will cause embarrassments and delays. The disposition of the British ministry towards that republic appears to be any thing but favorable.
Such is the present state of things. I trust it will soon be better; but, whatever may be the result, I think it proper that the most influential members of Congress should be informed of the very irregular conduct of their commissioners in regard to us. You may speak of it not in the tone of complaint. I accuse no person ; I blame no one, not even Dr. Franklin. He has yielded too easy to the bias of his colleagues, who do not pretend to recognize the rules of courtesy in regard to us. All their attentions have been taken up by the English whom they have met in Paris. If we may judge of the future from what has passed here under our eyes, we shall be but poorly paid for all that we have done for the United States, and for securing to them a national existence.
I will add nothing in respect to the demand for money, which has been made upon us. You may well judge if conduct like this encourages us to make demonstrations of our liberality. . . .
Benjamin Franklin, Complete Works (edited by John Bigelow, New York, etc., 1888), VIII, 231-234 passim.
217. Explanation of the Peace of 1782 (1782)
This is the official statement to Livingston, then Superintendent of Foreign Affairs, of the conditions of the preliminary treaty. The treaty described in this piece was made definitive September 3, 1783, and thus ended the war. — Bibliography as in No. 215 above.
Paris, 14 December, 1782.
. . . WE have the honor to congratulate congress on the signature of the preliminaries of a peace between the Crown of Great Britain and the United States of America, to be inserted in a definitive treaty so soon as the terms between the Crowns of France and Great Britain shall be agreed on. A copy of the articles is here inclosed, and we cannot but flatter ourselves that they will appear to congress, as they do to all of us, to be consistent with the honor and interest of the United States, and we are persuaded congress would be more fully of that opinion, if they were apprised of all the circumstances and reasons which have influenced the negotiation. Although it is impossible for us to go into that detail, we think it necessary, nevertheless, to make a few remarks on such of the articles as appear most to require elucidation.
