The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution Volume V Part 38

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, January 16th, 1781.

Sir,

The Prince, on the 26th of December, made a proposition to the States-General, viz. in substance, "That His Most Serene Highness had already communicated the last year to the respective Provinces his advice, to equip fifty or sixty vessels of war, and to augment the land forces to fifty or sixty thousand men, to put the frontier places in a good state of defence, and to provide necessary magazines of warlike stores, to the end, to be in a condition to defend the lawful rights of the Republic; that His Most Serene Highness had seen with satisfaction, that as far as respected the marine, it had been made better in some degree; and that he flattered himself, that the States of all the Provinces would reinforce it for the ensuing year, with redoubled zeal, since they could not be too much upon their guard in the present conjuncture; that it was equally necessary to put the Republic in a convenient state of defence, on the land side; and that he hoped, that they would at this day think seriously of it; that they would augment the fortifications, and supply the magazines, since, if they failed in this, His Most Serene Highness would not be responsible for the events, &c."

The States-General, after having thanked the Stadtholder, for his a.s.siduous zeal and solicitude to maintain the Republic in the enjoyment of its liberty and independence, resolved, "That the proposition of His Most Serene Highness should be communicated to the respective Provinces, and that it should be represented to them, that His Most Serene Highness, animated with the purest love of his country, insists with reason (at this day when the danger is immediate, and war appears inevitable) upon the necessity of making unanimous efforts, to the end to resist this danger, and to preserve the Republic, by joining courage to prudence; that the maritime forces of the Republic are not yet sufficient to protect the commerce, the source of the well being of the public in all its branches, and to ensure from all invasion the possessions of the Republic, both in the East and the West Indies; that, therefore, their High Mightinesses think themselves under obligation to pray the members of the union, in a manner the most friendly and the most pressing, to fix their attention as soon as possible upon these objects, and to accomplish them with vigor, since the storm, which approaches at sea, may easily, by a sudden revolution, discharge itself upon the continent, so that an augmentation of land forces is as indispensably necessary, as the armament by sea; that from these motives, their High Mightinesses a.s.sure themselves, that since there no longer remains for the Republic a choice between peace and war, the respective members of the union will endeavor, as far as possible to defend their country, and all which is dear to them, by acting with unanimity, courage, and candor."

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, January 15th, 1781.

Sir,

Congress will not expect me to write upon the subject of peace at this time, when the flames of war are spreading far and wide, with more rapidity than ever, and I have no comfortable tidings on the subject of money.

In the first place, I believe there is not so much money here as the world imagines; in the next place, those who have what there is, have now no confidence in any nation or individual. All credit seems at a stand.

The Republic will want a loan; the northern neutral powers will want loans, and even a loan will be wanted to support the credit of a number of houses in the mercantile way, which are affected by the violent and sudden revolution of the times, and by the piratical depredations of the English. I hope, therefore, that Congress will not venture to draw here, until they have certain information that they may draw with safety.

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, January 18th, 1781.

Sir,

At length one act has appeared, which looks like war. The following placard was resolved on the 12th of this month.

"The States-General of the United Provinces of the Low Countries to all those who shall see, hear, or read these presents. Greeting. Know ye, that the King of Great Britain having thought proper, without any lawful cause, to attack in a hostile manner this Republic, and as we are obliged to neglect nothing, which can serve for our defence, and to use at the same time the right, the example of which the conduct of the said Crown has commenced by setting us, and to act against it, in the same manner as they act against us, and consequently to do to the said King, and to his subjects, all the prejudice, which shall be in our power; for these causes, and for the protection of the commerce and of the navigation of this country, we have thought fit to establish, and to permit to all the subjects of these States, who shall take or destroy any English vessels of war, or privateers, the following rewards.

I. "All those who shall fit out a privateer, and shall have obtained of his Highness the Prince of Orange and Na.s.sau, in quality of Admiral-General of these countries, suitable commissions, after having given beforehand the requisite securities, shall not be held to furnish the third man of their crew, as it is ordained by the placard of their High Mightinesses, of the 26th of June, 1780, excepting those who will load with merchandises, and take at the same time the said letters of marque. Those, who shall have taken and conducted into one of the ports, or roads, within the jurisdiction of one of the Colleges of Admiralty of this country, a vessel of war or privateer of the King of Great Britain, shall draw, moreover, a bounty of one hundred and fifty florins for each man, who shall be found at the commencement of the combat on board of the said vessel of war, or privateer, as also a like sum for each pound of ball which the artillery, which shall be found on board the said vessel at the time aforesaid, can discharge at one time, not including the swivels, or the b.a.l.l.s of the new artillery, called carronades, valued only at one quarter of their weight; in such sort, that if one of our privateers shall make herself master of an English vessel of war, or privateer mounted, for example, with forty pieces of cannon, carrying altogether three hundred and fifty pound weight of ball, that is to say, forty carronades, and fourteen hundred b.a.l.l.s of eight pound, and the crew of which shall be two hundred and twenty men, shall receive for bounty or reward, by calculating each man and each pound of ball upon the footing of one hundred and fifty florins, the sum of eightyfive thousand eight hundred florins, and thus more or less in proportion to the crew; and the caliber of the cannon, which shall be found at the time of the combat, upon the English s.h.i.+p, besides the booty and the prize, and all the effects which shall be found on board, without any other deduction to be made from it, than the tenth for the Admiral.

II. "The said recompenses a.s.signed for prizes shall also take place in case the English vessel of war, or privateer, shall be totally destroyed, whether our armed vessel shall have sunk her, or burnt her, or s.h.i.+pwrecked her, or whether the said vessel shall have perished in any other manner, after having been taken; provided, nevertheless, that this recompense is not to be claimed in the whole, at least if the crew of the vessel destroyed has not been taken or killed. And if it should happen, that they have only driven the enemy's vessel on sh.o.r.e, so that the vessel has perished, but the crew has saved itself, our letters of marque shall not enjoy, in this case, but one half of the bounty or reward promised; so that in the case last mentioned they shall receive only fortytwo thousand nine hundred florins, instead of eightyfive thousand eight hundred.

III. "Provided, nevertheless, that neither the prize nor the bounty shall ever be adjudged to any of our letters of marque, until after the affair shall have been carried before one of the Colleges of the Admiralty of this country, and the sentence shall have been there p.r.o.nounced in her favor.

IV. "The said Colleges of the Admiralty may not adjudge these rewards, until after the Captain, Lieutenant, and Pilot of the privateer, as well as those who shall have freighted her, their book-keepers, and others authorised, shall have declared by a solemn oath, that the vessel of war, or privateer, of which they have made themselves masters, has been duly taken without any collusion directly or indirectly with the English, or with any other known to them. In case the freighters, who claim the adjudication of prizes and bounties, are out of the country, absent, or hindered by some other obstacle, it shall suffice, that the book-keepers, or some other authorised, take the oath, but so far as it is of his knowledge for himself, and for his freighters, conformably to the special procuration, which he shall have for this effect; the freighters nevertheless shall be obliged to take an oath beforehand before the magistrate of their residence, or before other persons competent, whose testimonies they shall send.

V. "And for the better encouragement of the said s.h.i.+ps, which shall have armed as privateers, we ordain, that those who shall have been wounded in a combat with the English s.h.i.+p, shall be maintained at the expense of the State, without its costing anything to the proprietors of the privateers, or those who shall be on board. We ordain also, that those who shall be maimed in fighting an English s.h.i.+p, shall be gratified on the part of the State, and without its costing anything to the freighters, with the moiety of the recompense granted by the Republic to those who serve on board vessels of war; they shall not, however, have a right but to those rewards which are given once, and not to those which shall be granted weekly, or monthly, or otherwise.

As to what respects the maintenance of the wounded, the account of it shall be presented to the competent College of the Admiralty, to be there examined and duly regulated, so that the maimed, to the end that they may enjoy the moiety of the recompense proposed, may procure themselves an act of the said College of the Admiralty, after having furnished it the necessary proofs.

VI. "For the encouragement of the s.h.i.+ps of war, as well as the merchant vessels, which may be provided with commissions to make use of, in case of need, to cause to the English s.h.i.+ps all the prejudice possible, we intend that the English s.h.i.+p of which they may make themselves masters, of what nature or denomination soever it may be, shall be given them entire, the tenth for the Admiral excepted, without pretending, however, to any further recompense.

VII. "If it should happen, that our privateers, merchant vessels, or others armed for a cruise at the expense of individuals of this country, should retake any vessels or effects belonging to the subjects of the State, and that such recapture shall be made in the s.p.a.ce of fortyeight hours after they shall have been in the hands of the enemy, they shall enjoy in that case one fifth of the just value of the vessels or effects, which they shall have delivered; but if the recapture shall be made in the s.p.a.ce of four days after the vessel shall have been in the hands of the English, they shall have one third of the said value; and if the recapture shall be made after four days, they shall have the moiety of it, without having any further regard to the greater or lesser time, that the said vessels or effects retaken shall have been in the hands of the English, after the expiration of the four days.

VIII. "The adjudication of any one of the said recompenses, as well as the acts of the respective Colleges of the Admiralty in favor of the maimed or wounded, being shown to the Receiver-General of the duties of entry and clearance, to receive the appointed recompense, the payment of it shall be promptly made by the said Receiver-General at the Hague, or in the place of the College of Admiralty, in which the sentence or the taxation shall have been p.r.o.nounced, as it shall be most convenient for the said Receiver-General.

IX. "Which Receiver-General shall be provided with sufficient sums of money to satisfy the said payments, and he shall always take care, that after having paid some bounties, he has always wherewith to satisfy promptly those which may be demanded of him in the sequel, either by the second moiety of the duties of Last and Vielgeld, or by negotiating successively the sums which he shall have occasion for, for a supply.

X. "In all cases, the privateer, who shall have taken or destroyed any English vessel, ought to take care to give without delay, and as soon as he arrives, notice to the said Receiver-General of the value of the bounties, which he has a right to claim, to the end that the said Receiver-General may be in a condition to make prompt payment.

XI. "And in all the respective Colleges of Admiralty, where the case shall be brought, they shall take care to render prompt sentences, even by postponing to other times the other affairs which may be before them.

XII. "And in case an appeal or revision should be demanded, and by this means the sentences of the said Colleges shall be annulled, we have desired that in this case, the recompenses a.s.signed by the sentences of the Admiralty should be delivered to the said privateers, so that the demand of revision may not suspend or hinder the payment; we mean at the same time, that the sureties, which the s.h.i.+ps going to cruise ought to furnish, shall be obliged in that case to augment the surety, and to promise a prompt rest.i.tution of what shall have been paid to the said privateers in consequence of sentences of the Admiralty, in case that these sentences shall be reversed in the revision, and the privateers denied their demand. And to be the more sure that the sums delivered in such cases be restored, we have declared, and do declare by these presents, that the vessels and all which belongs to them, with which the said prizes shall have been made, shall be held judicially to make rest.i.tution of the bounties received; and that the said juridical obligation shall commence from the day that the said privateers shall have received their commissions, and shall go upon a cruise.

XIII. "And this placard shall have its effects from the day of this publication; and that n.o.body may pretend ignorance, we request and demand the Lords, the States, the Stadtholder, the Counsellors, Committees, and the Deputies of the States of the respective Provinces of Guelderland, and the Earldom of Zutphen, of Holland, and West Friesland, of Zealand, of Utrecht, of Friesland, of Overyssel, and of Groningen and Ommelanden, and all other members and officers of justice, that they announce, publish, and post up this ordinance immediately, in all the places of this country, where it is customary to make such annunciations, publications, and postings; we charge and enjoin moreover, the Counsellors of the Admiralty, the Advocates of the Treasury, Secretaries-General of Convoys, and Licensers, Receivers, Masters of Convoys, Controllers, and Searchers, and at the same time the Receiver-General of the augmentation of the duty of Last and Vielgeld, and to all others to whom it belongs, to govern themselves exactly according to the tenor of these presents."

Their High Mightinesses have also published the following.

"The States-General of the United Provinces to all those who shall see, hear, or read these presents. Greeting. We make known, that to the end to encourage the loyal inhabitants of this State, we have thought proper by the present publication, to notify to all and every one, and to a.s.sure them that all those who, employed in the service of the Republic, in the war at sea, may be maimed in such a manner as to become incapable of gaining their livelihood by labor, and shall desire to be a.s.sisted by a sum of money, payable once for all, shall receive in proportion to the importance of their wounds, that which follows.

1. "For the loss of two eyes, fifteen hundred florins; for the loss of one eye, three hundred and fifty florins; as to other accidents, which may happen under the case mentioned, gratifications shall be given according to the good pleasure of the respective Colleges of the Admiralty.

2. "For the loss of two arms, fifteen hundred florins; for the loss of the right arm, four hundred and fifty florins; for that of the left arm, three hundred and fifty florins; and for other accidents and wounds in these members, at the discretion of the Colleges of the Admiralty, upon which each one depends.

3. "For the loss of two hands, twelve hundred florins; for the loss of the right hand, three hundred and fifty florins; for that of the left hand, three hundred and fifty florins; as to lesser accidents, valuable at sums less considerable, at the discretion aforementioned.

4. "For the loss of two legs, seven hundred florins; for the loss of one leg, three hundred and fifty florins; for accidents less serious, the gratification shall be fixed by the Colleges of the Admiralty.

5. "For the loss of two feet, four hundred and fifty florins; for that of one foot, two hundred florins; and for smaller wounds, at the discretion of the respective Colleges.

6. "Moreover, all those who in the service of the Republic shall be maimed to such a degree as to be no longer able to gain a living by labor, nor to provide in any manner for their subsistence, shall receive during their lives, one ducatoon a week; and all other wounds or mutilations less considerable shall be paid in proportion."

I have the honor to be, &c.

JOHN ADAMS.

TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.

Amsterdam, February 1st, 1781.

Sir,