Papers of John Adams, volume 17
th1785
In Consequence of Your desire, I Have Endeavoured to Collect informations, Relative to the presents which the African Powers Usually Receive from European Nations.
By the inclosed Summary, You will get Every intelligences I Could obtain of what Has been done By Holland, Sweden, danmark, Venise, Spain, Portugal, and England. The Returns Nõs 2, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, are Minuted Accounts of the Presents which at Several Periods Have been delivered By those Powers1
As to france, it Has Been More difficult for me to know their Exact Situation—their way of transacting Business with the Africans is peculiar to them, and it is a principle with Government Not to divulge it— I know we are not like the other powers obliged to Pay 7Certain tribute—our presents are Voluntary, with Respect to the Time, as well as to the valüe, and france is upon a much more decent footing with those pirats than Any other Nation— it Has Been Avoided to Give presents upon fixed occasions, Like a change of princes— The King of Morocco’s Envoys Have not Been Considered as Ambassadors, one Excepted who Came to present a Number of french men taken in foreign Vessels whom that King Had purchased from the Captors— upon the King’s Coronation, He was Complimented By tunis and tripoly— But the permission, I am told, was not Granted upon the delphin’s Birth
it is However Customary that Every french Consul, when first introduced, Makes a present in His own Name—the last one at Alger, in the Return No 1 Cost 20,000 french livres—those to tunis and tripoly are much inferior
in the last treaty of peace with tunis the present Nõ 3 was Sent By the late king of france—it did Cost about 50,000 livres, Besides which the french Merchants made a present of about 12,000 livres. The tunisian Ambassador who Came for the King’s Coronation Received the present Nõ 4 which Cost 68,840 livres
Upon the occasion of the last peace with Morocco, the present to the Emperor was worth 163,708 livres, and to His officers 74,250 livres as Appears By the Return Nõ 6— the Ambassador from that Country, in the Circumstance I Have Mentioned, in the Year 1775, was Complimented with the Articles of the Return Nõ 8, to the Amount of 129,063 livres.
The Return No 14th Contains the present to the Pacha of tripoly, By the Envoy He was permitted to Send for the King’s Coronation— it is worth 34,340 livres
it is also Customary to pay the Expenses of those Envoys on the Road, and to Send them Back to their Country in a ship of war
Such are, Gentlemen, the intelligences I Could Collect— I am to Apologize for the delay— But Considering the Variety of Articles, and the Reserve of Government upon this point, my Exertions Required Some time Before I Could gather all the interesting particulars
With the Highest Respect I Have the Honour to be / Your Excellencies’s / Most obedient Humble / Servant
RC and enclosures, with English translations by John Pintard (PCC, No. 98, f. 77–221); internal address: “Their Excellencies Mr̃ franklin, john Adams, and mr̃ jefferson.”; notation: “No. 4.a.”
The enclosed report, dated March 1785, was derived from correspondence between French consuls resident in the Barbary States and the ministry of marine, which was responsible for French relations with the North African states. It consists of a summary and fourteen numbered returns extracted from the correspondence, each listing the presents given on a particular occasion. Together the summary and returns reveal that between 1769 and 1784 Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli received annual tribute or extraordinary presents from France, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Portugal, Venice, and the Netherlands in the form of luxury goods and strategic materials, including gems, jewelry, time-pieces, finished cloth, goldware, silverware, chinaware, perfume, delicacies, arms, ammunition, and ship furnishings (PCC, No. 98, f. 81–221). When the commissioners wrote to John Jay on 13 April 1785, below, they enclosed the whole packet but relabeled each document, including Lafayette’s letter and the summary, alphabetically.
For an earlier report received from Joan Cornelis van der Hoop, comptroller of the Amsterdam College of Admiralty, concerning tribute paid by the States General to a Moroccan ambassador in 1784, see vol. 16:530, 532–535. There Van der Hoop indicated that it consisted of the equipment for two frigates. The French summary report indicated that it was for three vessels, but see an undated, itemized account of the Dutch gifts to the Moroccan ambassador that may not have been included in the returns submitted by Lafayette (PCC, No. 98, f. 85–86, 112–115).
th:1785
I am obliged to you for your favor of the 25th. Octr. last & for the intelligence it contained relative to the line between this State & Nova Scotia.1 I have lately at the request of the General Court forwarded to our Delegates at Congress the report of the Agents that were sent last fall to the Eastern parts of this State to make enquiry whether any encroachments had been made upon this State by the British; & also a number of other Papers relative to the boundary Line above referr’d to, I suppose you will soon hear from Congress upon this subject—2 I congratulate you upon your being appointed a Minister at the Court of Great Britain & hope the appointment will be agreeable to you, I sincerely wish you success in all your negociations & hope you will be able to do essential service to the United States by making a treaty of Commerce with that Nation that may be mutually beneficial. Our People begin to be very restless & uneasy under the restrictions & embarrassments our Trade labors under at the English Ports & will not any longer rest satisfied unless this Government or Congress retaliate—
Colo. Norton, who will deliver you this Letter, is employed as an Agent from the County of Dukes County to apply to the British Government for Compensation for the Stock taken from the Inhabitants of said County in the year 1778, he has had the permission of this Commonwealth for this purpose several times during the War—3
If your Excellency can render him any service, it will be to the advantage of the Commonwealth at large, as the money that may be obtained for these People will be principally, if not wholly, applied to the payment of their Taxes for which they now stand indebted—
With great Respect & Esteem, / I have the honor to be, / Dear Sir, / Your most Obedt. hble Servt.
RC (Adams Papers); internal addresses: “His Excellency John Adams Esqr:” and “His Excellency John Adams Esqr.”
Vol. 16:347–348.
On 7 July 1784 the Mass. General Court appointed Benjamin Lincoln, Henry Knox, and George Partridge commissioners to investigate British incursions along the Massachusetts– Nova Scotia border. Lincoln and Knox presented the commission’s report on 20 Oct., but not until 17 March 1785, and then at Rufus King’s behest, did the General Court resolve to send the report and supporting documents to the commonwealth’s congressional delegation in New York in order to elicit from Congress such instructions “to their Minister at the Court of London, as shall be thought most effectual to prevent any further disputes concerning the said eastern boundary, and cause the encroachments aforesaid to be removed” (vol. 16:300, 301; Smith, Letters of Delegates
, 22:218; Mass., Acts and Laws
, 1784–1785, p. 265, 397–398). The documents submitted by Massachusetts in March and others sent in September resulted in reports by John Jay of 21 April and 22 Sept. and, on 13 Oct., a congressional resolution that JA be instructed to make representations to the British government on the subject (
JCC
, 28:287–290; 29:753–754, 828–829). For additional information on JA’s instructions, his representations to the British government, and the documents sent him to support his case, see Jay’s second letter of 1 Nov., and notes 1 and 2, below.
Beriah Norton, colonel in the militia and Dukes County senator, first went to England as AA’s fellow passenger on the Active in 1784. He was returning in the spring of 1785 to renew his campaign to obtain redress for losses suffered by the inhabitants of Martha’s Vineyard in a 1778 British raid (
AFC
, 5:359–360, 383; 7:9, 11). Norton also carried William Gordon’s letter of 8 April 1785, above, Francis Dana’s of the 10th, below, and Cotton Tufts’ to AA of the 11th (
AFC
, 6:81–82).