P. S. I forgot to mention in its place, that I asked the Chevalier about our ships being admitted to the Portuguese Island of Macao, in the East Indies. He said that would be of importance to us, for he did not see how the commerce with China could be carried on without the use of that island, as there were certain seasons of the year when European ships and American too, he supposed could not be admitted into Canton. But our ships should enjoy the benefit of their island as fully as any nation in Europe. You will perceive, Sir, by this conference, what is more and more manifest every day, that there is, and will continue, a general scramble for navigation, carrying trade, ship building, fisheries, are the cry of every nation, and it will require all the skill and firmness of the United States to preserve a reasonable share of their own; they have brought treaties of commerce so much into fashion, that more have been made since the American war and are now in negotiation, than had been made for a century before. Courts which never made one before, are now proposing them to several others. Portugal is supposed to be pushing for one with Russia; and if we have heretofore been discouraged and thwarted in any attempts, it was by those who meant to be beforehand with us, in proposals, which they taught us to believe it unnecessary and beneath our dignity to make. France does not now think it beneath her dignity to propose a treaty with Russia, nor do French or English newspapers, under the direction of their Courts, think it beneath them to fill all Europe with reports of our disunion, and of the want of powers in Congress to make treaties, in order to keep us back. The fatal policy of obstructing and delaying our treaties of commerce, especially with England, has thrown American merchants into their present distress, and not only prevented our acquiring fresh advantages in trade by the revolution, but taken from us many sources which we enjoyed before. Our countrymen, partly from penury and partly from fondness, have been too easily drawn into the snare. FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. J. A. Grosvenor Square, November 11, 1785. Dear Sir, There is no better advice to be given to the merchants of the United States than to push their commerce to the East Indies as fast and as far as it will go. If information from persons who ought to know may be depended upon, the tobacco and peltries as well as the ginseng of the United States, are proper articles for the China market, and have been found to answer very well, and many other of our commodities may be found in demand there. But there is another resource, which may prove of equal value at present. There are many persons, in the European factories in India, particularly the English, who have accumulated large property which they wish to transmit to Europe, but have not been able to do it, on account of the distance and the scarcity of freights. These would be glad to sell us their commodities, and take our bills of exchange upon Europe or America, payable in twelve or eighteen months possibly in longer periods. These facts are known to individuals in America, but will probably be concealed from the public at large, lest the speculators and adventurers, should be too numerous for the profit of a few. The States may greatly encourage these enterprises by laying on duties, upon the importation of all East India goods from Europe, and indeed, by proceeding in time to prohibitions. This, however, may never be necessary. Duties judiciously calculated and made high enough to give a clear advantage to the direct importer from India, will answer the end as effectually as prohibitions, and are less odious, and less liable to exceptions. We should attend to this intercourse with the East, with the more ardor, because the stronger footing we obtain in those countries, of more importance, will our friendship be, to the powers of Europe who have large connexions there. The East Indies will probably be the object and the theatre of the next war, and the more familiar we are with every thing relative to that country, the more will the contending parties desire to win us to their side, or at least, what we ought to wish for most, to keep us neutral. Much will depend upon the behavior of our people who may go into those countries. If they endeavor, by an irreproachable integrity, humanity and civility to conciliate the esteem of the natives, they may easily become the most favored nation, for the conduct of European nations in general, heretofore, has given us a great advantage. East India manufactures in silk and cotton, &c. are prohibited in England, and as we have no such prohibiVOL. IV.56 tions in America, because we have no such manufactures for them to interfere with, we may take them to a great advantage. I am, &c. JOHN ADAMS. Report of Secretary Jay, on Mr. Adams' letter of 11th November, 1785. Office for Foreign Affairs, The Secretary of the United States for the Department of Foreign Affairs, to whom was referred a letter from the honorable Mr. Adams of 11th November last, Reports: That the facts and observations contained in this letter appear to your Secretary to be well founded. That Congress, for want of power to regulate trade by their own acts, can make no other use of this letter than to publish it or to refer it to the States. That in his opinion it should not be published, lest it increase the jealousy with which our late adventures to the Indies, have already inspired the nations trading thither. That he also thinks it should not be referred to the States, because the clashing and unsystematical regulations which thirteen different States will naturally establish, must operate against national objects, and, therefore, that their interfering in national concerns, except in subordination to the federal government, should not be encouraged. All which is submitted to the wisdom of Congress. JOHN JAY. FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. Dear Sir, Grosvenor Square, November 24, 1785. I was yesterday honored with your letter of the 14th of October, accompanied with the gazettes and the act of Congress of the 27th September. You will learn from Mr. Dumas' letters, as well as by the public papers, that the treaty of defensive alliance between France and Holland was signed at Paris on the 10th of this month. The vain exertions of the cabinet of St. James' to prevent it, are so far from being a secret, that the English or Orange party, which is the same, have inserted them in their own Courier du Bas Rhin. The offers are there stated to have been, the restitution of Negapatnam, the renunciation of the navigation of the Moluccas, the payment of the millions to the Emperor, the warranty of the new treaty with the Emperor, and the alteration of the navigation act in favor of Holland. Sir James Harris, with his Secretary of Legation and three clerks, are said to have been very busy night and day, but all to no purpose. It is not at all to be wondered at, that British Ministers should be alarmed; the only wonder is, that that they did not foresee and prevent the danger. Two years ago, by an honest settlement with America, and less costly offers to Holland, they might have maintained their rank among the powers of Europe. It is now lost forever. The loss of the empire of the seas, which their ambition has long aspired to, and which their arrogance has long claimed, would be a benefit to mankind, and no real evil to them; but they will now find it difficult to |