The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume V Part 10

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, May 26th, 1780.

Sir,

At a numerous a.s.sembly of gentlemen of the law in Dublin, held the 30th of April, Captain Henry Hewart in the chair, after having collected the votes, Henry Grattan was unanimously admitted an honorary member; and it was agreed with the same unanimity, that the following address should be presented to him.

"Sir;--The body of the gentlemen of the law, ambitious of a.s.sociating to themselves a man, whom they consider as an ornament of his country, and as the firm support of her rights, unanimously prays you to accept the t.i.tle of honorary member of the society, as an unequivocal testimony of their admiration of vast talents when they are displayed in the cause of liberty and virtue. They request you, particularly, to accept of their most affectionate thanks for the n.o.ble effort, that in concurrence with several of the most respectable persons in the kingdom, you made on Wednesday, the 19th current, in defence of the rights of the people, and in endeavoring to unite the British Empire; they a.s.sure you, that although the event has not entirely answered, either to their expectations or to the n.o.bleness of your efforts, they are firmly determined to sustain their rights, such as they are laid down in the resolutions, which you have proposed. They esteem it happy to see, that without excepting even the servants of the Crown, all the members of the House have acknowledged the truth of the principle upon which those resolutions stood, although the majority has not accepted them, alleging, that at this critical time it was not necessary to renew the declarations already standing on the journals of the House and subsisting in full force."

To this address, Mr Grattan made the following reply.

"Gentlemen;--I esteem myself infinitely honored to be a member of an a.s.sociation, which has merited for a long time my attention and my admiration. By declaring that there is no power capable of subjecting this country, but the King, the Peers, and Commons of Ireland, you render a great service to this nation, because you give to all the other corps of volunteers the great example, to make the same declaration of their rights under the sanction of your corps, who not only protect the nation in arms, but by your knowledge and authority, propagate the great principles of law and liberty.

"In a country which possesses laws like ours, and men of your merit agitate the great question of liberty, it is to be free. I rejoice then that the rights of Ireland have been discussed. This discussion has opened the eyes of a people, who had slept during the course of a century, and forced almost all the representatives of this people, who are susceptible of principle, to deny that any foreign legislature has rights over Ireland; and makes this declaration circulate through all the great a.s.sociations of the kingdom, and will finally extirpate all that remains of authority usurped by the British Parliament.

"I observe, with satisfaction, that you think like me, that liberty is the tie which preserves the union of Great Britain and Ireland. We are attached to Great Britain, but not to its yoke. Common privileges formed originally our connexion with Great Britain; these same privileges will render this connexion indissoluble. If Ireland acknowledged as a slave the supremacy of the British Parliament, she would be the enemy of British liberty, because in that case she would league herself with the Ministers to annihilate the system of government, and precipitate all the subjects of his Majesty into a state of equality.

"I regard the liberty of Ireland as adding to the safety of that of Great Britain, which, instead of protestations of loyalty extorted from a Province devoted to pillage, will actually receive a tribute of affection sensibly felt on the part of a free people. As a friend of the const.i.tutions of the two kingdoms, as desirous of an honorable and permanent union, I esteem myself happy to see myself enrolled among men, who have your courage and your principles."

On the 13th of April, the British frigate the Hyaena, Captain Thompson, arrived at Gibraltar at midnight, having escaped the fire of three batteries, three chebecs of twentyeight guns each, and a frigate of thirtytwo. Don Barcelo, in the Spanish Admiral, pursued him in a fifty gun ship. The Don's squadron consists of six ships of the line, one frigate of thirtytwo guns, three chebecs of twentyeight guns each, and a number of fire-ships and gallies, which intercept all which pa.s.s the Gut, and completely blockade Gibraltar, and the squadron of Commodore Elliot, reduced to the Panther, the Enterprise, and three smaller vessels. The garrison is said to be in good spirits, although a malignant fever brought in by the Spanish prisoners has carried off a great many men, particularly in the regiment of Highlanders. The wants of the garrison, however, will soon be very great, particularly of fuel. Captain Thompson carried the news, that they are soon to have a powerful succor from Admiral Graves. It is very probable, that the Ministry may send Graves to attempt to act over again the part of Admiral Rodney, and after throwing a.s.sistance into Gibraltar, pa.s.s on to America. It is to be hoped, that Graves will not have Rodney's luck. It is pretty certain he has not all his dexterity. Yet I cannot but think the Spaniards are imprudently exposed in that part. The English have filled all the newspapers of Europe for three weeks, with lists of ships of the line to compose the grand fleet in the channel, which they have made amount to forty. But at last comes out a frank and honest confession in the Courier de l'Europe, that they can muster but twenty.

On the 16th, Admiral Edwards hoisted his flag at Portsmouth, on board the Portland, of fifty guns, and made the signal of departure for all the merchant ships which he is to convey to the Banks of Newfoundland.

Sir Charles Hardy, commander-in-chief of the channel fleet, Governor of Greenwich hospital, and a representative of Plymouth, is dead.

Rivingston is next in command, but it is said the place of commander-in-chief will be offered to Admiral ---- who refused it before Hardy was appointed.

We read from Hamburg, 19th of May. "Conversation here turns wholly upon the plan of an armed neutrality, proposed by the Empress of Russia, and the more we examine, the more we are convinced of the great advantages, which this plan will procure, not only for the present, but the future. In the meantime we learn, that the neutral powers will not delay to put to sea strong squadrons to protect their commerce, and it is even pretended, that if the English continue to molest neutral ships, it may well happen in a little time, that they may form against them some enterprise of consequence. It is a.s.sured, that the Hanseatic towns have acceded to the armed neutrality proposed. It is reported, that conferences between the maritime powers will be held at the Hague, and that they will be opened as soon as the Baron d'Erensworth, the new Minister of the King of Sweden to their High Mightinesses, shall arrive there. They say in London, that the Baron de Nolker, Minister of Sweden, has presented to the Court a memorial containing very lively complaints, touching the hostilities committed by an English vessel against the Swedish vessel the Illerim, commanded by the Chevalier d'Ankerlo, in which this Minister demands satisfaction for the violences committed against the said ship. They add, that his Excellency at the same time declared, that the King, his master, was resolved to defend and maintain with his arms in his hand the system of neutrality adopted by his Majesty."

They say too, in London 16th of May, that government have had the satisfaction to learn, that the convoy from Cork and from Plymouth, consisting in merchant ships, and a considerable reinforcement of troops, although dispersed after their departure, had arrived in the West India Islands.

_Paris, 16th of May._ "Divers advices announce, that the English, since the declaration made to the States-General of the United Provinces, have already stopped several Dutch ships, loaded only with innocent merchandises, and whereof the transportation has never been prohibited to neutrals by the treaties. This arbitrary proceeding will appear, without doubt, so much the more surprising to the maritime powers of the North, as at the same time his Majesty, always guided by the principles of wisdom and the most exact equity, has sent the strictest orders to all the commandants and captains of his vessels of war, and privateers of his kingdom, to let pa.s.s freely and without any hinderance all the neutral vessels, without distinction, even although bound to an enemy's port, provided they are not loaded with any arms, or warlike stores, whereof the transportation is forbidden by the treaties. Of this we may be a.s.sured more authentically by a letter written by M. de Sartine to M. de Mistral, Commissary General of the ports and a.r.s.enals of the Marine of the King, and Ordonnateur of the port of Havre, which is of the following tenor.

'You know, Sir, that the war undertaken by the King has no other end but the desire, with which his Majesty feels himself animated for the maintenance of the liberty of navigation. In consequence, he has seen with a great deal of pleasure, that the greatest part of the powers of the North incline, and have taken the resolution to co-operate in it already, by regulations relative to it, as his Majesty has made known to the commanders of his squadrons, his intentions relative to the measures and precautions, which the captains of his vessels of war, and other vessels ought to observe towards ships belonging to the subjects of the neutral powers, and which the former may meet at sea.

'His Majesty then has charged me to repeat his orders given in this regard, and to order you to exhort the captains and other officers of vessels armed as privateers to conform themselves with more attention than ever to the tenor of the regulations relative to neutral vessels, and in particular to those belonging to the Russians. To this end, his Majesty orders the captains of vessels armed for privateering, and others, to use the greatest circ.u.mspection toward all neutral vessels, and according to the exigence of the case, to afford them all the a.s.sistance of which they may stand in need, not to give the least hinderance to their navigation, although their cargoes may be destined for the enemy's ports, nor to stop them, except in cases in which the captains of French armed vessels shall have well founded reasons to believe, that the said vessels navigate for the subjects of the King of England, under the shelter of the flag of a neutral power, to the end to avoid by this way the being visited according to the usages established in such cases, or in which they shall attempt to transport to the enemy the effects of contraband, such as arms of all kinds, and other warlike stores.

'The intention of the King is, that you give notice of these presents to the Commissaries of the Department of Havre de Grace, ordering them, at the same time, to send copies to all the captains of vessels armed as privateers, and other vessels ready to go out, or who come in, to the end that they conform themselves with the greatest circ.u.mspection to what is here prescribed in regard to neutral vessels, and in particular to those belonging to Russia.'"

They write from Brest the 8th of this month, that they expected a fleet from Bordeaux, loaded with stores, provisions, and wine, the arrival of which was very necessary for the prompt equipment of a squadron destined to transport a second division of troops, of four or five thousand men. They add, that they expect also, with no less impatience in the same port, the convoy, which went out from St Malo, the 23d of March, which is still detained at Cherbourg, which consists in a great measure in cast cannon and artillery stores, which are to serve, they say, for a descent, which is projected in England, and which it is strongly a.s.serted the government has by no means renounced. The latter part is probably only what we call a scarecrow.

_Hague, 21st of May._ "We see here a copy of a letter written by his Excellency the Count de Florida Blanca, Secretary of State of his Catholic Majesty, to the Count de Rechteren, Minister of their High Mightinesses at the Court of Spain, dated at Aranjues, the 1st of May, 1780, which is of the following tenor.

"Sir;--His Majesty has learned, that the boat of a chebeck, commanded by Don Barthelemi Rosello, having seized a Dutch vessel, named the Spaar, Captain John Tierds Wagenaar, coming out of Gibraltar, where he had unloaded a cargo of flour, which he was carrying from Ferrol to Cadiz; on account of the purveyors of our Marine the said vessel has been set at liberty, upon the declaration which he made, that he had been taken under Cape Espartel, by the English privateer, the Maidstone, who had conducted him to that place. Nevertheless, we have proofs that the vessel has been met at the entrance of the port of Cadiz, having at that time her cargo; that by consequence, her pretended capture by the English privateer is a pure fiction, and the introduction into Gibraltar of a load of five thousand one hundred and sixtytwo and a quarter quintals of castile of flour, a manifest theft committed upon the provisions of the Marine of the King; and to the end that such villanies may be punished and prevented hereafter, his Majesty has ordained, that a prosecution be commenced against the said Wagenaar, and that I give you notice of it, to the end, that you may inform their High Mightinesses, to whom his Minister at the Hague has orders to complain highly of a theft, which ought not to have been the fruit of the complaisance, which the King has used towards the flag of the Republic. I shall add, that his Majesty hopes that their High Mightinesses by the remedy, which they shall provide, and by the severe punishment of the guilty, will spare him the pain of taking himself the precautions necessary to suppress such crying excesses."

In the Hague Gazette of the 24th of May, is the following article from London, of the 19th of May. "On the 17th, the King returned from Windsor to St James, and a.s.sisted at a great council. The conduct of several Courts of Europe, in the present conjuncture, excites all the attention of our Ministry; we foresee here what will be the effects of an armed neutrality, and we fear that there will result from it consequences dangerous to the general repose of Europe. There are persons, nevertheless, who pretend to foresee, that this decision of the neutral powers will produce events, which will facilitate an accommodation between the belligerent powers, but that there will be no question about it, until after that France and Spain shall have made all their efforts to take away from England the empire of the seas, and procure to Europe an entire liberty of commerce, two points on which they found their present hostilities, and which serve as attractions to excite other powers to enter into their views. England, on her part, will employ all her forces to maintain her superiority at sea, on which depends the prosperity of this country, and the safety of its detached dominions; and although her enemies are numerous and formidable, she is not without hopes, that the present campaign will bring back the Colonies of America to their ancient relations of interest, and dispose the powers at war to hearken to conditions of accommodation."

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, May 27th, 1780.

Sir,

In the beginning of this controversy with Great Britain, the Americans made such extensive researches into the principles of the British const.i.tution, and into those controversies which had taken place in former ages, concerning their application to external dominions in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Gascoine, Guienne, Jersey, Guernsy, Man, &c.

and published the result of their inquiries to the world, which were read with avidity everywhere, that I consider those publications as having laid the foundation of most of the events that have happened since. The proceedings of Ireland in 1779 and 1780 may be read in some publications made in America in 1774 or 1775. I have long expected to see something produced by the same principles in the East Indies, and at last I find I am not disappointed. In the General Advertiser of May 13th is this paragraph.

"We are authorised to correct the account, that appeared in this paper on last Thursday, concerning the pet.i.tions lately arrived from the East Indies. It is not true, that the British inhabitants of Bengal have sent over a pet.i.tion to his Majesty to abolish the Court of Judicature established there. Their pet.i.tion is addressed, and will shortly be presented to Parliament; and so far from wishing to abolish the court of justice, they only pray that its const.i.tutional powers may be restrained. The grand object of their pet.i.tion is, to obtain 'a trial by jury in all cases, where it is by law established in England,' which they conceive is one of those inherent, unalienable, and indefeasible rights, of which neither time nor circ.u.mstance can deprive a British subject, living, under British laws, and which the Judges in Bengal have lately ventured to declare they are not ent.i.tled to, except in criminal cases.

"The prayer of the Persian pet.i.tions already presented to one of the Secretaries of State, from the natives of different districts in the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, is, we understand, to be relieved from the hardships they suffer by the establishment of the English Court of Judicature. They express, in the strongest language, their distress and terror at the extraordinary powers a.s.sumed and exercised by the judges. They pray to be exempted from the jurisdiction of a court, to whose rules they are utter strangers, and from the control of laws, which they consider as calculated for a different state of society, and which are abhorrent to the manners, inst.i.tutions, and religion of their forefathers."

If this war continues, we shall hear more of the East Indies and their claims. Great Britain holds them by a slender thread, and by the good will only of a few individuals.

Among the English papers, which I enclose to Congress, will be found a Dialogue in the Shades between the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Chatham, and Mr Charles York. It was written by Edward Jennings, of Maryland, now residing at Brussels, a gentleman of great merit.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, June 1st, 1780.

Sir,

This morning a friend at Versailles sent me two English papers of the 26th and 27th of May, containing Rodney's account of an action between the French and English fleets on the 17th of April. At the conclusion of the battle, says Rodney, the enemy might be said to be completely beat. How easy it is to say and write this! Much easier than to find a sufficient number of persons ready to believe it. Such was the distance of the van and the rear from the centre, and the crippled condition of several ships, particularly the Sandwich, which for twentyfour hours was with difficulty kept above water, that it was impossible to pursue them that night without the greatest disadvantage. He found it in vain to follow them with his Majesty's fleet, in the condition they were in, to Guadaloupe, and accordingly put away to Fort Royal Bay, Martinique, there to wait for them.

The French Admiral appeared to Rodney a brave and gallant officer, and was n.o.bly supported during the whole action. The killed on board the English fleet were one hundred and twenty, the wounded, three hundred and fiftythree; four hundred and seventythree in all. These circ.u.mstances are very far from giving authenticity to the idea, that the French were beaten. It has every appearance of a third general drawn battle, in which the English have ultimately the worst. Drawn battles do not maintain the empire, the dominion, the sovereignty, the mastership of the seas. To all these they pretend, and they must make good their pretensions by clear victories, or they are undone. The French Court has not yet received any account.

ENGLISH LINE OF BATTLE.

The Sterling Castle to lead with the starboard tack, the Magnificent with the larboard tack.

_Rear Admiral Parker's Division._ Guns. Men

Sterling Castle, Captain Caskett, 64 500 Ajax, Uvedale, 74 600 Elizabeth, Maitland, 74 600 Princess Royal, { R. A. Parker, } { C. Hammond, } 90 770 Albion, Bawyer, 74 600 Terrible, Douglas, 74 600 Trident, Malloy, 64 500 Greyhound frigate.

_Sir G. Rodney's Division._

Grafton, Com. Collingwood, Capt. Newnham, 74 617 Yarmouth, Bateman, 64 500 Cornwall, Edwards, 74 600 Sandwich, Sir G. Rodney, C. Young, 90 732 Suffolk, Crespin, 74 600 Boyne, Cotton, 68 520 Vigilant, Home, 64 500 Venus, to repeat signals, Deal Castle, Pegasus, frigates.

_Rear Admiral Rowley's Division._