of which I have given an account to his Majesty.

The answers marked A and B,[3] which I have the honor to submit to you, explain the unalterable sentiments of the King, upon points essential to his dignity, and demonstrate the reasons, that obliged his Majesty to decline the plan proposed, so far as it relates to his rebellious subjects. The King knows the justice and the impartiality of the mediating Courts, and he considers the plan with that spirit of conciliation which they give birth to. But his Majesty cannot but see it in a very different point of view, from that in which it appeared to the august mediators when they supposed it admissible in all points.

The King persuades himself, that after having considered it again, they will not entertain the same judgment relative thereto as heretofore; and that they will even cease to wish that it should be admitted, since, from their intention, as well as from the principles, which they have laid down with so much wisdom, and which the King adopts altogether, it necessarily results, that everything inconsistent with the dignity of his Majesty, the essential interests of his nation, and the rights of his crown, is inadmissible. A just and honorable peace with the belligerent powers, under the mediation of the two Imperial Courts, is the first object of his Majesty's wishes. The King knows, that the two august mediators will pursue the great work, that they have undertaken, with the same sentiments, which induced them to engage therein, the desire of being useful to the belligerent powers; and his Majesty hopes, that their generous care will be crowned with success, and that they will serve to reconcile all the sovereigns at war, by a safe and honorable peace, which it shall be the interest of all parties to accept, and which shall not wound the dignity of either of them.

The sincere desire of peace, the grat.i.tude due to the august sovereigns, who have been willing to charge themselves with the mediation of it, and the sentiments with which the King will always receive whatever shall be proposed to him by them, would dispose his Majesty to accept the proposed Articles, if that acceptation could be reconciled to his dignity, the interests of the empire, and the rights of his crown.

1st. On every occasion, in which there has been a question of negotiation, since the commencement of the war with France, the King has constantly declared, that he could never admit in any manner whatsoever, nor under any form, that there should be any interference between foreign powers and his rebellious subjects.

2dly. The resolution of his Majesty upon this important object is founded upon what the King owes to his own dignity, upon the essential interests of his people, and upon the incontestible right, which every Sovereign has to determine at his pleasure, that which is clearly within his jurisdiction. This resolution is as immutable, as the foundation upon which it rests. From the application of this principle to the different points of the first, second, and third articles, results the melancholy, but indispensable necessity of declining all that is proposed in these different articles relative to the rebellious subjects of his Majesty.

The King invariably entertains the desire, which he has so often manifested, of terminating the war in which he is engaged with the belligerent powers, by a just and honorable peace, under the mediation of the Imperial Courts, and for this purpose his Ministers shall be furnished with instructions and full powers, necessary to treat of all objects directly relative to the said powers. They shall be ordered to pursue the negotiation conformably to the principles explained therein, with all possible zeal, and to contribute on their part every suitable means to conduct it to a happy end.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] These papers are missing.

No. 3.

_The verbal Answer of the King of Great Britain to the to the verbal Observations made by the Count de Belgiojoso, Austrian Amba.s.sador in London._

Since the King finds himself under the necessity of declining a plan proposed by the two mediating Courts, he should think himself wanting in that respect, which is due to them on so many accounts, if he did not give some details of the reasons, which have rendered it indispensable for him to take this step. His Majesty is persuaded, that when the two august mediators shall have considered them with that spirit of justice and impartiality, which characterises them, they will become sensible of their weight.

The King would derogate from his rights of sovereignty, should he consent in any manner to the admission of any person whatever, delegated to the Congress by his rebel subjects; this admission being absolutely incompatible with their quality of subjects. For the same reason, conciliatory measures employed to put an end to a rebellion, ought not to be intermixed, either in their commencement or in their conclusion, with a negotiation between sovereign States.

In consequence of the same principle, his Majesty can never enter into any engagements, nor adopt any plan, which may limit or suspend the incontestible right, which every Sovereign has, to employ all the means in his power to terminate a rebellion kindled in his dominions, either by the progress of his arms, or by conciliatory means employed in the country itself. If, instead of taking advantage of the present disposition of a great part of his rebellious subjects to return to their allegiance, he was to stop the effect and progress of that disposition by stipulating a suspension of arms, he would r.e.t.a.r.d the instant of that reconciliation, which he wishes so much to hasten, and would furnish the leaders of the rebels with the means of fostering and strengthening their rebellion, and oppressing the well-affected by the weight of their usurped authority; he would put it in the power of his enemies to prolong the troubles, if he made the return of peace in America to depend on the success of a negotiation with a belligerent power, a negotiation which it would always be in their power to render fruitless.

The favorable intentions of the King towards his rebellious subjects, and his desire to make them experience the effects of his clemency, and restore to them the happiness, which they enjoyed before their rebellion, are generally known, but whatever may be the arrangements, which his Majesty will make to restore and ensure the quiet of his Colonies, and link the happiness of his American subjects to that of the metropolis, they will be in their nature as all things are, which are merely national, arrangements of internal policy, and as such, they cannot properly be the object of the mediation or guarantee of any foreign power. When the King availed himself of the dispositions of the two Imperial Courts and employed their mediation, his Majesty gave it plainly to be understood, that he aimed at the restoration of peace between the belligerent powers, to which alone it appeared to him that a mediation could be applied. Persisting invariably in the same sentiments, the King wishes that the mediation, at the same time that it confines itself to this particular object, may comprehend it in its full extent, and that the war between Great Britain and the Republic of Holland may be included in it.

If the negotiation is opened, agreeably to these principles, and directed solely to this salutary end, if the other belligerent powers bring to it the same conciliatory spirit which his Majesty will show, the generous care of the mediating powers will meet with a success the most complete, and the most conformable to their views.

No. 4.

_Reply of the Mediators to the Belligerent Powers._

Translation.

The Courts of Versailles and Madrid having transmitted to the two Imperial Courts their respective answers[4] to the Articles proposed to serve as a basis to the negotiation, which had been communicated to them, as the Court of London had done on the 15th of June last, the two Imperial Courts think, that they must not delay to communicate their reply reciprocally to the three respective Courts, as necessary to their mutual direction, and they have directed in consequence their Amba.s.sadors and Ministers with the said Courts, to present copies of them to their respective Ministers.

Their Imperial Majesties have seen with the greatest satisfaction, in that which was transmitted to them by his Most Christian Majesty, the a.s.surance of the grateful sentiments and real pleasure, with which his Majesty has received the said Articles, but they could not but be so much the more affected by the exposition of the motives, which have appeared to his Britannic Majesty sufficient to prevent his acceptation of them. It appears convenient to them in the actual state of things to refer to another time, and other circ.u.mstances the observations, which they might produce, and which it would probably be useless to expose in the present moment, but what cannot be so either at present or in future, is that the belligerent powers may see in their proper light the Articles, which have been proposed to them, and may in consequence appreciate them properly.

The mediating powers could not allow themselves to make any propositions, which might wound the dignity or delicacy of either of the parties, or any of those, which might in the first instant have obliged them implicitly or explicitly to decisions, which can only be the result of a consent obtained by the way of negotiations. They must consequently have confined themselves to seeking and finding out some proper means to enable the belligerent powers to a.s.semble their respective Plenipotentiaries, at the place where the Congress shall sit, to endeavor, under the mediation of the two Imperial Courts, to settle amicably all the differences, which are the causes of the present war, and when once they have met, and are provided with instructions for all possible cases, to be continually at hand, to seize one of those happy moments, which circ.u.mstances sometimes bring on, and which are often lost forever, or at least for a great while, when one has not been at hand to take advantage of them.

They have found at the same time no other inconveniency in this, but that perhaps the progress of the negotiation might not be altogether so rapid as it would undoubtedly be wished. The suspension of arms and of the _statu quo_ by itself, independent of the remaining part of the proposition, can either be adopted or rejected; and after having weighed with the greatest impartiality the inconveniencies and advantages, which may result from the acceptation of their propositions, it has consequently appeared to them, that nothing could better suit the respective interests of the belligerent powers, as well as their general and particular circ.u.mstances. They still persist in that opinion, and from the sincere interest, which they take in the circ.u.mstances of all the belligerent parties, they cannot but wish, that they might still admit between themselves, with such modifications as they should think proper, the Articles, which have been proposed to them, and which, as his Most Christian Majesty well observes, are not Preliminary Articles, as in the nature of things they could not be such, but which can no less be the means, not only of bringing on at one moment or other the conclusion of a preliminary treaty, but perhaps even that of peace, a speedy return of which is so much to be wished for.

The two Imperial Courts have thought, that in return for the confidence, with which his Most Christian Majesty has expressed himself in his answer, they ought to show as much in exposing to him the light, in which they have seen the step they have taken in proposing the Articles, which they have caused to be communicated to him, and which they still persist in holding out, that the belligerent parties may still be able to adopt what has been proposed to them, or if not, to communicate some other idea, which may be productive of the same good effects, or of happier ones if possible. His Most Christian Majesty may be persuaded beforehand, that in that case they will with the greatest zeal make such use of it as they shall think most useful and convenient. Nothing can certainly add to the sincerity, with which they will take care to justify on every occasion the confidence, which the high belligerent parties have shown in accepting their mediation.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] The answer of the Court of Madrid is missing.

No. 5.

_Answer of the Court of France to the Reply of the Mediators._

Translation.

The King has received, with equal sensibility and grat.i.tude, the answer of the two mediating Courts; his Majesty regards it as a new proof of their friends.h.i.+p for him, of the just estimate which they form of his confidence in their impartiality, and of the true interest which they take in the prompt re-establishment of peace.

The King has not changed, and will not change, in his desire to second views so salutary; and the two high mediating powers may be a.s.sured, that so far as concerns his Majesty, it will not be owing to him, if they are not soon in a situation to give full scope to their beneficent zeal.

But the Court of London deprives the King of every expedient and every hope, on this subject, by its invariable resolution to regard and treat the Americans as its subjects. Such a resolution renders abortive every exertion, that may be made for obtaining peace. It utterly destroys the plan of the two mediating powers, since it decides, in the most peremptory manner, the question which is the subject of dispute, and the direct or indirect decision of which should be the preliminary basis of the future pacification.

In this state of things the King thinks, that the conferences, proposed by the two mediating Courts, would at present be without effect, and that the meeting of the respective plenipotentiaries would be but a vain pretence, which would not diminish nor abridge the horrors of war, and which might compromise the dignity of their Imperial Majesties.

The King is truly sorry to see, that things have taken a direction so contrary to his wishes, and to the expectations of their Imperial Majesties; and, if it were in his power to change it, he would do it with an eagerness, which would show to them the purity of his intentions; but his Majesty thinks it his duty to observe, that he has allies with whom he has inviolable engagements, that he should betray them by abandoning the American cause, and that he should betray this cause, if he consented to negotiate a peace separate from and independent of the United States. The high mediating powers have perceived the impossibility of such a proceeding, since they have themselves proposed to place the negotiation of the King, and that of the United States, upon an equal footing.

But even admitting, that the King should lay the affairs of America out of the question, that he should be content to act only for his own personal interest, and that he should leave to the Americans the care of coming to an accommodation with their mother country, what would be the result of this mode of proceeding?

The result would be, that the peace would be deceptive; that it would have a merely speculative existence. In fact, if, as appears from the strongest evidence to be probable, the Americans should persist in their refusal to return to their obedience to the British crown, the war between Britain and her former colonies would still continue. The King would then be obliged, as at present, to a.s.sist them; the King of Spain, on his part, would be under the necessity of a.s.sisting his Majesty; so that France and Spain, after the signature of their private treaty, would be in the same situation as they now are.

These considerations seem to the King to be most forcible, and his Majesty has too just an idea of the wisdom and penetration of the two high mediating powers, not to be convinced, that they will regard them in the same point of view, and that they will wholly approve the cautious course which they oblige him to pursue.

The King is earnestly desirous to be able to change this course, and it is in consequence of this desire, that he invites the high mediating powers to employ all their influence at the Court of London to induce that Court to show dispositions, which may convince us, that it is at last resolved to unite, in good faith, in a prompt and equitable peace.

The King thinks, that he ought to inform the high mediating powers, that his Amba.s.sador at Vienna is at present authorised to attend to all overtures and all expedients, which tend to this object, whether they come from the Court of London, or are proposed by their Imperial Majesties; and he is also authorised to join in the negotiation, if sufficient grounds are presented to him, for conducting it safely to a happy conclusion, under the auspices of their Imperial Majesties.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Translation.