Diary of John Adams, volume 3
Met at Mr. Laurens's, and signed the Letter, I had drawn up to Mr. Dana, which I sent off inclosed with a Copy of the Preliminaries1 — and consulted about Articles to be inserted in the definitive Treaty. Agreed that Mr. Jay and I should prepare a joint Letter to Congress.
At 7.1 met Mr. Jay at his House and We drew a Letter.2
Signed by the four American Commissioners and dated this day, this letter is in MHi:Dana Papers; a facsimile is in Francis Dana
The version finally agreed upon, dated 14 Dec., signed by the four Commissioners, and sent to Secretary Livingston, is in PCC, No. 85; printed in Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev.
, 6:131–133. In the Adams Papers is JA's “rough draught of a common Washington. Barney did not sail from Lorient, however, until mid-January and did not arrive until 12 March (Pres. Boudinot to George Washington, 12 March 1783; Burnett, ed., Letters of Members
, 7:71).
I went first to Mr. Jay, and made some Additions to the joint Letter, which I carried first to Mr. Laurens, who made some Corrections and Additions, and then to Passy to Dr. Franklin who proposed a few other Corrections, and shewed me an Article he has drawn up for the definitive Treaty to exempt Fishermen, Husbandmen and Merchants as much as possible from the Evils of future Wars. This is a good Lesson to Mankind at least. All agreed to meet at my House at 11 tomorrow to finish the joint Letter.1
See the preceding entry and note 2 there. With the present entry the extracts copied by Thaxter and Storer from JA's Diary of the preliminary peace negotiation and sent to Livingston come to an end, at least so far as they are found in PCC, No. 84, IV; see note on entry of 2 Nov., above.
Mr. Fitsherbert and Mr. Oswald, Mr. Laurens &c. dined with me.
The 4 Commissioners dined with Mr. Fitsherbert. Ld. Mountnorris a celebrated Speaker in the Irish house of Lords dined there, and several English Gentlemen.
The Rock Salt is taken out of the Salt Pits in England, Ld. Mountnorris said. He gave me a Description of the Caverns, and the kind of Architecture with which they support them, like the Pillars of a Temple.
We met at Mr. Laurens's at Dr. Franklins Summons or Invitation at 11 O Clock. He produced a Letter to him from the Comte de Vergennes, and a Project of an Answer which he had drawn up which We advised him unanimously to send.1
Vergennes' letter to Franklin, 15 Dec., complaining of the American Commissioners' failure to consult with him before concluding their negotiation with the British, and Franklin's famous reply thereto, 17 Dec., are both printed in Franklin's Writings, ed. Smyth, 8:641–643.