Part 35

"But it is this same means, which the Court of London has endeavored to take away from the Republic, by proceeding with precipitation to extremities the most outrageous, by the recall of her Ambassador, by the publication of a Manifesto containing pretended grievances, and by granting letters of marque and of pretended reprisals against the State, its subjects, and their goods; by which, this Court has but too plainly discovered her designs long since formed, of laying aside the essential interests which united the two nations, and of breaking the ties of ancient friendship, by attacking this State by a war the most unjust.

"It will not be necessary to refute at length the reasons and pretended griefs alleged in the Manifesto, to convince every impartial man of their insolidity. It is sufficient to observe, in a few words, relative to the offer made by his Britannic Majesty, to open friendly conferences, that it was the abovementioned Treaty of Marine, which alone could make the object of those conferences; that the dispositions of this treaty, conceived in the most expressive terms, could not be liable to any doubt nor equivocation, that this treaty gives neutral powers the right of transporting freely in the ports of the belligerent powers all sorts of naval stores; that the Republic proposing to itself no other end, and desiring of his Britannic Majesty no other thing, than the quiet and peaceable enjoyment of the rights stipulated by this treaty, a point so evidently clear, and so incontestably just could not become the object of a negotiation, or of a new convention derogatory to this treaty, so that their High Mightinesses could not persuade themselves nor show themselves disposed to renounce, voluntarily, rights justly acquired, and to desist from these rights from regard to the Court of England; a renunciation, which, being advantageous to one of the belligerent powers, would have been little compatible with the principles of the neutrality, and by which their High Mightinesses would have exposed, on the other hand, the safety of the State to dangers, which they were obliged carefully to avoid; a renunciation, moreover, which would have caused to commerce and navigation, the principal support of the Republic, and source of her prosperity, an irreparable prejudice; since the different branches of commerce, strictly connected with each other, form a whole, whereof it is impossible to cut off so principal a part, without necessarily causing the destruction and ruin of the whole body; not to mention, that at the same time that their High Mightinesses made, with reason, a difficulty to accept the proposed conferences, they have not a little modified and tempered the actual exercise of their right by a provisional resolution.

"And as to what relates to the succors demanded, their High Mightinesses cannot dissemble, that they have never been able to conceive how his Britannic Majesty has thought, that he could insist, with the least appearance of justice or of equity, upon the succors stipulated by the treaties, at a time when he had already beforehand withdrawn himself from the obligation, which those treaties imposed upon him towards the Republic. Their High Mightinesses have not been less surprised to see, that while the troubles in America, and their direct consequences could not concern the Republic in virtue of any treaty, and that the succor had not been demanded, until after the Crown of Spain had augmented the number of belligerent powers, his Britannic Majesty has, nevertheless, taken the occasion of this event to insist upon his demand with so much earnestness, and such an ardor, as if his Majesty thought himself to have a right to pretend and to maintain, that a war, once enkindled between him and any other power, was alone sufficient to oblige the State to grant forthwith, and without any anterior examination, the succors stipulated.

"The Republic, it is true, had obliged itself by the treaties to assist Great Britain at all times, when this kingdom should find itself attacked, or threatened with an unjust war; and what is more, the Republic ought in this case, according to the same treaties, to declare war against the aggressor; but their High Mightinesses never pretended to abdicate the right, which flows necessarily from the nature of every offensive alliance, and which cannot be contested to allied powers, to examine in the first place, and before the granting of succors, or taking part in the war, the principle of the dissensions which have arisen, and the nature of the difference, which has given occasion to it, as well as also to examine and weigh thoroughly the reasons and the motives, which may establish the _casus foederis_, and which ought to serve as a basis of the justice and the lawfulness of the war, on the part of that one of the confederated powers, who demands the succor. And there exists no treaty, by which their High Mightinesses have renounced the independence of the State, and sacrificed their interests to those of Great Britain, to such a degree, as to deprive themselves of the right of examination, so necessary and so indispensable, by engaging themselves to measures, by which they may be considered as obliged in duty to submit to the good pleasure of the Court of England, by granting the succors demanded, even where this Court, engaged in a quarrel with another power, judges proper to prefer the way of arms to that of a reasonable satisfaction upon just complaints.

"It was not then by a spirit of party, or by the device of a predominant cabal, but after a mature deliberation, and in a sincere desire to maintain the most precious interests of the Republic, that the States of the respective Provinces have all unanimously testified, that they were of opinion, that the succor demanded ought to be refused in a manner the most polite; and their High Mightinesses would not have failed to have transmitted to his Britannic Majesty conformable to these resolutions, an answer to the repeated demands of succors, if they had not been prevented by the violent and unheard of attack of the flag of the State under the command of Rear Admiral Byland, by the refusal to give satisfaction upon a point so grave, and by the declaration not less strange than unjust, which his Majesty thought fit to make relative to the suspension of the treaties, which subsisted between him and the Republic. Also many events, which by requiring deliberations of quite another nature, put an end to those, which had taken place on the subject of the said requisition.

"It is in vain, and contrary to all truth, that they have endeavored to multiply the number of grievances, by alleging the suppression of the duties of exportation as a measure tending to facilitate the transportation of naval stores to France; for besides, that this suppression forms an object, which regards the interior direction of commerce, to which all the sovereigns have an incontestible right, and whereof they are not obliged to give an account to any body, this point has, it is true, been taken into consideration, but has never been concluded; so that these rights are still received upon the ancient footing; and that which is advanced in this regard in the manifesto, is found destitute of all foundation, although we cannot refrain from saying, that the conduct of his Britannic Majesty towards the Republic, furnished but too many motives to justify a similar measure on the part of their High Mightinesses.

"The discontent of his Britannic Majesty, on the subject of what passed with the American, Paul Jones, is also quite as ill grounded. Already for several years, their High Mightinesses had resolved, and published everywhere, precise orders concerning the admission of privateers and armed vessels of foreign nations with their prizes, in the ports of their domination, orders, which to that time had been observed and executed without the least exception. In the case in question, their High Mightinesses could not depart from those orders, in regard to an armed vessel, who, furnished with a commission of the American Congress, was found in the Road of the Texel, combined with frigates of war of a sovereign power, without erecting themselves into judges, and pronouncing a decision upon matters, in which their High Mightinesses were in nowise obliged to take any part, and in which it did not appear to them convenient to the interests of the Republic to meddle in any manner. Their High Mightinesses then thought fit not to depart from the orders given so long ago, but they resolved to give the most express prohibition to hinder the said armed vessel from providing herself with warlike stores, and enjoined upon her to quit the Road as soon as possible, without remaining there longer than the time absolutely necessary to repair the damages suffered at sea, with the formal denunciation, that in case of a longer delay we should be obliged to compel his departure, to which end the officer of the State, commanding at the said Road, took care to make the requisite dispositions, whereof this armed vessel had scarcely the time to prevent the effects.

"In regard to what has passed in the other parts of the world, the informations which their High Mightinesses have received from time to time from the East Indies, are directly opposite to those, which appear to have come under the eyes of his Britannic Majesty. The repeated complaints, which the directors of the East India Company have addressed to their High Mightinesses, and which the love of peace has made them stifle in their bosoms, are incontestible proofs of it. And the measures taken with regard to the West Indies, enumerated heretofore, ought to serve in all times as an irrefragable proof of the sincerity, the zeal, and the attention with which their High Mightinesses have taken it to heart, to maintain in those countries the most exact and the most strict neutrality; and their High Mightinesses have never been able to discover the smallest legal proof of any infraction of their orders in this respect.

"As to what concerns the project of an eventual treaty with North America, conceived by a member of the government of the Province of Holland, without any public authority, and the memorials presented upon this subject by Sir Joseph Yorke, the affair happened in the following manner. As soon as the Ambassador had presented the memorial of the 10th of November of the last year, their High Mightinesses, without stopping at expressions little suitable among sovereigns, with which this memorial was filled, did not delay to commence a deliberation the most serious upon this subject, and it was by their resolution of the 27th of the same month, that they did not hesitate to _disavow_ and to _disapprove_ publicly all which had been done in this respect; after which, they had all reason to expect that his Britannic Majesty would have acquiesced in this declaration, since he could not be ignorant that their High Mightinesses exercise no jurisdiction in the respective Provinces, and that it was to the States of the Province of Holland to whom, as clothed like the States of the other Provinces, with a sovereign and exclusive authority over their subjects, ought to be remitted an affair relatively to which their High Mightinesses had no reason to doubt, that the States of the said Province would act according to the exigence of the case, and conformably to the laws of the State and the rules of equity.

"The earnestness with which Sir Joseph Yorke insisted, by a second memorial, upon the article of the punishment, cannot therefore but appear very strange to their High Mightinesses, and their surprise increased still more when three days afterwards, this Ambassador declared, verbally, to the President of their High Mightinesses, that if he did not receive that day an answer entirely satisfactory to his memorial, he should be obliged to inform his Court of it by an express; their High Mightinesses, informed of this declaration, penetrated the importance of it, as manifesting visibly the measure already resolved in the Council of the King; and although the established customs admit not of deliberations upon verbal declarations of foreign Ministers, they judged it nevertheless proper to depart from them on this occasion, and to order their Secretary to wait on Sir Joseph Yorke, and give him to understand that his memorial had been taken _ad referendum_ by the Deputies of the respective Provinces conformably to received usages, and to the constitution of the government; adding, what appears to have been omitted with design in the manifesto, that they would endeavor to complete an answer to his memorial as soon as possible, and as soon as the constitution of the government would permit. Accordingly, a few days after, the Deputies of Holland notified to the assembly of their High Mightinesses, that the States of their Province had unanimously resolved to require the advice of their Court of Justice, on the subject of demand of punishment, charging the said Court to give their opinion the soonest possible, laying aside all other affairs. Their High Mightinesses did not fail to transmit forthwith this resolution to Sir Joseph Yorke; but what was their surprise and their astonishment, when they learned that this Ambassador, after having reviewed his instructions, had addressed a billet to the Secretary, by which, in accusing this resolution with being evasive, he refused to transmit it to his Court; which obliged their High Mightinesses to send the said resolution to the Count de Welderen, their Minister at London, with orders to present it as soon as possible to the Ministry of his Britannic Majesty; but the refusal of this Ministry threw an obstacle in the way of the execution of these orders.

"After this explanation of all the circumstances of this affair, the impartial public will be in a condition to set a just value upon the principal motive, or rather pretext which his Britannic Majesty has used to let loose the reins of his designs against the Republic. The affair reduces itself to this. His Majesty was informed of a negotiation which should have taken place in the year 1778, between a member of the government of one of the Provinces and a representative of the American Congress, which negotiation would have had for its object to project a treaty of commerce, to be concluded between the Republic and the said Colonies, _casu quo_, viz. in case the independence of these Colonies should have been acknowledged by the Crown of England; this negotiation, although conditional, and annexed to a condition, which depended upon an act to be antecedently performed by his Majesty himself; this negotiation, which without this act, or this anterior declaration, could not produce the smallest effect, was taken in so ill a part by his Majesty, and appeared to excite his discontent in such a degree, that he thought fit to require of the State a disavowal and a public disapprobation, as well as a complete punishment and satisfaction. It was forthwith, and without the least delay, that their High Mightinesses granted the first part of the requisition, but the punishment demanded was not in their power, and they could not agree to it, without flying in the face of the fundamental constitution of the State. The States of the Province of Holland were the only tribunal to which it belonged to take legal cognizance, and to provide for the case by the ordinary and regular ways.

"This Sovereign, constantly attached to the maxims, which obliged it to respect the authority of the laws, and fully convinced that the maintenance of the department of justice in all the integrity and impartiality which are inseparable from it, ought to form one of the firmest supports of the supreme Power; this Sovereign, constrained by everything which is most sacred to defend, and to protect the rights and the privileges of its subjects, could not forget itself to such a degree as to subscribe to the will of his Britannic Majesty, by giving a blow to these rights and privileges, and by overleaping the bounds prescribed by the fundamental laws of the government. These laws required the intervention of the judiciary department, and this was accordingly the means which the said States resolved to employ, by requiring upon this object the advice of the Court of Justice established in their Province. It is by following this course that they have displayed before the eyes of his Britannic Majesty, of the English nation, and of all Europe, the unalterable principles of justice and equity, which characterise the Batavian Constitution, and which in a part so important of the public administration as is that which regards the exercise of the judiciary power, ought forever to serve as a buckler and a rampart against everything which could hurt the safety and the independence of a free nation; it was also by this means, and by following this course, that very far from shutting the road of justice, or evading the demand of punishment, they have on the contrary, left a free course to the way of regular proceeding, and conformable to the constitutional principles of the Republic; and it is finally by the same means, that by taking away from the Court of London all pretence of being able to complain of a denial of justice, they have prevented even to the smallest shadow or appearance of reason, which could authorise this Court to use reprisals to which, nevertheless, it has made no scruple to recur in a manner equally odious and unjust.

"But while the State took measures so just and so proper to remove all subject of complaint, the measure which was the epoch of the commencement of the rupture had already been resolved and concluded in the Council of the King. This Council had resolved to try all sorts of means to traverse and hinder, if it had been possible, the accession of the Republic to the convention of the Powers of the North, and the event has clearly demonstrated, that it is in hatred and resentment of this convention that the said Court has suffered itself to be drawn into the part, which it has been pleased to take against the Republic. For these causes, and since that after the repeated outrages and immense losses, which the subjects of the Republic must have sustained on the part of his Majesty, the King of Great Britain, their High Mightinesses find themselves moreover provoked and attacked by his said Majesty, and forced to employ the means which they have in hand, to defend and avenge the precious rights of their liberty and independence, they assure themselves with the firmest confidence, that the God of armies, the God of their fathers, who by the visible direction of his Providence sustained and delivered their Republic in the midst of the greatest dangers, will bless the means, which they have resolved to put in operation for their lawful defence, in crowning the justice of their arms, by the succors always triumphant of his Almighty protection, while that their High Mightinesses will desire with ardor the moment, when they shall see their neighbor and their ally, now their enemy, brought back to moderate and equitable sentiments; and at this epoch, their High Mightinesses will seize with earnestness all events, which, compatible with the honor and independence of a free State, may tend to reconcile them with their ancient friend and ally.

"Thus done and resolved at the Assembly of their High Mightinesses, the Lords the States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries, at the Hague, the 12th of March, 1781."

It is remarkable, that their High Mightinesses, after so many delays, have chosen for the publication of this Manifesto, a time when the mediation of the Empress is depending. This mediation appears in a memorial, presented the 1st of March to the States-General, in these words.

"High and Mighty Lords.--As soon as her Majesty, the Empress, was informed of the sudden departure from the Hague of the Ambassador of his Britannic Majesty to your High Mightinesses, guided by the sentiments of friendship and benevolence, which she professes towards the two powers, she did not wait for further explanations, concerning the consequences, which might be produced by a procedure so alarming for their reciprocal tranquillity and well-being, to make by her Minister at the Court of London representations the most pressing, to the end to divert it, if it were possible, from coming to violent measures, and to induce it rather to prefer those of softness and conciliation, offering herself to co-operate in everything which might depend upon her. Although her Majesty has not yet had the time to receive the answer of the Court of London, she has, nevertheless, reason to presume, that her insinuations there will be received with pleasure.

In this confidence, the Empress does not hesitate to give a new proof of her salutary intentions in favor of the reunion of two States, for whom she has an equal affection, and whom she has seen for so long a time live together in an intelligence the most perfect, and the most natural to their respective interests, by proposing to them formally her good offices and her mediation, to interrupt and put an entire end to the discord and the war, which has broken out between them. While M. Simolin, the Minister of the Empress at the Court of London, acquits himself of the orders, which she has given him concerning this object, the undersigned has the honor to fulfil the same task, on his part, towards your High Mightinesses, and to assure you of the zeal and earnestness with which he should desire to labor at the precious work of the re-establishment of the repose and the tranquillity of your State. The disinterestedness, the impartiality, and the views of general beneficence, which have instamped their seal upon all the actions of her Imperial Majesty, preside equally in this. The wisdom and the prudence of your High Mightinesses will know how to acknowledge in her these august characters, and will dictate the answer, which the subscriber will have to transmit to her, concerning the execution of his orders.

"The Hague, March 1st, 1781.

THE PRINCE DE GALLITZIN."

The offer of mediation was accepted by their High Mightinesses with gratitude.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Leyden, March 19th, 1781.

Sir,

I have received your Excellency's letter of the 1st of January, with the commission and instructions enclosed.[14] I am very sensible of this fresh instance of the confidence of Congress, and shall do everything in my power to discharge the duties of this new trust; but I am obliged to say, that no commission that ever was given, required more patience, fortitude, and circumspection than this, virtues which I much fear have not fallen in sufficient quantities to my share.

[14] Appointing him Minister Plenipotentiary to the States-General of Holland and the Prince of Orange. See the Commission, Instructions, and Letters of Credence, in the _Secret Journals of Congress_. Vol. II. pp. 376, 377, 391.