February 3, 1821. Ms.
i82i] JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 93
tion from motives of conciliation anxiously endeavored to
avoid. From the first moment that this proposal had been
suggested to us, there had been neither doubt nor hesitation
shown in our manner of receiving it. The nature of our ob-
jections had been disclosed in terms as explicit and with a
purpose as obviously fixed as we thought candor to require
and good humor to permit. In the discussion with Mr.
Canning his tenacious adherence to the expedient which had
been so unequivocally and repeatedly declined by us elicited
remarks upon the character of that expedient, and its close
analogy to the causes of our late conflict with Great Britain,
which, though deemed indispensable, were very reluctantly
made.
He has expressed some sensibility at the publication of the
instructions to Mr. Gallatin and you, and of your letter to
me alluding to the speech of Lord Castlereagh in Parlia-
ment.^ The necessity for the communication to the house
and consequent publication of those documents with the
others arose from the feeble impression which the direct
correspondence between the two governments was found to
have made upon the minds of the British cabinet in their
estimate of our sentiments upon the main proposition. It
is not supposed probable that the British government will
renew the same proposal, but if any intimation of such an
intention should be suggested to you, candor will require
that with everything conciliatory in the manner, you should
leave no sort of doubt upon the substance of the President's
determination, but let it distinctly be understood that the
right of mutual search can, on our part, under no circum-
stances whatsoever be admitted.
You will observe that as a substitute for this proposal we
have offered a concert of operations between the armed
^ Adams, Memoirs, January 9, 1821.
94
THE WRITINGS OF [1821 i
vessels of the two nations stationed upon the coast of Africa,
for the suppression of the slave-trade. This concert, It Is
believed, may be effected without a formal convention, but
by Instructions to be given on both sides to the commanders
of the vessels. Such instructions will be given to our officers
employed on that service, in general terms and with a dis-
cretionary power to apply them in such a manner as their
experience may point out as best adapted to the attainment
of the end. In the course of the last year four vessels en-
gaged In the trade have been captured by our cruisers, sent
into our ports and condemned. There Is good reason to
expect that the measures which have been taken, and will
be perseveringly pursued by this government for the execu-
tion of the laws, will effectually suppress the abuse of the
flag of the United States to cover a traffic which has in-
curred the general indignation of mankind. I am, etc.
TO DON FRANCISCO DIONISIO VIVES ^
Department of State,
Washington, 28 February, 1821. J
Sir: "
I have submitted to the consideration of the President of
the United States the observations which, in conformity to
the instructions of your government, were verbally made
by you at the conference which I had the honor of holding
with you, when you notified me of your readiness to exchange
1 Printed in American State Papers, Foreign Relations, IV. 703. The treaty, rati-
fied by Spain, reached Washington February 10, though the Cortes had acted in
November. The bearer of the treaty sailed from Bordeaux and after a passage of
eighty-eight days landed at Wilmington, Delaware. Vives had his conference with
Adams on the I2th. No reply to his observations was made until the end of Feb-
ruary. Adams, Memoirs, February 12 and 28, 1821.
i82i] JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 95
the ratifications of the treaty of 22 February, 18 19, between
the United States and Spain.
With regard to the omission on the part of the Spanish
negotiator of the treaty, to Insist upon some provision of
indemnity In behalf of Spanish claimants to whom a pledge
of such indemnity had been stipulated by the previously
ratified convention of 1802, an omission stated by you to
have been peculiarly dissatisfactory to the Cortes, I am di-
rected to observe, that as in all other cases of the adjustment
of differences between nations, this treaty must be consid-
ered as a compact of mutual concessions in which each party
abandoned to the other some of Its pretensions. These con-
cessions on the part of the United States were great; nor
could it be expected by the Spanish nation that they would
be obtained without equivalent. Probably the Spanish
negotiator considered the claims of Spanish subjects em-
braced by that convention as so small in amount, as scarcely
to be worthy of Inflexible adherence to them. He certainly
considered the whole treaty as highly advantageous to
Spain; a sentiment in which the government of the United
I States always entirely participated, and still concurs.
I This also furnishes the reply which most readily presents
itself to the proposition which you have also been Instructed
to make, that some compensation should be allowed by the
United States for the benefit of the grantees of lands, recog-
I nized by the treaty to have been null and void. While ap-
preciating In all Its force the sense of justice, by which after
the maturest deliberation and the fullest examination, the
I Cortes have declared that those grants were so, as at the
signature of the treaty they had been clearly, explicitly and
unequivocally understood to be, by both the plenipoten-
tiaries who signed It, the President deems It unnecessary to
press the remark which must naturally present Itself, that to
96 THE WRITINGS OF [1821
grantees whose titles were in fact null and void, and by all
parties to the negotiation were known to be null and void,
no indemnity can be due, because no injury was done. Nor
can it be admitted that this is one of the cases of misunder-
standing from which the grantees could be entitled to the
benefit of a doubtful construction. The construction of the
article was in no wise doubtful. For any construction which
would have admitted the validity of the grants, would have
rendered impossible the fulfilment of other most important
stipulations of the treaty.
The discussion of this subject having already been a sub-
ject of correspondence between the minister of foreign af-
fairs of your government and Mr. Forsyth, could now be
continued to no profitable purpose. I take much more sat-
isfaction in assuring you of the pleasure with which the
President has accepted the ratification of the treaty as an
earnest of that cordial harmony which it is among his most
ardent desires to cultivate between the United States and
Spain. This disposition he cherishes the hope will be further
promoted by the community of principle upon which the
liberal institutions of both nations are founded, and by the
justice, moderation and love of order which they combine
with the love and the enjoyment of freedom,
I pray you, etc.^
1 The Secretary of State prepared the instructions for Major General Jackson,
commissioner to receive possession of the Floridas, governor of the same, and
commissioner "vested with special and extraordinary powers" to carry the stipu-
lations of the treaty of cession into effect. These instructions and letters from
Adams to Jackson during his governorship are in the American State Papers,
Foreign Relations, IV. 750 et seq. Adams also prepared, for the House Committee
on Foreign Relations, the minutes of an act for carrying the Florida treaty into •
execution; "which I did, combining the precedents of the Acts for taking possession
of Louisiana with provisions for the establishment of the commission for claims."
These minutes were returned to the Secretary of State with a request that he should
draft a bill, which he did. Adams, Memoirs, February 26 and 27, X821.
i82i] JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 97
TO ALBERT GALLATIN ^
Department of State,
Washington, 31 March, 1821.
Sir:
The latest dispatches received from you are of 8 January,
No. 170. The newspapers and public documents, which
have since my last letter been forwarded to you, will have
informed you of the final ratification of the Florida treaty,
of the termination of the session of Congress, and of the
second inauguration of the President.
The Baron Hyde de Neuville arrived here so shortly be-
fore the 4th of March, that had the prospects of a satisfactory
commercial arrangement with him been more favorable than
they were, it would scarcely have been possible to bring
them to a close in time to have submitted the convention to
the consideration of the Senate. It was very soon after his
arrival perceived that the conjectures in your No. 169 were
corroborated by every indication to be drawn from his course
of proceeding. He began by manifesting a degree of irrita-
tion at the seizure of the Apollon,"^ for which neither the
importance of the case, nor the circumstances which had
attended it, appeared to call. Besides the claim to exclusive
privileges for French ships, under color of the eighth article
of the Louisiana cession treaty, he intimated doubts whether
he could enter upon the discussion of merely commercial
interests, until satisfaction should be given for this seizure
of the Apollon, and for another vessel, the Eugene, which
1 Adams, Memoirs, November i, 1820; January 5, February 24.
^ The draft of a letter to de Neuville in reply to his representations was returned
by the President on March 29, with some suggested alterations. It is printed in
American State Papers, Foreign Relations, V. 163, 650. See Adams, Memoirs,
March 29.
98 THE WRITINGS OF [1821
had been required to depart from the same south side of
St. Mary's River. He gave even some countenance to an
idea which Mr. Roth/ in one of his written communications,
had suggested with some hesitation: that the flag of France
had in these cases been insulted. This manifest effort to
give a coloring to those transactions entirely different from
their real character could not but excite some surprise, until,
in the course of the verbal discussion between us, he dis-
closed the fact that the French government had been con-
sulted by some of their merchants to enquire whether this
expedient to evade our tonnage duties would be effectual;
and had been answered by his own advice, that it would be.
It thus appears that the project of Captain Edou was part
of a system which the French merchants would have found
very convenient, had it succeeded, but which was altogether
disconcerted by the seizure of the Apollon. |
The Spanish minister, General Vives, at the Instigation of
Mr. Roth, had also addressed notes of complaint for the
alleged violation of the territorial rights of Spain by the
seizure of the Apollo7i. Written answers to these notes had
been delayed from an unwillingness to pursue, at the mo-
ment when the ratification of the Florida treaty was ex-
pected, a correspondence which necessarily required recrim-
ination upon officers of the Spanish government; upon the J
governor of East Florida, for this establishment of a pre-
^ On January 6 the Secretary of State wrote to Gallatin of a letter from Roth
on tht Apollon and Eugene, "expressed in terms so insulting to this government that
it has required some forbearance to abstain from sending it back to Mr. Roth, with
an intimation that its language forfeited all claim to an answer. In the hourly
expectation of the arrival of Mr. Hyde de Neuville and the hope that with him the
discussion may proceed in the spirit of conciliation which the President has not
ceased to cherish in the conduct of our relations with France, he has directed me to
overlook the character of these communications with Mr. Roth, so far as to confine
to verbal conference with him the remarks to which they have necessarily given
rise." lJ i
i82il JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 99
tended port where there was no town or settlement for
trade, for purposes so obviously hostile to the United States;
and upon the Spanish acting vice-consul at Savannah, whose
purposes thus hostile were not merely to be inferred from
his conduct in this transaction, but were explicitly avowed
in letters written by himself, which had come to the pos-
session of this government. The Baron de Neuville, after
his arrival, urged again General Vives to press his complaint;
and since the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty an
answer has been sent him, of which a copy is inclosed.
Copies are also now transmitted of the correspondence
between the Baron and this department, both in relation to
the claim under the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty,
and to the cases of the Apollon and Eugene, to which a third
case, that of the Edmond, Captain Mestre, has recently been
added. This vessel, by a general order from the War De-
partment issued shortly after Amelia Island was taken into
our possession in 1817, could not have entered there with a
cargo. It happened, very opportunely for her admission,
that she touched on the bar at St. Augustine, had been only
saved by unloading her cargo there, and then resorted in
distress to Amelia Island to repair her damages. Admitted
on the principle of humanity, the extreme good faith of
Captain Mestre induces him to inquire of the French consul
at Charleston, whether he can take in a cargo, to be carried
to him there from the United States, without payment of
any duties of entry. And the Baron has addressed two suc-
cessive letters to this Department, reiterating that inquiry.
These anxious exertions to interest the honor of the French
flag, and the sanctity of the territorial immunities of Spain,
in defense of gross and glaring projects of fraud upon the
laws and revenue of the United States, portend a disposition
little favorable to any arrangement upon principles of reci-
loo THE WRITINGS OF [1821
proclty. It is believed to be the first example of a govern-
ment's being called upon by a foreign minister to mark the
precise point to which the smugglers of his nation may
venture, without danger of being molested. . . .^
TO RICHARD PETERS
Washington, 2 April, 1821.
Dear Sir:
I have received a second letter from the poor man whom
I mentioned to you here, and in whose favor you were kind
enough to promise to take an interest. His name is Dupre,
and he claims my good offices on the score of having thirty-
five years ago purchased for me a foundered horse at New
York. I have a distinct recollection of the horse and of the
man, though I have never seen him since the time to which
he refers, and his name had escaped my memory. He was
then the La Fleur of Mr. Le Ray de Chaumont, with whom
I travelled from New York to Boston, He is now in the
almshouse at Philadelphia owing, as he says, to cramps and
rheumatisms which have disabled him from acquiring sub-
sistence by his own industry. His complaint is that by some
new rule of discipline at the house he is restricted in the
privilege of walking out which he enjoyed until lately, and
that it debars him of exercise essential to his health.
I have so kindly a recollection of the man and of his serv-
ices to me, both in the affair of the horse and upon the jour-
ney, that it would gratify me to be able to render him the
service which he now requires of me. He is a Frenchman,
^ Gallatin addressed a note to Baron Pasquier on the case of the Apollon, which
is in Adams, Writings of Gallatin, II. 187. In a letter to Adams, July 2 {lb., 194),
he raises some question on the argument advanced by the United States. I \\
1821] JOHN QUINCY ADAMS loi
and of course delights in glory. He assigns this in his second
letter as one of his reasons for applying to me, promising
himself much glory by obtaining the indulgence for which
he pleads from the interposition of the Secretary of State.
I would willingly petition the managers of the almshouse
in his favor, but as they might justly entertain different
ideas from those of poor Dupre with regard to the inter-
ference of a Secretary of State in their concerns, I avail my-
self of your obliging offer to solicit in his behalf the permis-
sion of walking out at his own discretion, so far as It may be
consistent with the necessary order of the house.
I am, etc.
MEMORANDUM SENT TO HYDE DE NEUVILLE ^
Department of State,
Washington, 26 April, 1821.
In the commercial regulations established merely by law,
the basis upon which every nation proceeds is its own in-
terest, without reference to that of other nations. But com-
merce being an interchange of commodities, in the disposal
of which both parties are interested, it is just in itself, and
conformable to the practice of nations, that the regulation
of it should be by arrangements to which both parties con-
sent, and in which due regard is paid to the interests of both.
• The first principle, therefore, of all negotiation upon such
' The French minister, dissatisfied by the reply to his representations made on
returning to the United States, sent a confidential letter to the Secretary, dated
April 4, "written in a spirit requiring such an answer as would lead to the imme-
diate rupture of the negotiation." The resulting correspondence, dealing with the
case of the Apollon, a^commercial treaty, and other special subjects, is printed in
the American State Papers, Foreign Relations, V. i66. See Adams, Memoirs,
April 6-24, 1821.
102 THE WRITINGS OF [1821
interests is reciprocity; and wherever a collision of interests
exists, it is apparent that they can be conciliated only by
reciprocal concession.
In the subject upon which a collision of interest between
the United States and France has arisen, the two parties
have heretofore enacted respectively, each with exclusive
reference to its own interest, certain regulations securing,
so far as its power extended, certain advantages to its own
shipping, by certain special charges within its jurisdiction,
direct or indirect, upon the shipping of the other; the result
of which counteracting legislation on both sides has been, in
a great measure, the exclusion of the shipping of both parties
from the carriage of the commerce between them.
This result is injurious to the interests of both parties;
and the effort now made by both is to agree upon some
arrangement by which the conflicting interests of both par-
ties may be conciliated. It is further to be observed that no
concession, the effect of which would be to sacrifice the in-
terest of either party more, or as much as it is sacrificed by
the existing state of things, could either be durable or satis-
factory by both parties.
The difference between the parties having originated al-
together from the surcharges upon shippi?ig, the natural and
obvious principle of reciprocity applicable to the case would
be that of repealing all discriminating duties and surcharges
on both sides; and this is what has been repeatedly offered
and urged on the part of the United States.
It is represented on the part of France, that this principle
is inadmissible; but for this refusal no reason has been as-
signed. No objection on the ground of natural justice or
general policy has been, or it is believed can be alleged. It
has been assumed without proof that the effect of it would
be to throw the whole commerce into the channel of Amer-
I
i82i] JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 103
ican shipping, although it is notorious that all the outfits of
navigation and the wages of seamen are much cheaper in
France than in the United States.
Whatever disadvantages French navigation may labor
under in competition with that of the United States are
believed to be within the control of France to remove.
Nevertheless, the opinion of the French government of the
subject being stated by the Baron de Neuville to be irrev-
ocably fixed, the President has been willing to meet any
supposed disadvantage to France in such an arrangement,
by advantages thought to be fully equivalent for them to
the agriculture, commerce and manufactures of France, In
the minutes of a projet first presented by the Baron de
Neuville, the President welcomed what he thought coun-
tenanced the hope of such a compromise. The Baron sug-
gested special accommodations to the principal exports from
France to the United States, and other benefits to French
interests, all which were assented to by the President to the
extent proposed by the Baron himself. In return for these
concessions he had reason to expect some concession on the
part of France [which he certainly could not perceive in a
proposal to reduce indefinitely, or even to the extent of | the
surcharges direct and indirect, upon the shipping on both
sides] in which, however, he has yet been disappointed.^
He thought that with such great advantages granted to the
commerce and manufactures of France, the least that could
be required in return was that reciprocity which should dis-
card all discriminating duties upon the mere carriage of
the trade.
In the second project received from the Baron de Neuville,
he proposes to set aside all questions of commercial advan-
* The words in brackets were omitted on the suggestion of Monroe and the
following clause substituted for them.
I04 THE WRITINGS OF [1821
tage, as merely secondary objects, and to take that of the
shipping interests alone. He proposes a reduction of the
discriminating duties on both sides, on the basis of calcula-
tions which may be adapted to secure a share of the carriage
of the trade to each party. To the admission of this prin-
ciple the government of the United States have constantly
objected upon the most substantial and cogent reasons.
The President is yet not aware of any form in which it can
satisfactorily be admitted. Nevertheless, in the earnestness
of his desire to [accommodate the interests of France, even
in the mode which she deems the most satisfactory to her-
self, he has determined to listen to such specific proposals
as the Baron de Neuville may be authorized to make in this
respect, and he is accordingly requested to specify what
amount of reduction in the duties he would propose as
likely to equalize the interests and to satisfy the reasonable
expectations of both countries].^ To abridge the negotia-
tion, perhaps it may be most convenient that the Baron de
Neuville should present his proposal in the form of an article
for a convention. -
^ The words within brackets were omitted on the suggestion of Monroe, who
inserted: "to terminate the commercial conflict between the two countries, he will
receive and consider with the utmost attention any specific proposals which the
Baron de Neuville may be authorized to make for the accomplishment of this
desirable object."
2 "The draft is approved in its general view and details, with the two modifica-
tions above suggested, which are stated for consideration, on the idea that it may
be advisable to generalize what we are willing to receive from him, rather than so
far to countenance his plan of reduction, as we might do, by specifying it. The
more general, that is, the wider we open the door for him to make proposals, the
greater the compliment; and the less shall we be compromitted as to the result."
Monroe to Adams, April 25, 1821. Ms. The correspondence with the French
minister on commercial questions is not reproduced in this volume. It will be found
in the American State Papers, Foreign Relations, V. 149-213.
i82i] JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 105
TO THE EARL OF CARYSFOOT ^
r
Washington, 3 May, 1821.
My Lord :
I request the favor of vour Lordship's acceptance of a
copy of a report upon weights and measures recently made
to the Senate of the United States. In offering this feeble
testimonial of my lasting remembrance of the kindness
which I have, at different periods and distant intervals of
time and place, experienced from you, I indulge the hope
that the subject of the report itself will not be without pecu-
liar interest to you, from the circumstance that your Lord-
ship's father was the chairman of the committee of the House
of Commons which, in 1758, led the way to those inquiries
into the history of the weights and measures of England, of
which this report is one of the results.
More than half a century has elapsed since he made the
report of that committee to the House, and the subject yet
remains in deliberation as well before the imperial Parlia-
ment of Great Britain and Ireland, as before the Congress of
the United States of America. Called in the discharge of
an official duty to report upon this subject to the latter of