“ It is foolishly thought by some, that democratical constitutions will not, cannot, last, that the States will quarrel with each other, that a King, or at least a nobility, are indispensable for the prosperity of a nation. But I would not attend to those absurdities, as they are answered by the smallest particle of unprejudiced common sense, and will, I trust, be forever destroyed by the example of America. ”

“ When it is thought my presence here can be dispensed with, or in case the situation of affairs should persuade me it were more useful in America, I will not delay to join a wished for and beloved land. Any orders or commands whatever, which Congress may be pleased to give me, I shall most cheerfully obey; and as every moment in my life is devoted to the love and respect of the United States, so will it ever be my happiness to serve them. ”

“ The faculties of a nation of carriers may be fortunate for the marine of that nation; but considered in themselves, and with respect to other nations, they are but secondaries in commerce. They give no ground of reciprocities, or participation. That one nation should say to another, you shall navigate all our rivers, harbors, lakes, ports, and places, if we may do the same in yours, is a proposition of reciprocity; but that Holland should say to America, we will bring European goods to you, or you may be your own carriers, is neither concession nor reciprocity. ”

“ Certain it is, that an exchange of Ministers ought to have been, and now an exchange of powers must be, upon equal footing. What England has done is nothing, either as to the right or the mode. The right consisted in the people's will, the mode depends upon a consciousness of American dignity. But if Spain has hitherto declined to acknowledge what the elder branch of the Bourbons thought honorable to declare, yet will it be too strange, that England ranks before her in the date and the benefits of the acknowledgment.
There are more powers than you know of, who are making advances to America ”

“ But, Sir, in paying this just tribute to the sovereignty and to the territorial law, I must have the honor of observing to you, that there is no civilized nation where the agents and public servants of a foreign sovereign do not enjoy immunities and exemptions, which by the unanimous consent of these nations have been regarded as indispensably necessary for the free exercise of their functions ”

“ The treaties between his Most Christian Majesty and the United States of America so fully demonstrate his wisdom and magnanimity as to command the reverence of all nations. The virtuous citizens of America in particular can never forget his beneficent attention to their violated rights, nor cease to acknowledge the hand of a gracious Providence in raising for them so powerful and illustrious a friend. It is the hope and the opinion of Congress, that the confidence his Majesty reposes in the firmness of these States will receive additional strength from every day's experience. ”

“ I am now to acknowledge your favor of the 5th of February, by the Triomphe, and that of the 2d of March, from Bordeaux. You were the happy messenger of glad tidings on both occasions. Before her arrival we had received no account of the signature of the general preliminaries, or of the cessation of hostilities. You can easily conceive the joyful reception it met with here, where we began to be heartily tired of the war; nor was it less welcome intelligence to the army, than to the other citizens of America. ”

“ But I must frankly add, that the effect which some late transactions have upon European minds cannot but make me uneasy. In the difficulties, which a patriotic and deserving army have met with, Europeans have been misled to conceive a want of public gratitude. In the opinions that have from every quarter been stated, Europeans have also mistaken partial notions for a want of disposition to the Federal Union; and, without that Union, Sir, the United States cannot preserve that dignity, that vigor, that power, which insures the glory and the happiness of a great, liberal, and independent nation. ”

“ It has pleased the Most High to diffuse the spirit of union and concord among the nations, whose divisions had spread troubles in the four parts of the world, and to inspire them with the inclination to cause the comforts of peace, to succeed to the misfortunes of a long and bloody war, which having arisen between Great Britain and the United States of America, in its progress communicated itself to France, Spain, and the United Netherlands. ”

“ I hope the convention at Philadelphia will answer the essential and urgent purposes of the confederation, commerce, and the establishment of a uniform and republican militia. Each State has within itself the means fully sufficient to set right the opinions of mistaken citizens, and those means seem to me principally founded on the good sense, knowledge, and patriotic liberality of the people. Every wrong measure of theirs would hurt, not only the consequence of the United States, but also the cause of liberty in all parts of the world. ”

“ Already the enemies of the common cause represent it as a proof of the diversity of the opinions which prevail in Congress, as if there could exist a contrariety of sentiments upon a subject so simple, and a matter so clear, that to call it in question would be at the same time to call in question the solidity, and even the existence of the alliance. Certainly, Sir, no one is farther than myself from adopting suspicions, which would be so fatal to the common cause ”

“ This assembly are convinced, Sir, that had it rested solely with the Most Christian King, not only the independence of these States would have been universally acknowledged, but their tranquillity fully established; we lament that lust of domination, which gave birth to the present war and has prolonged and extended the miseries of mankind. We ardently wish to sheathe the sword, and spare the further effusion of blood ”

“ Sir, from the experience we have had of your exertions to promote the true interests of our country as well as your own, it is with the highest satisfaction Congress receive as the first Minister from his Most Christian Majesty, a gentleman, whose past conduct affords a happy presage that he will merit the confidence of this body, the friendship of its members, and the esteem of the citizens of America. ”

“ But unless Congress shall honor me with their commands, I shall embark in the course of June, and am eager for the moment when I may again enjoy the sight of the American shores.
Now, Sir, our noble cause has prevailed; our independence is firmly settled, and American virtue enjoys its reward. No exertions, I hope, will now be wanting to strengthen the Federal Union. ”

“ Congress, I hope, and through them the whole nation, do not intend their dignity to be trifled with, and, for my part, I have no inclination to betray the confidence of the American people. I expect peace, and I expect Spain to act by you with propriety; but should they hesitate to treat you as a public servant of the United States, then, however disagreeable the task, Mr Carmichael had better go to Paris where France may stand a mediator, and through that generous common friend, we may come to the wished for connexion with the Court of Spain. ”

“ Nothing can be a more direct violation of the seventh Article of the provisional treaty, than sending off the slaves, under pretence, that their Proclamations had set them free, as if a British General had, either by their laws or those of nations, a right by Proclamation, to deprive any man whatever of his property. They may with much more propriety pretend to re-establish every one of their adherents in all the rights they had before the war, since they engaged so to do, and the people with whom they made these engagements were capable of entering into them, which slaves were not. ”

“ To free herself if possible from this hard necessity, and to procure herself the power of opposing at some future time a nation, which she will not without great reluctance consent to free from the servitude, which she wished to impose upon them, it seems that she has sent two emissaries to Congress with the offer of a truce, and even with power to withdraw all the English forces, if America will determine to give up our alliance, and to separate herself from us. ”

“ Unless I have some commands from Congress to execute in Europe, I shall in the Spring embark for America, and present them with the personal homage of one, whose happiness is to feel himself forever a zealous member in the service of the United States. ”

“ It affects equally, in my opinion, the honor and the humanity of your country and of ours. How far you will be justified in risking every favorite object of America, by contending against those principles, is for you to determine. Independence, and more than a reasonable possession of territory, seem to be within your reach. Will you suffer them to be outweighed by the gratification of resentment against individuals? I venture to assert, that such a conduct has no parallel in the history of civilized nations. ”

“ As a Frenchman, whose heart is glowing with 23 patriotism, I enjoy the part France has acted, and the connexion she has made. As an American, I acknowledge the obligation, and in that I think true dignity consists; but dignity forbade our sending abroad political forlorn hopes, and I ever objected to the condescension; the more so, as a French treaty had secured their allies to you; and because America is more likely to receive advances, than to need throwing herself at other people's feet.
The particulars of the negotiation with Spain I do not dwell upon. ”

“ Great Britain is, undoubtedly, the first of European nations, in riches, credit, faculties, industry, commerce, manufactures, internal consumption, and foreign export, together with civil liberty, which is the source of all, and naval power, which is the support of all. The dominions appertaining to the Crown of Great Britain are large and fertile; its Colonies still extensive, and in close vicinity to the American States, Great Britain being an American, as well as an European power, and all her empire connected by her naval force. ”

“ The King, his master, after this explicit step, relies with the highest confidence upon the candor and faithfulness of Congress, in understanding as well as in executing the treaty, and in rejecting every arbitrary and unnatural interposition or construction, which false, subtle, or designing men can contrive. Congress by their own feelings must be sensible, that such interpretations and constructions are always hurtful, against common decency and dignity, and may oftentimes endanger mutual confidence, and of course the very existence of a treaty. ”

“ My time has been so entirely engrossed in the preliminary arrangements of immediate necessity towards the intended co-operation, that I have not been able till now to do myself the honor to thank your Excellency for your letter of the 21st of May. We have too many proofs of the general zeal of your countrymen in the cause of America, not to be entirely convinced of it, and to feel all that the most grateful sensibility can inspire. ”

“ Great Britain, with the British power in America, is the only nation with whom, by absolute necessity, you must have the most intimate concerns, either of friendship or hostility. All other nations are three thousand miles distant from you. You may have political connexions with any of these distant nations, but with regard to Great Britain it must be so. Political intercourse and interests will obtrude themselves between our two countries, because they are the two great powers dividing the continent of North America. ”

“ Upon the principles of an unbounded zeal for America, can I be permitted to repeat, that every American patriot must wish that the federal union between the States may continue to receive additional strength? ”

“ Every American harbor will offer a shelter for the French ships, a market for their prizes, and all the conveniences of repair and victualling; all which being consistent with treaties gives no ground of complaint. Although the trade is going on between England and America, it does not hinder the French Colonies from being supplied with all their wants. Privateering itself, if under French colors, does no harm; and so may the United States enrich themselves with a free trade with both nations, at the same time that they maintain their own tranquillity and help their allies. ”

“ And the Congress assure his Majesty, that should any individual in America be found base enough to show the least disposition for persuading the people to the contrary, such individual would instantly lose all power of effecting his purpose, by forfeiting the esteem and confidence of the people. ”

“ The relations of commerce between the subjects of the King, my master, and the inhabitants of the Thirteen United States, continually multiply, and we may already perceive, in spite of those obstacles, which embarrass the reciprocal communication, how natural it is, how advantageous it will be to the two nations, and all who participate in it, and how much the monopolising spirit, the jealous attention and prohibitory edicts of the enemy to your freedom, have been prejudicial to your happiness. ”

“ It is evident then, that his Majesty desires only the tranquillity and prosperity of America, upon the foundation of an honorable and firm peace, conformable to the stipulations of the treaty of alliance. He rejects every idea of conquest and acquisition of territory for himself. In order promptly to attain this advantageous object, and to fulfil his engagements, he is disposed to carry on the war with vigor, if the common enemy refuses the pacific system, which his Majesty has announced to the whole world, and which the United States adopted on signing the alliance. ”

“ That Congress, with the utmost satisfaction, embrace this opportunity to renew their assurances, that, in every event, the United States will inviolably adhere to their alliance with his Most Christian Majesty, which they consider to be equally essential to their interest and their glory ”