“ God preserve the United States from this Pandora's box! If ever Congress could have had a thought, in the most difficult times, to have recourse to this dangerous palliative of the evils of war, the present moment should inspire it with one very different, which will infallibly bring to terms an enemy fatigued, exhausted and ruined, and will assure to the United States, with peace, the respect, the regard and friendship of all powers. ”

“ As I have frequent occasions of seeing the foreign Ministers here, and their Secretaries, I am too often obliged to remark their partiality for Great Britain, and jealousy of the house of Bourbon, particularly those of Russia, Vienna, Sardinia, Portugal, and Holland. Some of these, in my opinion, are the best spies England employs here. Jealousy on the one hand, and on the other compassion and admiration, begin to take the place of envy and interest. The transition from these to friendship and support is not difficult, if their masters do not differ in sentiments from their servants. ”

“ And as there is a very strong party in favor of England, there is not the least probability that they will conclude a treaty with the United States, before England permits them to do so by setting them the example. The only, but very necessary thing, therefore, which remained to be done here, was to hinder the English from drawing this Republic into their quarrel, which, by her immense wealth and public credit would have had very bad consequences against America. ”

“ Yet men of reflection see the propriety of overlooking the past, and forming in future a durable connexion.
We are necessary to each other, and our mutual friendship must conduce to the happiness of both. Should Spain have the magnanimity to reject partial considerations, and offer such a treaty of commerce as her own true interest and ours require, we shall now lay the foundation of a friendship that will endure for ages. ”

“ The opposition formed, sustained, and consolidated against the enormous influence which your enemies had over this republic, is the work of three persons, of whom I have the honor in my sphere to be one.
With orders and powers more precise on the part of Congress, I should have been able to contract long since, with merchants of this country, for useful expeditions, and to defeat divers adventurers and intriguers, who, falsely boasting of full powers and of credentials which they have not, have abused and much deceived the people and compromised the dignity and credit of the United States. ”

“ I will say only in general, that the cabal of your enemies fails in all the attempts it has made to engage this Republic to put herself in the breach for them. The Republic is firmly determined to the most perfect neutrality, if there be war; and I wait only the letters of the honorable Commissioners at Paris, whom I have requested to propose a friendship and commerce direct and avowed between your States and theirs. ”

“ Had we anything of a fleet to assist them, England would soon repent of a war, they have so unjustly engaged in, and from which they have not wisdom to retreat.
No nation seems more interested in opening our commerce, by abolishing the British monopoly, than the Dutch. The carrying trade by which they flourish must be greatly increased by the change. It would also very infallibly reduce that natural power and superiority at sea, which the English exercise with so much insolence, and the sinews of which are derived from America by their usurpation and tyranny ”

“ The temper of the times is in favor of America, and it is now as fresh and striking an object to Europe as when first discovered and called the new world. It is among my principal mortifications, that I cannot have a few days at least personal conversation with you; but the situation of affairs here will not allow of a moment's absence, which Mr Carmichael, I doubt not, explained to you. ”

“ Let Britain court every, even the most petty and mercenary power in Europe, the United Colonies only ask for what nature surely entitles all men to, a free and uninterrupted commerce and exchange of the superfluities of one country for those of another; and the first power in Europe, which takes advantage of the present favorable occasion, must exceed every other in commerce. ”

“ That next to a loan of money, a constant naval superiority is the most interesting; this would instantly reduce the enemy to a difficult, defensive war, and by removing all prospects of extending their acquisitions, would take away the motives for prosecuting it. Indeed, it is not to be conceived, how they could subsist a large force in this country if we had the command of the seas to interrupt the regular transmission of supplies from Europe. This superiority, with an aid of money, would enable us to convert the contest into a vigorous offensive war. ”

“ One reason why I am induced to stay in Europe is, that I should be obliged to give, in America, a faithful account of the situation of their affairs in Europe; as I am sure that the picture would be worth more to England, than their subsidies to your hero, the Margrave of Hesse. We shall never be the subjects of the British Crown, I believe, but unless openly assisted by a power in Europe, we shall be an impoverished people, unable to distress our enemies abroad, or to assist our friends. ”

“ I received on the 6th instant at the Hague, from Mr Thomas Story, the despatches of the 19th December, 1775, of which he was the bearer.
I am deeply penetrated by the honor done me, and the confidence reposed in me by the committee appointed by the General Congress to maintain the correspondence between the American United Provinces and Europe, and of which you, Sir, are one of the worthy members. I shall die content if the remainder of my life can be devoted to the service of so glorious and just a cause. ”

“ From the period when the feudal system prevailed over all Europe, when every lord was sovereign, to this hour, the number of kingdoms or distinct powers in Europe has been decreasing, and if we look three centuries back, and reckon up the distinct powers then existing and compare them with those of the present, and extend our view forward, the whole must at some not very distant period be brought into one; for not an age passes, and scarce a single war without annihilating or swallowing up several of them. But from what quarter is this universal empire in Europe to originate? ”

“ Though I sincerely wish that the struggles of your patriots may be attended with the same happy consequences with ours, yet I take the liberty to remind you, that your public character puts you in a delicate situation with respect to them, that as a foreign nation, whatever we may wish, we have no right to express those wishes, or in any way to interfere in the internal disputes of our allies, that our conduct should show, that we were the enemy of no party, except so far as their measures were inimical to us. ”

“ I had the honor some days ago of presenting Mr Searle to the French Ambassador, and of serving them both as an interpreter in an interesting conversation, as to the best method of expelling the enemy out of the United States, and of putting a speedy end to the war in America. The intention of a majority of fifteen out of the eighteen cities of Holland, by disavowing the conduct of Amsterdam concerning the projected treaty, is visibly to leave no pretext at all to Great Britain for attacking this Republic on other grounds than that of resentment for her accession to the armed neutrality. ”

“ It would draw on the United States a host of evils. It would leave, in the opinion of all the world, not excepting your allies and yourselves, [Pg 486] an idea of the uncertainty of your independence, which would never be effectual, and derogate, by consequence, explicitly from the 2d, 3d, 8th and 9th articles of your treaty of alliance with France, so justly admired; would degrade your power, your credit, your dignity; would open the door to distrust, to dissensions, to corruption and treachery among yourselves, to combinations against you in Europe ”

“ I have in a great measure confined my inquiries to two objects, the situation of the finances of Spain and its disposition toward us and our ally. Every day gives me reason to think the former are critically circumstanced. I know from good authority the ways and means for the next year are not devised yet, and I have great reason to believe that the necessary funds cannot be procured by taxation, because the augmentation of the present year's taxes has not produced what the Ministry expected, and neither the commerce nor produce of Spain will permit further efforts in this way. ”

“ If the King of France would, from motives of humanity and magnanimity, interpose his mediation on behalf of an oppressed people and effect a reconciliation, which should preserve to them all the liberties they formerly enjoyed. 2. In case such a reconciliation could not be effected, would the nations, subjects of the house of Bourbon, be willing to accede to an alliance with the Colonies, with the advantages of an immense commerce? He was pleased with the former proposition to offer to his young king the glory of conferring peace on the subjects of others as well as on his own. ”

“ But if the British Ministry, as they roundly assert, are assured that no power in Europe will countenance the United States in their independence, and if they can bring the Congress to believe the same, who will be surprised if they make terms, and accommodate, rather than hazard longer a contest with the most formidable power in Europe, and its allies, without prospect on their part of aid or support? ”

“ I have from good authority, that the English have refused the mediation of Russia. This surprises me not at all, because I am sure their arrogancy and stubbornness will never let them acknowledge either the independence of the United States, or the rights of neutrality, till their heads are broken; a blessed work, fit for heaven only and America to achieve, while European politicians take time to consider. ”

“ ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL. Philadelphia, May 7th, 1783.
Sir,
I congratulate you upon the turn our affairs are likely to take with you, and the prospect your letters open of a speedy connexion between us and the Court of Madrid. Her cold and distant conduct (which I much lament) has somewhat damped the ardor of this country to render that connexion as intimate as possible. No people in the world are more governed by their feelings than the Americans, of which the late war was a striking proof, and those feelings have been long sported with in Spain. ”

“ Thus it depends only on you, Gentlemen, to render this correspondence more and more interesting. On my part I will be vigilant to profit by all events that can make any change in Europe. Those which happen in America will require, without doubt, that you give me frequently new instructions and orders provided always with letters of credence, or at least with one that will serve for the time, as you judge proper. I know to whom to address myself to ask for intelligence at the Court of France, and to have an answer in a few days. ”

“ This intelligence is thought, not only by myself, but by many others, very important for the United States. The most devoted partisans of the English Court here, seeing that they cannot, without rendering themselves too odious, prevent such a resolution from being taken, do what they can to enervate it by obscure and ambiguous expressions, which they propose to be inserted; but our good men take care to sweep the dust which the others throw in their way. ”

“ I thank you for the magnanimity of your sentiments towards our friends, on the supposition that the late occurrences are events of consequence. I am by no means of that opinion. After the affair of Long Island, the loss of New York was inevitable; but is not the successful army still faced and kept at bay, by that over which it is supposed to have obtained, these decisive advantages? Could any one expect more from a new raised army, than that it should face the disciplined invaders, almost equal in numbers, and much superior in equipments, to win its way by inches. ”

“ The constant language of the Count de Vergennes is, that our demands are excessive, that we throw the burthen of the war upon our ally, that the support of it in different parts of the world has cost France exertions and expenses, which fully employ her means, that the public credit, however well established, has its limits, to exceed which would be fatal to it. He adds, at the same time, the strongest assurances of the good will of our ally. ”