PARIS, November 6, 1787.
SIR,--I take the liberty of asking your Excellency's perusal of the
enclosed case of an American hostage, confined in the prisons of
Dunkirk. His continuance seems to be useless, and yet endless. Not
knowing how far the government can interfere for his relief, as it is a
case wherein private property is concerned, I do not presume to ask his
liberation absolutely; but I will solicit from your Excellency such
measures in his behalf, as the laws and usages of the country may
permit.
The Comptroller General having been so good as to explain to me in a
conversation that he wished to know what duties were levied in England
on American whale oil, I have had the honor of informing him by letter,
that the ancient duties on that article are seventeen pounds, six
shillings and six pence sterling, the ton, and that some late
additional duties make them amount to about eighteen pounds sterling.
That the common whale oil sells there but for about twenty pounds
sterling, the ton, and of course the duty amounts to a prohibition.
This duty was originally laid on all foreign fish oil, with a view to
favor the British and American fisheries. When we became independent,
and, of course, foreign to great Britain, we became subject to the
foreign duty. No duty, therefore, which France may think proper to lay
on this article, can drive it to the English market. It could only
oblige the inhabitants of Nantucket to abandon their fishery. But the
poverty of their soil offering them no other resource, they must quit
their country, and either establish themselves in Nova Scotia, where,
as British fishermen, they may participate of the British premium, in
addition to the ordinary price of their whale oil, or they must accept
the conditions which this government offers, for the establishment they
have proposed at Dunkirk. Your Excellency will judge, what conditions
may counterbalance, in their minds, the circumstances of the vicinity
of Nova Scotia, sameness of language, laws, religion, customs and
kindred. Remaining in their native country, to which they are most
singularly attached, excluded from commerce with England, taught to
look to France as the only country from which they can derive
sustenance, they will, in case of war, become useful rovers against its
enemies. Their position, their poverty, their courage, their address
and their hatred, will render them formidable scourges on the British
commerce. It is to be considered then, on the one hand, that the duty
which M. de Calonnes had proposed to retain on their oil, may endanger
the shifting this useful body of seamen out of our joint scale into
that of the British; and also may suppress a considerable subject of
exchange for the productions of France: on the other hand, that it may
produce an addition to his Majesty's revenue. What I have thus far
said, is on the supposition, that the duty may operate a diminution of
the price received by the fishermen. If it act in the contrary
direction, and produce an augmentation of price to the consumer, it
immediately brings into competition a variety of other oils, vegetable
and animal, a good part of which France receives from abroad, and the
fisherman thus losing his market, is compelled equally to change either
his calling or country. When M. de Calonnes first agreed to reduce the
duties to what he has declared, I had great hopes the commodity could
bear them, and that it would become a medium of commerce between France
and the United States. I must confess, however, that my expectations
have not been fulfilled, and that but little has come here as yet. This
induces me to fear, that it is so poor an article, that any duty
whatever will suppress it. Should this take place, and the spirit of
emigration once seize those people, perhaps an abolition of all duty
might then come too late to stop, what it would now easily prevent. I
fear there is danger in the experiment; and it remains for the wisdom
of his Majesty and his ministers to decide, whether the prospect of
gain to the revenue, or establishing a national fishery, may compensate
this danger. If the Government should decide to retain the duty, I
shall acquiesce in it cheerfully, and do everything in my power to
encourage my countrymen still to continue their occupation.
The actual session of our several legislatures would render it
interesting to forward immediately the regulations proposed on our
commerce; and the expiration of the order of Bernis, at the close of
this month, endangers a suspension and derangement in the commerce of
tobacco, very embarrassing to the merchants of the two countries.
Pardon me, therefore, Sir, if I appear solicitous to obtain the
ultimate decision of his Majesty's Council on these subjects and to ask
as early a communication of that decision, as shall be convenient.
I have the honor to be, with sentiments of the most profound esteem and
respect, your Excellency's most obedient, and most humble servant.
[Illustration: John Jay
Photogravure from the Original Painting by Stuart and Trumbull]