The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume IV Part 51

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, March 8th, 1780.

Sir,

I have the honor to enclose to Congress the gazettes of France, of the Hague, and Amsterdam, of the 1st, 3d, and 4th of this month. They contain all the news, which makes the subject of conversation at this time, except that M. du Chaffault is to command in the West Indies, and the Count d'Estaing in the Channel, which, although it is not announced by the Court, seems to be very generally believed in the world.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, March 10th, 1780.

Sir,

Enclosed are the _Courrier de l'Europe_, of the 3d, and the _Gazette de France_ of this day. The House of Lords and the House of Commons are voting thanks to Admiral Rodney for his good fortune, for they all seem to confess, that his brilliant successes were not owing to more skill, valor, or vigilance than others have shown, but merely to his good luck, which, by a report that spreads and gains credit today, did not end with his advantage over Langara, and his safe departure from Gibraltar. It is said that two French ships of the line and several frigates with transports, bound to the Isle of France, in the East Indies, have been doomed to fall in his way, and be taken.

Whether this is true or not, he has done enough it seems to be in a fair way of paying his creditors some part of their demands for money, which he has gambled away, and which they had despaired of ever receiving. This run of good luck, however, could never have happened to the gambler, if the game had been played otherwise by the opposite party; if France and Spain, instead of keeping immense fleets in Europe with nothing to do, or employed in blocking up Gibraltar, which is a trifle, if taken in comparison of other objects in view, had but employed but a fourth part of them in the American seas, where they had, and still have, the enemies in their power, Rodney's creditors had still been in despair, together with the British government and nation.

I would not desire a better proof, that the English are in the power of their enemies in the American world, than the list of the prizes printed in the _Courrier de l'Europe_, as condemned by N. Cushing, Judge of Admiralty for the middle district of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay. I am very glad to see this method taken of publishing to the world the success of our privateers, because it will in time show our allies where our strength lies, and the weakness of our enemies.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, March 12th, 1780.

Sir,

It is an observation made some years ago by a great writer of this nation, de Mably, that the project of being sole master of the sea, and of commanding all the commerce, is not less chimerical nor less ruinous, than that of universal monarchy on land, and it is to be wished, for the happiness of Europe, that the English may be convinced of this truth, before they shall learn it by their own experience.

France has already repeated several times, that it was necessary to establish an equilibrium, a balance of power at sea, and she has not yet convinced anybody, because she is the dominant power, and because they suspect her to desire the abas.e.m.e.nt of the English, only that she may domineer the more surely on the Continent. But if England abuses her power, and would exercise a kind of tyranny over commerce, presently all the States that have vessels and sailors, astonished that they had not before believed France, will join themselves to her in avenging her injuries.

The present conjuncture of affairs resembles so exactly the case here put, that it seems to be a literal fulfilment of a prophecy.

A domination upon the sea is so much the more dangerous to other maritime powers and commercial nations, as it is more difficult to form alliances and combine forces at sea than at land. For which reason it is essential, that the sovereign of every commercial State should make his nation's flag respected in all the seas, and by all the nations of the world. The English have ever acted upon this principle, in supporting the honor of their own flag, but of late years have grown less and less attentive to it, as it respects the honor of other flags. Not content with making their flag respectable, they have grown more and more ambitious of making it terrible.

Unwilling to do as they would be done by, and to treat other commercial nations as they have insisted upon being treated by them, they have grown continually more and more haughty, turbulent, and insolent upon the seas, and are now never satisfied until they have made all other nations see, that they despise them upon that element.

It is said by the Baron de Bielfield, that piracies and robberies at sea are so odious, so atrocious, and so destructive to the interest of all the European nations, that everything is permitted to repress them. Providence has not granted to any people an exclusive empire upon the seas. To aim at setting up a master there, to prescribe laws to other free nations, is an outrage to all Europe.

I have quoted these authorities, because they contain the true principle, upon which as I have ever conceived, the English began this war, and upon which they will a.s.suredly continue it, as long as they can get men and money, which will be as long as they have success.

They contain also the true principles of France, Spain, and Holland, and all the powers of Europe. The outrages committed upon the Dutch commerce, and the insults offered to their flag, ought to be, and are, alarming to all the maritime powers. The late successes of the English will have no tendency to allay the fears of these powers; on the contrary they will increase the alarm, by showing the precarious situation they will all be in if England should finally succeed, which some of them may perhaps apprehend from the late brilliant fortune of Admiral Rodney.

One cannot but be struck with the rapid series of fortunate incidents for the English, which have been published here in about the course of three months, that I have been in Europe. The little affair of Omoa began it, the repulse at Savannah succeeded, with all its consequences, the Curracoa fleet was next, Langara's fleet soon followed; Gibraltar was relieved; Don Gaston's squadron was dispersed by a storm; and Admiral Rodney had opportunity to get safe out of Gibraltar. The French East India fleet brings up the rear. There is hardly in history such a series of events, that no human wisdom could provide against or foresee. Yet after all, the advantages gained are by no means decisive, although no doubt it will raise the ambition of the English, and in some degree damp the ardor of their enemies.

It must not have this effect however upon America. Let the maritime powers fare as they will, we must be free, and I trust in G.o.d we shall be so, whatever be their fate. The events of war are uncertain at sea, more than even by land; but America has resources for the final defence of her liberty, which Britain will never be able to exhaust, though she should exhaust France and Spain, and it may not impossibly be our hard fate, but it will be our unfading glory finally to turn the scale of the war, to humble the pride, which is so terrible to the commercial nations of Europe, and to produce a balance of power on the seas. To this end Americans must be soldiers and seamen.

It is proper, however, to keep constantly in sight, the power against which we have to contend; the English have in all the ports of England, in a condition for actual service, or at least given out and reported to be so, twenty ships of the line. In the course of the spring and the month of June, eight others which are now repairing, and three new ones in the course of the year. The whole squadron for the Channel will be thirtyone. The squadron of Arbuthnot, at New York, consists of five. That of Jarvis at the Western Islands is two, including the Dublin, which was detached from Admiral Rodney, and is now in bad condition at Lisbon. One only at Jamaica, for the Lion is too far ruined to be counted. The fleet at the other islands, joined by the Hector, detached from Rodney, the Triumph and the Intrepid, lately sailed from England, are nineteen, seven of which at least are in too bad a condition for actual service. That of India, including two which serve for convoys, consists of ten, two of which however are returning to be repaired or condemned; the Lenox is a guard ship in Ireland.

Rodney entered Gibraltar with four Spanish ships of the line, the Phoenix of eighty guns, the Monarca, the Princessa, and the Diligente of seventy, besides the Guipuscoa, now the Prince William, of sixtyfive, which he took with the convoy on the 8th of January. He entered, also, with the Shrewsbury of seventyfour, which joined him from Lisbon. His squadron must therefore have consisted of twentyfour ships of the line. If he left the Panther and another at Gibraltar, he must have gone out with twentytwo.

Whether he has gone with the whole fleet to the West Indies, or whether with part of it, and what part, is yet undetermined by the public.

France and Spain, however, have a vast superiority still remaining, which, if it should be ably managed, will easily humble the English; but if it should be unwisely managed, or continue to be as unfortunate as it has been from the moment of the Count d'Estaing's sailing from Toulon, it will even in this case last long enough to consume and exhaust their enemies.

I have the honor to enclose the _Mercure de France_, of the 11th of March, the Hague Gazette of the 6th, and 8th, the Amsterdam Gazette of the 7th, and the Leyden of the 7th.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO EDMUND JENNINGS.[58]

FOOTNOTE:

[58] Mr Jennings was an American, and although he resided in London during the war, he was a warm friend to the cause of his country.

Paris, March 12th, 1780.

Dear Sir,

I have to acknowledge the receipt of three excellent letters, one of the 1st, the others of the 5th and 8th of March. I thank you for the copy of your letter to the pensioner, and for your dialogue between York and Chatham.

It is undoubtedly the duty of every commercial nation, to make their flag respected in all the seas, and by all the nations, not by insulting and injuring all others, like Great Britain, but by doing justice to all others, and by insisting upon justice from them. But how is Holland to obtain justice from the English, who take a manifest pleasure and pride in showing her and all Europe, that they despise her? Holland seems to be as corrupted and unprincipled as Great Britain, but there is one great difference between them. Great Britain has a terrible naval force, Holland has next to none. Great Britain has courage and confidence in her power, Holland has none. I do not mean that the Dutch are dest.i.tute of personal courage, but national courage is a very different thing.

The curious doctrine of a const.i.tutional impossibility of acknowledging our independence is well exposed in your dialogue. I suppose the idea was taken from Lord Chatham's dying speech, when he conjured up the ghost of the Princess Sophia of Hanover, to whose posterity, being Protestants, the act of settlement had consecrated the succession of the crown and its authority over all parts of the dominions. This was a masterly stroke of oratory, to be sure, and shows, that my Lord Chatham in his last moments had not lost the knowledge of the prejudices in the character of the English nation, nor the arts of popularity. But a more manifest address to the pa.s.sions and prejudices of the populace, without the least attention to the justice or policy of the principle, never fell from a popular orator, ancient or modern. Could my Lord Chatham contend, that the heirs of the Princess Sophia of Hanover, provided they should be Protestants, had the throne and its prerogatives entailed upon them, to everlasting ages, over all parts of the British dominions, let them do what they would? Govern without Parliament, by laws without law, dismiss judges without fault, suspend laws, in short do everything that the Stewarts did, and ten times more, yet so long as they were Protestants, could there be no resistance to their will, and no forfeiture of their right to govern? I said this was a figure of rhetoric, employed by his Lordship _ad captandum vulgus_. I believe so still, but I believe he meant it also _ad captandum regem_, and that he thought, by throwing out this idea, that he was not for acknowledging our independence, the King, who at that time was distressed for a Minister able in conducting a war, would call him into the Ministry. I ever lamented this black spot in a very bright character. I do not remember anything in his Lordship's conduct, which seemed to me so suspicious to have proceeded from a perverted heart as this flight. Allowance, however, ought to be made; perhaps he was misunderstood, and would have explained himself fairly if he had lived.

I have not seen the pamphlet ent.i.tled _Facts_, nor that by Lloyd, nor the _Examen_. I should be glad to see all of them. I find a difficulty in getting pamphlets from England, but I shall have a channel to obtain them by and by. I went to Mr Grant's as soon as I received yours of the 8th. Mr Grant the father was out, and no other in the house knew anything of your letter, or maps, or other things. I will speak to the father the first opportunity. Mr Lee is gone to L'Orient.

What think you of luck? Had any gambler ever so much as Rodney. One of our tories in Boston, or half way whigs, told me once, G.o.d loves that little island of Old England, and the people that live upon it. I suppose he would say now, G.o.d loves Rodney. I do not draw the same conclusion from the successes, that the island or the hero have had.

Who can be persuaded to believe, that he loves so degenerate and profligate a race? I think it more probable, that heaven has permitted this series of good fortune to attend the wicked, that the righteous Americans may reflect in time, and place their confidence in their own patience, fort.i.tude, perseverance, political wisdom, and military talents, under the protection and blessing of his providence.

There are those who believe, that if France and Spain had not interposed, America would have been crushed. There are in other parts of Europe, I am told, a greater number who believe, that if it had not been for the interposition of France and Spain, American independence would have been acknowledged by Great Britain a year or two ago. I believe neither the one nor the other. I know the deep roots of American independence on one side of the water, and I know the deep roots of the aversion to it on the other. If it was rational to suppose, that the English should succeed in their design, and endeavor to destroy the fleets and naval power of France and Spain, which they are determined to do if they can, what would be the consequence? There are long lists of French and Spanish ships of the line yet to be destroyed, which would cost the English several campaigns and a long roll of millions, and after this they may send sixty thousand men to America, if they can get them, and what then? Why, the glory of baffling, exhausting, beating, and taking them, will finally be that of the American yeomanry, whose numbers have increased every year since this war began, as I learnt with certainty in my late visit home, and will increase every year, in spite of all the art, malice, skill, valor, and activity of the English and all their allies. I hope, however, that the capricious G.o.ddess will bestow some of her favors upon France and Spain, and a very few of them would do the work. If Rodney's fortune should convince Spain, that she is attacking the bull by the horns, and France and Spain, that the true system for conducting this war, is by keeping just force enough in the Channel to protect their coasts and their trade, and by sending all the rest of their ships into the American seas, it will be the best fortune for the allies they ever had.

I long to learn Mr Jay's success at Madrid, and Mr Laurens' arrival in Holland, where I will go to see him some time in the summer or autumn.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.