not appear to strike me so forcibly as they have done you; and it gives me pain, that the character for candor and fidelity to its engagements, which should always characterise a great people, should have been impeached thereby. The concealment was in my opinion absolutely unnecessary; for had the Court of France disapproved the terms you had made, after they had been agreed upon, they could not have acted so absurdly as to counteract you at that late day; and thereby put themselves in the power of an enemy, who would certainly betray them, and perhaps justify you in making terms for yourselves.

The Secret Article is no otherwise important, than as it carries in it the seeds of enmity to the Court of Spain, and shows a marked preference for an open enemy. It would in my opinion, have been much better to have fixed on the same boundaries for West Florida, into whatever hands it fell, without showing any preference, or rendering concealment necessary; since all the arguments in favor of the cession to England would then have operated with equal force, and nothing have been lost by it; for there can be no doubt, that whether Florida shall at the close of the war be ceded to England or to Spain, it will be ceded as it was held by Britain. The Separate Article is not, I suppose, by this time a secret in Europe; it can hardly be considered as such in America. The treaty was sent out to the General with this Article annexed by Sir Guy Carleton, without the smallest injunction of secrecy. So that I dare say it has been pretty generally read at head quarters. Congress still conceal it here. I feel for the embarrassment explanations on this subject must subject you to, when this secret is known to your allies.

sary to render this Article palatable, and indeed to secure

more effectually the debt. loyalists is not quite so wish it to have been. real British subjects? It is clear to me that it will operate nothing in their favor in any State in the union, but as you made no secret of this to the British Commissioners, they will have nothing to charge you with; and indeed the whole clause seems rather to have been inserted to appease the clamor of these poor wretches, than to satisfy their wants. Britain would have discovered more candor and magnanimity in paying to them three months' expense of the war establishment, which would have been an ample compensation for all their losses, and left no germ of dissatisfaction to bud and bloom and ripen into discontents here. Another mad Administration may think the noncompliance of the Legislatures with the recommendations of Congress on this subject, a sufficient cause for giving themselves and us new troubles. You however were perfectly right in agreeing to the Article, the folly was theirs, who did not either insist upon more, or give up this.

The Article relative to the accurately expressed as I could What for instance is intended by

But, Gentlemen, though the issue of your treaty has been successful, though I am satisfied that we are much indebted to your firmness and perseverance, to your accurate knowledge of our situation, and of our wants for this success, yet I feel no little pain at the distrust manifested in the management of it; particularly in signing the treaty without communicating it to the Court of Versailles till after the signature, and in concealing the Separate Article from it even when signed. I have examined with the most minute attention all the reasons assigned in your sev

not appear to strike me so forcibly as they have done you; and it gives me pain, that the character for candor and fidelity to its engagements, which should always characterise a great people, should have been impeached thereby. The concealment was in my opinion absolutely unnecessary; for had the Court of France disapproved the terms you had made, after they had been agreed upon, they could not have acted so absurdly as to counteract you at that late day; and thereby put themselves in the power of an enemy, who would certainly betray them, and perhaps justify you in making terms for yourselves.

The Secret Article is no otherwise important, than as it carries in it the seeds of enmity to the Court of Spain, and shows a marked preference for an open enemy. It would in my opinion, have been much better to have fixed on the same boundaries for West Florida, into whatever hands it fell, without showing any preference, or rendering concealment necessary; since all the arguments in favor of the cession to England would then have operated with equal force, and nothing have been lost by it; for there can be no doubt, that whether Florida shall at the close of the war be ceded to England or to Spain, it will be ceded as it was held by Britain. The Separate Article is not, I suppose, by this time a secret in Europe; it can hardly be considered as such in America. The treaty was sent out to the General with this Article annexed by Sir Guy Carleton, without the smallest injunction of secrecy. So that I dare say it has been pretty generally read at head quarters. Congress still conceal it here. I feel for the embarrassment explanations on this subject must subject you to, when this secret is known to your allies.

I find there is not the least prospect of obtaining any decision upon it in time to send by this conveyance, if at all. I leave you to collect their sentiments, as far as I know them, from the following state of their proceedings. After your joint and separate letters, and the journals had been submitted to them by me, and had been read, they were referred back to me to report upon, when I wrote them a letter, and when it was taken into consideration, motions were made and debated a whole day. After which the letter and motions were committed, and a report brought in. This was under consideration two days, when the arrival of a vessel from Cadiz with letters from the Count d'Estaing and the Marquis de Lafayette, containing accounts, that the preliminaries were signed, induced many members to think it would be improper to proceed in the report, and in that state it remains without any express decision. From this you will draw your own inferences.

I make no apology for the part I have taken in this business. I am satisfied you will readily acquit me for having discharged what I conceived to be my duty upon such a view of things as you presented to me. In declaring my sentiments freely, I invite you to treat me with equal candor in your letters, and in sending original papers, I guard against misrepresentations that might give you pain. Upon the whole I have the pleasure of assuring you, that the services you have rendered your country, in bringing this business to a happy issue, are very gratefully received by them; however we may differ in sentiments about the mode of doing it.

I am sorry that the extreme negligence of the different States, has prevented, and will probably long prevent, my

property, and the number of slaves destroyed and carried off by the British troops and their allies, though no pains have been, or shall be wanting, on my part to urge them to it. I have the honor to be, Gentlemen,

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

PROCLAMATION OF

CONGRESS DECLARING A CESSATION OF ARMS.

By the United States of America in Congress assembled.

A PROCLAMATION,

Declaring the cessation of arms, as well by sea as by land, agreed upon between the United States of America and his Britannic Majesty; and enjoining the observance thereof.

Whereas Provisional Articles were signed at Paris on the 30th day of November last, between the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of America for treating of peace, and the Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, to be inserted in, and to constitute the treaty of peace proposed to be concluded between the United States of America and his Britannic Majesty, when terms of peace should be agreed upon between their Most Christian and Britannic Majesties; and whereas preliminaries for restoring peace between their Most Christian and Britannic Majesties were signed at Versailles, on the 20th day of January last, by the Ministers of their Most Christian and Britannic Majesties; and whereas preliminaries for restoring peace between the said King of Great Britain and the King of Spain, were also signed at Ver