The Secret Article is no otherwise important, than as it carries in it the seeds of enmity to the Court of Spain, and shows a marked preference for an open enemy. It would in my opinion, have been much better to have fixed on the same boundaries for West Florida, into whatever hands it fell, without showing any preference, or rendering concealment necessary; since all the arguments in favor of the cession to England would then have operated with equal force, and nothing have been lost by it; for there can be no doubt, that whether Florida shall at the close of the war be ceded to England or to Spain, it will be ceded as it was held by Britain. The Separate Article is not, I suppose, by this time a secret in Europe; it can hardly be considered as such in America. The treaty was sent out to the General with this Article annexed by Sir Guy Carleton, without the smallest injunction of secrecy. So that I dare say it has been pretty generally read at head quarters. Congress still conceal it here. I feel for the embarrassment explanations on this subject must subject you to, when this secret is known to your allies. I intended to have submitted this letter to Congress, but I find there is not the least prospect of obtaining any decision upon it in time to send by this conveyance, if at all. I leave you to collect their sentiments, as far as I know them, from the following state of their proceedings. After your joint and separate letters, and the journals had been submitted to them by me, and had been read, they were referred back to me to report upon, when I wrote them a letter, and when it was taken into consideration, motions were made and debated a whole day. After which the letter and motions were committed, and a report brought in. This was under consideration two days, when the arrival of a vessel from Cadiz with letters from the Count d'Estaing and the Marquis de Lafayette, containing accounts, that the preliminaries were signed, induced many members to think it would be improper to proceed in the report, and in that state it remains without any express decision. From this you will draw your own inferences. I make no apology for the part I have taken in this business. I am satisfied you will readily acquit me for having discharged what I conceived to be my duty upon such a view of things as you presented to me. In declaring my sentiments freely, I invite you to treat me with equal candor in your letters, and in sending original papers, I guard against misrepresentations that might give you pain. Upon the whole I have the pleasure of assuring you, that the services you have rendered your country, in bringing this business to a happy issue, are very gratefully received by them; however we may differ in sentiments about the mode of doing it.