corrected and enlarged them, and had 200. copies printed, under the

title of Notes on Virginia. I gave a very few copies to some
particular persons in Europe, and sent the rest to my friends in

America. An European copy, by the death of the owner, got into the
hands of a bookseller, who engaged it's translation, & when ready for

the press, communicated his intentions & manuscript to me, without
any other permission than that of suggesting corrections. I never

had seen so wretched an attempt at translation. Interverted,
abridged, mutilated, and often reversing the sense of the original, I

found it a blotch of errors from beginning to end. I corrected some
of the most material, and in that form it was printed in French. A

London bookseller, on seeing the translation, requested me to permit
him to print the English original. I thought it best to do so to let

the world see that it was not really so bad as the French translation
had made it appear. And this is the true history of that

publication.
Mr. Adams soon joined us at Paris, & our first employment was

to prepare a general form to be proposed to such nations as were
disposed to treat with us. During the negotiations for peace with

the British Commissioner David Hartley, our Commissioners had
proposed, on the suggestion of Doctr. Franklin, to insert an article

exempting from capture by the public or private armed ships of either
belligerent, when at war, all merchant vessels and their cargoes,

employed merely in carrying on the commerce between nations. It was
refused by England, and unwisely, in my opinion. For in the case of

a war with us, their superior commerce places infinitely more at
hazard on the ocean than ours; and as hawks abound in proportion to

game, so our privateers would swarm in proportion to the wealth
exposed to their prize, while theirs would be few for want of

subjects of capture. We inserted this article in our form, with a
provision against the molestation of fishermen, husbandmen, citizens

unarmed and following their occupations in unfortified places, for
the humanetreatment of prisoners of war, the abolition of contraband

of war, which exposes merchant vessels to such vexatious & ruinous
detentions and abuses; and for the principle of free bottoms, free

goods.
In a conference with the Count de Vergennes, it was thought

better to leave to legislativeregulation on both sides such
modifications of our commercialintercourse as would voluntarily flow

from amicable dispositions. Without urging, we sounded the ministers
of the several European nations at the court of Versailles, on their

dispositions towards mutualcommerce, and the expediency of
encouraging it by the protection of a treaty. Old Frederic of

Prussia met us cordially and without hesitation, and appointing the
Baron de Thulemeyer, his minister at the Hague, to negotiate with us,

we communicated to him our Project, which with little alteration by
the King, was soon concluded. Denmark and Tuscany entered also into

negotiations with us. Other powers appearing indifferent we did not
think it proper to press them. They seemed in fact to know little

about us, but as rebels who had been successful in throwing off the
yoke of the mother country. They were ignorant of our commerce,

which had been always monopolized by England, and of the exchange of
articles it might offer advantageously to both parties. They were

inclined therefore to stand aloof until they could see better what
relations might be usefully instituted with us. The negotiations

therefore begun with Denmark & Tuscany we protracted designedly until
our powers had expired; and abstained from making new propositions to

others having no colonies; because our commerce being an exchange of
raw for wrought materials, is a competent price for admission into

the colonies of those possessing them: but were we to give it,
without price, to others, all would claim it without price on the

ordinary ground of gentis amicissimae.
Mr. Adams being appointed Min. Pleny. of the U S. to London,

left us in June, and in July 1785. Dr. Franklin returned to America,
and I was appointed his successor at Paris. In Feb. 1786. Mr. Adams

wrote to me pressingly to join him in London immediately, as he
thought he discovered there some symptoms of better disposition

towards us. Colo. Smith, his Secretary of legation, was the bearer
of his urgencies for my immediate attendance. I accordingly left

Paris on the 1st. of March, and on my arrival in London we agreed on
a very summary form of treaty, proposing an exchange of citizenship

for our citizens, our ships, and our productions generally, except as
to office. On my presentation as usual to the King and Queen at

their levees, it was impossible for anything to be more ungracious
than their notice of Mr. Adams & myself. I saw at once that the

ulcerations in the narrow mind of that mulish being left nothing to
be expected on the subject of my attendance; and on the first

conference with the Marquis of Caermarthen, his Minister of foreign
affairs, the distance and disinclination which he betrayed in his

conversation, the vagueness & evasions of his answers to us,
confirmed me in the belief of their aversion to have anything to do

with us. We delivered him however our Projet, Mr. Adams not
despairing as much as I did of it's effect. We afterwards, by one or

more notes, requested his appointment of an interview and conference,
which, without directly declining, he evaded by pretences of other

pressing occupations for the moment. After staying there seven
weeks, till within a few days of the expiration of our commission, I

informed the minister by note that my duties at Paris required my
return to that place, and that I should with pleasure be the bearer

of any commands to his Ambassador there. He answered that he had
none, and wishing me a pleasant journey, I left London the 26th.

arrived at Paris on the 30th. of April.
While in London we entered into negotiations with the Chevalier

Pinto, Ambassador of Portugal at that place. The only article of
difficulty between us was a stipulation that our bread stuff should

be received in Portugal in the form of flour as well as of grain. He
approved of it himself, but observed that several Nobles, of great

influence at their court, were the owners of wind mills in the
neighborhood of Lisbon which depended much for their profits on

manufacturing our wheat, and that this stipulation would endanger the
whole treaty. He signed it however, & it's fate was what he had

candidly portended.
My duties at Paris were confined to a few objects; the receipt

of our whale-oils, salted fish, and salted meats on favorable terms,
the admission of our rice on equal terms with that of Piedmont, Egypt

& the Levant, a mitigation of the monopolies of our tobacco by the
Farmers-general, and a free admission of our productions into their

islands; were the principalcommercial objects which required
attention; and on these occasions I was powerfully aided by all the

influence and the energies of the Marquis de La Fayette, who proved
himself equallyzealous for the friendship and welfare of both

nations; and in justice I must also say that I found the government
entirely disposed to befriend us on all occasions, and to yield us

every indulgence not absolutelyinjurious to themselves. The Count
de Vergennes had the reputation with the diplomatic corps of being

wary & slippery in his diplomaticintercourse; and so he might be
with those whom he knew to be slippery and double-faced themselves.

As he saw that I had no indirect views, practised no subtleties,
meddled in no intrigues, pursued no concealed object, I found him as

frank, as honorable, as easy of access to reason as any man with whom
I had ever done business; and I must say the same for his successor

Montmorin, one of the most honest and worthy of human beings.
Our commerce in the Mediterranean was placed under early alarm

by the capture of two of our vessels and crews by the Barbary
cruisers. I was very willing" target="_blank" title="a.不愿意的；不情愿的">unwilling that we should acquiesce in the

European humiliation of paying a tribute to those lawless pirates,
and endeavored to form an association of the powers subject to

habitual depredations from them. I accordingly prepared and proposed
to their ministers at Paris, for consultation with their governments,

articles of a special confederation in the following form.
* * *

"Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at war with
the Piratical States of Barbary.

1. It is proposed that the several powers at war with the
Piratical States of Barbary, or any two or more of them who shall be

willing, shall enter into a convention to carry on their operations
against those states, in concert, beginning with the Algerines.

2. This convention shall remain open to any other power who