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

TO THE MARQUIS OF CARMARTHEN. - 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.

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TO THE MARQUIS OF CARMARTHEN.

Grosvenor Square, 14 July, 1785.

My Lord,—

The twenty-second article of the preliminary treaty of peace between Great Britain and France, signed on the 20th of January, 1783, is in these words, namely—“In order to prevent all causes of complaint and dispute which may arise on account of prizes that may be taken at sea, after the signing of these preliminary articles, it is reciprocally agreed that the vessels and effects which may be taken in the channel and in the north seas, after the space of twelve days, to be computed from the ratification of those preliminary articles, shall be restored on each side. That the term shall be one month from the channel and the north seas, as far as the Canary Islands inclusively, whether in the ocean or in the Mediterranean; five months from the said Canary Islands as far as the said equinoctial line or equator; and, lastly, five months in all other parts of the world, without any exception or any other distinction more particular of time and place.”

In the preliminary articles of peace between Great Britain and Spain, a cessation of hostilities was stipulated in the same manner. On the same 20th of January, it was agreed between the minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty on the one part, and the ministers plenipotentiary of the United States of America on the other, that the subjects, citizens, and possessions of both powers should be comprised in the suspension of arms above mentioned, and that they should consequently enjoy the benefits of the cessation of hostilities at the same periods and in the same manner as the three crowns aforesaid, and their subjects and possessions respectively. It appears, however, that many vessels which were taken after the expiration of one month from the 3d of February, 1783, the day of the ratification of the said preliminary articles, within that part of the ocean which lies between the channel and north seas and the Canary Islands, have not been restored; but, on the contrary, in some instances, such vessels have been condemned as lawful prizes, upon an opinion that the words “as far as,” said to be used in the preliminary articles, meant the distance from Paris to the southernmost part of the Canaries.

It must be obvious to your Lordship, that this construction is extremely foreign from the intention of the contracting parties, who never had Paris in contemplation as a boundary of the region of one month, nor as any limit of a measure of distance; the channel and north seas being expressly marked as the northern boundary, and the southernmost Canary as the southern, and every part of the ocean, from the channel and north seas, up to the Canary Islands, inclusively, is comprehended.

Indeed, the words “as far as,” are scarcely a proper translation of the words “jusqu’aux,” in the article of the treaty. The original words are “depuis la Manche et les Mers du nord jusqu’aux Isles Canaries,” and not “depuis Paris jusqu’aux Isles,” &c., &c.

The intention of the contracting parties is so clear, and their expression so plain, that it is not easy to account for the misinterpretation of them; but, as many lawsuits are depending upon the point, and several Americans are now in London waiting the decision of them, I do myself the honor to propose to your Lordship a particular convention to determine all these controversies on both sides, by inserting the words “jusqu’à la latitude des Isles Canaries,” instead of “jusqu’aux Isles Canaries,” and also the words “depuis la latitude des dites Isles Canaries,” instead of “depuis les dites Isles Canaries,” it being apparent from the mention of the Mediterranean, as in the same stage of one month between the channel and north seas on the north, and the Canaries on the south, and of the equinoctial line as the next stage, that the line of latitude of the southern Canary was intended.

I have the honor to be, &c.

John Adams.