Negotiations for a Treaty of Peace Begun

Measures had meanwhile been taken by the Congress and the British government to arrange a treaty of peace. The former appointed (September, 1782) four Commissioners for the purpose, that different States of the Union might be represented. These Commissioners were John Adams of Massachusetts, John Jay of New York, Dr. Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Henry Laurens of South Carolina, who were all in Europe at that time. The British government gave Mr. Oswald full power to treat for peace with these Commissioners. He had discussed the terms with Dr. Franklin, who assured him that independence, satisfactory boundaries, and a participation in the fisheries would be indispensable requisites in a treaty. In July the British Parliament had passed a bill to enable the king to acknowledge the independence of the United States, and all obstacles in the way of negotiation were removed. The American Commissioners first named were joined by Laurens at Paris, where the negotiations were carried on. There, on the 30th of November, a preliminary treaty of peace, on the basis of independence, was signed by the American Commissioners and Mr. Oswald without the knowledge of the French government. This was in violation of the spirit of the terms of alliance, by which it was understood (and the Commissioners had been so instructed) that no treaty should be signed by either party to the alliance without the knowledge of the other. Some of the Commissioners doubted the good faith of Vergennes, believing him to be swayed by Spanish influence; but he acted honorably throughout. Dr. Franklin, who never doubted him, removed the dissatisfaction in the mind of Vergennes, because of this affront, by a few soft words. In the meantime the States-General of Holland had acknowledged the independence of the United States by receiving John Adams as an ambassador from the Congress in April of that year; and on the 8th of October (1782) they concluded a treaty of amity and commerce with them. This was signed at the Hague by Mr. Adams and representatives of the Netherlands. It was not ratified until January, 1783.

Coincident with these preparations for a solid national existence, was the adoption of a device for a great seal-the symbol of sovereignty and authority-for the inchoate republic. A committee for the purpose was appointed on the afternoon of the 4th of July, 1776. That committee and others, from time to time, presented unsatisfactory devices. Finally, in the spring of 1782, Charles Thompson, the Secretary of Congress, gave to that body a device largely suggested to John Adams by Sir John Prestwich of England, which was made the basis of a design adopted on the 20th of June, 1782, and which is still the device of our great seal. It is composed of a spread-eagle, the emblem of strength, bearing on its breast an escutcheon with thirteen stripes alternate red and white. In his right talon he holds an olive-branch, emblem of peace, and in his left, thirteen arrows, emblems of the thirteen States, ready for war if it should be necessary. In his beak is a ribbon bearing the legend: E Pluribus Unum-"many in one" -- many States making one nation. Over the head of the eagle is a golden light breaking through a cloud surrounding thirteen stars forming a constellation on a blue field. On the reverse is an unfinished pyramid, emblematic of the unfinished republic, the building of which is still going on. In the zenith is an All-seeing Eye surrounded by light, and over the eye the word Annuit Captis--"God favors the undertaking." On the base of the pyramid, in Roman numerals, the date 1776, and below the words: "Novus ordo seclorum--"a new series of ages." So the Americans showed their faith in the stability of the structure whose foundations they had laid. Only the side on which the eagle and escutcheon appear has ever been used, and that as a recumbent seal the size of the engraving here given.

With the joyful prospect of returning peace came many shadowing forebodings of evil in the near future for the poor soldiers, when the army should be disbanded and they be compelled to seek other employment for a livelihood among the desolations caused by war. Many of them were invalids; and for a long time neither officers nor private soldiers had received any pay, for the treasury was empty, and the prospect of a continuance of the poverty of the government had produced widespread discontent in the army. The officers had been promised half-pay for life; but would that promise be fulfilled? was a question that pressed upon the minds of many. Contemplating the evidently inherent weakness of the government, many were inclined to consider it a normal condition of the republican form and to sigh for a stronger one-like that of Great Britain. This feeling became so manifest in the army, that Colonel Nicola, a foreigner by birth and of weighty character, at the head of a Pennsylvania regiment, addressed a well-written letter to Washington in May, 1782, in which, professing to speak for the army, he urged the necessity of a monarchy to secure for the Americans an efficient government and the rights of the people. He proposed to Washington to accept the headship of such a government with the title of king, and assured him that the army would support him. Possibly a budding conspiracy to that end existed in the army, but it was crushed by the stern rebuke administered by the chief in a letter to Nicola. "If I am not deceived." Washington wrote, "in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable."