their commerce might be much endangered by our cruisers; so that we have no means to make an impression on them but by commercial regulations, which the vulgar may see strike essentially at their interests without injuring our own.

With great and sincere esteem, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS.

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY.

Auteuil, near Paris, May 7, 1785.

Sir,

In a former letter I expressed a doubt whether I should go directly to London or first to the Hague, in order to take leave; but upon further reflection, as I have not received a regular letter of recall, and another Minister to their High Mightinesses is not yet arrived, it seems best to avoid occasion of too much speculation among our creditors in that country for the present. The Minister who shall do me the honor to succeed me will probably bring my letter of recall, and I hope the permission of Congress for me to go over to Holland to pay there my last official respects, provided the state of our affairs will admit of my absence for the space of time necessary, which may be three weeks; but if Congress should think this ceremony unnecessary, or I should be engaged in business for the public, which cannot conveniently be left, I may take leave of their High Mightinesses and of his most Serene Highness by a respectful letter, which perhaps may answer the end. I hope to be in London by the end of this month.

As we have no friends in England or any other part of Europe but in Holland, I must ask the favor of Congress to transmit me their authority by a resolution to draw upon their bankers in Holland for the amount of my salary, and the salary of Mr. Smith, and some little disbursements which may be indispensable.

My friend and colleague, Mr. Jefferson, brought with him an order to receive of M. Grand a sum of money in advance to furnish his house; but M. Grand having no money in his hands, but, on the contrary, being much in advance, made some difficulties, which induced Mr. Jefferson to apply to me. I accordingly drew upon your bankers in Amsterdam a bill in his favor for six thousand guilders, which he has received. As M. Grand could only have

advanced the money by drawing on the same fund, one commission has been saved by this means, and I hope for the approbation of Congress.

Colonel Humphreys brought with him an order upon M. Grand, for money to pay for a medal to be struck for each of the Generals, Washington, Gates, and Greene, and for some swords adjudged by Congress to other officers; and upon M. Grand's inability to make the advances, he applied to me. As we supposed it to be the undoubted intention of Congress that these small presents should be made in honor of those great events and immortal actions, I consented to draw for the money upon the same bankers to the amount of about a thousand pounds. This also I hope will meet the approbation of Congress.

If you will pardon, sir, a transition to a subject not much connected with the foregoing, I may fill the rest of my paper with an observation which may have its uses. The extreme severity of cold and drought which have continued through the months of February, March, April, and to this day, has brought upon this country, and perhaps others, a serious calamity. There is such a scarcity of herbage and pasturage that the poor people in many places have been obliged to kill their cattle to prevent them from starving. In many other places they have been necessitated to feed the cattle with grain and bread, and other things necessary for the support of their families. The daily processions which pass before my door, in prayers for warmth and rain, are afflicting to humanity. These circumstances, however, have contributed to silence the clamors of various provinces against the commerce between us and the French West India Islands more than all the authority of the King and influence of Government. The whole nation must see, and the English too will probably see the impossibility of supporting their islands with wheat and flour, and even the necessity of importing considerable quantities of these articles, as well as rice, from the United States into Europe. It is generally agreed that the crops of grass will be so diminished that even if the wheat should not fail, they shall be obliged to apply so much of the latter to the subsistence of their cattle that they must import from us. I wish you a plentiful season and industrious husbandmen, that you may be able to support the wants of all Europe as well as your own.

With the greatest respect, &c.,

JOHN ADAMS.

Sir,

FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY.

Auteuil, near Paris, May 8, 1785.

In executing the instructions of Congress of the seventh of March last, as well as all former orders which concern the Court of Great Britain, the Ministry will no doubt find my commission and letter of credence sufficient authority. But you will see by a letter from the Duke of Dorset, which your Ministers have sometime since transmitted, that the British Cabinet have conceived doubts whether Congress have power to treat of commercial matters, and whether our States should not separately grant their full powers to a Minister. I think it may be taken for granted that the States will never think of sending separate Ambassadors, or of authorizing directly those appointed by Congress. The idea of thirteen Plenipotentiaries meeting together in a congress at every Court in Europe, each with a full power and distinct instructions from his State, presents to view such a picture of confusion, altercation, expense, and endless delay, as must convince every man of its impracticability. Neither is there less absurdity in supposing that all the States should unite in the separate election of the same man, since there is not, never was, and never will be a citizen whom each State would separately prefer for conducting the negotiation. It is equally inconceivable that each State should separately send a full power and separate instructions to the Ministers appointed by Congress. What an heterogeneous mass of papers, full of different objections, various views, and inconsistent and contradictory orders must such a man pull out of his porte feuille from time to time to regulate his judgment and his conduct! He must be accountable, too, to thirteen different tribunals for his conduct: a situation in which no man would ever consent to stand, if it is possible, which I do not believe, that any State should ever wish for such a system. I suppose, too, that the Confederation has already settled all these points, and that Congress alone have authority to treat with foreign Powers, and to appoint Ambassadors and foreign Ministers, and that the States have separately no power to do either. Yet it is plain from the Duke of Dorset's letter that the British Cabinet have conceived a different opinion. This is to be accounted for only by conjecturing that they have put an erroneous construction on the limitation, restriction, or exception in the article of our Confed

eration, which gives to Congress the power of appointing Ambassadors and making treaties. This limitation is confined to treaties of commerce; all others Congress have full power to make. From this limitation, however, will probably arise a great deal of difficulty and delay to me. If the British Ministry wish and seek for delays, this will be their pretext. But even if they should wish for despatch, which is not likely, they may have propositions to make which will fall within the limitation, and in such case it will not be in my power to agree with them.

I can only transmit the proposition to Congress, who will perhaps transmit them to the States, and no man can foresee when the answers will be received, so that the business can be brought to a conclusion. It is a long time that Congress have appeared to be aware of these obstructions in the way of our prosperity; but it does not yet appear that the States have been sufficiently attentive to them to remove them. It is not to be supposed that Congress will ever frame any treaty of commerce, with any foreign Power, which shall be unequal and impartial among the States, or oppressive upon any one of them; and it is very clear, from the situation and circumstances of the country, that no such treaty can ever be carried into execution, or last long. If the States should be unwilling to confer upon Congress a power to make treaties of commerce unlimited in point of time, it should seem that time alone might be a sufficient restriction, or the limitation might be a particular nation, as the English for example, for a certain time, although it must be always remembered that we cannot favor the English with any thing which will not become common to other nations-the French, the Dutch, and Swedes, at least.

It is very possible that the Cabinet of St. James may decline even entering into any conferences at ali, upon the subject of a treaty of commerce, until the powers of Congress are enlarged. If they should, the people of America cannot be too soon informed of it, and turn the deliberations in their assemblies to this object.

In this case, the only present hope of your Minister will be, in obedience to his orders, to convince the British Ministry of the necessary tendency of their restrictions on our trade, to incapacitate our merchants in a certain degree to make remittances to theirs, to urge the surrender of the posts, the restitution of the negroes, the explanation respecting debts, and those other matters pointed out in

his instructions, in which the right, and power, and equity, are too clear to leave any plausible pretences for delay, and to transmit, by the earliest opportunities, to Congress, full and true accounts of his proceedings.

On the 30th of April, 1784, Congress recommended to the Legislatures of the States to vest them, for fifteen years, with the power to prohibit any merchandizes from being imported or exported in vessels belonging to or navigated by the subjects of any Power with whom we shall have no treaty of commerce; and to prohibit the subjects of any foreign State, unless authorized by treaty, from importing into the United States any merchandizes which are not the produce or manufacture of the dominions of the sovereign whose subjects they are, provided that the assent of nine States be necessary.

To suppose that the British Cabinet intended, by the doubts of our powers, expressed in the Duke of Dorset's letter, to assist Congress in obtaining from the Legislatures a compliance with those recommendations, would be more charitable than their conduct in any other instance would justify. I rather think it was a mere excuse for delay, but it ought to operate upon the minds of the people of the States and their Assemblies, as a powerful incentive to compliance; but it may be still a question whether a compliance of all the States will still satisfy the British Cabinet, and they may require an express vote of unlimited authority to Congress, for a certain time at least, from each State, to enter into a treaty of commerce with them.

I have not yet been able to learn, with certainty, how many, and which, of the States have agreed to those recommendations of Congress. It will now be necessary for me to be very attentive to this, and to request of you, sir, the earliest and most minute intelligence of every proceeding of Congress and the States relative to it.

The last year must have been a prosperous period in the United States; the high prices of their produce, and the low prices of foreign merchandizes, are a demonstration of it. Yet our shipping, our seamen, our carrying trade, have been discouraged. Present ease, and even wealth, should not be our only object.

We ought to attend to considerations of strength and defence. Our situation is different from some of the Powers of Europe, who have neglected their own defence. Switzerland is situated so, that