said dispositions, in whole or in part, in particular cases, they
shall be seized and carried into port, where they shall be declared
good prize with all their effects and cargoes, only for being loaded
with provisions, or with those sorts of effects specified by the
article 15th of the regulation for armed vessels, without there being
occasion for any other judicial proof; and, in case that the articles
before mentioned should not be found on board of these vessels, the
motives of their contravention of these articles shall be juridically
examined, and an account of them rendered to his Majesty by the
Secretary of State, and of the Department of the Marine, who shall
afterwards make known the resolution of his Majesty.
"ARTICLE VI. In case, independently of the contravention of these
articles, it should be proved that a vessel under a neutral flag
should be entered into the place, or discovered going in (which would
manifest a visible and formal design of going there) without having
lain to, or waited for the Spanish vessel, which should have pursued
her and made her the signal, or should have gone far from the coast of
Africa, or finally, shall have separated herself from the convoy, she
shall be in all respects both in going in and in coming out treated as
an enemy's ship, declared according to the tenor of the laws of war to
be good prize, as well as all her cargo, and all the crew shall be
made prisoners of war; because that in such a case the flag and
documents ought to be supposed false, the ship and cargo to belong to
the enemy, or that one or the other is destined for his service.
"ARTICLE VII. The neutral vessels, which shall be visited by the
King's ships, or privateers, upon other seas or coasts of the ocean,
and the Mediterranean, which have no communication with the Straits of
Gibraltar, shall neither be stopped nor brought into port except in
the cases specified by the royal regulation, made the 10th of July,
1779, for privateers; no vexation nor violence shall be exercised
against the masters of these ships, nor shall anything be taken away
from them, how small soever may be the value of it, under the penalty
established by the said regulation, extended even by article
nineteenth to that of death, according to the exigency of the case.
"ARTICLE VIII. In case the vessels, stopped by the King's ships or
privateers, shall throw their papers into the sea, and this fact shall
be juridically proved, they shall, for this reason only, be declared
good prize; which has been sufficiently made known by the sixteenth
article of the regulation for privateers, which treats of this object.
"ARTICLE IX. If it shall be proved that in the cargoes of vessels
stopped, there should be found some effects the property of the enemy,
in such case, if the captain shall have declared it freely, the said
effects shall be unloaded alone, the freight of them shall be paid,
without retaining long the masters or hindering in any manner their
navigation, always provided, that as far as possible the said vessels
shall not be put in a situation to run any risk by the taking out the
effects before mentioned; a receipt shall be given to the captain for
the effects discharged, of the condition they were in, as well as the
amount of their freight as far as the place of their destination;
which shall be proved by their charter parties or documents, to the
end to be able to be satisfied, what shall be their due from the
Commissary of the Marine of the first port they shall make, that of
which they shall give notice by the way of the Ministry, to the end
that if the receipt of which they are the bearers has been given them
by a privateer, the amount of it may be paid by the owners, and if it
has been furnished them by a King's ship, measures the most convenient
in this respect shall be taken, that in case it should be judged
absolutely necessary to conduct the said vessels into some port there
to discharge them, they may be indemnified for that which shall be
due to them, by reason of their freight, for so many days as it shall
be judged indispensably necessary for them to take up, both in going
to the said ports and in returning; but, nevertheless, in case the
captains should conceal the effects, the property of the enemy, or
deny that they belong to the enemy, they ought to be pursued
juridically, and the Judges of the Marine shall examine the case and
decide it, with liberty of appeal to a council of war, who,
conformably to the usage of the English tribunals, shall declare
lawful prize all these effects, which shall appear legally to belong
to an enemy, by means of which, considering the concealment and the
denial of the said effects, no account shall be made, neither of the
freight nor of the days lost to masters of vessels, since they will
have been themselves the causes of the delay occasioned to their
navigation.
"ARTICLE X. When in the said case, or in others similar, the ships of
friends or of neutrals shall be stopped and brought into the ports,
other than those of their destination, contrary to the forms
prescribed or without having given cause for it by well founded
reasons, either by the direction of their course, or by the state of
their papers, by some resistance on their part, the nature of their
cargo, or by other legal causes, founded either on treaties or the
usages of nations universally adopted, the armed vessels, which shall
have seized such vessels, shall be condemned to make good the lost
days as well as the damages and prejudices caused to a seized ship;
this condemnation or justification shall be mentioned in the same
sentence, which shall contain the declarations of good or bad prize,
and to this end they shall proceed with the utmost despatch without
injuring however the privileges or principal points, whereof the
nature of the thing requires observance, and the decisions, whether of
condemnation or acquittal, ought to be executed under sureties, as it
is regulated for the advantage of privateers; and if it happens that
the vessels, which should have caused the damage, belong to the King,
in that case the tribunals or Judges of the Marine shall give notice
of it to the Secretary of your Excellency, sending to him at the same
time justifying pieces and their opinion, to the end that his Majesty
may ordain convenient damages, and what shall be judged necessary to
prevent or remedy like cases; and it is in this sense that the
fortieth and other articles of the regulation for privateering ought
to be understood.
"ARTICLE XI. The sale of prizes and their cargoes, mentioned by the
thirtyseventh, fortyfourth, and other articles of the royal ordinance
for privateering, shall be made, not only after having prepared an
inventory of them, and in presence of the masters of the interested,
or of those who are legally authorised, but also skilful persons shall
have previously made a formal estimate, in which the causes of
avarice, or others influencing more or less upon the price of effects,
shall be examined and juridically proved, in such sort, that at all
times one may notoriously prove both the price of merchandises taxed
before the sale, and consequently the frauds which might be committed
during the said sale, as well as the prejudices that might result from
them.
"ARTICLE XII. The intention of his Majesty being, that this royal
declaration be observed, as making part of his ordinances imprinted
and published in all his ports and maritime places, the King commands
me to transmit it to your Excellency, to have it published to this
end, and that you see to its punctual execution, while, on my part, I
shall communicate it to all the Ambassadors and foreign Ministers
residing in this Court, to the end that each one may give notice of it
to his respective nation.
"ARTICLE XIII. In the meantime, his Majesty requires your Excellency
to give also the necessary orders to the tribunals and counsellors of
the Marine, that they may expedite, with the utmost diligence, the
processes begun relative to stopped vessels conformably to the spirit
of this royal declaration, which as to the essentials agrees with the
precedent ones successively published."
Thus I have gone through these lengthy state papers, but am under
fearful apprehensions that Congress will find the translation
imperfect in some parts, for I have not time to revise it. I may take
this opportunity to observe, that I have sent many state papers to
Congress, which were originally in English, but which I have first
found in the foreign gazettes and translated from them; which will
account to Congress for the difference, which they will see between
some papers I have sent and the originals.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
* * * * *
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Paris, May 8th, 1780.
Sir,
There is an article of news from the Hague of the 3d of May, that they
write from Dort, that the recruits of Anspach and of Hanover, in the
pay of England, are embarked there and sailed from that city the day
before yesterday, in order to go to their destination.
There is news also from Stockholm of the 18th of April, that the
ordinance, which the College of the Admiralty has expedited to all the
agents and consuls, who reside in foreign countries, relating to the
convoys necessary to the protection of the commerce of the subjects of
this kingdom, is as follows, dated Stockholm, April 1st.
"His Majesty having found it necessary to equip a certain number of
vessels of war and frigates, during this year, to the end to protect
the navigation of Swedish merchants, the College of the Admiralty, in
consequence, makes known, that besides the vessels of war, which are
to protect the vessels of other nations destined for the ports of this
kingdom, to the end, that no hostilities may be committed upon the
coasts of Sweden, the said College has further judged it necessary,
that some frigates ought to serve as convoys to the Swedish ships,
which go to navigate without the Baltic sea. To this purpose, the
Royal College of the Admiralty has judged proper to give notice, that
the Road of Elsinore will be the rendezvous of all the vessels, which
would take advantage of the convoys, and which will sail at four
different times, to wit;
"The first convoy will sail the 29th of May, with the merchant
vessels, which may be ready, under the escort of the frigate the
Zwarte Orn, commanded by the Major Harald Christiernin, who has orders
to conduct them by the Canal, [?] as far as Cape Finisterre, and take
all possible care that the vessels arrive in safety in the ports of
their destinations, and afterwards to conduct under his convoy,
destined for the Mediterranean, with the same vigilance, through the
Strait of Gibraltar, as far as the latitude of Malaga. The second
convoy will sail the 14th of July, with the frigate Höken, under the
command of the Major and Chevalier Samuel Orrskiold, who is to convoy
with the same care the merchant ships as far as Cape Finisterre.
"The third will put to sea the 31st of August under the protection of
the frigate Upland, commanded by the Major and Baron Solomon Christian
Von Kokler. Finally, the fourth convoy will sail on the 30th of
September, escorted by the frigates Sodermanland and the Jaramas,
commanded by the Majors and Chevaliers C. M. Wagenfelt and Herns
Frederic Watchmeister, who are to convoy with the same care the
merchant ships as far as Cape Finisterre, and afterwards those which
are destined for Portugal, Spain, and the Mediterranean, as well as
along the coast of Europe, as far as Leghorn; the commandant being to
consult with the consuls of their nation where they cruise during the
winter months, to the end to protect the ships of Swedish subjects,
which trade in the Mediterranean; after which, the said frigates are
to repair towards the middle of February to Malaga, and make in the
latitude of that port their cruises until the end of that month, to
return after that, taking under their convoy the vessels from thence,
and those coming from the Mediterranean, to reconduct them through the
channel into their country.
"It ought not, however, to be forgotten, that no merchant ships will
be taken under convoy, but those only which shall conform themselves
to the ordinance Royal of the 18th of February, 1779, as well as to
the neutrality, which his Majesty would maintain with the strictest
exactness. Thus the masters of Swedish ships are advertised by these
presents, and it is even enjoined upon them not to carry any succors
into the places or ports, which may be blocked by one or another of
the powers now at war.
"Nevertheless, notwithstanding this arrangement, his Majesty will
permit, to the end that commerce may have its course and not be
retarded, that liberty be given to merchant ships to sail without the
said convoys, according to the circumstances in which they may find
themselves, as well as the facility to separate themselves at sea from
the King's ships, if their advantage requires it, in which case the
masters of ships shall be obliged to give notice of it beforehand to
the commanders of frigates. In one word, the masters of ships shall be
held to conform themselves to the orders, which the chiefs of the
convoy shall give them, and, consequently, to the instructions which
shall be delivered them."
Copies are circulated in London, of the answer which the Court has
made to the declaration of the Empress of Russia, presented the first
of April to the Ministry by M. de Simolin, Minister Plenipotentiary.
This piece, which was despatched the 13th of April to the Chevalier
Harris, Envoy Extraordinary of his Britannic Majesty to the Court of
Petersburg, is of the following tenor.
"During the whole course of the war, in which the King of Great
Britain finds himself engaged by the aggression of France and Spain,
he has manifested those sentiments of justice, of equity, and
moderation, which govern all his proceedings. His Majesty has
regulated his conduct towards friendly and neutral powers according to
theirs towards him, conforming it to principles the most clear, and
the most generally acknowledged of the law of nations, which is the
only law between nations who have no treaties, and to the tenor of his
different engagements with other powers; which engagements have varied
this primitive law by mutual stipulations, and have varied it in a
great variety of different manners, according to the will and the
convenience of the contracting parties. Strongly attached to her
Majesty, the Empress of all the Russias, by the ties of a reciprocal
friendship and a common interest, the King, from the commencement of
the troubles, gave the most determinate orders to respect the flag of
her Imperial Majesty and the commerce of her subjects, according to
the law of nations and the tenor which he has contracted in this
treaty of commerce with her, and which he will fulfil with the most
scrupulous exactness. The orders on this subject have been renewed,
and the execution of them shall be strictly attended to. It is to be
presumed, that they will prevent all irregularity; but if it should
happen, that there should be the smallest violation of these repeated
orders, the tribunals of the Admiralty, which in this country, as in
all others, are established to take cognizance of such matters, and
which in all cases judge solely by the general law of nations, and by
the particular stipulations of different treaties, would redress the
injury in a manner so equitable, that her Imperial Majesty would be
satisfied entirely with their decisions, and would acknowledge in them
the same spirit of justice which animates herself."
This is said to be the answer to the Empress, and to be sure it is
complaisant enough; but still there is a great question between the
King and the Empress to be decided. The King says, that all the ports
of France and Spain are blocked by his fleet. The Empress says, that
none of them are or will be, but such before which the King may send a
number of ships to guard the entrance into them, and make it
manifestly dangerous. She adds, that she has armed and will arm to
maintain this construction of the word, and invites all the other
maritime powers to make a league with her in support of this
interpretation; and Holland has already answered that she agrees to it
with gratitude, and all the other powers will answer the same. If the
King gives up his interpretation of the word, there is an end forever
to the naval superiority of Great Britain. If he maintains it, it must
be by a war against all the nations that use the seas.
But the government and nation are not yet forsaken by their
infatuation. They do not see in the declaration of the Empress, that
she has taken a decided part against them. But all the rest of the
world sees, that a declaration of war against them would not have been
a more decisive indication of the Empress' judgment or affections.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
_P. S._ There is an article in the Amsterdam Gazette of the 2d of May,
taken from the Hague of the 30th of April, that "Mr Faucet, General in
the service of the King of England, has set off from his residence,
and we learn from Dort, that the English vessels are at last arrived
there, and that the recruits of Anspach and Hanau will be embarked in
a little time to go to America."
This Mr Faucet is the officer (they call him General in the papers,
but I believe he is not more than a Major or Lieutenant Colonel) whose
whole time and service are devoted to picking up the recruits for the
German regiments in the British service. He constantly fills all the
newspapers of Europe with his motions from place to place, and gives
his accounts an air of mystery, which leaves the world, both in Europe
and America, to magnify the numbers he raises at discretion, or
rather according to their imaginations. But Congress may rely upon
this, that the service is very unpopular and odious in Germany; that
they are put to great trouble and expense, annually, to raise the
recruits whom they have sent, who have never been enough to repair the
breaches, and that this year they have not been able to get more than
last, and these will arrive as late as those last year, and in all
probability as sickly.
J. A.
* * * * *
TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Paris, May 8th, 1780.
Sir,
The English have a faculty of deceiving themselves, which has lost
them thirteen colonies, has brought them into a war, first with France
and then with Spain, has nearly lost them Ireland, and has at last put
them in a fair way of uniting all the other maritime powers of Europe
against them. Yet they are still able to deceive themselves.
There is an example of this in the Hague Gazette of the 1st of May, in
the article Great Britain.
"They make here a thousand conjectures concerning the declaration of
this Court of the 17th of this month, and the consequences which may
result from it. The declaration of Russia does not afford less matter
of speculation. It is agreed that it will render the three belligerent
powers very circumspect in their conduct relative to the commerce of
neutral powers, but the more moderate politicians cannot persuade
themselves, that this declaration is more hostile towards England than
towards the other powers at war, although our patriots, as they call
themselves, exert themselves to give it a turn, as if Russia had it in
view to break with England.
"Since the unfortunate contest between Great Britain and her colonies
of America, the balance of commerce between Russia and England has
been, one year with another, more than five hundred thousand pounds in
favor of Russia, and there is also a very considerable balance in
favor of the other northern powers. But these moderate English
politicians ought to consider, whether this balance of commerce is
enough to prevent a great and able princess from seizing an
opportunity of distinguishing her character with the world and in
history, for wisdom, equity, and magnanimity, by rendering to mankind
a most essential service, by introducing into the law and practice of
nations a reformation of those errors, which the English chiefly had
attempted to establish; a reformation which the interest and rights of
humanity so loudly and manifestly call for, and by assisting in the
separation of the new world from the domination and monopoly of
England, which is also so obviously for the honor, the prosperity, and
the happiness of mankind in general. The English should further
consider, whether this balance of trade is likely to be less in favor
of Russia, for the independence of America, and for the security which
is aimed at for neutral powers. All the world out of England sees that
it will not."
I will conclude this letter, by adding the letter of Lord Stormont, of
the 17th of April, to the Count de Welderen, Envoy Extraordinary of
their High Mightinesses.
"The King has always hoped, that the faith of treaties and the ties of
an alliance, which has subsisted for more than a century, as well as
those of a reciprocal friendship, and a common interest joined to the
evidence of the danger, which threatens the Republic herself, if
France and Spain accomplish their ambitious designs, would have
induced their High Mightinesses to assist his Majesty to frustrate
these designs by furnishing him the succors stipulated by treaties the
most solemn.
"But since their High Mightinesses have adopted another system, as
contrary to the interests of the Republic as to those of Great
Britain, since they have not made any answer to the repeated demand of
these succors, and have not even shown the least intention to fulfil
engagements so clear and so formal, his Majesty has found himself
necessitated to execute his intentions, which have been so clearly
announced in the Memorial, which his ambassador presented the 21st of
March last, and in the verbal declaration, which I had the honor to
make to you, by express order of the King. As you are perfectly
informed, Sir, of the sentiments of his Majesty, it only remains for
me to communicate to you, ministerially, the order which the King has
given in his Council, and to pray you to inform their High
Mightinesses of it. In reading this order, you will there see, Sir, a
particular attention to the interests of the commercial subjects of
their High Mightinesses. The publication of the memorial presented by
the Ambassador of the King, as well as that of the verbal declaration,
will, without doubt, render all further advertisements unnecessary.
But the King desires, that individuals should suffer as little as
possible from the consequences of a system, which their High
Mightinesses have adopted, and which appears as opposite to the
sentiments of the Dutch nation as it is to the interests of the
Republic."
How confident these people are, that no other nation of Europe
understands its own interest. According to them, France, Spain,
Holland, Russia, and the other maritime powers and the United States
of America, are all acting, shedding their blood, and spending their
money for objects directly opposite to their proper interests. But it
is much to be wished that the English, for the sake of their own
preservation, as well as the report of mankind, could be brought to
think, that other nations understand their own interests very well.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.
* * * * *
TO AN UNKNOWN PERSON.[1]
[1] The name of the person to whom this letter was sent is not
mentioned in the original.
Paris, May 9th, 1780.
Dear Sir,
I thank you for your note of yesterday, and the papers enclosed.
The proposals for a general pacification, by the Dean of Gloucester,
whether they were written by him, or by another, were probably
intended to feel the pulse of France, or Spain, or America. Nay, it is
not impossible, that they might be intended to sound even so
inconsiderable a portion of existence as Mr John Adams. But it must be
something rather more plausibly written; something a little more
consonant to reason, and to common sense, which will draw out of Mr
Adams his sentiments on the great work of pacification, if ever he
should enter into any detail upon this subject, before general
conferences take place, which he at present believes he shall not do.
Concealing, however, my name, you may take these few observations upon
these proposals.