A PAMPHLET, containing my private correspondence with John Jay, Esquire, and published since my departure from America, has been transmitted to me.

Confidence in the justice and impartiality of my country first induced me to appeal to her solemn tribunal; malice, persecution and insult, united in ren­dering recrimination on my part but a just defence, and I have still more, the satisfaction to think that I have given an useful lesson to the world, by un­masking a character, which hypocrisy and dissimulation had so long concealed. The shafts of calumny, I dare hope, have been long blunted against my fame; and I should think myself degraded by entering into a further juftification, was it not to convince my fellow-citizens, that no situation in the European world can diminish the submission and respect which I shall ever pay to their judgment: To merit their esteem will ever be my highest ambition; my first duty is, to leave on unspotted name amongst them.

Had the publication of my correspondence with Mr. Jay been unsoiled by his observations, I should have thought it needed on my part neither comment [Page 8]nor defence. It commences at an age, when few inferences are to be drawn from either opinion or conduct, which can justly affect the heart or morals. If, instead of the effusions of a warm and grateful mind, that zeal for my country, that ardour for military fame, and enthusiastic sense of honor, which even my connexion with Mr. Jay could not extinguish, mine had been replete with the imprudent sallies and inconsequential errors so common to my age; surely the voice of candour would still hesitate to decide, until maturity should either fix or obliterate the stain, which only at a certain period becomes inde­lible. If it was intended to prove that I once thought differently of Mr. Jay, I entreat the Public to observe that I have never ceased to avow it; at an age of error I certainly esteemed him.

The second part approaches nearer to manhood. It contains some ripened ideas upon Mr. Jay, joined to some warm expostulations with him for his con­duct towards me, dictated by sentiments as void of art as the expressions which convey them. But there, too, his malignity has been baffled to point out one line which can be justly construed into a breach of honor, and still less of pro­bity, Even the pitiful subterfuge which he at last found, may be considered as no light encomium upon my character. I am accused, it seems, of having dared to reproach him with injustice and cruelty, during a scene of distress, ^* which will for ever remain engraved in my memory. Does he from thence, too, pretend a fresh claim to my gratitude? Would not his conduct, on the contrary, have even justified me, in considering every past obligation as cancelled, and might I not here appeal to the sympathy and indignation of the world?

Upon another occasion, I recollect, he has insinuated that I acted the part of an incendiary, to pay court to him, and render his advances more liberal. He will hardly deny, that at the period alluded to, I stood in infinitely more need of his liberality, and still the public has seen that I proved, at best, but a snarling courtier. I confess I am even at a loss to conceive his motives for laying that part of our correspondence before the public; was it to prove his generosity, or PATRIOTISM? In the first instance, a youth of no unpromising dispositions, confided to his care and friendship, who had been guilty of no dishonorable, or even imprudent act,—at whose reputation, on the contrary, he himself rejoiced; ^†—ought surely to have had some claim to the common rights of humanity, if not to friendship and indulgence.

[Page 9] The conclusion resulting from the second state of the question is infinitely more serious: in that I am to be considered only in the character of a citizen of America;—the first ever recognized as such by the court of Spain, at a most critical aera in politics;—the first Protestant who was ever publicly au­thorised to serve in the army of the Catholic King:—In a word, placed in a situation which, insignificant as I was, had attracted the attention of part of Europe upon me:—at a juncture like that, did it become A MINISTER OF THE UNITED STATES, after having himself solicited my admission into the family of the commander in chief, both from the minister of state, ^* and the ambassador of France; after acknowledging the service, ^† which I rendered to my country; did it become him, I again repeat, to abandon me, deprive me of all credit and resources, and reduce me to the hard necessity of rearing, in the midst of the campaign, or derogating from my own honor and the dignity of my country, by imploring the charity of strangers?— These considerations were so obvious that the only citizen of America at hand, although personally almost a stranger to me, nobly exerted himself in what had then become a public cause; whilst the representative of Congress, with the trifling salary of 2,500 l. sterling per annum, held back, and af­fected to cavil at expressions, until finding the campaign drawing towards a conclusion, and himself in want of a private secretary, he condescended to forgive my complaints, and, by an unheard of effort of generosity, made me a remittance of 20 guineas.

For my own part, although I regard the campaign in Minorca as the se­verest trial of my youth, I shall ever look back to it with the pleasing sensa­tions of a mind unconscious of reproach, and even elate with triumph. At that crisis, I confess, I considered myself as much a representative of my country as her well-paid minister;—That idea alone added enthusiasm to ambition;—the latter may lead to glory, but the first urges to martyrdom. Perhaps, I may add, considering my situation, the motives which animated me, and the difficulties I had to encounter, my countrymen may conceive ideas of my principles and character very different from those which my adversary has long laboured to infuse. In justice, however, to the many elevated cha­racters [Page 10]who honored-me with their friendship in the army of Spain, I must declare, that, could I have submitted even to accept their pressing and reite­rated offers, that part of my discussion with Mr. Jay would have been abridg­ed, and the public not exposed to the indecency of seeing even my servant's accounts laid before them. ^*

As to the general sentiments expressed in my letters to him, our relative situations will sufficiently explain them. I shall confine my observations to such parts as have reference to the dispute, which has too long engaged the public attention.

With respect to my letter of the 15th June, 1781, I can only repeat what I have advanced in my publication of the 7th Dec. last, in which the secret springs of Mr. Jay's political machine are displayed to view. That I was most egregiously duped in the whole of that transaction I have never scrupled to confess:—without (unfortunately) entertaining at that time the smallest doubt upon Mr. Jay's veracity. I certainly expected a more explicit answer from him to accusations which I had produced upon his own authority: That letter, he does not deny, was written at his own request, to serve as a proof of the charges contained in it, in defence of BOTH OUR CHARAC­TERS: ^† consequently the same motives, which rendered such testimony of importance to him, gave me a right to expect that his reply would be so far consonant to it as to afford me the same advantage. His manner of evading it is equally singular and characterisic: "As to the minute particulars you mention, MY FEELINGS ARE TOO MUCH AWAKENED TO HAZARD any other reflection on them at present, &c." ^§ Does this convey the most distant hint of his requiring further proof of those facts, or doubting of their authenticity? Does not, on the contrary, his expression of fearing to hazard a reply upon a subject, which had too much awakened his feelings, imply that he avoided entering into it, lest, notwithstanding his natural apathy, he should be transported beyond the bounds of decorum? This artful display of warmth and sympathetic indignation, it is evident was calculated to play up­on my passions, to sooth and blind me to his purpose.

[Page 11] That he may not, however, be again led into an error, which has already proved fatal to him, of relying too much upon his supposed invisibility in si­milar transactions, I shall once more condescend to answer his arguments upon that letter.

The paragraph which he has selected from the rest to display his logic, is that in which I mention that "attempts were made to render me discontented with him, and at the same time to seduce me into pursuits which would tend to prejudice me in his opinion." The latter part I explained in a short note up­on my publication of the 7th December, to which I must refer. ^* As to the attempts alluded to in another sense, since it seems the most trifling of my ju­venile adventures are of importance to the public, they were briefly these. In the course of my correspondence with Mr. Jay, it has been that I frequent­ly instance, as one of the motives which first induced me to leave his family, the painful obscurity in which I was secluded, and which I even regarded as an obstacle to my political hopes. ^† In one of my letters, I expressly declare that all intercourse with Spaniards was at that time difficult, and, to me, re­ally IMPOSSIBLE. ^§ Consequently the information which I then gave Mr. Jay of Mr. Carmichael's machinations against him in Madrid, must have a­mounted to very little. In the mean time I was not absolutely upon such terms with Mr. Carmichael as to exclude common civility between us; and he even more than once, apologized for not introducing me into the circle of his ac­quaintances, under pretext that it would give umbrage to Mr. Jay. The latter, I must add, he frequently insinuated, had his reasons for not procuring me more extensive connexions. But whether he believed these motives to pro­ceed from a system of economy or politics, for every thing had a tincture of the latter, I really cannot determine. For my own part, I should never have construed those inuendos into attempts to render me discontented with Mr. Jay, had he not at the same time informed me that Mr. Carmichael laboured to prepossess even him against me, by false and insidious reports. ^X Such is the duplicity, such the want of honor and probity, for which a PRESIDENT of CONGRESS, a MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY and SECRETARY of STATE, has arraigned a boy of seventeen before the tribunal of the American public!

[Page 12] But to return once more to the point in question: Whatever might have been Mr. Carmichael's views in his insinuations to me, I confess I never thought I had reason to complain of Mr. Jay in that particular. The univer­sal disgust which that able negociator had sound means to inspire into all ranks of Spaniards, had reduced him to almost a state of solitude in the midst of the most hospitable capital of Europe. Even that circumstance contributed to inslame his jealousy and resentment against Mr. Carmichael, to whose in­trigues he imputed it; and it must be confessed the personal address, and in­sinuating talents of the latter, formed a most striking contrast with his own aukward dignity and natural phlegm. Never, I cannot forbear observing, was a negociation conducted with such frivolous, and sometimes ridiculous circumstances, as that which Mr. Jay at last terminated, like the defence of his character, in, literally, NOTHING. Systems adopted and changed—plots, counter-plots, and machinations of every kind employed;—in short, every wheel of political machinery put in motion—not to penetrate the Spanish mi­nistry, but his own secretary!!! The object, after all, seldom extended be­yond conjectures upon a conversation, or conclusions from a visit. The lat­ter, particularly, were deemed of such importance, that one would have thought the treaty between America and Spain depended more upon visiting-cards ^* than minisierial propositions. The public will easily conceive this in a genius so universal and comprehensive, who could at once attend to the great interests of the country he represented, and to my servants accounts; who could at the same time discuss the articles of a treaty, and write me a letter in forty pages, to prove what he ought to have said six months before.

But, after having so greatly contributed to the amusement and edification of the public by this display of his character and eloquence, in his dissertation upon one part of my letter, why has he passed over the remainder in silence? The paragraph which follows is no less worthy of attention: " The most in­famous falsehoods have been reported even to yourself by the SAME PERFI­DIOUS AND CRUEL AUTHOR." How did I come to the knowledge of these falsehoods reported to himself? He has quoted an anecdote, related in terms as ambiguous and obscure as the recesses of his soul: For my part, I re­collect nothing of it; but even admitting the fact to have been such as he has sta­ted, it is one instance; I speak in the plural number: Did he ever object to this severe and direct accusation, for which, at least, I could have no other au­thority than his information? Did he ever blame, or request me to mitigate [Page 13]the harsh terms of INFAMOUS FALSEHOODS, reported to HIMSELF, by a CRUEL and PERFIDIOUS AUTHOR, if all that had only reference to one charge, which he himself had occasioned, and of which, to use his own words, "he did not believe Mr. Carmichael capable," and still more, " in which that gentleman had acted a part both HONORABLE and FRIENDLY to me?" To extinguish animosities, and, above all, to rectify the mistakes which occasion them, is a duty to heaven and to mankind: But to kindle the flame of discord, to urge one man on to mortal enmity against another by false accusations, afterwards to deny the fact, affect to misunderstand words, tor­ture the sense, and consign the whole to the public under a false colouring— merits an epithet which, fortunately for society, is only to be found in the name of JAY.

Frown, frown!—for blush thou canst not!

After all, I must confess, I might have found some difficulty in extricating myself from this snare without the authority of his letter of the 29th Dec. 1781, * part of which I have quoted in my former publication. His de­fence of that letter, it seams, is confined to one short negative assertion, viz. That the facts alledged in it can only be considered as resulting ^§ from my letter of the 15th June.

I have been so long accustomed to the miraculous in Mr. Jay's character, that nothing on his part can appear to me either novel or astonishing. The public, perhaps, may be differently affected: What then, this man, acknow­ledged to be great in all little things; this statesman formed from the chaos of law and politics, this poisonous worm of Machiavellian excrement; entangled in the snares of his own duplicity, is at length obliged to sacrifice his vanity to the opinion of the world, and would willingly confess himself to have been the dupe of a boy, a beardless boy!! Risum teneatis, amici?

Once more I must intreat the public to attend to the words of that letter of the 29th Dec. 1781. It will be easy to distinguish between what had reference to mine, and what was foreign, and even antecedent to it: For example, in the very first line of my quotation he says, The second instance you adduce is, that I EXPRESSED MY APPREHENSIONS TO YOU ONE DAY, that a CERTAIN GENTLEMAN would be glad to have a handle against me, ^† [Page 14]&c. He adds, "I remember this circumstance, and you have stated it right." Has this referrence to my letter, or to any thing from me?—does not he con­fess the conversation to have been spontaneous on his part, and the commu­nications made directly to me. Again, "AS EXPERIENCE † had taught me to expect little FAIR or FRIENDLY from the gentleman in question I DID APPRREHEND," &c. a little further he expressly says, " though I DO NOT REMEMBER TO HAVE EXPLAINED THIS TO YOU, yet I was not without suspicions," &c. Surely my information could not have extended to facts or suspicions which he had not even explained to me.

Throughout the whole of his letter he never once appeals either to mine of the 15th June, or to my knowledge of the facts alledged. On the contrary, he even communicates to me a circumstance which personally affects me, and could only tend to inslame my resentment against Mr. Carmichael: " that SAME GENTLEMAN perceiving that the SPANIARDS ( among whom he had AGAINST HIS BETTER KNOWLEDGE, AND NOT FOR THE BEST PUR­POSES, represented you,") &c. &c. In short, the misfortune of my adversary, upon this, as well as similar points, seem to be his confounding his principle in common life, with the habitual practice of his profession—he defends him­self upon the point of honor, as he would at the bar, and thinks reputa­tion, like a bad cause, may be saved by a quibble.

Even supposing for a moment no proof to have existed on either part, but assertions and negatives, notwithstanding his modest exordium in the intro­duction to his pamphlet, the American public, I presume, would hardly suspend their judgment upon a question of duplicity between a young soldier and a veteran lawyer.

As another proof of his principles in argument as well as politics, I beg leave to instance one of his late quotations, intended to prove that I advanced, upon my own knowledge, facts to the prejudice of Mr. Carmichael:—the pa­ragraph is taken from my letter to him of the 1st February, 1782, from Ma­hon. In his quotations, page 67.69, of his pamphlet, it runs thus, "On the contrary, political reasons seemed to point out another line of conduct; had I desisted, Carmichael would have had a handle against one of us," &c. &c. Here is no less than an entire paragraph omitted and which, it will be seen, changes the sense of the whole: it is as fallows: On the contrary, ^* [Page 15] political reasons [...] to point out another line of conduct. YOUR OB­SERVATIONS upon these reasons, I undestood in a different sense:" then follows, "had I desisted," &c. which is no more than a conclusion from my sense of his own observations. But "Qui vult decipi, decipiatur" is Mr. Jay's motto.

With respect to his system of detaining me in Madrid, after the siege of Mahon, and upon which he is also negative, the public will reflect, that certain combinations of circumstances sometimes render conclusions inevita­ble, and literal proofs unnecessary.

He himself, upon that point, has quitted his common methodical road, and recurs to preceding and subsequent facts, from which he only draws an inference of probability: upon this ground I meet him: he begins, rather unfortunate, by denying the term of my residence with him at the period alluded to:—he affirms that I could not have arrived in Madrid "early in April" ^* because my last letter to him from Minorca is dated on the 25th March. His ignorance of geography seems to have led him into this mistake, as, I presume, he calculated upon the month which the fleet had employed in their passage from Cadiz to Minorca: that Island, any map will inform him, is only sixty leagues distant from the coast of Catalonia, where I landed on my return. My journal for 1782 says, "On the 27th March failed, with the Duke de Crillon, from Mahon, landed at Barcelona on the 29th, and reached Madrid on the 9th April."

The interim from thence to the time of his departure for Paris, I think, can be little short of six weeks.

I never saw Dr. Franklin's letter, summoning him to France, nor do I know the precise time of its reception; but I again affirm, that previous to that event, he had prevailed upon me to renounce my military views and direct my hopes to the diplomatic line. ^§

[Page 16] In answer to his second argument, I beg leave to insert at length my last letter to him from Mahon.

Mr. Jay continues to animadvert upon that letter, and very judiciously calls the attention of the reader to the necessity of his taking explicit arrange­ments with me: He adds, that he pressed me to go to America; that he re­presented the inconveniences to which I exposed him upon the point of supplies; that I warmly intreated him to permit me to continue until I could again write to America, and receive answers; in short, that it was, after great importunity on my part, and much altercation between us, that he at length reluctantly consented.

[Page 17] How far all this is consistent with the sense of my letter, the public will judge: From that it appears that I was perfectly sensible of the embarrassments of my situation, and earnestly wished to put an end to them by returning to Ameri­ca. I even hint that I had penetrated into Mr. Jay's design upon me, from that part of his letter which mentions colonel Livingston's return; in conse­quence I already prepare him for a polite refusal to supply the place of that gentleman, by expressly declaring that, "although I know he thinks poli­tics my proper sphere, both inclination and necessity determine me to adhere to my military plans."

From whence then proceeded my sudden change in system and opinion? Was it to confirm me by his personal remonstrances, in a resolution which I had already taken of returning to America, that, instead of letting me em­bark at once from Minorca for Cadiz, and from thence to America, Mr. Jay ad­vised me to pass by Madrid, which necessarily obliged me to undertake a jour­ney by land through the whole kingdom of Spain in its greatest extent? and yet secure under his Vulcanian shield of impudence, without alledging one often­sible motive for either his conduct or my own, he asserts that, contrary to his most strenuous remonstrances, I urged him to consent to my remaining at Madrid! This enigma has been amply explained in my publication of the 7th December last.

As a corroborating proof of what I have there advanced, with respect to the arrangements which took place between Mr Jay and myself, in the interim from my arrival, until the time of his being summoned to Paris, I shall insert the following extract from a letter which I wrote to Ben. Lewis, Esq in date of the 25th April, 1782; that is near three weeks antecedent to the one which Mr. Jay has caused to be published. The words are as follow:

"After the campaign in Minorca, I had formed the design of returning to America, in the hopes of obtaining a genteel employment in the army, but the present pacific appearance of affairs points out a political line as far more eligible for me. The reputation of having resided some time at a foreign court, in the family of a minister, may probably recommend me to Congress as an object worthy their attention; for this end the efforts of my friends will not, I hope, be wanting; on Mr. Jay, at least, I can rely; he ADVISES me to remain at Madrid UNTIL SOMETHING OF THE KIND MAY HAPPEN, and will continue to supply me," &c. &c.

With respect to my second letter to Mr. Lewis, of the 15th May following, it will be found upon examination to contain nothing contradictory to my for­mer or present assertions: It was intended to stimulate him to make every ef­fort in his power to relieve me from the pain of my situation with respect to [Page 18]Mr. Jay; recent experience had taught me what I had to apprehend from him in pecuniary affairs; consequently my design was to paint, in the most bril­liant colours, the objects which induced me to prolong my residence in Europe, and the inconveniences to which I should be exposed if I did not receive sup­plies by a given time. The delicacy and caution which I observe upon every point respecting Mr. Jay, would be sufficiently accounted for from the cir­cumstance alone of his being entrusted with the letter; how far my suspicions were just is proved by the event: he examined the letter, found the contents might be of use, kept it in his own possession, and has since caused it to be printed. I am really curious to know upon what principle he pretends to justify that act of treachery. He has said in one of his publications, that I gave him a number of copies to be forwarded to America: Admitting the fact, it by no means authorised him to keep one of them, and still less to publish it; but even the excuse is a falsehood: I mention indeed in the letter, that I shall send twelve copies of it to America; but I perfectly recollect that I never made more than three, two of which Mr. Jay took charge of, the other I en­closed to Mr. Harrison at Cadiz. The public may not find that anecdote un­worthy of attention.

I confess I am at a loss to discover what imputation he aims to fix upon me by the publication of my letters to him, after his departure from Spain? ^* He affects surprise, it is true, in his note upon that of the 10th June, 1782, ^† that if I considered myself as left by him in the character of a spy upon Mr. Carmichael, I did not allude to it, by way of obviating that objection to my leaving Madrid. Has the weakness of his nerves affected his intellects? is it the impotence of despairing guilt, or in derision of the public, that he has ventured that observation? I can hardly suppose he has forgotten the contents of my last publication any more than those of my letter to him at Passy, which he so well recapitulates in his pamphlet, although it was burnt the same day he received it. By all these it will appear, that his designs upon me at that juncture, although sufficiently proved by his conduct, were only communicated by inuendo: a similar proposition from him in direct terms, would have hastened the catastrophe with which he has been since repeatedly menaced. Upon another occasion he is astonished that in my letters to him from Mahon, I did not retract my charges against Mr. Carmichael of the 15th June, 1781; since that letter was written at his instigation. ^§

[Page 19] I have repeatedly observed, that my explanation with that gentleman did not take place until the year following, after Mr. Jay's departure from Madrid: how then was I to retract what I still believed?—Was Mr. Car­michael to appear more estimable, because I began to discover the bad qua­lities of Mr. Jay?—or does he so far wrong himself as to suppose that the first ray of suspicion could penetrate into the dark abyss of his character;— could discern at once a complication of vices, which even perplexes the un­derstanding, when guided by experience and demonstration?

In short, this continued strain of low artifice and evasion—misinterpreting some parts of my letters and affecting not to understand others, can only be compared to the proverbial stupidity of a certain animal, who, when in dan­ger, shuts his own eyes, and thinks himself concealed from view.

In several of his notes and observations, he endeavours to prove an incon­sistency in my conduct for continuing to write to him, after, I confess, I had ceased to esteem him. But politeness is as different from esteem as respect from servility. Besides, my situation with respect to him was still delicate: having been placed in a manner under his direction, I thought it incumbent upon me to preserve an appearance of regard and deference towards him, both for my own justification to my friends and to avoid giving him a handle of misrepresentation against me.

Further observations upon that point would be superfluous, as few persons can be at a loss to conceive my motives and situation.

His last charge against me, that I repeatedly made efforts to discharge ^* a debt contracted under such circumstances, and for which I did not consider myself as personally responsible, I should think might rather afford matter for eulogy than reproach: May greater crimes never be imputed to me, nor supported by more respectable accusers!

I come at last to his narrative of the affair of Passy, and which I always ex­pected he would reserve for a trans-atlantic discussion. He begins by insinua­ting [Page 20]that "I solicited his favor and interest, in Paris, by my letter of the 16th July, 1783, and when he afterwards acted contrary to my wishes and request, that I asked his pardon in presence of Mr. Adams for the expressions I had used." The public will observe that this circumstance never once occurred to his memory until after my departure from America; but without further ani­madverting upon his motives or conduct, the following candid state of facts will sufficiently explain my own.

At the conclusion of peace, the honorable Major-General Marquis De la Fayette, with whom I then served in the combined armies assembled at Ca­diz, requested me to accompany him upon public business to Madrid. The letter which I had the honor to deliver from that distinguished character to Congress, in December last, will prove how far he expressed himself satisfied with my services upon that occasion. He afterwards prevailed upon me to pursue my journey with him to Paris, where he seemed confident by his in­terest with the commissioners of the United States to have me nominated to carry the definitive treaty to Congress. Although Mr. Jay was personally under a previous engagement to me, ^† I was so far from reclaiming it, that I strenuously refused to speak to him upon the subject, until the absence of the Marquis De la Fayette, and the necessity of bringing matters to a decision obliged me to address him personally; in consequence I wrote him the follow­ing note:

[Page 21] To this note he gave an evasive and equivocal answer. The public, how­ever, will perceive with how much justice I can be accused of "soliciting his favor." I expressly mention the demand as proceeding from the Marquis de la Fayette: Common politeness obliged me to add, that I should thank him for his influence in my favor; but I, at the same time, give him to understand, that I neither wish nor expect any thing from him. The "private views of his own" he could not be at a loss to comprehend.

The subsequent circumstances will be best explained by the following letter from me to the Marquis de la Fayette, in which I inform him of the steps I had taken, and their result.

If the public will compare this recital, written only the third day after the transaction, with that composed by Mr. Jay the third year after, it will most certainly appear that they do not "run parallel." In support of the facts preceding our last interview, I appeal to the testimony of Col. Ogden. For what passed afterwards, if Mr. Adams recollects it, I rely too much upon his candour to fear his attestation. That an accommodation took place be­tween Mr. Jay and myself, as far as related to the affair in question, is an un­doubted fact; as also that I apologized for having in direct terms taxed him with falsehood, after Mr. Adams had stepped forward to exculpate from that charge, by attributing the misunderstanding to himself. To have pressed the matter further, would have been an implied doubt of the veracity of that gen­tleman, which, not only decency, but infinite considerations, opposed. My motives for ceasing the enquiry are as obvious as those which induced me to begin it. ^†

As to Mr. Jay's observation that I did not express resentment at his perse­vering in his opposition against me, I only reply that I should never consider [Page 23]myself as justisiable in cutting any man's throat for voting against me. My challenge to him was founded upon a charge of falsehood; that ground re­moved, every thing returned of course to its primitive state. But as his cou­rage, like his reasoning, is always posterior to the point in question; he was offended, it seems, at being told that I had spoken of the affair, and had even hinted that he had made certain admissions; but, instead of rising into anger, he says he most heroically "avoided all intercourse with me afterwards. ^*

After this candid exposition of the principles which have actuated my con­duct, and the consequences which have resulted from it, from the earliest to the present period of my life, the public will pronounce, for the last time, I hope, upon both. It is certain I have been too nearly connected with dark characters; but instead of casting a shade upon mine, I flatter myself they have served but to illustrate it; at least I shall ever enjoy a conscious satisfac­tion in reflecting that the most minute words and actions of my life, chosen at an age of error, imprudence and passion, although scrutinized and tortured by the malice of a JAY, have afforded nothing which can be construed into a stain upon honor, or a breach of the most rigid principles of probity.

I must now recur once more to the most painful part of my defence, that which respects Mr. Carmichael. A remark contained in one of Mr. Jay's notes, I confess, occasions me some uneasy sensations. He desires the public to observe that not one of the letter which I have quoted from Mr. Carmi­chael, is of a date posterior to the time of my departure from Paris in 1784. The fact is most certainly true, and his allusion to it, I confess has excited a doubt in my breast, which, for the honor of friendship and philanthropy, I could wish had been forever a stranger to it! It is true, I repeat, from the time of my departure from Paris at the time alluded to, I have never received one line from Mr. Carmichael! I was so far, however, from imputing the cause of his silence to any other motive than the consequences resulting from my own situation, ^† that I continued to write to him in the same friendly and affectionate manner. The suspicion is, however, at present, but too well founded, of his having acted in collusion with Mr. Jay; in consequence I think it prudent to make such a preparatory defence as is become necessary for my own justification, and at the same time cannot be injurious to Mr. Carmichael, unless he should indeed prove an apostate from honor.

[Page 24] In Mr. Jay's publication of the 7th December, 1785, are these words, to which he has also adhered in his late pamphlet: "I neither shewed not men­tioned to him (Mr. Carmichael) Mr. Littlepage's letter, nor any of its con­tents. In the course of conversation HE mentioned him, and intimated HE had good reason to believe that Mr. Littlepage had played a DOUBLE GAME between us." Here Mr. Jay is entirely passive;—Mr. Carmichael, without object or stimulative, introduces my name, stained by the most poisonous breath of calumny:—Without further calling in question the verity of Mr. Jay's allegation, I shall proceed to answer directly to the charge:

The words attributed to Mr. Carmichael fix the date of his accusation against me at the express period of Mr. Jay's departure from Madrid in 1782: he "then received me into his house, advanced me money, and in return I revealed Mr. Jay's secrets." Such is the substance of the 'charge; for a moment admitting it, what follows?—If Mr. Carmichael does not confess himself lost to every manly virtue, and even deaf to the voice of prudence, he ought at least to have regarded me as a dangerous confident, and in future to have avoided any connexion or intimacy between us. Even admiting that policy would have justified him in temporising some time longer with me, views of that nature could not surely have extended his sentiments to "the prudence of a guardian and the warmth of a brother." ^* POLICY might have induced him to advance me money to serve a campaign, where he thought the honor of the American name interested: but will that account for the expressions of friendship and affection, with which his letters conti­nually abound?—One moment he pours forth the most virulent complaints against Mr. Jay, congratulates me upon my being no longer connected with him, as I should certainly, at last, have experienced the fate of Livingston and himself: ^† and, without the most distant allusion to the point in ques­tion, often conjure me, "to defend him if ever he is attacked." In another instance he becomes the champion of my own honor, and on the 21st of Jan. 1783, writes to me, " Persevere in the same line of conduct which has ac­quired you the esteem of the most distinguished characters, and make yourself easy on account of any insinuations which may be infused into your friends to your prejudice. Mr. Adams knows me too well not to be per­suaded, that I would never advise you to pursuits which are either impru­dent or dishonorable."

The last word might have been spared, according to the opinion which, he tells Mr. Jay, he had long before conceived of me. But admitting him [Page 25]to have been influenced by POLICY alone during the whole time of my resi­dence in Spain;—he continues the same stile for more than a year after my arrival in Paris. In the first letter which I received from him in that capital, he says, "I hope the pleasures of Paris will not absorb you so entirely as to make you forget your friends here, and particularly one who loves you as much as I do." In the same letter he observes, "I am curious to know how you have been received by your quondam friends. Continue to conduct yourself with the same discretion, that you have hitherto done, and you will avoid any handle of misrepresentation to your disadvantage." In another letter to me of the 30th March, 1783, are these words: "I hope your friend­ship will induce you to communicate to me whatever you may learn which interests me personally. It is unnecessary to observe, that not even your friend­ship for another can justify the smallest breach of confidence." That, it must be confessed, would have been a severe piece of satire upon a person whose first connexion with him had been founded upon a similar act of trea­chery. In a letter of the 18th August, 1783, he mentions to me a design of coming to Paris: "I had some thoughts of coming to Paris, if reflections upon the nature of my situation, and the advice and represeatations of *** had not decided me to remain here. This voyage would have been useful to my health, and highly agreeable to me on many accounts, particu­larly in affording me the occasion of removing any prejudices which may have been conceived against me by persons whom I esteem."

Far was I from foreseeing that the object of his journey would at last be to purchase an accommodation with our common enemy at the price of my honor.

Further remarks upon our correspondence would at present be unnecessary; the whole of it will probably be laid before the public; at least, if Mr. Car­michael thinks it proper, I shall be far from objecting to the measure.

Although I ardently wish that he may still appear worthy of the public and my own esteem, I must, at the same time declare, that I have nothing to apprehend from his enmity. Whether he may be induced by policy to avow, or by a sense of shame to deny, the accusation against me, which Mr. Jay attributes to him, his situation will be embarrassing. All that I have to ask of him, is to take at once a decided part;—I have fought too long in the dark; let me see my enemy and I can never fear him in a cause like this.

At present I shall not trouble the public further upon his account, than by inserting the following letter, which I wrote to him immediately after my late arrival in Europe, and upon which his silence, more than all the rest, appears problematical.

I must now add, that I expect his answer from the press: To the awful tri­bunal of the public I refer him; there let him answer to his charges. I shall conclude by one LAST APPEAL to his honor and veracity; nay more, by warning him to remember, that although I may have been THE DUPE OF ARTIFICE, I trust I shall never become THE VICTIM OF TREACHERY.

As I have the vanity to think that I shall live for some time in Mr. Jay's memory, I shall once more descend to address a short apostrophe to him, which I hope will close our correspondence for ever.

TO YOU, SIR, However degraded in the public and your own opinion; although reduced so low, that even revenge has lost its edge, and punishment becomes a cruelty;—TO YOU I once more address myself. A distance of near two thousand leagues now separates us;—read then with as little emotion as the stings of conscience will permit you.

After having exhausted every shaft of calumny and malice; after having sa­crificed your reputation in one instance, your probity in another, and your vanity in all; in what light do you now appear before the tribunal of your country? You have been proved to have denied facts, and asserted falsehoods; your name is become a satire upon honor, and would discredit even truth: What, after all, was your object? To crush an enemy, whose tender age, even supposing it had afforded you the advantage over him, which you ex­pected, would have rendered your conduct odious, and your victory unmanly: But to have failed in the attempt, has subjected you at once to contempt and ri­dicule! You have suffered yourself to be guided by a principle of malice, un­supported by courage sufficient to save you from disgrace: I am even willing to believe that some of your ill qualities proceed from this inherent weakness of mind; and it may not appear the only paradox in your character to ob­serve, that if nature had endued you with a greater portion of courage, she would have rendered you a more noble, and perhaps, less formidable enemy. In a word, you possess all the qualities of a bad man without firmness enough to dignify guilt: One ingredient more in your mental composition would have qualified you to act the part of a Cataline; the want of it has left you a JAY. Vindictive from principle, an hypocrite from system, and a coward from con­stitution, you lead the life of a Bevot, with the principles of an Atheist, and perhaps may be at last compelled to die the death of a Martyr, without the reputation of sanctity or courage.

[Page 29] As to what has happened, without affecting moderation, or betraying [...], believe me, I never wished to bring it forward: A state of war could never be desirable with you, where revenge is almost dishonor, and triumph becomes humiliation.

Profit at least from the bitter consequences of your own imprudence, nor, like an obstinate slave, become hardened by the scourge.

Be satisfied with the contempt, and do not provoke the execration of the public; to avoid it, sink to your primitive obscurity; render, at last, one real service to your country, by retiring from a post, which, eminent as it is, can never be honorable while filled by you; you may then deserve to be for­gotten.

Scorched by the rays of truth, fly for shelter to the shade of oblivion; and beware how in future you excite the breath of rumour upon a character which only rots when undisturbed, but falls to pieces if agitated.