neighbors, and that, if we will but think and act for ourselves, and unite, we shall have nothing to fear.

I wish it may be convenient to you to return in some vessel bound to this port, that I may have the pleasure of taking you by the hand, and personally assuring you of the sincere esteem and regard with which I am, &c.,

JOHN JAY.

Extract from the Secret Journals of Congress, October 5, 1787. The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign Affairs, to whom were referred two letters from the Honorable John Adams of the 24th and 27th of January last, having reported as follows:

The first of these letters gives occasion to several questions.

1. Shall Mr. Adams return after the expiration of his commission to the Court of London, viz: 24th February, 1788? Your Secretary is persuaded that Mr. Adams really wishes and means to return next spring, and therefore thinks it would be proper for Congress to resolve that the Honorable John Adams, the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at the Court of London, be permitted (agreeably to request) to return to America at any time after the 24th February, in the year of our Lord 1788, and that his commission of Minister Plenipotentiary to their High Mightinesses do also then determine;

And having also reported a resolution approving his conduct, and giving him the thanks of Congress, both resolutions were agreed to, as follows:

"Resolved, That the Honorable John Adams, the Minister Pleni'potentiary of the United States at the Court of London, be permitted, ' agreeably to his request, to return to America at any time after the 24th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1788; and that his 'commission of Minister Plenipotentiary to their High Mightinesses 'do also then determine.

"Resolved, That Congress entertain a high sense of the services 'which Mr. Adams has rendered to the United States, in the execution of the various important trusts which they have from time to 'time committed to him; and that the thanks of Congress be 'presented to him for the patriotism, perseverance, integrity, and 'diligence with which he has ably and faithfully served his country."

The Secretary having further reported

The second question arising from this letter is, whether it will be expedient for the United States to appoint another Minister to take the place of Mr. Adams at the Court of London? On this head, the Secretary is of opinion that it will be expedient to appoint another, because there do exist differences between the United States and the Court of London which cannot too soon be adjusted, which must become the subject of occasional explanations and negotiations, and which, on the part of the United States, cannot be so well managed and conducted as by means of an intelligent and discreet Minister on the spot. Your Secretary's feelings strongly prompt him to retaliate the neglect of Britain in not sending a Minister here; but as he conceives that such retaliation would eventually produce more inconveniences than advantages, he thinks it had better be omitted, especially as he is persuaded that this neglect will cease the moment that the American Government, and the administration of it, shall be such as to impress other nations with a degree of respect which various circumstances deny to Congress the means of imposing at present. He thinks it should be the policy of the United States at present to keep all things as smooth and easy, and to expose themselves to as few embarrassments as possible, until their affairs shall be in such a posture as to justify and support a more nervous style of conduct and language. Britain disputes the eastern boundary of the United States; she holds important posts and territories on the frontiers; and she complains that the treaty of peace has been violated by America. These affairs are important, and the management of them requires prudence and temper, especially considering how little the actual state of our national affairs tends to repress the influence either of unfriendly dispositions and passions, or of that kind of policy which the weakness of neighbors is very apt to suggest and promote. If Congress should concur in the opinion that a Minister to succeed Mr. Adams should be appointed, a resolution like the following would perhaps be the most proper:

"Whereas, divers important affairs still remain to be arranged 'and adjusted between his Britannic Majesty and the United States, 'which, on their part, cannot be so well conducted as by means of 'a Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of London: Therefore,

"Resolved, That a Minister Plenipotentiary, to reside at that Court, be appointed; and that his commission take effect on the

25th day of February, 1788, and continue in force for the space of 'three years thereafter, unless sooner revoked."

Your Secretary conceives it would be best that this Minister should be appointed so early as that he might have time to reach London by the 1st of February, in order that he may have an opportunity of receiving information from Mr. Adams respecting characters and affairs; and that the progress of the business of the legation may not be stopped by the expiration of Mr. Adams's commission.

On the question,

Resolved, That this part of the report be postponed."

The Secretary having proceeded in his report—

But if Congress should either not incline to appoint another Minister, or should think proper to postpone it so long as that he will not probably be in London in February, then he thinks it would be right to consider another question arising from the letter, viz: Whether it would be expedient to constitute Colonel Smith Chargé d'Affaires? On this head your Secretary finds himself embarrassed. For, on the one hand, he esteems Colonel Smith as a gentleman of acknowledged merit, who has uniformly deserved well of his country; and on the other, the light in which the duties of his office have hitherto been viewed, gives the color of propriety only to his reporting on the expediency of appointments, and not on the persons most proper to be appointed. And as the letter referred to him, and now under consideration, does nevertheless raise the question relative to the person as well as the place, he thinks it proper to make these remarks, lest, if not adverted to, his omitting to report on the former as well as the latter might be ascribed to other than the true reasons. He thinks that if, when Mr. Adams quits the affairs of the legation, they are not to pass immediately into the hands of a successor, there can be little doubt of the expediency of appointing a proper person to take charge of them. In that case, therefore, it would, in his opinion, be proper to resolve that a person be appointed to take charge of the affairs of the American legation at the Court of London, from the expiration of the commission of the present Minister to the arrival there of another Minister to succeed him, or until the further order of Congress.

On this part of the report a question was taken to agree thereto, and was lost.

Dear Sir,

FROM JOHN JAY TO JOHN ADAMS.

Office for Foreign Affairs, 3d November, 1787.

I had the honor of writing to you on the 16th day of last month, and have now that of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, a duplicate of the ratification of your late contract, together with a copy of two acts of Congress, viz : one of the 18th day of July, authorizing Mr. Jefferson to redeem our captives at Algiers; and the other, of the 12th day of October, appropriating the residue of the eighty thousand dollars, formerly destined for treaties with the Barbary Powers, as a fund for such redemption.

The newspapers, subsequent to the date of my last, will accompany this.

With great and sincere esteem, &c.,

JOHN JAY.

Extract from the Journals of Congress, October 11, 1787.

The ratification of the above contract by the United States in Congress assembled, is in the words following:

Be it remembered that the within contract or engagement entered into by the Honorable John Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to their High Mightinesses the Lords the States General of the United Netherlands, in behalf of the said States, with sundry money-lenders, for a loan of one million of guilders, Dutch current money, dated at Amsterdam, the 1st day of June, 1787, hath been read in Congress, approved and ratified, and declared obligatory on the United States of America.

Done in the City Hall, in the city of New York, by the United States in Congress assembled, this 11th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1787, and in the twelfth year of our sovereignty and independence.

Extract from the Secret Journals of Congress, October 12, 1787.

On a report of the Board of Treasury, in consequence of an act of 18th July,

Resolved, That the balance of the appropriation for the Barbary treaties, of the 14th February, 1785, not hitherto applied to that VOL. II.-51

object, be, and it is hereby, constituted a fund for redeeming the American captives now at Algiers; and that the same be for this purpose subject to the direction of the Minister of the United States at the Court of Versailles.

That the acts of Congress of the 14th February, 1785, and such part of the resolves of the 18th July, 1787, as direct provision to be made for the above object, be, and they are hereby, repealed.

Dear Sir,

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY.

Grosvenor Square, London, September 10, 1787.

Enclosed is a letter from the Portuguese Minister to me of the 7th of September, and my answer of this day, the 10th.

This is so pointed a proposition that Congress will undoubtedly send an answer either in the affirmative or negative. The regard of sovereigns to one another renders this indispensable; and I am not able to see how a compliance with so civil a request can well be avoided. Congress may agree to the proposition, and her Majesty will appoint her Minister; and whether the American Minister is soon appointed or not, the forms and decencies will be preserved. If it were only on account of the Algerines to watch their motions, and concert measures against them, I should think it prudent for the United States to have a Minister at Lisbon.

Colonel Smith will write you an account of his journey and voyage, and of the termination of his commission, according to his wishes and to his satisfaction. Congress, I hope too, will be satisfied. But if a regular Minister had been sent upon this service, and ordered to return as soon as he had accomplished it, her Majesty would probably have sent a Minister to New York without further delay. I ought not to conclude without observing that these missions by deputation are unknown to Courts and Ministers, and to the law of nations; and if a legal question should ever be made concerning them, the United States will infallibly be dishonored by a formal decision against them. In Mr. Barclay's case, had the decision of the Parliament of Bordeaux been appealed to from Court, it must have been reversed. The character of Ambassadors is held sacred, and their prerogatives very high, both by the law of nations