Part 5

"It is well known to your High Mightinesses, with what constancy and for how long a time, the subscriber has had the honor to lay before you, by order of his Court, how much she desires to accomplish a settlement of the differences, which exist upon the Rio Volta between her subjects and yours, who have by little and little wrongfully occupied and fortified the posts of Creve Coeur and of Good Hope, which at present incommode and restrain the Danish establishments upon that coast to a degree almost to destroy the existence of them, to put them to expenses for their maintenance, which absorb their utility, and to render more and more necessary measures, which his Majesty would desire not to be obliged to think of. In consequence, although the subscriber has rendered a faithful account of the assurances, which have been repeatedly given him, of the desire, which your High Mightinesses have to take away even from its source all subject of misunderstanding reciprocally, a desire very conformable with that of the King his master; nevertheless, as nothing has resulted from these general assurances he finds himself at present obliged to execute the orders, which he has received; to demand of your High Mightinesses to cause to be evacuated the said forts of Creve Coeur and Good Hope, the existence of which cannot consist with that of the establishment of Denmark. He has express orders to make this requisition, and to give to understand, that as his Majesty will be very sensible of this friendly manner of terminating the present differences upon the coast of Guinea, so will he see with sincere regret that you will oblige him to give to this affair a more serious attention. The Hague, April 28th.

ST SAPHORIN."

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, May 31st, 1781.

Sir,

The cities of Haerlem and Dort have seconded Amsterdam, although the other cities of Holland have hitherto been silent, as appears by the following declarations.

"A declaration of the gentlemen, the Deputies of Dort, concerning the proposition of the city of Amsterdam, made at the assembly of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses on the 18th of May, 1781.

"The gentlemen, the Deputies of Dort, have declared to the assembly, that they had been earnest to transmit to the Regency of their city the propositions of the gentlemen, the Burgomasters and Counsellors of Amsterdam, communicating to them at the same time, that with regard to the matter, which makes the object of it, the gentlemen, the Deputies, had beforehand declared, that since the substance of the said proposition was entirely conformable to that, which for some time had formed among the gentlemen, the Constituents, the object of preliminary deliberations, the Deputies had believed themselves tacitly authorised to adopt immediately the said proposition in all its points, which determined them also to testify their very sincere gratitude to the gentlemen, the Deputies of Amsterdam, and in their persons to the gentlemen, the Burgomasters and Regents of the same city, for the enlightened and vigilant zeal with which these gentlemen in taking this step, so salutary and so necessary, had shown that they have at heart the true interests of their dear country, which had already experienced so many injuries. That at present, the gentlemen, the Deputies, after the communications alleged, found themselves expressly instructed to cause to be inserted in the minutes of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses, for the justification of the Regency of their city before posterity, that the venerable Magistracy of Dort, approving what is before mentioned, had learned with a lively satisfaction the proposition before mentioned; that it was ready and disposed in the name of that city, to concur efficaciously in all the means, which may be judged the most convenient, to save with alacrity this country, now threatened and surrounded with the greatest and most terrible dangers; that to this end the venerable Regents of Dort would not fail to deliberate immediately upon the particular points, which the proposition in question presents, and to cause in course their resolution to be transmitted to the assembly of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses."

Note of the Deputies of Haerlem, touching the provisional resolution taken by their Noble and Grand Mightinesses, upon the proposition of Amsterdam.

"The gentlemen, the Deputies of the city of Haerlem, resuming the extension of the 18th of May, have declared, that in accepting the proposition of the gentlemen, the Deputies of the city of Amsterdam, their advice had been, that since the said proposition ought to be attributed to a laudable desire to watch over the common interests, the gentlemen, the Deputies of Amsterdam, and in their persons, the gentlemen their constituents, ought to be thanked for the zeal and marked attention upon this occasion for the utility of their dear country. But, as at that time almost all the members relished this advice in such a manner, that the assembly had converted it into a provisional resolution, the gentlemen, the Deputies, had a good right to presume, that, in imitation of many antecedent facts, this advice would have become an essential measure, to cause to be passed the beforementioned provisional resolution. But the gentlemen, the Deputies, seeing the contrary, and their remarks made in this regard, answered by a frozen silence on the part of the other members, they have, both on account of this circumstance, and to ascertain what really passed in consequence of the proposition in question, and to justify the report made to the gentlemen, their principals, upon this object, judged necessary to cause this note to be inserted in the minutes of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses."

With hearty wishes that this dumb spirit may be soon cast out, I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE STATES-GENERAL.

Amsterdam, June 1st, 1781.

Sir,

I have received from my Sovereign, the United States of America, in Congress assembled, their express instructions to notify to their High Mightinesses, the States-General, the complete and final ratification of the confederation of the Thirteen United States, from New Hampshire to Georgia, both included, on the 1st day of March last.

I do myself the honor to enclose an authentic copy of this important act, and to request the favor of you, Sir, to communicate it to their High Mightinesses in such a manner as you shall judge most convenient; as in the present circumstances of affairs I know of no more proper mode of discharging this part of my duty.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, June 5th, 1781.

Sir,

The Deputies of Middleburg, in the assembly of the States of Zealand, on the 14th of May, consented to the petition for granting larger bounties to those who shall engage in the service of the Republic by sea. Their advice has been given in this manner;

"The gentlemen, the Deputies of Middleburg, have said that they were authorised by the gentlemen, their principals, to conform themselves to the report in question, in all its parts. They are further specially instructed and ordered, (renewing the advice of their city, communicated with their consent to the two States of war of the 9th of last month,) to represent upon this occasion, in the name of the gentlemen, their principals, and to insist strongly, that without delay it should be deliberated by a committee, concerning the measures the most prompt and the most efficacious to be taken by this Province, to direct things in course in the generality, in such a manner, that in the critical and disastrous situation in which the Republic is, we should apply our attention conjointly, with redoubled zeal, activity, and wisdom, in defence of the territory, commerce, and possessions of the Republic; that we finally awake out of that unexpected inaction, in which as is too apparent the Republic is still found, the causes of which cannot, and ought not in any degree, to be attributed to this Province; or that at least, without delay and without reserve, the true reasons of this dangerous and disgraceful situation should be communicated to the Lords, the States of Zealand, from whom nothing, which concerns the Union ought to be concealed; to the end, that in course they may deliberate sincerely with the other confederates upon the means of deliverance and of precaution, the most prompt, and the most convenient for the common advantage, safety, and preservation.

"The Lords, the States of Zealand, have also represented to their High Mightinesses, the propriety of establishing batteries upon the coast of Flanders, upon the places the most exposed, and to provide them with cannon and necessary stores, that they may be able to act, with the armed vessels stationed upon the river, against any enterprises which may be attempted by the enemy's vessels.

"On the 22d of last month, their Noble and Grand Mightinesses deliberated upon the proposition of the Counsellor Pensionary, made on the 18th of the same month, in the name of the gentlemen, the counsellors' committees, viz. that it having been resolved, by a resolution of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses of the 16th of January, to negotiate a sum of eight millions, at two and a half per cent interest, this negotiation had had so happy a success, that it was almost filled up, as the treasury general and the other treasuries of the quarter of the south of this Province have received seven millions fortysix thousand six hundred and fifty florins, and those of the quarter of the north, five hundred and seventyeight thousand eight hundred florins. That the Counsellor Pensionary, seeing that the present situation of affairs requires in all respects, that the treasury of the State should be provided of a larger quantity of money, has proposed to the consideration of their Noble and Grand Mightinesses, whether they did not judge it convenient to augment the negotiation in question by four other millions, and, consequently, to extend it to twelve millions, upon the same footing and with the same interest, as determined by their resolution of the 16th of January last.

"Upon which it was thought fit, and resolved, to consent to the negotiation of these eight millions, and to increase it with four others, so as to make twelve millions upon the same footing. The Prince has made a tour to the Brille, Helvoetsluys, Goeree, and Willemstadt, where he has reviewed the troops and vessels of war, and returned to the Hague on the third of this month."

I send to Congress an account of these faint and feeble symptoms of life, because there is no appearance of any more vigorous. I am told that this _vis inertiæ_ is profound policy. If it is policy at all, it is so profound, as to be perfectly incomprehensible. However, their property and dominion, their honor and dignity, their sovereignty and independence are their own, and if they choose to throw them all away, for aught I know, they have a right to do it. There is one comfort, if other nations have nothing to hope, they have nothing to fear from such policy.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO M. BERENGER, SECRETARY OF THE FRENCH EMBASSY AT THE HAGUE.

Amsterdam, June 8th, 1781.

Sir,

I have received the letter, which you did me the honor to write me, on the 5th of this month, informing me, that you have received a letter from the Count de Vergennes, by which his Excellency directs you to tell me, that the interests of the United States require my presence at Paris, and that he should desire that I should go there, as soon as my affairs in Holland will permit me.

I should be extremely obliged to you, Sir, if you would confide to me the nature of the business that requires me at Paris, that I might be able to form some judgment, whether it is of so much importance, and so pressing, as to make it necessary for me to go forthwith.

His Excellency Dr Franklin, and Colonel Laurens, have arranged affairs in such a manner, that the accounts of the Indian are to be produced to me, and I am to draw bills to discharge them, so that it would retard the departure of that interesting vessel, if I were to go now; and it is of some importance to the public that I should complete my despatches to go to Congress by her. I am also unfortunately involved in a good deal of business, in accepting and discharging bills of exchange, a course of business which would be put into some confusion, if I were to go immediately; and the general affairs of Congress in this Republic might suffer somewhat by my absence. But notwithstanding all, if I were informed that it is anything respecting a general pacification, or an invitation of this Republic to accede to the alliance between France and the United States, or any other affair of sufficient weight to justify my quitting this port immediately, I would do it. Otherwise it would, as I humbly conceive, be more for the public interest, that I should wait until some of the business that lies upon me here is despatched, and the rest put into a better order. Let me beg the favor of your sentiments, Sir. Whenever I go, I must beg the favor of you to furnish me with a passport.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

* * * * *

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, June 11th, 1781.

Sir,

The following petition is too curious in itself, and too much attended to by the public at this time, to be omitted.

"To the Gentlemen, the Burgomasters, Sheriffs and Counsellors of the city of Antwerp.

"The inhabitants of the city of Antwerp in general, and those who are there concerned in commerce, in particular, should think that they injured their own interests, if they neglected, at a time when all Europe talks of the advantages, which the opening of the Scheldt would produce, to address themselves to you, Gentlemen, to make known their desire, that you would please to take the necessary measures for this purpose. While all nations fix at present their attention upon the liberty of navigation, shall we be the only people, who, although having a greater interest in it than others, should remain quiet, and suffer to pass away, unimproved, the moment, which appears to be now arrived to deliver ourselves from the yoke, which the Republic of Holland imposed upon us in the days of their first celebration? No! It is time that we awake! Since the treaty of Munster, this city and its commerce are fallen into a great decay, but we have still the means in our hands to revive them, because the inhabitants have ever continued to have an indirect portion in commerce. It was they, who after the suppression of the Company of Ostend, have assisted in the establishment of the East India Companies of Sweden and Denmark; and it would not be difficult to prove, that projects of all sorts have taken place in their speculations. What could they not do, therefore, when it shall be free to them to make a direct and unrestrained commerce? The simple hope, which they have of it, causes among them a revival of the spirit of commerce. When we compare the situation of the cities of Amsterdam and Antwerp, we shall find that that of the latter has many advantages over the former. The commerce of corn, which makes of Holland the factory of Europe, and all the trade of the North, offers itself to the city of Antwerp. We should soon find there magazines provided with everything necessary to extend commerce, and equal that of Amsterdam. This commerce alone would be sufficient to make a revival of the bright days, which preceded the peace of Munster.

"But what afflicts us, Gentlemen, is, that there are persons who would divide the interests of provinces, and give birth to a rivalry between the ports of Ostend and Antwerp, as if one port the more would be too much for the States of his Majesty. If this could be a question, no man could doubt that the city of Antwerp is much better situated to make an extensive commerce, than the city of Ostend. Experience alone is sufficient to demonstrate it. The commerce, which Antwerp has made heretofore, came there naturally of itself, although it had been formerly at Bruges, because the port of Antwerp was better, and in all respects more advantageous. But these cities have nothing in common, and if the Scheldt was open, and remained open, Ostend would not suffer any damage from it. We have the advantage to have in our Sovereign a Prince, whose whole application tends to render his subjects happy; nothing can contribute more to their prosperity than commerce. The fine arts, which have supported themselves at Antwerp, in spite of the decay of commerce, for near one hundred and forty years, would acquire here a new degree of perfection and lustre.

"We hope, Gentlemen, that your care and zeal for everything, which can contribute to the prosperity of a city, which you have already lately delivered from beggary, will make you discover, with particular satisfaction, new means of procuring labor for the poor and needy, diminish thereby the expense of their maintenance, without reckoning all the other advantages, and especially the augmentation of our population, which would be the result of our demand."

This petition discloses objects of so much weight in those scales, in which the political and commercial interests of the nations of Europe are now balancing, that it is worth while to transmit some observations, which have been made upon it, which will lay open the whole subject, with all its connexions. They were written in French by M. Cerisier.

"It is to have a false idea of things, to think and to say, that Holland and Zealand, taking an unjust advantage of their victories, and of the weakness of their enemies, have dictated, with arms in their hands, the outrageous and despotic conditions of holding their ports shut up. We have only to cast our eyes upon the geographical situation of Antwerp, we have only to recollect the first events of the Belgic Revolution, to acknowledge this error. The city of Antwerp for a long time made a part of the Belgic confederation; she entered into the union of Utrecht, as she had entered into the pacification of Ghent, she was even for several years the centre of the new Republic; it was not until 1585, that she fell back under the yoke of the Spaniards. But the Duke of Parma, in retaking Antwerp, could not equally make himself master of all the forts situated below that city, towards the mouth of the Scheldt. The confederates continued masters of these, and even retook some places, which had been taken from them in the course of the war. Thus they remained masters of the lower navigation of this river, an advantage, which they caused to be confirmed to them in the treaty of peace. In casting our eyes on the other hand, on the memorable siege of Antwerp, it is to this city that it is necessary to impute the misfortune of having an useless port, since, by a more vigorous and wise defence, she would have remained in the union, with all the advantages which resulted from it.

"Zealand and the city of Amsterdam, have always held the slavery of the port of Antwerp of much importance. But it is very far from being true, that this city, by recovering the liberty of her navigation, would be able to draw away any considerable part of their commerce. The maritime places of the United Provinces have had for several ages, and many years before the revolution, a great navigation and a flourishing commerce; this has been demonstrated by modern authors. See the _Tableau de l'Histoire des Provinces Unies, et la Richesse de la Hollande_. It is an error then to believe, that they were raised upon the ruins of Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp; although we cannot deny, that they have received some augmentation from them.

"But it is England, which has drawn the greatest advantages from them. The cause is evident; it is, that the same troubles, which chased commerce from these cities, agitated at the same time Holland, Zealand, Friesland, and the neighboring Provinces. The factions of the Houcks and the Cabeliaux, the Schieringers, and the Vetkopers, the Litchembergs, and the Gunterlings, the Hekeren, and the Bronkhorst, have nearly at the same time for many years, torn almost the whole country, which forms at this day the Republic of the United Provinces, in the times when Flanders was a prey to the most violent intestine dissensions, when Ghent and Bruges held the Emperor Maximilian in prison; and when the chastisements inflicted on these two cities, drove out the industry, and commerce, which enriched them. The United Provinces were the centre of the rebellion and the theatre of the most afflicting calamities, when the cruelties of the Spaniards chased commerce from the city of Antwerp. The most violent causes, in fact, are necessary to drive commerce from a country where she has fixed her residence. The powerful houses of commerce, the immense funds necessary to carry it on, the credit, the industry, do not transplant themselves easily from one country to another.

"We ought not to impute to slavery the fall of the commerce of the Austrian Low Countries. We must ascend to that epocha, when the fiscal and religious despotism of Spain carried into the Low Countries the yoke of civil servitude and the flames of the Inquisition. Commerce cannot harmonise with slavery, with the tyrannical exaction of imposts, with persecutors, or with hangmen. It was principally to London, that industry, and the merchants of Louvain, Ghent, Bruges, and Antwerp, fled. Although Holland and Zealand were at the same time a prey to similar misfortunes, and even still more terrible, they found themselves in a condition to raise a powerful marine, to beat their ancient masters, and to seize upon their spoils in the Indies. It was upon their courage, upon their navigation, upon their establishments in the Indies, and not upon the mouth of the Scheldt, that they laid the foundations of a commerce, the richest and most extensive that ever was.

"If all the Low Countries had remained attached to the confederation, they would all have partaken of the riches, the industry, the power, and the grandeur of the United Provinces. The Austrian Low Countries were not able to recover their brilliant commerce, because they had lost it. To repair this loss, it would have been necessary, that Holland and England, filled with their manufactures, should have had the complaisance to send them back all these manufactures with their riches, their workmen, and their raw materials. It was only Louis the Fourteenth who could in this respect take Philip the Second for a model. If the Flemish and the Brabantians, should have again a source of raw materials, and of workmen, would it be easy to recall industry and naturalise it there, after so long an exile? The little progress of commerce in those countries has many other causes, besides the subjugation of one of its brooks. It is necessary to look for them in the multitude and enormity of the duties imposed upon merchandises, which enter, or go out of the Austrian dominions, duties, which are repeated from one Province, and even from one city to another; it is necessary to look for them in the tyrannical and insolent inquisition of officers, with whom the frontiers are covered, in the fiscal and iniquitous subjection, to which packages and travellers are exposed; the former to a search, which exposes the goods to be spoiled, and the other to an indecent and odious inspection. They have forced women to strip themselves, even to their shifts, to discover, with a scandalous avidity, effects subject to these odious taxes.