"Their High Mightinesses, penetrated with the most lively grief, have nevertheless perceived, that so far from their good intentions and proceedings having operated to any happy effect, it has happened, on the contrary, that several acts diametrically opposed to justice, have been authorised and executed by connivance, under the illusory pretext of opposition even to the same connivance, and this, in spite of multiplied efforts employed by the Republic to obviate such abuses; that, moreover, the rencounter between Commodore Fielding and Commodore Byland is of a nature, that according to the law of nations, the flag of a sovereign power being, in fact, everywhere sacred, the declaration made by the Count de Byland, an officer commanding in chief a squadron in the name of the Republic whereof he is a subject, ought to have been regarded as authentic, and to have stopped at once all suspicions, and destroyed the intelligence falsely given; from whence it follows, that the said Commodore Byland has not undertaken anything, but for the maintenance and protection of the honor and respect due to the flag of the State; while the seizure and detention of the ships are equally a part of those objects, concerning which, their High Mightinesses ought also to demand a satisfaction convenient to his Majesty, as well as a declaration unequivocal for the time to come; adding, at the same time, that, after a mature consideration upon the situation in which the Republic is at present, their High Mightinesses are perfectly acquainted with the succors demanded by his Britannic Majesty."
The States of the Province of Groningen have conformed themselves to the report before mentioned.
Hague, 22d of April. "We learn that the Province of Gueldres has determined to grant unlimited convoys, and, at the same time, to refuse the succors demanded by Great Britain; by means of which, the Seven United Provinces are actually of one unanimous sentiment upon this object."
Hague, 23d of April. "We learn, that the deputies of the Province of Holland have already been instructed to carry to the Assembly of the States-General, the opinion of their high constituents concerning the invitation, which the Prince de Gallitzin, Envoy of the Empress of Russia, has made in the name of her Majesty, to their High Mightinesses, to protect in concert the navigation of the neuters; and that this opinion, announced in a resolution of the State of the Province, bearing date the 13th of April, tends to accept the invitation in terms full of attachment and gratitude, declaring, 'that their High Mightinesses regard the communication, which has been made to them, as a signal token of the benevolence of her Majesty towards the Republic; that they honor it, and believe it to be their duty to answer it with sincerity and cordiality; that they consider it also as a new proof of the magnanimity and the justice of her Majesty, which are universally acknowledged, both the end which she proposes and the measures she has projected to maintain in the present war, a neutrality the most rigorous between the belligerent powers, and for protecting, not only the honor of the Russian flag, and the safety of the commerce and navigation of her subjects, in not permitting that any of the belligerent powers should strike at it; but also, by establishing by her cares the liberties and repose of Europe upon foundations the most solid, of equity, the law of nations, and the treaties subsisting, and to give validity to an equitable system of navigation and of commerce in favor of the neutral powers; that their High Mightinesses, desiring to observe with her Imperial Majesty in the present war a scrupulous neutrality, have but too much experienced the losses to which the navigation and commerce of neutral nations are exposed by the uncertain and fluctuating ideas of the belligerent powers with regard to the rights of neuters, in proportion as they are guided by their private interest and by the operations of the war; that their High Mightinesses judge with her Imperial Majesty, that it is of the last necessity that this law should be fixed upon solid principles, and maintained in concert by the neutral maritime powers; that for what concerns the determination of the said right, their High Mightinesses conform themselves entirely to the five points contained in the declaration, which her Majesty has made to the Courts of Versailles, Madrid, and London; that after her example, they are ready to transmit parallel —— to the belligerent powers, and that they are very much disposed to enter into conferences with her Majesty and the other neutral powers, upon the measures by which the liberty of navigation and commerce may be maintained in concert, in a manner the most efficacious, both for the future and for the present, observing, at the same time, an exact neutrality among the belligerent powers.'
"The same opinion tends also to cause to be transmitted the copy of such a resolution, not only to the Prince de Gallitzin, Envoy of her Majesty to the Republic, but also to M. de Swart, Resident of their High Mightinesses at Petersburg, and to their Ministers at the Courts of Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Lisbon, with orders to these last to second, as far as possible, the proceedings of the Court of Russia, and to act in concert with the Ministers of her Imperial Majesty, &c."
Congress will be able to draw just inferences from these important papers of State.
The principle, which the English contend for, has no other foundation but the insular situation of Great Britain, and the convenience of that nation. The principle, which the neutral powers are contending for, is evidently laid in the common good of nations; in the ease, safety, convenience, happiness, and prosperity of mankind in general. But we shall see, whether obstinacy and fierce passions will, at length, give way in one instance. At present there is no appearance of it. On the contrary, I see no way for the English to escape a war with Holland and Russia, Denmark and Sweden, and, perhaps, Portugal, unless they should be interrupted in their career by a war with one another at home.
When, where, or in what manner, we shall see the unravelling of the vast plot, which is acting in the world, is known only to Providence. Although my mind has been full twenty years preparing to expect great scenes, yet I confess the wonders of this Revolution exceed all that I ever foresaw, or imagined. That our country, so young as it is, so humble as it is, thinking but lately so meanly of itself, should thus interest the passions, as well as employ the reason of all mankind, in its favor, and effect in so short a space of time, not only thirteen revolutions of government at home, but so completely accomplish a revolution in the system of Europe, and in the sentiments of every nation in it, is what no human wisdom, perhaps, could foresee.
I have the honor to be, &c.
JOHN ADAMS.