Philadelphia Ocr. 1st. 1782
Dear Sir,
I enclose you some late proceedings by which you will perceive that Mr. Laurens is to be made a victim if possible to the system of throwing every thing into one man's hands. By these votes you will judge pretty accurately who are Devotees to this unjust, unwise, & irrepublican system. Except that of N.Y. where one of the ays was from policy given against the motion of which he was probably the prompter.
1 However they have at last fed the one man's pride, vanity & all arrogating disposition by putting him sole in the Commission for negociating with Sweden, which woud not have been done had he not written that it was the particular desire of the King of Sweden communicated to him by the Ambassador of that Court at Versailles, that he might be the person. It was an omission, for which I am blameable, not to have inserted this in the Commission, that if a fiction or a mere compliment, & I suspect it was one or the other, the falsity or the vanity of it might have appeard. The words of his Letter are these - "The Ambassador from Sweden to this Court applied to me lately to know if I had Powers that woud authorise my making a treaty with his master in behalf of the U.S. Recollecting a general one that was formerly given to me with the other Commissioners I answered in the affirmative. He seemd much pleased & said the King had directed him to ask the question, & had charged him to tell me, that he had so great an esteem for me, that it woud be a particular satisfaction to him to have such a transaction with me. I have perhaps some vanity in repeating this; but I think too, that it is right the Congress shoud know it, & judge if any use can be made of the reputation of a Citizen for the public Service."2
It is with sorrow, I inform you of the death of young Col. Laurens,
3
who was killd lately in a skirmish with the British near Charles-town. He is as much a public as a private loss; & I am much afraid it will be an accumulation of misfortune on his most worthy Father too great for him to bear.
The Enemy have revokd the order for the evacuation of Augustine; but all their motions tend to that of N. York & Charles-town. They are to strengthen the garrison of Quebec, recal their indian parties from our frontiers, & bend all their force against the french & spanish Islands. How far we can in prudence pursue them thither with our land forces, is not yet the subject of discussion. Remember me to Mr Laurens if in Europe, & to Mr. Dana when you write to him.
Farewell
Octr. 5th. Congress have resolvd not to conclude any Peace but in confidence & concurrance with our Allies & to prosecute the war, till a peace satisfactory to all can be obtaind. All preparations for Negociation are to be referrd to the Commissioners in Europe.4 Genl. Lee died here a few days since & was buried with great honor.5
Receiver's copy, Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. In Lee's hand, though not signed.
1 On September 20 Congress had refused to overturn its resolve of the 17th rejecting Henry Laurens' resignation as a peace commissioner, for which see Charles Thomson's Notes of Debates, September 19 and 20; Samuel Osgood to John Lowell, September 19 - 25, note 17; and James Madison to Edmund Randolph, September 24, 1782, notes 4 - 6. In this cryptic reference to the New York vote, Lee was apparently suggesting that James Duane would have preferred to vote for Madison's motion, but voted against it "from policy" because "he was probably the prompter."
2 Benjamin Franklin had reported this request of the Swedish king in a June 25 letter to Secretary Robert R. Livingston, and on September 28 Congress adopted a commission and instructions for Franklin as sole commissioner to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with Sweden. See PCC, item 82, 2:164 - 72; Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence, 5:510 - 13; and JCC, 23:592, 610 - 24.
3 For the death of John Laurens, Henry Laurens' eldest son, who was killed August 27, 1782, in a skirmish with a foraging party in South Carolina, see Elias Boudinot to Lewis Pintard, October 2, 1782, postscript.
4 For the resolves Congress adopted on October 3 and 4 to reassure the French court that the United States intended to continue to adhere to the terms of the alliance, see James Madison to Edmund Randolph, September 24, note 2; and Arthur Middleton's Memorandum, September 24 - October 4, 1782. Lee had been preoccupied throughout the summer with what he perceived to be the inordinate role of the French in the peace negotiations. See, for example, Lee to James Warren, August ? 1782, note 1. Further evidence may be found in the following undated notes (in the Lee Papers, MH-H), which Lee later titled "Proposals of the french Minister to Congress. M. de la Luzerne, 1782." Apparently drafted in Congress on September 24 or shortly thereafter, they were taken from the conference committee's report of its September 23 meeting with La Luzerne, for which see JCC, 23:597 - 603. "That the U.S will not be contented with a separate peace - but will continue the war till their allies shall have concluded their own peace, wch. will shew G.B. that their Independence will not satisfy them but that they will pursue the british troops wherever they can be found. "6th page. That the U.S., will not be satisfyd with the acknolegement of their Independency: but will continue the war in all ways in their power till their Allies are satisfyd & if the british troops are removd from the U.S. they will pursue them wherever they can be found. "Demands of France. To treat generally. 2d. To make the treaty of Paris the basis of the negotn. with alterations as to Africa, India, the Fishery, & commercial regulations in Europe, accordng. to equity & the [degrees?] of the negociatg. Powers. "Full Powers sent on this to Mr. G. [Thomas Grenville] to declare the Independancy previously & then to treat on the Conditions proposed above." Lee had obtained a leave of absence on October 4 and apparently left Philadelphia shortly after writing this October 5 postscript to Adams. JCC, 23:639.
5 Gen. Charles Lee, who had been dismissed from the Continental Army in 1780 but who had recently abandoned the seclusion of his Virginia estate to live in Philadelphia, died on October 2 and was buried in Christ Church graveyard. See these Letters, 14:344; and DAB.