Dumas to the American Commissioners
AL: Harvard University Library; AL (draft): Algemeen Rijksarchief
<The Hague, June 19[-26], 1778: On the 17th the local gazetteer
published a statement that the article about Mr. [William]
Lee did not come from the court of Vienna. On Tuesday
there will be more in the Leyden paper. We are, you can see,
waging a small war here. The Grand Facteur predicts that permission
to present the treaty will arrive on Tuesday and produce
a resolution by the States General. I think not. We are in
no position to attempt so much; all we can do is to prevent our
enemies from converting the republic to their views, and this
we are doing. June 23: I told the Grand Facteur that the treaty
will be published in England and America, and so nullify my
approach to the Grand Pensionary. What is done is done, he
answered; we have written and must await the reply. The Gazette
de Leyde today published a letter [from Ostend] saying
that the port, now that an American agent is in Vienna, might
be opened to American trade. June 26: I finally have permission
to give the treaty to the Grand Pensionary, though no
copies may be made; and I am told Mr. Franklin approves all
this. The States, I hear, will meet within nineteen days.>
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