Joseph Matthais Gérard de Rayneval (1736–1812) served as under-secretary of state to Comte de Vergennes. In 1776, he produced a memo of the strategic situation, Reflections on the Situation in America. In 1782, he was sent on several secret missions to England, to make peace feelers. John Jay, learning of the trip, suspected French duplicity, leading him to begin separate negotiations with the British. He negotiated with Jay about Missippippi: On 30 November, preliminary articles of peace are signed. But it took a year, until 3 September 1783 for the Paris Peace Treaty to be signed.