Volume 4 — THE CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN ADAMS,

ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS TO FRANCE, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO HOLLAND, AND ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS FOR NEGOTIATING THE TREATY OF PEACE

John Adams was a delegate in the first Continental Congress, and one of the most active, zealous, and efficient members of that body. For three years his labors in Congress were incessant, and of the most valuable kind. It is said of him, that he belonged to more committees than any other individual, and he discharged the duties of each with remarkable promptness and energy.

The foreign affairs of the United States having assumed an important aspect, Mr Adams was appointed a Commissioner to France in the place of Silas Deane, who had been recalled. This appointment took place on the 28th of November, 1777, and in the following February he embarked from Boston. After a long and disagreeable passage of fortyfive days he arrived in France. Here he devoted himself to the duties of his mission, in conjunction with his colleagues, till Dr Franklin was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of France, and the commission was dissolved. Having no longer any charge to execute in Europe, Mr Adams left Paris on the 8th of March, 1779, for Nantes, where he proposed to embark for his own country. Various accidents and unexpected causes of delay kept him there till the 14th of June, when he sailed in the French frigate, the Sensible, in company with M. de la Luzerne, who was coming to the United States in the character of Minister Plenipotentiary, as successor to M. Gerard. The French government had voluntarily proffered to Mr Adams a passage in this vessel, after his disappointment in not sailing in the American frigate Alliance, as he at first expected. The Sensible arrived in Boston on the 3d of August.

But he was not long allowed to remain a spectator only of public events. On the 27th of September he was again chosen by Congress to represent his country abroad, as Minister Plenipotentiary for negotiating a treaty of peace and a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, when that nation should be found in a humor to recognise the independence of the United States, and enter into bonds of friendship. A task more honorable, momentous, and difficult could not have awaited him, nor one bearing more emphatical testimony of the confidence of his countrymen in his wisdom, abilities, integrity, and patriotism. On this second mission he sailed in the same frigate, which had brought him from France; accommodations for this purpose having been offered to Congress by the French Minister in Philadelphia. The vessel sprang a leak on the passage, and the captain was obliged to put into Ferrol, in Spain, where he arrived on the 8th of December. From this place, that he might avoid further hazards and uncertainty of a sea voyage in the depth of winter, Mr Adams resolved to proceed by land to the point of his destination. He reached Paris on the 9th of February, 1780. The extreme badness of the travelling at this season had detained him nearly two months on the road.

By the terms of his commission, the place of his residence was not prescribed, but for the present he chose to fix himself in Paris, as amicable relations already subsisted between the French Court and Congress, and he was instructed to consult the French Ministry in regard to any movements, that might be made in effecting a treaty with England. He held a correspondence with Count de Vergennes, respecting the time and manner of carrying his instructions into execution, and on other topics; in all of which, however, his opinions and those of the French Minister were somewhat at variance. There seeming no prospect that Great Britain would soon be inclined to peace, and Mr Adams having no special reasons for remaining at the French Court, he made a tour to Holland in the beginning of August, leaving his Secretary, Mr Dana, in Paris.

Meantime Congress had assigned to him another duty. Mr Henry Laurens had been appointed, as early as November, 1779, to negotiate a loan of ten millions abroad, but having been prevented by various causes from departing on this service, Congress, on the 20th of June following, authorised Mr Adams to engage in the undertaking, and prosecute it till Mr Laurens, or some other person in his stead, should arrive in Europe. This commission reached Paris four weeks after he had left that city, and Mr Dana proceeded with it to Holland. Efforts were immediately made to procure a loan in that country, which were for a long time ineffectual, but which at last succeeded.

Mr Laurens sailed for Holland in August, 1780, but was captured a few days afterwards by a British frigate, which conveyed him to Newfoundland, whence he was sent to England and imprisoned in the Tower. When this intelligence reached Congress, it was resolved to transfer his appointment to another person, and on the 29th of December Mr Adams was commissioned to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with the United Provinces, and he was furnished with separate letters of credence as Minister Plenipotentiary to the States-General and to the Prince of Orange. The state of parties in Holland, and particularly the influence of England there, rendered unavailing all advances of the American Minister towards a treaty.

It having been intimated to Mr Adams, by the Duc de la Vauguyon, French Ambassador in Holland, that a treaty of peace was in prospect through the mediation of Russia and Austria, and that Count de Vergennes would be glad to see him on the subject at Versailles, he set off for Paris on the 6th of July, 1781. He had several interviews with the Count de Vergennes, and a correspondence of some length. After remaining three weeks at Paris and Versailles, without perceiving any apparent indications, that this project for a negotiation would come to maturity, he returned again to Holland.

On the 14th of June Congress appointed four other Commissioners, in conjunction with Mr Adams, to negotiate a treaty of peace, namely, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and Thomas Jefferson, and the first commission of Mr Adams for this purpose was annulled.

A misunderstanding having grown up between England and the United Provinces, chiefly on account of the part taken by the latter in joining the northern powers to carry into operation the plan of the armed neutrality, the French Court thought it a good opportunity for the United States to seek a treaty of alliance with Holland. This step was accordingly recommended to Congress through the French Minister at Philadelphia, and, in consequence of this suggestion, new powers were conferred on Mr Adams, dated August the 16th, by which he was commissioned to negotiate a treaty of alliance with Holland, limited in duration to the continuance of the war with England, and conformable to the treaties then subsisting with France.

The political relations between the several Provinces of Holland were such, however, that the process of negotiation went on heavily and slowly. The English interest still continued strong, even after the war had begun, and embarrassments of various kinds were thrown in the way, which required no common share of sagacity, firmness, and perseverance to overcome. All these at length yielded, and on the 8th of October, 1782, a treaty of commerce between the United States and Holland, and a convention concerning recaptures, were signed at the Hague.

Dr Franklin and Mr Jay had now been for three or four months actively engaged in the negotiation of peace at Paris. Having thus brought affairs to a happy issue in Holland, Mr Adams hastened to join the Commissioners, and arrived in Paris before the end of October. From that time till the Preliminary Articles were signed, November the 30th, he applied himself unremittingly with his colleagues to the details of the negotiation. He also took part in the discussions respecting the Definitive Treaty, which followed from time to time, and was one of the signers of that instrument.

In the winter of 1784 he was in Holland. In January, 1785, he was appointed the first American Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St James's. While in England, he wrote his Defence of the American Constitutions. In the year 1788 permission was granted him to return home, where he arrived after an absence of almost nine years, during the whole of which period he had been employed in services of the highest responsibility and importance. He was shortly afterwards elected Vice President of the United States, under the first Presidency of Washington.