Congress have lately sent instructions to the Ministers in Europe, to contend, in the final treaty. Į for such amendment of the article relating to British debts as will suspend payment for three years after the war, and expressly exclude interest during the

war.

Mr. Livingston has taken his final leave of the Department of Foreign Affairs. He would have remained, if such an augmentation of his salary had been made as would have secured him against future expense. But besides the disinclination of! several members to augment salaries, there was no prospect of a competent number of States for an appropriation of money until he must have lost the option of Chancellorship of New York. No successor has been yet nominated, although the day for a choice has passed. I am utterly at a loss to guess on whom the choice will ultimately fall. Arthur Lee will be started, if the defect of a respectable competitor should be likely to force votes upon him.

The general arrangement of the foreign system has been suspended by the thinness of Congress, in part, and partly by the desire of further information from Europe. I fear much the delay will be exceedingly protracted. Nothing but final resignations of the Ministers abroad, and the arrival of Foreign Ministers here, will effectually stimulate Congress into activity and decision on the subject. How far, and at what time, the first cause will operate, is precarious. The second seems less so. Mr. Van Berkel has sent directions for proper provisions for his reception in the next month. A Swedish gentleman, recommended by Dr. Franklin as a philosopher,

and by the Count de Vergennes as an intended Minister, has been here for some time. From the temper of Spain, a mission from that Court also is not improbable.

The treaty of commerce with Great Britain is another business suspended by the same cause. The Assembly have instructed us to reserve to Congress a revisal after it shall have been settled in Europe. This will give force to the doctrine of caution hitherto maintained by us.

118

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH.

Philadelphia, June 17, 1783.

DEAR SIR,

The definitive treaty is not yet on this side the water; nor do we yet hear what stage it is in on the other side. Mr. Dana informs us, in a letter of the seventeenth of February, that, in consequence of proper encouragement, he had finally announced himself at the Court of St. Petersburg, but does not gratify us with a single circumstance that ensued. The Gazette of this morning, enclosed, contains the latest intelligence from the British Parliament which I have seen.

The measure of furloughing the troops enlisted for the war has been carried into effect with the main army, and will save a great expense to the public. The prospect which it presented to the officers who were to retire from their subsistence, without receiving the means of subsistence elsewhere,

produced a very pathetic representation to the Commander-in-Chief. His answer, by rectifying some errors on which it dwelt, and explicitly giving it as his opinion, that Congress had now done every thing which could be expected from them towards fulfil ling the engagements of their country, had the effect to which it was entitled. The troops in the barracks at this place, emboldened by the arrival of a furloughed regiment returning to Maryland, sent in a very mutinous remonstrance to Congress, signed by the non-commissioned officers in behalf of the whole. It painted the hardships which they had suffered in the defence of their country, and the duty of their country to reward them, demanding a satis factory answer the afternoon on which it was sent in, with a threat of otherwise taking such measures as would right themselves. The prudent and soothing measures taken by the Secretary of War and General St. Clair have, I believe, obviated the embarrassment.

Another embarrassment, and that not a small one, will soon be laid before them by a committee. General Washington, the Secretary of War, and all the professional men who have been consulted, report that at least three or four regiments will be essential as a peace establishment for the United States; and that this establishment ought to be a Continental one. West Point, the frontier posts to the Westward, and a few garrisons on the sea-shore, are conceived by them to be indispensable. Some naval force is deemed at least equally so, with a few docks, and protections for them. On looking into the Articles of Confederation, the military power

of

Congress, in time of peace, appears to be at least subject to be called in question. If Congress put a construction on them favorable to their own power, or even if they ask the States to sanction the exercise of the power, the present paroxysm of jealousy may not only disappoint them, but may exert itself with more fatal effect on the revenue propositions. On the other side, to renounce such a construction, and refer the establishment to the separate and internal provision of the States, will not only render > the plan of defence either defective in a general view, or oppressive to particular States; but may hereafter, when the tide of prejudice may be flowing in a contrary direction, expose them to the reproach of unnecessarily throwing away a power necessary for the good of the Union, and leaving the whole at the mercy of a single State. The only expedient for this dilemma seems to be delay; but even that is pregnant with difficulties equally great; since, on the arrival of the definitive treaty, Congress must, in pursuance of such a neutral plan, suffer the whole military establishment to be dissolved, every garrisoned post to be evacuated, and every strong hold to be dismantled. The remaining ships of war, too, must be sold, and no preparatory steps taken for future emergencies on that side.

I am exceedingly pleased to find Mr. Jefferson's name at the head of the new Delegation. I hope it has been placed there with his knowledge and acquiescence.

The order of the day for electing a Secretary of Foreign Affairs was called for on Tuesday last, but no nominations having been then made, the business

was put off till the present day. The nominations since made are, Mr. A. Lee, by Mr. Bland; Mr. Jonathan Trumbull, junior, by Mr. Higginson; Colonel Tilghman, by Mr. Gorham; Mr. George Clymer, by Mr. Montgomery. General Schuyler has remained on the list since the fall, but was withdrawn by the Delegates of New Jersey, at the instance of Mr. Hamilton. Mr. Jefferson was nominated by Mr. Gorham, but withdrawn also, on intimation that he would not undertake the service.119

119

DEAR SIR,

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH.

Philadelphia, June 24, 1783.

I cannot break in upon my punctuality so far as to omit acknowledging your favor by yesterday's post, though I can scarce do more than refer you to the official letter to the Governor, and mine to Mr. Jones, which you will see, whether he be absent of present, having addressed it to you on the first contingency. In the former letter Mr. Mercer has related the several circumstances which have re sulted from a revolt of the soldiery at this place, who have recurred to that irregular mode of seeking redress. Their grievances all terminate, as you may suppose, in the want of their pay, which Congress are unable to give them; and the information we received from the States is far from opening any fresh sources for that purpose. Indeed, the prospect on the side of the latter, compared with the symp toms beginning to appear on the side of the army, is