The American Commissioners to [Richard Henry Lee]: Résumé, 15 December 1784
The American Commissioners to [Richard Henry Lee]6
Copy:7 National Archives
⟨Paris, December 15, 1784: In our letter of November 11 we outlined to Congress what we had done up to that date, which included sending all our letters. We can now only add the answers we have received, and our replies. Enclosures 1 and 2 are our exchange with the ambassador of Portugal, enclosure 3 being the draft treaty we enclosed. Enclosures 4 and 5 are the exchange with the chargé d’affaires of Tuscany; we sent him the same draft treaty, with the country and names changed. We must observe that the draft treaty we sent to Baron Thulemeier, under cover of a letter we enclosed in our last letter to Congress, was the same as the draft we sent Portugal and Tuscany, with the changes in the form of the other party. Enclosures 6 and 7 are a letter from the British ambassador here and our reply.8
We read in the public papers that on October 11 an American ship just out of Cadiz was captured by a frigate of the Emperor of Morocco, one of five which he had cruising in the ocean, and was carried into Tangier on October 16. A letter from Mr. Carmichael confirms this intelligence; he adds that the ship belonged to the state of Virginia.9 This event demonstrates the need to take immediate measures with the piratical states in order to preserve our trade in the Mediterranean, with Spain and Portugal, and perhaps with more distant countries as their vessels may extend their cruising grounds.1⟩
6. The commissioners addressed their letter to the president of Congress, not knowing that Lee had been elected to that office two weeks earlier; see the annotation of their Nov. 11 letter to the President of Congress. Published in Adams Papers, XVI, 471–2; and in Jefferson Papers, VII, 573–4.
7. In Humphreys’ letterbook.
8. For Portugal see BF to JA, Nov. 15, and the Commissioners to Sousa, Nov. 30; for Tuscany see Favi to the Commissioners, Nov. 16, and their reply, Dec. 9; for Britain see Dorset to the Commissioners, Nov. 24, and their reply, Dec. 9.
9. Carmichael to TJ, Nov. 25, 1784: Jefferson Papers, VII, 548–50. For the capture of the Betsey, see Chiappe’s letters to BF, Nov. 3.
1. The commissioners were divided over how to respond to the Barbary challenge. On Dec. 15, JA wrote privately to John Jay, who he hoped was now the secretary for foreign affairs, to contradict those who thought the volume of American trade in the Mediterranean too small to justify the payment of tribute, or who believed that it would be “more manly” to fight “Such Ennemies of the human Race”: Adams Papers, XVI, 466–8. JA believed that BF held the former view: Adams Papers, XVII, 492. BF was indeed wary of establishing a practice of paying tribute, but he urged Congress to send ministers—with appropriate gifts—to Morocco and the other Barbary states: XL, 368–9, 621; XLI, 342. TJ, on the other hand, was in favor of military force, as he wrote to Horatio Gates on Dec. 13: “Why not begin a navy then and decide on war? We cannot begin in a better cause nor against a weaker foe.” Jefferson Papers, VII, 571. In the letter to Jay cited above, JA argued that the United States could neither ignore the threat posed by North African pirates nor defeat them militarily, which left paying tribute and making a treaty as the only option. However, Congress first had to raise revenue and begin paying its debts in France and Holland.