Papers of John Adams, volume 19

From John Adams to the Marquis of Carmarthen, 22 September 1787 Adams, John Carmarthen, the Marquis of

To the Marquis of Carmarthen

my Lord— Grosr. sqr. Septr. 22d. 1787

I do myself the honor to inclose to your Lordship a Letter this moment received, from the Master of a Vessel belonging to the United states of america— His Name is John Douglass, commander of the ship 4 friends, american built & the property of Andrew Van Truyl Merchant of NewYork1

He informs me, that as 2 of his people were going on Shore for Provisions for the day, they wer seized by the Press-gang and forced on Board his Majesty’s Brig dispatch then laying off execution Docks— That the Gang then came on board his Vessell and attempted to open the Hatches when his chief Mate opposed them and informed the officer that they were American Citizens— That altho’ the officer of the press then went away there is reason to believe, that another disagreable Visit will be made before Morning, which will distress him exceedingly as his ship is compleated for sea & bound to NewYork—

The Names of the two Men pressed, are Joseph Cowley a Native of the City of NewYork, the other is a negro Man called Primus, the property of Mr. Andrew Van Truyl, Merchant of NewYork, but a native of the City. It is my duty my Lord to make this representation to His Majesty’s Ministers and to request that orders be given for the restoration of these Men to the Master of their Vessell and further to propose to your Lordships Consideration, whether it be not expedient that some general order should be given, upon this occasion 160 to the officers of his Majesty’s navy, to give a particular attention to American Vessels & seamen least, Perplexities & inconveniencies of this Kind should be multiplied—2

with great respect / I am &c—

J. A—

LbC in WSS’s hand (Adams Papers); internal address: “The Marquis Carmathen / &c— &c—”; notation: “Copy sent to Mr. Jay—”; APM Reel 112.

The enclosure, not found, concerned the property of New York City dry goods merchant Andreis (Andrew) Van Tuyl (1751–1826). Van Tuyl’s ship, the Four Friends, sailed for New York City in mid-October and arrived by 19 Jan. 1788 (Rory L. Van Tuyl and Jan N. A. Groenendijk, A Van Tuyl Chronicle: 650 Years in the History of a Dutch-American Family, Decorah, Iowa, 1996, p. 208; London World and Fashionable Advertiser, 16 Oct. 1787; New York Daily Advertiser, 24 Jan. 1788; New York Independent Journal, 19 Jan.).

The text of the Admiralty’s 21 Sept. 1787 press warrant appeared in the Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, 25 September. According to newspaper reports, British press gangs operating on 21 Sept. had stripped many of the ships along the Thames River. The British Navy’s impressment of American sailors persisted throughout JA’s diplomatic tenure in London, and far beyond it. JA sought to address the issue in his first 22 Sept. letter to John Jay, and in his 25 Sept. and 3 Oct. letters to Carmarthen, all below. On 25 Sept., JA wrote a second letter to Carmarthen, protesting the seizure of sailor Richard Draper Green of the Nonpareil, Capt. Robert Cushing. Green was from Boston and likely a relative of the loyalist Margaret Green Draper, who had been the publisher of the Massachusetts Gazette (vols. 2:170, 18:23; London World and Fashionable Advertiser, 24 Sept.). She evidently wrote a letter to JA, not found, while she was in London petitioning for Green’s release, and JA enclosed it with his second letter of 25 Sept. to Carmarthen. Though he received no formal reply from the British ministry on the subject, JA wrote again to Carmarthen on 17 and 19 Oct., disputing the impressment of Jacob Grainger, a crewman on Capt. George Folger Jr.’s ship, Rebecca (LbC’s, APM Reel 112; London General Evening Post, 22–25 Sept.).

From John Adams to John Jay, 22 September 1787 Adams, John Jay, John

To John Jay

Dear Sir London Septr. 22. 1787

There was Yesterday in the River, an Impress of Seamen, and Several American Vessells had their Men taken from them. An Application was made to me this Morning by a Master of a ship from New York, and I instantly wrote the inclosed Letter to Lord Carmarthen and went in Person to White Hall to deliver it.1 His Lordship read the Letter, and the Representation to me from the Captain and after some Conversation on the Subject assured me that he would take Measures to have the Men restored and Precautions against Such Mistakes in future. This opportunity was a favourable one, for Some Communication of Sentiments upon the present Posture of Affairs, and his Lordship was invited to talk upon the subject by Several Questions, which were proposed to him. His Lordships Answers were civil enough, “He hoped there would not be War.” “He should be very Sorry for a War,” &c &c But Nothing was to be learn’d from 161 him, if he knew any Thing.— one fact indeed his Lordship assured me of, vizt. that War is in truth declared by the Port against Russia, that the Count De Montmorin had sent him an Extract of a Dispatch of Monsieur De Choiseul the French Ambassador at Constantinople containing an Account of it.2 and that the French Ministry had done him the Justice to believe that the English Ambassador and Ministry, had done nothing to excite this declaration. His Lordships last Dispatches from Constantinople assured him of every Appearance of Peace, so that the Declaration must have been some Sudden Emotion of the Mufti or Jannizaries.3 &c It is easy to believe that the English did not excite the Turks to declare, for that Step excuses France from any Obligation to aid the Port.

The present Conjuncture appears the most critical and important in Europe, of any that has ever happened in our Times. Mankind Seems impatient under the Yoke of Servitude that has been imposed upon them, and disposed to compell their Governors to make the Burthen lighter. But the Wars that now threaten, have no Tendency that Way or but a remote one: and what dependance can be placed upon the common People, in any Part of Europe?

Upon my Return home another American Master of a Vessell from Alexandria in Virginia came with his Complaint that the Press gang had taken all his Men.—4 I will demand every Man, as fast as I shall be informed of his being pressed: but I am much afraid of Pretences, Excuses &c &c— I expect to hear that one Sailor is Irish, another scots and a third English.— All in my Power however shall be done and you shall be informed of the Result. With great Respect, sir, your / most obedient and most humble sert.

John Adams

RC and enclosure (PCC, No. 84, VI, f. 523–528); internal address: “His Excellency John Jay / Secretary of State for the / Department of foreign Affairs.” LbC (Adams Papers); APM Reel 112.

JA enclosed a copy of his 22 Sept. letter to the Marquis of Carmarthen, above.

On 15 Aug. the Ottoman Empire formally declared war on Russia. The Ottomans launched two assaults in September and October against Kinburn, a narrow spit of land across from the Russian fortress at Ochakov, and both failed. In summer 1788, Swedish troops attacked Russia with covert British and Prussian aid, thereby preventing the Baltic fleet from sailing to the Mediterranean and causing Catherine II to split her forces ( Cambridge Modern Hist. , 8:852; David R. Stone, A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya, Westport, Conn., 2006, p. 85).

The mufti was the head of the Ottoman Empire’s religious establishment (Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters, eds., Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, N.Y., 2009, p. 395, 619).

This ship was likely the Charlotte, Capt. Lambert, which had arrived in London on 19 Sept. 1787 (New-York Journal, 7 June; London Public Advertiser, 21 Sept.).