Papers of John Adams, volume 21
I received, last Evening the Letter you did me the honour
to write me, the 30th of July, and am ready to
give you all the Information in my power1
Mitchel’s Map was the only one, which the Ministers
Plenipotentiary of The United States, and The Minister Plenipotentiary of
great Britain made use of in their Conferences and Discussions relative to
the Boundaries of the United States, in their Negotiation of the Peace of
1783 and of the Provisional Articles of the 30th
of November 1782. Upon that Map and that only were those Boundaries
delineated: and the River marked on that Map; with the Name of St. Croix,
was the River agreed upon as the Eastern Boundary of the state of
Massachusetts and of the United States, It was not intended by either Party
to give any new Boundary to the East Side of Massachusetts: but the real
Eastern Boundary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, according to the
Charter of William and Mary was intended to be the Eastern Boundary of the
United States, To the forgoing Facts I am ready to attest in any manner that
may be judged necessary: and if Mr Jay should transmit you an Affidavit I
shall be very willing to do the same. But I can scarsely think it necessary
because I cannot believe that any of these Facts will be denied or
questioned
The decease of Mr Oswald is
unfortunate because I am well assured he would have avowed all these Facts
with the utmost frankness and Candor. Mr
Whiteford the Secretary to his Commission I am confident will readily admit
them all2 Mr William Franklin The Secretary to the American
Commission knows them. Dr Franklin 495 before
his Death transmitted to the then Secretary of State Mr Jefferson as I was informed by him a full State of this affair
according to his Reccollection, a Document which probably Col, Pickering has
transmitted to you—if not it may be usefull for you to obtain it from his
office,3 Lord St
Helens4 formerly Mr Fitzherbert might or might not be informed by
Mr Oswald at the time. If he was I have
confidence enough in his Lordships Honour and Candour to believe that he
will confirm all that I have Said. Benjamin Vaughan Esq might or might not
be informed. if he was, either by Mr Oswald or
Mr Whiteford or any of the American
Ministers his Testimony cannot but corroborate the Account I have given.
Wishing you a pleasant Voyage and safe return / I have the Honour to be, sir, your most / obedient
FC in AA2’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Honourable / James sullivan Esq”; docketed by JA: “Answer to Judge Sulli / vans Letter of 2. of August.”
Sullivan wrote to JA on 30 July (Adams Papers), seeking an
affidavit on the use of John Mitchell’s map to determine the location of
the St. Croix River and mentioning that he sent a similar query to John
Jay (JA, Works
, 8:518–519).
The principal British peace negotiator, Richard
Oswald, died in 1784. JA suggested contacting Caleb
Whitefoord (1734–1810), an Edinburgh wine merchant who was Oswald’s
secretary (vol. 16:462;
DNB
).
Benjamin Franklin wrote to Thomas Jefferson on 8
April 1790, confirming the use of Mitchell’s map and enclosing a portion
of it “in loose sheets,” with the Passamaquoddy Bay boundary line
clearly marked ( Jefferson,
Papers
, 16:326). He
recommended asking JA for clarification, for which see vol.
20:323.
From this point, the remainder of this letter is in JA’s hand.