Econlib

The Library

Other Sites

 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow TO SECRETARY LIVINGSTON. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799)

Return to Title Page for The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799)

Search this Title:

Also in the Library:

Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

TO SECRETARY LIVINGSTON. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 8 (Letters and State Papers 1782-1799) [1853]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 8.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


TO SECRETARY LIVINGSTON.

Paris, 14 July, 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,1 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, Penobscot, &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.

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 any thing 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 passive 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 inclosed speculations,1 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 by delays, in compliance to our allies.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.

[1 ]

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, passed this session, entitled 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, molasses, 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 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.”

[1 ]This paper is missing.