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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1779
According to order, the honorable Sr. Chevalier de la Luzerne, minister plenipotentiary of his most Christian majesty, was introduced to an audience by Mr. [John] Mathews and Mr. [Gouverneur] Morris, the two members for that purpose appointed, and being seated in his chair, the secretary of the embassy delivered to the President a letter from his most Christian majesty, directed on the out side
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"A nos très chefs grands Amis et alliés, les Président et Membres du Congrès général des États unis de l'Amérique septentrionale," and is in the words following:
Très Chers, Grands Amis Et Alliés:
Le mauvais état de la santé du Sr. Gérard, notre Ministre plénipotentiare auprès de vous, l'aiant mis dans la necessité de demander son rapel, nous avons fait choix pour le remplacer en la même qualité du Sr. Ch. de la Luzerne, colonel à notre service.
Nous ne doutons pas que sa personne ne vous soit agréable, et que vous ne lui accordiez une entière confiance: Nous vous prions d'ajouter foi à tout ce qu'il vous dira de notre part, surtout lorsqu'il vous assurera de la sincérité de voeux que nous faisons pour votre prosperité, ainsi que de la constance de notre affection et de notre amitié pour les États unis en général, et pour chacun d'eux en particulier. Sur ce je prie Dieu qu'il vous ait, Très chers grands amis et alliés, en sa Ste et digne garde. Érit à Versailles, le 31 Mai, 1779.
Votre bon ami et allié
(Signed) Louis
(Underneath) Gravier de Vergennes.
Superscription: To our very dear great friends and allies, the President and members of the general Congress of the United States of North America:
Very dear, great friends and allies,
The bad state of health of the Sieur Gérard, our minister plenipotentiary to you, having laid him under the necessity of applying for a recal, we have made choice of the Sr. Chevalier de la Luzerne, a colonel in our service, to supply his place. We have no doubt but he will be agreeable to you, and that you will repose entire confidence in him. We pray you to give full credit to all he shall say to you on our behalf, especially when he shall assure you of the sincerity of our wishes for your prosperity, as well as of the constancy of our affection and of our friendship for the United States in general, and for each one of them in particular. We pray God to keep you, our very dear, great friends and allies, in his holy protection.
Your good friend and ally,
Louis.
Done at Versailles, the 31 May,
1779.
(Underneath) Gravier de Vergennes.
The Minister was then announced to the House; Whereupon he arose, and addressed Congress in a speech, which,
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when he had finished, the secretary delivered in writing to the President, and is as follows:
Messieurs,
La sagesse et le courage qui ont fondé votre réublique, la prudence que préside à vos délibérations, votre fermeté dans l'exécution, l'habilité et la valeur que vos généraux et vos soldats ont déployées dans le cours de cette guerre, ont attiré sur vous l'admiration et les regards du monde entier. Le roi, mon maître, a reconnu le premier une liberté acquise parmi tant de périls et avec autant de gloire. Depuis que des traités dictés par la modération ont établi sur une base inébranlable l'union de la France avec la république Américaine, toute la conduite de S. M. a du vous prouver combien votre prosperité lui est chère, et la ferme resolution où elle est de maintenir votre indépendance par touts les moyens qui sont en son pouvoir. Les événemens qui se sont dévelopés successivement ont prouvé la sagesse de ces mesures. Un allié puissant a reconnu la justice des motifs qui ont forcé le Roi a prendre les armes, et l'on peut avec fondement se promettre les succès les plus solides des opérations des deux flottes reunies. Les forces navales de notre ennemi ont été détournées de votre continent.
TRANSLATION1
[Note 1: 1 From this point the entries are in the writing of George Bond.]
Gentlemen,
The wisdom and courage which have founded your republic: the prudence which presides over your deliberations; your firmness in execution; the skill and valor displayed by your generals and soldiers, during the course of the war, have attracted the admiration and regard of the whole world. The King, my master, was the first to acknowledge a liberty acquired amidst so many perils and with so much glory. Since treaties dictated by moderation, have fixed upon a permanent base the union of France with the American republic, his majesty's whole conduct must have demonstrated how dearly he tenders your prosperity, and his firm resolution to maintain your independence by every means in his power. The events which have successively unfolded themselves, show the wisdom of those measures. A powerful ally hath acknowledged the justice of those motives which had compelled the King to take arms, and we may reasonably hope for the most solid success, from the operations of the united fleets. The naval force of the enemy hath been diverted from your continent. Compelled to flee to
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Contraint d'accourrir à la défense de ses propres possessions tous ses efforts n'ont pu empêcher nos troupes d'en conquérir une partie considérable. Les autres isles Anglaises redoutoient le même sort, lorsque le général françois a interrompu le cours de ses succès pour venir chercher parmi vous de nouveaux dangers. En se conformant aux intentions de S. M. il a cédé à son propre penchant, aux désirs des François et au voe des Américains, qui l'invitoient à joindre ses armes à celles de votre république. Les événemens n'ont pas répondu complètement à son courage et à ses efforts, mais son sang et celui de mes compatriotes, repandu pour une cause qui nous est si chère, a cimenté la base sur laquelle l'alliance est fondée, et lui imprime un nouveau caractère aussi inaltérable que tous ceux qui l'ont déjà consacrée.
Cette alliance, Messieurs, devient de jour en jour, plus indissoluble et les avantages que les deux nations en retirent l'ont portée au plus haut point de consistance. Des rélations de commerce entre les sujets du Roi mon maitre et les habitans des treize États unis se multiplient continuellement, et déjà l'on peut observer, malgré les obstacles qui embarrasscrit la communication réciproque, cornbien elle est naturelle; combien elle deviendra
the defence of their own possessions, all their efforts have been too feeble to prevent our troops from conquering a considerable part. The other British islands feared the same lot, when the French general stopped the current of his sucess, to seek new dangers here. In conforming to his Majesty's intentions, he has complied with his own inclinations, the desires of the French and the request of the Americans, which invited him to join his arms to those of your republic. Events have not completely answered his courage and his efforts, but his blood and that of my countrymen, shed in a cause so dear to us, hath cemented the base on which the alliance is founded, and impressed on it a character as indelible as are all those by which it is already consecrated.
That alliance, gentlemen, becomes daily more indissoluble, and the benefits which the two nations derive from it, have given it the most perfect consistence. 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
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profitable aux aeux nations et à toutes celles qui y prendront part, et combien les principes exclusifs, l'attention jalouse et les loix prohibitives de l'ennemi de votre liberré ont été préudiciables à votre bonheur. C'est dans ces conjectures, Messieurs, que le Roi a bien voulu me désigner pour remplir auprès de vous les fonctions de son Ministre plénipotentiaire, et vous avez trouvé dans la lettre, que je viens d'avoir l'honneur de vous remettre de sa part, de nouvelles assurances de l'amitié qu'il a pour vous. J'ai regardé comme la plus heureuse circonstance de ma vie une mission dans le cour de laquelle je suis sûr de remplir mes devoirs en travaillant à votre prospérité, et je me suis félicité d'&être envoyé près d'une nation dont les interêts sont si étroitement liés avec notres, que je ne puis être utile ou à la France ou à la république Américaine sans me rendre agréable à la fois l'une et à l'autre.
Il eut été sans doute à désirer que les affaires dont je suis chargé fussent restées entre les mains du Ministre éclairé auquel je succède et que sa santé oblige a retourner en France. Je n'ai point ses lumitres, mais j'ai comme lui un zéle sans bornes pour le bien et le succès de la cause commune. Je suis chargé comme lui deconcourir à tout ce qui pourra être agréable et utile à votre république. J'ai
nations and all who participate in it, and how much the monopolizing spirit, the jealous attention and prohibitory edicts of the enemy to your freedom, have been prejudicial to your happiness.
It is under these circumstances, gentlemen, that the King, my master, hath been pleased to appoint me his minister plenipotentiary to you. You have seen in the letter which I had just now the honor to deliver from him, fresh assurances of his friendship. I consider as the happiest circumstance of my life, a mission in the course of which I am certain of fulfilling my duty when I labour for your prosperity; and I felicitate myself upon being sent to a nation whose interests are so intimately blended with our own, that I can be useful neither to France nor the American republic, without rendering myself agreeable both to the one and to the other.
It was certainly desirable that the affairs with which I am charged, had remained in the hands of that enlightened Minister whom I succeed, and whose health compels him to return to France. I have not his abilities, but like him I have an unbounded zeal for the welfare and success of the common cause; like him I am directed to concur in every thing which can be useful or agreeable
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le même attachement pour les peuples que vous representéz, Messieurs, et la même admiration pour leur conduite. J'ai le plus grand empressement de vous en donner des preuves, et j'espère que ses differens titres me conduiront à meriter votre confiance et votre estime.
(Signé)
Le Cher de la Luzerne.
to your republic. I have the same attachment to the people, you, gentlemen, represent, and the same admiration of their conduct. I have the most fervent wish to give you proofs of it, and I hope by these different titles to merit your confidence and your esteem.
(Signed)
Le Chev. de la Luzerne.
To which the President returned the following answer:
Sir,
The early attention of our good friend and ally to these United States is gratefully felt by all their virtuous citizens; and we should be unfaithful representatives if we did not warmly acknowledge every instance of his regard, and take every opportunity of expressing the attachment of our constituents to treaties formed upon the purest principles.
His most Christian Majesty, in rendering himself protector of the rights of mankind, became entitled to assistance from the friends of man. This title could not but be recognized by a monarch whose diadem is adorned with equity and truth: that monarch, by joining his arms to those of our great ally, hath given a fatal blow to the common enemy; and from the justness of the motives which unite the combined fleets, we expect the most solid benefits will crown their operations; nor can we doubt that other powers will rejoice to see that haughty nation humbled, in proportion as they have been insulted by her presumptuous arrogance.
We well know, and all the world must acknowledge, the moderation and friendship of the most Christian King, in neglecting conquests which courted his acceptance for the benevolent pleasure of succouring his allies. In this, as in every other instance, we perceive his strict adherence to the principles of our defensive alliance. We are sensible of the zeal of the French general, in executing his Majesty's orders. We esteem his courage, we lament his wounds, and we respect that generous valour which hath led your countrymen to contend with ours in the same common cause, in the same field of
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glory. A noble emulation which hath poured out the blood of the two nations, and mingled it together as a sacred pledge of perpetual union!
The consequences which have followed from the appearance of the French fleet upon our coasts, particularly by disconcerting the enemy's plans of operation, and destroying a considerable part of their naval force, demonstrate the wisdom of the measure. That they have not been still more beneficial, is to be attributed to those incidents which in the hand of Omnipotence determine all human events: but our disappointment is compensated by reflecting on the perfect harmony that subsisted between the generals and the troops of the two nations.
The prosperous course of the campaign gives a pleasing hope that the moment of peace may soon arrive, when the reciprocation of mutual good offices shall amply recompence our mutual labours and cares; and we doubt not but in that moment the commerce between the allied nations, now struggling under great inconveniences, will shoot forth with vigor and advantage, and happily demonstrate the injuries we once suffered from the restraints of our enemies.
While we lament, sir, the loss of your worthy predecessor, we are led from your personal character to the pleasing expectation that you will possess that confidence and esteem which he enjoyed. They are due to the servant of our benefactor: we are happy in his choice, and being thoroughly convinced of the intimate connexion between the interests and views of the allied nations, we cannot but persuade ourselves that the more attentively you shall perform your duty to your sovereign, and the more sedulously you shall guard and promote the welfare of your country, the more agreeable and respectable you will render yourself to the citizens of America.1
[Note 1: 1 From this point Thomson resumed the entries.]
The secretary of Congress delivered to the Minister a copy of the foregoing reply dated in Congress, November 17, 1779, and signed Samuel Huntington, President. Whereupon, the Minister withdrew, and was conducted home in the manner in which he was brought to the House.
The Committee on the Treasury brought in a report; Whereupon,
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Resolved, That five million and forty dollars be emitted on the faith of the United States, and under the direction of the Board of Treasury, in bills of credit of the following denominations, viz.
5,000,040[Note 1: 1 The sum originally called for by the report was 15,000,180 dollars, with 39,474 bills of each denomination. The altered figures, calling for one-third of this sum, were entered by Elbridge Gerry.]
That the said bills, excepting the numbers, be of the same tenor and date as the emissions directed on the 17 September last, and be numbered from the last number in every denomination progressively.
Resolved, That the farther sum of five million and fifty thousand five hundred dollars be emitted on the faith of the United States, and under the direction of the Board of Treasury, in bills of credit of the following denominations, viz.
That the said bills, excepting the numbers, be of the same tenor and date as those emitted the 14th of October last, and be numbered from the last number in every denomination progressively.2
[Note 2: 2 This report, dated November 16, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 817.]
On motion of Mr. [John] Witherspoon, seconded by Mr. [Gouverneur] Morris,
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to devise further ways and means for supplying the public treasury.
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The members chosen, Mr. [Elbridge] Gerry, Mr. [John] Witherspoon, Mr. Marchant [Gouverneur] Morris, Mr. [John] Mathews, and Mr. [Roger] Sherman.
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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