Relations with Great Britain. on which they have already and uniformly differed, and, from the difficulty of deciding which, they agreed to abide by the judgment of arbitrators. The articles contained in the paper delivered by Mr. King, so far from diminishing, tend to increase that difficulty: for they bring forward pretensions, some of which had not before been advanced in discussion between the two Governments, and were not expected to be so advanced: they limit, beyond all reosonable construction, the description of the persons entitled to benefit by the treaty: they impose conditions of proof, not only unreasonable, but in some cases manifestly impossible to be complied with, and they prejudge (uniformly to the injury of the British creditors) the most important questions concerning the nature, effect, and duration of those impediments by which, contrary to treaty, the recovery of their just debts has been prevented. out interfering with its principles, the same disposition which was shown in the former instance would in this case also have induced His Majesty's Government cheerfully to depart from the strict ground of right with a view to good understanding and conciliation, whenever such a conduct was not incompatible with the claims of justice. But it is impossible not to perceive that the explanatory articles are of a totally different nature; that they are not only not warranted by the proceeding here, but are in direct contradiction to it; and that they affect the very essence of the treaty itself, by prejudging the most important questions which the commissions are appointed and sworn to decide. The last of those articles, that which proposes a change in the persons constituting the board, is therefore the only one which affo ds to His Majesty's Government any opportunity of manifesting a conciliatory disposition, without injury to the manifest rights of the King's subjects. No reason is assigned why these particular questions should be selected from among the great number which must arise out of the causes brought His Majesty is very far from seeing ground to before the Commissioners, and should be specially entertain any other sentiment than that of approexempted from their jurisdiction by an extraordi-bation, respecting the conduct of the British Comnary interposition of the two Governments. Nor is any expectation held out that such interposition, had it been possible to have admitted it with respect to these questions, could be confined to these alone. Fresh differences of opinion must naturally arise in the execution of so complicated and detailed a business. The minority on either side, encouraged by this proceeding, would again secede; fresh interpositions would be required from the Governments, till, at length, nothing would be concluded without their intervention, except in those cases only where the five Commissioners should be unanimous. missioners in America, who have, with great Nor would these inconveniences be confined to the commission under the sixth article alone. The principle of reciprocity, and the evident parity which, by the whole tenor of the treaty, is estab-sent commission. lished between the two commissions, would require that the same course of proceeding should be applied to the commission for captures as to that for debts. All the past decisions made by the majority in that commission, contrary to the opinions of their colleagues and of the British Government, must, therefore, undergo a like revision. The compensations actually paid to Americans must be refunded; the British claims rejected (in the opinion of the British Government) without sufficient reason, must be examined; the principles adopted by the majority must become matter of fresh negotiation between the two Governments; and explanatory rules must be proposed and treated of, limiting, according to the opinions of the parties, those awards which the treaty has referred to the judgment of arbitrators. From such a course as this nothing can arise but endless dissension between the two countries. Had the proposals delivered by Mr. King been confined, after the example of what was done here, to such rules of practical, convenience and arrangement of business as might have smoothed and facilitated the execution of the treaty, with To that board, either constituted as the present is, or with the alteration which might be made by allowing each Government to nominate one only of its subjects, and reciprocally, one person taken from the other country, His Majesty would consent to refer all the questions now brought forward by the Government of the United States, as well as every other point respecting the execution of the sixth article; preserving always, in order to avoid needless delays and expenses, the evidence which has been given before the present board, but agreeing that the new Commissioners should be no further bound by the resolutions of the present board than as it might concur in them, with the exception only of ultimate decisions finally made in any particular case, which, as with respect to such case, could not, as His Majesty thinks, be reversed without manifest injustice. Mr. King to the Secretary of State, dated LONDON, December 13, 1800. DEAR SIR: Parliament is still in session, and chiefly employed in devising means to economize and increase the food of the country, whose em Relations with Great Britain. barrassments are increased by the various impediments which will materially diminish the supplies expected from the north of Europe. America is the only country from which a considerable and certain importation is looked for; and such is the deficiency of corn, that all we can spare, and of every species, will find here a high and certain market. I am not unmindful that the present is a favorable moment for the discussion of the questions of disagreement between us and this Government; and, in one or two conferences with Lord Grenville, I have thought I perceived a temper which promises rather more than I have of late been accustomed to expect; but owing to his constant engagements between the business of Parliament, and the duties of his office, I have not yet been able to make any positive progress in the negotiation. Having long believed that Governments which have distinctly expressed an opinion upon a controverted point are rarely induced to change it by reasons which are subsequently presented, I have preferred to begin with the proposal to get rid of the sixth article, instead of renewing the attempt to explain and amend it. This has been done in a way that will not prejudice our demand of an explanatory article, should we fail to agree upon terms which will wholly supersede it. Having mentioned to Lord Grenville that I was authorized to consent to the payment of a precise sum, in lieu of whatever might, pursuant to the sixth article, be awarded against the United States, and he having consented to discuss any proposition to that effect which I might offer, I prepared and sent to him the annexed paper. He has since informed me that measures have been taken on his part, with a view to ascertain how far my estimates are correct, adding, that as soon as he is able to proceed, he will give me notice, in order that we may resume our conferences. In the meantime, some other points are brought forward, and put in a train for discussion. But I am bound to add, that so little progress has yet been made, and all that has passed has been of so general a nature, that nothing with certainty can be inferred in respect to the issue of the negotiation. With perfect respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, dear sir, your obedient and faithful servant, RUFUS KING. It seems impracticable to ascertain, with any degree of precision, the amount of debt due at any one time from American debtors to British creditors, and every estimate must, therefore, be liable to considerable uncertainty. As the debt arose from the supply of goods furnished by British merchants, the list of British exports seems to offer the best materials for forming an estimate. So far as the American merchants and planters purchased their goods in England with cash, which, to a limited extent, they are understood to have done, the list of exports will require correction; as the value of the goods paid for before they were exported, should be taken from the aggregate amount of the exports, in order to ascertain the value of goods annually supplied on credit. It is reasonable to infer from a long series of annual credits, a correspondent series of annual payments; but although the payments may be supposed to have nearly kept pace with and balanced the new debt annually contracted, since otherwise the trade would have been discontinued, it is, nevertheless, probable that there was, at all times, an average arrearage of old and doubtful debts, upon the recovery of which there was little reliance, and against the loss whereof the creditors indemnified themselves in the prices at which their goods were charged. It may, however, seem proper to make some allowance on account of these doubtful debts, in forming an estimate of the amount of American debt at the breaking out of the war. As it is wholly uncertain at what sum this arrearage should be estimated, it seems to be a fair manner of disposing of it, to place its uncertain amount against the equally uncertain amount of the goods paid for by American merchants and planters before their exportation, and which should be deducted from the value of the annual exports, if the amount thereof be taken as the amount of new debt annually contracted. Assuming, then, which may be done without much risk of error, the average amount of the annual exports of Great Britain to the United States, for a certain number of years before the war, as the best evidence of the amount of the debt due from American debtors to British creditors when the war commenced, it remains only to ascertain the average amount of the exports, in order to fix the amount of the debt. Mr. Chalmers, in his Estimate of the Comparative Strength of Great Britain, states the average exports of British manufactures to the United States, for six years ending with 1774, (the period immediately preceding the war,) at £2,216,324 If this sum be increased by one fifth, (which is a large proportion) on account of goods not of British manufacture The result will stand at 443,264 2,659,588 Relations with Great Britain. from whence the largest portion of the remaining debts is supposed to be due, it was the usual practice, that a partner or agent of the British house came with the goods to America, where he retailed them on credit among the planters, and, being on the spot, received his payment in the productions of the country. On the breaking out of the war, these partners and agents returned to Great Britain, and thereby avoided the payment of their debts in a medium which finally whole of their debt, by the insolvency of the debtors, between the commencement and conclusion of the war. To judge from the proportion recovered by the creditors in those parts of the United States, in which it is not pretended that any legal impediments have stood in their way, the loss by insolvency, during the war, would come nearer to two-thirds than to one-half of the original debt. Estimating it at one-half, the debt, on the return of peace, would be one million one hundred and fifty-five thousand seven and forty-suffered a ruinous depreciation: their debtors were nine pounds. The amount of the claims exhibited at Philadelphia will not serve to invalidate the foregoing observations, when it is understood, besides their general and acknowledged inaccuracy, some of them presenting only the debtor side of the account, and others no account at all, that these claims include the debts due from persons insolvent before the war, as well as from those who became so during its continuance; so that, without the trouble of a particular examination, it will be found that they will rather corroborate than weaken the preceding estimates. If it could be ascertained how much of this sum can be recovered of the debtors, the difference would show the amount for which the creditors have a claim upon the United States. Notwithstanding the complaints of the creditors, it is certain that such of them as have taken the requisite pains have been gradually recovering their debts; and it is probable that their success would at this time have been much more complete, had they not, in many instances, been seduced from the pursuit of their judicial remedies, by the expectation they believed themselves authorized to entertain, from the proceedings of the Board of Commissioners at Philadelphia. At present, no legal impediments obstruct their suits; and, from the general prosperity of every part of the United States during the last ten years, there is reason to conclude that the circumstances of British debtors have improved in common with those of their neighbors. The debt still outstanding is chiefly due in those States which produce the principal staple articles of American commerce; the aggregate value of which articles, exported from the five Southern States, from the year 1700 to 1770, exceeded, according to Lord Sheffield's tables, by ten millions sterling, the aggregate value of the goods imported into those States from Great Britain during the same period. Another circumstance, in respect to the ability of the debtors, deserves consideration. In most of the States the British debtors were American merchants, who resided in the large towns, and sold their goods on credit to the traders and shopkeepers dispersed throughout the country. When the paper money had depreciated, the country traders and shopkeepers paid their debts to the American merchants, who having no way of making remittances to their British creditors, lost, by further depreciation, the payments received from their debtors, and the chief means of paying their own debts. In some of the States, including those 7th CoN. 2d SES.-26 numerous, and in general owed but moderate sums, and, though sufferers in the course of the war, by the loss of slaves, and the dilapidation of their estates, their property was not diminished in an equal degree with that of the American merchants, who received, in a depreciated paper, the debts upon which they depended to pay their British creditors. The tendency of these reflections is to prove Extracts of a letter from Mr. King to the Secretary of LONDON, Nov. 22, 1800. "I have duly received your letters to No. 5, inclusive. Soon after the receipt of No. 2, which was not before the sixth instant, I sent a note to Lord Grenville, informing him that I was ready, in consequence of the answers I had received to my despatches transmitting to America what had passed between him and me concerning the sixth article, to resume our conferences upon that subject. His Lordship appointed an early day for this purpose, but no meeting has yet taken place, owing to his having been wholly engaged in the negotiation for peace begun by Austria." "Not a moment shall be lost, on my part, in the endeavor to concert a satisfactory arrangement respecting the sixth article of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce; but, as the subject is of inferior consideration it will be obliged to give place to the business which, at present, engrosses the attention of the Cabinet." Extract of a letter from Mr. King to the Secretary of Relations with Great Britain. stey, one of the Commissioners under the seventh article, asked me if I had any objection to confer with him; adding that, although it had occurred to him that any definitive article might better be concluded between himself and me, if I had any scruple in holding the preliminary discussions with Mr. Anstey, he would give him a commission, not only to treat, but to sign. As I preferred that the final decision of the business should remain with Lord Grenville, I signified my acquiescence in the course he had suggested, and several papers have been exchanged between Mr. Anstey and me. Though I cannot yet determine what may be the issue of our discussions, I think I shall be able, in a short time, to ascertain the expectations of this Government. Should a satisfactory conclusion become unattainable in the course in which we are now engaged, it will be my duty to terminate the conferences upon the proposition I have made, and insist upon the justness and propriety of the explanatory articles which we have before demanded." very lately assured that the business shall be soot taken up; and, as the several points have been fully discussed, a little time only will be requisite to decide them. I have not thought it necessary to send you copies of my correspondence, preferring to transmit it entire, together with the result. whatever it may be, of the negotiation. It will then be seen that I have not been insensible to the disadvantages arising from this delay, which, as far as prudence and decorum would permit, I have endeavored to prevent." Mr. King to the Secretary of State, dated LONDON, April 20, 1801. DEAR SIR: Annexed, I have the honor to send you a copy of my correspondence with Mr. Anstey upon the subject of the British debts. Although I might, by an analysis of the claims exhibited at Philadelphia, have been able to add much support to the estimate which I had formed of these debts, I thought it advisable to bring the discussion to a close; as well on account of the little probability that any further arguments which could be offered would be likely to induce Mr. Anstey to acquiesce in an estimate of the debts which should not correspond with a sum that had been named to him, as proper to demand of us, as because it did not appear to me certain that his opinion, upon this subject, would have the same weight with the new Ministry as it might have had with their predecessors. With perfect respect and esteem, I have the honor to be, dear sir, your obedient and faithful servant, RUFUS KING. No. 4. Note from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, in reply, dated January 3. No. 5. Note from Mr. Anstey to Mr. King, dated January 6. 6. Paper from Mr. Anstey, accompanying certified statement of exports, of the same date. No. 7. Statement of exports, from the office of the Inspector General. No. 8. Note from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, asking a conference, of the same date. No. 9. Note from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, requesting further accounts of exports and imports, dated January 8. No. 10. Note from Mr. Anstey, to Mr. King, in answer, same date. No. 11. Paper from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey. (observations on No. 6.) dated January 10. No. 12. Note from Mr. Anstey, with further statements from the custom-house, in compliance with No. 9, dated 16th January. No. 13. Letter from George Hammond, Esq., Relations with Great Britain. to Mr. Anstey, enclosing the above statements, of same date. Nos. 14 and 15. Note and paper from Mr. Anstey, in reply to Mr. King's remarks, (No. 11.) dated January 17. No. 16. Note from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, acknowledgment of statements of exports, &c., dated 18th January. No. 17. Note from Mr. Anstey to Mr. King, fixing the 23d for a conference, dated 21st January. No. 18. Paper from Mr. Anstey, being continuation of his remarks, (No. 15,) of same date. No. 19. Note from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, 23d January, with No. 20. Extract of a letter from Mr. King to Colonel Pickering. No. 21. Note from Mr. Anstey to Mr. King, of same date. No. 22. Paper from Mr. King, in reply to Mr. Anstey's observations of 17th and 21st January, (Nos. 15 and 18,) dated 29th January. No. 23. Note from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, in answer to No. 21, dated 30th January. No. 24. Note from Mr. Anstey to Mr. King, acknowledging Nos. 22 and 23, and propounding certain questions, dated 31st January. No. 25. Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, in answer, dated 2d February. No. 26. Mr. Anstey to Mr. King, dated 18th March, enclosing No. 27. Paper from Mr. Anstey, dated 14th February, in answer to Mr. King's of 29th Jan'y. No. 28. Note from Mr. King to Mr. Anstey, in reply, 20th March. Mr. King, of taking "a valuation of British exports" as the groundwork of a calculation to be made of the American debt, due to British creditors, at the commencement of the American war; such augmentations being made to any estimate formed on that principle as may be found wanting and necessary to complete the calculation proposed. Of course it will be an object desirable on both sides, "that the valuation of British exports" should be derived from the very best possible source of information which the subject-matter is capable of. It is therefore proposed to substitute, in lieu of the estimate suggested by Mr. King, (in his letter to Lord Grenville of the 23d November last,) a statement of the actual amount of British exports for three years immediately preceding the war, certified from the office of the Inspector General of His Majesty's customs, subject to such expla nations as may be necessary, and at the same time to state such general heads of augmentation as it is conceived will be found indispensably necessary to perfect the estimate, and render it effectual to the object. From the amount of the debt thus ascertained, or agreed to be due at the commencement of the war, it will come in course to consider the several deductions which it may be necessary to make, with a view to the present state of the debt, on the grounds suggested by Mr. King, and with reference to all circumstances connected with the execution of the fourth article of the Treaty of Peace, and the predicament of the British creditor under the provisions of the sixth article of the Treaty of Amity, &c. RUFUS KING, Esq., &c. No. 4. MILL HILL, MIDDLESEX, Jan. 3, 1801. stey, and has the honor to acknowledge the receipt Mr. King presents his compliments to Mr. Anof his letter of yesterday. With the view of abridging discussion, Mr. King having, in the paper delivered to Lord Grenville, connected the several estimates with each other, as well as with the result to which they seemed to lead, was in hopes that Mr. Anstey would have been inclined to pursue the same course, in preference to that of bringing forward the several points one after another, for the purpose of separate and successive discussion; a mode of proceeding which it is apprehended will inspire mutual caution, and which minute than can be made to correspond with the may, moreover, give birth to disquisitions more principle upon which it is believed the business may be adjusted. If, however, Mr. Anstey shall continue to be of the opinion that this mode of conducting the negotiation is, under all the circumstances, preferable to that of which Mr. King has given the example, Mr. King consents to receive, for the purpose specified in the paper delivered to Lord Grenville, and subject to such correction as the same may, on examination, be found to require, the estimate of the American |