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Philadelphia, 12 April, 1783.
Dear Sir,
I congratulate your Excellency, most sincerely, upon the cessation of hostilities, which you will learn from the inclosed proclamation. You will doubtless have heard directly from General Carleton on the subject, so that it will not be necessary to trouble you with the substance of his letter to me.
Congress will this day, upon my report, take into consideration the propriety of discharging the prisoners, and the manner in which it is to be done. Sir Guy Carleton presses hard, in his letter, for the execution of the fifth of the Preliminary Articles. I have replied that it cannot be executed, till the treaty is ratified; and in the mean time endeavoured to convince him that the recommendation of Congress will be received with much more respect, when the persons, who compose our Legislatures, have returned to their respective homes, and the asperities, occasioned by the war, shall be a little worn down by the enjoyment of peace. It is a very capital omission, in our treaty, that no time has been fixed for the evacuation of New York.
It were to be wished that General Carleton's intentions on this head could be sounded by your Excellency.
I have the honor to be, dear Sir, &c.,
- Philadelphia
- Source:
- Correspondence of the American Revolution; Being Letters of Eminent Men to George Washington, from the Time of His Taking Command of the Army to the End of His Presidency, Volume IV., Jared Sparks, 1853
