130 APPENDIX TO BRITISH COUNTER CASE. 



are now, at night, again employed in that way, so as to be the better 

 prepared for them, at least as well as can be done from materials of 



such indefinite construction 



P. S. It seems to be agreed by all the Commissioners, that the 

 Debts before the war should be paid, if the debtors are in circum- 

 stances: and that the several provinces should be liable for such of 

 them as their assemblies have levied and taken into their Treasury. 



79 No. 86. 1782, October 31 : Extract from letter, Mr. Adams to 



Mr. Livingston. 



PARIS, October 31, 1782. 



SIR: Having executed the treaty of commerce at The Hague, and 

 despatched four copies of it by four different vessels bound to Amer- 

 ica from the Texel, and having signed a sufficient number of obli- 

 gations to leave in the hands of Messrs. Willinks, Van Staphorsts, 

 and De la Lande and Fynje, and having received information from 

 Mr. Jay that Mr. Oswald had received a commission from the king, 

 his master, under the great seal of Great Britain, to treat with the 

 commissioners of the United States of America, I set off for Paris, 

 where I arrived on Saturday, the 26th of this month, after a tedious 

 journey, the roads being, on account of long-continued rains, in the 

 worst condition I ever knew them. 



I waited forthwith on Mr. Jay, and from him learned the state of 

 the conferences. It is not possible at present to enter into details. 

 All I can say is in general, that I had the utmost satisfaction in 

 finding that he had been all along acting here upon the same princi- 

 ples upon which I had ventured to act in Holland, and that we were 

 perfectly agreed in our sentiments and systems. I can not express 

 it better than in his own words : " to be honest and grateful to our 

 allies, but to think for ourselves." I find a construction put upon one 

 article of our instructions by some persons which, I confess, I never 

 put upon it myself. It is represented by some as subjecting us to 

 the French ministry, as taking away from us all right of judging 

 for ourselves, and obliging us to agree to whatever the French min- 

 isters should advise us to, and to do nothing without their consent. 

 I never supposed this to be the intention of Congress; if I had, I 

 never would have accepted the commission, and if I now thought 

 it their intention I could not continue in it. I can not think it 

 possible to be the design of Congress; if it is I hereby resign my 

 place in the commission, and request that another person may be 

 immediately appointed in my stead. 



Yesterday we met Mr. Oswald at his lodgings ; Mr. Jay, Dr. Frank- 

 lin, and myself on one side, and Mr. Oswald, assisted by Mr. Strachey, 

 a gentleman whom I had the honor to meet in company with Lord 

 Howe upon Staten Island, in the year 1776, and assisted also* by a 

 Mr. Roberts, a clerk in some of the public offices, with books, maps, 

 and papers relative to the boundaries. 



I arrived in a lucky moment for the boundary of the Massachusetts, 

 because I had brought with me all the essential documents relative 

 to that object, which are this day to be laid before my colleagues in 

 conference at my house, and afterwards before Mr. Oswald. 



