The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume VII Part 8

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Paris, July 12th, 1783.

Sir,

Reports have been spread, that the Regency of Algiers has been employed in fitting out ships to cruise for American vessels. There are reports too, that Spain has an armament prepared to attack their town. How much truth there may be in either, I cannot pretend to say.

Whether Congress will take any measures for treating with these piratical States, must be submitted to them. The custom of these Courts, as well as those of Asia and Africa, is to receive presents with Amba.s.sadors. The Grand Pensionary of Holland told me, that the Republic paid annually to the Regency of Algiers a hundred thousand dollars. I hope a less sum would serve for us; but in the present state of our finances, it would be difficult to make any payment. Mr Montgomery, of Alicant, has ventured to write a letter to the Emperor of Morocco, in consequence of which, his Majesty was pleased to give orders to all his vessels to treat American vessels with all friendship. Mr Montgomery ventured too far, however, in writing in the name of the United States, and what will be the consequences of the deception I know not.

Dr Franklin lately mentioned to Mr Jay and me, that he was employed in preparing, with the Portuguese Amba.s.sador, a treaty between the United States and Portugal. The next Amba.s.sador's day at Versailles, I asked him if we could be admitted to the Brazils? He said, no, they admitted no nation to the Brazils. I asked, if we were admitted to the Western Islands? He said he thought Madeira was mentioned. I told him, I thought it would be of much importance to us to secure an admission to all the Azores, and to have these Islands, or some of them, made a depot for the sugars, coffee, cotton, and cocoa, &c. of the Brazils.

He liked this idea, and went immediately, and spoke to the Amba.s.sador upon it. He said, the Amba.s.sador had told him, that they could furnish us with these articles at Lisbon, fifteen per cent cheaper than the English could from their West India Islands.

This treaty, I suppose, will be submitted to Congress before it is signed, and I hope Congress will give a close attention to it, in order to procure an exemption from as many duties as possible, and as much freedom and security of trade in all their ports of Europe and the Western Islands as possible. If any particular stipulations should be necessary, concerning the free admission of all the articles of our produce, as rice, wheat, flour, salt-fish, or any other, the members of Congress may readily suggest them.

I could wish that the Court of Lisbon had sent a Minister to Philadelphia to negotiate a treaty there. I wish that advantages may not be lost by this method of preparing treaties here, by Ministers who have made no particular study of the objects of them.[7] Benefits on both sides may escape attention in this way. A good treaty with Portugal is of so much consequence to us, that I should not wonder if Congress should think it necessary to send a Minister to Lisbon to complete it.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

FOOTNOTE:

[7] See the draft of a Treaty with Portugal, in _Franklin's Correspondence_, Vol. IV. p. 150.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Paris, July 13th, 1783.

Sir,

Yesterday Colonel Ogden arrived with the originals of what we had before received in duplicates by Captain Barney. The ratification of the Dutch treaty had been before received and exchanged. The ratification of their High Mightinesses is in the safe custody of M.

Dumas, at present at the Hague.

I believe we shall accept of the mediation of the two Imperial Courts at the definitive treaty, as it is a mere formality, a mere compliment, consisting wholly in the Imperial Ministers putting their names and seals to the parchment, and can have no ill effect. The inclination of the Count de Vergennes seems to be, that we should accept it, and as he calls upon us to decide in the affirmative or negative, I believe we shall give an answer in the affirmative.

The Empress has promised to receive Mr Dana, as soon as the definitive treaty shall be signed, and he has prepared a treaty of commerce, which will be valuable if he can obtain it.

The Emperor of Germany has caused to be intimated several ways, his inclination to have a treaty of commerce with us; but his rank is so high, that his House never makes the first formal advance. I should think it advisable, that we should have a treaty with that power for several reasons.

1st. Because, as Emperor of Germany, and King of Bohemia and Hungary, he is at the head of one of the greatest interests and most powerful connexions in Europe. It is true it is the greatest weight in the scale, which is, and has been, from age to age, opposite to the House of Bourbon. But for this very reason, if there were no other, the United States ought to have a treaty of commerce with it, in order to be in practice with their theory, and to show to all the world, that their system of commerce embraces, equally and impartially, all the commercial States and countries of Europe.

2dly. Because the present Emperor is one of the greatest men of this age. The wisdom and virtue of the man, as well as of the monarch; his personal activity, intelligence, and accomplishments; his large and liberal principles in matters of religion, government, and commerce, are so much of kin to those of our States, (perhaps indeed so much borrowed from them, and adopted in imitation of them,) that it seems peculiarly proper we should show this respect to them.

3dly. Because, that if England should ever forget herself again so much as to attack us, she may not be so likely to obtain the alliance or a.s.sistance of this Power against us. A friendship once established in a treaty of commerce, this power would never be likely to violate, because she has no dominions near us, and could have no interest to quarrel with us.

4thly. Because the countries belonging to this power upon the Adriatic sea, and in the Austrian Flanders, are no inconsiderable sources of commerce for America. And if the present negotiations between the two Imperial Courts and the Porte shall terminate in a free navigation of the Danube, the Black sea, and the Archipelago, the Emperor's hereditary dominions will become very respectable commercial countries.

5thly. Because, although we have at present a pleasant and joyful prospect of friendship and uninterrupted alliance with the House of Bourbon, which I wish may never be obscured, yet this friendship and alliance will be the more likely to continue unimpaired, for our having the friendship and commerce of the House of Austria. And (as in the vicissitudes of human affairs all things are possible) if in future times, however unlikely at present, the House of Bourbon should deal unjustly by us, demand of us things we are not bound to perform, or any way injure us we may find in the alliance, of Austria, England, and Holland a resource against the storm. Supernumerary strings to our bow, and provisions against possible inconveniences, however improbable, can do us no harm.

If we were not straitened for money, I should advise Congress to send a Minister to Vienna. But as every Mission abroad is a costly article, and we find it difficult, at present, to procure money for the most necessary purposes, I should think it proper for Congress to send a commission to their Minister at Versailles, London, Madrid, Petersburg, or the Hague, who might communicate it to the Court of Vienna, by means of the Imperial Amba.s.sador. The Emperor in such a case would authorize his Amba.s.sador at that Court to prepare and conclude a treaty, and in this way the business may be well done, without any additional expense.

M. Favi, _Charge d'Affaires_ of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the Emperor's brother, has called upon me so often to converse with me upon this subject, that I doubt not he has been employed, or at least knows that it would be agreeable to his Court and their connexions, although he has never made any official insinuations about it. This gentleman has been employed by the Republic of Ragusa to consult American Ministers upon the subject of commerce too. I have told him, that the American ports were open to the Ragusan Vessels, as well as to all others, and have given him the address, by which they propose to write to Congress.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON.

Paris, July 14th, 1783.

Sir,

A jealousy of American ships, seamen, carrying-trade, and naval power, appears every day more and more conspicuous. This jealousy, which has been all along discovered by the French Minister, is at length communicated to the English. The following proclamation, which will not increase British ships and seamen in any proportion as it will diminish those of the United States, will contribute effectually to make America afraid of England, and attach herself more closely to France. The English are the dupes, and must take the consequences.

This proclamation is issued in full confidence, that the United States have no confidence in one another; that they cannot agree to act in a body as one nation; that they cannot agree upon any navigation act, which may be common to the Thirteen States. Our proper remedy would be to confine our exports to American ships, to make a law, that no article should be exported from any of the States in British ships, nor in the ships of any nation, which will not allow us reciprocally to import their productions in our ships. I am much afraid there is too good an understanding upon this subject between Versailles and St James's.

Perhaps it may be proper for Congress to be silent upon this head until New York, Pen.o.bscot, &c. are evacuated. But I should think, that Congress would never bind themselves by any treaty built upon such principles. They should negotiate, however, without loss of time, by a Minister in London. A few weeks' delay may have unalterable effects.

PROCLAMATION

_At the Court of St James, the 2d of July, 1783._

Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

"Whereas, by an Act of Parliament, pa.s.sed this session, ent.i.tled an 'Act for preventing certain instruments from being required from ships belonging to the United States of America, and to give his Majesty, for a limited time, certain powers for the better carrying on trade and commerce, between the subjects of his Majesty's dominions, and the inhabitants of the said United States;' it is amongst other things enacted, that, during the continuance of the said act, 'it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty in Council, by order or orders to be issued and published from time to time, to give such directions, and to make such regulations, with respect to duties, drawbacks, or otherwise, for carrying on the trade and commerce between the people and territories belonging to the Crown of Great Britain, and the people and territories of the said United States, as to his Majesty in Council shall appear most expedient and salutary, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding;' his Majesty doth, therefore, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, hereby order and direct, that pitch, tar, turpentine, hemp and flax, masts, yards, and bowsprits, staves, heading, boards, timber, shingles, and all other species of lumber, horses, neat cattle, sheep, hogs, poultry, and all other species of live stock, and live provisions; peas, beans, potatoes, wheat, flour, bread, biscuit, rice, oats, barley, and all other species of grain, being the growth, or production of any one of the United States of America, may, until further order, be imported by British subjects, in British built ships, owned by his Majesty's subjects, and navigated according to law, from any port of the United States of America, to any of his Majesty's West India Islands; and that rum, sugar, mola.s.ses, coffee, cocoa-nuts, ginger, and pimento, may, until further order, be exported by British subjects, in British built ships, owned by his Majesty's subjects, and navigated according to law, from any of his Majesty's West India Islands, and to any port or place within the said United States, upon payment of the same duties on exportation, and subject to the like rules, regulations, securities, and restrictions, as the same articles by law are, or may be, subject and liable to, if exported to any British colony or plantation in America. And the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain.

STEPHEN COTTRELL."

One of the most remarkable things in this proclamation is, the omission of salt-fish, an article, which the islands want as much as any that is enumerated. This is, no doubt, to encourage their own fishery, and that of Nova Scotia, as well as a blow aimed at ours.

There was, in a former proclamation concerning the trade between the United States and Great Britain, an omission of the articles of _potash_ and _pearlash_. These omissions discover a _choice love_ for New England. France, I am afraid, will exclude fish too, and imitate this proclamation but too closely; if, indeed, this proclamation is not an imitation of their system adopted, as I believe it is, upon their advice and desire.

These, however, are important efforts. Without saying, writing, or resolving anything suddenly, let us see what remedies or equivalents we can obtain from Holland, Portugal and Denmark. Let us bind ourselves to nothing, but reserve a right of making navigation acts when we please, if we find them necessary or useful. If we had been defeated of our fisheries, we should have been wormed out of all our carrying-trade too, and should have been a mere society of cultivators, without any but a pa.s.sive trade. The policy of France has succeeded, and laid, in these proclamations, if persisted in, the sure source of another war between us and Great Britain.

The English nation is not, however, unanimous in this new system, as Congress will see by the enclosed speculations,[8] which I know to have been written by a confidential friend of my Lord Shelburne; I mean Mr Benjamin Vaughan. This Minister is very strong in the House of Lords, and Mr Pitt, in the House of Commons, has attached to him many members in the course of this session. If that set should come in again, we shall have a chance of making an equitable treaty of commerce. To this end a Minister must be ready; and I hope in mercy to our country, that such an opportunity will not be lost in delays, in compliance to our allies.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

FOOTNOTE:

[8] This paper is missing.