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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing) 2 2 Browse Search
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Browsing named entities in Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing). You can also browse the collection for Berkel or search for Berkel in all documents.

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Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Laurens, Henry 1724-1792 (search)
ministry, and each time the offer was indignantly rejected by him. He was finally released, and at the request of Lord Shelburne he went to France, to assist in negotiations then making for peace. Among his papers recovered from the sea was a plan for a treaty with Holland; also several letters which disclosed the existing friendship of the States-General for the Americans. The British ministry were irritated by these documents and the subsequent refusal of Holland to disclaim the act of Van Berkel, and Great Britain declared war against that republic. In December, 1781, Laurens was appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate for peace with Great Britain. In November, 1782, he signed a preliminary treaty at Paris, with Franklin and Jay, when he returned home, and passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits. He died in Charleston, Dec. 8, 1792, and, in accordance with an injunction in his will, his body was wrapped in cloths and burned—the first act of cremation i
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Revolution, diplomacy of the (search)
o the convention of the neutral maritime powers for maintaining the freedom of commerce. Thus early, while yet fighting for independence, the American statesmen assumed the dignity and used the language of the representatives of a powerful nation, which they certainly expected to form. The Americans had opened negotiations with the States-General of Holland for a treaty as early as 1778. William, brother of Richard Henry and Arthur Lee, had begun the discussion of such a treaty with Van Berkel, the pensionary of Amsterdam. This negotiation with a single province was made in secret. Lee had no authority to sign a treaty, nor could the expression of a single province bind the Dutch Republic. Finally, Henry Laurens was sent by Congress to negotiate a treaty with the States-General, but was captured while crossing the Atlantic, and imprisoned in England. Then John Adams was sent for the purpose to The Hague. Early in 1782, through the joint exertions of Mr. Adams and the French