Papers of John Adams, volume 15

From John Thaxter, 22 September 1783 Thaxter, John Adams, John

From John Thaxter

My dear Sir, L’Orient 22d. Septr. 1783.

I expected at this date to have been at Sea; but the violent Winds from the West & N. West render it absolutely impossible to leave the Port. The Vessel that is to carry me is completely fitted & ready, & has been so ever since the 19th. instant, she having been prepared in thirty six hours after my Arrival— I am infinitely indebted to the Zeal & Activity of Monsr. Thevenard, who has done every thing for me, & treated me with the utmost Attention & Politeness, as he does every American— No Man is more beloved by our Countrymen than him, & their Attachment appears to be indeed well founded.

Mr. Le Comte de Breugnon, the President of the Council of War here, did me the honor to invite me to dine with him to day, & I am just returned from thence— A great part of the Council was present—

I am much concerned at being detained here by bad Winds—but knowing that the Packet Boat cannot have made any great progress since her Departure, I am a little consoled— ’Twas reported this morning, that She had returned to the Isle de Grais—but ’twas a mistake— The Commandant sent an Express Boat off immediately to know the Truth of it, with orders to detain her for me—but it proved to be another Vessel.—1 All I can do is to hold myself in readiness, as I do, at a Moment’s warning—

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I thôt it prudent to write the inclosed Letter, as I came by the Orders of the Ministers for Peace— You will please to shew it to the Gentlemen, if you think it proper.2

With the sincerest Respect & Attachment, / I have the honor to be, / Sir, / your most Hble Servt.

J Thaxter.

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excelly. / Mr. Adams.”

Thaxter refers to the Isle de Groix off the harbor mouth at Lorient, but his information concerning the packet was mistaken, for which see Zachariah Loreilhe’s letter of 24 Sept., below.

Thaxter’s letter to the commissioners was dated 20 Sept. (LbC-Tr, APM Reel 103) and is very similar to his 18 Sept. letter to JA, above. Copied into the Letterbook with the 20 Sept. letter and enclosed with the 18 Sept. letter was the same brief note of the 18th to the Comte de Thévenard. That the letter to the commissioners and enclosure were copied into the Letterbook prepared for them by Benjamin Franklin’s secretary Jean L’Air de Lamotte indicates that JA shared the documents with his colleagues.

From Zachariah Loreilhe, 24 September 1783 Loreilhe, Zachariah Adams, John

From Zachariah Loreilhe

Sir L’Orient Seper. 24th: 1783

At the desire of Mr. Thaxter I have the honor of Informing you that the Packetboat which Sailled from hence the 18th: Instt: for Newyork, was by distress of weather obliged to put back at the Ile of Groy yesterday in the afternoon, and last night at twelve OClock there being every apearance of a favorable wind, Mr. Thaxter found it Necessary to go on board, and in Such a hurry as made it imposible for him to acquint you with this Circumstance, however the Packetboat is Still at Groy The Wind not having Permitted them to Continue their Voyage, but as it is posible a change may happen every Instant Mr Thaxter has thought it Necessary to remain on board;1

I have the honour to be with great respect / Sir / your most obedient & / humble Servant

Z: Loreilhe

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excellency John Adams.”

The packet, Courier de l’Europe, finally sailed on 26 Sept. and reached New York on 19 November. John Thaxter delivered the definitive treaty to Congress on the 22d ( Pennsylvania Gazette Philadelphia Freeman's Journal , 26 Nov.; from Thaxter, 19 Jan. 1784, below).

From Francis Dana, 29 September 1783 Dana, Francis Adams, John

From Francis Dana

Dear Sir Elsineur Septr: 29th. 1783. N.S.

I have already advised you of my determination to return to America. In pursuance of that I sailed in the Ship Kingston Capt: 307Norwood, from Cronstadt for Boston, on the 28th. of August O. Stile.1 We arrived here yesterday afternoon in good order, having been twenty days from Cronstadt, eight of which we lay in the Baltic harbour, about 60 Leagues from thence, wind bound. We shall sail from hence as soon as the wind will permit us. We touch in at some port in the channel, Portsmouth if practicable. Shou’d we have a rough passage from hence ’tis not improbable I may spend the Winter in England, chiefly with my brother,2 as We find on our arrival here, that the Definitive Treaties were concluded on the 2d. & 3d. of this month.3 and I am still that miserable wretch on the Seas you have seen me to be. I was not made for that unstable element, and we shall probably arrive on our Coast in the most dangerous season of the year. If I shou’d stop in England over the winter I will write you from thence for I do not expect you will suddenly return to America. If the information of the Gazettes which I read at St: Petersbourg may be depended upon, you are destined for the Court of London, but I doubt this from what you wrote me about your return.4 However we may be disposed of let us not forget each other. I beg you to remember me affectionately to Mr: Thaxter & your Son, and to believe me to remain with the most sincere and unalterable attachment your much obliged Friend and most obedient humble Servant

FRA DANA

P.S. I have all your Son’s things with me— Mr: Allen is my fellow passenger & desires to be remembered to you & the family

RC (Adams Papers); internal address: “His Excelly: John Adams / Minister Plenipotentiary of the United-States.”; endorsed: “Mr Dana / Septr. 29. 1783.”

In several letters written at the end of July, Dana indicated that he would be sailing on the Duchess of Kingston’s yacht (from Dana, [29 July], note 9, above). The Kingston reached Boston on Saturday, 13 December. However, the Boston Gazette of 15 Dec. reported that “Saturday [13 Dec.] arrived here the ship Empress of Russia in 91 days from Petersburgh (Russia) but last from the Downs, in 55 days— In her came passengers the Hon. Francis Dana, Esq.; Minister from the Congress of the United States of America, to the Court of Petersburgh, and Mr. Jeremiah Allen, of this town, merchant.” The vessel was in the Downs, a roadstead in the English Channel off Deal, England, on 15 Oct., when Dana wrote to his brother Edmund (MHi:Francis Dana Letterbooks, Private, 1782–1784). Note that in a portion of AA’s 7 Dec. letter written on the 13th, she says that Dana arrived on the 12th ( AFC , 5:277). The vessel’s identification—repeated in the 18 Dec. Boston Independent Chronicle—as the Empress of Russia is puzzling, but any explanation would be purely speculative in view of the official report of vessels entering or clearing the port of Boston in the 22 Dec. Boston Gazette that identified the ship as the Kingston, Capt. Norwood, from St. Petersburg.

Dana’s brother was Rev. Edmund Dana (1739–1823), a Harvard graduate and vicar of Wroxeter in England. He had gone to England in 1763 to study medicine, but after his marriage to Helen, daughter of the 6th Baron Kinnaird, he took up the ministry ( Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 14:414–418).

That is, the Anglo-Dutch preliminary 308treaty was signed on 2 Sept. 1783, while the definitive treaties between Britain, France, Spain, and the United States were signed on the 3d.

It is impossible to know what reports Dana had seen, but considering the date of his departure from St. Petersburg, they might have been similar to the erroneous one appearing in the 5 Aug. London Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser. There it was reported that “Mr. Adams is arrived in London on the part of the American Congress; he will not, for some time, be introduced at St. James’s in his Ministerial capacity; but will appear in that situation immediately after the ratification of peace.”