I am this day, Madam, favoured with your Letter of the 19th of March, & embrace the earliest Oppertunity of informing You, that it is highly probable, Congress will make their Arrangements for negotiating commercial Treaties this Week.(1) The Subject has several Months been prepared for Deliberation, but this has been prevented by the Want of a full Representation; untill of late, there being eleven states on the Floor, the Matter has been much discussed. I think it not improbable, that the Report, which provides, that a Number of commercial Negotiations shall be set on Foot, under the joint Direction of Messrs Adams, Franklin & Jay, will be accepted; upon our consenting that Mr Jefferson of Virginia, who has an excellent character, & has been always on the most friendly Terms with Mr Adams, shall be added to the Commissioners. I cannot however Madam, give You the fullest Assurance on this head, as some States are opposed to augmenting the Number of the Ministers, & seem to insist on accepting the Resignation of Doctor Franklin, & on appointing Governor Jefferson to fill the Vacancy. This is a point I should be disposed to push, was it practicable; but as I know it is not, at the present Crisis, the Addition appears to me a desirable object, more especially, as Mr Jay will probably return. Under these circumstances, unless You have particular Reasons for wishing to take passage in Capt Callahan, it may be best to have every Thing in Readiness to embark on the shortest Notice, but not to engage positively to take a Cabin; lest, when the Ship is ready for the Sea, You should find the Measure inconvenient. If the Matter should be thus conducted, & You receive no further Information, You can proceed or not, as You may judge expedient; & should You determine in the Negative, You will probably not loose much Time, by taking Passage on the next Vessel, & will have an equal Chance for favorable Weather.(2)
I am very unhappy to hear of the Death of Colo Quincey. He was [a] Gentleman for whom I had the greatest Respect, & I sincerely condole with the Ladies of his Family & with all his Friends.
I have been somewhat explicit on the Subject of Your going to Europe, that You may give our Friend some Information by Callahan, should You not proceed in his Vessel, & that Mr Jay may be thus prevented, if possible, from returning. I would write a Line to Mr Adams with the greatest Pleasure, but I have a dozen Letters to answer by this
Inclosed is the Pamphlet You have mentioned.(3) Mr Jennings' two Publications(4) are here but they exceed the Bulk admitted to be carryed by the post, under the Denomination of a packet. I remain Madam with perfect Esteem & Respect, Your most obt & very hum Servt,
E Gerry
[P.S.] Neither Doctor Lee, nor Mr Osgood are in Congress, the first has made an Excursion to Virginia; the other You will probably see at Braintree.
RC (MHi: Adams Papers).
1 These "Arrangements" were not completed until May 11. See JCC, 27:367-74.
2 Abigail's plans to join her husband in Europe finally bore fruit in August, when she joined John in London "after a seperation of four Years and an half." Adams, Diary (Butterfield), 3:170.
3 Apparently Henry Laurens' Mr. Laurens's True State of the Case. By which His Candor to Mr. Jenings Is Manifested, And the Tricks of Mr. Jenings Are Detected, for which see Thomas R. Adams, The American Controversy. A Bibliographical Study of the British Pamphlets About the American Disputes, 1764-1783, 2 vols. (Providence: Brown University Press, 1980), 2:885-86. This work was an attack on Edmund Jenings, a confidante of John Adams, whom Laurens suspected of having published in the Netherlands an anonymous letter aimed at sowing discord among the American commissioners in Europe. See Adams, Diary (Butterfield), 2:355-56; and Charles Thomson to Hannah Thomson, October 24, 1783, note 2.
4 A Full Manifestation of What Mr. Henry Laurens Falsely Denominates Candor in Himself, and Tricks in Mr. Edmund Jenings, and The Candor of Henry Laurens, Esq; Manifested by his Behaviour to Mr. Edmund Jenings. Adams, The American Controversy, 2:882-83.