I am now at liberty to pursue my purpose at the Court of Berlin, for which I shall set out in a few days; as I shall be obliged to make a tour, the direct road lying through the territories of all the hostile princes, it will of necessity protract my journey. Mr Sayre, late sheriff of London, is to accompany me as secretary, Mr Carmichael having refused to go unless the Commissioners would give him a commission, which we did not think ourselves authorised to do. This has unavoidably delayed me some days. From every information I am able to obtain, our enemies are much pressed to make a tolerable appearance this campaign. Something extraordinary must happen to enable the king of Great Britain to continue the war, should this campaign fail. Whatever a man, impelled by so inimical a disposition can do, may be expected from him. It is certain, he has made some concessions in the fishery to this Court, in hopes of keeping them quiet; but we need not be much afraid about the effect of them. Our ground here is firm, and though not so ample as our wishes, yet I trust it will be equal to our wants. I beg the favor of having my utmost duty and respect presented to Congress, and have the honor to be, &c. ARTHUR LEE. [16] See above, p. 59, Gardoqui’s letter of April 28th. BARON DE SCHULENBURG TO ARTHUR LEE. Translation. Berlin, May 20th, 1777. Sir, I have been informed by the letter, which you did me the honor of writing to me the 8th instant, that in consequence of the one sent me the 19th of last month, on the part of Messrs Franklin, Deane, and yourself, you were on the point of coming here, but for an unforeseen accident, that prevented you. My answer of the 11th instant will acquaint you, Sir, that I still apprehend difficulties which may interfere, in the present circumstances, with the establishment of a direct commerce between his Majesty’s subjects, and the Colonies of North America, and that I consider our correspondence on this subject rather as preliminaries to what may come to pass, than as negotiations from which any immediate advantages may be expected. This leads me to believe, Sir, that you have no reason to distress yourself on account of this delay to your journey, and that you cannot be reproached with want of zeal for the interests of your constituents, when you defer for some time an affair, the success of which cannot most probably but be slow, to manage other matters more important and pressing. I have the honor to be, &c. BARON DE SCHULENBURG. TO THE COMMISSIONERS AT PARIS. Vienna, May 27th, 1777. Dear Sirs, I reached this in three days from Munich, and in expectation of hearing from you tomorrow, I shall not proceed till the 29th. Dresden will be my next stage.