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

DECLARATION. - 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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DECLARATION.

Whereas, by the first article of the preliminary treaty of peace between the Crown of Great Britain and the Crown of France, signed at Versailles, on the 20th of January, 1783, it was stipulated in these words, namely:—

“As soon as the preliminaries shall be signed and ratified, sincere friendship shall be reestablished between his Most Christian Majesty and his Britannic Majesty, their kingdoms, states, and subjects, by sea and by land, in all parts of the world; orders shall be sent to the armies and squadrons, as well as to the subjects, of the two powers, to stop all hostilities, and to live in the most perfect union, forgetting the past, their sovereigns showing the example; and for the execution of this article, sea-passes shall be given on each side to the ships which shall be despatched to carry the news of it to the possessions of the said powers.”

And by the twenty-second article of the same treaty it was stipulated in these words;—

“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 these 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; two months from the said Canary Islands, as far as the 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.

“And, whereas, on the said 20th day of January, 1783, it was agreed, and, by instruments signed by the minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, in behalf of his Majesty, on one part, and by the minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America, in behalf of the said United States, on the other, it was mutually declared, that the said United States of North America, their subjects and their possessions, and his Britannic Majesty, his subjects and possessions, should be comprised in the suspension of arms above mentioned, and that they should consequently enjoy the benefit of the cessation of hostilities at the same periods and in the same manner as the crowns aforesaid, and their subjects and possessions respectively; and whereas a doubt has arisen, and a question has been made, concerning the sense and intention of the high contracting parties, by the words “d’un mois depuis la manche et les mers du Nord jusqu’aux Isles Canaries, inclusivement,” and by the words “de deux mois depuis les dites Isles Canaries jusqu’à la ligne equinoxiale;”

Now, in order to remove all such doubts and questions, and to the end that the same rule of justice may take place in all courts of justice, in both nations, it is hereby agreed and declared by—in the name and behalf of his Majesty, the King of Great Britain, on the one part, and by—, minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Court of Great Britain on the other, in the name and behalf of the said United States, that the line of latitude of the southernmost Canary Island was intended by the said contracting parties, and that the armistice aforesaid ought to be everywhere understood and construed in the same manner as if the words had been “from the channel and the north seas to the latitude of the Canary Islands inclusively,” and “from the latitude of the said Canary Islands to the equinoctial line;” and that all judgments and decrees of courts of justice of either of the parties to this declaration, rendered upon any different construction of the armistice aforesaid, ought to be reversed.

Done at Westminster, this NA day of