that some of the belligerent powers may stop our vessels going with
grain to the ports of their enemies, and ask instructions which may meet
the question in various points of view, intending, however, in the
mean time, to contend for the amplest freedom of neutral nations. Your
intention in this is perfectly proper, and coincides with the ideas of
our own government in the particular case you put, as in general cases.
Such a stoppage to an unblockaded port would be so unequivocal an
infringement of the neutral rights, that we cannot conceive it will
be attempted. With respect to our conduct, as a neutral nation, it
is marked out in our treaties with France and Holland, two of the
belligerent powers: and as the duties of neutrality require an equal
conduct to both parties, we should, on that ground, act on the same
principles towards Great Britain. We presume that this would be
satisfactory to her, because of its equality, and because she too has
sanctioned the same principles in her treaty with France. Even our
seventeenth article with France, which might be disagreeable, as from
its nature it is unequal, is adopted exactly by Great Britain in her
fortieth article with the same power, and would have laid her, in a like
case, under the same unequal obligations against us. We wish then, that
it could be arranged with Great Britain, that our treaties with France
and Holland, and that of France and Great Britain (which agree in what
respects neutral nations), should form the line of conduct for us all,
in the present war, in the cases for which they provide. Where they are
silent, the general principles of the law of nations must give the rule,
as the principles of that law have been liberalized in latter times by
the refinement of manners and morals, and evidenced by the declarations,
stipulations, and practice of every civilized nation. In our treaty
with Prussia, indeed, we have gone ahead of other nations, in doing
away restraints on the commerce of peaceful nations, by declaring that
nothing shall be contraband. For in truth, in the present improved state
of the arts, when every country has such ample means of procuring arms
within and without itself, the regulations of contraband answer no other
end than to draw other nations into the war. However, as other nations
have not given sanction to this improvement, we claim it, at present,
with Prussia alone.
You are desired to persevere till you obtain a regulation to guard our
vessels from having their hands impressed, and to inhibit the British
navy-officers from taking them under the pretext of their being British
subjects. There appears but one practicable rule, that the vessel
being American, shall be conclusive evidence that the hands are so to
a certain number, proportioned to her tonnage. Not more than one or two
officers should be permitted to visit a vessel. Mr. Albion Coxe has just
arrived.
I have the honor to be, with great and sincere esteem, Dear Sir, your
most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson,
LETTER CXLVII.--TO MR. HAMMOND, May 15, 1793
TO MR. HAMMOND.
Philadelphia, May 15, 1793.
Sir,
Your several memorials of the 8th instant have been laid before the
President, as had been that of the 2nd, as soon as received. They have
been considered with all the attention and the impartiality, which
a firm determination to do what is equal and right between all the
belligerent powers could inspire.
In one of these, you communicate, on the information of the British
Consul at Charleston, that the Consul of France at the same place
had condemned, as legal prize, a British vessel, captured by a French
frigate, and you justly add, that this judicial act is not warranted
by the usage of nations, nor by the stipulations existing between the
United States and France. I observe further, that it is not warranted by
any law of the land. It is consequently a mere nullity; as such it can
be respected in no court, can make no part in the title to the vessel,
nor give to the purchaser any other security than what he would have
had without it. In short, it is so absolutely nothing, as to give no
foundation of just concern to any person interested in the fate of the
vessel; and in this point of view, Sir, I am in hopes you will see it.
The proceeding, indeed, if the British Consul has been rightly informed
(and we have no other information of it), has been an act of
disrespect towards the United States, to which its government cannot
be inattentive: a just sense of our own rights and duties, and the
obviousness of the principle, are a security that no inconveniences will
be permitted to arise from repetitions of it.
The purchase of arms and military accoutrements by an agent of the
French government, in this country, with an intent to expert them to
France, is the subject of another of the memorials. Of this fact we are
equally uninformed as of the former. Our citizens have been always
free to make, vend, and export arms. It is the constant occupation and
livelihood of some of them. To suppress their callings, the only means
perhaps of their subsistence, because a war exists in foreign and
distant countries, in which we have no concern, would scarcely be
expected. It would be hard in principle, and impossible in practice. The
law of nations, therefore, respecting the rights of those at peace, does
not require from them such an internal derangement in their occupations.
It is satisfied with the external penalty pronounced in the President’s
proclamation, that of confiscation of such portion of these arms as
shall fall into the hands of any of the belligerent powers on their way
to the ports of their enemies. To this penalty our citizens are warned
that they will be abandoned; and that even private contraventions may
work no inequality between the parties at war, the benefits of them will
be left equally free and open to all.
The capture of the British ship Grange by the French frigate L’Embuscade
has on inquiry been found to have taken place within the bay of Delaware
and jurisdiction of the United States, as stated in your memorial of
the 2nd instant. The government is, therefore, taking measures for the
liberation of the crew and restitution of the ship and cargo.’
It condemns, in the highest degree, the conduct of any of our citizens
who may personally engage in committing hostilities at sea against any
of the nations, parties to the present war, and will exert all the means
with which the laws and constitution have armed them to discover such
as offend herein, and bring them to condign punishment. Of these
dispositions I am authorized to give assurances to all the parties,
without reserve. Our real friendship for them all, our desire to
pursue ourselves the path of peace, as the only one leading surely to
prosperity, and our wish to preserve the morals of our citizens from
being vitiated by courses of lawless plunder and murder, may assure you
that our proceedings, in this respect, will be with good faith, fervor,
and vigilance. Instructions are consequently given to the proper law
officer, to institute such proceedings as the laws will justify,
for apprehending and punishing certain individuals of our citizens,
suggested to have been concerned in enterprises of this kind, as
mentioned in one of your memorials of the 8th instant.
The practice of commissioning, equipping, and manning vessels in our
ports, to cruise on any of the belligerent parties, is equally and
entirely disapproved; and the government will take effectual measures to
prevent a repetition of it. The remaining point in the same memorial is
reserved for further consideration.
I trust, Sir, that in the readiness with which the United States
have attended to the redress of such wrongs as are committed by their
citizens, or within their jurisdiction, you will see proofs of their
justice and impartiality to all parties; and that it will insure to
their citizens pursuing their lawful business by sea or by land, in all
parts of the world, a like efficacious interposition of governing powers
to protect them from injury, and redress it, where it has taken place.
With such dispositions on both sides, vigilantly and faithfully carried
into effect, we may hope that the blessings of peace, on the one part,
will be as little impaired, and the evils of war, on the other, as
little aggravated, as the nature of things will permit; and that this
should be so, is, we trust, the prayer of all.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of respect, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CXLVIII.*--TO M. DE TERNANT, May 15, 1793
TO M. DE TERNANT.
Philadelphia, May 15, 1793.
Sir,
Having received several memorials from the British Minister on subjects
arising out of the present war, I take the liberty of enclosing them
to you, and shall add an explanation of the determinations of the
government thereon. These will serve to indicate the principles on which
it is meant to proceed; and which are to be applied, with impartiality,
to the proceedings of both parties. They will form, therefore, as far as
they go, a rule of action for them and for us.
In one of these memorials, it is stated, that arms and military
accoutrements are now buying up by a French agent in this country, with
an intent to export them to France. We have answered, &c.
*****
Another of these memorials complains that the Consul of France at
Charleston, has condemned, as legal prize, a British vessel captured by
a French frigate, observing that this judicial act is not warranted by
the usage of nations nor by the stipulations existing between the United
States and France. It is true, &c.
*****
Our information is not perfect on the subject matter of another of these
memorials, which states that a vessel has been fitted out at Charleston,
manned there, and partly too with citizens of the United States,
received a commission there to cruise against nations at peace with us,
and has taken and sent a British vessel into this port. Without taking
all these facts for granted, we have not hesitated to express our
highest disapprobation of the conduct of any of our citizens who may
personally engage in committing hostilities at sea against any of the
nations, parties to the present war, and to declare, that if the case
has happened, or that should it happen, we will exert all the measures
with which the laws and constitution have armed us, to discover such
offenders and bring them to condign punishment. And that the like
conduct shall be observed, should the like enterprises be attempted
against your nation, I am authorized to give you the most unreserved
assurances.
The capture of the British ship Grange, by the French frigate
L’Embuscade, within the Delaware, has been the subject of a former
letter to you. On full and mature consideration, the government deems
the capture to have been unquestionably within its jurisdiction, and
that according to the rules of neutrality and the protection it owes to
all persons while within its limits, it is bound to see that the crew be
liberated, and the vessel and cargo restored to their former owners.
The Attorney General of the United States has made a statement of the
grounds of this determination, a copy of which I have the honor to
enclose you. I am, in consequence, charged by the President of the
United States to express to you his expectation, and at the same time
his confidence that you will be pleased to take immediate and effectual
measures for having the ship Grange and her cargo restored to the
British owners, and the persons taken on board her set at liberty.
I am persuaded, Sir, you will be sensible, on mature consideration, that
in forming these determinations, the government of the United States has
listened to nothing but the dictates of immutable justice: they consider
the rigorous exercise of that virtue as the surest means of preserving
perfect harmony between the United States and the powers at war.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of great respect, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
[* The parts of this letter which are mere repetitions of what is
contained in the preceding, to the British Minister, are omitted.]
LETTER CXLIX.--TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA, May 21,1793
TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.
Philadelphia, May 21,1793.
Sir,
I have been duly honored with your favor of May the 8th, covering the
letter of Mr. Newton, and that of May the 13th, with the letter of the
British Consul at Norfolk and the information of Henry Tucker, all of
which have been laid before the President.
The putting the several harbors of the United States into a state of
defence, having never yet been the subject of deliberation and decision
with the legislature, and consequently, the necessary monies not having
been appropriated or levied, the President does not find himself in a
situation competent to comply with the proposition on the subject of
Norfolk.
Mr. Newton supposes, that by the treaties with France and Holland,
those powers are authorized to arm vessels within our ports. A careful
examination of the treaties will show, however, that no such permission
has been stipulated therein. Measures are accordingly taken to correct
this error as to the past, and others will be taken to prevent a
repetition of it. Proceedings are ordered against Mr. Hooper and other
American citizens who have participated in any hostilities against
nations at peace with the United States, and circular instructions are
given to the District Attorneys of the United States, to institute like
prosecutions in all future similar cases. The bringing vessels to, of
whatever nation, while within the limits of the protection of the
United States, will be pointedly forbidden; the government being firmly
determined to enforce a peaceable demeanor among all the parties within
those limits, and to deal to all the same impartial measure. I have
the honor to be, with the most perfect respect, your Excellency’s most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CL.--TO MR. VAN BERCKEL, May 29,1793
TO MR. VAN BERCKEL.
Philadelphia, May 29,1793.
Sir,
I am favored with your note of the 22nd instant, stating that under
circumstances of invasion and urgent danger, their High Mightinesses,
the States General of the United Netherlands, had found it necessary to
lay an embargo on all vessels in their ports, and that an American ship,
the Hope, being involved in this general order, the master had claimed
an exemption under the eighth article of our treaty, which it had been
necessary to refuse him.
I have laid this note before the President of the United States, and
have it in charge from him to assure you, that the United States having
the utmost confidence in the sincerity and good faith with which their
High Mightinesses will observe the treaty between the two countries,
feel no dissatisfaction at the circumstance mentioned in your note. They
are sensible that in human affairs, there are moments of difficulty and
necessity, to which it is the office of friendship to accommodate its
strict rights.
The President considers the explanation, which their High Mightinesses
have instructed you to give of this incident, as a proof of their desire
to cultivate harmony and good understanding with these United States,
and charges me to assure you that he has nothing more at heart than to
convince their High Mightinesses of the same amicable sentiments on the
part of this country, and of the certainty with which they may count on
its justice and friendship on every occasion.
I have the honor to be, with great respect and esteem, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLI.--TO MESSRS. CARMICHAEL AND SHORT, May 31, 1793
TO MESSRS. CARMICHAEL AND SHORT.
Philadelphia, May 31, 1793.
Gentlemen,
In my letters of October the 14th and November the 3rd, 1792, I
communicated to you papers and observations on the conduct of the
Spanish officers on our southwestern frontier, and particularly of the
Baron de Carondelet, the Governor of New Orleans. These made it evident
that he had industriously excited the southern Indians to war against
us, and had furnished them with arms and ammunition in abundance, for
that express purpose. We placed this under the view of the commissioners
of Spain here, who undertook to communicate it to their court, and also
to write on the subject to the Baron de Carondelet. They have lately
made us communications from both these quarters; the aspect of
which, however, is by no means such as to remove the causes of our
dissatisfaction. I send you these commmunications, consisting of
treaties between Spain, the Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Cherokees,
handed us by express order from their court, a speech of Jiaron de
Carondelet to the Cherokees, and a letter from Messrs. de Viar and
Jaudenes, covering that speech, and containing in itself very serious
matter.
I will first observe to you, that the question stated in that letter to
have been proposed to the Cherokees, What part they would take, in the
event of a war between the United States and Spain was never proposed by
authority from this government. Its instructions to its agents have, on
the contrary, been explicitly to cultivate, with good faith, the peace
between Spain and the Indians: and from the known prudence and good
conduct of Governor Blount, to whom it is imputed, it is not believed to
have been proposed by him. This proposition then, you are authorized
to disavow to the court of Madrid, in the most unequivocal terms. With
respect to the treaties, the speech, and the letter, you will see that
they undertake to espouse the concerns of Indians within our limits; to
be mediators of boundary between them and us; to guaranty that boundary
to them; to support them with their whole power; and hazard to us
intimations of acquiescence to avoid disagreeable results. They even
propose to extend their intermeddlings to the northern Indians. These
are pretensions so totally inconsistent with the usages established
among the white nations with respect to Indians living within their
several limits, that it is believed no example of them can be produced,
in times of peace; and they are presented to us in a manner which
we cannot deem friendly. The consequence is, that the Indians, and
particularly the Creeks, finding themselves so encouraged, have passed,
without the least provocation on our part, from a state of peace, which
appeared to be well settled, to that of serious hostility. Their murders
and depredations, which, for some months, we were willing to hope were
only individual aggressions, now assume the appearance of unequivocal
war. Yet such is our desire of courting and cultivating the peace of
all our Indian neighbors, that instead of marching at once into their
country and taking satisfaction ourselves, we are peaceably requiring
punishment of the individual aggressors; and, in the mean time, are
holding ourselves entirely on the defensive. But this state of things
cannot continue. Our citizens are entitled to effectual protection, and
defensive measures are, at the same time, the most expensive and
least effectual. If we find then, that peace cannot be obtained by the
temperate means we are still pursuing, we must proceed to those which
are extreme, and meet all the consequences, of whatever nature, or from
whatever quarter, they may be. We have certainly been always desirous to
avoid whatever might disturb our harmony with Spain. We should be still
more so, at a moment when we see that nation making part of so powerful
a confederacy as is formed in Europe, and under particular good
understanding with England, our other neighbor. In so delicate a
position, therefore, instead of expressing our sense of these things, by
way of answer to Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes, the President has thought
it better that it should be done to you, and to trust to your discretion
the moment, the measure, and the form of communicating it to the court
of Madrid. The actual state of Europe at the time you will receive this,
the solidity of the confederacy, and especially as between Spain and
England, the temper and views of the former, or of both, towards us,
the state of your negotiation, are circumstances which will enable you
better to decide how far it may be necessary to soften, or even perhaps
to suppress, the expressions of our sentiments on this subject. To your
discretion, therefore, it is committed by the President, to let the
court of Spain see how impossible it is for us to submit with folded
arms to be butchered by these savages, and to prepare them to view, with
a just eye, the more vigorous measures we must pursue to put an end to
their atrocities, if the moderate ones we are now taking should fail of
that effect.
Our situation on other accounts and in other quarters is critical. The
President is, therefore, constantly anxious to know the state of things
with you: and I entreat you to keep him constantly and well informed.
Mr. Yznardi, the younger, lately appointed Consul of the United States,
at Cadiz, may be a convenient channel of forwarding your letters.
I have the honor to be, with great esteem and respect, Gentlemen, your
most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLII.--TO MR. GENET, June 5,1793
TO MR. GENET, _Minister Plenipotentiary of France_.
Philadelphia, June 5,1793.
Sir,
In my letter of May the 15th, to M. de Ternant, your predecessor, after
stating the answer which had been given to the several memorials of
the British Minister, of May the 8th, it was observed that a part
still remained unanswered of that which respected the fitting out armed
vessels in Charleston, to cruise against nations with whom we are at
peace.
In a conversation which I had afterwards the honor of holding with you,
I observed that one of those armed vessels, the Citizen Genet, had come
into this port with a prize: that the President had thereupon taken
the case into further consideration, and after mature consultation and
deliberation, was of opinion, that the arming and equipping vessels in
the ports of the United States to cruise against nations with whom they
are at peace, was incompatible with the territorial sovereignty of the
United States; that it made them instrumental to the annoyance of
those nations, and thereby tended to compromit their peace; and that he
thought it necessary as an evidence of good faith to them, as well as
a proper reparation to the sovereignty of the country, that the armed
vessels of this description should depart from the ports of the United
States.
The letter of the 27th instant, with which you have honored me, has
been laid before the President, and that part of it which contains your
observations on this subject has been particularly attended to. The
respect due to whatever comes from you, friendship for the French
nation, and justice to all, have induced him to re-examine the subject,
and particularly to give your representations thereon the consideration
they deservedly claim. After fully weighing again, however, all the
principles and circumstances of the case, the result appears still to
be, that it is the right of every nation to prohibit acts of sovereignty
from being exercised by any other within its limits; and the duty of
a neutral nation to prohibit such as would injure one of the warring
powers; that the granting military commissions within the United States
by any other authority than their own, is an infringement on their
sovereignty, and particularly so when granted to their own citizens to
lead them to acts contrary to the duties they owe their own country;
that the departure of vessels thus illegally equipped from the ports of
the United States, will be but an acknowledgment of respect analogous to
the breach of it, while it is necessary on their part, as an evidence of
their faithful neutrality. On these considerations, Sir, the President
thinks that the United States owe it to themselves and to the nations
in their friendship, to expect this act of reparation on the part of
vessels, marked in their very equipment with offence to the laws of the
land, of which the law of nations makes an integral part.
The expressions of friendly sentiments which we have already had the
satisfaction of receiving from you, leave no room to doubt that, the
conclusion of the President being thus made known to you, these vessels
will be permitted to give no further umbrage by their presence in the
ports of the United States.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of perfect esteem and respect,
Sir, your most obedient and most humble servant,
Th: Jefferson.
LETTER CLIII.--TO MR. HAMMOND, June 5, 1793
TO MR. HAMMOND.
Philadelphia, June 5, 1793.
Sir,
In the letter which I had the honor of writing you on the 15th of
May, in answer to your several memorials of the 8th of that month, I
mentioned that the President reserved for further consideration, a part
of the one which related to the equipment of two privateers in the port
of Charleston. The part alluded to was that wherein you express your
confidence that the executive government of the United States would
pursue measures for repressing such practices in future, and for
restoring to their rightful owners any captures, which such privateers
might bring into the ports of the United States.
The President, after a full investigation of this subject and the most
mature consideration, has charged me to communicate to you, that the
first part of this application is found to be just, and that effectual
measures are taken for preventing repetitions of the act therein
complained of; but that the latter part, desiring restitution of the
prizes, is understood to be inconsistent with the rules which govern
such cases, and would, therefore, be unjustifiable towards the other
party.