The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume V Part 21

If a French fleet should constantly remain upon that coast, the number of these privateers would be doubled in a very few months. What havoc then must these armed vessels make, especially if a few French frigates should be also ordered to cruise for prizes among the provision vessels, merchant ships, and transports, pa.s.sing and repa.s.sing to and from America and the West India Islands to Europe, and to and from America and the West Indies, and to and from Quebec, Nova Scotia, New York, Charleston, Savannah, and the Floridas. Such depredations have several times been made by our cruisers alone, as to reduce the English at New York to very great distress, and it would be very easy in this way to reduce them to such misery as to oblige them to surrender at discretion.

I therefore beg leave to submit it to your Excellency's consideration, whether there is any possible way that a marine force can be employed against the English, so much to the advantage of France and the disadvantage of England, as in this way, and whether upon the principles of French interest and policy alone, even without taking into consideration that of the United States, a fleet ought not to be constantly kept in North America. The advantages they will there have in artists, supplies, accommodations, &c. above the English, are obvious.

But the question will arise, where shall they winter? I answer, they can winter with perfect security and advantage, either at Boston, Rhode Island, Delaware, or Chesapeake Bays.

Another question will arise, whether they should all winter together in one port, or be separated to several ports? I apprehend, however, that it would be most prudent to leave it to the discretion of the commander-in-chief of the squadron, to keep the squadron together, or to detach parts of it, according to the exigencies of the service, advising with Congress, or with the Chevalier de la Luzerne, from time to time.

Two ships of the line, with three frigates, stationed at Boston, with orders to cruise occasionally for the protection of French and American trade, and the annoyance of the enemy, the same number at Rhode Island with the same orders, the same number at Delaware river, with similar orders, and a like number in Chesapeake bay, with like orders, which would make eight ships of the line and twelve frigates, I have a moral certainty would, in one year, reduce the power of the English in North America, to absolute annihilation, without striking a blow on land. These ships would make a diversion of an equal force of the English, from the West India Islands, so that they would be in that respect as usefully employed for his Majesty there as anywhere.

Eight ships of the line, and twelve frigates, stationed together at Rhode Island, with orders to cruise for the same purposes, would do the same thing.

Which plan would do best, I dare not undertake to say, but until further informed and instructed by Congress I should think however that the best plan would be to station the fleet for the winter, either in Delaware or Chesapeake Bay; and as the war has lately turned to the southward, I am inclined to think that Chesapeake Bay would be the most proper.

But in all events, I beg leave to entreat in the most earnest manner, that a powerful fleet may be ordered to winter somewhere in North America. By this means I think there is a moral certainty, the English will be ruined there, whereas if dependence is had upon the a.s.sault and attack of their strong holds, without the most absolute command of the sea, I fear it will end in disappointment and disgrace.

There is the more urgent reasons for laying these considerations before your Excellency, because there is a portion of the people in America who wish to return to the domination of Great Britain, many of whom are artful and sensible men. They take notice of every circ.u.mstance of the conduct of France, and represent it in such a light as they think will throw a prejudice against the alliance into the minds of the people. They represent the affair of Rhode Island and of Savannah, and of some other things, as proofs that the Court of France do not mean to give any effectual aid to America, but only to play off her strength against that of Britain, and thus exhaust both.

The refugees in England concur with them in these representations, and the Ministry and the members of Parliament in their public speeches represent the same thing.

Even Mr Hartley, who is more for peace than any man in that kingdom, in a printed letter to the inhabitants of the county of York, says, "It is our duty to unravel by negotiation, the combination of powers now acting against us;" and he says further, in express words, that "It is apparent to all the world, that France might long ago have put an end to that part of the war, which has been most distressing to America, if they had chosen so to do." He must mean here the war of their frigates and privateers upon our trade. "Let the whole system of France be considered," says he, "from the beginning down to the late retreat from Savannah, and I think it is impossible to put any other construction upon it but this, viz. that it has always been the deliberate intention and object of France, for purposes of their own, to encourage the continuation of the war in America, in hopes of exhausting the strength and resources of this country, and of depressing the rising power of America." This is not only the language of Mr Hartley, but the general language of newspapers and pamphlets, and, I am well informed, of conversation in England. These are very industriously sent to America, through various channels, which cannot be stopped by laws, art, or power.

The body of the people have great confidence in the sincerity of France; but if these contrary opinions should be suffered to gain ground, as they most a.s.suredly will if something is not done to prevent it, when all the world sees and declares as they do, that it is the best policy of France, if she considered her own interest alone in the conduct of the war, to keep a superior naval force upon the coast of the continent of North America, I leave your Excellency to judge what a melancholy effect it will have upon our affairs. There is no event, in my opinion, which would have so direct a tendency to give force and extent to opinions so dangerous to both nations, as the calling off from the continent your naval force, during the winter, and not keeping a superiority there through the year. I scruple not to give it as my opinion, that it will disunite, weaken, and distress us more than we should have been, disunited, weakened, or distressed, if the alliance had never been made.

The United States of America are a great and powerful people, whatever European statesmen may think of them. If we take into our estimate the numbers and the characters of her people, the extent, variety, and fertility of her soil, her commerce, and her skill, and materials for shipbuilding, and her seamen, excepting France, Spain, England, Germany, and Russia, there is not a state in Europe so powerful.

Breaking off such a nation as this from the English so suddenly, and uniting it so closely with France, is one of the most extraordinary events that ever happened among mankind. The prejudices of nations in favor of themselves, and against all other nations, which spring from self-love, and are often nurtured by policy for unworthy purposes, and which have been ever certainly cultivated by the English with the utmost care in the minds of the Americans, as well as of the people of every other part of their dominions, certainly deserve the attention of the wisest statesmen, and as they are not to be eradicated in a moment, they require to be managed with some delicacy.

It is too often said in France, where the prejudice against the English has not been fostered into so much rancor, because France never had so much to fear from England, as England has from France, "That the Americans and the English are the same thing," not to make it appear, that there are some remnants of prejudices against the Americans among the French, and it must be confessed there are some in America against France. It is really astonishing, however, that there are so few, and it is the interest and duty of both to lessen them as fast as possible, and to avoid with the nicest care, every colorable cause of reviving any part of them.

I beg your Excellency to excuse this trouble, because the state of things in North America has really become alarming, and this merely for the want of a few French men-of-war upon that coast.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, July 14th, 1780.

Sir,

The advices from the Hague of the 9th of this month are, that the talk had been of a Congress to be held in that place; but as her Majesty, the Empress of Russia, had given to understand, that she desired that the conferences should be held at Petersburg, the States-General have consequently named, upon the proposition of his Serene Highness, the Prince Stadtholder, the Baron de Waa.s.senaar Starrenburg, and the Baron Van Heckeren de Brantzenburg, Deputies to the a.s.sembly of their High Mightinesses, on the part of the Provinces of Holland, West Friesland, and Utrecht, Ministers Plenipotentiaries to go to Petersburg, to the end to a.s.sist there at the conferences, which are to be held for the protection of the commerce of neutrals.

And that the Chevalier Llano, now Minister Plenipotentiary of his Catholic Majesty to their High Mightinesses, had arrived at that residence.

The English continue to fill all the newspapers of Europe with the despatches of Clinton, Cornwallis, Tarleton, &c. of their triumphant progress in Carolina, and we are unable to obtain a syllable from any part of America to contradict it, or explain it. It is devoutly to be wished, that Congress would appoint some active and intelligent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and make it his duty to transmit the journals, newspapers, and other intelligence, and duplicates and triplicates of them, to their servants abroad. Vessel after vessel arrives, even directly from Philadelphia, and we cannot get the journals, papers, and scarcely a private letter by them. Surely, the department of foreign affairs is of some importance to the United States, and their most important officers abroad ought not to be less informed, than every private merchant. The successes of the English in Carolina have filled them with the most ridiculous exultations. They have thrown off the mask entirely, and talk now almost universally of nothing but unconditional submission; not an idea of peace is entertained. They are perfectly confident the Congress will not maintain their authority three months. They have filled the world with histories of insurrections at Philadelphia, which drove the Congress to Lancaster, killed the French Minister, &c. &c. &c. The stocks rose three and threefourths per cent. This is the wise nation, that is to govern America, as they think, at their pleasure.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, July 15th, 1780.

Sir,

The news from Petersburg of the 13th of June is, that the last advices received from Mohilew have confirmed the news, that the Empress would return sooner than was at first expected, and that the Emperor, under the name of the Count de Falckenstein, would arrive at the same time, at Petersburg. That the fleet of Cronstadt had been eight or ten days in the road, waiting only for their final instructions to put to sea.

It will be separated into three divisions, each of five ships of the line, under the command of the Rear Admirals Barisson, Cruse, and Polibin. Since the departure of a courier, which Mr Harris, the British Envoy, has expedited to his Court, the 26th of last month, a report has been spread, that he has demanded his recall.

The ordinance, which the Empress has pa.s.sed at Czarsko-Zelo, on the 19th of May, to the end to ascertain the rights and duties of her subjects relative to the neutrality, is too remarkable, in the present conjuncture, not to be given entire to the public. The following is the preamble.

"The maritime war, subsisting for some time between Great Britain, on the one part, and France and Spain on the other, has begun lately to do equal injury to the commerce and the navigation of our faithful subjects. We have not in consequence failed to employ for their protection and indemnification from all the losses, which have been occasioned to them, our most efficacious intercession; in consequence of which several merchants have already obtained, in proportion to their demands, a considerable indemnification. Nevertheless, although we doubt not, that all the others will be equally indemnified by the belligerent powers, yet we cannot regard the particular compensation of individuals, as a sufficient pledge of the safety upon which neutral nations may hereafter depend. From this motive, we have resolved not only to take measures the most effectual for the maintenance of the maritime commerce of our subjects, but to put them in execution, in case of need. They have already been announced to all Europe, by a declaration delivered in the same terms to the three belligerent powers, by which we fix expressly and with precision, the rights and prerogatives of a commercial neutral flag. The one and the other are founded either upon the proper terms of our Treaty of Commerce with the Crown of Great Britain, or upon the evident and immutable principles of the law of nature and nations. But while we require of other nations, for our proper utility the entire and unlimited accomplishment of their duties, we are not less fixed in the intention on our part to observe inviolably, in regard to them, the obligations of the strictest neutrality. Thus it is necessary, that all our subjects should conform themselves vigorously in their maritime commerce, and in the enterprises relative to it, to this our will. In default of which, they will render themselves unworthy of our protection and of our succor. But to the end, that no man may fall into error by ignorance, we order our College of Commerce to notify the Russian merchants trading in our ports, that while they enjoy an entire liberty of trading and sending their vessels to all parts of Europe, they are bound to observe, conformably to our treaties with different powers, and to the ordinances of each place, that which follows."

This is the preamble; the purview shall be sent to Congress as soon as it appears.

It seems that the Empress, as well as the Ottoman Porte, has not a little resented the indecent and groundless a.s.sertions, with which England has filled Europe and America, that the Empress would take part with them, and that there were misunderstandings subsisting between Petersburg and Constantinople. I think it can be no longer doubted, that Russia will never take part with England, and that while she is determined upon a neutrality, every other maritime power of Europe must do the same, or join against England. It is equally plain, that England must come into the system of rights preparing for neutrals, or go to war with all the maritime powers of the world. This is too decisively and obviously advantageous to North America, to need any comments.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Paris, July 15th, 1780.

Sir,

The news from Constantinople is, "that upon the advice, that a fleet of French merchant-men from Ma.r.s.eilles, was blocked up by the English cruisers in the port of Milo, the Count de St Priest, Amba.s.sador of France, presented a Memoir to the Porte, complaining of this last violation of the last agreement made between the Ottoman government and the Amba.s.sadors of the belligerent powers, for the maintenance of the neutrality. In consequence, the Reis Effendi requested Mr Ainslie, the British Amba.s.sador, to give orders conformably to the said agreement, to the cruisers of his nation, to respect the coasts, forts, and havens of the Ottoman Empire, and not to commit hostilities but in open sea. The Amba.s.sador answered, "that he approved the requisitions of the Porte too much, not to contribute all that lay in his power, to make the English cruisers observe the orders which had been before given them." Nevertheless, the Count de St Priest judged proper, by way of further precaution, to send the consul of his nation, who resides at the Dardanelles, to the Capitan Pacha, who is now in the Archipelago with his fleet, to desire him to have a care that the French fleet should suffer no insult. The Ottoman Admiral immediately complied with this requisition; and we learn by the French consul, who is returned here, that having found this commandant at Metelin, he had no sooner learned the object of his commission, than he detached some to go to the succor of the fleet blocked at Milo. But his a.s.sistance will not have been necessary, because, according to letters from Smyrna, the six English cruisers, which held the French fleet shut up, having had the audacity to attack this convoy even in the port, the Chevalier d'Entrecasteux, who commanded it, had shattered them, after an engagement of several hours, in such a manner, that he had put them out of a condition to keep the sea, and that they must have retired to Paros."

_Stockholm, 27th of June._ "The King having judged proper to name an Admiral General of his fleet, has chosen for this eminent post, the Major-General and Commander of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword, Henry de Trolle. M. de Moussin Puschkin, Envoy from Russia, is arrived here from Petersburg."

_Hague, 10th of July._ "The Admiralty of Amsterdam has put in commission, with the advice of the Prince Stadtholder, the vessels, the Admiral de Reister, of sixtyeight guns, and the Hereditary Prince, of fiftysix."

_Hamburg, 23d of June._ The Mars, a Danish man-of-war of fifty guns, commanded by Captain Luken, and three frigates, with seventyeight merchant ships of different nations, under convoy, sailed from the Sound the 18th of this month."

It thus appears, that Russia, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark, are proceeding in earnest to convoy their trade, and increase their naval force, to protect the confederacy in favor of the rights of neutrality.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.