that "the French Governor never refuses commissions, whether before or after capture of a prize, provided he receives some present, as, for instance, a tenth share.”166 Protests from the English ambassador at Paris against this encouragement of piracy evoked only polite denial of the whole condition of affairs." The Indies were as far away from peace as ever. 167 Such privateers as came in to Port Royal on hearing of the recall and surrendered to Lynch, being pardoned, sailed off to Yucatan in quest of logwood, an illicit trade which was to be the spring of fresh violence and robbery in those seas with Spain as aggressor and English merchantmen as prey, and no reprisal allowed. The Royal African Company had now abandoned the old policy of force and was trying to insinuate itself peaceably into the Spanish slave-trade; it was, therefore, unwilling that Spanish confidence should be shaken again by the enterprise of English privateers, whatever the sufferings of English traders. 168 Between French and Spanish pirates, the commerce of the British West Indies paid dearly for the escapades of Henry Morgan and others of his kind. England, to her surprise, was not the sole arbiter of peace beyond the Line. There are many pirates about our seas", reports a Jamaican in 1699, "and the French make us no restitution nor the Spaniards spare anything they can master, so that we are in an ill case with our hands bound and must stand still to be buffetted."169 But although the licensing of privateers by English governors in time of peace ended with Mody ford's administration, enough English pirates escaped the vigilance of Lynch's frigates to sustain old traditions not unsuccessfully. "This cursed trade has been so long followed, and there is so many of it, that like weeds or Hidras they spring up as fast as we can cut them down", wrote Lynch in discouragement.170 The pirates were more wary than in Modyford's time, contenting themselves with what they could make prize of at sea and working independently of each other instead of in fleets. 166 Ibid., September 29, 1682, pp. 301-302. 167 Ibid., February 14, 1683, p. 383, and same date, p. 385. 168 Sir William Godolphin, ambassador to Spain, after trying vainly to obtain redress for a long list of English merchants whose ships had been seized by the Spanish in the Indies, on the pretense of their having logwood aboard, wrote: "They [the Spanish] fancy Parliament will not suffer the King to do them any harm, and that without the Spanish trade England would be all in disorder, and this makes them bold." Ibid., August 7/17, 1675, p. 268. In 1684 one finds the governor of Jamaica pleading with the governor of Trinidad, thus: "If we suffer your ships to trade we protect them afterwards, and if not we give them fair notice to be gone. You permit the sloops to trade for a little to be the more sure of seizing them." Ibid., September 17/27, 1684, p. 689. 160 Ibid., February 8, 1699, p. 55. 170 Ibid., January 13, 1672, p. 316. AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XVI.—37. The governor of the Danish Island of St. Thomas did not scruple to encourage such as brought their prizes to him.171 But the Caribbean no longer sufficed them. Buccaneers such as Dampier, Sharpe, Cook, and Wafer, who have left accounts of their exploits, transferred their attention to the commerce of the South Sea, and did not fare badly. Others found a headquarters at New Providence in the Bahamas, and by combining smuggling with piracy were soon in alliance with the colonies along the Atlantic seaboard.172 In 1724 England was still trying to quell these pirates by administering semioccasional chastisement with a man-of-war.173 So widespread was the evil, so irresponsible the international conscience-if such a thing may be supposed to exist-that the best efforts of such honest officials as Lynch counted for nothing. Piracy ruled in the West Indies until, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, the imperative demand for security in trade brought about gradually a systematic and adequate policing of the seas. 171 Cal. St. P., A. and W. I., June 24. 1684, p. 657. VIOLET BARBOUR. 172 ( All the news of America is, the swarming of pirates not only on these coasts, but all the West Indies over, which doth ruin trade ten times worse than a war." Ibid., June 5, 1700, p. 301. Colonel Quary (from Virginia) to the Council of Trade and Plantations. 173 Hist. MSS. Com., MSS. of Lady Du Cane p. 20. DOCUMENTS American Commercial Conditions, and Negotiations with Austria, 1783-17861 HERR HANNS SCHLITTER, vice-director of the Staatsarchiv at Vienna, published some time ago two works1a concerning the relations between the Empire and the United States which contain interesting information particularly upon the negotiations between the government of the Emperor Joseph II. and that of the American republic on the subject of concluding a treaty of commerce. Conferences took place between the Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, ambassador of Joseph II. at the court of Louis XVI., and the American ministers, Franklin and Jefferson, and a treaty of commerce was in its principal points decided upon. Serious events, however, put a stop to the negotiations; these were, on the part of Austria, the revolt of the Austrian Netherlands, and, on the part of America, the change of the Constitution in 1787. Neither the exact terms of the Emperor's decision nor the precise propositions of the American government concerning the treaty to be concluded are even now known; yet it has been my good fortune to discover in the Staatsarchiv at Vienna the proposal of Kaunitz, the chancellor of the Empire, accompanied by the Emperor's decision in his own writing. Moreover I have found in the Archives Générales in Brussels the project of a treaty submitted by the American government to the government of Joseph II. Of the two the proposal of Kaunitz appears to me the more interesting because it reveals the shiftings of the negotiations and also because it presents a general view of the policy of the United States in regard to treaties of commerce. This document is printed in the series following as number XI. 1 These documents, with their introduction and notes, have been kindly furnished by Professor Hubert Van Houtte of the University of Ghent; Professor Edmund C. Burnett of the Carnegie Institution of Washington has added a general statement concerning the contemporary negotiations of the United States with respect to commercial treaties. 1a Die Beziehungen Oesterreichs zu den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika (Innsbruck, 1885) and Die Berichte des Ersten Agenten Oesterreichs in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Baron de Beelen-Bertholff, an die Regierung der Oesterreichischen Niederlande in Brüssel, 1784-1789 (in Fontes Rerum Austriacarum, Abth. II., Bd. XLV., Vienna, 1891). 2Cf. Schlitter, Die Beziehung Oesterreichs zu den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, pp. 73, 76, 112-118. 3 Cf. ibid., p. 116, n. 3. See post, pp. 576-579, 587. I have included some other documents, not hitherto published, which I have found in the Archives Générales in Brussels. They relate to American manners in the years 1783-1786, as observed by an intelligent and well-informed European. Herr Schlitter's work, Die Berichte des Ersten Agenten Oesterreichs in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, itself contains a mass of information of this sort; nevertheless the observations which we publish are not among the least interesting. In several instances the reader is referred to Herr Schlitter's volume for comparison. These elucidations of American manners, as well as the documents which concern European emigration to the United States, are drawn from relations of Baron de Beelen-Bertholff which had escaped the investigation of Herr Schlitter because they repose in Brussels, whereas the principal mass of these relations is to be found in Vienna. The sources of the several documents are indicated in the foot-notes. HUBERT VAN HOUTTE. I. THE EMIGRATION OF EUROPEANS TO AMERICA, 1783.5 Le point de l'émigration à présent devient plus dangereux pour l'Europe. L'Amérique tâchera de toutes les manières possibles d'avoir du monde de tous les pays de l'Europe. C'est aux pays de l'Europe d'avoir l'œil bien ouvert, pour empêcher cela, surtout parceque l'on tâchera de [se] procurer toute sorte de gens de métier. Il suffit à l'Europe que les plus mauvais sujets que chaque pays bannit, pour des mauvaises actions, y aillent. Et cela est suffisant pour faire beaucoup de dommage à l'Europe avec le temps, comme il en est arrivé à la Grande-Bretagne en condamnant ses criminels à être transportés en Amérique. Plus ou moins chaque criminel est habile à quelque chose. Et en examinant les faits de la révolte, on voit plusieurs descendants des personnes condamnées à y aller et d'autres encore vivantes sous la même condamnation, faire une belle et suffisante figure dans les faits même de la révolte. L'émigration que l'indépendance de l'Amérique pourra causer est peut-être le premier point que l'Europe doit tâcher d'empêcher. Les Américains, pour bien d'années avant la révolte, avoient presque partout des personnes qui encourageoient les pauvres gens à y aller. A présent ils tâcheront de multiplier la population avec beaucoup d'industrie; et surtout d'attirer chez eux les gens de métier et les manufacturiers, afin de se soustraire à la nécessité d'acheter le tout aux Européens. Les ordonnances et la force ne sont pas suffisantes pour empêcher entièrement l'émigration. On trouve toujours des moyens pour les évader. Il semble que l'encouragement dans la patrie à tous les plus inférieurs ouvriers mêmes, aura plus d'effet contre les tentations de l'Amérique. Extract from a report of Songa, the Imperial consul at London, to the Brussels government, February 8, 1783. The report is in the Archives Générales, Brussels, Conseil Privé, carton no. 1152. There is a large number of edicts against emigration in the Recueil des Ordonnances des Pays-Bas Autrichiens" (to 1786) and in the "Recueil des II. LAFAYETTE'S VISIT TO AMERICA, 1784." M. le Marquis de La Fayette arriva de Lorient à New-York le 5 de ce mois après une traversée de 35 jours et en cette ville le 9, accompagné de M. le chevalier de Caraman. Une troupe de la milice ou Dragons de la Pensilvanie fut envoiée à quelques miles d'ici pour l'escorter. Les principaux de cet état furent le complimenter et le recevoir hors de la ville. Les cloches annoncèrent son arrivée au public. Il ne pénètre pas jusqu'ici de quelle durée sera son séjour. III. BANKRUPTCIES IN PHILADELPHIA AND New York, 1784. Trois maisons de commerce à Philadelphie, l'une sous la raison de Sluyter, hollandois, l'autre sous la raison de Basse et Soyer, hambourgeois, et la troisième sous la raison de Hamelin, françois, viennent de faire banqueroute. On évalue celle de Sluyter au delà de 50 mille et celle de Basse et Soyer à 60 mille Pounds. Celle d'Hamelin n'est pas évaluée dans le public; on la dit beaucoup moins forte que les autres. Sluyter, Soyer et Hamelin ont d'abord été colloqués dans la prison. Basse a pris la fuite et s'est embarqué au cap May. L'opinion générale est que les banqueroutes de Sluyter, Basse et Soyer sont frauduleuses et que le fond du commerce de ces deux derniers appartient à des hollandois. à New-York: Parker, Hopkins et M'Lane No. 22, Wallstreet. On dit cette banqueroute très considérable. IV. FASHIONS OF AMERICAN WOMEN, 1784. A' Les soieries de couleur grise de différentes nuances et qualités tant taffetas que moire, unies, doubles satinées, peu de fleuragées sont les plus recherchées par ceux de la secte des trembleurs ou Quakers; très peu d'entre eux portent des soyeries d'une autre couleur. D'autres sortes en bleu, blanc, moredoré etc. trouveront cependant aussi du débit, mais à beaucoup près pas en si grande quantité que les premières; le tout uni et le moins en couleurs vives. . . . Il y a surtout une sorte de taffetas extrêmement léger que la Ordonnances et Règlements", of the Bibliothèque des Archives Générales of Brussels, volumes XXVIII. and XXIX. [The Pennsylvania Gazette of May 26, 1784, contains the following extract of a letter from Copenhagen, March 2: "The migrations from out of Holstein have lately been so great, on account of the encouragement which the American states give to foreigners settling among them, that the King has found it necessary to publish an ordonnance, forbidding, under heavy penalties, any person leaving the Danish dominions without licence."] Extract from a report of the Baron de Beelen-Bertholff to Count Barbiano de Belgioioso, minister plenipotentiary of the Emperor at Brussels, dated at Philadelphia, August 12, 1784. Brussels, Archives Générales, "Chancellerie des Pays-Bas à Vienne", portfolio 303. For other details concerning the visit of Lafayette see Schlitter, Die Berichte des Ersten Agenten Oesterreichs in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika, Baron de Beelen-Bertholff, pp. 339, 361, 377, and 558. Note L appended to the report of August 12, 1784, in portfolio 303. |