Dear Sir, FROM JOHN JAY TO JOHN ADAMS. Office for Foreign Affairs, August 3, 1785. I have the honor of transmitting to you, herewith enclosed, a copy of a letter from J. Carter to the Honorable D. Howell, Esq., of 19th April, 1785, and also a copy of my report on that letter, which, having been approved by Congress, was referred to me to take order. These papers respect the detention of Americans captured during the war; and I am persuaded that nothing on your part will be wanting to restore those brave men to the enjoyment of liberty and their country, who have done and suffered so much for both. With great esteem, &c., JOHN JAY. Report of John Jay relative to American Prisoners. Office for Foreign Affairs, June 9, 1785. The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred a letter from John Carter to the Honorable David Howell, Esq., of the 19th April last, respecting Mr. Richard Low and other Americans, who, having been made prisoners by the British during the late war, are not yet released, reports: That, in his opinion, a copy of the said letter should be transmitted to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at the Court of London, with instructions to lay the same before the Minister, and to demand that orders be immediately given for the release and discharge of all such American soldiers, seamen, and citizens as having been captured during the late war, and may yet be detained in his Britannic Majesty's prisons, garrisons, armies, or ships. All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. JOHN JAY FROM JOHN CARTER TO DAVID HOWELL. Dear Sir, Providence, April 19, 1785. The effects of the late war are still severely felt by individuals, as well as by the States at large, and there is reason to believe that many of our citizens are still detained on board his Britannic Majesty's ships of war. Humanity, as well as policy, dictates that a demand should be made of them that they may be restored to their country and connexions. Colonel John Low, of Warwick, has requested me to write you particularly in behalf of his son, Mr. Richard Low, who in the year 1776 was captured in an unarmed merchant sloop by the Niger frigate, and immediately put to duty on board her. The Niger afterwards convoyed a fleet from New York to England, and from thence sailed for the Jamaica station, where she remained about three years. Mr. Low was then turned on board another ship, and sailed a second time for England, where, on his arrival, he was drafted with a number of other Americans, and put on board the Defence, of seventy-four guns. The Defence soon after sailed for the East Indies; and Colonel Low has lately received a letter from his son, dated at Bombay, in January, 1784. He informs that the ship was to sail for England in October, and would probably arrive in the present month of April. He has ever earnestly wished to be permitted to return to his country and friends; and Colonel Low entreats that, in the next public despatches for Europe, his son's case may be stated to the American Minister or Commissioner, that the proper steps may be pursued to obtain his release, after so long and so painful a captivity. I am, dear, sir, &c., JOHN CARTER. FROM JOHN JAY TO JOHN ADAMS. New York, October 14, 1785. Dear Sir, Since the date of my last to you, which was the 6th September last, I have been honored with yours of the 10th and 26th June, and 19th and 29th July, with the papers mentioned to be enclosed. They are now before Congress; and I am persuaded that the strong marks they bear of industry and attention will give them pleasure. I perfectly concur with you in sentiment respecting what ought to be the conduct and policy of the United States; and I am not without hopes that they will gradually perceive and pursue their true interests. There certainly is much temper as well as talents in Congress; and although it is not in their power to do all that should be done, yet they are willing and industrious to do whatever depends upon them. Your letters, I am sure, are useful; they disseminate and enforce those federal ideas which cannot be too forcibly inculcated or too strongly impressed. Our Federal Government is incompetent to its objects; and as it is the interests of our country, so it is the duty of her leading characters to coöperate in measures for enlarging and invigorating it. The rage for separations and new States is mischievous; it will, unless checked, scatter our resources, and in every view enfeeble the Union. Your testimony against such licentious, anarchical proceedings would, I am persuaded, have great weight. Your letters, as yet, are silent respecting the evacuation of our frontier posts. I do not mean to press you either to do or say any thing unseasonably about it, for there are times and tides in human affairs to be watched and observed. I know your attention, and therefore rest satisfied that we shall here from you on this interesting subject as soon as you ought to write about it. During the ensuing sessions of the Legislatures, I shall watch their acts, and endeavor to send you such as may respect the interests of the Union. I find it extremely difficult to collect them. When I first came into this office, I wrote a circular letter to the Governors, requesting them, among other things, to send me, from time to time, printed copies of their acts; but whatever may have been the cause, it has so happened that, except in two or three instances, this request has been entirely neglected. With the newspapers herewith sent you will find the requisitions of Congress. What its success will be cannot yet be determined. The Algerines, it seems, have declared war against us. If we act properly, I shall not be very sorry for it. In my opinion, it may lay the foundation for a navy, and tend to draw us more closely into a federal system. On that ground only we want strength, and could our people be brought to see it in that light, and act accordingly, we should have little reason to apprehend danger from any quarter. Monsieur de Marbois has left us, and is gone to St. Domingo, where he has an intendancy. Mr. Otto succeeds him, and appears well disposed. As yet, your place at the Hague is vacant. Several gentleman are in nomination, among whom I hear are Mr. Izard and Mr. Madison. Dr. Franklin is happy at Philadelphia. Both parties are assiduous in their attentions to him, and it is thought more than probable he will succeed Mr. Dickinson. I fear, in the language of our farmers, that a day so remarkably fine for the season may prove a weather breeder; that is, that he will find it difficult to manage both parties, for, if he gives himself up to one, he must expect hostility from the other. I wish he may be able to reconcile them, and thereby restore that State to the degree of strength and respectability which, from its population, fertility, and commerce, it ought to possess. I congratulate you on the issue of your discussions with their High Mightinesses. Mr. Dumas gave us an account of it, and we are all pleased to find that it terminated as it did. With great and sincere esteem, &c., JOHN JAY. FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. Grosvenor Square, Westminster, August 6, 1785. Dear Sir, 1 find the spirit of the times very different from that which you and I saw when we were here together, in the months of November and December, 1783. Then, the commerce of the United States had not fully returned to these Kingdoms; then the nation had not digested its system, nor determined to adhere so closely to its navigation acts relatively to the United States; then it was common in conversation to hear a respect and regard for America professed and even boasted of. Now, the boast is that our commerce has returned to its old channels, and that it can follow in no other; now the utmost contempt of our commerce is freely expressed in pamphlets, gazettes, coffee-houses, and in common street talk. I wish I could not add to this the discourses of Cabinet Counsellors and Ministers of State, as well as members of both Houses of Parliament. The national judgment and popular voice is so decided in favor of the navigation acts, that neither administration nor opposition dare avow a thought of relaxing them further than has been already done. This decided cast has been given to the public opinion and the national councils by two facts, or rather presumptions: The first is, that, in all events, this country is sure of the American commerce. Even in case of war, they think that British manufactures will find their way to the United States, through France, Holland, the Austrian Low Countries, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the French and Dutch West Indies, and even through Canada and Nova Scotia. The second is, that the American States are not, and cannot be, united. The landed interest will never join with the commercial interest, nor the southern States with the northern, in any measures of retaliation or expressions of resentment. These things have been so often affirmed to this people by the refugees, and they have so often repeated them to one another, that they now fully believe them; and I am firmly persuaded they will try the experiment as long as they can maintain the credit of their stocks. It is our part then to try our strength. You know better than I do whether the States will give Congress the power, and whether Congress, when they have the power, will judge it necessary or expedient to exert it in its plenitude. You were present in Congress, sir, in 1774, when many members discussed in detail the commercial relations between the United States (then United Colonies) and Great Britain, Ireland, the British West Indies, and all other parts of the British Empire, and showed to what a vast amount the wealth, power, and revenue of Great Britain would be affected by a total cessation of exports and imports. The British revenue is now in so critical a situation, that it might be much sooner and more essentially affected than it could be then. You remember, however, sir, that, although the theory was demonstrated, the practice was found very difficult. Britain has ventured to begin commercial hostilities. I call them hostilities, because their direct object is not so much the increase of their own wealth, ships, or sailors, as the diminution of ours. A jealousy of our naval power is the true motive, the real passion which actuates them. They consider the United States as their rival, and the most dangerous rival they have in the world. I see clearly they are less afraid of an augmentation of French ships and sailors than American. They think they foresee that if the United States had the same fisheries, the same carrying trade, and the same market for readybuilt ships which they had ten years ago, they would be in so respectable a posture, and so happy in their circumstances, that |